Author's Note for part 3: in light of the revelation of Faith's real last name, I've decided-despite the fact that I'm not particularly fond of it for it- I'll use it instead of the one I was going to use.

Thanks to everyone for the reviews, I love it! I actually have the next 5 parts of this written, I was just putting up 2 a day in hopes that by the time I have part 7 up, I'll have the last 2 or 3 chapters done and you won't have to wait. I'll put up the next 2, you guys tell me if you want me to put up the rest right away. I've already started on at least one sequel to this. Seriously guys, this thing will keep going as long as you want it too.

"Hey G-man! What up!" I bound down the stairs and see Giles reading a letter, and

of course, curiosity gets the best of me. So I go up behind him and put my head on his shoulder, trying to read it. But Giles being Giles, folds it up before I can read anything. "Ah, c'mon Giles, lemme have a look. Oh, nice envelope, it's all pretty and it's got a wax thingy and everything!"

"Yes, Faith, it has a wax seal. It's a very formal letter," Giles says, grabbing the envelope back before I can even see who it was from.

"Ah, G-man, you're no fun," I whine and sit in the chair next to him. "Who's it from, Giles? C'mon, at least tell me that much."

"Tell me, Buffy, was Faith always this annoying?" I look up and there's B, coming out of the kitchen in nothing but a long men's dress shirt, holding a cup of coffee. Damn she looks fine this morning! "I don't remember her being this annoying when she was evil."

"Hey! I was never evil!" Low blow G-man, low blow. But at least it kept me from staring at B for too long.

"Yup, basically."

"Oh, thanks for the support, B."

"Any time." Then she comes and sits across from me at the table, sipping her coffee. "So how much caffeine does a person need in their system to be as wired as you are, Faith?"

"None," I shrug and get an amazed look from B. "I just got up actually, no caffeine whatsoever."

"So what's with the spazziness then?"

I shrug again. "Post big battle energy getting burnt off, I guess."

"Faith, it's been a week since the big battle, the energy should be worn off by now," she says, taking my hand like she's trying to calm a child. What am I? Five? Though, if it means more of B holding my hand, what the hell.

Ok, awkward silence time. C'mon Faith, say something and stop looking at her hand on your hand. Well, her boobs, not the next best option, though I must say, they are quite nice. Oh, Faith, stop, back on track. Say something. Say anything. C'mon brain, work with me.

"Oh dear lord!" Or, you know Giles can say something too. Now with the taking off of the glasses, cleaning them, putting them back on, and apparently rereading a section of the letter. Damn, must be something important for Giles to go through that ritual.

"What? What is it?" she asks as she lets go of my hand.

"Don't even bother, B, he won't even tell me who sent it."

"Oh, don't be such a dim-whit, Faith," he says flatly, putting the letter down. Ow, that hurt! I am not a dim-whit, my wit is quite bright, thank you. "It's from the Queen, she's requested an audience with the two of you."

What the fuck? The Queen? As in THE Queen, Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of England, Queen?

"Huh?"

"You know Faith, the Queen of England." I roll my eyes; thanks Giles, I know who the Queen is, I do live on this earth, after all. What, do people just assume that because I dropped out of school, I know nothing?

"Thank you, Giles, I'm not completely unaware of the world around me, ya know. What I meant was, why?"

"It doesn't specify the reason, but apparently since the Council has resided in London, the Royal Family has been aware of its existence, and therefore; yours. She said that she's aware of what has taken place this year and wishes to speak to the two of you personally."

"HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK! Are you serious?"

Dude, this is extreme! The Queen!

"Yes Faith, but when you see her, it's best to use less colorful language."

"Hey, don't worry about me, G-man. I can do the whole, prim and proper, stiff upper lip English thing," I say, striking a pose. Then B starts to laugh; she's trying to hide it, of course, but she sucks at stuff like that, always has. I like it when she laughs, so no big. "What, B? Are you laughing at me? Are you doubting my abilities?"

I curtsy to Giles and put on a really bad British accent. "How do you do today, Mr. Giles? Would you care for a cup of tea, some biscuits, perhaps?"

"Hey, what's with the yelling down there? Some of us are still tired." I look up from my curtsy and see Willow standing outside her room, the next floor up.

"Well, some of us didn't stay up all night either, Will." Hey, that was B, not me. Why do people always assume that I'm the one that makes those comments? Ok, so my record isn't clean, but give a girl the benefit of the doubt.

I try to stifle my laugh, but obviously Red caught it. Damn, that girl has a glare that could make the most unholy demon cower in fear.

"But, anyway, now that I'm up; what's going on?" Willow asks as she walked down the stairs. "And why is Faith curtsying?"

"Oh, she's trying to prove that she can be prim and proper."

Willow starts laughing her ass off, almost falling down the stairs as a result.

"Hey! At least I tried not to laugh!"

"I'm sorry, Faith, really," she tries to assure me - as she chokes back another laugh and takes hold of the railing to hold herself up right. "But why?"

"The Queen of England, apparently she wants to see us," Buffy replies casually.

"But why?"

Wow! Déjà vu much?

"It says here that she wants to thank the two of you for everything you've done," Giles adds, as he had read more.

"Huh," I sigh thoughtfully, slumping back down in my chair. Then I look up and smile wickedly at B. "Finally getting recognition for saving the world! How does it feel, B?"

"Kinda odd, actually, but nice," she says, beaming at me from across the table. She's so cute when she smiles like a child.

"She wants us there in ten days," Giles reads the end of the letter to us as he folds it back up. "Faith, we need to get you a passport; I'm sure Willow can find a way to-"

"Actually, I have a passport," I gulp. Fuck, they're gonna laugh at me again. "My, um, Watcher had me get one. I was 16, so I don't need to renew it or anything."

B's eyes light up again. Dude, this is not gonna be good. "Oh! Passport pics, I so gotta see this." Then she runs up stairs.

Ah, fuck! "B, don't, please!" I beg as I run up after her. Hey, a girl's gotta protect her image.

"I'm gonna see it eventually. Tell me where it is and get it over with quick and easy like," she says, popping her head out of the door to my room. "Or I'll tear your room apart looking for it."

"It's in the nightstand," I sigh in defeat. No stopping B when she wants something, might as well get this over with now, she'll probably find out eventually anyway.

I lean against the door frame as she looks through the nightstand and pulls out the little blue passport. She opens it and smiles, both her eyebrows going up. "Hey, this isn't bad. This is you at sixteen?" I just nod. Heh, she hasn't noticed yet. Her eyes roam the page a little more then they stop and get bigger, apparently she found it.

"Eh, Faith? You sure this is your passport?"

"Yeah B."

"But the name, it's…" she trails off, very confused.

"Not Faith, yeah, I know," I sigh again and join her on my bed. "Faith's not my real name."

"But Fiducia?" I cringe as she slaughters the name.

"Fee-doo-chee-ah, c is ch and i is ee," I pronounce slowly, and she just nods, I think she's kinda stunned. "It's not that far off, actually. It's Italian, it means Faith."

She looks at me oddly, obviously still confused. "My grandmother named me, she's from Italy."

"Ah," B says in understanding. "So you're Italian then?"

She looks me over from head to toe, then back up. She tilts her head and looks into my eyes, like I had somehow changed from the girl she'd met four years ago now that I have a different name. "Half. My dad's Irish."

"But Lehane sounds French?" Ah, she's cute when she's confused too. What am I saying? B's always cute.

"Nope, it's Irish."

"Faith, you've been holding out on us?" The Brat was standing in my doorway and had apparently heard most of our conversation. "A foreign name, that's kinda sexy."

"Red! Your girl is hitting on me!" I yell down the stairs.

"Faith," Ken whines and pouts her lip.

"Faith, don't seduce my girlfriend," Willow shouts from down the stairs. Oh, don't worry Red, the only thing I want in this room is blonde.

"What's going on up here?" Giles asks as he and Will enter the room.

"Oh, nothing," I say with an innocent smile.

"Faith's not really Faith." That's the Brat, of course.

"Oh Goddess, did you do a body swap again Faith?" Will asks Buffy. Great, just what I needed.

"No, God no! Why would I do something like that again?" Don't want them thinking I've slipped back into old habits.

"What Kennedy meant," Buffy made sure to put extra force into that last word while looking at Kennedy sternly. "Was that Faith isn't Faith's name." Well that just cleared everything up then, didn't it? They still look confused as hell. Well, here goes nothing.

"It's Fiducia Lehane."

"So your name is Faith, technically speaking," Giles points out. Wow, he knows Italian, I didn't think he knew languages still used by man.

"So why do you use Faith?" Buffy asks as she turns to me.

"What? You'd want to have the name Fiducia? Having a name like that in Southie would've been like a death sentence," I laugh at Buffy.

"I guess that's true, but I like it, it's kinda nice," she says, smiling back. God I love it when she smiles.

"Yeah, if I was some one's great-great aunt or something," I say smiling back. Then I turn to the other three. "And I know I'm not the 'Bad Slayer' anymore, but if any of you guys call me that, or tell anyone else about it… I will kill you."

"Oh, is that a threat?" Buffy mocks, smiling wickedly.

"No, it's a warning."

"Oh really, 'cause I think you're all talk," she teases, egging me on. "I don't think you have it in you any more… Fiducia."

"Oh, you're so gonna get it now B," I say menacingly. Of course I won't hurt her, but I do have something I can use against her that she doesn't know I know about. Gotta love Angel, he's so informative in all things Buffy.

"Really… Fiducia?"

"B, I'm warning you!"

"Fiducia, Fiducia, Fiducia!" she teases, laughing; I'm actually sort of impressed she can say it that quickly. She thinks she's laughing now, she has no idea. I really don't want to stoop so low as to use these tactics, but a girl has to protect her image.

"Ok B, I didn't want to do this, but you give me no choice," I say apologetically.

For a second, while I'm moving slowly towards her, she loses her smile and gets this fearful look in her eyes, like she really thinks I'm gonna hurt her. Then I go in for the kill- right for the stomach. According to Angel, that's where she's the most ticklish.

"Faith, stop!" Wow, she is ticklish, she can barely breathe, she's laughing so hard. "I'm-I'm sorry," she laughs out. "Just, stop, please!"

"It's too late for that B," I smile at her evilly. "You had you're chance."

"What's goin' on in here?" a voice from the door asks. "I didn't get back 'til four this mornin' and I'm really tired."

"Fred!" I shout as I turn around. I could pick out that southern drawl anywhere. I rush over and give her a huge hug. "How's it been girlfriend? Lorne said you were elsewhere's doin' research."

"Yeah, then I went to Texas for a few days, visitin' the family and all," she grins. "I hope y'all are doin' better than last time I saw ya?"

"Yeah, much," Will replies with a smile.

"You must be Buffy," she says as she walks over to Buffy with her hand extended. "I've heard a lot about you, from Angel mostly, but Cordy and Faith told me a lot too."

"Well, if that's where you got your info from, then I bet you don't like me much," Buffy replies as she looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"No, praises only, I assure you," she smiles back reassuringly. "Well, maybe not always from Cordelia, but I learned to take everything she told me with a gallon of salt water early on."

"You praised me Faith? I'm touched, really," B mocks me, making me blush. Ah, thanks Fred, that's just what I needed.

"We didn't actually get a lot of time to talk, me and Fred. I'm sure you were just mentioned in passing, you know, I probably just said you were wicked cool or something like that. I just didn't get around to telling her that you were a major pain in my ass or anything," I stop myself before I can babble myself deeper into this nice little hole I've made.

"But Faith, I remember that you said that…she…oh, never mind," Fred slows to halt, finally, as she catches my glare. A glare that said, continue and I'll make you suffer, slowly. I've gotten good at that one over the years.

We're all really quiet for a bit when all of a sudden, someone starts to giggle. I pop my head up from where it had been gazing on the floor and search for the culprit. When I spot her, I'm shocked. It's Kennedy! Wait, the Brat doesn't giggle. But she is; she looks down right giddy.

Once she notices that everyone in the room seems to be staring at her, she covers her mouth, but I can tell she still has a wicked grin on her face. What the fuck was that about?

"Sorry, it's just, it's so cute," she explains, bringing her hand back down. "Um, I think I should go."

She points out the door and quickly turns to leave, Red follows after her. I wonder what those two are gonna get up to.

"Yes, I should go too, to um," Giles pauses, taking off his glasses again. "To get things set up for the trip." Good man, that Giles, always on top of things.

Buffy seems to be rooted on the spot, still gripping my passport. She looks like she wants to bolt, but can't. I shouldn't have looked at her, ya know? She's still just in that shirt, which I so didn't realize when I was tickling her, and that's a shame really. She looks real cute, like more than normal, her hair's all ruffled and messy from the tickling, plus, the shirt's really sexy, really shows off her legs. Makes her look like she just had a real nice roll in the sack. Then I see her eyes, looking at me. Shit, how long has she known that I've been staring at her? Ok, awkward, real awkward.

"Ya know, now that I'm up, I'm a bit peckish." Who uses that word other than them crazy Brits? Maybe she's just been around Wesley too long. But hey, at least she broke the awkward moment (for now), so that's good. "What do ya say? Breakfast, on me? We can catch up and all."

"Sure, just let me change," Buffy says, excusing herself from the room. Crap, she probably caught me checking out her legs. I hope it doesn't keep her from walking around in it again.

"Yeah, sure," I agree. "Let's change, then meet down in the lounge."

"It's nice ta have ya back, Faith," Fred says as she gives me a hug.

"Yeah, it's nice to be back," I reply, patting her back awkwardly. You know me, not usually big with the hugging. Though I must say, the welcome back here's been a lot nicer than the one in SunnyD.