Wes nodded. "Yes. It should be easy to check up on this part of the story." With that, Wes pulled out a computer disc.

"This is a copy of every file on the 'Professor's' computer. On it, there are phone numbers, notes, shipping manifests, everything. It documents the demon's entire operation, which was easy for him to disguise, given that he was a university professor. He simply had 'artifacts' shipped to the school, and no one was the wiser. It doesn't surprise me that no one saw this scenario coming. Giles is a good man, but his tactical abilities are limited by his Council training, and I did notice a certain insular tendency among all of you. I'm not happy about saying it, but focus was a major problem with the entire group. There was too much of a reliance on old and outdated tactics, weapons, and methodology."

Xander had to agree. "Yeah, you make a good point. We do seem to shoot ourselves in the foot an awful lot. I've never understood why we get so distracted." Xander had a hunch, but he kept it to himself, and that hunch centered around a recently resouled vampire.

"Hey, wait." Xander paused. "How are you even here, Faith? You were in a coma."

Faith smiled, really smiled, for the first time in a while. "Well, I wasn't really in a coma. Yeah, Buffy did try to put my insides on the outside, and it was a bad wound, not too bad for a Slayer, but when I fell into that truck, Derek was driving it; we had arranged it as a last resort. I knew that Buffy was coming for me. Derek had tracked her movement, and gave me a heads up. We came up with the truck as a possible getaway, and it turned out that we needed it. When we got to the hospital, he injected me with that same sedative I hit Finch with. After Wilkins and everyone else cleared out, I came to and Derek got me out of there. We were at the graduation ceremony. Good work, by the way. You saved a bunch of lives, Xander. You need to know that."

Xander nodded dumbly. His head was spinning from all of this info, and he didn't even have all of his questions answered. He had long harbored the feeling that he needed to get away from Sunnydale for a while, and was planning on using this summer trip to clear his head, and figure out what he wanted to do with his life. Now that this information had come up, he really wanted out of Sunnydale for a while.

"Alright, I have a few other questions, but I can't think about much more. Here goes: Faith, what about us?"

There it was. The 800-pound gorilla in the room of this conversation. They all knew that it would come up, it was only a matter of time. Faith took her time, took a deep breath, and began, slowly, softly, but purposefully.

"Xander, that night was so frustrating. I made a mistake when I threw you out. I shouldn't have, I knew I wanted to be honest with you, but I didn't know how. This is all kind of new to me, Xander; you looked at me like no one ever looked at me before. I just freaked. Derek had a room next door, but he and Wes were both out. I didn't know how to tell you, so I thought if I could stay in the role I could track you down after I threw you out. But we got so side-tracked, and I couldn't get back to you when you were alone."

Tears were flowing down her face freely now, and Wes handed her a handkerchief. "Xander, the way you looked at me after we were together, like I was the most special person in your world. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you the truth then. I just didn't know how. I'm sorry, you have to believe me, Xander."

She was nearly pleading with him. Wes put his hand on her shoulder and calmed Faith down a bit. Xander, for his part, was stunned.

He'd admitted to himself long ago that he was head over heels in love with Faith. Xander hadn't told anyone else about his feelings, especially not after the Allan Finch incident. He'd been wrestling with conflicting emotions where Faith was concerned, and he'd beaten himself up for not being able to help her. Now, he simply couldn't believe his ears. She was all but admitting to him that she cared deeply for him. It was too much to comprehend.

Images flashed into Xander's mind. His first glimpse of Faith, wild-eyed and amped up from staking a vampire, jazzed from an evening at the Bronze. But more importantly, he thought back to the scene Faith recalled earlier, and his mind quickly followed lock step behind his heart.

Xander was quiet for a few moments. He thought back to a few times in the library when he could have sworn that he had caught Faith looking at him. It was easy for him to detach from the conversations, since they pretty much considered Xander a liability. At the time, he had chalked it up to Faith sizing everyone up, and that he'd only seen her looking at him by chance. Now, though, he had to stop and rethink that.

"Faith. Look at me."

Faith raised her head, wiping her eyes as she did so. Xander gently placed his right hand on top of Faith's, and smiled that trademark Xander grin.

Their eyes met, and Wesley found himself studying his coffee mug.

"Look, I don't know what to say about all of this. It's too much to take in all at once. But I know that I have strong feelings for you. Always have."

"Since when?" Faith was curious.

Xander returned the smile. "Probably since you staked that vamp outside The Bronze. Don't get me wrong, I thought you were smoking hot, but once I talked to you, I sensed that you were different on the inside. I guess I was more right than I thought, huh? But I think it was after that night that I really started thinking about how much of the same experiences we've had. That, and how much closer we could've been if I'd reached out to you sooner. Once you went bad, or whatever, I went to try to bring you back. I guess I realized then that I wanted to be more than just a quick ride and a good time."

Faith was stunned that Xander had shared his heart with her like that. It was almost too much to bear. In fact, it quickly became too much, and Faith reached across and squeezed Xander's hand.

"I'm so sorry things went this way. Is it possible to start over, fresh?"

Xander looked puzzled and thought for a while. "I don't know, Faith. How about we just not worry about starting over and just try to move forward together with all this?"

Faith smiled, a happy smile settling on her face as she nodded her head, wiping away the tears.

"Well, now that I am thoroughly disgusted, Faith, would you care to tell Xander the other reason why you asked him to meet us here tonight?"