"Hello." Willow said picking up the phone.
"Hey Red." Faith replied.
"Faith?"
"Yeah." Faith confirmed, "Look I need to talk to you
and Spike."
"Spike and me?" Willow asked. "Why? Cause if you're
just going to tell me about how I shouldn't go away
and he's evil then we don't have the time."
"That's not it. Well its about that but it's not what
I plan on saying okay. Is tonight okay?"
"I'm supposed to patrol with Buffy." Willow said not
sure what Faith wanted but it sounded important.
"Spike's coming over after, if you want be at my place
at midnight."
"'Kay. See you tonight." Faith said hanging up the
phone.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
"Faith is coming here?" Spike asked, "Ow. Careful
Pet."
"Sorry." Willow said setting down the bottle of
antiseptic. "Yeah. She says she needs to talk to us."
"And you're sure she doesn't plan on staking me."
"If I wanted to stake you I would have by now." Faith
said coming through the French doors. "Damn what
happen to your face."
"Angel." Spike and Willow answered together.
"Thought he was peaceful now." Faith said sitting down
on the bed.
"Yeah well, he doesn't like me much." Spike answered
as Willow finished cleaning the cuts and put the first
aid kit away.
"What did you need to tell us Faith." Willow said
moving to sit next to the slayer.
"Angel and Giles don't think Willow will be safe going
to New York with you." Faith began.
"Got that impression last night." Spike said gesturing
to his face.
"Right. Anyway they decided that I should go to New
York to keep Willow safe."
"God I can't believe them." Willow began. "I'm
eighteen years old and they still don't think I can
take care of myself. I can't believe they thought I
would go along with this."
"Well yeah, that's part of the plan. When Giles called
to tell me that the Council approved me going he said
he and Angel had decided it was best if you didn't
know until later. That you would obviously give
someone the address to where you'd be and I could fly
in before you and find an apartment nearby and watch
you. I would only have to tell you if one of you
spotted me."
"I should call them right." Willow began still angry.
"Wait a minute Pet." Spike said quietly then turning
to the slayer, "Why are you telling us this?"
"I have no desire to follow you two around for the
rest of my life." Faith said, "I'm going to New York
because if I don't one of them probably will but I'd
rather just go and do the slaying thing. I mean there
have to be vampires in a city like New York."
"So you trust me?" Spike asked.
"No. But I do trust Willow." Faith said standing up.
"And I will be there hopefully as your friend, but if
I even think you're hurting her I'll dust you."
"Faith." Willow said as the slayer approached the
doors, "Thanks."
"No problem. Just don't let on that you know. If they
think I'm siding with you God only knows what they'll
think of next." Faith said and headed out he door.
~Part: 32~ Graduation
Spike moved through the shadows of the school avoiding
the windows with sunlight streaming through them. He
shouldn't be here it was dangerous, he knew that, but
he didn't want to miss Willow's graduation either. He
spotted Angel looking through a window down the hall
and headed toward him.
"Why are you here?" Angel asked as Spike moved behind
him.
"Same reason you are." Spike asked.
"Go away Spike."
"Not until I see Willow walk across that stage." Spike
said moving next to the older vampire.
"You shouldn't be here. She's a child." Angel said
facing Spike.
"Right, and the Slayer isn't?" Spike asked.
"Spike it's." Angel began.
"Back off guys." Faith said walking up to the two
angry vampires. "You two getting into a fight is only
going to draw attention to yourselves. Something
neither of you need right now."
"He's the one hiding." Angel muttered but backed away
from the younger vampire.
"Yeah, but if you fight with him, Buffy will end up
back here and you'll have to explain that you've known
he was here for months, and your both likely to be
dust before it's over." Faith pointed out.
"She's right." Spike said smirking, "Wouldn't want
Buffy to know you've been bad."
"Back off Spike." Faith said, "Or I'll stake you
myself." Now it was Angel's turn to smirk.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
"Are we really ready to do this?" Xander asked
approaching the three girls in the library.
"Hell, yeah. Can't wait to leave high school." Buffy
said.
"Yeah now we get to go to college!" Willow said
cheerfully as Cordiela helped her fasten her cap to
her hair.
"Only you could be excited about more school." Xander
muttered.
"Besides, can't be happy about it if you're leaving in
a few days." Buffy said.
"I know, I'm gonna miss you guys. But I'll come back
to visit a lot, I promise. And you can come to New
York." Willow said trying lighten the mood.
"But your leaving so soon." Xander said.
"God you guys. How many times does she have to explain
this. She doesn't want to live in a dorm with
strangers. Her parents are willing to pay for an
apartment but she has to go there to find one."
Cordiela said as she finished Willow's hair. "She said
she may be back to visit before the summers over."
"Thanks Cordy." Willow said smiling at her. "I've
gotten tired of explaining it."
"I've gotten tired of hearing it."
"It's time for you guys to take your seats." Giles
said poking his head through the door.
"Let's go." Buffy said hugging her friends.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Willow glanced behind her again. Spike said he would
be here today. She didn't know how, it was the middle
of the afternoon. He must be hiding in the building
somewhere. She worried about this only because Angel
was also hiding in the building somewhere. Fortunately
Faith promised that she would find them and make sure
they behaved.
She watched quietly through all the speeches and
sighed in relief when they finally started calling
students up to receive their diplomas. She just wanted
this day over. She had a couple days to say good-bye
to her friends before her and Spike left for New York.
They all bought that she was leaving next week to find
an apartment, but the truth was that Spike and Faith
had already flown to New York and found two
apartments. She just wanted to get Spike out of town
before anyone else found out. There had been more and
more close calls lately. Buffy had stopped by one
night while Spike was over. They had almost run into
Cordiela at the movies one night. She was always
afraid that Giles or Faith would slip and say
something. She needed to get away from Sunnydale soon.
She heard her name and crossed the stage receiving
her diploma glad that the day was almost over.
!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
Spike stepped out of the closet and wrapped his arms
around Willow's waist as she pulled the grabbed
pajamas out of the dresser.
"Spike damn it you scared me." Willow said startled.
"Sorry. Evil though remember." Spike said kissing her
neck.
"Keep forgetting." She said turning in his arms to
face him.
"Saw your graduation." Spike said breaking away from
Willow's kiss.
"Angel told me you were there." Willow said smiling,
"Faith said you even tried to behave yourself."
"If you mean not dusting the poof." Spike said moving
away to sit on the bed. "Then yes I did. Did you have
fun at your party."
"Yeah. I guess." Willow replied sitting next to him.
"Now that leaving is so close I'm getting kind of
homesick."
"We don't have to go so soon." Spike said, "The
apartments ours, its paid for a year."
"We need to go. Things are getting to dangerous here."
"You can visit as much as you want." Spike said.
"I know it still feels odd to be leaving Sunnydale."
Willow said, "But not being with you feels wrong too."
"It really won't be so bad after a while." Spike said
soothingly. "And if it is you can always transfer back
to Sunnydale right."
"Yeah." Willow said kissing him again. "Buffy and
Cordy are coming over early tomorrow to take me
shopping for 'New York Clothes'."
"I'll let you get some sleep." Spike said kissing her
again. "See you tomorrow."
~Part: 33~ New York
"How did you talk them out of making you leave early?"
Willow asked as they boarded the plane.
"Didn't. Angel gave me a ticket leaving this morning.
I traded it in for this flight its not like anyone was
going to make sure I left." Faith responded, "Where's
Spike?"
"He's meeting me on the plane. We weren't sure if
Buffy and Xander would insist on coming in.
Fortunately Buffy needed to patrol tonight so they
couldn't stay."
The pair made their way down the aisle until they
located their seats. As they sat down Spike came up
behind them and tossed a bag into the seat closest to
the window.
"Thought you were leaving this morning?" Spike asked
as he took his seat.
"Didn't want to." Faith said simply.
"What ever." Spike said leaning over to kiss Willow.
"You sure you're ready for this?"
"Yeah." Willow said quietly.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Willow walked through the door as Spike pushed it open
and picked up the bags she had brought with her. The
rest of her things were being shipped and would arrive
in a couple days.
"This is great Spike." She said as he set the bags
down inside the door, "How are we going to afford it.
This is more than the budget I gave you, and Faith
can't possibly afford an apartment in this building."
"I've told you before I have money, don't worry about
it. The Watcher's Council is giving Faith a great deal
of living expenses money at least until they find her
a watcher and Angel is supplying the rest." Spike
said, "So you like it."
"Of course I do." She said hugging him, "Angel's
paying her rent?"
"Not all of it. We found these apartments, I liked
them. She called Angel and told him this was where I
rented an apartment, so if he wanted her close he
would have to make up the difference in her rent."
Spike said smiling, "He's so concerned that I'll kill
you now that you're away from Sunnydale he said he'd
take care of the money."
"You picked someplace this expensive on purpose didn't
you?"
"If he's going to insist she baby-sit us then he can
pay for it."
"He's right." Faith said walking in the apartment.
"These apartments are perfect."
"Aren't they?" Willow said smiling and hugging her new
friend, "We really should get settled in, I promised
to call Xander and Buffy tonight."
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
"Hello."
"Hey Willow?"
"Xander, Guess what? I found an apartment already."
"Really. It's only been one day."
"I know, but first place I called had a vacancy and
was within the budget my parents gave me, and it was
absolutely perfect. Furnished and everything."
"That's great. So does this mean you're coming home to
visit soon?"
"Maybe in a couple weeks. My parents are shipping my
stuff tomorrow and I want to get settled in before I
leave again."
"Makes sense. We miss you already. Patrol was weird
without you."
"I know I miss you guys too. But this is good for all
of us right?"
"Yeah. I suppose so."
"I've got to go, still have some things to pick up
before it gets dark. Tell Buffy I called okay. I'll
call again in a couple days, with my new phone number
and I'll give you guys my address then."
"Okay Bye."
"Tell Everyone I love them. Bye."
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
"Hi Angel."
"Have they arrived yet?"
"Yeah. I have the apartment below theirs."
"Great. Keep a close eye on them I still don't trust
Spike."
"I know, Willow is my friend I won't let anything
happen to her."
"Just remember not to let them see you."
"Yeah, you and Giles have only told me that a million
times. Even if they know I'm here, Willow knew the
Council was sending me to the east coast."
"Just be careful."
"Sure, what ever."
"Make sure to keep us updated."
"Yeah. I'll call every week."
"Bye."
"Bye."
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
"Faith called. Willow and Spike are there and she's in
the apartment below them." Angel said walking into
Giles office.
"She understands her responsibility then?" Giles said
looking up from his book.
"She seems to. I think Willow's okay for now. She'll
probably maintain a lot of contact with Buffy and
Xander for a while anyway.
"Yes Xander said she called him this afternoon. Told
him she already found an apartment and she'd call him
or Buffy in a couple days with an address and phone
number and would probably come and visit in a couple
weeks." Giles assured the vampire.
"Good. As long as she has contact with everyone here
she'll be more safe."
"Are you sure we aren't over reacting to this move."
"I'd rather be safe than sorry." Angel said as he
heard voices approaching the library. "I've got to
get out of here let me know if you hear anything." He
finished as he headed back into the stacks.