FIRST

"Something bad went down in LA. You know what I heard? Angelus is gone for good."

"No way, man; not just gone good, but gone gone?"

"Yeah, him and all those other people he used to work with."

"Guess he couldn't corrupt the law."

"Not even him."

Halfway across the room, Faith tosses some bills on the table and walks out of the bar.

---

It takes Faith three days to get back to LA, and another 12 hours to piece together what had happened. She spends the next two weeks blind drunk, and then wakes up one morning with a needle in her arm. Yanking it out makes her vomit, more from the memories than the feeling; there is nothing but bile in her stomach. She watches the sun rise over the mountains, the haze already thick and gray, and then she heads for the airport: she decides that once she is in the air headed East, she can get to work on figuring out how this happened.

---

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"How the fuck did they think they could get away with it?"

"Yeah, but it worked, didn't it? Mostly?"

Faith kills the demon anyway.

---

SECOND

Faith stormed into the conference room and swept her arm across the table. Piles of paperwork fluttered onto the floor.

"Did you know?" she demanded.

"Faith!" Giles stood to greet her.

Faith snarled and grabbed Giles by the shirt. "Did you guys know! Tell me."

Giles gasped, his eyes wide. "Know what?"

"About this stupid--" Faith shoved Giles back into his seat and ran her fingers through her hair. "Why didn't someone tell me? I could have--"

Giles straightened his collar, and asked, "What are you talking about, Faith?"

"Tell me," Faith said implacably. "About Angel. About Wolfram and Hart." She paused. "About Wes."

"Faith," Giles began.

"No," she said. "Tell me, and then explain why you didn't fucking call me. You should have called."

"We didn't know what was going on until after..." He paused and rubbed his nose, pushing up his glasses awkwardly. He tried again. "Angel had made his decision and we agreed that..." Giles took off his glasses and set them carefully on the table next to him. Staring at the tabletop, he said, "Faith, there was nothing anyone could have done."

"Bullshit," she said, and slammed her hands down on the table. It cracked, and Giles grabbed his gasses. "That is such crap, Giles, I'm not even surprised to hear it come out of your mouth. You agreed? Fuck you. They were doing good, and you left them to die. They died, and it's your fault."

"Faith," he said softly.

"It's all our faults," she said, "and someone should have told me, so I could've been there."

"To do what?" he asked.

"To help!" she said. "That's you do, when your friends are getting ready to kill themselves saving the world. I thought that was the 'big lesson' we all learned."

From the open doorway, Dawn said, "It sounds like you've got the story pretty well down."

"Yeah, well, I heard it from a guy who heard it from a demon who heard it from a vampire who heard it from somebody's goldfish. Doesn't change things: someone should have told me," Faith said to Dawn, and then whirled around and pointed at Giles, "and we should have been there."

"Sometimes we have to make difficult--"

"Shut up," she snarled at Giles. "You are such a fucking -- you were wrong, and you know it. And now they're dead." She snorted. "B even talking to you anymore?"

"Not as such, no," Giles said.

"Smart girl," Faith replied.

"Faith," Dawn said, "that's not nice."

"Fuck," Faith said, and threw herself into a chair. It rolled across the room, and Faith glared at the walls.

"So, why are you here?" Dawn asked.

"Yes," said Giles, "if the sole purpose of your visit is to rip me a new one, I assure you, Buffy has already had the pleasure."

Faith didn't answer.

---

Dawn sloped into makeshift kitchen the next morning, rubbing her eyes and mumbling in Latin. She glanced at Faith, nodded, and peered into the refrigerator before turning back to stare at Faith.

"Oh!" she said. "I didn't expect to... why are you still here?"

"Way to make a girl feel welcome," drawled Faith.

Dawn blushed.

"So Dawn, what are you doing here?" Faith drawled suggestively.

"I'm working with Giles."

"On what?"

"I'm good with languages, and he's teaching me."

"That's it?"

"What--" Dawn said. "No! He's-- He's Giles. Don't even insinuate-- Ew."

"You don't have a thing for all those musty books at all, do you?" Faith said. "And B?"

"She's--" Dawn slammed the fridge door and glared at Faith.

Faith's smirked. "Pissed at both of you?"

"It's none of your business," Dawn spat.

"Nope, just my friend getting killed trying to take down some demons on his own, because there wasn't anyone backing him up. None of my business at all. Here, have some chocolatey goodness instead; that'll make it all better."

Dawn blinked back tears. "Faith, that's not fair."

"It's never fair," said Faith. "Why are you really here?"

"I told you: I'm working with Giles."

"Right, you said." Faith dragged her tongue along her index finger and ended with small bite, intently watching Dawn's reaction. "New Slayers, new Watchers?"

Dawn straightened her posture and blinked. "Yes."

Faith smiled. "Good luck with that."

---

Three weeks later, Faith watched from the doorway as Giles struggled silently with his paperwork.

"I want another Watcher."

"Pardon me?"

"You heard me." Faith strode into the room and leaned across the desk, staring at Giles. "I want another Watcher."

"Because...?" he asked, automatically leaning back, away from her.

"Because my last Watcher is dead."

"Faith, Wesley wasn't--"

She didn't let him finish. "Like you aren't Buffy's Watcher? You're still her Watcher, whether you like it or not. Hell, whether she likes it or not. He was mine, and now I want a new one."

"You can't simply be given a replacement," Giles said, and stood.

"Why not?" Faith leaned back against the desk, arms crossed casually.

Giles pretended to examine a bookshelf. "That's not how it works," he said mildly.

"You guys don't have enough?"

"That's not precisely," Giles began.

"You don't think I need one?"

"Faith, I'm sure we would all prefer," he tried again.

"You don't want me to go off the rails again, right?" she asked, looking over his shoulder at the book he had a finger on: i Tess of the d'Urbervilles /i .

"Of course--" he said, sliding along the shelf away from her.

"And you don't like me patrolling alone." She followed him, and rested a hand on his shoulder, leaning in to peer at the spines.

"No, but--"

"Dawn."

This time he flinched. "What?"

"Dawn's going to be my Watcher," Faith said. "She's ready. She can do it. And she's not going to die."

"No," said Giles.

"I'm not asking, Giles," she replied, smiling. "I'm telling you. If she says no, then I'm gone. If she says yes, then I'm still gone -- and she's coming with me."

---

THIRD

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Do you really think I'd be any good at it?"

"I don't know: do you think you are?"

Dawn doesn't answer.

---

It takes Faith three days to seduce Dawn. It happens in Krakow, in the pouring rain: Dawn doesn't want Faith to leave without backup; Faith leaves with a crossbow and a sword, but without Dawn. Faith returns several hours later, covered in a slick of demon grime, blood, and dust. Dawn is waiting with a tense face, a stack of peanut butter sandwiches, and a hot bath. Faith hauls herself out of the tub long after the sun has risen; she climbs into the wrong bed on purpose, and doesn't stop kissing Dawn long enough for her to protest.

---

The next morning, Faith tosses some bills on the table as they leave the cafe.

"Buffy's going to kill you," Dawn says.

"Yep, and Giles, and Willow; pretty much everyone."

"If this doesn't work out," Dawn says.

"I've already fucked up all my Watcher-Slayer relationships. Trust me, this one can't end any worse than the last one."

"I guess it can't, can it?"