Catherine felt the spells on the vampire end and knew it had been destroyed. Very nearly enough proof that Faith was the Slayer. But having not seen it with her own eyes, it still left a sliver of doubt.
"Better to be safe, than sorry and all that jazz." She muttered, climbing into her car and returning home. "I'll need to get something she owns and use it to cast a curse on her. Something that kills both her and the baby. Best way to be sure that brat growing in her belly can never be a threat to me." Catherine decided. Once home she passed her useless daughter doing her homework and casually informed her of the vampire's destruction.
"Your friend's dead."
"If you mean the vampire's been destroyed, does that prove the girl's this Slayer you're looking for?"
"I didn't see it actually being destroyed, it's possible it ran into someone who recognized it as a vampire. The only other way I can think of to be sure I'm safe is to destroy Faith before that brat growing inside her can be a threat to me. To do that, I need something of hers. I have to figure out how to get my hands on something personal that can work for a curse. In the meantime I'm going to study my books and decide which curse would work best on a Slayer. Finish my homework and go to bed."
"What if she's not the Slayer? Than you've killed an innocent person and her equally innocent baby."
"I don't care, as long as it keeps me safe." Catherine retorted, heading up to the attic where her magical supplies and books were kept, carefully locked up so her own brat could never get her hands on them and undo her spells. Most especially the body switching spell.
Back in the gym Cordelia came out of the locker room and immediately knew something was wrong. Xander was crying and so was Jesse. In front of Faith who looked helpless and desperate to help. Why were the boys crying? Cordelia realized the last time she'd seen Xander cry had been at his sixth birthday party, when the clown his father had hired chased him with the cake knife because the clown thought it was funny. Xander had been terrified and for some reason Willow had laughed. Maybe she hadn't realized just how not funny the way the clown had behaved was.
"Xander? What's wrong?" She moved quickly toward her recently acknowledged boyfriend. "Jesse? Faith? What's going on?"
"A redheaded vampire just threatened to kill me." Faith answered. "Xander destroyed it. Cordy, it was their friend Willow. Or used to be, before -."
"Before a vampire got it." Cordelia knelt in front of Xander, who was sitting on the floor, she absently noted the dust he was sitting in and was horrified to realize, it must be what was left of Willow, of the vampire -. "She's not hurting anymore, Xander." Not really having any idea how to comfort someone, she let her feelings guide her. "Her spirit was probably horrified something was wearing her body like a suit. A Willow suit. Now her spirit can look down and know it's not using her body to hurt people. Willow would probably thank you for that."
"She's gone for good, Cordy. Jesse's right, there was this little bit of hope that she'd just run away. Away from the parents she rarely ever saw and from the fact that I could never love her the way she wanted me to love her. Away from all the pressure she put on herself to be academically perfect. But she never actually ran away, a vampire took her from us. Destroyed her and left a monster wearing her face. A monster that threatened Faith and Gabrielle. I couldn't let her do that. I couldn't let her - I couldn't take the risk that she'd find a way to kill them. That she'd tell other vampires, I have to keep them safe, you understand, right Cordy? A good Dad keeps his kid and her mother safe. I want to be a good Dad."
Tears blurred her own vision, Xander was still a kid himself, trying hard to be a good friend to Faith, a good brother to Jess, a good boyfriend to her, a good foster son to Mason and a good trainee demon hunter. But most importantly, a good Dad to the baby he'd help make. "Yes, Xander, a good Dad keeps his kid and her mother safe. You did what you had to do, Xander. It wasn't Willow anymore, she never would be again. Her soul can move on, maybe she's in Heaven now or reincarnating. Maybe she'll be born to parents that actually love her and are there for her this time, instead of people like the Rosenbergs. We can hope for that."
"Yeah." Xander nodded and laid his head on her shoulder. "We can hope."
"It's a good hope." Jesse decided as Faith sat down beside him on the bleachers and tentatively took his hand in hers. "It's a good hope." He repeated, gripping Faith's hand tightly as he swiped at the tears on his own face.
"We should get going." Faith suggested. "We need to tell Diana and Mason what happened. And maybe Diana needs to check if the bleachers are haunted."
"What's wrong with the bleachers?" Cordelia asked.
The bleachers groaned.
"Oh. I had to ask."