Charmed: The Faith Chronicles

by Brenna's Urbangirl Projects

Faith Lehane was born in Boston to a drunken mother and absentee father, or so she had believed for 17 years. Then she was called as the Slayer and things took a turn for the worse when she accidentally killed the Deputy Mayor. The Watcher's Council learns of the death and tries to return her to England. She manages to escape and in so doing finds out that she had been adopted

32. Chapter 31: A New Man

Chapter 31: A New Man

January 20, 2002 – Sunday

Halliwell Manor

"I can't believe that one of our Professors is a part of this military get up as a commander no less. But I suppose that explains why she's all dragon lady scary," Buffy said as she lay cuddled into Faith on their bed.

"I know," Faith agreed. "But we do need to find out more about this military group and what better way to do that, than to infiltrate them."

"That said," Buffy said as she sat down on the bed. "You need to be careful. If we can get recruited…"

"They might do physicals as part of the recruitment process and then they might find out about Prudence," Faith finished for her as she pulled Buffy close to her. "I know, Buffy."

"Good!" Buffy exclaimed happily. "Now, let's change the subject. We're not meeting Walsh about this whole military thing until tomorrow, and today I don't want to talk about it," she murmured. "I want today to be a Slayer-free zone. Today I just want to be Buffy…a college student who's spending her birthday with her beautiful wife."

"So, what did you want to do for your 19th birthday?" Faith asked.

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know," she murmured with a little pout on her lips, it had been so long since she'd had a normal birthday celebration that she had no idea what she actually wanted, except… "All I know is that I want it to be a no slaying kind of deal. I want to break the Buffy birthday pattern of bloodshed and death. They all seem to end badly, before they can even really begin. So, I figure a quiet one."

"Well, I don't have any objections," Faith assured her. "For you know my history with them."

"I know," Buffy answered. "It's why we let everyone forget about it and devote time to enjoying Phoebe and Cole's wedding."

Summers Home

"So, is everything in order for tonight?" Willow asked as she looked from Xander and Anya to Giles and Tara to Phoebe and Cole to Paige and Joyce to finally to Piper and Leo as they sat around Joyce's living room.

"Uh," Xander reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small list. "I've got the party replies," he answered whilst handing over the small page to Willow; who nodded in delight.

"Is that truly needed?" Joyce wondered. "Isn't everyone who's attending in this room, right now?"

"Pretty much," Willow answered. "Anyways I've made sure that it's alright that we use the rec room," she told them.

"What about Faith?" Xander asked, while Anya stifled a yawn the proceedings of party planning that wasn't for her boring her.

"Given Faith's own history with her own birthday," Piper said as Willow raised an eyebrow in question. "Faith never had a good one. With what that woman did to her. She was adamant she didn't want to celebrate it."

"I guess that means we're going to have to come up with a way of getting them to the party," Willow said.

"Leave that to me," Leo informed her. "There is something I haven't said, I was waiting for today, kind of a happy birthday thing."

"What?" Paige wondered as she looked at her brother-in-law.

"Because of Buffy's death facing the Master, there was a loophole," Leo informed everyone. "Because of that loophole, Buffy is being made a full Whitelighter. I'm to train her." He glanced toward Willow. "You and Faith are being made her charges."

"Okay, that will get them here later then," Piper said as she smiled at her husband. "A little fake emergency when we're ready."

"Till then Anya and I will go get the party supplies and set up the rec room for tonight," Xander added.

"I will?" Anya asked, surprised at suddenly being included in the preparations. Xander gave her a look. "Oh, I will. Yay," she mumbled trying to sound cheerful and happy about helping out when she really didn't feel like it.

"Are you baking the cake, Piper?" Tara wondered as she looked at the eldest Halliwell sister.

"No, sadly," Piper answered with a sigh. "I have one ordered, Leo will pick it up and orb it here. That said the rest of the food for the party Joyce and I will be cooking here."

Xander turned his attention back to Willow. "And what about, that other thing?" he asked.

"Faith agreed to help out with that too, didn't she, mom?" Willow asked looking at Piper.

"She is," Piper answered. "That said I think Faith had her own motives for doing so."

"Like what?" Paige wondered.

"Buffy's last two birthdays were not the best," Phoebe informed her youngest sister. "She told us that her seventeenth birthday, Angel lost his soul. And for her eighteenth birthday…"

"The Watcher's Council forced me to strip her Slayer powers," Giles finished for Phoebe. "When a Slayer reached eighteen, they are to undertake a test…"

"Tento de Cruciamentum?" Leo interjected as Giles nodded.

"That's right," Giles answered with a sigh before turning back to Paige. "It's designed to force a Slayer to face a vampire without their powers. It's a method of control since…"

"Since a Slayer can walk away from their guardians, who are usually Watchers, at the age of eighteen," Leo concluded for Giles.

Tara let out a sigh. "I can see why Buffy might hate her birthday then."

"Oh, and uh, here is my share of the money for party supplies," Giles said as he pulled money out of his wallet.

Anya licked her lips in sudden interest as the money passed from Giles to Willow. "Great, thanks, Giles. Now it's just the supplies we need and enough time to set up the rec room," she exclaimed happily.

"Speaking of which, I still don't think that a surprise party is the best of ideas," Giles uttered once again.

"Oh, come on Giles," Willow urged. "It'll be fun, and Buffy will be all happy and surprised when she's sees what we've done for her." She stood up. "Come on, Anya. We've still got a lot to do, before tonight." Anya sighed reluctantly even as she stood up to accompany Willow about the town for party supplies, urged on by Xander's encouraging smile.

"Girls and their surprise parties, huh," Xander said with an affectionate shake of his head as he watched Anya and Willow head for the door, it making his heart swell to see his girlfriend getting along with his closest and best friend.

"Well, I say it'll all turn out perfect," Phoebe informed them.

"Joyce, you don't mind if I use your bathroom," Cole said as an idea formed in his head.

"No," Joyce answered. "It's upstairs at the end of the hall on the left."

"Thanks," Cole said as he headed out of the room. Once he was out of sight he flamed out.

"I just hope that Buffy takes the surprise well," Giles murmured.

"Come on, G-Man, it's a surprise party. What's not to like about that?" Xander asked as he got up to get himself a coffee.

Giles rubbed at his eyes behind his glasses. "Yes, I suppose you're right. And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that, awful name," he grumbled. He glared after Xander as the boy walked into his kitchen.

"Oh, come on, Giles. It's cool and hip with the times." Xander called from the kitchen.

"I'll give you cool and hip with the times," Giles muttered under his breath as he removed his hands from his suddenly tired eyes; a headache beginning to thrum between his temples in annoyance at the boy.

Underworld

Cole appeared in his lair finding the Seer waiting for him. "Buffy is having a birthday party tonight. I want to ensure it goes badly."

The Seer nodded. "To try and push her into pushing Faith down the path that brings her back toward her destiny," she said in understanding.

"Yes," Cole answered as the Seers eyes turned milky white.

"I see a man," she said. "An old friend of Rupert Giles by the name of Ethan Rayne. Seek him out and persuade him to attack his old friend. With the Watcher dead, then Buffy will fall into despair, becoming increasingly angry. Which will drive Faith to seek revenge. And in the act of taking a human life for revenge, she will start down the path toward her destiny."

Halliwell Manor

Faith gazed down at Buffy as she watched Buffy sleep. She reached out, carefully moving some of her wife's hair from her forehead; not wanting to wake her just yet. She wasn't careful enough as at the soft touch Buffy shifted a little restlessly in her sleep and one of her arms came up to wipe over her forehead, where the slight tickle of her hair being moved had disturbed her. Its job done; her arm fell back toward the mattress only to land against Faith's breasts.

Reaching for her hand, Faith gently caressed Buffy's fingers, watching as they twitched slightly under her soft touch. Buffy groaned in her sleep tiredly, shifting once again on the mattress; her hand sliding off Faith. Buffy arched slightly, stretching her muscles before she settled back down into sleep.

Faith watched Buffy for a moment longer, before she rolled over on the mattress facing away from her wife. She shimmied across the mattress toward the nightstand. Opening the top drawer, she looked inside, her eyes immediately landing on the jewelry box that she had hidden in there. Reaching in she picked it up.

She turned back toward Buffy's sleeping form; the necklace sized jewelry box clutched in Faith's hand. Opening the box, she stared down at the beautifully crafted moon and triquetra necklace. She had bought it symbolize her and Buffy. For the moon symbolized the Spellman family and the triquetra her own family.

Lifting the necklace out of the box, Faith set it aside on the nightstand. Then she moved back across the bed to where Buffy lay still peacefully sleeping. She set herself back down beside her wife. She once again propped herself up on her elbow and stared down at Buffy's sleeping form. She lifted the necklace she was holding delicately between her fingers and hovered it above Buffy's sleeping form.

Faith lowered her arm down so that the smooth rounded tip of the triquetra caressed over the toned skin of Buffy's lower abdomen. She then began tracing the cool surface of the pendant up her body.

Buffy mumbled in her sleep, the sudden coolness running along her skin in lazy patterns disturbing her peaceful slumber. As she brushed at it, she knocked the culprit off her.

Faith chuckled in amusement as she slid the necklace up over Buffy's stomach once again, slowly moving it up over her body, her gaze focused on the pendants path as she travelled it up over the swell of her chest.

Buffy's face screwed up for a moment as she tried to stay in the pleasant drifting state of sleep that she'd been floating happily in. Letting out a soft sigh as she gave up on trying to go back to sleep and slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Faith looming over her and she smiled, a little sleepily up at her wife. But Faith's gaze wasn't on her face, but rather focused on her chest where she could feel the coolness.

Looking down Buffy caught sight of a delicate looking silver chain dangling from between two of Faith's pinched together fingers. Following the chain, she saw the intricately designed moon and triquetra pendant that was hanging attached to the chain. She reached up for it and held the pendant in the palm of her hand as she slowly sat herself up so that she could look at it more comfortably.

Faith released the chain as she watched Buffy's reaction to the gift. "Oh, wow…" Buffy murmured softly; her voice slightly awed as she looked down at the beautiful necklace. "It's gorgeous, Faith!" she murmured as she continued to stare down at the pendant transfixed.

"It's not a birthday gift, though if you want it can be," Faith informed her wife, elated that Buffy liked the gift. "I thought this could be us. Our symbol. The symbol of our family."

"Because the moon is my family's symbol and the triquetra is yours," Buffy said in understanding. She tore her gaze from the pendant and smiled at her wife. "Thank you," she murmured, before leaning in to give Faith an affectionate/grateful kiss.

"Here, let me put it on you," Faith murmured and Buffy nodded excitedly, sitting up completely and turning her back to Faith. She watched as her wife lifted her hair out of the way and she hooked the necklace around Buffy's neck, before releasing the chain completely to allow it to settle completely around Buffy's neck.

Buffy touched the necklace, feeling the pendant resting against her skin coolly. She turned back around to face Faith as she released her hair completely. "Thank you, I love it," she murmured, before she gave her wife another kiss.

"Buffy? Faith?" came Leo's voice from outside their bedroom door.

"Give us a moment, Uncle Leo," Faith answered. "Neither of us are decent."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"What is it, Uncle Leo?" Faith asked as she and Buffy stepped out of their room.

"Buffy," Leo said looking at his niece by marriage. "Do you remember when we wen up there and talked to Roland?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah," she answered. She was sure what Leo was about to say, not that it wouldn't surprise her. With the exception of people like Paige, she couldn't be a Whitelighter, she was after all still alive.

"Roland talked to the other Elders, just as he said he would," Leo informed the couple and then he smiled. "Happy birthday, Buffy. You are now a full Whitelighter."

Faith and Buffy looked at him in complete shock. "She is?" Faith asked, her voice carrying a tiny bit of doubt in it.

"She is, Faith," Leo answered. "And guess who one of Buffy's first two charges is?"

"Tara," Faith said, she was sure Buffy's cousin would be made one of Buffy's charges.

"Tara could be reassigned someday to Buffy, just as Joyce could someday," Leo said. "But no, Tara is not one of Buffy's first two charges." He smiled at his niece and wrapped an arm around Faith turning her to face Buffy. "Buffy, I would like you to meet one of your two charges. Her name is Faith Halliwell-Summers."

Buffy and Faith looked Leo with wide eyes in surprise. "Faith is my charge?" Buffy asked in surprise.

"She is," Leo answered. "And Prudence will likely be when she is born. But Prudence isn't your second charge. Your other charge is someone you know pretty well. Her last name is…or rather will be soon…Halliwell."

"Willow?" Buffy questioned in slight surprise as Leo nodded.

"Your friend and cousin via your marriage to Faith is now your other charge," Leo said. "In time the Elders said you will get all of the Whitelighter powers as you grown and learn with the exception of orbing. Since you can already flame…"

"It will replace the orbing power," Faith said in understanding.

"Right now, I would like you to try something," Leo informed the new Slayer-Whitelighter-Witch. "You are going to sense for Willow and then take us to her so we can tell her the news."

Buffy nodded as she closed her eyes. "Willow's in her dorm room."

U.C. Sunnydale

"Oh thank goodness," Willow cried as Buffy flamed in with Faith and Leo. "I was just about to call for you, dad. We got trouble."

"What is it?" Buffy asked seriously, hiding her disappointment at having her birthday gate-crashed by a demon once again.

"I was in the rec room. It came through the window," Willow explained, making herself sound a little puffed like she had run here.

"Vampire?" Faith questioned wanting to know what she and her wife were dealing with.

"Vampire's don't breathe fire," Willow said, doing her best to keep her face straight and serious, as a smile itched to stretch up the corners of her lips.

Buffy glanced toward her wife. "Didn't your mom tell us about a Warlock who could…"

"Breathe fire," Faith finished for Buffy. "Yeah." She then looked toward Leo. "But I thought that mom, Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Piper vanquished him.

"They did," Leo answered. "But it's possible there could be others out there with that power."

"Oh, great, happy birthday to me," Buffy muttered under her breath, her hand going to the pendant for a moment, before she quickly moved into action.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy and Faith moved stealthily down the hall with Willow and Leo just behind them, all of them rounding a corner as they headed for the Stevenson Hall rec room. They walked a little further down the hall and then she motioned with her other hand that Faith should go down the adjacent hall, which lead to another door to the rec room.

Faith gave Willow a look that said are you throwing Buffy a surprise party? Willow slowly nodded and then clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture, before she and Leo hurried after Buffy.

She sighed before she headed off down the hall Buffy had gestured towards.

Buffy pulled a stake from the book bag she had packed full of weapons she had thought just might be helpful in taking down the fire breathing demon or warlock. "We have to make this fast," Buffy grumbled, definitely not happy about the demon appearance. "Leo, you might think about getting Piper, Phoebe and Paige. Just in case Faith, Willow and I can't tackle him or her by ourselves.

"Good thinking," Leo agreed as he orbed out.

Willow smiled as she followed Buffy, excitement filling her as they got closer to the door of the rec room.

Buffy shoved open the door and strode in with a purpose, finding herself surprised at the complete darkness of the room and the complete lack of fire…or smell of chard wood and smoke.

The darkness didn't last long and Buffy had to blink as the lights suddenly came up as Willow flicked them on, her expression surprised as she took in the room. "SURPRISE!" Being shouted at her from the guests.

Quickly gathering her wits Buffy, hid the stake back into the book bag she had brought with her, recognizing a few people from the dorm that she, Faith and Willow were friendly with, that didn't know she was a Slayer…a witch…and now a Whitelighter.

"Guess you won't be killing anyone tonight, after all," Willow beamed proudly as she stepped up to Buffy, just as Faith walked in through the other door.

Buffy gave Willow a slightly annoyed look, having expressly said that she didn't want a party to celebrate her birthday, a wish her friends and family had obviously ignored, but still she smiled, touched at the effort they had put into setting up the party for her.

"Don't be so sure," Buffy teased, as she looked up at the banner that had been hung up and the decorations that had been put up about the room. Her hand coming up to touch her brand new necklace once again, her quick mind putting the pieces together as she looked toward Leo, who stood next to his wife, he had been in on it. She went to move toward him only to be ambushed by a few people who wanted to wish her happy birthday.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Yes, this is a lively space." Giles commented around a mouthful of cake, continuing his conversation with Xander and Anya. "It's like the activity room we had at public school," he said just as two students that had been invited to the party moved in around the table looking to grab some food. "Sorry," he apologized with a small chuckle as he picked up his cup from the table and stepped back to give them room to move about the table.

"I, uh," Giles continued to chuckle as he continued on with what he had been going to say to Xander and Anya before he'd been distracted by the two young men. "One time I, uh, I was up to a little bit of a prank with the dart board…"

"I'm bored," Anya interrupted, her attention focused on Xander, Giles story meaning nothing to her. "Let's eat," she murmured hopefully, wanting to be doing something she enjoyed.

Xander felt heat flood his cheeks at his girlfriend's rude remark. "Anya," he muttered sternly. "We've talked about this."

Anya gave him a look before focusing her gaze back on Giles. "I'm sorry, that was rude," she apologized, her words as awkward as her body language. "Please continue your story," she finished getting a nod of approval from Xander. "Hopefully it involves treacle and a headmaster," she told Xander in what she thought was a quiet whisper, but was still heard by Giles.

Giles looked up from his plate with an annoyed expression as he avoided eye contact. "Go eat," he said firmly and immediately Anya hurried away. Xander shot Giles an apologetic look, before he hurried after his girlfriend who had made a bee line for the food table.

"Buffy told me about her," Piper said as she came beside the Watcher. "She's still learning how to be human after being a demon for a thousand years?"

"Quite," Giles answered with a sigh.

Far across the room, Buffy finally managed to pull away from her guests to wander over to Faith and Leo. "Hey," she greeted as she came to stand in front of them. "So, Leo, am I really a Whitelighter or was that back at the Manor all you're doing?"

"You are really a Whitelighter," Leo answered as he smiled at her. "But the little lesson was to get you here though. It was set up for Willow to meet us and direct you here. After I got you to bring us to Sunnydale."

"Oh and incase you hadn't noticed," Faith said motioning toward the cake. "Both of our names were on there."

"When Willow learned of why you didn't want to celebrate your birthday, Faith," Leo said. "She became very adamant that it become a dual ceremony. She said and I quote, I want to celebrate not only my best friend's birthday but my cousin's as well."

"How do you feel about someone actually wanting to celebrate it?" Buffy wondered as she looked toward her wife.

Faith glanced toward Willow. "I don't know," she said. "Happy, I guess."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

A fair bit later Giles sat in a chair by himself watching the party continue on around him, feeling really rather like an outcast. He'd never felt as old as he did in this moment, he felt like the parent that was only there to chaperon. He'd begun to think that perhaps it would be best if he just slipped away. He noticed Joyce break away from Piper, Leo, Phoebe, Cole and Paige and come toward him with a fresh paper plate balanced on her hand along with another slice of cake.

Joyce smiled at him as she made her way over to him. "Hello, Rupert," she greeted as she handed him the plate; which Giles accepted a little reluctantly, not sure he could handle any more of the rich birthday cake. "Are you having a good time?" she asked.

Giles stood up, glad for the company and the lessening of the awkward outcast feeling he'd been having. "Yes, yes," he lied. "There's uh, a lot of new faces here, aren't there?" he questioned.

Joyce looked around and nodded her agreement. "Yeah. From what Willow said it is mostly kids from the dorm and a couple from their classes." She looked back at the ex-Watcher. "And you don't have to lie to me, you know."

Giles nodded as he looked toward the Spellman-Summers matriarch. And then he let out a small chuckle as he remembered the last time, they had spent time together.

"What?" Joyce questioned.

"I was just remembering the last time you and I spent time together," he said a tad sheepishly.

Joyce chuckled. "Yeah, I will never forget that night."

"Really," Giles said surprised.

"Really," Joyce echoed. "But don't tell Buffy."

"Don't tell me what?" They turned and saw Buffy walking up to them, her arm wrapped around Faith.

"Nothing," Joyce and Giles said a little too hurriedly.

Giles cleared his throat a little uncomfortably. "Happy birthday," he wished both of them.

Buffy smiled and hugged first her mom and then Giles. "Thank you," she murmured, before she stepped back.

"19, it's hard to believe, isn't it?" Giles murmured once again feeling old.

"So, where you two in on the whole surprise party, too?" Faith asked looking between Joyce and Giles.

"Willow and Xander did the planning," Joyce informed the couple. "Piper and I made the food, with the exception of the cake, which Piper ordered."

"Wow," Faith said surprised. "I would have expected Aunt Piper to have made the cake too."

"Personally, I don't think I would have thrown a surprise party," Giles admitted. "You two have enough things jumping out at you regardless of the time of day."

"Well, as far as things jumping out at us, this is by far the nicest thing that's jumped out at us in a while," Buffy murmured.

"So, you're not mad?" Phoebe asked as she came up beside the couple.

"Mad, of course not, Phoebe," Buffy insisted. "I'm thrilled that both my family and my friends are here wanting to celebrate."

"Buffy! Faith!" Willow called, drawing Buffy and Faith's gaze, beckoning them over.

"Looks like we're needed," Faith said. "And Giles, I hope that you're enjoying the party. I mean that," she said sincerely as she and Buffy hurried off.

"While I have you here," Phoebe said. "I've been meaning to ask how you guys feel about their meeting with that military commander."

"I have mixed feelings about that actually," Giles admitted. "We need to know more about them, but at the same time…we don't know enough about them for me to be completely comfortable with the fact that they'll be completely alone with them."

"Talking about Buffy and Faith's meeting tomorrow?" Paige said from behind them. They turned and saw her approaching with Piper and Leo.

"Yes, we are," Giles answered. "Why, do you know something?"

"Let's go outside so we can talk more privately," Leo informed everyone and they followed him out into the hall and into a neighboring empty room. "I don't know if Faith, Willow and Buffy's professor is related to him or not. It after all could be a coincidence."

"What could be?" Piper wondered looking toward her husband.

"Before I died, before I was even drafted to serve in World War II, I was studying to become a doctor," Leo said. "I was approached by a man by the name of Charles Walsh. He was the head of military project known as the Demon Research Initiative. He wanted to recruit me because of my interest in medicine. He told me about them, that they researched demons and even experimented on them. Reportedly him and his partner Howard Stark were the ones who transformed Steve Rogers into Captain America. Since I didn't know about demons…either upper or lower level…vampires or witches till after I became a Whitelighter, I dismissed the guy as being a nutjob. As I said it could be a coincidence that this woman who is Faith, Willow and Buffy's professor who has the same last name as him and is the head of this secret organization could be picking up her father or grandfather's work, but..."

"But it's enough to warrant caution where she is concerned," Phoebe admitted. She looked at her sisters. "We should tell Faith, Buffy and Willow so they know to be wary."

"Agreed," Paige and Piper said with a nod.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"I'm not really sure that this is a good idea?" Buffy mumbled against Faith's lips as her wife greedily attacked her lips with affectionate kisses.

"What's not good about it?" Faith murmured huskily against Buffy's lips, the moonlight that was pooling into Willow's dorm room giving Buffy an ethereal glow as the silvery light bounced off her golden blond hair; highlighting it.

Buffy moaned against Faith's lips, struggling to keep her thoughts flowing logically against the affectionate assault. "Mm, what about the party? We just left without saying goodbye…or anything…they could come looking for us?" she managed to get out past her lips in between the almost fevered kisses that Faith was giving her.

Faith's hands come to rest on Buffy's thighs. "So?" she murmured as she laid siege to her wife's lips again.

"Mm, what…what if Will walks in on us?" Buffy gasped out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow stood on her toes as she surveyed the rec room looking for not only Buffy, but Faith, Piper and Leo. "Where'd Buffy, Faith, mom and dad go?" She asked Xander a small frown darkening her brow.

Xander didn't even bother glancing about the room, having caught sight of Buffy as she left with Faith. "Buffy and Faith wanted some alone time," he muttered under his breath. "And I haven't seen Piper or Leo in a few minutes."

"Oh, did they speak to you before they left?" Willow asked curiously.

Xander gave Willow a look; a look that had her looking confused causing Xander to sigh in frustration. "Think about it Will. What would a married couple be doing right now if they're not here." Willow's mouth opened in an 'o' as she suddenly realized what Xander was getting at.

Anya touched Xander's arm drawing her boyfriend's attention to her. "If the birthday girl's left that means we can, too, right?"

"Uh An, we're still mingling here… with friends. This is fun remember," Xander said a little awkwardly, giving his best friend an apologetic look, before turning his attention back to Anya as she began to speak again.

"But I'm bored!" Anya pouted. "And these aren't our friends. I don't know half of them."

"Uh…" Xander muttered, wondering what he could say to placate her; not quite ready to leave himself just yet. He found that he enjoyed being able to hang out on campus whilst not putting in the work of a college student. "How about we get something else to eat?" he suggested.

"Fine," Anya pouted as she allowed Xander to lead her away towards one of the food tables.

"Willow!" Piper called as she and Leo rejoined the party.

"Excuse me, Xander," Willow said as she stood up and crossed the room to Piper. "Hey, mom, dad."

"We need to talk to you, Buffy and Faith," Leo said. "Do you know where Buffy and Faith are?"

"They left," Willow replied a small blush creeping to her cheeks. "I would assume they went back to the Manor or maybe Mrs. Summers house. Why what is it?"

"Would you call for Buffy please," Leo informed his daughter.

"Uh, I don't think that would be a good idea right now," Willow said sheepishly.

"Why?" Piper wondered with a look of confusion.

"Uh, because of what they might be doing," Willow answered not wanting to meet her parents eyes.

"Oh," Piper and Leo said in realization as they looked at each other, getting the drift what Buffy and Faith might be in the middle of. "Okay, we're going to stop by first thing in the morning then with Buffy and Faith. We have some important information to relay," Piper informed her daughter.

"Okay," Willow said.

Underwold

Cole flamed into his lair to find the Seer as usual already waiting for him. "Why did he not attack?" he asked her.

"Do not worry," she placated. "Your plan will go off without a hitch. I have foreseen that Ethan Rayne will transform magically his old friend into a demon and Buffy and Faith will get the wrong idea, assuming the 'new' demon killed the Watcher and then they will track him down and Buffy will kill Rupert Giles. When they discover the truth Faith will then take revenge on Rayne."

"And you are sure that with them taking two lives that…" Cole said not sure the Seer's predication would go as planned.

"Once she kills Rayne, she will be one step closer to reclaiming her destiny and assuming the throne as your chosen heir," the Seer answered with a smile.

U.C. Sunnydale

A few hours later Willow opened the door to her dorm expecting to find it empty, but as she stood in the door way her hand reaching for the light, she paused as her eyes took in the clothes strewn about the room. Her gaze immediately went to the normally empty bed to see the large lump of two people lying there. Her eyes taking in the expanse of Faith's naked back, a triquetra on her left shoulder was barely visible from the light of the hall. "Oh," she muttered her gaze going about the room again, her eyes widening further as her gaze landed on Faith's leather pants. "Oh!" she gasped again.

She backed out of the room as she held her breath, not wanting to wake either of them. Closing the door carefully she leaned against it for a moment as her brain process what she had just seen…before she gave her head a shake and began moving down the hall, wondering if Tara would still be awake and would mind keeping her company.

January 21, 2002 – Monday

U.C. Sunnydale

Willow stuck her head through the door and saw that Buffy and Faith were still there but had gotten dressed. "Hey," she greeted as she entered her dorm room.

"Hey," the couple returned the greeting.

"Sorry," Buffy said sheepishly.

"It's okay, Buffy," Willow said as she blushed slightly. "After all technically this is your room too."

"Still," Buffy said just as Piper and Leo orbed in.

"Morning," Piper said as first Willow, then Faith and finally Buffy. "Leo and I have something we need to tell you. We're not sure it relates to your professor, but we want you to know so you can be wary around her."

Buffy, Faith and Willow nodded as Leo repeated what he had said the night before. When he was done Buffy, Faith and Willow nodded again as if they had expected that possibility.

"So," Piper said. "Be careful, okay?"

"Promise, Aunt Piper," Faith assured her aunt.

"We'll be careful, mom," Willow agreed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy and Faith sat in Professor Walsh's office with Riley standing behind her; his arms folded over his chest as he observed everything that had been said so far. "So, The Slayer." Walsh commented after a moment of silence, not quite sure that she believed her luck.

"Yeah, that's us," Faith confirmed. They had been discussing her mission…and the job that the military group, they know knew was called The Initiative, did. The more they heard the more Leo's suspicions sounded spot on. If The Initiative had picked up where the Demon Research Initiative had left off, they wanted to get inside and snoop around to see what they might be up against.

"We thought the Slayer was a myth," Walsh said as she sat forward in her chair, her gaze intense as she stared at her students. "And to think all that time you two were sitting in my class. Well, most of those times."

"Well, we did try to make it to all our classes, but…demons aren't all that considerate of schedules and all," Faith admitted.

"Oh, of that I'm sure," Walsh interlaced her fingers as she continued to stare at the couple intensely. "I'm eager to learn more about what is it you two do as The Slayer. Your technic…I understand that you two poke them with a sharp stick."

Buffy and Faith glanced toward Riley as if to ask, you didn't tell her? He shook his head. They turned back to Walsh and Buffy nodded. "Well, it's more effective than it sounds."

"This is really all very fascinating. I never thought that The Slayer was real, let alone get to meet two. Two that are in my very class. I'm sure that we'll be able to learn a lot from each other, Buffy, Faith. I'm working on getting you both clearances to come into The Initiative. I think you'll both find the results of our operation quite impressive." Walsh glanced over at Riley, her gaze softening slightly as she looked over at him. "Agent Finn here, alone, has killed or captured…how many is it?" she asked him.

"Seventeen," Riley said with pride in his voice. "Eleven vampires, six demons."

"Oh…" Buffy murmured softly as she glanced at Faith, "I mean seventeen that's…"

"What about the two of you?" Walsh asked. "How many hostiles would you two say you've slain?" she clarified.

"We don't keep track," Faith admitted. "But Buffy has more on her count than I do since she's been doing it for three years. I wasn't called till about two years after she was. And I mean no offense Riley, but I would say we've definitely killed more than seventeen."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Riley walked down the hallway from the office as he let out a sigh. "I am glad I didn't tell you everything I saw," he muttered to himself as he pulled out a newspaper obituary, from his pocket, for Prue Halliwell. "That you two are obviously witches. Who knows how far she would go with that information?"

Halliwell Manor

"Aunt Piper?" Faith called as she and Buffy flamed into the foyer.

"Kitchen," Piper called back.

The couple quickly followed Piper's voice and found her, Leo, Paige and Phoebe sitting around the breakfast table.

"Well?" Phoebe said as looked up at the couple. "How did the meeting go?" she asked Buffy and Faith sat on the island.

Buffy shrugged. "To be honest it was kinda awkward," she admitted. "For a few moments there I saw Professor Walsh as she wanted to devour me whole. She was staring at us that intently," she attempted a soft chuckle in an attempt to brush it off. "But, I'm sure it's nothing serious. Probably just a reaction from all my nerves," she excused with what she hoped was a dismissive wave of her hand. "

"We did learn that your suspicions were spot on, Uncle Leo," Faith said. "This particular branch of the military is called The Initiative," she added.

"Is that all?" Cole wondered as he stepped into the kitchen. While he could care less about innocents, he was also worried about the exposure this group posed, especially if they got their hands on an upper level demon.

Buffy shrugged. "Well, there were other things, but it was just confirmation of what we already knew. I'm sure we'll learn more once Faith and I get inside."

"What do you mean, 'once you get inside'?" Piper questioned suddenly worried.

"Professor Walsh. She's getting us clearance to go into The Initiative," Faith explained nonchalantly. "We're not going to join. But we do need all the information we can get about them."

Phoebe sighed. "I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say be careful, none of us trust them," she informed the couple.

"We don't either," Buffy admitted. "And we will be careful. In fact, we believe we have an ace in the hole."

"What?" Paige wondered.

"Riley didn't tell them that he saw us using our powers," Faith admitted.

"What?" Leo cried as she abruptly stood up. "He saw you two using your powers?"

"Leo is right," Cole agreed swallowing the disgust he felt for agreeing with Leo. "You should have said something. Now there is a mortal who knows about magic."

"First off I think we can trust him," Buffy said. "Second we didn't have a choice. We were fighting the Viri at the time. Saving his life and everyone else's lives in Sunnydale was more important than protecting the secret. Are you guys saying you wouldn't have made the same call."

"You know we would have," Piper reluctantly said. "If it meant protecting innocent lives. That said…"

"We know that lesson, Aunt Piper," Faith interjected looking straight at Phoebe. "Isn't that right, Aunt Phoebe…" then she looked at Cole and Leo, "…Uncle Leo, Uncle Cole. After all you three told all of us what happened before time was reset."

Restfield Cemetery

"You sure?" Willow asked. "Because we can stay."

"No. Go," Giles ordered.

Xander made a hasty retreat back up the stairs and out of the mausoleum, while Willow stood there for a moment longer. "If you need me," she said.

"Thank you, Willow," Giles admitted. "But you need to conserve your energies. Being Piper's adopted daughter is going to put you on the front lines of their war. And with you helping Buffy and Faith here in Sunnydale also…"

"I understand," Willow admitted as she smiled at him. "But if you ever need me. Just call and I was Buffy flame me here."

"I promise," Giles said sincerely as he watched her head up the stairs out of the mausoleum. He then sat down on the stone bench. "Well if Willow is right about the Riley's military group dealing with this then…" He got up and stuffed his supplies back into his bag. "Nothing is going to happen." He finished his task and got up heading out of the mausoleum.

Closing the door behind him, completely unaware that he had been watched the entire time. Ethan Ryne stepped out of the shadows he had hidden in the moment he had heard Giles approach, his grey trench coat keeping him warm in the cool mausoleum. His gaze focused on the closed door Giles had just walked through. "I wouldn't say that." He murmured with a smug smile. "I wouldn't say that at all. In fact, Ripper, old mate, I'd say something rather interesting was about to hap…" The door Ethan was staring at suddenly opened again causing him to trail off in surprise.

Giles shone his flashlight into the mausoleum having been lingering outside of the door for a few moments. "Did someone…" he began only to trail off as his flashlight lighted on Ethan Rayne.

"Oh bugger! I thought you'd gone!" Ethan exclaimed wondering just how much his old pal had heard… if anything at all through the thick mausoleum door.

Summers Home

Faith smirked as she watched Buffy deliver a well-placed fist to Riley's head, which he blocked. "So, you told them nothing about…" she held out her hand as a fireball formed in it.

"No," Riley answered as he ducked another punch from Faith.

"Good," Buffy admitted. "I would hate to think what they would do if they…"

"That you two were witches as well as being Slayers," Riley answered as he caught Buffy her around the neck with his arm and tried to pull her into a headlock.

"So, you figured that," Faith said with a glance at Buffy.

"The only other explanation I could think of was mutants, but I think I like witches better," Riley admitted as Buffy spun out of his arm and knocked him off his feet. He hit the ground and rolled up into wrestler's stance. "Are you holding back? "

"Are you?" Buffy wondered. "Thank you for not revealing that. It's not just our secret."

"Maybe. A little," Riley informed them in regard to her question about him holding about. "And on you two being witches I figured it was a family deal." He glanced toward Faith. "Your mother wasn't killed by a human, was she?"

"No," Faith answered. "By a demon that my aunts vanquished."

"So, maybe me too," Buffy said bringing them back to the topic of their sparring.

"I'll go all out if you will," Riley informed her. "But I would like a chance to go against Faith too."

"That won't be happening," Faith countered. "We try and limit my physical activity as much as possible for a reason."

Riley glanced down at Faith's stomach and then back to her face. "Another thing I won't mention. If they knew you were pregnant you wouldn't be allowed in the field, not till after…"

"Buffy tries to limit my patrols anyways for the same reason," Faith admitted. "We don't want our daughter to develop birth defects because…"

"Are you sure you want to go all out?" Buffy questioned.

"I'm sure," Riley said as he and Buffy went at each other. She sent one kick to his chest and he was sent ten feet across the backyard, collapsing to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Faith asked as she and Buffy rushed over. "Are you hurt? "

"I…I'm…I don't think so," Riley said after checking himself over.

U.C. Sunnydale

Willow looked around Tara's dorm room. She loved it in here; it was always so mystical and magical. She turned her gaze from the white Christmas lights that were hung about Tara's dorm room walls; giving it a dimly lit mystic glow. She smiled affectionately as she watched Tara finished the white sand design of the encircled four-point star. "I'm glad that you wanted to get together. I know it's late," she murmured, knowing that it might be too much to ask two nights in a row.

"Thanks," Tara murmured. "I was happy you called," she admitted after a hesitant beat.

Willow smiled, glad that Tara felt that way; as the feeling echoed her own. She placed a rose gently on top of the newly completed encircled four-point star; being careful to not mess up the grains of sand.

Tara shifted from her kneeling position to a cross-legged one as she sat aside the jar full of white sand just as Willow reached across the star and rose. Tara took her hands gently, hoping that her hands weren't too sweaty a thrill of excitement coursing through her at the soft touch of their hands.

Willow closed her eyes and Tara quickly followed suit, her fingers shifted slightly over Willow's for a moment as they sat in silence, before she broke the silence. "Willow?" she asked.

"Yeah?" Willow replied, her eyes still closed as she tried to get the magicks flowing.

Tara opened her eyes. "What are we doing exactly?" she asked, a little embarrassed that she didn't know.

Willow opened her eyes, embarrassed that she hadn't taken the time to actually explain what they were attempting. "Oh," she murmured as she released Tara's hands, her arms starting to get a little sore. "We're going to float the rose. Then use the magicks to pluck the petals off, one at a time," she explained with a small smile. "It's a test…

"Of synchronicity," Tara answered. "You do know that I have a rare ability, right?"

"Did you…" Willow started wondering about the soda machine they had moved in front of the door to block the Viri.

"Yes," Tara answered. "I have the ability to augment another witch's powers. That night I simply augmented your own powers."

"Well this will test and see how far we can go with your augmentation and my powers," Willow informed Tara. "And it should be very pretty," she murmured with a smile.

Tara nodded her and they linked hands again as they closed their eyes. A smile curled up Willow's lips as after only a short moment she felt the buzz of their magics comingling, rising slowly… carefully in the air around them.

The white sand began to glow as the two women began to concentrate; and the rose began to shudder as the magics circled about it. After a moment the rose began to rise up off the glowing sand. And all so slowly the rose floated higher and higher into the air between their extended arms. When it reached shoulder level, they opened their eyes delighted smiles lighting up their faces as they saw what they had achieved together.

"It worked," Tara murmured softly as they released each-others hands.

Willow straightened up as she rested her hands in her lap. "Now for the hard part. The petals," she murmured softly. They stared up at the floating rose. She bit her lower lip as she concentrated really wanting to see petals slowly plucked from the rose that was slowly beginning to turn in the air. But suddenly out of nowhere the rose shot across the room as if it had been shot out of a gun. Surprised Willow and Tara jumped to their feet, watching as the rose speed across the room like it had taken a magic induced high as it ricocheted off the four walls a few times, having to duck a couple of times to stop being hit by the flying rose missile.

Finally, after a few moments the rose fell back down onto the four-pointed star that had now stopped glowing. The two women looked down at the rose that was now just a smoking stem. "What the heck was that?" Willow asked a little concerned as she glanced up from the smoking stem to Tara.

Tara glanced up from the rose to and gave the redhead a small smile. "I augmented you way too much, but uh, the petals are off," she said with a small chuckle.

January 22, 2002 – Tuesday

Giles' Apartment

Giles groaned tiredly as he walked with painful steps towards the door of his room; each step forward making the pounding in his head that much worse. And there was a foul taste in his mouth, something he had become aware of the moment his confounded alarm had started blaring noisily through his room. He yawned widely, completely missing the fact that the noise of it sounded rather different to his usual one.

"I feel like hell in the morning," he muttered as he walked out of his room. Making it to the landing at the top of his staircase, he found he had to stop again as another powerful yawn over took him; stretching his arms over his head as he did so. Turning to face a mirror, Giles eyes opened once again only to freeze at the sight that greeted him.

The sight immediately making him forget all about the pain in his head and the foul taste in his mouth as his hands that had been half lowered from his earlier stretch flew to his face as his calm expression turned to one of shock and horror.

He took in his new large curled horns, light brownish skin and long furry ears and sharp fang-like teeth as his mouth dropped open in his horror. "Uh! Wha…Wha…" he stammered as he reached up to touch his newly sprouted horns timidly. "No!" He exclaimed in horror as he leaned closer to the mirror. He moved to place a hand against the wall next to his mirror and his newly clawed hand easily went straight through the wall instead; not being able to control the new-found strength he had gained with the transformation.

Immediately he pulled his hand back and turned resting it on the banister not quite believing what had happened to him, only to rip it right up from the railing, surprising Giles further. He waved the banister around just a little as he floundered at the sight of his banister was clasped in his now clawed hand. "Damn!" he cursed as he stumbled down the stairs.

Making it down onto the main floor of his apartment, he managed to get his claws; that had sunk deeply into the wood of the banister, removed from the wood and he threw it down. Where it hit a chair that was in the way and shattered the chair to bits as Giles had used more strength than he had intended to…more strength than he should have. Giles looked around; his gaze going from the broken chair to the upper staircase where the railing stood in ruins in a state of confusion as he wondered what could have possibly happened, before a thought struck him. "Ethan!" he growled, the new low gravelly tenor to his voice sounding strange in his ears. Looking around again, his gaze landed on his phone and he quickly moved toward it. Picking it up from its cradle and moved to bring it up to his ear, only for the strength in his hand alone to break the phone into bits before he could get it even half way up to his ear.

With a confounded and bothered expression Giles dropped the phone, his eyes landed on the shirt he had dropped to the floor in the wee hours of the morning when he'd finally gotten home. Hurrying toward it, he bent to pick it up. He struggled for a moment to get his arms into the sleeves; finding this new body awkward and clumsier than the one he was used to. He shrugged on the shirt, or at least attempted to; only for the more prominent spinal bones to rip through the thin material of the shirt, causing it to fall off of him far more easily than it had been for him to get it on. "Oh, and I liked that shirt!" Giles groaned with a grimace as he looked down at the ruins that had been his shirt.

Snatching up a thick flannel blanket to cover his demonic body; wrapping it around his shoulders as he headed swiftly for his front door. He grabbed at the handle intending to only open the door; only to accidentally rip the door off its hinges. Giles hardly even flinched at the extra damage as he quickly released the door and stepped outside and hurried on his way. His mind in a whirl as he hunkered down into the thick flannel of the blanket as he hurried on down the streets on the sunny Californian morning.

Rocket Cafe

Faith sat with Buffy across from Willow as she began stacking the pancakes she had ordered for breakfast onto her plate. She stacked a couple of more pancakes onto her plate a happy smile curling up her lips, a smile that was so wide that it flashed her white teeth.

"Happy, baby?" Buffy questioned.

"For once no morning sickness," Faith admitted. "So hopefully…keep your fingers crossed."

Willow smiled. "Maybe you guys should do more sleepover more often. Maybe that's what did the trick."

Faith glanced at her wife and then back at her cousin. "Sleepover?" she questioned a little cautiously.

"Uh, yeah…I kind of walked into the dorm room to find you two uh, sleeping quite peacefully…" Willow murmured a flush darkening her cheeks.

A matching blush rose on the couple's cheeks. "Uh, yeah… sorry about that, Will. It just sort of happened…we didn't mean to uh…give you a bit of eye scarage," Buffy apologized.

"Oh, don't worry about it…I mean I didn't see much. Just a back and perhaps an arm, before I backtracked," Willow assured them.

"Oh, well. I suppose that that isn't so bad. Though I do feel bad that it sort of chased you out of you…" Buffy murmured as she poured a generous amount of syrup onto her pancakes.

Willow waved a dismissive hand. "First it's technically your room also. Second, it's no big. I spent the night in the chem lab, by myself," she lied, hoping that it sounded convincing, before she swallowed a little thickly as she looked over at Buffy.

"You don't have to lie, cuz," Faith informed her cousin with a smile. She began to dig into her pancakes "Buffy and Blondie do talk. So, we know you spent the night with Tara."

Willow nodded sheepishly. "I thought I would try a spell with her, one designed to…"

"Test how well your powers work together," Buffy finished for her.

"Yeah the rose floated up just as intended. Then all of a sudden." Willow motioned with her fork what the rose had done. "Zing, zing, zing! Like all over the room. It was like a rose-based missile," she murmured a little disheartened.

"Yeah, Tara said she might have augmented your powers a little too much," Buffy admitted.

"I know," Willow said, before lowering her voice. "But I'm not sure it was Tara's fault. I felt a presence…dark magics blocking the spell. It's new."

Buffy and Faith glanced at each other. Neither of them had faced a dark witch since their witch powers had woken. They glanced back at Willow. "Someone else doing magic?" Faith asked concerned.

Willow shrugged a little. "Maybe, if so, it's someone pretty powerful."

"Hmm. We'll tell Piper and Giles about it," Buffy assured Willow, she and Faith had been meaning to stop by and inform Giles about the meeting with Walsh anyways. "We need to give Giles an update on the meeting anyway."

Harris Home

Giles carefully opened the door to Xander's basement glad that the door wasn't locked and that he managed to not break the door just by touching it. Ideally, he wouldn't be coming to Xander first, but it was the one place that he could imagine not causing a lot of attention and panic whilst he was in pickle that he was. He walked quietly, moving through the haphazardly strung up clothes line, that was laden down with drying underwear. Finally getting a clear view, he was surprised to find Xander still lying asleep in his pull-out bed. "Still asleep?" he murmured, his gaze going to the clock in the basement. "It's 10:30 in the morning," he muttered as he cautiously moved closer, leaning down low so that he could whisper quietly, not wanting to disturb the rest of the house if at all possible. "Xander," he called. "Xander, wake up."

Groggily Xander shifted restlessly on the mattress, before turning on to his side, facing away from Giles wanting to sleep more, before he lifted his head and looked over his shoulder; his eyes still closed. "Mom?" he asked, his voice slurred with sleep.

"No, it's not mom," Giles replied softly as he hovered awkwardly over Xander's bed, his body still crouched down as he held the blanket about him still. "Now, when you look at me…you may be a little alarmed, but there's no need, it's me. Giles. Now, Ethan has turned me into a demon and I need your help," he explained, as Xander slowly and reluctantly opened his eyes; curious as to what was making the strange noises above him. "Hello," he murmured in response to Xander's opening eyes. "Yes, it's me."

Xander's eyes slowly focused as he blinked up at the person that was looming over his bed, and immediately his eyes widened in fear. "Ah!" Xander shouted in fear, before jumping out of his bed as the demon continued to growl and grumbled at him with sounds, he couldn't understand.

"Xander, listen!" Giles attempted to plead, having no idea that he wasn't speaking any language that Xander could possibly hope to understand. "Don't you understand me?" he asked as he attempted to move towards the irate boy.

"Demon! Demon!" Xander shouted hysterically as the demon continued to growl and snarl at him.

"Please, don't you understand?" Giles asked as he took another step toward Xander, who grabbed up a pot from one of his shelves and threw it at the demon that was invading his sanctuary. Seeing how the demon flinched away from the missile that hit him solidly, Xander immediately began taking up pots and pans one after the other to throw at the ugly demon. "No, no! Don't! Xander!" he pleaded. "Xander, calm down! Ow, you're just a little overwrought! Ow!" A frying pan hit him alongside the head and he decided that it was best to retreat as he obviously wasn't going to listen to reason anytime soon.

"That's right!" Xander cried as he saw the vicious-looking demon run for the door it had evidentially come through. "Run for your life!"

Giles Apartment

Faith stepped out of Xander's car, falling into step beside Buffy as they headed toward the courtyard, the small group still talking about the demon Xander had encountered.

"So, it had pointy things. What kind of pointy things?" Buffy asked as she walked down the steps into Giles courtyard; Faith beside her and Xander, Willow and Anya coming swiftly behind them.

"The pointy kind," Xander replied, the memory kind of fuzzy now as he'd been rather hysteric with fear at the time. "And tufty ears. Oh, and it might have a saucepan-shaped bruise," he added, hoping that that extra bit of information might help.

"Giles or mom will know what it…" Willow trailed off as they came to a stop for a moment in front of Giles front door. The sight shocking and worrying everyone, "…was," she finished after a moment, her gaze worried.

They all exchanged a worried look.

"Buffy, flame to the Manor. "Get whoever is there and flame back."

"Will do," Buffy said as she disappeared in a swirl of fiery flames.

Faith led Xander, Willow and Anya toward the open front door. "Giles?" she called as she looked around the damaged living room; her eyes going to the broken telephone; whilst Xander quickly moved up the stairs to check the loft for the missing ex-Watcher. Faith stepped around her gaze taking in all the other damage to Giles' belongings just as Buffy flamed in with Piper. She looked toward her aunt just a small frown began to crease Piper's brow upon seeing the room.

"I see why you wanted me," Piper admitted as she continued to stare at the room.

"Yeah, looks like, Xander wasn't the only one to get a visitor today," Faith murmured with concern.

Xander came back down the stairs. "He's not upstairs," he informed them as he came back down to the living room.

"Oh, God, Giles," Willow exclaimed worriedly, her teeth worrying her lower lip and the prick of worried tears at the back of her eyes.

"Hey, Piper," Xander said when he saw the eldest Halliwell sister.

"Hi, Xander," Piper greeted. "Did you get a good look at the demon? So I can try and find it in the book?"

"Is Aunt Paige or Aunt Phoebe home?" Faith wondered.

"Phoebe is at work," Piper said. "Paige is. I assume you would rather I stay here for extra firepower?"

"Please," Faith said.

"Alright," Piper said as she pulled out her cell phone. "Xander, call the Manor and describe the demon to Paige," she said as she handed him the phone.

"Will do," Xander said as he took the phone. He walked across the room and dialed.

"Okay," Piper said taking command of the incident. She watched as her nieces move toward Willow comfortingly. "There's a demon and Rupert is dead. For one there are no scorch marks. Of course, that means nothing. Lower level demons don't always have powers. But there is also no signs of blood that I can see."

"Which means the demon took him somewhere?" Buffy suggested.

"A reasonable assumption," Piper agreed.

Anya, who had looked down at her feet, bent down and picked up the cloth that had caught her attention. Holding it up between her fingers she realized exactly what it was and she felt herself begin to worry about the old man herself. "I think it ate him up," she murmured mildly drawing everyone else's attention to the torn-up ruins of Giles shirt that she was holding up for examination.

Buffy swallowed thickly as she stared at Giles ruined shirt, her hands clenching into tight fists at her sides as she had the sudden urge to pummel the demon that was responsible for all the pain Giles had suffered at its hands.

Cole, who stood invisible in a corner, smiled as he watched Buffy. The plan was coming nicely.

Sunnydale Memorial Cemetery

Giles wandered miserably through the cemetery; still holding the thick flannel blanket around his upper body, covering it in the absence of being able to don a shirt. He trudged past a stone mausoleum not noticing Spike who was busily measuring the length of one of the mausoleums walls with a measuring tape.

Spike let the measuring tape snap closed as he caught sight of the demon that had happened to wander by him and smirked in anticipation as he stepped away from the wall and moved out behind the trudging demon. "Well, what do I spy with my little eye?" he said mockingly, causing the demon to stop at the sound of his voice. "A demon. That would be…oh, right…the things I can kill," he rumbled, looking forward to a spot of violence especially against a demon as ferocious as a Fyarl.

Giles groaned deep in his throat the sound rumbling demonically from his throat. "Spike," he muttered with a 'why me' tone. "Wonderful, a perfect end to a perfect day," he muttered sarcastically.

Spike frowned, his anticipation and excitement falling right down at the very English sounding and familiar voice coming from the Fyarl demon. "Giles?" Spike asked surprised, not sure that he could really believe what he was hearing.

Giles turned around reluctantly as he put his fists up; feeling really rather awkward about it. "Go on, then. Let's get on with the fighting…" he trailed off for a moment his expression puzzled. "You understand me?" he asked surprised and hopefully.

"Of course, I understand you," Spike muttered, feeling really rather disappointed that his fight was a flunkout.

"I'm speaking English?" Giles asked hopefully; hoping that he might be able to ask for help from Buffy, Faith and the others now.

Spike shook his head. "No, you're speaking Fyarl. I happen to speak Fyarl. And…" He gave him a once over. "By the way, why the hell are you suddenly a Fyarl demon? You come over all demony this morning?" he asked sarcastically; in no way expecting that to be the truth as he stepped back toward the mausoleum losing interest in Giles.

"As a matter of fact, I did," Giles admitted with a sneer curling up his lips as his mind once again focused on the one responsible for his current predicament. "Thanks to Ethan Rayne. You have to help me find him. He must undo this and then he needs a…" he trailed off as he tried to think of something fitting. "Good being killed," he came up with.

Spike snorted. "And I'm just supposed to help you out of the evilness of my heart?" he asked mockingly.

Giles swallowed a little nervously. "You help and I won't kill you," he threatened a little anxiously.

"Oh, tremendously convincing," Spike snorted sarcastically. "Try it again without the stutter," he suggested.

"Money," Giles blurted and seeing the look of sudden interest on Spike's face, continued. "I could pay you money."

Spike took a step towards Giles. "Oh, I like money. How much?" he enquired.

"A hundred dollars," Giles offered, not wanting to have to give away too much of his money to the vampire.

"A hundred dollars?" Spike scoffed. "You'll have to do a lot better than that." He assured Giles. "Two hundred," he countered.

"Fine," Giles agreed without preamble.

Spike looked at Giles surprised for a second having expected the man to haggle with him a bit before settling on a price. "Right, then," he muttered.

"Right, then," Giles echoed, not sure what to say at that moment after striking a bargain with Spike.

"So, what's first?" Spike asked with a grin. "I run and tell The Slayers or their families what you've gotten yourself into?"

"No," Giles responded immediately, now that he had secured help, he didn't want Buffy, Faith or the Charmed Ones to know what had happened. "When I find Ethan I can clear all this up without them ever having to find out that anything happened to me at all," he decided, before he began walking toward the exit of the cemetery; Spike following after him for the promise of the two hundred bucks he would get at the end of this little debacle.

Giles' Apartment

Xander sat at Giles' desk, several occult books open in front of him as he tried to identify the demon he had seen at his house, with the help of the others that were also flipping through books doing their best to go off the description he had given them. He looked up at the book Willow was showing to him; his eyes taking in the picture that did indeed have pointy horns and furry ears. "Ok, that's a giant vulture. I'd have mentioned it, if it was a giant vulture," he informed her, growing a little impatient with the lack of respect.

Willow sighed in disappointment as she stepped away from Xander who had ducked his head back to the books he was looking at in an attempt at identifying the demon. "Mom, Buffy, Faith," Willow murmured with a downtrodden sigh. "Even if we figure out what kind of demon got Giles…I mean, how are we going to find it?" she asked, beginning to feel like this was a waste of time.

"Well we have plenty of things here to try and scry for him," Piper reminded her daughter.

"And if that don't work?" Willow wondered sadly.

"We'll figure it out," Faith assured Willow.

Buffy stepped toward Xander. "Oh, this one has tufty ears," she told him as she held the book out for Xander to inspect. Xander looked at it for a second before dismissing it as not the one with a small wave of his hand. Before Buffy could step back, all their attention was drawn toward the broken-in front door as a suspicious noise came from just outside of it.

"What was that?" Willow whispered nervously to Buffy as Faith shut her book with a soft snap.

Buffy and Faith moved swiftly and quietly toward the door, Buffy's hand reaching for her stake while a fireball formed in Faith's. The couple drew back their arms ready to strike as the door moved from its haphazard position. They froze as they caught sight of the person coming through the doorway. "Buffy? Faith?" Riley murmured surprised to see them here; a surprise that was echoed in Buffy.

"Riley." Buffy said in equal surprise as she lowered her stake while Faith extinguished her fireball.

"What are you doing here?" Faith asked as she stepped back from the door; highly aware of the fact that Piper had now changed positions in the room, so that she was closer to them.

Riley shrugged a little awkwardly. "There were 911 calls from a couple of different places. Including here."

"This the one that saw…" Piper started with a glance at Buffy and Faith, both of whom nodded.

"You get 911 calls?" Xander asked before Riley, Buffy, Faith or Piper could say anything else.

"We have a tap into the system," Riley admitted. "It flags things with possible non-human causes." Xander shook his head in dismay and bent his head back to the books he was flipping through, wanting to find the damned thing so that they could move onto the frying it thing. "We check them out. What are you doing here?" He asked Buffy and Faith.

"This is Rupert Giles' apartment," Piper explained moving between her nieces and Riley protectively. "He's missing. The calls, did anyone see what did it?"

"And you are?" Riley questioned as his eyes narrowed.

"Piper Halliwell," Piper answered with a shrug.

"One of my aunts," Faith added as Riley nodded in understanding. "Anyways are you going to answer her question.

"Negative," Riley replied. "I mean no one saw who or what did it."

"Poor Giles," Willow murmured as she moved next to Piper.

"We'll get him back," Buffy assured her friends.

"Buffy's right," Piper agreed.

"What are you working on?" Riley asked curiously, wanting to be a part of it in any way he could.

"Uh, we have stuff," Buffy offered cautiously, not sure how much she should tell him about their progress and what they were doing. "Pictures…"

"We have nothing," Anya interrupted, an expression on her face that clearly said that she thought that she was being helpful; and gave the others a 'what' look when they all shot her looks of annoyance.

Riley looked at Buffy and watched as it turned rather crestfallen as Anya's words sunk in. "I'll help," Riley offered. "The whole Initiative. We'll do whatever you need."

"Thanks," Piper said cautiously. "But that's really not nec…"

"I insist," Riley urged turning his attention the eldest Halliwell sister.

"Piper," Buffy said drawing Piper's attention to her. "We could use their help if it means tracking it down and saving Giles. After all we're kind of on the same side in that regards."

"Fine," Piper agreed reluctantly.

Streets of Sunnydale

Giles flinched, his new sensitive ears picking up the sound of his car's gears being murdered by Spike's horrible driving skills; wishing that Spike had allowed him to drive…but at the same time…in the state he was in it was probably a bad idea…a very bad idea. "If you can't find third gear, don't try for third gear!" he finally snapped in annoyance.

"I'm doing my best," Spike said with a shrug, the old Citroen beginning to annoy him, making him wish that he'd made Giles go with him to get his car. "I don't know if I'm driving this thing or wearing it," he muttered, feeling really rather cramped up in the small car that Giles drove.

"It's perfectly serviceable," Giles retorted stiffly, causing Spike to laugh and Giles to give the vampire an annoyed glare.

"Funny hearing a Fyarl demon say 'serviceable'. Had a couple of them working for me once, they're more like 'like to crush. Crush now?' Strong though, you won't meet a jar you can't open for the rest of your life." Giles growled loudly in response. He looked over at his companion in surprise. "What was that? Did you growl?" he asked curiously.

"No," Giles denied awkwardly. "Listen, about this Fyarl demon. Do I have special powers?" he asked a little eagerly; actually, beginning to enjoy himself. "Like setting thing on fire with my sizzling eye beams?"

"You're not an upper level demon, so no on the sizzling eye beams," Spike answered. "But you do have this mucous thing?" he informed him.

"What?" Giles exclaimed somewhat crestfallen. "Mucous?" He'd been hoping for something a little cooler and intimidating…and not near so gross.

Spike nodded. "Paralysing mucous; shoots out through the nose, sets on fast. Hard as a rock. Pretty good in a fight."

Giles eyed Spike shrewdly. "Are you making this up?" he asked suspiciously.

Spike's lips curled up into a sly grin, unable to help antagonizing his fellow Englishman. "Maybe. But hey, you feel a sneeze coming on, you warn me," he told Giles, making sure that he confused the ex-Watcher.

Giles growled again, his new psychology not appreciating the vampire's humor. "Turn here," he demanded, pointing in the direction he wanted Spike to turn, his arm slamming against the passenger side door; having forgotten that his arms were a lot meatier and bulkier than normal. Spike spun the wheel harshly in an attempt to make the left turn that he demanded. The old car screeched as the gears grinded together loudly. "Down shift! Down shift!" he growled angrily.

"Calm down, will you?" Spike grumbled, eyeing Giles a little concerned, not wanting to get caught in a sudden Fyarl outburst of rage.

"I'm not sure I can," Giles admitted, a little anxiously. "I feel like I'm changing."

Spike sighed. "Fine with me, so long as you pay me," he muttered.

"I really like this feeling," Giles admitted, his voice more of a rumbling growl now than anything humanoid. "Sort of mindless need to destroy. This anger and rage."

Spike nodded his understanding. "Good times. Go with it," he advised.

Giles gave his head a small shake, as he began to succeed in calming himself down. "No," he replied almost calmly.

"Oh, it's fun," Spike urged. "I can't do it, do it for me. Now let yourself go."

"I refuse to become a monster because I look like a monster. I have a soul," Giles said with an attempt at dignity as he looked out the window. "I have a conscience. I am a human being." His eyes caught sight of Maggie Walsh. "Oh, stop the car!" he demanded, his voice becoming a growl once again in his unspent rage against the woman. Obediently Spike pulled the car over the curb the screech of gears combining with the screech of the breaks.

No sooner had the car stopped at the corner of Main Street than Giles jumped out, leaving his blanket in the car as he snuck up behind Walsh as she was in the middle of crossing the street. When he was close enough Giles let out a roar to draw her attention, waving his arms about in what appeared to be a vicious manner. Walsh screamed in fright and immediately began running for her life as Giles chased her across the room and down the street.

They passed the Expresso Pump and Giles stopped; ignoring the stares he was getting as he thoroughly enjoyed watching that hag of a woman continuing to run for her life. Once she was out of sight, Giles hurried back toward the car to a bemused Spike who was waiting with only a slight impatience. Giles got awkwardly back into his car and slammed the door shut behind him with more force than he intended. "Right, let's go, then," he muttered, ignoring Spike's knowing gaze.

Halliwell Manor

Paige stood in front of the book as she tried to identify the demon Xander had described to her.

"Paige?" Phoebe said as she and Cole entered the attic. "What do we got?" she wondered as Paige had called her to inform her on the latest demon.

"I'm not sure," Paige admitted. "I can't seem to find it in the book."

"What did it look like?" Cole asked.

"According to Xander's description," Paige answered as she looked up at the couple. "It's tall, muscular with orange skin and protruding shoulders. And it has curved horns at the sides of their head."

Cole nodded. "It's a Fyarl demon," he answered. "Their known as foot soldiers, their low level. Extremely strong and they shoot this mucus from their nostrils that paralyzes their attackers. And one the mucus dries it is extremely hard to get off. You can kill them with an athame, though it has to be made of silver as they are actually vulnerable to silver," he finished hiding a smirk that threatened to appear on his face.

Giles' Apartment

Paige, Piper and Willow were sitting on the sofa, Paige in the middle. The book of shadows was sitting on the coffee table in front of them opened to the entry on the Fyarl demon. Once Cole had told her about the demon, she had managed to find it in the book.

Xander sat with Anya and Willow on the neighboring couch. Faith sat in Buffy' lap on one of the chairs and Riley stood Piper, Paige and Willow looking down at the book with interest, not having seen books like it before during his time as a professional demon hunter. Of course the entire Halliwell family had a problem of course with him seeing it, but they would worry about it later.

"That's the thing that attacked me." Xander told them, his voice laced with his triumph.

"A Fyarl demon," Willow read as she leaned in closer. "Sort of a foot solider type, works for other demons lots of the time. Very strong…Ugh!" she moaned disgustedly, her nose scrunching up in distaste. "And hey, mucous."

Buffy turned her attention from Faith and felt her wife's hands squeeze hers. "Mucous?" she asked her own nose scrunching up in shared disgust.

Before anyone could answer, Riley's phone beeped loudly. He immediately pulled it out and answered it. "Agent Finn, go ahead," he spoke into it.

Faith focused on her aunts and cousin. "How do we kill it?"

"Silver," Paige answered. "It's vulnerable to silver. So an athame could do it."

Buffy nodded with determination, her eyes flashing angrily as she couldn't help imagining getting her hands on the demon that had dared to attack someone she considered family.

Faith leaned close to her. Are you okay, Buffy?" she whispered quietly, before she pressed a kiss to Buffy's cheek.

"No," Buffy murmured. "No one hurts one of my family and gets away with it," she murmured lowly, her hands clenching and unclenching once again.

"Yes, I understand," Riley said into his phone, before he hung up the device and tucked it away once again. "The demon attacked Professor Walsh. Got out of a small, grey car. A Citroen," he informed them.

Willow frowned in confusion. "It stole Giles' car," she murmured.

"Why would a demon steal a car?" Xander asked.

"It's faster than walking," Piper quipped. "The only thing faster than that would be doing what…" She nodded from Buffy to Paige and Xander nodded in understanding.

"Why would a demon steal that car?" Anya asked, her nose crinkling in distaste of the demon's obvious lack of taste for the finer things in life.

"A demon steals a car for a reason," Faith began. "A purpose. But it doesn't sound like these Fyarl demons are really big independent thinkers. So, the spells that are going wrong…could they be caused by someone using magics to control a demon? Making this Fyarl demon attack Giles?"

"Yes," Piper said. "Especially if the magic were aimed in such a way not only to control the demon but also to block Willow, since she is telepathic, from learning who was controlling the demon," she explained, as Riley listened intently.

"Ok," Faith said with authority. She knew Buffy's mind was more in anger mode for someone attacking Giles so she took over for her wife as she formulated a plan. "Willow, Xan, stay here," she ordered. "Whoever is controlling this demon may call and ask for a ransom. Give them anything they want."

Willow and Xander nodded in unison. "You got it." Xander spoke for them.

Faith turned to face her wife. "Buffy, you and I are going to the magic shop. Maybe they needed supplies." Buffy nodded her agreement and got up from the couch.

"I'll come with you," Riley spoke up when Faith paused to gather her thoughts once again.

Faith and Buffy nodded their agreement. "Aunt Piper, Aunt Paige, see if you can't scry for Giles," Faith informed her aunts. "There has to be something here that would be personal enough to work."

"We'll definitely see what we can find," Piper agreed.

Buffy glanced at her wife as she and Faith moved around the couch Riley was standing behind. "Baby, we need something silver…" she muttered.

Faith nodded as she walked towards Giles' desk something silver catching her eye. Reaching for it she picked up the letter opener; giving it a small look over, before nodding her acceptance of the weapon.

"A letter opener?" Riley asked surprised having expected her to choose something that looked much more like a weapon. "It's not very sharp." He added a little awkwardly as he felt Buffy and Faith's eyes on him.

"Then I'll have to put some muscle behind it." Buffy said firmly as Faith handed her the letter opener. She then walked toward the broken-in front door, Faith and Riley following close behind her.

Seedy Bar

Spike sat at the bar of a seedy bar that Ethan and Giles had gotten drunk at the night before. He threw back the shot that the waitress had set down in front of him. "Two of them," he continued with his description as he gave the waitress a small charming smile. "English like me, but older, less attractive. One of them gave you his number."

At the end of the bar, Giles sat with his flannel blanket wrapped around him once again; trying to hide as much of his demonic body as possible. He watched Spike use the information he had given him to hopefully get what he needed from the waitress so that he could get his vengeance on Ethan Rayne and hopefully his body back.

The waitress shrugged. "I threw it out," she informed Spike, remembering the pair that he was talking about. It was too soon to forget the two of them. It wasn't very often that they got two drunk old Englishmen in this bar. "I mean, I took one look and saw that he was staying at the rat trap." She shuddered. "No thanks."

"Which rat trap?" Spike asked.

"The one by the highway. The Sunnydale Motor Inn," the waitress explained.

"Thank you," Spike said with a smile, wishing that the chip wasn't in his brain to make it worth asking the girl out at a later date… and feasting on her in more ways than one.

The Magic Box

Buffy appeared in a swirl of fiery flames with Faith and Riley in the middle of the magic shop. "Ok. Credit card slips, sales receipt," Faith told them.

"I don't know what I'm looking for," Riley said after a moments silence.

Buffy smiled coldly as she looked down at the receipt that she had discovered. "I do," she murmured drawing Riley and Faith's attention. Ripping the receipt from the others she dumped the rest back in the drawer and slammed it shut as a way to vent some of her rage. "Ethan Rayne," she practically snarled as she stared down at the name.

"Who's that?" Riley asked, looking between Buffy and Faith, both of whom looked rather pissed in that moment.

Buffy slammed the receipt that had given Ethan Rayne away onto the counter table, a scowl still darkening her brow.

"Let's just say," Faith interjected. "That he and Buffy have a history." She noticed Riley gave her a questioning look. "Not that kind of history. From what Buffy told me he could be considered a warlock if not for the fact he's mortal."

"He's got to be the guy that made the demon attack Giles," Buffy grumbled her hand going to the back of her neck that once held a tattoo that Ethan Rayne had once branded her with. She attempted a small smile as she placed a hand on Faith's arm. "At least we know who we're looking for."

"And how we should deal with him," Faith grumbled lowly,

Buffy squeezed her wife's arm. "Maybe this time I'll get to hit him till he bleeds."

Faith smirked. "From what you told me of him, I think you did that already."

Buffy shrugged. "I guess he's one of those guys you just love to hit." She and Faith frowned slightly as Riley picked up the receipt and pulled out his phone.

"Command, are you there?" Riley spoke into his phone.

"What are you doing?" Faith asked puzzled.

Riley held up a finger, silently asking them to be patient and silent for a moment. "It's Agent Finn. I need a search. Local hotel registrations matching the name Ethan Rayne. R-A-Y-N-E. Call me back," he ordered, before he flipped it closed.

"You can do that?" Buffy asked a little impressed with the pull he had as a commando.

Riley shrugged glad that he'd impressed her. "It'll take a couple of minutes."

Riley swallowed as he followed, not knowing what kind of reaction he was about to get. "Buffy, Faith," he called, causing both of his companions to stop and turn to look at him. "Earlier, when I talked to Professor Walsh, she gave me very specific orders," he said a little nervously.

"Yeah?" Buffy and Faith urged.

"She said when we located the demon… I'm not supposed to bring you two along," Riley admitted.

"Oh," Buffy and Faith said with a nonchalant shrug. Buffy turned and walked over to Faith taking her wife's hand in her own.

"Uh, what are you two doing?" Riley asked shocked as Buffy and Faith both seemed to ignore the orders he'd been given.

Faith turned to face him, irritation beginning to show on her face. "You can either come with us or you can find your own way," she explained firmly, her expression determined.

"I can't take you two with me," Riley said.

Buffy gave him a look. "You're not taking us with you," she said firmly as she levelled a harsh stare at Riley. "We are going and we are letting you tag along with me."

"It really isn't your call. This is a military operation now," Riley tried to explain to the couple and almost audibly gulped at the cold steely look they gave him.

"Then call out the troops. Because nothing less than that is going to stop us. This demon did something to Giles and we're going to kill it," Faith said stonily. "Besides how will you get there since we didn't drive but flamed?" she practically growled.

Buffy gave Riley a superior smirk.

Streets of Sunnydale

Spike glanced from the road to Giles, the newly made demon growling almost constantly now, making him wonder just how much was still Giles and how much was the Fyarl demon. "How you feeling, mate?" he enquired.

"Like snapping necks until everyone is dead."

"Now that sounds like a Fyarl demon. Good for you," Spike exclaimed as he turned his gaze back to the road. His gaze went to the rearview mirror as a set of bright headlights suddenly blared across his windshield. "Hey, picked up a tail."

"Yes," Giles said agreeably the growl in his voice toned down again. "Just a little one. It hurts when I sit." Completely mistaking Spike's meaning.

Spike tossed Giles a look. "I mean someone is following us. Humvee, military."

Giles expression turned startled then somewhat angry. "Well speed up. Lose them," he commanded.

"I got it floored," Spike grumbled as he pressed his foot a little harder against the already floored gas pedal. "Why'd you buy this car?"

"Well, do something. If they catch us, we'll both end up in a lab!" Giles exclaimed anxiously.

"It's getting closer," Spike grumbled as he tightened his hands around the steering wheel, and hunched over the wheel slightly, trying to urge the small old car to go faster than it wanted to. He glanced up at the rearview mirror once again and bit back a curse as he saw another Humvee seemingly out of nowhere swerve in front of the first; much closer to the old car. He had a distinct urge to kick to see if that could make it go any faster. "And it's got a friend!"

"Damn!" Giles growled angrily thrusting his arm towards the door, only to hit the window instead accidentally shattering the fragile glass.

"Oh, sure!" Spike growled exasperated. "Dismantle the getaway car. That'll scare them," he muttered.

"Then slow down and I'll jump out. They'll follow the car," Giles demanded with certainty.

"Hold on! These commandos. They're the same guys that are after me too…" Spike grumbled. "Maybe I want you around to split their attention a bit?" he said bluntly.

"I'll pay you another hundred dollars," Giles bargained a little desperately.

Spike gave Giles a look trying to judge how serious the man was. "Ooh, you better pay up when this is all done and dusted, mate!" he growled as he turned the wheel to turn a sharp right, causing the poor old car to screech once again as the gears grinded against each other.

Giles opened the passenger door and allowed himself to tumble out of the car growling out a grunt as he hit the ground with a thud and immediately rolled out of the way. Quickly jumping to his feet, he was up and running by the time the Humvees came driving past following after his little Citroen.

Sunnydale Motor Inn

Ethan hurriedly moved about his room; hastily trying to pack his bag so that he could now get out of the town he'd wreaked havoc on. He'd just stuffed the last of his shirts into his suitcase, when there was a loud crash on his door. He spun to face the door just as another loud crash slammed against it and this time, the door broke open and a seriously pissed demon stalked into his room angry growls rumbling from the demon.

Ethan stared at the demon wide eyed, before he calmed slightly as he recognized his own handiwork. "Giles?" he asked only to get an angry growl in return. Giles was far too angry to form words at this point as he stalked hulk-ishly toward him; his every step radiating violence. He swallowed thickly seeing that Giles was too far gone into his rage to be easily talked down.

Ethan quickly backed up his hands coming up as if to ward his old friend off. "Now…it…it…calm down!" he tried to coax nervously as he jumped up onto the bed in a vain attempt to get away from the demon Giles had become. "It's ok," he tried to soothe. "Good Giles," he said as if speaking to an angry dog.

Giles reached for him and Ethan swallowed a scream as he tried to jump off the bed and out of the way. He almost made it past the angry Giles, when he felt Giles strong hand grasp him and effectively halt his escape. "No! No! Don't kill me!" he pleaded nervously.

Giles growled, not heeding a word his old friend said, too lost in the thrill of crushing…killing to want to pay any attention to the man's pleas. Grasping Ethan by the throat, he tightened his hand around the fragile flesh as he lifted his old friend off his feet.

"I can't undo you if you kill me!" Ethan gasped out, his hands grasping at the one Giles had so firmly wrapped around his throat.

Giles growled angrily just before he flung Ethan across the room; where he crashed head first into a nightstand, shattering it into small pieces. He moved to go after him, full intent on crushing and killing the puny human that he was so vexed with.

Just at that moment Buffy appeared in a swirl of fiery flames with Faith and Riley into the small room an angry look on her face as she took in the scene before her. Ethan who was clutching at his throat breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the Slayers. "You've got to stop it! It killed Ripper and now it's trying to kill me!" he lied through his teeth, just wanting to save his skin and knowing that if Buffy and Faith knew that all this was his doing, they'd end up pummeling him…probably close to death.

Buffy scowled darkly, almost baring her teeth in anger at the demon that had supposedly killed Giles. "Don't let him go," she demanded more of Faith than Riley. Not waiting for a reply, she stepped further into the room.

Giles took a step toward her only for Buffy to execute a vicious spinning kick that knocked him back against the wall. "What did you do to him? What did you do?" Buffy growled, almost shouted in her anger as she glared at the Fyarl demon that had taken the man she considered as close to a father as she had ever known.

Giles charged Buffy and shoved her against the wall. Riley moved to step in, only for Faith to force him back with only a single movement of her arm. "You say you love her, but you will not help her. What kind of wife are you?" Riley demanded to know as he glared at Faith.

"This is personal for Buffy," Faith admitted. "I know when this is personal, not to interfere. After all Giles was like a father to my wife. More so than her actual father has ever been."

Riley turned his gaze back to the battle to see Buffy retaliate by throwing a hard right, throwing the demon off of her with that single blow.

Faith and Riley's attention were diverted from Buffy's battle with the rampaging demon by Ethan who came charging at them in a bid to escape repercussions when the battle was over. Riley, caught unaware, took the full weight of Ethan's blow.

Faith chuckled as Ethan tried to throw a sloppy punch at her. She caught the blow easily and wrapped a hand around Ethan's throat. He swallowed thickly, the task taking more effort than usual due to Faith's hand clutching tight in warning around his throat. "You should think twice," she informed him as a fireball formed in her free hand. "Or you might just find this shoved up your…" She then threw him away and Ethan sprawled near her feet. "I wouldn't bother trying to get up."

Ethan stared up at Faith from the floor as he rubbed his throat. Feeling thoroughly defeated. He then turned his attention to the fight that Buffy was waging with the demon Giles had become. Buffy landed a high kick to the demon's chest, knocking her opponent back once again. "You're only going to make him angry," he cautioned as he heard Giles growl angrily as he shifted on the floor of his apartment, not quite yet willing to give up all possibility of escape.

Buffy ignored Ethan as she continued to wage battle with the demon that stood accused of killing her father figure. Not caring that the demon continued to get up to accept its punishment from her as she continued to knock it back down to the floor enjoying every kick and punch she landed against the creature.

At that moment Ethan scrambled completely back up to his feet in a second bid for freedom. He'd barely moved a step though when Faith tripped him up sending him flying onto his back with a painful thud.

"I warned you," Faith murmured threateningly as she placed her foot against his neck, effectively pinning him to the ground as to struggle would be to suffocate himself. "That I don't have the patience for you right now."

"Don't tell me that you care for old Ripper," Ethan wheezed and regretted speaking as Faith placed more pressure against his neck.

Faith barely restrained a growl. "Shut up, Ethan, or I'll put my foot through your neck. Then we'll see just how much you can talk then," she threatened.

"Is that really necessary?" Riley asked a little concerned, the man was human after all; one of them.

Faith glanced over at the commando; her eyes filled with distaste. "You don't know him. I've heard the stories. He tried to kill Buffy not once but twice."

Riley's eyes widened slightly and, in that moment, Ethan knew that any sympathy he might get from that front was now gone.

"Well, it was only small trifling thing," Ethan tried to explain away, only for Faith's foot to press down harder against his throat. "Yes. Well your wife's ex-boyfriend saved her both times."

"Boyfriend?" Riley said with a raised eyebrow.

"Buffy is more bisexual than actually gay," Faith admitted with a shrug. "She was actually dating him when we met. We didn't get along at first but over time I won her over. And we've been happily in love ever since."

Buffy grasped a foldable stand that was supplied by the cheap motel and swung it at Giles as he charged at her, his head lowered so that his horns where aimed at her. Unintentionally Buffy's blow with the foldable stand got the demon's head caught in the leather straps; using it to her advantage she swung the demon around she threw him to the other side of the small room.

It was at that moment that Paige orbed in with Piper. "Faith," Piper said as she and Paige walked over to their niece.

"This is the man that set that demon loose on Giles," Faith informed them indicating the man still pinned by her foot and the demon fighting Buffy.

Buffy moved to press her attack, when Giles freed himself from the leather. He rammed Buffy under the chin with the curve of his horn as he straightened up, sending her to the floor with a painful thump. Giles growled down at her and bent to press his own attack, only for Buffy to lift her legs and catch his legs in a scissor lock that unbalanced Giles and sent him to the ground.

"Where is Rupert?" Paige wondered having been looking around.

"What do you mean?" Faith questioned.

"Our scrying said this was where he was," Piper answered, her own eyes scanning the room.

Before Giles could reorient himself, his anger having been knocked out him during that last fall, Buffy left up and straddled him the letter opener clutched firmly in hand as she stared down at him with anger. "This is for Giles!" she growled at him.

"For me?" Giles queried just as Buffy raised the dull blade with both hands; high above her head, before swinging it down with all the force she could muster. His eyes opened wide in response to the pain, his gaze meeting Buffy's.

Buffy's own eyes widened in shock her anger disappearing as fast as it had come. "Oh, God! Giles!" she exclaimed in horror, believing that she had killed him as she hurriedly pulled out the knife. She knelt down quickly and held her hands over him. "Please," she begged but nothing happened. "Oh, God! Giles! Giles! I'm so…I'm so sorry! Please don't die!" Buffy pleaded with him. "Leo!" she called out.

"Actually, I feel quite well. Except for the rage." Giles tried to tell her without success as he was still speaking Fyarl.

Leo appeared in a bright orbing lights. "Buffy?" he questioned.

"This is Giles," Buffy informed the Whitelighter. "I accidentally…"

Leo sighed as he rested a hand on Buffy's shoulder. "Since he's not human currently our powers won't heal him. We have to get the spell reversed."

Looking up from Giles, Buffy turned a glaring gaze to Ethan who gulped and tried to wiggle out from underneath Faith's foot to no avail. "You tried to have me kill Giles!" she exclaimed angrily.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

A short time later Riley stood guarding the door as he spoke into his cell phone. Whilst inside the small apartment Ethan sat cross-legged on the floor, the remnants of a spell just completed in front of him, doing his best to ignore the glaring look he was receiving from Buffy, who held him firmly by the back of the collar, eager to do him more damage than the rather painful blow that had split his lip.

Ethan's chin rested glumly on his fist as he watched Leo finishing up healing Giles wound. "I really got to learn to just do the damage and get out of town," he muttered. "It's the stay and gloat that gets me every time."

"Well, you never were the brightest, were you?" Faith grumbled; her arms crossed over her chest as she watched him.

Buffy nudged Ethan none to gently with her knee as she released his cuff and walked over to Giles who was standing in front of the mirror hung on the wall as he fiddled with one of Ethan's shirts. "Is he okay?" Buffy asked the Whitelighter.

"He's going to be okay," Leo informed her. "The letter opener wasn't actually silver so not actual damage was done."

"What about you?" Buffy questioned turning to Giles.

"Oh um, uh, embarrassed, mostly," Giles admitted. "Ethan's wardrobe's not helping any," he grumbled as he dropped his hands from Ethan's shirt. And turned to face her a curious look in his eyes. "Uh, how did you know it was me?"

"Your eyes," Buffy explained, only to elaborate as Giles gave her a confused look. "You're the only person in the world that can look that annoyed with me," she said with an affectionate smile.

Giles returned her smile, rather touched that she had managed to figure it out in such a way.

"Well I don't think that's true," Piper said as she walked up next to Buffy.

"Maybe not," Buffy admitted as she looked at her aunt by marriage. "But let us hope I never annoy you, Piper."

It was at that moment when Ethan lumbered to his feet, taking a small step away from Faith who had shifted in response to his movement. "Is this going to go on much longer? I'd rather like to be going," he said.

Faith glared at the man as Buffy came up beside her, crossing her arms over her chest. Both of them frowned with intense dislike of the man they were looking at. "And why would we let you go?" Faith asked.

Ethan straightened himself up. "Well, maybe because you have no choice," he said pompously. "I'm human, you can't kill me. What's a Slayer going to do to me?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm sure we could think of something," Buffy assured him only the slightest hint of malice in her tone, but it was enough to make Ethan shiver and gulp, his pompous air diminishing completely.

Before anyone could say anything else, Riley stepped up behind Ethan with two tough looking MP's alongside him, drawing Ethan's attention and he spluttered wordless as he was cuffed by the two MP's. "By the authority of the US military, you're being taken into custody pending a determination of your status." Riley turned his gaze from the shocked Ethan to the MP's. "Take it from here," he ordered and the two nodded and began forcing Ethan from the room.

Piper, Paige, Faith, Buffy and Giles all exchanged happy looks with each other, enjoying the sight of Ethan being taken away. "They'll uh, take Mr. Rayne to a secret detention facility in the Nevada desert. I'm sure he'll be rehabilitated in no time," Riley said with a nod, before taking his leave of the room.

Giles cleared his throat, unable to keep the smile from curling up his lips. "Uh, if you don't mind, I'm just going to…go and watch them manhandle him into a vehicle," he murmured and swiftly left the room in order not to miss the sight.

"I think Paige and I will head back home," Piper said. "We'll see you there."

"Okay," Buffy and Faith as they watched Paige orb out with Piper.

Buffy sighed her shoulders slumping slightly and she leaned into Faith. "I almost killed Giles tonight… I almost lost him," she murmured.

"But you didn't," Faith assured her wife softly.

"Yeah, but only thanks to the fact that Giles letter opener wasn't actually silver like I thought." Buffy looked down at it again. "Who'd have thought that Giles would buy a knock off?" She looked towards the door. "Well, The Initiative was kind of helpful tonight, weren't they?"

"Yeah," Faith agreed.

January 23, 2002 – Wednesday

The Initiative

"So, they walk in and the rules just suddenly break?" Professor Walsh guessed.

"Umm…pretty much," Riley admitted as they walked down the corridor.

"Be careful with them," Walsh warned. "They react on instinct. There's no discipline there. Their loyalties are uncertain."

"You won't be disappointed in them," Riley assured her. "They're good at what they do. They are the truest souls I've ever known."

Walsh groaned. "Oh no. Spontaneous poetic exclamations. Lord, spare me college boys in love."

"First, they're married, remember? Second, I'm just saying they'll work out," Riley stated. "You'll be proud of them."

"You want to know what I think?" Walsh remarked. "I think you're probably right."

Riley nodded, then walked away, leaving his boss outside a white door. She watched him go, then took a card out of her pocket and slid it through the access panel beside the door. She entered a code into the keypad, then slid the card through again.

The door opened, and she stepped inside room 314.

Underworld

"He failed!" Cole exclaimed with anger as he paced about the lair. "She was supposed to kill him."

"What my vision did not take into account was the bond she shares with the Watcher," the Seer said reluctantly. "But I believe I have something that could turn both her and Faith. Is Faith still suffering from morning sickness?"

"I haven't seen her for a couple days, so I am not sure," Cole admitted. "But I believe so. Why?"

"I can create an herb that you will pass off as a cure for morning sickness," the Seer said with a purely evil grin. "In reality it will convert Faith and just like with Dantalian's spell a year ago. Faith will influence the Slayer line converting Buffy as well. But unlike last time there will be no way of reversing the effects of the herb. They will become evil forever."