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A/N: Before anyone decides to point it out to me...nothing happens in this chapter plot-wise. I know that. But things happen for Buffy chatacter-wise. And if you're really nice and leave me some reviews...I'll give you Ch. 26 tomorrow morning before I get on the plane. OK, I'm going to do that anyways, but still.


Buffy would never complain about her period ever again. The pangs and aches she normally felt were NOTHING compared to having to listen to a Shepherd prattle on about original sin and atonement every day for a week. Buffy was pretty sure that having to listen to them was making her cramps worse. Her uterus was protesting the situation by stabbing her every thirty seconds or so.

“Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: "Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat."
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

The think woman reverently closed her bible and set it on the stool in front of her. She turned her taught, emaciated face to the people sitting in front of her. Buffy wanted to cry; she’d heard that passage so many times she could recite it by heart, and this particular Shepherd didn’t read it with the right flare. It was such a shame that such great literature was in the hands of someone so monotone.

“God has a reason for everything, and everything has a reason. Eve committed the first sin, a sin which can never be erased. But we, as women, can do the right thing by acknowledging Eve’s wrongdoings. We can offer God repentance on behalf of our sex by being obedient to our husbands, as God commanded, and…yes, Elizabeth?”

“Thank you for the chance to speak, Shepherd Molly,” Buffy said with a wide, obviously fake grin. She’d been here for three days already, and she had four more to go. She was going to go insane…unless she found someway to entertain herself.

“Of course, child. What is it you want to say?”

“Well…it’s about this whole original sin thing.”

“Go on.”

“Well, the serpent tempted Eve, right?” Buffy schooled her features into a look of confusion and concentration.

“That’s right, child. The serpent bade Eve to eat the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.”

“And Adam said Eve gave him the fruit to eat, yes?”

“You’ve learned the scripture well, Elizabeth,” the woman said with an encouraging smile. Buffy wanted to grit her teeth at that name, but she kept the smile on her face.

“And Adam also sinned by eating the fruit.”

“Yes, he sinned after Eve, which—“

“So, here’s what’s bugging me,” she said, the smile stretching farther on her face. She’d have to call up her British poetry professor when she got out of here. And write a thank you note to Dante. “Adam’s defense is “Eve gave it to me.” There’s no actual mention of temptation, just that Eve handed Adam the apple and he ate it. He knew what he was doing. But Eve, she was tricked, tempted, whatever. Yeah, she did it first, but Adam’s sin was worse, because he sinned knowingly. So it seems to me, we got it all wrong. We should be thanking Eve and cursing Adam, because I’m pretty sure doing something knowingly is worse than doing it in naïveté. I mean, we totally see a difference in unintentional manslaughter and murder, right? Not that it excuses the act at all, but it’s something to think about, right? And God totally called Adam out first. It was a pretty shitty thing to dump it all on Eve. Not the behavior of a loving husband at all; I think he was cheating on her.”

Buffy wanted to crow at the goldfish impersonation Molly the Jolly was doing right now. The other girls were looking at her with astonishment. A bark of laughter sounded from her right.

“Y-y-you’re twisting the bible, it’s not—“

“And while we’re on this topic,” a girl said from across the circle, “why aren’t there three tassels on the corners of my clothes?”

“W-w-what?” Molly asked, her plump face slack.

“Well, in the old Testament, it says you must make tassels on the four corners of the clothes you wear. And I’m pretty sure you served us pork the other day. The Bible says that’s wrong and unclean. Oh, and we’re also breaking God’s law because you have us wearing wool and linen together, which is a biiiiiiiig no-no.”

Buffy grinned at this unexpected accomplice. The woman was new to the so-called ‘Woman’s Circle.’ She had long light brown hair and a wide smile. Her dark brown eyes shown with intelligence, and she winked knowingly at Buffy. It was nice to know she had a friend. And it was REALLY nice to see Molly turning four different shades of red.

“The Bible does not deal with such trivial—“

“Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together—we’ve done that one too. Shit, I’m officially headed STRIGHT for hell!—Thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts, as of woollen and linen together. Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself. That’s Deuteronomy twenty-two, verses nine through twelve if you’d like to look it up.”

Molly stared at the brown haired girl with astonishment. Buffy was impressed. Who could just spout of random parts of the Bible like that? Well, present cult members excluded.

“Dahlin,” the woman said, affecting a Southern drawl and sitting back with a smug smirk on her face, “I’m from South Carolina. I grew up in the Bible belt listening to the Southern Baptists and anti-abortion picketers. You’re gonna have to do WAY better than that to beat me.”

Oh, well that explained it. A small, quiet giggle spread through the group as Molly just stared dumbly between Buffy and the brown-haired woman. Soon, everyone was laughing and whispering amongst each other, the first signs of life Buffy had seen from many of the catatonic women in the past three days. Looking at a young girl whose one lifeless eyes now shown with genuine mirth, Buffy realized that this one conversation, this one display of defiance, had shaken loose some of the foundations the fanatical brain-washing cult had laid. Molly finally snapped out of her stupor, regaining her composure. Her dense, fanatic smile was back.

“Alexandra, you’ve been warned about such infractions. I may have to send you back to solitary confinement if you have not thought about your actions closely enough. You do not question the servants of God. Do you know why?” The entire circle fell silent, watching with avid interest the power struggle happening between the two women.

“Because questions expose the inherent flaws in your poorly thought out and badly justified excuse for religion?” Alexandra asked in an eager voice. Molly’s eyes grew hard, and the soft giggles and gasps reached Molly’s ears, but the Shepherd maintained her composure, the only sign that Alexandra’s words had gotten to her a tinge of read in her ears.

“Because the Devil finds ways to weak you through your words, preventing you from believing—“

“Thinking.”

“BELIEVING in His Love.” Buffy felt a deep, immediate respect for the woman sitting across from her. If what Molly said was true, this woman had been here for a while. And this was not the first time she’d challenged the system. “Since you insist on allowing the Devil to influence you, I shall have to talk to Father Caleb.”

“He’s not Catholic!” Alexandra protested, her hands spread wide and a comical look of abject disbelief on her face. Buffy giggled, smirking at the look Molly threw her and crossing her arms defiantly across her chest.

"I think as long as he feels guilty he qualifies," Buffy said with a serious face. Her friend started laughing, which made Molly scowl even more...which made them both laugh harder.

“As for you, Elizabeth,” Molly continued; Buffy tried to keep the huge smile off her face, but failed miserably. The woman’s face hardened, her lips puckering up as if she’d just tasted something very sour. “After your time of impurity is over, you will tell Shepherd Glory about your actions here today and ask for penance. You will tell her EVERYTHING, and not forget a word or deed. She will decide what to do with you.”

"Ooooooh, KINKY," Buffy said in her best bedroom voice. The women around her choked back laughs at that.

“Now, my children,” Molly said, fixing her motherly smile on the other, more subdued members of the circle, “we shall go to our chapel and pray for the souls of these two misguided young women. Do your best to put them from your minds, for the devil works his will through them. I shall send others in to fetch you two in a moment.”

Molly ushered her little flock of menstruating women out the door, leaving Buffy and the other woman together. Buffy took the time to study Alexandra. She was pretty, with a strong jaw and full lips. Her hair needed some styling, but Buffy could feel the confidence and self-assurance of the woman, frayed and a bit worse for the wear, but still an undeniable part of her bearing. And she was smart. It wasn’t something definite about her, just the sense Buffy got from her; part of her physical make up as much as her brown eyes and high cheekbones.

“That was fun,” she remarked, tossing Buffy a devilish grin. Buffy saw life in her eyes, something many people here lacked, and a spark of spirit in her eyes. It was small, and muted by fatigue, but it was there.

“Yeah,” Buffy agreed softly, sharing a small smile with her cohort. They could hear voices outside of the room, ready to take them both to their fates.

“Hey,” the girl said, catching Buffy’s attention. “Give ‘em hellfire and damnation!” Buffy grinned at that. If they ever met on the outside, she was sure this spunky woman would become one of her closest friends.

“Only if you do too,” she responded. A short bark of laughter followed.

“It’s the only way I know.”

Their conversation was cut short as two imposing women swept in to escort their prisoners to their individual cells.

For the first time in a long time, Buffy fell asleep with a smile on her face.





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