Part one

It was a typical autumn's night for Buffy and Faith. The nights were getting longer, the air was getting crisper, and the big, bad nasties were out in full force.

Yes, it was a typical night...for the Hellmouth.

"Tell me again why the fall is your favorite time of the year?" Faith panted, as she drove a stake through the last remaining vampire. She watched the demon fall to the ground and disappear into dust. Her usual zest for the hunt was beginning to waiver after the tenth fight tonight.

"Because we can start to wear darker colors," Buffy, puffed, sitting down on a broken crate, "It hides the blood better."

"So, we can slay, and still be fashionable."

"Yep," Buffy replied, getting to her feet after the brief and well-needed rest. Ever since Buffy returned from LA, things had gotten worse. The vampire attacks and general weirdness seemed to have escalated. And with the recent arrival of the new Slayer, life wasn't getting any less complicated. "What is going on tonight? I mean, I think we've met a vampire in just about every dark alley we hit."

"Tell me about it," Faith sighed, as the two girls continued their patrol, "I'll tell you something B, as much as I love to slay vamps...and I do love to slay them, this is getting a bit much. What's the deal?"

"No clue. But I know who I can ask..."

*******

"Well, the both of you were quite busy last night," Rupert Giles said, looking up from one of his dusty, old books, "After yesterday's outing, that would make it about twenty vampires killed in two days, yes?"

Buffy sat on the reading desk and looked at her Watcher, "That would be right."

"And still one more day 'till Halloween," Xander added, rolling his eyes, "At this rate, I'd say the two of you will have about half the vampires in Sunnydale saying hello to the pointy end of a stake by Friday. Not that that's a bad thing..."

"Giles," Buffy said, rubbing her arm, "this is getting pretty intense. Faith and I barely made it back alive. And look," she pouted, showed him her finger, "I broke a nail."

"Perish the thought," he muttered, "Buffy," he said, taking off his glasses and wiping them off for the hundredth time that day, "there is a perfectly logical explanation for the increase in vampire activity..."

"Yom Kippur," Willow blurted out.

Buffy looked a Willow with a mask of total confusion on her face, "What does rampaging undead have to do with yummy kippers?"

"Not yummy kippers," Willow said, slightly annoyed, "Yom Kippur."

"It's the Jewish holiday of atonement," Xander quickly answered. Then seeing the utter amazement on both the Buffy and Giles' faces he added, "Hey, when you've been friends with Will as long as I have...you pick up on a few things."

"You see," Willow explained, "in order to atone for past sins, and to be in the right frame of mind to contemplate, we pray the whole day, don't work and we fast."

"The whole day?"

"Yeah, well, the day before we have a big meal, and of course once the sun goes down the next day, we have this really big feast," Willow smiled, "It's pretty cool...I mean the feast part."

"I still don't get it," Buffy said, shaking her head, "what does this have to do with the past two nights?"

"Of course," Giles said, putting his glasses back on in sudden clarity, "Yes, yes that would make sense."

"Okay, are you going to share, or do you want me to play charades?"

"Oooo," Willow said excitedly, "I love charades! I'm really good at it too..." she saw the looks of mild annoyance on her friends' faces and suddenly realized that she had gone off on one of her tangents again, "...which of course would be totally inappropriate right now, and possibly even on the verge of bizarre...and I'm going to shut up now."

Ignoring the ramblings of the young slayerette, Giles continued, "Halloween is much like Yom Kippur in that it is a day of rest for vampires...of course not really to atone for any sins...that would probably keep them inside for most of their eternal lives. But, it would stand to reason that they would become considerably more active before and after the thirty first."

"You know," Xander smiled, biting into a candy bar, "It's the binge before the purge," then offering the leftovers to Buffy he said, "Want some?"

Buffy said, wrinkling her nose, "I could have done with out that visual," then turning back to her mentor she added, "So, it's safe to say that tomorrow is going to be worse?"

"I'm afraid so," Giles stood up and stretched his tall frame, and began gathering together his countless musty volumes of demon lore. He paused, turned to Buffy and said with great concern, "I don't need to tell you to be extra careful?"

"Believe me, Giles," the Slayer reassured him, "from now on, I'm going to be 'Safety Girl'," Buffy stood up and collected what few books she had, "We're meeting Faith for lunch later, I'll fill her in."

The late bell rang, echoing through the halls, and sending hordes of students into a frenzy of urgency. Nothing made teenagers move faster than the thought of having to spend any measurable time in Principal Snyder's office. And this year, in particular, he was very strict on tardiness. "A quality," as he so often put it, "that led to the overwhelming delinquency of the youths of today."

Buffy wondered as she, Xander, and Willow raced to their next class, why Snyder even bothered to continue to be principal if he hated kids as much as he did. Of course, he probably became principal for that very reason. After all, what better position to be in, when torturing students is your favorite pastime?

She sat down in math class, trying with all her might to concentrate on the lessons of the day. But only one thing ran through her mind...

My, Principal Snyder what big eyes you have
The better to see delinquent students with.
My, Principal Snyder what big hands you have
The better to pull their files with.
My, Principal Snyder what big teeth you have
The better to chew them up and spit them out with!

"Buffy Summers, what on earth is so funny?" Mister Handel scolded.

She didn't even realize she had been laughing.

*******

Lunchtime couldn't have come any sooner for the Slayer and her compatriots. After five periods of utter and complete boredom, they were all going a little stir crazy. The gang met outside by Cordelia's car, and were about to pile in, when Scott, Buffy's newest 'would-be-boyfriend', caught up with them.

"Hey Buffy," he smiled, "I was wondering if you wanted to go to lunch with me. But I see you already have plans..."

"Oh, Scott, I'd ask you to go with us," Buffy said, trying to come up with a good reason why she was about to blow off the only 'normal' boy who likes her, to spend an hour talking about vampires over pizza, "but, you see, we were going to visit a friend....who's...who's very sick..."

"Sick as a dog," Willow helped, "You know, the flu."

"Oh."

"Um, yeah, and we were going to cheer her up," Buffy finished.

"That's cool," Scott said, "Maybe we can go out tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"Yeah, that follows today...usually when the sun goes down..."

"The next two nights are going to be real bad for me," She told the truth, "But I'm free Halloween night."

"Okay," Scott said, "Hey, how about going to the movies? They're playing all of the Halloween movies at the cineplex..."

"Cool," She replied, "First Buster Keaton then Freddy Krueger."

"Um that's Nightmare on Elm Street," Oz pointed out, "Halloween is with Mike Myers."

Cordelia turned her nose up, "Freddie Krueger, Mike Myers...it's all the same. Two guys running around killing people. Gross factor of ten. Besides don't you think we see enough horror every day? Why do you need to pay money for it?"

"Huh?" Scott said confused, "Horror?"

"What Cordelia tried to say," Xander quickly corrected, "but the hairspray got in the way, is that we see so much horror in schoo...with all the disappearances..."

"The deaths..." Oz added.

"The homework..." Buffy finished.

Scott looked at them and nodded, "You're right, it's a regular cornucopia of terror. We'll rent a couple of comedies."

"Good idea," Buffy sighed in relief, "So, you're not mad?"

"Nah, how can I be mad at you? Besides...I get to pick out the movies."

"Okay," Buffy smiled, "you get to pick out the movies."

******

Faith met the gang at Joe's Pizzeria...just in time for a steaming hot, extra large pizza with everything except the kitchen sink. And even if it did have the kitchen sink on it, Buffy doubted it would stop her "little sister" from devouring most of it before she could finish the first slice.

"Tape worms," Buffy said plainly, watching Faith as she downed her fifth slice.

"'scuse me?" Faith mumble, mouth full of cheesy goodness.

"You have tape worms," Buffy said again, suddenly losing her appetite, "It's the only explanation I can think of. How can you eat so much and not gain an ounce? You have to have help from your little wormy friends."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," she bit back, then changing the subject she added, "So, what did your Watcher have to say about last night?"

Buffy looked at Faith and sighed, "He's Giles, and he's our Watcher, remember?" then under her breath she muttered, "At least for now."

"Right, gotta get used to that," Faith nodded, "So, what did Giles have to say about last night?"

"You know," Buffy said, with a bit too much acid in her voice, "maybe if you would show up at the library once in a while...I wouldn't have to debrief you"

Faith just took her comment in stride and replied, "Hey, you know me and school don't get along. Besides, they don't serve pizza in the library. So, what did he say?"

Buffy sighed and put on her "I'm-a-Slayer-who's-taking-this-seriously" face. It was a face she had perfected with Giles when she wanted him to shut up, "Things are gonna get rough until Halloween," she said, sipping her diet coke, "Then...we actually get a day off."

"Yeah, my Watcher told me about that. Halloween is supposed to be a day for vamps to be like couch potatoes. I'd think that'd be the perfect time for us to go hunting. You know, get them while they don't expect it. Why have a day off?"

"Gee, I don't know...to have a life. Believe me," Buffy shook her head, "After the next two nights...we're both gonna need a rest."

"I can handle anything the vamps throw at us," she replied smugly, "even if you can't."

The silence was stunning.

It was as though the entire Earth had stopped and all eyes were focused on Faith and Buffy. If there was going to be another world war, the crew was certain that it would begin right here in Sunnydale, with the two Slayers at its epicenter.

"Oh, boy," Xander breathed in, breaking the silence, "Bad choice of words. Really bad."

The others looked at each other nervously. They had known Buffy long enough to realize that was a comment the Slayer was not going to back down from. And they also realized that Faith was not going to let it rest either.

Hear that? That was the sound of the silos opening...

"So, Buffy," Willow said, trying desperately to change the subject, "did you finish the homework for English yet?"

Buffy let her annoyance with Faith dissipate, knowing that there was a time for everything...and right now, she needed the "bottomless pit". After all, as her mother told her, two Slayers are better than one. And with everything that had been going on, she needed all the help she could get. So, for now, she would swallow her pride, play along, and wait to see what happens next.

"No, not yet," she answered her best friend, never taking her eyes off of Faith, "I have about six more chapters to go. Well, actually I didn't even start it. It was so depressing, I couldn't even get past the second chapter."

"What are you ladies reading?" Oz asked, taking out his guitar and strumming a few notes.

"'Catcher in the Rye'," Xander answered for them.

"Cool book," Oz said, picking out a mellow rift, "I love how Salinger tells the entire story through the eyes of a teenager?"

"Oh, yeah," Xander piped in, finishing his soda, "A teenager in a mental hospital. Real cheery."

"He's in a mental hospital?!" both Buffy and Willow said.

"When does it say that?" Willow asked, taking out her copy and thumbing through the pages, "I don't remember reading that."

"Well, it's mentioned at the end of the book," Oz said nonchalantly, watching the look of terror flee from his girlfriend's face. Then smiling, he added, "Of course, it is also implied in the first three pages..."

Turning to Xander Willow cried, "And you knew this?! When were you planning on sharing this information? After the test!? Oh no," she added, in a blind panic, "What if I missed other important things? What if I don't understand the entire plot of the story? How am I going to pass the exam? Now, I'm going to have to read it all over again!"

Even Buffy temporarily forgot her dispute with Faith and shared in Willow's despair, "Oh, god! I'm going to actually have to read it for the first time!" she moaned, and both girls got up to leave.

As the rest of the gang got up, Xander looked at Oz and smiled mischievously, "That was way too easy."

"We should do it again sometime," Oz agreed.

"Boys," Cordelia huffed, brushing past her boyfriend in total disgust.

"Can't live with them, can't slay 'em," Faith said, finishing the last slice of pizza as she headed for the door.

"Speak for yourself," Cordelia said.

******

Giles finished his sandwich and was nursing a cup of tea, as he looked over the growing mound of paper work Principal Snyder kept sending his way. It wasn't that the Librarian hated to do paperwork...on the contrary, he lived for the stuff. But lately, it seemed to him that Herr Snyder gave him more paper work than need be. It was as though he was being punished for his involvement with Buffy, by keeping him as busy as humanly possible.

Or perhaps he was being kept busy for another purpose...

"And I thought there was an over abundance of bureaucracy in England," Giles sigh, sifting through the sea of paper, "I wonder if any one has ever died from paper cuts...hello? What have we here?" Giles said catching a faint glint of metal out of the corner of his eye.

He bent down to pick it up and stopped when he realized what it was. A small golden corkscrew lay on the floor of his office...the same earring that...

His breath hitched slightly at the unsolicited memory.

...that Jenny had before she died. No, before she was murdered, Giles scolded himself. What happened to her was far more sinister than can be described as just "passing away". The young, beautiful, caring woman, he had grown to love, was brutally taken from him; her fire snuffed out forever, in one quick moment.

She was gone.

He had never told her how he truly felt about her, or how much she really meant to him.

And now...it was too late.

For two months after her death he had the painful duty of going through her belongings to put them in storage. The books and some of her personal possessions he kept, because he knew she would have wanted him to. But never had he seen anything as personal as the piece of jewelry he saw before him.

He closed his eyes and could almost hear the conversation they had that day...

"Well, I..I don't dangle a cork screw from my ear."

"That's not where I dangle it."

It was the first time they had had a civil conversation with each other since she came to the school as the computer science teacher. It was also the first time that he had seen the playful side of Miss Calendar; a side he wanted to see more of. That simple, little piece of metal represented the beginning for both of them...

And ultimately, the end for Jenny Calendar.

He held it in his hand and stared at it for a long time, lost in thought, when Buffy walked in. "Hey, Giles, I need you help. You read a lot right? Of course you do, you're a librarian. Did you ever read 'Catcher in the Rye'?" she asked. Then seeing the blank expression on his face, she added, "Giles? Earth to Giles? Say, did you notice that four headed demon standing behind you?"

"What?" the Watcher said, quickly slipping the earring into his breast pocket, "I..I'm sorry Buffy, I was just thinking. What where you saying? Four headed demon..."

Buffy stood in front of his office desk with her arms folded. Her blonde hair, that she had pulled up into a pony tail earlier that day, swayed as she shook her head, "Why is it when I talk about normal things you zone me out, but I mention a vampire or demon, or some other supernatural thing of evil, and you're all ears?"

"Years of conditioning," he replied, regaining his composure.

Buffy knew something had been bothering her Watcher, but decided not to press the issue. What ever it was, she hoped he would tell her eventually. But knowing how tight-lipped he usually was about matters of a personal nature, she doubted it. Besides, ever since his ordeal with Angel, he seemed somehow different...even a little distant. Willow and Xander saw this also, but neither wanted to speak of it. It was water under the bridge, as Xander put it.

The Slayer knew better. Where there was water, there were usually trolls. Big ugly trolls with sharp teeth and stinky troll breath, just waiting to swallow up the unsuspecting.

And Buffy was beginning to wonder what kind of trolls were hiding under Giles' bridge.

"So," she said, trying to lighten the mood, "We had lunch with the bottomless pit, and I told her what was going down," she waited for a response. When she got none she asked, "Do you want to know what her highness' views were on having a day off?"

Giles absently took off his glasses and rubbed his throbbing temples, "I take it she was less than thrilled with the prospect of some rest?"

"'Less than thrilled' is an understatement," Buffy sighed, picking up a beautiful letter opener, and twirling in between her fingers, "She thinks having a day off, is like some kind of Cardinal Sin."

"Faith is rather enthusiastic...even for a Slayer."

"Yeah, well, I'm really looking forward to having a day off," she said, defiantly, "And I don't want to have to keep her from doing something stupid...like...oh, I don't know...going after Vampires in their lairs...by herself."

"Faith might have the right idea," Giles pointed out, "It would be good to catch them of guard. They certainly wouldn't be expecting an attack on Halloween."

"Hello? Did I mention that I REALLY was looking forward to this day off? Besides, if it is going to be as busy as you said it's going to be...I'm going to NEED a day off."

Giles saw the determined expression on his Slayer's face and smiled. She had truly grown up in the last two years...perhaps a bit too much. They had all been through so much, as of late. And Buffy, in particular, had it the roughest. She died, watched her classmates, one by one, fall to the evil of the Hellmouth, and lost the only person she loved...killed by her own hand. She was a young lady who had live a hundred lives, yet had none of her own.

She deserved a day off...

"Before the two of you patrol tonight," Giles gave in, "stop by here. I'll have a talk with Faith. Perhaps she'll listen to me."

Buffy smiled broadly, "Thanks, you're my hero,"

"And Buffy?" Giles said as she bounded out the door, "Read the book."

"I was afraid you would say that," Buffy hung her head as the bounce in her step lessened for a moment. She closed the door behind her, leaving Giles alone, once again, with his thoughts...and the earring.

He took the corkscrew out of his pocket and smiled wistfully, "Someday," he said to unseen spirits, "Someday we'll be together again."