Introduction
Season: First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh
Other Bodies | Episodes | Dramatis Personae
Ramblings | Links | Fanfic

Consequences

Prologue

Buffy is underwater, struggling to reach the surface. Allan Finch grabs at her feet, trying to pull her down. Buffy breaks free, and reaches the surface. She gasps for breath. Faith is waiting for her on a dock. She pushes Buffy back under.

Buffy wakes from her dream, and gets out of bed. She hears sound coming from her mother’s room.

Buffy walks to her mother’s open door. Joyce is watching the late night news on TV. A reporter is describing how the body of Deputy Mayor Allan Finch has been found by some fishermen. At a news conference Mayor Wilkins swears he will not rest until the perpetrators are brought to justice.

Joyce notices Buffy standing in the doorway. “Oh, honey, you’re up. Oh, it’s just terrible, isn’t it?”

Act I

Wesley paces in the library with the morning paper—with its account of the Deputy Mayor’s death—in his hand. He tells Buffy and Faith that he wants them to look into the death of Allan Finch. Buffy is reluctant. Finch’s death really doesn’t seem to fall under their jurisdiction. Faith is unconcerned. She’s willing to look into it if Wesley wants them to.

Giles agrees with Buffy. The Deputy Mayor’s death seems to be an everyday murder that is best left to the police. “If you ask me, there are better uses for the Slayers’ time.”

“Ah. But I don’t believe I did.” Wesley holds out the newspaper toward Giles. “Ask you.”

Giles snatches the paper out of Wesley’s hand. “Considering the success of your previous adventure…” He’s interrupted by Cordelia entering the library. He asks her what she needs.

Cordelia is looking for some books she needs for her psych class. Giles goes to get them, and Cordy sees Wesley. “Check out Giles: The Next Generation. What’s your deal?”

Wesley tries to stammer out an answer. He is struck speechless by the sight of her.

“New Watcher,” says Faith.

Wesley turns to give Buffy an irritated look. “Does everybody know about you?” Buffy tells him Cordy’s a friend.

“Let’s not exaggerate,” says Cordelia. She turns her attention back Wesley. She likes what she sees.

Wesley pulls himself together and holds out his hand to Cordelia. “Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.”

Cordy takes his hand, and smiles. “I like a man with two last names. I’m Cordelia.”

“And you teach psychology?” asks Wesley.

“I take psychology,” says Cordelia.

Giles returns with the books Cordelia is looking for. “She’s a student.”

Wesley snatches back his hand. “Oh, well. I, uh… Yes. In fact, I am…here to watch…girls. Uh, uh, Buffy and Faith, to be specific.”

Cordelia is happy to see some fresh blood in town. Giles finishes checking out the books for her, and hands them over to her.

“So, welcome to Sunnydale.” Cordelia tells Wesley. She leaves the library with her books.

Wesley watches Cordy’s back as she goes. “My, she is cheeky, isn’t she?”

“Uh, first word: ‘jail,’” says Faith, “second word: ‘bait.’”

Buffy and Faith start to follow Cordy out of the library, but Wesley stops them. “One moment, girls. I’m your commander now, and on the matter of this murder, I am resolved. Natural or super, I want to know.”

“Fine by me,” says Faith. “Always ready to kick a little bad guy butt.”

Buffy and Faith duck into an empty class to talk about what they’re going to do. Buffy wants to tell Giles and Wesley what happened to Finch. Faith continues to insist that they don’t tell anyone. Buffy knows that hiding this will only make it worse when it’s discovered. “Faith, what we did was—”

“Yeah,” says Faith. “We. You were right there beside me when this whole thing went down. Anything I have to answer for, you do too. You’re a part of this, B. All the way.” Faith ends the discussion by leaving.

Buffy stops off to talk to Willow between classes. Willow seems a little surprised, she had seen Faith around, and figured that Buffy would be taking off with her again. Willow tells Buffy that she can’t talk now. She has an appointment with Michael to make another try at de-ratting Amy.

Detective Stein interviews a woman in the alley where Allen was killed. He’s trying to pin down when she heard a scream coming from the alley. The police are taking blood samples off the dumpster.

Angel watches from the shadows. He remembers seeing Buffy with blood on her hands near here the other night.

Mayor Wilkins feeds a sheet of paper into the shredder. “It’s not working!”

“It’s supposed to do something besides shred?” asks Mr. Trick.

“It’s supposed to cheer me up,” says the Mayor. “Usually using the shredder gives me a lift. It’s fun. Guess it’ll take more than this to turn my frown upside down. I just don’t understand why Allan would leave such a paper trail about our dealings. Do you think he was going to betray me? Oh, now, that’s a horrible thought. And now he’s dead, I’ll never have the chance to scold him.”

Mr. Trick has some news that he expects will cheer the Mayor up. The autopsy report. Allan was stabbed in the heart with a sharp wooden object, and the Slayers were known to be in the vicinity at the time of his death. It looks like one of them did it.

“Why?” asks the Mayor. “Do you think he talked? To them?”

“If he did, I’m thinking he said the wrong thing,” says Trick.

“Well, this is exciting,” says the Mayor. “A Slayer up for murder-one. That’s sunshine and roses to me. It really is.” He starts to giggle.

Act II

Buffy and Faith break into Allan Finch’s office that evening.

Faith has a quick look around. “I’m telling you, we did the world a favour. This guy was about as interesting as watching paint dry.” She picks up a picture of Allan with the Mayor, and looks at it. She seems to be disturbed by it. “He came out of nowhere.”

“I know,” says Buffy.

“Whatever!” Faith puts the picture back. “I’m not looking to hug and cry and learn and grow. I’m just saying it happened quick, you know?” She starts looking through Allan’s desk drawers. There is nothing of interest in them.

Buffy looks through Allan’s filing cabinets. She wants to know what Allan was doing in that alley. She thinks he may have been looking for them. She discovers that all his filing cabinets have been cleaned out.

“So his papers are gone,” says Faith. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

“Except that somebody didn’t want us to prove anything,” says Buffy.

Buffy and Faith start to leave Finch’s office. Buffy sees Mr. Trick coming out of the Mayor’s office, along with the Mayor. They duck back into Finch’s office before Trick or the Mayor spots them.

Buffy and Faith cross a downtown street and talk about what they saw. Buffy is surprised to have learned that Mayor Wilkins is one of they bad guys. She hadn’t picked up that sort of vibe from him. Faith isn’t. This just confirms to her that people don’t really show you their real faces.

Buffy figures that’s something Faith would know a lot about. She doesn’t think that Faith is showing what she really feels about Allan’s death. Buffy feels sick and dirty about what happened, and she figures that Faith is feeling the same way, but is covering it up. She tells Faith that they should talk to Giles.

“No!” says Faith. “We’re not bringing anybody else into this. You got to keep your head, B. This is all going to blow over in a few days.”

“And if it doesn’t?” asks Buffy.

“If it doesn’t, they got a freighter leaving the docks at least twice a day,” says Faith. “It ain’t fancy, but it gets you gone.”

“And that’s it?” asks Buffy. “You just live with it? You see the dead guy in your head every day for the rest of your life?”

“Buffy, I’m not going to see anything. I missed the mark last night and I’m sorry about the guy, I really am, but it happens! Anyway, how many people do you think we’ve saved by now, thousands? And didn’t you stop the world from ending? Because in my book, that puts you and me in the plus column.”

“We help people!” says Buffy. “It doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want.”

“Why not?” asks Faith. “The guy I offed was no Gandhi. I mean, we just saw he was mixed up in dirty dealings.”

“Maybe,” says Buffy, “but what if he was coming to us for help?”

“What if he was?” asks Faith. “You’re still not seeing the big picture, B. Something made us different. We’re warriors. We’re built to kill.”

“To kill demons!” says Buffy. “But it does not mean that we get to pass judgment on people like we’re better than everybody else!”

“We are better!” says Faith. She sees the look Buffy is giving her. “That’s right, better. People need us to survive. In the balance, nobody’s going to cry over some random bystander who got caught in the crossfire.”

“I am,” says Buffy.

“Well, that’s your loss.” Faith turns her back on Buffy and walks away.

Buffy arrives home, and finds that Detective Stein is waiting for her. He has some questions about Allan’s death, and where Buffy was last night. He has a witness which places a couple of girls matching Buffy and Faith’s descriptions near the alley. Buffy tells him that she spent the evening at Faith’s watching TV.

Stein repeats the interview at Faith’s motel. She gives mostly the same answers Buffy did. Stein suspects that Buffy and Faith are covering for each other, but they both stick to their story. When he leaves Faith’s motel room Angel is watching from the shadows.

Buffy knocks on Willow’s patio door. She needs to talk to her.

Willow lets Buffy in. She wants to talk to Buffy too. “’Cause I’ve been letting things fester, and I don’t like it. I want to be fester-free. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I completely understand why you and Faith have been doing the bonding thing. You guys work together. You should get along.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” says Buffy.

“But, see, it’s that exact thing that’s just ticking me off!” says Willow. “It’s this whole ‘Slayers only’ attitude. I mean, since when wouldn’t I understand? You, you talk to me about everything. It’s like all of a sudden I’m not cool enough for you because I can’t kill things with my bare hands.”

Buffy puts her face into her hands, and starts to cry.

“Oh! Oh, Buffy! Don’t cry!” Willow goes to Buffy and hugs her. “I’m sorry. I was too hard on you! Sometimes I unleash. I don’t know my own strength. It’s bad! I’m bad. I’m a bad, bad, bad person!”

“Will, I’m in trouble,” says Buffy.

Buffy tells Willow about what happened with Allan Finch, and Faith’s attitude toward it all. Willow tells her that she has to go to Giles. He’ll know what to do.

Buffy finds Giles in the library. She starts to tell him what happened, but she discovers that Faith is already there, and starts to change her story.

“It’s okay, Buffy. I told him,” says Faith.

“You told him?”

“I had to,” says Faith. “He had to know what you did.”

“What I did?” asks Buffy. She realizes that Faith has told Giles that she was the one who killed Finch. “Giles, no! Tha-That’s just not what happened!”

Giles is too angry to listen to Buffy. “I don’t want to hear it, Buffy. I don’t want to hear any more lies.”

“You can’t be serious!” Buffy tells Faith. “You’re setting me up?”

“Get in my office, now!” Giles orders Buffy. “Faith, I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

“Giles, please,” says Buffy, “you have to—”

“Now!” says Giles. Buffy goes into his office, and Faith leaves the library.

Giles comes back into his office to talk with Buffy.

“Giles, I didn’t do this,” says Buffy. “I swear. Look, I know that I messed up badly, but the murder, it was—”

“Faith. I know,” says Giles. “She may have many talents, Buffy, but fortunately, lying is not one of them.” He had only played along with her, pretending to believe her, to see how far she would take her charade.

“Try far,” says Buffy, “Like, all the way.”

Giles is a little disappointed that Buffy didn’t come to him sooner. She tells him she wanted to, but Faith wouldn’t hear of it. “It’s not all her fault, Giles. We both thought it was a vampire. I only realized it a second before.”

Giles tells Buffy that this isn’t first time something like this has happened. The Slayer is in the front line of a nightly war. Accidents happen. When they do the Council normally investigates to decide what action needs to be taken, but in this case Giles doesn’t trust their judgement. “She’s unstable, Buffy. I mean, she’s utterly unable to accept responsibility.”

“She’s freaking,” says Buffy, “So, so then we just have to help her deal, right?”

“She’s in denial,” says Giles. “There is no help for her until she admits what happened.”

Buffy thinks she should try talking to Faith again, but Giles thinks she’s too close. Maybe one of the others could try. In the meantime he doesn’t want to bring anyone else in on this until he’s had a chance to think it over some more. Unfortunately, Wesley has entered the library and overheard the end of their conversation. He leaves again without being noticed.

Act III

Wesley makes a phone call to Quentin Travers from his hotel room.

Buffy and Giles discuss how they should deal with Faith with Xander and Willow. Willow suggests another intervention like the one they did with Buffy about Angel. No one thinks that is a good idea. Giles thinks that a one on one approach would be better.

Xander suggests that maybe he should talk to Faith. They have a connection. Everyone else is doubtful and wonders why he should think that he has any sort of connection with Faith.

“I don’t see it, Xander,” says Giles. “I mean, of all of us, you’re the one person arguably that Faith has had the least contact with.”

“Yeah, but we hung out a little…recently, and she seemed to be, um…responsive,” says Xander. Willow looks enlightened, and saddened by that.

Buffy asks when Xander and Faith had hung out, and he tells her how he helped Faith out with one of the Sisterhood of Jhe demons, and he gave her a ride home.

“And you guys talked?” asks Buffy.

“Not extensively. No,” says Xander.

“Then why would you—” Buffy figures it out. “Oh.”

Giles gets it too. “Oh!” He and Buffy both look toward Willow.

“I don’t need to say ‘Oh.’” says Willow. “I got it before. They slept together.” An awkward silence falls over the group, until Giles suggests that they move on.

“Alright. Look, I know that you mean well, Xander,” says Buffy, “but, um, I just don’t see Faith opening up to you. She doesn’t take the guys that she has a…connection with very seriously. And they’re, they’re kind of a big joke to her. No offense.”

“Oh, no! I mean, why would I be offended by that?” asks Xander.

Giles suggests that Xander can help him with researching what it is that Mr. Trick might be up to with the Mayor, and he suggests to Willow that she can try breaking into the Mayor’s computer files. They need to take a much closer look at him. In the meantime he still has no idea what to do about Faith. He needs more time to think.

“She needs help now,” says Buffy. “I owe her that.”

Willow retreats into the girl’s washroom. She sits in one of the stalls crying.

Xander goes to Faith’s motel room to talk to her, despite what Buffy told him. Faith is not happy to see him. She is getting tired of people telling her that she has to talk with them. He tells her that this won’t take long, and asks if he can come in.

Faith seems to think that Xander has an ulterior motive. He quickly assures her that he doesn’t. “It’s just, I heard about what happened, and I thought you might need a friend.”

“So then, go talk to Buffy. She’s the one who killed a guy,” says Faith.

“Yeah. I heard that version.”

“Version?” asks Faith

“Either way, it sounds like it was an accident, and that’s the important part,” says Xander.

“No,” says Faith “The important part is that Buffy is the ‘accidental’ murderer.”

“Faith, you may not think so, but I sort of know you,” says Xander. “And I’ve seen you post-battle. And I know firsthand that you’re, um…like a wild thing. And half the time, you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“And you’re living proof of that, aren’t you?” asks Faith.

“See, you’re trying to hurt me,” says Xander. “But right now, you need someone on your side. What happened wasn’t your fault. And I’m willing to testify to that. In court if you need me.”

“You’d dig that, wouldn’t you?” asks Faith. “To get up in front of all your geek pals and go on record about how I made you my boy toy for a night.”

Xander tells her that’s not it, but Faith doesn’t believe him. She steps closer to him and runs her hands over his face. “You just came by here ’cause you want another taste, don’t you?”

“No!” says Xander. “I mean, it was nice. It was great. It was kind of a blur. But, okay, some day, sure, yay, but not now. Not like this.”

“More like how then?” asks Faith. “Lights on or off? Kinks or vanilla?”

Xander pushes her away. “Faith, come on. I came here to help you. I thought we had a connection.”

Faith laughs at Xander. She grabs him by the shirt and pushes him onto her bed. She jumps on top of him “You want to feel a connection? It’s just skin.” She pulls open his shirt. “I see. I want. I take.” She kisses Xander. “I forget.” She starts to rub herself against him.

“No. No, wait!” says Xander. “It was more than that.”

“I could do anything to you right now, and you want me to.” Faith kisses Xander. “I can make you scream.” She bites his lip. “I could make you die.” Her hands go around Xander’s neck, and she starts to strangle him.

Xander starts to struggle, trying to pull her hands from his neck, but he’s no match for a Slayer. As Xander is passing out Angel comes into Faith’s room, and hits her with a baseball bat.

Faith wakes up chained to the wall in Angel’s mansion. “Finally decided to tie me up, huh? I always knew you weren’t really a one-Slayer guy.”

Angel is sitting nearby, still holding the baseball bat. “I’m sorry about the chains. It’s not that I don’t trust you… Actually, it is that I don’t trust you.”

Faith tries to tell Angel that she was just playing with Xander, but Angel isn’t buying it.

Faith isn’t buying Angel either when he tells her he just wants to talk. “That’s what they all say. And then it’s just, ‘Lemme stay the night. Won’t try anything.’”

Angel isn’t in any hurry. He isn’t getting any older. He leaves Faith and walks out into his garden.

Buffy is waiting in the garden. She’s hopeful that Angel can get through to Faith. Angel is less so. He’s afraid that Faith may have developed a taste for killing. Buffy leaves to pick up some of Faith’s stuff for her. She expects Faith will be staying with Angel for a while.

Mayor Wilkins and Mr. Trick watch the security tapes which show Buffy and Faith entering Allan Finch’s office the night before. They also show that the Slayers saw Wilkins and Trick together. The Mayor is not pleased. He orders Trick to do something about the Slayers, quickly, since they haven’t got enough evidence to arrest them.

“I know what’s going on with you.” Angel tells Faith.

“Join the club,” says Faith. “Everybody seems to have a theory.”

“But I know what it’s like to take a life,” says Angel. “To feel a future, a world of possibilities, snuffed out by your own hand. I know the power in it. The exhilaration. It was like a drug for me.”

“Yeah?” asks Faith. “Sounds like you need some help. A professional maybe.”

“A professional couldn’t have helped me,” says Angel. “It stopped when I got my soul back. My human heart.”

“Goody for you. If we’re going to party, let’s get on with it.” Faith holds out her manacled wrists to him. “Otherwise, could you let me out of these things?”

“Faith, you have a choice. You’ve tasted something few ever do. I mean, to kill without remorse is to feel like a god.”

“Right now, all I feel is a cramp in my wrist.” Faith pulls at the chains. “So let me go!”

Angel ignores Faith’s protests. “But you’re not a god. You’re not much more than a child. Going down this path will ruin you. You can’t imagine the price for true evil.”

“Yeah?” asks Faith. “I hope evil takes MasterCard.”

“You and me, Faith, we’re a lot alike. Time was, I thought humans existed just to hurt each other.” Angel sits down beside her. “But then I came here. And I found out that there are other types of people. People who genuinely wanted to do right. And they make mistakes. And they fall down. You know, but they keep caring. Keep trying. If you can trust us, Faith, this can all change. You don’t have to disappear into the darkness.”

Angel is interrupted by a pounding on his door. He goes to see what it is and is surprised by Wesley, and a couple of other men who have just broken in his front door. Wesley is carrying an enormous cross. They knock Angel down, toss a net over him, and beat him unconscious.

Wesley frees Faith. At first she’s happy so see him, until he slaps some handcuffs on her and informs her that she’s being taken to England to face the judgement of the Council.

Act IV

Wesley and one of his goons have Faith chained up in the back of a van. Faith is testing her restraints. Wesley tells his companion to tighten them.

When the goon gets close enough Faith kicks his feet out from under him, and pins his head to the floor with her foot. She tells Wesley that if he doesn’t let her go she will crush the guy’s skull.

Wesley casts a glance at a large wrench lying on the van floor. Faith notices and presses harder on the goon’s head. She warns Wes not to try.

Wesley gives in, and unlocks her restraints. “Faith, you can’t keep running.”

Faith punches Wesley and he falls to the floor on top of the wrench. He grabs it and tries to swing it at her, but Faith blocks him. “Wrong again, Wes.” She hits him again, and knocks him out.

Faith kicks open the back doors, and jumps out of the still moving van.

Buffy arrives back at Angel’s and finds him tied up and Faith gone.

Buffy and Angel go to the library to tell the others what happened. Buffy wants to intercept Wesley before they can get Faith on a plane out of the country.

“I’m just wondering. Why?” asks Willow. Everyone looks at her. “I’m not the most objective, I know. I kind of have an issue with Faith sharing my people.” She glances toward Buffy and Xander. “But she murdered someone and accused Buffy. Then she hurt Xander. I hate to say it, but maybe she belongs behind bars.”

Wesley shows up sporting a black eye, and bearing the news that rescuing Faith from the Council is no longer an issue.

“You let her get away?” asks Buffy.

“‘Let’ wouldn’t be the way I’d phrase it,” says Wesley, “but…yes, she escaped.”

“That’s good work,” says Angel, “First, you terrorize her, then you put her back in the streets.”

“That was hardly my plan,” says Wesley. “I was trying to save her.”

“But you didn’t!” says Buffy. “You probably destroyed her.”

Giles reminds Buffy that this is not the time for handing out blame. They have to find Faith.

Buffy hands out assignments to everyone but Wesley for where to look for Faith. She’ll take the docks, figuring that is the most likely route Faith will be taking out of town.

“What can I do?” asks Wesley. “I want to help.”

“You still got your ticket back to the mother country?” asks Buffy on her way out of the library.

Buffy passes under a ship’s gangplank, as she searches the docks for Faith.

Faith appears behind her at the top of the gangplank. “You don’t give up do you?”

Buffy turns around. “Not on my friends, no.”

Faith doesn’t think that she and Buffy are such good friends, but Buffy thinks it isn’t too late for that to change.

Faith starts down the gangplank toward Buffy. “For me to change and be more like you, you mean?” she asks. “Little Miss Goody-Two-Shoes? It ain’t going to happen, B.”

“Faith, nobody is asking you to be like me, but you can’t go on like this.”

Faith hops down to the dock. “Scares you, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, it scares me,” says Buffy. “Faith, you’re hurting people. You’re hurting yourself.”

That isn’t what Faith thinks is scaring Buffy. “I’ve seen it, B You’ve got the lust. And I’m not just talking about screwing vampires.”

Faith is starting to tread in dangerous territory, Buffy warns her not to go there.

Faith ignores the warning. “It was good, wasn’t it? The sex? The danger? Bet a part of you even dug him when he went psycho.”

Buffy turns her back on Faith, and walks away from her.

Faith follows after Buffy. “See, you need me to toe the line because you’re afraid you’ll go over it, aren’t you, B? You can’t handle watching me living my own way, having a blast, because it tempts you! You know it could be you!”

Buffy has had enough. She gives Faith a backhand punch to the jaw.

Faith seems pleased by Buffy’s reaction. “There’s my girl.”

Buffy tries to walk away from it again. “No. I’m not going to do this.”

“Why not?” Faith rushes to block Buffy’s path. “It feels good. Blood rising.”

Buffy hears a noise and looks up. She sees some crates suspended from a crane overhead. They start to fall. Buffy pushes Faith out of the way, but she doesn’t get clear herself. The crates land on top of her.

Faith gets to her feet and goes to check on Buffy, but three vampires rush her. Faith fights the vampires while Buffy struggles to free herself from the crates. Faith throws one of them into the harbour.

Buffy finally manages to get out from under the crates but Mr. Trick is waiting for her. He punches her as she’s getting to her feet. Buffy is still stunned from the crates, and isn’t in any condition to fight Trick.

Faith stakes one of the vampires she’s fighting, while Trick beats up on Buffy. He wraps a strap from the crates around Buffy’s neck and uses it to strangle her.

Faith stakes her remaining vampire, and look across the dock. She sees Trick dragging Buffy by the strap he has wrapped around her neck.

Trick pushes Buffy up against a shipping container. “I hear once you’ve tasted a Slayer, you never want to go back.” He opens his mouth wide, and moves toward her neck.

Mr. Trick suddenly stops, with a look of surprise on his face. “Oh, no. No, this is no good at all.” He vanishes in a puff of dust, revealing Faith, who is still holding the stake she had shoved into his back. ¹

Epilogue

Buffy sits at the table in the library and tells Giles what happened. “She could have left me there to die, Giles, but she didn’t.”

“She opted to come back to town with you,” says Giles. “That…that bodes well. She still has a lot to face before she can put this behind her.”

“I’m not going to give up on her,” says Buffy.

Giles looks at Buffy. “Then I think she stands a chance.”

Mayor Wilkins is leaving his office for the evening. He finds Faith waiting outside his office door.

“You sent your boy to kill me,” says Faith.

“That’s right, I did.”

“He’s dust.”

“I thought he might be,” says the Mayor, “What with you standing here and all.”

“I guess that means you have a job opening.”

Mayor Wilkins considers that for a moment, and then he steps aside. Faith walks into his office. Mayor Wilkins closes his door.

Death Toll

Notes

1. Mr. Trick should have taken his own advice.