Title: Living with a Mask

Author: Arina

Email: mystic_spirit@hotmail.com

Rating: PG?

Category: BTVS/WWE

Pairing: Willow/Jericho, Faith/Edge

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss has BTVS and ATS and Vince owns WWE

Spoilers: Seasons Six for Buffy- Tara’s still dead but Xander and Anya did get married. No particular time setting for WWE

Summary: Faith and Willow realize that the past always catches up with them.

Thoughts indicated by < >

PROLOGUE

She walked down the hallway, the rattling of the iron shackles binding her arms and legs being the only sound to echo in the dank fortress. To her left, a heavily muscled man walked with a purpose, a permanently stony expression set on his face. To her right, an equally cold man strode along with the same determination as the other man. These men were her guards.

She snorted softly. Some guards. Overly muscled men employed to tame and control women. Innocent little girls like herself.

Yeah right.

If she wanted to, she could easily break the shackles. Use the chains to choke Muscle Man #1 while knocking Muscle Man #2 unconscious with a single punch.

But she wasn’t going to do that.

She knew this day would come eventually. The day where she would face up to her responsibilities, accept the inevitable. But it was just so soon. Too soon. Something must have happened. Something big.

They turned a corner, where they came upon a door. Muscle Man #1 knocked. There was a window peephole in the door covered by a piece of metal. Someone on the other side of the door slid the piece of metal along to that the three people could only see his eyes. "Yes?" he asked.

"52146 due for release." Muscle Man #2 reported.

The piece of metal slid to close and the door opened. She took a good look at the man who opened the door. Little guy. Kinda scrawny.

Scrawny Man pulled a set of keys from his pocket and uncuffed her. Leading her to a door on the other side of the room, he instructed her to place her hands on a table, where she would be frisked for the very last time.

"Any family?" Scrawny Man asked.

"No."

"Friends?"

"No."

"Would you like your belongings back?"

"Wouldn’t mind."

Scrawny Man gave her a look at the tone in her voice. "You won’t cause any more trouble now, will you?"

"No, sir."

He handed her a bag with the items she had originally entered with so long ago. Unlocking the door, he motioned for her to exit. "Don’t come back." He said, slamming the door shut behind her.

Taking a deep breath, Faith looked around. The sun was shining in the early morning and people were milling about.

Oh yeah.

It felt good to be free.

PART 1

Willow sighed. Stirring the straw in her drink, she moodily took another sip. She couldn’t even taste it anymore. She knew it had alcohol in it, but for all her senses were picking up, it could have been water.

Three months. It had been three months since she left Sunnydale. Three months since she left that note on Buffy’s kitchen table, telling her friends she needed a break, needed to get away from all the memories. From all the pain. All which revolved around Tara.

Tara.

God, how she missed her. After her breakdown with Xander, Willow was left emotionless. At Tara’s funeral, she was empty, unable even to cry. The tears were just not there.

So she left. Hopped on a bus and went as far as it would take her. Then she’d stay a few days in whatever town it was and hopped on another bus. It was the same cycle over and over. She’d arrive, stay, and then leave. Catching the first bus she saw, she would go wherever it would take her.

Which is how she wound up in L.A.

She thought about getting a job. But the thought that Angel and co might find her deterred her from taking action on the plan. So she would stay hidden in her motel room, walk the streets at night and almost always wound up in seedy bars. Like the one she was in now.

Willow sighed again. < If only my friends could see me now >. What would they think? Poor Willow, still can’t get over Tara’s death. And here she is, getting drunk all alone in some shonky bar.

"Red?"

Willow spun around on her stool and came face to face with Faith. "What the hell are you doing here?" Faith asked.

Willow snorted. "Could ask you the same thing."

"Shouldn’t you be in Sunnydale?"

"Shouldn’t *you* be in prison?"

Faith smirked. "Mind if I sit?" Without waiting for an answer, she sat down on the stool next to Willow and grabbed a handful of peanuts from the bowl on the bar. "I was released this morning on a good behavior bond or something like that. I don’t know. I don’t care. All I know is that I’m free."

"Just like that?"

Faith shrugged. "I guess. I didn’t even know I was being released until they woke me up and told me this morning. Only served two years so far, and I’m damn sure my sentence is a hell of a lot longer than that."

"Huh." Came Willow’s reply.

Faith looked at her. Something was up with the redhead. Either something was wrong or she was seriously plastered. "So we know why I’m out of prison. What are you doing out of Sunnydale?"

"I left. Bad stuff happens there."

"I hear you. L.A. sucks but it’s better than Sunnydale." The brunette raised an eyebrow and looked at Willow. "Never thought I’d wind up in a bar being all chatty with you, though. What’s up with that, hey? Don’t you seriously hate my guts?"

Willow shrugged. "I guess I used to. But now . . . now I can’t, because I’m no better than you."

"Meaning?"

"I killed someone."

Faith nearly choked on a peanut. "What?!"

"I killed someone. A man. He killed my girlfriend so I killed him."

Faith was at a loss for words. "Okay . . . B and all that know about this?"

"Yeah, they all know. I guess I should go to jail or something for doing it, but there wasn’t much of a body left after I was done. It’s not like I’m the only one that’s all screwed up. Xander married a demon and Buffy kept screwing one."

Faith was lost. Completely lost. Suddenly a snicker escaped from her mouth and she burst out into laughter. "Man, how fucked up is that? Not saying that this whole killing thing is good, but damn, things are interesting!"

Looking closely at Willow, Faith noticed something. She was completely expressionless. She had talked about killing a human the same way she would talk about going for a walk. Maybe life in Sunnydale affected her too much.

Faith has an idea. "So what do you plan to do in L.A., Red?"

"Don’t know. Thought about getting a job, but I don’t want to bump into Angel or anyone."

"Then come with me."

Willow gave the Slayer a strange look. "What?"

Faith leaned in closer to Willow. "When I was told I’d be released this morning, the guard on duty gave me this card with some guy’s name on it. He told me there’s a meeting set up tomorrow with this guy that I have to be at. Something about him needing my help. You should come with me."

Willow shook her head. "He probably wants you to off someone. You may be used to it, but I’m not."

"No, it’s not like that. The guard said I’m supposed to be this guy’s protector, like a bodyguard. I have a feeling he knows what I am. Also, he’s in like, a travelling business or some shit like that. Whatever it is, he’s never in the same town for too long."

"Yeah, well this is all great for you, but why should I go with you? You tried to kill me once."

Faith grinned. "Well see, now we have something in common –we’ve both been through bad shit and wanna get away from it all. And what better way than this? You don’t want to run into people you know, so the constant travelling part’ll be good for you, and in return, I get a travelling companion."

The hacker raised an eyebrow. "Travelling companion?" she repeated.

Faith held up her hands in protest. "Hey, I’m all for independence, but I’ve just spent two years with hundreds of insane killer bitches. I need to be around someone just a little bit saner."

Willow snorted. "I’ll bet."

"So what do you say? Ditch this town?"

Willow thought for a moment. "Alright." She said slowly. "This may be the alcohol’s influence on me, but I’m with you. I’m there. Meeting tomorrow, you say?"

The Slayer nodded. "11 am."

"And what’s this guys name?"

"Vince McMahon."

PART 2

"So where did this guy say to meet?"

"Some place downtown," Faith replied. "They didn’t give me a name or anything, but they mentioned that it’s just past Starbucks, so I figure we grab a mocha then go do some body guarding."

"They didn’t give you a name?" Willow asked. "That’s weird."

Faith shrugged. "The guard told me I’d know the place when I got there."

Willow yawned as they continued to walk down the street. They had spent most of the night talking about the changes that had occurred over the past two years. Willow filled Faith in on the events in Sunnydale while Faith talked about her life in jail. It surprised Willow how well she was able to get along with the Slayer –maybe it was the lack of hate and fear of being killed which broke the barriers. Maybe now both were more willing to open up.

Or maybe Willow just didn’t care anymore. Maybe she was so tired of being alone that even the company of an unstable Slayer was welcome. Not saying that Faith was all that bad. True, the memories of her free-for-all killing spree were decidedly frightening, but at the end of the day, Faith was just a girl who had issues to deal with.

Like Willow.

Faith stopped walking. "This is it." She said softly, surprise evident in her voice.

Willow looked at the large building in front of them. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

The redhead looked at the sign at the front entrance.

Wolfram and Hart.

* *

By the time the secretary had shown Willow and Faith to the room, five men were already seated and waiting. On entrance, one man stood up and walked over to the girls, hand outstretched.

"Hello, Faith," he said. "I’m Vince McMahon."

Faith eyed him warily. Gingerly, she held out her hand for him to shake. "Yeah, hi, whatever. Wanna tell me what this is all about?"

"Yes, of course," he responded smoothly. "But perhaps you should introduce your friend . . ."

"Willow." The redhead supplied.

"She’s with me." Faith stated bluntly. "Nothing is said, done or decided without her being involved."

"I see. Ah, the two men over there are Michael Jacobs and Peter O’Connor, two of Wolfram and Harts finest." Vince said, gesturing to the men behind him. "That’s my son Shane over there and my colleague, Paul Heyman."

The brunette looked the men over. "Why am I here?"

Vince smiled. "Straight to business. I like that." Sitting back down, he motioned for the two girls to sit. "I’ve had associations with Wolfram and Hart for some time now, so when I said I needed a little help, I was told that you have some expertise in the field I’m having some trouble in. They tell me that you are a very . . . special girl, Faith." When Faith didn’t respond, he continued.

"There’s been a bit of trouble in my business, and some of it involves my family, myself included. I have been acquainted with a certain –eh . . .being of non-human origin and I’ve recently had a falling out with him. . . well, actually, it. Anyway, informants at Wolfram and Hart told me that you were the best to person to help . . . solve this problem of mine."

"So you want me to kill this ‘non-human’ thing?" Faith asked.

"No." Vince said quickly. "I simply need protection for myself and my family. To be our bodyguard, in case something should happen. It is extremely important, for the sake of my business, that this thing remains alive for now."

"And what is this ‘business’ of yours?" Willow inquired.

"I own the WWE." He replied.

Vince was met with blank stares.

"World Wrestling Entertainment. Formerly the World Wrestling Federation. You must have heard of it."

"I’ve been in jail for two years, and a coma for eight months." Faith said flatly. "The last thing I remember is an outbreak of Britney fans."

Five pairs of eyes turned to Willow, who simply shrugged. "Not really a sports fan." She frowned slightly, as if remembering something. "You said not to kill this demon yet . . . not now, you said. Wouldn’t it be a lot easier for everyone if Faith just killed it now rather than have to protect you from it later?"

"Perhaps I should explain a few things here." One of the lawyers, Mr. O’Connor stepped forward. "We at Wolfram and Hart hold ties with many non-human beings. In this case, the being Mr. McMahon is in fear of happens to be an important client to our firm, whose contract with us terminates in three months."

"This means that the demon must not be harmed until the contract period has passed." The other lawyer filled in. "After that, the creature is for you to dispose of."

"And I suppose your firm is what got me out of jail?" Faith asked.

"That would be correct."

"Typical." Faith muttered under her breath. "What about Willow? What role is she going to have in your business?"

Vince and his wrestling colleagues exchanged a look. "We were unaware that you had wanted to include a friend in this arrangement, but I’m confident that we can work something out."

"How about we work it out now?" Faith responded coldly. "I go, she goes. *That* is the plan."

"Hey, who do you think you-" Paul Heyman started angrily.

"We could introduce the two of you as my fathers’ new assistants." Shane McMahon interrupted quickly. "It’s not common to introduce two assistants at the same time, but if there’s too much suspicion involved, we can always move you into the wrestling sector."

Faith nodded slowly, considering the proposition. "Not bad. I think we can work with that." She paused, and looked at Willow. "One more thing."

"What would that be?"

"I expect to be paid for each day I work. Willow too. Travelling expenses, accommodation, food –I want you to take care of that. Otherwise, there’s no deal."

"I think we can manage that." Vince agreed.

"Good. So when do we start?"

A smile broke over the CEO’s face. "Monday. Which leaves a week for you girls to familiarise yourselves with the business –other wrestlers, profiles, moves, gimmick and storylines. Shane and my daughter Stephanie should help you out with that. We’ll discuss contracts and etc later. Are there any more questions?"

"Nope." Willow shook her head.

"I’m good." Faith replied.

Everyone in the room stood up when Vince walked over to his two newest employees.

"Welcome to the WWE." He said.

PART 3

It was Monday morning. Faith and Willow were walking to the arena where RAW was to be held that night, discussing the implications of their arrangement.

"It’s not that I mind this whole gig," Willow was saying, "but it’s just that there’s so much to remember. I was hoping you just had to be the silent bodyguard."

"I guess they want more women in the business." Faith replied. "But hey, we might get to wrestle. That’ll be cool."

"Cool?" Willow shook her head. "Not cool. Dangerous. We both saw the tapes of those matches. They looked brutal. And correction, *you* get to wrestle. I’m just the little manager that helps you cheat."

Faith chuckled to herself. Over the past week they had spent together studying wrestling tapes, she could see a bit of the old Willow creeping back into the redhead. Not a lot, as she was still fairly empty, but signs of life re-emerged as Willow was confronted with a new purpose in life, even if it was temporary.

"I’m sure you’ll get some in-ring time. Maybe we’ll even go up for a title." Faith’s eyes lit up.

"Yeah right." Willow scoffed. "That is if your slayer strength doesn’t kill everyone first. We still have to figure out how to tone that strength down a little."

Faith waved a hand dismissively. "Ah, you’ll figure something out. You’re the brain, I’m the brawn. Perfect team. We’re gonna protect, kick ass and maybe get some fun time with some of those hotties." She frowned slightly. "That is, if you’re still into guys. If not, more for me. But hey, some of them chicks are hot. Like that Lita-"

"I’m open to both." Willow interrupted, an amused look on her face. "Just not right now. It’s still too soon."

Faith nodded. "I get ya. It’s cool. Maybe when you’re ready, we can do some male hunting together." She wiggled her eyebrows.

Willow laughed. "What is with you? You’re so into this wrestling thing."

The brunette shrugged. "I’ve spent two years with women. That means I haven’t had sex or any type of fun in way too long. And this seems like fun. Plus, we both know we could do with a little bit of that, so let’s play while we can."

Willow smiled. Faith was certainly a lot happier than the last time they had met. Maybe spending time with her wouldn’t be too bad.

"Well, we’re here." Willow said, stopping in front of the arena. "What do we do now?"

"Stephanie said we have to find Vince’s office so we can go over what has to happen tonight. The we get changed and I guess we wait for the camera’s to start rolling."

"Okay. So where the hell is his office?"

* *

"I don’t believe this!"

The outraged cry could be heard in the locker room where Team Extreme, Trish Stratus and Edge were waiting for RAW to begin.

The occupants of the room looked at each other. "What was that?" Lita asked.

Stacy Keibler stormed into the room, flanked by Bubba Ray Dudley. "Keep that monitor on." She ordered. "I can’t believe this."

"It’s okay, Stacy." Bubba said consolingly. "They won’t last long."

"I don’t care if they last! It’s *my* role they stole!" Outraged, Stacy looked at the other people in the room. "Can you believe this?"

Confusion was evident around the room. "Um," Matt Hardy began. "We might if we knew what there was to believe."

"I got bumped!"

There was silence in the room. Jeff raised his hand. "I don’t know if that was a female thing or something, but I don’t get it."

"Well it can’t be, because I don’t get it either." Lita said.

"Maybe you should start at the beginning." Trish suggested.

The irate blonde took a deep breath. "Okay. I get here this afternoon and the first person I see is Stephanie, who tells me that I won’t be escorting Vince around tonight. In fact, I won’t be escorting him out any other night because apparently, he’s just employed two new rookies who he wants to pose as his ‘assistants’. So I’ve just been bumped from my position by *rookies*."

"That doesn’t seem too bad," Matt said. "Maybe now you can focus on wrestling."

Stacy stared at Matt. "Did you not hear a word I said? *Rookies* stole my position. *My* role. How could Vince let this happen to me?"

"Stace, maybe you’re taking this too personally –" Trish began.

"No! This is very personal! Don’t you get it? *I* walk with Vince. *I* claim that position because it’s a role for *me*. Not for two newbie bitches who don’t know jack about the business! I worked hard to get to this level. I –"

"Hold on, Stacy." Edge interrupted. "If the words ‘I earned it’ come out of your mouth, no force strong enough in this world will keep me from laughing."

"Edge!" Lita scolded.

"Hey, I’m sorry for what happened, but Matt’s right. Maybe it’s time you got away from being Vince’s ‘girl’ to doing a bit of wrestling. For all you know, these chicks might be new T & A, or even just plain old assistants. You don’t know, they might not even last."

"Yeah, well I’m going to make sure they don’t last." Stacy seethed. "Just wait. I don’t even know what they look like. I bet they’re slutty little bimbos."

Lita sighed. Stacy wasn’t a bad person, but sometimes she could be just damn difficult. "The show won’t start for like, ten minutes. Why don’t you take a walk and just chill until then?" she suggested.

Stacy thought for a moment. "That’s not a bad idea. I might do that. Angry is not a good look for me."

"Neither is vengeful and jealous." Edge commented after she left the room.

"Hey," Trish chided. "She’s angry; she’s entitled to that. Wouldn’t you be angry if you lost your spot?"

"Yeah, but I’d get over it. A rookie’s gotta start somewhere. I think she’s taking it way too personally."

Bubba started to say something, but was interrupted by music blaring from the TV. "RAW started early today." Lita said in surprise.

The opening scene showed Vince sitting in a dressing room, leafing through a binder. A knock on the door was followed up by two young women entering the room.

"Mr. McMahon?" The brunette asked. "We’re the new assistants your daughter Stephanie hired for your family. I’m Faith and this is Willow."

"For the family?" Jeff repeated.

"Shh." Lita hushed him, continuing to watch the monitor.

Shaking hands with his ‘assistants’, Vince gave them appraising looks. "I’m sure you are capable of handling the duties you are to perform?" he asked.

"Very capable." The redhead answered coolly. "There is nothing we cannot do."

Vince’s smile seemed almost secretive, as the camera panned over the faces of a mischievous yet dangerous-looking Faith and a coldly detached Willow. The scene switched to the commentary table where Jim Ross and Jerry ‘the King’ Lawler proceeded to talk about the new ‘assistants’.

"Well," Trish said, breaking the silence. "So they’re the rookies."

"Gotta say, if they weren’t hired for wrestling or ‘assisting’, I can think of other things they’re employed for." Matt remarked.

"That Faith chick said Stephanie hired them for the family." Lita reminded him. "I’m sure she’s not interested in doing a girl-on-girl thing."

"Present for Shane and Vince?" Jeff suggested.

The room broke into laughter. "I didn’t see anything all that good." Bubba said, unamused by Jeff’s comment.

"Think they’ll last? I’m guessing they’re T & A." Matt said.

Edge shrugged. "Who knows? If they’re working for the whole family, they might be here for a while." He snorted. "I know one thing, though."

"What’s that?"

"Stacy’s going to have a fit."

PART 4

It had been a long week for Edge. He had spent the better part of the week trying to negotiate his way around getting a new storyline. As much as he liked the independence, a part of him wanted to be reunited with Christian. Those days were fun, but the writers were convinced that there would be too much of a hassle working around changing Christian’s public attitude.

Oh well.

Stacy was another difficult factor. Sticking to her guns, her immediate dislike of the company’s two newest employees was not hidden. She made clear to everybody in the business her thoughts about the newcomers, and tried to gain allies in the dislike of the rookies.

Faith and Willow. Now they were an enigma. If dealing with Stacy’s tirades were difficult, trying to understand these two was exhausting. Though they had only been with the company for a week, the mystery behind who these girls were was strong. It was clear, however, that their loyalties were to the McMahon’s and to no other. At any given time, if any of the McMahon’s were doing a public show, at least one of the girls would be with them. And if they weren’t with the McMahon’s, they were together. Constantly.

Other wrestlers who tried to speak to the newcomers were met with cold reactions and rather indifferent responses. Not quite bitchy, but far from being easily approachable. Verging on . . .well, enigmatic.

Edge knocked on the door of the women’s locker room. He needed to talk to Lita about an idea for a new gimmick. Opening the door, he saw Faith getting ready for the night’s show.

"Oh, sorry." He apologised, surprised to see her alone. "No one answered, so I didn’t know if anyone was in here. Is Lita around?"

"Sorry. Haven’t seen your girlfriend." Faith answered, applying make-up to her face.

"What? Oh –no, see she’s not my girlfriend. Definitely not. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with her or anything, but we’re just really good friends." Edge said.

Faith raised an eyebrow. "Gee, I’m sorry if I offended you. Never heard someone so adamant that they *weren’t* dating someone. Especially someone like Lita." Catching the strange look that passed over Edge’s face, she rolled her eyes. "Don’t get that idea. I praise, but it don’t mean I swing that way."

"What? I-I didn’t mean – just you and Willow seem to spend all your time together and –well it was just a –"

"What? Because we’re friends you think we’re getting behind the scenes action? We’re here a week and people already think we’re gay. Can’t wait till Will hears this." She muttered under her breath.

"I’m sorry. I-I didn’t –that is, I . . ." Edge sighed. Seeing the devious smile that flicked over Faith’s face, he suddenly felt like a dork. "I was just looking for Lita."

Faith packed her make-up in her bag. "I don’t know where your ‘really good friend’ is. Maybe you should check with the Hardyz. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go."

Brushing past him, she headed down the hallway. Edge watched as she turned a corner. He sighed again.

Yep. He felt like a big dork.

* *

Chris Jericho walked down the hallway. He felt great. He was the Intercontinental Champion again. Granted, it wasn’t the same feeling as being the Undisputed Champion, but it still felt good.

The show wasn’t supposed to start for another two hours. Jericho had a meeting with Vince first to discuss the possibilities or a new angle. Heading to Vince’s office, he saw the CEO’s red-haired assistant sitting on a table outside the office, idly leafing through a magazine.

"Vince in?" he asked her.

"He’s on the phone with someone right now." She replied absently, not looking at him. "He won’t be long."

So Jericho waited. He looked down one end of the hallway. Then the other. Finally his eyes came to rest upon the CEO’s new assistant. Tiny thing. Fairly pretty, but the coldness in her green eyes and stony expression made him wonder if she ever laughed. Or smiled.

He’d heard stories about the new assistants. Distant, RVD had said. Enigmatic, Edge remarked. Cold-hearted, petty little bitches, according to Stacy Keibler. Maybe it was time for him to find out for himself.

She could feel his eyes on her. Probably trying to figure her out. Pretending to be interested in the magazine, she wished he would stop looking at her. It made her nervous. And edgy.

"How do you find it?" His question broke her thoughts.

She finally looked at him. "What?"

"How do you find it?" Jericho repeated. "In the WWE? What do you think of it?"

"More or less what I expected. All good." Willow went back to flicking through the magazine.

Silence. "So what do you do around here?"

"I’m an assistant." Her eyes flicked up to him again. "I assist."

"You assist the McMahon’s by reading Vogue?"

"Yes. The same way you entertain your fans by berating poor assistants with small talk." Her expression did not change. "I have my duties, as do you. There are just none to be done right now."

Jericho fought the urge to smile. She was feisty. Coldly indifferent, but he could sense a flame in her. Before he had a chance to reply to her, Vince came out of his office.

"Willow, Shane has a promo on. Can you get Faith and join him?" Vince asked. "Chris. Good, you’re here. Come on in."

Jericho watched as Willow tossed the magazine onto the table, hopped off and walked away. He had just formed his own opinion on the new assistant.

Intriguing.

PART 5

As time went on, Faith and Willow developed a fairly stable pattern in their working roles in the WWE. Most of their time was spent with the McMahon’s and each other, which in all honesty, wasn’t too bad. Stephanie, Linda and Shane were all nice enough, making sure that the two girls were well adjusted in the company, evidently grateful for the protection they were to offer.

Vince, on the other hand, was a different story. He had proved true to his word, providing all necessities and a number of luxuries for his new employees. However, despite all the niceties and easy provisions, there was a strange vibe about him . . . he was hiding something. Not once had he specified details on why the demon was after his family, or mentioned what his link was to the demon-favouring law firm he was ‘associated’ with. There was something very strange going on.

Despite this, the girls found themselves enjoying their new position in the WWE. Even though the façade they had to maintain prevented any of the other wrestlers to get to know the ‘assistants’, they dismissed it as one of the sacrifices that came with the business. Sacrifice or not, however, they both agreed that it sure was an interesting business.

They were well into their third week with the company when things became even more interesting. During the taping of a show, Faith and Willow were in Vince’s dressing room when Shane and Stephanie burst in. "Turn the monitor on." Shane said.

Vince looked at his son strangely. "Shane, is there something –"

"Just do it, dad. You all have to see this." Shane answered.

Faith got up and flicked the television on, waiting for the screen to focus. It cleared to reveal Stacy Keibler standing in the middle of the ring, microphone in hand.

"What the hell is this?" Vince asked. "Why is she out there? She’s not scheduled for a promo."

"Just wait till you hear what she wants." Stephanie said.

"As you all know," Stacy was saying, "I have worked hard to get to where I am today. I put in the effort, and I worked my way up through this business. That’s why it severely pisses me off to see two money-grubbing bitches just walk into this business, thinking they’re all that, expecting to be divas. Two low-life pieces of T & A with the combined emotional level of a frozen pea who probably whored their way here. Now, all of you out there know who I’m talking about." She paused as the fans screamed with excitement. Looking directly at the camera, she continued.

"Faith and Willow, I want you to get your skanky asses down here. I want a match next week on Smackdown, and I am going to prove that *I* am the superior diva!"

The audience went wild. A smug look on her face, Stacy stood back and waited confidently.

"Who authorized this?" Vince demanded. "Who said she could have this match?"

"I did." Shane admitted. "You should have heard what she’s been saying. Dad, she’s convinced that Faith and Willow are travelling prostitutes. I thought that if I gave her the match, it would shut her up."

"Not likely." Willow snorted.

"But their duties –"

"Dad, I’m sure that the match won’t take that long." Stephanie pointed out. "We can spare them for ten minutes or so. I think it’s time they put Stacy in her place."

"We’re in a billion dollar industry and it’s still run as if it’s based in a schoolyard." Vince grumbled. He looked at Faith. "Do you want the match?"

"Sure. It’ll be fun kicking tall, blonde and stupids ass." Faith replied.

Vince sighed. "Okay. Go accept the match."

Faith and Willow left the room as Vince put his head in his hands. He did not need this now.

* *

"I can’t believe she wants a match." Matt said.

"Yeah, well you’re the one who told her to concentrate on wrestling." Lita commented. "So it’s your fault if she gets her ass kicked.

Team Extreme were in their locker room, watching Stacy make her proposition. Edge and Jericho burst into the room. "Are you watching?" Edge asked.

"Yeah, we are. They haven’t come out yet." Jeff informed them.

"Edge thought it might be your influence that got her out there." Jericho said, looking at Matt.

"Hey, I just –"

"You should have seen it out there." Edge interrupted. "Jerky here was on the floor laughing."

"I couldn’t help it. I thought it was a joke. Come on, Stacy wrestling?"

"Hey." Lita said sternly. "She may be a little whacked right now, but she’s still a friend. Let’s have faith in Stacy."

"I’m sure Edge would like that." Jericho grinned.

"What? What do you –what?" Edge sputtered.

"Come on, man." Jeff said, a knowing smile on his face. "We all know you dig her. Don’t deny it."

"What the hell? How can you know?"

"Shit man. Everyone knows. We all saw what happened in the locker room."

"How?" Edge demanded.

"GTV."

Edge swore under his breath. The last thing he needed was for people to make fun on him for this. It was embarrassing.

"I don’t ‘dig’ her," he defended himself. "I just think she’s interesting."

"Yeah, whatever." Lita laughed. "If you –hey look!" She sat up, pointing to the screen. Faith and Willow were standing on the stage in front of the Titantron, each holding a microphone. In place of the usually cold expressions on their faces, amused smiles were spread across each face. Before this, no fan had ever seen them smile. Standing there, both dressed in dark leather pants, form-fitting shirts with mysterious smiles on their faces, they looked beautiful. And dangerous.

Willow raised the microphone to her mouth. "I’m sorry, Stacy. I must have been hearing things. I actually thought I heard you say that you worked your way up through this business. Now, I might be wrong, but I was under the impression that you worked your way *down*."

As a look of outrage flashed over the blonde woman’s face, the fans went wild, screaming in anticipation of a catfight.

"Wow." Matt remarked. "That insult sounds like it could have easily come out of your mouth, Chris."

"I admit, I am impressed." Y2J replied, staring intently at the monitor.

"Normally, neither Willow nor I would even care to waste our time with anything you want, but I think this time we should make an exception." Faith exchanged a look with Willow before turning back to look at Stacy, a dangerous smile on her face. "We accept that offer for a match. The person you’ll be wrestling against will be me, and let me just tell you something, you vindictive piece of trash. I don’t care about being a diva, and I don’t plan on being one. I do, however, plan on kicking your ass, so you damn well better be ready for it!"

As Faith lowered the mic, the audience roared with approval. Glaring, Stacy lifted the mic up. "I’m going to make you eat your words, *Faith*. What I want is a bra and panties match; I’m going to show everyone out there just what kind of a slut you are. And if on Smackdown, you plan on dressing like a prostitute on Ninth Avenue like you are now, then beating you will be nothing."

Completely unaffected by the insult hurled at her, Faith spoke again. "That match of yours, *Stacy*, is on. I will see you at Smackdown." Turning on her heel, Faith and Willow walked backstage, the sound of screaming fans echoing in the arena.

"You hear that, JR?" King asked to his fellow commentator, excitement in his voice. "Bra and panties! Puppies! Faith and Willow! New puppies!"

"Calm yourself, King." JR replied. "I’m a little concerned for those two young women. Faith and Willow are just assistants. Can they even wrestle?"

"I don’t know, JR, but I don’t care. All I know is that I can’t wait for Smackdown next week."

Jeff flipped the television off. "I hope I don’t seem as perverted as the King, but neither can I."

"It’ll be interesting." Lita agreed.

Edge and Jericho were silent. Both men were lost in their own world, the image of two young women and the secret smiles on their faces being the only thing on their minds.

PART 6

Thursday night, Smackdown. Willow walked to Stephanie McMahon’s dressing room holding a glass full of liquid in her hand. Rather than having an early confrontation with Stacy in the women’s locker room, the McMahon’s had all agreed it be best if the two assistants prepared for the match elsewhere.

Entering the room, Willow saw Faith applying make-up to her face. Walking over to the brunette, Willow handed her the glass. "Here, drink this."

Faith eyed the drink suspiciously. "What’s this?"

"Herbal remedy. Used primarily as a form of muscle control so that you don’t accidentally kill her out there."

Sniffing the drink, the Slayer wrinkled her nose. "It smells foul, Red. You couldn’t have picked up something more cherry flavoured or something?"

Willow smiled. "Sorry, Faith. But you are the chosen one. You must perform your duty." Receiving a glare from the Slayer who quickly downed the liquid, she took a look at what Faith was wearing. The fitted black pants, a tank top and sneakers she wore could have easily been worn out shopping as well as in the ring. "Sure you can wrestle in that?"

Faith shrugged. "Sure. If I can slay in boots, I can wrestle in this. Besides, all I gotta do is strip the bimbo." She paused. "Hey Will, you done your make-up yet?"

"No, not yet."

"Can I do it?"

Willow nearly laughed when she saw the eagerness on Faith’s face. The Slayer was all but bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Sure."

What can only be described as a squeal escaped from Faith’s mouth as she reached for the make-up. Willow’s lips twitched. < Maybe I gave her too much of that stuff to drink >. Faith was chattering away as Willow tried not to laugh.

"See, the secret to eyeliner is to make it even, but not to use to much; be subtle with it. You don’t want to look like someone’s given you a black eye."

"What did you, like, learn cosmetic application as a diversional activity in jail?"

"No. That was the other group. I learnt how to knit." Faith replied with a straight face.

Willow couldn’t take it anymore. She burst out laughing, Faith joining her. At that moment, Stephanie entered the room and smiled when she saw the two girls laughing. She only wished they would be more like that in public.

"Hey guys." Stephanie greeted them. "You ready? You’re on next."

"Just about." Willow replied. "Hey Faith. Tell her your make-up tips."

As the three young women walked to the area behind the entrance curtain, their voices could be heard chatting and laughing. Wrestlers they walked past had to do double takes in order to make sure they weren’t seeing or hearing things.

"You’re certainly happy." Stephanie commented. "Willow, what kind of drink did you give her?"

"I’m beginning to wonder that myself." Willow laughed.

"I’m just psyched. Can’t wait to kick some ass. Then strip it." Faith replied.

"Well, kicking ass or not, just remember to be careful out there." Stephanie reminded her. Vince’s music started up and they could hear Lillian Garcia making the announcement. Willow and Faith started to walk into the arena.

"Oh, one more thing, girls." Stephanie called after them.

"Yeah?"

She gave them a big smile. "Don’t forget to have fun."

* *

Edge sat in the locker room, waiting for the match to start. Jericho entered the room, surprised to see only Edge there. They were supposed to watch the match with Team Extreme. Even though the high-flying wrestlers weren’t scheduled to appear that night, they had wanted to watch the match with the others.

"Where’s everyone?" Jericho asked.

"They’ll be here in a minute. I think they went to get food." Edge replied.

"They better hurry their asses along if they don’t want to miss the match. It already starting and –what the fuck?" Y2J leaned closer to the screen.

Lillian Garcia had just announced that someone would be accompanying Stacy to the ring.

Bubba Ray Dudley.

"Damn." Edge swore. "He hates them as much as she does."

"Hi, guys." Lita said brightly, followed in by the Hardyz. "Has it started yet?"

Her gaze followed those of Edge and Jericho, eyes widening when the camera zoomed into Bubba Ray Dudley’s angry face.

"Shit."

* *

The match started off fairly tame. The moment both women were in the ring, the tall blonde circled Faith, then stood face to face with the Slayer. Willow couldn’t hear what the blonde was saying, but judging from the expression on the Slayer’s face, she could tell there was a lot of trash talking going on.

Finally, fed up with Stacy’s intimidation tactics, Faith reached out and slapped the other woman across the face. Enraged, Stacy lunged at Faith, with the bell tolling, signalling the start of the match.

Faith easily deflected the blows Stacy threw at her, knocking her onto the mat. Just as she was about to pull the blonde’s pants off, she stopped. Vince had told her that she should knock Stacy around for a while before stripping her. More entertaining, he explained. Beat Stacy up a bit? Faith had no problem with that.

As Faith threw Stacy around the ring, Willow watched in amusement from ringside. Then it happened.

She never noticed the large man sidling up to her, sneaking around her back. All she knew was that one minute she was watching Stacy get her ass kicked, and the next, she was put in a sleeper hold by Bubba.

Her vision blurred as the hold tightened, reducing the amount of air entering her lungs. She was slowly losing consciousness as he softly spoke to her.

"You think you can make it in this business?" he hissed at her. "You and your slut friend up there are nothing. You will never make it as a diva."

His words echoed in her head as she slipped further away from consciousness.

* *

"Chris, wait!"

Lita’s voice trailed after Jericho as the tore out of the locker room, eyes blazing, fists in tight balls. He didn’t know why he was heading out to ringside; he just knew he had to.

"Where do you think you’re going?"

Jericho didn’t even stop at Stephanie’s question. "To the ring." He said curtly.

"Why?"

He whirled around to look at her. "What the hell do you mean, why? One of your assistants is being choked to hell and you’re asking why?"

Stephanie raised an eyebrow. "So why are you playing the white knight?"

"Do you see anyone else gong to help her?"

"She can take care of herself." Stephanie replied calmly. "Now go back to the locker room."

"What the –"

"Go back to the locker room." She repeated in a commanding tone. "You and I need to talk after the match is over."

Jericho began to swear. Lita, who had followed him out, tugged him back into the locker room.

Damn right, they’d talk.

* *

Faith was having a blast. Who knew beating up another person legally could be so much fun? She looked up to give Willow a wink when she noticed the redhead was being held in a sleeper hold by the big camouflaged dork.

Throwing Stacy down on the mat, Faith slid out of the ring and stormed toward the aid of her friend. A hand clapped down on her shoulder, pulling her away from the other two. Mistaking it for Stacy, Faith jerked her elbow back, knocking the referee to the floor in a semi-conscious state.

Shit.

Ignoring the state of the dazed ref, Faith threw Bubba off Willow and began to pummel him, delivering a series of kicks to his upper body.

Meanwhile, Willow rested on her knees, hands held to her throat, slowly gasping for air. Then two legs appeared in front of her. Two very long legs.

Looking up, she saw a very angry Stacy Keibler towering above her. Bending over the redhead, Stacy slapped Willow across the face and threw her on the ground. Bending over the redhead, Stacy tore Willow’s coat off her, then ripped of her shirt. Holding the tattered remains in her hand triumphantly, Stacy turned around to give a fan the torn shirt.

Willow was pissed. Not only was a good shirt just ruined, she wasn’t even supposed to be in the match! Over at the commentary table, she could hear the King crow something about puppies. Getting to her feet, Willow walked up behind Stacy, turned her around and backhanded her across the face. The audience screamed with excitement as Willow yanked off the leggy blonde’s pants and threw them into the crowd.

She shoved Stacy back in the ring, then helped get the referee back in as well. Looking over at the Slayer, she saw that it was now Bubba who had the upper hand, and was hammering it to the brunette. Seeing the ref back in the ring, Bubba effortlessly picked Faith up and tossed her back in the ring, fans booing at his intervention.

Seeing the dazed state Faith was in, Stacy took the opportunity to give her a swift kick to the midsection and proceeded to tear her top off. As this was happening, Willow was screaming for Faith to get up.

"Get up!! You can’t lose to this bimbo!! Get up, Faith!!"

Willow’s words seemed to revive the Slayer. When Stacy reached to take Faith’s pants off, the brunette’s hand shot up and pulled the blonde by the hair onto the mat. Fans screaming at the sudden revival, Faith threw Stacy around the ring, knocking the blonde down with a clothesline.

"Forget wrestling!" Willow shouted. "Strip her off!"

The crowd behind Willow picked up her last comment and took a liking to it. So much that they started a chant.

"STRIP HER OFF! STRIP HER OFF!"

Willow looked around in surprise. Exchanging a look with Faith, they both took in to atmosphere in the arena.

"STRIP HER OFF! STRIP HER OFF!"

A smile on her face, Faith bent down and pulled Stacy’s shirt off, tossing it into the crowd. The ref, who had regained consciousness, motioned for the bell to ring while the ring announcer declared Faith as the winner. Willow grabbed her coat and climbed into the ring, raising Faith’s arm as the victor. Hugging her friend, Willow looked at the stunned blonde on the mat and threw her coat on top of her, covering the near-naked woman.

Rolling out of the ring, Faith and Willow walked toward Bubba. His back was turned to them, so when Willow tapped him on the shoulder, he wasn’t prepared for the two fists flying towards his face.

Looking down at the man they had just decked, Faith and Willow walked up the ramp, the roar of the audience a signal of their approval of the newcomer’s actions.

Man, this was fun.

* *

Jericho didn’t even knock. He just stormed into Stephanie’s dressing room, anger on his face. "What the hell do we have to talk about?"

Stephanie looked at him, no expression on her face. "Why did you want to interfere?"

"What the hell kind of question is that? Your assistants were –"

"In a match. Stuff like that happens. They could handle themselves."

Y2J snorted. "Right. A camouflaged idiot chokes your assistant and all you say is ‘she can handle it’."

Stephanie cocked her head to one side. "Why do you care?"

"What?"

"Why do you care?" she repeated. "I’ve never seen you interfere on behalf of someone else before. Especially not for people like Faith and Willow."

"I –I don’t care." Right?

The brunette heiress looked at him thoughtfully. "I wanted to talk to you because I need people to know how they feel. Know, not think. Faith and Willow have an agenda in this company, and all these conflicting attitudes to them are distracting."

"What agenda?"

Stephanie ignored him. "I know what the wrestlers are saying about them. And while it’s all completely false, it’s a true reaction to the image Faith and Willow create. They act cold, uncaring and distant; it’s only natural that people want to stay away from them, but occasionally, there’s the odd person that wants to get to know them."

"So then why single me out?"

"Because you’re that odd person. And you’re arrogant. You have the biggest ego next to my father, so when you start to ‘care’ for someone who acts like an ice queen, it makes me wonder what you’re up to."

"I don’t care." He insisted.

"Then act like it." She snapped. "If you don’t care, then stay away from them. If you do, admit it, then stay away. I like you, but you’re devious, Chris. And these girls, namely Willow, do not need you scheming a plot with or around them. You never cared about anyone else before. Why start now?"

They were interrupted by Willow bursting into the room, still clad in only a bra and leather pants. "Steph, did you see –oh!" she broke off. "Sorry, I didn’t know there was-"

"It’s okay." Stephanie assured her. "We were just talking about the show. You guys were great out there tonight. You two deserve the rest of the night off."

"Really?" Willow’s eyes lit up. "What about the –"

"Don’t worry about it. One night away won’t hurt. Go have some fun."

Willow gave Stephanie a grateful half-smile before leaving the room. Stephanie noticed that Jericho had not taken his eyes off the redhead when she was in the room. "Like I said, they have an agenda here. And if you’re going to play games with them –"

"I don’t play games." The Living Legend snapped, ready to leave the room. "Because I don’t care. If I feel like being nice, I’ll be nice. I do what I want to do. I don’t care what you say, I don’t plan on staying away."

As he stormed out of the room, Stephanie shook her head.

< Like hell you don’t care >.

PART 7

Faith and Willow were in a nearby bar later that night, having a celebratory drink.

"Come on, Red." Faith urged. "One more."

"I don’t know, Faith." Willow was doubtful. "I’ve already had three shots. Another one might knock me out."

Faith pouted. "Spoilsport."

Willow laughed. They hadn’t stayed to watch the rest of the show. As soon as they were both fully clothed again, they left the arena in search of a good drink. Well, actually a few.

Willow’s smile faded slowly. The look on her face grew sombre. "Faith, are you happy here?"

"Are you kidding me? I’m in tequila heaven."

"No, I mean in this business. This job, working with the McMahon’s."

Faith shrugged. "Beats being in jail." She gave Willow an odd look. "Why? You not happy here?"

"No, it’s not that." Willow quickly answered. "I like it here. A lot. It’s just . . . "

"What?"

"We don’t have any friends here." Willow said sadly.

Faith was confused. "So?"

"Doesn’t that make you feel a little lonely?"

"Willow, I think maybe you’ve drunk too much."

"Doesn’t it?"

"No. Because I don’t really care."

"Don’t you?" Willow countered. "Don’t you care that the only people who seem to like us only do because we’re hired to protect them? That everyone else thinks we’re two stuck-up bitches who don’t give a damn about anything?"

"Reality check, Will." Faith answered sharply. "We’re here to do a job, not to make friends and buddy up with everyone. We both agreed the best way to do it was to put on a mask –play a role to keep people away from finding out about us."

"Play a role, not become it." Willow shot back. "Don’t you see? If we keep living this mask, we *become* it. We can’t keep acting like our job is all that matters."

"I don’t understand, what are you getting at? You bailing on me?"

Willow was surprised to see hurt flash in Faith’s eyes. "No. Of course not. We’re in this together. It’s just that . . . I –" she closed her eyes and sighed wearily. "It’s just that I’m so tired of being alone. And it scares me to think that we might die tomorrow and no one would even care."

"Then welcome to my reality." Faith said flatly. "I’m not like you, Willow. I didn’t grow up in a stable household knowing people cared about me, so excuse me if it’s a little difficult for me to understand why being alone is so hard to deal with."

"It’s hard because it hurts." Willow answered softly. "We go around pretending like we don’t care about anything, that everything’s good, but we’re like ghosts. We just drift around. And if we keep going like this, we’re always going to be alone."

"What’s your point, Will? I’ve always been alone, and that’s how I’ll probably end up. I’m sorry it’s so hard for you, but some things you just gotta deal with."

Seeing the look of hurt on Willow’s face, Faith sighed, the hard expression on her face softening to one of confusion. "I don’t get you, Will. We left LA knowing that we’d have to do this alone. Hell, you’re the one who said there was no point in getting close to anyone, that it’ll only lead to hurt. Now you’re saying you don’t want it anymore?"

"It’s not that I don’t want it . . . I just –" Willow broke off and looked down. "Tara’s death hurt so much, and I thought that being alone would make it easier to deal with. But it’s not. I need to live again, Faith."

"Okay. So you wanna live. What’s that gotta do with me?"

"I can’t do this on my own. And I know you feel the same way." When Faith looked away, Willow went on. "I know it hurts you to think no one cares. You act all strong and independent, but it hurts you inside."

"That’s stupid." Faith scoffed.

"But it’s true."

"So what exactly are you asking, Red?"

"I don’t know." Willow admitted. "I mean, it’s not like I want to go and have little slumber parties with the divas, but I want to let go of everything that happened in the past. And I think that means having to let go of the mask a little."

Taking in the redhead’s words, Faith looked at her hands. After what seemed like a long time, she slowly nodded her head. "Okay," was all she said.

A moment of silence passed between the two. Faith finally lifted her head and looked at Willow. "Would you stay?"

"What?"

"If you weren’t happy here, would you still stay with me?"

Suddenly Faith looked vulnerable. What Willow had said earlier had sunk into the brunette. "Of course I’d stay. No way would I ever leave. We’re in this together, and it’ll stay that way. Friends stick together."

Faith gave Willow a crooked smile. "Friends. Can’t say I’ve had too many of those."

Willow gave the brunette a small smile. "You got one now. Okay, let’s screw all this depressing talk about us being friendless and get drunk."

"I’ll drink to that."

* *

Faith woke up with a massive headache. Hearing the shower running, she looked over to Willow’s bed, only to realise it was the redhead that was in the shower.

< I wonder if Will’s got any aspirin > she thought, running a hand over her eyes.

Wait a minute.

Why was her wrist bandaged?

Blinking rapidly, she rubbed her eyes to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on her. Willow came out of the shower to find Faith staring blankly at her bandaged wrist.

"Red." Faith said numbly. "I know I got depressed and drunk last night, but please don’t tell me I went suicidal."

Willow gave her a wry smile. "Hardly. Undo the bandage."

Slowly, Faith unwound the bandage, the throbbing in her arm lessening as the gauze loosened. She looked dumbly at her now-bare wrist.

Why the hell did she have the word ‘FIVE’ tattooed on the inside of her wrist?

Written in large, gothic-style writing, the single word covered the entire inside of her wrist. "Willow," Faith choked out. "What did I do to myself?"

"Um," the redhead looked around uncomfortably. "I did it."

The brunette looked up at the former hacker. "Huh?"

"You were pretty drunk after we left the bar, so you probably don’t remember what happened. We went to a tattoo parlour."

"Obviously."

"And you said we should get tattoo’s so I thought we should do this." Sitting down next to the confused Slayer, Willow rolled the sleeve of her shirt up to reveal an identical tattoo on the inside of her own wrist. "See, if you put it next to one another, it becomes ‘five by five’. Just a reminder that neither one of us is alone."

Willow bit her lip. She hadn’t been too sure whether or not Faith would like it, but the alcohol had told her to go for it. The tattoo artist had offered them a two-for-one deal.

"Willow . . ."

"If you don’t like it, you can get it removed. It’s okay, I got the guy’s card who did it for us so if –"

"I love it."

Willow looked at Faith, surprised to see tears shining in her eyes. "I’ve never had a friend who cared enough about me to stick with me. Definitely ain’t never had one permanently mark themselves for me." Catching the grin that crossed Willow’s face, Faith blinked the tears away. "Thank you, Willow."

Giving the other girl a big hug, the Slayer sniffled when she pulled back. "I mean, don’t get me wrong. It’s hurting like hell right now, but you are one cool chick, Red."

"I learned from the best." Willow replied, smiling. Pulling herself together, she stood up. "Well, I’m going to grab some breakfast. Want me to wait for you?"

"No, it’s cool. I think I wanna just shower then bang my head against a wall to get rid of this headache. I’ll meet you downstairs after so we can go see what Vince needs us to do today."

When Willow left the room, Faith took another look at her wrist.

She had a friend.

That felt nice.

PART 8

"Yo guys! Over here!"

Rob Van Dam’s loud bellow led Edge, Jericho and Matt through the busy diner to where he, Trish and Lita were sitting.

"Took you guys long enough to get down here," he commented. "Where’s Rainbow Hardy?"

"Sleeping." Matt replied.

"Still?" Lita asked.

Matt shrugged. "You know him. He can’t wake up in single digit hours."

"You guys been waiting long?" Edge asked, sitting down.

"Nah," Rob replied. "Lita was just filling me in on the bra and panties match last night."

"Yeah, you and Trish missed out on a good match."

"So I hear." Rob said, regret in his tone. "Lita said it was a cross between a brawl and a catfight."

"Got that right. They all started to rip each others clothes off and threw them into the crowd. I bet Jeff that the clothes will turn up on Ebay in a month."

RVD was confused. "What do you mean, ‘all’? I thought it was a one on one match?"

"Bubba walked Stacy out to the ring and he attacked Willow." Lita explained. "Then they all started to fight each other and after the match finished, Faith and Willow punched Bubba."

Rob laughed. "Man, what I would give to have seen that boy get sucker punched. So what happened after they beat Stacy? Any promises of another catfight?"

"They just laughed it off, I think."

"Laughed?" Trish repeated. "That means they have to smile first, right?"

"Gasp!" RVD exclaimed in mock surprise. "The Icy Duo can smile!"

"Yes they can." Matt confirmed. "Didn’t look too bad, either."

"So we know they’re assistants, " Trish said, "we know they can fight, and we now know they can smile. We also know Edge likes one of them, but what we don’t know is when Chris is going to admit that he likes the other one."

"What?" Jericho asked, distracted.

"Admit it, man." Rob said. "You haven’t stopped staring at her since you sat down."

All eyes turned in the direction Rob was indicating to. Willow was sitting in a booth eating breakfast and reading the newspaper.

"I wasn’t staring." Jericho said defensively. "I just wanted to see what she was reading."

"What, the massive ‘New York Times’ heading on the front not clear enough?" Edge asked, grinning. Now it was his turn to make fun.

"Go find Faith." Y2J shot back. "Maybe if you call her a dyke again, she’ll deck you too." His comment was met with an even bigger grin.

"Look, you can lie to Stephanie about not caring, but we know you better." Matt said. "You’ve been checking her out ever since she came to this business."

Jericho was caught out. "You’re all losers." He grumbled.

"You and Edge are weird." RVD shook his head. "Here you are, wrestling superstars who can get any hot groupie you want, but instead you chose to chase after the two most emotionless people in the business, who only recently learned how to smile in public."

Two pairs of eyes glared at him.

"Hey, I think they’re hot and all, but nothing’s going to happen unless you make a move first."

Jericho thought for a moment. Maybe he was right.

* *

He was looking at her. She could tell. Trying to concentrate on reading her newspaper, she could sense him walking towards her.

He came to a stop in front of her, his shadow looming over her. "That’s an awfully large stack of pancakes for such a little girl," he remarked.

"And that’s an awfully long sentence for someone who’s naturally blonde." Willow shot back, not bothering to look up at him.

A smile tugged at his lips. Forcing it away, he kept his expression stony. Just waiting.

He wasn’t going away. He just stood there, waiting patiently. Willow sighed. "Is there something you wanted, Jericho?"

Before he could stop himself, a smile crossed his face. "I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you say my name."

"It may be the last time if you don’t tell me what it is that you want. Or did you just want to stand there and intimidate me?"

Jericho held up both hands in surrender. "I come in peace. I just wanted to sit."

He stood as Willow gave him a level look. "So then sit."

He sat.

"I watched your match last night," he began. "Congratulations on your victory."

"If tearing off Stacy’s clothes is considered a victory, then I guess many men have been victorious," she replied, looking back at her paper. "Besides, it was Faith’s victory."

"You don’t want to share in the glory of beating Stacy?"

Willow looked at him. "Is that the reason why you came to talk to me? To congratulate me on the match?"

He leaned in closer to her. "Is there another reason you’re looking for?" he asked softly, a smile on his face.

"Not particularly. I just wanted to know when I can go back to reading my paper."

"Even with me sitting here, that hasn’t stopped you yet."

Her face was expressionless. "I think your friends want you back now."

"No, they don’t."

"Maybe you should go check."

"Are you telling me to leave?"

"I’m being polite."

Jericho cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

She smirked. "Yes, really. Your friends are going to hurt themselves straining their ears, trying to hear what this ‘Ice Queen’ has been saying to you. I thought it’d be easier if you went and told them yourself."

Jericho looked over at his friends. Sure enough, the entire table was suspiciously quiet. When they noticed Willow and Jericho looking at them, they resumed eating, ashamed looks on each face.

Jericho gave Willow an amused look. "For someone who’s so cold and aloof, you’re very perceptive. That ‘Ice Queen’ thing was something between the wrestlers which was kept behind your back."

The redhead raised an eyebrow. "Backstabbing and bitching already? And I don’t even know any of you. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so polite and just told you to leave."

He gave her an even look. "I think you like me."

Willow blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Every time I try to talk to you, you push me away. Any you keep trying to distract yourself. I don’t think you want me to leave."

"And why do you think that?"

"Because you can’t stop looking in my eyes."

"That’s very arrogant of you," she said, not looking away. She wasn’t going to back down. "Maybe the reason why I push you away is because I don’t want to talk to you."

"Any why is that? You don’t know me; you have no reason to hate me."

"Actually, that’s where you’re wrong. I have every reason to hate you. I know your type, Jericho. One’s that trample over everybody else just to get where and what they want."

He was taken aback. She sounded almost angry. "So you hate me then?"

"No. I can’t because you’re right. I don’t know you well enough to hate you. But I’m hardly your biggest fan." She stood up ready to leave when his voice stopped her.

"You know, you never denied that you like me."

She looked down at him, green eyes meeting blue. "Do you want to know why I keep looking at your eyes?" she leaned down to whisper to him, her mouth barely an inch away from his ear, breath softly brushing across his skin. "Because it’s a lot more polite than just staring at your chin."

An impish smile poised on her lips, she walked out of the diner. When Jericho went back to his friends, he was chuckling.

"So that was the infamous smile. I like. " Rob commented.

"I’m guessing by the look on your face, she accepted?" Lita asked, surprised.

"I didn’t ask her out." Jericho informed her. "But she rejected me anyway."

"So why are you laughing?" Edge wondered.

"Automatic response?" Trish suggested.

"I think I pissed her off." Y2J said. "But there was this fire in her eyes… I’d do it again just to see that fire again."

"That’s your tactic for picking up and getting a date?" Matt asked, incredulously. "Piss them off and hope for the best? No wonder she rejected you."

"Think you have a chance now?" Lita asked.

"Strangely enough, I think I might. She’s not as cold as she was before." Jericho was lost in thought for a moment, until he suddenly frowned.

"What’s wrong with my chin?"

* *

"No way, you did not!" Faith laughed.

"I did too."

"You insulted the Living Legend’s chin? Willow, you bad girl."

The two girls were waiting for Stephanie in the lobby and Willow was filling Faith in on the events that had just happened in the hotel diner.

"You should have heard him, Faith," Willow said. "He was just sitting there, this smirk on his face and he was being all, ‘oh, I’m so good with my arrogant smile and massively over-developed ego’. It was so annoying."

"Gee, what ever happened to trying to be a little nicer to others, hmm?"

"I know, I know. I feel like the biggest hypocrite in the world, but I couldn’t help it. I let him sit down and everything, but the second he turned up at the table he just had this attitude that was so infuriating! He was so… arrggh!!" she stomped her foot in frustration.

"This guy’s really getting to you. I’m starting to think he might be right."

Willow glared at Faith. "Don’t start me. This guy is one hundred percent egotistical and not my type."

"Or maybe he’s not egotistical and one hundred percent your type." Catching the look on Willow’s face, the Slayer corrected herself. "Okay, so he is egotistical. The point is, he riles you up. Makes you spark."

"Look, I don’t –"

"What? Like guys? Like him? ‘Cause we both know that’s bull. I know you’re still trying to get over Tara, but even if all you want is one night of unbridled badness, then why not go for it? You’re an adult and this is the way to move on."

Willow kept glaring at the brunette. "You’re a bad influence."

Faith laughed. "I know," she grinned wickedly. "Now, while we’re being all ‘nice’ and that, which one of these boys should I grab for myself? I’m thinking tall and not too muscly."

Willow gave her a wry grin. "Maybe we should ask Stephanie. She knows all the guys." She frowned. "Where is she, anyway? She should have been here by now."

"Maybe she’s trying to decide what to wear today. Let’s go check her room."

As they headed up to Stephanie’s hotel room, Willow thought about what Faith had said. It was time to move on. Tara was dead, and she wasn’t coming back. But to move on… with Chris Jericho?! True, he was good looking, rather intelligent and she had been looking in his eyes, but he was so arrogant! Not to mention self-centred, rude, egotistical and cocky.

Willow shook her head. Women were so much easier to deal with. By the time they reached Stephanie’s door, they could hear a scuffle going on inside. Not hesitating, Faith kicked in the door.

The room was a mess. A desk was overturned, the bed was torn apart, glass was on the floor and in the middle of the room, a large creature had it’s scaly hands around Stephanie’s throat.

It was ugly. Bulging eyes complimented the repulsiveness of mottled colouring and scaly skin. It was really ugly.

By the time Faith reached the creature, it had already released Stephanie and threw her into the Slayer. With unnatural speed, it turned to dive out of the window when it stopped, turned and looked directly at Stephanie.

"Your father owes me." It hissed.

Then it was gone.

"Are you okay?" Willow asked Stephanie, who was breathing heavily, a scared look on her face.

"I –I don’t know. Help me find my dad? Please?" she answered, shaken.

Faith nodded, putting an arm around the distressed woman. "Vince has some explaining to do."

PART 9

Vince looked up in surprise when three angry women burst into his hotel room. Well, two angry women and one rather shaken one.

"What are you hiding?" Faith demanded.

"Faith, what –"

"What are you hiding?" she repeated.

"Girls, what is –"

"It attacked Stephanie." Willow said.

"I –Stephanie?" he repeated. Taking a look at his daughter’s ashen face, he sighed. "Stephanie, I am so very, very sorry."

"Dad, tell me what’s going on." Stephanie pleaded.

He passes a weary hand over his eyes. Suddenly he looked very tired, as though his years had hit him all at once. "You girls should sit down. This might take a while."

He waited until they were all seated before he began. "Steph, you don’t know this, but late last year there were some financial problems in the company. To be openly honest, we bordered on bankruptcy."

"Bankruptcy? Why didn’t I know about this?" Stephanie asked.

"Only Shane and I knew about it. Paul Heyman overheard a conversation between your brother and I and suggested we look into the services of Wolfram and Hart. So, to make a long story short, they helped me through the problem with consequences that put my family in danger."

"How did they help you?" Willow asked.

"They enlisted the aid of a Melkhir demon. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know how it got the money; I was just told that it was very influential with currency flow. Anyway, in return for providing the services of the demon, I was to promote Wolfram and Hart at Pay-Per-Views."

"I always wondered how you were connected to Wolfram and Hart and Heyman." Willow commented.

"Wait, if you’re the one who made the deal, why did it attack Stephanie?" Faith questioned.

Vince was silent. The look on his face told the girls that they weren’t going to like what he had to say.

"Dad?" Stephanie prodded him.

The CEO shifted uncomfortably. "The Melkhir demon race is predominantly male. This particular demon had decided, according to Wolfram and Hart, that it was time to produce an offspring, so during the time I asked for help, he was in search of a… partner so –"

"He chose Stephanie." Willow finished for him.

"He needed a host to carry his spawn, and unfortunately, he wanted that host to be Stephanie." Vince looked extremely sad.

Willow was confused. "So why would he try to kill her?"

"Apparently, the host doesn’t necessarily have to be alive," Vince answered. "I don’t know the specifics, I wasn’t told much."

"So you knew the demon would go after Stephanie?" Faith asked.

"Actually, I didn’t. Only recently did I discover that my family would be in danger, which I why I hired you. And Willow, of course," he added.

"Am I its reward?" All eyes turned to Stephanie, who had up until this point been silent. "Is that it? Am I a reward for it getting you money?"

"Stephanie, that’s not –"

"How could you? Is money so important to you that you would rationalise this kind of a deal with a demon?" She was getting mad.

"I’m sorry, Stephanie."

"*You’re* sorry? You more or less sell me off and now you’re sorry?! God, Dad… how could you!? And Shane! Was he part of this too? Did he help sell me off?"

"Nobody tried to sell you." Vince tried to calm his now-hysterical daughter down. "When this deal was made, no one knew what the demon wanted. That’s why I hired Faith to protect you. To protect all of us."

Stephanie looked at her father, unsure whether or not to believe him. Faith broke the silence. "So I guess I should go kill this thing, hey?"

"No." Vince answered strongly. "Wolfram and Hart does have a contract with the demon. For the sake of my family’s safety Faith, please do not kill it until the contract is up."

"But that’s not for another couple of months. What if it comes back to attack Stephanie again?" Willow objected.

"Then you fight it, but don’t kill." He turned to look at his ‘assistants’. "I’m trusting you two to keep my daughter safe. I don’t trust many people, but I believe you both can do it."

Vince then looked at his daughter. "I’m sorry for how this has turned out, Stephanie. But I swear to you, I will give my life to keep it from taking yours."

The open honesty and sincerity on his face brought tears to Stephanie’s eyes. "I know, daddy," she whispered.

"So I guess we’ll be bunking together then, huh?" Faith asked.

"I guess so." Stephanie answered, still teary.

"Oh come on," Willow said, trying to cheer her up. "I know Faith is a little sloppy and all, but believe me, she can be trained."

Stephanie tried to smile and Faith put a reassuring arm around her. "Don’t worry. We won’t let anything happen to you."

If only they were as confident as they sounded.

PART 10

Willow was tired. Not sleepy-tired, but barely-able-to-function, energy drained tired. The past two weeks had consisted of increased security protection for Stephanie and the rest of the McMahon’s. Not only were either Faith or Willow constantly with Stephanie, they also had to make sure the demon wasn’t also planning to attack the rest of the McMahon’s as well. In between this and keeping up the role of ‘assistants’, the girls were wearing thin. If Faith seemed slightly beat, Willow was near-collapse.

Willow was sitting on her bed in her hotel room when someone knocked on the door. Faith and Stephanie were at a meeting, so Willow was alone. "Door’s open," she called out; no way was she going to get up.

"Uh –this is a hotel room. Doors are locked on the outside," a male voice said.

< Damn >. Grudgingly, Willow edged off the bed and headed to the door, wondering who it was on the other side. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Unless it was –

"Jericho?" she called out, throwing open the door. "If that’s you –you’re not Jericho." She broke off in surprise when she saw Edge’s face.

"By the relieved look on your face, I guess I should be pleased." Edge said, a smile on his face.

"You have no idea." Willow replied, motioning for him to enter.

"Why, what’s he done?" the Canadian asked, walking in hesitantly. He’d only ever spoken to Willow a few times, so he wasn’t too sure whether or not she minded his presence.

"I’m pretty sure you already know," Willow answered.

"What, the whole him liking you thing? Is it that bad?"

"Yes. Because he’s arrogant, rude and so full of himself and –" she broke off when Edge started to grin. Oh yeah. Jericho was really getting under her skin. Maybe she did have a thing for him.

"And I don’t think you’re here to talk about Jericho," she finished, catching herself.

"Well you’re right about that. And about Chris’ arrogance." Sitting down in a chair, Edge put his head in his hands. "Willow, I need your help."

"With?"

"Faith."

"Huh?"

"See, it’s –" Edge groaned and started to pace. "I can’t get her out of my mind. I don’t know what it is about her, I just can’t stop thinking about her."

"So you have a crush."

"I think it’s more than just a crush. It’s –I need your help."

"What do you want me to do?" the redhead asked.

"I don’t know," Edge said helplessly. "Tell me about her. Who she is, what she likes, that kind of thing."

"No."

"No?"

"No," she repeated firmly. "You want to get to know her, then do it through her, not me. She doesn’t like this ‘behind your back’ stuff."

"So you’re not going to help me?" the blonde man asked.

"No, not in that way. You’re on your own in this deal. Look," she said in a softer tone, "Faith’s had a hard life and I want nothing more than for her to be happy. I don’t want to see her get hurt by some guy who just wants a quick screw."

"I’m not that kind of guy." Edge said.

"I know." Willow said softly. "You seem like a good guy. And that’s something you have to show her yourself. I don’t want to play matchmaker."

"I see."

"Tell you what. Faith and Steph’ll be back any minute now, but if you come and see me tomorrow night at the arena, then we can talk about this. I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I want to see if you’re serious about it."

"Okay. Thanks, Willow." Edge smiled gratefully. He walked to the door when he stopped and turned to face the small redhead. "You’re a really good friend to be looking out for her."

When he left, Willow’s face broke out into a huge smile.

Edge liked Faith.

How cute was that?

* *

"You know, for someone who’s so cool and confident in the ring, I don’t know how you can be so jittery out of it. You’re like a little boy." Willow laughed.

"Hey, gimme a break," Edge complained. "Faith is the only person I’ve ever met who has made me act this way. If word gets out that the super-cool Edge is a super-dork around a girl, my reputation is ruined."

Willow just laughed again.

It was nice. As promised, Willow met Edge backstage at the arena, and thoroughly sized up his intentions with Faith. Deeming him worthy of the Slayer, she slowly dropped the cold front barrier.

"Thanks for doing this, Willow," Edge said. "I mean, the Spanish Inquisition part could have been less intrusive, but still…"

"Anytime. But remember –you hurt her and I hurt you."

"Gotcha." The blonde man paused. Cocking his head to one side, he gave Willow a good long look. "You should smile more."

"Come again?"

"You should smile more. You have a pretty smile –it lights up your face. And it shows people that you’re not as cold as you pretend to be."

"Well, as pretty as my smile may be, it’s hardly as breathtaking as yours." Willow teased, trying not to blush at his comment. Couldn’t let anyone see the Ice Queen get embarrassed.

"Well, that I must agree with," Edge replied, a mockingly arrogant grin on his face. They both started laughing.

Then Jericho came along.

A surge of jealousy flared through him as he saw Willow and Edge talking comfortably and laughing. She was laughing! With Edge! She hadn’t even smiled at him, and here she was, chuckling up a storm with Y2J’s fellow Canadian.

Edge noticed Jericho standing to the side and waved him over. "Hey Chris," Edge greeted. "I gotta go see Rob about a tag match we got on, so I actually have to leave now. I’ll catch you guys later."

With a smile, Willow waved him goodbye. Turning to Jericho, she found the man to be watching her. "Hi, Willow."

"Hello Jericho."

"How are you?"

"Not too bad."

There was a moment of silence between the two. "I think this has been the most civil conversation we’ve had so far," he remarked.

"Well, unless you plan on insinuating that my laughing with Edge just then meant that I like him too, then I believe it is," she replied.

Jericho smiled. "You know, I never meant to sound so arrogant at the diner."

"No. You weren’t being arrogant; you were just being you."

"I was just stating what I thought to be true."

Willow snorted. "You were feeding your ego. Not like it needs to get any bigger."

The expression on Y2J’s face grew serious. "I’m not a bad person, Willow. And I think the reason why you keep pushing me away is because you don’t want to admit it."

He kept his gaze on her face as he continued to talk. "I don’t know what it is about you, Willow. The more you keep pushing me away, the more I just keep coming back. You’re not like other women. Hell –" he broke off with a chuckle. "I’ve never had so much trouble trying to get someone to give me a chance. And that’s why I think you’re worth it."

Stunned by the sincerity of his words, Willow could only stare as Chris Jericho walked away.

* *

Willow wasn’t the only on to watch Jericho walk away. A set of eyes watched as the conversation between Willow and the Living Legend passed. The same set of eyes that watched as Edge and Willow laughed and talked.

The same ones that were watching Willow now.

Accompanying the pair of eyes was a mind set to achieve a goal involving the redhead.

Revenge.

PART 11

Jericho knocked on Stephanie McMahon’s door and waited. A week had passed since he had that conversation with Willow. A week since she had stopped giving him dismissive glances and really began to look at him. He’d caught her looking at him a number of times, an unreadable expression on her face. At times he thought he saw confusion, longing, even fear… she seemed to be watching him, trying to see if what he said was true. If he meant it.

If only she knew just how much he did.

He hadn’t meant to be so open –it just came out. Jericho’s subconscious must have thought that if Edge could be honest and befriend Willow, he might actually stand a chance if he did the same.

Stupid subconscious.

While Jericho was attempting to patiently wait for a change in attitude from Willow, Edge had actually managed to befriend the strange redhead. Wrestlers were shocked to discover that one half of the Icy Duo was open to friendship. It seemed that the barrier was beginning to break; the Hardyz both managed to make her laugh, while Trish claimed to have engaged in a pleasant conversation on art with the smaller woman.

However, her fellow partner Faith wasn’t as willing to show her friendlier side. Sticking mainly with Stephanie and Willow, her coolly dangerous exterior remained, despite Edge insisting she had once smiled at him.

That made Jericho feel better. At least he wasn’t the only one being rejected.

The door opened and Jericho found himself staring into a pair of very startled green eyes. "Jericho," Willow said in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"I’m looking for Stephanie," he answered. "Is she here?"

"Uh –no, she’s not, actually. She and Faith just left to do a promo about five minutes ago."

"Do you know how long that’ll take?"

"Wouldn’t have a clue." Willow said. "Is it important?"

"Well, Vince told me to talk to Steph about my match tonight, so I‘m not sure, it might be."

Willow seemed to be thinking hard about something. "Well," she said slowly, "you can wait for her in here if you want. I don’t know how long she’ll be, but if it’s important stuff…"

Jericho didn’t need to be asked twice. Willow moved aside to let him in, and he took a seat on the couch. Noticing how uncomfortable Willow looked standing next to the door, he silently sighed in defeat. "You know, you don’t have to stay with me if you don’t want to. I know you probably don’t want to so I promise to behave myself."

"I don’t know about that," Willow replied wryly, brow raised. "Wouldn’t want you to pee in Steph’s teapot like you did to Regal before."

Jericho laughed. "Ah, so you heard about that, hey? Yeah, that was good fun," he smiled fondly at the memory. "But that was what, one and a half, two years ago? I’ve changed since then."

"I’m sure you have," Willow humoured him.

"I have," he claimed. "Besides, I can’t do it to her anyway."

"All peed out or afraid of the bosses daughter?"

"Neither. Stephanie doesn’t drink tea, she drinks coffee. She also has about twenty different mugs, so I wouldn’t know which one to pee in."

Then he saw it. Her lips curved up into a smile and her eyes sparkled in amusement. Jericho’s breath was taken away. "I don’t believe it," he said softly.

Her smile faded and her brow creased in confusion. "What don’t you believe?"

"You just smiled at me."

She looked away. "I did not."

"You did too."

"Did not."

He stood up and walked over to her. "Did too."

She still didn’t look at him. "It was a muscle twitch."

He took another step closer to her. "Really?"

"Yes," she insisted, finally looking up at him.

"Then it’s a pity these twitches don’t happen very often," Jericho murmured softly, lifting his hand to lightly brush her lips with his thumb, "because I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my life."

She looked at him, confusion on her face. As a slight blush tinted her cheeks, Jericho had a moment. It was one of those moments that only go for a few seconds, but seem to play out in slow motion.

Tilting her head up, he lowered his mouth to hers and placed the softest kiss on her lips. Hearing her intake of breath, he went to deepen the kiss when the door flew open and a man barrelled in.

"Hey, who the hell –" Jericho was cut off when the intruder slammed the blonde man’s head against the wall, rendering him unconscious. He turned livid eyes to look at the frightened redhead.

"Omigod," Willow gasped, stepping back in shock. "You!"

She barely had time to scream before he lunged at her.

* *

"That was wicked," Faith said to Stephanie as they walked back to the dressing room. "I don’t know how Vince manages to make the veins in his forehead pop up on cue like that, but that was cool."

"My dad and his vein-popping talents," Stephanie laughed. "What would we do without it?"

When they arrived at the dressing room, Faith reached for the doorknob when the door was wrenched open from the inside by a strange man. Shoving Faith to the ground, he ran down the hallway and within seconds, was out of sight. Faith rose to her feet and was ready to run after him when the sight of Willow made her stop.

"Will?" she asked, coming to the aid of her friend. "Oh God, what happened?"

Willow was sitting in a heap on the floor with one hand at her throat, the other covering her mouth. Her face was pale, eyes wide with shock and fear.

"Willow? Please tell me what happened," Faith pleaded. She didn’t know what to do.

"Faith," Stephanie called to her. She was leaning over Jericho, checking on the unconscious man. "Chris is out cold. We need a medic."

Shooting a look at her fallen friend, Faith was about to protest when Stephanie shook her head. "I’m not asking you to leave her. Just go out into the hallway and find someone to get some help."

Faith was about to leave when Willow looked up at her, fear reflecting in her wide green eyes. "He wants revenge," she whispered.

Faith was at Willow’s side in an instant. "Say again, Will?"

"Revenge," she repeated. "On me."

"On you? Revenge for what?"

Willow’s lower lip trembled. "Tara’s death," she choked out.

"What the –how does he know Tara? Willow, who was he?" Faith was worried. She’d never seen the redhead like this before.

"He’s Donny –Tara’s brother. And he wants me dead for being the cause of Tara’s death."

PART 12

"Forget it."

"Faith –"

"I said forget it," the brunette repeated firmly. "I’m not leaving you alone."

Willow sighed. Three days had passed since the attack. The McMahon’s were nervous, Willow was edgy and Faith kept wanting to break things. "You can’t leave Steph alone, either. She needs you at the show tonight."

"Some creep wants you dead for something you didn’t do." Faith argued.

"And some demon wants Steph dead for something she didn’t do," Willow said. "I can take care of myself."

"Can you?" Faith countered. "You don’t do magic anymore and the police can’t protect you because they might find out about what happened to Warren. All the wrestlers and security guards are going to be at the show tonight, so it basically means you’re going to be on your own. I’m not letting you get hurt again."

"What other choice do we have? I don’t feel safe at the arena –I feel safe in this hotel room. With the door locked. And the job –"

"Fuck the job!" Faith snapped. "This is about your safety, Will."

"I know you’re worried about me," Willow said, "but we can’t let Steph get hurt. She needs your help. Please Faith."

"No."

"Faith, you’ve been by my side non-stop for three days straight. You even stand outside the bathroom when I’m in the shower. Steph could be in trouble. You have to go with her."

"But –"

"Resolve face." Willow was adamant. "Please Faith. You have to do this."

Reluctantly, Faith nodded her head. She knew she couldn’t win against the resolve face. She walked across the room and knocked on the bathroom door. "You can come out now," she called out to the occupant. "We’re done arguing."

Stephanie came out of the bathroom. "Willow decided she wants to stay in the hotel room. All alone." Faith informed her.

The Billion Dollar Princess frowned in concern. "Are you sure that’s a good idea, Willow? You might get hurt again."

"Our main concern is your safety, Steph," Willow said. "I’ll be fine."

"Maybe I should get some guards to stay here –" Stephanie suggested.

"No," Willow interrupted. "We need them to be with Vince, Shane and Linda. For their safety."

There was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Faith asked.

"Chris."

When Faith went to open the door, Stephanie shook her head. "I don’t like the idea of you being alone tonight," she said to Willow.

"She won’t have to be," Jericho said, stepping into the room. "I can stay with her."

"What? Why?" Willow asked.

"I don’t have a match tonight," he explained to her, "so I can stay here with you tonight if Steph and Faith have to go to the show."

Faith and Stephanie exchanged looks. "What do you think?" Stephanie asked.

"Better than her being alone," Faith shrugged. She turned to look at the blonde man. "You let her get hurt and I’ll break you in half."

"Hey, don’t I get a say in this?" Willow cut in.

"No." All three people answered in unison.

Rolling her eyes, Willow watched in silence as Faith and Stephanie prepared to leave for the show. She watched as Faith hesitated at the door, unsure of whether she should really leave the redhead with Jericho.

"Faith?" Willow spoke up and the brunette turned around.

"Five by five, right?"

Faith gave Willow a smile, the tension on her face draining away/ "Five by five," she confirmed softly before leaving.

Sighing again, Willow realised she was now left alone with Jericho. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the man, because as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she did. But it was just a little uncomfortable, especially after that kiss.

The kiss. Granted, it wasn’t really a kiss so much as it was a short moment of contact, but once his lips touched hers, she was lost. And she wanted more.

Jericho watched as a myriad of facial expressions flickered over the redhead’s face.

He’d heard snippets of the argument earlier, acknowledging the over protectiveness of the brunette on Willow. He didn’t blame her. After the attack, Jericho had woken up in the medics van with a severe headache and blurry vision, confused and extremely pissed off. He’d been trying to see Willow for three days to see if she was okay and also to get some answers.

And now he had the chance.

He could tell she was uncomfortable. She kept averting her gaze, as though she was scared to look at him. Was it because she didn’t want to tell him that the kiss meant nothing?

Or was it because she didn’t want to tell him it did?

Finally, she looked at him, troubled green eyes connecting with questioning blue. She spoke softly.

"So I guess you want some answers, huh?"

* *

"I don’t like this," Faith complained. "You should fire this guys ass for keeping you waiting."

"I can’t fire someone because there are technical difficulties with the Titantron," Stephanie replied. "Just calm down, Faith. We’ll do this and then head back to Willow. Don’t worry, she’s with Chris. He’ll look after her."

"Yeah, that’s really comforting," Faith answered sarcastically. "The man was unconscious when Willow was attacked. Some good he was."

"I’m sure he’s more on his guard this time." Stephanie noticed the technician waving her over. "I have to go talk to Dave. I’ll be just over there. Stay her and cool off."

"’Cool off’ she says," the Slayer grumbled. "’Calm down’. Everyone around me is getting attacked and the tells me to calm down."

That was how Edge found her, mumbling and swearing to herself. "Hi, Faith."

"Huh? Oh, hey Edge." Faith mumbled absently, watching Stephanie in the distance.

"Is Willow okay? She hasn’t been back after what happened and I wanted to see how she’s doing."

Faith snorted. "Right. Like you people care."

"Actually, I do." Edge said seriously. "When I found out she was attacked, I was worried. We all were."

"Why? Because then you might actually feel bad about comparing her to a block of ice?"

"I was never part of that. But I was worried that she was hurt. We all saw how Chris was. You saw how worried he was. And even though the rest of us don’t have the same kind of feeling for Willow as Chris does, none of us want to see her hurt."

Taking in the sincerity on his face and the seriousness in his tone, Faith softened slightly. "Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so –I’m just a little edgy at the moment. No pun intended," she added after a moment and the blonde man smiled.

"She’s doing okay. So she says. Jericho’s with her right now, but it’s just…I don’t’ know, I’d rather be with her. I don’t like knowing that she might get hurt again and I won’t be able to stop it."

"You’re really worried about her, aren’t you?" Edge asked softly.

"She’d my friend." Faith replied simply. "I don’t like seeing my friends get hurt."

"I know Chris will do what he can to keep her safe." Edge said.

Faith gave the blonde man a small smile. "I know. You know, you should stop by the room later and say hey to her. I know she’d like that."

Edge was a little surprised at Faith’s invitation. He’d expected her to day ‘thanks for the concern’ and then tell him to go away. "Sure. Definitely, I’ll stop by later tonight if that’s okay."

Faith gave him another small smile, noticing Stephanie walking toward them. "Sure. I gotta go now, so I’ll see you later then."

Edge watched as the brunette walked away with Stephanie, a happy smile coming to his face.

"Count on it," he said softly.

PART 14a

Faith tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the elevator to
stop at the right level. "I don't like this, Steph. Both Willow and
Jericho aren't answering their phones. I have a really bad feeling
about this."

"It's okay, Faith," Stephanie said. "We'll be there soon. Just hold
on."

"Sure we will," the Slayer grumbled. "If this stupid lift decides to
start fucking moving already!"

Finally, the two women reached their level. Almost running down the
hallway to their hotel room, Faith quickly swiped the card through
and pushed the door open . . .

. . .where she was met with the sight of a bloodied blonde man lying
unconscious on the floor. . .

. . .and no sight of Willow.

Faith's heart sunk. "Not again."

* *

Willow's head was spinning. Groggily, she slowly opened her eyes,
only to be forced to quickly shut them when they were nearly blinded
by the bright, flashing lights of neon signs.

Wait a second. Neon signs?

Where was she?

Her head still fuzzy from the chloroform, Willow tried desperately to
think. It wasn't working. Why the hell was it so hard to think? She
was smart, damn it! < Breathe > she told herself. <Breathe slowly and
open your eyes >.

She did. It wasn't until her vision began to focus that she realised
she was tied to a chair, perched frighteningly close to the edge of
what seemed to be a rather tall building.

Well, that's what she guessed, judging by the rather miniscule sizes
of the buzzing cars below.

Gosh, they were small.

"Nice view, isn't it?" a voice behind her asked. "You can see almost
anything from up here."

Donny walked up to stand behind Willow, staring absently at the
passing traffic below. "It's interesting. You just have to wonder
that if you fall from here, whether it's the impact of the ground
that'll kill you or a car that comes along and smashes you senseless
instead."

Willow froze. "It that what you're going to do to me?" she asked,
trying to hide her fear. "Throw me over the edge and watch how I
die?"

Donny laughed coldly. "Willow, Willow, Willow," he chastised. "I try
to show you just how nice the view is from the top of your hotel
building and this is how you thank me? Ah, so very unappreciative of
you."

He then knelt down in front of her and fixed the redhead with a cold,
calculating glare. "But you never did appreciated anything, did you?
Not my sister, not your magic, not anything." Seeing the look that
passed over the former witch's face, he smiled cruelly. "Yes, Willow.
That's right. I do know. I know what you are."

He leaned his face in close to hers and whispered into her ear.

"Murderer."

Her jaw tightened. Donny looked at her with a mockingly pitiful
expression on his face. "Not so high and mighty, now are you? You
know, you should really be very disappointed in yourself. After you
got Tara killed, you went and *really* became a killer. Shame,
Willow. What would Tara say to that?"

Standing up, he walked a few feet away, fidgeting with an object in
his hands. "Do you think she'd approve? That she'd care? You think
she'd still love you?" he said with a sneer. "I don't. I think that
after you corrupted her, took her away from her true family and
helped kill her, that she wouldn't like that at all."

"It wasn't my fault." Willow whispered.

"No, Willow. You're wrong. It was your fault. It still is. You are
the sole reason why my sister is dead. You are a sinner, Willow, and
it's time you finally paid for your sins."

He held up the object in his hand and pointed it at her. He clicked
the gun off safety.

"I'm sending you to hell, bitch."

* *

Stephanie was worried. The stricken look on Faith's face was enough
to make anyone cringe away in fear of what the brunette might do next.

They were in the hotel room, waiting for . . .well, she didn't really
know what they were waiting for. As promised, Edge had stopped by the
room earlier, only to have been met by an irate slayer. Through her
jumbled sentences and with enough language to have impressed a
sailor, he'd managed to figure out that something had happened to
Willow and that she was missing. Well, all that and the fact that he
noticed Jericho's bloodied head.

Frowning, Stephanie realised that Edge had disappeared off somewhere.
Damn it. That man better not be telling the other wrestlers about
what happened.

"Okay, I've had it!" Faith exploded. "Why are we waiting here? Why
the fuck aren't we out looking for Willow?"

"We don't know where she's gone, or what's happened to her,"
Stephanie reminded her. "We need Chris to help us."

"By the time the guy wakes up, something could have happened to
Willow," Faith argued.

"But we don't know where she is. If we wait for Chris to wake up,
then –"

"Then it might be too late. Think about it, Steph. This sicko freak
has knocked out Chris twice and now has Willow. We need to do
something, we can't just wait."

"So what do you say we do?" the heiress to the company asked.

"I say we look for Willow. Fuck waiting around for Y2j to come to,
he'll stop bleeding soon enough. Let's go." Faith made her way to the
door, turning when she realised Stephanie wasn't following her. "Come
on, Steph. Can't leave without you."

Stephanie hesitated, looking over at the unconscious Canadian. They'd
put a bandage over the wound, but the man was still out cold. "I
don't know, Faith. I want to find Willow, but we don't have a clue
about where she could be. This hotel itself is huge; she could be
anywhere."

"She's on the rooftop." A male voice spoke up.

Faith whirled around to stare at the man in the doorway. "What do you
mean? Are you sure? How do you know?"

"It's a long story," Edge answered. "A little embarrassing, too. I'll
explain later, but I know for a fact that she's on the rooftop, and
if we don't get to her soon, it'll be too late."

Faith didn't wait. "Let's move."

"Wait."

The Slayer exploded. "What the fuck is it now? Why won't any of you–"
she broke off when she saw that it was Jericho who had stopped her.
Slowly getting to his feet, he swayed a bit when he stood up straight.

"I'm coming with you," he croaked.

"Chris, you really shouldn't –" Stephanie objected.

"I'm going," he said groggily, though adamant. "I'm going to get that
stupid son of a bitch."

Faith stared the man down. Well, up. "Fine," she said. "But if you
pass out on the way there, we're not stopping for you."

Turning on her heel, she marched out the door, determination on her
face. Behind her trailed the figures of a concerned Princess and a
dazed Living Legend, propped up by a slightly embarrassed Canadian.

Faith didn't care about what it took to find the redhead. She just
wanted her back safe.

< Come on, Red > she thought. < Just hold on >.

PART 14b

Willow was panicking. In all of her years spent on the Hellmouth,
she'd encountered a great number of things. Demons, hell gods, even
strange creatures with their equally strange abilities. Some spat
fire, became invisible, shot out toxic fumes . . she thought she'd
seen and been up against it all.

She was wrong.

This was the first time she'd ever been up against a man with a gun.

It was positively frightening.

"Donny," she said shakily. "You don't want to do this."

He laughed grimly. "Yes I do."

"No, you don't." Her heart racing, she tried to reason. "What happens
when you kill me? You'll become a sinner yourself. You really want
that to happen?"

"I am not a sinner," he answered coldly. "Getting revenge on the
person who both took away and more or less killed your sister is not
sinning –it's justice."

"Justice?" she repeated, momentarily forgetting the seriousness of
the situation. "In what sick, lame-ass reality does killing
someone constitute as justice?"

"Well, I don't know, Willow," Donny replied easily. "What reality did
you come from when you killed Warren?"

Willow paled and was silent. Donny snorted. "I thought as much.
Warren may have been the one to pull the trigger, but if it wasn't
for you, Tara would never have been there in the first place."

"I –"

Donny backhanded Willow across the face with the gun, cutting the
side of her cheek.

"You don't get to talk. Just shut up and die."

"NOOO!!!"

Donny spun around at the unexpected cry and was tackled to the going
by Faith. She wrested the gun out from his hands as he struggled to
get the weapon back.

"Get off me, bitch!" he roared, throwing the Slayer against the edge
wall. Scrambling for the gun, he was pulled back by Jericho. Grabbing
the front of Donny's shirt, he pulled their faces close together. "I
owe you," he growled before punching him in the face.

Meanwhile, Edge and Stephanie had lifted Willow (and the chair she
was tied to) away from the edge of the building and were trying to
untie her. Faith groaned and shook away the fuzziness in her head.
When she stood up, she was knocked back down when Donny threw Jericho
at her.

"The bitch is mine!!" Donny shouted, making his was to Willow. Before
he could reach her, he was taken down by Faith who had instinctively
lunged at the man. Throwing him onto his back, she delivered a series
of brutal punches to his face.

Willow wrenched her hands free from the last bit of rope and
scrambled to Faith, who was still pummelling the now-unconscious man.

"Faith!" she screamed. "Stop!!"

The slayer pulled back from the assault and gave Willow a frenzied
look, who returned with an equally concerned one. Looking back at
Willow's attacker, she let out a strangled cry at the sight.

Donny's face had been pounded to a pulp. Blood covered every inch,
his eyes swollen and bruised from the beating. But that wasn't the
worst part.

The worst part was that Faith had blood on her hands.

Human blood.

She looked at Willow with wide, frightened eyes. The redhead pulled
Faith into her arms, trying to comfort both herself and the
Slayer. "It's okay, Faith. It's okay," she repeated.

She looked up and saw Edge, Stephanie and Jericho looking at the two
young women with both relief and concern. Then she looked at Donny,
who was lying unconscious on the ground.

"It's going to be okay."

* *

Willow hissed in pain as the nurse dabbed at her cut cheek with
antiseptic. "Now you're going to have to let this heal for a few
days," she informed her, putting a bandaid over the cut. "But you'll
be fine. It won't even scar."

Willow gave the nurse a small smile. "Thank you," she said. "Umm,
there was a man who was brought in with me. He's got long blonde
hair, cuts and bumps to the head. Do you know where they took
him?"

"He's just down the hallway, to the left. Room 43, I think." The
nurse smiled kindly at the redhead. "Visiting hours will be over
soon, so you better see him now."

"Thank you," Willow said again. She turned to Faith who was leaning
against the wall next to Edge and Stephanie. "I better go check on
him."

"We're walking you there," Faith answered. "Just in case."

Willow reached out to hold the Slayer's hand. She knew Faith was
still shaken up about what had happened on the rooftop. She could
only imagine the kind of memories it brought up.

They reached Jericho's room and Willow went inside. Faith jumped when
she felt a hand on her arm. Stephanie gave her a concerned look. "You
okay?"

Faith gave her a small smile. "I will be."

The Billion Dollar Princess nodded. "I'm here if you need to talk,
okay?"

"I know." Faith hugged the other brunette. "Thanks."

"No worries. I'm just going to talk to the doctor about Chris's
condition. He's just over there, in plain sight," she hurried on when
Faith tried to protest. "It's okay."

Faith kept a watchful eye on Stephanie. Man, she was tired. She could
sense Edge watching her. "What?" she asked, slightly irritable.

"You're pretty strong," he said. "You should be a wrestler."

She laughed at his comment. "I'm too strong," she told him.

"I like strong girls."

Uh oh. Faith knew where this was headed. "Look, you seem like a nice
guy –"

"I am."

" –but I'm not a nice girl." Edge was surprised at the bluntness in
her tone.

"If you're talking about what happened back there –"

"Not just that. There are things about me you don't know. Things you
don't want to know. I'm not a good person for you."

"I think that should be for me to decide," Edge answered softly. He
walked up to her and looked at her sincerely. "We've all done things
we're not proud of. But sometimes we just have to move on."

"Some things you just can't forget." Faith disagreed.

"I guess not," the blonde man sighed.

Faith frowned. "You know, you never did tell me how you found
Willow."

Edge cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Well, uh- yeah…"

Faith waited. "Well?"

He was trying not to blush. "I uh, asked one of the maids in the
hotel about whether they'd seen anyone that looked like Willow
around. The maid told me she saw a large man carrying his `wife' to
his room because she'd gotten drunk and passed out."

"That's it? That's your embarrassing story?"

"The information didn't come free. I sort of had to compromise."

"In what way?"

"I have to take her out on a date," he mumbled.

Faith was confused. "So? What's so bad about that?"

Edge sighed again. "She's like, fifty. And it's not just with her,
it's with some of her friends, too."

A snicker escaped Faith's lips. Soon she was laughing. "So you're
going to be, like, a male escort or something? Oh, that's priceless!
I want photos."

"Stop laughing!"

She was chortling. "I'm sorry. I can't help it. Are they going to
dress you up in some gigolo-like outfit too?"

This was embarrassing. "Fine, laugh all you want. But I did it for
Willow. And for you, too," he added softly. "I'm not giving up on
you, Faith."

She stopped laughing. He leaned in and gently kissed her
forehead. "I'm going to call for a cab so we can get back to the
hotel."

Faith watched him walk away. He seemed to believe in her.

If only she could do the same.

* *

"Hey you." Willow poked her head into the room. "How you feeling?"

"Like my head's been slammed into a wall." Jericho smiled at the
redhead. "You?"

"Like I've been kidnapped and tied to a chair," Willow joked in
reply. Her smile faded as the looked at the Canadian. "I'm so sorry,
Chris."

"Don't be." Jericho motioned for her to sit next to him and took her
hand. "Doctors say it's just a small concussion. I'll only have to
stay here overnight. I mean, if anyone should be sorry, it's me. I'm
sorry I couldn't protect you. Again."

"It's not your fault." She smiled crookedly at him. "It's been a
crazy week, huh?"

"You got that right." Jericho was rubbing circles with his thumb on
the back of her hand. "Any word on . . .?"

"Donny's alive," Willow informed him. "Barely. He's in a coma. Severe
head trauma. It's unlikely he'll wake up."

Jericho was silent. "I guess Faith really gave it to him," he finally
commented. "Is –is she always like that?"

Willow shrugged. "Sometimes. I don't know. I guess she's like me –
just wants all of this over with."

He gave her a serious look. "Are you okay? I mean, this was all
pretty rough. . ."

She smiled at his concern for her. "I think I'll be okay. Just give
it time. Though, I'd feel better if you didn't have to stay in
hospital tonight."

"I could try sneaking out," he suggested. "I might pass out halfway
to the door, but it's worth a shot."

The redhead whacked his arm playfully. "Some Living Legend you are,"
she teased. "You're just a big baby."

Jericho laughed and brushed her bandaged cheek with his thumb. She
bent forward and gave him a slow, gentle kiss. His other hand reached
up to play with her hair when they were interrupted.

"Excuse me, miss." A nurse popped her head through the
door. "Visiting hours are over in five minutes."

Jericho looked at Willow, a wry grin on his face. "Why is it that
whenever I kiss you, someone interrupts us?"

She shrugged and grinned. "Karma?"

Willow stood up. "I'll be back tomorrow morning when you check out,"
she told him. Giving him another soft kiss, she squeezed his hand
before leaving.

Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough.

PART 15

"Hi, Dad!" Stephanie greeted, giving her father a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi, Steph," Vince replied warmly. "Good morning, girls."

"Morning," Faith and Willow replied in unison.

Vince led the three young women into the hotel room where Shane and Paul Heyman were currently waiting.

"So what’s the what, boss?" Faith asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me. Any more news on the demon?"

"There haven’t been any more sightings since the attack," Willow reported. "We think this might be because there’s always someone with Steph, which means she’s less vulnerable at those times."

"I see," Vince sighed.

"Don’t sweat it, boss. We still got another month to go," Faith reminded him. "After that, it’s open season on his ass and we can put it all behind us. It’ll be five by five."

"It’s okay, Dad." Stephanie squeezed her fathers’ hand. "Faith and Willow are doing all they can to help."

"I know." Vince patted his daughters’ hand.

"By the way, Willow, how are you doing?" Shane asked. "Have the police said anything about Donny?"

"I’m doing alright," Willow answered. "As for Donny, the police can’t do anything. He like a vegetable now, so they have to wait until he wakes up before anything can happen."

"*If* he wakes up," Faith corrected.

"I’m glad you’re okay," Vince said sincerely. "I think it’s safe to say it’s best he not wake up. Ever. And maybe when this issue with the demon is over, we can all get back to out regular lives."

"You know," Heyman spoke up, "I can’t help but wonder if this situation would be over sooner if there weren’t certain . . . distractions around."

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

"Well, it’s no secret that your relationship with one Chris Jericho is dividing the time spent with Stephanie," Paul said calmly. "And Faith’s little interest with another blonde Canadian might be distracting her from her own duty."

"They have nothing to do with this," Faith denied hotly.

"Oh, I think they do. More time spent with these men means less time spent protecting Stephanie. And that’s not right. Because it means you’re not doing your job. Don’t you think so?"

"I think you should shut up," Faith snapped.

"Paul, it’s okay," Vince said before Heyman could reply to the irate Slayer. "I trust Faith and Willow –they know their responsibilities, and I trust their judgements."

"Of course," Heyman replied smoothly. "I was just reminding them of what they’re being paid for here. A little reminder never hurt."

"No, but a punch in the face does," the Slayer muttered darkly.

Heyman shot her a look. "Before I forget," he said suddenly, "I just wanted to show you something, Willow."

"Show me what?" Willow asked suspiciously.

"A tape. See, I know you and Faith were with Stephanie last night, so you were never able to see this part of RAW. I had the courtesy of taping this just for you."

Willow didn’t like the look on his face.

He popped the tape into the VCR and pressed play. After a moment of fuzziness, the screen cleared to show Chris Jericho entering the arena in the middle of the show. Clad in a pair of jeans and a jersey, he was stopped in his tracks by a woman.

A certain blonde, leggy woman.

"Hi, Chris!" Stacy greeted, smiling. "I didn’t know you would be back so soon!"

"Yeah, well I won’t be wrestling till next week, but I just cam by tonight to Vince." Jericho replied.

"Oh, really? Just Vince, huh? Well, it’s really great to see you up and about again. I heard it was a really nasty accident." Stacy said.

"Well, concussions are never fun," Jericho agreed.

The blonde looked past the Canadian. "Well, I have to go and find Bubba, but it’s really good to see you again." She put a hand on his arm. "Just know that if you need *anything* at all, all you have to do is ask. I’ll be glad to help."

Giving him an inviting smile, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Then she was on her way, Jericho staring after in bewilderment.

Heyman stopped the tape. He was looking at Willow.

So was everyone else.

"See, I just thought if he wasn’t a distraction, you’d be able to carry on fine after that," he explained, smiling at the redhead. "Without jealousy and all."

"Of course," Willow answered slowly. "None at all."

"I mean, I’m sure it was just a friendly kiss on the cheek. Right?"

"Absolutely."

Faith swore she could hear Willow gnashing her teeth.

"Uh, maybe we should go," Stephanie said suddenly. "I have work I need help with from Faith and Willow."

She stood up and grabbed her assistants’ hand and tugged them out the door. "Bye!" she called out behind her.

Vince gave Heyman a disapproving look. "She’s had enough to deal with lately. Did you really have to provoke her like that?"

Heyman shrugged. "I’m just looking out for Stephanie, Vince. And if you believe her word, then she’s not jealous."

* * *

"I’m not!"

"Will, it’s us. You can admit it."

"But I’m not jealous!" Willow insisted. "So what if that skank kissed him on the cheek? I kiss my grandmother on the cheek. It doesn’t mean anything!"

"What I don’t get is why she picked Chris," Stephanie wondered. "I thought she was aiming for Faith."

"I guess since I’ve already beat her ass, she wants to pick on someone else," Faith suggested.

"That’s not fair," Willow complained. "Why am I always the one that gets picked on?"

Faith shrugged. "It’s just this natural attraction, Will. Like speeding –you just can’t help it."

Willow stuck her tongue out at the Slayer, who responded by feigning a hurt expression. Laughing at her assistants’ childishly playful behaviour, Stephanie shook her head. "I don’t think you need to worry about Stacy, Willow. Heyman on the other hand, is a different story."

The redhead shuddered. "That man gives me the creeps. He just oozes sleaze and grease."

"Yeah, what’s his deal, anyway?" Faith asked. "Why’s he so stuck about Edge and Jericho?"

"I don’t know," Stephanie answered. "But one thing’s for sure –he’s up to something. So you guys better watch out for him. There’s no telling what he might do."

* * *

Paul Heyman drummed his fingers on the counter. He was thinking. Thinking of ways to get rid of the Slayer and her friend.

He didn’t like them. No reason for it, really. He just didn’t like them. Maybe it was the fact that they both possessed odd talents – one built to fight demonic beings and the other being a former witch who had tried to end the world. Being around those two made him feel uneasy.

And he didn’t like that feeling.

The longer they stayed, the longer that feeling stayed. And the more distractions there were, the more time they would spend in the company.

He had to get rid of them.

He couldn’t do anything to Edge or Jericho, of course. Vince would kill him. No, there was another way. A better way.

Get rid of the distractions, get rid of the problem.

He knew exactly who to call.

PART 16

Willow sighed. She was sitting outside Vince’s makeshift office at the arena waiting for Stephanie to come out of a meeting. She was bored.

She looked at her watch for the eleventh –no, twelfth time. How long could it possibly take to work out a new location for a pay-per-view? She had nothing to do, read or play with. All she could do was think. A thing which wouldn’t be too bad if it wasn’t for the fact that all of her thoughts kept drifting back to Chris Jericho.

It had been two weeks since Jericho suffered the concussion, and one week since the thing with Stacy. Not that Willow cared, of course. Like she’d be jealous of some tall, leggy blonde. No siree.

Ugh. She was such a bad liar.

Willow wondered how Jericho was doing. She hadn’t actually spoken to the man in about a week, just before the Stacy incident. She wasn’t avoiding him or anything, she just . . .well, hadn’t seen him. But she did know he was scheduled for a match that night, so no avoidance there.

"Hi, Willow."

Speak of the devil.

"Hi, Chris."

Pause. "Whatcha doing?"

"Waiting for Steph to come out of a meeting." Nope, this wasn’t awkward at all.

"Willow, are you okay?"

"Fine," she replied, a little too brightly. "Why do you ask?"

"I don’t know," Jericho said. "You just seem a little weird today."

Willow looked at the Canadian. He was frowning with what looked to be concern. Now she felt bad. "No, really I’m fine. Just a little bored. Faith went to get some drinks so I have no one to entertain me."

Jericho grinned at her. "Guess I turned up at the right time then, huh?" He leaned in and brushed his kips against hers. The awkwardness melted away as his hand found it’s resting spot at the small of her back. She gave into the kiss, savouring the taste of his lips as he gently pulled away.

She gave him a small smile. "I knew I’ve been missing something this past week."

He grinned back at her. "Ditto." The concern didn’t leave his face. "Are you sure you’re okay?"

She brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes. "I am now."

Jericho kissed her forehead and pulled her into a hug. Leaning into his embrace, Willow relaxed under the comfort he offered. Drawing back, she hopped back onto the table she had been sitting on. "You okay to wrestle tonight?" she asked, tugging playfully at his hair.

He shrugged. "Maybe. It’s only a small match, so it won’t be anything too heavy. Don’t wanna pop these stiches." He touched his forehead tentatively.

"Hey, Jerky!"

Willow and Jericho turned in the direction of the new voice. Faith was walking up the hallway, a grinning Edge beside her. The Canadian came up to Jericho and gave him a big hug. The two friends pulled apart, pounding each other affectionately on the back.

"Good to see you again, man," Edge said, still grinning.

"Good to be back," Y2J answered with a grin of his own.

The wrestlers continued to talk while Stephanie came out of the meeting. She shut the door behind her and rolled her eyes. "I swear, these meetings are just an excuse for the executives to hang around and perve up front at the divas."

"I take it that was another fruitless gathering?" Willow mused.

The brunette laughed dryly. "The things I do for my job."

"Here." Faith handed her a soda. "The sugar’ll perk you up."

"Chris!" Stephanie said, finally noticing the Canadian. "Good to have you back."

"You see that?" Jericho grinned at Willow. "Everyone loves me. And I’ve only been gone two weeks."

"Actually, we’re just being nice to you while you’re still weak so we can get the Intercontinental Title away from you," Edge admitted slyly. "But sure, we missed ya."

Willow laughed as Jericho leaped on Edge and two men pretended to fight. Rolling her eyes, she looked at Faith, who was shaking her head.

"Stupid Canadians," the slayer muttered. She looked at Stephanie. "We headed back to the dressing room?"

"Yep, gotta get a few things." The three women walked away, leaving the sparring men behind.

"Give! Gi –hey, where you going?" Jericho called after the retreating women. Edge yanked his head out of the headlock Jericho held him in and stared down the hallway.

"Where they going?" he asked.

Y2J shrugged. "Should we follow them?"

"Guess so." Edge rubbed the back of his head. "You pulled my hair, man."

"You stepped on my foot."

"It was an accident. Sissy."

"Jerk."

"Ooh, that hurt."

"Shut up."

* *

By the time the three women reached Stephanie’s dressing room, Edge and Jericho hadn’t finished bickering. Willow sighed and shook her head. < Men > she thought.

Faith opened the door and stiffened. "What the hell are you doing in here?" she demanded.

Paul Heyman sneered at the Slayer. "Gosh, by your tone of voice, I’d think you weren’t pleased to see me," he said mockingly.

"We’re not. Get the hell out," Faith answered flatly.

"Oh, I will. I just thought you might want to say hi to someone first." He stepped aside, revealing the person who had been standing behind him.

Willow pushed the door further open and gasped.

"Oh my god. Buffy!"

PART 17

Willow stared at the blonde slayer in surprise. Buffy was here! She couldn’t believe it. Beside her, Faith stood frozen, a stricken look on her face.

"Buffy!" Willow exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Buffy didn’t answer. She was staring intently at the other slayer, eyes hooded with hate. "So it’s true," she said flatly. "She is out."

Willow suddenly realised there were other people in the room. "Buff, maybe this isn’t the-"

"Hi," Stephanie said quickly, stepping forward. "I’m Stephanie McMahon."

"Buffy Summers," the blonde answered, shaking hands with the brunette, eyes still fixed on Faith.

"Well, I’m sure you girls have a lot to catch up on," Heyman smirked at Willow. "We’ll just be leaving now."

She exited the room, taking a very confused Edge and Jericho with him. Pulling the door behind him, he purposefully left it open a crack.

It was a mistake that none of the girls noticed.

"Willow," Buffy said, finally acknowledging the redhead. "How could you not tell me?"

Willow gave her friend a sad look. "Because that would have meant contacting you."

"Would that have been so bad?" Buffy’s eyes glistened with tears. "Willow, we’ve missed you so much. Xander said you sent him an email once, but none of us knew if you were okay or not."

"I *am* okay, Buffy," Willow whispered.

"Are you?" the Slayer countered. "Look at where you are, Willow. Look who you’re with. Faith. A murderer. Someone who’s killed men in cold blood. Someone who tried to kill me, even tried to kill you. How can you stand to be near her?"

"Because I’m just like her," Willow choked out. "I’m just as bad."

Buffy shook her head with denial. "No you’re not. You’re –"

"I am," Willow stated bluntly. She was shaking with emotion, refusing to cry. "I killed a man, Buffy. A human. You were there, you saw me. You saw me take a life."

A single tear slipped down the blondes’ cheek as she continued to shake her head. "No. It’s not the same," she denied hoarsely. "It’s different. You’re Willow. You didn’t mean for it to happen like that."

"That doesn’t make it okay to kill someone." Willow’s voice was shaky, her lower lip trembling. "I can’t forget what I’ve done. Neither can Faith. Every day we have to live, knowing the mistakes we’ve made, hoping one day we can be forgiven for it."

"But you’re not bad." Buffy was crying. "You’re Willow. You’re not like her."

"I don’t think Faith’s bad," Willow said softly. "I just think we have to work harder to get into heaven. But Buffy, if you can forgive me, you can forgive me."

The slayer was silent. She sniffled. When Stephanie handed her a tissue, she jumped, once again forgetting there were other people in the room. Faith stood to the side, eyes downcast, trying to hide the tears in her eyes.

There was a moment where no one said anything. Then Buffy cleared her throat and spoke hesitantly. "That man, Heyman, called me last week. He’s the one that told me Faith was out of jail."

"Wolfram and Hart got me out," Faith mumbled, finally speaking. "They’re, um, a law firm. Have to kill a demon. "

Buffy had no idea what that all meant. "Okay . . . " she said slowly. "Um…that’s why you’re here?"

"Yeah," Willow answered. "Demon’s hunting Steph."

Buffy gave her a crooked smile. "Still fighting the good fight, hey Wills? And I’m supposed to be the Slayer."

"I’ll always be fighting," Willow replied, somewhat despondently. "But I do it hoping you’re all proud of me back home."

"Always, Will."

Meanwhile, Faith was avoiding Buffy’s stare. She knew the other slayer was analysing her, still distrustful other the person who had tried to kill her. Not that Faith could blame her.

"So how long are you here for?" Stephanie asked.

"Until tomorrow. If I stay away from Sunnydale too long, the nightly natives might realise there’s no Slayer around and I don’t want to think about what might happen."

"How’s the demon scene?" Willow questioned.

"Fairly tame. I’ve been teaching Dawn to fight, and she’s getting really good." Buffy smiled wistfully. "Must be the Slayer genes."

She paused. "Xander misses you. He, um, he wanted to come with me here, but Heyman only paid for one ticket."

Willow felt her stomach tighten at the mention of her best friend. God, she missed him. "I’ll email him tonight," she promised. She looked at Buffy sadly. "I’ve missed you all so much."

"Missed you too." The two girls held each other in a long hug. Sniffling, they drew apart. "I’m going to go now, Will," Buffy whispered. "That Heyman guy wanted me here to get you to focus on your job. But screw him, I don’t care about what he wants."

She gave the one time hacker a forlorn look. "I want you to be happy, Will. I want you to smile. And if you don’t come home, I want you to call soon. It’s just not the same without you there."

Willow was on the verge of breaking down. "I will," she choked out. "I love you, Buffy."

"Love you too, Will."

With one final hug, the blonde slayer turned to Faith. The expression on her face was unreadable. "Take care of yourself," she said finally. "And of Willow."

"Buffy, I’m –"

"Don’t." The other slayer cut her off. "I can accept that you’re free, but I haven’t forgiven you yet. I think we’re good here."

Faith nodded. "Five by five," she mumbled.

"Right," Buffy said. "Just wanna say one thing, though. I find out anyone gets hurt, then you and I have a fight to finish."

She made her way to the door, turning just before pulling the door open.

She grinned. "Nice tats, by the way."

Then she left.

* * *

Buffy walked out the door and turned left in the corridor. She didn’t notice, that upon exiting the room she passed two blonde men.

Men who had been waiting outside the room.

Men who had, because of Heyman’s purposeful actions of leaving the door open, heard every word that had been said.

Men who now wanted answers.

* * *

Willow let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. The thing with Buffy finished up a whole lot nicer than she expected. Not like she could expect much. And all because of Paul Heyman. That bastard just wanted to cause trouble. Well, she’d give him trouble.

Indicating to Faith and Stephanie, they headed out the door in search of the large man. But they stopped when they saw Edge and Jericho waiting outside the room.

"What are you guys doing out here?" Willow asked, surprised. "Thought you left already."

Stephanie frowned. "Is something wrong?"

The men didn’t answer. They didn’t have to. The looks on their faces said enough.

They were confused. Hurt. And angry.

Finally, Jericho spoke.

"What’s a Slayer?"

 
PART 18

It was out.

The whole story had come out. Buffy. The scoobies. The demons. The
master. The Initiative. The key. The hellgod. The danger. The
nightlife.

And let's not forget the murders.

As the two girls reluctantly allowed the tale of Sunnydale to unfold,
they took note of the reactions of the two men. They saw how Edge
flinched as Faith bluntly revealed her story of the people she'd
killed and maimed. They watched as Jericho's expression changed from
confusion to hurt, as though he felt betrayed by Willow's actions.
They watched as both men glanced warily at Willow as her addiction
was disclosed, and seemed to shrink back as she explained the story
behind Tara and Warren's death. They watched as the two men sat
silently, reflecting over all that had been revealed.

Then they watched as Jericho stood up and left the room, leaving
behind three strangely quiet women and an extremely confused
Canadian. Willow stood up somewhat hesitantly. "I guess I should go
after him," she said quietly.

She made her way to the door, pausing momentarily to exchange a sad
look with Faith. Biting her lip, she exited the room, closing the
door gently behind her.

The tension was thick in the room. Stephanie cleared her throat
uncomfortably and stood up. "I –uh, should go to the bathroom. . ."
She hurried off to the adjoining bathroom and shut the door.

Faith heard the other woman turn on the taps immediately and smiled
ruefully at the attempts made by the other brunette in giving the
slayer and the wrestler some privacy. Her smile faded instantly as
she looked at the man. It was then that she realised just how serious
things were.

"So now you know," she said softly.

"Now I know," he affirmed.

There was a pause as the two people tried desperately to think of
something to say. Anything. Faith was so lost. What *could* she
say? `So, now that you know I'm a cold blooded killer who also
tortured people for fun, how about you and I go out on a date?'

Right, she could so see that happening.

It was Edge who wound up breaking the silence. "You know, Steph once
told me that you and Willow both had secrets and odd things in
common. Call me naïve, but I assumed she meant you two slept nude or
that you both like dunking bananas into juice or something."

Faith looked at her feet. "I only wish it were that simple," she
answered quietly.

"Though, it does explain why you're so strong," he went on. "Might
have to take you up on arm wrestling someday."

Faith's eyes shot up to meet his. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like everything's okay. Like this is all normal. Why are you acting
this way?"

"Because I don't know how else to act," Edge said simply. "I don't
know how to deal with all this. I really did think you guys were just
assistants. Pretty hot assistants, but that's normal for the WWE. Now
I find out that you're a Slayer who fights demons and has
supernatural strength and Willow's an ex-witch who's tried to end the
world and the two of you are –"

He broke off and took a deep breath. "What do I do, now that I know
all this, Faith?"

"I don't know," the Slayer answered, eyes back at her feet. "The
optimist in me hopes you'll say `screw it, it doesn't matter anyway.'
But I'm not a very optimistic person, so I really don't think that'll
happen."

"No, it won't," the wrestler agreed softly. "Not yet, at least. I
need time to deal with all of this, Faith."

The brunette was silent as Edge stood up. Just before he reached the
door, he turned around to face the young woman. "I need to know
something, Faith."

She looked up again. "What?"

"How many?

"Wha-what do you –"

"How many people died by your hand while you worked for the Mayor?"

Faith's eyes were back down, fixed on a spot right next to her left
foot. "I don't know," she said hoarsely. "I stopped counting after
the first week."

Edge stared at Faith for a long time. "Just give me time to deal with
this, Faith," he said again. "Just give me time."

* *

Willow walked quickly down the corridor in search of Jericho. She had
to talk to him. She had to explain. She needed to know what he
thought. How he felt, now that he knew. She needed to find him.

"Life's full of surprises, isn't it?"

Willow spun around to face the man who had spoken. The expression on
her face darkened as she found herself face to face with Paul Heyman.

"You," she hissed.

"Me," he grinned. "I take it by the expression on your face, they
didn't take the news very well. What a shame."

She glared at him. "I don't know why you're doing this," she said,
voice shaking with anger. "But you will pay for it."

"And what do you plan to do, Willow?" Heyman mocked. He brought his
face up close to hers. "Kill me?"

Willow let out a low growl. "You know, Paul, you really shouldn't
taunt evil women," she advised coldly. "You never know . . . we
psycho junkies can snap at any moment."

Heyman swallowed nervously and unknowingly took a step back. "Just as
I thought. Once a murderer, always a m–"

"Heyman," a familiar voice interrupted. "Don't you have somewhere
else to be?"

Heyman turned to Chris Jericho and smirked. "Sure, why not? I'll just
leave you two to chat then."

After the man left, Jericho just stared at Willow. "I have a match to
prepare for," he said, still staring at the redhead. After what
seemed to be a very long time, he turned around and made to leave
when Willow stopped him.

"Chris, wait."

He stopped walking and turned back around to face the redhead who was
looking at him with a pleading expression on her face. "Please, I–I
need you to let me explain. You need to understand –"

"Understand what, Willow? That you had to do it? That it was your
right to take a man's life?"

She flinched at the tone of his voice. "No," she denied. "I know what
I did was wrong. I know I should be punished for it. But you have no
idea. You have no idea what kind of a life I've had, and to finally
take hold of something so good, so pure, and having it all ripped
away from you . . . you have no idea what that can do to you."

"No, I don't. But I know what it doesn't do. What it shouldn't. And I
shouldn't turn you into a –" he broke off and shut his eyes before he
could utter the next word. He opened them. "What are you asking of
me, Willow?"

"I'm asking you to be there for me," she whispered brokenly. "I'm
asking you to keep your promise and be there for me."

It was the plea of a little lost girl and a strange, cruel world. One
who knew only fear and pain. One who wanted a tangible piece of hope
to hold onto, to help her believe something good was out there for
her.

But he couldn't do it.

"I'm sorry, Willow," he choked out. "I can't do it. I look at you,
and it's like I don't even know you anymore. I –I can't do this."

He turned abruptly and walked quickly down the hallway and turned the
corner before he could see her reaction.

Before he could see her tears.

* *

Willow stood frozen. Staring down the corridor, it was as though she
were lost in space. She couldn't move, she couldn't think . . .but
she could still feel. And by God, she hurt.

She felt a hand gently grasp her shoulder. Turning around, she found
Faith and Stephanie looking at her, sadness on their faces and
sympathy in their eyes. Judging by the forlorn look on Faith's face,
Willow guessed the brunette must have had a similar exchange with the
other blonde Canadian.

She gave the Slayer a lost look. "He's gone," she said numbly. "I –I
mean, he's still here . . .but he's gone."

"I know, Will," Faith whispered. "I know."

Stephanie looked at her `assistants'. They looked as though they were
ready to collapse. Or cry. Maybe both. Gathering the younger women
towards her, she held them as they stood in realisation of what had
happened.

* *

Jericho closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. After turning
the corner, he'd just stood there, not walking any further. He'd
heard the broken statement made by Willow and the equally despondent
reply by Faith.

His eyes squeezed shut, trying to force the image of Willow out from
his mind. Never before had she ever looked so vulnerable, asking for
his support. He knew that there was a lot of pride that went into the
request she made, and in a matter of seconds, he'd destroyed it.
Shattered to pieces, the trust she had in him was gone.

It was awful. He knew he hurt her, and he wanted nothing more than to
take the pain away. But he couldn't. All because he couldn't deal.

And now everything they had was gone.

"I'm sorry, Willow," Jericho whispered sadly. "I'm so, so sorry."

PART 19

From: Willow < RedFaith@hotmail.com >
To: Buffster@hotmail.com
Subject: Catch up

Dear Buffy,

Hey, Buff. How are you? How are things back home? I'm sorry it's
taken this long for me to get back in contact with you. Things have
been so hectic this last week, I feel like my brain is about to
burst. So it's obviously a bad hectic.

You remember how I told you about the demon Faith and I are after?
Well, after about a good month and a half of no-show, our not-so-
friendly ugly cretin decides to make another appearance and attacked
Steph again. In the shower. How ick is that? Also, the one place
where she's completely alone and she gets attacked. Luckily Faith
heard the commotion in the bathroom and managed to give the demon a
good beating before he ran off. Steph's okay now, but she's a little
edgy most of the time now. Not that I can blame her. I just feel so
guilty that she was attacked while under out watch. I mean, what good
are we if we can't protect her?

Faith keeps telling me not to dwell on it, that the attack would have
happened sooner or later. And I know the McMahon's don't blame us for
anything. In fact, they're so grateful for us just being here.
Still . . . I know Faith feels bad about it, too. What happens next
time if we can't help her? It's not Steph's fault she was dragged
into this mess. I'm just so scared we're going to fail her.

This attack happened a couple of days after you left. Faith and I
were both a little . . . out of sorts around that time. And it's all
because of two men.

Yes, Buff. I like men again. Contain yourself, girl, because this
story doesn't end nicely.

Now, I don't know if you remember, but there were two men with us
when we first saw you backstage at the arena. Chris Jericho and Edge.
(Just ask Dawn about them, I'm sure she'll know who they are.)
Anyway, these guys overheard our conversation in the dressing room,
so the story of Sunnydale and all it's Hellmouthy badness had to
come out. We told them everything –the Master, the Mayor, Dawn,
Glory, Warren, everything. And as our luck has it, they couldn't eal.

Okay, I know it was all a lot to take in at the one time . . . but
god Buffy, if you had seen the look on Chris's face when I told him
about Warren. It was like I had betrayed him or something. I just
wanted to take back everything and make him forget . . . it hurt just
to see his reaction. Even now it isn't any better. He can't look at
me. Just today, he was walking in my direction, and then when he saw
me, he just turned and walked the other way. It kills me, Buffy. I
don't know how to handle it.

I know it hurts Faith, too. She won't admit it, but seeing Edge look
at her like he doesn't know if she might attack him or not just cuts
her up inside. And it's terrible too, because Edge really wanted
Faith for who she was. Or who he thought she was. Now he thinks he
doesn't know her at all. Or me, for that matter. I think he's the
only guy to have ever wanted a real relationship with Faith.

I miss you so much, Buff. I wish you were here. I wish you all were.
I don't know how I'm going to get through all of this. Even with
Faith by my side, I feel like I'm breaking. I just want it to stop
hurting so much.

I wish I were more like you, Buffy. That I had your strength to go on
doing what's right, no matter what else is going on and all.

Tell everyone I love them. And that I miss them. God, I miss
everyone. Even Anya. (Don't tell her I said that). We're going to be
in LA in about a month. I'll send tickets for all of you. I'll even
introduce you to some of the single male wrestlers. :)

Send me your strength, Buffy. Keep us strong.

I love you.

Willow.

P.S. A little note from Faith:

B,

Does this count as Will getting hurt?

F.

* *

From: Buffy< Buffster@hotmail.com >
To: RedFaith@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Catch up


Dear Will,

You have no idea how glad I was to hear from you. I was a little
scared that you wouldn't want to call or write, but you did, so all
is good.

Everyone's fine. Xander and Anya are happy, slayage is tame and
Dawn's kicking more ass than I am. She was a little banged up from
our last romp with the vamps, though. Black eye and a few bruises.
Couldn't have happened at a worse time, too. Social services decided
to come by for a monthly visit to make sure things are decent and the
woman just about fried me when she saw Dawn's face. I had to tell her
it was an abusive ex-boyfriend of Dawn's who's now in counselling and
staying far away from Dawn.

Needless to say, I'm keeping Dawn away from the vamps for a while.

I'm so sorry to hear about everything that's happened. I hope
Stephanie is okay, she seems to be a really nice person. And yes,
Dawn did know who Chris Jericho and Edge were. I've never seen her
babble so much in my life. I swear, your influence on her grows by
the day. She also blasted my eardrum out screaming when I told her
you were swinging for the men again. Not that I wasn't mighty pleased
myself. :)

I don't know what to say, Will. I could fly over to you and beat the
sense back into those two men, but I have a feeling it might scare
them off even more. Tales of the Hellmouth aren't easy to deal with.
Just give him time, I guess. And if that doesn't work, I'll bring
your shovel.

I really wish I could be there with you, Will. To be by your side,
and to have us both giggle over your first kiss with Chris, and
talk about whether there's been any dates and flowers . . . just to
have the fun we used to. But I guess it might be a while before that
happens, huh?

I'm always here for you. We all are. Whenever you have the time, even
if it's two in the morning or whatever, please call home. I miss
talking to you. I miss having my best friend here.

Oh! Before I forget, we all watched Smackdown last week, so I did get
a glimpse of the men. Nice pick, girl! And you and Faith both look
beautiful. Maybe a little more so if you two would smile a little
more. . . (hint, hint).

Xander, however, had a different reaction. He just about fainted when
he saw what you were wearing. His exact words (when he was more
coherent) were: "Willow should not be showing that much cleavage! She
shouldn't even have cleavage!"

Men.

Wills, you are strong. Whether you believe it or not, you're the
strongest of us all because you have heart. You were the glue that
kept the scoobies together and you always will be. Never forget that.

People make mistakes, and it's okay. Because in the end, you come out
stronger. I admire that in you. Because no matter how hard things
are, you're still there, being our Willow. And we love you so much.

Always remember that.

Miss you.

Buffy.

P.S.

F,

I'll let it slide this time.

B.

PART 20

Willow walked into the hotel diner, stopping at the entrance to the
room. Her eyes flicked over the occupants of the room, scanning in
search of a particular person. Well, persons. When she found her
target, she made her way to the booth, barely acknowledging those who
greeted her along the way.

While the dismissed greeters exchanged confused looks with one
another, Willow's expression remained fixed. The coldness in her
eyes, the stony stare on her face and the cool attitude radiating
from the redhead was unnerving, yet strangely familiar. For those who
were willing to recall, her mannerisms were identical to the ones she
and Faith had adopted upon entry to the WWE. When they still wore
their mask.

Jeff Hardy watched as Willow basically ignored all patrons of the
diner and slid into a chair opposite to Faith and Stephanie. Talk
about weird behaviour. Over the past two and a half months, he'd
never seen the redhead as someone who was openly friendly and
unconditionally amiable, but he'd also never seen her blatantly
ignore anyone before either. Usually she'd say something. Or at least
look at them.

He turned to the people sitting at the table. His brother, Lita,
Trish, Edge and Jericho were seated around him, eating their
breakfast and reading the morning newspaper. "Did you just see that?
What's up with Willow?"

"I don't know," Trish answered, slightly dumfounded. "She just
completely snobbed us and everyone else."

"That's odd," Jeff commented. "Never happened
before."

"Actually," Matt said slowly. "I think something weird is going on
with that girl. I was trying to talk to her last week and it was like
she wasn't even there. She was off in space or something, just not
saying anything."

Jeff snickered. "Or maybe you were boring her and she was sleeping
with her eyes open."

Matt glared at his younger brother. "She was blinking, thank you. But
she didn't have any expression on her face. It was like talking to a
brick wall."

"So you've talked to brick walls before? Bro, you've gotta get some
real friends. Or have you bored them all away?"

The group started to chuckle. Jeff grinned widely while Lita and
Trish tried unsuccessfully to hide their smiles. Matt sat slouching,
glaring indignantly at his brother. The only two showing no reaction
at all were Jericho and Edge.

"Shut up, Jeff."

"Aww. Feeling unloved, Matty?" Jeff pouted mockingly. "Poor baby."

"Leave him alone," Lita chided good-naturedly. She reached over and
patted her boyfriend on the knee. "He can't help it if he's boring."

"Hey!" the older Hardy protested. "I am not boring! And if I am, it's
on purpose!"

Trish laughed. "Whatever. But you know, now that you mention it,
Faith and Willow have been acting kind of strange lately. I mean,
aside from the whole *always* being with Steph thing, they seem
really distant. Faith's never been all that approachable to begin
with, but now it's just too weird. Something must have
happened."

All eyes turned to the two blonde men sitting quietly at the end of
the table. Jericho lifted his eyes from his plate to find the four
wrestlers looking at him expectantly. "What?"

"We were just wondering what's wrong with Willow and Faith." Lita
answered.

Jericho shrugged. "Why would I know?"

"Well, we just though that since there's something going on between
the two of you, that you might know why Willow's acting so weird."

"There's nothing going on between us," Jericho said. "So I wouldn't
know."

"Oh," Lita said, surprised. "I could have sworn you two had something
going on before."

"No," the Canadian answered. "Nothing before, nothing now."

The table fell into an uncomfortable silence. Trish looked at
Edge. "So do you know what's with Faith, then?"

Edge shrugged and remained silent. He pushed his food around on his
plate with a fork and stared glumly at it. Trish shot the other
wrestlers a confused look. What was wrong with these men?

"So," Jeff began, trying to change the subject. "I see Stacy isn't
over her hate of them."

"I think it's gotten bigger," Matt agreed. "Remember that
confrontation between her and Faith last week? When she walked right
up to her and just slapped her across the face?"

"Man, how can I forget that? I swear, I thought Faith was going to
kill Stacy."

Edge just about choked on the juice he was drinking. Matt pounded him
on the back while he coughed. "You okay there?"

Edge continued to cough, his face going red. Jericho shoved his plate
away from him. "I gotta go," he said abruptly.

They watched as the Canadian stood up and quickly left the hotel
diner. Jeff looked even more confused.

"Was it something I said?"

* *

"He's gone."

Willow looked up. "Huh?"

"He's gone." Stephanie repeated. "Chris just left."

"Oh," the redhead replied absently. "Okay."

Stephanie trained her eyes on the group sitting in the middle of the
diner. "Actually, they're both gone," she reported. "Edge just left,
too. So girls, you can both relax now."

Willow sighed. Two weeks had passed since the secret came out. Two
weeks since the two men had stopped talking to them. How fun this
wasn't.

"Come on, guys." Stephanie tried to lighten the mood. "I know this is
really hard on you two, but I know it'll get better. They just need
time to adjust to it all. They are men, after all."

"I know," Willow answered, somewhat glumly. "I just wish they would
stop looking at us like we're freaks or something."

Stephanie smiled. "In that sense, I don't blame them. Come on, here
have on of the two surviving Chosen Ones and a witch strong enough to
nearly end the world. Who wouldn't be intimidated?"

"Your family isn't," Faith pointed out. "In fact, they seem to like
it. And we're here, just to protect you and you only."

"I feel so lucky," the heiress grinned.

Willow couldn't help but smile despite her dejected mood. She was
glad to have Stephanie around. The older woman, despite all the
troubles and events surrounding the current mess they were all in,
somehow managed to look to the positive. She was an inspiring woman,
and truly a great friend.

"You know, Steph's right," Faith said. "These guys will get over it
in time. And if they don't, then the three of us will have to go out
and find ourselves some other men to play with."

"Exactly," Stephanie agreed.

Willow gave a `tsk, tsk'. "Faith, you're a bad influence," she teased.

"Absolutely. That's why you all love me." The slayer grinned.

Willow's smile faded a bit. She knew that under the façade Faith held
of not-caring, she was hurting just as much as the redhead. She just
hid it a little better.

Damn it, this was so frustrating! This was the exact reason why she
turned from men in the first place. They were too darn complicated
sometimes.

"So Steph, what's up with this party your Dad's throwing?" Willow
suddenly brought up. She didn't want to talk about those men anymore.
If they weren't going to dwell on she and Faith, she certainly wasn't
going to dwell on them.

"Oh, it's just the annual Christmas party he throws for everyone
involved in the business. Wrestlers, crew members, everyone. It'll be
on next week on Christmas Eve."

"And we have to go?" Willow made a face.

"Yes, you have to go," Stephanie affirmed. "I have to be there, which
means the Icy duo has to be there, too."

"I've noticed the wrestlers have taken to calling us that again,"
Faith commented. "Makes me wonder when it stopped."

"When we started being nice to people," Willow replied dryly. She
then corrected herself. "Well, when I started to be nice. You were
always the same."

Faith shrugged. "I'm equal. I'm mean to everyone. People thinking I'm
nice might ruin my badass image."

"Heaven forbid!" Stephanie gasped teasingly.

The three women laughed. Stephanie noticed Jeff shooting them strange
and curious looks when he heard the laughter. Poor guy. He looked a
little rejected when Willow ignored him earlier.

"Is this party thing going to be safe?" Willow asked. "If it's next
week and in a huge place, the demon might take advantage of the
situation and use more distractions to try and get to you again."

Stephanie paled a little. She was still shaken up from the more
recent second attack. "I tried not to think about that," she
admitted. "But you guys will be there with me, right?"

"Definitely." Faith assured her. "You know, that contract ends next
Monday, so if this demon does attack, I can finally kill the ugly
thing."

Stephanie smiled weakly. "I'm really glad you guys are here," she
said softly. "I don't know what I'd do without you two."

"Hey," Willow smiled kindly. "What are friends for?"

* *

"Chris! Hey Chris! Wait up!"

Jericho stopped walking and waited for Edge to catch up. They were
now outside at the entrance of the hotel. Jericho had left the dining
room, knowing that he couldn't stay in the hotel. Not near her.

"What the hell was that back there?" Edge demanded.

Jericho shrugged. "Wasn't hungry."

"Not hungry?" Edge echoed disbelievingly. "That is such a load of
bull. Come on man, I'm your friend. Just admit it, will you?"

"Admit what? That we're friends?"

"Not that, stupid. Admit that you ran out of there just now because
of Willow."

"I'm not going to admit it. Because I didn't."

"You sure?" the younger Canadian countered.

"Yes, I'm sure," Jericho insisted. "I told you, I wasn't hungry."

Edge looked at the other blonde, sympathy on his face. "You don't
have to put up an act, Chris. Just talk to me, man."

"Talk to you?" Jericho looked almost aghast. "Jesus, Edge. When did
you become such a woman?"

"I'm only trying to be a friend." Edge shot back. "You think I don't
know what you're going through? That I'm not feeling the same way?"

Jericho suddenly became aware of the number of people around. "Uh,
Edge -"

"This hurts me, too," the other man went on, oblivious to Jericho's
efforts to quieten him. "But we can't get through this if you push
everyone away. I'm here for you, man. You know that."

People were openly staring at the two men now. Realising how the
statements uttered by Edge must have sounded to passer-by's, Jericho
turned red and grabbed the other Canadian roughly by the arm, yanking
him away to a less populated area.

"Did you want to shout that all out loud one more time?" he hissed
testily. "Because I really don't think enough people out there now
assume we're gay lovers."

"What the -oh. . ." Edge felt a huge wave of embarrassment sweep over
him as his face turned the same shade of red as his friend. He looked
around to find that sure enough, a large group of people were staring
openly at the two men. This was humiliating. "Shit, I'm so sorry,
man. I swear, I didn't mean for it to sound like that."

"Yeah, well let's just hope it doesn't turn up in any tabloids."
Jericho sighed. "I know you didn't mean it like that. It's just
now . . ."

He raked a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to do. You're
right, too. It's all because of her. I can't look at her." He kicked
a pebble on the sidewalk.

"I miss her like crazy, man. It's like, I need her to be with me
because she's so incredible. . . but every time I look at her, I just
can't bring myself to talk to her."

"They think we hate them, you know," Edge said softly.

Jericho sighed again. "So what are we going to do then?"

"I don't know. Eventually we're gonna have to suck it up and deal
with it. But until then, just give it time."

"Give it time," the older Canadian repeated. "I'm tired of giving it
time. I just want all of this to be over."

"I know, man." Edge clapped a comforting hand over Jericho's
shoulder. "It'll be okay."

"Dude?" Y2J looked uncomfortable.

"Yeah?"

"Don't touch me, man. People are still looking."

"Oh. Sorry."

PART 21

Stephanie groaned as she sank into a chair in the hotel room. "Shoot
me now," she moaned. "I can't take this."

Faith shot the woman an evil grin form her position on her bed. "Now
now, Steph," she chastised. "No complaining from you. You volunteered
for this, you know."

"No," the older brunette corrected. "I said I would `help'. I didn't
say I wanted to be put in charge of arranging the entertainment. That
was my big, stupid, mean father."

Willow laughed. "Poor you," she said sympathetically. "So the band's
late, huh?"

Stephanie sighed. "Yep. I booked two bands for entertainment tonight.
But because of Christmas Eve rush, both bands are stuck in gridlock
on one of the main highways, so they probably won't be here on time
for the party."

"What about the backup band you had?" the redhead asked.

"The drummer broke his arm and the lead guitarist has a broken
collarbone and three cracked ribs," the brunette reported in a
resigned tone. "Apparently they were street racing last week and
didn't realise they were up against each other until after the cars
smashed."

"That's gotta suck," Faith commented. "So it'll be a music-less
party, hey?"

"Unless the first two bands make it out of the jam."

"Damn. Hope there's a lot of booze, then."

"Faith!" Willow hissed. "Steph, they've got another hour to get
here," she said in a more encouraging tone. "I'm sure they'll turn up
soon."

"They better. Otherwise, when they do get here, I'm going to make
them play until their fingers fall off. And I won't pay them, either."

"Ooh, is this evil Steph coming out?" Faith grinned. "I'd heard so
much about her during the married-to-Triple H deal. I think I like
her."

"She's a fun person to be," Stephanie concluded. She groaned
again. "I'm really not in the mood to go tonight. Stupid Christmas
Eve party."

"You have to go, Steph," Willow pointed out. "You're the CEO's
daughter. You're not allowed to miss it."

The brunette sighed again. "I know. I'm really sorry I have to drag
you guys with me, too. I know you don't want to be there because
of . . . well, you know."

"Forget about it." Faith waved a hand dismissively. "And them. It's
open bar tonight, right?"

"That it is," the heiress confirmed. "I'll get Dad to pay you guys
double for tonight. I hate making you do this."

"What are you on about?" Willow was confused. "No one has to pay
anything. We're going because we want to keep you safe, not because
we want the money. You're our friend, and there is no way we're going
to let anything happen to you. At least, not this time."

"Really?" Stephanie asked in a small voice.

"Damn right!" Faith joined in. "You think we'd put up with all this
shit because someone's paying us? Don't get me wrong, the money's
good and all but hell, there are limits, even for me. We're here for
*you*, Steph. And you're like, the best boss I've ever had."

"Wasn't your last boss a big snake?"

"That's not the point."

"You know, not many people would turn down an offering of more
money," Stephanie said softly. "Normal people take what they
can get."

Faith snorted. "Since when are we normal?"

The other brunette laughed and a tear slid down her cheek. "You guys
are really something," she said. "Thank you. For everything."

Without giving the other girls a chance to respond, she stood up and
wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. "Okay. I believe we
have a party to get ready for."

* * * * * * * * *

"Whoa, man. Take it easy." Rob Van Dam shook his head. "That's your
sixth shot this hour."

Edge just shrugged and downed the shot. Blinking several times, the
Canadian heaved a great sigh and looked at the brunette dully. Rob
just shook his head again and patted him on the shoulder.

The party was in full swing. The bands had arrived only a half hour
late and were trying to make up for it to the grumpy Princess by
pumping the large hall with jiving music. People all around were
dancing and laughing, taking in the Christmas cheer. There was plenty
of drinking, mingling and mistletoe kissing going on, cementing the
fact that this annual party was by far one of the best.

Well, with exception to two people.

When Edge and Jericho turned up, the two men headed straight for the
bar. Refusing to dance or even mingle with other wrestlers, the two
Canadians sat on their stools, intent to see the night through while
getting plastered.

RVD tuned to Jericho and saw that his attention was fixed on
something. Or someone.

He was staring at Willow. No surprise there. The redhead, who stuck
with Faith and Stephanie stood talking to Vince, a tight smile on her
face. Obviously she wasn't enjoying the party either.

RVD nudged Jericho. "Just go talk to her, dude. No point just staring
at her."

"Don't want to."

Rob looked at Edge with a `help me' expression on his face, but was
only rewarded with a semi-drunken mumble from the younger Canadian.
Giving up, he shook his head again and headed back to the dance
floor, where his friends were watching the inebriated Canadians with
concern.

Of course, the two men were completely oblivious to the scene around
them. There was a party going on? What party? They just wanted the
night over with.

Jericho slid unsteadily off the stool. "Goin' bathroom," he mumbled
to Edge.

"'kay," the other man answered droopily. He took another shot.

Jericho threaded his way through the groups of people laughing and
dancing, his head bowed down. It was easier to walk when he could see
his feet. Muttering his apologies to people he bumped into, the
stopped when he collided with a person headed in the opposite
direction.

"Oh. Sor–"

"Chris?"

He looked up in mid apology. Great.

Willow looked up at him, a nervous look flickering in her eyes. God,
even when he was drunk she was beautiful. A pang of sadness hit him
in the chest when he remembered why she was nervous around him.

"Hello Willow," he said, somewhat stiffly. "How are you?"

The formality in his tone caused Willow to cringe away slightly. "I –
um . . . I'll just get out of your way," she said quietly, stepping
aside.

She didn't get far.

"Hey look at that! Chris and Willow are under the mistletoe!"

Jericho froze. So did Willow. Simultaneously, they craned their necks
up and saw, to their dismay, the dreaded mistletoe hanging from the
ceiling. Right above their heads.

Okay, whose stupid idea was it to hang that thing up there? They both
turned to glare at Vince.

Around them, people had stopped dancing and talking, now focussed on
the pair whom everyone believed to be involved in some kind of lovers
spat, thinking the mistletoe could reunite them.

Neither one of them moved. They just stood there, rooted to the spot
staring warily at one another, as though daring the other to make a
move.

"What are you waiting for, man?" RVD called out. "Kiss her already."

A rumble of chuckles swept through the crowd as Willow's features
stiffened, contrasting with the tiny blush staining her
cheeks. "Would this be a bad time for me to mention that I'm Jewish?"

"You don't have to be religious to take part in the mistletoe kiss,"
Trish pointed out. "It's just some traditional fun."

Fun. Yeah right. Willow looked positively miserable and Jericho
looked both drunk and mesmerised by the blush on her cheeks.

"Come on, just do it!" Jeff shouted impatiently. Even the band was
watching with curiosity at why a crowd of wrestlers were surrounding
two people, and the high-flyer wanted the music on and pumping again.

At the urge of the crowd, Jericho stepped in and planted a quick kiss
on Willow's lips. Eyes open, lips clenched, it was the most
unromantic kiss either one had ever taken part in.

The crowd booed a little. "What was that?" someone called out. "That
wasn't a proper kiss! Do it over!"

"Yeah, do it over!" people echoed.

As the group murmured in agreement of the disappointing spectacle
that was the kiss, Jericho looked around helplessly, his traitorous
friends merely grinning back at him. Willow, on the other hand,
showed no emotion at all. If ever there was a moment when the Ice
Queen reigned, this was it. You couldn't tell if she was about to
kiss a man or a pineapple.

It was a little bit insulting, actually.

As the crowd continued to egg them on, Jericho sighed and bent down,
quickly seizing Willow's lips with his own. He was determined to make
it to five seconds, then break it and have another round of shots
with Edge.

One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five . . .

Okay, this was the time to break the kiss. Right about . . . now. No?
Okay . . . now. Still no?

Jericho didn't move. Neither did Willow.

A wave of familiarity swept over the two as Jericho gave into the
taste and feel of here lips against his own. For that moment, the
memories of what had happened were ignored, each person drawn into
the moment and flow of the kiss.

"Now that's what I call a kiss!"

Al Snow's loud comment broke the moment. The two jumping apart,
Jericho watched as Willow's eyes widened with realisation of what
they had just done. It amazed him how quickly her features could
transform from unhappy to uncaring and then to confused. Within
seconds, the look of confusion left her face, replaced by the ever-
present mask she'd resumed earlier.

Her eyes flicked up to meet his briefly before she turned and walked
away. The band started playing again, and people went back to
mingling and dancing, the mistletoe kiss forgotten. But not by
Jericho.

Moments after Willow walked away, Jericho stood in the same spot as
before, memories of the kiss filtering through his brain. While the
kiss was different to other times, he couldn't deny that he still
wanted her. And while she had been standing right in front of him,
she seemed miles away to him. He knew he was the one who had pushed
her way. Cut off connections. Forced the mask back on.

Jericho coughed and headed back to the bar where Edge was alternating
between shots and a variety of beers. He was falling off his stool.
Jericho hoisted him back on the seat and grabbed a beer.

It was time to get plastered.

* * * * * * * * * *

Faith winced as she watched the scene unfold ahead. Willow and
Jericho. Under the mistletoe. Talk about awkward. The next best thing
to happen would be if she and Edge wound up stuck in the same
situation, but seeing the completely hammered state the blonde was
about to enter into, it wasn't likely he'd be able to stand.

She wasn't watching him. No, no. It wasn't like she was keeping count
of the eight shots and two beers he'd drunk. She was looking at the
bar and he just happened to be there.

"Hey Steph, look what happened to Wi –Steph? Steph?" Faith looked
around in search of the brunette and felt her heart drop.

Stephanie was gone.

Looking wildly around, Faith frantically scanned the crowd of
people. "Steph?" she called out in a panicky tone, pushing her way
through couples and groups. Her voice was shaky and near
hysterical. "Steph?!"

"What?"

Faith let out a little shriek and spun around. There stood Stephanie,
holding a drink in her hand and looking at the slayer as though she
were crazy. "What's wrong?"

Faith grabbed the other brunette and hugged her tightly, ignoring the
odd looks of surprise people shot her. "Where did you go?" she
demanded, pulling away.

The Billion Dollar Princess held up the drink in her hand. "Got a
drink. I asked if you wanted one but you didn't say anything." She
blinked when she saw tears standing out in the Slayer's eyes. "What's
wrong, Faith? What happened?"

Faith sniffled and quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand
so that people didn't see her rare show of emotion. "I thought I lost
you," she whispered.

Stephanie understood the cause for the Slayer's odd behaviour. "Oh,
Faith. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that." She bit
her lip, trying to think of something to say. Out of the corner of
her eye, she saw Willow sitting glumly at a table. "Hey, Will's over
there. Looks like she needs some cheering up, too."

The older brunette tugged Faith over to the redhead who looked up as
they approached. Faith offered her a look of understanding and Willow
sighed unhappily.

"Can we get drunk now?"

PART 22

"I'm wrestling tonight?"

Stephanie gave Faith a frazzled look. "Yeah, I know it's short
notice, but Torrie fell sick this morning and we need someone to go
up against Dawn Marie tonight."

The slayer grinned. "Cool."

"You don't mind then?"

"Since when has Faith ever said no to beating another chick up?"
Willow laughed. "She was complaining earlier that she's not wrestling
enough."

Stephanie smiled. "Glad you see it that way. Some of the divas would
throw a fit if I made them wrestle on such short notice."

Faith shrugged. "Since when am I a diva? Hey, you think maybe Will
and I can get into a tag match? `Cause that'll be wicked fun."

"You know, I've been meaning to bring this up for a while now," the
other brunette began slowly. "I've been wondering, when this whole
issue with the `creature wanting me dead' thing is over, what did you
two plan on doing afterwards?"

Faith and Willow exchanged uncomfortable looks. "We hadn't actually
planned that yet," Willow admitted. "Worse comes to worse, we'll go
back to Sunnydale and do the demon killing thing there."

"Well what would you say if I offered you guys another contract to
stay in this business? A proper contract."

Faith froze. "As what? `cause I don't think there are gonna be
anymore travelling demons, Steph."

"Well, it'll be as whatever you like. Assistants, wrestlers,
bodyguards, coffee makers, anything. Whatever it is, you'll be a part
of the WWE."

"W-why would you offer that?" Willow asked.

"Why not?" Stephanie replied. "The fans like you, even though they
find the two of you a little odd, but the plus is that they like me a
little more. More importantly, *I* like having you guys around –
you're really great friends and it's nice to have someone see me as
Stephanie and not as Vince's daughter."

She grinned. "So what do you say?"

In a matter of seconds, the two other women flew towards her,
flinging their arms around her. Holding onto Stephanie tightly,
Willow and Faith just stayed with the moment while the heiress fought
for a way to breathe.

"So that's a yes, then?"

* * * * * * * * * *

"Are we on yet?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

Pause. "How about now?"

"NO."

Faith sighed and tapped her foot. A normal person would have made a
sound resembling the rap of nails against glass. But Faith was a
Slayer, therefore not a normal person. When she tapped her foot, it
sounded like hummingbirds on crack tapping against a window pane.

And it was driving Willow insane. The word eager didn't even describe
Faith at that moment. She was way beyond that stage.

"Red, are we –"

"*No*, Faith."

Willow heard a snort of laughter, followed by a coughing sound. She
looked around the bouncing slayer and saw Stephanie trying to contain
her laughter. She shot the laughing brunette a disgruntled look and
sighed.

They were backstage, standing behind the curtain waiting for the ring
announcer to call Faith out. Sure was taking a while.

Finally, they heard Stephanie's music blaring through the arena.
Bouncing on her toes, Faith took a deep breath and calmed down.
Automatically letting the mask slip over her features, her expression
took on that of disinterest and boredom. Straightening up her
posture, she, Willow and Stephanie stepped through the curtain and
made their way to the ring.

The reaction of the fans were mixed. Some were excited to see the
girls back in the ring while others weren't sure what to expect. A
good lot of the audience were hoping the match would turn into
another bra and panties blowout.

As Faith entered the ring, Stephanie took a seat at the announcers
table. Willow stood at ringside and waited for the match to begin.
She and Faith exchanged a discreet grin and the Slayer threw her a
wink as the bell tolled.

The first few moments really determined the pace of the match. When
the bell sounded, the two women grabbed each other and began to
grapple. Faith pulled herself free and clotheslined the other woman,
sending her to the ground, head rebounding off the canvas. The fact
that Faith was a Slayer added extra force to the move, despite the
muscle relaxants Willow had forced her to take.

It was a move that affected the rest of the match. Slightly dazed by
the impact of which her head hit the wrestling mat, Dawn Marie's
moves were slightly shaky and off-centre. While Faith allowed the
other woman to score with a number of key blows, it was clear that
the Slayer was dominating the match. After several minutes, Willow
could see that Dawn Marie was getting tired, and judging by the
darkening mark on her upper arm, also a little bruised.

Willow threw a look at Stephanie who glanced back helplessly. Both
women were thinking along the same lines – this was not good. The
match was supposed to go on for another ten minutes, but with Faith's
never ending energy and Dawn Marie's quickly deteriorating one, it
was uncertain whether they would make it.

Soon it was evident that it wouldn't. Dawn Marie indicated she wanted
the match to end, so after a snap suplex by Faith, she was about to
give into the three count when the referee was knocked down from
behind.

No one knew what was going on. It all happened so fast that no one
really saw him coming. Sure, people noticed the man climb over the
security wall and scramble into the ring, but it didn't really
register that he wasn't meant to be there.

Within seconds, security guards were flocking in to get the man out
of the ring. It was a little difficult considering his size. Taller
than the Big Show, this fan was one of the more menacing ones anyone
had ever encountered.

Tossing the guards to the side, the man stepped over a still-prone
Dawn Marie and ambled towards Faith. Before she could react, he
grabbed her by the head and kissed her.

Shock didn't even come close to describing the reaction by Faith and
Willow. Willow stood frozen and open-mouthed, staring at the man who
was trying to (as it appeared) devour Faith. The Slayer, on the other
hand, was getting pissed.

Talk about unpleasant. Under normal circumstances, the Slayer would
have severely mauled him by now for touching her, but this wasn't a
normal situation. She was in front of thousands of people and wasn't
at her full strength. No way was she a match for such a huge man with
the relaxants running through her body. So she did the only thing she
could.

She curled her hands into fists and beat against his brick wall-like
chest. This was embarrassing. She was the Slayer, dammit, and here
she was acting like such a *girl*. She could hear the crowd cheering
excitedly, thinking it was a brilliant angle. Out of the corner of
her eye, she saw Willow climb into the ring, possibly with the intent
of inflicting as much pain on the man as she could.

Where the hell were those damn guards? Surely he couldn't have
knocked them all out.

While she was watching Willow, something else happened. Someone had
come up behind the fan and knocked him one against the base of his
skull, causing him to collapse on the canvas.

And that someone was Edge.

Someone kill her now.

As if it wasn't bad enough that she was kissed by some freaky dude in
front of how many people, now she had to be saved by Edge.

She didn't need to be saved! She was a friggin' Slayer! Though the
kiss only went on for a few excruciatingly long seconds, the guy
would have run out of breath sooner or later.

Staring indignantly at the blonde man, she was about to tear into him
when she noticed Willow indicating for her to finish the match.
Delivering a few harsher-than-necessary kicks to the mid-section
followed up by a scoop slam, Faith covered Dawn Marie and got the pin.

As Stephanie's music played, the brunette straightened up and glared
at Edge. He just grinned back at her. She opened her mouth to let out
a stream of curses but was stopped when Willow grabbed her arm. At
the look the redhead gave her, Faith reluctantly looked back at the
blonde man.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

An almost deafening roar ripped through the audience. Though they
couldn't hear Faiths word, she was up on the titantron and they could
all read her lips. Was this half of the Icy Duo beginning to melt?

Probably not. Faith's `badass' image was reinforced when she
literally walked on the unconscious fan on her way out of the ring.
As more guards came out to take the fan away, she grumpily shoved
random guards out of the way.

She was joined by Stephanie and Willow on her way up the ramp. In the
ring, Edge stood with an almost goofy grin on his face.

They were making their way backstage. Any concerned crew members or
wrestlers wanting to check on Faith were literally scared out of her
path. Her glare alone kept grown men from approaching her.

They made it to Stephanie's dressing room. Upon entry, they found
Vince and Shane waiting inside. The grins on their faces told the
Slayer that they'd seen what happened in the ring.

Willow closed the door. There was silence in the room. Shane's face
was turning purple from keeping the laughter in.

"Well, look at it this way," Willow said timidly. "He didn't want to
attack you. He just wanted to neck with you."

Someone snickered. Faith glowered.

"Shut up. All of you."

* * * * * * * * *

"What was that?"

Edge turned around and shrugged. "Dunno."

Jericho raised an eyebrow. "You run out of the locker room and into
the ring faster than a kid on a sugar high and you `dunno'?"

"Well . . . yeah."

"So what, you're over it now?"

"No," Edge sighed. "Don't think I can ever get over it. Man, you know
what she's done. You don't forget that kind of shit."

"And?"

"And I'm not waiting for it to go away because it won't. New Year's
coming up and I'm not going to end it like this. I'm putting it
behind me, and you ought to do the same."

"Said the guy who keeps telling me to give it time," Jericho retorted.

"It's been over a month," Edge replied. "Enough time. I'm getting her
back."

The older Canadian stared at him. "You only ran out there because you
couldn't stand to see someone else kiss her."

"Like you wouldn't have done the same thing."

"I'd have done it better."

"Oh? How?"

"I wouldn't have been smiling so stupidly up there, for one."

"I wasn't."

"Sure, man. Whatever you say."

"I wasn't!"

PART 23

"Willow! Hey Willow!"

The redhead turned around at the sound of her name being called. She
raised an eyebrow when she saw who called her.

"Edge?"

The blonde man jogged up to her, absently waving to other wrestlers.
It was New Years Eve and the hotel the company was staying at was
bustling, people rushing off in all sorts of directions trying to
make it to their respective New Year bashes.

"Hi, Willow," he grinned at her. "Off to a New Years party?"

"We –uh, no." She was caught off guard by his friendly
behaviour. "I'm heading up to see Vince which makes me wonder, why
are you talking to me?"

Edge's brow creased as he pushed the button on the elevator. "Aren't
I allowed to?"

"No! I mean, yes of course you are, but I thought you weren't talking
to me because of . . . you know."

The Canadian scuffed his foot against the floor of the lobby. "Yeah,
I sort of wasn't. It was all so hard to deal with, you know. I guess
I thought avoiding you two would make it easier, but I was seriously
wrong. Kinda missed having you around, Willow."

The former hacker bit her lip as the elevator doors slid open.
Stepping into the carriage, she waited until the doors closed before
answering. "Can't say I didn't miss having you around either. And I
can tell you, I'm not the only one."

"Are you sure?" Edge looked uncertain. "I mean, Faith didn't look too
happy about me helping her out the other day."

"Probably because she wasn't," Willow replied with a laugh. "She was
a little ticked off about needing to be `saved'. Said you ruined her
bitch image."

"But the guy was on her!" he protested. "Who knows what else he could
have done to her!"

"I know, I know." She smiled up at him. "You just have to understand,
Faith's a Slayer. And Slayers usually have too much pride and
independence to ask for help, even when they need it."

"So you think she'd want to see me?" The unease in Edge's tone was
clear. "I was going to stop by your hotel room to see if you guys
wanted to come out and celebrate with us tonight. You know, New Years
Eve and all."

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind," Willow told him. "But we can't go with
you tonight. We're staying with the McMahon's tonight, but it really
nice of you to ask considering how things have been lately."

The elevator reached their floor. "So I see you've dealt with it,"
Willow noted. "How's the other guy handling it?"

"I see you're at the stage where certain people aren't allowed to be
called by their names." Edge grinned as they stepped out of the
carriage. "Jerky's still dealing. Don't worry, Willow, he'll come
around eventually."

"I'm not worrying, I just –"

"Willow." The redhead was cut off by a knowing look. "It's cool.
Chris is just like that. He might be a stubborn ass, but he's really
not as stupid as he looks."

"Hey, I resent that remark."

Willow froze at the familiar voice. She didn't dare turn around,
instead fixing her gaze on the other blonde Canadian who was grinning
down on her.

"Well, I should go see Faith," Edge said. "Try and come out with us
if you can, okay Willow? But if you can't, happy new year."

"Same to you," Willow answered faintly. She waited until he
disappeared around the corner before she turned around.

"Hi," Jericho said.

"Hello."

The awkwardness that was there during the Christmas party was now
back. And it was so not fun.

"So. . . you're talking to Edge again." The blonde said finally.

Willow gave him a tight smile. "More like he's talking to me." She
bit her lip again. "What about you? Are you talking to me again?"

"I never stopped."

"Yes, you did. You look at me like I'm going to jump on you and
attack you."

Jericho sighed and closed his eyes. Several seconds passed before he
opened them. "This isn't easy, Willow."

"No, it's not," the redhead agreed. "But you're not making it any
easier. Tell me, Chris, what are you trying to deal with?"

He stared at her. "You killed men, Willow. With magic. And Faith did
the same, only with her hands. Men who could have been Edge or me
or. . . "

"Actually, Faith never killed anyone with her bare hands," Willow
corrected in a small voice. She was looking at her feet. "She usually
had a weapon."

Jericho kept staring at her. Willow met his gaze, a troubled look on
her face. "I know what I've done. Dammit, I'm the one that did it.
I've gone over the details and consequences a thousand times over and
over again in my head until it hurts so much I don't know if I can
keep on thinking without my brain exploding, but I can't ever forget
it. I know it's hard for you to deal with, but it doesn't matter what
I do, I can't ever change it."

The expression on her face was open and clear. "I will always be a
witch, and Faith will always be a Slayer. We've both gone too far to
ever be able to change anything and it doesn't matter how much we
repent, it'll never change. That's the price we pay."

She stared directly in his eyes. "I hate this. I hate dealing with
this all on my own."

"But you're not," Jericho said softly. "You have Faith and Steph, and
I guess Edge –"

"But not you." Willow stated this bluntly and almost sadly. "I miss
you, Chris."

There. She said it. She finally admitted it. And not just to herself,
but to him as well. Now all she had to do was wait for a response.

It didn't seem to be coming. Jericho just stared at her as though
he'd never seen her before. Growing uncomfortable under the blonde's
scrutinising gaze, Willow lowered her eyes and sighed inwardly.

"I should go," she said quietly. She wasn't going to just stand
around and let him stare at her. So what if he didn't want to say
anything. She was cool with that. Okay, maybe not cool, but fine if
he didn't want to talk. She so didn't care. So what if she just
admitted to him she missed him, putting her at a completely
vulnerable state for him to totally exp-

"Please don't go."

Willow looked up. Her eyes met his. "What?"

"Don't go. I just needed a moment to take it all in," he told her. "I
think you can understand why it's hard for me to deal with this. I
just – I don't know what to do. But I know that I don't want to keep
pushing you away."

Willow held her breath. What was he saying?

"I hate this as much as you do, Willow," he went on. "I can't stand
not having you around."

Another spell of silence fell over the two. Willow was still holding
her breath, hoping this was all real and not some cruel trick of her
imagination. She looked at him, slightly nervous. "So what do you
want to do?"

"I don't know. Talk about it, maybe work something out? Are you
coming with us tonight?"

"Uh, no," the redhead answered slowly. "I've got to stay with Steph
because of the. . . well, you know."

"Oh. Right, I forgot." Jericho looked disappointed. "What about
tomorrow? Maybe we, uh, we can just sit and talk. Try and have a
civil conversation."

The last comment brought a smile to Willow's face. "I don't know. . .
never worked before."

Jericho grinned. "Well, we can try. So long as you don't bring up my
chin again."

"You had that coming and you know it." Her smile was impish. "So. . .
tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah. Maybe the afternoon?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Think you'll be sober by then?"

Jericho let out a low chuckle. "I'll do my best."

"Tomorrow afternoon, then." They had another `moment' and then Willow
realised she needed to be somewhere. "Oh! I –I really should go see
Vince. He's waiting for me. Um. . .have a happy new year, Chris."

She darted off before he could answer. As she headed down the
corridor in search of the CEO's room, a small smile played on her
lips.

So they were going to talk.

* * * * * * * * *

*knock knock*

"Will, is that you?" Faith called out. She walked to the door. "What
did you, lose the card key? And there you were, giving me crap for–
oh. You."

Edge looked down at the Slayer, slightly uneasy at the way her tone
turned flat. "Uh, should I knock again and hope for a happier
reaction?"

"Why are you here?"

"Maybe not," the Canadian mumbled to himself. "I came to see what
you're doing tonight."

"Busy. Bye." Faith moved to close the door, but Edge blocked it with
his arm.

"Faith, if you're mad about me helping you in the ring –"

"I'm not mad!" she snapped. "I *let* you help me. Couldn't have
people see some tiny chick throw a sasquatch over her shoulder like
he weighed nothing. Vince would go mental."

Edge fought a grin at the vehemence in her tone.

"And it's not like I needed help anyway. I was perfectly fine on my –
what the hell are you laughing at?"

Edge was chuckling. He couldn't help it. The indignation on her face
and in her voice just made him smile. Willow was right –she was just
so *proud*.

"Nothing," he replied, still grinning.

The Slayer had her arms crossed over her chest and was glaring at the
wrestler. "Right," she muttered. "So why are you here? I thought you
were pissed at me."

"I told you, I wanted to know if you were free tonight. And I was
never pissed."

"Oh, really? Because I know I always avoid people I'm not pissed at
too," she answered sarcastically.

Edge sighed. "I wasn't pissed off. I was just trying to deal. It
wasn't the easiest news to handle, you know."

"Yeah, I know. But it was pretty straightforward; I'm bad, Willow's
bad. Now we're trying to be good by killing bad things. Get over it."

The blonde nearly laughed at the bluntness in Faith's tone. "I'm
getting there. That's why I came to see if you, Willow and Steph
wanted to join the rest of us out tonight."

"Can't. Other things to do."

"Yeah, Willow mentioned you guys had plans."

"You saw her?"

"I ran into her in the lobby. Last I saw, she was talking to Chris."

Faith's expression darkened. "You left her with him? What did he say
to her?"

"I had to leave and they needed to talk," Edge defended himself. "I
think he might be coming around soon."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Canadians," she muttered under her
breath.

The blonde man heard her comment and grinned again. "I need to meet
up with the others, but I'll uh, I'll see you later, Faith."

"Yeah," she answered absently as he began to walk away. "Edge?"

He turned around. "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

He blinked. That was unexpected. "For what?"

She flushed a little. "For, you know. . . everything. I appreciate
it."

"Anytime, Faith," he said softly. She closed the door.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Faith jumped at Stephanie's question. The older brunette was sitting
on a bed, smiling at her.

"I feel lame," the Slayer complained.

"Why?"

"I needed help," Faith whispered in a strained voice.

Stephanie broke into laughter. "Oh, Faith. Everyone needs help. It's
just finding out how to ask for it that's hard."

"But I'm a slayer."

"Admitting that you sometimes need help doesn't mean you're weak,
Faith. It just means you're human."

She smiled kindly at the younger woman. "Edge may have been an idiot
this past month, but he had reason. Guys like him are rare, Faith.
Believe men, I know."

Faith began to fiddle with her belt. "I guess." She then burst out
laughing. "Look at us, we're so pathetic at this. You married a big-
nosed egomaniac, Red's being ignored by a big-chinned bastard and I
was `saved' by a big-toothed dork."

Stephanie ripped into peals of laughter. "To think, they're all
blonde, too." She waited to calm down before speaking again. "I think
tonight we make new resolutions –no more stupid, blonde men. Only
guys who appreciate us."

"Absolutely." Faith nodded in agreement. She checked the
time. "Should we head up to see your folks now? Red should be there
by now."

"Yeah." Stephanie went to get her bag and stopped. "Faith, I'm sorry
you guys have to miss out on going with the other wrestlers tonight.
It's just my dad's worried about the-"

"Don't even say it, Steph," the Slayer cut her off. "Believe it or
not, I don't mind. All I've ever had are drunken New Years, waking up
to some dickhead at a party. Well, except for my time in jail and
all. Anyway, it'll be kinda cool to do something with your family.
Never don't the whole `family time' thing before."

"Well, you are family, Faith. You and Willow." Stephanie smiled
sincerely. "Don't ever forget that."

PART 24

Edge weaved his way through the throng of people in the club.
Absently ignoring the squeals of `Oh my god, it's him!' from the
female population in the club, he made his way to the bar where his
friends were.

He plonked down next to Jeff and Jericho at a table. "How long?"

"Ten minutes," the Hardy replied.

"Still?"

Jeff raised a brow. "Eager for that midnight kiss?"

Edge made a sound like a grunt. "Got no one to kiss. I'm just eager
for the midnight drink."

"You're actually waiting?"

"What do you mean?"

"Chris already started."

Edge looked at the other Canadian. Sure enough, Jericho had already
started on the beers. He noticed the look Edge gave him and
shrugged. "I'm bored."

"You two are shameful." Jeff shook his head. "It's New Years Eve and
you both look like poster ads for `Desperate and Dateless'."

"Hey, I had a date," Edge said defensively. "She just. . .had other
things to do. . ."

"So what's with you, Chris? Gonna defend your honour?"

Y2J shrugged again. "Don't have a date." He chugged down some more
beer. "What's your excuse for being alone, Hardy?"

"Didn't have time to find a date for tonight, so I just thought I'd
pick a random girl out for the kiss," Jeff replied. "Easier that way.
Hey, what do you think about the brunette in the corner?"

Without really waiting for an answer, the rainbow haired wrestler got
up and left the table to talk to the brunette. Edge and Jericho were
left alone. Again.

"Is it me or are we always stuck alone together?" Edge wondered.

"I guess we're just lucky," the other man replied drolly.

"Which is obviously why we're alone tonight. Speaking of which, what
happened between you and Willow at the hotel?"

"Nothing happened. We talked a bit and then she left and I came here."

Edge was disappointed at his friend's lack of progress. "So you
didn't try to fix things?"

"Well, not exactly. We're meeting up tomorrow so we can talk things
through, so it's you know, getting there."

The younger Canadian grinned, which Jericho returned. "About time you
got your head out of your ass. Check it out, you don't even have to
wait that long."

"Come again?"

Edge motioned to the huge screen set up in the club. "Last minute
till new year."

In that final sixty seconds, party goers crowded around the screen,
shouting out the descending numbers to the new year.

". . . five. . .four. . .three. . .two. . .one.!! Happy New Year!!"

Whistles were blown and fireworks went off outside. People were
grabbing one another for that midnight kiss. Matt was with Lita.
Trish was with RVD. Jeff had decided on the brunette and was giving
her a good bit of lip exercise. All around, people were enjoying that
midnight moment with one another.

Edge and Jericho both watched the happy kissing gong on around them.
Everyone seemed to be having fun. They looked at one another and
nodded in unison.

It was time to drink.

* * * * * * * * *
"No way!"

"Way."

"I don't believe it," Faith laughed. "You set fire to Shane's hair?"

"That's right," Stephanie confirmed. "When I was ten
–"

"Come on, Steph. Don't tell them this," Shane begged.

"-I had a birthday party," his sister continued, ignoring him, "and
when it came for me to blow out the candles, Shane butted in and
stuck his head in front of the camera, so I yanked his head down and
his hair caught on fire."

Willow burst into giggles. "Really? Was it just the hair on his head?"

"I think he singed his eyebrows, too," Stephanie snickered. "It was
so funny. When the fire was put out, he looked like a blackened
newborn chick."

The three women broke into full-fledged laughter as Shane looked upon
them indignantly. "It's not funny."

"Yes it is," Faith chortled. "That's what you get for being a camera
hog, Shane-o."

Shane bristled. "Okay then. You want funny stories? I'll tell you a
good one."

He smirked evilly at his sister. "Let me tell you about Steph's first
boyfriend."

Stephanie immediately stopped laughing and her eyes widened. "No. . ."

"He was this dumb jock in high school and Steph was so head over
heels for him –"

"Shane, don't!" Stephanie warned him.

"-she used to write him all kinds of sappy love poems and slept in
his soccer jersey and –oomph!"

Shane's narrative was cut short as Stephanie pounced on his back,
trying to clamp a hand over his mouth.

"And she used to kiss his photo every night before she went to
sleep!" Shane managed to get out in his struggle.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

The two siblings continued to wrestle as Faith and Willow succumbed
to fits of laughter over Shane's story.

Vince and Linda watched their children fondly. "To think, in any
other family this might be considered dysfunctional," Linda
remarked.

Vince laughed. "We've obviously raised them well. At least there
aren't any matches lying around this time."

The both laughed as their children continued to bicker.

"Take it back, Shane! Take it –no! Don't tickle me! You know I don't
like to be tickled!"

"Say uncle!"

"I will not –okay! Uncle! Uncle!"

Shane let go of his sister and affectionately patted her on the
head. "It's always been New Year tradition for us to tell
embarrassing stories about each other," he explained to Faith and
Willow.

"And here I was thinking that my tradition of getting wasted was
unhealthy," Faith grinned.

"This is way more destructive," Willow agreed.

"You should see us during Easter," Stephanie said, swatting her
brother on the arm. "Shane and I go into all out war over Easter
eggs. Think chocolate grenades."

The four chattered on as Vince looked over to the balcony. From the
sparks he could see starting up down below on the pier beneath the
penthouse apartment suite he'd rented out, he could tell it was close
to midnight.

"Okay kids," he said, heading over to the group of laughing mischief-
makers. "Midnight's coming up."

Linda came up behind him, glasses of champagne in her hands. She
handed them each a glass and they all headed out to the balcony to
wait for the fireworks to begin.

Vince cleared his throat. "I just wanted to say something first."
Everyone looked at him.

"These past few months haven't been easy, and it's mainly my fault.
I've made a lot of mistakes, but my family has always stood by me."
He smiled fondly at Linda, Shane and Stephanie.

"Faith, Willow. . .I can't thank you enough for everything you've
done. You've protected my family and you've showed us incredible
amounts of loyalty." He beamed at the two girls and raised his
glass. "Welcome to the family."

The McMahon's echoed his toast and raised their glasses. Abashed,
Faith and Willow raised their own and the glasses all clinked
together. As they each took a sip of the champagne, Faith downed the
glass in one shot and turned away.

"Faith?" Willow asked with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Uh –yeah," came a slightly muffled response. "I –um, just got
something in my eye. All good."

The McMahon's all shared a knowing smile at the brunette's unwilling
show of emotion. "Faith, would you like more champagne?" Linda asked
gently.

"Actually, I could really do with some vodka, but champagne'll do,"
the Slayer answered. She was trying not to sniffle.

The six people all watched as the New Year rolled in and waited until
the fireworks finished before speaking again.

"Happy New Year," Vince said softly.

"May we kick some demon butt and have some fun along the way," Willow
put in.

"And stay away from lit candles," Shane chimed in.

"Not to mention jock-boyfriends," Stephanie grinned.

"So Shane, what other boyfriend stories of Steph have you got?" Faith
asked.

"Well, there was this one guy, I think he was an `artist'–"

"Shane, don't you dare!"

* * * * * * * * *
Jericho stumbled out of the elevator in search of his hotel room. He
fumbled in his pocket for his room card, slowly making his way to his
room.

It was sometime in the morning, that he knew. Well, actually, he also
knew he was pretty drunk and that Edge had fallen asleep outside of
his own room, having misplaced his card. Normally Jericho would have
taken Edge back to his own room, but that would have required effort.

He looked up as he approached his room and blinked. "Stacy?" he
called out.

The blonde woman looked up from her spot on the floor. She was
sitting outside of Jericho's room, her legs stretched out in front of
her. She looked tired. "Hi, Chris."

"What're you doing here?" he slurred.

"I lost my hotel card and everyone else is still out so I have
nowhere to go. Can I crash in you room?"

Jericho shrugged and continued to stumble to his room. Gosh, this was
a long walk. "Sure."

He unsuccessfully swiped his card a few times before he realised he
was swiping his VISA card and not the hotel card. When he finally
located the right card, he swiped it through and staggered into the
room. Stacy followed behind, holding her shoes in one hand and her
coat in the other.

"Take the bed," he mumbled to her, tugging his shirt over his head.
He tripped over his shoelace and landed on his ass on the floor.

At this current frame of mind (and his current position on the
ground), Jericho could barely think. He wasn't thinking about
Willow's reaction if she turned up at his room to find Stacy inside.
He wasn't thinking about what that might do to their relationship.
Heck, he didn't want to think. It hurt to think. He just wanted to
sleep.

"Are you okay, Chris? Chris?"

Stacy walked over to the blonde man. He was fast asleep on the floor.
She pulled a blanket over the sleeping man and flopped onto the bed.
Within minutes, Stacy Kiebler was asleep, her last thoughts centred
on the fact that she was never dancing in heels again and that next
time, she was going to carry a spare card around and not bunk with
Chris Jericho.

Because for a Living Legend, he snored.


PART 25

"Not to be rude, but you look like crap."

"Thanks Willow," Jericho replied dryly. "I really appreciate that."

She laughed and she fully took in his appearance. Wearing a pair of
rumpled pants, he was bare-chested and had bloodshot eyes. He had the
look of someone well and truly hung over. "Rough night of drinking
and more drinking?"

"I think so." He yawned and stepped aside to let her into the hotel
room. "I don't really remember what I got up to last night. I think I
had a bit of a hard night. I don't even remember coming back to the
hotel."

She gave him a sympathetic look. "You're still up for today, right?
To talk?"

He gave her a small, if tired smile. "Definitely. I'll just clean up
and put some decent clothes on, then we'll head out."

Willow grinned. "I don't know. . . I kinda like this look."

She could hear him chuckle as he headed to the bathroom and closed
the door. As she waited, she decided to tidy up the room a bit. She
was a little nervous about how things were going to work out. Might
as well work off some of those nerves.

Willow picked up the blanket from off the floor and placed it on the
bed next to. . . what was that?

Frowning, she picked up a leather coat off the bed. Strange, she
didn't know Jericho owned any leather coats. Especially ones that
looked as though they wouldn't even fit Spike Dudley, let alone his
own body. And was that perfume she smelled?

Willow was confused. Who's jacket was this? Why was it even here?

A knock on the door shook her out of her thoughts. Coat in hand,
Willow opened the door to be greeted by Stacy Kiebler.

The redhead's eyes darkened. "What are you doing here?"

Stacy look about as pleased to see Willow as the redhead was. "Not
that it concerns you, but I'm here for my coat."

Willow stiffened. "Your coat?"

"Yeah, my coat. Black leather. I left it here last night." Stacy
looked down at Willow's hand and saw the item. "That coat."

"Y-you were here last night?" Willow managed to get out. Her head was
spinning.

"Last night, this morning. Doesn't make a difference." The blonde
snatched her coat from the witch's hand. "Oh, is Chris here?"

"He's in the bathroom," Willow answered in a strained voice.

"Tell him I said thanks for last night." Stacy looked down pointedly
at the other woman. "I'm sure you can handle that message."

Striding off down the hallway, Stacy Kiebler left behind a very
confused Willow. All sorts of thoughts came rushing at the redhead.
Stacy was here last night. . . Jericho was drunk. . .didn't remember
what he did. . .had a hard night. . .

Then all those thoughts combined to form the only explanation
possible.

Jericho slept with Stacy.

Willow felt as though she'd been slapped across the face. How could
he? How *could* he?! With Stacy?! No, it wasn't possible. . . he
couldn't have done that. . . could he?

Unable to stand being in the room any longer, Willow grabbed her bag
and bolted out of the room just as Jericho emerged from the
bathroom. "Willow? Willow, where are you going?"

He ran after her, grabbing her arm when he caught up with
her. "Willow? What's wrong?"

She yanked her arm out of his grasp. "Don't touch me!" Her eyes were
filled with tears. "I can't believe you."

"Can't believe what? Willow, what's wrong?"

"Like you don't know," Willow spat out. Her thoughts were everywhere,
things just weren't making sense. "I can't believe you'd do that with
Stacy. I don't want to believe it."

"What does Stacy have to do with anything? Willow, why are you
upset?" He tried to reach for her again, but she pushed his hand
away.

"I really thought you wanted this to work, Chris," Willow whispered,
trying to keep back the tears. There was no way she was going to let
him see her cry. "I thought you were different. I guess I thought
wrong."

She turned and fled before Jericho could move. He stood in the
hallway, absolutely baffled.

What did Stacy have to do with this? Did she find out that Stacy had
crashed in his room? He knew Willow didn't like the other woman, but
this was just beyond reasoning.

Maybe this was a sign that things weren't meant to work out between
them. What did Willow call them, the Powers That Be? Maybe they just
didn't want them to be together. He wasn't one to believe in fate and
destiny, but things just kept going wrong. . . what other explanation
could there be?

Jericho sighed and looked at the direction Willow had taken off
in. "Why won't we work?" he asked to no one in particular. "What am I
doing wrong?"

But there was no answer.

* * * * * * * * *
Vince gritted his teeth as the person on the other end of the phone
talked on. His grip on the receiver tightened to a point where his
knuckles turned white.

Shane entered the room and saw the state of agitation his father was
in. "What's going on?"

"Dad's talking to one of the Wolfram and Hart lawyers," Stephanie
informed him. "I think they're reminding him about the contract."

Shane winced as the expression on Vince's face darkened. "He been on
the phone for long?"

"Nah, just a couple of minutes," Faith replied. "You should have seen
him when he answered the phone. I didn't know it was possible for
anyone to turn that shade of purple."

Suddenly the door flew open, slamming loudly when it rebounded off
the wall. Everyone looked up in surprise and Willow came stalking
into the room, a stormy expression on her face.

"Will?" Faith asked. "You okay?"

"Who's on the phone?" Willow answered, ignoring Faith's question.

"Uh. . .one of the lawyers from Wolfram and –Will?"

The witch had marched over to Vince and snatched the phone out of his
hand. "Willow, what are you –"

"Who is this?" she demanded into the receiver.

"This is Michael Jacobs," the voice on the other end answered
calmly. "I'm assuming this is either Faith or Willow."

"Willow," she stated flatly. "Why did you call?"

"I was reminding Mr. McMahon of the term of our agreement. I'm sure
you're aware that the contract period had passed and you must
remember your obligation."

"Obligation?"

"To dispose of the demon," the lawyer replied smoothly. "Of course,
this is for your own safety and the welfare of your employers. We at
Wolfram and Hart are not liable in any way if any person is injured
by our former client."

"Right," Willow said slowly. "Let me tell you something, Mr. Jacobs.
If anyone is injured, we'll be coming after you and your people
anyway. But don't worry, we won't be after money. We will, however,
bring each and every one of you down to your knees. Literally. Faith
got a new knife for Christmas and believe me when I tell you that
she's dying to find out how sharp it really is."

Willow's tone was cool as she continued to speak. "We will deal with
this demon when we can. Since the contract is over, we have no
business with you or your firm, so don't even thins about calling us
again, otherwise you will find yourself without a tongue. Is this
clear?"

"Crystal," Mr. Jacobs answered stiffly. "Happy New Year, Willow. On
behalf of Wolfram and Hart, we wish you all the best for the new
year."

And with a click, he hung up the phone.

Willow placed the receiver on the cradle and turned to face Faith and
the McMahon's. They were all staring at her in bewilderment. Was that
really Willow on the phone just then? She sounded so . . .mean.

"Willow?" Stephanie spoke up. "Is everything okay?"

"Fine," the redhead answered curtly. "They were just reminding us of
the contract. Nothing we don't already know."

"That's not what I meant. You seem a little. . . upset. Are
you okay?"

"I'm fine," Willow lied. "Everything's fine."

"Hey Will, weren't you meant to go talk to Jericho?" Faith asked.

Willow stiffened. "I have an idea," she said, ignoring Faith's
question again. "We're going to get rid of that demon once and for
all. We're going to get the job done and nothing's going to stand in
our way. I don't care if the distractions are Wolfram and Hart,
Heyman or stupid blonde Canadians, we will knock them down and rip
through them if they even think about getting in the way. Nothing and
no one is going to stop us."

Everyone was silent as they stared at Willow. Her expression was hard
and every word had been spoken icily. Finally, Faith broke the
silence.

"So the talk with Jericho didn't go well?"

PART 26

"I'll kill him."

"Faith. . . "

"I'll kill him. I'll rip him apart. Where's my knife?"

"Faith!"

The Slayer looked up at Stephanie, who was trying to calm her down.
The younger woman had begun rummaging through her bag for the knife
Stephanie had bought her for Christmas. Stephanie plucked the weapon
out of Faith's hand and placed it on a table away from the Slayer.
She walked over to where Willow sat on the bed took a seat next to
her.

"Willow?" she asked gently. "Are you sure it happened?"

"I don't know," the redhead answered in a broken voice. Her icy
composure from earlier in the day had melted away when the three
women retreated back to their hotel room. Once inside, Willow had
broken down and told her friends what she thought had happened. Faith
reacted to the news with violence and broke a table; Stephanie
decided to take on a more nurturing, less physically aggressive role.

"There has to be some kind of an explanation," Stephanie claimed.

"Like what?" Willow countered. "Okay, so I don't know all the facts,
but what else could it be? You expect me to think that it was all
innocent? This is Stacy we're talking about."

"And it's also Chris," the brunette pointed out. "He wouldn't do
that. I know he's an idiot sometimes, but he'd never do that.
Especially not to you."

Willow didn't answer, so Stephanie went on. "It's probably just a
misunderstanding."

The redhead looked down at her hands. "Maybe I deserve this."

Faith looked up sharply. "What?"

"Maybe this is what I get," the witch said despondently. She looked
at the Slayer, eyes brimming with tears. "Maybe this is my
punishment. I'm not meant to be happy."

"Red, that's not true," Faith said firmly. "If it is, then I should
be there with you."

"No. No, you don't." A tear spilled down Willow's cheek. "You've done
time in jail; I haven't. I messed with forces and I screwed around
with nature. This is nature getting back at me."

"Don't think like that, Willow." Faith knelt down in front of the
redhead. "You're not being punished; there's a reason behind what you
saw and we're going to find out what it is."

"Maybe Chris and I just aren't meant to work out." Willow let out a
hollow laugh. "Destined to fail."

"No." Faith stated. "I don't want to hear you talking like this, you
sound too much like Buffy, thinking the world's against you. It's
not. Sometimes things just go wrong, Will."

"But like this?" the redhead said brokenly. "Things are always going
wrong with us. Let's face it, every chance we've had has blown up.
Maybe I should just take the hint and buy myself a cat or
something."

Faith and Stephanie exchanged worried looks at the emptiness in their
friend's tone. They'd never heard Willow sound so sad and hopeless
before. "Don't believe it, Will,' Stephanie said. "We're going to
figure out what happened. I know he'd never do that. There's an
explanation, I'm sure of it."

Willow just stared at her hands sadly.

"I just don't get him."

* * * * * * * * *
"I just don't get her!"

Jericho kicked a stool, sending it toppling over. "What do I keep
doing wrong?"

Before his companion could answer, the trainee bartender rushed
around the counter to put the seat upright. "Sir, I'm really going to
have to ask you not to do that again. We're running out of stools."

Jericho shot the younger man a disgruntled look, who backed away
nervously. He turned back to Edge, who was playing with a stack of
coasters.

"Did you try to talk to her?" Edge asked.

"She won't answer! I tried calling her cell phone, Steph's cell
phone, I went to their hotel room, nothing. I can't find her and I
can't get in contact with her to talk."

"Maybe she's busy."

"Doing what? It's New Years Day. Who does anything on New
Years Day?"

Edge shrugged and began to arrange the coasters into a model of
something. "What did she say about Stacy?"

"I don't know, she didn't make any sense. It all has something to do
with Stacy, but I can't figure out what." Jericho shook his
head. "All I did was let her crash in my room. Why would she be angry
at that?"

"Well, she doesn't like her," Edge pointed out. "You think she's
jealous?"

"No, she's not the type to overreact like that." Y2J let out a
frustrated sigh. "Maybe I should just give up now. Nothing's working
so far, maybe I ought to just throw it all in."

"Don't say that, man. I'll bet this is just some woman thing. Maybe
it's like, you know, her time of the month."

Jericho raised a brow and Edge just shrugged. "I'm trying. Why don't
you try and talk to her tomorrow? Better yet, go talk to Steph."

An idea came to Jericho. "Maybe you can find out from Fa-"

"Forget it." Edge shot him down flatly. "If Willow's mad at you for
some reason, Faith'll skewer me. No way."

The Living Legend drummed his fingertips on the table. "Yeah, I'll go
talk to her tomorrow." He frowned. "What the hell is that?"

Edge grinned proudly. They were both looking at the house of coasters
the younger Canadian had constructed. "Pretty awesome, huh? It's a
lot easier with coasters `cause they're sturdier and don't –hey!"

Jericho had thrown some coins on the table, causing Edge's model to
collapse. He smirked. "Guess it wasn't so sturdy after all."

Edge glared at him.

"You jerk."

* * * * * * * * *

"Okay, so we're clear on the plan?"

Willow looked around the room at the McMahon's and Faith. They were
all nodding.

"Hey Red," Faith spoke up. "How come you didn't think of this plan
before?"

Willow shrugged. "Just came to me today."

Stephanie raised her hand. "Just one thing, guys. Do I have to be the
bait?"

"Demon kinda just wants you, Steph," Willow pointed out. "It probably
wouldn't work if we put Shane as bait."

"Might be funny, though," Faith grinned. "Maybe we can use him as a
back up plan."

"Hey, I am in the room, you know," Shane complained. Faith just
winked back at him.

"Anyway," Willow went on, "just to recap: we're going to leave Steph
alone in the hotel room, wait for the demon to attack, I'll put the
block up and then we kill. Security cameras for that room will be put
in to we know exactly when this ugly thing turns up."

"Just remember to remove them afterwards," Stephanie said. "I really
don't want images of us in the shower turning up on F-View."

"Would be good for ratings, though," her brother mused.

"Shane!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Ow! You didn't have to hit me!"

"We'll get rid of them afterwards," Willow promised. She wasn't too
wild about the idea of multiple cameras in the hotel room either. Who
knew what could turn up on the Internet? She looked at the brunette
carefully. "You know we'd never let you get hurt, right? We'll make
sure nothing happens to you."

Stephanie gave her a small smile. "I know. I trust you guys, but it's
just a little scary being the bait."

Vince patted his daughters' hand comfortingly. "Hey, don't sweat it,"
Faith spoke up. "With me and this new knife here, it'll be over
before you can say `ugly'."

The weapon gleamed in her hand, its ornate design reflecting under
the light. Willow rolled her eyes and grinned. "Steph, I hope you
know what you've done, getting her that knife. She's in love with it."

"Because it's pretty," the Slayer said defensively.

"You use it for everything. You were using it to cut apples this
morning."

"You said you wanted to eat fruit! I just thought I'd cut it up for
you. You know, to make it easier to eat."

"You hacked up three apples and a whole grapefruit! I'm still full
from it."

Faith grinned. "What can I say? It was fun cutting them up. See those
wicked shapes I made?"

"So you were the one who cut those stars and hearts into the orange
peels," Vince realised. "I was wondering who did that."

The room fell silent and all eyes turned to the Slayer. "Stars and
hearts?" Shane repeated.

Willow tried to hide a snicker.

"So this is the big bad Slayer that's going to protect me tomorrow?"
Stephanie giggled. "One who cuts pictures into fruit?"

Faith's cheeks turned pink.


PART 27

"Wow. I feel like I've walked onto the set of Big Brother."

The comment made by Faith could not have been more accurate. The
hotel room was littered with visual equipment, cables lining the
floor. Dozens of cameras pointing in all directions captured every
angle of the room. There was no hiding in this room.

This was the day they were going to get the Melkhir demon. It was the
second of January, the day after the plan was formulated. Sure, it
was also the day after Willow had walked off from Jericho, thinking
he'd slept with Stacy and leaving her in a somewhat high strung
emotional state, but that wasn't important.

No, what was important was Stephanie. Not the man who had turned her
emotional levels upside down and made her heart ache, but Stephanie.
The woman and very good friend who had a demon after her, wanting to
kill her. Jericho didn't have a demon after him, so the concern was
not on him. Okay, so what if he had Faith promising to castrate him;
Faith's concerns were primarily fixed on protecting Stephanie, so he
wasn't in any immediate danger.

Willow turned to Stephanie. "Okay, we're gonna do it now. You ready?"

Stephanie flashed her a nervous smile. "Not at all."

The redhead smiled reassuringly back at her. "It'll be oversoon.
Promise." She gave the brunette a big hug. Faith noticed this and
headed over to the two women. "Ooh, group hug?" She wrappedher arms
around her friends and squeezed tightly.

Breaking apart, the three women exchanged looks of trust and
nervousness. They knew what might happen. They just had to be
prepared for it.

Vince entered the room. "Girls?"

"Yeah, we're coming," Faith answered. "It'll be a couple of hours,
max. We'll be out of here in time for happy hour."

Throwing a wink at the princess, she and Willow exited the room,
leaving Vince there with his daughter. He looked at her fondly. "I
love you, Steph."

"Love you too, daddy."

The CEO hugged his daughter and kissed her on her forehead. "We'll
just be next door."

Then he left.

It was in that second, just as the door closed behind her father,
that Stephanie McMahon felt truly frightened. Because this was the
first time in over three months that she was left alone.

She just prayed the demon turned up soon.

* * * * * * * * *
"Willow, can you clear something up for me?"

"I'll try. What is it?"

Vince leaned back in his chair, a thoughtful look on his face. Beside
him, Shane and Linda were watching the monitors, where camera footage
of Stephanie's hotel room were being simulcast. They were keeping an
eye out for the demon.

"When the Melkhir demon turns up, Faith is going to fight it and
you're going to block the room with a . . .uh –"

"A barrier," Willow supplied, still watching the screen in front of
her. Stephanie was flicking through a magazine. "It'll be like a
shield so that it can't leave the room. That way, Faith can fight it
in a confined area, but once someone walks into the room, it'll be
broken."

"So you can't leave the room, but you can enter?"

"Right, but if you enter, the barrier will break."

"And you'll be creating the barrier using magic?"

"Yep."

"Even though you stopped using magic?"

Willow looked down for a second before her eyes flicked back up to
the screen. "I'm going to use it to help Steph."

Vince was quiet for a moment. "Would you be able to kill the demon
with magic? "

The redhead shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I have the power to
kill," she answered in a slightly strained voice. "But I can't. Not
again."

"Of course, Willow." Vince looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry,
I didn't mean it that way. I just thought it would be easier."

"If I could, I would, just to help Steph," she told him. "But I'm
scared that I'll turn back to how I was before. I was all veiny and
evil; I don't want that to happen again. As it is, I'm scared about
how far I might go with this barrier and –"

"Nothing's going to happen to you, Red,' Faith interrupted, eyes
trained on the screen in front of her. "I'd knock you out if I
thought you were going too far. You know that."

Willow grinned wryly and Vince chuckled at the way the Slayer spoke.
These girls were truly something. Willow looked at him with surprise
when she felt him take her hand. "Thank you for doing this," he said
softly.

She smiled at him. "Anything for family."

Linda and Shane, who had been listening to the conversation,
exchanged smiles. This was the first time they'd heard either one of
the girls refer to them as family.

"Hey, Will?"

"Yeah, Faith?"

"What if the demon knows? You think he might know it's a trap?"

Willow had a troubled look on her face. "The thought did occur to
me," she admitted. `But I was kind of hoping this demon was one of
the dumb ones."

"Oh. It's just that we've been sitting here for over four hours. I've
lost feeling in my ass. Plus I think my knife is getting lonely."

Willow shook her head. "You and that knife. If Edge sees you with
that thing he's going to freak out."

The Slayer shrugged. "Love me, love my toys."

"Uh huh. No whips for you. It's all blades and sharp –"

"Hey, what was that?"

The sharp exclamation was made by Shane, who had bolted upright in
his chair, staring intently at the screen before him. Immediately,
the others crowded around him. "I think I saw something."

They watched the screen in silence before movement caught all of
their eyes. "It's in the bathroom," Faith reported, standing
up. "Good job, Shane. Will, let's go."

The two were out the door within seconds. "Be careful!" Linda called
after them.

They didn't hear her.

* * * * * * * * *

It didn't take long to get to Stephanie's hotel room. They had only
just been next door, after all. Faith had wanted to break the wall
separating the two rooms down, but was forbidden to by Willow who
told her of the cost of repairing the wall. The number of digits in
the price alone sent Faith blanching and heading to the door instead.

By the time Faith kicked the door in, the Melkhir demon was already
attempting to strangle Stephanie. The brunette was on the floor, arms
flailing. Faith pounced on the demon and the two grappled.

Willow was standing in the doorway, chanting. The barrier was up; all
she had to do was keep it up and not lose control. She knew she
looked strange, standing in the middle of a doorway talking to
herself, but she didn't care about what other people thought. She
cared about protecting Stephanie.

Stephanie crawled over to a corner and watched Faith battle against
the demon with wide eyes. She winced as he slammed Faith's head
against the wall. Slightly dazed, the Slayer was then literally
tossed over to the other side of the room, landing painfully on the
bedside table.

The Melkhir demon eyed the Princess in the corner, quickly snatching
her up and dragging her to the window. Just as he touched the glass,
he was sent flying backwards as the barrier reacted to his touch.
Stephanie was tossed off to the side, colliding with the mini-fridge.

Willow flinched at the sudden force of contact with the shield. She
felt her hold oN her control slip a fraction, but continued to chant.
Though her attention was fixed on the events in the room, she could
see dark strands of hair floating around her. Her hair had bled black.

Faith recovered from the airborne flight and was now severely pissed
off. Marching over to the demon, she began wailing on it, delivering
bone-cracking blows to all parts of his body. Just as she thought she
had the upper hand, he grabbed her left arm and broke it. Crying out
as the pain shot through her body, she wasn't ready for his
lightening fast move, where he grabbed her by the throat and
squeezed. He held onto her broken arm and bent it behind her back.

She was in pain and choking. Vision beginning to blur, Faith reached
up with her uninjured arm, reached behind his head and brought it
down for a brain cracking head butt. Reeling back from the painful
impact, Faith stumbled back a few steps. The demon snarled and used
her woozy state to his advantage and kicked her in the head.
Satisfied at the blood the Slayer spat out, he turned to look for
Stephanie when which sights rested on the witch standing in the
doorway. Realising that she was the reason why his first escape had
been foiled, he hissed and charged over to her.

The quickness of that charge was unanticipated by Willow. Because of
the speed of which he rushed at her, he crashed into the barrier,
nearly braining himself, once again flying backwards. Willow nearly
buckled when she felt the impact of his connection to the shield. She
was wavering; if the demon touched the barrier on more time at that
speed, there was no way she could keep it up without losing control.

Somehow, the demon sensed this. Charging at her once more, he was
stopped as Faith tackled him mid-run in what closely resembled a
spear. Putting all of her efforts into this final attempt to hurt
him, the tables quickly turned as the demon grabbed her by her
injured arm, smashing her in the face. Just as she thought she was
going to lose, something odd happened.

The demon was knocked down from behind. Not wasting the time to see
what had happened, Faith grabbed her knife and thrust it into the gut
of the demon, dragging it upwards to his throat. Pulling the weapon
out, she watched as the demon made a gurgling sound, his body
convulsing with spasms.

Then it died.

Breathing heavily and clutching at her left arm, Faith looked up to
see Vince by her side, a steel chair in his hand. She didn't have the
energy to ask where he had gotten it from.

She saw Willow kneeling in the doorway with blood trickling from her
nose, her eyes still black. Stephanie was in the corner with Linda
and Shane. She was safe.

Her entire body hurting, Faith looked back at Vince, a questioning
look in her eyes. "Huh?" was all she could manage to get out.

"I had to break the barrier," Vince explained. He was gripping the
chair so tightly, his knuckles were white. "I couldn't let him win. I
had to protect Stephanie."

Faith could feel blood on her face, not knowing where she was cut.
She noticed that Willow had collapsed from exhaustion and looked over
at Stephanie.

"Hey, Steph. We won. Ain't that cool?"

Then she passed out.

Stephanie looked around the room. It looked as though a tornado had
ripped through. Everything that could be broken, was. House cleaning
was going to hate her for this.

Then she looked down at the two unconscious women on the floor. She
knew they were injured, but that they were going to be okay.

Stephanie smiled ruefully.

"My heroes."


PART 28

"Man, what took you so long?"

Jericho jogged over to Edge who was waiting impatiently by the
elevator. Behind him at the entrance to the hotel, a group of girls
were swarming around Rob Van Dam, who was trying his best to sign
autographs and avoid being groped.

"Had to sign some autographs," Jericho explained. He frowned. "Where
were you? How'd you manage to dodge the crowd?"

"I did the smart thing. I hid." Edge looked at the older man. "You
ready to see them?"

"Yeah." They were referring to Faith and Willow. Namely Willow.
Jericho had decided to wait until the evening to make an attempt to
talk to the redhead. He was dragging Edge along to keep Faith from
attacking him for upsetting Willow for whatever reason.

He pushed the button for the lift and then realised something. "Wait,
I have to get flowers."

Edge looked at his friend strangely. "What?"

"Flowers. I need to get flowers."

"What, you want a daisy to match your hair? You pick a weird time to
get in touch with your feminine side."

"Not for me, dumbass. For Willow. I need to get her flowers."

Edge was still confused. "What for?"

"Because she's upset with me," Jericho explained. "If I get her
flowers, maybe she'll be okay. You know, like a woman thing."

"But if you get her flowers, won't that mean that you did something
wrong?"

Jericho shrugged. "For all I know, I did. She's angry with me for
some reason and I'm trying to make peace. I just don't know what I'm
making peace about."

Edge thought for a moment. "You know, that's not a bad idea,
considering it came from you. Let's just hope she's not
allergic, eh?"

Jericho threw him a dirty look and the two men turned to look for a
gift shop when the elevator doors opened behind them.

"Chris, Edge! Wait!"

They turned back around to face the person who had called out to
them. Matt and Lita came rushing out to the elevator.

"Did you hear yet?" Lita asked breathlessly.

"Hear what?" Edge asked.

"Faith and Willow are in the hospital."

"What? Are you sure? What happened?"

"We overheard some of the housekeeping staff talking about a fight
that happened earlier today," Matt said. "Two women were taken to
hospital, but I think it's meant to be kept quiet."

"Are you sure it was Faith and Willow?" Jericho asked, worry etched
on his features.

"Pretty sure. We went past their room and it was totally trashed,
like an after-party gone wrong, you know? We couldn't see the
McMahon's anywhere, either."

Edge and Jericho exchanged looks and immediately headed for the front
doors. They had to get to the hospital.

"Guys? What are you doing?" Lita asked.

"We're going to the hospital," Edge answered, not breaking stride.

"Let us know if they're okay," the high-flyer called after them. She
turned to Matt. "I hope they're going to be all right."

Outside the hotel, the two Canadians were all but running to the
hospital. Edge suddenly grabbed the other man by the arm and brought
him to a stop. "Wait!"

Jericho shook him off irritably. "What the hell are you stopping for?
We need to keep moving."

"I know. But one question – where are we going?"

Y2J looked at his friend as though he were demented. "To the
hospital," he answered, slowly enunciating each syllable.

"Okay. Where is it?"

"What, did you drink your brains away? The hospital's right over –
uh. . . it's, um. . . " he faltered, brow creasing. That was a good
question; where *was* the hospital?

Jericho ignored that smug look to cross over Edge's face and stepped
onto the side of the road. They were getting to that hospital,
wherever it was.

"Taxi!"

* * * * * * * * *
Stephanie pushed the `milk' button on the coffee machine and waited
as the liquid poured into the cup. Bending down to retrieve the cup,
she winced as her sore ribs sent an ache through her upper body.
After taking a sip of the coffee, she pulled a face. Yuck. Hospital
coffee.

She walked down the corridor to the designated room, smiling wearily
at the nurses behind the desk. After the demon was killed, Vince had
arranged for Faith and Willow to be put in a private room in the
nearby hospital. Knowing that the two girls would prefer to be
together, he managed to secure one of the larger single rooms and
squeezed in two beds. Stephanie appointed herself guardian of her
friends, watching over them as they slept.

Of course, in the whole deal involving the disposal of the demons
carcass and the personalised allocation of hospital rooms, a lot of
money exchanged hands. The odd person was slotted into another room
and the use of an axe was something nobody batted an eye at. But
Vince didn't mind. He just wanted to make sure everyone was safe.

With her hand resting on the door handle, Stephanie was about to
enter the room when she caught sight of two large blonde men
barrelling down the hallway. A doctor and two nurses were trying
desperately to stop them from advancing any further.

". . . we have to see them," Jericho was insisting. "Look, we're not
dangerous or deranged or anything like that. We just want to see–
Steph!"

He saw Stephanie and pushed past the nurses to get to her, Edge
following suit. "We know this woman," Edge told the doctor. "Ask her."

The doctor looked pointedly at the brunette. "It's okay, Dr.
Reynolds. They're friends."

"Told you we weren't deranged," Edge muttered under his breath.

Stephanie heard his comment and raised an eyebrow. "I don't know
about that part," she commented wryly. The doctor still looked
hesitant about allowing the two men to stay. "Really, it's okay.
They're not going to do anything."

Dr. Reynolds backed off somewhat reluctantly. "Let me know if you
need anything, Ms. McMahon." Stephanie smiled in thanks and the
doctor walked away with the two nurses, throwing wary glances at the
two wrestlers. The brunette looked at the two blondes disapprovingly.

"You two can't go anywhere without causing a scene, can you?"

"It wasn't our fault," Jericho protested feebly. "They wouldn't let
us through to see Willow and Faith."

Stephanie's expression softened as she took in the worry of the
men. "They're okay. They're sleeping now."

"Sleeping?" Jericho repeated. "Like nap sleeping or serious sleeping?"

Stephanie blinked. "Uh –more like passed-out sleeping. They're fine,
Chris. Trust me."

"What happened?" Edge asked. "Matt said there was some kind of a
fight or something."

"There was. They went up against that demon today," Stephanie
confirmed in a quiet voice so that no one could overhear. "It was
pretty brutal, but they're fighters."

Jericho noticed the bruise marks on the brunette's neck. "What about
you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just bruised mostly. Willow collapsed from exhaustion and
Faith has a broken arm, some cracked ribs and a concussion."
Stephanie noticed the look of concern that flickered over Edge's face
and continued on quickly. "She's okay, Edge. Apparently Slayers heal
fast; so she'll be better before you know it."

"Can we see them?"

"They were pretty out of it earlier," she told them, "and it'll
probably be a couple of hours before they wake up and are coherent
again, so I don't know if you want to stick around. . ."

"We'll wait," Jericho said. "I have to make sure Willow's okay."

A strange look passed over Stephanie's face, and she frowned slightly
as though suddenly remembering something. "Chris, what's going on
with you and Stacy?"

Jericho threw up his hands. "I don't know! I didn't know anything
happened! All I know is that things were fine, then I went to the
bathroom and when I came out, Willow was mad at me! Do you know why?
What did Willow say?"

The brunette looked a little confused. "Well, she said that when she
was waiting for you, Stacy stopped by the room to thank you for . . .
something."

Jericho waited for her to continue but it seemed as though that was
all she was going to say. "Is she angry because I helped Stacy out?"

Stephanie raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you call it? Helping her
out?"

"Well, yeah. I let her crash in my room on New Years Eve. Stacy lost
her key so I let her stay in my room. I fell asleep on the floor and
she took the bed."

The billion dollar princess eyed him dubiously. "Is that all that
happened?"

The Canadian thought for a moment. "More or less, yeah. I mean I took
my shirt off before I fell asleep, but I really don't think Willow's
that anal about Stacy seeing me shirtless. At least I hope not."

"No, I mean. . . so you didn't sleep with Stacy?"

"No, why would I –" Jericho cut off and suddenly understood. "That's
why Willow was angry with me? She thinks I had sex with Stacy?"

"You didn't?"

"No! Hell no! Why would I do something like that? I can't believe she
thinks I –oh man."

Edge hit his friend on the arm and grinned. "See? You didn't do
anything wrong."

Stephanie smiled at Jericho, the suspicion on her face gone. The
blonde man now had a look of relief on his face. "I'm sorry, Chris. I
guess it was just the only explanation she could come up with at the
time. She was pretty upset about it."

Jericho let out a relieved breath and raked his hands through his
hair. "I kept thinking I did something wrong."

"Now we all know you didn't; it was just a misunderstanding."
Stephanie smiled at him again. "I know it'll be really good for her
to hear the truth. And for Faith too, now that I think about it."

She stifled a yawn. "Gosh, I need to get some sleep. I've got to go
back inside now but I'll let you know when they wake up."

She quietly re-entered the room and shut the door softly behind her.
Jericho shook his head. "Man, this has been one hell of a weird
week."

"Tell me about it," Edge replied. "I hope Faith's okay. She didn't
sound too good."

Jericho clapped a hand one the other blonde's shoulder. "I'm sure
she'll be all right. We just gotta wait another couple of hours, then
we can see them for ourselves."

"So what are we gonna do until then?" Edge asked.

Jericho looked around. "Maybe there's a TV around." He was about to
say something else when he noticed Edge was distracted by something
in the children's section. "Where are you going?"

Edge pointed at something. "Building blocks."

Jericho stared at him. "You're kidding me."

"What else are we going to do for three or so hours?"

"I don't know, read a book? It's not unheard of for people over ten
to do, you know." But Edge was already headed over in the direction
of the blocks.

The older Canadian rolled his eyes. "Simple things amuse simple
minds," he muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

PART 29

Jericho concentrated hard as he picked up the last cube and placed it
at the top of the model. Finally! It was finished. Man, this took a
whole lot more effort than Jenga did.

"You know, this takes the phrase `boys and their toys' to a whole new
level."

Jericho turned around to find Stephanie looking at him with an amused
expression on her face. Her attention turned to the structure he had
just built. "Eiffel Tower?"

"Yep."

"Not bad." Stephanie eyed it critically. "It's a little lopsided,
though."

"I ran out of large sized cubes and had to make do," Jericho answered
defensively. "This was all Edge's idea, anyway. He's the one who
wanted to play with this crap."

Stephanie grinned at him mockingly. "Uh huh. So why is it that you're
sitting here like a kid and he's not?"

"He was here ten minutes ago," Jericho insisted. "He just went for a
walk."

The Billion Dollar Princess shook her head. "I can't believe Faith
and Willow picked you two, of all people."

Jericho shot to attention at the mention of the other two women. "Are
they awake? Can we see them?"

"Calm down, Chris. Faith's awake, but Willow isn't yet." She saw the
look of disappointment flash over his features. "She'll be okay,
Chris; doing what she did took a lot of energy. Willow just needs to
rest."

"But Faith's okay, right?"

"Yeah. She's sore and a little pissed off, but she's fine. She's
waiting for Willow to wake up, so Edge can't see her until then."
Stephanie scanned the area. "Have you seen the doctor? I have to tell
him Faith's awake."

Jericho shook his head and the brunette sighed. "Guess I'll have to
go and find him."

She went off in search of the doctor and Jericho let out a breath.
Faith was okay and awake. Now he just had to wait for Willow.
Suddenly feeling tired, he sat down on one of the plastic chairs
along the wall and yawned. Maybe he should take a nap.

Just a little nap.

* * * * * * * * *
Faith quietly slid out of bed and tiptoed to the door, making sure
not to wake Stephanie or Willow. Slowly pressing down on the handle,
she crept out of the room and gently shut the door behind her.

"You know, you should really be in bed."

The Slayer let out a strangled yelp and spun around. Edge stared back
at her, a half-amused, half-worried look on his face. He had been
pacing up and down the corridor for the past hour, flashing smiles at
the nurses every time he passed them.

"What are you doing here?" Faith demanded. Ow. Opening her mouth and
moving her jaw hurt.

"Let's see. An hour ago, I ran the level of stairs, half an hour ago
I was fending off the advances of a very nice but older woman and
right now I'm talking to you." He flashed her a charming
smile.

Faith was not amused. The scowl on her face told Edge she really
wasn't in the mood for jokes. It was then that he noticed the
severity of the beating she had taken. Her forehead, right eye and
jaw were swollen and bruised and h she had stitches in her cheek. Her
left arm was in a sling and he had a feeling her ribs were taped up,
too.

Faith noticed his observation of her injuries and rolled her eyes. "I
was in a fight with a demon. You can't expect me to come out looking
like a model."

"You should really be resting," he insisted, still looking
worried. "You might hurt yourself."

Faith snorted. "I'm fine. I'm even doing better than Willow; she
can't even get out of bed yet."

"She's awake? Should I tell Chris?"

"Easy, blondie. She went back to sleep." Faith peered around him to
look at the man dozing in the plastic chair. Her eyes
darkened. "Don't know if I should let him near her, though."

"He didn't sleep with Stacy," Edge blurted out. "It was all a
misunderstanding. I just thought I'd tell you before you tried to
hurt him."

"I wasn't going to hurt him," the Slayer said defensively.

Edge raised a brow. "Last I heard, planning to neuter a man doesn't
go down as being a good thing."

The brunette shuffled her feet. "I wasn't going to go through with
it," she mumbled. "Just wanted to scare him."

Edge grinned wryly. After a few seconds, his expression grew
serious. "You should still be in bed."

"I don't want to be in there," Faith said stubbornly. "The last time
I was in a hospital, I was coming out of a coma and I was all alone.
I don't want to be here."

Edge raised one hand and gently thumbed her swollen jaw. She tried
not to flinch at his touch. "You're not alone," he said
softly. "You've got two fantastically weird women back in that room
and you've got me and Chris out here. Okay, maybe not Chris, `cause
he's a little scared of you right now, but you've got me."

This was one of the very few moments in Faith's life where she was at
a complete loss for words. Edge seized the opportunity to lower his
head to hers and pressed a soft kiss on her lips. It was their first
kiss.

"Please get some rest, Faith."

For some extraordinarily strange reason, Faith complied. Edge opened
the door for her to re-enter the room, and before he closed it, he
took her hand and kissed the back of it.

Faith slid back into bed. She could still feel his lips on her hand.
No one had ever kissed her on the hand before. It was weird. She
wasn't that kind of girl; the type of chicks to get the hand-kissed
deal were innocent virgin gals who giggled at stolen kisses in the
front seat of the car. Not the back seat, the front seats. And that
so wasn't Faith.

With resignation, she finally realised what was going on. Edge had
been chipping away at her icy front for some time now. And he was
actually getting somewhere.

And to be honest, Faith didn't mind.

* * * * * * * * *
Willow slowly opened her eyes, remnants of sleep still washing over
her. She felt so tired.

"You're awake."

Groggily, she turned to face the person speaking to her. It was a
familiar voice. It took several seconds for her eyes to focus and
adjust to the lighting. "Chris?"

He gave her a relieved smile and reached over to take her hand. "I
was worried you weren't going to wake up again."

Willow was still foggy. "Where's Faith and Steph?"

"Steph had to go back to the hotel to shower and change," Jericho
explained. "She'll be back soon. Faith wanted to stay here until you
woke up again but the doctor said it would be better if she got some
air, so Edge took her for a walk. If you listen really hard, you can
still hear her swearing."

The redhead didn't get the joke. "How many times have I woken up?"

"Honestly? I lost count. You've been pretty out of it ever since you
and Faith were admitted. Every time you woke up you kept talking
about frogs."

"How long have I been here?"

"About a day and a half. Steph said the spell you did really took it
out of you. Something about control. You had me pretty worried."

"You've been here all that time?" Something was nagging her in the
back of her mind.

"Yeah. They didn't want me to see you until you woke up first, but
Steph needed to go back to the hotel, so they let me in."

Then Willow remembered. "What about Stacy?"

A look of confusion passed over the Canadians' features and then he
understood her meaning. "Willow, nothing happened with Stacy. You
have to believe me, it was all a misunderstanding. Stacy will vouch
for it, there's nothing going on. I just let her crash in my room
that night. That's all."

Willow's head was throbbing. Was he telling the truth? It sounded
good. It really took too much effort to think. Despite this, she
gathered up all of her energy and looked at Jericho. He was watching
her reaction, a desperate look of pleading on his face. "Okay. I
believe you. I think."

She swallowed and winced at how dry her throat felt. She really
needed some water, but that would require too much effort asking for
a glass, then actually doing the drinking. "I'm gong to say this,
Chris," the redhead half-slurred. "It's something I thought really
hard about before. Not right now, `cause my brain hurts too much, but
before."

She gazed into his eyes. "You promised me you'd be there for me, and
then you broke that promise. That really hurt. I want things to work
between us, but it's not going to be easy trusting you again. I don't
know if I can."

Jericho felt his chest tighten. "Are you willing to try?"

Willow thought for a moment and tried her hardest not to conk out mid-
sentence. "Maybe. I mean hey, there isn't much left for you to know,
anyway. Not the bad stuff, at least."

Jericho smiled half-heartedly and gripped her hand between both of
his. He watched as her eyelids drooped. "Go to sleep, Willow. I won't
leave you. I promise."

She was fast asleep before he finished the sentence.

The blonde man reached out with one hand and gently brushed the hair
off Willow's forehead. He gazed at her resting features, marvelling
at the way her cool mask slipped away when she slept. She looked like
an innocent young girl.

"I won't leave you," Jericho whispered again. "I promise."

And dammit, he meant it.

PART 30

It was a week before Faith, Willow and Stephanie returned to work.
The three women spent the week basking in the glory on relaxation and
demon-free worries, instead focussing on more important things.
Things such as shopping and gossiping. And not to mention being able
to spend `alone' time. . . well, alone. The women had been together
all day, every day for four months. Stephanie nearly cried with
happiness when she was able to wake up for an early jog without
having to deal with a cranky slayer.

On their day back, the women were heading to the arena for a taping
of Smackdown. Faith was noticeably excited about something, and with
good reason.

"I can't believe we actually get to do this," she said. "This is
going to be wicked fun."

"You better believe it," Stephanie agreed. "But just remember –no
permanent damage. Severe bruising is fine, but try and stay away from
doing anything that might end up with a lawsuit."

"What if he doesn't turn up?" Willow asked.

"Oh, he'll turn up all right," the brunette assured her. "I made sure
that he knows tonight is an important night. He knows he's not
allowed to miss the show."

They entered the backstage area. A number of crew members waved hello
to the returning daughter of the big boss. Stephanie cheerfully waved
back, as did her two companions. One man nearly fell off his ladder
when Faith grinned happily at him. This was the kind of mood they
were all in; the Icy Duo willingly dropped their guise in public.

"Faith, I think that guy might have hurt himself," Willow said,
looking back at the ladder-guy.

Faith shrugged. "He should have been paying more attention to his job
then."

Willow shook her head at this typical Faith-ism and Stephanie
grinned. "I have to say, I'm really looking forward to the show
tonight. It's going to be awesome."

"Damn right," Faith said. "What we have here is a Slayer, a witch and
a princess. A combination no man should ever mess with."

Willow grinned. "Heyman's not going to know what hit him."

* * * * * * * * *
Edge was in a locker room, preparing for a match when he heard a
knock on the door. "Yeah?"

Jeff Hardy poked his head in the room. "Whatcha doing?"

"Buying an ice cream," Edge replied, adjusting his elbow pad.

"Good one, man. You know, with a little more effort, you might
actually be considered funny," the younger man shot back wryly.

The blonde chuckled at their friendly banter. "What's up?"

"Come to our locker room. You gotta see something."

"What?"

"Just come, man. We're all in there."

Without waiting, Jeff headed back to Team Extreme's locker room, Edge
trailing behind. They entered the room to find Matt, Lita, RVD, Trish
and Jericho waiting inside, facing the TV.

"What's going on?" Edge asked.

"Stephanie told us to watch the beginning of Smackdown," Trish
informed him. "She said something good is going to happen."

RVD brightened. "More bra and panties?"

Trish shot him a dirty look and smacked him on the back of his
head. "Ow! I was just kidding," he grumbled, rubbing his head.

"Yeah," Matt chimed in, "it could be a wet t-shirt contest."

The whack to the back of the older Hardys head from his girlfriend
earned him a look of sympathy from RVD.

"Hey Jerky," Edge said. "Know what this is all about?"

Jericho shrugged. "Don't know. Faith told me to watch the start of
the show but didn't say why." He paused and lowered his voice. "Does
she still want to hurt me?"

"Uh, I don't think so. Why?"

"I don't know, I got this vibe off her, like she still really
wants to break my legs. Also, she smiled at me and it was a
little. . . scary."

Edge snorted. "Dude, you sound like a wimp. Faith's not going to
attack you; Willow would never let her."

Jericho still looked uneasy when the show started. After the usual
proceedings and introduction, Stephanie's music blared through the
arena. As was expected, Faith and Willow accompanied the Billion
Dollar Princess to the ring. What wasn't expected was Paul Heyman
trailing down the ramp behind the three women. From the look on his
face, it seemed he had no idea what was going on either.

"I know you're all expecting a match to start off the show,"
Stephanie began, speaking into the microphone, "and I know the guys
in the back are wondering why no one was rostered to open the show.
But there is a good reason for that.

"Now you all know Faith and Willow." She paused and let the crowds
cheer run for several seconds. "You've all seen Faith wrestle."
Another pause for the cheer. Faith grinned at the audience.

"The other day, Faith came up to me and asked me for a favour. She
asked me for a match. A match with someone who has given her, Willow
and myself hell the last few months. Someone who has tried time and
time again to screw things up for us. So I thought about it and in
the end, I said, `Yes. Yes Faith, you are getting that match. You are
getting that match on Smackdown.'"

The crowd buzzed with excitement and anticipation. Who was the
opponent? Was it another catfight with Stacy? Maybe one of the other
divas?

"I know you're all wondering who this opponent is, and I'm not going
to keep you guessing. The person Faith will wrestle in about, oh, two
minutes is on the Titantron now."

All eyes turned to look at the Titantron. The shot switched from the
smiling face of Stephanie McMahon to the bewildered one of Paul
Heyman.

A loud cheer rocked through the arena as Heyman visibly paled with
realisation of what was going to happen. Shaking his head furiously,
he tried to plead with the brunette not to let the match happen. Of
course, his pleas went unheard against the roar of the packed arena.
All the audience could see was Heyman shaking his head, backing up
into the corner of the ring, the word `no' repeatedly forming on his
lips.

Stephanie raised the microphone back up to her lips and smiled
charmingly. "Oh, come on Paul. You don't want to be a spoilsport, do
you? This match isn't just for Faith, Willow and myself; it's for the
sake of the company as well. And it doesn't matter how low you have
to stoop, you would do anything for this company. Isn't that right?"

By now, Heyman's face was no longer white; it was more of a grey
colour. The man actually looked sick.

"Oh, how could I forget?" Stephanie let out a little laugh and
clapped a hand to her forehead. "I've even appointed a special guest
referee for this match. Do you want to know who it is?"

Heyman shook his head furiously as the audience ripped out with
cheers and shouts of encouragement. The next scenes on the Titantron
showed Willow unzipping her jacket, revealing the patented black and
white striped shirt. A tiny smiled graced her lips.

The fans went wild. Taking in the frenzied crowd and the shocked
dismay of Heyman, Stephanie slid out of the ring. Heyman looked at
her, a horrified expression on his face. "Come back here!" he
sputtered. "You can't do this!"

"I can," Stephanie said, "and I am."

Then the bell tolled for the match to start.

As Heyman stood in the ring, looking both stupefied and outraged,
Faith edge in closer to him.

"Don't worry, Paulie," she said, grinning wickedly, "I promise this
won't hurt. . . much."

* * * * * * * * *
The hallway echoed with peals of laughter as Faith, Willow and
Stephanie entered the backstage area. The match with Heyman had just
finished, with the beaten man having to be helped out of the ring by
other officials.

It had gone exceptionally well for what was basically considered a
one-sided match up. Although Heyman didn't enjoy the experience all
too much, Faith had a ball laying a beating on the man who had caused
so much trouble for her and Willow. Speaking of the redhead, Willow
pulled her role as the biased referee to perfection. On more than one
occasion, she turned a blind eye to illegal moves and even hopped out
of the ring during the match to sit and chat with Stephanie at the
announcer's table.

The three women were heading to the backstage cafeteria and Faith was
babbling with excitement. "I can't believe how much fun that was! Can
we do it again?"

Stephanie laughed. "I don't think there's much left of him to beat,
Faith."

As they entered the cafeteria, they were met with a loud chorus of
cheers. A number of wrestlers and crew members had packed into the
cafeteria to congratulate them for a very enjoyable match. More than
half the women in the room were applauding heartily at the beating
Faith gave to the man whose leering advances had gone more than just
a little unwelcome.

Within minutes, Faith was chatting away with Chris Benoit on the uses
of headlocks and submission holds and Stephanie was off to the side
talking to the Hardy's. Willow noticed Stacy standing far away from
her and Faith, avoiding all possible eye contact. Though they still
didn't like one another, it seemed the leggy blonde had decided not
to dwell on the feud she held with the two women, knowing the kind of
response Faith was partial to. With a smile, Willow looked around and
saw Jericho leaning against the wall, a glum expression on his face.
Somehow, he had managed to dig up a beer. Probably from the APA's
stash.

Willow's smile faded a bit. They had spoken several times over the
past week, but not about anything serious. It seemed Jericho was
trying to give her space and time to trust him again.

It really sucked.

The witch found herself walking over to him. It was as though her
feet had a mind of their own. When she stopped in front of Jericho,
he looked up to meet her eyes.

He looked so sad. A faint flicker of hope brightened his eyes when he
saw her, but disappeared quickly. "Hey."

"Hi."

"Good match. Heyman really had it coming to him."

"Thank you."

Pause. Jericho took a swig of beer.

"You know, you're one hell of a cheater as a ref," he said. "Can't
imagine what you'd be like as a wrestler."

Willow grinned. "Oh, I'd rule them all. Beware the Ice Queen."

Jericho met her eyes again and grinned ruefully. It was a little less
awkward now.

Willow cleared her throat. "So, I came by to see why you looked so
down."

"There's a reason."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He held her gaze. "See, there's this girl and I really messed
things up with her. We're okay now, but I really screwed up. This
girl, she's kind of weird but I really like her. And I know she
thinks I'm one hell of a sexy beast, but we're working things slow.
And that's cool and all, but I miss her."

Willow didn't know whether or not to laugh, smack him upside the head
or kiss him. Instead, she settled for a shrug with a wry
smile. "Sounds like this girl is trying to figure things out. Are you
willing to wait for her while she does?"

"For her? Definitely."

They had another less-awkward moment. An impish smile crossed the
redhead's face. "You know, there's one main reason why I didn't want
you looking so glum."

"What reason is that?"

"Well, when you're sad, you tend to look down," she explained, trying
not to laugh at the look of curiosity on Jericho's face. "And when
you look down, I can't see your eyes so I wind up having to look at
another part of your face."

Jericho thought for a moment. "Is this another crack at my chin
again?"

Willow grinned. "Yep."

Jericho adopted a look of feigned hurt but grinned in spite of
himself. Willow looked around again. People were milling around the
cafeteria, talking and eating. Faith was now with Edge in the corner
of the room, trying to keep a bored expression on her face, but
failing. Stephanie was now dancing goofily with Jeff, laughing as he
twirled her around.

"I think I'm going to go back to the hotel," Willow said suddenly,
turning back to Y2J.

"Want me to go with you?"

"No, it's okay. I think I kinda want to be alone."

Jericho's brow creased. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, actually. It's odd, things are . . .good." Willow let out a
small laugh. "It's weird. Will you tell Faith and Steph I left?"

Jericho nodded, not really understanding what she was going on
about. "Sure."

Willow smiled and headed to the door. Just as she was about to exit,
Jericho's voice stopped her. "Willow?"

She turned around. "Yeah?"

"You trusting me yet?"

Willow was unfazed by the bluntness of his question. "Getting
there."

With another smile, the redhead left the room. Jericho leaned back
against the wall and took another swig of his beer. He was smiling.

"Cool. I've made progress."

PART 31

"Ow. Oh man. I feel like -oww."

Willow and Stephanie exchanged grins at the groans coming from the
bundle of sheets on the bed. Underneath those sheets was a very hung
over Slayer.

"Will, help me out here. Find me some vodka. Better yet, just knock
me out."

Willow laughed. "No can do, Faith. Time to face the day." She yanked
the sheets off the brunette and plonked down on the bed with a bright
smile. "Want Steph to pour water on you? It'll help wake you up."

Faith glared at her friend. "I don't like you when I'm hung over,"
she groused.

"My heart weeps," the redhead replied dryly. "Maybe next time you'll
think twice before challenging both the Hardy's and the APA to a
drinking competition, hmm?"

"Hey, I won," Faith shot back weakly. "Didn't I, Steph?"

"Yes, you did," the brunette confirmed. "And you passed out just
after they did."

"I did?" Faith asked blankly. "How did I get back here?"

"Edge carried you."

"Oh. Edge." Faith smiled blearily. "He's nice."

"Yes, he is," Willow grinned. "And for some freaky reason, I'm
guessing he thinks you're nice, too."

"Do you think `nice' is the right word?" Stephanie asked. "I was
thinking more along the lines of `challenging'."

"You might be right, Steph,' Willow replied thoughtfully. "Guys like
the `dominant woman' thing. They think it comes with whips and
chains."

"Hey!" Faith protested. "Stop making fun of the hangover victim."

The two other women laughed. Willow got up off the bed. "I'm heading
down for some breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Faith repeated sleepily. "Holy crap, how early is it?"

Stephanie patted the Slayer on the head as she buried her face in a
pillow. The princess turned back to Willow. "Are you going to be busy
today? I was thinking about doing some shopping. You know, look for
some wrestling outfits for you and Faith."

"Sounds like fun, but I was sort of planning something today," the
witch answered. "And if things go the way I hope, I should be busy.
Sort of."

Stephanie caught her meaning and grinned. "Good luck with it."

Willow smiled in thanks and shut the door behind her. Stephanie
looked at Faith and sighed. Somehow, the Slayer had managed to fall
back to sleep.

Shaking her head, Stephanie walked into the bathroom and filled a
glass full of water. Venturing back to the dozing brunette, she held
the glass over her sleeping head and poured.

"Okay, Steph! I'm awake! Steph! STOP!!"

* * * * * * * * *

Willow stood in the doorway of the breakfast buffet room and scanned
through the people inside. She bit her lip as her eyes fell on her
target. He was sitting with RVD and Team Extreme, breaking off crumbs
on the crust of his toast. He still looked glum.

Taking a deep breath, Willow walked over to their table and stood
directly in front of him. All conversation stopped as everyone on the
table waited for Jericho to look up at Willow.

Finally he did. A flicker of surprise passed over his
features. "Willow."

"Hi." She smiled tightly at him and the others at the table. Lita
smiled back encouragingly, as if knowing what Willow was going to
do. "Uh, Chris, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure." Scooting back from the table, Jericho excused himself
from his friends and followed Willow to a table in the corner. They
sat down and Willow immediately began to fidget. He could tell she
was nervous about something. Either that or she habitually played
with sugar sachets.

So Jericho just waited. Even though he was desperate to know why she
wanted to talk to him, he forced himself to look patient and calm.
Man, being patient sucked. It wasn't a virtue; it was a method of
torture used on men who had -

"Do you want to have lunch with me today?"

Jericho blinked in mid-thought. The sentence had been blurted out by
Willow so quickly that he wasn't sure if she really said it. "What?"

Willow's cheeks were as pink as a flamingo. "Do you want to have
lunch with me today," she repeated.

Jericho blinked again. "Why?"

He regretted it the moment the word passed lips. It wasn't what he
intended to say, it just came out wrong. Very wrong, judging by the
look on Willow's face.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said quickly. "I just wanted to know
what brought this on."

The redhead avoided his gaze and shrugged. "Just thought we should
talk," she half-mumbled.

"Aren't we talking now?" Jericho was confused.

"I meant in private." She met his eyes. "It doesn't matter how agile
or flexible he is, RVD is going to fall off his chair and hurt
himself if he leans back any further."

A strangled `ugh' and the sound of wood connecting to the tile floor
was all it took to convince Jericho that his friend had been doing
exactly as Willow said. He didn't need to look at his friends to know
that Rob was embarrassed at being caught eavesdropping.

Jericho noticed a mischievous twinkle in Willow's eye. She had known
the other wrestlers would try to listen in on their conversation.
This whole scenario seemed strangely familiar.

"We've talked like this before," he said, suddenly remembering. A
smile crossed his lips. "You, me, those idiots trying to listen
in. . . it was one of the first times we ever talked."

Willow's lips curved into a small smile. "You remember."

"Of course I remember. It was the first time you called me arrogant."
He was now grinning. "And I said you liked me."

"Hmm. You were arrogant. Still are."

"But I was right," Jericho pointed out. "Wasn't I?"

Blue eyes connected with green. Jericho was drawn into another one of
many moments involving Willow's eyes. . . he could almost lose
himself just by looking at her. . .

The spell was broken when Willow looked down. She began to fidget
again, clearly hoping he would stop staring at her. He didn't. "You
know, you really make me uncomfortable when you do that."

"You should be used to it." He still wasn't looking away.

"Why?"

"Because I've been looking at you ever since I met you."

Willow didn't expect that answer. Her eyes flicked back up to meet
his. "Always a charmer," she said softly.

The look on Jericho's face was now serious. "Willow, are we okay?"

"Sure we are."

"No, I mean. . . are we back to normal?"

"Now, that one's a toughie," the redhead answered honestly. "What's
normal? You roll around on a mat with men for a living and I float
things and kill demons. We're as weird as they get."

Y2J fought a grin. "You know what I mean. Are things going to be okay
with us?"

"I really hope they will be. I miss you, Chris. I hate being awkward
whenever we talk. I just want things to be. . .well, less weird."

"Starting with lunch?"

"Starting with lunch," Willow confirmed. "That's if you agree to have
lunch with me. You haven't said anything yet."

"Is there any doubt to what my answer will be?" Jericho asked. "If I
say no, Faith'll kick my ass."

He met her mock-glare with the grin he had fought to hide. "I thought
you weren't sure about trusting me," he said tentatively.

"I guess it's time for you to earn it back," the redhead answered
softly. Her lips curved into a cheeky smile. "And I should mention
that you're the one who's paying for lunch. It's not really earning
back trust, but you'll be in my good books."

Jericho's grin widened. Willow was giving him the chance to make it
up to her. It took just about all of his self-control not to just
grab her and kiss her, just to thank her. As much as he wanted to do
it, he was pretty sure that if he did, he'd be out of those `good
books' in a heartbeat.

"I'll pay," Jericho agreed. "But only if you keep from making more
chin comments."

Willow's smile turned impish. "No promises."

They locked eyes. Jericho had to physically hold down on the sides of
the table to keep from reaching out and caressing Willow's face. Or
tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. Hell, even from just touching
her hand.

Willow cleared her throat. "Um, so I'll see you around twelve, then?
In the lobby?"

"I'll be there."

Willow hesitated before standing up and leaving the table. After she
left, Jericho headed back to his friends, who tried unconvincingly to
pretend as though they hadn't been spying on Willow and Jericho.
Jericho wore a grin on his face, which Rob recognised from the last
time the scenario had played out. "What happened, man? She reject you
again?"

"No. Actually, we have a date."

"You asked her out on a date?" Jeff asked. "Way to go, buddy. About
time."

"Actually," Jericho chuckled, "she asked me out."

His friends were taken back by the statement. The Ice Queen made a
move?

"Whoa," Matt said, somewhat awed. "You're letting her run the game
early. That's gutsy."

"How so?" Jeff asked.

"You know how it goes. Give women a bit of control and they go wild
with it. You know what women are like."

"No, I don't know," Lita spoke up. She eyed Matt and coolly raised an
eyebrow. "What *are* women like?"

"Uh -" Evidently, Matt had forgotten his girlfriend was sitting next
to him. Big mistake. The older Hardy was lamely trying to cover up
for his words only to have Lita's eyebrow arch up to a point where
the Rock would have been proud.

Jericho grinned and listened to Lita bear down on her boyfriend. His
thoughts kept drifting back to Willow. Sitting at the table, watching
her, remembering what it was like to kiss her. Having her so close to
him, seeing the sparkle that lit up those emerald coloured orbs,
making him wish he could keep the sparkle there forever.

He blinked. What the -that was weird. There he was, thinking about
Willow and all of a sudden, she was standing in front of him. For
real. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were flushed; she was
breathing a little heavily, as though she had just run back into the
diner for some reason.

"Willow?" Jericho asked. "Is everything okay?"

She didn't answer him. Instead, she just stared deep into his eyes.
Before he knew it, Willow had taken a step in, reached up and drew
his head down to hers to kiss him.

It was a familiar sweetness. The taste of her lips, the way her mouth
moved against his. . . all of it was like a huge wave of familiarity.
Before Jericho had the chance to slide his arms around her waist and
deepen the kiss, Willow broke their contact and stepped back,
breathless.

Her eyes were shining. "I've been wanting to do that all morning,"
she told him softly.

Jericho honestly had no idea what to say. All he could do was grin at
her, his face lighting up with happiness.

Willow's features broke into a beautiful smile in response to
his. "I'll see you at lunch, Chris" she said, backing away slowly,
not breaking eye contact.

When she finally did turn away, Jericho's eyes remained on her until
she disappeared from his sight. It was then that he remembered his
friends.

They were all grinning at him. It was actually a fairly goofy sight;
a table full of grown wrestlers grinning widely because their friend
had just gotten kissed in public by a notably detached woman. Goofy
indeed.

Jericho looked down at h is friends. They were staring at him. Lita
had stopped reprimanding Matt and Jeff's fork was frozen halfway to
his mouth. "What?" Y2J asked.

Rob's words just about summed it all up.

"Dude, you just melted the Ice Queen. That is so awesome."

PART 32

"Uh huh. . . I promise, next week. . . when have I ever lied to you?
Okay, when else have I lied to you?. . . exactly. . . oh, come on!
That time doesn't count! I was helping Buffy save you from a bad
hairdo!"

Jericho leaned against the doorframe to the women's locker room,
smiling at the woman chatting happily away on her cell phone. Willow
had her back to him and her free arm was waving around animatedly in
the air as she talked. He's been told that she was the only one in
the locker room at that time, which was definitely a good thing, as
no man ever wanted to be at the wrath of angry divas. The bright slap
mark on the side of Test's face after he `accidentally' walked in was
enough to keep the other men at bay.

Jericho quietly moved up behind the redhead and gently rested his
hand on the base of her spine. She jumped a little at the unexpected
touch, then smiled when she realised who it was, all the while still
talking on the phone. His fingertips barely grazing the bare skin
just below her midriff, Jericho slid his arms around her waist.
Willow relaxed into his embrace and leaned back in his arms.

"Dawnie, trying to over-flatter me isn't going to make me change my
mind, you know that. . . because Buffy would kill me, that's why.
Plus you're too young. . .a tattoo isn't like a pair of shoes, Dawn.
You can't just get a new one when you decide you don't like it
anymore. Well, actually you can, but it's really not the point."

Jericho grinned at the conversation and placed a soft kiss on
Willow's shoulder. Moving his face closer to her neck, he breathed in
the fruity fragrance of her shampoo.

She entwined her fingers with his and Jericho could hear the teenager
pleading on the other end of the phone. "Forget it, Dawn. I swear,
you keep t his up and there's no way you're going to be allowed to
visit us. I'll tell Buffy we can't have you here."

There was silence on the other end.

"Okay. . . no, you can still visit us next week, I'm just telling you
not to push it. . . yes, it'll be a good surprise. . .I love you too,
Dawnie. Bye."

Willow hung up the phone and shook her head, smiling. She turned
around so she could face the Canadian. "Hey you."

Jericho grinned down at her. "Hey yourself." He dipped his head to
bring his lips to hers and his arms tightened around her waist. It
was only a short kiss and the two were content just to stand there in
a comfortable embrace.

The Canadian didn't know what it was about Willow. Looking down at
her, he could see that her cheeks were a rosy red shade and he knew
she was trying her darndest not to blush any further. It seemed that
she would flush more after a nice hug than after a hot and heavy make-
out session.

It was kind of nice. In an odd way.

"So what's this surprise?" Jericho asked the redhead, who had pulled
herself out of his embrace to put her phone away.

"Oh, just Dawn," Willow replied. "She's coming to visit next week and
I promised her there'll be a surprise for her."

"Really? What surprise?"

"I told her she'll get to meet a really cool wrestler. But if Jeff
Hardy's busy, I guess you'll have to do." Willow's smile was impish.

"Ha. That's funny." Y2J answered dryly. He watched her pack her
things into her bag. She had a match with Faith next, and he was
intrigued by the way she neatly stored her belongings away. Each item
had its own compartment. Hairbrush in the side pocket. Makeup and all
other girly things in this little bag. Purse in the front. Clothes
folded neatly and put away carefully in the main compartment. Reading
book placed on top, weighing the garments down. He thought back to
his own bag and the way he hastily stuffed everything in. Bah. He was
a guy; who was he to care about neat?

A small smile came to Y2J's face as he realised just what this all
meant. She had put down her barriers enough for him to watch her go
about daily routines. It was two months ago that Willow walked up and
kissed him in public. Two months since she began to trust him again
and started showing more signs of friendliness around other
wrestlers.

Faith on the other hand, was still a little different story. While
Willow was known in some circles as an Ice Queen, the brunette was
now regarded as the Ice Chick With a Mean Punch. She still kept her
tough-as-nails image, using it as a plot for an angle. Most of the
divas, with exception to Lita and Trish, tended to avoid the Slayer,
with Stacy Kiebler determined to stay as far away from Faith as
possible. Strangely enough, the Slayer managed to form an interesting
friendship with Chris Benoit and RVD and was often found trading in-
ring moves with the two men.

From what Jericho knew, Faith's relationship with Edge was faring
well. Though Faith preferred not to engage in open displays of
affection for fear of ruining her hard image, Willow often joked that
Edge brought out the inner girly-girl in Faith. Come to think of it,
Stephanie liked to tease the Slayer about it, too. And if Jericho
wasn't aware that the brunette could cripple him in a heartbeat, he
probably would too.

As the blonde continued to think, his eyes remained on Willow. "You
know, I can feel you watching me," she said loudly, her back still
facing him.

"So?"

"So," she went on, turning around, "it's still really unnerving."

Jericho shrugged. "So stop me."

Willow's mouth opened with amused shock at the Canadian's blunt
defiance. She crossed the room and poked him in the chest. "Don't
push it, mister."

He didn't answer her. Instead, Jericho pulled her to him, crushing
her lips with his. Willows hands automatically encircled his neck,
holding him in place by latching onto a fistful of his hair. Jericho
used his tongue to trace the redhead's bottom lip before slipping
inside her mouth. His hands trailed up her spine and gripped the back
of her top.

"Is it me, or is it getting a little hot in here?"

Jericho ignored the newcomer. "G'way. We're busy."

Faith raised an eyebrow. "I can see that. But as much as I'd love to
let the overload of hormones run, me and Red have a match."

Willow immediately broke away from Jericho, her eyes widening with
panic. "Am I late?"

Faith laughed. "We got time."

As Willow touched up her makeup, Jericho sighed and shot Faith an
accusing look. The Slayer grinned in a `don't blame me' way.

When the redhead was done, she gave the disappointed blonde a quick
kiss on the lips and rushed out with Faith. Before the brunette left,
she turned to give Jericho a word of advice.

"I wouldn't stand there too long if I were you. Jackie's coming back
soon and she's in major PMS-mode."

Jericho bolted.

* * * * * * * * *
Faith and Willow stood behind the curtain, waiting to be announced to
the ring. The redhead could feel her friend grinning at her. "What?"

"You so wanted to get it on with him, didn't you?"

Willow felt her cheeks heat up. "Did not."

"Did too. I know horny when I see it and that was it."

The redhead blushed even more under Faith's knowing grin. "Did not,"
she said again. "We were. . . making up for lost time."

Faith rolled her eyes and peered around the curtain to see if the
other wrestlers had finished their match yet. When she looked back at
her friend, the look of embarrassment was gone, replaced by one of
smugness. "What?"

Now it was Willow's turn to make fun. "You can tease me about Chris
all you like. I've got something better on you."

Faith didn't like the look on her face. "What?"

"You really like Edge," Willow announced, grinning evilly. "You turn
into the biggest girl around him, and you know what? I think you like
it."

The Slayer froze. "Do not."

"Do too. You act all hard and cool, but all he has to do is give you
a flower and you turn into a prom queen. I've heard you giggle around
him."

"Shut up!" the brunette hissed, looking around to see if anyone else
was listening. There were two crewmen nearby. They better not have-
oh no. . . this was not happening. This was *not* happening.

Faith felt a tingle in her cheeks. Then the dreaded heat flushed
through her face. This was friggin' awful. She was *blushing*. In
public.

She glared at Willow, who just snickered. She was so going to die for
this. Willow stopped laughing and held out her hand to Faith. "Truce?
No more making fun of each other?"

The brunette reached out and shook her friend's hand. "Truce. Let's
make fun of Steph instead."

PART 33

"Dawnie! Over here!"

The teenager wove her way through the mass of people at the airport
terminal and kept her eyes on the arm waving in the air. She pushed
past a rather rotund man in a suit and let out a squeal when she
finally saw the witch. Dropping her carry bag on the ground, Dawn
rushed forward and met the redhead in a big hug.

"Oh my god, Willow! I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, Dawnie," the redhead replied. She held the
younger girl out at arms length. "Look at you! How much taller can
you get?"

The teenager giggled and noticed Faith standing to the side. Both
brunettes faltered, having never really gotten along in the past.
Faith broke the silence. "Hey, kid. How was the flight?"

Going along with Faith's offer of `everything is cool', Dawn shook
her head. "It sucked. I got stuck in the middle seat between this old
woman and a guy that just smelled weird."

Willow looked sympathetic. "Sorry about that. I couldn't book any
other seats on such short notice. But I do have something that might
make you feel better."

Dawn perked up. "My surprise?"

Faith looked at Willow. "Surprise?"

"The cool wrestlers she gets to meet," the redhead explained.

"Ohh. *That* surprise."

"So where is he?" the teenager was excited. And Impatient. She was
standing on her tiptoes, trying to look out for the person she knew
it just had to be. Not that it would have been too hard to spot him,
he was pretty tall. And there should be a big crowd around him. But
she still couldn't find him. . .

"They're over there." Willow pointed to the left. "Next to the exit.
See Stephanie McMahon?"

"Ooh, she's so pretty! But I still can't see him. . ."

"Standing right next to Steph."

This was strange. She was looking exactly where Willow was telling
her to look, but there was still no sign of him. There was Stephanie
McMahon, Chris Jericho, Edge. ..

"But where's the Rock?" Dawn asked out loud. "I can't see him
anywhere."

Faith and Willow exchanged confused looks until Faith burst out
laughing. "She thinks Rocky's the cool dude she gets to meet, not the
blondies."

Willow snuck a look at the teenager, who was still trying to find the
People's Champion. Then she looked at the two Canadians who seemed
confused at why the young girl was looking at everyone else but them.

"Oh no. . ." Willow covered her mouth with her hand. "Their egos are
going to be crushed."

The grin on Faith's face bordered on evil. "Can I tell them?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Dawn stopped looking for the Rock
and started listening to the conversation going on. "Tell who what?"

"Nothing," Willow said quickly, shooting Faith a look. "We're just
being silly."

Ignoring Dawn's protests of wanting to know what was going on, the
Willow led her to the exit while Faith picked up Dawn's carry bag and
started whistling. They collected her suitcase and met Stephanie,
Jericho and Edge at the door.

Willow was worried that Faith was going to blurt out that the
Canadians weren't exactly who Dawn thought she was going to meet. As
they all walked to the car, her worries began to subside. A little
too soon, it turned out, because that was when Dawn decided to start
a conversation.

"So when do I get to meet the Rock?"

* * * * * * * * *

"Upstaged by a Scorpion King."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. Jericho and Edge had been grumbling for
over an hour. No wonder Willow and Faith wanted to take Dawn for a
tour away from the two Canadians. For such macho men, they sure were
babies.

"You know, he wore a skirt for that whole movie," Edge groused. "How
manly is that?"

"Yeah," Jericho agreed. "It's all because people think he's an actor
now. I've done acting before. Remember that commercial I did for the
Playstation -Shut Your Mouth game? I totally rocked in that."

"You mean the one where you said they need to add more polygons to my
chest in the game?" Stephanie said, raising an eyebrow.

Jericho coughed uncomfortably. "Uh. . .yeah."

"From what I remember, you wore a shiny, shiny shirt with sequins on
it," the brunette went on, "so I don't know what's meant to be more
manly -the Rock in a skirt or you in sequins."

Edge tried unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh. Jericho just glared at
him.

"Look, you guys can't let this get to you," Stephanie tried to
console them. "So what if Dawn was expecting to see the Rock? He's
really popular right now."

"That's not the point," Jericho answered stubbornly. "It's like we're
second best. Well, I'm second best, Edge is third."

"Hey!" the other blonde started. "Why am I third?"

"Because I've got more sex appeal with Fozzy. And I'm the Kind of the
World. That makes me better."

"Does not. It's not like I've got nothing. I have Edgeheads."

"I've got Jerichoholics."

"I'm taller."

"I'm sexier."

"You're a bleach blonde."

"And you're a loser."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Not."

"Too."

By now, Faith, Willow and Dawn had returned. Stephanie was standing
to the side, shanking her head. The two men had started fighting,
trying to get the other into a submission hold.

"Ow! Let go!"

"You let go!"

Dawn looked at Faith and Willow. "And you're dating them?"

Stephanie started laughing at the sound of disbelief in the
teenager's tone. Faith looked at the witch. "Red?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell me again why we picked them?"

Willow watched with interest as the two Canadians continued to
grapple. The words `jerk' and `sissy' was heard amidst the grunts.
Willow just shook her head and smiled.

"I honestly have no idea."


EPILOGUE


"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

Faith led Willow down a darkened alley. The air was chilly and the
near-howling wind made an eerie `whooshing' sound. Not a fun place to
be.

"Faith, where are we going?" Willow asked again.

"You'll see in a minute. We're taking a short cut."

They turned a corner and walked along the footpath. The streetlight
above them flickered, creating strange looking shadows on the road.
Somewhere nearby a cat yowled.

Finally, they stopped walking. Willow looked at the place that stood
before her. Then she looked at Faith. And back at the building
again. "Huh?"

"Doesn't this look familiar to you?" the Slayer asked. She was acting
a little strange. . .almost hopeful.

"Uh. . . I don't know?" Willow frowned and concentrated on the
building in front of her. It was a seedy little bar; one of those
places that looked as though it catered to serve extremely watered
down beer and stale peanuts. Was this place familiar? She wasn't
sure. She hadn't been to a bar like this since -

"No way," Willow said softly. She turned wide eyes to Faith. "Is this
the same bar?"

"So you remember, then?" Faith was starting to look a little less
unsure.

"Are you kidding me? Of course I remember! This is the bar where you
came to me and told me about Vince McMahon." There was a smile on
Willow's face. "Right after you got out of jail and I was trying to
get drunk."

Faith's features lit up with a rare show of happiness. "Go in for a
drink? Old times sake?"

"Sure." They went inside and ordered drinks. Willow looked around.
The last time she was in here, it was shabby and had dingy lighting.
Six months later, it was still the same.

Willow grinned at her friend. "I can't believe we're back here."

Faith shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. "Figured since we're back in
L.A. for the week, we might as well come back to this joint. Nothing
major. Kinda stupid, really."

She was avoiding eye contact with Willow. The redhead then realised
why she had been acting so strange earlier -she didn't want to let on
how much it meant to her to bring the witch back to the place that
had changed their worlds.

"It's not stupid," Willow said seriously. Faith looked up at
her. "You said that getting those tattoos was the coolest thing
anyone had ever done for you. Well, bringing me back here is the
coolest thing anyone's ever done for *me*. That night six months ago
in this bar changed my life and you don't know how glad I am to be
back here again with you."

There were tears in Faith's eyes. "Really?" she asked in a small
voice.

"Definitely. If it wasn't for you, I don't know where I'd be right
now. And I don't want to know."

Faith didn't know what to say. A tear slipped down her cheek and she
hastily wiped it away when the drinks came. She opened her mouth to
say something, but no words would come out. Willow just smiled
understandingly.

"Will," Faith choked out. "You are so fucking awesome."

The redhead grinned and raised her glass. "Cheers."

They both took a drink and Faith made a face. "Sentimental as this
is, this tastes like crap. That herbal muscle relaxant drink thing
you made before tastes better than this."

Willow laughed and put her drink down. "It's been a hell of a time
these six months, huh?"

"We went through it all," Faith agreed, "and we came out tight with
the boss's daughter and with two hot, but sometimes stupid guys."

The redhead laughed again. "Not bad for an ex-con and a formerly evil
witch. I think we've done pretty good."

Faith was silent for a moment and smiled wistfully. "Think we're
okay, Red?"

Willow met her friend's smile.

"I think we're five by five."

THE END