"What does it matter as long as it goes in the hole?"

"Are you kidding? It's all about technique."

"Did anyone else just go to a strange, but pleasant, visual place?" Xander said twirling the chalk around the end of his cue stick.

Anya hit Xander on the shoulder. "Xander!"

Buffy leaned forward and planned her shot. "So how am I supposed to do this?" Buffy studied the table.

"That's really good Buff. Pretend like you don't know what you're doing, maybe we can hustle some people out of their money." Xander said with a wink.

Faith scoffed and stepped back from the table as Buffy prepared to shoot. "You've never seen her play."

Xander blew the excess chalk off of his cue stick. "I wouldn't bet against her, she's got that slayer coordina-" *Smack* The ball hit Xander square on the forehead. "Ow."

Buffy clasped her hand to her mouth and looked at Xander apologetically. "Sorry..."

Xander rubbed his forehead and put the cue ball back on the table. "So much for slayer coordination."

"It's all geometry. Look." Faith wrapped her arms around Buffy's and took hold of the cue stick. She guided Buffy's hand, brought the cue stick back slowly and gently hit the cue ball. It rolled across the table, ricocheted off one side and lightly tapped the eight ball into the corner pocket. "See?"

Buffy cast a sideways glance at Faith. "I think you were just looking for an excuse to rub up against me."

Faith smiled devilishly and pulled Buffy closer. "I didn't know I needed an excuse."

"Why didn't you explain this pool game to *me* like that Xander?" Anya said crossing her arms.

Xander quickly changed the subject. "So! Where are our friendly neighborhood wiccan chicks?"

"Doing 'spell stuff'." Buffy replied, "But I'm not sure if that was a euphemism."

"This is Red we're talking about. I doubt they've done the deed."

"Again strange, but pleasant, visual imagery."

Buffy turned to Anya. "Do you want to do it or should I?" Anya shrugged. Buffy hit Xander on the shoulder. "Xander!"

Xander put his cue on the table and lazily flopped down on one of the couches. "I give up."

Faith joined him on the couch. "We would've beaten you anyway."

"*You* would have beaten me."

"Hey!" Buffy said with mock anger as she settled into Faith's lap.

Faith sighed. "Do you guys ever get tired of the same old scene?"

Buffy looked around the familiar room. "It's Sunnydale. This is the *only* scene."

"Well, there's the coffee house, but you never know when you'll run into a guitar wielding Giles. And that's just plain strange." Xander said with a shudder.

Faith sighed. The past few weeks with Buffy had been amazing and her mind hadn't wandered back to the LA scene once, but with vampire action on the unusually quiet side, Sunnydale was proving to be quite a dull place. "As much as I love this double date thing we've got going here, you gotta admit B, this place is lame."

"Did you have a less lame place in mind?"

Faith shrugged. "Let's get outta town. Go somewhere with a little more kick."

"Like a vacation?" Xander inquired enthusiastically.

Buffy quirked a brow. "A vacation?"

Anya leaned forward. "The scheduled period during which activity is suspended. Humans often engage in recreational activities."

Xander smiled and put his arm around Anya. "Ain't she the cutest dictionary you've ever seen?"

"I know what a vacation *is*, I just don't think we're really in the position to take one, what with that whole saving the world thing we do on a regular basis."

Xander clenched his fists. "Impending apocalypses be damned!"

"Come on B, the place has been dead. I'm sure the Hellmouth will still be here when you get back."

"I'd be up for a nice tropical paradise. Fun, sun, preferably something involving bikinis and the lathering of suntan lotion..." Xander drifted off into his own world.

"I was thinkin' more like LA. You know, beaches, partying. A nice weekend getaway."

"Will you still wear bikinis?"

The three girls looked at each other and then smacked Xander simultaneously. "Xander!"

* * *

"Please?

"No."

"Mom, it's just for the weekend. Giles' car isn't big enough to fit all of us."

"Buffy, I remember what happened the last time you took the car." Joyce said emptying the groceries.

"Do I have to remind you of all the events of that week? It was a traumatic time for all of us. I do recall something involving you, Giles and--"

Joyce quickly interrupted "Doesn't Xander have a car?"

Buffy took the grocery bag away from Joyce and started to empty it herself. "Unless you want me bouncing around the back of an ice cream truck zooming down the highway at maximum velocity, I'd say Xander's vehicle of choice is out. You know me, safety first."

"Buffy..."

"I'll fill up the gas tank." Buffy flashed her most winning smile. "And you'll go down in the history books as the best mom ever. Not that you don't already hold that title."

"Buffy, I can't go without the car all weekend."

Buffy didn't miss a beat. "Giles is going. You can take his car."

"Mr. Giles will be there?"

"Yes." Buffy quickly assured her. "And he'll be driving the *entire* way." Joyce looked at Buffy skeptically for a moment and then slowly passed her the car keys. Buffy squealed and threw her arms around her mother. "You're the best!"

* * *

"Please?"

"No."

"Come on Giles. It'll be fun!" Buffy said with a hopeful smile.

Giles took a book off of the bookshelf and returned to the couch. "Buffy, I have work to do."

"What's so important that you can't take a little vacation?"

"Angel's asked me to help him research a--"

"Great!" Buffy took the book from his hands. "You can do it in person. Think about it... Fun, sun, museums. They have museums! And you can see Wesley and talk all about demony things."

"Oh that's a lovely incentive," Giles said sarcastically as he pried the book from Buffy's hands.

Buffy took the book again. "Giles..."

Giles paused and stared at Buffy for a moment. "This wouldn't have anything to do with my car would it?"

Buffy's eyes widened. "Wow... uncanny."

"Your mother called me."

"So then you've had all this time to think about it. What do you say?" Buffy flashed another winning smile.

* * *

"Sixty eight bottles of beer on the wall, sixty eight bottles of beer, take one down and pass it around, sixty seven bottles of beer on the wall! Come on Giles, sing!"

Giles stared at the road ahead of him and rolled his eyes. "Bloody hell..."

* * *

"It's an Empatha." Angel said pointing to a picture in an open book on the table. Kate and Wesley leaned in to get a closer look.

Cordelia glanced at the picture with little interest. "An em-whata?"

"An Empatha demon." Wesley said ruffling through the pages of another book. "It sustains itself by feeding off of human emotions."

Kate stared coldly at Cordelia. "Well you're safe."

Cordelia shot Kate a look and then turned to Angel. "Why is she here?"

"Cordelia..." Angel said warningly.

Cordelia raised her hands. "Whatever."

Wesley waited for the tension to settle and carefully continued. "This particular species is typically female and looks almost completely human with the exception of their unusual eye color," Wesley flipped to another picture in the book and pointed to a tribal pattern, "And these unusual markings that run from the top of the neck down the spine."

Kate studied the markings. "So a little make-up and some color contacts and we could be playing hide and seek with this thing for days."

"Precisely."

Kate paced around the room. "So what's their M.O.? They scare people and feed off of their fear?"

"Fear and lust," Angel said.

"Lust?"

Wesley cleared his throat. "The Empatha are quite an attractive species, both physically and because of their unusally high pheromone levels. They often lure their prey with the promise of sexual gratification and begin their feeding at the climax of--"

Kate held up her hand. "I get it."

Angel turned to Kate. "Do you have any leads?"

"I'd have to go over everything again. I just asked to be put on the case. I'll head back to the station now, see what I can find. From what I remember, most of the bodies were found down by the pier."

"That'll give us a place to start. Wesley..."

Wesley closed to book on the table and put it into his bag. "Right." Angel and Wesley headed quickly out the door. Cordelia shuffled the paperwork around her desk, acutely aware of Kate's presence.

Kate sighed. "So we're not speaking anymore?" Kate waited for an answer. "I'll take that as a yes." Cordelia continued ruffling through her papers. Kate rolled her eyes. "Fine." She grabbed her coat and stormed out.

Cordelia put her hand to her temple and tried to focus on the paperwork in front of her. She prayed for a vision, hoping the mind numbing pain would momentarily push the blonde detective out of her thoughts. Nothing. She gave an exasperated sigh and was about to start packing up her things to head home early when Buffy and Faith strolled into the office. She rolled her eyes.

Buffy approached Cordelia with a smile. "Hey Cordelia."

Faith hoisted herself up onto the edge of Cordelia's desk. "What's up Queen C?"

Cordelia sighed and sat back down at her desk. "Can I help you?"

"Aw, come on, you know you missed me." Faith said with a wry grin.

Cordelia raised an eyebrow and turned to Buffy. "Is there a reason you're here?"

"Always a pleasure to see you too." Buffy took a book out of her bag and placed it on the desk. "Giles wanted us to drop this off for Angel."

Cordelia started to shuffle the papers around on her desk again. "You just missed him."

"Off doing some demon recon?" Cordelia nodded. "They need help?"

"B, we're on vacation remember? I'm sure Soul Boy's got it covered." Buffy nodded reluctantly. Faith smiled and hopped off of the desk to face Cordelia. "So listen, we're in town for the weekend..."

"Right, and we thought maybe you and Kate might want to--"

Cordelia didn't look up from her work. "There *is* no me and Kate." She stated flatly.

"Oh." Buffy glanced questioningly at Faith. Faith shrugged. "But I thought you two--"

"We did, and I don't want to talk about it. Let's just say I came to my senses after I got off of the sexually charged Hellmouth."

"Oh..." Faith said sadly, wondering if Kate was all right, "You mean you dumped her."

"Look! I didn't *dump* her because the two of us were never... I thought I said I didn't want to talk about it!"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "So much for pleasantries."

* * * * *
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Faith: Whoa, dejavu... That's the same thing you said to me in that dream I had.
Buffy: The one where we started beating each other up?
Faith: Yeah.
Buffy: Like that'd ever happen.
Cordelia: Excuse me, can you stop chatting so we can get back to the story? I have a line coming up.
Faith: Sorry. Read away....
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
* * * * *

Faith stared off into space for a moment and then abruptly turned to Buffy. "Listen B, I'm gonna head over to Lockley's, I'll meet you back at the hotel all right?" Faith gave Buffy a quick kiss goodbye and was out the door before Buffy could respond.

Buffy stood awkwardly in silence, wondering if she should bother trying to talk to Cordelia. "Do you want to talk about it?" She finally said.

Cordelia looked up from her work. "Didn't we just clear that up two minutes ago?"

Buffy took a few steps closer to the desk. "I just thought maybe since Faith was--"

Cordelia cut her off. "Have we ever done the girl talk thing?"

"No but--"

"Exactly. Now if we're finished here, some of us have work to do." Buffy stood staring at Cordelia for a moment. Normally she wouldn't have been surprised at Cordelia's cold reaction but she felt that the former ice queen had grown significantly since high school. Buffy knew the emotionless façade was probably Cordelia's way of distancing herself. Buffy didn't want to press the issue. She stood there for a few more seconds allowing Cordelia the opportunity to speak if she needed to, and then silently left the office.