Chasing the Girl

Disclaimer - part one
Part 5

Earlier.

"Damn, Red, what the fuck is wrong with you guys?"

Faith stood up and started pacing the room.

Kennedy stood in an effort to challenge Faith, but Willow pulled her back down.

"This shit went on for a year and you let it go. It's a phase, and you overlooked it. Were you all high?"

Faith was pacing, smoking and wringing her hands. Kennedy looked ready to attack but Willow just sighed.

"Faith, we were all in a weird place. It wasn't like we didn't want to help, but how do you help Buffy? You know how she is. We didn't know why she was doing it; we didn't know how to fix it..." Willow trailed off and started crying.

"Fact is, Faith," Kennedy said. "we really couldn't care."

"You didn't care?"

"No, I said we couldn't care. The First was still on our minds. Xander had lost Anya. We were tired. We just wanted things to go on and we couldn't deal with Buffy, too. When we tried to, and trust me the amount of times we tried is numerous, she made it seem like we were blowing it out of proportion. Like we didn't know what we were talking about. Always saying it wasn't a big deal."

Willow had stopped crying. "And we believed her, because we wanted to, because it made everything a little easier if we bought her excuses. Buffy is the strong one, Faith, you know that. Tell me what you would have done differently."

Faith thought, but did not say, 'I probably would have been in the thick of it.'

Instead she sat back down and muttered

"I don't know. So, what happened? If that was only the tip, where's the rest?"

Kennedy answered first.

"It went downhill and it went downhill fast when we got back. We tried the intervention thing. We begged her to see someone. 'Who?' She said. 'Oh, I used to kill vampires caI waI was Chosen, now I'm one of hundreds, so I don't really have to anymore.'

'Who am I gonna talk t She She asked us. She'd get all sad and weepy one minute then the next she'd just laugh like we were idiots and didn't have a clue what she was doing. She'd leave for weeks at a time, we'd never know when she was coming back. If Willow wasn't good with the tracking spells, we'd never know where she was."

"Where'd she go?"

"Miami, New York, Dallas, Mexico City, you name it, she was there. I could track her pretty easily, but I never told her. The one time I mentioned it, when I asked her what she was doing, she went off, told me to stay the fuck out of her business and to go ahead and shove my head back up Ken's ass." Faith looked at Willow stunned. "I swear that's what she said. What could I do? We were losing her and she wanted to be lost."

"That's when Xander said maybe we should let it be. We can't help her if she doesn't want it. So we did." Kennedy said, putting her head in her hands. "And she left and she didn't come back, not for two years."

"She was gone two years? Where?"

"Here. She was still here, but we didn't see her. We wrote her off and everything about her. Occasionally Xander or I would see her at the market or on the French Quarters. She ignored us and we ignored her. She built this whole other life, with another group of people, with a certain person."

Willow looked at Kennedy hesitantly as she finished. "She had made a new life and we were not a part of it, not in any way."

Faith had held her breath at the mention of the other person. She wanted to ask who it was, who was the person that made B give up her friends, her life? What kind of hold did they have on her?

But she didn't.

"So, she has this whole life for two years and then she comes back. Timing still doesn't add up. This would have been last year, so what's the what? What happened between the time she left and now? Why did she come back? Why is she not here now?"

This time it was Kennedy who stood up and started pacing.

"His name was Malcolm. He owned a bar on the outskirts of town. Several, actually. They catered to the rich and eccentric. If you had money and knew what you wanted, Malcolm could get it. You think of the worst thing you can imagine, some sick fantasy of some twisted wealthy motherfucker, with deep psychological issues, and Malcolm could deliver. Buffy was in one of his clubs one night and he recognized her. Like I said, guy had connections. He knew she was a Slayer and he knew she was into alternative lifestyles. He also thought she was hot."

Kennedy looked at Willow as she rolled her eyes. "What? He did. Anyway, he courted her, took her all over the place, showed her what money and no inhibitions could do."

"And she loved it." Faith stated.

"Of course. By that time she was already into the scene and he was the master. He liked her. She liked him. It was only a matter of time."

"Before what?"

"Before they..." Willow said looking at her hands. "...before they got, umm, married."

Faith had stood up then, again, and slammed her hands on the coffee table.

"What?? Married? She married some sick psycho fuck who's into god knows what and you don't care?"

Willow moved to speak and Faith stopped her, trying to hide the thoughts running through her head. Married? What the fuck, married?

"I get it you wrote her off, okay. So she had this whole other life. What I don't get is why she came back? Why did she let this happen? Why...why did you call me?"

Willow could tell that she was on the verge of tears and got up and sat down beside her.

"What do you want to know first? Why we called you? It was after she came back. She was drunk and she hit Kennedy hard, out of the blue, and she screamed at her:

'Why'd you leave me? What did I do? You're the big bad girl and all you do is run away. Run. Run. Run. You're a scared child.'

"It took us a minute to figure out she thought Ken was you." Willow said, looking Faith in the eye. "That was a few weeks ago, before she took off again, after all the others, the worst part, and I debated for a few weeks and realized I should call you."

"Faith," She said, turning the girl to face her. "she's going to do something. It's only a matter of time before she hurts someone. Be the the damage she causes becomes permanent."

"Already is, in my opinion." Kennedy said. "After what she did to Rose. I don't know how Wills even wants to help her."

Before Faith could ask "Who's Rose?" Willow jumped in.

"It's because of Rose I want to help her, Ken. Jesus, we have a chance, it may be our last but it's a chance."

Faith watched the exchange dumbfounded. "Who's Rose?"

Willow picked up a photograph from the coffee table. It had fallen over when Faith slammed her hands on it earlier. In it was a picture of a little girl.

"Her daughter."



To be continued