"Hey," she grinned, moving to a chair closer to Dawn's. "How come you're out and about by yourself?"

"So she showed," Faith said, trying not to sound surprised. Or concerned, either. "That's ... good, right? Kinda wasn't sure she ... y'know."

She sat up with an awkward shrug. "Fight? About the whole, she sucks at remembering other people matter and all?"

"Nice job on the kill," Faith said with a nod. "That's the creep that grabbed you this summer, right? Gotta feel good. She still pulling shit about how you shouldn't be in on Slayer stuff?"

"That's ... I guess it's something. Considering B and all." She shrugged. "So what was the bad part, if she took that all right? And you can't save 'em all, Dawnie. If you can't soul him, then you gotta make sure he ain't killin' anybody else. You did that."

"Not any more," Faith said, shaking her head. "Just some creep livin' in his body, that's all."

She waited a long beat, fidgeting with her own straw, before deciding the hell with it. "He messed with you pretty good, didn't he, Dawnie?"

"Your letters. They ain't been the same. Not since he did whatever he did." Faith took another swig out of her glass. "You don't gotta talk about it. Maybe I'm just seeing shit that ain't there. But ... you been grabbed before and it didn't shake you up like that."

"Oh." Faith thought for a few seconds before straightening up. "He was all crazy-evil, right? That's just par for the course. Your average vamp's just looking for a meal. The ones that think they're all badass, they wanna mess with your head. Take the pain over the kill. Tell you stuff where you roll your eyes and of course you don't buy it, 'cept you ain't gonna be sleeping tonight with that going around and around in nonstop playback."

She set her drink down authoritatively. "Trust me, I been the evil crazy type. And you'll say anything just to cut a little deeper. A little truth, a bunch of lies, mix it all up so it sounds right. That don't make it true. Or anything you gotta be worrying about."

Fuck. This was something bad and Faith wasn't exactly Dr. Phil. She ran a hand through her hair. "You can take something that's kinda true and twist it around so hard it don't even mean the same thing any more. Or maybe it was and he just wanted to hurt you with it. I dunno, Dawnie. What'd he even say?"

Faith's eyes flashed. "B said that? Such a ..." And then she shook her head. Right. B's sister. "Look, she cares or whatever. She just can't unclench long enough to let somebody else save the fuckin' world this time, 'cause they'll do it wrong and you know everything's gotta be her way. So it's, okay, Dawnie'll wait. She don't realize what she's ..."

She blew out a breath. "I think maybe you got hosed, kiddo."

"She what?" Faith stared for a moment, and then shoved her chair back, standing up. "You know, I always thought I gave her a raw deal and here she's even more worthless as I thought. Where is that bitch? Me and her gotta have a little chat."

Faith dragged her chair back and sat down, still furious. "Look. She don't ... she's a better Slayer and all that, but ... shit."

She rubbed her eyes. "That was the one thing I ever respected her for. And she took it back. Don't it figure." She laughed, bitterly. "I think sometimes they made the wrong call, Dawnie. And I'm sure that's gotta crack you up. Like you don't got enough problems as it is, right?"

"Those, y'know. Those monks or whoever." Faith swirled the straw around in her drink. "Decided to give you to a Slayer so she'd protect you. So let's see. One of 'em had a nice stable family and went to school and everybody fuckin' loved her, and one of 'em was a psycho who liked to kill people and ended up in jail tryin' to remember which way was up. Wasn't a hard choice, I figure." She stabbed at a few ice cubes with another humorless laugh. "You ever start feelin' down about your life, Dawnie, just remember: it could've been worse. You could've been stuck with me, instead."

"Look, I'm not great with people or anything - but I guess me and B got that in common, right? - but I think about it sometimes. Would've ... taught you to fight, in case shit tried to mess with you. Would've laid some ground rules, with the vamps, so nothing did anyway. Make it real clear what happens to anybody who fucks with you, and how nobody wants to be in the same room as that shit going down. Would've ... I dunno. Guess that means you would've gotten the drunk mom and her loser boyfriends and the rest of it. No money and a fuckin' drop-out sister staking vamps in her free time. Sounds like fun, don't it?"

She finished the last of her drink, adding in a barely audible voice, "I wouldn't have taken it back."