At her mother's house

All the way home, Buffy Summers felt a gradually growing sense of dread. It reminded her of that time she jumped into the opening in the floor of the basement of what was left of Sunnydale High in order to save a demon whose sacrificial **** would mean the end of the world -- that time when the only thing that had kept her from plunging endlessly into the abyss of the Hellmouth was a cable and hook that her boyfriend Riley had attached to her belt at virtually the last minute.

She had gotten lucky that time. Very lucky. But would she be equally lucky this time? And how often will her luck hold out? And what would happen the day her luck finally stopped and she ended up inside the very cemetery that she had patrolled so very often?

Never mind all that, she thought.

Buffy saw her mother's house up ahead. If what Claudia had told her was true -- and not some bizarre joke that Claudia chose to play on a gullible human -- her mother might be upstairs in her bedroom, still tied up and naked thanks to -- well -- Buffy.

And if that were true, that would mean that whatever was in her mother's body was not her mother. And Buffy already had a strong suspicion as to the true identity of that body's current occupant.

It's times like this that I really need Giles, Buffy thought. And Willow. And Tara. Hey, if Amy wasn't still a rat, I would have gladly asked for her help as well.

Fortunately, no one seemed to be home when she arrived at her mother's house. Which meant that the woman in her mother's body was still out somewhere. Good.

Now to see if her suspicions were correct.

Buffy quickly ran up the stairs to her bedroom and checked on the naked body of Faith Lehane that she had left there. Buffy took the handkerchief out of Faith's mouth and unlocked her shackles, all the while praying that she was not making a mistake.

Then Buffy shook the body awake.

"Mom," asked Buffy, "is that you?"

The eyes opened and then blinked.

"Buffy," said the woman in Faith's body, "why did you hit me? I'm your mother. I know I don't look it but --"

"It's gonna be okay, Mom," said Buffy. "I made a mistake and I intend to make it up to you. But first I need to figure out where Faith might have gone."

"Faith?" asked the woman Buffy thought of as Joyce-in-Faith.

"Yes," said Buffy. "The woman I think stole your body. But don't worry. I intend to get it back for you. But in the meantime I need you to --"

"Buffy!" screamed a familiar voice. "Come quick! There's a big fight at the Bronze. If you don't come quick, they're going to kill your mother."

Buffy turned and there at the door of her bedroom stood the vampire Claudia.

"But they can't kill my mother because she's right -- Oh, right," said Buffy. "They're going to kill Faith."

"Who's going to kill Faith?" asked Joyce-in-Faith.

"The people at the Bronze that Claudia is talking about," said Buffy.

"Who's Claudia?" asked Joyce-in-Faith.

"She's a vampire," said Buffy. "And she's standing right there in the doorway over there."

"Well, she must be an invisible vampire, Buffy, because I don't see anyone over there," said Joyce-in-Faith. "And anyway, how did she get into the house? I didn't give permission to any vampires to enter my house and besides, it's still daylight outside."

"Well, that's easy," said Buffy. "She simply -- Wait a minute. I never gave her permission to enter this house either. So how did she --"

At this point, Buffy turned to stare at Claudia who was still standing in her bedroom doorway.

And the moment Claudia saw the expression on Buffy's face, she simply smiled a cold smile and cried, "Oops!"