After The Fall

See Part 1 for Ratings and Disclaimers

Chapter 6

Kennedy's eyes widened slightly in response to the gentle teasing. "No! No, just... I'm still kinda getting used to these new senses, that's all. I keep getting tingles whenever one of the others comes near the door and that causes me to look up to make sure they're friendly."

Willow carefully hid her smile. "Oh, so you're not just checking out the girls as they walk in."

Again, the new Slayer missed the teasing tone in her girlfriend's voice as she vehemently shook her head. "No! I wouldn't do that! I mean, I look, but I wouldn't..." She trailed off as a smile broke out across Willow's face. Kennedy groaned and rolled her eyes, throwing a french fry at her girl. "That was just mean!" She grinned back even as she complained.

Willow's face changed to an expression of incredulous innocence. "You mean, I'm not allowed to pick on you? Even a little?" Then redhead worked hard to keep a giggle out of her voice.

Kennedy's face got a sly look as she grinned at the witch. "Only if I can pick back. And there may be consequences later." She wiggled her eyebrows, letting Willow know exactly what those 'consequences' would be. Willow smiled and winked at her girl, letting her know it worked both ways.

Movement at the door again distracted the Slayer and she looked that way, only to look quickly back at the table. Her thoughts and feelings from the previous night came roaring back and she cringed inwardly as Willow waved excitedly and called, "Buffy! Over here! Sit with us."

Kennedy again turned to look at the doorway as the eldest Slayer and her sister walked in. At the sight of Dawn, all the internal arguments from the night before came rushing back as Kennedy's eyes raked over the younger brunette's svelte form. Suppressing a small growl, the younger Slayer turned back toward the table, glancing at Willow before staring fixedly at the tabletop.

A moment later, Buffy and Dawn were standing beside their table and Kennedy glanced up in acknowledgment, but quickly dropped her eyes again.

Buffy was smiling and her eyes flicked across the younger Slayer before going back to her best friend. Dawn smiled quickly, just a flash, but she also blushed as she looked at Kennedy. Willow noticed that, but just figured it was because of the kiss the night before. She missed, however, the faint blush that flashed across Kennedy's own countenance as the new Slayer looked at the Key and looked away hastily.

"Hi guys!" Willow chirped brightly. She waved her hand at the bench seat across from her and her girlfriend. "Wanna join us for lunch?"

Buffy paused, seeming to consider the offer. "Hmmm. Lemme think about that. Sit with a table full of newbie Slayers, no offense Kennedy, and have them try to pick my brain and listen to them relive yesterday, or, enjoy a meal with my bestest friend and her girlfriend." She waited for a second, then smiled brightly. "I'll take 'No-Brainer' for a thousand Alex," she quipped as she pulled out a chair, nodding to Dawn to indicate she should as well.

"Oh, and Kennedy? It's okay if you want to talk shop," Buffy assured the younger Slayer. "I just didn't want to deal with six or seven girls, all trying to get my attention at once." She saw the brunette roll her eyes and chuckled. "That's not ego talking, Kennedy. It's... Have you gotten used to hearing everything in the room yet? Being able to smell things cooking in the kitchen? Not needing a lamp to see in a dark room? Can you say you're used to being able to tell exactly how many regular humans are in this room right now? How many people are of the mystical variety?"

Kennedy got a challenging look in her eye as she stared back at the blonde. "Can you?"

Willow and Dawn both chuckled and shook their heads as Buffy smiled. "You already know that Will and I are magical in nature, so..." She pointed back over her shoulder, but didn't turn around. "Slayer, Slayer, human, human, human, Giles, Slayer." She closed her eyes, but not before she saw Kennedy's getting bigger. Inwardly she smiled but also chastised herself for showing off a little. "Okay, Faith is that way," she pointed toward the back lobby of the hotel, then sniffed. "The waitress is bringing someone's cheeseburger and fries... now. There's a demon in the corner aaaand..." She cocked her head in a classic listening pose, then opened her eyes and blinked, a confused grin on her lips. "Since when are Vi and Rona dating?"

Kennedy just returned Buffy's amused look with an incredulous one, her jaw dropped. Glancing at Willow, she saw the witch trying hard to not laugh, though Dawn was chortling quietly, her blue eyes sparkling with merriment in a way that made the Slayer's heart skip a beat. Gathering herself, she finally was able to ask, "Okay, how do you know where Faith is, but couldn't name any of the others? And that guy doesn't look like a demon." She paused, concentrating on her own senses, clearly hearing Vi's answer of yes, she'd like to go out. "Oh, and they kinda got together last night."

"That explains it." Buffy looked over her shoulder at the two girls in question, then glanced at the demon she'd detected. "As for the demon, he's obviously one of those that can pass as human, so he's most likely harmless. Besides," she added, noticing how the guy was glancing around nervously. "I think he knows he's in a room full of Slayers, so he won't try anything."

Kennedy nodded at each point, glancing down as Willow took her hand. "Okay, I get that, but what about Faith? And how did you name off Giles too?"

"Giles used to be a mage, so he reads a little like Willow, just a lot weaker. As for Faith, she was called as a Slayer about two years after I was, though if you count off for the almost six months I was dead, it's more like a year and a half. Anyway, she's been a Slayer for five years, so she reads as a lot more powerful than any of you guys."

Willow was nodding her head as Buffy explained. She could sense a lot of the same things through her connection to the magic, just not the enhanced senses stuff unless she cast the appropriate spells. "It's kinda like comparing light bulbs, baby. Buffy's kinda a hundred watt bulb, really bright and everything." She smiled at Buffy's sour look at describing her as a light bulb. "Faith is a seventy five watt and all the newbies are like twenty five watters."

Buffy smiled at the hurt look Kennedy was giving Willow at her last comment. Closing her eyes, she concentrated and let her senses sweep over the room, quickly realizing Willow was right in her estimation. All of the new Slayers were giving off a power reading similar, but a little stronger to a newly risen vampire. Faith, on the other hand, felt a lot like Angelus had, just with the Slayer overlay. No, not Angelus or even Angel. More like Spike. Powerful, with just a touch of badness, but a lot more good to balance it out.

That thought made her smile. Spike, at the end, had been her friend, someone she could count on, no matter what. She had told him the truth. She did love him, but they both knew the whole truth. He was in love with her, while she loved him as a friend. Like Willow or Xander or Giles. The thought that Faith was, in some wacky mystical way connected to Spike made her happy. It meant Spike wasn't really gone and that she could trust the dark Slayer again.

As she let her sensory sweep go completely around the room again, she shied away from Willow, trying to turn things off. The witch's aura of power was blindingly incredible, almost overloading everything else for several feet in every direction. She started to open her eyes, when she suddenly sharpened her focus, trying to filter out Willow. "Huh."

The other three at the table looked at her expectantly at the guttural sound. After a couple minutes, when she didn't elaborate, Dawn said. "'Huh' what?"

Buffy opened her eyes, looking toward her little sister. "What?"

Dawn gave her a fondly exasperated look. "You looked all concentrate-y, then said huh, so 'huh' what?"

"Oh, uh right," Buffy blushed a little. "I was just trying to 'feel' out everyone in the room, trying to see if I missed anything and noticed something about Kennedy." The blonde looked toward the younger Slayer and almost laughed at the 'deer in the headlights' look the teen was giving her. "Nothing really bad," she soothed. "It's just, if we use Willow's light bulb analogy, you're not a twenty five watt bulb like the others. More like a forty watt. Like you've been a Slayer for a year or so. I was trying to figure that out when Dawn said something."

Everyone else at the table reacted with varying degrees of astonishment, then confusion at the senior Slayer's explanation. "Maybe... Maybe it's because she was right there with Willow when the spell was cast," Dawn offered, causing Buffy and Kennedy to look at her. The doe eyed brunette blushed lightly and shrugged. "Maybe she kinda got like an extra dose of Slayer-ness?"

"Maybe yeah," Willow agreed slowly, her cheeks turning an interesting shade of reddish-pink. "Um, there's also that Kennedy is next in line. If there was still a line, that is." Buffy's face cleared with a 'that explains it' expression, while the two teens still looked confused. The redhead rolled her eyes and explained further. "She's the Slayer after Faith? You know, if Faith had died before the spell, Kenn would've been called next."

"You mean I was always going to be a Slayer?" Kennedy asked, wonder in her voice.

Buffy nodded, while Willow winced a little. "Maybe," she hedged. Both Slayers looked at her. "Well, I'm pretty sure there was an age cut off built into the original spell. In other words, so that everyone who was called as a Slayer would be young enough to survive the initial learning stage." She sighed at the blank looks the Slayers gave her, but winked at Dawn when she rolled her eyes at their denseness. "Buffy, when you first became a Slayer, you were a cheerleader, yeah, but other than that, you weren't very athletic, right? Didn't know how to fight?"

Buffy's expression cleared. "Oh, I get it. If I became a Slayer now or worse, a few years from now, I'd probably get killed before I learned how to be a Slayer, right?"

"Exactly!" Willow smiled and nodded. "Kennedy would probably have a couple more years than you since she trained for years, but even she would eventually be unable to do the job. So, I figure the old guys who started all this probably put an age cut off, most likely twenty at the top. Since Kennedy's almost nineteen and Faith was supposed to be in jail for at least twenty five years, she would've never been a Slayer if not for my spell. Well, unless something happened to Faith in prison, that is. Which it almost did, to be honest." Willow chuckled at Buffy's look of alarm. "The First."

"To change the subject," Dawn said, just a little louder than she really needed to, seeing the stricken look on her sister's face and wanting to stop it. "I was thinking we could go shopping. Really go shopping and pick up more than a change of clothes. Like maybe several outfits. And other stuff, too. You know, like shoes, maybe. Can we, Buffy?" She smiled broadly, innocently, but hopefully.

The blonde felt a knee jerk reaction to the idea of shopping, the thought of getting a new pair of boots appealing. More appealing, though, was the thought of finding Faith and telling her she was in charge, then going back to her room and vegging in front of the tv and not worrying about anything harder to think of than should she order a pizza for dinner or go out to a restaurant. "I don't know, Dawnie. I kinda wanted to stay here. I'm still kinda tired and my side's still a bit sore, even with all Will's help. I was thinking we could have a lazy day instead."

Willow watched as Dawn pouted and Buffy began to waver. She had to admit, the teenager did have a really good "Pleeeease, can I have my way?" pout going. It reminded her of some of the rather adorable ones she'd seen Buffy use over the years, which was probably where Dawnie had learned it from, she mused. Chuckling, she drew the attention of the senior Slayer. "Come on, Buffy. Let her go. She'll be with a bunch of Slayers, so I'm pretty sure it'll be okay."

Buffy cocked an eyebrow. "Don't you mean a bunch of Slayers and a kick ass witch?"

Willow shook her head. "Nope. I'm not going either. Still pretty tired from yesterday and someone," the redhead looked at her girlfriend with a fondly exasperated look, "kept me awake half the night!" She chuckled at Kennedy blushing lightly, but still managing to look smug at the same time. Glancing at her table companions, she saw the lightly embarrassed expression from Buffy she was expecting, but Dawn surprised her. Oh, the teen was blushing, like she'd known she would, but the weird thing was, she looked a little angry, too. Well, maybe not angry but definitely something she wasn't figuring on.

[Weird.] Willow shook her head a little, rearranging her thoughts. "Anyway, I thought maybe I'd stay behind and catch up on my sleep while you," she lightly poked her girlfriend in her ribs, "go run up your dad's credit cards."

Kennedy kept looking smug for a moment, until Willow's statement that she wouldn't be going shopping sank in, then the teen frowned. "But, I thought we were gonna go get you that new laptop today for, y'know, that project of Giles'? Not to mention, new clothes does sound like a good thing and maybe the mall here has a Victoria's Secret." Kennedy leered playfully, already imagining the redhead in something lacy and very skimpy.

Willow made a sympathetic face. "Sorry, sweetie, but I'm just too pooped. We can go get the laptop later this evening or tomorrow morning, okay? I mean, it's waited this long, it'll keep a few more hours." She stifled a small yawn, then smiled at her girl. "And hey, you can surprise me with clothes, if you want. Dawnie and I are mostly the same size and she knows what's different, so she can try on stuff that you want to get me. I'll even model whatever you get later, if you want." The redhead gave the new Slayer a sultry, 'I wanna eat you alive' look.

Kennedy felt her body respond to Willow's expression, but her mind's eye was busy picturing the younger brunette beside her in some of the lacier, skimpier things she'd seen in Victoria's Secret on previous visits. She managed to suppress a whimper at the pictures flashing through her mind, but only barely. She dropped her eyes to the table and kept them there, knowing Willow would see the desire coursing through them, but also knowing there was no way she could look at Dawn and stay silent.

For her part, Dawn's mind instantly flashed back to her dream from the night before the second Willow mentioned trying on clothes that Kennedy picked out. The thought of the two of them in various stores dressing areas, clothing being changed, the way she kept thinking of the new Slayer, her memories of their kisses the night before. Maybe this shopping trip wasn't such a good idea. Dawn wracked her brain, trying to come up with a way out of or around the whole her and Kennedy alone for several hours plan, but nothing was really occurring to her... "Xander!"

Buffy and Willow stopped talking and Kennedy jerked her eyes up and toward Dawn as she shouted. Buffy frowned slightly, glancing around. "What about Xander?" She finally asked.

Dawn tried for nonchalance, blushing slightly nonetheless. "I was just thinking, I should go ask Xander to come with us. To the mall, I mean."

"Yeah," Kennedy picked up on her idea immediately, her thoughts running parallel to Dawn's. If the male Scoobie was with them, she couldn't flirt with or ogle Dawn, right? Looking at Buffy and Willow, she smiled. "She's right. I mean, he needs clothes and stuff too, right?"

"And besides, Buffy," Dawn added quickly. "You said if he hadn't come out of his room by lunch time today, I could go and talk to him. This is even better, cause it'll mean he has to come out and we can cheer him up and everything. So, I can go ask him, right? I mean, I miss Anya too, but she wouldn't want him to just lock himself in a room and die, would she?"

Buffy felt her eyes slide back and forth between the two teens as they explained their idea, finally stopping on Dawn. She glanced at Willow, to see what the redhead thought about this idea, but Willow was already looking at her. She smirked ever so slightly and raised one eyebrow, clearly deferring to the Slayer for the decision.

Willow was willing to let Buffy decide this, though she herself thought it was probably a good idea. For the most part, she vividly remembered her own feelings and reactions after Tara's death, both before and after the whole 'If she can't be here, I'll just destroy everything' episode. After Xander had talked her down and she'd started grieving, her memories were a little fuzzier, since she'd spent entire days asleep or trying to be. She'd absolutely refused to even look into the room she'd shared with Tara and being in the upstairs of Buffy's house was nearly as bad, so she'd returned to her parents place. Once again, it was Xander who'd saved her when he'd come into her room at her parents, forced her to eat and clean up and start functioning again.

Buffy rolled her eyes a little at Willow's attitude, then returned her attention to her sister. "I don't know, Dawnie. I know I said to wait 'til today, but... I don't know, it just seems... wrong or something. Maybe we should wait a little longer, okay?" Seeing Dawn's somewhat hostile look, she offered instead, "Or maybe just wait until dinner, then ask him to join us?"

"Or," Kennedy said, her attention once more drawn to the entrance of the dining area. "We could just go over and ask him if he wants to go to the mall with us." When her table companions looked at her for an explanation of her words, she nodded across the room where a waitress was showing Xander and Faith to a table.

The other three women at the table spun and looked where Kennedy was indicating, all displaying varying degrees of shock and disbelief. Sure enough, they saw Xander just sitting down at a table across from Faith, his lips moving as if he was talking to the dark Slayer. Buffy and Kennedy could hear him saying something about some sci-fi show, but the blonde had never seen it, so she had no idea what he was talking about. Kennedy just rolled her eyes at the man's words, but was faintly surprised at Faith's response, indicating the brunette's familiarity with the show.

"When did...?" Dawn asked, confused, a little pout on her face. Kennedy turned as soon as she spoke and groaned at the expression. It was so much worse the second time. "What the frilly heck's going on over there? Why would he come out of his room for Faith but not me?"

Kennedy caught herself before she reached over and ran a comforting hand down the younger teen's arm. Blushing at the impulse, she glanced at Willow to see if the redhead had noticed, but Willow's attention as still on the other table. Glancing around, Kennedy noticed that the other Slayers and Giles had taken note of Xander and Faith's entrance, but were going back to their own meals and conversations just as quickly. Well, except for Giles. He looked quickly toward their table, like he was expecting some kind of reaction.

Buffy took her sister's hand and gave her a little squeeze. "It's okay, Dawnie. I mean, the important thing is, he's out here with the rest of us, right? Not locked in his room like he was." She smiles reassuringly, then frowns just a little. "I don't mean he shouldn't grieve, cause we all know what Anya meant to him, but," she sends a little apologetic look at Willow. "We all know that you should turn to your friends and family when this kinda thing happens, so we should support him and would you please go over there and ask him about going to the mall before I swallow my whole leg?" The blonde's babble grinds to an embarrassed, blushing halt. She quickly takes a sip of water, fighting the burning sensation in her face and neck.

Willow smiled at her best friend, suddenly understanding why all of her lovers found her babble so adorable, though that thought was followed immediately with one wondering why she thought that about Buffy. She shook her head and looked at the younger brunette. "Go on, Dawnie. And see if you can find out what's up with him and Faith hanging out together, okay? Not that it's not okay, but they didn't really talk all that much in Sunnydale and now they're acting like study buddies or something."

Dawn nodded and stood, glancing around the table as she did, fighting down a feeling of longing as she looked at the brunette Slayer and her dream once more thundered through her mind. [No!] she snarled to herself. [I said I was gonna stop obsessing about this and I am. Kennedy's just a friend, the girlfriend of someone who might as well be my other sister, so I'm gonna just forget it now.] Taking a deep breath, she forced the images of her dream and the feelings she'd had from the night before from her mind and turned toward Xander.

Walking over, she passed the waitress, who's apparently already taken Faith and Xander's lunch orders. Absently flashing a smile at the woman as she avoided her, the teen walked up to her friends and smiled warmly at Xander. "Hey, guys. Can I join you?"

Xander looked up at the young brunette, hesitating a second before pasting a wan smile on his face. Faith, on the other hand, gave Dawn the hairy eyeball before commenting. "Dunno, Squirt. Depends." She glanced at Xander and winked with the eye Dawn couldn't see. "You buyin'?"

Dawn's temper flared. "You want me to buy you lunch? Just so I can talk to my friend?!" Her voice dropped half an octave and took on a slightly growly texture. "Listen, Faith, if you think..."

"Whoa! Easy, Dawnie. She was just messing with you, I promise." His eye cut over to the now sheepish looking woman. "Right Faith? You were not being serious with Dawn, were you?"

Faith shook her head. "No, I was just pullin' your leg, kid- Dawn." The Slayer hastily changed what she said when the teen glared at her. "Seriously, pull up a rock. D'ja eat yet? I'll buy to say sorry, okay?" She glanced at Xander, noting his raised eyebrow and she grinned. "Okay, G-Man's buyin', but hey, it's the thought, right?"

Xander rolled his eye and looked toward the girl he thought of as a little sister. "Have a seat, Dawnie. I'll keep the big bad Slayer under control." He ignored Faith's derisive snort. After their talks this morning, the things she'd opened up to him about, he was fairly sure she'd stop teasing Dawn if he asked her to.

Dawn gave Xander a dubious look for his statement, but quickly sat down. Reaching across the table, she laid her hand atop Xander's. Looking directly at him, her voice thick with worry and concern, she asked, "Are you okay? Do you feel any better?" The anxious teen noticed the signs that her first crush was still upset, even if he was trying to hide it. "Can I do anything to help?"

Xander smiled, not knowing how heartbreaking it was. "I'll be okay, Dawnster. It's just..." He shook his head and forced another smile. "So, how about some lunch?"

Dawn hesitated. She really wanted Xander to reassure her he was really okay, but.... Squaring her shoulders, the teen resolved to be there as much as possible for Xander, so when he did want to talk, he'd have a friend to listen, not someone who was practically a stranger like Faith. Smiling, she shook her head. "No thanks. I already ordered over there," she pointed at the table she came from. "Can I have them bring it over here?"

Xander took in her hopeful look and chuckled. "You think I'd say no? Two beautiful ladies want to keep me company for lunch and you think I'd run you off." He flashed a smile, then signaled the waitress. When she got within hearing range, he told her to bring whatever Dawn had ordered to this table. She nodded and continued on her way.

"So," Xander said, a little louder than he really needed to. "What's been happening out here while we were watching bad vampire movies?"

"Hey!" Faith protested. "Blade was pretty good even though a vampire that can be out in daylight ain't ever gonna happen." She gave Xander a playful scowl. "And I still say there's a way for wood bullets to work."

Xander ignored Dawn's shocked expression. "Okay, one, I agreed with you about the bullets, I just don't know how we could do it without them blowing up the gun or burning up when they're fired. And two, I know of two vamps that could be out in the sun. At least, until Buffy and Angel fixed things. You know 'em both too."

Dawn's eyes shifted back and forth between her table mates, listening to their conversation. That they had spent the morning together was obvious from what they were saying, they were simply continuing a previous conversation. The other things that she couldn't wrap her brain around was how easy Xander seemed to be in Faith's company now. Like all the Scoobies, he'd been a little wary around the dark Slayer ever since Willow had brought her back, but that seemed to be gone now.

"Two vamps? And I know 'em?" Faith stopped and shook her head. "Only vamp I know that ain't dead is Angel and last time I checked, he's still sporting that tanless look."

Xander glanced at Dawn, flashing the teen a grin. "Well, it was only for a day. A few years back, just before you woke up from your nap, Spike found a magic ring that made a vampire impossible to kill. That was before he started working with us. Right before they put the chip in his head, really. Anyway, Buffy kicked his ass and took the ring and sent it to Angel. Angel kicked his ass when he tried to get the ring back and destroyed it, but not before he spent a day in the sun."

"So see?" Xander smiled at her smugly. "You know two vamps that were out in the sun without doing a roman candle impression." The man almost laughed at the thoughtful, kinda pouty expression the Slayer wore.

"Huh. Y'know, Fang never said nothin' about all this. Wonder why not?"

Dawn cleared her throat, then blushed slightly when the other two looked at her. "Um, I think that was about the time his friend Doyle got killed, so he probably doesn't like to think about it."

Faith nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's probably it. I mean, if you haven't seen the sun for two hundred and fifty years, then you're not gonna forget the one day you get to go out in it, right?"

Xander leaned forward, then back as their food arrived. "I'm sure Dawnie's right and so are you," he says diplomatically, not wanting to mention anything in front of the waitress.

Faith poured about half the bottle of ketchup over her fries as she asked, "Hey Squirt. B tell you if she's got anything official planned for today?"

Chewing her bite of salad and swallowing quickly, the teen shook her head. "No," she coughed lightly, then cleared her throat. "I mean, a bunch of us are going to the mall in a little while, but nothing else until tonight, I don't think. You'll have to ask her about patrols though."

Shrugging, Faith looked at her blond counterpart. "Hey B!" She called, in just a little louder voice than she'd been using to talk to Dawn and Xander. When Buffy looked toward her, she asked, "What time and where you want everyone together to set up patrols?" The brunette cocked her head, then nodded. "Okay. I'll be there."

"Not sure I'll ever get used to that," Xander observed, shaking his head. "What did she say?"

"Her room after dinner or about eight, whichever comes last." She took a huge bite of her first cheeseburger. "So, what's at the mall?" she asked, somehow managing to speak mostly clearly with her mouth full at the same time.

Dawn made a little "ew" face and looked at Xander, but had no help there. He'd just taken a bite as well and was looking at her. Suppressing the urge to use one of her mother's favorite sayings, Dawn replied, "Oh, a bunch of us wanted more than a single change of clothes, since we're gonna be here a few days and everything. Maybe pick up a cd player and some music, that kind of thing." She looked slyly at Xander and smiled. "There's a comic and hobby shop there."

Dawn was prepared for the sudden interest in Xander's eyes, but not the even more intense light in Faith's. Then she remembered how much the Slayer had loved comics when she first came to Sunnydale. Even if it was an implanted memory, she figured the monks put it there based on the other's observations.

Feigning nonchalance, Xander asked, "So, Buffy and Will going along too?"

Dawn shook her head. "Nope. As far as I know, Kennedy is the oldest person going. They both said something about wanting to sleep."

Faith looked at Xander, a concerned expression on her face. "Hey, y'know, X-Man, we can't let all these teenyboppers go to the mall by themselves. 'Specially not a mall they've never been to before. Since it looks like G-Man, Buffy and Red have punked out of the job, we should probably go with 'em. Y'know, just to keep 'em out of trouble."

"Uh huh. And the fact that you haven't been in a comic shop in three years or so has nothing to do with your sudden interest in shopping?"

Faith took in the almost angelic expression on the man's face, even though it was kinda spoiled by the eye patch. Scowling playfully, she replied, a light growl in her voice, "Okay, fine. Maybe I wanna check out the books, but hey, I'm a little behind, so cut me some slack, okay? 'Sides, some tunes'd be good, so the music store is a good stop too. Clothes, though. We're gonna need a Goodwill store for that."

Dawn gave the Slayer with a puzzled look. "Goodwill? Why get your clothes there? I mean, I get cheap, but why go there if you don't have too?"

Faith shrugged. "Simple, kid. Slayin's hard on clothes, so why spend a lot on 'em? If a pair of jeans I paid two-three dollars for gets shredded, I don't give a shit. If a pair of leathers I spent forty-fifty dollars on gets wasted, then I gotta hurt whatever fucked 'em up. Simple, see?"

The Slayer watched as the teen worked her way through that idea, trying not to think about the real reason, that Goodwill was simply where she'd always gotten clothes. She'd never had much money, so why spend a lot at some fancy store at a mall when that same store would donate what was left over after a particular season to Goodwill and they'd sell them for a tenth of what they cost originally. Besides, she'd never been a big fan of shopping as a hobby. Certainly not like Buffy, so thrift stores let her get clothes and get on to something important.

Faith shrugged and took a bite of her second cheeseburger. "So anyway, yeah, I'll tag along and help keep the baby Slayers outta trouble if Xand's in." She shoved several fries in her mouth while asking, "Well, you comin' along?"

Xander returned the calm look of the Slayer with a slightly amused smirk, more sensed than seen. Carefully schooling his face to an expression of reluctant acceptance, he released a long suffering sigh. "Well, I guess I better, since Buffy's not going. Someone's gotta keep you outta trouble, right?"

Faith gave an insulted squawk of protest. "Me in trouble? Hey, I don't do trouble nomore, okay?"

Dawn frowned and tensed at Faith's tone, but then looked more carefully at the older brunette. While her expression did seem to convey anger, her eyes sparkled playfully and, now that she was looking closer, the teen noticed the Slayer seemed to be fighting to not smile.

Xander's eye opened a little wider in feigned astonishment. "Oh really? Then it was another dark haired Slayer I was hearing about who got into a fight with a half dozen cops in Sunnydale?"

"That so totally doesn't count! They were the ones who started that," Faith assured him. "I was just looking to dance and help the newies blow off steam. How is it my fault those hellmouthed cops wanted to start something?" Faith just looked at the male Scoobie for a moment, then gave a growly sigh. "You're gonna be a pain in my ass, ain't'cha?"

Xander smiled beatifically. "Seems only fair. You've been a pain in mine for the last day or so."

Dawn suddenly felt torn. If Faith had indeed been annoying Xander for the last day or so, she was going to get Buffy to help stop her. What was keeping her from yelling for her sister, though, was that, even though the words of her table mates were seemingly harsh, even accusatory, they were said playfully, almost... affectionately. Like Faith and Xander had become the best of friends overnight. [That's it,] she thought. [She sounds like Buffy or Willow would in a mock argument with Xander. But... I thought Xander didn't like her. He told me just a couple days ago he'd be glad when everything was over so she'd go away. How'd they become friends so fast?]

Faith maintained her scowl for another few seconds, then smirked. "Yeah? Well, get used to it, X-Man. You're the one who said I get to be, so suck it up and deal!"

Xander rolled his eye and Faith laughed before tearing into the remainder of her lunch. Xander tried to glower at the Slayer, but the smile that kept twitching his lips took most of the power out of the expression.

Dawn looked back and forth a couple times, then quietly asked. "What's going on here? Are you guys friends now or something?"

"Workin' on it, Squirt."

Xander looked sideways at Faith, then smiled slightly for Dawn. "We decided to bury the hatchet, Dawnie. Somewhere besides in each other's heads, I mean." He looked at Faith, calculating what it would cost him, then smirked. "'Sides, she likes Farscape. How bad can she be, right?"

"Hey!" Faith snarled, her manner turning embarrassed. She glanced at Dawn, then back at Xander. "What happen to 'I won't tell.'?" She turned back at the teen, wincing as the look of astonishment turned to one of grinning delight. "Hey, it's no big deal. A girl I knew inside loved the damned show and wouldn't shut up about it, that's all. Really, it's no big deal."

Dawn just kept grinning. "Oh, but it is. See? I knew you couldn't be all badass!" She giggled at the Slayer as Faith goggled at her. "Who's your favorite character? Lemme guess, Crighton, right? I like Tianna best, but Crighton is cool."

Faith hesitated, then shook her head. "Nah. I mean, yeah he's cool, but his girl, now... Love how Aren'll just slap him down when he gets all fulla shit. Gotta love a girl like that!" She smiled, then narrowed her eyes at the Key. "Tianna, huh? Why? Cause she's a bad girl or somethin'? I mean, she's okay, but nothin' really special."

Xander smiled and resumed eating as Dawn defended her choice of favorite character, watching as Faith gradually got the girl he thought of as his baby sister to forget who she was talking to and just become friends. From the few hints the brunette had dropped, he had figured out that the Slayer had never had many friends growing up, and pretty much hadn't wanted any when they'd known her years before. Clearly, she wanted to change that now.

Considering everything she'd done for him in the last twenty four hours, Xander resolved that she'd have all the friends she could handle this time. This time, there'd be no doing evil stuff for Faith because she felt it didn't matter, that no one cared about her. Because this time, at least one person did, at least one person was her friend and Xander Harris didn't give up on his friends. No matter what.

Chapter 7

Kennedy's eyes widened slightly in response to the gentle teasing. "No! No, just... I'm still kinda getting used to these new senses, that's all. I keep getting tingles whenever one of the others comes near the door and that causes me to look up to make sure they're friendly."

Willow carefully hid her smile. "Oh, so you're not just checking out the girls as they walk in."

Again, the new Slayer missed the teasing tone in her girlfriend's voice as she vehemently shook her head. "No! I wouldn't do that! I mean, I look, but I wouldn't..." She trailed off as a smile broke out across Willow's face. Kennedy groaned and rolled her eyes, throwing a french fry at her girl. "That was just mean!" She grinned back even as she complained.

Willow's face changed to an expression of incredulous innocence. "You mean, I'm not allowed to pick on you? Even a little?" Then redhead worked hard to keep a giggle out of her voice.

Kennedy's face got a sly look as she grinned at the witch. "Only if I can pick back. And there may be consequences later." She wiggled her eyebrows, letting Willow know exactly what those 'consequences' would be. Willow smiled and winked at her girl, letting her know it worked both ways.

Movement at the door again distracted the Slayer and she looked that way, only to look quickly back at the table. Her thoughts and feelings from the previous night came roaring back and she cringed inwardly as Willow waved excitedly and called, "Buffy! Over here! Sit with us."

Kennedy again turned to look at the doorway as the eldest Slayer and her sister walked in. At the sight of Dawn, all the internal arguments from the night before came rushing back as Kennedy's eyes raked over the younger brunette's svelte form. Suppressing a small growl, the younger Slayer turned back toward the table, glancing at Willow before staring fixedly at the tabletop.

A moment later, Buffy and Dawn were standing beside their table and Kennedy glanced up in acknowledgment, but quickly dropped her eyes again.

Buffy was smiling and her eyes flicked across the younger Slayer before going back to her best friend. Dawn smiled quickly, just a flash, but she also blushed as she looked at Kennedy. Willow noticed that, but just figured it was because of the kiss the night before. She missed, however, the faint blush that flashed across Kennedy's own countenance as the new Slayer looked at the Key and looked away hastily.

"Hi guys!" Willow chirped brightly. She waved her hand at the bench seat across from her and her girlfriend. "Wanna join us for lunch?"

Buffy paused, seeming to consider the offer. "Hmmm. Lemme think about that. Sit with a table full of newbie Slayers, no offense Kennedy, and have them try to pick my brain and listen to them relive yesterday, or, enjoy a meal with my bestest friend and her girlfriend." She waited for a second, then smiled brightly. "I'll take 'No-Brainer' for a thousand Alex," she quipped as she pulled out a chair, nodding to Dawn to indicate she should as well.

"Oh, and Kennedy? It's okay if you want to talk shop," Buffy assured the younger Slayer. "I just didn't want to deal with six or seven girls, all trying to get my attention at once." She saw the brunette roll her eyes and chuckled. "That's not ego talking, Kennedy. It's... Have you gotten used to hearing everything in the room yet? Being able to smell things cooking in the kitchen? Not needing a lamp to see in a dark room? Can you say you're used to being able to tell exactly how many regular humans are in this room right now? How many people are of the mystical variety?"

Kennedy got a challenging look in her eye as she stared back at the blonde. "Can you?"

Willow and Dawn both chuckled and shook their heads as Buffy smiled. "You already know that Will and I are magical in nature, so..." She pointed back over her shoulder, but didn't turn around. "Slayer, Slayer, human, human, human, Giles, Slayer." She closed her eyes, but not before she saw Kennedy's getting bigger. Inwardly she smiled but also chastised herself for showing off a little. "Okay, Faith is that way," she pointed toward the back lobby of the hotel, then sniffed. "The waitress is bringing someone's cheeseburger and fries... now. There's a demon in the corner aaaand..." She cocked her head in a classic listening pose, then opened her eyes and blinked, a confused grin on her lips. "Since when are Vi and Rona dating?"

Kennedy just returned Buffy's amused look with an incredulous one, her jaw dropped. Glancing at Willow, she saw the witch trying hard to not laugh, though Dawn was chortling quietly, her blue eyes sparkling with merriment in a way that made the Slayer's heart skip a beat. Gathering herself, she finally was able to ask, "Okay, how do you know where Faith is, but couldn't name any of the others? And that guy doesn't look like a demon." She paused, concentrating on her own senses, clearly hearing Vi's answer of yes, she'd like to go out. "Oh, and they kinda got together last night."

"That explains it." Buffy looked over her shoulder at the two girls in question, then glanced at the demon she'd detected. "As for the demon, he's obviously one of those that can pass as human, so he's most likely harmless. Besides," she added, noticing how the guy was glancing around nervously. "I think he knows he's in a room full of Slayers, so he won't try anything."

Kennedy nodded at each point, glancing down as Willow took her hand. "Okay, I get that, but what about Faith? And how did you name off Giles too?"

"Giles used to be a mage, so he reads a little like Willow, just a lot weaker. As for Faith, she was called as a Slayer about two years after I was, though if you count off for the almost six months I was dead, it's more like a year and a half. Anyway, she's been a Slayer for five years, so she reads as a lot more powerful than any of you guys."

Willow was nodding her head as Buffy explained. She could sense a lot of the same things through her connection to the magic, just not the enhanced senses stuff unless she cast the appropriate spells. "It's kinda like comparing light bulbs, baby. Buffy's kinda a hundred watt bulb, really bright and everything." She smiled at Buffy's sour look at describing her as a light bulb. "Faith is a seventy five watt and all the newbies are like twenty five watters."

Buffy smiled at the hurt look Kennedy was giving Willow at her last comment. Closing her eyes, she concentrated and let her senses sweep over the room, quickly realizing Willow was right in her estimation. All of the new Slayers were giving off a power reading similar, but a little stronger to a newly risen vampire. Faith, on the other hand, felt a lot like Angelus had, just with the Slayer overlay. No, not Angelus or even Angel. More like Spike. Powerful, with just a touch of badness, but a lot more good to balance it out.

That thought made her smile. Spike, at the end, had been her friend, someone she could count on, no matter what. She had told him the truth. She did love him, but they both knew the whole truth. He was in love with her, while she loved him as a friend. Like Willow or Xander or Giles. The thought that Faith was, in some wacky mystical way connected to Spike made her happy. It meant Spike wasn't really gone and that she could trust the dark Slayer again.

As she let her sensory sweep go completely around the room again, she shied away from Willow, trying to turn things off. The witch's aura of power was blindingly incredible, almost overloading everything else for several feet in every direction. She started to open her eyes, when she suddenly sharpened her focus, trying to filter out Willow. "Huh."

The other three at the table looked at her expectantly at the guttural sound. After a couple minutes, when she didn't elaborate, Dawn said. "'Huh' what?"

Buffy opened her eyes, looking toward her little sister. "What?"

Dawn gave her a fondly exasperated look. "You looked all concentrate-y, then said huh, so 'huh' what?"

"Oh, uh right," Buffy blushed a little. "I was just trying to 'feel' out everyone in the room, trying to see if I missed anything and noticed something about Kennedy." The blonde looked toward the younger Slayer and almost laughed at the 'deer in the headlights' look the teen was giving her. "Nothing really bad," she soothed. "It's just, if we use Willow's light bulb analogy, you're not a twenty five watt bulb like the others. More like a forty watt. Like you've been a Slayer for a year or so. I was trying to figure that out when Dawn said something."

Everyone else at the table reacted with varying degrees of astonishment, then confusion at the senior Slayer's explanation. "Maybe... Maybe it's because she was right there with Willow when the spell was cast," Dawn offered, causing Buffy and Kennedy to look at her. The doe eyed brunette blushed lightly and shrugged. "Maybe she kinda got like an extra dose of Slayer-ness?"

"Maybe yeah," Willow agreed slowly, her cheeks turning an interesting shade of reddish-pink. "Um, there's also that Kennedy is next in line. If there was still a line, that is." Buffy's face cleared with a 'that explains it' expression, while the two teens still looked confused. The redhead rolled her eyes and explained further. "She's the Slayer after Faith? You know, if Faith had died before the spell, Kenn would've been called next."

"You mean I was always going to be a Slayer?" Kennedy asked, wonder in her voice.

Buffy nodded, while Willow winced a little. "Maybe," she hedged. Both Slayers looked at her. "Well, I'm pretty sure there was an age cut off built into the original spell. In other words, so that everyone who was called as a Slayer would be young enough to survive the initial learning stage." She sighed at the blank looks the Slayers gave her, but winked at Dawn when she rolled her eyes at their denseness. "Buffy, when you first became a Slayer, you were a cheerleader, yeah, but other than that, you weren't very athletic, right? Didn't know how to fight?"

Buffy's expression cleared. "Oh, I get it. If I became a Slayer now or worse, a few years from now, I'd probably get killed before I learned how to be a Slayer, right?"

"Exactly!" Willow smiled and nodded. "Kennedy would probably have a couple more years than you since she trained for years, but even she would eventually be unable to do the job. So, I figure the old guys who started all this probably put an age cut off, most likely twenty at the top. Since Kennedy's almost nineteen and Faith was supposed to be in jail for at least twenty five years, she would've never been a Slayer if not for my spell. Well, unless something happened to Faith in prison, that is. Which it almost did, to be honest." Willow chuckled at Buffy's look of alarm. "The First."

"To change the subject," Dawn said, just a little louder than she really needed to, seeing the stricken look on her sister's face and wanting to stop it. "I was thinking we could go shopping. Really go shopping and pick up more than a change of clothes. Like maybe several outfits. And other stuff, too. You know, like shoes, maybe. Can we, Buffy?" She smiled broadly, innocently, but hopefully.

The blonde felt a knee jerk reaction to the idea of shopping, the thought of getting a new pair of boots appealing. More appealing, though, was the thought of finding Faith and telling her she was in charge, then going back to her room and vegging in front of the tv and not worrying about anything harder to think of than should she order a pizza for dinner or go out to a restaurant. "I don't know, Dawnie. I kinda wanted to stay here. I'm still kinda tired and my side's still a bit sore, even with all Will's help. I was thinking we could have a lazy day instead."

Willow watched as Dawn pouted and Buffy began to waver. She had to admit, the teenager did have a really good "Pleeeease, can I have my way?" pout going. It reminded her of some of the rather adorable ones she'd seen Buffy use over the years, which was probably where Dawnie had learned it from, she mused. Chuckling, she drew the attention of the senior Slayer. "Come on, Buffy. Let her go. She'll be with a bunch of Slayers, so I'm pretty sure it'll be okay."

Buffy cocked an eyebrow. "Don't you mean a bunch of Slayers and a kick ass witch?"

Willow shook her head. "Nope. I'm not going either. Still pretty tired from yesterday and someone," the redhead looked at her girlfriend with a fondly exasperated look, "kept me awake half the night!" She chuckled at Kennedy blushing lightly, but still managing to look smug at the same time. Glancing at her table companions, she saw the lightly embarrassed expression from Buffy she was expecting, but Dawn surprised her. Oh, the teen was blushing, like she'd known she would, but the weird thing was, she looked a little angry, too. Well, maybe not angry but definitely something she wasn't figuring on.

[Weird.] Willow shook her head a little, rearranging her thoughts. "Anyway, I thought maybe I'd stay behind and catch up on my sleep while you," she lightly poked her girlfriend in her ribs, "go run up your dad's credit cards."

Kennedy kept looking smug for a moment, until Willow's statement that she wouldn't be going shopping sank in, then the teen frowned. "But, I thought we were gonna go get you that new laptop today for, y'know, that project of Giles'? Not to mention, new clothes does sound like a good thing and maybe the mall here has a Victoria's Secret." Kennedy leered playfully, already imagining the redhead in something lacy and very skimpy.

Willow made a sympathetic face. "Sorry, sweetie, but I'm just too pooped. We can go get the laptop later this evening or tomorrow morning, okay? I mean, it's waited this long, it'll keep a few more hours." She stifled a small yawn, then smiled at her girl. "And hey, you can surprise me with clothes, if you want. Dawnie and I are mostly the same size and she knows what's different, so she can try on stuff that you want to get me. I'll even model whatever you get later, if you want." The redhead gave the new Slayer a sultry, 'I wanna eat you alive' look.

Kennedy felt her body respond to Willow's expression, but her mind's eye was busy picturing the younger brunette beside her in some of the lacier, skimpier things she'd seen in Victoria's Secret on previous visits. She managed to suppress a whimper at the pictures flashing through her mind, but only barely. She dropped her eyes to the table and kept them there, knowing Willow would see the desire coursing through them, but also knowing there was no way she could look at Dawn and stay silent.

For her part, Dawn's mind instantly flashed back to her dream from the night before the second Willow mentioned trying on clothes that Kennedy picked out. The thought of the two of them in various stores dressing areas, clothing being changed, the way she kept thinking of the new Slayer, her memories of their kisses the night before. Maybe this shopping trip wasn't such a good idea. Dawn wracked her brain, trying to come up with a way out of or around the whole her and Kennedy alone for several hours plan, but nothing was really occurring to her... "Xander!"

Buffy and Willow stopped talking and Kennedy jerked her eyes up and toward Dawn as she shouted. Buffy frowned slightly, glancing around. "What about Xander?" She finally asked.

Dawn tried for nonchalance, blushing slightly nonetheless. "I was just thinking, I should go ask Xander to come with us. To the mall, I mean."

"Yeah," Kennedy picked up on her idea immediately, her thoughts running parallel to Dawn's. If the male Scoobie was with them, she couldn't flirt with or ogle Dawn, right? Looking at Buffy and Willow, she smiled. "She's right. I mean, he needs clothes and stuff too, right?"

"And besides, Buffy," Dawn added quickly. "You said if he hadn't come out of his room by lunch time today, I could go and talk to him. This is even better, cause it'll mean he has to come out and we can cheer him up and everything. So, I can go ask him, right? I mean, I miss Anya too, but she wouldn't want him to just lock himself in a room and die, would she?"

Buffy felt her eyes slide back and forth between the two teens as they explained their idea, finally stopping on Dawn. She glanced at Willow, to see what the redhead thought about this idea, but Willow was already looking at her. She smirked ever so slightly and raised one eyebrow, clearly deferring to the Slayer for the decision.

Willow was willing to let Buffy decide this, though she herself thought it was probably a good idea. For the most part, she vividly remembered her own feelings and reactions after Tara's death, both before and after the whole 'If she can't be here, I'll just destroy everything' episode. After Xander had talked her down and she'd started grieving, her memories were a little fuzzier, since she'd spent entire days asleep or trying to be. She'd absolutely refused to even look into the room she'd shared with Tara and being in the upstairs of Buffy's house was nearly as bad, so she'd returned to her parents place. Once again, it was Xander who'd saved her when he'd come into her room at her parents, forced her to eat and clean up and start functioning again.

Buffy rolled her eyes a little at Willow's attitude, then returned her attention to her sister. "I don't know, Dawnie. I know I said to wait 'til today, but... I don't know, it just seems... wrong or something. Maybe we should wait a little longer, okay?" Seeing Dawn's somewhat hostile look, she offered instead, "Or maybe just wait until dinner, then ask him to join us?"

"Or," Kennedy said, her attention once more drawn to the entrance of the dining area. "We could just go over and ask him if he wants to go to the mall with us." When her table companions looked at her for an explanation of her words, she nodded across the room where a waitress was showing Xander and Faith to a table.

The other three women at the table spun and looked where Kennedy was indicating, all displaying varying degrees of shock and disbelief. Sure enough, they saw Xander just sitting down at a table across from Faith, his lips moving as if he was talking to the dark Slayer. Buffy and Kennedy could hear him saying something about some sci-fi show, but the blonde had never seen it, so she had no idea what he was talking about. Kennedy just rolled her eyes at the man's words, but was faintly surprised at Faith's response, indicating the brunette's familiarity with the show.

"When did...?" Dawn asked, confused, a little pout on her face. Kennedy turned as soon as she spoke and groaned at the expression. It was so much worse the second time. "What the frilly heck's going on over there? Why would he come out of his room for Faith but not me?"

Kennedy caught herself before she reached over and ran a comforting hand down the younger teen's arm. Blushing at the impulse, she glanced at Willow to see if the redhead had noticed, but Willow's attention as still on the other table. Glancing around, Kennedy noticed that the other Slayers and Giles had taken note of Xander and Faith's entrance, but were going back to their own meals and conversations just as quickly. Well, except for Giles. He looked quickly toward their table, like he was expecting some kind of reaction.

Buffy took her sister's hand and gave her a little squeeze. "It's okay, Dawnie. I mean, the important thing is, he's out here with the rest of us, right? Not locked in his room like he was." She smiles reassuringly, then frowns just a little. "I don't mean he shouldn't grieve, cause we all know what Anya meant to him, but," she sends a little apologetic look at Willow. "We all know that you should turn to your friends and family when this kinda thing happens, so we should support him and would you please go over there and ask him about going to the mall before I swallow my whole leg?" The blonde's babble ground to an embarrassed, blushing halt. She quickly took a sip of water, fighting the burning sensation in her face and neck.

Willow smiled at her best friend, suddenly understanding why all of her lovers found her babble so adorable, though that thought was followed immediately with one wondering why she thought that about Buffy. She shook her head and looked at the younger brunette. "Go on, Dawnie. And see if you can find out what's up with him and Faith hanging out together, okay? Not that it's not okay, but they didn't really talk all that much in Sunnydale and now they're acting like study buddies or something."

Dawn nodded and stood, glancing around the table as she did, fighting down a feeling of longing as she looked at the brunette Slayer and her dream once more thundered through her mind. [No!] she snarled to herself. [I said I was gonna stop obsessing about this and I am. Kennedy's just a friend, the girlfriend of someone who might as well be my other sister, so I'm gonna just forget it now.] Taking a deep breath, she forced the images of her dream and the feelings she'd had from the night before from her mind and turned toward Xander.

Walking over, she passed the waitress, who's apparently already taken Faith and Xander's lunch orders. Absently flashing a smile at the woman as she avoided her, the teen walked up to her friends and smiled warmly at Xander. "Hey, guys. Can I join you?"

Xander looked up at the young brunette, hesitating a second before pasting a wan smile on his face. Faith, on the other hand, gave Dawn the hairy eyeball before commenting. "Dunno, Squirt. Depends." She glanced at Xander and winked with the eye Dawn couldn't see. "You buyin'?"

Dawn's temper flared. "You want me to buy you lunch? Just so I can talk to my friend?!" Her voice dropped half an octave and took on a slightly growly texture. "Listen, Faith, if you think..."

"Whoa! Easy, Dawnie. She was just messing with you, I promise." His eye cut over to the now sheepish looking woman. "Right Faith? You were not being serious with Dawn, were you?"

Faith shook her head. "No, I was just pullin' your leg, kid- Dawn." The Slayer hastily changed what she said when the teen glared at her. "Seriously, pull up a rock. D'ja eat yet? I'll buy to say sorry, okay?" She glanced at Xander, noting his raised eyebrow and she grinned. "Okay, G-Man's buyin', but hey, it's the thought, right?"

Xander rolled his eye and looked toward the girl he thought of as a little sister. "Have a seat, Dawnie. I'll keep the big bad Slayer under control." He ignored Faith's derisive snort. After their talks this morning, the things she'd opened up to him about, he was fairly sure she'd stop teasing Dawn if he asked her to.

Dawn gave Xander a dubious look for his statement, but quickly sat down. Reaching across the table, she laid her hand atop Xander's. Looking directly at him, her voice thick with worry and concern, she asked, "Are you okay? Do you feel any better?" The anxious teen noticed the signs that her first crush was still upset, even if he was trying to hide it. "Can I do anything to help?"

Xander smiled, not knowing how heartbreaking it was. "I'll be okay, Dawnster. It's just..." He shook his head and forced another smile. "So, how about some lunch?"

Dawn hesitated. She really wanted Xander to reassure her he was really okay, but.... Squaring her shoulders, the teen resolved to be there as much as possible for Xander, so when he did want to talk, he'd have a friend to listen, not someone who was practically a stranger like Faith. Smiling, she shook her head. "No thanks. I already ordered over there," she pointed at the table she came from. "Can I have them bring it over here?"

Xander took in her hopeful look and chuckled. "You think I'd say no? Two beautiful ladies want to keep me company for lunch and you think I'd run you off." He flashed a smile, then signaled the waitress. When she got within hearing range, he told her to bring whatever Dawn had ordered to this table. She nodded and continued on her way.

"So," Xander said, a little louder than he really needed to. "What's been happening out here while we were watching bad vampire movies?"

"Hey!" Faith protested. "Blade was pretty good even though a vampire that can be out in daylight ain't ever gonna happen." She gave Xander a playful scowl. "And I still say there's a way for wood bullets to work."

Xander ignored Dawn's shocked expression. "Okay, one, I agreed with you about the bullets, I just don't know how we could do it without them blowing up the gun or burning up when they're fired. And two, I know of two vamps that could be out in the sun. At least, until Buffy and Angel fixed things. You know 'em both too."

Dawn's eyes shifted back and forth between her table mates, listening to their conversation. That they had spent the morning together was obvious from what they were saying, they were simply continuing a previous conversation. The other things that she couldn't wrap her brain around was how easy Xander seemed to be in Faith's company now. Like all the Scoobies, he'd been a little wary around the dark Slayer ever since Willow had brought her back, but that seemed to be gone now.

"Two vamps? And I know 'em?" Faith stopped and shook her head. "Only vamp I know that ain't dead is Angel and last time I checked, he's still sporting that tanless look."

Xander glanced at Dawn, flashing the teen a grin. "Well, it was only for a day. A few years back, just before you woke up from your nap, Spike found a magic ring that made a vampire impossible to kill. That was before he started working with us. Right before they put the chip in his head, really. Anyway, Buffy kicked his ass and took the ring and sent it to Angel. Angel kicked his ass when he tried to get the ring back and destroyed it, but not before he spent a day in the sun."

"So see?" Xander smiled at her smugly. "You know two vamps that were out in the sun without doing a roman candle impression." The man almost laughed at the thoughtful, kinda pouty expression the Slayer wore.

"Huh. Y'know, Fang never said nothin' about all this. Wonder why not?"

Dawn cleared her throat, then blushed slightly when the other two looked at her. "Um, I think that was about the time his friend Doyle got killed, so he probably doesn't like to think about it."

Faith nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's probably it. I mean, if you haven't seen the sun for two hundred and fifty years, then you're not gonna forget the one day you get to go out in it, right?"

Xander leaned forward, then back as their food arrived. "I'm sure Dawnie's right and so are you," he says diplomatically, not wanting to mention anything in front of the waitress.

Faith poured about half the bottle of ketchup over her fries as she asked, "Hey Squirt. B tell you if she's got anything official planned for today?"

Chewing her bite of salad and swallowing quickly, the teen shook her head. "No," she coughed lightly, then cleared her throat. "I mean, a bunch of us are going to the mall in a little while, but nothing else until tonight, I don't think. You'll have to ask her about patrols though."

Shrugging, Faith looked at her blond counterpart. "Hey B!" She called, in just a little louder voice than she'd been using to talk to Dawn and Xander. When Buffy looked toward her, she asked, "What time and where you want everyone together to set up patrols?" The brunette cocked her head, then nodded. "Okay. I'll be there."

"Not sure I'll ever get used to that," Xander observed, shaking his head. "What did she say?"

"Her room after dinner or about eight, whichever comes last." She took a huge bite of her first cheeseburger. "So, what's at the mall?" she asked, somehow managing to speak mostly clearly with her mouth full at the same time.

Dawn made a little "ew" face and looked at Xander, but had no help there. He'd just taken a bite as well and was looking at her. Suppressing the urge to use one of her mother's favorite sayings, Dawn replied, "Oh, a bunch of us wanted more than a single change of clothes, since we're gonna be here a few days and everything. Maybe pick up a cd player and some music, that kind of thing." She looked slyly at Xander and smiled. "There's a comic and hobby shop there."

Dawn was prepared for the sudden interest in Xander's eyes, but not the even more intense light in Faith's. Then she remembered how much the Slayer had loved comics when she first came to Sunnydale. Even if it was an implanted memory, she figured the monks put it there based on the other's observations.

Feigning nonchalance, Xander asked, "So, Buffy and Will going along too?"

Dawn shook her head. "Nope. As far as I know, Kennedy is the oldest person going. They both said something about wanting to sleep."

Faith looked at Xander, a concerned expression on her face. "Hey, y'know, X-Man, we can't let all these teenyboppers go to the mall by themselves. 'Specially not a mall they've never been to before. Since it looks like G-Man, Buffy and Red have punked out of the job, we should probably go with 'em. Y'know, just to keep 'em out of trouble."

"Uh huh. And the fact that you haven't been in a comic shop in three years or so has nothing to do with your sudden interest in shopping?"

Faith took in the almost angelic expression on the man's face, even though it was kinda spoiled by the eye patch. Scowling playfully, she replied, a light growl in her voice, "Okay, fine. Maybe I wanna check out the books, but hey, I'm a little behind, so cut me some slack, okay? 'Sides, some tunes'd be good, so the music store is a good stop too. Clothes, though. We're gonna need a Goodwill store for that."

Dawn gave the Slayer with a puzzled look. "Goodwill? Why get your clothes there? I mean, I get cheap, but why go there if you don't have too?"

Faith shrugged. "Simple, kid. Slayin's hard on clothes, so why spend a lot on 'em? If a pair of jeans I paid two-three dollars for gets shredded, I don't give a shit. If a pair of leathers I spent forty-fifty dollars on gets wasted, then I gotta hurt whatever fucked 'em up. Simple, see?"

The Slayer watched as the teen worked her way through that idea, trying not to think about the real reason, that Goodwill was simply where she'd always gotten clothes. She'd never had much money, so why spend a lot at some fancy store at a mall when that same store would donate what was left over after a particular season to Goodwill and they'd sell them for a tenth of what they cost originally. Besides, she'd never been a big fan of shopping as a hobby. Certainly not like Buffy, so thrift stores let her get clothes and get on to something important.

Faith shrugged and took a bite of her second cheeseburger. "So anyway, yeah, I'll tag along and help keep the baby Slayers outta trouble if Xand's in." She shoved several fries in her mouth while asking, "Well, you comin' along?"

Xander returned the calm look of the Slayer with a slightly amused smirk, more sensed than seen. Carefully schooling his face to an expression of reluctant acceptance, he released a long suffering sigh. "Well, I guess I better, since Buffy's not going. Someone's gotta keep you outta trouble, right?"

Faith gave an insulted squawk of protest. "Me in trouble? Hey, I don't do trouble nomore, okay?"

Dawn frowned and tensed at Faith's tone, but then looked more carefully at the older brunette. While her expression did seem to convey anger, her eyes sparkled playfully and, now that she was looking closer, the teen noticed the Slayer seemed to be fighting to not smile.

Xander's eye opened a little wider in feigned astonishment. "Oh really? Then it was another dark haired Slayer I was hearing about who got into a fight with a half dozen cops in Sunnydale?"

"That so totally doesn't count! They were the ones who started that," Faith assured him. "I was just looking to dance and help the newies blow off steam. How is it my fault those hellmouthed cops wanted to start something?" Faith just looked at the male Scoobie for a moment, then gave a growly sigh. "You're gonna be a pain in my ass, ain't'cha?"

Xander smiled beatifically. "Seems only fair. You've been a pain in mine for the last day or so."

Dawn suddenly felt torn. If Faith had indeed been annoying Xander for the last day or so, she was going to get Buffy to help stop her. What was keeping her from yelling for her sister, though, was that, even though the words of her table mates were seemingly harsh, even accusatory, they were said playfully, almost... affectionately. Like Faith and Xander had become the best of friends overnight. [That's it,] she thought. [She sounds like Buffy or Willow would in a mock argument with Xander. But... I thought Xander didn't like her. He told me just a couple days ago he'd be glad when everything was over so she'd go away. How'd they become friends so fast?]

Faith maintained her scowl for another few seconds, then smirked. "Yeah? Well, get used to it, X-Man. You're the one who said I get to be, so suck it up and deal!"

Xander rolled his eye and Faith laughed before tearing into the remainder of her lunch. Xander tried to glower at the Slayer, but the smile that kept twitching his lips took most of the power out of the expression.

Dawn looked back and forth a couple times, then quietly asked. "What's going on here? Are you guys friends now or something?"

"Workin' on it, Squirt."

Xander looked sideways at Faith, then smiled slightly for Dawn. "We decided to bury the hatchet, Dawnie. Somewhere besides in each other's heads, I mean." He looked at Faith, calculating what it would cost him, then smirked. "'Sides, she likes Farscape. How bad can she be, right?"

"Hey!" Faith snarled, her manner turning embarrassed. She glanced at Dawn, then back at Xander. "What happen to 'I won't tell.'?" She turned back at the teen, wincing as the look of astonishment turned to one of grinning delight. "Hey, it's no big deal. A girl I knew inside loved the damned show and wouldn't shut up about it, that's all. Really, it's no big deal."

Dawn just kept grinning. "Oh, but it is. See? I knew you couldn't be all badass!" She giggled at the Slayer as Faith goggled at her. "Who's your favorite character? Lemme guess, Crighton, right? I like Tianna best, but Crighton is cool."

Faith hesitated, then shook her head. "Nah. I mean, yeah he's cool, but his girl, now... Love how Aryn'll just slap him down when he gets all fulla shit. Gotta love a girl like that!" She smiled, then narrowed her eyes at the Key. "Tianna, huh? Why? Cause she's a bad girl or somethin'? I mean, she's okay, but nothin' really special."

Xander smiled and resumed eating as Dawn defended her choice of favorite character, watching as Faith gradually got the girl he thought of as his baby sister to forget who she was talking to and just become friends. From the few hints the brunette had dropped, he had figured out that the Slayer had never had many friends growing up, and pretty much hadn't wanted any when they'd known her years before. Clearly, she wanted to change that now.

Considering everything she'd done for him in the last twenty four hours, Xander resolved that she'd have all the friends she could handle this time. This time, there'd be no doing evil stuff for Faith because she felt it didn't matter, that no one cared about her. Because this time, at least one person did, at least one person was her friend and Xander Harris didn't give up on his friends. No matter what.

Chapter 8

Facing forward again, he cut off a sigh of relief at the sight of the approaching hotel, glad to finally be back to their temporary home. He wasn't especially tired, even considering he'd spent the last several hours wrangling the better part of two dozen teenage girls on a shopping expedition, but he was about companied out and was really looking forward to a few hours of being alone.

[Well,] he mused, looking askance at the brunette beauty walking beside him. [Maybe not completely alone. If she wants to come by later, I guess it'd be okay.] Looking forward again, Xander thought back over the last twenty four hours, mostly about how quickly he and Faith seemed to be becoming the best of friends. [Well, maybe not the best of friends, but definitely friends and good ones.]

Movement on his good side caused him to look right, catching Kennedy charging forward toward the doors of the hotel. Following her with his eye, he looked forward again just in time to see her almost collide with Dawn as they both reached to pull a door open. Both brunettes retreated instantly, though Kennedy twitched a hand like she was going to reach out to Dawn, then changed her mind. Faith made an exasperated noise at his side and wrenched open the door. When neither teen made a move, she loudly demanded, "Go in or move. You're blockin' the damned door!"

Kennedy shot her a look that combined anger and guilt, then followed Dawn through the portal. Once inside, the teens took off in different directions, again not looking at each other.

Xander waited until the last of the baby Slayers were inside, then touched Faith shoulder and jerked his head to the side. She nodded and followed him over the small-ish alcove. Once he's quickly made sure they were alone, he turned to Faith and asked, "Any idea what's up with those two?"

She shrugged, watching the other mini-Slayers as they dispersed through the hotel lobby. "Dunno. They were actin' pretty tight last night before I came to your room, talkin' about taking the baby Slayers to a movie or somthin'." She turned to look back at the slightly older man. "Why? D say something to you about it?"

Xander shook his head, somewhat distracted as he tried to think of anything he might have seen at the mall that might now seem odd. After a moment's thought, he came up empty. "No, not that I can think of. They seemed a little avoidy when we left, but not like the 'I hate you, stay away' thing we just saw." Finally, Xander shrugged and started moving again, leading the way over to the elevators. Pushing the buttons, they waited for one of them to come back to the lobby. "I give up. Maybe Will or Buffy can get something out of them and find out what's wrong. I think I'm just gonna veg out in my room and forget about pretty much everything for a while."

Faith gave him a quickly hidden worried look, then nodded and looked back at the opening doors. Stepping forward, she said, "Yeah, sounds good. If I didn't have to help B run the mini-Slayers through their first patrol with powers." She sighed heavily, then looked up at him with a patently false smile. "Should be fun, right?"

Xander chuckled, but shook his head. "I'm thinking... Not so much, no. Especially since you might scare up one, maybe two vamps in this town for seventeen girls to share. Oh yeah, you and Buffy are in for bundles of yucks. I'm sooo envious," he deadpanned, his words almost visibly dripping sarcasm.

Faith snorted, barking a single laugh, turning a wry grin on her friend. She lightly punched him in the arm before punching the button for the top floor. "Yeah, I can tell you're just fightin' yourself so you can stay here instead of goin' with us." They both chuckled for a moment, then Faith sobered a little and cast a quick look at her companion. Licking suddenly dry lips, she decided to push her luck a little. "Hey, listen; I was thinkin' 'bout grabbin' some food on the way back tonight and seein' what's on the tube for a while. Not sure what kinda food, though. Not sure what's here, but something. Want me to see if you're still awake when we get back? Maybe split a couple boxes of grocery store chicken or something and try to catch something cheesy on tv?"

Xander regarded the Slayer for a moment while the elevator slid smoothly to a halt. He frowned a little when he noticed that same slightly hunched behavior from the night before and that morning, like she was expecting him to hit her or something. The doors parted and he waved a hand, indicating she should leave before him. "Maybe, yeah. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and I might crash kinda early." He looked at Faith and saw the quickly hidden disappointed look. "Tell you what, come by my room when you get back. If I don't answer by the second knock, I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow, okay?"

The dark Slayer stopped as they reached Xander's room, turning back to smile up at him. "Okay, that works for me." Her smile morphing to a mischievous smirk, she lightly smacked him in the stomach. "See ya later, Geek-boy!" She winked to show she was just playing, then darted off with a laugh toward her own room.

Almost against his will, Xander smiled and shook his head. Opening his door, he muttered to himself, "If I'm a geek and she likes the same tv shows and comics I do, what does that make her?"

"Still a hellova lot cooler than you!"

Xander winced, grumbling, "Damned Slayer hearing!" Shaking his head, he entered his room and closed the door.

* * *

Dawn cautiously entered her hotel room, looking for any obvious signs that Buffy was present. "Buffy?" she called softly, taking a quick peek into the bathroom. Coming up empty, she sighed in relief, dropping her bags on the corner table and kicking off her shoes. An image of Kennedy and what had happened at the mall paraded before her mind's eye and she flopped onto her bed with a groan, her arm coming up to cover her eyes.

Against her will, she relived the last few hours, fighting the feelings the whole time. It had seemed like a good idea. Hell, it had even been Willow's idea to not come along! How could Willow or even Buffy blame her for anything when it had been the redhead's idea to start with! And, if she'd know that... With a little growl and an explosive sigh, the teen rolled over onto her stomach and buried her face in her pillow, trying in vain to get herself to think of something else. Relentlessly, her mind returned to the events of only a few hours past, no matter what distractions she thought up for herself.

* * *

Kennedy prowled the hallways of the Comfort Inn, theoretically checking up on the younger Slayers, but, in reality, trying to work off her mood before returning to her and Willow's room. Her worst fear right then was for her redheaded lover to ask her what was wrong because she knew she couldn't lie to Willow, so she'd have to tell her what happened. Have to tell her that she'd... Well, not cheated really, but, well, it felt like it.

She sighed as nothing turned up to distract her, so she slowly made her way to her room, jacking her new Slayer hearing up full tilt as she closed on the appropriate door. Not hearing anything, she cautiously opened the door and slipped inside. "Willow? Will?" She called softly, looking around. No sound came from the bathroom, but still, she checked it. "Willow?" Sighing with relief, she returned to the main room and sat on the bed, staring at the floor. [What the hell am I gonna do?] She wondered silently.

She hadn't meant for anything to happened and, if she was brutally honest, nothing had. Kennedy released a growling sigh as she thought back over the previous few hours. Everything had started okay enough. They'd gotten to the mall and the group had split up into pairs and trios, based mostly on friendships and shared interests. Xander had made sure that at least one girl in each group had a watch and that everyone knew the bus was leaving at six pm sharp and that, unless they wanted to sit through a Buffy lecture, they'd better be there, on time and ready to go.

Faith had snorted at that and Dawn rolled her eyes, but both returned innocent looks when the only male in the group turned a baleful stare at them. Turning back to the group of teens, Xander asked if everyone understood, six o'clock or they walked and had to listen to Buffy. When everyone replied they understood and that they'd be there, he'd doled out money to each girl, then smiled and made a shooing motion, saying "Attack." Kennedy had stood with the other two "adults" of the group and Dawn as the other Slayers gleefully vanished, then turned to Dawn as Xander went to the nearest displayed map, Faith in tow.

The younger brunette had agreed when she'd asked if wanted to be her shopping buddy, so they headed off for the nearest clothing store, blissfully ignoring their "chaperones".

Kennedy had to admit, she had been a little worried about shopping alone with Dawn, especially since that annoying voice in her head kept up a running commentary about the hotness of the other teen. Finally, she'd shaken her head a little and given a sub-vocal growl of frustration and ignored the voice, telling herself they were going to be in well lit, at least semi-crowded stores, not dark theaters or hotel rooms or something. They wouldn't really be alone, so there was no danger of betraying Willow.

With that thought firmly in mind, Kennedy had smiled and agreed that Victoria's Secret should be their first stop. She was going to buy things for herself and Willow and Dawn could take care of herself. That stop had gone okay, though the Slayer had had to bite back a few groans as she surreptitiously watched Dawn and her mind kept flashing images of the other girl in the various scraps of clothing Dawn considered. Or even just stood next to.

Rolling back with a groan, the Slayer wondered, considering what happened next, why the hell she'd ever thought that shopping with Dawn was a good thing to do.

* * *

Dawn rolled over yet again, this time with an exasperated sigh as her mind replayed what happened once more. She remembered Kennedy asking her if she wanted to be 'shopping buddies' and she'd agreed, even though something in her whispered that this was a bad idea. She'd been trying to avoid being alone with Kennedy since they'd left the movie theater, but here she was, going off with her now, happy as a clam. And what did that mean, anyway? How could you tell when clams were happy? How did they smile with no mouths or...

Dawn shook her head and stopped her tangential but silent Q&A session, but as soon as the side questions stopped, her mind jumped right back onto it's previous train of thought, namely a certain latina Slayer and what should she do now?

Everything had started out okay. Sure, she'd been a little nervous to be alone with Kennedy in a store, but had quickly realized that that was stupid. There would always be at least one other person there, the salesperson, so it wasn't like they were gonna start making out in the aisles or something, right? So, with that in mind, she'd led the way into Victoria's Secret, since they all needed new underclothes and she knew Buffy preferred the garments from this store. Truthfully, she did too, even though she didn't really have anyone to share them with. As soon as that thought passed through her mind, she looked at Kennedy, then quickly looked away, blushing furiously.

Despite the innate sexiness of the store, both teens managed to buy all they wanted, Kennedy getting Willow's things and Dawn filling Buffy's list with no real trouble. A few questions, a little flirtiness from the Slayer, but nothing that really made either girl truly uncomfortable. That had been reserved for the next store.

Dawn started pounding her head back and forth on the bed, trying in vain to stop her mind's not so instant replay. With a little frustrated growl, she stopped trying to make her headache worse and just let her mind go, hoping that once she's been through everything again, it would stop and go away.

* * * Flashback * * *

Dawn smiled at the blonde behind the counter and accepted her change. Nodding at Kennedy, she followed the Slayer out of Victoria's Secret automatically fighting her bags as she tried to stuff her wallet back in her purse. Everything finally fell into place and she looked up, just in time to avoid colliding with Kennedy as she stopped and turned back.

"Okay, we got the fun stuff. Where you wanna go to get real clothes?"

Dawn blinked, then did a slow spin, a slight frown gracing her face as she failed to see her favorite store for most of her clothing. "Not sure. This place is kinda light on good stores, now that I look around." Her frown lifted a little and she pointed. "Buffy and Willow both like to shop there, and their taste isn't too bad, so I guess we could start there?"

Kennedy shrugged at the suggestion. "Not really my style either, but I suppose it'll do till we can get to LA and I can go to a few real shops." She looked at the younger teen with a playfully seductive look, a little half smile curling her sensuous lips. "So, you gonna model a few things for me?" Kennedy inwardly groaned as soon as the words left her mouth and dropped her eyes, embarrassed. "I-I mean, will you make sure Willow's clothes will fit her? I mean, since she said, y'know, that you guys were about the same size and all."

Dawn blushed bright red at the new Slayer's words, even as a part of her preened at the teasing compliment. What was worse was the part of her mind that was pushing her to make a play for Kennedy kept flashing images of teasing the petite woman in various outfits. The same part that was disappointed in the Slayer's quick retraction of her flirting. "Um... Sure. I-I mean, I can check sizes and stuff, try things on a little. It should be mostly good. I mean, I know what the differences between our clothes are, so..."

Kennedy chuckled and lightly touched her fingers to Dawn's lips, trying to halt the flow of words. [God, they're so soft,] was the first thing that went through her mind and she hastily pulled her hand away. Flushing just a little, she said, "I, uh... I get it. You'll try them on and tell me if they'd be good for Will after you come out of the dressing room, right?"

Relief flooded the younger brunette's features and she nodded, all the while trying to ignore the feelings that the Slayer's fingers on her lips had ignited. She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something more, then hesitated before shrugging minutely and turning toward the clothing store. "Come on, let's get this over with," she called over her shoulder.

Kennedy was a little startled by the brusqueness of the other girl's words, but followed her after a moment. They'd entered the shop, at first finding several outfits for themselves, both giving shy, almost reluctant, compliments on how they fit and looked. Both had seemed to want to start flirting, then they would remember their own objections and stop awkwardly. Finally gathering all the clothes they themselves wanted from this store, both girls had turned their attentions to gathering a few things for Buffy and Willow.

* * *

Kennedy lay staring at the ceiling of her room, her mind casting back over the events in the first, and only, clothing store she and Dawn had visited. She remembered not being able to resist teasing and flirting with the other girl, no matter how many times she reminded herself that she was taken. It didn't seem to matter to her that Willow would be hurt if she'd known just how much she was flirting with another girl, a girl the redhead regarded as a little sister.

Growling, she rolled over and buried her face in the pillow, vainly trying once more to force the thoughts from her head., knowing she was fighting a losing battle even as she did. The events in the clothing store played out in her mind despite her every effort to not relive them. Groaning, she remembered her and Dawn gathering their own clothes they wanted and taking them to the counter before turning back to select a few outfits for Buffy and Willow. Dawn had quickly selected several things she knew her sister would like and laid them with their other purchases, occasionally correcting the older teen on her selections for Willow.

Finally, Kennedy had her choices narrowed down to six outfits and she'd handed them to Dawn to go try on and tell her if they would be okay for her redheaded girlfriend. Dawn started toward the back, then noticed the sign saying no more than three articles of clothing allowed in the dressing rooms at a time. Laughing quietly at the scowl Kennedy threw the sign, the Key handed back the bottom four shirts, slacks and skirts, taking a pair of jeans, a beautiful green peasant top and a really nice dress with her.

Kennedy had waited as patiently as she could until several minutes later, Dawn had emerged carrying the items. "You might want to go up one size on the dress and top, but the jeans are perfect!" She smiled at Kennedy and took the next two outfits into the changing room with her while the Slayer replaced the rejected clothing and selected replacements in the correct sizes.

A few minutes later, Dawn reappeared, carrying the clothing she'd taken on her second fitting, pronouncing them fine, though Willow might find the turquoise top a little tight. Kennedy just smirked and asked why was that a problem? Dawn rolled her eyes and grabbed up the last of the clothing they'd selected and headed back toward the fitting room she'd appropriated.

Kennedy watched her go, her eyes inadvertently drawn to the other girl's swaying ass for a moment before she caught herself and quickly looked away. Getting herself back under control, she looked down at the blue-green shirt that Dawn had mentioned might not suit Willow and decided to replace it with something she thought might be more acceptable to the sometimes shy redhead. Browsing quickly through a different rack than she'd checked before, Kennedy smiled as she found an emerald green blouse and a patterned jumper she just knew Willow would love. Checking the sizes, she quickly strode over to the changing area and knocked twice on the door that the younger teen was behind, not waiting for an answer before she opened the door and went in. "Hey, Dawn, what do you think about...." Kennedy froze as she saw Dawn standing there, her back mostly to the door, in just a tiny red bra and matching thong.

Dawn squealed as she spun in place, dropping the dress she'd been about to try on and faced Kennedy, freezing instantly as she realized she was standing there nearly nude in front of the girl she was seriously crushing on. The sound of the door closing caused her to flick her eyes from the other girl for a second, but when she looked back, she felt her eyes open wide and her cheeks heat a bit at the way Kennedy was staring at her. She tried to will herself to pick up her discarded t-shirt and put it on, but, aside from a little twitch, she was frozen by the power of the Slayer's stare.

For her part, Kennedy's mind slithered to a halt as she simply looked at the taller brunette. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away and, if she had been in any mental state to be honest with herself, she would've admitted that she didn't want to. The Slayer suppressed a groan as her gaze raked up and down Dawn's lithe form, taking in the sight of seeming acres of smooth, pale skin. The small, yet nearly perfectly shaped breasts, Dawn's flat tummy that swelled a little above her mound. The long, slender yet very shapely legs. Kennedy let her eyes drop all the way down to Dawn's sexy looking feet ([And since when do I find feet sexy?] The thought bubbled through her mind), then started back up. As she got back up to the junction of the younger teen's flawless legs, she suddenly leaned forward a couple inches as Dawn moved a little and produced a scent that instantly reached the enhanced senses of the aroused Slayer. Kennedy moaned/growled sub-vocally as she took in the earthy/musky scent, her mouth starting to salivate just thinking of how it would taste.

Dawn watched helplessly as the older teen's eyes drank in her body and, even though she was embarrassed, she found the experience highly erotic and arousing as well. As Kennedy's eyes came back up, she saw that the Slayer's normally dark brown eyes were nearly black, her pupils dilating all the way, the lust and desire plainly visible and Dawn had never felt so sexy. She felt a little trickle begin in her now swelling sex and shifted her weight back and forth a couple times, trying to ease the feeling.

Dawn saw Kennedy's nostrils flare as the new Slayer leaned forward a bit, her eyes fluttering closed as she sniffed like a dog tracking a scent. She whimpered softly as she heard the growly moan and saw the raw want and need in the now open eyes of her... friend? Seductress? The look Kennedy was giving her caused her dream from the night before to once more thunder through her mind. She added 'lover' to the list as everything Kennedy was doing was sending signals to her hind brain that the older girl was going to act out that dream, that 'premonition' right here, right now and the younger woman wasn't sure she could or even wanted to stop her. She took a step forward, inexorably drawn to the Slayer, ready to surrender to the older woman.

Kennedy's mind was filled with images of Dawn lying nude below her, moaning and pulling her closer as she kissed and licked her way across the gorgeous body before her, screaming her name as she pulled one orgasm after another from the svelte teen. The scent Dawn was giving off was driving her mad and a deep part of her, the part she was coming to associate with her Slayer impulses screamed at her to take the young woman before her, to mate with her and satiate this lust that was threatening to overpower her. Just as she was about to pounce on the other teen, Dawn took a step closer and Kennedy's eye was caught by a flash of light blue. She looked quickly to see what it was, the Slayer in her wanting to classify a possible threat, and discovered what had attracted her attention was the last of the shirts she'd picked out for Willow.

The very thought of her girlfriend's name was like a bucket of ice water down her spine and Kennedy sucked in a breath as she realized what she'd been about to do. "Sorry!" She blurted, spinning to face the door. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean... I didn't think..." She glanced back over her shoulder, but quickly faced forward again. "Um... Yeah. I'll just... I'll be out there. Sorry!" She dropped the clothing in her hands and wrenched the door open, escaping.

* * *

Dawn sighed, disgusted with herself for her seeming inadequacy at stopping the parade of images from earlier in the day. In her mind, she watched yet again as Kennedy stared at her like a starving man before a banquet one moment, then ran from her the next. She remembered the feelings that had shot through her at those moments, that for once, she was the beautiful, desirable one, not Buffy. Then Kennedy was babbling apologies and bolting from the room, leaving Dawn to her confusingly mixed feelings of rejection from the way Kennedy had bolted on her and betrayal for what she'd nearly done to her friend, her sister, really. All she could think of was she loved Willow just as much as Buffy and she'd nearly had sex with Willow's girlfriend in the dressing room of a small town mall clothing store. The fact that they'd not gotten closer than three feet to each other was irrelevant, she'd wanted Kennedy right then. She would've done nothing to stop the Slayer had she initiated anything.

It had taken all her courage to leave that room, but she'd done it. She'd even went up to Kennedy and gave her the clothing for Willow she'd taken into that room, including the shirt the Slayer had dropped in her haste to get away. Kennedy had tried to apologize again, but Dawn hadn't wanted to hear it and had held up a hand, then gathered the pile of merchandise for her and Buffy and walked away. She knew if she had let the older girl start to apologize again, then she would start to babbled apologies and all that would really happen was that they would embarrass themselves further, this time in the middle of the store instead of hidden from sight behind the dressing room door.

As she gathered a few more things, she felt Kennedy's eyes boring into her as the older girl watched her and finally, she could take it no longer. Approaching the counter, she paid for the clothing she'd selected, saying nothing to the sales girl beyond assuring her that she wanted nothing else. Collecting her bags, she swept from the store, not even glancing at Kennedy. She knew if she did, she'd never maintain the resolve to keep her distance and that she might really betray Willow.

Once out of the clothing store, the brunette looked around, her gaze eventually resting on a cluster of nearby benches and she moved that way, taking a seat and dropping her bags at her feet. She sagged forward, her head dropping into her hands as everything that had happened so far between her and Kennedy in this small town played through her head, causing her to voice a small sound of protest at her own stupidity.

Suddenly, her own thoughts registered. Small town. Her head came up with a mixed look of disgust and wonder. That was it! They were in a small town where she didn't know anyone who hadn't come with them. Kennedy was, admittedly, gorgeous, liked girls and had been right there with her whenever she wasn't with Willow and it'd been a long time since she and Kit had split up. The solution was so simple, Dawn growled at herself for not thinking of it earlier. All she had to do was avoid being alone with Kennedy, or with a small-ish group with the new Slayer unless Willow and, preferably, Buffy as well was with them. They'd be sure to leave this hick town within a few days at most, since most of the girls who had gone to the hospital had been released. They were simply waiting for Michelle and Yvette to be able to convince their doctors that they were okay to leave weeks ahead of when medical science said they should. Once they were back with the group, they would be heading for LA, according to Buffy and Giles, and she knew people there. It would be so much easier to not have to be around Kennedy so much once they reached LA, so all she had to worry about was the next couple days. She could do that, right?

Nodding to herself, Dawn stood and gathered her bags, automatically looking back to the store she'd left just minutes ago. A ghost of a smile unknowingly touched her lips when she spotted Kennedy's petite form still moving slowly through the racks of clothing and she started to sit back down to wait when a thought occurred to her. They were both wearing watches and now was probably the best time to start that whole avoidance idea, because she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep to her decision if she continued to be alone with the Slayer for another couple hours. Better that they separate and only see each other again when they all gathered with Xander and Faith to head back to the hotel. Then she wouldn't be so tempted.

Nodding again, she looked around, spotting a shoe store several places down the mall and walked that way, resolutely ignoring the part of her that desperately wanted to go back to Kennedy's side and stay there.

Now, laying on the bed in her hotel room, Dawn groaned and rolled over once more, fixing her eyes on a spot on the ceiling, but not really seeing it. [What am I gonna do?] The teen lamented in her head. Just looking at the brunette Slayer when they'd entered the hotel had made her want to follow Kennedy to the elevator and stop it between floors. [I can't have her, she's Willow's and Will doesn't do short term relationships. Her and Oz were together for almost two years and her and Tara for over two years, so I can't hope they'll break up or something. Besides, I don't want to do that to Willow. She was so miserable when Oz and Tara broke up with her and I don't ever want her to go through that again.]

Sitting up, she stared at her reflection across the room. [Okay, I have a plan. I'll avoid Kennedy here and I'll call some old friends when we get to LA and keep avoiding her until these damned feelings go away!] Staring into her own doe eyes, Dawn nodded once, then stood and put her new clothes away, leaving Buffy's on her sister's bed. Sitting down again, she picked up the tv remote, but stopped, realizing that, in her current emotional state, if Buffy came in and asked how the mall trip went, she'd have a hard time not babbling the whole thing, including how she'd nearly attacked Kennedy in a dressing room. Then Buffy would blame the younger Slayer and go try to beat her up for corrupting her sister or something stupid like that, so maybe it was better to get out of here until later.

Sighing as she accepted that little bit of wisdom, Dawn dropped the remote onto her bed, grabbed her bag and headed for the door. Maybe a really big chocolate shake would help her make sense of everything and calm down and if not, then hey, it was still a chocolate shake and there was nothing wrong with that.

Chapter 9

Laying on the single bed in the room, Kennedy had her arm across her eyes, thinking furiously. Even though absolutely nothing had happened earlier in the day, the petite Slayer was still beating herself up for her near betrayal of her girlfriend. She'd been told the stories about Willow's first relationship with Oz(and the whole guy thing still baffled her, but she accepted it as part of Willow.) and how it was Oz's cheating that had ended it and how miserable Willow had been for months after. Ego stroking aside, Kennedy didn't think that their relationship was anywhere near as strong as Willow's had been with Oz, if for no other reason that it was only a couple months old. According to Anya, Willow and Oz were together nearly two years before they'd split up, so, while she was sure it would hurt the redhead if she were to find out that Kennedy had been with Dawn(in any capacity), if wouldn't be the world shattering pain it had been with the redhead's first love.

[That's still no excuse,] she snarled at her attempts at justification. [I have never cheated on a girlfriend and I'm not gonna start now! If I really wanna be with Dawn instead of Willow, I need to find a way to break up with Will first. If I want to be with Willow, I need to stop obsessing about Dawn. It's as simple as that!]

Springing from the bed, Kennedy paced the room like a caged tigress. After a few minutes, she growled softly at herself and stopped, ending up staring at her reflection in the mirror. Images from all she'd thought about for the last couple hours flashed through her mind and she knew she needed to get out of the room or she'd make herself crazy. Or worse still, Willow would come back and want to know why she seemed to be so agitated. There was no way she could explain what was going through her head without hurting the woman she loved(The Slayer ignored the image of Dawn that floated before her mind's eye when she thought this), so best she leave and try to get a handle on this.

Decision made, the brunette quickly made her way downstairs and to the hotel's small game room, freezing in the doorway when she found Dawn already there. The younger girl was sitting at the side of the bar that faced the game room with a glass of something brown topped with whipped cream in front of her. She looked around when she heard someone enter and blushed and quickly looked away when she saw it was Kennedy.

The young Slayer fought down the instinctive urge to run, then the stronger one to just go over and kiss the girl, to claim her and make her hers. Then an image of Willow and their first night together asserted itself in her mind and she once more wondered how she could be thinking of cheating on her lover. Disgusted with herself, Kennedy thought, [Okay, this is just stupid! I'll talk to her, we'll get things straight between us, then I can get back to Willow where I belong!] Her mind made up and, firmly ignoring that nagging little voice, Kennedy walked over beside Dawn and slid onto a stool. "Hey." Dawn listlessly returned the greeting without looking up, though the Slayer noticed a blush creep across her cheeks. "Can we talk for a few minutes? Just talk! Promise," she added hastily when the former Key looked at her quickly, suspicion in her blue eyes.

Dawn thought it over for a minute, then slowly nodded. Kennedy flashed her a smile and took her hand, leading her toward a table on the other side of the room. Dawn felt her heart speed up at Kennedy's smile, then really take off when the older girl took her hand. [Stop that!] She firmly told her hormones. [We've been through this; She's Willow's girlfriend and Will might as well be my other sister! I will not steal a girlfriend from her!]

[Is it stealing if Kennedy comes to you? Is it stealing when Kennedy seems to want you more?] Dawn was getting angry at that stupid voice now, since all it seemed to want to do was make her betray one of her best friends. She just couldn't do that, no matter how much she might want to, if she was honest with herself. [Yes, it's still stealing. As long as Willow is dating Kennedy, it's stealing and I gave that up a long time ago!]

Unaware of the younger girl's internal debate, Kennedy steered Dawn to a chair, then sat on the opposite side, her eyes never leaving the table top as she did so, though she still hadn't released Dawn's hand. Finally looking up, she caught a glimpse of the Key's mental argument and leaned forward a little. Her voice full of concern, she asked, "Hey, you okay?" Absently, she interlaced their fingers.

Dawn started a little, her eyes coming up and focusing on Kennedy for the first time since they'd left the bar. "Uh... yeah. I'm fine. Just peachy, in fact, why?" Dawn tried hard to not wince at the patently disbelieving look Kennedy gave her. "No, really! I'm doing great." She smiled almost maniacally, then seem to crumble. "Well, you know, except for this little voice in my head that keeps telling me to steal my sister's girlfriend, but other than that..." Dawn quickly dropped her eyes, a massive blush flooding her face as she realized she'd said that out loud. She finally noticed that she and Kennedy were holding hands like they were dating or something and she snatched her hand away, putting it in her lap with it's twin.

Kennedy just couldn't help it as she felt herself smirk, almost leer at the girl across from her. "Oh really? Who's Buffy dating? Do I know her? And hey, I thought she wasn't into girls like that!" The Slayer tried to maintain her teasing smile, but the death glare Dawn was now giving her wouldn't allow it. "Okay, that was kinda lame, I admit," she said, her eyes flicking down. "Sorry. I know you meant Willow. So, you wanna steal me? I'm flattered, but then, I always figured I was priceless, so 'steal' is probably the right word." Kennedy fought to maintain the slightly haughty air she was wearing, but the twinkle in her eyes plainly showed just how hard she was fighting to keep from bursting out with laughter.

Dawn just rolled her eyes at the former Potential's words, even as she tried her best to will the fierce blush still coloring her cheeks away. Her initial desire was to deny that she was talking about the woman in front of her, but she knew that was foolish. Kennedy knew the truth, so why pretend otherwise? On the other hand, did she really want the brash, cocky brunette to get any more full of herself? And was there really anything she could do about that, anyway? It seemed that she was years too late to help that, so maybe the truth was the way to go. Of course, she probably should say something out loud some time soon, before...

She felt fingertips on her cheek and looked up, right into concerned chocolate eyes. "Hey, I'm sorry for the joking, okay? When I'm nervous or scared, I either get really sarcastic or make lots of bad jokes." She smiled and made kind of a 'well, to be honest' motion with her head as a self depreciating smile lit her beautiful features. "Well, okay, sometimes I do both, but really only in extremely uncomfortable situations. You know, like now."

Dawn smiled and Kennedy leaned back again, breaking the contact between them. "Yeah, I get that. I either babble almost as bad as Willow or have to just go away, so being a smart ass and telling jokes? Not that bad, really." The Key moved a little forward and returned her hands to the table top. "Okay. Okay, you said you wanted to talk, so I'm guessing it's about what happened today?"

Kennedy smiled in relief that Dawn was willing to bring it up so she wouldn't have to. "Yeah. Well, today and last night, really, cause that kiss? I mean, yeah, at first, it was just to warn off that idiot, but after?" She blushed a little, the pinkish tone just dusting her cheeks. "Remember when I said something about ignoring the movie as we walked passed him?" Dawn nodded. "Well, I said it to get a rise out of that asshole, yeah, but as we got to the theater and, especially when we were sitting in there, I... um... I reallywantedtodothat!" The Slayer's blush became more pronounced and she made herself repeat, "I really wanted to do that. Um... y'know, ignore the movie because we were making out or even just, y'know, holding hands or something." Kennedy dropped her eyes to the tabletop, fighting hard to get her cheeks to cool off as embarrassment flooded her for her admission.

She looked up suddenly as a cool hand slid into her own, slim fingers threading through her thicker, more callused ones. Dawn smiled at her understandingly. "I was thinking that too, so don't be embarrassed, okay? And today, well, I should've known better and picked a different shopping partner, that's all, so it's my fault."

Kennedy's eyebrows drew down a little as she shook her head. "No it's not, it's mine. I saw how my flirting was bothering you so I tried to stop and I never should've come into that dressing room with you. I just wasn't thinking... I mean I was thinking, but only about that shirt I was carrying, not that you might not be dressed, so..." Kennedy trailed off abruptly as an image of Dawn in her bra and thong flashed through her mind and the Slayer sat back, sucking in a breath as she fought down the feelings that picture caused.

Dawn looked back up at the other girl's face as Kennedy stopped speaking abruptly and she caught the faint echo of the lust and desire she'd seen when Kennedy had barged in on her earlier. Even as muted as it was, the sight of how much the older girl seemed to want her flooded her body with a matching desire and it took all her strength to not lean over the table and kiss her until they were both breathless. Since she couldn't do that, Dawn closed her eyes for a few seconds, grabbing her libido firmly, then returned her attention to her friend. Giving Kennedy's hand a little squeeze. "Hey," she squeaked, then cleared her throat and tried again. "Listen, I know you didn't mean to just walk in on me and all, but from what I'm seeing now and what I saw then, you didn't mind, did you? Y'know, seeing me, like half naked?" She blushed almost as deeply as Willow would have as she said this, her voice dropping to a whisper.

Kennedy was startled by the other teen's words, but quickly rallied and smiled. "Did I like what I saw? Have you seen you?" Faintly, the Slayer felt a small jolt of guilt shoot through her as she realized that she'd said the same thing to Willow once upon a time. Shaking her head, Kennedy sobered a little. "Listen Dawn, I think you're absolutely beautiful and I'll admit, I want you, badly, but..." she took a shaky breath, but never dropped her eyes from Dawn's. "But, we both know I'm with Willow. If I wasn't, we wouldn't be in this bar, we'd be somewhere a lot more private, and I would be trying to see just how crazy I could make you."

The older of the two watched as Dawn's eyes dilated at what Kennedy was saying, her cheeks flooding with color as the teen argued with herself once more. Kennedy fought her own battle with her body, struggling to control the urge to just pull the taller girl into her lap and start kissing her senseless before they retreated somewhere a bit more intimate. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes to help tame the feelings she was struggling with, then released the breath in a regretful sigh. "But," she started, then opened her eyes to look Dawn directly in her own. "But, we both know I am with Willow and I don't think that that's not gonna change anytime soon. I'm not even sure if I want it to change."

The hurt Dawn felt at the statement must have shown clearly in her doe eyes, because Kennedy reached out and took one of the younger teen's hands and hurried to explain herself. "No, I don't mean that I don't like you or that I don't want you, it's just that..." She tapered off, trying to think how to explain how she felt without causing more hurt. "Listen, you were there when I first came to Sunnydale, right? You saw how I started chasing Willow pretty much as soon as I came through the door. I mean, I noticed you and you definitely set off my 'gay-dar', but all I could see was Willow and that's how it's always been for me. If I want a girl, I want her within a few minutes of meeting her, not months later, so I'm really confused right now and the only thing I can think to do is to stick with Willow for now."

Kennedy saw understanding and maybe even a little acceptance in the eyes she wanted to let herself fall into but couldn't. She took a deep breath and looked down. "Listen, if Will and I don't work out..."

Before she could finish the sentence, a slim finger was placed across her lips. "Please," Dawn said. "Just... don't finish that sentence, okay? It'll get both our hopes up and we shouldn't do that. We can't do that." The Key gasped almost soundlessly as Kennedy kissed her fingertip. "Kennedy, please, don't do that," Dawn asked, a catch in her voice as she returned her hands to her lap.

The Slayer flicked her eyes up for a second, then sighed. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have done that. It wasn't planned or anything, I promise."

"I know." Dawn smiled at the young Slayer, then sobered a bit. "I've been thinking too, y'know, about everything that's happened and I think I have a plan, if you agree to it." Dawn raised her eyebrows in a questioning gesture and Kennedy nodded for her to continue. Dawn took a deep breath and did so. "I was thinking we should, y'know, just not be alone. Well, not together anyway. Not until after we get to LA at least and maybe not then. I mean, it'll be easier to stay away from each other there since Buffy and I will probably stay at our dad's house and you and everyone else will stay wherever Angel is arranging for everyone to stay at. I think Willow said he owns a hotel now or something," she said absently, then shook her head. "The point is, once we're in LA, I'm like nearly sure we won't be staying in the same place and that the only times we'll see each other is at Council meetings or something like that, so..."

"So..." Kennedy picked up what the younger girl was saying. "We won't be as tempted and the feelings should go away, right?"

Dawn nodded and smiled a little. Kennedy thought it was a sad smile. "That's pretty much what I was thinking, yeah."

Kennedy sat back, appearing to think for several minutes, then she slowly nodded. "I agree. We avoid being together, at least, not without several other people with us, until we leave this sorry excuse for a small town and go our separate ways once we hit LA. We're agreed?" Dawn started to say something, then just nodded, her eyes shining a little suspiciously. "In that case, I'd probably better go."

Dawn returned the Slayer's sad look with one of her own. "Yeah. I'll see you around, okay?" Kennedy smiled, just a little and stood. As she stepped passed her, Dawn suddenly said, "Kennedy?" She turned to find the Slayer looking over her shoulder at her. Losing her nerve, the Key shook her head. "Never mind. Tell Willow I said hi, okay?"

Kennedy just nodded and continued to the exit.

Dawn watched until she could no longer see the older girl, then turned back and reached for her milk shake. Before she could touch the glass, the first tear broke free and rolled down her cheek. She wiped it off, then the one on her other cheek, then back to the first one before dropping her head to crossed arms. Feeling like her heart was cracking in two, the teen let the tears begin to flow as she poured her pain into an uncaring tabletop.

* * *

Kennedy walked resolutely away from the hotel bar/game room, fighting the urge to run back in. Thanks to her new abilities, she could faintly hear Dawn's quiet sobs and her own heart ached to comfort the younger girl, to tell her that they could try it and be together. Shaking her head, she jogged toward the nearest stairwell and ran up to her room. Entering, she saw that Willow still wasn't around, so she quickly stripped and headed for the bathroom.

Turning on the shower, Kennedy faced the mirror and looked at herself as the water got warm. Looking at her hair, an image of Dawn floated through her mind and her tight control broke with an explosive sob. Exerting an iron will, Kennedy wiped away the few tears that managed to break free. She had nearly convinced herself she was calm and okay again until she thought about Willow and felt her control slip again.

"Fuck it," she quietly snarled before tearing the shower curtain open and jumping into the tub. Sticking her head under the pulsating spray, the newly minted Slayer relaxed her tight grip on her emotions and let it all flow out of her, suddenly collapsing into the tub, the wracking sobs escaping her not even slowing.

Eventually, the brunette reached out and turned the water off, drawing her legs up and wrapping her arms around them. Dropping her chin on top of her knees, she stared at the wall for several minutes before sighing heavily and uncoiling. Stepping out of the tub, she quickly dried off and tied a towel around her body before finger-combing her hair. As she was reaching for her brush to dry her hair, she heard someone messing around in the main room and knew Willow had finally returned.

She still felt like she had somehow cheated on the redhead, no matter how ridiculous it sounded. She still felt like she needed to somehow prove she loved Willow. Her eyes widening, she realized how she could do that. Straightening her shoulders, Kennedy took a decisive step toward the bathroom door.

* * *

Willow stepped into the room she shared with her girlfriend and sighed, her mind going a mile a minute as she thought over everything she and Giles had been discussing all afternoon, with occasional input from Buffy. Turning halfway, she closed the door with a whisper of sound, then toed her shoes off and fell over on the bed with a soft groan. Briefly, she toyed with the idea of resurrecting Caleb just so she could kill him herself, but quickly dismissed the idea as wishful thinking. Sure, he'd been working for the First, so, ultimately, it was it's fault, but the pseudo-preacher was the one who'd blown up the Watchers, thus leading to her headache. Hence her wanting to kill him again.

She agreed with Giles, in the abstract anyway, that the Council of Watchers needed to be reestablished, especially since she could feel several dozen Slayers just in the surrounding couple hundred miles. All those girls would need someone to watch over them, help them, train them, but most importantly, someone to explain to them just why they could suddenly bend steel with their bare hands and bench press a car. Why they were now nocturnal and had the nearly unstoppable urge to prowl the night like a predator looking for prey.

Yes, she agreed with the Scoobie's adoptive father-figure, but she didn't want to admit that yes, they needed to make sure that they were the ones who were in charge of the new organization. While she really didn't want to see the Watchers reborn as the same arrogant, pushy, useless jerks they'd met under Travers rule, it had been a really rough couple of years and and she, for one, was really looking forward to a nice, loooong vacation. Preferably somewhere where the drinks were fruity, the dancing was all night and there was lots of sandy, sunny beaches filled with scantily clad women. Yeah, she had a girlfriend but looking never killed anyone, right?

Rolling onto her side, she finally registered the sound of the shower running, though it stopped almost immediately. Looking around the room, she noticed several new outfits hanging up, as well as a garbage can overflowing with empty shopping bags. Sitting up, she scooted to the edge of the bed and stood, walking over to inspect what Kennedy had gotten for her. She and her Slayer had slightly different tastes in clothes, so she'd been a little worried about what the teen might have picked up for her. Dawn was supposed to help her, true, but Dawnie's tastes were just as different as Kennedy's so the two of them collaborating on her wardrobe might not have been the best idea she'd ever had. Looking through the clothes hanging up, though, she was relieved to find nothing she wouldn't be caught dead in. One blouse wasn't really her style, but it could be dealt with until she could go shopping herself. Maybe she could drag Buffy along, she thought with a smile. Goddess knew her best friend could really use a little mindless shopping and girl-time.

Walking over to the dresser, she opened each drawer, trying to figure out what clothing was hers and which was Kennedy's, though, for the most part, it was fairly obvious which was which. Closing the last drawer, she heard a noise behind her and spun in place, startled for a few seconds before she smiled at the towel-clad girl standing in the bathroom doorway.

"Kennedy! You startled me, sweetie. How was..." was all she got out before the Slayer crossed the room and kissed her like she'd never get another chance. Willow stiffened for a second, then moaned into the shorter girl's mouth as she felt Kennedy's hands begin to roam across her body, caressing her, stroking some parts, squeezing and pinching others.

The redhead suddenly felt herself go airborne for a few seconds before she crashed back down onto the bed. In the brief moments she had before Kennedy joined her, Willow tried to get her mind working again, fought against the feelings her Slayer had awakened, at least long enough to ask why she was now under 'attack'.

Struggling to sit up and look at the brunette, Willow opened her mouth to ask what Kennedy was doing, but nothing but a gasped, "Yes!" emerged as Kennedy ripped the redhead's shirt open, pushed up her bra and locked her lips around a stiffening, coral colored nipple.

Willow almost screamed as she felt one set of steel-strong fingers tweak and roll her other nipple as Kennedy's other hand found it's way into her panties to cup her quickly moistening mound. The redhead's mind gave one more attempt at gathering itself to stop the assault long enough for answers. As she felt two fingers enter her, Willow squealed, then screamed as the tips of those same fingers brushed her g-spot as the thumb on the same hand flicked across her sensitive clit. As waves of ecstasy began to roll through her, Willow forgot her questions and let herself float off into nirvana.

* * *

Later that evening, Faith brought up the rear as a group of the new Slayers returned to the hotel. Walking on automatic, she thought back over the evening and how her and Xander's banter earlier had been right. Buffy had managed to scare up a single vampire in the town's small graveyard, a newbie who'd just arisen and was probably a victim of the vampire Faith herself had killed their first night in town.

The group of ten former Potentials and two senior Slayers had surrounded the hapless demon and Buffy had had each girl in turn fight the vampire a little, so that they could all see the difference between what they'd fought in Sunnydale and an 'average' vampire. Most of the girls had agreed that, while the vamp had been a little tougher and stronger than a Bringer, he was far weaker and easier to take down than a turok han. Buffy had promised them they would have many more opportunities to test their new powers once they reached LA, then had Vi stake their 'training aide'. To be honest, Faith thought the vamp was glad to be staked after having the best part of a dozen Slayers beating the shit out of him for over half an hour.

After that, Buffy had them patrol a little longer, but it quickly became obvious that they'd killed the only supernatural being, excepting themselves and the others at the hotel, that the town had to offer, so the blonde had declared the patrol over and headed back to their hotel. Faith had suggested that they stop at an all night grocery store she spotted, telling Buffy that she was hungry and figured the girls were too. Since it was late enough for all the restaurants in town to be closed, Buffy had readily agreed. Soon the store's small in-house deli was picked pretty much clean, with Faith having scored the promised boxes of fried chicken.

As they were all paying for they food, Faith snorted in amusement but otherwise managed to refrain from commenting on Buffy's snack. The blonde had 2 cups of the low fat yogurt she'd once mentioned she occasionally craved after patrol as well as a submarine sandwich Faith wasn't sure she could finish. The thing was friggin' huge! The combination of low fat yogurt and a sandwich that would feed an average family of four was nearly too much for the brunette Slayer and she had to look down at the checkout's conveyor belt until her blonde counterpart was finished and had left before she could think about paying for her own stuff. On the other hand, she couldn't wait to tell Xander about this!

Thinking of the one-eyed man waiting back at the hotel, Faith considered her situation with him and wondered at the changes in herself. Normally, her spending that much time in a guy's room lead to lots of heavy, sweaty sex, then her or the guy disappearing, but that just wasn't the case here. She found she enjoyed just hanging out with Xander and, except for maybe the occasional twinge, just didn't have the urge to bed him. Oh, she could admit, he was looking pretty good these days. The construction work had given him a trim, muscular body and a good tan and the eye patch gave him a mysterious, almost dangerous air. Like Nick Fury or something. The fact that they liked a lot of the same comics and movies and stuff was icing on the cake and she found she was constantly looking forward to spending time with the guy. She just didn't want to spend it screwing. Maybe later that would change, but for now, she wanted a friend more than a bedmate.

As all this trickled through her head, Faith had to smile a little at her thoughts. She was kinda proud of herself and was suddenly actually thankful for the hours the prison counselor had spent helping her understand her past and to overcome it. She certainly liked who she was a lot more now.

The guy working the register gave her her total and she shook off her thoughts as she dug out money and paid the guy. She ignored his hopeful attempts at flirting, sad as they were, accepted her change and grabbed her bags, never responding to anything the poor guy said. Rejoining Buffy and the others, she saw that she was one of the last just as Colleen came running out and they set off again, quickly reaching their temporary home.

Riding the elevator to the third floor, she decided she'd go change into some more comfortable clothes to lay around watching tv before she went to see if Xander was still awake. As she got closer to her door, she notice a piece of paper stuck between the doorknob and the frame and looked around, suddenly wary. Crossing to the room, she switched her grocery bags to one hand and pulled the paper from where it was trapped, watching as it unrolled. Reading it, her demeanor changed and she, at first, growled a little then chuckled and smiled.

Dear geeky girl(Yes, that's you Faith),

Couldn't stay awake, so I crashed. If you wake up first in the morning, wake me and we'll get breakfast instead of the late night snack you mentioned. I'll do the same, but probably not before 10 or so. After breakfast, I was thinking of hitting the comic shop again if you wanna tag along.

Anyway, I'll see you in the morning. I hope patrol wasn't too boring.

By the way(and yeah, this a test of the sappiness alert system) I'm glad we're friends this time. You're pretty damned cool for a fellow geek.

Get some rest, okay? If there's anyone on the planet who deserves a good night's sleep, it's Slayers, so g'night Faith.

X

Her smile dimmed a little and her eyes hardened as she promised herself that this time, she wouldn't throw it away over something stupid. This time, she would stand by her friend and not let anyone tell her different. Xander Harris was her friend and she would fight anyone who thought she wasn't good enough to be his in return.

* * *

A couple days after Dawn and Kennedy had come to an agreement, Willow and Kennedy were laying curled together in their room, Kennedy behind Willow and holding the redhead loosely. Both were awake, though neither had moved, nor in any way indicated that she wanted to move. Briefly, the idea that, except for meals, they wouldn't leave the room at all for the rest of the day flits through Kennedy. [And even those,] she thought, [we can have delivered, if we want.]

Kennedy sighed quietly as the idea once more wandered through her mind that she should have had Willow mostly undressed and well on her way to her first orgasm by now, but she still hadn't done anything. Confused, she continued to lie there, loosely holding the redhead, even as she pondered the changes only a few days had brought. Just days ago, when they'd arrived in this town, the idea of a naked, squirming Willow was a very pleasant one. One that she intended to see as often as possible. It was still a pleasant thought, since she freely acknowledged that Willow was drop dead gorgeous and incredibly sexy even when she wasn't trying to be. For some reason, though, she didn't seem to be as excited by that still pleasant thought as usual.

Normally, having Willow in her arms and them being alone would at least have had her hands roaming over the redhead's body as she kissed her girl, but she kept her hands perfectly still and relaxed this morning. Not because she should or because she was forcing them to be so, but because she just didn't want to initiate sex right now. It wasn't that Willow was asleep and she was being nice. No, she could tell, her girlfriend had been awake as long as she had, if not longer. Even so, Willow hadn't moved either. Not to say good morning, not to kiss her, nothing. Kennedy sighed again, then started a little when Willow's soft voice filled the silence.

"You feel it too, don't you?"

The Slayer pulled back a little. "Huh?"

The redhead spun in place, facing her lover. "You feel it, don't you? Just like me?"

Kennedy smiled a little. "Feel what? Will, you're not making a lot of sense, cause the only thing I feel right now is you," she quipped, running her hand up Willow's arm to demonstrate.

Willow grinned in spite of her serious mood. "Not what I meant, silly!" She reached up and caught the younger woman's hand and tried a different tact. "Okay, how long have you known I was awake?"

The Slayer shrugged. "A little while, I guess. Longer than me, I think. Why?"

"I woke up nearly an hour before you, but tell me; When you realized we were both awake and have the whole day to ourselves, did you want to make love?"

Kennedy frowned, still not sure where Willow was going with this, but beginning to be nervous. Some part of her sensed she wasn't going to like this conversation. "Yeah, sure. I thought about it a couple times." She pulled back, half sitting up. "Willow, what are you trying to say? What's with all the questions?"

The redhead smiled, a little sadly, Kennedy thought. "Almost done. Why didn't you? Usually, when you're in the mood for sex, you start nibbling on my neck and ears, but you didn't this morning. Why?"

Again, the brunette shrugged, her eyebrows drawing down in her confusion and budding anger at that feeling. "Not sure. Just figured we've got all day, so no big rush. I thought you might like to get some breakfast first."

Willow smiled gently and brought a hand up to caress a tanned cheek. "And yet, every other morning since the first time we made love, we've consistently been really late for breakfast, 'cause neither of us cared about food, just each other. Just yesterday, I woke up about three seconds before one of the best orgasms of my adult life! " Willow smiled again when Kennedy blushed lightly at the compliment. "And do I really need to mention the night before that?"

Willow chuckled softly at the mumbled, "You're welcome," taking note of the flush that crept across her girlfriend's face and the fact that Kennedy had just dropped her eyes with a guilty air. Taking a deep breath, she continued to voice what she even more certain of now. "My point, Kennedy, is that neither of us really wants to make love, or even just have sex this morning, even though we have every other morning since our first time, usually without waiting for the other one to finish waking up first. But, this morning, nothing. Why? Neither of us is sick, it's not 'that time of the month' for either of us, so why no lovin' this morning?"

Despite the calm expression on the witch's face and the attitude of quiet curiosity she was giving off, Kennedy scowled and asked hotly. "What, you think I don't want you anymore?" She stopped and closed her eyes, centering herself and calming down. "Willow, I just don't feel like it this morning, that's all. It isn't like I don't still love you," she finished, leaning over to place a light peck of a kiss on the redhead's lips.

Willow smiled softly, both at the young woman's words and the affection. "I know you do, Kennedy, and I love you, but... Can I ask you something and get a completely honest answer? Preferably without you getting mad?"

"You can ask me anything, Willow. You know that," the Slayer hedged.

"And you promise you'll answer truthfully and not get mad?"

"Will..."

The redhead looked at her sternly. "No, do you promise?"

"Fine." Kennedy answered, a growl echoing in her voice. At Willow's reproving look, she rolled her eyes, but took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. "Sorry. Now, what did you wanna ask me?"

Willow likewise took a deep breath, releasing it slowly as she observed her girlfriend. [Here goes,] she thought. "Kennedy, I know you love me and I love you as well, but what I wanted to know is, um..." She locked eyes with the younger woman, her voice steadying. "Are you in love with me? I'm not testing you," she hastily added, "and there is no wrong answer here. I just want to know, that's all. Are you in love with me? Do you want us to stay together?Do you see us still together a month from now? A year? Five years? Do you see us growing old together?"

Kennedy was shocked speechless. Of all the things she expected, or dreaded Willow asking, this wasn't even close to what she was thinking. Automatically, she started to answer 'yes' to all of Willow's questions, but a slim, freckled hand rose and cut her off.

The redhead gave her a gentle smile. "Remember, you promised to not get mad and to give me an honest answer. Do you want to continue this relationship?"

The Slayer paused, flushing a bit as that question rattled around between her ears. Did she want to stay with Willow? A part of her did and badly at that. The redhead was comfort and she knew they did love each other. She had first laid eyes on Willow seven and a half months ago and been immediately smitten. She pursued the Wiccan until Willow had allowed herself to be caught. From there to here, Kennedy had been certain she loved the green eyed goddess beside her, been sure she was in love with her. But now...

Her eyes refocused on Willow, waiting patiently for the new Slayer to think things through. Taking a deep breath, Kennedy said, "You're right, I do love you, Willow. You've shown me that sex for it's own sake may be fun and relaxing and everything, but being loved, being with someone in a relationship is so much better and for that, I will always love you. But, am I in love with you?" She paused, considering her words. "No. Not anymore anyway. I'm... sorry. I hope it doesn't hurt you, I really do, but you told me to be honest."

Willow smiled softly and reached up to gently trail the tips of her fingers over Kennedy's cheek. "Thank you for being honest with me, and to be fair, I'll answer my own questions. As you said, I do you love you as well, Kennedy. You rescued me from myself and you did it even though I threw every obstacle I could think of in your path. You showed me, with gentle but bull headed determination, that I could love someone else without forgetting Tara, that it was alright if I did love someone else. You believed in me when I didn't believe in myself, you forgave me when I ripped your life force from your body. You forced me to accept that I could live again, to want to live again and you respected my wishes, even though I know you wanted to make love a long time before we actually did. You helped to make me who I am today and for that, I will love you forever." She smiled at the younger woman and wiped a tear from her cheek with the ball of her thumb, even as her own tears gathered and threatened to break loose. "But... I'm not in love with you anymore either. I realized that this morning. I wish I was, because you are so worth loving."

Kennedy opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out of her tight throat. She felt another tear break loose and roll across the bridge of her nose, then down to waver and finally fall from the tip. Swallowing the lump in her throat, wincing slightly at the sensation, she whispered, "So, that's it? We're breaking up?"

Willow bit her lip, blinking the tears from her own eyes before slowly nodding. "I think we should, don't you? I mean, since we're both falling for other people, I think that would be best. But," Her expression turned pleading. "Please tell me we can still be friends! I- I couldn't stand it if we couldn't be friends anymore!" The redhead began to cry softly.

Kennedy immediately brought a hand up to dash the water from freckled skin. "Hey! Shh. No, please don't cry. Of course we can be friends! I can't imagine my life without you there in some way. I mean, who'll protect me from Buffy when I pick on her too much if you're not there to hide behind?" She gave Willow her most devilish smile, trying for a laugh, which she got, even if the chuckle was a little watery. "Seriously Willow, you're the best friend I've ever had, you know so much about me and you accept me for me, not for who my parents are or how much money they have. How could I even think of not being friends with you?" She smiled again, this time tenderly and lovingly.

Willow smiled back, her eyes sparkling. Slowly, the redhead leaned forward and, to the Slayer's mild surprise, pressed her lips to Kennedy's forehead, holding the kiss for several seconds. Both girls closed their eyes, savoring the affection, both feeling it meant so much to them that this was out in the open and wasn't going to truly separate them.

Willow pulled away, a small, gentle smile curving her lips again as she reached up and ran her fingers through some of Kennedy's hair that had fallen in front of her, finally tucking it behind the brunette.

Kennedy smiled back, her heart swelling a little at the affectionate gesture, then something Willow had said crossed her mind and she gave a little frown of confusion. "What did you mean?" Seeing Willow's own confusion, she elaborated. "When you said that we're both falling for other people. What did you mean?"

The redhead's smile got a little bigger and she giggled slightly. "Well, I might have been ignoring it till this morning, but I know you and Dawnie like each other." At the Slayer's expression, Willow laughed a little more and shook her head. "It's okay now, remember? I've seen how you look at her and how she looks at you when she thinks you can't see." She paused, tipping the brunette's face up so she could see her chocolatey eyes. "You do like her, don't you?"

Slowly, almost reluctantly, Kennedy nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry, but yeah. Ever since I kissed her the other day to keep that gorilla from trying to rape her, I just kept thinking about her, even though I didn't want to. I mean, we were together and I only wanted to think about you like that, but, more and more I just kept catching myself thinking about Dawn and it was bothering the hell outta me, cause I couldn't figure out why! I mean, it tore me up to think I wanted to cheat on you and I've been fighting it so hard..."

Willow quickly placed a finger on Kennedy's lips. "Shhh! I told you, it's okay. You weren't cheating, so..." The witch stopped and gave the brunette a considering look. "Have you guys kissed or anything since last week?"

Kennedy almost violently shook her head. "No, nothing!" She quickly assured Willow, then pauses. "Well, we didn't do anything else, but we did talk the other night, after we got back from the mall. We talked about everything that's been going on and why we've been so crazy around each other." She paused and took a deep, if somewhat shaky, breath. "You're right, she does like me. She says she likes me a lot and that she's been thinking a lot about that kiss too. But," Kennedy looked Willow in the eye, maintaining contact. "But, she also said she loves you and that you're as much her sister as Buffy is and that she wouldn't do that to you. She was really happy when I said I wouldn't either. We agreed that we would try to not be in the same room unless you or Buffy or hell, anyone else was there until we got to LA. I mean, I'm going to need to go home for a few days soon and I thought I'd head to Cleveland after that and use my family's contacts to find an old school or something for us to use there. That way, I'd still be helping Giles but would be away from Dawn."

Willow gave her a tender, grateful look, stroking the back of one hand down the side of the teen's face. "I understand and that was a good plan, if a little torturous for the both of you." She suddenly frowned a bit and admitted, "It's a lot like I've been trying to do as well with the girl I'm interested in, although the situation is a little different." Dropping her hand back to the bed, the redhead asked, "So, what do we do now?"

Kennedy smiled. "Now... you go take a shower while I arrange for a double room. We don't want our new girlfriends thinking we're still sleeping together, right?" Willow grinned, chuckling a little as she shook her head. "Okay, you go on and I'll get us a new room and pack our stuff after you pick out your outfit for the day. Then, after I shower, we can go let our respective new girlfriends know how lucky they just got!" She flashed her confident, cocky smile at Willow, waggling her eyebrows at the same time, eliciting a delighted laugh from her now ex-girlfriend.

"That sounds like a plan," Willow agreed, then her expression turned serious. She raised her hand and slid it up to lightly cup Kennedy's cheek. "Can I...? For old time's sake?"

Kennedy looked confused for a second, then understood what Willow was asking. Smiling, she leaned closer, meeting the redhead halfway for a slow, languorous kiss.

Several seconds, or days later, neither girl was sure, they drew apart and Willow licked her lips as she sighed. "Goddess, you are so good at that! I hope Dawnie realizes how lucky she is."

Kennedy laughed. "You're not so bad at that yourself, Ms Witch and I'm sure Dawn will figure out her newfound luck pretty quick!" She grinned at Willow, then lightly smacked her butt. "Now, come on, let's get going before I'm tempted to say to hell with it and keep you!"

Willow giggled and smiled, knowing Kennedy was just playing. Jumping out of bed, she darted into the bathroom.

* * *

Buffy looked up at the knock on the door frame of the hotel room she shared with Dawn and smiled. "Will! Hi! Come on in." She watched as the redheaded wiccan entered, then looked back toward the door for her friend's dark haired shadow. When no one else entered, her eyes cut back to Willow, a slight frown, more imagined than visible, curled her soft lips. "Where's Kennedy? You guys have been fairly inseparable for the last few months, y'know." She winked at Willow to show she was joking.

The redhead smiled at her second oldest friend, a little wanly, the blonde thought. "She's down with Faith and the others in the hotel's weight room. I came to see if I could interest you in getting a mocha with me?"

Buffy's trademark thousand watt smile appeared. "Sweet frothy goodness with my bestest friend? I am so there!" The effervescent blonde bounced to her feet with a giggle, dashing across the room to link arms with the laughing wiccan.

A little later, they were sitting in a nearby coffee shop laughing and reminiscing, talking about their lives in Sunnydale. Buffy took a sip from her cup, making a little face as she did. "No where near as good as the ones from the Pump, are they?"

Willow shook her head as she drank the last of her mocha. "Not really, no, but I guess we're gonna have to get used to never having the best again." She stopped, staring into space for a moment, remembering all the times she visited the Espresso Pump and who she was with when she did.

"You're thinking about Tara," Buffy's soft voice intruded on her memories

Willow blinked a couple times, then smiled softly. "Yeah, I am, among others. I was just remembering all the times I went to the Pump with someone, on a date," she smiles at the blonde. "Or just just cause we wanted a mocha." She got quiet for a moment. "Did you know, Tara and I had our first lunch date at the Pump and Kennedy and I had our second date," she chuckled, "well, our first official date there."

Buffy smiled, happy that the little trip down memory lane didn't appear to have made Willow sad. "Not to mention when we went there to celebrate getting into college, beating a really tough demon or vamp or just when we needed a sugar rush!"

Willow giggled lightly. "All those times too," she agreed. Twisting her arm, she made a little face and stood up. "We better get back to the hotel. Giles wanted to have that meeting tonight about what we're all gonna do next."

Buffy smiled teasingly. "Well, that and you've been away from Kennedy for what? An hour?"

The redhead glanced at the Slayer, a tiny smile flashing across her face, but she said nothing one way or the other. A few minutes later, the two friends were walking back to the hotel, chatting about various things like the old friends they were. "You know, Buff, you never did answer us, not really." At her friend's blank look, she added, "At the crater, when we asked what you wanted to do now?"

The blonde shrugged her shoulders. "Still don't really have an answer. I mean, Giles and I talked a little about it. You heard him at dinner the other night, there really is another Hellmouth in Cleveland, just not as big as the one that was in Sunnydale. Then there's the other more minor ones. Someone'll have to cover all of them. Then there's the Council." She kicked at a rock lying on the sidewalk as she thought about the old Council. And Travers. Suppressing a grimace, she continued. "With all the Slayers, we're gonna have to reform it and pretty quickly, but at least, this time, Slayers get a say-so in how it's run. Of course, a year long vacation has it's attractions," she half joked.

They walked for another few minutes, then Buffy asked, "What about you, Will? What are you planning on doing?"

The redhead smiled. "Well, that vacation idea sounds good, and I know Kennedy wants to be assigned to Cleveland and she mentioned that Faith does too. In Kenn's case, she's waited her whole life to be a Slayer, so that's the life she's interested in. And from what she told me she's talked to Faith about, Faith really wants to make up for her past. She thinks, since she was a lousy 'guard' for the Sunnydale Hellmouth, her place is on the Cleveland one."

Willow paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "As for me, I was thinking Giles will probably head for England to rebuild the Council, right?"

Buffy nodded, glancing at her best friend. "That was his last plan, yeah."

The witch nodded. "I was thinking I'd go with him, maybe reapply to Oxford and finish getting my degree while I was over there. Well, maybe," she hedged her answer. "I'm really waiting to see what you and Xander and Dawnie want to do, then I'll decide."

Buffy frowned a little, not understanding. "You're thinking about going to England? What about Kennedy? I was figuring you would want to end up where ever together. I mean, couple and all." She cast a sidelong look at the redhead. "Unless you guys are gonna try the long distance relationship thingie until the council's set up and running."

Willow quickly shook her head. "No, no long distance thingie." She subtly braced herself for Buffy's explosion, knowing how fiercely protective of her family the blonde Slayer was. "The reason she and I are looking at being different places is kinda simple. We - we sorta broke up this morning." Willow cast an anxious glance at her best friend.

Buffy stopped in her tracks, stunned by what her friend had just told her. As her mind tried to process this information, it at first denied what Willow told her. All of Willow's relationships to date had been long term ones, whereas she and Kennedy had only been together for a few months. Then she started to accept what Willow had told her, but still she got tripped up by the shortness of the relationship. Finally, there seemed to be only one conclusion she could make. "She - She... Kennedy dumped you!" Her astonishment rapidly gave way to anger, the blonde's eyes narrowed and she started moving again, stalking toward their temporary base. She'd teach that little upstart about hurting one of her friends! Oh, just wait 'til she got back to the hotel, she'd...

Willow sighed, groaning a little at the expression of fury that crossed Buffy's face. She just knew the Slayer would react like this. Moving quickly in front of the blonde, she held up her arms. "Whoa! Slow down, there missy! You do not get to beat her up over something that was decided by both of us!" Seeing that she's not really getting through, Willow grabbed her best friend by the shoulders and gave her a little shake. "Buffy! Did you hear me? Kennedy didn't dump me, we both wanted to break up, okay? Understand?"

Buffy looked at the redhead with astonishment, positive she heard wrong. "You - you dumped her?"

Willow sighed at Buffy's confused tone. Glancing around, she blushed as she noticed the people walking near them casting curious looks their way. She quickly turned back to her best friend. "No, that's not it either. There was no dumping." The redhead held up a finger to stop Buffy's next question. "Can we do this somewhere less public? Please?"

Buffy's stunned, confused expression lasts for another few seconds, then, her face clearing and taking on a determined look, she grabbed Willow's wrist, turning and walking toward the hotel at a brisk pace. Willow followed quietly, more than willing to wait until Buffy got where she wanted to be. She just hoped she could make the Slayer understand what's going on.

The blonde led the way into the hotel and into an elevator, redhead still firmly in tow. Willow started to say something, but a look from the Slayer silenced her. The doors open and Willow realized what floor they were on, so she waited until she and Buffy were in the Slayer's room. Once they were, she moved over and sat on the bed while Buffy checked to see if Dawn was in the room, then flipped the privacy lock.

Turning, she regarded her friend warily. "Okay, Will. What's going on? You two seemed so happy together the last few weeks." She blushed slightly and smirked. "Just the other night, you were almost half an hour late for dinner because you guys couldn't wait to make with the lovin', but now you're telling me you don't love her anymore?"

Willow blushed as well, remembering what had happened, pretty much as soon as they entered their room, even as she shook her head in denial of Buffy's statement. "I never said that, Buffy. I do love her. A lot, in fact, and she loves me, but neither of us is in love with the other." She sighed as she saw that Buffy still didn't get it, was, in fact, still stuck on the news of the breakup, not really hearing the reasons. "Not like I was in love with Tara."

Buffy winced at Tara's name. Was that it? she wondered. Was it that Willow couldn't get past comparisons of her dead lover and Kennedy got tired of trying to compete? She looked up again at Willow's little frustrated growl.

The witch had watched her friend's face and figured out what she was thinking. "No, it wasn't because she's not Tara. Kennedy understood how I felt about Tara. She didn't have a problem with it and I believed her when she told me she didn't feel threatened or that she was competing with a ghost." Green eyes looked down as a wave of sadness washed over the redhead. Taking a deep breath, she threw off the feeling of melancholy with a little shake of her head. "The point is, what she and I had was real, but it's run it's course."

Buffy leaned against the low dresser opposite the beds, as she thought over the Wiccan's words, trying to see what Willow was getting at. "So, what? You guys were just situational? If we hadn't been fighting for our lives, the fact that we might've died at any time, is that the only reason you were together? Now that we've beaten the First and you're both alive, you no longer want to try a relationship?"

"No, that's not it at all!" Willow almost yelled. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to calm down. After a moment, she looked at Buffy. "Buffy, no matter what, as long as Kennedy came to Sunnydale and I met her, we'd have started dating. Yes, she kinda forced things at the beginning, but I needed that, needed her." Willow stood and took a step closer to the blonde. "I needed Kennedy to show me that it was okay to move on, that it wasn't betraying Tara's memory to love someone else. She helped me to see and accept that and I will always love her for that."

The redhead took a deep breath and continued before Buffy could say anything. "And, frankly, without sounding all self important, she needed me, too." Buffy looked at her, confused and Willow smiled. "Before she met me and, by extension, the Scoobies, she approached relationships almost like Faith. Not as quick or as crudely, but just as brief. She once told me her longest relationship before me was two weeks and it was just about the sex. She'd never dated anyone just cause she found them attractive and wanted to be around them. It was always about sex."

A small part of Buffy's mind registered that this was the first time she'd ever heard Willow say the word sex and not blush, but she paid scant attention to it.

"Then she and I got together," Willow continued. "Don't think she didn't wanna make with the naked snuggles right away, cause she did, but when I said no, that I couldn't, she backed off and waited. When we finally did make love, it was incredible, mostly cause that's what we did. We made love, not just had sex. I had done that before, lots of times with Oz and Tara both, but she never had, not before that night."

Willow smiled gently, remembering that night. Refocusing on Buffy, her smile turned a little shy and she blushed slightly. "I think now, when she does meet the person she's meant to be with, she'll accept it as a loving relationship, not just a sexual one. At least, I hope so," she added quietly. Giving her head a little shake, she smiled at her long time friend. "So, see? No one dumped anyone. We just talked it over and decided it was time to not be a couple anymore, to just be really good friends."

Buffy stood quietly, her gaze on the redhead, but not seeing her as she turned over everything Willow has said in her mind, her thoughts whirling and mixing in a jumble. Slowly, she made sense of everything and her eyes focused on the elfin features of her closest friend. "She really didn't dump you? You're not hurt or anything?" Hazel eyes darkened as they narrowed. "Did she cheat and you just don't want me to kick her ass? Cause, you know, no one hurts my Willow!" She declared fiercely.

Willow smiled, even as she blushed at Buffy's possessive, protective tone. "No, she didn't cheat on me! It really was just time to split up, Buffy. That's all." She paused, then looked down shyly. "Well, mostly all." She took a deep breath, seeming to be nervous. "Remember I said she helped me accept that it was okay to love someone other than Tara?"

Buffy nodded and smiled a little. "Yeah. I'm glad for that, cause I was worried." Her eyes suddenly narrowed and she cocked her head suspiciously. "Why? You already have someone else you wanna ask out? Oh God!" She exclaimed, her eyes wide now. "Please tell me it's not Faith!"

Willow just stared at her for a second, then broke up laughing, shaking her head. "Me and Faith?! So not! I mean, I like Faith now, but me and her together?" The redhead gave a little mock shudder. "Besides, I think she occasionally likes to play with the girls, but she mostly likes guys, remember?" She laughed at Buffy's almost comical expression of relief, then the witch's expression sobered. "Can I ask you kind of a weird question?"

Buffy smiled and reached out, touching Willow's arm lightly and quickly. "Will, you can ask me anything, you know that. Even weird things," she grinned.

"Do you remember the first night you were in the Bronze? What we talked about?"

The petite woman looked at the floor as she cast her mind back seven years. Finally, she said, "I remember you telling me about Xander stealing your Barbie." They both grin at the thought. "I remember talking about guys and that you couldn't talk to them. Why? What part did you have in mind?"

Willow smiled mysteriously, though her cheeks were a little pinker than normal. "You gave me some advice that night. Okay, it was kinda bad advice that first time, but it was pretty good after that. Do you remember what you told me?"

Slowly, Buffy smiled as the memories of that night returned to her. "Yeah. I said you should seize the moment, cause tomorrow you might be dead."

Willow smiled and took a step forward. "That's right." She took another step, into Buffy's personal space, sliding her left hand up to rest lightly on the blonde's hip. She cupped the Slayer's cheek with her right hand, her fingers sliding into golden tresses.

Buffy tried to move, but her back was against the dresser, so she settled for moving her head back, confused by the redhead's actions and the intense expression on her face. "W-Willow? What are you doing?"

Willow smiled gently. "Seizing the moment," she replied in a whisper. Leaning forward a little more, she gently captured the Slayer's lips with her own.

To Be Continued...

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