by Rob Sorenson

Willow Rosenberg was emotionally in shambles. She'd managed to stagger to her car and drive toward home. Her anger was mostly dissolved, slowly being replaced with a sense of emptiness and shame. She couldn't understand why she'd lashed out so. <Of all the things in the world for me to get upset about, who Xander decides to date shouldn't matter.> Willow laughed bitterly. <A little late to attempt to be mature and accepting now, genius. I've just driven my oldest friend to the point of being physically violent toward me.>

Outside of his brief period as a hyena, never had he looked at her with those eyes or moved toward her with violent intent. The Wicca had fought the worst of demons to the edge of her own demise. She'd been overcome by dark forces within herself that had threatened to end the world. For all that she has seen and done over the last eight years, nothing compared to the sight of Xander Harris with his hand raised to strike her. It was the most frightened she'd ever been, compounded by the look on Buffy's face after he ran out. <I think she was on the edge of doing something to hurt me too. All over Xander dating Faith.>

She felt a hint of disdain come over her being at the thought of the dark haired Slayer. Whatever progress she'd made since her imprisonment, it wasn't enough for the redhead to trust her. <Xander thinks with his heart, and Faith can take full advantage of that...using him and spitting him out like all the others.> She told herself that jealousy and possessiveness had nothing to do with it, but, in the back of her extraordinary, mind she knew better. It was much like Buffy and Angel; that little piece of Will's heart that died after her first love was lost will always remain with Xander, and the final nail in the coffin was hammered home by Faith. Grudgingly Willow came to realize that this was a long held grudge with no point. She was gay. She held no physical need for Xander at this point. The emotional need, however, was still great.

It came to Willow that the real source of her anger was Xander's lack of trust in her. He didn't tell her that he and Faith were sleeping together. <Of course, he didn't tell me because he thought I'd go ballistic. Guess he may have had a point there.> She smiled ruefully at that thought. Her analytical mind summed it up thusly: <I understand why Xander didn't tell me about his current relationship. He was right to be concerned....and even so, I'm still pissed at him because he didn't tell me anyway.> Her shoulders slumped; tears began forming in her eyes. Such is the state of close friendships within the Scooby Gang. It seems like someone's always going to get hurt, regardless of intention. ***********************************************************

The Cadillac that contained Xander's limp form had merged onto the Interstate a scant ten seconds before Buffy and Faith tore around the corner of Revello Drive. They'd ran the 500 yards from the Summers home in half a minute, with Buffy leading the way. Spike followed behind, reaching the two Slayers shortly after. Buffy looked frantically around; clearly there had been evidence of a struggle here, and yet there was nothing nearby to indicate where he was. More importantly....."Faith, I can't feel him." Her counterpart stared at her.

"What are you saying, B? Are you telling me he's..." she couldn't finish. Buffy took her shaking hand in her own.

"No. I didn't mean that. It's just....his waking feelings aren't functioning. This is how it feels when one of us is asleep." <It has to be that, she thought. It just has to be.>

Spike looked confused. "Clue me in here Buffy. What's the deal?" The blonde Slayer sighed.

"I don't know how to explain this, William, and we don't have time right now. I'll boil it down: Xander and I can sense each other's feelings and we're not sure why. I wasn't going to mention it to you unless we had some idea of the purpose. I was worried it'd...bother you. It's not a romantic connection at all," she hurried to add, "more like a sibling thing." Spike decided not to push the issue right now, though he felt betrayed by her lack of trust in his belief in their relationship. Buffy's abandonment issues were yet again rearing their ugly head. <More importantly, something bad happened to Xander here. Gotta focus on that right now.>

"This blood is fresh, and some of it is his." Both Slayers closed their eyes at this knowledge, receiving confirmation of their fears upon seeing the red liquid spilled on the concrete. Faith was the first to respond. "What do you mean some? Someone else bled here? Demon?"

Spike frowned and shook his head. "This is all human. I'm pickin' up four different ones. One of 'em is Xander's....I've had his scent many times. The other three I have no idea. Plus... some chemical. Chloroform, I think." Buffy reacted to this bit of sniffed out info.

"If they used chloroform, that would explain why I don't sense him. He's unconscious. Ok, so he gets attacked by at least three guys, all of whom leave bleeding."

Despite the grave situation, all three felt a strange sense of pride at the fight Xander had put up...especially Faith. <The bastards couldn't fight fair; they had to use chemicals to take my baby down. Losers.> The feeling of pride was rapidly replaced by dread again. "Ok, so we find him. Let's look around the neighborhood."

Buffy shook her head. "Faith, he's not in the neighborhood. They knocked him out to take him somewhere. We need another way. A faster way." She exchanged a meaningful look with Spike, and he understood. "We need Willow." **********************************************************

Two minutes later Willow's cellphone rang. She looked down at the caller ID. Once she saw Buffy's number appear, she hesitated. She wasn't sure she could talk to them right now. She decided she'd call back in the morning and allowed her voicemail to pick it up. Buffy didn't use foul language very often, especially around Dawn. She found the need to use it here. "SHIT!! DAMMIT, WILL!" She tried her home phone, and got the machine. She slammed down the phone without leaving a message, leaving a dent in her phone's cradle. "Come on. We're driving over there."

Faith's face was dark. "Yeah, actually I think I'd like to talk to Red right now." Spike turned to look directly into her eyes.

"Faith, I don't know what happened here tonight, but I'm guessing you aren't lookin' to have a conversation. We need Willow right now. Can you handle it or not?"

Faith's eyes were hard, but she nodded quickly. "Let's hit it."

"I'm going too." Dawn had joined them in the kitchen. "If we're doing a locator spell, Willow could use a partner." Buffy rubbed her hand violently against her forehead, trying to control the feeling of panic that was seeping in.

"Ok, let's go."

Willow was startled by the resounding thuds on her door. <Faith>, was her first thought, coming for a fight. She didn't want to hurt Faith....not really. If she had to, though, she would. She moved toward her door slowly and carefully.....only to have it kicked in toward her. She indeed saw Faith, along with Buffy, Spike and Dawn. All four had dark looks, some more than mildly accusatory, but Faith was burning a hole through her with her gaze. Willow stammered "W-what are you doing here? What's wrong?"

It was Dawn who found her voice first, and it was ice-cold: "We need a locator spell. Yesterday." ************************************************************ <Xander Harris was in a playground, looking at himself in an ice-cream truck. Spike and Giles were on a swingset nearby, in broad daylight. They were saying something about Spike having the stuff to be a Watcher, and the blonde vamp was wearing an ugly beige tweed suit. He looked to the sandbox......and saw nothing.> He awoke with a start, and his pounding head served as a quick reminder that he'd been hit with a stick in the head, with a nitrous-hanky thrown in for good measure. His next conscious thought was feeling as if he was being pushed backwards into his seat. Combined with the droning noise, Xander had deduced in about 25 groggy seconds that he was on a plane that had just taken off. He immediately felt nauseous, a combination of getting knocked out with gas and a genuine terror of flying.

He tried to move and found himself tightly bound to his seat. He managed to painfully turn his head slightly, seeing a black-clad gentleman rubbing camouflage makeup off his face...along with some blood. Xander found his voice, but it was a croak: "Where we headed dude? Did I win something? Publisher's Clearing House coming up with a new gimmick to surprise a ten million dollar winner? " His captor looked at him contemptuously and said nothing. <Ok, he's either mute, stupid or evil. I'll take door number three.> He decided to feign passing out again to see if the man would commuinicate more freely if they thought he was out of it. Considering how much he wanted to actually do that he, decided he could handle the Method acting and closed his eyes. A couple of minutes later he was rewarded.

"Mr Travers? Thompson here, sir." Xander had to will himself not to react. <Travers? The Watchers Council guy? I thought they all went kablooie.>

"The subject is still under the effects. He's in and out of consciousness." He paused and listened to Travers' response. "Yes sir, our E.T.A. is currently 3:45 am. We're slightly ahead of schedule. We'll rendevous at JFK in 4 hours. Thank you, sir." Xander heard the button pushed to terminate the call.

<Well, I'm going to New York. I don't know why, but I don't think it's for a tour of the Museum of Natural History. If anything I'll get a tour of the bottom of the East River.> He opened his eyes and looked to the ceiling of the executive jet. <Mirrors. These rich people are such lazy-ass freaks. If you want to join the Mile High Club, earn it like the rest of us poor saps and do it in the bathrooms that require chiropractic care after your done.> He then closed his eyes again, and tried to feel Buffy's presence. He got nothing. The dream had made it pretty clear before, but he'd wanted to make certain. Their mental bond had a mileage limit. He didn't want to be weak, but....oh Hell. <Lord, I'm not sure I believe in you all the time. I've seen too much. If you could just see your way clear to send me Buffy, Willow and Faith to get me out of here I promise to give you some more thought.> After finishing his pseudo-prayer he faded to sleep....for real this time. ************************************************************* Willow and Dawn held hands in the middle of their protective circle as the Slayers and Vampire looked on anxiously. White light was surrounding both Senior and Junior Wiccan; Willow's head was tilted toward the ceiling. After 2 minutes of concentration she broke the spell. Dawn lay flat on her back in exhaustion prompting Spike to run immediately to her side.

"It's ok, William. I'm good. Little tired, though." They shared gentle smiles. The moment was broken by the raspy voice Faith used when she was willing herself to get control over her emotions. "Whattaya got?" Willow looked to Dawn, both shook their heads. Avoiding the fierce gaze of Faith, Wills looked to the other Slayer, who was just as frantic, but not anxious to pursue her anger toward Willow just yet.

"Buffy, he isn't here."

"What? I don't get it. He's not in Sunnydale?" Willow seemed to have lost the power of speech as her eyes filled.

Dawn spoke for her. "No, what Willow means is he isn't on the Earth. Anywhere." Dawn's lip was quivering now, and she leaned toward William, who put his arm around her protectively. Faith was shaking her head in disbelief. "Uh-uh. No friggin way. Do it again, Red. Try again."

Willow hung her head. "I redid the spell 4 times. I'm sure." No more words were spoken. Faith moved toward Willow, and she didn't resist. One huge backhand put her into a wall, and Willow stayed there, crying tears of pain, now both emotional and physical. Faith moved to strike her again, but Buffy stood in her way.

The dark headed slayer's eye's flashed and she went into a fighting stance. In an incredible act of will, Buffy avoided responding to her Slayer instincts and didn't crouch in a defensive pose in response. Instead she reached her arms out to Faith, tears streaming down her face. Faith looked quickly in both directions, seemingly trying to get out...to be alone somehow. Buffy didn't allow it, taking Faith into her arms and sobbing. Finally the former Bad Girl Number One totally lost it. An agonized wail escaped from her throat and she clung to Buffy in empty desperation.

Dawn had completely collapsed against William now, wracked with grief. At first the ensouled vampire told himself his tears were of empathy for his Slayer and the Nibblet. Deep inside he knew better. He'd grown to care for Xander, and trusted him more than any other human male he'd ever known in his century and a half of living. His tears were his own, and he decided not to be ashamed of them. The group remained that way for a long time in Willow's dorm room, paralyzed with pain and loss.

- End Chapter Seven -