brat_inslayage | Sunnydale, California, Late April 2003 (Shortly Afterward/Tuesday Fandom Time)

Ugh, to hell with the meeting; all it seemed to be accomplishing so far was exactly what they'd thought. Ubervamps: too strong for them to stake, courtesy of their super-tough skeletons. ("Like driving a stake through solid steel." Thanks for that, Anya.) Caleb: practically untouchable, not to mention still a giant mystery. All of them: still not super-strong, so big whoop.

Okay, finding out that the cot in the basement had just done duty as long-overdue breakup sex place for Anya and Xander had been less with the depressing, but hello, TMI.

Finally Kennedy decided, "screw it," and stalked out of the meeting before she said anything even more bitchy than she already had and got Anya on her ass for it, or made the girls feel even worse. She might get some flak later if anyone noticed Amanda following her lead, but you know what? Screw that, too; she was over trying to play role model for the girls to fall in line when she wasn't even all that sure Buffy was on her game any more.

So they snuck up to the kitchen, hung out with Faith for a while, vented at her for a bit.

That was fun-- and then Buffy came home, carrying a portfolio full of papers that Giles and Willow had managed to wrangle out of the police somehow. It was a file on incidents of violence and vandalism connected to religious institutions in the past ten years, and it was, as Faith pointed out, a place to start.

Even research was a welcome change from the endless cycle of pointlessness, so Kennedy would take it. She sat down at the table and started to read, only she kept half listening in on Dawn's persistent attempts to get information out of her sister about how Xander was doing, and the more Dawn pressed, the more obvious it was that Buffy didn't really know.

That just pissed her off; Willow had been at the hospital practically nonstop since that night, absolutely miserable over her best friend's condition, and Buffy couldn't even tell Dawn, who'd been just as messed up over it back here at the house, what his mood was like? Bad enough she didn't seem to notice (or, to Kennedy, care) how freaked out some of the girls were, but her own best friends...

Kennedy would give almost anything just to hear from her friends; it had been almost half a year now, and she missed them. The idea that Buffy might be shutting hers out when they were right there really, really rubbed her the wrong way.

To be fair, she could have taken into account that Buffy looked pained at the questions, or that Faith jumped in and told Dawn to go upstairs for more info to save Buffy from further discomfort, but her resentment had been simmering away steadily for a while now.

So when Buffy said, still all detached and take-charge-y, "So we're looking for anything that looks like Caleb. His church, his ring..."

The ring he'd used to burn a brand into Shannon's neck, that Willow had taken pictures of. Willow, who was still at the hospital with Xander, who'd spent so much time there of late.

When her thoughts took a weird turn down that particular alleyway, Kennedy lost the ability to keep her mouth shut any longer and muttered, snide and frustrated and more than a little bit scared, "His ability to render a Slayer useless in just one punch?"

As soon as she said it, she knew from the hurt expression on Buffy's face and the warning look on Faith's, not to mention Amanda's silent wince, that she'd said exactly the wrong thing. And apparently she wasn't that mad yet that she couldn't feel horrified at herself for it.

Dammit.

"I didn't-- that was stupid," she amended hastily. "I don't know why I said that, I--"

Okay, she did know why. She just knew that it was stupid, and for once in her life actually cared that it was.

"It's okay," Buffy replied, and she sounded so tired that Kennedy knew it wasn't okay. "I gotta get to the school anyway, pick up the rest of my stuff."

When she stood and moved toward the door, Kennedy trailed after her, trying again to apologize. "I really didn't mean to..."

"It's fine," Buffy said again. It sounded hollow. Any reassurances did, these days. "Don't worry about it."

Except she would.
***
Hours later Buffy still hadn't gotten back, but everyone figured-- or hoped, at least-- that since Willow was still at the hospital with Xander then maybe Buffy was there too. Kennedy decided to go with that theory; it'd be less angry-making than thinking she'd abandoned them there.

As for the mood around the house, it sucked royally. Giles and Dawn had been huddled over a mess of papers in the living room for the last several hours, and Kennedy guessed she should be trying to do something to get the girls' spirits up but she wasn't feeling rah-rah enough herself to do it. So she'd retreated to the room for an hour or two to poke futilely at her phone and its continuing lack of voicemail notifications, incoming texts, or anything at all, really. She still couldn't get Twitter to do anything but time out, and her Facebook timeline was still stuck on updates from... six months ago. Which was also the future because social media didn't really exist here yet, which was still too brainhurty to contemplate when she already felt like her head was going to explode.

Kennedy	By the time she gave up on that and headed downstairs to join the huddled masses yearning to be less miserable, she saw the front door closing. Like someone had left, not come in. Ooooookay then. Kennedy paused at the bottom of the stairs, eyeing the door curiously, then stuck her head into the living room. "Uh, guys? What's going on?"
Giles	"Dawn's found a, ah, mission in Gilroy," Giles explained. "Completely abandoned. Spike and Andrew have gone to investigate." Yes. Spike and Andrew. Both of them.
Faith	"Andrew was bitching about the Hot Pockets again," Faith added, helpfully. The ones that had been in the freezer, with some crappy little passive-aggressive note. Not that she'd stopped to read it. Free food was free food.
Dawn	"Look, see, here." Dawn held out the files they'd been studying. "The place was abandoned. Locals started noticing after a few days that no one was going in or out. Six members of the order lived there, but when the cops showed up... all gone. Unsolved. And if that doesn't scream potential badness...." She was not addressing the Hot Pocket Princess. Because Andrew needed to be kept in line, but she was still fighting the mixed feelings Faith always evoked.
Kennedy	"...so you sent Spike and Andrew to go check it out." That could only go well, she was absolutely sure. "Better be a good lead, then." On the one hand, information they could use, if it turned out to be a good gamble. On the other, sending the guy who was supposed to be helping protect them out with Andrew. Buffy was probably going to be pissed either way. Might as well hope it was for good reason.
Dawn	"We'll have some news soon," Dawn said, trying to sound confident. "And then we can make a plan."
Faith	Faith surveyed the room. Morale: piss-poor. "And in the meantime," she said, "the troops gotta sit here and stew, feeling crappier by the minute." At this point, she would buy them all the mascara she could get her hands on if it meant they'd throw that huge girly slumber party she'd been dreading. And fluffy pajamas and whatever the hell else they needed. Because at least then the crew would look less like they were just gonna lay down on the floor and die.
Dawn	Looking around, Dawn could only agree. Which she hated doing, but... "What, you think they should practice?" That was more Kennedy's thing.
Faith	Faith had a feeling the wannabes were burned out on practice. And the slumber party thing wasn't really her bag, either. "No, I got a way better idea," Faith grinned.

***

Kennedy	Soooooooooooo this was the Bronze, huh? Not bad, for a small-town club, and the fact that Kennedy would concede that meant she had to be really desperate for some fun. But hey. Live music, dance floor, nobody behind the bar apparently caring about the drinking age any more? That was all good. The crowd in here tonight was almost exclusively them, which was also of the good, and it was... awesome, actually. From her spot on the dance floor Kennedy could see the girls clustered in groups, dancing, laughing, talking. Hell, she was pretty sure she'd never seen some of those girls smile since they arrived in Sunnydale, but here they were. Having fun. Faith had to be everyone's favorite person tonight. She was definitely Amanda's; Amanda couldn't stop proclaiming how cool she was.
Faith	Faith was never getting off this dance floor. Okay, she might if one of these guys wanted a quickie in the bathroom. The girls could keep from stabbing something while she had a quickie in the bathroom, right? Fuck, she didn't even want to leave the floor for sex right now. There was music pumping, she was knocking back drinks, and the scent of skin was everywhere. Just bodies and motion and letting the feel of it take over. Whenever she swept the crowd for exits (and weapons, and potential threats) she did a (very fucking loose) head count -- all right, it was mostly to see if anybody in the room was on fire, or being dragged out by their hair. She'd given everyone a quick pep talk on the way down here -- watch your drink, don't fuck guys you don't know, no seriously, watch your drink, don't let the other girls leave the club with strange guys -- and that was pretty fuckin' responsible for her. These girls were potentials. They could figure the rest out. It was a bar, not a pit of demons and ubervamps. Knowing Sunnydale, it might end up being both, but fuck it. You couldn't stay inside forever, right?
Sunnydale PD	It wasn't a demon bar, either, so no one had to warn them to stay away from the yak urine. (Half the demons in town had split by now too, anyhow.) Wasn't the demons they might want to be worried about right now, though. The cluster of uniformed Sunnydale PD officers making their way through the crowd, the numbers on their badges covered with black tape, on the other hand? Those might be more of a concern. See, there had been this bulletin that came through earlier today about a wanted fugitive in town, and they were itching to hand out some justice. Of course, when the Hellmouth was percolating the way it was these days, the metaphorical evil-coffee-smell wafting through town woke up a really interesting definition of the word. They moved across the dance floor, paying no attention to any clearly-tipsy underage girls in the vicinity. Just heading Faith's way, quickly and quietly and very focused on their purpose.
Faith	Faith sensed something was wrong long before she turned around; the crowd was thinning, and the dancers were backing away hesitantly. Couldn't be a demon; there'd be more screaming from the civvies, and the girls would already be on it. Shit, considering how tight they were wound, they'd be fucking happy to jump at something. So when Faith whirled around, she wasn't all that shocked to spot the boys in blue. Sunnydale's finest. Probably here to send her back to prison, since she was a wanted felon and a fugitive from justice and all that jazz. Just a hunch. "Evening, officers," she said, offering them her sauciest grin. "I am just loving those uniforms. Very butch."
Sunnydale PD	One of the officers looked, just for a second, like he was about to laugh, but the moment passed as quickly as it had begun and his face took on the same humorless, intent scowl as his peers. Maybe it was a trick of the club lighting, but it almost seemed like there was a hint of maliciousness lurking in their expressions, too. "We're gonna have to ask you to come with us, miss," the lead cop said, hands on his belt, totally the macho tough guy. "Outstanding warrant." He... didn't really look like he was hoping she'd come along quietly, and from the way the other cops were starting to fan out around her, neither did they.
Faith	"Oh, but the party's so much nicer here," she sighed, seeming vaguely inconvenienced more than anything else. "Why don't we try it this way: one of you boys buy me a drink, and we can see where the evening takes us, mmm?" She didn't really think that was going to work, but hell, worth a shot. Schmoozing the cops might keep this low-key. Keeping this low-key might help the wannabes not freak out and go trigger-happy. Helping the wannabes not freak out go trigger-happy was good if they wanted shit not to get real ugly, real fast. Besides, the uniforms were pretty butch. Wouldn't kill her to simper a little as she pointed that out.
Sunnydale PD	Things were getting something real fast, anyway. The cop who moved in from behind to grab at her wrists didn't seem to appreciate the compliment. "'fraid it's not that simple, Miss," answered the officer who'd addressed her in the first place.
Faith	"You're making a big mistake," she seethed as the cop she hadn't seen pinned her arms behind her back. She wrenched against his hold, hoping to slip free, but cops had detaining grips down to a science. Fuck. The crowd was picking up interest, and the wannabes would be circling any minute. Last thing they needed was a brawl in the middle of a bar, with a bunch of civilians.
Sunnydale PD	The wannabes weren't circling yet, but Kennedy and Amanda had noticed what was going on and their entire group was looking over toward the dance floor now, worried. Maybe they should be: the cop who'd grabbed Faith's wrists wasn't being particularly gentle about it, and the guy who seemed to be in charge had a predatorial grin on his face. "You have the right to remain silent," he said, his tone matching his grin, like he was almost daring her not to. No, scratch that. He definitely was. "Anything you say can and will..." Yeah, yeah, the usual spiel. Just a very threatening sounding version of it-- meanwhile, Kennedy and Amanda were pushing their way through the crowd, toward the scene.
Dawn	Darnit, Dawn had been having fun before this. She'd almost softened a bit toward Faith, because this was the kind of thing Buffy would've never done herself. Had Faith done something? She hadn't seen anything from her spot on the dance floor, but she didn't think so.... She started threading through the crowd to see what was going on. "Hey!"
Faith	"It's cool, I got this," Faith grumbled, trying to sound like she had this shit under control. She aimed a kick at the smug fucking cop standing in front of her. "Get off me." Him taking out a shotgun, that was not the most reassuring response she could have hoped for. Them dragging her through the club, out the door to the alley? Didn't help. "Sorry, boys, I'm not going back to jail," she snapped. She ripped her arm free and stalked back towards the club again. Had to keep an eye on the girls. Anything happened to them, B would -- "Who said anything about jail?" the tall one said. She turned around in time to see three handguns, at chest level, pointed straight at her. And the slam of the club's door behind her, trapping her out here with these 'roid-ragey freaks? That was kind of the least reassuring bit of all.
Dawn	"NOT COOL!" Dawn shouted, then looked around at the Potentials. "Well? What's the point of all of you if there's no fight?"

***

Buffy	Buffy had had way better days. But hey, at least she'd had worse? What did that say, when getting thrown through a window didn't rank anywhere near your worst days? Bad things, that's what it said. So it was back home to regroup and check up, and she'd gotten as far as, "Hey. Guys, how's it-" And realized it was just her and Giles. "-going?"
Giles	Giles peered up from the dining room table. "Buffy," he said, pushing his chair back and standing up. "Are you hurt?"
Buffy	"Oh," she said, and there might have been a casual shrug involved if not for that window thing. "Caleb came looking for seconds." Not that there was anything about the creepy horrible priest guy that would even make her want firsts.
Giles	Well, if ever there was a way to make a startled Giles even more startled, that was up there. "My God, is h-he—-?"
Buffy	Sorry about that, Giles. "Still able to make me see cartoon birdies all around my head? You betcha. The short lack of consciousness was nice. I feel rested," she quipped, and took a seat. If there was a groan when she did that, well, see aforementioned mentions of where she'd just been. It wasn't going to stop her from getting back to business, though. "So...how did those police files work out? Were they helpful?"
Giles	"Er. Er, yes," Giles said as he sat back down, somewhat chastened. "Very much so, I think. Ah... there's evidence that Caleb may have established a foothold up north."
Buffy	"That's great," she decided. If they knew about said... foothold, okay, then they could beat him on his own turf and stuff. "That's-"
Giles	"I sent Spike to look into it," Giles said, totally not hurrying to get that out and expecting her to blow up or anything. No.
Buffy	Believe it or not, that had not been what Buffy thought she would hear. Was it obvious? "Spike? Is this a mission from which you intend Spike to return alive?" she asked, thinking this was a pretty good question.
Giles	Giles hemmed and hawed for a moment, then offered, "I -- sent Andrew with him."
Buffy	Dear Giles: that improved the situation how? "Again I ask the question," said Buffy.
Giles	"Buffy, you weren't here," Giles reminded her. "Decisions had to be made in your absence."
Buffy	"Yeah, well, those are the ones that have been scaring me," she said truthfully. And it was really hard not to take it personally anymore.
Giles	"I did what I thought was right," Giles countered.
Buffy	That was another thing. Everyone else thought they were right, but if she thought she was... "You sent away the one person that's been watching my back. Again."
Giles	"We've all been watching your back," Giles said quickly, defensively.
Buffy	"Funny. That's not really what it feels like." She had to get away, she really did. She wasn't any less sore than she was a couple minutes ago but she pulled herself to her feet and started to walk away anyway.
Giles	"Buffy," Giles protested, looking like he wasn't certain whether to lecture her or to hug her.
Buffy	She wasn't really having either of those things right now, so... "Where did everybody go?" she asked.
Giles	Giles turned around. "What?"
Buffy	"Faith. The girls," she clarified. "Where are they?"
Giles	"Er... Faith thought that the girls could do with some time off their studies," Giles said, rubbing at his temple. "She took them to the Bronze." Rupert Giles: Best babysitter ever.
Buffy	Aaaaand Buffy hated everything. The eyeroll was just this side of epic, and she turned for the door without another word. Now she had girls to track down, hopefully before anyone did something stupid.

***
Oh, there was a fight. There so definitely was.

The cop who locked himself into the Bronze with them had a big-ass shotgun in his hands, and didn't seem to be bothered by a bunch of teenage girls closing in on him, even when said bunch of teenage girls didn't pay attention to his smug assertion that the best thing they could do was wait right where they were.

Yeah, right-- when a bunch of his pals had dragged Faith outside, and didn't look like they were planning to do anything as innocuous as arrest her? (Which, for the record, would also suck. They didn't need to be down a Slayer.)

"It'll be over before you know it," he informed them, and that was when they knew, even the girls who didn't speak English, that this was going to be bad if they didn't get out there and help her.

When Dawn, exercising her own powers of brattiness (really, she and Kennedy ought to team up sometime), told him she'd just go borrow the phone, he shot a light fixture down from the ceiling into the crowd, and Rona hissed in alarm, "These cops are really getting Hellmouthed!"

Didn't stop any of the Potentials. They kept closing in.

Kennedy got right up in his face, flanked by Dawn, Chao-Ahn, and Rona, and snapped, "You're gonna have to shoot us all to stop us."

He smirked at her. "Doesn't really bother me." Oh god, maybe that hadn't been a good idea. "Back up!"

Then Amanda was there, beside Kennedy, and yelling back, "No!"

The cop whipped his head to the side to stare at her, completely incredulous that some squeaky-voiced high school kid would defy him like that. "What?"

Kennedy spared a quick, appreciative glance for Amanda and took a step further into the cop's personal space, giving him her best I have more money than God and I can so get you fired sneer. "You're not in charge here," she said.

He turned back to look at her.

She grabbed the shotgun, planted her feet for leverage, and twisted it hard, out of his hands, ramming the stock of it into his jaw. He doubled over, though not before whipping a vicious backhand at Kennedy's jaw and sending her reeling, and Amanda brought a pool cue crashing down onto his back. He staggered forward a few steps, and the Potentials surrounded him.

"We are," she added, seamlessly picking up Kennedy's line of thought.

Kennedy (and Amanda)	The shotgun-wielding cop who'd been blocking the doorway was no longer an issue; the last Kennedy had seen, Dawn had jumped on his back, so his odds weren't great there. More importantly: they had a clear shot to get out into the alley and help Faith, now. Kennedy slammed bodily into the door, crashbar be damned, with Amanda right on her heels. Maybe it was partly the alcohol, or the adrenaline, but neither of them really thought twice about charging the cluster of cops surrounding Faith and hauling a couple of them bodily off her. Hitting one of the guys with his own club while Amanda shoved another into a pile of crates? Totally therapeutic.
Faith	Faith had assumed this would be simple: get into the alley (and away from the crowd), smash the cops into each other, and toss them into their own cruiser. That was before they'd pulled their weapons and made it clear they weren't interested in taking her ass back to jail. No, the Hellmouth had made them all Alpha and their idea of a good time tonight was to beat the shit out of a fugitive. Fuckin' cops. Four on one was pretty decent odds for a Slayer, but cops were trained for this shit, and they were armed and she wasn't. And Slayer or no, a nightstick to the middle of the back hurt like a bitch. When she heard the commotion, she was on the ground, hands over her head, warding off blows, waiting for a moment to kick out at a convenient leg. Whatever the distraction was, it gave her a damn good time to get off the ground. Faith jumped to her feet, not as smoothly as she might have liked, and punched the guy closest to her, grabbing for his club.
Amanda (and Kennedy)	While Kennedy was busy slamming one cop's nightstick into the back of his head and looking like she was having way too much fun with it, Amanda had put one foot on the chest of the cop she'd knocked over, grabbed a crate, and dropped it on his face. Not the coolest move ever, and lacking style points, but they'd been getting lectured on knowing their surroundings and using what they had at hand, so that counted, didn't it? "That was cool," she declared exultantly. It was more or less a brawl out here now, and it felt really good to blow off steam this way. The Turok-Han might be too strong for them to take, to say nothing of Caleb, but these guys were easy. More importantly, these guys were trying to go after one of their own, so it was all in a good cause! As for the guy who'd just gotten a Slayer-strength punch to the face, he was now clubless. And in great position to get backed up against a wall.
Dawn	Dawn was doing the best she could with a garbage can lid. Mostly that involved distracting cops while the Potentials did the actual hitting, but she'd manage to ring one cop's bell pretty hard. And now she was trying not to trip over bodies.
Faith	Oh, look, her own nightstick. Just begging to be shoved up against the cop's throat, real hard. That way she could throw him into that wall, maybe punch him five or six more times. He went down like a sub (or a drunk prom date) and Faith whirled, looking for the next contestant. Instead, she saw a bunch of downed cops and a bunch of feisty potentials, throwing down in a back alley like the cops owed them rent money. Faith wasn't too impressed with herself for needing a rescue, and she wasn't real happy about them needing to get involved in this shit, either. But she was damn sure taking a second to be proud of those girls and the way they'd just handled themselves. Nicely done, ladies. Okay, moment was over, now they needed to deal with this mess.
Buffy	Know what would make the mess worse? A timely Buffy appearance. When she'd heard that Faith took the girls to the Bronze, she'd been figuring that they'd hang out, probably get underagedly drunk and put themselves in unnecessary danger while doing so. She hadn't expected to walk in a bunch of TKO'ed cops. "Faith! What are you doing?"
Faith	Exactly what this situation needed: Buffy showing up at the worst possible moment to make this look really, really bad. When most of the night hadn't been much like this at all. "Nothing," Faith insisted, which was -- a bit rich, for someone who was surrounded by unconscious police officers and drunk underage girls. "Just ... blowing off steam. Well, I mean. It started that way, before the cops went evil on us." Fuckin' cops. This was entirely their fault.
Buffy	As it turned out, Buffy didn't care right now. There were so many things wrong with this situation, and it was time to get some things clear. "Girls, go home," she said, setting her glare on Faith. "I need to talk to Faith for a minute." While surrounded by unconscious cops.

The shotgun-wielding cop inside the Bronze handily subdued by now, the rest of the Potentials had filtered out into the alley just in time to catch that, and wow, the tension was way palpable out here. Didn't take a genius to guess that things were about to get ugly, and considering half of them were at least a little tipsy if not outright drunk... yeah. Going home could definitely be a thing. Buffy and Faith could talk it out, or slug it out, or whatever it was they were going to do, and the rest of them could just conveniently not be here.
***
By the time they got back to the house Giles let them know that Xander had been discharged, and he and Willow were on their way back. All things considered the tension in the room made for a very awkward party atmosphere, but by god they were going to try anyway.

Some of the girls got assigned to the task of making a welcome home banner, using Andrew's dry-erase markers and a big piece of butcher paper they'd scavenged from the now abandoned butcher shop last time someone had to make a blood run for Spike.

It was all they had time to do before the front door opened.

As for the party... Yeah. Hard to even fake festive when Xander was still groggy from the medication and the sight of him sitting there, one sleeve of his shirt incriminatingly empty, was an uncomfortable reminder to everyone, even the ones who hadn't witnessed it, just how out of control everything was getting.

Xander was the one who fixed everything up around here, so good with his hands, and now...

Damn. It was all falling apart. Maybe irreparably.

Metaphorically, and then literally. Buffy just had to go and break up the fragile little denial-bubble they had going by picking that moment to announce that she wanted to take them all back to the vineyard, because she was convinced that Caleb really did have something of hers down there, and really? Really? After getting two of them killed and Xander maimed and blowing everyone's morale all to hell, now this?

Kennedy should have been thrilled. The prospect of another battle was normally something she'd leap into head first without a second thought, but even after all the shit she'd seen-- Agio was probably the worst of it all, though the disaster in Raven's world was right on its heels, but there was this thin indescribable barrier of "not my world" that teamed up with how they'd made it through both of those things and kept them from hitting quite as close to, well, home-- the hopelessness of this situation took the excitement right out of her. Not even knowing the other Xander had made it out was much of a comfort.

So no, she wasn't thrilled. She was, on the other hand, quick to jump into the fight that started up as soon as Buffy laid out her plan. Nobody thought it was a good idea: not Xander, not Giles, not Faith, not Willow, not Dawn.

Not Principal Wood, and definitely not the Potentials, though Kennedy suspected Spike would probably have Buffy's back if he were here.

Basically what it came down to was that no one wanted to be on board with the plan. Buffy tried to pull rank on them, insisting that she was the Slayer and what she said should be the final word, but...

Faith was a Slayer too, though, as Rona pointed out, and as it happened they all kind of liked her more right now anyway. The Potentials did, anyway, since she seemed to be the only one who cared if they were all stressed out. The Scoobies, maybe not so much, and even Faith was quick to downplay her importance here, but still, not a single person was about to leap on what sounded like a bandwagon of certain doom.

Quicker certain doom, that was.

There was a lot of yelling going on, and Kennedy wasn't actually sure who finally snapped, "You want to do that, fine, but you're on your own," but no one disagreed with the sentiment. Buffy looked utterly shellshocked by that.

When she finally walked out of the house, no one tried to stop her, either.

Rona made the mistake of being vocally glad about it after the door shut, and damn, Kennedy had never seen Dawn get that mad.

Personally, Kennedy was a little torn, but... She'd sort of given up on anything being uncomplicated any more. When Faith went out onto the porch after Buffy and came back alone, they knew things had just changed, big time.

For good, or not so good?

That was a really good question.

[[nfi/nfb, ooc-okay, this is the song that never ends except oh, hey, i'm done for the week. adapted from btvs 7x19, "empty places." the phenomenally awesome npc cast who preplayed this one with me: