Got this idea from surfing the web and the time of year. This will be a series starting in the present and jumping back and forth to explain the time line. Spoilers from every season in Buffy series but, everything post Chosen is AU plus spoilers from Angel till start of season five then everything else is AU. It's not my world either, it's Joss's and I hope he doesn't get mad if I play here. Thanks to P-Money for the edit. Reposted with the fixes.

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It started out like any other day. Wake up, make coffee, breakfast, shower, and read monthly reports on slayer activity all over the United States. And if that wasn't enough, they had to meet Willow and Kennedy for an afternoon and evening of facts, folklore, fun and, well the fourth F was always a given at least three times a week. Except Willow and Kennedy had nothing to do with the fourth F, at least not with him.

Xander sat back in the computer chair and smiled. Willow had been talking about this for ages and when Faith decided they should go too, well it started to make him think, think about his life for the past three years. He had been the last to hold out hope for Sunnydale survivors and as luck would have it, God he hated luck, learned more about himself and found out things about his Mom and Dad that even to this day still surprised him.

He glanced over to their picture on the desk, one of the few where they were both smiling. Next to them was a shot of the original Scoobies, and one of him and Faith. As he gazed at that picture his hand went to the top right hand drawer of the desk. He opened it and pulled out the small black velvet box. Inside, a simple gold band with a small diamond on the top.

"Hey Xand, do you think Red and Junior Miss are gonna be on time?" called Faith from the other room. Xander quickly put the ring in his shirt pocket and placed the box back in the drawer before closing it.

"I think we'll be late if we don't get a move on. The train leaves in an hour and if we don't hurry Willow will never give us any peace. The festival is important to her and her being a wicca kind of makes it her national holiday I guess?"

Faith stood in the door way as Xander swung around in the chair to look at her.

"Yeah but having to promise not to wear leather and promise to wear underwear, what kind of crap is that. Everyone knows I make leather look good."

"Yeah you do, but you almost got arrested for indecent exposure last week and beating those vamps and don't say again, 'If it wasn't for the fat one carrying a pocket knife you wouldn't have lost your shirt.'"

Faith looked at him with the "cat that ate the canary grin" that she always seemed to posses. "You weren't complaining."

"Yeah and that's why Willow said underwear, it was hard enough..."

"What?" Faith replied with the same grin.

"...casting the spell to get away without looking at you, and yes I like looking at you like that all the time."

Faith made her way over and sat in Xander's lap and laid her head on his shoulder. It wasn't often she did this, and when it happened both her and he would sit there in silence. This is how life was for them now. How life had changed for both of them. She closed her eyes and sighed happily. He was planning on asking it, the question that would make what they had now permanent. She just knew he was planning it but she didn't know when. She wouldn't worry about that now though, like Buff had said the last time they talked, life and love were funny.

Xander cleared his throat and she looked at him. They had made the promise to Red and Salem, here they come. She got off his lap and gave him a quick kiss across the lips.

"Well boy-toy, whatta ya say already, let's go?"

Xander smiled, and followed Faith out of the apartment. "Right behind ya."

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Kennedy stood watching her girlfriend, as Willow walked through the square, looking at different tables. The most powerful witch on the face of the earth and yet as excited as a three year old, with an ice cream cone.

Kennedy took a picture and looked at it before saving it to the camera's memory. Her Partner, her friend, her lover, her girlfriend, her wife, her love. Terms all used to describe Willow and yet simple joy that as Faith was fond of saying never went away.

There was another couple. Xander and Faith. For four years the friendship had matured and had become a long lasting love. Something sparkled in Xander's hand and Kennedy thought about the past. As Xander got down on one knee and grabbed Faith's hand, Kennedy couldn't help but remember the events on the bus ride from Sunnydale, so long ago, that had gotten them to this moment in time.