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Chapter 15: Little Sis
Buffy jerked awake with her heart bounding, her hair clung to her face from sweat and she was breathing hard. She spun around when she felt a gentle hand on her back but relaxed as soon as she saw Angel looking back at her concerned.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just a dream. With Technicolor and surround sound”, she said still feeling a little dazed.
“A prophetic dream?” he asked still stroking her back calmingly.
“I don't know”, she sighed and took a deep breathe. Angel pulled her against his chest and pressed a small kiss to the top of her head. She relaxed against him and let her eyes close but she knew sleep wouldn't come again.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked softly slowly running his hand up and down her bare arm.
“It was about Faith. We were putting new sheets to the bed and she said that little sis is coming. What ever it means...” She closed her eyes once more but she couldn't get the words out of her head, 'little sis is coming'.
Angel watched her as she closed her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep, he couldn't help but worry what might happen if it was a prophetic dream. He smoothed her hair back and pressed a soft kiss to her head. A small smile rose to his lips as he saw her smile without opening her eyes.
The gang had gathered at Giles' apartment, they all knew they weren't in the Initiative's good graces and they needed a way to destroy Adam. All day Buffy hadn't gotten the dream out of her head, the words 'little sis is coming' kept repeating in her mind.
She was sitting on the arm rest of the chair that Angel was sitting in, her mind was so occupied that she didn't even notice that she was playing with the short hairs in the back of his neck. But the others noticed the small show of affection, especially Xander who still hated Angel with passion, more out of habbit than lust for Buffy since he had started to develop real feelings towards Anya.
But no one of the gang noticed sickly pale Faith on the window, looking ready to destroy their lives, but she didn't make her move yet, she needed weapons and to gather her strength back, thanks to her slayer healing it shouldn't take long.
The phone rang and Giles went to answer it, to his surprise the call wasn't for him but for Buffy. Slowly abandoning her comfortable place next to Angel, she went to the phone and Angel could see the serious change on her face as she listened to the caller. He started to get worried since he couldn't hear more than few words here and there from the caller.
“Thank you for calling. I'll keep my eyes open”, she said to the phone before hanging up. She took a deep breathe and turned to the gang that was looking at her expectantly.
“Faith woke up”, she said and everybody stayed in a stunned silence. “She beat someone and just walked out the hospital with her clothes.”
“She really has a bad timing”, Xander said shaking his head. Buffy nodded solemnly and went to sit next to Angel. He looked at her concerned and gently took her hand into his. She turned to look at him with a sad smile on her lips.
“Are you okay?” he asked knowing that Faith's waking up affected her the most. She nodded and sighed.
“Yeah. Now we know what the dream was about, she woke up, just like she said: little sis is coming. I just wish the dreams would come with a longer warning period. Why do prophecy dreams have to be so cryptic?”
Angel just smiled at her not saying anything since he knew it was a rhetorical question. “We'll get through this. Maybe there's still a chance of reaching her.”
Buffy smiled at him. “I hope so”, she whispered even though she was afraid it was too late.
Buffy stood up drawing everybody's attention. “Okay, listen up. Faith's awake now and we don't know what she's up to so, be careful and don't go anywhere alone”, she cautioned the others and received nods and confirms but it did nothing to shake the uneasy feeling she had.
Buffy and Willow were walking on campus, it was between classes but they didn't have a hurry. “So, how was your night?” Willow asked and glanced at her friend. A small frown marred Buffy's face.
“Angel and I patrolled, no sign of Faith.”
“Think she'll show?”
“I don't know, with Faith you never know and I don't know which one I'm hoping for.”
They both stopped walking as they saw Faith standing by the announcement board. She turned to them, looking cocky. “So. Check you out, B. Nice. The 'big girl on campus' thing's really working for you”, she said running her gaze up and down Buffy's body. Buffy walked closer to her sister slayer but didn't let her guard down.
”I've been looking for you.”
”I've been standing still for eight months, B. How hard you look?”
”Are you all right?” Buffy asked concerned but tried to keep it out of her voice.
”Five by five. That's the thing about a coma, you come out all rested and rejuvenated”, Faith answered walking closer to Buffy swaying her hips cockily. ”And ready for pay back”, she added with hard voice and her face was not any softer.
”So much for the pleasantries, huh?”
”What'd you think? I'd wake up and we'd go for tea? You tried to gut me, blondie.”
”You were going to do the same to me if I'd given you the chance”, Buffy answered her voice hardening as she remembered the time Faith had switched sides and the reason she had attacked her sister slayer. Faith smirked cocking her head and taking a step closer.
”So let's give it another go. See who lands on top.”
”It doesn't have to be like this you know”, Buffy tried but Faith would have none of it.
”Actually, I think it has to be exactly like this. There's only one slayer, do you think that once I kill you, will there be another one called? Since you already died once, I would be guessing not.”
“Not here, not now. These are innocent people”, Buffy said her voice hardening another notch.
“No such animal”, was the simple answer from Faith.
“I guess it was too much to hope you'd used your down time to reflect and grow.”
“Right back at'ya. You're still the self-righteous bitch, fucking your vampire and forgetting all about the fact that you stabbed me and put me into a coma for eight months. I guess the whole soul thing was a smoke screen. You kept going like nothing happened, everything was just sunny days and flowers for you while I lost eight months of my life.”
“You tried to kill Angel”, Buffy said with a low voice and looked at the brunette with cold eyes.
”Yeah, that was very bad of me”, Faith said not an inch of regret in her voice. She took menacing steps closer to Buffy who didn't cower in front of her.
”I see he drank from you. And that's what you saved, he's an animal just like the rest of them”, Faith said and made her move, she hit Buffy but she managed to catch her fist into hers before it collided into her face. Buffy punched her fist back to Faith's face with her own still in her hand and the brunette slayer went down to the ground. Quickly recovering, Faith swept Buffy's feet from under her and she fell hard to the ground.
Faith was about to make her move when Willow crept behind her and hit her with a chair. She staggered but didn't fall and with a murderous glare she spun around hitting the chair from Willows hands. She was about to go after Willow when Buffy jumped up from the ground keeping the psychotic slayer away from her friend. Neither of the slayers made a move, sizing the situation while they could here the police sirens closing and soon see the officers making their way towards them.
”You took my life, B. Payback's a bitch.”
”Look who's talking”, Willow piped up from behind Buffy but Faith didn't pay any attention to her.
”See ya 'round”, she said before she dashed into run, going through the cops like they were feather light. Quickly Buffy followed running after her but once she reached the campus wall, she couldn't see Faith anywhere.
Once Buffy made sure Willow was safely in their dorm room, she went to Angel, afraid that Faith would go after him. Neither of them knew that Faith had followed her back to the mansion and what she saw only fueled her anger. The love that shone from both of them even more now than eight months earlier, all the comforting touches and gentle kisses were making her want to punish them for taking what should have been hers. With cold determination in her eyes she turned around in her heals and headed towards the other person who meant the most to the older slayer. A wicked smile rose to her lips as she thought about her plan.
When the evening went on and there was no sign of Faith, Buffy started to get worried. She told Angel to wait for her which he promised to do after long time of arguing. With a kiss of good luck, Buffy made her way back to her former home.
When she arrived, the lights were on and knowing to be cautious, she sneaked to the window and saw Faith pacing on the end of the bed where her mother was sitting. Right then Buffy saw red, she dived through the window catching Faith and pulling her away from her mother. Buffy rolled to her feet and glanced at her mother.
“Hi mom. You okay?”
“Hi honey. I'm alright”, Joyce answered.
Soon Faith recovered and attacked Buffy. She tackled her, both of them landing through the door to the hallway. They both jumped to their feet and started sending fierce punches at each other. Faith grabbed Buffy as she lost balance and they both rolled down the stairs ending up to the dining room. They jumped back to their feet and attacked again. Faith kept glancing at the kitchen where the sharp objects were but Buffy managed to keep her away from the door.
“Oh, I saw Angel, boy is he looking good. But he does look little tense, maybe another roll in the sack would help to that. What, B, not keeping your man satisfied?” Faith taunted and Buffy's face darkened, Faith with Angel was still a sore spot for her. She hit Faith hard enough to send her flying over the dining table to the hall. She jumped over the table and went after the brunette. Faith made a dash to the living room, quickly grabbing a picture frame from the table and throwing it at Buffy, but Buffy grabbed it from air and placed it back to a table before going after her sister slayer.
They could hear the police sirens screaming near, coming closer. “The cops”, Faith whispered more to herself than anyone else.
“That's right, end of the game”, Buffy said but Faith wasn't ready to give up. She took a run towards the box the mayor had left her and quickly she fastened the metallic device to her hand. Buffy went after her and grabbed her by the shoulder spinning her around. Faith grabbed Buffy's hand into hers and the device started to glow spreading the light around their arms till it gave a strong pulse of energy. The two slayers looked at each other stunned, till suddenly Buffy hit Faith sending her unconsciously to the floor. She threw the device to the ground and smashed it with the sole of her shoe grinding it to pieces.
Soon after the cops rushed to the house lifting the unconscious body of Faith off the ground. Joyce ran to Buffy and pulled her into a tight hug.
“Are you okay, honey?”
Buffy just shrugged Joyce off of her and answered with a small smile playing on her lips: “Five by five.”
During the night she tried to escape, she grabbed one of the men with her legs, pinning him down. The other came out but her threats were in vain because the others were ready to let Faith kill their comrade before untying her. Buffy shocked by the act, she knew Council was cold but not that cold, as the others walked away, she kicked the unconscious man off the van. She wasn't a killer but she didn't know how to get away alive, she knew those men wouldn't hesitate to kill her, especially the leader who had been called Collins.
Angel was about to go on a patrol when Faith in Buffy's body stepped from the door. “Hey”, she said with lust dripping from her voice. Angel looked at her in question, he could smell her arousal but once she quickly walked to him, jumping into his arms and pulling him into a passionate kiss, he smelled something other that disturbed him.
Angel pulled away and looked at Buffy, she looked different, heavy make up and leather pants, he also could smell Spike and Riley on her. He tried to suppress a growl of anger but didn't manage to keep it down. A shiver ran through Faith's body as she heard the deep growl coming from him, he couldn't have known she wasn't Buffy.
“We should go to patrol”, Angel said and tried to go past her but she grabbed his arm pulling him back.
“It's dead out there, I have a better idea, why don't we have some fun for a change”, she drawled out with a husky voice and ran her her fingertips up and down his arm.
“Adam is still out there”, Angel said trying to ignore the act. Faith had no idea of who Adam was but she tried to pretend she did. She rose to her tiptoes and licked his earlobe.
“He can wait one night”, she whispered and ran her hand to his chest and down. Angel stopped her hand and turned her around to face him.
“What's going on, Buffy?” he asked harshly, the scent of two other men were driving him out of control.
“Come on, lover. Don't be that way”, Faith said with a pout and tried to free her hand from his grip but her wouldn't let go of her. He looked at her closely, like trying to find out why she was acting so strange.
“You were supposed to come by earlier, I was worried. What happened at your mom's house?” he asked concerned and Faith's eyes hardened a notch.
“Not much, Faith came by and the cops took her. I just had to go tell the gang and we went out to party”, she shrugged and leaned closer to him showing her cleavage.
“Yes, I can tell”, he said grimly as the smell of several other men attacked his nose.
“Come on, Angie. It's not like I fucked any of them”, she said and Angel turned sharply to her, she had just slipped. He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look at him. His eyes inspected every inch of her face till they stopped to her eyes, looking sharply like he was staring right inside her head.
“Who are you?” he ground out with a feral growl. Faith just laughed with false bravado, truthfully she was scared shitless with the wild look in his eyes.
“And what makes you say that, lover?”
Recognition shone from his eyes and he growled her name: “Faith.”
“That's right, Angie”, she answered and freed herself from his iron grip.
“What did you do to her?” Angel growled barely keeping his anger in check.
“That's for me to know and you to find out”, she answered and sprinted into run. Angel went after her but she disappeared into the night. Disappointedly he returned back inside to fetch his weapons so he could go warn the others that Faith was in Buffy's body.
But he didn't get out of the mansion when he was struck from behind, knocked unconscious. Faith grinned at the still body of Angel and chained him into the wall.
“Kinky”, she grinned to herself and sparing one last glance at the vampire before leaving the mansion. She thought about leaving the door open to wait for sunrise but dismissed it, it would be too quick and lacked imagination.
Buffy heard as the men spoke about killing her, torching up the warehouse and making it look like an accident. So she had to work quickly before it was too late. She heard the footsteps closing and two men arguing. She laid down on the floor and once Collins put his gun hand through the bars, she grabbed him with her legs and pulled him roughly against the bars. He fell unconsciously to the floor and she grabbed the gun, shooting the chains off and then at the lock of the door. She jumped to the drivers seat trying to find the keys.
The third man, Weatherby ran to the door but Buffy slammed it hard to his face sending him unconscious to the ground. Quickly she started the car and stepped on the gas, ducking down to cover as the only remaining council assassin shot at her. She sped through the door and didn't stop till she reached the mansion. She jumped off the car and ran to the door.
“Angel!” Soon she noticed him, struggling against the chains he was tied to. Suddenly he stopped and looked up, straight to Buffy.
“Buffy”, he whispered and her heart jumped as she knew he had noticed it was her.
“Angel”, she whispered automatically and rushed to him. She quickly found the spare key and unlocked the manacles.
As soon as his hands were free, she grabbed him by the neck and pulled him into a gently but still passionate kiss. They pulled apart, she smiled slightly at him and whispered: “Hey.” Then she cocked her head to the side and continued: “How you know it was me?”
“If I were blind, I would see you. No matter whose the body is, you can't change the person inside it. Once she noticed I knew, she knocked me cold and chained to the wall. We need to warn the others.”
“Okay, let's go. Good thing I brought a van, you know it's sunny out there.”
“Why did you come with a van?” he asked and looked at her in question.
“Oh, I was kidnapped by the council assassins and they were going to burn me alive with an old warehouse”, she answered like it was no big deal.
Angel grabbed her hand, spinning her around and growled out barely keeping his demon in check: “What?”
“They were going to kill Faith making it look like an accident, but they wouldn't believe me when I tried to tell them I wasn't Faith. I thought the Council was supposed to be the good guys but more and more things makes me doubt it.”
”They better hope they will never cross my path”, Angel ground out and counted in his mind the many ways he could make them sorry ever stepping into Sunnydale.
“Down boy. We better go see Giles, he'll know what to do.”
Buffy and Angel ran through Giles' door. Angel shed the blanket off of him and turned to look at Giles who had frozen in place.
“Faith”, he said and then added questioningly: “Angel?”
“Giles, I'm not Faith, she had some device that switched our bodies”, Buffy tried to explain and took slow steps towards him. Giles looked at her nervously and glanced at Angel, trying to figure out his part in this.
“Alright, let me tie you down without killing me and we'll find a way to confirm what you are telling me is the truth”, Giles suggested and Buffy rolled her eyes.
“Giles, we don't have time for bondage fun. Faith is roaming out there in my body. You changed into a demon and I knew it was you by your eyes. Can't you just look into my eyes and get all intuitive? Or okay, ask me something.”
“Who's the president?”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “We're checking for Buffy, not concussion. Ask me something only I can know.”
“Umm, right. How did I become a demon?”
“Ethan Rayne did it. And you've got a girlfriend, Olivia and you haven't had a job since I blew up the high school, but it's okay, you're not a slacker type. And when I was infected by the demon aspect, I heard my mom think you're like a stevedore during sex. Would you like me to continue?”
Giles shook his head embarrassed. “Actually, I beg you to stop”, he said with a slight nervous stutter.
“What's a stevedore?” she asked Giles and then turned to Angel when Giles obviously wasn't going to answer her but neither was Angel.
“Alright, why don't you tell me what happened?” Giles encouraged calmly but Buffy was anything but.
“We don't have time, Giles, she's in my body”, she pointed out and the door swung open, Willow and Tara walking in.
“Willow! “
“Oh my God”, Willow gasped in amazement.
“I can explain...”, Buffy started but was interrupted by Willow: “I know, you're Buffy, Faith switched your bodies, probably with a Draconian Katra spell.”
Everyone except Tara looked at Willow in question. “How did you...” Buffy asked and Willow signed to Tara that was standing next to her.
“Tara. Tara, this is Buffy, only the real Buffy this time.”
“Hi”, Tara greeted shyly and gave a small wave of a hand. “Tara's a really powerful witch”, Willow said with pride in her voice.
“Not really”, Tara mumbled in protest.
“No really, and she knew right away that you weren't you so we connected with the nether realm and found out what had happened and then we conjured this”, Willow said and pulled out a small box that had a green glowing light.
”Is that?” Buffy started to ask and Willow nodded enthusiastically.
”It's a Katra, or the home-made one. It should switch you back, if you can get hold of Faith.”
“Oh, thank you! You're the best”, Buffy said and pulled Willow into a hug.
“Yes, well...” Giles started but was interrupted by the ringing phone. He turned around and answered it.
“Hello? Yes, Xander, she is here. What channel? Yes, thank you.” He hung up the phone and went to the television, turning the power on. “That was Xander, there is a special news report on television”, he explained and everyone turned to watch. The news reporter told about disfigured kidnappers that were keeping people hostage in a church.
“Giles, you drive”, Buffy said and everyone turned to leave. Buffy stopped and stepped in front of Angel placing her hand on his chest.
“You're not coming, it's daylight.”
“Buffy”, he protested shaking his head but was silenced when Buffy pressed her finger to his lips.
“Angel, please. I need to do this on my own, facing Faith. And it's daylight out there and we're going to a church, that's two good reasons you to not come to this gig. Please wait here”, she asked then leaned closer in her tiptoes and whispered: “And I'll make it up to you later, once I'm in my own body.”
Angel quickly glanced at the others and then turned his gaze back to Buffy who was looking at him seductively, the look in her eyes almost made him groan. “Alright, I'll stay here. But I don't like it”, he gave in and that brought a bright smile to her lips.
“Thank you”, she said and pulled him into a passionate kiss that made the others turn away to give them privacy. “Okay, I'll see you later”, Buffy said licking her lips as they pulled apart.
When they arrived to the church, Buffy managed to sneak past the reporters, police and Riley to inside. As she sneaked inside, she saw Faith being badly beaten by a vampire that was shooting his mouth off while doing it. Quickly she went to them and staked the vampire. For a moment Faith looked at her in surprise but then she attacked, knocking Buffy down to the ground and started pounding her fist at her.
“I'm not afraid of you! You're nothing! You're disgusting! A useless murderous bitch!” Faith screamed, tears running down her cheeks as she hit Buffy who was just blocking the blows.
“You're nothing!” she screamed again and suddenly Buffy grabbed her hand into hers, the Kantra in her palm. It pulsed energy and both girls looked little surprised when they were back in their own bodies again. After a moment, Faith kicked Buffy off of her and scrambled to her feet, running away from the church.
Buffy breathed deep, trying to gather her strength before getting up and walking out. As soon as she stepped out the door, she was stopped by Riley.
“Buffy! Are you okay?” he asked concerned and tried to pull her close but Buffy took a step back looking at him like he had lost his mind.
“What? Yeah, I'm okay. The vamps are taken care of”, she answered and looked at him scrutinizingly.
“Good. What happened last night? I haven't got it out of my mind, you left so suddenly”, he said and again tried to take her hand into his but Buffy took a step back, cold chills running down her spine as she thought what Faith might have done.
“What happened last night?” she asked almost afraid of the answer.
“I thought that after the dance and the kiss, we would go to my dorm but you just disappeared. Buffy, I can't get the kiss out of my head.”
Buffy looked at him startled, she felt dirty and guilty. She took a step back and held her hand up. “Well try harder. It never happened”, she said and quickly walked past him.
“But Buffy...” he yelled after her and tried to follow but she sprinted into run loosing him quickly.
Buffy and Angel were laying on the bed, his arms were circled around her tightly and his fingers were making mindless patterns on her shoulder.
“She kissed Riley”, Buffy whispered with barely there voice.
“I know”, he whispered back and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She turned to look at him.
“How?”
Angel took a deep breathe he didn't need, it wasn't something he liked remembering.
“I could smell him on your body.” But seeing the guilty look on her face, he grabbed her chin with his fingers and brought her back up to look at him. “Sweetie, it wasn't you. Buffy, it was Faith, not you. You had no control of what she did.”
“But I don't know what she did and with who. It's driving me crazy and I feel used, and dirty and like I have cheated on you”, she said with a sadness marring her voice and face.
“Buffy, love, you have nothing to feel bad about. And Riley was the only one she kissed”, he tried to assure her leaving off that he had smelled several other men in her scent, including Spike, but they weren't strong enough to be intimate so maybe it was better that she didn't know. He smoothed her hair back and forced her to look into his eyes.
“Love, look at me. You didn't do anything wrong. And I love you, no matter what happened or could have happened, I love you and I know it wasn't you.”
He pressed a chaste kiss to her lips and gazed into her eyes showing the truth in his eyes.
“I love you”, she whispered and pulled him into a gentle kiss. Once it ended, he pulled her closer placing her against his chest. She sighed deeply and closed her eyes, she felt better but she still had mixed feelings gnawing inside her.
Willow and Xander convinced Buffy to go to the Bronze with them, to get her mind off of things. She just hoped she wouldn't run into Riley, she had done everything in her power to avoid him when she wasn't on the psych class. They made their way towards an empty table but something made Buffy stop, she turned to look into the dance floor and saw Faith dancing to the beat with group of guys around her. Their eyes locked and she smirked before making her way to her sister slayer.
“Hey big sis”, she said and took a confident lanky pose in front of her.
“I thought you'd been smart enough to skip town.”
“What can I say, I love this town. Got all I need, plenty of guys and demons to play with. Speaking of playing, I must say, being in a coma for eight months might have fractured my memory a little but Angel is just as good in the sack as I remembered. Must compliment the vamp stamina”, she said and Buffy's face darkened. She punched Faith hard, making her fly to the dance floor knocking down a group of people. She jumped up and the two slayers traded furious punches.
Faith grabbed a hold of Buffy and whispered to her ear: “It was one hell of a ride.”
Then she jumped back and ran out the door knocking people out of her way. Buffy ran after her but lost her into the darkness of an alley. She jumped to the roof of the building but didn't see her anymore. Slowly she turned around and went back to the Bronze, Faith's words feeding her insecurities. She couldn't face up Angel just yet, so she decided to spend the night at her dorm room.
Angel glanced at the clock, there was still no trace of Buffy, she hadn't come for the night and since it was day, he couldn't go see her to find out what was the matter. He set the book down, he couldn't concentrate enough to read. Once he turned got up and turned around, the door swung open flooding the room with sunlight. Angel quickly went to the shadows and he could see Faith by the door.
“Hey baby, sorry about the light but you're looking so pale, you could use a good tan”, Faith said and stepped closer swinging her hips suggestively.
“I was hoping you'd stop by”, he answered casually.
“Oh, you missed me, huh?” she said with fake sweetness dripping from her voice but it was all gone when she pulled out a gun.
“What? Wooden bullets?”
A smile rose to her face. “Oh, I like that idea. But this is for you, I'm going to kill you slowly and inventively, so I'm gonna give you one chance to...”, she said and tossed the gun to Angel. He grabbed it from air and shot her leg but there was nothing, they were blanks.
“Blanks. Nice”, he said and tossed the gun back at her. She giggled.
“Aww, you didn't shoot to kill, that's just lame going for the leg. I'll just have to raise the stakes, to get you into the game a little more.”
“And what is the game? Boredom? Revenge?”
“Hey, I've got my reasons. Wanna get one moment of happiness before I kill you?” she suggested pushing her chest out.
“No thanks.”
Faith's face darkened and she aimed the gun, shooting Angel to the chest. He staggered back gasping in pain.
“Oh gosh! That wasn't a blank. See you later, lover”, she said and sprinted out the door into the sunlight. Angel looked at the wound, he wasn't going to be able bandage it by himself. He went to the phone and dialed a number.
“Hey Giles, it's Angel. Could you come by here soon? I'll explain when you get here, I just met Faith. Okay, I'll see you then. Oh and don't tell Buffy.”
He hung up the phone and waited for Giles. It didn't take long for him to show up, he closed the door behind him and came closer to Angel, immediately noticing the bullet wound.
“She shot you?” he asked incredulously.
“Yeah. It's a game for her and she didn't take it well when I didn't want to play.”
“Alright, we better bandage you even though I suspect there is no danger of infection.”
“Giles, I don't want Buffy to hear about this. Hopefully I'll be healed before she can suspect anything. I think I know what Faith is after and I don't want her to get it from Buffy.”
Giles shook his head not liking the idea. “I don't like it, lying to Buffy. She should know. And are you sure she won't notice that you have been shot?”
“Giles, please. It isn't technically lying if you just don't tell her, if she asks, you can tell the truth.” Angel looked pleadingly at Giles and finally he sighed rubbing his head before removing his glasses and starting to clean them. “Very well, but if we won't soon bandage that wound neither of us needs to tell her”, he answered in defeat and put the glasses back to his head.
The sun had just gone down as Buffy made her way to Giles' apartment but she stopped dead on her tracks when she noticed the door was open and splintered. Quickly she ran inside only finding unconscious Willow on the floor.
“Willow!” she screamed and rushed to her. She dropped to her knees next to her and brushed her hair back, there was no blood but a nasty bruise was forming on her face. She lifted her to the couch and went to the phone, quickly dialing a number.
“Angel! Please come quick to Giles'. Somethings happened, I think it's Faith. Angel, I need you”, she said pleadingly and added the last as a whisper. She hung up the phone and fetched an bag of frozen peas as she noticed Willow was starting to wake up.
“Hey”, she said with a weak smile and offered the frozen bag to her.
“Hey”, Willow whispered back and pressed the peas against her face hissing at the coldness against the sore spot.
“It was Faith, and she took Giles”, Willow said anxiously and sharply turned to Buffy.
“I figured so much. We'll get him back and teach Faith a lesson.”
At that moment Angel stepped from the door, coming straight to them and placing a comforting hand to Buffy's shoulder .
“Hey Willow. Are you okay?” he asked tentatively and Willow nodded.
“Yeah, I'll live. But I don't know about Giles, Faith has him and she isn't exactly stable.”
Angel frowned. “She has to be staying somewhere, she doesn't have any money, so could you check if there's been any muggings or something, anything that might fit her”, he suggested and she nodded enthusiastically. She got up and started her computer she carried with her.
“Okay, here we go. There's something, a guy was mugged three nights ago. He has a criminal record from muggings with fire arm, so who other than Faith could do that. The mugger took his wallet and keys, he's still in the hospital, with broken arm and all that”, Willow told the others and Angel couldn't help but think that that was how Faith came by with a gun.
“And there's also a guy that was badly beaten, he's in the hospital too, he described his attacker as a 'bitch from Hell', he also lost his wallet, keys and a car. So those are good possibilities”, Willow continued.
“Faith's been busy”, Buffy said to herself and glanced at Angel who had his usual broody expression on his face. Willow scripted the two address' down and handed them to Buffy. She stood up straight and folded her arms in front of her.
“Okay, we better check those guys places, she could be in either one. Angel take the 'bitch-from-Hell-guy and I'll take the mugger, it's quicker if we split up.”
“Buffy, it's really bad neighborhood, I don't like you going there”, Angel tried but Buffy just shook her head.
“Angel, don't. I know how to take care of myself and in Sunnydale there really isn't a bad neighborhood. She has Giles and God knows what she's been doing to him. We both know how to take care of her but we don't have time to argue about this.”
“Okay, if there is no sign of her then come to the other place and same goes for me, okay?” he suggested and placed his hand on her cheek. She just nodded.
“Be careful”, he said and placed a small kiss to her lips.
“You too”, she answered and they went on their separate ways.
Giles was tied to a chair, his appearance was ragged and blood was splattered all over his clothes, his own blood.
“Come on, Giles, don't be that way. It not really personal you know. But then again, you are partly blamed of your situation, you were all tied up to B, I am the real slayer, she's just the previous version. No matter what I did, everyone compared me to that bitch. I'm the better one, I'm the real one! And you let that jerk Wesley pretend to be my watcher, you just didn't care”, she rambled while playing with a spray can and a lighter.
“Come on, let's here you scream”, she said and pulled down the gag. Giles just glared at her.
“You never will. I've been tortured by better sadists than you."
"Admit it, Giles, didn't you always kind of have the hots for me?" she taunted trying to ignore the comment and lit the lighter, ready to spray the can towards the flame and Giles but before she could, the door flew open and Angel walked inside. She dropped the can and the lighter and pulled out a knife, placing it to Giles' throat.
"About time, soul boy. Are you ready to play now?"
"I'm ready" , was Angels grim answer.
“So you're here, but you don't seem to move. Should I kill watcher here, would it put some move on you?”
“I know what you want.”
“And what is that? You know, I want a lot of things”, Faith answered sarcastically and inched to the side as Angel kept slowly advancing, placing her next to Giles.
“This isn't about Giles. This is about you and me."
"No, baby, he's payback. And not to mention, it has been a fun evening."
Suddenly Giles threw himself back, falling down to the floor as Angel kicked Faith away from him. Faith stumbled backwards but soon managed to get hold of her footing, she grabbed a chair, braking it against the wall and attacked Angel with a piece of the wood. She ran to Angel but he managed to block the blow and grab the stake from her hand. He pushed her across the room, her landing on a couch and he broke the piece of wood against his knee, throwing it to the corner.
"Is that all you got, vampire? I know you can do better than that, get in the game, be the feared Angelus."
She kicked the glass table at him, the pieces of glass showering the room. She grabbed a piece and attacked him, almost cutting his face but he managed to duck before she made contact. He kicked her hand sending the piece of glass shattering to the floor but she managed to kick him, sweeping his feet from under him. She jumped on top of him, taunting him:
“I thought you were bad. Come on, get in the game. You can't beat me, no one can!”
She punched him hard in the face but he kicked her off of him, sending her flying to the wall. She jumped up and threw a vase at him which he blocked stepping aside. She jumped over the couch and again attacked Angel, sending kicks and hits on his way but he grabbed her leg sweeping her to the ground. She kicked him to the stomach and jumped up to her feet, sending a roundhouse kick on his way. He fell against the wall, she grabbed him by his jacket and slammed his head against a glass shelf. She tried to kick him but again he took a hold of her leg, sending her flying against the wall. Faith jumped up from the ground with a piece of the wooden chair and attacked him but he tackled her, sending them both diving through the window to the raining street.
“You're gonna die!" she screamed like a mad woman and attacked him, punching and kicking him.
"Fight back, damn it! You hear me? You don't know what real evil is! I'm bad! Fight back!" she screamed at him, tears unnoticed running down her cheeks. Angel didn't say anything, didn't fight back, only blocked the oncoming hits.
Finally he grabbed a hold of her, keeping her in strong grip by her shoulders. "Nice try, Faith", he said and tossed her to the ground, then walked to her menacingly. "I know what you want."
She jumped to her feet, hitting and screaming at him like a little girl. Angel dodged another hit and grabbed hold of her fist.
"I'm not gonna make it easy for you."
Faith threw herself at him and screamed: "I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad! Angel, I'm bad!” She started sobbing and fell to her knees to the ground, gripping his shirt in her fists.
“I'm ba-ad. Do you hear me? I'm bad! I'm bad! I'm bad. Please. Angel, please, just do it!" she screamed at him between loud sobs. Giles ran out of the house with a butcher knife in his hand but stopped once he saw the crying slayer in front of the vampire.
"Angel please, just do it. Just kill me, just kill me", she cried miserably and Angel went down to his knees on the ground, pulling her into his arms.
"Shh. It's all right. It's okay. I'm here. I'm right here. Shh", he comforted her rubbing his hand up and down her back. He turned to look at Giles and nodded that there was no more danger.
Angel and Faith returned to the mansion, he gave her dry clothes, that were all too big, and went to light the fireplace. Faith was sitting on the couch, shivering from the cold, she pulled the blanket around her more tightly.
“So, how does this making amends thing work?" she finally asked, looking at Angels back miserably. Angel turned around and walked to the couch, sitting next to her.
"There is no real simple answer to that. I won't lie to you and tell you that it'll be easy, because it won't be. Just because you've decided to change doesn't mean that the world is ready for you to. The truth is, no matter how much you suffer, no matter how many good deeds you do to try to make up for the past, you may never balance out the cosmic scale. The only thing I can promise you is that you'll probably be haunted, and may be for the rest of your life."
“I feel sorry for myself already. Is it too late to turn back evil?”
“Yeah, it's too late. Do you want something to eat?”
Faith turned to him, looking like a little kid. “Do you have anything to eat, besides blood?”
“Buffy practically lives here, there's real food.”
Her face grumbled as she remembered her sister slayer. “Maybe then I better not.”
“Or maybe you should.”
"Are you saying I got to apologize to everyone?" she asked looking at him.
"Think you can?" he questioned.
"I don’t' know, how do you say to Giles 'Gee, I'm really sorry tortured you I nearly to death?'"
"Well, first off I think I'd leave off the 'Gee.' And secondly I think you have to ask yourself: are you sorry?"
“What if I CAN'T say it? There are some things you can't just take back, no matter how sorry you ARE, right?" she questioned looking more and more girl her own age and not what the slayer was.
"Yeah, there are, I've got some experience in that area."
"Right. And you've been doing this for a hundred years! I'm not gonna make it through the next ten minutes", she said getting back her sarcastic self.
"So make it through the next five, the next minute."
"I don't think I can. God, it hurts. I hate that it hurts like this", she said getting up from the couch and walked to the fireplace, gazing into the flames. Angel got up and followed her, placing a comforting hand to her shoulder.
"Well, it's supposed to hurt. All that pain, all that suffering you caused is coming back on you. Feel it! Deal with it! Then maybe you've got a shot at being free." Faith gave a short laugh but there was nothing joyous in it.
"I've got to be the first Slayer in history sponsored by a vampire."
"Yeah, well, I've got some experience in that area, too."
Faith spun around and looked at Angel like a deer caught in headlights. "Oh God! B! How am I ever going to make things right with her?" she asked frantically.
“Faith, this isn't about Buffy", he tried but she shook her head.
"All my life there was only one person that tried to be my friend, went out of her way when I had no right or reason to expect her to... and I screwed her. Not to mention that I told her I slept with her boyfriend, twice."
"Faith, you and I never actually...", he tried to say but Faith interrupted him.
“You know that, and I know that. But apparently she doesn't. You really need to work on your sharing skills. Her insecurities are the best way to get to her”, she said little accusingly and Angels face twisted into brood mode, they never had actually talked about what happened between him and Faith while he pretended to be evil and he knew all too well how fragile she was, Angelus had used her insecurities against her immediately. Angel shifted nervously in his feet.
“Maybe we should get you some food”, he suggested but didn't have time to move when Buffy walked inside the door. She stopped dead on her tracks when she saw Faith and she gazed at them both in question and anger.
“What's going on?” All the worry of seeing the apartment trashed and bloody was gone and in place was anger, she had been to the apartment and been scared that Faith had actually killed Angel. But now she saw he was fine and with Faith, in his clothes.
“B”, Faith started and took a step closer to her but was stopped by the cold look she gave her.
“I went to the house. Do you have any idea how worried I was when I saw all the blood and that the place was thoroughly trashed but not a sign from you. And now I find you about to have dinner with Faith. Could you please explain to me?” Buffy said sternly, all warmth gone from her voice, in the place of the woman was now a slayer.
“I'm just gonna... go to the kitchen”, Faith said awkwardly and signed towards the kitchen before leaving. Buffy crossed her arms in front of her and looked at the nervous vampire expectantly.
“Buffy, look...” he started and took quick steps towards her but she took as many backwards. Angel stopped walking, the hurt shining in his eyes and Buffy forced herself to look somewhere else, she didn't want to see him in pain.
“She wants to make amends, to change. She took Giles because she wanted me to kill her. She's hurting”, he tried but Buffy wasn't so ready to forgive.
“And soon she'll be hurting more”, she said and tried to make her way to the kitchen but Angel grabbed her arm spinning her around. Her face turned to stone and she looked at him with cold eyes.
“Let go of me, Angel”, she said but Angel didn't show any signs of letting go even though he was little taken back by the coldness in her eyes.
“Buffy, she needs help and now she wants it too”, he said trying to reason.
“She tried to kill you, she took Giles and from what I saw at the house, she tortured him pretty violently, it isn't a cry for help, when you need it you ask for it, you don't go on a killing spree”, she said and yanked her arm free.
“I tortured Giles, you forgave me, she isn't all that different”, Angel said to her pointedly and she was slightly taken back.
“You didn't have a soul, she does. And what makes you think that I have forgiven Angelus?” she answered and walked towards the kitchen.
Buffy stepped into the kitchen and just looking at Faith, she knew she was itching to run. “You're not going to run”, she said like it nonnegotiable.
“What you gonna do? Stick another knife into me?” she asked turning to look at her.
"Any reason why I shouldn't?" Buffy shot back.
"There is nothing I can do for you, B. I can't ever make it right", she said with pain in her eyes but Buffy didn't let it fool her, she needed to stay focused.
"So you're just going to take off again. Leave us to clean up yet another one of your messes."
"It would make things easier for you."
“I think it would make things easier for you. Till you got bored with the whole guilt thing... decided to come back to shake things up?" Buffy answered folding her arms in front of her.
"That's not gonna happen", Faith assured her but she didn't let herself hope.
"You're right. It's not."
“I knew you weren't going to give me a chance", Faith sighed.
"I gave you every chance! I tried so hard to help you, and you spat on me. My life was just something for you to play with. Everything you could take from me, you took. You know exactly how much I love Angel and still you took him too. You used my body, I don't even know what all you did with it!”
“If it helps, I haven't slept with Angel, ever. Not in your body or not when he was playing Angelus. I just said it to hurt you.”
“It doesn't help, much”, Buffy whispered, the hard cover finally cracking.
"Just tell me how to make it better", Faith pleaded but Buffy didn't have time to answer when the light from a helicopter shone through the window and they saw Collins sitting on the edge with a machine gun in his hand. Buffy tackled Faith to the ground as Collins opened fire. The items in the kitchen blew into pieces as the council assassin fired at the room. “Buffy!” they could hear Angel scream through the loud noise.
“We need to get out of this room”, Buffy told Faith and quickly glanced around the room. For a moment there was a pause in gun fire, with a quick movement Buffy looked out the window and saw Collins loading the gun.
“Go!” she screamed at Faith and they ran to the door. As soon as they managed to get out of it, it was shot into pieces.
“Get down, I need to get to the ground!” Collins yelled at the pilot who as told landed it and Collins hopped down, running towards the mansion. Smith stayed in the helicopter in case they needed air back up.
Buffy and Faith ran out of the mansion but the spot light from the helicopter showed their location to Collins. He opened fire and the two slayers dived into the bushes.
"I have to take this guy out. The guy with the gun up there will go for me. You stay here", Buffy said and Faith nodded in agreement. Buffy ran across the yard and tackled Collins from behind. She kicked the gun away from him and tried to kick him but he grabbed her leg, throwing her into the air. She flipped in the air landing to her feet and sweeping his from under him.
Once Angel had found the kitchen in pieces, he left running towards the front door but stopped when an arrow flew by him. He stepped aside into cover and saw Weatherby with a crossbow. His temper flared as he thought of the council goon trying to kill his Buffy. He abandoned his safe place and ran towards him dodging the flying arrows. Once he was close enough, he grabbed the last one in mid air and swatted the crossbow from the mans hands. Without his notice, his face had changed into his vampire form and he pulled the man close to his face growling at him.
“You're lucky I don't kill humans. Because what you did to Buffy would have been a death sentence. After a year or two of torture.”
The man was shivering in fear, he could see that this vampire wasn't functioning on pure animal instinct, this was pure anger in his eyes. Angel smashed him against the wall with one quick move and the man fell unconscious to the floor. But soon he was waken from the rage when he heard the gun shots.
Quickly he made his way outside where he saw Buffy fighting Collins. He saw as Buffy knocked the man down and that's when he sprinted across the yard and jumped to the helicopters rung. He grabbed Smiths leg and pulled him out of the helicopter, dropping him to the ground, landing on top of Collins. Angel climbed into the helicopter and told the pilot to land. Buffy turned around and called Faith's name but she was nowhere to be seen. She had split after all.
Buffy was sitting on the couch staring at the fire mindlessly. Angel watched her for a while before walking closer and sitting next to her. “Buffy”, he whispered and she turned to look at him, her eyes sad like a lost puppy.
“Faith split”, she just said and turned to look at the fire once more.
“I know”, he whispered and after small silence, he took hold of her hand. She turned to look at him and the look on her face hurt him, she looked so lost, fragile, like a normal teenage girl. She had started to believe her, but this was another reminder that people don't change, not really.
“Buffy, I know my communication skills are slim to none, I know I should have told you lot of things but some of them were too painful that I didn't want to remind you of them. I haven't slept with Faith, ever, I know I should have told you that in so many words and not leave any doubt of what happened but it was too difficult. And now that she was in your body, we didn't sleep together, I would never do that to you. I'm sorry”, he said and looked down in shame when he noticed the tear falling down her cheek.
“I'm sorry too, I should have believed in you more. I know you don't want to hurt me, but you are the only person who has the power to do so, even unintentionally. I love you so much that sometimes it hurts. But I wouldn't change it for the world. Well, bad example.”
Angel lifted his gaze to hers and pulled her into his arms breathing in her scent. “I love you, Buffy, don't ever forget that”, he whispered to her ear and pressed a small kiss next to it. She let out a small sob and pressed her face against his shoulder, trying to get hold of her emotions. The moment was interrupted by the phone and grudgingly he got up from the couch to answer the phone but keeping his eyes on Buffy who was wiping the spilled tears away from her cheeks.
“Yes, Giles, I'll give the phone to Buffy”, he said to the phone and handed the phone to her.
“Hello, Giles. I'm fine... Are you okay? Good... Really, I can't believe it... That's good news, I guess... Okay, take it easy. Bye”, she hung up the phone and turned to look at Angel.
“Faith surrendered herself to the police. She just walked to a police station and gave herself up”, she told him and sat next to him on the couch curling against him.
“That's good. She's making her amends”, he said not surprised and brushed her hair back before placing a gentle kiss to her cheek.
“Maybe she's doing it for real. At least I hope she is”, she whispered more to herself than him and let herself relax first time in days, she just melted against him and closed her eyes with a sigh.
