I do what has to be done...

"Did you see her fight? What is she like? Does she smoke?" Lina asks Julia enthralled with the exciting prospect of having a celebrity at the school. Having Michelle Rodriguez around has certainly not gone unnoticed.

"She's a lot like Faith. I mean, they fight really different and they don't think plans through same, but she's so ready to get in the thick of a fight." Julia's voice grows louder as the pair walk past my office window outside the building, along the path from the gardens.

‘Can't I escape from this crap for half a second?'

"M-Rod stopped smoking when she found out she was a Slayer." Julia explains.

"M-Rod?"

"Yeah, she said we could call her that."

‘Nimrod, more like.'

Julia continues with a laugh in her throat, "She's so cool. On our last night in Prague we all went to a club and she told us about her Slayerness and what it means to her. Like, not wanting the smokes to be the end of her life. Having a demon behead her was a better way to go so it could be on her headstone."

‘Yeah, coz that's not self-indulgent at all.'

"That sounds weird." Lina stops right outside my office for a moment before taking a large swig of her bottled water. "Is she all about the fame?"

"Really not. It's like she's got a purpose in life now and wants to do some good with it out there. She's completely down to earth and ready to just hang with anyone." The quickly progressing wicca smiles at her chicken supreme and cheese wrap before biting into it with great appreciation.

The sound of someone thundering down the path starts suddenly and with a blood cry shunts me from my desk to a battle ready stance, "IN COMING!!" Rye yells flailing her arms above her head.

Julia and Lina turn snapping their joint attention to the excitable Slayer, "What?" Both girls prepare themselves for the possibility of an attack at the school or news of a disaster hitting with their families or other equally horrible circumstances.

"M-Rod is on the move. Just seen her up the path in the gardens having lunch..." She stops in front if them with a bounce. "With Faith." The smirk currently plastered across her face is unmistakable.

"Cool. Let's go say hi." Julia places a hand on her lunch slipping it into to her bag, securing it tightly before getting ready to walk, but gets stopped by Rye.

"I think they'll wanna have a little alone time."

"What d'you mean?"

"Where have you been? It's all over the school!"

Lina jumps in the flow of heightened conversation, "What is?"

Like Jack, Rye begins bouncing on the spot with legs that look like they're made out of jelly. "They're fucking!"

"THEY'RE WHAT!'

I almost fall forward onto my desk for support. Of all the things that I could imagine Rye saying at that moment, I honestly can say that that was not it. I feel like someone has taken a grip on my heart and is squeezing mercilessly.

"They're what?!" Lina gasps spitting out the water she just had in her mouth. "In broad daylight?!"

Rye stops acting like Tigger as she rolls her eyes, "Well not exactly, but they're definitely seeing each other. Caught them kissing just now. Going at it like lust bunnies. Michelle had Faith pressed tightly up against that weird abstract stone structure Mr Wells erected two months ago. She was seriously tonguing Faith, with her legs pining her in place as hands travelled her body in search of that sweet sweet booty. Faith's hands were doing the same with intense ass groping action. They were both rubbing against each other in attempts to scratch that itch, if y'know what I'm saying. I could hear them simultaneously panting and moaning like shit was about to happen... but I didn't see much."

Julia shakes her head directing her attention from Rye to Lina. "Did not see that coming."

"What were they like in Prague?" Lina asks while she recovers from a mini coughing fit.

"Buds, a few teething problems to start with. That's all-" Julia begins but gets cut off by the steam roller approach of Rye.

"Sexual Tension!"

I manage to get my legs to work and will my heart to unclench when I notice Ariel and Shannon join the group having their conversation outside my office. I mean seriously, outside my office?! Why do they have to do that there of all the places we have available to them in the whole school.

‘They. Are. Trying. To. Torture. Me!'

Come on, is it just me or are our five star dormitories with en suite facilities too lavish for them to all go and talk there?!

Rye waves at the girls beckoning them closer, "Ace! Hey Ace, you'll have my back on this, right?"

Faith was at it again, giving people catchy personalised nicknames, "On what?" Ariel replies shocked by the unexpected inclusion by Rye.

"On the raging sexual tension between Slayers." The outspoken Slayer pulls an arm around Ariel to get her to side with her on this topic.

I witness the obvious body language between herself and Shannon, both edging closer towards each other as if being pulled by an invisible magnet then abruptly halting their breaths.

"I guess that depends on the Slayers." Aerial replies, "I always thought Buffy and Faith might've had something."

‘What is this with past tense Buffy all of a sudden?'

Shannon smiles at the guarded Slayer with the ‘cell phone' issues, "You saw that too, huh?" Testing the water with an easy siding statement. It doesn't take a scientist to understand what's going on baby. The junior Faith and Buffy share a look which they take their time with, unlike earlier glances, this one is allowed to run its course to a natural end when Rye yells at Julia and Lina.

"Ha! Told ya."

Julia corrects the impetuous Slayer buzzing among them, "No, you were talking about Faith and Michelle."

"They were hot for each other too. You must've seen it when we were out there. The first night we dropped, Faith took us on recon to check out the area. She was staking out that coffee shop and had a feeling about a mystery figure so followed it into the alley." Rye recounts trying to prove her point.

Julia nods remembering that night, "We followed Faith after she didn't come back after five minutes then stumbled on her handing Michelle her ass. They were pretty toe-to-toe for a while, but nowhere near a match."

"That's when Julia casts a little protective spell for Faith thrusting this mystery brunette crashing into trash cans." Ariel leans closer to Shannon explaining with a smile on her face. Funny that, I've got a massive gin on mine picturing Michelle being unceremoniously trashed, heh.

‘She is where she lands.'

"Michelle gets up wiping her face of a trail of blood travelling toward her chin. She looked so completely badass with this dangerous glower and tussled brunette mane. Hot!" Rye's face changes as that smirk comes back, "That's when Faith does this thing with her shoulders that I can't describe, but it looks sickening. Ariel you have to show them you can do it." The storyteller gestures wildly for a display.

On cue Ariel looks to the left seemingly unimpressed, rolls her right shoulder independently from her left, then leaning to that side sends a mini wave across her shoulders in the opposite direction. In a fluid motion Ariel lets the wave travel down the left arm then rubs the side of her nose with the thumb of her left hand.

‘That's so Faith.'

Faith usually does that action just before or after she's kicked ass, when she's going into interrogation mode. It's done subtly and it's so hot. I get glassy eyed thinking about Faith before noticing that Shannon is mooning over Aerial.

‘That's so me.'

"How do you do that shit?! Right on the money!" Rye whoops her approval, "You even did the look-away and nose tap!"

Julia nods, "You do it well. Seriously it looks wicked cool, so when Faith did it we saw Michelle get shit scared, like she was about to get slaughtered."

"That's when they looked hard at each other and BAM... Sexual Tension!" Rye finishes her story with the aid of the Slayers in the team who went on that mission.

Shannon pulls on the hem of her own t-shirt as she brushes her hair behind her ear. A very nervous movement that I remember doing several times in my life, "I'm gonna go... " She starts to walk backwards away from the group, "Need water." The petite beauty smiles pointing at Lina's bottle.

Ariel takes her leave of the group too, "Shan hold up, I got a monster craving for a Kit-Kat and a Butterfinger and a Snickers and a-"

"How aren't you the size of a house?" Shannon asks happy that her friend wants to come with her, but also a little uncomfortable that her friend wants to come with her.

"I'm a Slayer, baby." She confident Slayer winks making the hazel eyed woman blush.

"Buffy, are you in there?" Willow asks as she knocks on my door. Reluctantly I pull my attention away from the Slayers at my window and unlock my door. "Hey... oh you look spacey."

"I'm fine, Will." I put a brave face on my situation and smile.

"Ok well Giles needs to see us in his office. I'm on my way there now. Escort me?" The wicca smiles sweetly at me and I can't resist. Leaving my office I walk with her across the floor we're on past the labs and work rooms. Entering the majestic office my best friend and I sit at the oak table with Dawn, Xander and Andrew. "What's the story?"

"We're not all here yet, Willow." Giles nods to her before fixing his gaze on me with a warm greeting, "Buffy. Missed you this morning. Everything alright?"

"Yeah..." I don't go into the grave details of my doomed love life. The real reason I failed to attend our meeting. "How are you?"

"Good. Better now we know the situation in Prague. We can really work on defending against the rising attack."

"Sorry we're late G." Faith struts in with Michelle close behind. "You can take a seat here, next to me." The brunette Slayer sits opposite me next to Xander as Michelle takes the seat next to her opposite willow.

"Thanks. Hi everyone." Our newest student greets everyone with a friendly smile.

‘Oh this is just great. Who invited her to... hang on this feels like a set up.'

My focus snaps to Willow and she just pats my leg to help me to relax. This woman has and always will be my best friend, and nothing will ever change that. Not even death... Not saying that I'm gonna kill her, but the thought has just crossed my mind.

Michelle looks directly at me then over to Faith, "Before we start can I just say, I have heard so many great stories-"

"Yeah, we've all heard about the naked WWF auditions." I dismiss her immediately, knitting my arms I look over to Giles. Who characteristically is pulling his glasses from his face and preparing his handkerchief for cleaning duty.

"I mean the one about you blowing up an entire high school, at graduation no less." Michelle concentrates on me as I realise my mistake and look back in her direction. "I was also told the one where you sunk an entire town, earthquake style."

"It wasn't just me. I had help on all those."

"The way I hear it you're the man around here."

‘You heard right, bitch!'

"I do what has to be done..." I reply with a curt nod.

"When it suits." Faith answers absently with her focus on the folder she has in her hands.

‘Passive aggressive much?'

"Now that we are all here we can commence." Giles replaces his glasses and hands the floor over to Faith. "Your task was to recon the situation in Prague and you found out some invaluable information at ground level. Is that right?"

"I wouldn't put it quite like that G, but hell yeah I got the skinny on the sitch." Tapping the folder in some weird Morse code she glances at Michelle, "Touched down and found Reyals78 in less than an hour."

Michelle chuckles playfully slapping Faith's arm, "It was more like five hours."

"Fuck off, believe I'm that good. Alright, it was three hours tops." The experienced hunter continues directing her words to everyone in Giles' office except me. "Figured the best person to track down was the one with the bloggin' habit." Placing her hand flat on the folder she smiles, "As D put together the research we had a pretty good idea that this cyber-nut had a detailed ear to the ground. Real shit you can't make up."

"Hey. You live it, you live it, right." Nimrod shrugs admitting to being the net geek.

"So we hung out, saw all the spots, rocked all the rocks and came out with fuckin'-"

"Herpes?" I say without being able to stop the words flowing effortlessly out of my mouth. "I mean, her please. You do a lot of talking Faith. Why not let her have a say."

Michelle grins at the Slayer beside her and its then I see that she's just a newbie like all the others. "Wow, I guess I'm apart of this thing now." Faith now busy glaring at me like I stole her last hot pocket, while our resident A-Lister fills us in, "It's a network of vampires pulling together to strengthen a rival army to the rising Slayer power. Y'know, doubling their efforts to regain lost territories."

"Who's running the show, The First?" Xander asks not liking the possibility of having that evil orchestrating this counter attack.

"I don't know. We did stumble on something called the Abyss. It's what all the vamps are snarling ‘bout. They want to shove all of us in so they can roam free on this earth without fear of decapitation or a side order of sudden death." Nimrod adds.

"I've read about that. The Abyss opens periodically to align with the stars to unlock a void in the mystical cavern." Dawn glances from Michelle to Willow, "Different dimensional planes have different locations, but for us it means any Slayer killed in this time frame will be discarded into this void with no chance of coming back."

"I never thought it would come around in your lifetime." Giles laments ruefully as he gets up from his desk.

Xander swivels in his chair concerned that this could be a very bad thing for his friends, "What does this mean?"

"We're against the clock." Willow replies with a small grimace on her face. I can feel every one grow as intense as a prune left out in the sun on the fourth of July.

"It's a Window of Doom." Andrew starts and I realise that I need to think of something quickly to Lutetium and Commander this battle of fear and confusion. "And just as we're getting in the swing here with the school. What will happen to all those little chickens left unprotected out in the field of engagement? How do we tend to all those pretty puppies lost in the outer reaches without a clue as to what fates befall them? When will the time come to end this savage display of intrepidity? Who shall we send to-"

Having heard enough of Andrew's maddening ramblings I abruptly stand from my seat instantly getting everyone's attention. "Will. Dawn. I need you to get on top of this and find out an ETA on this window. Get anything you can on how it will effect the girls and any other mystical beings in this dimension. Michelle, I think your experience will be invaluable to them. Tell them everything you've seen and heard. Welcome to the War Room."

Nimrod nods at me quickly learning her place in this well oiled Slayer mechanism.

"Giles, its time to make a few calls." I state knowing that he'll be with me all the way, "We need to know how the others are doing and if they've also seen surges in demonic activity." Giles handles my top level global requests as he doesn't want to rip anyone's throats out when talking to newly appointed Watchers around the world.

I know we put them there in the first place to help with the girls, Robin is still in the States working hard, but sometimes I get old Watcher's Council flashbacks and it makes my skin crawl.

Crossing my arms I turn my focus over to Xander and Andrew, "We need to use every communication format we have to alert the girls to step up training. As soon as we have an estimated time of arrival from Will and Dawn, we'll let them know about it. My main priority is to use every resource we can to get messages to the girls quickly and effectively."

Andrew is the first to speak up with a cautious, but excited expression on his face. "I've been working on using Slayer Dreams to channel all the Slayers at once. Kinda like a cross between a group email and a Twitter update, but its still in early stages."

"Fine. Just get it done." Take a pause waiting for any questions or comments from my team in front of me, but receive none, "Right, you all know what to do. I want updates in two hours."

‘TEN HUP!'

Everyone files out except for myself, Faith and Giles. Seeing as this is his office there's no reason he should leave, heh.

"And I do what, Twinks?" An annoyed husky voice asks.

"What I tell you to do."

"You didn't tell me shit. Like usual." She sneers getting up from her seat to lean across the table.

"You can be Andrew's guinea pig for the dream tests." I smirk.

"No fuckin' way. There's no way I'm letting that failed test tube science project in my head, and the Slayer Dream Mail Shot can stay clear of my body too."

"Looks like the bench for you then, Lehane."

‘Why can't I stop myself?'

Seeing anger flare behind her eyes makes me want her, but makes me uncomfortable at the same time. I guess Ariel and Shannon are just like us, but a normal version that can function well together without devastating explosions.

Faith tenses as grit oozes from her voice, "Should I be on my back for that or just let him fuckin' mind rape me from behind!"

"Better than ruining your precious hard ass reputation!"

Giles slams down the phone he was using to start his international calls. "Faith! Buffy! Now that's enough. What has gotten into you two?"

"Dick all." The simmering brunette across the table mumbles gruffly, as she stands straighter folding her arms tightly.

"Well, if it's nothing you should get on with your tasks and cease with the trash talk. Take the fight to the enemy." My father figure smiles at us completely misunderstanding Faith's comment.

The door opens with an unexpected rush of cold air and I take a second to let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding in.

"Uncle, I've got those samples you wanted." Richard enters with an arm full of stain samples. Giles was looking forward to redecorating his office and wanted to restore the wood to its full glory. "Hi Buffy." He smiles before offloading the samples on the large oak table we were all just sat at. "Faith."

The tough brunette starts to shake her head and I can tell no good is about to leave her lips, "Fuckin'-"

"You need to leave and help Andrew or Xander or Vi or Rona or teach the girls something useful."

"Like, how to take it lying down?"

"Stop doing this, Faith. It's not helping."

"Neither is giving up, B."

‘Why did she say that?'

"Is there anything I can do to ease the burden?" Richard pokes his head around offering his services out of a pure heart for me.

"Oh I think you've done quite enough, Sir Galahad." Faith opens her mouth to say more, but she catches my eyes and stops. "Fuck this." Turning sharply Faith leaves Giles' office slamming the door behind her, unlike before, this time I follow her out closing the door softly behind me.

"Hey..."

In one fluid motion Faith spins, grabs me by my waist and thrusts me hard against the far wall of the corridor. Her body presses tightly against my own trying to take in shallow breaths, "What?" Slayer Reflexes definitely a surprise.

"I... I just wanted..." I slip into a trance being captured by the essence of Faith. Her eyes bore into mine with a raw determination that always floors me every time. "You said something and I want to know why you said it." I realise I'm panting and try to stop, but I can't. Being this close to her is wreaking havoc with all my senses. She could easily kill me where I stand.

‘Don't make her mad... Whoops, too late.'

"I said a lot, Princess. What exactly got your knickers in a twist?" She slithers into a British accent for the word ‘knickers' and I want to punch her.

"You said I was giving up. I'm not giving up. What am I possibly giving up on?"

‘Confused much.'

"You told me you'd never go back to him, unless there was nothing else out there for you."

I said that. I remember telling Faith that the night I broke up with Richard, with tears streaming down my face and a ton of Kleenex around my feet. I would give up on finding love and settle for someone that loved me. "I did..."

"Yeah, you did. And look at you now, shacking up with some dickhead that hurts you." Chocolate orbs search my soul for affirmation because she can't prove it. I've not confirmed or denied Richard's behaviour towards me even though I know he's been (and will always be) a perfect gentleman, "Why, B?"

I immediately tense up feeling her delve into me further than she's ever gone before. Being thrown off by the close proximity of her and the way she's cradling my hips shoves me quickly to an extremely offensive place, "It's complicated." I state before tossing the Slayer away from me completely.

"Fuckin' have it your way, B, but this shit is ridiculous and you know it!"

"More ridiculous than you breaking the rules?"

"There's no rule to say I shouldn't date."

"But there is a rule for not jeopardizing the school. You're ruining it‘s reputation and putting us all at risk."

‘Watch stupid Buffy raise the make believe stakes.'

"How the fuck am I putting us at risk?"

"The girls will lose all respect for us if they see you taking advantage of one of them. That in turn will breed hostility, mutiny then death."

‘Seriously, I need to learn to stop talking.'

"Death? Don't be so fuckin' melodramatic."

"All our enemies will see the Slayers disband, easy targets to pick apart and execute and launch into the Abyss. Do you really want their blood on your hands?!" I begin to step across the distance between us before halting my progress for fear of getting too close again.

Faith stares at me hard, "That's how you wanna play this one, huh?" She ploughs her hand deeply through her brunette locks in the attempts of releasing the tension for the third time today. "Fine."

"Fine."

‘So not fine.'