Buffy has a nightmare in which
she tries to escape the murky water while the murdered
Finch pulls her down by the ankle. Finally reaching the
surface, Buffy sees Faith, who immediately pushes her
fellow Slayer back underwater. After waking up, Buffy
wanders down to the family room, where her mother is
watching a news report about the discovery of Finch's
body.
At the library, Wesley orders
Buffy and Faith to investigate Finch's murder. During
their discussion, Cordelia enters the library to check
out some books for an assignment. She takes an immediate
interest in Wesley, who doesn't realize how old she
really is until Giles and the others fill him in. After
heading out, Buffy tries to convince Faith into coming
clean and confessing their crime. Faith reminds Buffy
that they were both involved, so if she goes down, she's
taking Buffy with her. Buffy then spots Willow and tries
to talk to her. However, Willow is still stung by Buffy's
recent behavior. Meanwhile, Mayor Wilkins shreds all of
Finch's files that contain anything related to their
dirty work. Mr. Trick listens as Mayor Wilkins wonders if
Allan Finch was conspiring against him somehow.
Later that night, Buffy and Faith
sneak into Finch's office at City Hall to see if they can
find any info that might explain why he was in the alley
that night. They notice that almost all of his files are
gone, which leads Buffy to believe that a cover-up may be
in the works. Just as they're heading out, Mayor Wilkins
and Mr. Trick enter the building on the opposite end of
the hallway. Seeing them together, Buffy and Faith duck
back into Finch's office, waiting for the Mayor and Mr.
Trick to pass by before running for the exit. Outside,
Buffy expresses her concern over Faith's apparently
guilt-free conscience. She doesn't believe that Faith is
perfectly okay with murdering a man, but Faith says
otherwise. Faith believes that their nightly deeds as
Slayers should put them above the law. When Buffy returns
home, she is greeted by her mother and Detective Stein,
who has come to ask her a few questions about the night
of the murder. Buffy lies and pleads ignorance to
everything related to the murder. Detective Stein leaves
and visits Faith at her motel room, where he gets a
similar story. Meanwhile, Buffy tells Willow the truth
about everything that happened. Willow advises Buffy to
go to Giles. When Buffy arrives at the library, she finds
out that Faith has gotten there first and pinned the
murder on Buffy. Buffy tries to convince Giles otherwise,
but he sends her to his office to deal with her later.
After Faith goes home, Giles assures Buffy that he's
aware of Faith's lies. While Giles tells Buffy that he
has no intentions of involving the Watcher's Council in
this matter, Wesley overhears the whole conversation from
outside the office. Soon afterwards, he calls the Council
in Britain to alert them of the crime.
The next morning, Buffy talks
with Xander, Willow, and Giles about what they should do
with Faith. Feeling he has a special connection with
Faith ever since the night they slept together, Xander
volunteers to talk to her. In no time, Buffy, Willow, and
Giles figure out what happened between the two of them.
While Xander heads towards Faith's motel room, Willow
cries over the revelation that her first love has had sex
with another girl. At the motel room, Xander tries to
help Faith see that what she did was wrong. With no
intentions of hearing any more of this, Faith shoves
Xander onto the bed and jumps on top of him. Unlike last
time, however, Faith's desires are much deadlier. She
wraps her hands around Xander's neck and tries to squeeze
the life out of him. Before she can kill him, Faith is
distracted by a sound at her doorway. She turns her head
just in time to see Angel swing a bat right into her
face. Later, Faith regains consciousness in the mansion.
Noticing that she's all chained up, Faith tries to come
on to Angel. He leaves her there alone momentarily while
he goes to talk with Buffy in another room. Angel
believes that Faith is more dangerous than ever, now that
she's experienced murder by her own hands. After Buffy
leaves to patrol, Angel returns to the main chamber to
talk to Faith. He tells her how he can relate to her
sinful desires. Unfortunately, Faith has no interest in
his attempts to help her. Suddenly, Wesley and several
other men crash into the mansion. The men subdue Angel
while Wesley unlocks Faith's chains. Immediately after
unlocking the last chain, Wesley restrains Faith with his
own cuffs, informing the Slayer that she will be brought
to Britain to face the Council. In the truck, Faith
tricks one of the men into getting closer. She then beats
him to the ground and threatens to snap his neck unless
Wesley frees her from the restraints. Wesley follows her
orders. As soon as she's freed, Faith knocks Wesley to
the floor and jumps out the back of the truck.
Buffy returns to the mansion to
find Faith gone and Angel immobilized on the floor.
Shortly, Giles, Xander, and Willow arrive at the mansion.
When they try to formulate a plan to save Faith, Willow
interrupts with her own objection to the idea of saving a
guilty murderer who has just tried to kill Xander. At
that moment, a bruised Wesley arrives at the mansion and
tells them that Faith has escaped. Having an idea of
where she might be, Buffy goes to the docks. Sure enough,
Faith is on one of the boats, ready to flee the country.
Buffy tries one last time to turn Faith around and get
help. They argue again, but this debate is cut short by a
surprise ambush. Mr. Trick and several of his vampire
cohorts knock Buffy to the ground with a large crate.
With Buffy down for the moment, Faith attempts to fight
the vampires by herself. As Buffy recovers, Mr. Trick
takes advantage of her weakened state to try and kill her
once and for all. After dusting the last of the vampire
henchmen, Faith sees Mr. Trick about to bite into Buffy's
neck. Quickly, Faith rushes over and stakes Mr. Trick's
heart from behind, bringing him to a dusty end.
At the library, Buffy talks to
Giles about Faith's heroic act. They believe that there
may still be hope for Faith. Little do they know that
Faith plans on exploring her newly expanded horizons.
Mayor Wilkins gets a visit from Faith at his office. With
Mr. Trick out of the picture, Faith wants the available
job. Intrigued, Mayor Wilkins lets her into the office,
shutting the door behind her.
Mr. Trick: Oh no. This is not good, not
good at all.
