NOT TO THROW IT BACK IN YOUR FACE OR ANYTHING, BUT THAT KINDA SOUNDS LIKE A JINX.

[ 4.15 — 4.16 ]

"Think you should connect those two wires."

"And I think that would blow us up."

"You don't know shit, Xander."

"I know a little more about complex military-grade weaponry than you do, Kitty."

"Not much more," Kitty mumbled, crossing her arms to childishly pout.

Kitty and Xander, along with Buffy, Giles, and Willow were all in the basement. At Buffy's request, Xander was taking apart the faulty blaster that Professor Walsh gave her, in hopes to use it against Adam if they could get it working again. Kitty was standing next to Xander and his workbench, giving her input on what to do. She called it 'helping' — he called it 'hindering.'

"Can you repair it?" Buffy asked, cutting off Kitty and Xander's banter.

"Sure. As soon as I get my master's degree in advanced starship technology," Xander muttered, pushing the blaster aside. There was likely no way he could fix it properly.

"Well, why don't we experiment? Press some buttons, see what happens," Willow suggested.

"That's what I was saying. Just connect those two frayed wires — the red and yellow ones," Kitty said, pointing them about. "Maybe something will happen."

"Sounds like your plan is to blow us up," Xander told her, rolling his eyebrows.

"I'd like to veto that," Giles chimed in. He was across the room and sorting all the laundry.

"Second," he said. "It's called a blaster, Kit, Will, a word that tends to discourage experimentation. Now, if it were called the Orgazmater, I'd be the first to try your basic button press approach."

Kitty cringed at the sex joke that she probably would've laughed at had Giles not been in the room.

"Just tell me. Can you repair it or not?" Buffy asked.

"I'm working on it, I'm working on it," he muttered, focusing back on the weapon. "I blow a hole in my mom's azalea patch, then the neighbors will not be pleased."

Kitty slid on top of the workbench and held a flashlight over the blaster so Xander could see better. As they did that, Buffy wandered to the couch and sat with her head in her hands. Giles set the laundry to the side and joined her. "Are you alright?" he asked. "You've been patrolling round the clock for three days straight now. I thought you could use some—"

"What?" she cut him off. "Some rest? There's a Demonoid killing machine out there, Giles. It doesn't only work the night shift."

"I was going to say perhaps you could use some backup, but um, now you mention it, building up your strength may not be a bad idea," he told her.

"Just get the blaster working," she said, looking at Xander. "That's all the strength I need."

"Are you sure?" Willow asked.

"Why? Because ray guns aren't in the Slayer handbook? Well, you haven't seen this Adam thing. He's the Terminator without the bashful charm. He's deadly, and the last time we met, he kicked my ass," Buffy said, thinking Willow had a problem with such a deadly weapon.

"Oh no, blast away, by all means," she quickly said. "I only meant — no word about Riley?"

It had been nearly five days since what happened at the Initiative base, and Riley was still being held in the hospital there. That meant Buffy couldn't visit or even communicate with him, which was tearing her apart.

"They keep telling me that he's fine," Buffy said, frowning. "That's all they'll say."

"Maybe they're telling the truth," Kitty said, letting her legs swing back and forth.

"Maybe," she mumbled. "I don't even know what the Initiative's version of 'fine' is. I mean, they could be forcing him back onto medication or torturing him for all I know."

"From what we've seen, I doubt they'll be trying to hurt him," Giles said to comfort her.

"The only thing I know for certain is that my boyfriend is locked away and I'm not helping," Buffy said.

Xander, who was running out of ideas, reluctantly tried Kitty's idea of connecting two wires. That led to a lot of sparks shooting from the blaster, shocking Xander while Kitty jumped off the table to get far away from the smoking device. Of course, the others paid the two experimenters no mind and continued talking about Riley.

"Maybe Giles has a point. I mean, Riley is their top gun guy. Doesn't make sense that they'd hurt him," Willow said.

"All I know is that the Initiative has all those brain-washy, behavior modification guys," Buffy said.

"So?" Willow questioned.

"So, what happens when they start not liking his behavior?"

Kitty sighed heavily. "Could you be any more ominous, Buff?"

♡︎

Kitty did not go on patrol that night with Buffy, and when she returned with Xander and Willow and said what they encountered, she was glad. They found some kind of demon strung up in the trees, which was horribly mutilated with its stomach cut open and guts pulled out.

"I've never seen anything like that," Buffy told Kitty. Giles was out, but this development would no doubt worry him.

"And I can go a long healthy stretch without seeing anything like that again," Xander mumbled.

"It had to be Adam who killed it, but why?" Willow asked.

"He's studying biology. Human, demon, whoever he can get his hands on and take apart," Buffy theorized.

"He's finding out what makes things work," Willow said.

"I don't wanna be around for the final exam," Kitty said, cringing. "I mean, or any kind of exam, but still."

"It's not coming to that," Buffy said determinedly. "The Initiative created this thing and they can't stop it. But we will."

"Question," Xander said, raising a hand like he was in class. "Will hiding in a cavern with stockpiled chocolate goods be any part of this plan?"

"No."

Xander sighed and then squeezed in between Kitty and Willow on the couch. "Told you," he said to Willow.

"What's first?" Willow asked.

"Riley," she said. "I'm not leaving him down there with the people that created this thing. I don't care how many guns they have, I'm going in." Seeing as there was no changing her mind, Buffy started making a plan right away. "Okay. Will, I need you to hack into their security mainframe and buy me a ten-minute shut down of operating systems."

Willow grew nervous, not sure if she could handle something so difficult and important. "That could be—"

"Tricky. Not impossible," Buffy said, believing in Willow's skill. "If you can't do it online, then use magic. Xander, any gear you've been saving for a rainy day, I want you to give to me."

"You want stealth stuff?" he asked.

"No, we tried sneaking in. This time, we're gonna use force. I figure I'll go in through the elevator shaft, use the cable as towlines. Then blast open the facility doors and find the infirmary," she strategized.

"Am I really worth all that?"

None of them had noticed Riley, who came down into the basement and overheard the plan. Buffy spun around to look before getting up to hug him.

"Riley!" she shouted. However, when she hugged him, she brushed the still fresh wound on his side, making him flinch. "Oh God, I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?"

"No, a giant skewer through the rib cage hurt me," he said, managing a tired smile. "That was just a reminder."

"How did you get out?" Buffy asked. She'd been picturing him chained up on a hospital bed.

"I walked."

"Well, that's kinda lame," Kitty mumbled under her breath. Xander nodded in agreement.

"They didn't try to stop you?" Willow asked, frowning.

"Oh, they did," Riley told them. "Repeatedly. But then I told them they couldn't keep me without a major ass-kicking, one way or another. So here I am."

Xander got up from the couch and walked over to him. "That's... great, Riley, and y'know, there's no polite way to ask you this, but, uh, did they put a chip in your brain?"

"Beg your pardon?" Riley asked, his eyes wide as Xander eyed his skull.

"We might have to shave his head to check for scars," Kitty chimed in.

Buffy shook her head. "Forget it. We're just happy to have you back."

"Yeah, we were pretty worried about you for a while, mister," Willow said, nodding.

"Me too," he said. Then he looked at them all apologetically. "Hey, I know my behavior was pretty out there—"

"Xander turned into a hyena and ate our principal one time," Kitty informed him.

"Hey!" Xander snapped, pointing an accusing finger at her. "I was not present for the eating of Principal Flutie — I only ate the one pig."

"W - what?" Riley said, looking at Xander in concern.

"Just don't sweat the crazy," Kitty said, waving those concerns off. "We're five by five."

"I don't... know what that means," he said.

"Ignore her, and forget the crazy," Willow said to him. "Tell you what, you two crazy kids take down a killer cyber demon hybrid thingy and we'll call it all even."

Riley looked at Buffy. "Taking down Adam's gonna be tough. There's no way to predict what he'll throw at us."

"You're here," Buffy said, looking up at him happily. "Whatever comes, we can handle."

"Not to throw it back in your face or anything," Kitty said, picking at her pink nail polish. "But that kinda sounds like a jinx."

"Damn it, Kitty!" Xander dramatically exclaimed. "Now there's no telling what might happen."

♡︎

Another day passed without any Adam activity. Aside from Anya, the whole gang sat in the living room at Giles' apartment, now deeming it safe. They were discussing ways to potentially find Adam since he was so skilled at remaining hidden

"The problem for me seems to be why Adam has stayed dormant as long as he has," Giles said, fixing himself a cup of tea.

"When he's not making performance art out of other demons, that is," Willow muttered.

"He's probably working off an autonomic power source," Riley theorized. "And because he's straight out of the box, he needs to charge up a while."

"Okay, what's he charging up for?" Buffy asked.

"Now, maybe I've gotten cocky or watched too much Blue's Clues, but based on the clues, I'll go with killing spree," Kitty said, laying across the top of the couch, careful to not topple over on either side.

"And that's a best-case scenario. I suppose a little firepower would be a good idea right now," Riley said. Then he grabbed the blaster gun and activated it easily.

Xander and Kitty stared in amazement, as they'd studied the weapon for hours with no success. "Hey! How'd you do that? Is there like an On/Off button somewhere here?" Xander asked. If so, it'd have been very foolish of them to miss said button.

"Blasters are easy," he said, not actually confirming if there was a button. "Adam won't be."

"Since Professor Walsh designed it, any chance she left instructions lying around somewhere?" Willow asked.

Buffy moved to sit on the same chair as Riley while kissing his forehead. "Well, if she did, they're gonna be in the Initiative," she said.

"Which we can't get into without mounting a major offensive," Giles reminded her.

"Speak for yourself," Riley said, earning looks from them all. He shrugged sheepishly. "I'm just saying."

"I must admit, a man on the inside would be—"

"A really good idea," Buffy finished for Giles. She looked at Riley softly. "Are you sure you wanna be Double Agent Guy?"

"I'm not exactly sure what you'd call me, but I will share information. It's the least I can do," he told her.

"Riley's right. It is the least we can do," Xander agreed.

Then the phone rang, and Giles got up to answer it while setting his cup of tea down. "Hello. What? Yes, she is." Giles motioned for Buffy with the phone. "Um, it's for you."

Buffy was surprised, wondering who could be calling for her at Giles' place — aside from her mother, that is. "Hello? — What sort of emergency?" They all watched as Buffy tensed up. "No, I haven't. Thank you, I'll let you know."

"What is it?" Giles asked as Buffy hung up.

Not a single one of them was expecting the words that came out of her mouth.

"It's Faith. She's awake."

Not only was she awake, but she was watching them through the window.

Kitty, who genuinely wasn't sure how to feel about her old friend waking from her coma, stared up at the ceiling. "It's like Beetlejuice. I said 'five by five' too many times and summoned her."

Buffy didn't find Kitty's joke very funny. "She beat someone up, took her clothing, and disappeared out of the hospital. No one knows where she is."

"I'd say this qualifies for a 'Worst Timing Ever' award," Xander said, sighing. They definitely didn't need this on top of Adam.

"What do we do?" Willow asked, looking to Giles.

"Well, we have to find her."

"What about Adam?" she then asked.

"I'd hate to see the pursuit of a homicidal lunatic get in the way of pursuing a homicidal lunatic," Xander muttered.

"Well, Faith's not exactly Low-Profile Girl," Buffy reminded them. "I'll patrol and wait for her to make a move."

"But then what?" Kitty asked, worried about Faith and what condition she might be in.

"Oooh! I have an idea! Beat the crap out of her!" Willow said excitedly.

"Good plan," Xander agreed.

"Not good plan," Kitty said, frowning.

"Good on paper. But we still have a decision to make. Do we hand her over to the cops?" Buffy asked. "They wouldn't know what to do with a Slayer even if they knew we existed."

"What about the Council?" Willow asked.

"Been there. Tried that," Xander said, remembering the last time the Council tried to deal with Faith. It'd only make things worse. "Not unlike smothering a forest fire with napalm, as I recall."

"Well, the Initiative, they do have containment facilities," Giles suggested.

"No way!" Kitty said, shaking her head. That boy in the cells flashed through her mind, who looked so scared and confused. "They're evil, G. I don't care what Faith has done. No."

"There's no way around it. Faith is back, and whether I like it or not, she's my responsibility," Buffy said, sighing.

"Yeah, too bad. That was the best coma ever," Willow mumbled.

"We have no idea where she is or what she's thinking and feeling," Kitty said, now getting more worried. She was one of the only ones to ever really care about Faith.

"Who she's doing," Xander tacked onto the end of the list. He had a habit of bringing up the fact that he slept with Faith whenever she was brought up.

"I'm serious," Kitty said, reaching to flick the back of his head. "Eight months have passed. She could be terrified. Maybe she doesn't even remember. Or maybe she does and she's sorry and she's alone hiding somewhere."

Giles sighed. "Well, perhaps there's some form of rehabilitation we just haven't thought about."

"And if not, ass-kicking makes a solid plan B," Willow said, smiling brightly.

"I'm not going to rule it out," Buffy muttered. "First thing, we need to find her. Then we can take it from there."

Then Riley spoke up for the first time since the call, feeling incredibly out of the loop. "Who's Faith?"

"Oh, Ranger Rick," Kitty said with a sigh while stealing the nickname Spike had used once. "Buffy has a big story to tell you."

♡︎

Faith certainly didn't wait long to show her face. She had no problem confronting Buffy while she was on campus and surrounded by people. It led to a fight, the police were called, and Faith got away before she could be apprehended. But it was made clear she still hated Buffy and definitely was mad about that whole 'killing the Mayor who was like her father' business.

Everyone hit the streets that night to try and find Faith. Kitty ended up on a team with Giles and Xander, and they patrolled around Main Street. Xander had the blaster on hand in case they ran into Adam as well, however unlikely.

"The point being I could be the target here. Faith finds Mr. Xander Harris still in town, she goes tighter than catgut," Xander ranted as they continued to walk. "Got a lotta pent-up feelings there. I'm only saying."

"Yes, I'm sure," Giles muttered wearily. They'd been listening to Xander go on about being a potential target for ages.

"See, I can't be held responsible for the effect I have on women," he continued.

"No, you can't," Kitty said, going along with it.

"See, Faith and I have this little thing between us called history—"

Thankfully, Xander's spiel about their history was cut off by a rattling sound from an alleyway. They carefully moved toward the sound while Xander succeeded in turning on the blaster. However, when they got a little closer, they could make out Spike standing in the darkness, minding his own business as he lit up a cigarette.

"Oh, it's just Spike," Kitty said, her shoulders relaxing. Upon hearing her voice, Spike quickly looked up and noticed them all.

"What are you doing here?" Giles asked him.

"Me?" Spike eyed the huge weapon in Xander's hands. "Hey, I'm not the one out of place here."

"For your information, smarty, we've got a rogue Slayer on our hands," Xander said, puffing up his chest. "Real psycho-killer too."

"Sounds serious," Spike noted.

"It is. What do you know?" Giles questioned.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"Her. Dark hair. Yay tall," Xander described, holding his hand a few inches above Kitty's head. "Name of Faith, criminally insane."

"Have you seen her?" Giles asked.

"Is this bird after you?"

"In a bad way, yeah," Xander said. Then after a thought, he added, "Probably not Kitty, though. They're buds, much to our annoyance."

"Tell you what I'll do then," Spike said, glancing at Kitty only for a moment. "I'll head out, find this girl, tell her exactly where you are and then watch as she kills you." Kitty bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling as she looked at the ground. Spike took in the looks of surprise and irritation on Giles and Xander's faces. "Can't any one of your damn little Scooby club at least try to remember that I hate you all? Just because I can't do the damage myself doesn't stop me from aiming a loose cannon your way. And here I thought the evening would be dull."

He may have been all talk about hating them, but Kitty could see the red friendship bracelet poking out from the sleeve of his coat.

"Go ahead," Xander said as Spike moved past them and left the alley. "You wouldn't even recognize her."

Spike stopped and repeated Xander's words exactly. "Dark hair, this tall, name of Faith, criminally insane. Like this girl already," he said.

The three of them watched Spike walk off before looking at each other. Xander shook his head. "We're dumb."

"Yeah, I think we consistently learn that lesson like once a month," Kitty said, nodding. Then she nudged Xander's shoulder to get him moving once more. "C'mon. The sooner we make rounds, the sooner I can go to bed."

"How could you possibly think about sleep in such turbulent times?" Giles asked. Kitty and Xander, who considered sleeping a hobby, shared a look, which made Giles sigh. "I don't know why I even bothered to ask you that."

After two more hours of walking around town and random neighborhoods, the trio came up with nothing. After all, Faith was currently at Buffy's house, fighting her fellow Slayer, but they weren't aware of that. Adam didn't show his freaky face either, so they went to their homes empty-handed.

"I think I'm gonna make a sandwich before bed. Want me to make you one, G?" Kitty offered as he got out the keys to unlock the apartment.

"Oh, no thank you," Giles said, shaking his head with a grimace. Kitty's idea of a sandwich was piling turkey and potato chips on a sandwich that also had peanut butter on the bread — she and Xander invented it and called it a 'turkatonut sandwich.' Just looking at it made Giles want to scrape his taste buds off.

As they entered the apartment, they were in for quite a surprise. Giles turned the lights on, revealing three men that let themselves inside. One was sitting at Giles' desk and smoking a cigar, all three looking very threatening.

"Hello, Rupert," the man at the desk greeted.

Giles was clearly shocked, not sure what to say. But he managed to collect himself enough to address Kitty without even looking away from the intruders.

"Kitty, go up to your room."

"But, who—"

"Now, please, Katherine," he said, sounding both gentle and commanding at the same time.

Kitty wordlessly nodded and rushed to the stairs. Before she went all the way up, she paused and looked back. The man in the chair was already watching her, as if expecting her to try and listen in. He simply motioned with his fingers for her to keep going.

Whatever they were there for, it definitely wouldn't end well.

♡︎

It was a good thirty minutes before Giles came to get Kitty out of her room. Those men left, and Giles didn't tell her much. He ignored all her prying questions about who they were and what they wanted and how they got into the apartment and how he knew them. But Giles did call everyone else and request they come over so he'd only have to tell them once. Once Buffy sauntered in, they could begin.

Well, it wasn't Buffy, but they didn't know that.

"Buffy, good," Giles said, looking at her.

"The Scooby Gang's all here," Buffy said, looking at all the familiar faces. "Kitty, Willow, Xander, and..." She hesitated as Xander wrapped an arm around Anya, unfamiliar with the ex-demon. "Everybody. What's up?"

"It's about Faith, not surprisingly," Giles said, frowning.

Buffy slid on top of the desk with a smile. "Didn't Joyce tell you? I already kicked that ass."

"I feel a high five coming on," Xander said, grinning.

"Is she okay?" Kitty asked, hoping the girl hadn't been put in another coma.

"No, she got her ass kicked," he said, chuckling.

"Where is she?" Willow asked.

"On her way to the big house. Cops took her off my hands about an hour ago. Poetic justice," Buffy said.

Anya frowned. "How's that?"

"Well, she did all those crimes, and now she's being arrested. I guess that's just regular justice," she admitted, shrugging. "It's cool, anyway."

"Unless I'm mistaken, Faith is no longer in police custody," Giles informed them all.

Buffy stood immediately. "What are you talking about?"

"Watcher's Council. They, uh, sent a retrieval team to capture Faith," he stated. The retrieval team must have been the men from earlier, Kitty realized. It was why Giles recognized them.

"Well, yeah, I mean, 'cause it worked so well when Wesley tried it," Buffy said, rolling her eyes.

"This is a special operations unit," Giles explained. "They, uh, handle the council's trickier jobs — smuggling, interrogation, wetworks."

"What's wetworks?" Willow asked.

"Scuba-type stuff," Xander immediately replied.

"I thought it was murder," Anya mumbled.

"Well, yeah, but there could be underwater murder, with snorkels," he shot back.

"They - they're gonna kill her?" Kitty asked in alarm. "We can't—"

"They won't kill her, Kitty," Giles said, calming her down.

"So, they're taking her to England?" Buffy asked.

"It'll be a long, long time before she returns," he told them.

Buffy then started laughing, earning confused looks from everyone. They didn't think she'd be so thrilled — mostly just relieved. "I'm sorry. It's just, I'm happy. Faith is evil."

"Yeah," Willow agreed. "I hope they throw the book at her."

"I'm not sure there is a - a book for this," Giles admitted.

"They could throw other things," Willow suggested.

Buffy eyed Willow carefully, trying to control her temper. "I forgot how much you don't like Faith."

"After what she's done to you? Oh, I wish those council guys would let me have an hour alone in the room with her," Willow said. Then she lost her nerve, recalling how dangerous Faith was. "If I was larger and had grenades."

"That's not something to joke about," Kitty said, shaking her head.

"So what you're saying is that everything's fine?" Anya asked Giles, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, um, yes."

"Well, I'm glad you called us all here because that information could never be conveyed by telephone," she said sarcastically.

"Well, I just thought it was, uh, best to convene, in case there were any loose ends," Giles told her. "Or things that we might have forgotten, but if you're, uh, keen to go, then, please, by all means, go."

Xander wrapped an arm around Anya and smiled. "We kind of have a romantic evening planned."

"We were gonna light a bunch of candles and have sex near them," Anya informed them.

"Well, we certainly don't want to cut into that seven minutes," Buffy joked.

"Hey," Anya whined, cutting her eyes to the Slayer.

"I believe that's my hey," Xander said. Then, "Hey!"

Buffy grinned. "Lighten up. We're out of danger. Everything's good."

"We still have Adam to take care of," Giles said, as if she needed reminding.

"Yeah. Adam," Buffy said, her smile dropping. "What's up with him?"

"I wish we knew."

"Well, don't worry about it. I'll patrol tonight, as long as it takes," she promised. "You guys have your fun, I'll be out there doing my job."

"Well, I think your job should include not letting Faith get taken by council creeps that might murder her," Kitty grumbled.

"Kitty, you can't keep defending her," Willow said, shaking her head.

"I'm not defending her, Will. But you're all just being assholes about this whole shitty situation," she said. "Just... whatever. Good night, I guess."

Kitty broke away from the group and went up to her room. Giles sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead. "At least she didn't see Faith before she was taken by the council," he said, knowing it'd make Kitty feel even worse.

"I don't understand why she's so worried about someone as crazy as Faith," Anya said, shrugging.

"They were friends," Buffy said, still looking at the stairs Kitty disappeared on. "I'll go talk to her."

Kitty moved around her room, putting clothes in her laundry basket and fixing the stuffed animals on her bed. Buffy stopped in the doorway and watched her for a moment. Then her eyes landed on one of the stuffed animals next to Kitty's Love-a-Lot Bear. A Loyal Heart Dog.

"That's m - Faith's," Buffy said, scrunching up her eyebrows. "How'd you get that?"

Kitty shrugged innocently. "Went by the place the Mayor bought for her after graduation. Saved it in case she woke up and wanted it back."

"What, you thought she'd want to hold hands and sing Kumbaya after eight months in a coma?" Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, drop the snark, Buffy," Kitty said, scoffing. "I get it — you all hate Faith. But I don't, even after what she did. So, I'm not gonna stop worrying about her out there, especially with those council guys. I don't want her dead or in a coma or in some dungeon in England. But it's not like it's my call, so just get over it. It's over anyway."

"Why do you care?" she asked, leaning against the wall as she studied Kitty intently.

"Because she was my friend, Buffy. Newsflash — she was actually really cool and funny and easy to talk to. But you — none of you — really took the time to get to know her. You hardly spent time with her outside of patrol," she said, sitting on the bed. "There's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to hang out with someone if you don't want to, but I wanted to. I knew her before she fell off the deep end, and you can't imagine how alone she's always felt. Now she's going to be all alone in England thinking that even I hate her."

"Well, I'm - I'm sure she knows," Buffy said, coming over to sit next to Kitty on the bed. She reached for the Loyal Heart Dog on instinct. "Especially when you were the only one that ever really made her feel welcome in the gang. She knows."

"I hope," Kitty mumbled. "This whole thing just sucks and is so complicated. I miss high school when things weren't complicated. We just fought easy small bads then danced all night at the Bronze. Now it's all betrayal and Frankenstein's monster and military labs. And no offense, but you don't have fun anymore either. You're gonna run yourself into the ground with how hard you're working."

Yeah, Faith definitely was missing a lot of details.

"Well," Buffy said, an idea coming to her. "What if — just this once, because it'd be wrong if we made a habit — we hit up the Bronze and have some fun? Like you said, I need a break, and it might cheer you up from all this Faith stuff."

"You wanna ditch patrol and go relax? Who are you and what have you done with Buffy Summers?" Kitty asked, her eyes wide. Buffy's smile dropped and she nervously looked at the door, ready to bolt. But then Kitty grinned and jumped off the bed. "Just let me change into something cute. I'll lie and tell G I'm patrolling with you. This is gonna be so fun."

♡︎

When Buffy said she wanted to let loose, she really let loose. Kitty hadn't seen her act so wild on the dance floor since they were in high school. It was definitely fun though as they danced and sang along with strangers who had no idea the supernatural stress they were under.

"K, gonna go grab a drink!" Buffy called over the music.

After receiving a thumbs up from Kitty, Buffy moved through the crowd, not paying attention to where she was going. That led to her bumping right into Spike, nearly knocking him down.

"Whoops," she said, not really caring enough to apologize. She'd have moved on if Spike didn't roll his eyes in annoyance.

"Oh, you," he said flatly, not pleased with running into her.

"And you," Buffy said slowly, eying the unfamiliar face.

"What, are you keeping tabs on me? You're gonna give me a hard time now?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, do I usually give you a hard time?" she asked, leaning against the support beam under the stairs.

"Very funny," Spike said, rolling his eyes. "Well, you don't have to worry about me drinking. Unless you're here to protect innocent beers."

After holding up his drink, Spike stepped away. But Buffy followed, putting together the puzzle pieces. "You're a vampire."

"Was," he corrected bitterly. "And as soon as I get this chip out of my head, I'll be a vampire again. But until then, I'm just as helpless as a kitten up a tree. So why don't you sod off?"

Buffy shrugged and turned away. "Okay."

That only pissed Spike off — the fact that the Slayer didn't even bother with him now. "Oh, fine! Throw it in my face! Spike's not a threat anymore. I'll turn my back. He can't hurt me."

"Spike?" Buffy said. Then the realization hit her, and she smirked at him. "Spike. William the Bloody with a chip in his head. I kind of love this town."

"You know why I really hate you, Summers?" Spike asked, glaring at her.

Deciding to have fun, she stepped closer. "Cause I'm a stuck-up tight-ass with no sense of fun?"

"Well, yeah," he mumbled, kind of bummed she said it. "That covers a lot of it."

"Cause I could do anything I want, and instead, I choose to pout and whine and feel the burden of slayerness? I mean, I could be rich, I could be famous, I could have anything," Buffy continued. She eyed Spike hungrily and stepped even closer, putting her hands on his chest much to his confusion. "Anyone. Even you, Spike. I could ride you at a gallop until your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up. I've got muscles you've never even dreamed of. I could squeeze you until you popped like warm champagne, and you'd beg me to hurt you just a little bit more. And you know why I don't? Because it's wrong."

Instead of reacting as she thought he might, Spike rolled his eyes and pushed Buffy enough to get her off him. His eyes moved away from her face. "Keep your galloping to yourself, Goldilocks. Even if you weren't wound so tight, I couldn't be less interested."

Buffy raised an eyebrow at that, knowing most men would have trouble swallowing properly after a proposition like that, let alone be able to shoot her down. She found his gaze locked on something across the room and sought it out. She certainly wasn't expecting for his eyes to be locked on Kitty, who was dancing with a few girls they'd met at the bar.

"What do you think you're playing at?" Buffy asked, growing angry and protective as the vampire practically leered at Kitty in a short dress. Spike quickly looked back at Buffy, not meaning for her to catch on to him watching Kitty — which he'd been doing since the moment he stepped in the joint.

"I don't know what you're on about, Slayer," Spike said casually.

Buffy grabbed the front of Spike's shirt and roughly pinned him to the nearby wall, glaring harshly. "Stay away from Kitty, or I'll be using those muscles I mentioned to rip out those wandering eyeballs and feed them to you."

Then she released him, but not without shoving him in the direction of the door. Spike glared right back, practically shaking with anger. "I get this chip out, you and me are gonna have a confrontation."

"Count on it," she said lowly before walking off.

Spike let out a frustrated sigh before his eyes found Kitty once more. Now she was dancing with some boy she didn't even know the name of, not caring as his hands traveled down her side. Spike clenched his jaw before hurling his bottle of beer into the wall, smashing it. As he stalked toward the door, he shoved two people out of his way, only to immediately clutch his head in pain from the chip.

♡︎

After an hour of dancing with Buffy, Kitty excused herself to go to the bathroom. On the way back, she spotted a familiar redhead with a not-so-familiar girl at her side. Kitty quickly maneuvered through the crowd to intercept them.

"Willow!" she called to get her attention. Both girls turned to Kitty in the crowd. "Hey, I didn't know you were coming tonight."

"Well, Tara's never been, so I thought I'd show her what the big hype is," she said. Then Willow smiled nervously and gestured to Tara. "Kitty, this is Tara — officially, not just seeing each other at the Wicca thing."

"Hi," Tara greeted shyly.

"It's so great to finally meet you," Kitty said, a warm smile on her lips. Already, the connection between her and Willow was humming happily, and that made Kitty happy. Seeing them together in person only confirmed the suspicions she had. "I have been waiting to meet the one that puts such a big smile on Will's face."

Tara's cheeks heated up. "Oh, sh - she talks about you a - a lot too," she said, nervously stuttering a bit.

"Well, come on," Kitty said, taking both Willow and Tara's hands to lead them through the crowded club. She made sure to look at Tara and make her feel included as she talked. "Let's find Buff. You'll love her. Then we can all get to know each other better."

"That s - sounds fun," Tara said, smiling softly. She hadn't been expecting to meet any of Willow's friends tonight, but it was going well so far.

"Buffy is here?" Willow asked, thinking that she'd be on patrol.

Kitty simply nodded and let go of Willow's hand to point her out. Buffy was with some of the people they'd met and was chanting, "Chug, chug, chug," as one of the guys tried to down a bottle of beer.

"Hey, Buffy," Willow greeted once they were close enough.

"Willow and, uh—" Buffy stopped at Tara, unsure of who she was.

It was alright that she didn't know this time. Willow smiled nervously and introduced them. "Buffy, this is Tara."

"Hi," Tara said, managing a small wave.

"So, we've never met," Buffy said to make sure. Tara shook her head. "Cool. Just have a thing with names."

"Tara was in my Wicca group," Willow explained. Buffy nodded in understanding before moving to plop down on a couch, and the other girls joined her. "So, what's up? Patrol a no go?"

"Got tired. You know, the whole Faith thing. I let off some steam," Buffy told her. Kitty didn't interject and blow the lie by admitting they never went on patrol.

"Good for you," Willow said, smiling. "You shouldn't work yourself too hard."

"That's my philosophy," Buffy said, leaning back with her arms behind her head.

"Anyone want a soda?" Willow asked. Buffy just shook her head.

"Water," Tara requested, looking at her.

"I want a Kitty special," Kitty said, getting off the couch. "I'll help carry."

"You know the Kitty special is just a Shirly Temple with sprite instead of ginger ale and cherry syrup instead of grenadine, right?" Willow asked with a smile as they moved to the bar and got in line.

"Yes, but the Kitty special makes those changes," she stated. "I don't like ginger ale and cherry syrup is just better than grenadine — cherry tastes better than pomegranate."

"Well, I still can't believe you convinced Jason to put it on the menu," she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Because it's a superior drink for those that can't order alcohol yet," Kitty said. "And also... I used my super Cupid flirting skills because I wanted a drink named after me."

Willow snorted, easily picturing that scene. But then her amused smile dropped as she spotted a man leading a girl through the crowd. Based on his way outdated fashion choices, she guessed he was a vampire.

"Let's tell Buffy," Willow said, nodding to the vampire in question. The two quickly made their way back to the couch. They were too preoccupied to notice out shaken up Tara looked after only a few moments with Buffy. "Buffy, guy in the corner."

"Yeah. Good call," Buffy said, leaning back against the couch.

"What?" Tara asked, looking to see what was so special.

"Vampire," Kitty said matter-of-factly.

"Wicked obvious," Buffy said. Then she realized that Willow and Kitty were waiting for her to act. " So, I should slay him."

"You want help?" Willow offered as she got up.

"Nah, I got it." Buffy went after the vampire, picking up a pool stick on the way, planning to get it done quickly.

And she did get it done quickly — Slaying happened faster when you weren't making puns and toying with the vampires. By the time she returned, Tara complained to Willow about not feeling well. She didn't want to really tell her what was wrong until they were alone and away from Buffy.

"Everything poofed?" Willow asked Buffy.

"All's well in the world," Buffy assured them.

"Tara's not feeling well. I'm gonna walk her home," Willow said, looking back at Tara who was standing a few feet back.

"Yeah. You give her whatever she needs," Buffy said, a devilish smile on her face.

"Are you gonna be in later, or you going over to Riley's?" Willow asked, just wanting to check.

Buffy blinked several times as she thought it over before smiling. "I think I'll go to Riley's. Don't wait up."

"Speaking of waiting up," Kitty muttered. "I should get back before G starts to worry. But this was fun."

"Yeah," Buffy said, nodding. She smiled a real smile as she looked at Kitty. "I nearly forgot how fun it can be here with the right people."

"Well, don't worry," Kitty said. "We'll assemble the whole gang one day. Have fun with Riley. I'll see you tomorrow."

♡︎

The following morning, Giles was none the wiser to the fact that Kitty and Buffy blew off patrol. It was a good thing, as he'd certainly ground her if he knew. Kitty sat in the recliner, eating a bowl of Lucky Charms while Giles started gathering the dishes from his own breakfast off the coffee table.

Then the door of the apartment swung open and Faith rushed in. "Giles!" she shouted.

Kitty set her bowl of cereal aside and scrambled out of the chair while looking at Faith in disbelief. "Faith! You're supposed to be on the way to England."

"Oh, god," Giles breathed out, trying to rush to the phone.

"Don't move," Faith instructed. Giles froze, quite concerned that she'd torture him. "Okay, Giles, you have to listen to me very carefully. I'm not Faith."

Giles raised an eyebrow, clearly thinking she was crazy. "Really?"

"Really," she said, nodding.

"Well, uh, the resemblance is striking," Kitty spoke up, not really sure what to do in this situation.

"I know. Giles, you just have to—" Giles had been trying to subtly move toward the phone. Faith looked at him accusingly. "Stop inching. You were inching."

"Look, I-I know what you're going to say, an - and, uh—"

"I'm Buffy," Faith interrupted.

"You know, I don't think he knew what you were going to say," Kitty said. She leaned against the back of the couch, at least willing to entertain the odd notion that Faith was really Buffy.

"That doesn't make you any less crazy," Giles accused.

"Faith switched. I mean, she had some device. She switched our bodies. Giles, I swear it's me," Faith insisted.

"U-um, if-if you are Buffy, then, uh, then you'll let me tie you up w-without killing me until we find out whether you're telling the truth," Giles told her nervously.

Faith sighed. "Giles, Faith has taken my body, and for all I know, she's taken it to Mexico by now. I-I don't have time for bondage fun. Ask me a question. Ask me anything."

"Who's president?" he questioned.

"What does that have to do with Buffy and Faith?" Kitty asked. They'd asked her the same question when she had her concussion, and she hadn't known the answer, but that wasn't from the head injury.

"Oh, yes, alright," Giles muttered.

He seemed to struggle to find any suitable questions, and Faith sighed in exasperation. "Giles, you turned into a demon, and I knew it was you. I mean can't you just look in my eyes and be all intuitive?"

Giles perked up. "How did I turn into a demon?"

"Oh, cause, uh, Ethan Rayne," she answered quickly. "And-and you have a girlfriend named Olivia, and you haven't had a job since we blew up the school — which is valid, lifestyle-wise. I mean, it's not like you're a slacker type, but — Oh, oh! when I had psychic power, I heard my mom think that you were like a stevedore during sex. What? Do you want me to continue?"

"Actually, I beg you to stop," Giles muttered, clearly ashamed.

"You had sex with Buffy's mom?" Kitty asked in disgust. "And what's a stevedore?"

"Alright, let's — um, I need you to explain everything," Giles said, ignoring the prying questions.

Faith — no, Buffy, responded. "And I will after we get Faith."

"Giles!" Willow called, suddenly rushing in with Tara.

"Will," Buffy said, putting her hands up.

"Oh, my god," Willow said, looking at her with wide eyes.

"Willow, wait. you don't understand," Buffy said, not wanting her to attack her in the wrong body.

"You're Buffy," Willow then said, surprising them with her knowledge. "You and Faith switched bodies, probably through a Draconian Katra spell."

"She understands it better than I do," Giles muttered to himself.

Buffy looked at Willow in wonder. "How did you...?"

"Tara," she said, gesturing to the girl next to her. "Tara, this is Buffy, only really this time."

"Hi."

"Tara's a really powerful witch," Willow gushed.

"Not really," Tara said bashfully.

"No, really," she insisted. "She knew right away that you weren't you. So we connected with the nether realms to find out what happened. And we conjured this."

Willow pulled out a box with some kind of bright, green, glowing object. Kitty leaned forward curiously. "Looks like something out of Ghostbusters."

"What is—"

"It's a Katra," Willow answered before Buffy could finish asking. "Or the home-conjured version. It should switch you back if you can get a hold of Faith."

Buffy sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God."

Then the telephone rang, and Giles went to answer it. "Hello. — Oh yes, uh, Buffy's here with uh, me. Actually, she - she's, uh — Oh, all right." After hanging up, Giles reached for the TV remote. "Xander. Apparently, there's a report on the television."

Once he found the news channel, they all watched the reporter that was standing outside of some church. He was in the middle of discussing the current hostage situation. "—and barricaded themselves in the church with at least twenty parishioners. One of the few who escaped described the three men as frighteningly disfigured, almost inhuman. So far, one escapee has since died of severe neck wounds. There is no report on the condition of the parishioners still trapped inside, but their assailants have vowed to kill all of them if police attempt to storm the church."

"Well, I can guess where Faith isn't," Willow said, thinking she'd run from a fight.

"The body I'm in doesn't matter," Buffy said, shaking her head. "Something like this — taking hostages in the middle of the day — this could be something Adam arranged. I have to go."

"But you kinda have the face of a wanted fugitive, and it'll be swarmed with cops," Kitty reminded her.

"Then we'll have to be stealthy."

♡︎

Kitty and Buffy must have had very different definitions of the word stealthy. Driving up to the hostage situation in an armored car that Buffy stole from the council members that took her wasn't exactly inconspicuous. But as soon as Giles parked it, they all jumped out.

Understandably, a policeman came over to order them away. "You people, get out of here!"

"We've gotta get inside," Willow told him, as if asking nicely would work.

"The police are handling this. Just back off right now," he ordered.

"But we can't, we've gotta — y - you don't understand," she said, having trouble finding an excuse.

"Listen, you have to clear the area."

Kitty shot Buffy a look and nodded around the truck, telling her to go that way. Then, she rushed up to the cop frantically. "Oh, Officer, we have to get inside. We have to!" she shouted with tears in her eyes. "Our families are in there! My mother and nephew. He's just a baby. A tiny baby! We have to get inside."

Of course, the officer didn't let them inside for the tiny baby. But it gave Buffy enough time to sneak through the barricade and get to the church. Giles, Kitty, Willow, and Tara had to watch from the sidelines.

"I'm gonna walk around back," Kitty whispered to Giles. "See if I can see the fight from a window or something."

Giles nodded, silently allowing her to go. Kitty moved through the crowd until she was on the other side of the church building. She couldn't get too close but she tried to peer through the stained glass windows. There was definitely a lot of movement inside, but she couldn't tell who was hitting who, or who was winning.

But then suddenly Buffy came tearing out of the back door, not looking back at the church as she did. No one else was out back to see her fleeing the scene.

"Buffy!" Kitty called, cupping her hands around her mouth so she'd hear. Buffy halted and froze in place, looking back at Kitty like a deer caught in headlights. Kitty studied her, something about her seeming different than she was a few minutes ago. Were they back in their correct bodies? If so, then Faith would've already had to have been at the church for Buffy to swap back. Did she really care about the hostages enough to risk getting caught?

"F - Faith?" Kitty questioned, taking a small step toward her.

The Slayer managed a small, barely-there smile. Then she was taking off again, not saying a thing as she ran — both from the police and a pissed-off Buffy.

Kitty's shoulders sagged as Faith disappeared. She'd been with her all last night and hadn't known it. There was so much Kitty wanted to say to her and might never get the chance to now.

But at the end of the day, what mattered most was that the hostages were saved and Buffy was back in her body. Kitty returned home with Giles, both a bit emotionally exhausted from Faith's sudden return and departure — but not nearly as exhausted as Buffy, who was determined to hunt her down.

Kitty dragged herself up to her bedroom, ready to sleep the day away and wallow in her melancholic feelings. As she crawled on her bed and reached for a stuffed animal to hold, she noticed an empty space. Kitty sat back up quickly and studied her pile of stuffed animals.

One was missing, meant to be placed next to Love-a-Lot bear. One that didn't belong to Kitty, not really. One that showed maybe Faith wasn't some purely emotionless evil thing like everyone liked to think.