Thanks to jazzypunker, buffwill, dogbertcarroll, IceWing, WBH21C, Layce74, Ghostrider, PolyesterRage, Darklight, tp96, rma, RRahl, gluemonkey, mfkngst, KColl2003, RTds9 and brunettesrule for reviewing the last chapter.

Inside the house, the décor was very classy; very Ellie. Or Faith would have thought so if she had noticed it, but she wasn't really noticing anything, except for the giant butterflies in her stomach, and what it felt like to be meeting her daughter for the first time. As Ellie took her through the doorway and into the front living room, she thought that her heart would beat out of her chest. Then she got her first look at Lexie. She was sitting on a large, overstuffed sofa, her little feet dangling off of the edge; the epitome of childish innocence.

"Look who's here, Lex," Ellie said, giving Faith the final push she needed to step over the threshold. She cautiously walked over and knelt in front of her little girl.

"Your hair grew longer," Lexie told her mother, comparing her to the photos she had, where Faith was younger, "I think it looks pretty," she said with a decisive nod.

"Thanks. But I think yours is prettier, though," Faith said, letting a shaky hand smooth over her chocolate coloured curls.

"Am I gonna come an' live with you now?" Lexie asked, and Faith thought that she sounded hopeful, and she felt her heart flutter.

"Yeah, if that's okay with you?" If Faith had any doubts about Lexie wanting to be with her, she shouldn't, as Lexie was nodded in a most enthusiastic way.

"Aunt Ellie said you'd come so I was'a waitin' for you. Can Peter come too? 'Cause he doesn't like bein' left out?" she asked, holing out a well worn teddy bear, that Faith presumed was Peter.

"Oh, then Peter better come with us then, but you have to hug me right now," Lexie grinned and threw herself into Faith's arms. The slayer couldn't help but notice that she had her father's smile. It was all so overwhelming for Faith, she'd waited so long to be a mother to Lexie, had almost given up hope of it ever happening, she had imagined it a million times, that she just couldn't help the tears. She was still crying when they pulled apart.

"Mommy, why are you cryin'? Did someone make you sad?"

"No baby, I'm just crying 'cause I'm really happy. I'll stop now, okay?"

"Okay." Lexie said, the concept of 'tears of joy' seemed strange to the four year old. She thought for a moment and frowned. "but don't stop bein' happy, 'cause then you'll be sad, an' Miss Carr said that bein' sad'll give you wrinkles, an' wrinkles are bad!" Faith couldn't help but smile at her thought process. She already knew that Miss Carr was Lexie's child minder.

"Well, I think that's a pretty good reason to not be sad, then. Miss Carr must be a very clever lady,"

L.A

Xander sat down heavily in the chair in front of the desk that Giles was working at, Willow moved to the chair beside him. He felt drained at finally having told his family everything.

"So, how's it all going down here?" he asked, in an attempt to change the subject, his eyes scanned over the enormous stack of papers on the desk.

"Well, Willow has managed to access the Council's various bank accounts, which is useful. It means that there is nothing to stop s from building a new Council. And we can make several major changes that Travers' outfit was in desperate need of."

"That's great! Especially the part about the changes, because those guys had some serious issues,"

"Yes, quite. It won't be easy though, the majority of trained Watchers were all killed by the Bringers, so we'll need to find and train new ones. And we'll need to somehow find all the newly activated Slayers. It will be a lot more work than we realised."

"Guess next time we should think about the consequences of saving the world, huh?" he joked.

"Actually, I was rather hoping to ask you if you would consider joining us? You are more than capable of being a fully qualified Watcher; you've had seven years of priceless practical experience. We would really benefit you working with us."

"What?! A Watcher? Me? Giles I…" he stammered, and then trailed off.

"I don't expect you to give me an answer right away, especially given your current situation, but I want you to Know that the offer is there, and always will be."

"Wow, Giles, I don't know what to say. Uh, except that I'll give it a lot of thought,"

"Good. Now there's just one final thing I want to give you," The Englishman said, as he handed Xander a slip of paper. Looking at it, Xander realised that it was a cheque.

"Holy shit, Giles! This is a cheque for $800,000!" Xander shrieked in a very undignified manner.

"Compensation and back pay for the last seven years, I hope the amount is sufficient,"

"Sufficient?! Giles-its $800,000! I can't take this!"

"Nonsense. After everything that you've been through, all the times that you've saved the world, I think that it's the least you deserve. And besides, the council had accumulated an enormous bank balance over the years, so I won't take no for an answer. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some sleep while it's still relatively quiet here." He finished, and headed up stairs, leaving Willow and Xander alone in the room. Xander let out a huge sigh of disbelief as he tried to process what had just happened. Willow watched him with a small smile on his face.

"Busy week, huh?" Willow understated.

"You could say that, yeah,"

In the courtyard outside the hotel, Dawn cautiously approached her sister as she sat on the bench, staring at nothing. While Dawn hovered, trying to work out what to say, the slayer got bored.

"Are you just gonna stand there, or are you going to say something?"

"I'm just trying to figure out the nicest way to tell you that you're an idiot," she said, Buffy snorted.

"You don't have to, I already know." Dawn moved round to sit next to her now calmer sister.

"You did over react a little, what was that about?"

"I don't know. I just…things are just so different now, Dawn. I didn't mean to be such a bitch about Faith like that; I guess I still have issues with her from way back when. And then I think maybe I'm a little jealous."

"Jealous? Of what?" Dawn asked curiously.

"When I was 'The Chosen One', I felt so alone, all I ever wanted was to be a normal girl, and have a normal life; go to college, meet a nice guy, get married and have a couple of kids, ya know? And now, it's Faith that's already halfway there."

"Buffy, Faith might already have a daughter, but she and Xander aren't a couple, let alone married,"

"Please! I remember the way Xander used to look at Faith when she first blew into town, and from the way he was talking about her, the way he defended her, he would do anything for her, whether it's his kid or not. It's only a matter of time."

"Maybe so," Dawn conceded, "but you said it your self, Buffy, things have changed, there's nothing to stop you from having all that as well."

"Maybe," Buffy said, though with little conviction.

"No, not 'maybe' Buffy! You have the chance at a fresh start; you're not the only person who can save the world now. You can do anything you want. So what do you want to do?"

Buffy looked at her younger sister. Her younger sister that seemed all grown up now, and a lot smarter, too. She realised that Dawn was right, and she didn't feel so alone, and she didn't have the weight of the world resting on her shoulders. It felt good, so she asked herself, what did she want to do?

Boston

Ellie had gone to make breakfast for the three of them, leaving Faith and Lexie to play and get to know each other. At the moment, the mother and daughter were drawing pictures, or attempting so in Faith's case, as she really wasn't a very good artist, Lexie on the other hand, she was a regular Picasso.

"Hey that's really good, sweetheart," Faith said, eliciting that beautiful smile from her little girl.

"Thank you. This is you Mommy," she told her, pointing at one of the figures in her picture, "and this is me with Peter, and that's Auntie Ellie. What are you drawin'?"

Faith eyed her picture doubtfully. She really did suck at drawing.

"It's a dog," she told Lexie.

"Oh." And then she went back to her own picture. Apparently bluntness was a family thing.

"Hey Momma?" Faith's heart swelled with joy when she heard the 'M' word.

"Yes baby?"

"What does my Daddy look like?" The question came a little out of the blue to Faith, but she supposed that all the other kids she knew had daddies; it was only natural for her to be curious. She composed herself and smiled at her daughter.

"Well, he's tall, taller than me and Auntie Ellie, he has dark hair, a smile just like yours and he has a patch over one of his eyes," she told her, putting her hand over her own eye to demonstrate.

"Like Captain Hook?" she asked with eyes wide.

"Kinda, except he's a good guy,"

"Is he gonna come an' live with us too?"

"Erm, I don't know, but even if he doesn't he'll still be around a lot,"

"Okay." And then Ellie called them into the kitchen for breakfast.

An hour or so later, they had fished their breakfast and Faith and Ellie sat in the kitchen, talking as they drank coffee.

"You're coming to L.A too, right?" Faith asked, a hint of worry in her voice, she wasn't yet confident as a mother, it had only been a few hours since she had first met her daughter after all, and she needed the support of her sister.

"Of course. I'm dying to meet him," Ellie smirked, they may not be blood related, but they defiantly had the same smirk, and by him, she meant, Xander. "How's he taking it all? Now that's actually real?"

"Pretty well, I didn't tell him that he is defiantly her father, I thought that maybe it would be better if he had no doubts."

"Fair enough," Ellie responded, and sipped her coffee. Neither said anything for a minuet.

"Ellie, thank you, so much, you've been amazing, you've done so much for me, for Lexie, and then I just walk back into town and change everything again, and that's really not fair. I know how much you love Lex, and I feel like I'm taking her away from you," Faith said, "I want to be with her so much, but I'm afraid that I'm gonna hurt you. Or her."

Ellie had her arms around her in an instant.

"Don't you dare start doubting your ability to be her mother, Faith. And as for hurting me, your, right, I do love Lexie, but I'm her aunt, you're her mother. I want nothing more than to see you two together. I'm coming with you to L.A, to make sure that the two of you, and Xander, if that's the case, are okay, and then, well, who knows. I might even take the job in Europe that my boss keeps telling me I'm perfect for."

"I love you," Faith told her through tears.

"Back atcha, Faithy."

L.A

Willow looked over at her oldest friend in the world and smiled fondly, he seemed to be totally bewildered by what had just happened. A far cry from the calm, focused man that had gathered them all less than an hour ago.

"You okay there, Xand?" she asked gently.

"I have no idea. Too much going on for my little brain to process."

"The money part, or the daughter part?"

"The money mostly, I've had time to get used to the possibility of being a father. And I know that you're upset that I didn't tell you any of this before, but there was a lot of other stuff going on, and I just couldn't. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I forgive you. Did Anya know?" she asked cautiously.

"No, I never felt like I could tell her. I guess I never thought she would understand, maybe I didn't give her enough credit. I'll never know now," he said sadly, because, even though she hadn't been the right person for him, she would always be in his heart, nothing would change that.

"You did the right thing, not marrying her, I mean. It wouldn't have been fair on either of you if you had." She said, giving his hand a comforting squeeze.

"Thanks Wills," he responded, grateful that she understood all of this.

"So," the red head began, with a sincere smile, "What's gonna happen if she is yours?"

"Lexie, that's her name, as for what's gonna happen, I'm not sure," something about the way Xander said her name registered with Willow; he said it in a kind of wonderment, and it made Willow hope that the test did come back positive, because as far as she could tell, her friend was already on his way to being besotted.

Boston

"So, what's gonna happen with your prison sentence?" Ellie asked.

"Angel's got his people working on it now; he seems to think that it's a done deal,"

"That's great! What about Julian, though, you won't be able to see him anymore, will you?"

"He's not the only counsellor in the country, Elle, I'll just, find another," Faith shrugged.

"So you are going to carry on getting help, though?"

"Yeah, it helps, sometimes to talk about things,"

"You, know, I'm always here if you want to talk?"

"I appreciate the thought, but, it's better if I speak to someone that doesn't know, that can, you know, be impartial, or whatever,"

"You don't think I could be impartial?"

"No, I don't. You're too involved. I fact, you probably should talk to someone about what you went through,"

"What I went through?! It wasn't me that he…" Ellie stopped, not able to say out loud what she thought.

"Yeah exactly. And I think that you feel guilty, 'cause he hurt me and not you, or 'cause you weren't there to stop it, or just because he was your father, I don't know. But I really do think that you have issues too, how can you not?"

"Yeah I feel guilty," Ellie told her softly, "I should have known, I mean, he was my father, I lived with him all my life and I never…I never new what he was. If I had I could have stopped him from hurting you."

"Ellie, your dad was a sicko with a thing for little girls, that is in no way your fault, and you need to stop thinking that it is. Which is why I think you should see a counsellor."

Ellie nodded in concession, much to Faith's relief, getting this conversation out of the way had lifted a huge burden, and now she could get on with her life and get to know her daughter.

And tomorrow she was going to introduce Lexie to her father, and she was starting to get very nervous.

TBC...