RobClark Thanks. Darklight Angel won't stand by. The Slayers are still warriors, but they need to learn to work together. There is not one Chosen again. There are many. So, there's not one Slayer to which the Council can answer. That means either there must be a face for the Slayers to which the Council has to answer or Giles is the boss and the Slayers have to listen to him. The Slayer face would be either Buffy or Faith. Xander plays a very important part in this as especially he wanted that Buffy was the boss. Things went wrong with Buffy, so he changes his mind, supported mostly by Wood's and Giles's new policy which already started in BS7. Calen The difference will be explained in the last part. Kind of. Keith Thanks, mate. Loathes BX. Wow. Bolo Thanks. Xander will never completely like or trust Angel. He simply can't fully trust vampires and not without reason. But, maturity is in order now. He didn't interfere with the whole Spuffy issue in S7. Hell, he even came up with the triggering issue which basically saved Spike. Jason Barnett Thanks. And especially for the long feedback. The prophecy was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Doesn't mean she wasn't right to do something about it. She was. And very heroic. The question was: how do you break a self-fulfilling prophecy. Caleb was a trap. Buffy always reacts the same. Always. And that makes it a trap. Caleb knew Buffy would come immediately. That was the problem. Ask yourself this: why couldn't she kill Caleb the first time? Why did she won the second time? Or ask yourself this: what would have happened if the group did agree with her the second time? How much can Buffy take before she really snaps? Buffy is not only the Slayer, she's also human. That's what I wanted to show with the trap thing. Buffy's also a young woman with a human heart, who can't stand seeing people dying around her. Maybe she was right to go into it or not, but that's not the issue in this fic. (I know I'm pushing it, but hey, didn't Joss do that too?) Law? There is no law. The Watcher's council is indeed a bunch of corrupt old men. And Robin is a very smooth talker, who was raised with the old ways and thinks it's all something big romantic. (He went only to Sunnydale to 'score' the Slayer). But, it's not. He tricked Giles into believing in the old ways too. That's practically canon, which I have to deal with first. Xander? Xander's role is different. He simply doesn't understand what went wrong and reacts to it in the wrong way. Precisely the opposite way. Xander will always trust Buffy, and Slayers in general. I'm not saying that everything he said was true, certainly not. Neither would Angel have bought everything what Xander said, (the prophecy for example), but he understood Xander's reasoning. Xander is the representation of the human, or the most human being in the group, and therefore makes human mistakes and has human feelings. That's his biggest weakness, but also his biggest strength. It makes him the heart of the group. But at times also the biggest fool and of course he has his own problems and his low self-esteem issue. But with his common sense it makes him see things what the other can't. Faith? No, of course Buffy had no reason to trust Faith. I don't see what the prison has to do with it. About the quality of the parts. Well, that's mostly about taste. But, you can expect me (or at least try) to write parts like part 1, (I love that one much more too), but things needs to be worked out first.

Part 3 Seeing the light again

Faith walked into a quiet LA neighbourhood bar. An old 70's classic rock ballet was blaring from the CD Jukebox and a couple of bullheads were playing at the pool table. Fred had asked her to check on him. Geek girl was worried. They have tried to find Lorne, so that he could sing for him. But their green friend was nowhere to find. They had brought him to this bar after his visit to Cordy's grave and had left him alone. She noticed him. The coat of his Armani suit hanging around his chair, his tie loose and the first three buttons of his blouse unbuttoned he was staring at an almost-full pitcher of beer on the table.

"Staring at your beer won't get the alcohol running in your blood system, y'know?" Xander didn't react. She pulled a pack of cigarettes from her jacket, tapped a cigarette out and put it in her mouth. "You still on that quest?" He nodded. "Good thing."

"Faith, what do you want?" Xander asked, not lifting his head up to look at her.

"Y'know. There was this fucked up scared little girl I once knew. A real brat." Faith chuckled. She lit her smoke with her Zippo lighter. "She wore this yellow snow hat and had an earring through her nose." Xander looked at her, raising a eyebrow. "Nah, X, I'm sorry, but I'm horrible 'bout talking about myself and saying how sorry I am." She frowned. "Strange, considering all the exercise I had in jail." She sighed and continued her tale. "No, she's a real person and she's not me. Her name is Lizzy. She skipped school and ran away from her sweet caring parents. Really nice folks. I met them. She grew up fast, she lived a night life. Dangerous for a seventeen year old gal. Guys, y'know. But, don't worry . . . she suddenly had all this Slayer strength running through her system. It saved her life. She was lucky. Guy ended up safely in a hospital."

Faith stopped as she saw that Xander wasn't really listening. She blew a cloud of smoke in his face. "Hey, you're still there?" He simply nodded. Faith stared at him for a moment and continued. "Ok. So, Kennedy and I find this gal and we try to help her." She grinned. "Considering how much the three of us have in common, you could say we quickly connected."

Xander was looking at his glass, still filled with beer and didn't show any sign of attention. Faith grunted. "Seven minutes."

Xander glanced at her. "Huh?"

Faith smirked. "Oh, you're still listening. Cool."

Xander turned to his glass again. "Why can certain people only socialize with a smoke?" he asked.

Faith's eyes widened as she looked at her cigarette. "Sorry." She dipped it in his beer and flipped it on the ground.

Xander sighed. "Y'know what the great thing is about missing an eye?" he asked.

She shook her head. "You gotta wear a damn sexy eye-patch?" she suggested, amused.

"Besides that fact." He moved his head above his beer in different directions while looking at it. "It makes the beer look 2D."

Faith raised an eyebrow. "Fun."

He glanced at her, his voice void of any emotion. "It makes it a lot less of a frightening enemy."

Faith wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Cool," was all she came up with.

"Yeah." He flashed a smile. "It's a nice story, Faith. Especially with the sweet ending and all."

"The story wasn't finished yet," the Slayer responded, "She trained with us and opened up to us. She looked up to us. She respected us." Faith stopped, gaining Xander's full attention. "She respected me."

"That's excellent, Faith. I'm proud of you," Xander responded without any trace of sarcasm.

Faith rolled her eyes. "Xan, it wasn't excellent or whatever you wanna call it. It's damn scary." Xander raised an eyebrow in surprise. Faith's voice faltered. "Taking care of someone you care for is frightening as hell. Girl needs ME." She sighed deeply and looked him in the eye. "Xan, for more then seven years you've been Buffy's loyal piss puppy. No matter what shit she pulled you through. Word is that Anya had like a thousand year run after she had lost it. You brought her back, just like you brought back Willow. All people you care about. Shit, you made mistakes, but you were there. Hell, even Pipsqueak loves you."

"Faith, don't," Xander muttered, almost pleading.

"I am not," Faith objected, "What you said to Wood about sending me to Hell when you think you have to . . . I believe you. That's why I want you to be my Watcher."

Xander turned to her. "Faith, you don't make sense."

"Whatever happens, Xander," the Dark Slayer responded, "I know I can count on you for whatever you think is right while you'll never to forget to care."

"Faith, please come to the point," Xander said irritated.

The Dark Slayer sighed deeply. "Why do you piss on Angel all the time?" she asked in a gentle tone.

"Oh, this is about Angel?" Xander asked as if he had an Einsteinian moment of true understanding. "It's always about the great Poofter, isn't it?" he asked, imitating Spike, "I should have known."

"Why?" Faith asked impatiently.

"Why do you care?" he asked on automatic pilot, but paused, "Oh, wait, I forgot. He saved you," he sneered.

"Damn right he saved me!" she spat back, "He took care of me when nobody else did!"

"Yeah, 'cause only a vampire can bring you back. A normal guy can't. Never." The loathing in Xander's voice surprised her. "Not even when there's a connection," he sighed deeply. "Guess it's a stupid Slayer thing," he muttered. He looked at his beer again. "All aggressiveness and violence. Must attract each other."

"You're just a stubborn piece of a jealous asshole," she retorted angrily.

Xander turned back to her, his expression calm, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, so what?"

Faith smiled widely and she patted him on the shoulder. "You don't have to prove yourself so much to me, Xan. I'm still your first. I'll never forget what you tried to do for me."

Faith chuckled at Xander's answering shocked expression and stood up. "See you," she said and walked away, a contemplative smile spreading across her face.

"Oh, Christ, she likes me," Xander muttered, "As if things aren't already tough enough." He took the glass and emptied it in one long gulp.

Next morning, very early

"G'mornin' Fang."

"Faith," Angel welcomed her in his office as she strolled in, gaping widely.

"You wanna see me?" she asked as she stretched and rubbed her face.

Angel nodded. Her eyes were slightly red trimmed, but she seemed to be okay. Was what happened yesterday a normal day in her life? he wondered. He had easily seen that her relationship with Wood was strained at least. Granted, the fact that one of her best friends was a vampire, wasn't a plus in any Watcher's report, but it was clear that more was going on. "You slept well?"

"As good as I can," she replied, while still gaping.

"Good."

"Angel, cut the shit. What do ya want?"

"Why is Xander your Watcher?"

"Oh, god. You too?" she asked promptly.

Angel didn't miss the frustration in her tone. "So, you're behind the decision?"

"Damn right I am. I wanted him to be my Watcher." Angel blinked. This was new. "Surprised? Why the hell is everybody thinking he can't be my Watcher?"

"He doesn't seem to be himself anymore."

"Only a plus."

"Faith, I spoke with him. He doesn't care anymore."

Faith raised an eyebrow. "What does make you think that?"

The vampire stood up from behind his oaken desk and sighed. "He's drowning in sorrow."

Faith frowned. "And that makes him careless?"

Angel thought about how to explain it to her, seeking for the right words. "Yes."

Faith rolled her eyes. "Oh, my god. And what? It makes him also a bad Watcher? A freak?" She paused and continued in a calmer voice. "I guess you can know, being Mr Broodiness himself."

"Faith, you don't understand." Faith didn't react, so he tried to explain it. "I'm feeling guilty for what I did. He's . . . He's taking the blame on him for whatever has happened. You know how he was. Always trying to help everybody. And if he failed, he could handle it. He could shrug it off even when he cared so much," Angel "I've always thought Xander's had a genuine love and appreciation for his friends. Like when he tried to help-"

"When I tried to kill him. Yes, I remember. Okay, he feels more guilty than normal. So what?"

Angel noticed how fast she interrupted him with this not unimportant aspect of their relation. And how open she was to him about this particular detail in her life. She really had grown. But he also knew how powerful guilt could be. It was like a virus tearing you apart from the inside. "I wanted to say when he cared for Willow. But it's good that you bring it up. Is that the reason why you want him to be your Watcher? Guilt?"

To Angel's surprise Faith smiled and she nodded. "And again the master hit the nail. I won't deny it. But, I see it more like a chance. For both of us." Angel gave her worried look and she quickly became serious. "Angel, I trust him."

Angel nodded and he walked to the sunlight protected window and stared outside. "Faith, if you don't listen to him, he'll shoot you."

A sledgehammer hit Angel as Faith immediately and casually responded. "That's why I trust him."

Early morning

A black shadow crept out of the law firm and towards the wall. A light revealed the white hair and cheekbones of a man as he leaned against the wall and had got himself a cigarette. He looked at the still dark sky as he blew out a cloud into the early morning chilling air. His thoughts trailed back to Buffy, as they always seemed to. But, this time it was less naked. This time it was nasty in a different way. She was in a mental institution and it might have been his fault. At least partly. He wasn't there when she needed him the most. Now he was too late. If Buffy will ever find out that he was still alive, then she . . . Bloody hell, he couldn't even think about what she would do to him. But, it surely wasn't pleasant. He shook his head. Time for some bloody poetry? Hmmm, what rhymes on 'ripped out heart' ?

He flipped his smoke to the ground and grabbed for a new one as he saw a black man crossing the street. He heard something and saw in slow motion a car speeding up and the man didn't notice it. "Oh, bloody hell," he muttered and rushed forward. He realized that he would be too late. To gain more speed he allowed the demon inside him to resurface. The man had almost crossed the street and Spike leapt, crashing into the man. Both him and the man were caught by the car and slammed away. Spike wasn't hurt too much, but the man looked horrible. He laid motionless on one side on the lane. Blood was creeping out his nose and he had gaping wound on the back of head. It wouldn't be a far stretch of the mind to know that he has many internal wounds. Spike looked at him as he carried him away from the street and laid him gently on the pavement.

The man groaned as he opened his eyes. "Spike."

"Take it easy, Robin."

"Y-you . . ." The man took a painful breath and continued, "You s-saved my life?" he asked, his eyes filled with surprise.

"Not if you keep talking."

Spike looked around and noticed a woman further away. He needed a cell phone and quick. He jerked his head as Robin grabbed his hand. "M-mother . . ."

The vampire was surprised by the sudden rush of emotions and guilt tormenting his soul as he looked in Robin's eyes. He shrugged it off and quickly turned his attention to the woman again. But before he could ask her, he felt a hard kick against his head.

"You fucking asshole! Murdering bastard!"

Spike rolled away as quickly as he could and looked straight in the furious face of the Dark Slayer. "You fucking killed him."

"I did-" another slam knocked him out temporarily.

Faith crouched down and looked at her lover. "Robin . . ." She realized that it was too late. She didn't hear his heartbeat anymore. The man was dead. Tears rolled over her cheeks as it brought back many memories. The faces of the men she had killed. Faces of the those she had loved, but had died nonetheless. An searing anger slowly built up inside of her. She stood up, grabbed Spike by his collar and shook him awake. She slipped inside her jacket and removed a small crossbow pistol.

Spike groaned as he came to his senses and Faith pressed the arrow she had placed on the bow in his nose. "I'm finally gonna do what Buffy needed to do a long time ago. You're gonna die, right now and right here."

Spike pushed her away in a lightning move. "Sod off, luv. I didn't do a bloody thing to your man."

Faith answered him with a kick in his stomach and followed with a high kick against his face. And another one. Spike barely avoided the last one and answered with a kick of his own. But Faith was enraged and she didn't even seem to acknowledge the hit. A blur of movement pushed Spike to the ground, barely conscious. She aimed her crossbow at him again, ready to fire.

Dazed, Spike looked at the tip of the crossbow arrow which seemed to grow in size. He knew it was his final moment. He had no chance at all to talk the woman out of it. It wasn't too bad, he realized. He had failed Buffy after all and life without her seemed meaningless. And Faith could get Nikki's revenge.

Romeo. It was a nice death. Buffy would never have known that he had come back. Finally the peace he deserved.

He heard the trigger mechanism being pulled back as at the same time he heard that a familiar voice. "Faith! Stop it, Faith!"

"He killed Robin!" Faith screamed as the tears continued to roll down her face.

"Faith, don't pull that trigger!"

"Or what!" she yelled at the young man who was now standing about five yards in front of her to Spike's estimation. He couldn't see him, but he knew that Droopy's efforts would never save his innocent butt.

"Or I'll shoot you!"

Spike didn't know what he heard and some of his thoughts were vocalized by Faith. He dared to turn his head around and saw Xander standing with a gun.

"I don't give a damn about who killed Robin. I give a damn about you. I give you three seconds to lower that crossbow."

Xander didn't shout this time. Spike noticed the calm in his voice. The same calm when the boy had found out that he not only had sex with his demon-girl, but had also slept with Buffy. He faced his attacker again and saw still the killer inside her. Was there a chance?

"One."

He noticed some doubt in Faith's eyes as she nervously switched her gaze between him and Xander.

"Two."

"You're fucking out of your mind! I'm gonna kill him!" Spike heard the trigger mechanism again. He closed his eyes. This was the end.

"Three."

She dropped the crossbow and fell to the ground, crying. Spike looked at her and Xander in surprise. He saw how her Watcher calmly sheathed his gun in his jacket and walked over to Faith.

"Go away or I'll stake you myself."

Spike stood up and went inside the W&H building. He turned around and saw how Xander took Faith in his arms while she sobbed against his chest. For the first time Spike realized what a scared, insecure little girl really laid behind her bad-ass attitude. Interesting. He shrugged it off and walked further into the building.

Faith laid in her bed with Xander sitting in a leather chair next to her. The youth leaned forward and he kissed her tenderly on her forehead. He moved back and looked thoughtfully at the girl in bed. He played with the cup that had contained his coffee. Angel would soon join him, Harmony had said. His thoughts were with the many women in his life. Faith, Buffy, Dawn, Joyce, Willow, Kennedy, Tara, and of course Anya. The nightmares that had eventually come after the shock had faded away still haunted him. Sleep was a more precious gift than he ever had realized before. He knew there was a simple solution for a night's rest: the bottle. He missed Anya. Oh, God, how much did he miss her. The sweetness of her smile, her smell, her bluntness, her obsession for money, her vengeance, her sex and most of all her love. Maybe Giles was right and maybe he wasn't fit for the job. He needed to see the light in the endless tunnel again. He needed a mission. And like always that light was Buffy. Whatever it takes, as long as she wasn't a free and happy girl with a good life, his mission wasn't over.

The mission isn't over! He threw his cup away as hard as he could. The expected slam didn't come and he looked around, seeing Angel standing with the cup in his hand.

To his surprise the vampire was smiling. "And here I thought that I'm still in top of my stealth game."

"Sorry."

Angel stepped in. "How's she?" he asked softly taking the seat next to him.

Xander looked at her again. "Fine. She's sleeping."

"I spoke with Spike. He says he saw a car coming, accelerating and aimed at this Robin Wood just before the accident. He tried to save him." Xander shrugged. "You believe him?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because he's Spike," Angel simply stated the obvious.

"What happened to Cordy?"

Angel blinked by the sudden change of subject. "Uh . . ."

"Why did I involve her in this mess? Why the fuck did she want to play hero in first place while she could have had a fantastic career?"

"Xander, she freely choose to do this."

Xander ignored his comment. "Why do all the women we care for have only an option to put a check mark on a list with the following choices? Die, go insane, go evil, become a demon or live a hard unhappy existence for the rest of her miserable life and last, but not least, "He swallowed, "If she slips into one of above mentioned categories I have to make sure it's the first," he spoke vehemently.

Angel didn't know how to react, but Xander spoke further, his voice trembling. "It's so unfair . . . So hard."

"Hey. You did the right thing."

Xander sighed, sounding bone weary. "Did I?"

There was a moment of silence between the two as the vampire stared at the sleeping beauty. Finally he turned to Xander again. "I don't know."

"I can't kill a human, Angel," Xander confessed. The young man looked at him, his eye almost desperate. Looking for a miracle answer from the vampire. But Angel didn't respond as he continued to look at Faith "I just couldn't shoot her. I'm a failure."

"No, it makes you the best Watcher, Xander," Angel said supportively.

Xander looked away and spoke softly, almost whispering. "Slayers don't get married, have 2.5 kids, a dog, and a house with a garden and a picket fence. They rip the pickets off the freaking fence and use them to dust bloodsucking vampires. Slayers live fast, die young, and leave behind a whole lot of ugly demon corpses. And human corpses in some cases. They are alone. I wanted it to change for Buffy. She dreamt of having a normal life. I wanted to give it to her . . . Like she wanted to give it to me."

He looked at Angel as tears rolled over his right cheek. For the first time since he was forced to stand alone on his feet, 18 years ago, he cried. "Look, where I have brought her. She's rotting away in some fucking shrink cell. She was better of dead."

"Xander, you're not to blame."

The young man looked through his tears at the vampire. "Not even Dawn can have a normal life and she was Buffy's Gift to have one."

Xander didn't notice that Faith was awake now and stared at Angel. Angel laid his hand on his shoulder. "Dawn made her own choice, Xander."

Xander shook his head. "No. We took that away from her the moment we brought Buffy back."

Angel didn't respond as he let Xander cry against his chest. Only when Xander had regained himself again he spoke softly. "What do you wanna do?"

"I want you to change Harris into Summers."

Angel raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Me becoming her brother? Officially. You know, messing with my birth certificate or something."

Angel and Faith exchanged a look. "Christ, Xander," Faith said, stunned, "Why?"

"I want to get her out of there," Xander responded, "Alive and happy."

From outside the room Spike had been watching the entire scene. "Whelp needs help," he muttered and abruptly walked away.

A/N This is the final part of ep 1. Tell me what you think of it and what direction you would like to see it go.