It was one of those nights. The moon was barely a sliver; tomorrow night it wouldn’t be seen at all. And the insipid light it gave off was muted even more by the passing clouds. And for some reason, the street lights seemed dimmer than usual. It just wasn’t a good night to be out.

But there she was - patrolling as she always did, no matter how bright the moon, or how dark and gloomy the night.

Buffy never cared for patrolling the nights around the new moon. She liked to see what was going on, or what was sneaking up on her. Even though her Slayer senses kept her from being ambushed without warning, most of the time, she still preferred a little, or a lot, more light.

And to make matters worse, tonight things seemed a bit - “Spooky, that’s what it is. Just plain spooky.” She said out loud. “Something’s giving me the creeps, and I sure wish I knew what it was.”

After a few more minutes, Buffy stopped. Something WAS out there, or behind her, or somewhere. She could feel whatever it was. She slowly raised her stake chest high, ready to dispose of what was there.

She heard a noise behind her, a footstep.

Buffy quickly spun around, ready to do battle, but she barely started to strike out when the stake was snatched from her hand. Whatever it was, was extraordinarily fast, and strong.

Buffy drew back her fist, but before she threw the punch, the Something said, “Whoa, there, Girlfriend. It’s me.”

“Faith?” Buffy asked, trying to see in the dark. “Is that you?”

“Hiya, B.” Faith said as she handed the stake back to Buffy. “Good thing I wasn’t a vamp. Not slowing down in your old age are you?”

“I didn’t think so. What are you doing here?”

“Welcome to Sunnydale! Jeez! I missed you, too!”

“Sorry. I just didn’t expect you, that’s all. What ARE you doing here?”

“I came to see Willow, but since it’s way past her bedtime, I figured I’d find you out here somewhere.”

“But how? It’s almost pitch black, and I could have been anywhere.”

“Don’t know. It wasn’t hard. Just followed my nose and here you are.”

“Well, let’s find some light. These dark nights aren’t exactly to my liking.”

They found a streetlight not too far away, but it didn’t give off much illumination.

“You said you wanted to see Willow. Any particular reason?”

“Just something about that thing with Alti, no big deal.”

Buffy nodded, but she felt there was more to it than that.

“So, where’ve you been?”

“No place in particular, here and there, around. You know me.”

“Yeah, I know you.”

There were a few uncomfortable moments then Faith stiffened, looking past Buffy into the darkness.

“Vamps.” She said.

“Where?” Buffy asked.

Before she got an answer, two vampires charged the Slayers. But before Buffy could react, Faith charged back, saying, “I got ‘em!”

She jumped up and hit both of them in the chest, one with each foot. As they landed ten feet away, Faith back flipped to her feet.

In the semidarkness, Buffy saw Faith grab one vamp by the arm and throw him against the street light, temporarily slowing him down while she went after the second. As he rushed toward her, Faith jumped up and kicked him in the face so hard his head came off, turning him to dust.

As the second vampire started toward Buffy, Faith grabbed him from behind and threw him twenty feet away into a tree where a protruding piece of limb penetrated his heart; more dust in the wind.

“Well,” Buffy said as Faith rejoined her. “Aren’t we the enthusiastic one? Been taking your vitamins? Or other drugs?”

“No way,” Faith said, euphoric. “Here, feel my heart.” Faith put Buffy’s hand on her chest. “See? No big deal, still slow and steady.”

“Well -- that’s great.”

“You don’t understand, I’m always like this. I feel like I’m in passing gear all the time, but at the same time, I’m just cruisin’ along. It’s wild!”

“And you think it has to do with Alti?”

“Has to be.”

“Well, then I guess we should go see Willow. Anything else unusual?”

“Everything! Buffy, you wouldn't believe how strong I am. Throwing those vamps around was nothing! And my Slayer Senses are wicked sharp! That’s how I found you, I just could feel where you were. And I can see in almost total darkness. I can even hear the crickets boinking in the grass. It’s amazing, Buffy! I feel like Superwoman, even more than I did when I was just an ordinary Slayer. God, I’m starved! Isn’t there something open around here so we can get something to eat?”

“Yeah, I’m sure we can find something, somewhere.” Buffy didn’t know why, but she felt very uncomfortable.

They walked in awkward silence for few minutes, then Faith stopped and turned to Buffy, then broke into a big grin.

“You’re scared!” She said to Buffy.

“What?”

“You’re scared of me. With all these new super duper powers I have, you’re afraid I could kick your ass all the way to L.A. and back again if I wanted to.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

“No. You are. I can feel it. I can smell the fear. And I can hear it in your voice. Looks like ol’ Buffy’s got them ‘I’m-not-the-biggest-baddest-Slayer-of-all-time’ Blues!”

Faith laughed out loud. “Don’t worry, B. I’m all over that jealousy thing. You’re safe, for now anyway.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Was all Buffy could think of to say.

```````````````

“Willow?” Buffy half way whispered as she cracked opened the bedroom door. “I hate to . . . .”

Before she got anymore out, Faith pushed the door all the way open and clicked on the light.

“Hey, Willow! Rise and shine!”

“Wha--?” Willow said, trying to wake up, squinting against the harsh light. “Buffy? Faith! What’s going on? What time is it?”

“Time to get up.” Faith answered. “We need to talk.”

“It’s about 3:30. We hate to wake you up so early, but Faith’s right, there’s something we need to find out about.”

“Sure. Just let me splash some water on my face. You guys go on downstairs, I’ll be there in a minute.”

````````````````

When Willow found them, they were in the kitchen. Buffy was sitting at the counter watching Faith polish off Dawn’s leftover cold pizza and washing it down with a half gallon of chocolate milk.

“So what’s the problem?”

“Be with you in a sec,” Faith said as she downed the last of the milk. “Man! I needed that! Got anything else?” she asked as she stuck her head into the refrigerator.

“Help yourself.” Buffy said unnecessarily.

“Ooh! Chicken.”

As Faith brought out the bowl of cold hot wings Willow asked again, “Was there something you really wanted to know or did you just wake me up so I could watch you make a pig of yourself?”

“Oh yeah. Man, this is good! Look, ever since you got Alti out of my head, I’ve been different. It’s like I’m running in high gear all the time. I’ve got all this extra strength, and all my senses are sharper, and I feel like, well, I feel like Superwoman. Which is cool, but I was just wondering what happened. And most of all, am I going to be like this forever, or am I going to burn out and, I don’t know - die?”

“Well, as you know, when Alti was controlling you, she was using her magic so your body could do things you normally wouldn't be able to, like the running at super-speed.”

“Yeah, I knew that.”

“But even though I used the spell to counteract her magic, she still had the ability to tap into your unused Slayer abilities.”

“What do you mean, unused?”

“Well, everybody has strengths in them that they normally don’t use. Sometimes it’s physical strength, and sometimes it’s mental. And that’s true for Slayers, as well. That’s why when it seems like just when your backs are against the wall and there’s just no hope left, you guys always manage to come out on top. But when Alti tapped into yours, it just stayed out.”

“So this is how I’m always going to be?”

“I guess so.”

“But what about the burning out part?” Buffy asked.

“I don’t know about that. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Is that why I’m always so hungry?”

“Could be. I guess you’re using up so much energy you have to keep eating just to keep your strength up.”

“That could get expensive.” Buffy observed. “Got a job?”

Faith gave a small laugh. “Don’t need one. Living off the fat of the land.”

“So, in other words, you beg, borrow, steal, or bum whatever you need whenever and wherever you can.”

“Pretty much.” Faith replied smugly. “Slayer’s got lots of resources, and if you weren’t so uptight, you’d be livin’ large right along side of me.”

“No, I don’t think so. We tried that once, remember - Want, Take, Have. It just got us arrested.”

“Yeah, but we got away, so what’s the big deal?”

“How about a nice ham sandwich?” Willow asked, trying to ease the rising tension.

“Sure.” Faith answered, cooling off some, “Heavy on the mayo, and cheese if you have any.”

 `````````````````

“Well, I’ve been up all night and I think I could use a little shut eye. Since Dawn’s spending the night with Ginny, you can use her bed.” Buffy said to Faith.

“No thanks. I don’t sleep that much anymore. I think I’ll just wander around town. I’m sure there a nest of vamps somewhere that needs cleaning up.”

“You want me to come with you?”

“Got it covered, B. You get your beauty sleep, I’m good to go.”

“Okay.”

Buffy and Willow watched as Faith left in the predawn darkness.

“Why do I worry about her?” Buffy asked. “I don’t want to. And I really don’t need to, especially now. So why do I?”

“Always the big sister, the way I see it. Guess you’ll always be. Makes me feel safe.”

Buffy put one arm around Willow’s shoulders and gave her an affectionate squeeze, then headed upstairs. “I’m going to get a few hours’ sleep. Then maybe we can figure out what to do.”

Willow nodded, then went back into the kitchen to clean up Faith’s mess before going back to bed herself.

``````````````````````

Five hours later Buffy woke up when she heard someone downstairs. Thinking it might be Faith, she got up to investigate. But just as she got to the bottom of the stairs she heard the refrigerator door slam shut and Dawn yell out, “Who ate my pizza? I was saving it - for ME!”

“Faith ate it.” Buffy told her as she walked into the kitchen.

"Faith's here?"

"She was, but she left."

Dawn opened the refrigerator again and looked inside it, then turned around to glare at Buffy accusingly.

“And what happened to my wings?”

“Faith.”

“Who said she could have ‘em? They were supposed to be mine. You said you didn’t want them any more.”

“She was hungry.”

“Well so am I! Now what am I supposed to eat?”

“I don’t know. I think she ate all the ham, too.”

“What -- She’s a hundred pounds heavier now? Why’d you let her have it?”

“I told you, she was hungry.”

Dawn looked back into the refrigerator, then turned around with a very grim look on her face.

“Where’s my chocolate milk?” She asked, trying not to yell any more. “Don’t tell me you let her drink that, too.”

“She drank it before I could stop her. But I’ll buy you some more. Two gallons, just for you. I promise.”

But before she could say anything else, Willow came in.

“I could hear you guys yelling all the way upstairs. It’s a good thing it’s not the middle of the night, the neighbors would probably call the cops.”

“Faith ate everything I was saving for myself, AND drank all my chocolate milk. Don’t you think I have a right to be mad?”

“Sure, I’d be mad, too. But there might be extenuating circumstances, did you ever think about that?”

“Such as?” Dawn asked, but not really expecting a legitimate reason.

Fifteen minutes later, after Willow and Buffy finished explaining the extenuating circumstances, Dawn wasn’t angry any more, in fact, she was sympathizing with Faith.

“Is there anything you can do to help her?”

“I don’t know if she needs help, or would even want any. She seems pretty happy the way she is.” Buffy answered.

“And I don’t know if there is anything we could do if she wanted to go back like she was before.” Willow added.

“But what about her burning out and dieing? Isn’t that something to be worried about?”

“We don’t know if she’s worried about that or not.”

“But she asked about it, that must mean she’s concerned, doesn’t it?”

“I suppose, but the way Faith keeps everything inside, there’s no telling.”

“Can’t you ask her?”

“We could, if we knew where she was. For all we know she she’s left town.”

“Or found a nest of vamps and got herself killed.” Willow said.

“I doubt that.” Buffy disagreed. “Not with her strength and speed. You didn’t see her, Willow. She was -- amazing; that’s the only word I can think of. And she was right about one thing, I am a little afraid of her. If she decides to go bad again, stopping her will be almost impossible.”

Willow cleared her throat. “Not impossible. Tricky, maybe. But not impossible.”

Buffy smiled slightly. “You’re right. I keep forgetting you’ve got your magicks pretty much under control. I was thinking about trying to stop her the old fashioned way, but without killing her.”

“You could call Xander.” Dawn suggested. “And I’m sure Spike would help us look for her.”

“Maybe . . . .” Buffy started to say.

“Willow!” Dawn suddenly had another idea. “You can do a locator spell! You’ve done lots of them.”

“I could, if I had something that was hers. Do we even have anything like that?”

“Not that I know of.” Buffy answered.

Just then the phone rang.

“Maybe that’s her!” Dawn said hopefully.

“Maybe.” Buffy said, then she answered it.

“Hello ... Oh, hi. We were just talking about you ... Well, we were wondering if you were okay ... You did? Where? … Really .... Well, sure, I guess so … No, I won’t be long … Don’t start without me, I’ll be there … Bye.”

“That was Faith.”

“What’d she want?”

“She found that nest of vamps she was looking for and wanted to know if I wanted to get in on the dusting. I told her I’d be there shortly.”

“Where’d she find it?”

“Inside the old Roxy Theater.”

“Gosh, I thought they tore that thing down years ago.” Willow said.

“No, they just boarded it up. Just right for vamp nesting. Anyway, I’ll see you guys later, I have to run.”

“Why can’t I go?”

“Dawn, you very well why. I don’t know why you even bother to ask.”

“So what if I go anyway?’

“Willow, will you see that she stays here? I really don’t have time to argue about this right now. I want to get there before Faith decides to go it alone.”

“Sure. No problem.”

After Buffy left, Dawn waited five minutes then started out of the front door.

“Wait a minute, where do you think you’re going?” Willow asked.

“To the Roxy, where else?”

“But you can’t! I told Buffy you’d stay here.”

“You did, but I didn’t. I’m tired of always staying home while Buffy and you all go after the bad guys. I want in on some of the action, too, you know. You can come along if you’d like.”

“But Buffy said . . . .”

By this time, Dawn was walking out of the front door. She paused and looked back at Willow.

“You comin’?” She asked.

“I guess I have to, just to try to keep you out of trouble.”

````````````````````

“So, what’s the sitch?” Buffy asked as she found Faith waiting outside the old, dilapidated, boarded up theater.

“Fifteen vamps and six humans, but only two of ‘em are still alive. I guess they’re saving ‘em for the ones they’ve turned.”

“You’re sure about that?”

“Sure, I’m sure. You don’t think my new and improved Slayer senses would let me down, do you?”

“I guess not.”

“I bet if you tried hard enough, you’d be able to feel them. Slayers are supposed to, anyway, you know?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t done that in a while, haven’t really needed to.”

“Did you bring any weapons?”

“A couple of stakes. Think we’ll need more?”

“I meant for you, I’ve got mine right here.” And she raised her two fists.

“You’re welcome to one of mine.”

“No sweat. If I need something I’ll find it. So, you ready?”

“Shouldn’t we have a plan, or something?”

“Hit ‘em hard and fast. Best plan in the world.”

“So you pretty much know right where they are?”

“Pretty much. A half dozen are in the area behind the screen, a couple are right inside, and the rest are scattered in the place where all the seats are. We take out the first two, dust the ones in the seats and wipe out the rest of ‘em.”

“Okay then, let’s do it.”

There were two double doors leading into the lobby. Buffy and Faith each took one set. They crashed in the doors and easily dusted the two there.

“I know we alerted the ones inside,” Faith said. “So we got to move fast.”

“Just give me a few seconds so my eyes can get used to the dark, it was pretty bright outside.”

“Sure, I’ll keep a watch out.”

Buffy closed her eyes and put one hand over them, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. A dozen seconds later when she opened them, Faith was gone. Buffy assumed she couldn’t wait and had already gone in. Buffy went through the doors into the seating area but it was empty.

She slowly walked down the aisle, looking over the center section of seats to the other aisle, looking for Faith, or vamps.

She was almost half way down when out of the darkness between the rows, almost a dozen vampires rose up on all sides of her, she was trapped.

Buffy managed to knock away the first three that attacked her, then ran for the stage in front of the screen, wanting more space around her.

She vaulted up the four feet onto the stage with five vamps right behind her. She managed to dust the first two, but was knocked down by the next one. As she kipped up to her feet, she was kicked by one, then two of them, and ended up falling through the flimsy, tattered movie screen.

Jumping to her feet again, Buffy managed several roundhouse kicks to as many vampires, and dusted two of them before the stake was knocked from her hand. She was then hit from behind, and once again went to the floor. But she rolled over to her back and kicked the feet out from under two of them as she pulled the second stake from the sleeve of her jacket, staking one.

As Buffy continued to battle many more than the fifteen vampires Faith said were waiting, she began to wonder if, for some reason, Faith had set her up. Where WAS she?

Buffy was losing the battle - she was receiving twice as many blows as she was delivering, and she lost her second stake.

And then it seemed like it was over - Buffy’s hands and feet were being held immobile by four large, strong vampires. A fifth walked up to her, and with a large, leering, fangy grin, he grabbed her by the hair and twisted her head to one side, exposing her neck.

Just before his teeth sunk into her neck, the vampire’s head was twisted off and the torso turned to dust.

“Hiya, B.” Faith said, grinning broadly. “Use a little help?”

But before Buffy could answer, Faith became a whirlwind of destruction. Her feet and fists were almost a blur as she punched and kicked. This gave Buffy the opportunity to escape from the vampires holding her.

She fought along side Faith, but without her stakes, all she could do was keep two or three occupied at a time until Faith could get around to twisting their heads off.

When it was over and Buffy and Faith were standing face to face.

“You can thank me later,” Faith told her. “Or not at all.”

For a few seconds Buffy couldn’t find the words, and when she did, she was pissed!

“Where the HELL were you?! And what’s the big idea of leaving me alone like that? WITH three times as many vamps as you said there were?!”

“Chill, B.! I was just trying to get your Slaying up in super high gear, that’s all. I guess it didn’t quite work out like I hoped it would.”

Buffy wanted to say more, but was momentarily at a loss for words.

Before she could start up again she saw Dawn and Willow climb through the large tear in the screen.

“So where’s all the action?” Dawn asked, disappointed nothing was going on.

“WHAT are you doing here? I distinctly remember telling you to stay home!”

Before Dawn could answer, Buffy turned on Willow.

“Thanks a LOT! Can’t I count an ANYBODY any more?”

“I’m sorry . . . .” Willow tried to explain, but Faith interrupted her.

“Hey, B. Chill out! I’m the one you’re pissed at. Don’t take it out on them.”

“Don’t tell me what to do when it comes to my sister! I’ll chew her out if I want to. I told her to stay home and away from this danger, but here she is!”

Faith looked around her. “Don’t see any danger.”

“NOT NOW! But what if they’d gotten here ten minutes sooner? Snack City, that’s what!”

“No way. I was on top of things the whole time. I would have protected them. Even if you couldn’t.”

That last comment almost made Buffy lose control, but she knew there was no way she could do what she wanted to - knock Faith’s teeth down her throat. Instead she turned back to Dawn.

“Home. NOW!”

And she stomped off to the rear exit door, kicked it off its hinges into the alley behind the theater, then left the building.

Dawn gave the other two a weak smile. “I guess I better go.” And she followed Buffy.

“Just you and me, Girlfriend.” Faith said to Willow.

“I’m not your girlfriend!”

And Willow followed after Dawn, leaving Faith standing alone.

“Suit yourselves.”

````````````````````````````

A couple of hours later, the doorbell rang and Buffy answered it. It was Faith.

Buffy glared at Faith, waiting for her to say something, but didn’t invite her in.

Finally, Buffy said, “What?”

“Thought you’d want to know I’m taking off. Nothing here in Sunnydale for me.”

“Good.” Buffy retorted, and started to shut the door.

Faith stopped it from closing.

“But before I do, I have something to say.”

“I’m listening.”

“Look, I really wasn’t trying to get you killed. If I wanted you dead, I could have done it the night I found you and no one would have ever known what happened. I just hoped that if you thought you were in enough danger that you’d find some way to tap into your hidden Slayer strength. You know, like they say -- reach your full potential? Looks liike I was wrong, and I’m -- well, I'm sorry.”

Buffy’s stony stare softened a little but she didn’t answer.

Faith went on, “Maybe you could talk Giles into coming back for a while and start training you again. It’s just a thought.”

“Maybe.” Buffy wasn’t quite as angry now.

“So, I’ll be going. Don’t expect to be back this way for pretty long time, if ever. Tell Dawn and Willow I said ‘So Long’.”

Faith turned and went down the front steps. As she got to the bottom, Buffy said, “Faith.”

Faith looked up at her, “Yeah?”

“Take care.”

Faith smiled. “You know me - Five by Five, to the very end.”