Buffy was pacing the floor in Kennedy and Willow’s bedroom, Xander was leant against a wall, and Willow was sat on the bed next to Kennedy, who was currently holding an ice pack to the side of her eye.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” Buffy said, suddenly coming to a stop she looked at Kennedy “Did anything happen when you guys went patrolling last night?”

Kennedy looked up at Buffy, “Like what?”

“Maybe a demon infected her?” Buffy asked.

“No, there was just a few vamps,” Kennedy replied.

Xander pushed himself off of the wall and took a few steps forward, “Look this is Faith we’re talking about here. I don’t think it’s too absurd to think that she would do something like this without being infected.”

Buffy rubbed her eyes, before looking back at them, “It just doesn’t make sense, I mean even when we argue, she doesn’t retaliate physically. Not anymore. Trust me, in recent months I’ve pushed her buttons more than a few times. She’s different now.” Buffy looked at Kennedy who was nursing her wounds, “Or at least I thought she was…this doesn’t make sense.”

Xander looked over at Kennedy, “Ken, you gotta go through this again, so you guy’s were sparring, and she just lost it?”

“I’ve explained it a million times, she’s crazy. She can’t be trusted. It was like she was there but she wasn’t you know? Like something switched inside her, like she was getting off on it. There was something, evil about it.” Kennedy explained whilst trying to avoid eye contact with Willow.

“When you say evil? Do you mean like possessed?” Buffy asked

“Jesus Buffy, she’s not infected or anything. This was all Faith, trust me. That’s what I’m trying to explain to you,” Kennedy exclaimed, “Anyway, why are you taking her side? I’ve seen you around her, you hate her!”

“I don’t hate her…It’s just … complicated.” Buffy said quietly, as she moved to sit on a chair by the bed.

“Well you should hate her! What is wrong with you people! Can’t you see what she did to me? Do you all wear blinders when it comes to Faith?” Kennedy stood up angrily.

“Hey, calm down, we’re just trying to understand the situation,” Xander said

“The situation, Xander, is that you guys have put an unstable, psychotic murderer in charge of a bunch of vulnerable girls,” Kennedy said as she edged towards him

“Kennedy…” Buffy warned.

Kennedy glanced at Buffy then turned to look at Willow who was still sitting on the bed, “And why are you not saying anything?”

Willow looked up at Kennedy, then over to Xander and Buffy, “I think Buffy’s right. When it comes to Faith, thing’s can be a little complicated.”

Kennedy looked at her incredulously, “Is that so?”

“Yes,” Willow stood to face Kennedy, “Sweetie, none of us are saying what Faith did was okay. But what we’re trying to figure out, is why. We know she’s improved. We know she’s made progress…” Willow sighed before sitting back on the bed.

“Counseling?” Xander suggested.

Buffy shook her head, “I can’t see Faith doing that, besides I think this is gonna be a little out of their league.”

“Maybe we should call Angel?” Willow suggested

“No,” Buffy said as she shook her head, “I don’t want us to go running to Angel every time Faith get’s too difficult for us to handle, we have to learn how to deal with whatever issues she’s got.”

“How to deal? Are you insane? She needs to be back in prison. Am I the only one that hasn’t forgotten that she broke out of high security prison, whilst doing time for murder? Really? This isn’t ringing alarm bells for anyone else?” Kennedy said as she looked around the room.

“I don’t think that’s the answer, besides, she can’t go back, her record’s clear now,” Xander said.

“What? What are you…”, Kennedy turned to Willow, “You cleared her record? Were you even gonna tell me?”

Willow rubbed at her temples, before looking up at her hurt girlfriend, “Kennedy, it’s not really your decision.”

“No it’s not, but I should be a part of it. I’m a slayer, I’ve got more right to know and decide about these things than say the useless one-eyed carpenter over there.”

Xander looked up but decided to stay quiet for Willow’s sake, however Buffy felt the need to speak up, “Kennedy, I’m getting a little sick of your attitude,” Kennedy turned to face Buffy.

“Buffy, you need to stay out of this, this is between Willow and me.”

“No, I won’t stay out of it.” Buffy stood from her seat, “I know you seem to think you deserve more responsibility than you have, but you really don’t. Not yet anyway.”

“No, clearly not. Apparently I have to murder someone and ride a few vampires before I get to that level,” Kennedy snapped before she walked out the door.

Buffy was stunned at Kennedy’s parting words, and looked at Willow after Kennedy slammed the door, “How the hell do you deal with that?”

Willow looked sadly down at the floor in front of her, “I’m so sorry guys.”

Xander slowly walked over to the bed to sit next to Willow as she continued, “Sometimes I just don’t know how to approach her, she’s so different to Oz, and Tara… I get why she’s mad at Faith, but it’s like sometimes, she just doesn’t grasp the maturity to understand there’s more to a situation than just black and white.”

Buffy sat down on the bed too, “Will, are you happy? With her?”

Willow smiled sadly, “It’s not always bad,” Willow sighed before continuing, “Anyway, we should talk about Faith.”

Kennedy stood in the hallway, desperately trying to calm down. Her plan was backfiring on her, and spiraling out of her control. They were supposed to get angry and send Faith back to L.A, where she could be far away from Willow. Instead they seemed to want to keep a tighter hold on the dark slayer. Suddenly panic washed over Kennedy, they were obviously going to confront Faith, who would then know what Kennedy did. Which would be fine, if she was being sent away to L.A never to be seen or heard from again, but that wasn’t the case anymore.

“Shit!” Kennedy leant her head against the wall. She had to get control of the situation again. Looking over at the door she just walked out of, she took a deep breath, then walked back in.

Looking over at the bed, she saw all three friends sitting around. They had obviously been talking but stopped when she walked in. Xander and Buffy looked annoyed and avoided eye contact, and Willow just looked disappointed.

“Xander, Buffy, I’m sorry about what I said…” Kennedy started, both Xander and Buffy looked a little surprised at the apology, clearly expecting more of an argument, “I was…It was really ignorant and disrespectful. I didn’t mean it, I was just angry.”

Xander was the first to speak, “I appreciate that, hey, I’ve been on the receiving end of an angry Faith. I know it can be a little frustrating…and sore.”

“Yeah,” Kennedy smiled at him, before looking at Willow, “Baby…”

Willow didn’t really look in the mood for apologies, “We’ll talk about it later, right now, if you can do so without acting like a brat, we need to discuss Faith.”

Kennedy looked at Willow, then sat down in the chair that Buffy had previously been occupying, “I’ve been thinking about that. I think you should let me deal with Faith. We used to be close, and we kind of still are. I was just mad before. Wounded pride ya know?”

Buffy looked at Kennedy perplexed, “I’m sorry, did you just have a personality transplant in the five minutes you were gone?”

Kennedy rolled her eyes, trying desperately to eradicate the tension in the room, “Look Faith lost it, big time, I’m not gonna lie. But clearly I’m the closest to her, out of all of us. Buffy you can’t even go five minutes before you both start aggravating each other, and Xander, you and Faith have barely spoken since she got out of Jail!”

“I seem to get along fine with her.” Willow said as she met Kennedy’s eyes. Kennedy stayed quiet for a moment, before speaking again, “I know baby, but you guy’s have this history, all of you do. She might not feel comfortable opening up to you, I wasn’t around for all that,” looking at Buffy again, Kennedy continued, “Buffy, you said I don’t deserve responsibility yet, just give me this. Don’t talk to Faith about this, it’ll make things worse. Let me do it.”

The three friends sitting on the bed, looked at each other a bit unsure. Willow then turned to Kennedy, “Fine, we’ll let you deal. But Kennedy, Faith isn’t some problem that you can solve to gain a promotion. If you’re doing this for the wrong reasons”

“I’m not, I just want to help her.”

“Okay but I do think we should all keep an eye on her too.” Buffy said to the others around her.

“Sure.” Kennedy smiled.

Faith had done her best to avoid Kennedy since their argument in the gym. She felt humiliated that she had told Kennedy something so personal, and was laughed at in return.

It had been a few days, and she had successfully managed to avoid everyone in the castle. Surprisingly nobody had come to her room to check up on her, which made her feel a mixture of relief and sadness. She checked herself over in the mirror, her injuries from the sparring session had mostly disappeared, all but a bruise to the side of her eye, and a nasty cut on her lip. She sighed before walking over to the door, fully intending on a solo patrol. She just had to get out undetected.

Opening the door, she walked out into the corridor. Closing her eyes for a moment, she tried to focus and concentrate on making sure she could avoid anyone nearby. Slowly she walked to the end of the corridor, and peered round the corner. She watched as Rona was talking about her new weapon to Vi, the latter of whom was unlocking the door to her bedroom. Faith watched them both enter Vi’s bedroom, before she breathed a sigh of relief as the coast was finally clear.

“What are you doing?”

“Jesus Red!” Faith jumped at the voice behind her, “Nothin, I wasn’t doing anything.”

Willow looked at her with a bemused expression, “Have you been avoiding everybody?”

“Why would I do that?” Faith replied

“No reason,” Willow hesitated for a moment before continuing, “What happened to your face?”

Faith smirked before replying, “What can I say, I’m god’s gift!”

Willow let out a small laugh, “As stunningly gorgeous as you are, I was talking about your bruises.”

“It’s nothing, just sparring with the girls,” Faith shrugged. Willow lifted her hand to move some hair away from Faith’s eye in order to get a better look.

“Well, if you want I can take a look at it back in my room,” She ran her hand down the side of Faith’s face and gently stroked Faith’s lip with her thumb, “Might be able to do something about that cut too,” Willow said before finally dropping her hand back to her side.

Faith held her breath before finally speaking, “I erm…I”, Faith closed her eyes for a brief moment, internally berating herself for losing her confidence so quickly.

Willow looked at Faith strangely, trying to figure out if she was about to admit to losing it with Kennedy, “Sweetie, come on, let’s go to my room,” Willow finished with a smile, before gently tugging at Faith’s hand.

Faith was sat on Willow’s bed, whilst Willow was gathering some stuff from the bathroom. She looked down at the bed she was sitting on, and instantly stood up as the thought of Willow and Kennedy having sex on it sprang into her mind.

At that moment Willow came out from the bathroom and smiled at Faith, “Take a seat.”

“Nah I’m cool.”

Willow took a seat on the bed and looked up at Faith, “Faith, I can’t really do this if you’re all the way up there.”

Faith rubbed her hands on her jeans before sitting back down again.

Willow started fussing with some antiseptic ointment, knowing full well Faith’s injuries would be fine left alone, she wanted to use this as an opportunity to get Faith to open up. Placing some of the ointment onto some cotton, she then put the bottle onto the ground before turning to face Faith.

“Pretty tough sparring session?”

“Yeah well…”

Willow smiled at Faith before dabbing the cotton onto her lip, “Sometimes you’re like a closed book, you know that?”

“B said that.”

Willow wiped the wetness of the ointment from the bottom of Faith’s lip using her thumb, “Does that sting?”

Faith looked directly into Willow’s eyes and held her gaze for a moment, “Nah, only stings when I try and smile or something.”

“Well I’m happy to know that you’ve been attempting to smile!” Willow beamed, which caused Faith to smile, “Ow!” Faith said before running her tongue over her lip, “Gross, what the hell is this stuff,” Willow watched on amused as Faith was now desperately trying to get the taste off of her tongue using the side of her hand.

“It’ll heal you a lot quicker, it’s regular antiseptic, with a little help from me to quicken it up.” Willow said.

“What like magic?” Faith asked

“Nope, just good old fashioned chemistry. It’s harmless, just an extra agent to speed it up.”

“You sure I’m not gonna start sprouting an extra lip?” Faith said looking horrified.

“Hey!” Willow playfully smacked Faith’s arm, “I’ll have you know, I was top of my class.”

Faith smiled at Willow, this time ignoring the pain, and looked into her eyes, “Yeah, you’re pretty awesome like that.”

Willow looked a little surprised at the compliment. Then suddenly everything clicked into place, realization hit Willow in an instant. She was the one Faith had feelings for. It all made sense. Why she began avoiding Kennedy, why she lashed out at Kennedy in the gym, the intense gazes she sent Willow’s way. Practically everybody had complained at least a few times about Faith’s behavior with them, Willow couldn’t really understand it, as Faith had never been nothing more than gentle and sweet towards her in the past few months. Willow snapped out of her thoughts as Faith had now stood up and was making excuses to leave.

“Look I just didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable, I just meant, you’re smart you know? Mixing stuff up like that,” Faith’s voice was shaky as she edged towards the door, “I’d probably end up blowing my head off or something!”

“Faith wait, you don’t have to leave…” Willow said standing, her face full of concern.

“I was on my way out to patrol anyway, so I better go do that,” Faith said as she backed herself against the door, with her hand behind her on the handle.

Willow took a step forward, “Kennedy took a couple of the girls to do a sweep, you don’t need to worry about it tonight,” she said gently.

Faith looked at the floor, “Kennedy…Right.”

Willow’s heart broke at the tone in Faith’s voice, as if picking up on Willow’s pity, Faith suddenly spun round and opened the door before running out. Willow quickly followed her out into the corridor but Faith was gone.