1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: And here we go with yet another installment of the series of fics that kinda happened by accident. I'm not all too happy about the title (and not only because of the incredibly lame pun), so if anyone has any better ideas, don't hesitate to let me know! Also, feedback of any other kind is highly appreciated.

Disclaimer: The characters used from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer are not mine, but came from the genius mind of Joss Whedon. Any other original characters appearing came from my, less ingenius, brain.

And so, with no further ado...

With the Strenght of Faith

"I still think that this is stealing", Anya mumbled to no one in particular as she watched how Willow took several thin glass vials, looking at them critically before she nodded to herself and carefully placed them on the table, next to the other ingredients she had already lined up there.

"Anya", she then sighed out, turning to give the ex-demon an exasperated look, "we've been through this before, remember? Like, two years ago or so, during that business with the huge stinky troll guy? It's not stealing, it's using stuff without paying for it."

"Sounds like stealing to me", came Pat's voice from her place next to the open door, where she stood smoking a cigarette; frowning, Willow turned to look at her, the demon shrugging at the accusing look the witch was giving her. "What? It does."

"No it doesn't", the redhead protested, not seeing the triumphant smirk on Anya's face since she stood with her back to the ex-demon again so she could look at her girlfriend, "and even if it did, you're supposed to take my side!"

"There are sides now?" Pat wanted to know in reply, confused; Willow just rolled her eyes, then focused on her ingredients again, studying them as she tried to figure out if she had forgotten anything.

"Alright", she finally stated, looking up at her girlfriend again, "I think I have everything I need… Once you're done with that cigarette, we can get started."

"You _think_ you have everything you need?" Pat gave back in reply, throwing the witch a worried look, also sounding concerned when she continued. "Can you make sure while I finish my smoke, please? Not that I don't trust you, but, well, it would kinda suck if you'd make my eyesight worse instead of better."

Figuring that this was making sense, Willow nodded, then went through her ingredients once more; while she did so, she remembered the other spells she had tried to restore her lover's ruined eye, holding back the urge to sigh as she thought of how none of them had had the desired effect, even though she had been so sure that she had done everything right each time she had tried.

Finally, after several useless attempts, she had been forced to admit defeat, to her great dismay; it had bothered her even more than Pat herself, the demon by now as used as one could get to her reduced sight, but since Willow was keen on making life at least a bit easier for her, she had agreed to let her try one more spell, one which would hopefully remove the short-sightedness of her good eye.

"Everything's here", she reassured once she had gotten done with her second check of the ingredients, "I just hope this will work better than the other spells we tried."

"You hope it will work at all, then", Anya helpfully corrected her, honestly surprised when Willow glared at her; her surprise didn't last long though, since she quickly moved her attention to the stuff the witch had lined up on the table and finished the list of it she had made on a little notepad, then started adding up what it all would cost, telling herself that she'd demand to be paid as soon as the spell was done.

Finishing her cigarette, Pat let the door fall close, then made her way to the table and sat down there; taking in a deep breath, Willow did the same, throwing Anya a brief glance and telling her in a strict voice that she should be quiet before she pulled the bowl she had readied for the ingredients closer to herself, taking a moment to sort her thoughts before she started throwing the powders and herbs into it, chanting softly to herself as she did so.

For once, Anya did as she had been told and kept her mouth shut, merely watching the witch and how she added ingredient after ingredient to the bowl; at last, they all had been mixed together, the redhead grasping her girlfriend's hands afterwards, her voice growing slightly louder as she continued the chant. Now feeling slightly nervous about this, Pat gave her best to keep still as she waited for Willow to finish the spell; half a minute later, the redhead did just that, her grip on the demon's hands tightening for a second before her eyes flew open and the stuff in the bowl was vaporized, turning into a cloud of smoke which quickly formed a long, thin column, the black haired woman's good eye going wide as well when the smoke shot right into it, briefly covering it and giving it a milky look before it vanished into nothingness.

Slowly, Willow opened her eyes and looked at her loved one, her expression a mixture of concern and curiousness, the same emotions showing through her voice when she asked if it had worked.

"Well", Pat gave back after a moment, still trying to figure out if that had hurt or if it just had felt odd, "I can't tell yet, let me take out that contact lens…"

With a shudder, Anya turned away at her from hearing this, studying the shelves behind the cashier's desk with great interest; briefly, Pat smirked at her back, once more amused by how squeamish she always got when the demon removed the contact lens in her presence, something which was rather odd, considering the things the ex-demon had done when she still had been big in the vengeance field.

"Tell me when you're done", Anya now claimed, still having her back turned to the witch and the demon, "so I can look at you again!"

"Uh-huh", Pat made an agreeing noise, then removed the contact lens at last, carefully placing it on the table in case she'd still need it; she blinked a few times, Willow watching her curiously as she waited for her to say something, the smile which formed on the demon's face shortly afterwards being all the answer the redhead had needed.

"It worked", the black haired woman still clarified, beaming at her girlfriend and making her beam back, "just perfect. Thanks!"

"My pleasure", Willow reassured her, glad that it worked; the two smiled at each other for a moment longer, then the redhead flinched as all at once, Anya waved her notebook in her face and demanded to be paid for the supplies she had used, Willow just letting out a sigh while, with a resigned look on her face, Pat dug out her wallet.

Anya smiled brightly at her as she received her money, thanking the demon and making her roll her good eye in reply; her dismay about the ex-demon's behaviour was forgotten though the moment she looked at Willow again and saw how happy it had made the witch that the spell had worked out, the redhead still beaming at her and automatically making her smile back before she leaned in to steal a short, but tender kiss from her, pulling back just when the door behind her opened and Buffy entered the store, having arrived for the training session they had settled for the afternoon.

* * *

><p>As always when she had the time to, Willow watched her girlfriend and her best friend train together; since the shop had been closed for the afternoon, to keep unsuspecting civilians from walking in and hearing the unmistakable noises of battle, Anya had joined the witch on one of the training mats close to the wall, where there were in no danger of getting hit accidentally, along with Dawn, the teenager watching the two fight with as much as interest as Willow and the ex-demon.<p>

"How do they manage to not seriously hurt each other?" Dawn asked after watching in silence for a while, wincing when she watched how Buffy kicked Pat's legs out from underneath her, making her fall to the ground with a low grunt, the demon quickly coming to her feet again though with a quick flipping move, just in time to block the next punch the Slayer was aiming at her.

"Well, Buffy has Slayer healing", Willow pointed out in reply, "and Pat can heal a lot in her demon form, so they're not really endangering each other. That's why Giles asked Pat to train with Buffy, you know."

"I know", Dawn confirmed, then grimaced, making the witch give her a questioning look, the teenager providing her with the answer moments later as she continued speaking. "But it seems Buffy got used to having a more… robust training partner. She's started to train me, you know, and sometimes, she goes a bit too rough on me."

"Poor you", Willow showed sympathy in reply, giving the teen a short smirk; smiling back, Dawn shrugged, then shifted on the ground slightly to make herself more comfortable, grimacing again when the demon landed a painful looking kick, only to be repaid a moment later by a punch straight in the face.

"Careful", Willow called out, despite knowing about her girlfriend's healing abilities, "don't bruise her good eye, it's a new and improved version!"

"What?" Buffy gave back, allowing herself to be distracted for a moment; to her endless dismay, Pat didn't hesitate to take the chance given, immediately grasping her and throwing her over her shoulder, making her hit the floor with a low thump, a groan escaping her as her back connected hard with the ground, the training mat not helping to take much of the impact away.

"Not fair", she complained while she grabbed the demon's foot as she tried to land a kick, giving a hard jerk and sending Pat to the ground next to her, "I was distracted!"

"Not smart to let that happen", the demon pointed out in reply, sitting up and readjusting her eye patch, Buffy giving her an annoyed look while she came to her feet again and straightened her clothes, making it clear that for today, training was over.

"Now you sounded just like Giles", she then stated, causing the taller woman to raise an eyebrow; she shook her head to herself, but before she could come up with a snarky reply, Buffy had turned to look at Willow, now sounding curious again. "New and improved eye? What did you do?"

"A spell", the witch proudly gave back, coming to her feet and moving over to the two, "to improve her eyesight. I tried several to restore the eye, but those didn't work."

She let out a sigh after the last few words, giving her loved one an apologetic glance; clearly not troubled by this, the demon shrugged it off, straightening her clothes as well afterwards, then letting the rest know that she'd go and have a cigarette, smiling when Willow immediately said that she'd come along. Together, they left the store, stopping on the sidewalk in front of it; smiling slightly to herself, the redhead watched how her girlfriend lit up a cigarette, then leaned against the wall, shaking her head when the witch asked her if she had been hurt during the training.

"Buffy's stopped holding back", she then stated, "at least mostly… I think. Bit freaky how strong she is, actually, even though I've known her for quite some time now, but, anyway, getting back to the point, no, she didn't, she always makes sure she doesn't. Well, most of the time, there was this one time she gave me a bloody nose…"

"And that was because she wasn't expecting you to duck", Willow recalled, remembering her shock when she had seen how her girlfriend had done just that, had taken the fist of the Slayer full in her face and had ended up flat on her back, dazed, blood pouring from her nose, the sight having frightened the redhead despite her knowledge about the healing powers of her loved one.

"Yup", Pat now confirmed, tearing her out of her memories, "and trust me, that hurt one hell of a lot."

"It looked painful, too", Willow helpfully let her know, making the taller woman smile at her before she took another drag of her cigarette before she asked the redhead if she felt like going to the Bronze for a drink or two later in the evening, Willow nodding her agreement immediately – it had been a while since they last had been there, and she didn't feel like spending the evening at home.

"We could ask the rest if they wanna come along, too", she added, "unless you want this to be an exclusive Willow-Pat-date."

"I'm fine with the others coming along", the demon shrugged in reply, making the redhead smile in response; the taller woman smirked back at her, then finished her cigarette before the two made their way back into the shop to ask the others if they wanted to come along later in the evening.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wow, that place is packed tonight", Buffy stated the obvious several hours later, as she entered the Bronze with the rest of the gang, everyone but Giles being there – even Spike, for reasons rather unknown, but the mood of everyone was too good to worry much about that. "Let's hope we'll still get a table."

"I could show my gameface and scare someone away", the vampire offered, shrugging at the looks he received from everyone before he smiled and clapped Pat on the shoulder, giving her another smirk as he spoke on. "Or you could fire up. We could make a team, you know. Gameface and fireface."

"Then we'd have the club to ourselves", the demon smirked, shrugging as well when the rest gave her looks similar to the ones Spike had received seconds ago; then, Anya spotted an empty table in one of the corners, thus ending the discussion, the group quickly moving there and sitting down before anyone else could claim that table.

"Who's up for beer?" Pat asked as soon as everyone had taken a seat, "I'm paying."

"I am!" Anya immediately quipped, not surprising anyone – she probably would have accepted an offer for sauerkraut juice if it'd come for free.

"Me too", Xander decided to join in on the drinking as well, Spike nodding his agreement too a moment later; Buffy and Willow decided to have some iced tea instead, and since drinking beer wasn't exactly legal for Dawn, she chose the same.

"Okay", the demon said as soon as she had memorized those – luckily not too complicated – orders, "now I'll just need someone to help me carry all those drinks. Volunteers?"

In response, Willow almost jumped up from her seat, making the demon and everyone else smile; the taller woman took the time to grasp her hand before they made their way to the bar, struggling through the surprising mass of people there until they reached the counter.

"You know, for a moment, I really was tempted to flame up", the demon muttered as soon as she was standing as close to the counter as she could get, "just so I'd get here. Why is this place so full tonight?"

"Well, it's Saturday", Willow shrugged in reply, impatiently shoving aside some skimpy girl who tried to push herself between her girlfriend and her, "and it seems some band is playing, they're setting up instruments and everything. Maybe it's a—"

She got cut off when out of nowhere, a strong hand grabbed her arm and she was jerked away from her girlfriend's side roughly, then spun around, finding herself face to chest with a tall guy, his eyes glaring at her with an anger that made her knees weaken; before she could say anything, he spoke up, his grip on her arm tightening until she was sure it'd leave a bruise. "Pushing my girl around, huh? Who do you think you are?"

"Eric", the skimpy girl whom Willow had pushed aside seconds ago clearly tried to calm him down, the guy simply ignoring her though, the witch's eyes going wide when he lashed out with one hand, barely able to believe that he'd hit her, especially for something so trivial.

Before his hand could come down though, he was grabbed at the forearm, Pat's voice down to a low rumble as she snarled at him, Willow for a moment wondering if she was keeping herself from actually bursting into flames right that very second.

"She's my girl, and I happen to be very protective of her", the demon growled at the slightly taller man; in response, he just looked at her for a moment – then his arm twisted in her grip, his hand closing around her wrist, the demon just having the blink of an eye to notice how unexpectedly strong his grip was before he twisted her arm behind her back, then gave it a rough jerk upwards, Willow and the black haired woman both letting out a startled cry when the sound of the bone breaking briefly drowned out the noise around them.

"Hey!" the barkeeper snapped, finally noticing as well that trouble was going on while Eric's girl hurried to get away from the scene, "no fighting…!"

"We're not fighting", the man named Eric snarled, grabbing the still stunned Pat by the collar, "I just won."

With those words, his grip on her shirt tightened, and he took a moment to give her a cruel smirk before he hauled her over his shoulder and sent her flying all the way to the stage, where she crashed right into the drumset which just had been put up there, briefly creating a cacophony of clashing cymbals and booming basedrums, the guys on stage staring at her while Buffy and the rest all came to their feet in shock, having missed the action at the bar thanks to the position of their table at the far back of the club.

Crying out her girlfriend's name, Willow pushed past the still seething Eric, rushing over to the stage; for a moment, he looked as if he wanted to go after her, then noticed that his girl was gone and, shouting her name, followed her outside, none of the Scooby Gang paying him much attention as he left.

"Pat!" Willow called out again as she reached the stage, then hurriedly climbed on it, pushing past the stunned men still standing on it and to her girlfriend's side, carefully putting an arm around her and helping her to sit up, grimacing when the demon let out a few painful noises at the movement.

"Ow, ow, ow, careful", the taller woman then brought out between grit teeth, "broken arm, broken arm…"

"What happened?" Buffy demanded to know as she joined them on the stage while, with great care, Willow helped her loved one to her feet; then, the Slayer noticed the way Pat was clutching her arm to her stomach, immediately figuring out what had happened.

"We better get you outside so you can… go to the hospital", she thus stated, correcting herself in the last moment; nodding, the demon grimaced when Willow helped her off the stage, one of the musicians hesitatingly asking if they should call an ambulance. Immediately, Buffy shook her head, then reassured the guy that everything was just fine when he gave her a doubtful look; she smiled toothily at him before moving up to the demon and, together with Willow, helped her outside, the rest of the gang following in silence as they all tried to figure out what just had happened.

* * *

><p>"Area's clear", Spike let the rest of the gang know as he came back from the quick check of the alleys and streets nearby Buffy had sent him on; the Slayer nodded her agreement, then gave Pat an expectant look, the taller woman answering it by demoning out, growling lowly to herself as the bone healed with rather audible, rather unpleasant cracking noises. Clearly unbothered by this, Spike put a cigarette in his mouth and leaned closer, using the flames which flickered all over the demon's body to light it up; this earned him a dirty look, accompanied by an annoyed "Don't light cigarettes on me!", a reprimand the vampire shrugged off easily though.<p>

"You better un-demon once the bone healed fully", Buffy advised, nervously looking around, not wanting anyone to round the corner unexpectedly and end up seeing the demon, "before someone comes along."

Grumbling something which sounded like an agreement, Pat gave Spike another glare, then returned to her human form as soon as the bone was healed, smoke still rising from her clothes for a few moments, the black haired woman once more glad that she always bought clothing which wouldn't be too small for her demonic form and thus wasn't torn to pieces the moment she demoned out – she wouldn't have minded standing around in shredded clothes in front of Willow only, but the thought of doing so with the whole Scooby Gang plus Spike watching was rather unnerving.

"What happened?" Buffy demanded to know as soon as the taller woman had returned to her human form, making her scratch the back of her head sheepishly while she replied, telling her the exact happenings, the Slayer frowning as soon as she had gotten done.

"That guy was awfully strong", Pat added, making Willow nod next to her immediately, the witch grimacing as she remembered the painful grip he had had on her arm.

"I'm actually surprised he didn't break my arm, as well", she let the blonde know, the mere thought making Pat grumble to herself, "with the way he grabbed me… I'm sure that'll bruise."

"Was it vampire strength?" Buffy wanted to know after thinking about this for a moment, even though she already knew the answer and thus wasn't surprised when the demon immediately shook her head. "Nope… That was more than vampire strength. Actually, it was more like Slayer strength. I'm quite sure that guy was stronger than me."

"Just once, I'd like to go out without some mayhem happening", the Slayer sighed out in reply, shaking her head to herself before her expression grew serious again, the same emotion showing through her voice when she went on. "We should look into this with Giles tomorrow, I don't like the thought of some guy like that running around out there."

"I'll ask around at Willy's and the usual demon hideouts", Spike offered in reply, making Buffy nod after a moment; she thanked him for his help, then let the rest know that they should go home and get some rest so they'd be in proper shape for the research while surely would have to be done in the next morning. "You'll drop by when you know something?" she added, turning to look at Spike; the vampire nodded, then briefly raised his hand as a goodbye before he turned and walked off, the rest following his example half a minute later, all of them returning to their homes, both Pat and Willow still troubled about what just had happened.

* * *

><p>"Maybe he was a demon", Willow stated an hour later as she sat on the living room couch, a cup of tea in her hands and her gaze focused on the TV, even though she didn't really notice much of the program it was showing.<p>

"I don't think so", Pat gave back as she sat down next to her with her own cup of tea, having added a rather generous splash of rum to numb the pain she still felt in her arm, once more cursing the fact that even though her abilities helped to heal almost all wounds, she still felt the pain from more serious injuries much longer than necessary.

"I would have noticed", she added when the witch gave her a curious look, taking a sip of her tea afterwards – only to nearly spit it back out at what her girlfriend replied. "Well, he was as protective of that girl as you were of me when we started dating, you know, that's why I thought, maybe…"

"I never beat someone up for shoving you", Pat defended herself, "just for groping and molesting and insulting you."

"Yes, after I made you stop beating up people for looking at me the wrong way", Willow reminded her, making her clear her throat noisily – before she moved the topic back to the guy in the bar, by stating once more that she was sure he hadn't been a demon.

"If you're sure", the redhead shrugged in reply after a moment, figuring that her girlfriend knew what she was talking about; carefully, so she wouldn't hurt her on accident, she snuggled up to her afterwards, smiling slightly when at once, Pat put an arm around her, her hand moving to caress her hair tenderly.

"I hope this won't be some new big bad", the redhead mumbled after just enjoying the embrace and the tender caress for a while in blissful silence, "but knowing our luck, he probably will be."

"Or he's just some guy who's messing with stuff he doesn't understand", Pat hazarded in reply, causing Willow to give her a curious look before she demanded to know what the demon was talking about, making her shrug slightly. "You know, magic?" she then went on, the redhead just giving her another clueless look in reply. "Of the evil, non-good kind, unlike yours", the black haired woman thus continued, "to make him stronger or something, and then something went wrong. Wouldn't be the first time something like that happens, right?"

"Probably not", Willow had to agree after a moment, "but why would you think of just that? It could be a million of things, potions, a talisman, whatever, why magic?"

"Don't potions and talismans count as magic, too?" the demon wanted to know in reply, making it her turn to sound confused; giggling, the witch shrugged in reply, then rested her head on the taller woman's shoulder again before she replied. "Depends on what potions and talismans we're talking about. If it really is magic though, well, at least we'll know how to beat him then, I could simply to a counter spell."

"Guess we'll figure something out, as always", the demon shrugged in reply, leaning forward to pull the ashtray on the table closer to herself before she got out her pack of cigarettes, removed one of them from it and lit it up, not bothering to use a lighter since it was only Willow who was watching her, one of her eyebrows wandering up when the witch all at once let out a giggle.

"What's so funny?" she demanded to know once she had taken the first long drag of the cancer stick, leaning back into the couch comfortable again; still giggling, the redhead snuggled closer to her in reply, shrugging before she replied, her words making the black haired woman frown at her. "I just remembered how Spike lit up a cigarette on you when you demoned out behind the Bronze. That looked funny."

"I didn't think it was funny", Pat grumbled in reply, only making the witch giggle again before she let out a cute little "Awwww", snuggling closer to the taller woman afterwards and placing one hand on her upper leg, drawing complicated, invisible symbols on the fabric of her pants with her index finger as she continued. "It kinda was, but I can imagine why you wouldn't think so. I'm actually surprised Spike dared to do that and wasn't afraid of setting his hair on fire or something."

"All the gel he uses to keep it slicked back that way probably makes it fireproof", Pat smirked in reply, making the redhead giggle once more, "like a protective layer."

"Good you don't need something like that", Willow smiled, moving her hand from the taller woman's leg to her hair, "I don't think that style would look good on you…"

"Or on my clothes", the demon smirked, the redhead nodding her agreement before she leaned up to demand a short and innocent, but still sweet kiss; afterwards, they both focused on the TV, for the moment pushing the unpleasant topic of the freakishly strong guy they had encountered during their night out aside.


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, so we all assemble here at this ungodly hour because Buffy called you sounding all worried, and now Buffy's the one who's late?" Xander demanded to know way too early in the next morning, as they all – sans Buffy and Dawn – sat around the Scooby Meeting Table in the Magic Box, clutching paper cups filled with take-away coffee and waiting for the Slayer to arrive.

"It appears so, yes", Giles sighed agreement, for once not taking off his glasses to clean them, but focusing on his coffee and taking a long sip from it; next to him, Pat grumbled something into her own coffee, which Willow helpfully translated as "She better have a good reason for being late", the rest nodding their agreement, all of them briefly wondering how exactly Willow always understood what the demon seemed to be talking about when she was showing how much of a morning grouch she could be.

"If we had known Buffy would be so late, we could have had morning sex before coming here", Anya let the others know, distracting them from their wonderings about Willow's uncanny translation abilities; this bold statement even made the demon look up from her coffee, one of her eyebrows slowly wandering upwards before she shook her head with another grunt and brought her coffee cup up to her mouth again, only to nearly spit the sip she had taken back out seconds later when the door to the Magic Box opened, Willow went wide-eyed and jumped in her seat, letting out a high-pitched squeal.

To the demon's astonishment, the rest of the gang stared at the door as well, appearing just as surprised as Willow had reacted to whoever had entered; Giles was taking off his glasses and somehow managing to look surprised and pissed at the same time while Xander just stared open-mouthed and Anya had a slightly jealous expression. Curious to see what all of this was about, Pat turned in her seat, not able to see though why her girlfriend and her friends would react like that to the girl Buffy had brought along, a slightly taller woman with wavy, brunette hair and brown eyes, dressed in – rather spiffy, the demon had to admit – black leather pants and a matching top and jacket of the same material.

"What is she doing here?" Willow finally was the first one to say something, coming to her feet so hurriedly she almost threw over her chair; this made Pat look at her again, the witch not noticing her girlfriend's obvious confusion though as she was too busy looking daggers at the woman Buffy and Dawn had brought in with them.

"I'd like to know that as well", Giles added, getting up from his seat, too; clearly nervous, the strange woman shuffled her feet while Buffy took a step forward and in front of her, almost as if to protect her.

"She came to me yesterday evening", the Slayer explained, "and I know this is making you guys freak out, but… There's a problem."

"Yes there is, and it's her being here", Xander gave back, now getting up as well, prompting Anya to do the same and leaving Pat as the only one still sitting, the demon not seeing why she should get up as well, though; thus, she stayed where she was, taking another sip of her coffee – and ending once more dangerously close to spitting it back out when Anya was the next one to add her opinion to the whole weird situation. "I have to agree with Xander, and just so you know, he's mine now, so you keep your sleazy hands away from him!"

"Uh", the girl started, only to fall silent when Buffy raised her hands, sounding a tad impatient as she spoke up. "Can we all just calm down please and talk about what happened? It's really important… I think. There's something we need to talk about."

"For once, I'm the one who's not willing to dish out violence", Pat shrugged before anyone else could say something, "so yeah, let's talk. We can start with you guys explaining to me who that is."

"Her name's Faith", Willow let her know in reply, a tone in her voice the demon never had heard from her before, "and she's bad news. And, and, she's supposed to be in prison! Why aren't you in prison?"

"I'm not so much bad news myself now, more like the bringer of bad news", Faith let her know in reply, moving closer to the table and giving the demon a chance to notice how Willow tensed up next to her, once more making her wonder what exactly was going on; before she had the chance to ask though, Buffy spoke up once more, asking that Faith girl to take a seat and sitting down herself as soon as the brunette had done just that, the rest taking their seats again as well after another moment, all of them looking at the brunette as she started to talk, her words quickly making it clear that she indeed was the bringer of bad news this time.

* * *

><p>"My Slayer strength is gone", she stated, rather bluntly and to the point, something which at least brought her bonus points in Anya's book, "along with all the other nifty Slayer stuff."<p>

"And we should care about this why?" Xander demanded to know, giving her an annoyed look; returning it, Faith crossed her arms over her chest while Pat tried to figure out how it could happen that there actually had been two Slayers around, with the Chosen _One_ deal and everything and Buffy being quite alive right next to her.

"Because if it happened to me, it can also happen to Buffy", the brunette now let the young man know, "and then you would care, right?"

"How did this happen?" Giles wanted to know, putting his glasses back on and eying her curiously; immediately, Faith replied that she didn't know, making Pat frown at her before she spoke up, sounding surprisingly indifferent, considering what she was saying. "You're lying."

"What?" Faith blew up in reply, glaring at the demon, "how dare you say that? And who are you anyway?"

"I'm Pat", the black haired woman gave back, clearly unimpressed by Faith's anger, "and don't look at me that way, unlike you, I'm telling the truth here. You know perfectly well how that happened, don't you?"

"How can you be so sure of that?" Giles wanted to know before Faith could say anything, giving the demon an interested look over the rim of his glasses; shrugging, Pat momentarily appeared confused, even scratching the back of her head as she replied. "Dunno, to be honest. I just do."

"Do you have a magical eye hidden behind that patch or something?" Faith demanded to know sarcastically, giving the demon another glare; holding her gaze, the taller woman smirked at her, then shook her head, to Willow's relief sounding not the slightest bit offended when she replied, the redhead still well aware of the fact how her loved one had blown up at Spike several times when he had made his stupid jokes about her ruined eye. "Nope, just scars. I still know that you lied though. Why don't you tell us the truth? As you said yourself, if it happened to you, it can also happen to Buffy, and we should know how exactly it happened to you if we want to prevent that… And if you want us to help to get your Slayer bonuses back."

"She's right", Buffy agreed, giving the other Slayer a strict look. "If you want us to help you, you'll need to be honest with us."

"How do we know she's honest about the Slayer thing?" Xander demanded to know in response, giving Faith a glare as he leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. "She could be lying about that, too, so we'll trust her, and then kill us in our sleep."

"You could try to hit her", Anya helpfully suggested in reply, ignoring the shocked look she received from Faith for her words, "if she really lost all her Slayer abilities, her reactions will be slower too and so—"

Buffy's fist cut the ex-demon off, by hitting Faith square in the jaw, not with all the strength the Slayer could have put into her punch, but still enough to make the brunette reel in her chair, Giles giving the blonde a strict look while Xander nodded, clearly satisfied by what he had seen.

"So how did it happen?" the blonde demanded to know, unimpressed by how Faith rubbed her jaw and grimaced in pain, giving her a grouchy look while she replied. "I'm not sure, okay? I was in L.A., patrolling one of the cemeteries there, and there was this girl, being attacked by a vampire… Of course I went to help her, and right after I dusted the guy, someone grabbed me from behind, there was this bright light and then, all my Slayer abilities were gone."

"Is she telling the truth now?" Giles asked Pat in reply, not surprised when the demon nodded; Faith gave her another glare, then focused on Buffy again, telling her how Angel hadn't been able to figure it out and had sent her to Sunnydale eventually, to warn Buffy and with a message for Willow, asking her to help with solving the brunette's problem.

Clearly not all too happy about this, the witch mimicked Xander's position by crossing her arms over her chest as well, giving Faith a dismayed look which she skilfully ignored though; curious why they all disliked the brunette so much, Pat made a mental note to ask about this as soon as possible while she reached over to place a calming hand on the witch's upper leg, making Willow look at her and give her a brief smile, a wordless exchange Faith was watching with interest.

"We should look into it", Giles now gained everyone's attention again, "just to make sure it won't happen to Buffy, as well. I'll go get the books…"

"And I'll go get more coffee", Pat gave back with a resigned sigh, knowing she wouldn't be able to sit through yet another research session without the aid of caffeine; immediately, Willow let her know that she'd come along, Buffy telling them to be careful and making them nod before they left the shop together and made their way to the Espresso Pump while Giles already started handing out books, the rest of the gang throwing Faith suspicious looks as they opened them, none of them all too happy to have her around.

* * *

><p>"So why do you all hate that Faith chick?" Pat wanted to know as she strolled down the sidewalk with the witch by her side, giving the smaller woman a curious look; in response, Willow shook her head, then sighed, briefly letting go of her lover's hand so the taller woman could light up a cigarette before she replied. "Hate is a too strong word, I guess, I just don't like her much. Mostly because she held me at knife point when we were still in High School and because, when she was in Sunnydale the last time, she switched bodies with Buffy and nearly had her killed by the Council."<p>

"Oh", the demon gave back, not all too smart, "well… I understand the dislike then, the thought of her holding you at knife point makes me dislike her, too."

"Angel tried to convince us she's on our side now", Willow gave back, the sound of her voice making it clear that she didn't believe him very much, "but I don't trust her as far as I could throw her. And to be honest, I kinda like the thought of her not having all the strength anymore, if it wouldn't endanger Buffy of the same thing happening to her, I wouldn't move a finger to help her."

"Think it has something to do with the guy from yesterday?" the demon wanted to know in reply, Willow thinking about this for a few moments before she shrugged, then nodded, keeping her voice low as they were approaching the Espresso Pump and she didn't want people to hear her talk about Slayers and strange powers. "Could be. Seeing how strong he was… Maybe we should try to find him?"

"Or the girl", the black haired woman suggested in reply, "as far as I can remember, she was trying to hold him back when he pulled off his big macho routine with you."

"Yup", Willow confirmed, then sighed, shaking her head to herself, quickly explaining the reason for her sudden dismay at the questioning look this gained her from Pat. "He actually called out her name when she hurried outside, but I don't remember it, I was too busy being worried about you. That might have made it easier to find them."

"Well, his name was Eric", the demon remembered in reply, "and people should remember him, he made quite the show after all. We could ask around at the Bronze, if the others are okay with it."

Nodding her agreement to this, the redhead smiled up at her, then moved to the counter of the Espresso Pump as they had arrived at their destination, ordering enough coffee to keep the gang on their feet for the research.

"It's too bad the coffee machine at the shop was broken during that one… incident", Pat commented while she dug out her wallet to pay for the coffee, taking one of the cardboard holders afterwards so Willow wouldn't have to carry both of them; in reply, the witch giggled, then nodded, still sounding amused when she replied. "Yeah, but I think Buffy did that on purpose. She kept complaining that it made nasty coffee, but Anya refused to buy a new one as long as the old one still was working."

"She hasn't bought a new one so far", Pat pointed out in reply, smirking as well when she realized that Willow probably was right – after all, Buffy had pretty much led the demon who had attacked them on that certain day behind the counter, then had grabbed the coffee machine and had smashed it on his head with a satisfied look on her face, even though other, much heavier blunt objects had been in perfect reach, as well.

"Because she's greedy", Willow reminded her in reply, "but I bet she'll buy one as soon as you stop paying for their coffee and ask the others to give you their share."

"I don't mind paying", the black haired woman shrugged, making the redhead smile before she nodded and pointed out that this meant she wasn't as greedy as Anya; nodding as well, the taller woman smirked, then stopped walking to kiss her loved one briefly before the couple continued their way back to the store, arriving there another ten minutes later.


	4. Chapter 4

When the couple came back to the Magic Box, they found Faith outside, a cigarette in her mouth and a clearly non-working lighter in her hands; with a frustrated expression on her face, she tried again and again, but the only thing the lighter in her hands produced was sparks, prompting Pat to get out her own lighter and use it to provide the flame the brunette clearly was in need of.

"Thank ya", Faith sighed as soon as the cigarette had been lit up, taking a deep drag from it before she helped herself to one of the coffee cups; curious despite her dislike for the brunette, Willow just had to ask since when she was smoking, making her shrug in reply, her voice indifferent when she answered. "Started in prison. Was one way to pass the time."

"You've been in prison?" Pat wanted to know in reply, to Willow's dismay lighting up a cigarette as well; not liking the thought of leaving the two alone, the redhead thus decided to wait out here with her girlfriend until they both would've finished their smokes, only to have Anya ruin her plans as the ex-demon had spotted her through the glass door and came outside as well, demanding that she'd come inside so they could all get their coffee.

Grudgingly, she did so, the door falling close behind her and cutting off Faith's answer to Pat's question; with Anya's help, she handed out the coffee to everyone, then sat down and asked if they had found anything while Pat and she had been gone.

"There are several ways to rob a Slayer of her power", Giles let her know in reply, a sigh following his words, making it clear that he had no idea which of those ways had been used; still he listed them, mentioning poisoning a Slayer's food and drink, something they could probably rule out as a possibility, to various spells and trinkets which could be used.

"How much training would you need to do such a spell?" Willow wanted to know in reply, the Watcher giving her a curious look before he replied, letting her know that technically, it could be done by someone with average training, even though there was the danger of the spell going wrong and the caster ending up transferring his powers to the person he actually wanted to steal from instead of gaining what he wanted.

"Why are you asking?" he then added, giving her another curious glance, "do you have someone who might be responsible in mind?"

"Not sure", Willow gave back, briefly glancing at the door and at what she could see from Pat and Faith through the glass, momentarily dismayed when she saw that they were laughing about something, not liking the thought of the two bonding, "there was this guy at the Bronze yesterday, he was really strong, so…"

Quickly, she told him of the events of the previous night, making him nod after a while; taking off his glasses, he began to clean them while he thought about what Willow just had informed him about, only to have his thought process interrupted by the door to the shop opening and Faith and Pat making their way inside, both of them still laughing, the brunette thus having troubles to finish the sentence she apparently had started outside. "…and then she just sat down on her butt right there, you should have seen her face!"

Even though she knew it was silly, Willow couldn't help herself, but feel a pang of jealousy when she saw her girlfriend and the rogue Slayer chuckle together over what probably was some trivial story from her time in prison; she gave her best not to let her dismay show while Pat sat down next to her and smiled at her, forcing herself to smile back, telling herself that there was not the slightest reason for jealousy.

"Are you sure this man you encountered yesterday wasn't a vampire, or a demon?" the Watcher demanded to know as soon as the demon had made herself comfortable; she nodded, briefly glancing at Faith before she repeated what she had said to Buffy the evening before. "That was more than vampire strength. More like Slayer strength."

"You didn't happen to see who was grabbing you from behind, right?" Buffy wanted to know in response, looking at Faith; to her dismay, the brunette shook her head, then her eyes lit up as she remembered something, sounding surprisingly eager when she spoke up. "But I remember what the girl looked like. Maybe that'll help, if it's the same chick, I'll recognize her for sure."

"You think he used her as bait?" Xander wanted to know in reply, sounding so shocked that it was almost comical, his eyes growing even bigger when, after thinking about this for a moment, Faith nodded her agreement, sounding thoughtful when she spoke up again. "Sure, makes sense… He clearly knew I'm a Slayer, I don't think he'd try to get my strength and stuff if he'd thought I'm just a normal chick."

"So he also knew where to find you and how to distract you", Willow concluded, shaking her head to herself as she thought of what the poor girl had had to endure so her assumed boyfriend could pull off his little stunt.

"I'm surprised the girl goes along with that", she thus added, causing Giles to wisely tell her that sometimes, love made people do strange things; she had to admit that he probably was right, after all, she was the one dating a demon, but before someone else could comment on that, she suggested that they should ask around at the Bronze if anyone remembered and maybe even knew that guy and his girl, glad when they all immediately nodded their agreement.

"I'll drop by there after paying Spike a visit, maybe he found something out, too", Buffy then stated, causing Faith to give her a stunned look – before she demanded to know, in a rather disbelieving tone of voice, why the Slayer would be working with Spike, the blonde quickly explaining the reason for this while the rest hit the books again, looking for spells and trinkets which might have caused the unpleasant effects Faith was forced to deal with.

* * *

><p>Several hours later, they all decided that enough research had been done for the day; they had found several spells and talismans which could achieve the effect Faith had experienced, all of them figuring that it'd be easier to find out what exactly had been used once they'd find the girl Eric had used as bait and could talk to her, the group hoping that she'd be freaked out enough by her boyfriend's behaviour that she'd help them and make it possible to take back what he had stolen from the brunette.<p>

Since Buffy would probably take Spike along to the Bronze after dropping by at his crypt, they all figured that they didn't need to come along with her; thus, they all parted at the Magic Box and returned to their homes, agreeing to meet at the shop again in the next afternoon to see if Buffy had been able to find out anything.

"Let's hope Buffy won't run into that guy", Willow stated as she walked away from the store with her girlfriend, almost automatically grasping her hand, "the thought of one guy out there with Slayer strength is unsettling, but the thought of a guy out there with the strength of _two_ Slayers makes my stomach turn."

"How come there are two Slayers anyway?" Pat wanted to know in reply, realizing that so far, she hadn't been told about this peculiar little fact – after all, so far, she always had thought there always was just one of them around, and when that one died, the next one was called.

"Oh, Faith was called when Kendra died, Kendra was called before that when Buffy died for the first time, but Xander brought her back with CPR", Willow explained in reply, giving the taller woman a strict look afterwards, making her raise an eyebrow as she wondered what she had done to deserve that – after all, the redhead hardly ever looked at her like that, only when they were having one of their very rare fights.

"You seemed to get along with her quite well", the witch now stated, sounding so dismayed about it that it immediately worried the demon, "just be careful about her, as I said when she showed up with Buffy, she's bad news."

"Well, we most certainly won't be best friends, seeing how you dislike her", the black haired woman shrugged in reply, "but she had some funny stories to tell while we were having that smoke outside the shop, so…"

Once again, Willow briefly felt jealous, not liking the thought of her girlfriend bonding with Faith, of all people, at all; still she gave her best to not let those feelings show, not able to keep a hint of them out of her voice though when she replied. "Well, I wouldn't like the thought of you being best friends with her, I have to admit that… And, well, she's not exactly known for being a great friend, in fact, she went behind our backs and worked with the mayor back then. She nearly killed Angel, too, so I'm not all too happy about her coming back into our lives."

"She'll probably be gone again as soon as the problem has been dealt with and she has her Slayer stuff back", Pat shrugged in reply, "and it'd be horribly stupid of her to try anything treacherous as long as she didn't get her abilities back, Buffy would kick her ass – with my help."

"I don't put it past her to attack us after she got her abilities back", Willow mumbled in reply, grimacing as she thought of the trouble they had had before thanks to the brunette, "just because that's how she is. I find it hard to believe that she's as reformed as Angel told Buffy."

"Even then, we'll kick her ass", Pat shrugged, her confidence making the witch smile despite all her worries, "she might have Slayer strength again then, but we'll have a Slayer, as well, along with a demon who tends to get pissed when someone tries to harm her girlfriend."

"And I can throw some pretty mean spells at her", the redhead added, making her loved one smile and nod; they briefly stopped walking to exchange a brief kiss, then headed on towards their home, Willow forcing herself to put any thoughts of jealousy out of her mind, not wanting those silly notions to spoil the calm evening she was planning to have with her girlfriend.

* * *

><p>"Sorry to disappoint you", Spike stated at the same time, taking a swig of his glass of blood afterwards and briefly making Buffy grimace, "but there aren't any news about new freakishly strong blokes, not yet. Maybe if we wait a bit longer and give him the chance to beat up more people."<p>

"He just arrived here", the Slayer let him know in reply, making him raise an eyebrow questioningly; quickly, she explained what had happened to Faith, the vampire snorting at hearing the other Slayer's name, then smirking as Buffy got done with the tale, his reply making the blonde roll her eyes. "So, a Slayer without her Slayer mojo, huh? Let's hope this won't happen to you, or you might be in deep trouble and would need your faithful servant here to protect you. Wouldn't you hate that."

"You're forgetting that I have quite strong friends", the Slayer pointed out in reply, smiling sweetly, "namely a witch, a demon, and Giles knows what to do in a fight as well. So, even if the same thing that happened to Faith should happen to me, no, I wouldn't need you to protect me."

"Good point", Spike had to admit, for once not able to come up with a snappy remark; this clearly surprised the blonde, since she gave him an accordingly stunned look, then shrugged it off and let him know that she'd go and ask around at the Bronze, not surprised when he stated that he'd come along.

Figuring that it'd be better to have another skilled fighter around, the Slayer didn't protest, but merely turned and left the crypt in reply; hurriedly, Spike finished his blood, then put on his coat and hurried after her, rubbing his hands as he hoped there'd be an attack of some kind at the Bronze, looking forward to dishing out some pain, something he knew which was likely to happen with the Slayer around.


	5. Chapter 5

"How'd it go?" Faith wanted to know several hours later, upon Buffy's return to the house; she had made herself comfortable on the couch, her feet up on the table and a bowl of popcorn in her lap, some mindless action movie playing on TV, the brunette's attention fully focused on Buffy now though as she watched the blonde take off her shoes and jacket, the Slayer shrugging while she made her way to the couch and sat down next to her.

"The barkeep remembered him", she let the brunette know once she had made herself comfortable and had helped herself to a fistful of popcorn, "but he doesn't know where we might find him. The other guests were just dead ends, they remembered him of course since he wasn't exactly subtle, but nobody seemed to know him."

"Too bad", Faith gave back, "but if he's after your powers now, he'll approach you sooner or later, right?"

"Probably", Buffy had to agree, even though she didn't really like the thought, "but I'd like to be prepared then. Let's hope Giles manages to figure it out, or maybe Willow can come up with a protection spell." Smirking, Faith nodded, slight mischief in her voice when she replied, a similar sparkle in her dark eyes. "Talking about Willow, so she's still not interesting in driving stick, huh?"

In response, Buffy nearly chocked on the popcorn she had stuffed into her mouth, covering her mouth with one hand as she coughed; helpfully, Faith patted her on the back, then gave her a curious look once the Slayer had gotten over her coughing fit and found herself able to talk again.

"I guess you could put it that way, yeah", Buffy shrugged as soon as she could be sure she wouldn't suffer through another coughing fit the moment she'd open her mouth, "but I guess you shouldn't say it in front of her, she wouldn't like that."

"She doesn't like _me_", Faith pointed out in reply, "so why should I care?"

"Well, I can't really hold that against her", Buffy gave back, throwing the brunette a strict look which almost was a glare, "especially not since you held a knife against her throat and actually hit her once or twice."

"Oh please", Faith shrugged the reprimand off, "that was like, years ago. She should just get over it."

"She did", Buffy let her know in reply, "or she probably would have turned you into a toad the moment she saw you. She can do that now, you know. Among other, even less pleasant things."

"I heard about that", Faith shrugged, "but I don't think you'd let her do it. I'm helpless and need after all, and you protect people like me, right? That's your job."

"It is", Buffy agreed, the way her voice grew cold visibly taking Faith aback as she went on. "But it's an even more important job to protect my friends and loved ones. I'll help you, Faith, all of us will, even Willow, but if you do just the tiniest thing which endangers them or gives me reason to doubt your honesty… Then I won't hesitate to hurt you, or to let someone else hurt you. And just so you know, Pat's very protective of Willow, so the moment you even try to harm her, you're in for a world of hurt. Do you understand me?"

"Sure", the brunette sighed, clearly not all too happy about the little lecture, "maybe I should ask Red for her own little Don't-you-mess-with-me lecture, don't ya think? See how it differs from yours. And maybe, then, I could go to the others as well and listen to what they have to say, huh?"

"If you want to", Buffy shrugged in reply, "I'm sure they'd all have something to say. Well, except for Anya maybe, and Pat, they don't know you that well. The rest though…"

"Whatever", Faith muttered in reply, shoving the popcorn bowl into the Slayer's hands and getting up from the seat; she gave the now slightly surprised Buffy a glare, then stormed out of the living room and upstairs, leaving the blonde behind to wonder what exactly just had happened.

* * *

><p>Upstairs, Faith held back the urge to smash her fist into the wall of the guestroom Buffy had given her; one of the reasons for that was that, without Slayer strength, all she'd probably do would be to break her hand, the other one being that the blonde Slayer's bratty sister was up here as well, would hear her and then surely would come to her room to ask her if she was alright.<p>

"As if she'd really care", the brunette muttered to herself, letting herself fall on the bed so she could stare up at the ceiling. "They can't wait to get rid of me again…"

She sighed slightly, upset with herself for letting this get to her so much – before he had sent her here, Angel had warned her that she most likely wouldn't be welcomed with open arms, no matter if he'd stand surety for her reformed ways or not, and she had known that he'd be right, but still it hurt more than expected to be treated like a dangerous animal which might bite any moment. And the look Red had given her when she had entered the store after having that smoke outside with her girlfriend…

"If looks could kill, I would've dropped dead or something", she muttered to herself, rolling over on the bed so she ended up on her stomach; briefly, she wondered how Willow had ended up with someone like her girlfriend, who seemed much more laid-back than the witch, then shrugged it off as her gaze fell on the window and she all at once decided that she needed to get outside, even if it'd just be for a minute or two.

Quietly, so Buffy wouldn't hear, she moved over to the window and opened it; a brief glance showed her how to get down from there, and she smirked to herself while she climbed out, clinging to the wooden frames which had been mounted to the walls, the ivy growing up them all the way to the roof making the task of getting down in one piece easier than she would have expected.

Making sure to not create more noise than necessary, she jumped down the last few feet and briefly looked left and right, reassuring herself no one had seen her; then, she slowly moved away from the house and down the sidewalk, not really caring where she was going, just glad to be out of that house for a while. While she walked, she dug out her cigarette, hoping that her lighter would work now, despite how it had let her down in the afternoon; to her dismay, it didn't and after several useless tries, she gave back, glaring at the cheap plastic thing as if angry looks could fix whatever was wrong with it.

"You shouldn't be out here alone", a deep, familiar voice came from behind her, making her jump and once more causing her to curse the loss of all her Slayer specialities, like good hearing – and the ability to sense vampires, she thought to herself as she turned to glare at Spike, the vampire giving her his trademark smirk in response to her angry look while he moved another step closer to her.

"Sunnydale's a dangerous place at night", he added, getting out his lighter and flicking it, then holding it up, prompting Faith to light her cigarette on it. "Especially for tasty girls. Like you."

Pointedly, he licked his lips, then gave her another smile, making sure that his canines were showing – only to have that smile wiped off his face by what she replied, not seeming all too impressed. "Yeah, I know. 'S the reason why I was here a few years ago. Too bad you can't taste me though, huh? Being chipped and everything."

"Bloody Hell!" Spike swore in reply, now looking and sounding annoyed, giving her an angry stare which she shrugged off easily. "Does everyone in this town know about that bloody chip?"

"Not everyone", Faith shrugged, smiling sweetly at him afterwards, "only those who are important."

"Psh", the vampire made a funny sound in reply, "don't let blonde Slayer hear that, or she'll lecture you on how every life is sacred and important and all that bollocks. How come you're not in her snugly home anyway, bonding with her and sharing stories about your pleasant stay at the pokey?"

"Not so many funny stories to tell about that", Faith shrugged in reply, "and I doubt she'd be interested in the few which are funny. You wanna hear them?"

"No thanks", the vampire gave back, to her obvious dismay, "just been out for a walk in solitude… and quietness… when I spotted you. Just figured I'd warn you, before you get hurt and Buffy goes all sad."

"As if she would", Faith mumbled, then shook her head as if to clear it; Spike raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask her what she was talking about, merely lighting up a cigarette as well in reply, then put his lighter back into the inner pocket of his coat, gesturing at the useless one Faith was still holding. "You might as well throw that one away. Not much use anymore."

"Like me, huh", the brunette replied sarcastically, the vampire raising an eyebrow at her again, asking himself where that had come from all of a sudden; again, she shook her head, relieved when once more, Spike didn't inquire about her weird words, but just walked along next to her in silence, the brunette having to admit to herself that she was glad he was here – Sunnydale was a dangerous place after all, especially at night, and without her Slayer powers, she was fair bait for most of the vampires who might want a taste of her.

"So where are we goin'?" Spike inquired after they just had strolled along in silence for a while; she shrugged, then looked up at him, smiling sweetly before she told him she didn't care, as long as there'd be booze, the vampire slowly smiling back at her and commenting about how he liked the way she was thinking before he led her into the grittier parts of town where they quickly found a bar suitable for their needs.

* * *

><p>The annoying sound of the phone ringing tore both Pat and Willow out of their slumber, the demon grumbling to herself while she forced herself out of bed and trotted over to the phone; behind her, the redhead let out a dismayed sound as well while her girlfriend snatched up the receiver, then grunted "What?" into it, making Buffy on the other end of the line roll her eyes.<p>

"Polite as always at such an hour", she then stated dryly, earning another grunt in response – before the demon realized that this might be serious, after all, the Slayer wouldn't call them without a good reason, especially not when they'd been planning to meet anyway later that day.

"Whaissit?" she thus demanded to know, earning nothing but stunned silence, the lack of a response making her clear her throat and try again, in a more coherent fashion this time. "What is it?"

"Faith's gone", Buffy decided to be blunt, "she must have snuck out last night. She could be in trouble…"

"She probably is", Pat had to agree, her words making Willow feel more awake as well, the witch sitting up on the bed and giving her a curious look. "We better go and see if we can find her."

"That's just what I wanted to hear", Buffy sighed in reply, "thanks. Can you take your part of the town, I'll check the cemetery and stuff… Meet at the Magic Box in three hours?"

"Sounds like a plan", Pat agreed, making the Slayer thank her once more before she hung up; the demon did the same, then sighed while she made her way back to the bed and sat down on it, the fact that she didn't lie down and take her into her arms making it clear to Willow that something if not bad, then at least unpleasant had happened.

"Faith's gone", her girlfriend let her know before she had the chance to ask, "and Buffy thinks she's in trouble. She asked us to help look for her."

"Too bad she's not a demon, or we'd find her easily", the redhead mumbled in reply, grimacing at the thought of getting up and searching for Faith; clearly aware of her dismay, the demon bent closer to her to kiss her tenderly, moving one hand to caress her hair afterwards, the tender touch helping to take some of the witch's annoyance about the whole situation away.

"Alright", Willow sighed after demanding another kiss, "let's go and look for her then… We don't want her in trouble, do we?"

"You do", Pat shrugged without thinking about it, "but it's understandable."

"What?" the redhead gave back, sitting up straight to look at her in shock, "how do you know? I was…"

"…hiding it so well? Not really", the black haired woman shrugged again, making Willow frown – before she suddenly grabbed her at the chin with one hand and used the index and middle finger of the other to push the lid of her good eye up even further, making her yelp in surprise and dismay.

"Hey!" she then snapped, trying to pull back from the redhead's grip, "no fast movements towards that eye, it's the only one I have left. And what are you doing?"

"Sorry", the witch mumbled, still focused on her girlfriend's eye, "but hey, you know I'd never hurt you! Just want to check something…"

"Well, warn me the next time", Pat grumbled in reply, "and again I ask, what are you doing?"

"You're seeing stuff", Willow gave back, causing the demon to raise an eyebrow as far as she could, with her girlfriend still having her fingers so dangerously close to her eye.

"Wasn't that the point of you doing that spell?" she demanded to know, making the redhead nod before she finally pulled back, unable to spot anything out of the ordinary.

"I think I increased your eyesight more than planned", she then had to admit, giving her lover's eye another critical look. "What with the way how you just knew Faith was lying, and now this… No offense, honey, but normally, you don't even see my face properly just after waking up, so I doubt you could've read my dismay about looking for Faith so easily if it hadn't been for the spell."

"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Pat wanted to know after thinking about this for a moment, "if it'll make it easier to figure it out when someone's not honest with us."

"I guess so", Willow agreed after a second, "as long as there are no unpleasant side effects. You're not seeing any gross or weird things, are you?"

"I would have told you if I did", the demon pointed out in reply, making the witch nod after a moment, the couple sharing another kiss before they both got out of bed at last and got ready to go looking for Faith, Willow once more holding back the urge to grumble about this, telling herself that it was necessary and that they couldn't let it happen that the brunette got hurt, no matter how much she disliked her.


	6. Chapter 6

"Well, that was a waste of time", Pat sighed out three hours later as she entered the Magic Box with Willow, making the redhead nod in dismay; they had been searching all over town before coming here, with no other result than hurting feet and a bit of frustration. "Let's hope someone else was more successful."

"Xander wasn't", Anya quipped from behind the cashier's desk, "he just called and told me. He's on his way here now."

"What if no one found her?" Willow wanted to know in reply, sitting down at the meeting table and taking her shoes off, smiling slightly when Pat pulled her feet up into her lap and started giving her a foot rub. "She could be in real trouble…"

"Let's wait and see if Buffy found her", the demon suggested in reply, making the witch nod; behind the cashier's desk, Anya finished with the list she had been working on, then joined them at the table, making herself comfortable in one of the seats, giving the couple a questioning look when she spoke up. "And what do we do if she didn't? Maybe Faith doesn't want to be found."

"Huh?" Pat gave back, not all too smart, "why wouldn't she want to be found? She came here to ask for her help if I'm not mistaken, so why would she hide away then?"

"Dunno", Anya shrugged, giving Willow a strict look when the door opened and potential customers entered, prompting the witch to pull her feet off her girlfriend's lap and put them beneath the table, "who knows? Humans are weird sometimes."

"Hey!" the redhead protested in reply, her irritation reaching new heights when Pat nodded her agreement next to her, causing Willow to give her a sharp look.

"What?" the black haired woman shrugged in reply, "it's true." Before the redhead could come up with a reply, the door opened once more and Xander entered, looking just as tired as Willow felt; he made his way to the table and sat down there with a groan, sounding dismayed when he told the others that he hadn't been able to find Faith either.

"They already know", Anya helpfully informed him in reply, "I told them that you called."

"Oh", her boyfriend gave back, not all too smart; Willow gave him a smile, then sighed, looking at the door impatiently, willing Buffy to appear with the brunette so they wouldn't need to worry anymore.

Another five minutes later, Buffy did appear, but to everyone's dismay without Faith; she looked hopeful enough when she entered the store, but when she saw that the brunette wasn't there, her face fell, her voice full of worry when she asked if no one had found her.

"Nope", Xander was the first to answer, Willow and Pat just shaking their heads in reply; with a heavy sigh, the Slayer moved to the table and sat down as well, just looking dismayed for another minute before she finally spoke up. "This is bad. Who knows what happened to her? Without her Slayer strength, she…"

The door opening once more cut her off, and she impatiently turned in her seat to see who was interrupting her; to her amazement, it was Faith, looking as if she'd spent the night doing everything but sleep, a silly grin on her face as she walked to the table, the smell of alcohol which came off her practically in waves making everyone grimace.

"Faith!" Buffy stated the obvious, coming to her feet, looking as if she tried to decide between being glad about the brunette showing up or being angry about her behaviour, settling for the second option after a moment, her gaze darkening. "Where have you been? We've been looking for you all over town!"

"Out", the brunette replied, making the rest frown as well, "with Spike. We've been boozing it up, B!"

"I can smell that", the blonde snapped in reply, crossing her arms over her chest, "and are you out of your mind? How can you go out and get drunk at a time like this, and with Spike, of all people?"

Faith just shrugged in reply, not looking all too impressed by the Slayer's obvious anger; Buffy held her gaze for a few more moments, then shook her head to herself and sighed, turning to her friends afterwards and giving them an apologetic look. "I better get her home so she gets some sleep. Sorry for sending you on that useless errand…"

"No problem", Willow shrugged in reply, even though she did feel rather annoyed about the whole situation, "at least she's fine… Well, more or less."

"That'll be quite the hangover", Pat added, giving Faith a disapproving look; the brunette clearly wasn't bothered much by it though, just giving the demon a toothy smile before she yawned heartily, sending yet another wave of bad alcoholic breath towards their way.

"Make her brush her teeth before you let her anywhere near us again", Anya demanded with a grimace, Buffy nodding in reply before she grasped Faith's arm and pulled the brunette outside with her, the rest watching them go with amusement, all of them at least a bit glad that nothing serious had happened after all and that Faith was more or less fine.

* * *

><p>"So I guess the meeting we had planned for later today is off?" Anya asked a short time later, after helping several potential customers and turning them into proper, paying customers; this made the others realize that Buffy hadn't said anything about it, and they shrugged in surprising unison, Willow being the one who spoke up at last. "I don't know. We should call Buffy and ask her, but I think she would have told us if she'd found something out, right?"<p>

"Well, she was all distressed about Faith, so maybe she forgot", Pat pointed out in reply, "so yeah, we should give her a call."

In response, Anya picked up the store's phone, briefly surprising the rest – normally, she was too greedy to make calls from there, always claiming that the bill was high enough already without the phone being used for Scooby stuff; she quickly dialled the Slayer's number, then held the receiver to her ear, the call being taken after just two rings. "Hello?"

"Oh hi Dawn", the ex-demon greeted, "can you get Buffy on the phone?"

"Um, no", the teenager gave back, "she's in the bathroom. With Faith."

"Why is she in the bathroom with Faith?" Anya wanted to know in reply, causing Willow to go wide-eyed while Pat raised an eyebrow and Xander shook his head, the ex-demon ignoring those reactions as she waited for Dawn to answer her question.

"Faith is puking, I think", Dawn replied, "and Buffy is either scolding her or holding back her hair so she won't hurl on it. Or maybe both. I'm not sure, and I will not go there and look."

"You don't have to", Anya reassured her in reply, "just ask Buffy to call us at the shop and tell us if we'll still meet here later, okay?"

"Will do", Dawn reassured her, then said goodbye and ended the call; Anya hung up as well, turning to look at the rest afterwards.

"Faith is in the bathroom, puking", she helpfully let them know, "I told Dawn to tell Buffy that she should call here, about the meeting."

"We heard that part", Willow informed her in reply, grimacing at the thought of the brunette vomiting in the Slayer's bathroom; next to her, Pat sighed at the thought of having to sit around here until Buffy would call, getting up from her seat and letting the rest know that she'd have a cigarette, the redhead immediately stating that she'd come with her.

Smiling at each other, the couple left the store together; outside, Pat looked left and right, saw that no one was around and lit up her cigarette with a small flame she made appear on her index finger, Willow shaking her head at sight, albeit with a smile on her face.

"Sooner or later, someone will see you when you do that", she then prophesized, the demon shrugging in reply, clearly not all too bothered by that thought; she took a long drag of her cigarette, blowing the smoke towards the sky before she leaned down to demand a kiss from the redhead, the witch more than gladly fulfilling that demand.

"I wonder why Faith would go out and get drunk, with Spike of all people", Pat stated after pulling back from the kiss, making Willow frown at her, sounding as dismayed as she looked when she replied. "You're thinking about Faith when you kiss me?"

"What? No!" the taller woman gave back at once, clearly surprised, "of course not. When I kiss you, I think about you, or I'm not able to think at all. She just popped into my head when I pulled back."

"Not very calming though, either", the redhead muttered, then shrugged, not sounding as if she cared all too much about the brunette's reasons to get drunk when she spoke up. "Dunno, maybe you should just ask her? Once she's sober again, that is. And if she doesn't run off again to get drunk once more."

"It must be hard for her", the demon mused in reply, "suddenly losing all those powers… I'm trying to imagine how it must feel, just waking up one day and poof, it's all gone. I surely would feel bad, should it happen to me."

After thinking about it for a few moments, Willow had to admit that her girlfriend had a good point; she thought about how she would feel if all at once, her magic would be gone, remembering the time she had spent with withdrawal from it when she had gone over the edge, the thought of how she had felt back then making her shudder.

"I guess you got a point", she thus stated, "but I still find it hard to feel sorry for her, after all she did."

"Understandable", the demon shrugged in reply, "if I had held a knife to your throat at some point, I wouldn't expect you to feel bad for me either. Um… did this actually make sense now?"

"Yes, it did", Willow reassured her, smiling, "maybe just to me, because I'm familiar with Pat-speak by now, but yes, it did."

"Lucky me then", Pat smirked in reply, bending down for another kiss afterwards; once they had pulled apart again and she had finished her smoke, they made their way back inside where the rest still waited for Buffy's call, sitting down at the table again and passing the time with mindless small-talk until the phone finally rang and the Slayer let them know that for now, the meeting was off and that she would call them about it again once Faith had recovered enough to be present as well.

* * *

><p>Once it had been made clear that no more meetings would happen that day, Willow and Pat let the other two know that they'd go back home while Anya decided to keep the store open a bit longer, as always hoping to increase her income; after a strict look at her boyfriend, he wisely decided he'd stay with her, making himself comfortable at the meeting table while the witch and the demon left the store, heading back to the apartment they shared.<p>

"You're up to cooking something for lunch?" the demon asked as they walked down the sidewalk side by side, as always holding hands; after thinking about it for a moment, Willow shook her head, not needing to ask if her girlfriend wanted to take up that task, well aware of the fact that she tended to be quite disastrous in the kitchen.

"We should get something on the way home", she suggested, "maybe a pizza or something from that yummy Chinese restaurant."

"Pizza sounds fine", the taller woman gave back, making Willow nod her agreement; it was quickly decided that they'd stop by at the pizzeria closest to their home, so the food wouldn't get cold until they'd arrived there. While they made their way there, they decided on the toppings they'd order, the mere thought of the food making their stomachs rumble in surprising unison; this made them both laugh, and the redhead shook her head, an amused glint in her eyes when she looked up at her loved one. "This is getting scary. Sooner or later, we'll start looking alike or something."

"I doubt that", Pat smirked in reply, "but clearly, our tummies are—" She was interrupted when Willow grasped her shirt all at once, surprising her by pulling her down into a rather fierce hug; stunned, and asking herself what was going on, the black haired woman returned it, giving her girlfriend a confused look when she finally pulled back from the unexpected embrace.

"What was that about?" she then wanted to know, "not that I mind you hugging me, not at all, but that was kinda weird and not like your usual hugs."

"It was that guy!" Willow whispered in reply, looking past her at the back of said guy as he was moving away from them, to her relief clearly not having noticed them.

"The one from the Bronze, Eric", she added, making the demon look at him as well, a low growl escaping her when she spotted him and realized that her girlfriend was right.

"I didn't want him to recognize you", the redhead continued her explanation, gaining Pat's attention again, "or he'd surely notice that you're all fine again, and would ask himself why… For regular people, broken arms don't heal within two days, you know."

"And then he might be after me?" the demon realized why Willow had wanted to keep their new adversary from noticing her healing abilities; at once, the witch nodded, frowning when her girlfriend replied, with that by now well-known glint in her eye that meant she was ready to dish out some pain. "Let him. Now that I know he's freakishly strong, I'll be able to handle him just fine."

"Maybe once we figured out how he does it", Willow gave back, not trying to talk her loved one out of it, knowing it wouldn't be possible anyway, no matter what she'd say. "It'd be no good if you go to fight him, and then he does his power-stealing-thingy by grabbing you or something, right? When we know how exactly he stole Faith's abilities, I can put a protection against it on Buffy and you and then, you can go kick his ass."

"Can't wait", Pat mumbled in reply, had to admit though that Willow was right and that it wouldn't be smart to go after him as long as they didn't know how exactly he had stolen Faith's powers; thus, she just shot another angered look after him, then shrugged it off and put one arm around her girlfriend's shoulders as they continued their walk, the redhead smiling up at her, clearly glad that her loved one had seen her point and hadn't stormed after Eric, not wanting to imagine what might happen if she'd go up against him unprepared.


	7. Chapter 7

After the pizza they had bought for lunch had been eaten, Willow made herself comfortable on the couch with one of her study books, knowing that she had to get some work done for an upcoming exam; well aware of this, Pat kept quiet as well, busying herself with a novel the witch had recommended to her, both of them enjoying the peace and quiet like that for a while, knowing that such moments might be rare in the upcoming days.

"Think we should call Buffy and tell her?" Willow finally was the one to break the silence after almost an hour, smiling slightly when she earned nothing but a confused look from her girlfriend, the taller woman clearly having no idea what she was talking about.

"About seeing the guy", she thus clarified, snapping her book shut and sitting up on the couch, "or do you think it wouldn't do any good?"

"Well, we just saw him on the street", Pat shrugged as soon as she had caught up with Willow's train of thought, "so there's not much to tell, right? Apart from the fact that he's still around, which won't surprise Buffy, assuming he's after her powers now."

"Good point", the witch had to admit, "but maybe we should keep in mind where we saw him. Might make it easier to find him again, if he's living somewhere close to that area."

"Now it's your turn to make a good point", the demon smirked in reply, "so yeah, maybe we should tell her. Just to be on the safe side."

"I'll call her then", the redhead decided in response, getting up from the couch and making her way to the small table on which the cordless phone sat in its loading unit; putting her book down, Pat got up as well and moved over to her, making a hearty smile appear on her face by hugging her from behind and pulling her closer to herself.

"Don't distract me now", she whispered while she pushed the speed dial button for Buffy's home; it didn't take long until the call was taken, and just like when Anya had been on the phone with the Summers residence earlier, it was Dawn who took the call, sounding so exasperated that Willow immediately felt worried. "Yes, what!"

"It's me Dawnie, what's wrong?" the witch tried to calm her down, without much success though, the teen still sounding infuriated when she replied. "Faith puked in my favourite handbag, that's what's wrong! I wish Buffy would just kick… her… out!"

"Can you put Buffy on the phone, please?" Willow carefully asked after a moment, hoping Dawn wouldn't blow up on her; after a second of silence, the teen let out an unarticulated noise of anger, then called out for the Slayer loud enough to make the redhead hold the phone away from her ear, a grimace on her face, the sight making Pat smirk.

"Yes", Buffy's voice came through the line another half a minute later, sounding almost as annoyed as Dawn had, forcing Willow to fight down the urge to respond with "I told you so!", not wanting to annoy the Slayer even further.

"I might have some pleasant news", she thus said instead, unable to keep the triumphant smirk off her face though, for a moment glad that Buffy could only hear her, not see her. "Pat and I saw that guy from the Bronze, you know, the violent one? The one we suspect of stealing Faith's abilities? We spotted him close to the pizzeria, the one near our place."

"Those news at least are pleasant enough to keep me from killing Faith", the Slayer muttered in reply, "and you'll end up on my to do list as well, Willow, if you don't wipe that smirk off your face!"

"How did you…!" Willow started, shocked, then regained control of herself and shook her head, giving her best to keep said smirk away from her features while she replied. "Yeah, I guess so. Maybe I can work with that, you know, hack into the population register and check that area for any Erics, or the hotels and motels nearby. What do you think?"

"Could be worth a try", Buffy agreed after a moment, "also check for guys named Eric who rented a double room, if that girl is his girlfriend, she'll share a room with him."

"Will do", the redhead agreed, then dared to ask how Faith was doing; when the only answer was an exasperated groan from the Slayer, the witch quickly changed the topic again by wanting to know if a meeting would be held in the Magic Box in the next afternoon.

"If I get Faith to sober up until then, yes", Buffy grumbled in reply, "I'll call you again tomorrow about that, okay?"

"Alright", Willow agreed, "but give us a call too if you can't handle her anymore, okay? I guess she can crash at our place if it gets too worse for you."

This made Pat look at her in surprise, and the second the redhead had ended the call and had hung up, the demon spoke up, a mixture of surprise and amusement in her voice. "Did you just suggest that so you can kill a hung-over Faith in her sleep?"

"No, I suggested that to be a good friend and to keep Buffy from killing a hung-over Faith while she's awake", Willow defended herself, turning around in her girlfriend's embrace so she could look up at her, a mischief glint in her eyes as she continued. "And if I'd wanted her killed, I'd send you to do it."

"What?" Pat gave back, flabbergasted; even though she had tried to keep her face straight, Willow started giggling after the blink of an eye, shaking her head while she moved her hands to entangle them in the taller woman's hair. "I'm kidding, silly! And I know Buffy wouldn't take me up on that offer anyway, she knows I can't stand Faith."

"Let's hope that won't come back to bite you in the ass", Pat commented in reply, making the witch shake her head before she made the taller woman bend down to her with tender pressure; they shared a loving kiss, then made their way back to the couch together, making themselves comfortable there, another hour passing by in silence as they both were focused on their books again – until the doorbell rang, causing both Pat and Willow to look up in surprise, then at each other, neither of them having an idea who that might be.

After a second, Pat was the one got up; while she left for the door, Willow focused on her book again, only to look up again ten seconds later, when a strangled snorting sound came from the hallway. Curious to see what was going on, she closed her book as well, then got up from the couch; before she could join her loved one in the hallway though, Pat came back in, with a tired looking Faith right behind her, the sight of the brunette making Willow's eyes double in size.

Amused, Pat gestured at the couch, asking Faith to sit down; while the smaller woman did so, the demon focused on her girlfriend again, biting back laughter as she spoke up, her words making the redhead frown, then pout. "Guess that did bite you in the ass after all."

* * *

><p>"If you promise you won't puke anymore, you can sleep here on the couch", Willow sighed once she had gotten over the shock of seeing Faith in her apartment; the brunette nodded wearily, then spotted the ashtray on the table and looked relieved, getting out her cigarettes and trying to light one of them up with her still non-functional lighter.<p>

"Could I have some water, please?" she asked after a while, giving up with her lighter and prompting Pat to go through her pockets in search for hers; nodding, the redhead left for the kitchen, quickly filling a glass with water there, amusement filling her as well when she came back and saw that the demon still was patting her pockets, frowning to herself now as she tried to remember where she had put her lighter.

While Willow handed the glass of water to Faith, her girlfriend clearly gave up on finding her lighter, since she shook her head to herself – before she snapped her fingers and made a flame appear, causing Faith to let out a shriek, the brunette reacting with surprising speed for someone who had lost the Slayer reflexes and was suffering from a major hangover, startling both Willow and Pat by jerking up her glass, successfully soaking the black haired woman's hand, arm and most of her shirt.

Stunned, all Pat could do was stare at her; for a few seconds, Willow did the same, then broke down in a fit of giggles, making the demon look at her with irritation while Faith's glance moved from the black haired woman to the witch and then back to Pat again, confusion written all over her face now.

"Okay, care to tell me what's funny, Red?" she finally demanded to know; it took Willow a minute to calm down enough so she could fulfil that wish, still giggling between the words. "No one told you? Pat's a demon…"

"_What?_", Faith cried out in reply, Pat giving her a sour look in response, shaking the water off her fingers, glad that at least, her shirt wasn't white.

"I'm surprised no one mentioned this to you", Willow added, still giggling, to the obvious irritation of her girlfriend, "but I guess we're so used to it by now, we just all forgot."

"Should've thought that at least Giles would remember", Pat grumbled in reply, then vanished in the bedroom to get a fresh shirt before she moved on into the bathroom to rub herself dry; forcing herself to stop the laughter, Willow sat down on the couch next to Faith, the brunette still looking shocked about what she just had been told.

"You know", she then made herself say at last, looking at the witch beside her, "I was already surprised when you were with wolf boy. Then, you had that blonde chi—girl, which surprised me even more. And now a demon? What will come next?"

"Nothing, I hope", the redhead gave back, frowning a bit, "I'm not planning to break up with her anytime soon."

"Good to hear", Pat commented, coming back to the living room just in time to hear her; the two smiled at each other, forcing Faith to bite back a snarky comment about how cheesy and mushy that was, the brunette reminding herself of the fact that, if she'd end up kicked out of here as well, there'd only be Giles and Xander left – and sleeping at Giles' place was no option for her, not to mention the fact that Xander's girl probably would throw a fit if she'd show up their place and ask if she could crash there.

Thus, she just watched how the couple shared a quick, but tender kiss; then, Pat made herself comfortable in one of the armchairs and lit up a cigarette as well while Willow got up to refill the glass Faith had emptied when she had tried to put the demon's fire out.

"Wow", Faith repeated as soon as the witch had left for the kitchen, now looking at Pat, "I never would have guessed. You look so… normal."

"Thanks, I guess", the black haired woman replied, not all too surprised – after all, this was the standard reaction whenever someone found out about her nature. "That changes though when I demon out, as Buffy calls it", she added, taking another deep drag of her cigarette before she continued. "Willow says I look like a red and black version of Beast from the X-Men then."

"Sounds cute", Faith smirked, only to flinch when the demon threw her a sour look in reply, Willow coming back just in time to hear her as she replied. "My demonic form is not cute! Why does everyone say that?"

"Because it is", the redhead shrugged, handing the refilled glass to Faith before she moved over to the chair her girlfriend was occupying and sat down on the armrest, the brunette watching with new revulsion about all this mushiness how Willow started to play with a few strands of her girlfriend's hair.

"But it's not everybody who says that", she went on, giving her loved one a soothing smile when she received another sour look in reply, "only us. The gang. Our enemies always tremble and nearly wet themselves when you demon out!"

"I wanna see it", Faith threw in before Pat could reply anything, making both of them look at her with an amusingly simultaneous raising of an eyebrow. "The demon thingy", she thus clarified, "not the trembling and the wetting. I've seen that before, in fact, I've caused it a few times myself."

"And you will again once we figured out how to get your powers back from that guy", Willow reassured her in reply, not only surprising her girlfriend, but also herself – after all, when she had seen Faith enter the living room, she wouldn't have thought for a second that she'd end up giving her comfort.

"Of course", the brunette replied confidently, then propped her feet up on the table; at that sight, Willow and Pat exchanged a brief glance, none of them saying anything though, figuring that they could let it slip and that after all, Faith would be gone again in the next morning, once Buffy would have calmed down enough to let her back into the house.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Since tomorrow morning, I'm leaving for a prolonged weekend at a summer cabin with a bunch of friends (perfect horror movie material, isn't it?), I'm updating a day earlier than usual :) The schedule will go back to normal with the update I'll post next Monday. Enjoy! :)

* * *

><p>Several hours later, Buffy called to apologize for sending Faith to their place, tentatively asking if Faith was still as alright as she could be without her Slayer abilities and hadn't been turned into a frog or something; to her relief, Willow giggled at first at her words, then reassured her that the brunette was still fine.<p>

"And I would never turn her into a frog", she added as an afterthought, "I'm afraid of those nasty little things, remember?"

"Yes, but you could turn her into a frog first and then ask Pat to kill the frog", Buffy pointed out in reply, making Willow pause for a moment, giving the Slayer time to realize that maybe, she had given her best friend a bad idea now.

"But of course you'd never do that", she thus hurried to point out, "right?"

"Right", the redhead immediately agreed, "and in fact, I doubt Pat would do that even if I asked her. She seems to get along with Faith quite well, they've been watching silly horror movies at first and now they are going through her collection of that metal music she always listens to."

"Oh", the Slayer gave back, immediately sensing that Willow wasn't all too fine with this, but deciding to not ask about it, figuring this should be addressed face to face and not on the phone.

"She was a bit freaked out by the whole Pat being a demon thing", the witch now went on, distracting Buffy from her thoughts, "but she got over it surprisingly quick."

"Well, she still is a Slayer, technically", the blonde mused in response, "so she should be able to handle such things. As long as they get along… I'll take her back to my place tomorrow, once I convinced Dawn that Faith won't puke in her handbag again. Or in another one of her bags, I doubt she'll use that particular one ever again."

"Poor Dawn", Willow showed sympathy in reply, "I imagine that upset her, I mean, it's really—"

She had meant to say that it was really gross, but before she could add that last word, Faith's excited cry from the living room cut her off, making her raise an eyebrow, unaware of the fact that Buffy had actually heard the brunette through the line and was having a facial expression very similar to the one of the witch. "Oh my God, you got that record? I've always been trying to get my hands on it! Can we listen to it?"

"I think Faith just discovered one of Pat's gems", Willow informed the Slayer, sighing slightly afterwards, resigned to her fate when she spoke on. "Guess I'll spend the next hour listening to that particular record with my girlfriend and Faith. See you tomorrow?"

"Sure", the Slayer agreed immediately, once more feeling bad about sending the brunette to the witch's home, "at my house, at three? I'll make snacks to make up for… that inconvenience."

"Those snacks will have to be really tasty", Willow gave back, "and don't forget, kosher."

"I'd never", Buffy reassured her, then told her to keep her head up before she said goodbye and ended the call; the moment Willow put the cordless phone back into the loading unit, Pat pushed the Play button on the stereo, the music filling the living room a second later. Even though the redhead had given her best to get used to the sometimes strange music her girlfriend liked so much, she still had her problems with enjoying it every now and then; she was fine with it as long as there was normal singing, but to her dismay, Faith had chosen one of those records with a lot of growling and grunting, and this was a genre she never had been able to warm up to.

"It's not too loud, is it?" Pat now asked, gaining her attention, the black haired woman well aware of her dislike for that kind of music; smiling at her, Willow reassured her that it was okay, then picked up her book again and let the two know that she'd be in the bedroom and that she had some more studying to get done.

"If we're too loud, just tell", Pat said in reply, making the witch nod; she stole a quick kiss from the taller woman, then retreated to the bedroom, closing the door behind herself, not able to cut the music off fully, but at least dimming the volume to a level which wouldn't bother her during her studies, the sounds soon forgotten as she got lost in her book.

* * *

><p>Two hours later, Willow snapped the book shut, put it aside and got up from her comfortable place on the bed, stretching and grimacing when she heard her back crack before she made her way to the door and opened it, carefully peeking into the living room, not sure what might await her there.<p>

By now, the music had been changed to the kind of heavy metal she could deal with, with normal, clean singing and nice melodies; Pat and Faith were lounging on the couch, to the redhead's surprise drinking beer, the fact that both of them were smoking – and had smoked enough during the last two hours to fill the room with vague plumes – not that surprising.

"Sure you should drink beer?" the witch asked as she moved over to the window and opened it, spotting several emptied cans of the drink in question on the table when she made her way back to the couch and took the seat Pat was offering in her lap by patting it, "your hangover might get even worse then."

"I'm fine", Faith reassured her, with a slight slur in her voice that worried the redhead – she had no interest in letting the brunette get drunk so she could go on yet another puking fest, briefly wondering if she had put all her handbags where they belonged and thus would be safely out of Faith's reach.

"Last night, I had lots of whiskey with Spike", the brunette now went on, giving Willow far more information than she had been keen on receiving, "but this is just beer. I can handle that, even without Slayer drinking capacities."

"Buffy and I had a drinking contest once", Pat remembered in reply, smirking as she thought of that time, the memory making Willow smile as well. "We came up with that after her birthday party, when her and me where the only ones who didn't get even tipsy despite drinking."

"Who won?" Faith wanted to know in reply, at the same time amazed and taken aback by the thought of Buffy, of all people, being part of a drinking contest.

"I don't remember", Pat had to admit after a moment, "we just kept drinking and drinking, so…"

"No one won", Willow filled in the blanks, "they practically passed out at the same time. Maybe difference of a second or two."

"I can't imagine B drinking until she passes out", Faith shook her head in response, her voice now filled with a mix of amusement and disbelief; Willow reassured her that it had happened, then asked if anyone else was up for dinner, not surprised when they both nodded.

"I'll help you fix something", Pat offered a second later, the redhead smiling and nodding as well in reply; she got up from her girlfriend's lap, giving her the chance to stand up as well before the couple made their way into the kitchen together, where Willow opened the fridge and looked at the contents for a while, trying to figure out what they could prepare for dinner.

Finally, she settled on a meal which would be quickly done, but filling; she started readying the ingredients, asking Pat to put a pan with some oil and a pot with water on the stove in the meantime, something the demon gladly did for her.

"So you got along quite well with Faith, huh?" the redhead stated while she closed the fridge, then moved to the counter and started cutting up vegetables there; since she had nothing to do at the moment, Pat stepped up behind her and wrapped both arms around her from behind, shrugging afterwards.

"I guess so", she then said, "she likes beer, cigarettes and what you always call that horrible noise with grunts and growls. You okay with it?"

"Dunno", Willow gave back, remembering that strange little side effect of her spell which allowed her girlfriend to tell if someone was lying, "well, I'm not happy about it, to be honest, but I keep telling myself that she'll leave again sooner or later and at least so far, she didn't do anything to stab us in the back, so…"

"And I doubt she will", the demon replied, resting her chin on the smaller woman's shoulder, "I remembered my spiffy new eyesight and asked her about her plans once she regained her abilities, while you were studying… She told me she wants to go back to L.A. and help that Angel guy with whatever it is he does there."

"Something similar to what we do here", Willow gave back, keeping her eyes on the cutting board so she wouldn't end up slicing her finger, "and? Was she lying when she said that?"

"Nope", the black haired woman reassured her, "unless that side effect of your spell doesn't work all the time. We should test that when we have the chance."

"Good idea", the redhead agreed, getting done with the vegetables and moving them to one side of the board so she could cut the meat she had readied as well; while she did so, she asked her girlfriend to pour the rice into the now boiling water, making her grimace since this meant that she had to pull back from the embrace, but she did so without complaint, immediately moving to snuggle up to the witch again the moment she had gotten done.

Smiling, Willow briefly stopped her – rather tedious, she had to admit – work on the meat to lean into the embrace, then forced herself to go on with the cutting; finally, that task had been finished as well, the demon pulling back from her so she could do the rest of the cooking properly, watching her with a small smile on her face, once more pondering the fact that she could've spent hours doing just that, observing her girlfriend doing the most trivial tasks, without ever growing tired of it.

* * *

><p>After they had eaten the – quite delicious, as both Pat and Faith reassured a happy and blushing Willow – dinner, Faith helped herself to another can of beer, letting the couple know that now, with proper food in her tummy, she'd be able to handle it; to the redhead's relief, her girlfriend stuck to non-alcoholic drinks, also declining when Faith asked if she wanted to listen to more music and opting for a movie instead, briefly making Willow wonder if she was trying to please her now, after the witch had made it more or less clear that she still wasn't all too happy about her bonding with Faith.<p>

"No bloody movie though", she decided to test that theory, smiling when immediately, the demon shook her head and promised it wouldn't be a horror movie; while she moved to the shelf where they kept their DVDs and checked them, the redhead started thinking of other ways Pat might use to make her feel better, things which should – and probably would – be done in the privacy of their bedroom, Faith noticing the slightly mischief smirk which played around Willow's lips at those thoughts and wondering to herself what was going on.

"That okay?" Pat now distracted her from her thoughts, making her look at her and at the movie she was holding up for inspection; after both Faith and Willow had nodded, the demon moved to put it into the DVD player, then sat down on the couch next to her girlfriend and put an arm around her, giving her a smirk which promised a lot of the things she had been thinking about just a minute ago would happen later.

Shifting slightly on her seat, the redhead suddenly found it hard to concentrate on what the TV was showing to them, and it seemed that next to her, Pat had similar troubles; it didn't take long until Faith realized what was going on, and she held back a groan as she asked herself if Buffy had sent her to the home of two love-struck lesbians on purpose, sending a quick prayer to whoever might be listening that they at least would be quiet, not sure what exactly she'd do if she'd actually be forced to listen to them.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Hooray, I managed to get back from my trip in one piece, even though I learned a few things, like the fact that puppy dogs don't like car rides and tend to puke. A lot. On my pants. Oh well. Also, my laptop made it back with me without any damage, so here we go with the next chapter :) Enjoy! :)

* * *

><p>To Faith's relief, the couple managed to keep it down, at least until she had fallen asleep and didn't care anymore; when she woke up again in the next morning, she felt well-rested and relaxed, having to admit that the couch had been more comfortable than she would have thought.<p>

Noises coming from the kitchen showed her that she wasn't the only one who was already up, and with a hearty yawn, she got up from the couch and made her way there, not surprised to find Willow, the redhead busy with preparing breakfast, the coffee machine gurgling along behind her while she put bread into the toaster and jam, ham and cheese on the table.

"Good morning", she greeted the brunette, with surprising cheer and happiness; smirking, Faith returned the greeting, then sat down at the table, sounding honestly curious when she spoke on. "Had a good time last night, huh?"

To her amusement, Willow flinched visibly at hearing that, then blushed brightly; clearing her throat, she looked at the brunette, to her credit not even trying to deny it. "Y-you heard?"

"No", Faith reassured her, "you did a good job with being quiet, don't worry, I would've banged against the door if not. It wasn't hard to figure out what the two of you would do though while we were watching that movie, the way you were looking at each other, you know?"

"O-okay", Willow gave back, still embarrassed, asking herself if the others always figured it out so quickly as well or if it was a special talent just Faith possessed; the brunette gave her another smirk, then found her cigarettes and lit one of them up with the spare lighters Pat had lying around in the apartment, frowning at it afterwards.

"You know, I wonder why she even bothers with that", she then stated, taking a deep drag of the cigarette and giving the redhead a surprisingly thankful look when she put an ashtray down in front of her.

"For public", Willow explained, briefly wondering why Faith hadn't figured that out on her own, "she can hardly go around on the streets lighting up her hands all the time when she wants a smoke, right?"

"I guess so", the brunette had to admit, getting up afterwards to help herself to a cup of the just finished coffee; she poured some milk into it, but no sugar, then sat down again, taking sips of the dark brown liquid and finishing her smoke. Just when she put her cigarette out, Pat entered the kitchen, grunting at the two, making Faith raise an eyebrow while Willow just smiled and gestured at the coffee can; the demon let out another grunt in reply, helping herself to a cup and pouring her usual amount of sugar into it, making the brunette grimace at the sight.

"Ew", she then stated while Pat sat down and lit up a cigarette as well, "that's gross, how can you drink your coffee like that? Might as well spoon the sugar into your mouth without bothering with the coffee."

When she only received another grunt in reply, Faith raised both eyebrows this time, Willow giggling to herself while she removed the breads from the toaster and put them on a plate, then finally sat down as well.

"Pat's not capable of proper talking right after getting up", she explained, the black haired woman grunting her agreement. "You get used to it, and it passes after a while when she's had her coffee and cigarette."

"Okay", Faith gave back, still eying the demon strangely; with another grunt, Pat brought up her cup of coffee while Willow helped herself to some toast, the brunette doing the same after a moment, changing the topic by asking the redhead when they'd have to be at Buffy's place later that day.

"At three", the witch replied, "and Buffy promised to make snacks. Until then, I'll see if I can find some info on our freakishly strong friend."

"Fucker", Pat muttered into her coffee, causing Faith to stare at her in surprise while Willow gave her a strict look, reprimanding her with the usual "Language", only earning yet another grunt in response; she smiled and shook her head, then reached over with one hand to ruffle Pat's hair, something which brought her another flabbergasted stare from the brunette and one more grunt from Pat, the noise only making her smile widen before she focused on her breakfast again, already pondering where and how she'd find the info she wanted on their new opponent.

* * *

><p>"Alright", Willow spoke up as soon as everyone had made themselves comfortable in Buffy's living room and the snacks the Slayer had promised had been served, "I did that search I told you about, Buffy, and I got several results, none from the population register, but three Erics checked into motels close to where we saw him, two of them single and one of them with a girl named Stacey."<p>

"That's probably our guy then, huh?" Buffy gave back while Pat helped herself to one of the snacks and took a tentative bite of it, well aware of the fact that the Slayer wasn't exactly a genius in the kitchen; to her happiness, it tasted surprisingly good, and she wolfed it down, Buffy giving her a brief, proud look before she focused on the witch again.

"Probably", she agreed, "I guess you got his room number and everything?"

"Of course", Willow replied, almost offended that her best friend even had to ask. "We can go there right now if you want to, and confront him."

"Not yet", the Slayer shook her head after a moment, "if he's after my powers, he won't go anywhere, and before we face him, I want to know how he does it."

"Good idea", Pat agreed, "if we go to kick his ass, we should be prepared so he won't end up taking our powers, as well."

"I still think we should talk to his girl first", Faith was the next one to speak up, "I find it hard to believe that she'd be fine with this. Maybe it'll shake her up if we confront her with me and make her see what he did."

"Hopefully", Willow gave back, helping herself to one of the snacks as well afterwards and munching it down.

"We could go all Sherlock Holmes and observe the hotel, look if he leaves and then go talk to the girl", Pat suggested after some thought, "I've done that a million times or so, I can do it easily without being spotted."

"That some hobby of yours?" Faith wanted to know in reply, giving her a curious look. "Stalking people?"

"Nope", the demon smirked, "just some skill from my former… line of work."

"Okay", the brunette shrugged, to the relief of both Willow and Buffy not inquiring further, neither of them eager to find out how she'd react if she'd heard about what Pat had been doing before she had met Willow.

"It's worth a try", Buffy decided after a moment of pondering the suggestion, "the girl might be our key to him, so we should try to get her alone. We should wait somewhere nearby though, so he won't be back while we're with her."

"We'll bring cell phones", the demon shrugged in reply, "then I'll give you a call when he leaves, you'll come join me and we'll all go and have a little chat with… Cassie."

"Stacey", Willow corrected her with a smile, "better don't get her name wrong when we're talking to her."

"I won't", Pat reassured her, smiling back at her; once more, Faith was forced to hold back a grimace at how mushy the two of them were, distracting herself from the sight by getting a snack as well and munching it down.

"That's how we'll do it then", the Slayer decided at last, giving the demon a questioning look. "When can you start with the observing?"

"Now?" Pat shrugged in reply, "or whenever you want me to. Just say go and I'll go."

"Alright", the blonde nodded, "let's get started then, the sooner we solve this, the better." The rest nodded their agreement to those words, and they all got up from their seats, Faith helping herself to two more of the snacks Buffy had prepared, shrugging at the look the blonde was giving her. Together, the group left the house and made their way to the motel Willow had determined as the probable hideout of their adversary; Pat quickly found a spot where she could keep an eye on the hotel entrance without attracting too much attention while the rest moved on to a nearby café, knowing that for now, all they could do was wait and see if their plan would actually work out.

* * *

><p>An hour and two coffees for everyone later, Buffy's cell phone finally rang in her pocket, prompting her to pull it out and take the call after checking the display and nodding at the other two; she held the phone to her ear, merely said "Alright" and hung up again, waving at the waiter afterwards.<p>

"He just left. Let's go", she then stated, looking at Willow and Faith; they both nodded, quickly paying for their coffees before they got up and made their way to the hotel, finding Pat at the entrance where she stood waiting for them.

"Are you sure it was him?" Buffy demanded to know, making the demon nod; after a moment, the Slayer did the same, then entered the hotel without another word, the rest right behind her.

Together, they all made their way to the floor where the room of Eric and Stacey was located; it didn't take them long to find the right room number, Buffy taking in a deep breath before she knocked the door, hoping that they didn't look all too intimating as they stood there clustered on the hallway. Before she could ponder this further though, the door opened, exposing a small, fragile-looking blonde girl, honest surprise on her face when she saw the four women standing in front of her.

"…yes?" she then said, to Buffy's relief not looking all too freaked out; she cleared her throat, then took a step forward, giving her best to sound kind when she replied. "Stacey, right?"

"Yes", Stacey gave back, looking her over curiously, "can I help you?"

"We're here to talk about your boyfriend", the Slayer replied, gesturing at the hotel room behind the slightly smaller blonde. "Mind if we come in?"

"Eric's just gone out", Stacey said as an answer, now sounding a bit cautious, "why do you want to talk about him when he's not here?"

"Remember me?" Faith butted in before Buffy could say anything, stepping forward so Stacey could look at her properly; the other girl gasped in response, making it quite clear that she in fact did remember her.

"You're the one who saved me!" she cried out, almost jumping up and down with joy, "from that strange guy with the bumpy forehead and the big teeth!"

"From the vampire", Faith corrected, "and while I did that, your boyfriend took something from me. But we should discuss that in there, not here on the hallway."

"Oh, come in then", Stacey finally remembered her manners, stepping aside; they all entered the room, Pat and Willow sitting down on the couch while Stacey let herself fall on the double bed and Faith and Buffy took the two chairs the hotel had provided for its guests.

"What did Eric steal from you?" Stacey wanted to know as soon as everyone had made themselves comfortable, giving Faith a curious look, but before the brunette could reply, the smaller woman suddenly gasped again, jumping up from her seat. "I'm so impolite! I didn't even offer you anything to drink! Would you care for a drink? I think there's soda in the mini-fridge over there…"

"No, thanks", Buffy gave back, smiling at her and trying to calm her down since she was clearly nervous, probably afraid of what she might be told about her boyfriend any moment now.

"So what did Eric steal from you? He's not a thief, you know", Stacey focused on Faith again while she sat down, looking at the brunette curiously, this time also giving her the chance to answer.

"My power", Faith replied, sighing at the confused expression which appeared on Stacey's face in reply.

"Didn't you notice that he got much stronger since that scene at the cemetery?" she thus went on, making the blonde frown slightly before she nodded, sounding thoughtful when she replied. "Yes, he did, but… How could he have taken that from you?"

"We're not sure", Willow was the one to answer her question, "but we came here to find out. Did you notice any… weird behaviour from him or something? Or did he recently get some talisman or pendant?"

"No pendants", Stacey shook her head in reply, one of her hands moving to play with her necklace, "and no, I didn't notice any weird behaviour… I just thought it's odd he wanted to have our holiday here, in that town, but it's a nice place, so…"

She trailed off, once more fumbling her necklace before she let go of it, moving her hand to put a strand of hair behind her ear, then shuffled on her seat, her nervousness about the whole situation clearly showing.

"We think that he came here to steal even more power", Buffy added, for a moment wondering why this girl seemed to believe them all so quickly, then shrugged it off, figuring that this only made things easier and thus shouldn't be questioned.

"Oh", Stacey replied, fidgeting on her seat again, "that's bad, isn't it? I should talk to him and tell him not to do that."

"I doubt it will be that easy", Pat now spoke up for the first time, making Stacey look at her, her eyes going wide when she recognized the demon, sounding upset again when she replied. "I know you, too! You're the one whom Eric threw on the stage in that club! I'm so sorry about that, did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine", the black haired woman gave back, momentarily worried that this might seem weird to Stacey and might bring unwanted questions, but to her relief, the blonde girl just nodded, looking relieved.

"What can I do?" she then asked, now sounding nervous again as she looked from one member of the group to the next. "If you think it's not good to just ask him, then what can I do? You want me to do something, right?"

"We're not sure", Willow replied, making the others nod, "we just wanted to check out how… you feel about what he did."

"I don't like it", Stacey replied at once, grimacing. "He's freakishly strong now, which could have been nice I guess, but he's also got such a bad temper lately, and, well, I'm a bit…"

"You're afraid of him", Buffy gently finished, making the other girl nodding after a moment of consideration.

"I don't think he'd hurt me", she then went on, "not on purpose, but his new strength, combined with that shorter temper… well…"

"We won't let him hurt you", Buffy promised in reply, "don't worry. But we need to find out how he did it so we can reverse it. Can you figure out what he did?"

"I can try", Stacey gave back, "how can I contact you once I found something out?"

In response, the Slayer wrote down her phone number, of both her cell phone and her home; thanking her, Stacey carefully tucked the piece of paper away, then promised to call as soon as she would have found something out, making the four women nod before they all got up from their seats, telling her to be careful before they left the room together, glad that this had gone so well and that they now had the help of someone close to their new adversary.


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm surprised she accepted all this so fast, and agreed to help", Pat stated an hour later, back at their apartment, spread on the couch leisurely, a cigarette in one hand and a glass of iced tea on the table next to her. "And she wasn't even freaked out the slightest."

"Maybe she's been here before", Willow shrugged in reply as she came out of the kitchen, with her own drink in hand, "people who've been here for a while stop being freaked out by such things. Did you notice any lies from her?"

"Nope", the demon shook her head in reply, "as far as I can tell, she was totally honest. I'm still not sure if that works all the time though."

"We should find that out as soon as possible", the redhead replied, making her girlfriend nod; afterwards, Willow let the taller woman know that Buffy had suggested a trip to the Bronze for the evening, not for research or duty, but for fun, to take Faith's mind off her lost powers.

"I said I'd ask you first and call her", she then added, "what do you think? Feel like going out?"

"Sure", the demon shrugged in reply, "why not? I just hope I won't have any bones broken again."

"Me too", the witch grimaced, moving to sit next to her, smiling when Pat pulled back her feet so she'd have room, "I can't stand it to see you hurt, even knowing that you can heal almost everything."

"Believe me, I'd prefer it not to get hurt as well", the demon reassured her, "but it seems to happen more or less regularly here. Good I have that healing powers, as you said."

Nodding, Willow moved to snuggle up to the taller woman, smiling when immediately, she was pulled into a tender embrace; with a small sigh, she rested her head on her girlfriend's shoulder, for a while just lying there and enjoying the embrace afterwards.

"We better keep Faith away from the whiskey though", she stated two minutes later, raising her head again so she could look at her girlfriend, smiling when Pat chuckled and nodded; the couple exchanged a tender kiss, then Willow let her head sink on the black haired woman's shoulder again, another sigh coming from her when Pat moved one hand to caress her hair.

"I love you", the demon mumbled after a few more minutes had ticked by in silence, briefly making Willow wonder where this was coming from now – usually, she was the first one to make such declarations, with Pat responding accordingly, the black haired woman hardly ever saying such things on her own, the witch well aware though that she wasn't exactly comfortable with doing so and thus not minding it much.

"I love you too", she finally snapped out of her thoughts, giving her girlfriend a loving look to accompany the words, "very much…"

The two smiled at each other, then exchanged yet another tender kiss; afterwards, they just snuggled for a while, enjoying it to be so close to each other, until it was time to prepare dinner and then get ready for a hopefully calm evening out at the Bronze.

* * *

><p>Again, the place was surprisingly full, but the group still managed to find a table; this time, Spike hadn't come along, with Buffy not sure if she should be relieved or dismayed about that – if he'd been there, he surely would have coaxed Faith into drinking with him again, but on the other hand, his company might have distracted her from the brunette's depression and would probably have kept all the other male population of the club at bay.<p>

Forcing herself to shrug those worries off, the Slayer made herself comfortable while Xander and Anya were the ones to get drinks this time, everyone still remembering well how it had ended when Pat and Willow had gone to do just that the last time they had been here; while the two left, with the ex-demon complaining that the others better give her the money they'd spend for their drinks, Buffy let her gaze wander over the crowd, trying to spot Eric or his girl. Just like she had done several times since they had left the hotel, she asked herself if it had been a good idea to hire Stacey to find out how her boyfriend had stolen Faith's powers from her; she had promised the other woman that she wouldn't let Eric hurt her, but she knew that she might not be able to keep that promise, not if the guy caught his girl snooping around his stuff and demanded to know what was going on.

"Hey Buffy", Pat's voice distracted her from her thoughts, "why are you looking so gloomy? Cheer up, I bet Xander will talk Anya out of making us all pay for that first round."

"It's not that", the Slayer replied, smiling slightly though, well aware of the fact that Pat knew perfectly well that this wasn't the reason for her gloomy expression, "I was just thinking about Stacey…"

In response, the demon moved a bit closer to her so it'd be easier to talk over the rather loud music, Willow bending closer as well at the sight, after a second prompting Dawn and Faith to do exactly the same, making them all look like a group of conspirators.

"I hope it wasn't a mistake to send her snooping after her boyfriend", Buffy explained as soon as they all were close enough to hear and she didn't need to raise her voice anymore. "What if he finds out and hurts her?"

"Guess we can only hope that he won't find out for now", Faith shrugged in response, her lack of care making the blonde frown at her. "She didn't seem as if she'd let that happen though, might be that she's a bit of an airhead, but she didn't appear dumb."

"Well, she's got an amazing memory for faces", Pat pointed out in reply, even though they all knew this didn't exactly mean that Stacey wasn't dumb, "how long did she see me at that bar before her boyfriend sent me flying, a second or two at the most? And still she knew who I was."

"Well, you were quite the spectacular sight", Buffy pointed out in reply, "crashing right into the drumset and everything. She didn't remember you though, did she, Willow?"

"If she did, she didn't say so", the redhead gave back, "but does it matter? I'm with Faith, I'm kinda sure she'll know what she's doing when she goes to search for whatever her boy used to steal Faith's powers."

"Let's hope so", Buffy sighed out in reply, still not fully convinced; Willow gave her a reassuring smile in reply, then leaned back into her seat as Xander and Anya came back with drinks for everyone, handing them out carefully so nothing would be spilt, Faith giving them a cheerful smile when she received her cup of beer.

"Just the stuff I need", she exclaimed, throwing a side glance at Buffy as she added, "Since Buffy won't let me have any more whiskey."

"That's for your own good", the Slayer gave back, unimpressed by the dismayed look Faith gave her in reply, "so you won't puke in Dawn's handbags anymore and won't end up spending another night on the couch of Willow and Pat."

"I wouldn't mind", Faith shrugged in reply, "I had a nice time there, beer, cigarettes and just the music I like. And pleasant company."

With the last words, she gave Pat a look Willow didn't like one bit; suddenly feeling possessive, she reached over with one hand and grasped the one of her girlfriend, with a rather obvious gesture, hoping the brunette would get the hint.

Looking at her, Pat gave her a brief smile, clearly not noticing that anything was going on; she leaned in for a kiss, Willow gladly giving her one, momentarily feeling bad about her behaviour, telling herself that even if Faith would try to come on to Pat, the demon surely wouldn't respond in any way.

Telling herself that she thus shouldn't be silly, she forced any thoughts of jealousy aside and focused on the talk around the table again, taking a sip of her drink and smiling when Pat gave her hand a tender squeeze, Faith watching the exchange a little too interested for the redhead's liking, something she once more decided to ignore for now though.

* * *

><p>Two hours and several beers later, Willow's decision to ignore Faith's behaviour had been thoroughly undermined by the remarks and comments the brunette kept making towards her girlfriend, always accompanied by certain looks the redhead knew well – they never had been directed at her, but they always had been aimed at guys Faith had fancied during her time in Sunnydale, and she didn't like her looking at Pat that way at all.<p>

To her relief, the black haired woman either was totally oblivious to Faith's tries to flirt or was more successful when it came to ignoring them; she only raised her eyebrows every now and then, when the brunette made a rather direct remark, but never responded in kind, only changing the topic to more innocent ones.

"Since when is Faith into girls?" Buffy distracted Willow from her observations, surprising the redhead and relieving her at the same time, since it meant that she hadn't been the only one to notice this; she glared at the brunette once more, then focused on the Slayer and shrugged, keeping her voice low as she replied.

"I don't know", she mumbled, another poisonous look at the topic of conversations accompanying her words, "but I don't like it one bit. Did you notice how she keeps looking at Pat? And all those things she keeps saying! I'm surprised she's not shoving her cleavage into Pat's face by now."

"Pat's clearly not all too interested though", Buffy pointed out in reply, giving the redhead a reassuring smile, "but if you want me to, I can tell her to stop."

"I'll do that myself if she doesn't cut it out soon", Willow grumbled, nearly gasping when Faith got up and reached over the table for a bowl of nuts, bending forward as she did so – and giving the black haired woman a good look down her cleavage, briefly making Buffy wonder if the brunette actually had heard what the witch had been saying, a small smile curling her lips though when immediately, Pat looked away, clearing her throat noisily enough to let it be heard over the music.

"If she keeps going like that, Pat will tell her on her own soon enough", Buffy mumbled to her best friend while Faith sat back down, munching down the nuts she had acquired and giving the black haired woman yet another meaningful look. "She appears to be more annoyed than thrilled."

"It'd be even worse if she'd enjoy that", Willow muttered, had to admit that Buffy did have a point though – if Pat had reacted the same way back then when they had met and she had made the first flirtatious remarks and had given her meaningful looks, she surely would have backed off so fast she would've been likely to trip over her feet and fall.

"I'll go and have a smoke", the demon now gained the attention of her girlfriend, "I'll be right back."

"Alright", Willow gave back, demanding and receiving a quick kiss before Pat got up and left, beer cup in hand; Faith watched her go, the redhead briefly relieved about the fact that she didn't follow her loved one – only to have her relief shattered a minute later when Faith got up as well and declared she needed a smoke, too.

Grumbling to herself, Willow watched her go, holding back the urge to get up and follow her; giving her a calming look, Buffy reached over and placed a just as calming hand on her arm, smiling reassuringly at her.

"Don't worry", she then muttered, glad that so far, Xander and Anya hadn't noticed anything of the tension at the table, too occupied with each other to pay much attention, "I guess Faith could undress out there and Pat wouldn't be interested."

"I know", Willow sighed out in reply, "and I know that she does have kind of a one-track-mind when it comes to who's attractive, but… Gosh, I don't even know how to say this without sounding silly. You know, just a week ago, we watched Silence of the Lambs, and I commented on how Jodie Foster is hot, and she just shrugged and said that she's not as hot as me, and I just find that hard to believe, I mean, it's Jodie Foster, and, well, Faith is hotter than me too, so…"

"Willow", Buffy interrupted her before she could start to hyperventilate, amused, "clearly, to her, you _are_ hotter than Jodie Foster. And hotter than Faith. Be happy about it and don't question it, okay?"

"I'm not", the redhead defended herself, reclaiming the bowl of nuts Faith had moved closer to herself earlier, "I just find it hard to believe, but of course I like it. No, wait, liking is the wrong word, I actually love it to know that she thinks that way of me… And I know it's silly to feel uneasy about Faith, but, well… Right now, they're outside there, alone, and God knows what Faith is doing."

"Go outside then and see how Pat's so not interested", Buffy shrugged in reply, "and maybe you can do some steamy smooching with her, in front of Faith. To mark your territory and stuff."

"Good idea", Willow muttered, even though usually, she wasn't exactly the type for such behaviour; she gave Buffy an apologetic look, then got up from her chair as well and made her way outside, suddenly eager to join her girlfriend there and make sure that Faith wouldn't put her hands where they didn't belong.


	11. Chapter 11

To her dismay, the brunette was awfully close to her girlfriend when Willow stepped outside and spotted them; they stood a few steps away from the club's door, both smoking a cigarette, Pat still clutching her beer and looking rather awkward as Faith was now taking yet another step closer to her, oblivious to Willow's presence, having the insolence to place one hand on the taller woman's arm and move it up and down in a rather sensual way, saying something Willow couldn't quite make out.

"Hey!" she spoke up, giving her best to sound friendly, but not able to keep herself from being just a little too loud, holding back the urge to smirk evilly when Faith almost jumped back, at least having the grace to give the witch a slightly guilty look while Willow made her way to her girlfriend, smiling in an honestly non-evil way when immediately, Pat bent down to claim a kiss.

Obviously not all too happy about the sudden company, Faith finished her cigarette surprisingly quickly, letting the couple know that she'd go back inside; while the two still nodded, she already had turned and was hurrying back to the club's entrance, Willow not able to keep down a slight feeling of triumph as she watched her go.

"Wow, can you believe her?" she stated as soon as she could be sure that Faith was out of earshot, frowning when in response, Pat gave her a curious look, clearly having no idea what the witch was talking about.

"The way she was coming on to you?" she thus added, shooting another glare into the direction Faith had gone before she focused on her girlfriend again, sounding miffed when she spoke on. "I was halfway expecting her to be half-naked already when I came here."

"So?" the demon shrugged in reply, "she could have been fully naked right here, I wouldn't have cared… Wait, is that why you came out here? To make sure she's not… doing anything?"

"Kinda", Willow admitted after a moment, not sure what to think of it when Pat frowned at her, sounding slightly annoyed when she replied. "So you came out here to see how I'm reacting to that, or what? Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do", Willow hurried to reassure her, all at once not liking where this talk was going, "but I don't trust her, so…"

"So?" Pat echoed once more, giving her another annoyed look afterwards. "If she'd done something, I would have told her off", she went on, the dismayed tone of her voice making the witch nervous, "I'm actually finding it hard to believe that you would think otherwise."

"I don't!" Willow tried to convince her, all of a sudden regretting that she had come out here, "really, I trust you, I just…"

"You just what?" Pat wanted to know, crossing her arms in front of her chest and managing to do so without spilling any of her beer, "you just had to make sure that this trust you've mentioned is justified? Then you don't trust me."

"I do, really", Willow tried to reassure her once more, now feeling helpless as she didn't know what she could say to make this better, asking herself where this had come from all of a sudden and why things were going so wrong now. "Please don't be mad?" she added, grasping her girlfriend's free hand and giving it a tender squeeze, "I'd never think you'd do anything with her, really, I was just worried…"

"You're contradicting yourself", Pat pointed out in reply, still not sounding all too happy, "and I have the feeling that, if we go on like that, we'll end up going in circles and, eventually, fight, so I guess I'll better go for a walk now, then we can both calm down and discuss this properly once I'm back."

"No, don't go", Willow almost pleaded in reply, prompting the demon to let out a sigh; she reassured her that she'd be back soon and that she just would clear her head a bit, calming the redhead's obvious worries a bit by bending down to kiss her quickly, then turned and walked off, the witch looking after her with a heavy heart, once more asking herself how a simple remark she had made had turned into this.

* * *

><p>Ninety minutes later, Willow's heart was still burdened, but the nature of said burden had changed, from simple dismay about the argument to worry – even though Pat had told her that she'd be back soon, she hadn't returned yet, the witch shifting on her seat uncomfortably as she kept looking at the door, willing the black haired woman to enter and sit down next to her so they could kiss and reassure each other that everything was okay.<p>

"I'm worried", she finally confessed when Buffy gave her a concerned look, "she said she'd be back soon, but it's been one and a half hours! What if something happened?"

"I'm sure she's fine", Buffy reassured her in reply, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "maybe she just lost track of time while she wandered around or something. You know she can take care of herself…"

"I know", Willow muttered, "but I can't help worrying… And this was the first time we had something that close to a fight, you know?"

"It was?" Buffy gave back, surprised, "wow. That's quite the achievement actually, going all that time without fighting."

"Well, we screwed up our chance for the world record now", the redhead mumbled in reply, Buffy giving her another reassuring smile and squeeze of her shoulder in reply; moments later, they all were distracted by Spike entering the Bronze and making his way to their table quickly, to the surprise and concern of everyone having a worried expression on his face.

"Buffy", he started once he was close enough to be heard over the music and the noise the other guests were making, then looked at Willow after a moment, the concern of the witch growing when he, for once, referred to her by name and not with "Red". "And Willow… You should come outside with me for a moment. There's… a problem."

"What problem?" Buffy demanded to know before the redhead had a chance to reply; Spike just gave her an exasperated look, surprising her even further when he replied and she could hear the urgency in his voice. "Stop asking questions and wasting time, just come with me, alright? It's not like I could do anything to ya out there, what with you being the Slayer and me having that bloody chip in my head."

"…fine", Buffy agreed after a moment, "but if you've set up some kind of trap out there with your demon buddies, I'll stake you, chip or no chip."

"As if I'd still have many demon buddies after working with you", Spike muttered while the two women got up from their seats, Xander, Anya and Faith watching in confusion as most of the exchange had been too quiet to let them hear; Willow told them that they'd be back quickly, then followed Spike outside with Buffy right next to her, asking herself if the vampire was planning something and why he couldn't do whatever it was he wanted to do just inside, where it was warm and comfortable and they could…

Her thoughts were cut off abruptly when Spike led them to the next side alley and her gaze fell on Pat, the demon sitting at the wall, looking paler than she ever had seen her before, clutching Spike's pocket flask in one trembling hand and a half-smoked cigarette in the other.

"Found her on the sidewalk, close to the cemetery", Spike explained while Willow rushed over to her girlfriend and knelt down next to her, "all passed out. Took her here after I managed to wake her up and she told me you'd probably still be here."

"What happened?" Willow demanded to know, glad when at least, her loved one looked up at her, a dazed expression in her good eye, the eye patch which usually covered her ruined one being quite askew, halfway up her forehead. To the redhead, this was a clearer sign that something was wrong than anything else could have been – after all, her girlfriend usually always made sure that the patch would sit properly, not wanting to freak anyone out by letting them see what was hidden beneath it.

"Sweetie, what happened?" Willow repeated, reaching up with one hand to cup the taller woman's cheek; for a few more seconds, Pat just kept looking back at her, then finally responded, the tremble in her voice and her words making the witch's eyes go wide. "It was him… I-it was him and he took it, he took my demon, it's gone…"

* * *

><p>"She's right", Spike was the first one to speak, while Buffy and Willow just stared at the black haired woman, "she's just like the two of you now, perfectly human."<p>

"How do you know?" Buffy finally regained her ability to speak, turning to look at the vampire while behind her, the redhead carefully took her girlfriend into her arms. "Did you hit her and it hurt you, or something?"

"Of course not", the vampire huffed, sounding honestly irritated, "why would I hit her? But, well, I accidentally dropped her once when I was half-dragging, half-carrying her here, and seems that this was enough to make the chip react, because that did hurt."

"Oh", the Slayer smartly gave back, not sure what else to say; for a few more moments, Spike kept looking at her, then moved over to Pat and bent down to retrieve his pocket flask, Willow surprised to see that there actually was sympathy in his eyes as he looked at her girlfriend during the process.

"You better get her home", he stated once he had straightened up again and the flask had vanished into the inner pocket of his coat, "looks like she needs some rest."

Without waiting for any of the two to reply, he started to walk away, stopping though when Buffy called out his name and turning to look at her, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of his mouth at her next words, even though he obviously tried hard to keep it away. "Thanks. That was very kind of you."

"No biggie", Spike casually stated in reply, making her smile as well while she gave him a knowing look; after a moment, the vampire smirked back at her, then finally left, Buffy looking after him for another second before she moved over to where Pat was still sitting, lowering herself into a crouch next to the couple.

"Spike's right", she stated, for a moment not able to believe she actually had said that, "we should get her home. I'll go and get the others, can you keep an eye on her until then?"

"Of course", Willow gave back, not even looking at her, her gaze remaining focused on her girlfriend, filled with worry.

"Alright", Buffy still said, briefly touching the redhead's shoulder before she got up and hurried back inside; once more, Willow didn't even bother to look after her, didn't even notice that she was gone, all her attention focused on her girlfriend. It was obvious that whatever the guy had done to steal her demonic side had shaken the black haired woman up quite badly; she was staring on the dirty ground between her legs, the cigarette between her fingers smouldering away unnoticed, until Willow plucked it out of her light grasp and put it out, suddenly realizing that now, her loved one might actually burn herself.

"Sweetie, hey", she tried again to gain the taller woman's attention, "look at me… We'll find him, and we'll fix this, I promise. But for now, we'll take you home so you can rest. Okay?"

"…forgetting something", Pat mumbled in reply, one hand coming up to rub at her forehead, "something important… Gotta remember…"

"You will once you got some rest", Willow reassured her, although she had no idea what her girlfriend was talking about. In response, the black haired woman only shook her head, her strange behaviour worrying the witch more than the information about Eric stealing her demon from her had; carefully and slowly, so she wouldn't startle her loved one, she moved to take Pat's face into her hands, her breath getting caught in her throat when finally, her girlfriend looked up at her properly and she could see the expression in her good eye.

Not even when she had lost her other eye, she had looked like that, so deeply hurt and stunned; the word which came to Willow's mind was _gutted_, followed by _hollow_, both of them sending unpleasant shivers up and down her spine.

"It'll be alright", she still tried to sound confident, making sure to hold Pat's gaze, "don't worry. We'll find him, and find out how he did this, and it'll be alright." She had wanted to say more, reassure her again and again that it would be fine; since she heard the rest of the gang approaching though, she fell quiet, taking the few seconds still left before the others would arrive to place a tender kiss on the taller woman's forehead, then on her lips, trying not to let it hurt her when no response came.

Just when the others rounded the corner and joined them in the side alley, she pulled back, giving her girlfriend another concerned look, then focusing on Buffy; she shook her head when the Slayer asked if Pat was feeling better by now, prompting the blonde to look concerned as well – before she looked at Xander, her words making the young man nod immediately. "I doubt she'll be able to walk on her own, come on, help me with her…"

"Sure", he agreed at once, moving over to the black haired woman afterwards; together with Buffy, he helped her to her feet, then slung one of her arms around his shoulders, Buffy doing the same with her other one, momentarily dismayed about the fact that due to the height difference between Xander and her, Pat now stood rather awkwardly, something she didn't seem to mind much or even to notice though.

Worried, Willow made sure to stay as close to her as she could without getting into the way of Buffy and Xander as they started to walk; thanks to the shaken up state of Pat, it took them much longer than usual to reach the apartment, and by the time they finally did, the black haired woman looked as if she was just about to collapse, Willow's concern increasing with every second she had to see her girlfriend like this.

Still she took the time to thank the others for their help when they finally stood in front of the apartment door; sounding and looking worried as well, Buffy told her not to mention it, then almost ordered her to call her immediately, should anything happen, while Faith was focused fully on Pat, distress written all over her face.

She didn't say anything to the black haired woman though, only told Willow to take good care of her; her anger at the brunette's behaviour forgotten, the witch just nodded, then unlocked the apartment door and carefully led Pat inside while the rest left and returned to their homes as well, their mood gloomy as they all worried about the black haired woman and about what had been done to her.


	12. Chapter 12

"Do you remember anything about how he did it?" Willow carefully asked half an hour later, after she had provided her girlfriend with a cup of tea – and had added a rather generous splash of rum, hoping it would help to calm her down – and had made herself as comfortable as it was possible in her agitated state on the couch next to Pat; it took the black haired woman a while to react to her, and when she finally did by looking up from her cup of tea and at the redhead, Willow's heart clenched up once more at the lost look in her eye.

"…not really", she finally mumbled, putting the cup on the table and digging out her cigarettes with trembling hands; for a few moments, she kept staring at them as if she suddenly was not sure anymore what she had wanted with them, then finally removed one of them from the pack and lit it up, with some help from Willow, the witch taking tender hold of her hand and steadying it when the trembling made it impossible for her to get the lighter's flame to the tip of the cancer stick.

"I was… walking", the black haired woman continued once the cigarette had been successfully lit up and she had taken a long drag from it, "I didn't even care where I was going, I just wanted to clear my head… and then he was there, he attacked me, I remember that, there was a fight…"

"Did he hurt you?" Willow demanded to know in reply, her concern heightening even more, something she wouldn't have thought possible just seconds ago; in response, Pat seemed deep in thought for a few moments, then shrugged, still sounding as flat as she had when she had told her what had happened, the few bits and pieces she could still remember. "Don't know. Don't think so. We fought and then… there was this light… and then it was gone."

The witch didn't need to ask her what she was talking about; not knowing what she could say, she reached out and grasped her girlfriend's free hand, giving it a tender squeeze, forcing herself to smile a reassuring smile which felt way too fake on her face at the black haired woman when the touch made her look at her.

"We'll find a way how to fix this", she promised, giving the taller woman's hand another gentle, hopefully reassuring squeeze, "I promise. Then you'll be your fiery, demony self again."

To her relief, Pat nodded after a moment; she gave her another reassuring smile, then let her know that she'd fix them a quick meal and got up from the couch to make her way into the kitchen, only to stop after just a few steps when her girlfriend spoke up again, the tremble in her voice causing her heart to clench up once more. "Wouldn't you… prefer it the way it is now…?"

"What do you mean?" Willow asked in reply, even though she knew perfectly well what her loved one was talking about and only wanted to buy some time with her words, making her way back to the couch and sitting down next to the taller woman once more.

"Me", Pat mumbled in reply, suddenly not able to look at her anymore, "the way… without the demon. Human. Normal."

"No", the redhead gave back at once, fast enough to show that she was honest, but not so fast that it might have seemed like a lie. "I love you", she added when she only received a doubtful look in reply, "the way you are. The way you were, before he did this to you, and the way you are now. But seeing you like this… No, I would not prefer that, I want my strong and snarky and confident Pat back, the woman I fell in love with…"

To her relief, this at least made the taller woman smile weakly; smiling back at her, Willow reached up with one hand to caress her hair, all at once remembering how said hair had been one of the first things she had noticed about Pat, and how she had dreamed of running her hands through it when she slowly had started to fall in love with her.

"We'll fix this", she thus repeated her earlier words, "and everything will be back to normal. Or back to how it was before, it doesn't matter. Then you'll be my strong, fiery demon again and you'll protect me from any harm, right?"

"Right", Pat agreed after a moment, to the redhead's great relief; then, she snuggled up to the witch, immediately prompting her to put both arms around her, the thought of preparing something to eat forgotten as she held her girlfriend close and tried to figure out how to find this man and how to undo what he had done to her loved one.

* * *

><p>When the unpleasant sound of the phone ringing tore Willow out of her sleep, she neither knew when she had fallen asleep, nor how long she had slumbered; her neck was stiff from the position she had been sleeping in on the couch, and her right arm took much longer to wake up than the rest of her, thanks to the fact that Pat had drifted off into dreamland halfway lying on it, the weak daylight which fell into the room through the half-open curtain showing that they had spent quite some time like that.<p>

Quickly, before the noise could wake up the black haired woman as well, the witch got up from the couch and hurried over to the phone, nearly dropping it in her eagerness to take the call and end the annoying noise; to her surprise, it was Faith who replied to her "Hello?", the redhead's surprise only growing when she heard the hint of shame and discomfort in the brunette's voice. "Hey, it's me, Faith… Just wanted to ask how Pat's doing…"

"Not well", Willow honestly replied, wondering to herself why Faith would call and ask, since so far, she hadn't come across like the compassionate type, the answer coming a few seconds later though, without her even having to ask.

"Tell her I'm sorry, okay?" the brunette half demanded, half pleaded, only helping to increase the witch's surprise; when she didn't reply, Faith went on, now sounding so guilty that it just couldn't be fake. "You know, I'm normally not one to feel like this, but this time, I do think it's my fault… If I hadn't behaved that way, she wouldn't have wandered off, and, well… I'm sorry about that, too. You should know I was never serious, I was just having some fun, I…"

"It didn't look that way to me", Willow interrupted her, despite her annoyance about the brunette's behaviour touched by the heartfelt apology.

"We'll figure out how to fix it", she thus added, quickly peering at her girlfriend to make sure she was still slumbering, remembering to keep her voice down as she continued. "Then we'll fix you, and her, and things will be just fine. Just promise you won't try any of tonight's stunts again, and we're just fine, too. Alright?"

"Alright", Faith agreed at once, "and I'm truly sorry… I can calm you down though, I might as well have tried to flirt with a wall. That probably would have been more successful."

"Tough luck I guess", Willow gave back, not able to keep the smile off her face though, unaware of the fact that Faith could hear it through her voice.

"I guess", the brunette agreed, smiling as well, glad that Willow clearly wasn't holding her behaviour against her, "but not for you, huh? You're really lucky."

"I know", the redhead sincerely replied, then glanced at the couch again, where Pat had started to move; she quickly let Faith know that her girlfriend was waking up and that she'd better make sure she was fine, saying goodbye after the brunette had voiced her agreement and ending the call.

She still took the time to put the phone back into the loading unit, then hurried over to the couch; carefully, since she didn't want to startle her loved one, she sat down next to her, doing so just in time to be the first thing Pat saw when she finally opened her eye and blinked sleepily.

"Hey", the redhead smiled, reaching up to caress her girlfriend's hair tenderly, "feeling better?"

"A bit", Pat mumbled in reply, not surprising Willow when she reached for her cigarettes at once and lit one of them up, without needing the witch's help this time, "but it's still…"

She fell silent, trying to find the right words, using the time to smoke; keeping quiet as well, Willow just watched her and kept caressing her hair, knowing she'd go on once she'd found the words.

"When that curse was put on me", she finally did so, now succeeding with surprising the redhead as she never had spoken about that before, "I hated it. I guess that was the whole point of doing it, huh? I had no control over it, I'd burst into flames at random times or even demon out, just like that, in the middle of the day on the sidewalk of a crowded street, or something. It's a miracle I didn't get killed by some upset person right then."

She fell silent, taking another long drag of her cigarette; sensing that there was more to come, Willow remained quiet, just giving her an encouraging smile, relieved when after a few moments, her girlfriend went on talking. "But then, I figured out how to control it, and I realized it's not that bad… It'd made me stronger, faster, well you know the drill. And now that it's gone again, after more than two hundred years of having it… I just feel so empty."

"I understand", Willow reassured her, still caressing her hair, "and I can't imagine how hard it has to be… But I promise we'll figure out how to fix this, okay? Then you'll have it all back…"

Something her girlfriend had said hit her with considerable delay, something which could be understood though, with the current situation. "Wait, you said you didn't know how to control it?"

"Not at all", Pat mumbled in reply, shaking her head at those unpleasant memories, "it took me weeks to figure out how to… oh shit."

"Exactly", Willow agreed, exchanging a worried look with her girlfriend, "if you didn't know, and I guess the curse was… customized for you, or something similar, it might be even worse for him."

"I guess he didn't really know what he was taking", Pat sighed, not sure if she still should be angry at the guy or feel sorry for him now, "he probably only just saw how fast my broken arm healed and thought that's all he'd get, I don't think he knew I am… I was… a demon…"

"Now he is", Willow nervously gave back, "who knows what he'll do… without even meaning it! He could accidentally set the motel on fire!"

"Or his girl", the black haired woman pointed out a much more dire possibility; gasping, Willow realized that she was right, her eyes widening for a moment – before she jumped up and rushed to the phone to call Buffy, knowing that the Slayer had to be informed about this as fast as possible.


	13. Chapter 13

While she made the phone call and told Buffy about the new facts, Pat remained on the couch, smoking another cigarette while she racked her brain about what she had forgotten; she still knew that it had been something important, something which had happened while her demon had been taken away, but it just wouldn't come back to her, no matter how hard she thought about it.

"Buffy's trying to figure something out", Willow distracted her from her thoughts, "maybe hack into the fire department files or something, to see if weird, random fires were called in since this… happened to you, or some other way to find out where he is if he isn't at the hotel anymore. She'll call me as soon as she knows what we'll do, I guess she'll also talk to Giles now, so it might take a while… Are you okay? Do you have a headache?"

"What?" Pat gave back, a bit taken aback by this sudden change of topic, "no I don't… Why do you ask?"

"You've been rubbing your temples", Willow pointed out, sitting down next to her again and moving her hand to caress her girlfriend's hair once more, "so I thought…"

"No, no headache", Pat reassured her once more, then sighed, for once not sounding down anymore, but to the witch's surprise annoyed when she spoke on. "I've been trying to remember something… I know it's important, it happened when I fought him and he took my demon, but it just won't come back, dammit!"

Frustrated, she slammed her fist down on the table before Willow could stop her, the redhead giving her a reproachful look when she winced at the impact, then mumbled "Ow" to herself, her girlfriend shaking her head next to her.

"No hitting things as long as you didn't get your demon strength back", Willow then almost ordered, eying the table afterwards, "even though the table probably was lucky you're not having that at the moment. You made the ashtray jump."

"Sorry", the taller woman sighed, using the jumpy ashtray to put out her cigarette before she grimaced again, her annoyance about not being able to remember growing stronger again as she rubbed at her temples once more.

"Why won't it come back?" she finally asked, giving the redhead a helpless look; not sure what to reply, Willow stopped caressing her hair and grasped her hand instead, giving it a tender squeeze.

"Maybe I can help", she then stated, "I could do a spell, to look into your mind, but… It would make you see it all again, too… Do you think you're up for that?"

"I can't get rid of the feeling that it's something very important", Pat answered, "so I guess I don't have much of a choice. Do it."

"Alright", the witch agreed after a moment, giving her girlfriend a calming look before she changed her position on the couch, sitting to face her loved one, taking in a deep breath before she took Pat's head into her hands and closed her eyes. After a moment, the black haired woman did the same, even though she wasn't sure if she had to; with another deep breath, Willow started chanting, a bright light filling the darkness behind the black haired woman's closed eye seconds later, and then…

…_she was back to where it had happened, watching herself as she trotted down the sidewalk, smoking a cigarette and looking grumpy, thinking about the argument she'd had with Willow, the first one since they had started dating, after all this time, and to top it off, it had been about something so silly, too. Her mind was so focused on it that she only heard the footsteps when it was too late, when they were right behind her; she took the first hit, right in the back above her kidneys, and it hurt, but it didn't stop her from turning and fighting back, blocking the next punch and returning one, and just then…_

"Oh my God", Willow brought out, pulling her hands back as her eyes widened, the expression on Pat's face mirroring the astonished one she was showing, "did you see that too? I didn't imagine it, right?"

"No", the black haired woman brought out, her voice trembling just the tiniest bit, enough to let Willow notice.

"I can't believe it", the redhead went on, running both hands through her hair, "this is…" She was interrupted by their apartment door being kicked open so harsh that it not only opened, but actually got torn off the hinges and fell into the hallway; both Pat and she jumped up from the couch, exchanging a startled wide-eyed glance as they realized what was happening, looking back at the hallway just in time to see Stacey and Eric entering, the small woman smiling sweetly at the couple.

"So you figured it out", she stated, giving her boyfriend an annoyed look when he let out a low moan behind her, flames flickering on and off all over his body, "I thought you would, but not this soon. Well, it doesn't matter much now anymore anyway, right?"

With those words, she smiled again, all the sweetness she had shown at the hotel room gone; all Willow and Pat could do was stare at her, then at Eric, the young man in obvious distress, the witch's mind racing as she tried to figure out how to get out of this without her girlfriend's strength and powers.

* * *

><p>"So", Stacey stated a few minutes later, sitting down comfortably in Willow's favourite armchair, "I imagine you're not all too fond of me right now, but I guess I'll have to live with that, and hope you'll do me the favour I want anyway."<p>

Behind her, Eric groaned again, clearly having a hard time to stay on his feet, but at least aware of the fact that, if he'd sit down, he'd probably set the place on fire sooner or later, flames still appearing all over his body at random times and spots; she glared at him, silently telling him to shut up, before she focused on Willow and Pat again, the couple sitting on the couch, the redhead nervously clutching her girlfriend's hand.

"I have to admit I got more than I bargained for when I took your powers and gave them to my man", the blonde continued, smiling coldly at Pat, "that was an unfortunate mistake on my part. On the other hand, who would have thought that one of the Slayer's best friends would be doing the naughty with a demon?"

"Surprise, surprise", Willow mumbled, ignoring the dirty look she received from Stacey in reply, the expression not lasting long though on the blonde's face, quickly being replaced by yet another cold smile.

"Surprise, indeed", she admitted, leaning back into the armchair, "but it's not like this can't be helped, right? And this leads me to the favour I want from you."

With those words, she focused on Pat again, the black haired woman holding her gaze, giving her best not to let her dismay about this whole situation show on her face, the only indication for how uncomfortable she was being the sweat Willow could feel forming on her palm.

"Tell him how to control this", Stacey demanded, all fake sweetness gone from her voice, replaced by a coldness which fit to the fading smile on her face, "so he'll be useful again."

"It's not that easy", Pat gave back, surprising Willow by how even and calm her voice sounded, despite the fact that they both were in a rather dangerous situation. "It took me weeks to learn how to control it", she went on when Stacey just stared at her, "I can't just tell him some simple trick and it'll be fine."

"I'm afraid I have to disagree", the blonde gave back after a moment, the sound of her voice and the look in her eyes making the discomfort of both Willow and Pat increase to new heights, "you see, we don't have a few weeks so he can learn how to handle this. Maybe you need some… convincing."

With those words, she looked at Eric, the young man letting out another groan in reply – before he moved to the couch with unexpected speed, grabbing Willow by the throat before Pat or she had the chance to react and jerking her up from her seat, a startled gasp escaping her as his grip cut off her flow of air.

"No, stop!" the black haired woman cried out, coming to her feet as well – only to end up being shoved back down by the young man, his strength and her lack of it making it easier for him than it should have been.

"Is this convincing you?" Stacey sweetly demanded to know, raising her voice slightly to drown out the chocking sounds coming from the redhead, her face slowly reddening while she feebly tried to kick Eric, desperate to make him let her go – preferably before flames would flicker up on his hands again and add burns to the bruises he already was inflicting.

"There's no simple trick for this", Pat gave back, her gaze jumping back and forth from Stacey to Willow, her mind racing as she tried to figure out how to help her girlfriend before she'd end up strangled to death, "tell him to put her down!"

For a few more seconds, Stacey kept looking at her – then nodded at Eric, another cry coming from both Willow and Pat when in response he, instead of just lowering her to the ground, flung her away, with enough strength to send her against the opposite wall, a low groan escaping her when her back hit it and she slumped down to the carpet.

"I really don't want to inflict more harm than necessary to you, or her", Stacey smiled while her boyfriend once more pushed Pat back down when she tried to get up again, then moved over to where Willow was trying to come to her feet, earning another pain filled, hoarse cry from her when he grabbed her by the hair and jerked her to her feet. "You'll understand though that, until you come up with something to help him control this quickly, you don't leave me much of a choice."

"Stop hurting her", the black haired woman almost pleaded in reply, hating how weak all of this had made her – just a day ago, she would have kicked at first Eric's ass and then the one of this insolent blonde bitch, but now, robbed of her strength, all she could do was beg.

"I can't help him", she went on when Stacey didn't reply immediately, "as I said, it took me weeks to learn how to control it, don't you think if there'd been an easier way, I would have used it?"

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" the blonde wanted to know in reply, smiling when Pat helplessly clenched her fists. "Maybe you're just trying to buy time and after some convincing, you'll suddenly remember how he'll be able to handle this. Eric?"

She looked at her boyfriend and smiled at him; in response, he grit his teeth, then grabbed the redhead's wrist with his free hand, her eyes going wide as she realized what he was about to do. For a moment, she tried to struggle, to get out of his grip and stop him; then, his fingers tightened around her wrist and he jerked her arm up behind her back, the cracking of the bone as it broke echoing in her ears, followed by the scream she found herself unable to hold back.

The moment she heard her girlfriend cry out in pain like that, the fact that she was reduced to normal human strength and lacked the power of her flames was wiped from Pat's mind, replaced by a familiar, deep-seated rage; she let out a low growl as she practically sprang to her feet, grabbing the first object in reach – the heavy glass ashtray from the living room table – and rushed forward, bringing the ashtray down as hard as she could on Eric's head, satisfaction filling her when it shattered and the young man let out a startled, even pain-filled noise.

Taking a step back, he let go of Willow, once more causing her to slump down to the ground, her teeth grit as she clutched her broken arm to her stomach, fighting hard to keep down the tears of pain, not wanting Stacey and her guy to see her cry; she took the chance given by the distraction her girlfriend had provided to crawl away from him as fast as she could, thus only hearing how Pat let out another growl and punched the still stunned Eric right in the face, putting all the strength she still had into that punch.

"Dammit!" Stacey shouted as she watched her boyfriend stumble back another two steps at the unexpected attack, having to admit that she hadn't thought the taller woman actually would have the guts to do this, "fight back, you idiot! What are you waiting for? Knock her teeth down her throat! That's exactly what I gave you all that strength for!"

Horrified at the blonde's willingness to have them both hurt, the witch turned her head just in time to see how Eric tried to do what his girlfriend had told him; since Pat turned her head at the last second, the punch didn't land right in her mouth, but got her at the jaw, sending her back a few steps before she fell, ending up on the ground next to her girlfriend. Even though she had sworn to herself that she'd never use her powers against another human after the tragedy with Warren, the redhead now found herself unable to hold back her anger as she stared at Stacey, then looked at her almost knocked out girlfriend, the dazed expression in the taller woman's gaze only fuelling her anger further; gritting her teeth, she came to her feet, focusing on the blonde again, even forgetting the pain pulsing through her broken arm as she glared at the other woman.

"You didn't give him this strength", she spat, ignoring it when Eric let out a groan behind her as once more, flames started to spread all over his body, not having it in her anymore to feel sorry for him, "you stole it, and you had no right to do this!"

With those words, she brought up her hand, throwing the first spell she could think of at the blonde; it was a rather simple one, a lightning spell she had used against demons several times already, one she knew which wouldn't kill her opponent, but would at least cause her a good deal of pain. Screaming as well now, Stacey slumped down in the chair as the lightning hit her; clearly struggling against the pain, she moved her hand up to her throat slowly, the movement for a moment making Willow wonder what she was trying to do – before an image appeared in front of her inner eye, a scene from when they had spoken to the blonde in the hotel, everything clicking into place all at once.

Before she could use that realization to end this situation though, Eric moved up to her, grabbing her broken arm and jerking it upwards; the pain was immediate and blinding, and she let out another cry, her spell ending as fast as it had begun when the pain shattered her concentration.

Unable to hold back, she screamed again when Eric used his grip on her arm to spin her around, anger filling his eyes; he lashed out to hit her, maybe hard enough to knock her out or even kill her, but before his hand could come down, the familiar _twang_ of a crossbow being fired echoed through the apartment, followed by the bolt hitting him in the forearm with a low, meaty thump, making it his turn to cry out in pain.

Letting go of the witch, he moved a few steps away from her, clutching his arm, staring at the one who had shot; giving her best to bite down her pain, Willow fought back the unconsciousness which threatened to overwhelm her, hoping with all her heart that Buffy understood what she wanted as she raised her voice. "It's not him, Buffy, ignore him, it's her… The necklace…"

She still had time to see how the Slayer lowered the crossbow, her gaze focusing on Stacey; then, the pain became too much to bear, and the blackness took over at last, the redhead passing out with a final low groan, unconscious before she even hit the carpet.


	14. Chapter 14

Thanks to the fact that she had fallen unconscious, Willow didn't get to see how Buffy resolved the situation; trusting her best friend, the Slayer didn't even pause to question anything, but moved with uncanny speed, reaching the armchair Stacey sat in before the blonde could do as much as blink and grabbing the necklace the witch had pointed out, one powerful jerk being enough to tear it off the blonde's neck.

"No!" Stacey cried out, the Slayer ignoring her feeble tries to get the piece of jewellery back; easily, Buffy pushed her back into the chair when she tried to come to her feet, the Slayer's gaze focusing on the perfectly black stone dangling from it, her instincts taking over and telling her what to do.

Once more, she shoved Stacey back down as the blonde tried to stop her, from the corner of her eye seeing how Faith came hurrying into the room and knelt down next to Willow while Pat still struggled to come to her feet, the black haired woman's good eye focused on her girlfriend and filled with fear; then, the Slayer pushed all of this out of her mind as she concentrated on the task at hand, quickly placing the stone on the living room table before she brought her fist down on it as hard as she could, Stacey letting out a dismayed cry when the stone shattered.

For a few seconds, nothing happened; then, Eric let out a cry as well while he slumped to his knees, Faith all at once taking in a sharp breath while Pat came to her feet, a smirk slowly forming on her face while she clenched her fists, her good eye flashing up red as her demonic side was returned to her.

"Oh, this feels good", Faith said out loud what the demon clearly was thinking, getting up as well; she exchanged a satisfied glance with Pat, then the black haired woman turned to face Eric, the young man by now down to his knees, still clutching his bleeding arm and looking up at her with naked fear in his eyes.

"I think I owe you a broken arm", the demon calmly stated, smoke starting to rise from her hands as she took a step closer to him; then, Buffy was beside her and grasped her arm, sounding surprisingly calm as well when she spoke up. "No, don't. I don't think any of this really was his fault."

"I never wanted any of this", Eric sniffled in reply, causing the demon to frown at how pathetic he sounded all at once, "really, I'm… I just wanted to be strong… For her…"

"There's a thing called the gym, you know", Faith helpfully pointed out in reply; ignoring her, Pat kept staring at Eric for a few more moments, then seemed to agree with the Slayer, since she turned away from him with a low, contemptuous snort and moved to her girlfriend's side, tenderly taking her into her arms and holding her, the still sniffling guy behind her forgotten as she fully focused on the still knocked out Willow.

"You're so weak", Stacey now spat at her boyfriend, gaining the attention of Buffy and making her raise an eyebrow at her, "I made you strong, and now look at you! Sniffling at the feet of those… those freaks! Is this how you repay me for loving you and doing all this for you? You're pathetic!"

"You don't have much of an idea about love, do you", Pat commented dryly in reply, throwing the blonde a poisonous look; in response, she had the insolence to huff, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the demon, her voice practically dripping with acid as she responded. "Yeah, like you know so much about it, being a demon and everything, huh?"

"She knows more about it than you", came the hoarse, weak voice of Willow, surprising everyone; smiling weakly, the redhead looked at her loved one for a moment, her smile widening when Pat moved one hand to caress her cheek, then her gaze moved on to Stacey, her voice already sounding a bit stronger as she continued. "Probably more than you ever will know, trying to make your boyfriend into something he wasn't…"

"Whatever", Stacey mumbled in reply, clearly not all too impressed; shaking her head, Buffy gave her an annoyed look, then gestured at the wounded Eric, not sounding all too sympathetic when she spoke up. "I suggest you take your boy here to the hospital, but not to the one here, if you know what's good for you. Willow needs to go there, thanks to you and your boy-toy here, and even though there's a rule telling me I can't kill you, I might forget that if I ever have to look at your face again."

"Or you could just look away while Pat kills her", Faith suggested in reply, making the demon smirk and nod; after one more look at the demon, Stacey clearly decided that this hadn't been a joke, and she hurriedly got up from her seat, grabbing her groaning boyfriend by the arm and pulling him to his feet, hurrying outside without looking back, Buffy letting out a snort the moment she could be sure they were out of earshot.

"I actually wasn't sure this really would scare her off", she then stated, making Faith smile as well while Pat just let out a snort, too, her attention fully focused on her girlfriend again.

"We better get you to the hospital", she stated, gesturing at the redhead's broken arm, "so this can be taken care of…"

"I'll call an ambulance", Faith said before Willow could react, "I doubt she's in the shape to walk there. Are you, Red?"

"No", the redhead had to admit, surprised when the smile Faith gave her in reply was both genuine and calming; then, the brunette seemed to remember something, since she raised an eyebrow, sounding concerned as she went on. "That is, I'll call an ambulance in case your phone's back to life. If not, I'll just carry her, now that I can do that again with my spiffy Slayer strength back where it belongs!"

"Psh", Pat let out in reply, making the brunette look at her, "if anyone carries her anywhere, that'll be me, I got my spiffy bonuses back, too. And what do you mean, our phone back to life? It's never died. Can phones actually die?"

"I called you, but no one answered", Buffy gave back, deciding not to philosophize over the question of possible death for phones, "that's why Faith and I came here. Didn't you hear?"

"Nope", Willow was the one to answer this time, "guess we've been too loud, what with all the screaming in pain and stuff…"

"Oh", the blonde Slayer gave back, not all too smart; Faith just rolled her eyes, then got up and made her way to the phone, giving the others a brief look and letting them know that the phone was perfectly alive before she called an ambulance, then moved to sit next to the couple again as the waiting began, the four of them just doing that in silence, reflecting on what had happened and fully realizing how lucky both Willow and Pat had been and that things could have ended much, much worse.

* * *

><p>Right after the ambulance had arrived at the hospital, Willow was wheeled away to a flurry of x-rays, doctors, nurses and medical terms she normally would have understood easily, but, now that the shock from getting seriously hurt had faded, was feeling too exhausted to care about; for a while, Buffy, Pat and Faith waited outside the examination room together, then the demon excused herself and left for a cigarette, the blonde Slayer not surprised when Faith followed suit half a minute later.<p>

Quickly, the brunette left the hospital, briefly looking around, until she spotted Pat, the demon standing close to the entrance, a cigarette in her mouth and her hands on fire, to the great amusement of Faith.

"You really missed that, huh", she stated while she walked over to the taller woman, her smirk widening when in response, Pat brought up one hand so she could light her cigarette on it; clearly satisfied, the demon nodded, having enough sense to let the flames disappear though, before someone else might come out and see her.

"I already said this to Willow", Faith was the one to break the – not uncomfortable – silence which had formed between them for a minute or two, looking up at the black haired woman, "but I figure I better tell you as well, so… I'm sorry."

"Don't mention it", the demon shrugged it off, causing Faith to raise an eyebrow, a mix of surprise and confusion in her voice when she replied. "That's it? It was practically because of me that you walked off back at the Bronze, and if you hadn't done that, well…"

"Yeah", Pat replied, shrugging again, taking another drag of her cigarette before she continued. "But as I said, don't mention it."

"But…" Faith started again, only to fall silent at the look Pat gave her, a serious, but not unkind glance she never had received from the taller woman before, not even when she had made her fruitless attempts at flirting with her.

"It doesn't matter", Pat went on after a second, "the only thing that matters is that you came."

"Came…?" Faith repeated, not sure what this was supposed to mean; smiling, the demon nodded, blowing yet another cloud of blue smoke towards the sky before she went on. "When Buffy called and no one answered, you came along when she went to see if something was wrong, even though you had no idea… couldn't have an idea… what you might find, and if you'd be able to handle it. Without the Slayer bonuses, I mean. It could have been a whole gang of vamps, using Willow and me as a snack bar, or some gross demon, or whatever, but that didn't matter to you, right? You came anyway, and that's all that counts in the long run. You were there."

"You know, now that you put it like that, it sounds like a horribly stupid thing to do", Faith smirked in reply, fighting hard not to let it show how much those words had touched her; even though they never had spoken about it, she knew that even now, Buffy and the rest of the gang still hadn't fully forgiven her for the things she had done, and it felt good to be forgiven at least by one person, even if the person in question technically couldn't be classified as such.

"I guess so", Pat agreed, smirking, distracting the brunette from her thoughts, "but so was attacking that guy with an ashtray when I knew that he has my strength and yours. I guess I was lucky he didn't tear my head off, or something."

"Willow would have gone ballistic on him, broken arm or not", Faith grinned in reply, the demon's smirk widening as well while she nodded; for a while, they fell silent again afterwards, smoking their cigarettes, until Pat was the one to speak up again, now sounding curious. "So what will you do now? Go back to L.A.?"

"Yeah, I guess so", the brunette shrugged in reply, "Sunnydale only needs one Slayer after all, and Angel might need some help with his stuff there, so…"

"That two Slayers thing still seems weird to me", the demon smirked, Faith shrugging in reply, then giving her a curious look.

"You're remarkably calm around her, seeing you're a demon", she stated, "has it always been like that? That they accepted you all so quickly, I mean?"

"Oh, no no", Pat shook her head, "in fact, Buffy once punched me… well, she punched me twice actually… after walking in on Willow and me enjoying the smoochies."

"Ouch!" Faith half said, half laughed, playfully punching the taller woman's upper arm, "that must've hurt!"

"It did", the demon reassured her with a grimace; afterwards, the two grinned at each other, then finished their cigarettes, the brunette stopping Pat though when she turned to move back inside.

"Wait", she unnecessarily started, "there's… something I wanna say, and I won't be able to do that when anyone else is around. I suck at all that mushy stuff."

"Okay", the black haired woman replied after a moment, wondering what was coming now, hoping it wouldn't be declarations of love – after all, Faith had reassured her that the flirting just had been for fun and hadn't been serious, but on the other hand, she couldn't be sure that the brunette actually had told the truth back then.

"The others probably told you all the horrible stuff I've done before I… well, before I went back to my saner self", Faith now went on, the sudden hesitation in her voice surprising the demon – so far, she never had heard the brunette sound like that, not even when she had made her apology. "Or maybe I should say that they warned you, huh?"

"They kinda did", the black haired woman admitted, figuring it'd be best to be honest; Faith nodded, as if she hadn't accepted anything else, then gave her a lopsided smile, her emotions clearly showing through her voice when she went on. "But… Well… God, I hate saying stuff like that, but… Well, you were nice to me anyway, you know? You probably were the only one who wasn't wary of me, or thought I'd betray them all again the moment I'd get the chance… so thanks. For that."

"You really are no good with that mushy stuff", Pat let her know in reply, hurriedly speaking on when she saw Faith's face fall. "Okay, that probably wasn't the best thing to say right now… Well, to say the more proper thing now, don't mention it. Or you're welcome, whatever you prefer. Um… You don't want to hug me now, right?"

"No", Faith reassured her, smiling, glad that this hadn't ended as awkward as she had feared, "no worries. Considering my luck, Willow probably would walk out right then, would see us and would blast my butt across the street or something."

This made the demon chuckle and nod; after a second, Faith laughed as well, the two still grinning at each other when they finally walked back inside, the brunette visibly relieved to have that burden off her shoulders.


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note: Aaand there we go with the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed the story. :) A new one will be posted on Thursday!

* * *

><p>It took annoyingly long until Willow finally came out of the examination room again, her broken arm now in a cast and her voice hoarse from the choking she had been forced to go through, the bruises standing out brightly on her pale skin and making Pat grimace at the sight.<p>

"The doctor said I'm gonna sound like that for a few days", she let the demon know, smiling when the taller woman carefully put an arm around her, "but at least, that doesn't hurt, and my arm will be fine again, too, in a while, so I guess it's all fine."

"And dandy", the black haired woman added, then smirked, her next words making Buffy roll her eyes while Faith let out a throaty chuckle. "Plus, I kinda like how you sound now. It's sexy."

"You'd think it'd be sexy if she sounded like… something definitely unsexy." the Slayer started out fine, but finished rather lamely, throwing Faith a dirty look when the brunette gave her an even dirtier grin in response.

"Don't hold that against her", she then smirked, patting the taller woman's back, "can't blame her for having a healthy appetite, huh?"

"Not really", Willow smiled before Buffy had the chance to reply anything, grabbing her lover by the shirt and pulling her down for a kiss; gladly, Pat fulfilled that demand, Buffy noticing with surprise that Faith was smiling at the sight, a happy, genuine smile the blonde hadn't seen on her face often before.

"We better get you home", Pat mumbled after pulling back from the kiss, "so you can get some rest."

"Yeah, so you can be at my farewell party tonight", Faith threw in before the redhead could answer, "at the Bronze, I'll pay the first round and maybe a few more after that! See you there at nine?"

"Sure", Willow agreed without hesitation, to the obvious surprise of her girlfriend; she smiled briefly at the demon, then focused on Faith again, just as surprised as Buffy had been minutes ago when she saw the smile on the brunette's face.

"Where'd you get the money for that?" Pat wanted to know, giving Faith a curious look, raising an eyebrow when the smaller woman let out a throaty chuckle in reply.

"Let's say that Spike didn't pay much attention on his pockets when I was drinking with him", she then winked, making the rest smirk as well; shaking her head, Buffy tried to give her a strict look afterwards, failing miserably though, the two Slayers grinning at each other before they finally parted ways with the couple, so Willow could get the rest she'd need after that unexpectedly exciting morning.

"It's a pity I don't have healing powers, like you", Willow stated an hour later, having made herself comfortable on the couch, the TV remote in hand, zapping through the channels while in the kitchen, Pat was busy preparing something to eat, both the redhead and her feeling tremendously hungry now that the danger was over. "The thought of having to wear that cast six weeks is horribly annoying. I won't even be able to take notes properly during classes."

"I thought you're right-handed", the demon called from the kitchen, frowning to herself, the frown vanishing at Willow's reply. "I am, but those desks are so small there, I'll probably knock everything off them and that'll be embarrassing."

"I'm sure you'll be able to avoid that", the black haired woman smirked at her as she finally joined her in the living room, carrying a plate stacked with sandwiches, the sight making Willow's mouth water immediately.

"Not so sure about that, myself", she still answered before grabbing one of the snacks and taking a huge bite out of it, taking the time to chew and swallow before she went on. "I can be awfully clumsy, you know?"

"Maybe you should bring a tape recorder", the demon suggested in reply, after wolfing down half a sandwich with one even bigger bite than the one Willow had taken from hers, "and tape whatever the professors say, and then make your notes here at home? The living room table should be big enough, right?"

"You know, I'm supposed to have a pretty sharp mind, but I didn't think of that until you said it right now", the redhead grimaced in reply, making Pat chuckle while she made herself comfortable next to her, then put an arm around her.

"A brilliant mind, not pretty sharp", she corrected, her words not helping though to wipe the grimace off her girlfriend's face.

"Not so brilliant if I can't think of such simple things", she muttered, making the demon shake her head.

"You're too occupied with thinking about brilliant things, so you can't be bothered with the simple ones", Pat then demanded, "those are for me, alright? You're the brain and I'm the muscle. Like in those TV shows."

"But the muscles in those shows are usually dumb and ugly", Willow pointed out, cheered up by her girlfriend's words though. "You're neither."

"Why thank you", Pat smirked, finishing her sandwich before she grabbed another one, then leaned in to kiss the redhead; happily, Willow responded, then they both focused on their food again, munching away until all the sandwiches were gone and they were stuffed, both of them feeling content and happy as they just snuggled on the couch and watched TV, enjoying the peace and quiet and the knowledge that at least for now, the danger was over once more.

* * *

><p>Just as they had agreed when Faith had asked them, they all met at the Bronze at nine, even Giles and Spike coming along; if the vampire had noticed that Faith had emptied his pockets during their drinking binge, he didn't mention it, obviously content with the fact that the brunette indeed was buying the first few rounds.<p>

Clearly happy about her regained strength and other abilities, Faith challenged Buffy, Pat and Spike to arm wrestling, to the amusement of everyone else at the table; after she had won against the demon and the vampire, but had lost miserably against Buffy, she even wanted to move on to other tables and challenge the stronger looking guys there, something both Giles and the blonde Slayer had to talk her out of, reminding her of the fact that their strength wasn't something they should flaunt around in public like that.

Giving in surprisingly quickly, the brunette settled for buying another round of beer instead; she dragged Spike along to help her carry all the cups, the rest looking after her smirking, Giles shaking his head and taking off his glasses to clean them while he spoke up. "It's fascinating how… over the top she seems to be now. I don't think I've ever seen her like this before."

"Me neither", Buffy admitted, her smirk turning into a warmer smile as all at once, she felt happy for the brunette; they had spoken about how glad Faith was to get her strength back before they had made their way here, but only now, she saw how happy the brunette really was, and it touched her to see her like this.

"I'm glad this is over", she thus went on, "who knows what else this guy would have done if we hadn't stopped him, with all that strength."

"And fire he wasn't able to control", Pat pointed out, shaking her head at the thought, "I guess we're lucky he didn't burn our place down. Or burned one of us."

"Indeed", Willow grimaced, glancing down at the cast on her arm, "but he did enough damage even without adding that."

"Yeah", the demon grumbled, throwing a glance at the cast as well, "I'm glad he and his weird girl left, I'd probably…"

She never got to say what she probably would have done if she'd see Eric again, since opposite of her, Buffy suddenly coughed audibly, her eyes going wide as she stared at something behind the couple; curious, both Pat and Willow turned in their seats, staring as well when they saw Faith and Spike approach – with Eric in tow, the brunette having a rather hard looking grip on his upper arm.

"Look who I found", she stated, pushing the clearly scared guy closer to the table, tightening her grip on his arm when he saw the look on Pat's face and clearly wanted to get as far away from them all as fast as he could.

"What are you doing here?" Buffy was the first one to speak up, rising from her seat so she could give Eric a threatening glare, "I thought we told you and your girl to get out of here?"

"She's gone", the taller man hurried to reassure her, "but I didn't just want to go without apologizing for all the harm I caused…"

"How touching", Pat commented, giving the man a dirty look, causing him to gulp audibly.

"I mean it", he then mumbled, obediently sitting down when Buffy pointed at one of the chairs in reply, "I never wanted any of this to happen, really… It was all her idea…"

"But you went along with it", Giles reminded him, "and let her take the power of our friends."

"Not to mention that you then used that power to badly hurt two of us", Faith added, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him as well, causing him to visibly shrink in his seat.

"I know there's nothing I can say to make up for this", he finally brought out, his voice trembling audibly, "but… well… I'm sorry…"

"Well, at least you have the guts to apologize", Buffy grudgingly had to admit, "but I suggest you leave town as soon as possible anyway. You'll surely understand that you won't win the Citizen of the Year Award around here anymore, right?"

"Of course", Eric hurried to reassure her, "as I said, I didn't want to go without apologizing… If I had known what would happen, I never would have agreed to Stacey's idea, but… I just wanted to be strong for her…"

"You just should have gone to the gym", Xander reprimanded him in response, unknowingly repeating what Faith had said in the apartment of Willow and Pat several hours ago, "or get a job in construction or something."

"Construction work helps a lot", Anya helpfully added, "Xander has been doing it for a while and look how nicely shaped he is."

"Thank you", Xander smiled at her in reply, the couple grinning at each other for a moment before they all focused on Eric again as the young man let out a sigh, then shook his head.

"I never should have agreed to doing that", he mumbled, turning to look at Willow afterwards, gesturing at her broken arm. "And I'm really sorry for doing this to you…"

"It'll heal", the redhead gave back, "the important thing is that you know now what your girlfriend did was wrong…"

"Ex-girlfriend, now", Eric muttered, not sounding all too bothered about it though; for a few moments, there was silence, then Giles spoke up again, now sounding curious. "Where did she get this trinket she used to steal their strength?" he demanded to know, making Eric focus on him again.

"From her mother, that's what she told me", the young man replied, scratching the back of his head sheepishly as he went on. "I have no idea if this is true, and if her mother knew what it could do when she gave it to her… Or if she figured it out on her own somehow."

"Too bad she left, or we could ask her… and _convince_ her to give us some answers", Pat muttered, ignoring it when Eric gave her a frightened look, smiling slightly though when Willow took her hand and gave it a tender, calming squeeze.

"I remember what the trinket thingy looked like", Buffy now threw in, gaining the attention of her Watcher, "I can make a drawing of it for you, if that helps? Seeing how she reacted though when I destroyed it, I doubt there's another one."

"I hope so", Faith grumbled, "losing all my powers once has been enough, thank you."

"Seconded", Pat agreed, giving the young man another dirty look, "and you, young man, are lucky that you didn't burn my girlfriend here or our place, or my self-control when I saw you a few minutes ago wouldn't have been as good as it was."

"I'm sorry", Eric mumbled once more, shifting on his seat uncomfortably, his gaze flickering back and forth between the demon's face and the table; to his relief, the black haired woman just nodded after a while, then Buffy spoke up and gained his attention again.

"I guess you've told us all we need to know", she stated, not unkindly, "so, you're free to leave."

"Okay", the young man gave back, looking at the gang once more while he got up and mumbling a final apology, then turned and walked off, Faith and Spike shaking their head in perfect unison as they watched him go.

"What a wimp", the vampire muttered, the brunette nodding her agreement heartily; Willow didn't seem all too impressed either, but at least found some kind words for the young man.

"Well, at least he apologized", she stated, not surprised when Buffy and Giles nodded while Pat just let out a snort; then, Anya changed the topic by asking if Faith would buy yet another round, claiming that her beer was empty again already, the brunette just rolling her eyes in reply before she got up from her seat and made her way to the bar once more, the unexpected appearance of Eric soon forgotten as the talk returned to funnier topics, all of the gang relaxing and enjoying each others company.

* * *

><p>In the next morning, Faith returned to L.A. by bus, Buffy, Willow and Pat seeing her off at the bus station; she was a bit surprised that the couple had come there as well, but clearly happy about it, smiling at the two while she said her goodbyes and told them to take care.<p>

"You gotta visit me in L.A. some time", she stated while she smoked one last cigarette before she'd have to get on the non-smoking bus, "and not just for business. There are some awesome clubs there, and we can hang out once I got a proper place."

"That'd be nice", Willow smiled, then surprised the brunette by briefly reaching out and touching her arm, adding "You take care, too", making Faith nod after a moment.

"That'll be easy, now that I got my strength back", she then smirked, making the redhead smile as well; for a few more seconds, the two just kept smiling at each other, then Faith threw her cigarette away and bent down to pick up her travel bag, looking at the group once more after she had straightened up again.

"So", she started, now sounding and feeling a bit uncomfortable again, "guess it's time for goodbyes now…"

"We'll come visit you some time soon", Buffy promised in reply, "the whole gang, and then we'll go on your nerves so much that you'll ask us to leave again as fast as possible."

"I doubt you'd be able to do that", Faith smirked in reply, glad that the blonde Slayer had made that joke and thus made goodbye a bit easier for her, "alright, maybe Giles might, but none of you guys."

"Good to know", Willow commented, then surprised everyone once more by stepping closer to the brunette and briefly hugging her; after a moment, Faith returned the hug with her free arm, looking a bit dazed when the redhead stepped back, the expression increasing when Buffy moved up to her and hugged her as well.

Once the Slayer had pulled back, Pat made the confusion for the brunette complete by pulling her into an embrace as well; clearing her throat, Faith clearly was at a loss for words once the demon had pulled back, only able to bring out "Take care" once more before she turned and hurried for the bus, the three looking after her, Buffy shaking her head after a few seconds had passed in silence and she could be sure Faith was out of earshot. "I think that kinda overwhelmed her. Maybe we should warn her the next time before we do that."

"Are you kidding?" Pat demanded to know in reply, "the look on her face was awesome. We gotta do that again when we visit her in L.A." At this, both Willow and Buffy laughed, then nodded; smirking, the demon put one arm around her girlfriend before they started walking as well, returning to their homes, glad that once more, a dire situation had been resolved and that they all would be able to return to their more or less normal lives again now.

End.


End file.
