“Spike.”
“And Faith.”
“In the Bronze.”
“So much gross...”
“Whoa, whoa,” Willow said, leaning against the doorframe and staring at Xander and Cordelia in disbelief. “Slow down, guys. What I got from that is that Faith and Spike are in the Bronze doing something gross. Somehow, I doubt that’s right.”
“Your doubt is doubtful, doubty,” Xander said, still jittery from seeing Spike back in town.
“What? Oh. Well, that’s bad. What is he even doing back? Does Faith know he’s a vampire?”
“Oh, she knows. I told her, and she said some completely insane thing about, ‘you believe what you want and I’ll go get what I want’. She’s psychotic!”
“We didn’t actually talk to Spike,” Cordelia added. “We watched them exchange tongues and then we left because ew. Also, I second that psychotic vote.”
“You seem pretty not caring about this whole situation, Will. What’s up?”
Willow smiled. “We should find Faith and make her stop ewing with Spike.”
“I second that,” Xander proclaimed. “Say, Will, got any sharp, sharp stakes in there?”
“A couple. I’ll just go and get them.”
“And we’ll wait here,” Xander said back, slightly suspicious of Willow’s behavior. He turned to Cordelia. “Okay. I know she doesn’t like Faith very much, but she could care a little more about Spike being back. I mean, if he eats Faith, we have no Slayer, and Buffy could barely fight him.”
“Maybe she realizes it’s hopeless.”
Xander stared at Cordy as Willow walked out of the door, sporting a light backpack with weapons. “We ready?” she asked them.
“And setty,” Xander said, and the trio set off in the general direction of the Bronze.
***
“You can.”
“No, I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“Giles.”
“Buffy, this isn’t a discussion. You are both welcome and able to come back to Sunnydale. We need you there, and you’re very obviously not happy here.”
“Do you really need me? Sounds like this Faith has it all under control.”
“Oh, I very much doubt that. She seemed to care about very little other than where you are and where the party is. As we speak, there is little doubt in my mind that she’s off doing something rather… unorthodox.”
***
“I don’t see them.”
“Me neither.”
“Okay,” Xander said, starting to feel nervous again. “They must be around here somewhere. We weren’t gone that long, and neither of them looked like they were going to get bored anytime soon.”
“Uh, guys…”
“We last saw them over there,” Xander continued, retracing his steps, “leaning against that wall. Eurgh.” He shuddered with the memory. “They really can’t have gone far.”
“Guys…”
“Well, let’s ask around,” Cordelia suggested. “The bartender’s probably seen them. Who would miss a couple like that?”
“Hey!” Willow said loudly, finally getting their attention. “They just left out the back door, still… all over each other.”
“Really?”
“No, she’s joking just to see the face you make,” Cordelia said sarcastically and headed toward the door to the club.
***
“Come home, Buffy.”
“Why? What’s there for me anymore? I can’t go to school…”
“…which you’re not doing here either. Your mother misses you. Your friends miss you. I miss you. And with the police off your case, there’s no reason for which Snyder cannot reaccept you into school.”
“Really? Shall we make a small wager on that fact?”
“If you don’t come home, I’m going to tell everyone where you are anyway, so your life is going to get a touch more hectic. You can’t hide from us anymore. You don’t have your absurd job anymore…”
“I can’t leave Lily.”
“You can.”
“Giles.”
“You want to come home. If this were not so, you would have had me leave a few hours ago. You can’t live here and wallow in your self-pity for the rest of your life. You haven’t even slain anything. What use are you to anyone here?”
“I help Lily. She was homeless and jobless and she was on the quick way to hell before I got here. Literally.”
“So many lives have been pointlessly lost while you’ve been gone. Including your own.”
“No.”
***
“Hello, Spike.”
Spike smirked. “Oh look. It’s the whole crew.”
“More like the death crew,” Xander said before realizing how incredibly unthreatening he sounded.
“Hey, back off,” said Faith, stepping toward Xander. He lunged toward her and she threw him against a wall. Cordelia squeaked as she watched Xander’s form slump to the ground, but kept her ground.
“Whoa,” Spike said, swaying a little. “You’re strong. But you’re not a vampire.”
“Who, Faith? Didn’t she tell you?” Willow feigned confidence, hoping it was working. “She’s a Slayer. Killer of your kind. I’m sure you remember the sort from your various encounters with Buffy.”
“Whoa, whoa. You’re a Slayer?” he asked Faith. “What the bleeding hell are you doing with me?”
Faith shrugged. “Biting me didn’t seem to be number one on your list of things to do to me.”
Spike smiled mischievously. “Got that right, love.” Then he leaned up against a wall and held a hand to his head. “Oh balls, I think I’m sobering up.”
“What’s the difference to you, Spike?” Xander asked, coming to. Cordelia rushed over and helped him up since there didn’t seem to be any indication of a battle.
“It’s all that bitch’s fault. If she hadn’t gone and left me for some slime demon…”
Xander laughed hollowly and massaged his head. “Aw. Did Drusilla dump poor old Spike?”
Spike looked up. “Yeah, and she was right unreasonable about it, too. Kept saying things like…” the vampire paused. “Hey! That’s none of your… I ought to bite you right now.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Hey! None of that,” Willow intervened, looking at the indifferent Faith coldly. “Now, Spike, why don’t you just… leave. Town. I don’t really think I want to see you in these parts again,” she said still trying to maintain her façade of confidence.
The vampire laughed. “Oh, yeah? And what are you going to do about it, Red? Float pencils at me to death?”
“Wh-who says I won’t? Pencils are wooden, you know.”
“Yeah. Right. Let’s go, love,” he said to Faith, kissing her deeply before they went on their way to wherever they were going.
“Well, that went well,” Cordelia said. “At least we tried to dust him. Oh, wait, no we didn’t.”
Xander grunted. “I don’t really care right now. Looks like Faith’s right about one thing; his main objective doesn’t seem to be to maim the population.”
“Yet,” Cordelia added as she and Willow helped Xander limp home.
***
“Fine, Buffy. I’m not going to argue with you anymore. But I can tell that you’re not happy here. There’s no potential for you in Los Angeles. That’s all I’m going to say. But when I leave here tomorrow morning, you should know that I have an extra ticket. There’s absolutely nothing stopping you from using it.” Giles pushed his ticket across the table toward Buffy.
The Slayer let the tears jump over her cheeks. “I just can’t, Giles.”
“Well, you have the ticket. It’s up to you.” Giles stood from the table and left coins on the table for the bill. Buffy stood too, wiping the tears from her eyes. “It’s been wonderful to see you, Buffy. I’m glad you’re well, in any case.”
Buffy stepped forward and gave Giles a hug. “I’m sorry,” she whispered against his jacket.
“Me too,” he responded, smiling as he put an encouraging hand on Buffy’s shoulder and left the establishment. Buffy watched him leave and wondered how long it would take him to notice that the ticket home was back in his pocket.
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