“Giles, open the damn door!”

 Muffled cursing and loud shuffling was heard from inside as the Watcher made his way to the door. He had gone home after his confrontation with Angel, praying for a long night’s rest. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.

 The door creaked open a crack. “What the hell do you want now, Angel?” he growled in his British accent. He maintained the door open only two inches and fixed his gaze on the vampire.

 “I don’t have time for games,” grunted Angel as he stuck his foot in that opening. He jerked the door all the way open with his foot and barged into the house. “And neither do you.”
 
 Giles was about to grab the nearest weapon available when he saw what Angel was carrying. “Dear Lord,” he whispered as he recognized the limp bodies. “Willow…Faith…” His eyes glazed over and he had to restrain himself from throwing his body at the vampire. “What…what did you *do* to them?!?” he yelled in rage.

 Angel threw Faith’s body on a chair, and gently laid Willow out on the couch, propping her head up with a pillow. He began to smooth her hair, running his hands through the shining copper folds. “I didn’t do anything to them,” Angel said.

 The look on Giles’ face was one of pure rage. “How, how DARE you just throw the Slayer around like that! Have you no respect for the living, you monstrous, heartless, undead fiend?” Giles ran over to Faith, straightening her body on the chair. He froze when he touched her at last.

 A sigh escaped Angel’s lips. He had hoped that Giles would assume the obvious when he walked through the door at such a late hour. “Rupert…Faith’s dead.” Touching Willow’s cheek gently, he stood and faced the Watcher. “Willow was attacked in an alley…on her way to see me…and I managed to rescue her, but…but I found Faith there.” He paused, watching Giles as the news sunk in. “She was already dead. She’s…” He drifted off, knowing that the Watcher would understand.
 
 Rupert Giles nodded. “She’s been drained…completely. I can see that now.” He stood up, looking away from Faith’s body. “At least…at least she won’t rise.” He picked a blanket up from the couch and spread it over the entire chair, covering Faith. “I need…to go tell the others.” His tone and manner were respectful and quiet, knowing that they both needed to be at peace at that moment. “Watch over Willow.”

 Angel nodded, and sat back at Willow’s side as Giles left the room. “It’s okay, Red, you’ll pull through this. You have to…for Giles, and for Buffy, and for Xander…” He paused, as tears began to form in his eyes. “And…for me.”

***

 The look on Xander’s face was that of pure horror. “Faith…is…dead?” he asked, even though Giles had just told him exactly that. He was going through a brief stage of denial, before he accepted the loss like he had accepted all the others.

 Giles nodded again. He could see the emotions racing through Xander’s grim countenance. Rupert had already made the necessary calls to the Watcher’s Council, and they should be responding shortly, as soon as they located the next Slayer. Giles found himself wishing he could have had more time with Faith to train her properly, and wondered if the vamp Angel had staked had been the one to kill the Slayer.

 His eyes drifted over to the first Slayer, currently sitting at a table with her head bowed. It rested in her hands, as she sat there and thought, turning the information over and over in her head, trying to sort out everything that had happened recently. Willow and Angel, and then the death of Faith. It all seemed to be too much for her.

 Xander stood up. “Deadboy…” he growled through his teeth, “he killed her. He had to have. No vamp could have downed a Slayer that easily. Angel did it, then hurt Willow to make him look innocent!” The blood was pounding angrily through his veins at this point, and he was ready to break the chair beneath him into pieces. “I’ll stake him myself with a popsicle stick if I have to!”

 The startled librarian was about to comment on Xander’s angry outburst when the Slayer spoke up. “No, Xander.” She looked up from the desk, and the two males could see the tear stains on her cheeks. “Angel didn’t do it. I don’t know who…or what, did, but it wasn’t Angel. Angel loves Willow. He has to, and he can’t love me. But he didn’t kill Faith. Somehow…I just know he didn’t. Maybe a part of me, deep inside, is still connected…but I know he didn’t. So just sit down, Xander, and we’ll figure this whole thing out calmly.” She raised her head high like the Slayer she was.

 Although Xander had been boiling mad, the Slayer’s words struck him hard. He had expected her to come to his aid, with Mr. Pointy in hand and ready to slay anything that came between her and her idea of a perfect life. He had not expected her to understand anything other than herself. Defeated, he sat down again in his seat, and looked wearily at Rupert.

 “R..right, then,” the Watcher stuttered, “…with, Faith, dea-, er, I mean, gone, that means the Council will be contacting me with the information about the whereabouts of the new Slayer. They informed me that, w-well, due to a, s-sort of lack of resources…if the Slayer is nearby, I shall be training her.” He tried to get it out without stuttering much, and waited for a response.

 They both stared at him. Buffy picked herself up and turned around. Xander also stood up and followed her out. “Um…” Giles called after them desperately, “I’ll call you if I find anything out?”

 All he heard was Xander’s voice fading through the doorway. “Whatever floats your boat, G-Man.”

 Giles sighed heavily, and decided to go home and see how Willow and Angel were doing.