"Pet, this is Clem." Spike went to Buffy, and he kissed her cheek. "He's been keepin' an eye on Finn for us."
"Glad to meet you, Clem." Buffy smiled at the demon.
"Slayer." Clem returned Buffy's smile with one of his own toothy grins. "Spike told me all about you."
"All good, I hope." Buffy indicated with one hand for Clem to take a seat. "So, tell me about how Finn runs his operation."
Clem sat immediately. Despite Spike's reassurances, he was still leery of talking to a Slayer.
"Finn's having a turf war with another vamp." Clem glanced at Spike who nodded for him to continue. "Sunnydale is big enough to support both whorehouses, but Finn's greedy."
"We should split up, and take out both places," Buffy directed this comment to her mate. "You and Lawson take out one while Faith and I take out the other."
"Do you think she'll be up to it, pet?" Spike asked.
"Depends on how her reunion with Jesse went, I suppose," Buffy decided. "I'll call and find out."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the same time Spike and Buffy were having their discussion with Clem, Faith and Jesse were having an awkward dinner together.
When Faith had arrived home the night before at the apartment she shared with Jess and her sister, she had known she loved her boyfriend, but the feelings felt faded. She knew where ever she had been had been much longer for her than it had been for him. After Jesse had fallen asleep, she had spent half the night wandering the apartment. She felt so restless. Faith didn't understand why Hope had left. However, she got the impression that Jesse felt guilty about something.
Jesse had called in sick, and he had spent the day catering to Faith's every whim. He had made all of Faith's favorite foods, but to the resurrected Slayer it tasted like sawdust. Everything felt so sharp and hard to Faith.
"Would you like to go see Hope tonight?" Jesse said softly. He had no idea what to say to this very different Faith. She was no longer the outgoing girl he had fallen in love with.
Faith shook her head. Like with Jesse, she knew she loved her sister, but she didn't feel connected to the younger woman. "I just want to be left alone to patrol."
"Um, okay. I can do that." Jesse nodded. He looked unsure of what to say next. He rose to his feet. "I... I'll move my things into Hope's room until you're feeling better."
Faith watched as Jesse gathered their plates. She truly felt apathetic towards life at this point. Faith thought back to her reunion with Jesse the night before. He had been so happy to see her, and she had rebuffed his attentions. Now, he was reluctant to approach her.
"You don't have to move your things," Faith replied.
"You want to be left alone, sweetie." Jesse looked confused. He was trying so hard, and yet everything he said or did seemed to be wrong.
"I just don't want to be crowded right now." Faith put her hand up to her forehead. "I don't want you to feel like you have to leave me."
"Okay." Jesse nodded. He went to the kitchen to wash the dinner dishes. When he returned he found Faith simply staring off into the darkness outside the dining room window.
"I'm gonna watch some T.V.," Jesse said in a tentative tone, worried that he'd upset Faith.
"Okay." Faith continued to stare out of the window. She didn't even notice when Jesse left the room to answer the telephone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lawson sauntered down the sidewalk. He had just come from a very productive meeting with several demon clans that resided in the Sunnydale area. He thought back on how he came to be where he was now. It started four years before during a run in with Spike and Buffy after he had been wandering aimlessly without a mission.
Buffy had instantly recognized how lost Lawson felt. It was after meeting the rest of her group that he realized she tended to collect lost or hurting folks.
Buffy and her mother Joyce had been abandoned themselves by Hank Summers. Then, Buffy had found a drunk, depressed Spike. Instead of staking the bleached blond vamp, the Slayer had taken him home with her. Despite a rocky start with several heated battles between them, they were now a mated pair that could make HIM blush with their antics.
Wesley joined the group next. Newly fired from the Watcher's Council, the tall, lanky Brit had been trying to make it as a rogue demon hunter when he met up with Spike and Buffy while exorcising a Los Angeles hotel. Lawson knew from the stories that Wes had been surprised to meet up with a Slayer. A few discrete inquires told the growing gang of white hats that Buffy was a spare. This was information none of them thought to share with the Council.
After Lawson's own introduction to the group, they had met up with the Immortal who, to Spike's everlasting disgust was instantly enamored with the Summers women. It was through the Immortal that Dot joined Buffy's group. The Immortal thought that they would be better equipped to protect the young female werewolf.
A shout of his name broke Lawson out of his inner musings. The dark-haired vampire found himself being confronted by his Sire, Angel.
"What do you want, Daddy dearest?" Lawson sneered. He had no respect whatsoever for the other vamp.
"Everything was under control before you and that rogue Slayer showed up," Angel snarled. His feelings were still smarting over Faith's removal from his custody by Buffy and her vampires. He ignored the fact that it was the Council that had pushed Buffy to the Hellmouth, not her own inclination.
"If that's your idea of control, your standards need to be re-evaluated, chief." Lawson smirked at the older vampire.
"Faith's returned. You and yours can leave town now." Angel clenched his fists, suppressing the urge to pummel his childe. He felt the anger he had been repressing for years bubble under his broody facade.
"Somehow I don't think the first Slayer is ready to go it alone." Lawson shoved his own hands into his pockets.
"She's mine! The Powers That Be promised her to me!" Angel spat the words out.
"Don't think the Slayer will take too kindly to being seen as an object." Lawson shook his head. "Buffy certainly wouldn't."
"Get out of Sunnydale." Angel advanced on Lawson. "I'm not warning you again." He looked down in surprise at the stake pressed against his heart. He hadn't even thought about the fact that Lawson probably carried any weapons on him.
"I've trained for the past four years with a Slayer and a master vampire, chief." Lawson gave Angel a cold glare. "I suggest you get out of Sunnydale before Buffy gets wind of this little incident. She's very protective, and you dust very easily."
"Nothin' like a brassed off Slayer." Spike appeared out of the darkness. "You okay, Lawson?"
"Just fine." Lawson stepped back from Angel. The stake disappeared into a pocket. "What's up?"
"We're burnin' down Finn's whorehouse," Spike drawled. "Buffy's just itchin' for a good spot of arson before bed."
"Should I find another place to sleep in the morning?" Lawson asked. "I can't wait till we move into the Manor and you two can silence your room."
Spike smirked before he turned to Angel. "Get out of Sunnydale, Angelus. We rule here, not you." His voice was fierce and territorial.
Angel stepped back in astonishment. This was a confident Spike that he wasn't sure he could take. He would definitely be out of his league if Spike somehow had managed to convince the blond bitch to give him some of her blood.
"I agree. Leave town, Angel." Faith walked up followed by Buffy. "None of us would mourn if you somehow managed to accidently dust."
"Fine!" Angel threw his hands up in surrender. Angel figured Spike would get bored soon and leave for greener pastures. His idiot grandchild really had no staying power. Then Angel could come back for Faith. After all, she was his destiny. He could walk away now. He had plenty of time to win the dark-haired Slayer over later.
"Time for some vamp burning." Buffy rubbed her hands together. "Nothing like a bonfire to get the juices going."
"My nasty little Slayer." Spike leered at Buffy.
Lawson rolled his eyes at his friends' antics because he was used to them. He just hoped that Spike and Buffy wouldn't be too noisy later. Maybe he could find one of the others to hang out with, possibly even the luscious Tara.
Faith wondered if she had ever been as free as Buffy acted. Freedom was such a distant concept to the resurrected Slayer. She felt trapped in a life that wasn't her own anymore.