The Gift, Take Two

Title: The Gift, Take Two - Chapter 15: First Son
Email: Dafmeister@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse and all things therein are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox and a bunch of other people who aren't me. No infringement of copyright is intended blah blah blah...
Distribution: In no particular order, Faithfanfiction.net, Mystic Muse, Shades Of Grey, Slayer's Fanfic Archive, A Sorta Fairytale, Oralfxatn, anyone else who asks me first.
Rating: R
Feedback: Yes please, it really helps keep my morale up when my muse is being difficult.
Summary: A kiss has unexpected consequences, while Willow makes a shocking discovery.
Author's notes: Huge thanks to Kaz, beta extraordinaire, to Leila, my friend and sounding board, and to Notty, who helped me knock this story back into shape.

*****

God, I love doing this. Tara said to herself. Slow music, dance floor not too crowded, and Willow. Most of all Willow. She slowly ran her hands down her girlfriend's back until her fingertips skated across the top of the redhead's buttocks. Willow murmured appreciatively, moulding her slender body against Tara's curves, her breath hot on her lover's neck as she slid agile fingers up into her silky blonde hair. Tara moaned softly as Willow's fingertips gently massaged her scalp.

Tara was always slightly amused by the Scoobies reactions when she and Willow danced together. They thought it was sweet, romantic, with a hint of bravery thrown in. They didn't understand what an intensely sexual experience dancing like this was for the two witches. It was foreplay, a long, intense build-up of tension that always led to a night of explosive passion. She shivered with excitement at the prospect. Willow felt the flicker of movement run through Tara's body and giggled quietly against her neck, then playfully nipped at her earlobe. "Getting excited, baby?"

"Oh God, yes!" Tara whispered back, her voice breathless and husky.
Willow laughed again, the sound muffled in Tara's hair as she placed a line of kisses up the side of her lover's neck. "Maybe I should back off a bit? I mean, we can't have the birthday girl running off this early, can we? Should I go sit down?" She took a tiny step back, just enough to break the contact between their bodies.

"Please stay, I'll be good..." Tara whimpered as she pulled Willow to her again. Like you're not as wound up as I am, Rosenberg! She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself a little. As they began to dance again, Tara attempted to distract herself with another of her favourite activities - people-watching. If the Scoobies' reactions to her and Willow were amusing, the reactions of strangers were fascinating, both in range and intensity. As the two witches slowly circled each other, Tara let her eyes drift over the crowd. She wasn't disappointed.

A few feet away, another couple were dancing. The woman was looking at them over her boyfriend's shoulder, but hurriedly looked away as Tara's gaze fell on her. Over by the wall was a small group of UC Sunnydale students, who Tara recognised as members of one of the fundamentalist Christian groups on campus, regarding the witches with a mixture of disgust and disdain. Continuing her circuit, Tara almost groaned in despair at the gang of lust-fuelled high school boys openly gawping at them, then barely avoided laughing out loud as she spotted Anya, apparently regaling Xander, Giles and Dawn with one of her excruciating 'Back when I was a vengeance demon' stories. Behind them, toward the back of the club, almost lost in the shadows under a staircase, Buffy and Faith were kissing. Standing on the staircase was one of the few women Tara knew in the college Lesbian Alliance, Beth McAllister, who looked like the stereotypical 'butch dyke' but was actually-

Tara's brain caught up with her eyes and she did a mental double take. Peering into the shadows, she tried to find... there! No mistake about it, Buffy and Faith were sharing what looked like a heart-meltingly tender kiss. Suddenly, Tara's view was obscured as a group of teenagers walked across her eye-line, heading for the exit. By the time she had a clear view again, both Slayers had disappeared.


Buffy's head was spinning. One moment she was almost in tears, despairing at the thought of Faith's departure, the next Faith's lips were on hers, and, after a moment of shock, all she could do was feel. Instinctively, she reached out, and her fingertips brushed against Faith's, then slid softly up the younger girl's arms.

What am I doing? Buffy pulled away, stepping back and taking a breath, trying to stop herself from shaking. "Faith, what're-"

"Oh God!" Faith cut her off, panic flashing in her eyes. "I'm sorry, B, I don't know what happened..." She started backing away.

Buffy took half a step toward Faith, almost reaching out to her as she spoke. "Faith, no, wait, what's happening?"

"I'm sorry, it was just... everything, and..." Faith replied, backing away.

"Just, forget about it, okay, please?" She turned and was swallowed up by the crowd, leaving Buffy standing alone in the shadows.

Faith pushed her way through the throng to the back exit and out into the alley behind the Bronze. Crossing the alley with a few brisk strides, she slumped forward against the wire-mesh fence, gripping the metal as she gulped down deep breaths of the cool night air, not noticing the wire twist in her grasp.

Why the hell did I do that? It's not like things weren't screwed up enough before! Faith wiped away tears she was barely aware had been shed and tried to at least look as though everything was normal before heading back to the party. As she slipped back into the nightclub, one thought gnawed at the back of her mind.

Just for a moment, before everything went to hell, she was sure she had felt Buffy kiss her back.

*****

Tara barely managed to get the door of their dorm room closed before Willow was almost crushing her against it, her kiss conveying all of the frustrated desire the redhead had built up over the course of the party.

After she had spotted Buffy and Faith kissing, Tara had tried to keep a subtle eye on them, but she hadn't had much luck. The Slayers almost seemed to be avoiding each other, always managing to keep someone between them and rarely speaking to each other for the rest of the evening, in spite of the surreptitious they kept shooting each other. Tara didn't know if there was something wrong between them, something that complicated what looked to her like a potentially great partnership, but she didn't have to think back that far to remember how secretive she and Willow had been in the beginning. Even so, she couldn't help trying to indulge her curiosity, but the rest of her friends (and especially Willow) had succeeded in distracting her enough that wasn't able to concentrate on the Slayers. Now, as Willow began pulling her skirt up around her hips, she was having a hard time concentrating on anything.


Hours later, the witches lay entwined together in their bed, hovering on the edge of sleep as their sweat-streaked bodies cooled. Willow rolled over slightly, snuggling closer against Tara, and winced.

"Ow." Tara murmured, opening her eyes. "Unh. You got me all sticky."

"I didn't hear you complaining." Willow replied, blushing as she gingerly peeled herself free from the gooey spots covering Tara's body.

Tara's face flushed at the memory. "Like I could ever say no to you when you're doing that to me." Glancing down at the discoloured patches on her skin, she shook her head. "We've got to stop eating ice-cream in bed."

Laughing softly, Willow lay back down as close to her lover as she could without actually touching her. "Yeah, yeah, you say that every time..."

"I know." Tara sighed, then flipped the sheets back and sat up. "Come on, let's go clean up."

"Tired." Willow protested sleepily, trying to pull the covers back over her.

"Me too, sweetie, but think about how icky we'll feel in the morning. Besides," Tara leaned over to whisper huskily in her girlfriend's ear, "don't you want to get me all soapy?"

"Oh, Goddess, help me!" Willow moaned as she rolled out of bed and grabbed a towel.


After a long, hot and highly pleasurable shower, the witches wrapped themselves in bathrobes and sat on their bed as Willow blow-dried Tara's hair. Glancing at the clock on the night stand, Willow remarked "It's lucky neither of us has an early class tomorrow, we're both going to be like zombies in the morning."
Tara smiled, looking back over her shoulder. "I don't care, I wouldn't have missed tonight for anything."

"Happy birthday, baby." Willow whispered as she leaned forward to capture Tara's lips in a brief, loving kiss. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Tara sat silently for a moment as Willow started up the dryer again, then she asked, "Willow, if I tell you something, will you promise me you won't say anything about it to anyone?"

Willow hurriedly put down the dryer and scooted around so that she could look at Tara face to face. "What is it? Tara, is something wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, sweetie, really I am." Tara reassured her. "I just want to make sure you won't tell anyone about this."

"Okay, I promise, what's the big secret?" Willow asked, scenting gossip.

"It's about Buffy and Faith. I-I think there's something going on between them."

Willow looked confused. "Going on? I don't... no! You don't mean...?"

Tara nodded. "I saw them kissing at the Bronze earlier."

"No, no, no..." Willow backed away, horrified. "Tara, this isn't funny."

"Willow, what's wrong?"

"I can't believe this! She's doing it again!"

"Who's doing what?" Tara asked, lost. "Sweetie, you're not making any sense."

"Faith! It's just like last time! She turns up, helps us for a while, then she starts sinking her hooks into people and before you know it, they're not your people any more!"

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sure that's not what she's doing."

"You don't know her!" Willow cried out, tears welling up in her eyes. "Why won't you believe me?"

"I do believe you, Willow. I know how much she hurt you, but she's changed."

"No she hasn't! Don't you see it?" Willow scrambled off the bed, ashen-faced. "She's even taking you away from me!"

"Willow!" Tara felt a flicker of anger. "How can you say that? No-one could take me away from you!"

"Then why are you always on her side?"

"It's not about taking sides, Willow, I just think she's earned another chance."

"Another chance to do what? Cut my throat?" Willow turned away, bracing herself against a table covered with jumbled up witchcraft supplies. Tears began to burn their way down her cheeks.

Tara shook her head in frustration. "Look, Willow, I know you have some issues with Faith, but if this is what Buffy wants-"

"It's not! Not this, it can't be!" Willow cut her off, wiping her eyes free from the tears. As her vision cleared, she spotted a sprig of Lethe's Bramble lying half-buried under toppled stack of books. Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed it.

"Forget."

*****

Dawn screamed.

Faith dropped her toothbrush with a curse and burst out of the bathroom, flying down the stairs with a clatter of boots. She barely kept her balance as she skidded on the wooden floor of the hallway, then dashed into the kitchen, almost colliding with Dawn as the teenager emerged from the basement, soaked to the skin. Faith took a step back from the growing puddle at Dawn's feet. Now that she wasn't running, she could hear the sound of gushing water. "What the hell happened?"

Dawn's only reply was to growl "Buffy!" and storm out of the kitchen, leaving a trail of water behind her. Faith watched her go, a little taken aback by the display of anger, then hurried down the basement steps. Her jaw dropped.

"Uh, B..." Buffy was standing on a box, a wrench dangling limply from one hand. Above her was a water pipe, apparently the only one that wasn't currently pouring water into the basement. "Buffy? Where's the cut-off valve?"

"I don't know." Buffy replied without turning around.

"Okay..." Faith silently watched the slowly rising water level for a second.
"Well, you're not going to find it standing there. Come on, let's go look before we have to buy life jackets."


After Xander and his buddy Tito the plumber had left, Buffy sat at the kitchen counter reviewing the estimate for the re-pipe job the house apparently needed. God, how much stuff like this did Mom deal with without me noticing? How self-absorbed was I?

Faith sat down opposite her, sipping a mug of coffee. "How bad is it?"

Buffy showed her.

"Ouch! At least we can afford it."

"I can afford it." Buffy said sharply.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm paying this myself. You're leaving, remember?"

"Well yeah, but it's it not like I'm shipping out tomorrow!" Faith replied, pushing herself away from the counter. "Or is that what you want? Do you want me to go now?"

"No, that's not what I meant..." Buffy said, fighting down the flush of anger and sadness she felt at the thought of Faith leaving her. "Look, it's my house, it's my responsibility."

"And as long as I'm living here, I'll pay my share." Faith sat down again, trying to control her own emotions. "I told you I'll stay in Sunnydale until we kill Lucas, and we don't know how long that'll take, so unless you kick me out of the house, I'm going to help you keep the place going, okay?"

Buffy nodded sadly. "When are you going to tell the others you're going?"

"I'll talk to Giles once Lucas is dust, get him to talk to the Council about a new assignment. The rest... I think I'll just go, be easier for everyone."

The phone rang. Faith picked up. "Hello? Oh, hi Giles... You have? Okay, we'll see you later." She hung up. "Giles got the Council's report on Lucas this morning. He wants us all to meet up at the magic shop after it closes tonight."

"Okay."

*****

An awkward silence hung over the Magic Box that evening as the group gathered. Willow kept sneaking brief looks at the two Slayers, trying to detect any sign that there was something happening between them, but saw nothing. Buffy and Faith hadn't spoken to each other since they had arrived and taken seats on opposite sides of the table, their body language defensive and uncomfortable.

"The Council haven't been able to find any information on Lucas before October 1999." Giles said quietly, not surprised by the looks of shock and disbelief his statement provoked.

"What do you mean, they can't find anything?" Xander's outburst drew a mocking laugh from the vampire perched halfway up the balcony steps.

"You think the tea-and-tweed brigade keep a file on every vampire in the world?" Spike sneered. "They've got enough trouble trying to keep tabs on the ones that actually count for something."

"I guess they don't know much about you, then!" Xander snapped back. "Why is he even here?"

Spike let out a low growl, inaudible to anyone else in the room. One of these days, whelp, I'm going to remind you just who you're dealing with...

"He's here because he might know something useful." Buffy replied, her tone weary. "So what do we know, Giles?"

The Watcher gave her a grateful nod as he sat down at the research table and opened a slim file. "All we really have is that Lucas Miller arrived in Chicago some time before October 1999, and began assembling a cadre of vampires. They maintained a very low profile, and disappeared altogether earlier this year, presumably when they came to Sunnydale. There's nothing at all about Lucas' origins or what he was doing before what Faith's told us."

Faith couldn't help noticing how everyone avoided looking at her. "What about his vamps?"

"Mostly, they're the usual, unremarkable vampires. Perhaps possessed of a little more self-control that the norm, or better disciplined by their leader. The only one of note is this fellow." Giles pulled a photograph out of the file and slid it to the centre of the table.

Faith picked it up, her eyes widening in surprise. "B, check this out!" She passed the photograph across. As Buffy took it, Willow saw their fingertips touch, and Faith jerked her hand away. The others, intent on Buffy's reaction to the picture, didn't notice.

"That's him!" Buffy exclaimed as she saw the picture. "Giles, we've seen this guy, we fought him the night of Tara's party."

"You dusted him?" Willow asked, hopefully.

"No, he got away." Buffy answered, a mixture of annoyance and shame colouring her voice. "He held us off, then as soon as he saw an opening, he made a break for it. He's good, Giles."

Anya raised her hand. "Who is he?"

"Sean Curran." Giles replied. "He's some sort of vampire warrior-"

Spike interrupted. "Bloody mercenary is what he is."

Giles looked around at the vampire. "You know him?"

"Know of him." Spike corrected, with a pointed glare at Xander. "Met him once in Italy, but we didn't exactly make small-talk. He fights for any demon that can't or won't do it themselves, as long as they can afford him. Used to be some kind of army type, I think."

"Yes, he joined the U.S. Army during World War Two as a paratrooper. He disappeared, presumably died, while on leave from his unit in Germany in 1947. The Council first took note of him in the early 1950's."

"Has he ever fought a Slayer?" Buffy asked.

Giles sighed. "Possibly. He was in Stockholm in 1984 when the then-Slayer was killed, but I can't say whether he was involved."

"What happened?"

"Again, we don't know. She went out on a routine patrol and never came back." Giles said, masking his fear of the same fate befalling one of his Slayers. "Her body was never found; the Council could only be sure she was dead because another Slayer was called."

"So now what?" Buffy asked. "We've got one vamp without a past and another one who's a hired gun... fang... whatever. Why did Lucas come back here? Is he just trying to play King of the Hellmouth?"

Willow pulled her laptop out of her bag. "This is probably a coincidence, but I might have something here..." She flipped the screen up and opened a file, before turning the computer around so the others could see the screen. "Faith, is this him?" she asked, her voice totally neutral.

Faith's jaw dropped as she saw the picture on the screen. "Oh my God, you found him!"

"Faith, are you sure?" Giles was stunned.

"Yeah, I mean the hairstyle's different, but everything else... that's him I swear! Damn, Red, what did you do?"

"I Googled him." Willow looked around at a sea of blank faces. "Google? Internet search engine? I got bored yesterday, so I typed in 'Lucas Miller', just for the hell of it. I got a few hundred hits, but this one kinda stood out; it's from the on-line archive for the Sunnydale Press."

"He was in the paper?" Buffy wondered in disbelief. "He was alive, here?"

"Sorta. It's his obituary." Willow span the laptop around to face her again and read from the article. 'We are saddened to report the death of Sunnydale's first-born, Lucas Joshua Miller, on November 16th, 1927, at the age of 28. Mr Miller was apparently the latest victim of the wild dogs that have recently plagued our community."

"Sunnydale's first-born." Buffy whispered.

"He was born here, he died here... Giles, do you think he's been here the whole time?" Faith asked, not quite believing the idea herself.

"It's possible, but its very rare for a vampire to stay in one town for so long, especially one the size of Sunnydale."

"Welcome to small-town America, Giles." Xander remarked. "It's the only home he's ever known. I think he wants it back."

"And to do that," Buffy said, "he has to get rid of us."

*****

The following Monday, Willow caught up with Buffy in the campus refectory. Both Slayers had left to patrol immediately after the meeting at the Magic Box, and Willow was desperate to talk to her best friend face to face, to try to figure out exactly what was happening. They secured a table in a quiet corner and chatted for a while, talking about classes, Xander and Anya's growing preoccupation with wedding plans, Dawn's high school experiences. As the conversation went on, however, Willow began to realise that she was doing most of the talking; Buffy's responses were brief, almost terse, as though she were running on autopilot. Every so often the Slayer would seem to snap out of it, like she was making a conscious effort to be more talkative, but after a few minutes she would lapse back into her distracted state.

"Is something wrong, Buffy?" Willow asked, concern showing on her face.

Buffy, who had been staring off into space, seemed to have barely heard the question. "Huh?"

"I asked you if there was something wrong." Willow repeated. "Something
about Faith, maybe?"

"Faith? No!" Buffy replied, rather too quickly. "What made you say that?"

"Well, you've been kinda tense and distracted the last few days, especially when she's around. I thought maybe something had happened, like you had a fight or something." Willow studied Buffy's reactions intently. There was no slight blush, no lowered eyes, no gentle half-smile, none of the signs Buffy usually displayed when a new relationship was mentioned. There was something, though, something in her voice.

"No, we're not fighting." Buffy replied, still rushing slightly. "Faith's really wound up about this whole Lucas thing, I guess maybe I'm just feeding off of that."

"You're sure? You know you can talk to me, about anything, right?" Willow reached out and took her friend's hand. There was a definite undertone in Buffy's voice, but she was trying to mask it.

Buffy managed a wan smile as she looked down at their interlaced fingers. "I know, Will. I'll be fine, honest." I hope.

"Okay, then."

They talked a while longer, until Buffy had to leave for a class. Willow dropped Faith's name into the conversation a couple more time, just in passing, but got no reaction apart from that same undercurrent in Buffy's voice. It wasn't until her friend was walking away that she finally worked out what it was.

Sadness, tinged with longing.

*****

"There you are!" Tara said, smiling warmly as she finally located her girlfriend.

Willow jumped in surprise, almost losing her grip on the enormous dictionary she was flicking through. "Tara! You scared me!" She quickly lowered her voice as her exclamation echoed through the UCS library. "I thought we were meeting downstairs."

"We were, a half-hour ago."

Willow checked her watch. "Oh gosh, Tara, I'm sorry! I musta lost track of the time."

Tara smiled again, calming her apologetic girlfriend. "It's okay, sweetie." She glanced at the pile of books scattered around Willow's laptop and notebooks. "Eastern European languages? Are you talking classes behind my back?" She asked with a mock glare.

Willow giggled at that. "No, it's magic stuff. I'm trying to modify a spell, but I'm having some trouble with the incantation."

"A spell?" Tara's face clouded. "Why didn't you ask me? I would've helped."

"Oh, I know you would!" Willow said quickly, realising she'd hurt Tara's feelings. "It's just... This is kinda personal. Unfinished business, you know? I need to do this for myself."

"Is this why you've been hitting the spell books so hard the last few weeks?"

"Yeah." Willow reached out and laid her pale hand on Tara's arm. "I'm sorry I've been so cloak-and-daggery lately, I just don't want to get anyone's hopes up, y'know? If this works, it could be kinda big."

After a moment of consideration, Tara nodded her understanding. "You know I'm here if you need me, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"Do you want to stay here and work on it some more?" Tara asked, hoping the answer would be 'no'.

Willow shook her head. "My head's starting to hurt, I need some girlfriend time." She quickly packed her notebook and laptop into her bag and began picking up books to return to their shelves.

Walking back to their dorm across the night-shrouded campus, the witches chatted quietly about their day, always keeping a cautious eye on the shadows. As they entered their room, Tara suddenly asked, "Do you think Faith's okay? She seems even quieter than usual lately."

"I hadn't noticed." Willow replied, trying to hide the flash of panic she felt whenever Tara mentioned the dark Slayer. Unconsciously, her eyes flickered across to the small ziploc bag of Lethe's Bramble sitting on the table. Again she forced down the guilt she felt at playing with her lover's mind. I'm so sorry, baby, I didn't know what else to do...

*****

Faith switched off the TV and turned to look at Dawn, curled up beside her on the couch. The teenager was sound asleep, her head resting on Faith's shoulder. They had started off just sitting together watching a movie, but at some point Dawn had moved up next to her. Faith had no idea when she had fallen asleep. For a moment she just sat and watched Dawn sleeping, a look of complete peace on her face, and marvelled that she should ever receive such complete trust. Finally, reluctantly, she gently shook the young girl awake. "Dawn? Come on, Bitesize, I gotta go patrol."

"Umph." Dawn forced her eyes open. "What time is it?"

Faith checked her watch. "Bit after eleven. Look at you, sixteen years old and you're flaking this early on a Friday night. You oughtta be ashamed of yourself."

Dawn stuck her tongue out and slowly got to her feet, just as Buffy entered the living room and asked, "You ready, Faith?"

"Five by five."

Dawn watched them pull on jackets and check their weapons, listened to Buffy's admonition not to stay up too late, and locked the door behind them. Then she headed upstairs to her room, pulled an old book from her bag, and started reading.


"I don't like this."

"I don't care."

"It's not right, spying on our own people like this."

"Look, it's bad enough that we're missing our leave, I'm not putting up with you whinging as well. The Council said to keep the Slayers under surveillance, and that's what we're doing."

"I'm just saying..."

"Well don't. Hang on, the door's opening. Log it. Slayer 1 and Slayer 2 leaving the house, on foot, 2317."

A quiet 'bleep!' from her computer roused Willow from her daydream. Does it still count as a daydream at 2 a.m.?, she wondered, then dismissed the thought as she picked up the laptop and looked at the screen.

Oh my God! That's it!

Okay, slow down, Rosenberg, check it first, don't get too excited yet...

Okay...

Okay...

It's done. It's done! "Yes!"

A groan from the other end of the bed jerked the witch's head around and made her realise that she had spoken aloud. Tara's head emerged from a jumble of sheets and pillows. "Willow?"

"Sorry, baby, I didn't mean to wake you."

"What are you doing?"

Excitement won out over contrition as Willow crawled back under the sheets "I fixed the spell! It's finished, I can cast it!"

"Now?" The tone of Tara's sleep-laden voice left no doubt as to what she thought of that idea.

"No, not now." Willow snuggled in against Tara, wrapping an arm around her. "I'll do it tomorrow. I'll have to go out of town for the day, maybe Sunday too. And if this works," she planted gentle kiss on Tara's lips, "when I get back, there's going to be some celebrating to do." After I give Buffy what she really wants.


"You realise how hard it's going to be on her when you leave?"
Faith stopped in mid-stride and turned to face her blonde counterpart. "What?"

"Dawn. Losing you is going to break her heart."

"That's low, B."

"I mean it! I saw the two of you together earlier, you're more like a sister to her than I am right now."

"That's not true!"

"It is, and I'm glad." Buffy said, her tone softening. "I have to be the parent now, I can't be her sister all the time. I'm glad she has someone else, someone
to look up to."

"You want me to be her role model?" Faith asked, incredulously. "Damn, B, I thought you liked her!"

"I do! Don't you get it? She adores you. You saved her life."

"And that's all she sees, me taking a swan-dive off that tower. She doesn't get the other stuff, she doesn't remember it the way you and Red and Xander remember."

"Or maybe she doesn't care about it any more."

"Well, she should." Faith began to march off through the cemetery, but was brought up short by Buffy's next question.

"Why did you kiss me?"

"B, would you please forget about it..."

"No! Faith, it's been nearly three weeks, and you still won't tell me anything!"

"There's nothing to say! Things were getting crazy, and I just acted. That's what I do, remember? Wait, stop, think, no, no, no, ring any bells? I'm the poster girl for impulse-control issues. Who knows, maybe it was my subconscious trying to remind us both that I'm not playing with the full deck. Now can we drop it and go take out those vampires over there?" She pointed over Buffy's shoulder.


On the road outside the cemetery, a black van rolled to a stop. A concealed camera began filming the slayers as they tore into the hapless group of vampires.

"This is bad..."

"It's a complication, that's all."

"Are you kidding? That's Faith! Last time she was around, I nearly got eaten by a giant snake!"

"Cool it, Shortround, everything's gonna be fine. They're just a couple of girls, we can handle them."

"No, Warren, they're not just girls, they're Slayers!" Jonathan pushed himself away from the console in the back of the van. "Two Slayers is a whole different game."

"We'll be fine! Know your enemy, remember. We'll study them, learn then weakness, and take them down. And then we'll rule Sunnydale!"

Andrew nodded, smiling his excitement. "Cool."

*****

Angel walked across the lobby of the Hyperion, automatically skirting the sunlight areas without even looking away from the book he was reading. He was just placing his mug of warmed O+ on the reception counter when he heard the front door open. Looking up, he saw Willow smiling at him from the doorway, with a large sports bag in her hand and a book back hanging from her shoulder.

"Willow. Hi."

"Hi." Willow put down the sports bag and waved, a little awkwardly, and walked across the lobby to meet him.

"Is something wrong? Is Buffy okay?"

"Buffy's fine." Willow replied, trying to reassure him. "I was just in the neighbourhood, so I thought I'd drop in, say hello. Nice place you've got here, very... roomy."

"Thanks. It's good to see you, Willow. Can I get you a coffee or something?"

"I'll have to pass, I'm about at my caffeine limit for the day. Could I get a glass of water, though?"

"Sure." Angel turned toward the kitchen, quietly surprised at how happy he was to see Willow again. Few people knew it, but he'd missed the redhead's quirky sense of humour and stream-of-consciousness babbling for months after leaving Sunnydale, and he was pleased to have an opportunity to catch up with her. He didn't see her reach into her shoulder bag, so he had no idea what was happening when the tranquilliser dart bit into his shoulder.