Faith looked up at Xander, meeting his stare tentatively. "Xander, hi. Thank you for coming. Can you sit down? We need to talk."

The three seconds it took for Xander to overcome the shock felt like three hours. "Yeah, sure, I'll sit. You don't plan on choking the life out of me again, do you?" Xander grabbed a chair and sat down.

His snarky comment did not have the cutting effect he'd wanted. Instead, she quickly looked away, and Wesley filled the space, keeping Faith from breaking down.

"Xander, things have not been as you thought they were. No doubt you can see that for yourself." Xander nodded, and Wesley went on.

"For the past months, Faith and I have been working together. She has been undercover here in Sunnydale since the first day she arrived."

Xander smirked, but saw that Wesley's face hadn't betrayed any humor. "You're kidding, right? Undercover? You expect me to believe that flimsy story? Give me some reason, any reason, to believe you. And why are you telling me? Why not Giles, or Buffy? Were they in on it, too?" He stifled a chuckle as he peppered Wesley with questions.

"I'll answer all of your questions. Yes, this story is true. If you'd like, I can give you the direct line to Quinton Travers. He'll confirm the facts of the matter. No one else knew what was going on here, other than him. Giles and your friends were kept out of the loop for obvious reasons. Security was the top priority, after the Cruciamentum debacle."

Xander winced at the ridiculous test the Council had made Buffy take. That they'd manipulated and threatened Giles to betray Buffy didn't give Xander any real desire to listen to anything the Council had to say, and he spoke up.

"Wesley, why would I want to listen to anything Travers has to say? He was one of the causes of so much pain in our lives this past year."

Wesley nodded. "I agree, and oddly enough, so does he. Once he was back in England, Travers realized his error. He saw the damage that he'd caused in the relationship between Buffy and Giles. However, he also realized that any further interaction with the Council would be marred by the mistrust he'd already caused. Even though he convinced the Council as a whole to scrap the Cruciamentum, he knew that you and your group would never really trust the Council again. It took a great deal of work, but he was able to have the Cruciamentum eliminated from Watcher procedures."

"There are some key points that no one knew, salient points that someone needs to know. Faith's first Watcher, Diana, was my sister. Diana had adopted Faith, along with the help of the Watcher's Council's attorneys. When Diana found Faith, languishing in Boston, they formed a strong bond. Over the year or so Faith and Diana were together, I would periodically visit, while on holiday. Kakistos killed Diana and sent Faith on the run, and it was only after she made it to Sunnydale that I was able to find her and grieve alongside her."

Wes took a sip of tea and continued. "Once I was here in Sunnydale, an associate of mine soon arrived, and we began to help Faith figure out how she wanted to proceed. That's where Faith stepped up with her input."

Xander looked over at Faith, who had been sitting silently, watching Xander's reaction to all of this.

"You had a part in planning this thing?"

Faith nodded and spoke, clearing her throat first. "Yeah. Wes and I were on OK terms before Diana died. He would stop in for a few weeks, chill, and then go back to work. After Kakistos, I was just buggin' out in the hotel. Wes and his friend from work, Derrick, hung out and let me vent, let me cry, and even let me throw a few punches and kicks at 'em. After that, we came up with a plan. Wes would be the typical stiff British guy, and we'd basically irritate you all enough to get closer together and trust each other more. That way, we could have three different assets fighting the fight; you guys, Wes and Derek, and me. What we didn't expect was the drama you all had as a group making that more difficult."

Xander couldn't believe his ears. "You're telling me that this whole past year has been one big con? That you and Wes and Travers played us all?"

Faith saw the hurt in Xander's face, and tried her best to keep it together. She knew exactly to what Xander was referring, so Faith took a moment to get herself together.

Xander saw the turmoil in Faith's eyes, and he was taken aback by it. His original reaction was going to be outrage, but seeing Faith nearly crying, he calmed himself, and gave her time to speak.

"Xander," Faith began, "this was never supposed to get so out of control. Neither Wes nor I wanted things to go down the way they did. We had so many contingency plans in place, but even then things still got crazy! We were never in a position to let anyone know the truth of things. None of us planned for so much hatred and anger here."

She paused and then added, "That, and other things, too."