You say she's crazy; she's got your crazy

"Oh my God!" cried Buffy as she stared at the figure that she had thought to be a vampire named Claudia. "It's the First. It has to be."

"Who's the First?" asked Joyce-in-Faith.

"It's the First Evil, Mom," said Buffy. "I've met it before when it tried to kill Angel that Christmas when I was still friends of sorts with Faith. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, Mom, but I didn't want to scare you."

"You're scaring me now, Buffy," said Joyce-in-Faith. "How do I know this isn't a sign that you're having a relapse? I mean seriously, Buffy. We both know what happened the last time you started seeing things that aren't there. And you haven't taken your pills in years. Just suppose that this time --"

"Damn it, Mom," said Buffy. "That's what the First wants you to think. That's probably how it got you to put me in that mental hospital in the first place."

"You realize how that sounds, Buffy," said Joyce-in-Faith.

"Yes, I do," said Buffy. "But I also realize how it would sound if you tried to describe what had happened to you to anyone else apart from me, Giles and the rest of the Scoobies. Most people who bothered to listen to you would not hesitate to commit you to a mental hospital, too, Mom. And yet I doubt that you think that you are crazy."

"I don't know," said Joyce-in-Faith. "The longer I live in Sunnydale, the more I wonder about that."

"Well, I know for sure that you are not crazy," said Buffy. "And I'm not just saying that because you're my mom. So how about a leap of faith on my behalf?"

"Seriously, Buffy?" asked Joyce-in-Faith. "You have to go there with the bad puns?"

"You know what I mean," said Buffy. "The First intentionally goofed up just so that something like this would happen. You'd get suspicious of me, I'd get suspicious of you... Then we'd start fighting and I would end up never doing anything about Faith. Well, it's not going to work."

"That's my girl," said Joyce-in-Faith.

"Wait a minute," said Buffy. "You are my mom, right?"

"Of course I am," said Joyce-in-Faith. "Why?"

"Because that sounds like something Faith would say," said Buffy. "You are okay in there, aren't you, Mom?"

"Five by five," answered Joyce-in-Faith.

Then, after seeing the look on Buffy's face, Joyce-in-Faith said, "Just kidding."