Well another chapter, there were times when I wasn't sure whether there would be one or not. Now I think there will be four more after this one, but we'll see. Thanks to everyone that's taken the time to read or review or put an alert on the story. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it.

POE1911

THEY HAVE DOCTORS FOR PROBLEMS LIKE THIS

Faith walked into Club Force and breathed a sigh of relief. She loved the girls at Cleveland house but sometimes she just had to get out; especially when she had an itch that needed some serious scratching. Back in the Dale she had thought about snaking the Principal off B, but that was the old Faith attitude, the attitude that had landed her in jail; so she just stood to one side. Even after they'd split up Faith hadn't made a move on him; after all if he was too straight-laced for B then he really wasn't the guy for her.

In Sunnydale Faith had finally hooked up with Kennedy, and though she hadn't liked the younger girl's high and mighty attitude the slayer wanna-be had been pretty good in the sack. They had stayed together mostly because each was afraid of being alone but once they had scattered to the four winds after Sunnydale went away there had been no tears or bitching when Faith had ended up with Cleveland and Kennedy was off to Moscow.

So now here she was, senior slayer on the Hellmouth and den mother to six younger slayers, and she was dieing for some action. She scanned the club trying to single out a stud or studette or multiples for some Faith style playtime. Not seeing anyone immediately, she headed towards the bar when she heard a voice and an attitude that she recognized.

"Listen bozo, why don't you take your lame ass lines and two inch dick and go bother someone else."

Faith moved towards the voice, she recognized it, but there was no way it could be her. Fang had told her that the Cheer-girl was in a coma that she wasn't coming out of but suddenly the crowds parted a bit and there Cordelia was bold as brass and twice as sassy. She was currently facing down the would-be Romeo that had laid a bad line on her. Cordelia was wearing a badly outflanked silk blouse and a skirt that was a bit wider than a belt, but only just; and Faith thought the girl looked flat out beautiful. The twit she had just blown off didn't see that though, he was smarting from the disdain that had been heaped on his dubious manhood; face red with rage he yelled "do you have any idea who I am you dumb bitch"?

Hearing this, Faith winced in anticipation of the verbal scalpels the busty brunette would use on this dweeb. "Just because you're used to dealing with quarter a throw hookers who think you're someone special doesn't mean that the rest of us give two shits who you are. What you are is a pitiful little maggot that's probably never gotten laid without money changing hands; frankly your crappy fashion sense your lame body your tired lines and your miniscule dick do absolutely nothing for me; so why don't you do yourself a favor and back off now while you still have a little; and I do mean little, manhood intact. Cause honestly this is just gonna get worse for you the longer you stand here."

The crowd sucked in a collective breath and backed off a bit, it was obvious to Faith that Mr. Lame Romeo had some kind of a reputation even if she didn't recognize him. The man stood there motionless for a moment, his face almost purple with rage; it was clear he was trying to think of something to say, but nothing devastating enough was coming to his mind. This being the case he did possibly the dumbest thing possible and decided to just smack the bitch. Faith saw him take one step forward, then stop because Cordelia had hiked one of her Jimmy Choo's right into the guy's crotch. The move hadn't surprised her, but the speed and the power did. The guy just stood frozen with an anguished expression on his face when Faith heard the girl say "huh, I found your balls on the first try, must be some kind of marksman or something". Then, as though the words were a catalyst the man sank to his knees then silently fell over and curled up into a ball. As Cordy was walking past the guy Faith saw her take out a quarter and drop it on the guy saying "when you can walk again, how about you take this and walk down to the street-corner and find a girl that's more your speed".

Faith watched as the taller girl moved through the crowd like they weren't there and head over to the bar. Needing to find out what was up, she headed over to the bar herself only to be surprised again when the Cheer-girl turned towards her and asked "did you like the show, Faith"?

Caught flat footed, Faith's response was not the most intelligent "you're supposed to be in a coma".

"I got better."

"How"

"Long story, wanna get a seat?"

It was then that Faith's brain started working again and a lascivious smile bloomed on her face "story later, dance now" she said, and took the other girl by the hand.

"Now there's a plan I can get behind" Cordelia purred, and she followed Faith out onto the dance floor.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

There hadn't been a lot of talking at the club, only dancing and sweating. This had been followed by a trip to Cordelia's hotel room for other activities and even more sweating.

"So how'd you wake up?"

"Well, I had some help from higher up."

"What do you mean" Faith asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Well the fact is I'm not really Cordelia Chase" the girl said, then winced in anticipation of the response.

"Oh" Faith said, sitting up and backing off a bit "so what are ya"?

"Human" was the reply "one hundred percent human; come on Faith you were always better than Buffy at sensing stuff, can you sense any demon in me at all"?

"No, but that doesn't really explain your answer."

"Well Cordy's spirit had ascended and wasn't allowed back even though her body was still alive and my body was dead but my spirit hadn't moved on yet. You see, the reason I was dead was because one of the Powers overstepped its authority, so they gave me the choice of moving on or coming back. I didn't know they were sticking me in this body till I came back."

Faith thought for a second, then said "you were a guy before, weren't ya."

"How did you know?"

"The way you went at it, couple of times you moved like you had a dick, not to mention the whole dominant thing."

"Well you seemed to like it" then the mood shifted "yeah, I was a guy."

"So if you were a guy, what are you now?"

"Damn confused."

"What do ya mean?"

"Well, my brain is a guys brain, so I'm attracted to hot chicks and the usual guy stuff; football and chilidogs and that kind of thing; but my body is a female, with all the hormones and stuff so I find myself liking ice skating for some reason, not to mention it wanting me to visit 'boystown' in the worst way."

"That does sound pretty messed up there Xander."

"Yeah . . . . wait" Cordelia said sitting up "how'd you know"?

"Two things, one is you recognized me in the bar so that means you were a guy I knew; two, of all the guys I've known who died you were the only one that might have a chance of coming back."

"Thanks, I think"

"So why'd ya do it" Faith asked, her eyes earnest "why'd ya give up heaven for here"?

"I guess cause I had to help, I mean as long as you guys are fighting I gotta help if I can."

"Why though" Faith asked "why keep trying, I mean even when you were kinda being pushed out you still kept trying."

"Cause you guys are the only real family I've ever had, it's that simple."

Not wanting to have that conversation right now, Faith decided to change the mood. "So, your bod wants to take a little side trip to 'boystown' huh" Faith asked; then without waiting for an answer she reached into her purse and pulled something out that Xander recognized immediately. Waving it in her hand Faith asked "how about a trial run first".

Xander gulped and nodded while Faith replied with a truly wicked grin.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Much later the now thoroughly exhausted twenty-somethings were snuggling quietly in bed.

"Xand"

"Yeah Faith"

"Sorry about before."

"You've got nothing to be sorry about."

"No, I mean during my first run through the Dale."

"I know."

"So whatdya mean 'I've got nothing to be sorry for', I tried to kill ya among other things."

"Yeah you did, but then so has just about every other woman I've ever know." Xander propped herself up and looked down into Faith's eyes "listen Faith, so many mistakes were made that there's enough guilt there for everyone. Me, I'm sorry I didn't try harder getting to know you, letting you know that I had some idea about what you were going through."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just that I know about parents that you can't get away from fast enough, or parents that you sometimes want to kill. I'm not saying that we went through the same stuff, but I did have an idea about what you'd been through, but I dropped the ball."

"No ya didn't X, I wasn't ready to listen, not then."

"How about now?"

"You offering to stick around?"

"Well lets see, getting to know a friend better, figuring out the limits of this body and phenomenal sex" he pulled Faith into a kiss "how about 'Hell yes'."

He released the kiss and Faith just looked up at her new friend and smiled.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It had been two months and the slayers at Cleveland house were used to Faith's 'friend' Alexa. Xander and Faith had decided it would be better if word of Cordelia's return to the land of the living wasn't public knowledge just yet so they had come up with an alias for her. The Cleveland slayers knew that Alexa patrolled with Faith, usually hanging back and using either a cross-bow or a gun but every now and then they'd seen her mix it up with a demon or two. The current rumor was that she was a previously undiscovered slayer that Faith was training on her own because the other girl didn't trust anyone else; this was a rumor that both Faith and Xander encouraged, it kept watcher involvement to a minimum.

Faith had learned a lot in two months; she had learned that guns weren't quite the boogeyman that watchers made them out to be, she had learned that she could be an effective leader and teacher and she had learned that X really trusted her. That was funny, not that he trusted her but that she always thought of him as Xander and as a guy despite the fact that he had the body of a Victoria's Secret model. The fact that he trusted her, well she was still coming to terms with that. She had heard what he said that first night but Faith's life was full of guys shoveling shit to get what they wanted. Faith was a confirmed 'actions not words' kind of girl. And X watched her back without fail and even trusted Faith to watch his; she really didn't know how to deal with that because thinking about it eventually led to her thinking that really scary word she swore she'd never use.

Anyway X had helped her with the whole leadership and den-mother thing, making Faith realize that just because she was straight with people didn't mean that everyone else was. So now Faith listened to what the girls said, how they said it, and filled in all the shit they didn't say. He also helped her with planning and strategy; no more 'General Buffy', not on her watch.

So X had taught her some stuff. He had taught her chess to learn about strategy, he had taught her to shoot so now she looked at a gun as a tool and not as something that was dangerous in itself and he taught her some wicked moves in the bedroom, or wherever else they happened to be. He also taught her that what happened outside of bed between two people was just as important as what happened in bed; even if what happened in bed made your brain melt.

Now he was teaching her about letting go.

"You know I've gotta see the others."

"Yeah I know, but I really like having ya here."

"I know, and I like being here, but it's not fair to them or to me. Especially since I told Joyce I'd talk to Buffy and Dawn."

"Yeah, so ya think you're ready to see em."

"I don't know Faith; truth is I'm scared to death."

"Why"

"What if they've made peace with me being gone and then I waltz right in and screw up their nice stable lives; I'd feel like crap for the rest of my life."

"Yeah but like ya said, it's not fair to them, you gotta give them the choice. Remember how you felt when they made decisions for ya, or remember how B got that one Thanksgiving when Fang was around but didn't say shit to her."

"Crap Faith, now you're using logic on me. I know you're right and I know I gotta go, but I'm still scared."

"Of what?"

"That when I get back you won't be here or that you will be here but with someone else. I know it's a forbidden word to you Faith, but I think I'm in love with you."

Now Faith was scared, he had to go and say it. Putting down her own fear she kissed the other girl softly and said "I can't guarantee I'll be here tomorrow, no one can, but I can guarantee that if I'm alive when ya come back I'll be waiting for ya. So, where to first, Rio or Rome?"

Rio I think, Willow will go nuts, but Tara ought to keep stuff calm, as opposed to both Buffy and Dawn going bonkers at the same time."

"And your plane leaves in an hour?"

"Yeah"

"I guess that leaves only one last question."

"Which is?"

"You gonna have a 'corder going if Red and her girl-toy decide they really like the fact that now you're on the same team as them."

The cry of outrage that followed that question was heard throughout the Cleveland airport.