I think my heart actually stopped beating. Stopped, frozen still by pain or shock or fear, I don't know which. It stopped cold, in anycase, as I read words that I had, even in my worst nighmares, never dreamt. Words that shook me more than I thought was possible, after all why should I have cared? But I did. And my heart did stop; stopped until I realised it had stopped and ordered it to keep beating. There was no time to die.

That was less than 12 hours ago and now I am here in the cold, dark, overworked cemetery in Sunnydale. Waiting for a funeral service at which I will be particularly unwelcome. But being unwelcome isn't a new thing for me. So, I'm not too worried. Not about that, anyway.

*******

"I got chosen to do this speech today because they said that I would do it right. I hope that I do." She took a deep breath, her hands shaking but her voice steady.

I force myself to look around. To tune out Willow's voice and make sure that I am still secure in my hiding spot. I check every face to ensure it is facing the other way, until I am confident that I am safe. Finally I am and I have no choice but to return to listening. Listening to words that rip at my heart and make my gut churn. Who would have thought it, Faith the Sentimentalist.

"More than just a friend, he became, for each of us, a Father. A figure of wisdom, a figure of trust, a figure of loyalty and above all a figure of love. He was more than just family, he was our world's foundation. The one person who we could always rely on for sound judgement, for wisdom and for comfort, he became so much a part of us that we are crippled without him." Another deep breath, for the first time now her voice began to shake.

"I wanted to tell you all the wonderful things about Giles. About how he could make you feel so smart, about how he could make you feel so important, about how he could make you feel so loved. I wanted to tell you about how he sang and about how he played the guitar. But as I started to write out those stories, my hand shook so badly that I couldn't keep going. So as much as I wish I could, I can't tell you about how he loved and how he cared for us, because it hurts too much." Willow's voice broke and the tears began

"What I can tell you is that Giles was our guiding light in a world that often seems daunting and confusing, and that now, without him, I wonder how we are going to go on. People say they feel like they lose a limb when they lose a loved one. Since Giles has been gone I feel like I have lost my soul." As if to prove it her body began to shake, but she continued to read, wiping viciously at the tears that were now streaming down her face.

"I feel like I am standing in an empty body, scared and terrified. Looking out at a dark world, my guiding light gone and my world in ruins. It is a world that now terrifies me, a world of fear and loneliness. I don't think we know how to survive here without him. How do we survive in a world that his presence made survivable? How do we live when our life force itself has died?" Said Willow, as the tears now poured down her face unhindered and she had to force the words out, slowly and carefully to ensure that they could be understood.

"All I know is that he was a wonderful man, the greatest I have ever met. I never told him that, or that he was my hero. I never...I never even told him that I loved him. I wish I had. I hate the fact that he died without us ever having told him that. I... I hate it." Willow choked the words out now, and suddenly the tears took over. She hung her head and sobbed. Xander stood up and walked toward her. He wrapped one arm around her and Willow sobbed into his shoulder as he took the piece of paper from her. A new voice came through the speakers now.

"So I will do it now because I know he can hear me." Said Xander, reading slowly and carefully.

"Giles you were my hero. You were the greatest man I ever met. You were our world's foundation. We loved you because you taught us we were worth loving, and that changed our lives. We loved you more than we even knew. One day I will thankyou in person, but until then know that you changed the world for the better. That you changed us for the better. Know that above all we love you and that we will never forget you."

I don't know what I expected, he had after all truly been their world's foundation, but somehow I always thought of them as invincible. It was as Xander turned to hug Willow properly and the two of them stood holding each other and sobbing that I realised, for the first time, that they were not. And now for the first time I am wondering if I am doing the right thing here. As I watch them and wonder, Buffy finally stands up. Pale and shaking she moves towards the other two and the three of them lock into an embrace that no matter how much they want it to will never make them feel whole. It is only when I see Buffy, when I see her shaking form, that I realise I was right in coming back, realise that now, more than ever, they need a Slayer to watch their backs.

*********

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. In fact if I had have bothered to think about it, it would have been obvious. I didn't though and so it wasn't and so my cool, stealthy facade fell apart pretty quick when he tapped me on the shoulder and I tried to jump onto my now numb feet and almost tripped over in the process. Angel grabbed me to stop me falling.

"Stealthy!" He says, disapprovingly.

"Shut up!" I snap back.

"What are you doing here, Faith?"

"I could ask you the same thing." I say annoyed at being questioned. He refuses to play ball and just waits, knowing I'll answer.

"What did you expect me to do when I got your note? Write a fuckin' condolence card?"

"I didn't think you'd break out of a federal prison."

Bullshit! I think to myself, but I don't say it. Instead, I rock back on my heals, shrug and say. "Yeah, well, you know me, just one big bag of surprises! What's your story?"

"He was a friend." He stops and looks away. We must look pretty poor standing huddled out the front of an old crypt, for our own reasons both unable to go out into the sunlight.

"Yeah. He wasn't a bad guy." Angel looks at me with that half smile that only he can pull off. "Ok, he was a pain in the arse, but didn't deserve to get dead. 'Specially not like that."

"No, nobody deserves that." I follow his eyes, the service is over now and the mourners are moving away. He is watching Buffy. The pain in his eyes is enough even to give me the whiggins. Damn, maybe I am getting sentimental.

"Let's move."

"Why?" He is so caught up in her, I wonder how he gets through days without her.

"'Cause otherwise I'm gonna have to clean you up with a broom." Finally he notices the approaching sun.

"Where to?" There has been something unreal about this whole day, Angel asking me for advice just about caps it off.

"The wake's at the Summers'." He nods and we disappear back into the darkness.

***************

We have been sitting at his old mansion for the last hour waiting for the sun to set.

"Ya gonna talk to her?" He looks up surprised.

"No."

"You should." He looks at me, annoyed.

"Why?" Disgruntled.

"'Cause you being able to see her and her not being able to see you isn't fair. Not to mention the creepy stalking factor."

"That's what she said." He sounds surprised and I guess I look confused, he explains. "Last time."

"Last time?"

"Long story."

"But it ends with her telling you not to do the creepy stalking thing." I get another annoyed look for that, but a nod. "And they say I'm a slow learner."

"She's got Willow and Xander and...Riley." Angel practically spits out Riley's name. There is a story there and I would love to hear it, but it can wait.

"She needs you." He looks surprised again.

"You've changed." My turn to look surprised.

"Sun's down." I comment and we both stand, I guess neither of us are big conversationalists. He looks at me.

"You're going to talk to her?" It was a question, despite the tone.

"Yeah and so are you." He looks worried, but not annoyed. Maybe we're getting somewhere.

************

You can't really blame the lady. Between the two of us we probably tried to kill her a few too many times for sorry to cover the damage. She blanches and for a second I think she is going to faint, but she doesn't.

"Mrs Summers..." I begin.

"BUFFY!" Damn, that woman has some lungs on her. Now it is Angel's turn to blanch, obviously unannounced is more his style. He looks at me and for a second I think _he_ is going to faint.

"Chill."

"Maybe coming together wasn't such a good idea." Shit! Why didn't I think about that? I turn back toward the door expecting to see B.

"What the hell?!" It's Beefcake. I don't know what's shocked him more, the fact we're here or the fact we're here together.

"Leave now!" Maybe it is Slayer instinct, or maybe I have just scared enough people in my life to have got a pretty good feel for it, but anyways, this guy is terrified. And as much as I would like to take credit, I only have to look at the way he looks at Angel, to figure it don't got jack to do with me.

"No." Who said the man wasn't eloquent? I can't help but grin. Farmboy looks like he is gonna wet his pants. Angel seems suddenly more confident, nothing like testosterone to build the self-esteem. He walks straight in the door past Riley. Riley looks stunned and goes to block me from entering.

"You don't want to do that." Says Angel from behind him. Damn, this is fun! I haven't fought many fights with him on my side, but I gotta say I'm liking it.

"Why not?" Tough guy. I love taking down tough guys.

"You like the shape of your face?" Apparently he does, though God knows why. He moves aside.

We walk into the living room, completely refurbished since my and B's little encounter. Buffy is turning, her Mom having just whispered in her ear. Willow and Xander are also both turning toward us.

I don't know what I expected. Fireworks maybe, a screaming match, maybe even a good old kick to the head. Anything but silence. Strangely, it is Angel that speaks first. He seems even more uncomfortable with the silence than the rest of us, weird.

"I came to offer my condolences." Lame, he knows it. But hell, what else can he say?

"And you bought along your psychotic friend - nice!" Xander, who else. But it is bitterness more out of habit than feeling. He has changed, he looks younger, strangely enough. Younger and more vunerable.

"Faith?" It's B. I know what she is asking.

"I came to watch your back." Beefcake laughs, nobody else does.

"You don't belong here, Faith." That's the best she can do? She looks different too. Beaten. Worn. Her eyes are blank. Crazily, creepily blank. The longer I stand here and look at them the more convinced I am they need me. Being needed is like a drug to me. I've only felt it once before and that time I sold my soul for it. Looking into B's eyes I realise I can't turn away this time either.

"Never did."

"So go" Beefcake, but he only just beat Xander to the punch. Willow is playing it mute. I wonder what her deal is.

"Not gonna happen." I say it easy, real calm like. But he gets all worked up anyway.

"Can't you see there is enough pain here? Why can't you just leave us in peace?" Farmboy again. What is he, like designated Spokesman?

"All I can see is a wounded Slayer and some wicked tired looking sidekicks."

"And you think you're helping the situation?" Damned if I wouldn't like to kick his head in.

"No, but I think I can." He snorts.

"You are evil. I learnt that the hard way. And I will not let you hurt these people anymore than you already have."

"Nobody is here to hurt anybody." Angel, sounding pretty diplomatic, despite the fact he is obviously pissed.

"Then leave! You have no right being here." Angel spins around, for once his temper even shorter than mine. He puts his face about an inch from Farmboy's.

"Rupert Giles was one of the kindest men that I have met in my entire life. I have every right to come to his wake! And if you..." Farmboy is just about jumping out of his skin, ready to take Angel on. Angel looks more pissed than I have seen in a long time.

"Angel!" B and I say it simultaneuosly and look at each other as we realise it. Before either of us get to say anything more, Beefcake turns quickly to look at B and then back at Angel, who has now backed up a bit.

"You knew him?" Whoa! Somebody's relationship has communication issues. Angel is obviously thinking the same thing, 'cause his answer is so startled, that it isn't even angry.

"Yes. He was an excellent researcher, a true academic and a good friend." Angel pauses and then he says it. I admire his balls, who knows what the reaction will be.

"And an amazing Watcher." He says it gently, caringly, as he looks at Buffy.

I am pretty much ready for anything, body taut, waiting to block what ever comes our way. Mind already numb to what ever horrible thing that was about to be spat at us. None of it comes. Nothing except a horrible moan as Buffy crumples to the floor, sobbing. Her Mom runs to her and comforts her which I am glad about, cause Riley and Angel both move instinctively toward her. I suddenly feel so stupid. This was a mistake. I turn to go.

"Faith!" It's Red. What the hell, she want a pot shot too?

"Yeah?" I turn, confused.

"Where are you staying?" She asks.

Huh? Is all I think. She is lookin' at me wierd, so I just say it. "Huh?"

"I mean are you here to stay?"

"Then we need to stay in contact. You were right. We will need your help."

"Huh?" Jesus Faith, at least use a full sentence. "What, really?" Close enough. She walks up to me and I see that she has changed too. But not the same way as the other two. Her face and eyes are harder; angrier, maybe. She looks worn out too, but there is a glint in her eye. I recognise it from the mirror. Li'l Willow is all grown up and she is wicked pissed about somethin'.

"Don't get me wrong, Faith. I hate you as much as I ever have. But I have been thinking about it and I think you're telling the truth." I must look confused because she explains.

"That you are here to help." Oh yeah! That truth. Her eyes keep throwing me. They're so angry, so un-Willow. "Because this move 'd be even too stupid for you."

Gee, thanks. I think, but for once manage to keep it to myself.

"So, I don't hate you any less, I just know we need you. So we need to stay in contact." She says.

"Oh. Umm..."

"We'll be at the mansion." Angel interrupts. Damned if this isn't the trippiest day ever.

"I'll come by in a few hours. We need to talk."

"OK" Angel nods. I'm glad somebody has their shit together. We leave without goodbyes. I guess everybody knows we'll be back.

************

So it is 24 hours after I received a note saying that Giles had been killed. Beaten to a pulp by something, though nobody is 100% sure of what. All his skill, his knowledge and his experience irrelevant as the demon world finally got payback.

We're at the mansion, though I'm not really sure why. I mean to sleep and stuff, I get that. But I don't get why Angel is hanging around.

"So, what's goin' on?"

"What do you mean?" Brooding doesn't cover the nasty mood he has been in.

"I mean, what's your deal? Why are you hanging around?"

"You saw Buffy. This thing still hasn't been caught and she is weak. They need help."

"That's my line." He looks at me and knows I'm right.

"I can't leave her."

"Then at least be man enough to say that."

"What?" Confused and annoyed again. I don't think Angel's manhood gets called into question very often.

"Have the balls to say you're stayin' cause you love her. Because you can't walk away from her." He is really pissed now, but I don't care. All this angst is giving me cramps. "Jesus, Angel. For once in your goddamn eternal life tell the truth!"

"I am!"

"What, that you're stayin' to help out the gang? You know as well as I do that this was probably some moronic, Palabor demon. Big and mean and absolutely fuckin' stupid! Jeez, so maybe I am psychotic and maybe B is a li'l flaky right now, but we're both Slayers. This thing is gonna get dead, with or without you. So spare me, and for once spare her, the bullshit!" So, now I'm pissed too, though I don't even really know why. This time he yells back. I guess I hit a nerve.

"What do you want me to do, Faith? Walk up to her and say 'sorry, it was all a big mistake.' That I never should have left! That this time I won't and that hey, I found out at some point I will be made human again, so could she please place her life on hold for me...AARRGGH!" He's like mega-pissed now. He snarls and growls and throws the table against a wall. It smashes. If I had half a brain I would probably shut up now.

"You what?!" Just over seven months without slaying anything, and I am about ready to kill _him_. I throw him against the wall, hard. He is caught off guard and just about cracks his skull open.

"Damn it, Faith!" He vamps out, but I am still crazy pissed.

"You bastard!! You're going to be human!?" I drop him.

"Yeah." He slumps on the ground and rubs his head, for all the world sounding like a four year old. I drag him up.

"WHAT - IS - WRONG - WITH - YOU?" I punctuate each word with a bang of his head against the wall, until finally the demon has had enough and lifts me off the ground, and literally throwing me against a wall of my own. A largish coffee table distintergrates beneath me as I land. Neither of us are fighting properly, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. My face hits the ground hard and I can feel blood in my mouth. I spit it out and continue to scream.

"You know that you're going to become human and you don't even tell her!! You mean, heartless, selfish son of a bitch!" I yell all this from my position on the floor, amongst the rubble. He reacts to the selfish part. He walks towards me and I struggle up to look him in the eye.

"Damn it all, Faith! I am doing it for her!" His voice is hard and desperate, like he is tryin' to convince himself of it too.

"You're doing it because you're too much of a coward to do anything else!" I scream at him. He pushes me aside roughly and I slip, falling to the ground equally hard. Angel raises his hands, furious at himself for getting involved.

"I'm not having this conversation with you." He has lost his game face.

"Like hell you aren't!" I sweep his feet out from under him and he too lands with a crash, gouging the side of his face on the remains of the coffee table. Instantly, he vamps out again and growls furiously at me as he looks at the blood dripping off his face.

"What the hell is going on?!" It's Beefcake. Wilow is with him. The two of them are staring at us; Riley in stunned surprise and no small amount of fear, while Willow looks the same as this morning, angry and mean. But the anger is not directed at anything in particular.

Angel and I are both on the ground, blood dribbling down my chin and oozing off his still vamped out face. We are only inches away from each other and surrounded by broken furniture. We are both panting and glaring, but feeling much better for our fight. We each had a lot to work off and the scratches and bruises are worth the relief of the tension.

"What's going on?" Beefcake again. I realise with a grin that he doesn't know who to side with. I mean to him we are equally evil, it's just that one of us is demonic and the other is psychotic. Not a great choice. It makes me laugh. Everyone turns to look at me, surprised.

"Just trainin'." I stand and help Angel to his feet. He is still furious and I don't want him to think that I'm not. "Don't worry Lover, we'll continue this later." He glares at me, but turns to the others.

"How long have you been here?" Shit, there's a point.

"We just arrived." Answers Willow evenly. This is all unimportant to her. She wants to get things done; and if Angel and I kill each other in the background I don't think she'd really care. She has changed a lot.

Angel walks into another room and while he is gone I spit out some more blood. I do it more because I know it'll piss Farmboy off than because I need to. My mood has changed; despite Angel's arguments, what I just heard is good news, very good news.

Angel returns now with a ice bag for my face and a towel for his. He throws mine in my direction. I grin at him and he glares, I turn to the others.

"So, what's the what?" I ask, my face finally becoming serious.

*************

"Buffy is coming, too." I look at Angel and his face tenses. I realise all of us are looking at him. I turn back.

"Alone?" Slayer or not I wasn't lying about her lookin' flakey.

"With Xander."

"That seemed like a good idea?" Beefcake gets his back up about that.

"Buffy can look after herself."

"That a fact?"

"That's a fact." B, perfecting timing as always. She is behind us and we spin 'round to see her and Xander.

She spots Angel's injured face and her voice changes. She moves toward him, concerned. "Angel, what happened?"

"Faith and I..." Yeah, right. As if she was ever gonna let him finish that sentence.

"You beat on him?" Her voice is angry. That's good. Anything is better than the blank stare of this afternoon.

"Yeah, B! Because you know he is just an innocent. Didn't even fight back!" I remove the ice pack from my face and reveal what should by now be a major bruise.

"Don't screw with me, Faith!" Her voice is getting louder and she is getting closer. Everybody else is lookin' worried, 'cept maybe Willow.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm sick of it and this time I'm going to do something about it!"

"You gonna beat on me now, just 'cause Angelus decided to take me on?" I've fought with and against B often enough to know how to yank her chain.

"Damn you, Faith! What happened?" She is screaming now, really losing it.

"Buffy, calm down." Farmboy, soundin' surprised and pretty worried. Angel too is getting jumpy; problem is he doesn't know which one of us to grab.

"Be quiet, Riley!" Snaps B.

"Faith." It's Angel, his voice wary.

"Yeah, Lover." The punch had to come. I was waiting for it though, and blocked it easy. I don't know what everybody else thought was going on. Maybe that I really had finally lost it, maybe that I was suicidal, who knows, anyway they all backed up once the fur started to fly.

It didn't last too long. Angel and I had guessed right; B was pretty weak and damned slow. Beefcake stepped in at some point. The moron probably thought he could actually slow me down. Angel, having finally caught up, pulled him back, knowing that unlike B, I would happily grind him into the ground.

So it ended with B on the ground and me on top, literally. We were both more or less in one piece, with just a few more scratches and bruises. Finally she had some colour in her face and her eyes had lost that creepy blankness. I had paused, and was about to call a truce when she punched me, hard enough to make my teeth rattle.

"Damn, B!" She had the decency to look apologetic. She hadn't landed a good punch the whole fight and we both knew that the last one was out of line. She stopped looking sorry pretty quick, though.

"That was a cheap trick." She muttered.

"Yeah." I say. I rub my jaw, then stand and help her up.. "Yeah, it was. But you were fucking freaking me out. I...I didn't know what else to do." My voice sounds pathetic even to me.

"Buffy, are you OK?" Farmboy, of course.

"Yeah, I am." She turned to me, her eyes still burning with adrenalin and anger. "You?"

"Five by five." She nods and turns away. So we are a long way from forgiveness or friendship, but maybe we have got past flakey. And that's a start.

**************

"You finished now?" It's Willow, sounding at best disinterested.

"Yeah." I try not to get thrown by the strange glint in her eyes. Damn, this girl is beginning to get to me. "Yeah, we're done."

"Then let's get down to business." Business?! "So, I have been thinking about it and I think we have been going about everything all wrong. I think we need to take a more aggressive approach to Slaying. We need to use more magic and more force. We need to stop waiting for problems to arise and instead deal with anything suspicious straight away, ruthlessly if we have to."

Wow, damn. Head-spin."Huh?"

"Don't worry too much about the planning, Faith. Riley, Tara and I will organise that. You and Buffy will simply execute the plans we draw up."

"Whoa! Wait a sec!"

"Don't worry, it won't be dangerous. Unlike in the past, you won't be fighting battles at the last minute, literally on the edge of oblivion. Instead, Riley, Tara and I plan to find suspicious happenings and point you two in the right direction, before the danger has even really begun. It is a far more practical approach than the one we employed with Giles."

So much for sentiment, the man's hardly cold. What's happened to that sobbing girl from this morning?

"Willow, don't you think you are moving a little fast?" Asks Angel, cautiously.

Angel and me on the same wavelength...who would have guessed?

"She's just being realistic. You've all sat around and waited for evil to come and get you for far too long." Farmboy. Damn, I'd like to hurt him.

"I was speaking to Willow." Hard, angry, but controlled.

"And I was answering for her."

Angel moves forward, but I grab him by the arm. Willow doesn't even move. Shit, what is going on here?

"Xander?" I turn to him. Somebody else must see how insane this sounds.

"Faith?"

Smart-arse.

"What's your take on this?"

"I think it sounds..." He turns to look at Willow and then Buffy. His expression vunerable, but loving. Buffy looks away, almost distractedly, Willow looks at him long and hard. "I think it sounds like a good idea."

"You're talking about attacking forces far greater than you can imagine. And attacking them a lot of the time for no reason. Do you understand that?" Angel's sounding as confused as I feel.

"You think they killed Giles for a reason?" Answers Farmboy, surprising Angel. I stick my nose in.

"About that." Everybody turns and looks at me, suddenly I feel boxed in. I continue. "Maybe we should deal with that first. I mean, get some payback on whatever killed Giles."

"There is no point in killing one demon. We need to fight the forces of darkness as a whole." Designated-speaker again.

"What do you think we have been doing?" Angel, trying to keep his voice under control

"You have been defending against them. Now we go on the attack. We hurt them before they can hurt us."

So, I'm no model Slayer and I sorta skipped the Safety-First pages in the handbook, but this don't sound like a good idea.

"In the process killing unnecessarily. In the process making even more enemies. In the process becoming demons ourselves." Angel, speaking for both of us...again.

"You're hardly one to talk."

So Soldier-boy has a death wish, how convenient. Angel doesn't move and I'm a little disappointed. I wouldn't have stopped him this time.

"Riley!" It was Buffy finally joining us from wherever she had been.

"I'm sorry." He mutters.

Doesn't sound it. But Buffy nods and looks away again.

"Listen, let's talk about this some more in the morning. Angel and I'll patrol. You guys get some rest." Playing Responsible-Spice really isn't my scene and I'm beginning to get itchy feet.

"There will be no more patrolling."

"Huh?" I respond, word of the fucking day!

"Riley and I have already drawn up some preliminary targets. We were going to get Buffy to attack them, but seeing as you are here..." She fumbles in her bag. Even weirder than the Officer Willow scene, is the way Buffy and Xander are defering to her. She is like their new leader or something and it is wicked creepy.

"Hold up." I look at Angel, probably desperately.

"Buffy. This doesn't seem like a good idea." He says to her. She looks up. The pain in her eyes is almost enough to do me in. It must be just about killing him.

"I don't know...I..." Finally, the communication seems to be going both ways. She looks at him long and hard.

"Let's just leave it for tonight, Will." Her voice is strained and it sounds like it took all her energy to say it.

"But..."

"Red, it sounds like there is a lot to talk about...or plan...or whatever. Let's do it tomorrow, yeah?" I'm such a shitty actress.

"OK." Good enough.

Farmboy looks pissed; like I care; and Xander just looks exhausted, frail and drained. Buffy is still occassionally doing the La-la land thing, but at least she slowly seems to be coming 'round. Willow's gonna be the problem. But at least now it's tomorrow's problem.

"Night." Buffy is the only one that bothers to even say anything. Riley glares and Xander just trails after them.

"You need an escort?" It's worth a try, I'm still worried about her.

"No. We'll be fine."

***********************

So, I'm still standing there, wondering what the hell I have got myself into, when I hear a crash from behind. It's Angel, systematically making kindeling out of the remains of the coffee table. One of the wood chips flies off and almost takes my eye out.

"Whoa! Big-boy! Wanna watch what your doing there?"

He growls and ditches an entire leg at the wall. Some ugly lookin' china thing smashes, making a pretty hideous noise in the process. The noise seems to calm him down a bit.

"You done now?" Being around people with a shorter fuse than me is a weird feeling. Dangerous.

"Sorry." He looks it too.

"Red's freakin' me out." I comment.

He nods.

"Xander too, actually."

He nods again.

"We gonna have a conversation, or would you rather just break some more shit?" I ask, annoyed.

"It wasn't shit, it was a centuries old Ming Dynasty vase." He spits back, just as annoyed.

"Well, it's shit now."

He looks up and I swear there is almost a grin on his face.

"What now?" I ask.

"Willow'll get over this. She's just shook up."

"And I thought I was the denial junkie."

"You think she's serious?" He asks, disbelievingly.

"Yup." I nod, to emphasis.

"She can't manage it alone though."

"She's got Solidier-boy on her side."

"I don't like him."

"I got that."

"They'll kill themselves." He says it absently, drifting off into a La-la Land of his own.

"They'll kill Buffy first." That gets his attention.

"She won't do it."

"You sure?" He looks at me and my Slayer instinct kicks in again, I can just about taste his doubt, his fear.

"No." He says it real quiet. Then he sits and puts his head in his hands. I look at him and it hits me that he has so much to grieve for. Giles, Buffy, himself.

"So, we stop 'em, before anybody gets dead." I'm just about pleading.

"We?"

"You gotta somewhere to be?" I knew that wasn't what he meant, but the last thing I need to deal with now, is a discussion of the criminal code.

"No." He sighs. Obviously he isn't up for a discussion either.

"OK. I haven't slain in months and somebody needs to patrol, so let's kill some bad guys."

He pulls himself up and nods.

"Right. Bad guys." He mumbles and follows.

*********************

So, we took down at least seven of them. Obviously word was out that the Slayer's Watcher was dead and they had all thought that it was going to be a free feed. They were wrong.

Angel was in better form than I have ever seen him in and I was pretty worked up too. We killed the first couple tag team style. Then just worked on our own, keeping close. I don't think either of us really wanted to work too well together. Too many memories of other nights and other fights and other Slayers.

We got home late and both headed for the couch.

"Sleep on the bed, Faith."

"Na, the couch is fine."

"Faith, please." He sounds tired and frustrated and I wonder why in the world he is arguing with a known felon about who should sleep on the couch.

"This is your place, Angel."

"Faith..."

"Shut up!"

"What?"

"Just shut up?" I wave my hand at him to indicate he should be quiet. Finally, he catches on and closes his mouth.

"Can you hear that?" I ask.

"What?" He's annoyed now.

"That sound?"

"What sound?"

Two doors and probably three windows smash simultaneously. Glass and wood and funiture spray everywhere. They are Palabor demons, at least five, maybe six of them.

They're dumb and mean, but wicked strong and fast. I almost get my head taken off with a flying fist-claw thing before I have time to register and duck.

"Damn!" Is all I manage as I land hard on the floor. I'm up again soon though and they start falling pretty quickly. After a couple of minutes I have downed three and can see Angel is just taking on the last one. I pull my knife out of one and come to help. Together we have it down in a couple of seconds.

"You 'K?" I ask him, as he cuts the claw-things off the demon.

"Yeah. You need to cut the claws..."

"I have already. I know. Palabors: Full blood demons. Strong and fast. Hunt in packs of five to ten. Main weapon: a claw shaped paw. Claw must be fully seperated to ensure no regeneration." I parrot at him.

He looks up, surprised.

"Didn't ya think I could read?" I ask him. Half-seriously.

"I didn't think you wanted to."

"I had some free time." I say easily, not letting on how proud I am.

He finishes and sits down next to me. We are both covered in blood, some of it ours, most of it not.

"You've changed." He says, again.

"You haven't."

He glares at me. We sit and catch our breathes.

"What _was_ that?" He asks, eventually.

"Chance?" I respond, hopefully.

"No. They stormed this place."

"Why storm people who can kick your arse?"

"We wouldn't have kicked their arses if we'd have been asleep." He points out.

"We'd have been in deep shit." I rest my head against the wall behind me considering that fact.

"We'd be in pieces." He replies. I just close my eyes.

I know he's right and the more I think about it the clearer it is; we'd be very dead by now.

"Since when do Palabors organise attacks?" He asks. I open my eyes to that and turn to look at him.

"Wadda ya mean?"

"I mean, since when do Palabors plan anything?"

I groan inwardly. I'm really beginning to not like all this thinking and planning stuff. Too many questions and never enough answers. There is something to be said for grunt work.

"Buffy!" He says suddenly. I know what he is thinking.

"She'll be fine." He looks at me suspiciously.

"How do you know?"

"You really think Red or Farmboy are gonna let her sleep anywhere less than safe?" I look at him incredulously.

He frowns. I think he is beginning to dislike this Sensible-Faith thing as much as I am.

"No." He manages. I yawn in response.

"Long day." He says. It isn't a question.

"Yeah."

"I'll sleep on the couch."

I look at him and think about arguing.

"You sure?" I say, going to stand.

"Good night, Faith!"

"Yeah. Good night."

*************************

I wake up to the smell of bacon and eggs and coffee and for a second wonder where I am. Then I remember last night, then I wonder where I am again - surely Angel doesn't cook.

I stumble out to see who's playing it domestic and almost kill myself in the process.

"Shit!" I say, as I slip on blackish-brown blood and almost land on top of one of the Palabor corpses. There's two still in the room, Angel is in the process of removing one of them.

"You OK?" He asks distractedly, as I do amatuer gymnstics to avoid landing in a pool of blood.

"Wonderful!" I spit back. "God! These things are wicked gross!"

"That's why I'm moving them."

I don't answer and instead go over and grab the other end of the demon. Together we drag it outside and into the bushes. We go back and grab the other one.

"What's with the cooked breakfast? You expecting company?"

"No. I thought you'd be hungry."

"You cook?"

"I can?"

"Uh-huh!" I guess I look at him strangely. He explains. I wish I knew how I looked at him, it isn't very often that I can make him explain anything.

"Cordelia and Wesley, they like my cooking. I often cook after long nights out."

"Last night counts." I mutter.

"Any thoughts about what was going on?"

I look at him like he has two heads.

"I'm just the Slayer. I slay. Destroy. Kill. I don't read their fucking diaries." I don't know why I snapped back, I guess I just don't want this thinking stuff to become a habit. I haven't changed that much.

He just looks at me for a minute, then turns and shrugs.

"No, I can't work it out either." He says and walks away. I hate when he can read me better than I can read myself.

*******************

The gang shows up at about lunchtime. No sign of Red or Xander's girlfriends though. Angel has disappeared and I'm on the couch dozing. They all barge in.

"Where's Angel?" It's Soldier-boy.

"Dunno." I say and stand, rubbing my eyes.

"Listen, we have a lot to organise." He says.

"So, organise." I mutter, and walk toward the kitchen.

"Faith." It's Red. I turn.

"What?"

"We do need your help." She says calmly. The eyes still aren't normal, but they aren't as scary as they were yesterday.

"Fine." I shrug and continue walking away.

"What happened to your neck?" That makes me spin. It's Red, again.

"What?" I grab my neck, putting a hand over one of my battle scars from last night. One of many that I scored, thanks to the Palabors.

"What happned to your neck?" She repeats. This time with an edge to her voice and that new glint in her eye.

"Nothing." I lie. So, now she is creeping me out _more_ than last night. Why did she notice? Farmboy walks towards me, staring intently.

"What IS that?" He mumbles and moves even closer.

"One more step and you'll have a matching one." I growl, annoyed that he is staring.

"You went patrolling last night!" He exclaims, after taking a step back.

"Yup." I answer, sick of lying.

"We told you not to." He's so self righteous and I am ready to snap back, when somebody does it for me.

"We ignored you." It's Angel, he has re-appeared. All heads turn around.

"Why?" It's Red.

"Because we re-evaluated and decided it would be best if we patrolled." He answers.

"We told you from now on things will be done differently." Says Red, doing her best Wesley impersonation.

"And I've told you that we re-evaluated." Says Angel. His tone throws me, he sounds angry. I always thought he and Red got on. He starts moving toward me. "Sorry to be inhospitable, but this really isn't a good time for you all to be here." He speaks slowly, carefully, almost cautiously. What the hell?

"What?" Xander, finally joining us.

"You'll need to leave. Now." He's quiet, but firm. All eyes are on him, questioning him. What's he playing at?

"Angel?" That's Buffy. So at least Angel is making them talk.

"Please go." He says it real smooth-like, but he sounds serious. Wicked serious.

I'm totally confused and all I know is that he's worried. And not much worries vampires, 'specially not ones as old as Angelus. Anything that has him kickin' B out of his place is gonna be somethin' major.

Red looks to me again.

"Faith?"

"You heard the man." 'Least I sound confident - years of training. I look at Angel. I can smell his fear. This day is gonna be a killer, I just know it.

I walk to the door and open it. They all walk slowly toward it, still lookin' confused. Beefcake walks past.

"We'll do lunch sometime." I say. He glares and I grin. They all trail past, B stops in front of me.

"Faith..." She says it quietly. She's hurting so bad. Even her voice sounds pained.

"B?" I say it cocky and easy, like I don't care. It just about kills me, but I know I've chosen teams for this round already.

"Nothing." She turns.

I just about double over from the pain, but still manage to get it out, quietly. "Stay safe." I whisper.

She spins, surprised, stares and then eventually nods. So, maybe we'll get to forgiveness yet.

*************************

I spin 'round. "What the hell?" I'm confused and upset. Feelings that always come out as anger with me.

"We don't have much time, Faith. I'll explain as we go."

"Do you have any idea what you just did?"

"Possibly saved your life." He answers, deadpan.

"What? Saved me from attack of the overly organised?" I'm angry at everything and taking it out on him.

"Faith, we don't have time for this. We need to move!"

"Where?"

"The sewers. We're not safe here." He is moving, grabbing what weapons we have. I'm a li'l worried he's lost it.

"Damn it, Angel! What's going on?" He throws my bag at me, hard. I stumble back as I catch it. He looks about ten seconds from leaving without me.

"GO!" He screams and my stomach flips. Suddenly, I'm scared too. I grab my jacket, two stakes and a knife and put them all on. I throw my bag on the floor and move towards him.

"Is B safe?" I ask, when I get to him.

He shakes his head.

"I don't know." He answers.

I grimace and we move.

*************************

We don't stop for half an hour. Running, stopping, listening. Turning corners, doubling back. Keeping in the shadows, avoiding all signs of life. Finally, it gets too much.

"Who the fuck do you think is following us? The FBI?" I say it and realise they probably are. Following me at any rate.

"We are below the Summers'. We need to talk to Buffy now." He says, ignoring me. I'm not big on being ignored.

"Jesus Christ! Angel!"

"How are we going to get her out of the house?"

"How 'bout I go tell her you've gone postal again?" I spit it out. I'm not sidekick material.

"Do you think it would work?"

Shit! He's serious.

"No! NO! I think....I think it would mess 'round with somebody that can't really take any more messing 'round at the moment!"

"Faith! We need to get her out of there." He looks at me seriously. I return the stare.

"Tell me what is going on and I'll have her out in five flat."

He frowns, then sighs.

"Angel. I am Slayer, I'll deal. But I need to know what we're dealing with!"

He frowns again, then nods.

"I went down into the sewers this morning. I couldn't get last night out of my head. There was something so wrong about that Palabor attack. So organised. So, I asked some questions. And I the answers I got..." He pauses.

"Angel. I'll deal." God, he's freaking me out.

"They say it was organised by two humans. A big, tall guy : strong and obnoxious, and a little girl. Small and..."

He pauses again, I glare.

"Small and pretty with short, red hair."

My stomach sinks.

"Oh, my God. B!"

Now, I run.

****************

My feet are like lead, but I make it up her front porch in less than a minute. I ring the bell and bend over double, gasping for breath.

She answers the door.

"Faith?"

"B!" I pant.

"What's going on?" She's confused.

"It's Angel..."

I see her face drop, crumple even. She interrupts me before I have the chance to lie and try the lost-soul story.

"What's happened?"

I'm not the only one with instincts, she must be able to feel my fear and I suddenly understand what's going on in her head. Why is it that I always underestimate these two? So, I take a deep breath and tell her what she is expecting to hear. Tell her her worst nightmare.

"He's hurt. Hurt real bad." I say. The fear on my face real.

The reaction is pure B, she grabs a jacket, yells something into the house that I don't even understand and turns to me. Another thing I always forget; B is _the_ gal to have 'round in a crisis.

"Where?" She asks. I grab her hand and we run.

Run to save the ones we love.

*******************

So, I have her down in the sewers now and am wondering what the hell I'm supposed to do. For the last five minutes all I cared about was getting her safe. Now that I have done that, I wish I had planned a li'l more.

Angel turns the corner and approaches us. Suddenly, everything starts moving in slow mo', like a shitty romance scene from a movie.

B runs to him. He looks up at me, surprised. She fusses over him. He shakes her off and tries to talk to her. She's surprised, then hurt. She turns to look at me. He's still trying to talk to her. She looks furious and turns to leave. He grabs her arm. She pulls away. He holds tight. She goes to hit.

"B, stop!"

She spins and looks at me.

"Don't tell me what to do, Faith! Don't you dare tell me what to do!"

"B!" I plead half-heartedly and look up at Angel, who is still holding B's arm. He's about to fall apart, terrified about what will happen if he lets her go.

Suddenly, I flash back to another scene with the three of us. At Angel's in L.A., B furious, ready to kill me and me ready to die. Angel saving us both.

Then to another scene. A police station in L.A.. A place where I gave myself up, but I also a place where I found out, that, for the first time in my life, there was somebody who would have given themselves up for me.

I realise, that I have spent a long time living for payback, but I have never paid the one person back who deserves it most. It is about time that I do.

All half-heartedness falls away. Suddenly, I know what to do.

"B! Listen up and listen good." I say it real loud and real clear and shake my head at her interruptions, as I walk up to her.

"Last night we got ambushed. Six Palabor demons. They stormed Angel's. Took out a couple of doors and windows, a fact you would have noticed this morning, if you hadn't been so busy playing sidekick to Willow and doormat to Riley."

I've got her attention now. She didn't like that, mostly because of the doormat comment, but also 'cause Slayers aren't big on being called inattentive.

"Anyway, we took 'em down. Got a few scratches, but nothin' too serious. They were weak and we were armed. They never had a hope. So, I pretty much figured that was that, 'cause I'm not a big one for pondering or whatever. But Angel was trippin'. Reckoned they were wicked organised for a bunch of Palabors."

I take a deep breath, my courage from a second ago has disappeared. Seems like payback really is a bitch and I want to bail and just let Angel take over. But I look at him and realise he needs me. That he can't do this on his own, and I'm pretty much addicted to this need-drug now. I continue.

"So, this morning he went to beat the shit out of some demon types and see if he couldn't find out what went down. And he pulled it off, found the right big mouth and got him to squeal. Problem is, what he squealed wasn't so pretty. Actually, what he squealed pretty much sucks."

I pause again.

"What are you saying?" Her tone's changed. She gets it now. Angel's actions this morning and my lies just now.

"I'm saying that the ambush got organised by a pretty, little girl with short, red hair." I say it slow and clear, just to make sure she gets it.

"You're wrong." She says, surprisingly calmly. She turns to Angel, getting straight away that I was just playing mouth piece. She repeats herself, her back fully to me now.

"You're wrong." She's still calm though and I am too. Calm and relieved. I did it. For once in my life I defused a situation and I gotta say it ain't a bad experience.

"I'm not wrong, Buffy. Willow tried to kill us." He answers, cautiously.

"She wouldn't." She's still calm, together; never underestimate the power of denial.

"She did."

"Why should I believe you? Either of you?" She turns back to face me now. I guess because she could actually imagine me lying to her, as opposed to Angel. But, her voice is breaking. She knows we aren't.

"Why would we lie?" Angel answers.

"Either of us?" I ask. She looks from him to me and stands still for a moment, thinking.

"What else?" She asks.

"Huh?" I reply.

She turns again to Angel. "What else?"

"What else what?" I ask, confused.

She turns back. She's so calm, creepily so. Denial.

"There is something else. Something you're not telling me."

"No." I answer, confused. Does she _want_ more bad news?

"Actually, yes." Says Angel. Both B and my head snaps toward him.

"What?" We say in unison. Me confused, still. B just interested.

"They said that the girl was with a big guy. Tall, strong, obnoxious."

Shit! It clicks. Farmboy. I knew I should have taken him out.

"You're telling me, that my bestfriend and my boyfriend organised an attack on you." She says, still crazy calm.

"I'm saying, they tried to kill us." He answers, slowly.

I wanted a reaction. Screaming, shouting, hell even hitting. I got the opposite. Angel hardly had the words out of his mouth when she dropped. Dropped like a stone. Angel caught her.

"Shit!" I say, still digesting what he just said. "But why would the two of them work together?" Apparently I am getting into this pondering thing.

"Faith!" Angel cuts me off, annoyed. He's holding B up now.

"Oh!"

"Where do we go?" He looks at me and I flick through the options. I'm getting better at this whole advice thing.

"Xander's." I suggest, he grimaces.

"Will it be safe?" He asks, as B starts coming to.

"Will anywhere?" I shoot back, watching B.

"No." He admits. B groans and Angel swings her legs up and carries her. "You know the way?"

"Yeah." I nod and take the lead.

************************

B came 'round soon enough and demanded to be let down. I can tell Angel's real worried 'bout her and that makes two of us. Never thought I'd see the day B'd faint. To be honest, I really wish I hadn't. This whole Sunnydale-experience is going downhill fast.

Anyway, she still came with us to Xander's. I'm not sure she believes us. I guess it is not a call she has ever been forced to make before. A choice between Angel and Red. I don't buy that Beefstick really makes much difference to the equation. For now it seems like she knows that we aren't lying, but still thinks we are wrong, however that works.

So, we get to Xander's and find the basement messed up bad. Looks like somebody had a fit in here.

"Xander!" B calls out, sounding worried as hell. There's no response.

She runs down the steps, even though Angel tries to stop her. He's thinking what I am; if Xander was here when this went down, chances are, he isn't gonna be in any shape to respond. We follow B down the stairs.

"He's not here." She says, concerned. "I'm going to call Anya."

Angel and I nod, as she moves toward the phone. We both start looking around seeing what there is to see. I spot something on the wall and motion him over. He looks at it and sighs.

"It was Palabors." He says, staring at the claw mark in the wall.

I nod.

"This doesn't make sense. Any of it!" He sounds annoyed. "First us, now Xander. Why would Willow do something like this?" He continues.

I shrug in response, turning and looking back around the room.

"Buffy and Xander are her best friends." He says and I nod.

I move across the room, kicking objects out of my way as I go.

"What is she trying to do?" He asks and I shrug again.

"Faith!" He says, annoyed.

"What?"

"Are you even listening?"

"Yeah. I'm just...like...thinking."

"What?" He asks.

"She hasn't seen him all day." Says B, rejoining the conversation.

"Oh." I manage, not knowing what else to say. "I can't see any blood." I offer, trying to be helpful. B just goes pale and Angel glares. I try and fix it. "I just mean, if he was here when the Palabors were, there would be like a LOT of blood."

Angel continues to glare, B turns to him, but before she manages to get anything out, we hear a noise at the door. Angel grabs B and pulls her behind a wall. I mount the steps, three at a time and by the time the door starts to open I'm ready to do some serious damage to whoever it is.

"Oh my God!" Cries Xander. Intially, because of the state of his room and then because of the headlock.

"Shit! Sorry!" I manage as I let go of him, allowing him to breath. Unfortunately, the headlock brought him to his knees and me letting goes just sends him tumbling down the steps.

"Shit!" I mutter again, as I run down after him. By now B and Angel have appeared and they run to see if he is OK too.

"What's going on?" He mumbles, as the three of us crowd around him. Apparently it takes more than that to take him out. I don't say anything, but I'm impressed, that looked wicked painful. "What did you do to my room?" He groans, as he tries to stand. B moves to help him up.

"We didn't do anything." I answer quickly. "I mean, it was like this before."

Damn, I sound pathetic.

"Xander, I need to talk to you." It's B. For whatever reason, I think she actually believes us now. He catches her tone and starts lookin' even more worried.

"What's going on?" He's whigging now too.

"Upstairs." She nods and starts walking. He follows.

Once they're gone I look at Angel.

"This has gone too far." He says.

"So, we stop her now!" I say, pumped.

"Stop _them_ now." He corrects.

"Whatever! Enough of this waiting bullshit. Once Xand's in the know, we go out and kick some bad guy head in." I answer, angry at everything, 'specially the fact I just about killed one of the good guys.

Angel nods. "Right. Bad guys." He mumbles.

**************

I guess we figure it will take a while for B and Xander to talk, so we are both looking around the room for something to amuse ourselves with, when the door flies open, again.

"You're wrong!" It's what I was expecting, but from the wrong person. It's B, back on her denial trip.

She comes down the steps quickly and looks at us hard. Xander remains at the top of the steps, looking shaken and confused.

"Xander has been with Riley all day!" She pauses and looks at us. "You're wrong!" She repeats, in case we didn't get it the first time.

Angel takes a breath, as if he is going to say something, then doesn't.

Suddenly, strangely, we are all silent. I look at B and realise she has finally snapped out of her blank La - la Land, but Xander looks as vunerable and terrified as yesterday. Angel just looks confused. I'm so over the Group Leader thang, but it looks like no one else is stepping up, so I take a deep breath.

"All day?" I ask, turning to Xander. He just nods.

I turn back to Angel.

"They're too smart to waste an attack on an empty apartment." I think out loud.

"Willow wouldn't...Riley too...they wouldn't..." Begins Xander. He notices us all staring at him and seems to get even more scared. He stops stammering and returns to looking confused. The three of us turn back to face each other.

"You're wrong." B says, again!

"We got that!" I snarl back, annoyed.

Angel shakes his head.

"I'm sure." He frowns. "The description. It was him. Yesterday afternoon, Willow and him. They organised it all."

"Wait. What time yesterday afternoon?" Interrupts B.

"After the wake." He responds, confused.

B doesn't say anything, just frowns.

"You gonna let us in on what you're thinking?" I ask. I sound really pissed and I know I should be more caring, it being a shitty time and all, but having to force people into conversation really isn't my style and it is wicked annoying.

"Will did leave, just after the wake, she just ran off. But Riley was with me. The whole time."

I turn to Angel. He looks baffled and angry, I guess. Before anyone has a chance to say anything the phone rings. Xander looks confused and then runs down the steps to get it. He steers clear of me as he comes down, though. Understandable, I guess.

"Hello?" He asks, timidly, while looking at us. "Oh, hey." - "Around lunch today." - "Since yesterday!" - "No." - "I don't know. But Buffy's here now, I'll ask her." - "Yeah. I'll call you back." He hangs up and turns around.

He takes a deep, quivering breath and looks at B. "That was Tara. She hasn't seen Willow since the funeral yesterday and Willow didn't sleep at her place last night. She wanted to know if she slept in her dorm room." We all turn to B, who I must say, is, finally, looking worried - she took her time - she shakes her head.

"No." She looks from Angel, to me, to Xander and shakes her head again. "No, she didn't."

I swear I hear Angel sigh in relief. He's right about Willow, I can feel it and this has proved it.

"I'm right." He says, annoyingly. Geez, these two can be immature when they want to be.

I take over again, just because these three are doing my head in. They are just so slow. I'm about to ask what Red's next move will be, when I realise what it will be and realise we have no time to discuss.

"Your Mom!" I say to Buffy, probably somewhat randomly. I am up the steps before she has even reacted.

"What?" She asks, confused and concerned.

"Angel! B's gotta be the next target, the Summers'...." I don't finish the sentence, I don't need to. Angel has caught on and is mounting the steps behind me. B and Xander follow, like sheep. I don't think B gets it 100% percent, but she gets that her Mom's in danger and that's enough.

***********

We come up behind the house across from the Summers'. We're in the shadows and so Angel comes with until we get to the front corner of the house, where the shade stops.

I glance at him.

"Go!" He yells.

I've only moved like two steps when I crash into Red. As much as I want to stay and deal with her, I know there are bigger problems to deal with. So, I keep running towards the Summers', it is only Angel's yell that stops me.

"Faith!" I spin, annoyed. B is well ahead now and I really don't want her going in alone if the Palabors are there.

"WHAT?" I snap.

Red's standing between Angel and I, looking terrified, a nice change from the pissed look she's been sporting for the last two days, but weird. Before he replies, she suddenly bolts.

Angel makes a move to grab her and steps into the sun. He moves back instinctively though, as flames flare on his hands. He screams at me to catch her. I don't understand what is going on, but vampires don't throw themselves in sunlight for anything 'cept a real good reason, so I go.

It isn't much of a competition, she's an academic and she runs like one too. I have her on the ground in no time. I pull her up, despite her clawing and screaming and literally carry her over to Angel. I dump her in front of him and Xander, who is watching all this in stunned surprise and terror, and Angel quickly pins her down.

Angel's hands are badly burnt and I am about to ask what is going on when I hear a scream from the Summers' and for the second time today, run like the wind.

***********

"B!" I scream as I enter the house. "B!!" I hear fighting sounds from upstairs and run up.

I don't even need to turn the corner to see what's happening. B's taking on about six demons and losing - badly. I jump into the fray - furious at everything and take them on like nothing on earth.

I'm fighting off emotions, like I always do, but I think for the first time, I'm fighting to get pay back for others, rather than myself. I see Xander's terrified face and B collapsing and Angel's hands and I fight harder than I ever have before.

They weren't prepared for two Slayers and we manage to have them down in a couple of minutes, but B's hurt bad. I run to her and kneel down.

"B?"

"I'm OK, Faith." She whispers it. There's blood everywhere and I'm scared shitless.

"B, what 'bout your Mom?" I ask, remembering the reason we're here at all.

"She wasn't here."

I have a flash of guilt, coming here was my idea in the first place, but realise I have better things to worry about and decide to feel guilty later.

I pick her up. She seems to have lost a lot of blood, but otherwise, I think she's OK. I carry her down the stairs and across the road. Red's being held down by Xander now, God alone knows how Angel convinced him to do that.

"Buffy?" It's Angel. His voice is pure pain.

"I'm OK." She manages. "Faith, put me down. I'm fine." She mumbles, sounding anything but convincing.

"She needs to go to the hospital." Angel says. I nod.

"I'll take her. You take Red and Xander. We'll meet..." I trail off, this Group Leader thang has got too much.

"We'll met at your old motel room." Says Angel, finally taking over that role again.

"OK." I nod and turn to go. B just about passed out in my arms.

"Wait!" Surprisingly, it's Xander. We have sorta got used to ignoring him, it's strange to hear him speak. Strange enough for me to actually stop and turn around.

"What?"

"You can't take her." He manages, sounding terrified.

"Why not?" I ask annoyed, tried of having to interpret all these peoples' strange mutterings.

"The escapee factor." He says, simply, sounding more confident and more like the Xander of old.

"Shit!" I spit it out furiously. Angel looks desperate.

"I'll go." Xander replies. I go to argue, but he shakes his head.

"I'm the only one that can and she needs to go now!" I know he is right. So, I nod.

He passes the still struggling, but now muzzled Red to Angel and I pass B to him. I guess I look real worried.

"It's all right. I'll take care of her." He says, quietly, to both of us and I notice for the first time that he is looking collected, almost confident.

For some reason that makes me happy. I nod.

"I know."

*************

We get to the motel without any problems. Red gave up squirming after a few minutes, though I practically had to carry her the last half of the way. Apparently she isn't too keen on being here.

I'm still not a 100% on what's going on. I think Angel's hands are giving him grief, 'cause he didn't say anything the whole way, 'cept to tell me to take it easy on Red. Whatever.

"D'you want me to tie her up?" I ask, having thrown her on the bed. He looks up at me, confused.

"What?" He asks, distracted.

"I'm tying her up." I say, wondering why I was asking permission in the first place.

"OK. Just take it easy on her." He replies. I glare at him, but he ignores it. There is something weird going on, but I want Red tied up, before I try and work out what.

I tie her up real tight and grab something to stuff in her mouth.

"Is that really necessary?" He asks, disgruntled. That pisses me off, so I do it anyway. Then I turn and speak quietly and slowly, treating him like a moron.

"Angelus, you're a disappointment. I thought you were some kinda wicked Badass in your day. Red here's tried to kill us once already. You really wanna leave her the possibility of turning us into frogs?" That seems to wake him up a bit. He looks at Willow and shakes his head.

"No. You're right."

"I know." I mutter. I double check that she isn't going anywhere in a hurry, and then turn back 'round.

"You wanna tell me what's goin' on?"

"She's cursed."

"Huh?"

"Somebody has cast a spell on her." He answers, looking at Red.

"How d'you know?" I ask, suspicious.

"This afternoon. As you ran into her. She was standing in the sun, but she had no shadow." I turn and look at her surprised. Then turn back to him.

"None?"

"None at all." He says, quietly.

"Whadda ya mean? I mean...really?" I know the answer, I'm just babbling. He just nods his head.

"Shit!" I say surprised. Then angry. "SHIT!" I kick the bedside table, hard.

"You had other things to worry about, Faith. You couldn't have noticed." I spin 'round at that. Second time today he has read me like a book. He's wrong though. I could have noticed and should have. Talk about inattentive Slayers!

"So..." I try and think up an appropriate question, there must be thousands. But all I can think about is chasing Red and pulling her to the ground and somehow never noticing she didn't have a shadow. Poor, wicked poor! I take a deep breath. Focus.

I end up asking the absolutely, fucking obvious. I can't think up anything better. "So, that means she's cursed?"

"It's a classical sign - yes." He responds, looking down at his badly burnt hands.

I try again. "So, who cursed her?" I get a dirty look for that. Prob'ly a deserved one.

"I don't know, Faith" He responds slowly, irritatingly.

"OK. So, who could have cursed her?" I ask, calmly, refusing to get wound up.

"Anyone."

"Ya wanna give me something to work with here?" I spit out at him.

"Fine!" He snaps back. "Anybody with a reasonable knowledge of the Black Arts, some rare ingredients and some basic Latin could do this."

I pause.

"So, the ingredients are the tricky part." I ask, making sure my voice isn't too aggressive. I will not get into an argument 'bout this. It's too important.

He frowns at my question and my tone. Don't think either of us are gonna get into this Logical-Faith thing soon. But, eventually, he nods. "Yes. They would be the challenge."

All this thinking shit really isn't my style. But, I can't help feeling that having Red tied to a chair doesn't leave us safe. Can't help thinking, that we need to work out what is going on and soon. Before somebody else gets hurt, or dead.

I know Angel. Right now he's freaking about B and about the fact he couldn't help her. But, if I can just get him started on the right track, the one that leads to safety, hers and ours, and maybe even one that leads to payback, for all of us, then he'll do the rest. I just gotta get him started. I take another deep breath.

"And what's the deal with casting the spell. Would they have been able to do it from anywhere or what?" I ask, hoping that if I ask enough stuff I might eventually stumble across something half way useful.

"No." He shakes his head. "No, they would need her for the spell."

"So, they would've needed to be in Sunnydale...." I mumble, hoping he will eventually start helping me out, seeing as I have no idea where this is heading.

"Yes."

"Maybe even at the funeral?"

"Perhaps, but not necessarily." Talk about pulling teeth.

"But I mean, she had a shadow at the funeral, right?" I'm babbling now.

Suddenly, he looks up.

"What?"

"They were in the sunlight for the funeral. I mean, she had a shadow then, didn't she?" I ask, bitterly aware of the fact that if she didn't, I probably wouldn't have noticed anyway.

"Yes." He says, slowly, unsurely. "She must've had."

"And I mean, that would like fit in with the whole 'Evil Willow' look that she's been sporting since the wake."

He looks at me. "So, you're saying it happened after the funeral?"

I practically laugh out loud. I wasn't saying anything half that smart, but I'll take the credit. Take it and run with it.

"I'm saying that whoever did this, did it in Sunnydale and they did it yesterday, after the funeral and before the wake. I'm quoting you and saying they did it with some rare shit. Presumably stuff you can't get from Walmart." I say, desperately hoping he is going to take over.

"If we call Wesley, we can find out what was needed and find out where you can get it."

"OK." I manage, smiling inwardly.

"We'll see if he can work out a reversal spell, maybe get him in contact with Tara. She needs to know about this. Hopefully, they can manage to get Willow back to normal. She might even remember what happened. Then we start canvasing all the shops where the ingredients can be bought. We figure out who bought them, with that information and anything Willow remembers, we should be able to find out who was behind all this." He rushes it all out, almost stumbling over the words.

"Sounds like a plan." I nod, trying not to grin.

"OK. I'll call Wesley. You watch Willow." He says, suddenly the confident, composed Angel of yesterday.

I nod again, running my hands over my face. I can't take much more of this. All this sidekick, supportive bullshit is fucking exhausting...

Angel notices. "Faith, are you OK?"

"Five by five." I assure him. Exhausting, but crazy addictive.

***************

The whole gang's onto it now. I think I've created a monster.

Red's gal's been here for hours now. Searching through books, grabbing other ones, muttering to herself and every two seconds looking up to check on Red. She begged me to take the restraints off, or at least loosen them and I refused. Point blank. It hasn't stopped her checking every ten minutes too make sure that they aren't cutting in though and I gotta say I'm impressed by her dedication to it all. I can't imagine anyone ever caring so much.

Wesley's called a few times and he and Angel have had long, serious conversations, which I didn't really bother tryin' to catch. I know my place now that everybody else is on the job, I'm on security detail, and that's just fine by me.

Xander's been by, him and his gal. They stopped just long enough for me to work out that I hate her and for her to establish that she doesn't trust me. That's cool, I wouldn't trust me either. Anyways, they left again with a list from Angel, who has also disappeared, mumbling about morgues and hospitals and things.

So, it's quiet now, aside from the flipping of pages, and I'm pacing around, trying to work out the one thing that no one else has got 'round to wonderin' about yet - why?

I'm not even close to an answer when Angel comes stalking back in. His face is pure anger. My jaw almost drops to the floor, when B comes in behind him, sporting an almost matching expression.

"B?!" I manage, not able to hide my surprise.

B's eyes flash to Red, linger for a second, then flash back to me. When she looks at me I almost forget to breath. It's B, the old B. The angry, tough, mean one that I never knew whether to hate or love. The B I have dreamt about for months - it's hard to believe it, but it's good to have her back.

"Faith." The voice is old B's too. Uncomprimising.

Suddenly, I'm thrown off balance. I feel tongue tied and terrified. I realise that she would have every right to tell me to leave now. And that I would have to go. I can see it in her eyes, B will always mourn Giles, always miss him. But she is back to full Slayer status now and my excuse doesn't hold water anymore - she doesn't need me.

"Are...are you OK?" I ask, trying desperately to sound composed.

"I'm still weak, but yes, I'm OK." She turns and looks pointedly at Angel when she says OK.

I stand still, frozen, terrified. Surprisingly, it is Angel that saves me.

"Faith, can I have a word?" He says. I start, look at him confused, then nod.

"Umm..yeah. I mean, sure." I say, sounding particularly unsure.

B looks at me, then him, I hold my breath, waiting for the outburst, but none comes. She nods and walks over to where Tara is working and starts talking to her. I walk over to Angel.

He is looking even worse than before.

"Bad news." He mutters.

"Like?" I ask, surprised that I am being let in on anything.

"I went to the morgue. It was something you said yesterday, about the fact Giles probably got killed by a Palabor. I went and checked, they take photos at morgues now."

"Nice!" I say, not able to hold myself back.

"I know." He nods. "But the pictures. You were right. It looks like it was Palabors."

I take a deep breath. Damn it! I thought we got through this, I'm security detail. Why isn't he telling B all this?

"I can't tell Buffy. She isn't strong enough." He answers my unasked question.

There is a pause as I realise I can't get out of this.

"Fine. Let's break this down. You're saying that Palabors killed Giles too." I pause again. "It could have been a different pack." I sound desperate, even to me.

"You believe in coincidences?" He asks.

I frown. "Never."

He raises his eyebrows. "Me neither."

I sigh and run my hands through my hair. "You're saying somebody has killed Giles. Cursed Red, tried to kill us, Xander and B?"

"Yes." He answers, without looking, choosing instead to watch B.

"But, why?" I splutter, finally spitting out the question that has been on my mind all night.

"Faith! Between the six of us we have killed more demons than the last dozen Slayers. There are a thousand different demons that would love to see us dead."

"But this wasn't demons, was it?" I ask.

Before he gets time to answer, Xander comes storming in, his gal a few paces behind.

"I think I've got something!" We all spin 'round. The two of them are panting, gasping for breath.

"We went to an underground magic shop. One of the ones Wesley mentioned, Anya convinced them we were demons and we got in." Xander gulps for air and his gal starts doin' the talking.

"We asked a few questions and it turns out that somebody had bought the ingredients there a few days ago. We even managed to get a vague description of the guy who bought them." She pauses, dramatically. She starts up again though, about a millisecond before I slap her.

"They said he was tall and big built, with a bad attitude." Suddenly, the room tenses. I see Angel's back straighten, he is about to turn 'round to B and say God knows what, when Xander adds something.

"And a British accent." As quickly as the tension came, it disappears again. Confusion replaces anger on Angel's face.

"A British accent?" He asks.

"Oxford-English, apparently." Answers Xander with a hint pleasure and almost a smirk, he knows that it ruins Angel's theory about Riley. Good to see he is back to form again too.

Silence falls on the room. Strangely it is Willow's gal that breaks it.

"I'm sorry, to butt..butt in. It's just. I've worked out how to reverse the spell." She pauses. None of us respond. That seems to make her more nervous.

"With Anya's help I think I could, I mean, I think we could...could reverse it. Right here." She pauses. We remain silent. "Now."

With that the room suddenly becomes a hive of activity. Everybody moves toward Red to see what can be done. Everybody that is except Angel and I, who are standing in exactly the same places as before. I guess for them reversing the spell is number one priority. Plus, they probably figure getting Red back might be a step towards the greater good. I figure that if we don't work something solid out soon, our problems are just gonna get bigger.

"We need to get out and see what the word is on assholes with British accents." I state the obvious.

"Maybe we should wait. Just until..." Angel trails off. He shakes his head frustrated. "You're right." He admits.

"I know." I look at him hard. "You take the sewers. I'll start at Willy's." I say, for the first time giving out orders without feeling self-conscious. He nods, reluctantly.

"You right here, B?" I ask, not even realising that I have lost the terror of a few moments ago. She looks up.

"Yes. Why?" She asks, suspicious.

"We got somewhere to be." She looks at Angel and then me.

"This wasn't Riley." She sounds worried and is about to continue.

"Your boy's fine, B. We know it wasn't him." She looks surprised. I guess she hasn't really seen much of this new, Logical-Faith.

She nods. "OK."

I turn to Angel. "You good?" I ask, he looks paler than normal.

"Yeah. Let's go."

With that we leave. Not that anyone really notices.

**************

I get to Willy's in record time. I'm psyched that I finally have something useful to do.

I walk in and the place gets real quiet. It is packed with demons of every shape and size. I'm not gonna hurt any of 'em though, so I don't even bother looking. I walk up to the bar.

"Willy!" He turns, not recognising the voice.

"Who are you?" He asks, scared. Guess he knows that not many things make a room full of demons shut up and none of those things are particularly friendly.

"Name's Faith." I say.

He looks surpirsed. "The rogue Slayer!" I don't think he knows whether to laugh or cry.

"One and only."

"What can I help you with?"

"Need some information..." I go to continue, but he butts in.

"I don't know who you have been talking to. But I'm not into that thing anymore..." This time I butt in.

"Willy! I don't know who _you_ have been talking to, but obviously not the right people!" I grin, as I jump the bar easily and land in front of him.

"What..what..do you mean?" He asks, terrified, as I grab him by the scruff of the neck.

"I mean didn't anyone tell you that I was mean and cruel and absolutely INSANE!" I scream at him, as I sweep a row of glasses to the ground with my spare hand.

"Actually, now that you mention it..." He begins again.

"Willy! Shut up! I don't care. All I care about is this." I pause, for effect. "Listen good, 'cause I'm only gonna say it once." He nods. "In the last few days, some guy. Big, strong, with a bad attitude and an English accent. He was in Sunnydale. And he screwed a few of my friends over. One of them being Buffy, the other Slayer."

I pause again, impressed by the fear B's name induces. "I wanna know who he was!"

"Sounds human. Humans don't come in here! We don't get..." I cut him off again.

"Think HARDER, Willy!" I scream at him and lift him a couple of inches of the ground.

"OK. OK. Maybe I've heard something about an English guy." I return him to the ground. "But, I don't think he's the one you want." I glare. "I mean, it just wouldn't make sense. It can't be."

"WILLY!" I didn't want to hurt him, but he is really pissing me off. I lift him up and shake him, hard.

"Fine! But it doesn't make any sense!" He splutters terrified, trying to grasp onto the bar behind him. "The guy you're describing. There was a lot of talk 'bout him. He was a real prick apparently. Made everyone real angry. But nobody did anything about it. 'Cause this guy. The one they were talkin' about. He was a real big shot. A real big shot for the Watcher's Council."

This time my heart does stop.

******************

Epilogue

A lot of it blurs after that.

I remember dropping Willy. Dropping him to the floor, turning around and being sick into the sink. I stood there holding onto the bar, clinging on to the one solid thing that I could find, desperately trying to make the world and my stomach stop spinning. Eventually, I turned around and looked down at Willy who was crumpled on the floor sobbing. Then I ran. Ran for my life.

At some point I got back to the Motel. I almost scared myself to death as I walked past the window and saw my reflection, my face was deathly white and my eyes were wild. I've never seen anyone look so terrified. I went into the room and they were all there. Beefcake had arrived, Angel was back and from the tears and the pain in Red's eyes it looked like she was up to date on her walk on the wild side. They all looked up as I walked in and their faces reflected my fear. I went to say something, I don't remember what, but at the last minute changed my mind and stumbled into the bathroom.

I felt like I sat there alone for hours. But Angel said later it wasn't that long. At some point Angel and B came in, I think they had to break the door down. Somehow I told them. I can't imagine what I said. But they understood straight away - just like I had. Angel stayed in the bathroom with me and B went out to talk to the others.

From what I remember, which isn't much, the others stayed up for a long time talking. I sat with Angel on the cold tiles and tried to pretend that none of it had happened. Angel just sat queitly, with his arm around me, trying to stop me rocking and holding my hair back when I was sick, time and time again.

Snippets of conversation floated in and infested my brain, even though I tried to block them out. Seemed like they put it all together, just like I had done when I was hanging over the sink at Willy's. They went through it all, the what; cold-blooded murder, curses, attacks. The how; demons, magic, trickery. And my personal favourite, the only possible why; a new, obedient Slayer, a new, straight edged Watcher and the complete removal of any form of a Scooby Gang. One by one, they understood my fear and my anger and one by one, they were swallowed by a terror all of their own.

That was all only a few days ago. We are all still in shock. I guess mostly, we're blown away by the evil of these people, people who have preached and ranted and threatened at us. Their hypocrisy, their betrayal and their obvious hatred for us, has just about been a death blow in a time that has proved wicked trying. Angel and I are the only ones even attempting to deal. Willow isn't at all, tormented by guilt and crushed by the fact that she must survive all of this without her world's foundation. But, to be honest, it seems as if Giles wasn't the only foundation of their world. Seems like a couple of principles of right and goodness and loyalty were as well. They've been taken away now too and I wonder how we'll ever recover.