Title: From Here to Serenity
Author: Bastard Snow
Rating: PG-13

Summary: Buffy's fall through Glory's portal took her somewhere nobody had ever imagined. Now, it's up to Willow and Xander to get her back.

Disclaimer: I don't own either of these.

Author's Notes: Much, much thanks to Drake, without whom this story would not exist. Also, obviously, thanks to Joss Whedon for coming up with two universes that have nothing to do with each other. Makes it a challenge to make them have everything to do with each other.

Feedback: Yes, please!

Xander finished up his paperwork and left the trailer. He was handed a clipboard, glanced over the sheet of paper on it and signed his name. A quick drink of water later, and he went inside the building to inspect the progress his crew had made.

Mitch had put him in charge of the demo crew for this job, as a test to see how well he could handle the responsibility.

He looked around to make sure all the necessary parts had been torn out, torn down or ripped up, and removed from the premises. When he ensured that was done, he walked outside, called over Esteban and had him pull the crew out. Things were ahead of schedule, and Xander was pretty sure he knew why.

Within a minute, the crew came streaming out of the building. They all tended to enjoy knocking things down, but nobody wanted to be inside when the wrecking ball came. A group of tired, dirty men were intent on sitting down and getting a drink of water. And so was one woman.

Xander radioed his operator and within a couple of minutes, the wrecking ball was taking the building apart. Xander called Esteban over again.

"How's she working out?" he asked.

Esteban shook his head. "She works like a madman, and hits like a giant. You ask me, she could tear this place down with her bare hands."

Xander nodded. "Good."

"Well," said Esteban. "Not entirely. The others are a little put out."

"How come?"

Esteban shrugged. "We get paid by the hour, man. I don't know if you noticed, but we're ahead of schedule. She makes the crew, some of them aren't going to be happy. Especially since you pulled rank to get her here in the first place."

Xander glanced down at the picnic bench where everyone had gathered. All the guys from the regular crew were joking around with each other, occasionally shooting angry looks in Faith's direction. Faith was squatting by a tree, doing her best to ignore the others.

"Are they being rough on her?" Xander asked.

"She's new, she's a girl, she does more work and faster. What do you think?"

Xander scratched his head. "Okay. I'll deal with it if it becomes an issue."

"Anything else?"

Xander shook his head. "Send 'em home for the day."

"You got it, bossman."

"Actually, scratch that." He handed Esteban a couple pieces of paper. "Take those over to the other office, I'll go send everyone home."

Esteban's face fell.

"Sorry," Xander said. "I've had about as much paperwork as I can take today. It's like I'm back in high school, only not as dangerous."

Esteban looked at him oddly – he hadn't grown up in Sunnydale – took the papers and started hoofing it to the site's main office. Xander tossed his clipboard back inside the trailer, then started over to where the workers were gathered.

" – ruin it for everyone. I tell ya, if she wasn't such a nice piece of ass there's no way I'd work a job with her," said Ricky, one of the younger members of the crew. "As it is, I think I might just drop her a twenty and see what I get."

The men around him laughed.

Xander walked over to them, intent on at the very least having them tone it down, and if he could, getting them to shut up completely. For one, they were out of line. For another, they were opening the company up to a sexual harassment suit, and since he was apparently a 'suit-in-training,' he had to think about things like that.

"Over here, guys," Xander said, calling the crew over to him. Faith looked up when he spoke, and his eyes locked with hers for a second.

"Look at the new jefe, all prettied up and respectable like." Rodrigo grinned at Xander. "Gets a promotion but he still comes down to mess with us hard hats. How's it feel bein' the big know-it-all?"

"Hey, man," Xander said, smiling and turning to Rodrigo. "You taught me more about construction than I ever did you."

Rodrigo winked at him. "Yeah, but you gave me some good tips."

Xander looked over at Faith again. Her palm flat against her shoulder, Faith thrust the shoulder forward, presumably to work out a kink in the muscle.

Suddenly, however, Xander was back in Faith's hotel room. Their eyes locked together, but instead of the fun that happened after he reset her shoulder, her hands were around his throat, choking the life out of him with nothing but anger and pain in her eyes. He was going to die.

"Harris, you in there?" Ricky asked.

Xander rubbed his throat, and shook his head to clear it. "Sorry, got caught up in my thoughts for a second."

"Bet that doesn't happen too often," Rodrigo joked, drawing a laugh from the others.

"Okay," Xander said, smiling at him. "You guys did good work today. You know the drill, we'll call you if we can use you. No promises, but you know the kind of turnover we have here."

"Yeah, more guys get in to work than get into Rodrigo's mom," said Ricky.

Rodrigo raised his fists and feinted at Ricky with his left, then reached his other hand around and smacked the kid on the back of the head. They all laughed again.

"All right, all right, quit stalling you goons. The bosses should be impressed today, you've put us ahead of schedule. Go clock out, and thanks for a good day's work."

When the group had broken up, Xander walked over to Faith. He was angry with himself for not getting on the guys about abusing her, but at that moment he just didn't have it in him to defend her.

"How was it?" he asked.

She looked up at him, angrily. "You know, I can…"

"You can what?"

Faith licked her lips. "Nothing. Never mind. What'd you say?"

"I asked how it went."

"Nothin' new, just hitting things and making them fall."

"Yeah, actually, you might wanna tone it down a bit. People get paid by the hour. You put your full Slayer self into it, you're gonna bring down everybody's paycheck."

She glared up at him. "So, your advice for my first day on the job is 'hold back, don't do everything you can.'"

"Look, I'm not saying don't work harder than everyone else, I'm not saying don't out perform them, I'm not even saying don't use your Slayer abilities to help you get ahead. I'm saying… hold something back. You keep this up, and eventually you'll have an 'accident.'"

Faith grunted. "I'll heal."

"That's not the point. Look, if you don't get along with anybody, you're never gonna move up. If you keep people's paychecks low, they won't like you. Get it? I'm just saying be practical."

"Whatever. We done here?"

Xander waved his hand dismissively. "Sure, go on and clock out. And hey."

"Yeah?"

He smiled. "You did good work today."

"What?"

"Look, I know I said tone it down, and I meant it. But you still did good work. If you keep putting out a good effort, you'll catch some eyes, move up." He made a couple of notes on his clipboard, and began walking away. "I'll see you later at the Box."

Faith frowned. "Yeah. See ya."

----------

Xander stepped back into the air conditioned trailer and sighed in relief. It was much, much nicer inside. Plans and papers were strewn across every available surface, and his desk looked like a paperwork monster had vomited all over the place.

As Xander sat down to work, idly wondering if there was in fact a paperwork monster, he pondered his future with the company. Chances were good he'd have to quit, but he didn't want to leave the company in the lurch. He liked them, and wanted the company to succeed.

"Hey, boss, you need me for anything else?"

Xander glanced up at Esteban and squinted a little. "We've got two slots left on drywall. Ricky, Chip, Rodrigo and Faith are available. Who do you go with?"

Esteban scratched his head. "I thought Rodrigo was working way up high on the beams for a week or two. You know he keeps those young kids in line."

Xander waved his hand dismissively. "Hypothetical."

Esteban scratched his head again, then shrugged. "Ricky and Faith."

Xander was surprised. "Why them?"

"Cuz she can get the work done, and screw him. Kid bugs me."

"You don't think that would make him do bad work?"

"You kidding me? He'd do the best work of his life. You think Ricky wants people seeing him doing a bad job when there's a girl just got on the job around, doing better work and twice as fast? No way he could survive a loss of face like that. Ricky's your man."

"You think he's got a problem with women?"

"Nah, he likes women well enough. Just thinks he's better than 'em. Least that's my take. He's just proud, man."

Xander nodded, knowingly. "Okay. Meet me here tomorrow morning a half hour before everyone shows up."

Esteban looked up at Xander, confused and worried. "What'd I do?"

Xander laughed. "You're not being punished. Just trust me, okay?"

"All right man, you're the boss."

Xander smiled, waved distractedly at Esteban and went back to work.

----------

Faith looked around uncomfortably, hefted a dagger in her palm and launched it into the target. The straw dummy flew backwards a few feet before falling over and skidding to a stop.

"The center of balance is actually a bit to the left."

Faith whirled in place and saw the other witch – Tara – standing at the doorway of Buffy's workout room.

"What?" Faith asked.

"So it won't fall over?" Tara suggested. "Xander built it so if you hit it in the heart, it doesn't lose its balance."

"Xander built that?" Faith asked, pointing at the still-prone dummy.

Tara nodded, smiling. Faith thought there was almost a look of pride behind the smile, but that didn't make any sense so she dismissed it.

"He actually put a lot of this together. Cleaned up the pommel horse. Installed hooks for the weapons. Actually built a few of the book cases in the shop."

"Useful."

Tara nodded. "Giles designed most of it. Well, the weapons stuff. And Riley helped with some of the heavy lifting."

"Not B?"

Tara shook her head. "It was a surprise for her."

"Yeah. Everybody's always surprisin' her with happy shit."

Tara looked reproachful, but said nothing.

"What are you doing back here, anyway?" Faith asked.

"Just thought I'd see how you're doing. Xander and Willow should be here any minute, and then we'll probably start the meeting. Spike, too, actually."

Faith was confused. "We'll be starting Spike?"

Tara laughed. "No. He'll be here soon."

"Oh. Okay. I'll be out in a few, then."

Tara smiled shyly and went back into the shop. Faith strode over and picked up the dummy, pulled her knife from it and walked back to the throwing line. She hefted the dagger in her hand, feeling the weight of it.

Faith wound up to hurl the weapon at the dummy and stopped, mid-delivery. She tossed the knife back in the pile of weapons and strode out into the shop. She saw Tara at the table, reading quietly, and approached.

"What the hell was that about?" Faith demanded.

Tara looked up from her book, surprised. "Excuse me?"

"That. Back in there. What was that?"

Tara shook her head, a little bewildered. "I – I don't know –"

"What are you doing? Why are you talking to me? What's with treating me all nice and shit?"

The girl looked like she had no idea what to say. Faith was about to rip into her again when she was interrupted.

"That's enough, Faith," Giles said, in that tone of voice he had where he clearly wasn't messing around.

"Screw you, man. You got everyone in here messin' with my head." She was tired of everybody treating her like crap. She'd messed up. She knew that.

"Nobody is doing anything with your head, Faith. Tara was being friendly."

"Why the hell would she do that?"

"Because, very simply, she is a friendly young woman. Tara genuinely likes people… and believes people deserve a second chance." Giles removed his glasses and polished them as Faith shot a confused look back at the witch, who smiled hopefully up at her. Faith scowled.

"I don't th—"

"Hey, hey, hey," Xander said as he and Willow entered the store, ringing the bell over the door. "What's going on with the rowdy… uh… rioters? Okay, that was weak. Where's Ahn?"

Giles acknowledged their arrival with a simple nod.

"She's in the basement," Tara said, greeting the carpenter with a cheerful wave, and her girlfriend with a happy kiss.

"So, what's happening?" Xander asked, sitting across from Tara and Willow. "What's got our felon frowning?"

Faith glared at him, while everyone else looked surprised.

"Too much?" he asked.

"Only if you like your nuts where they are," Faith growled.

Xander visibly gulped, and turned to Giles. "So. We about ready to start?"

Giles sighed. "As soon as –"

"I don't care if it spices up your blood, Spike!" Anya yelled as she walked up from the basement. "It's stealing, and I won't stand for it."

"Neither shall I, I assure you," Giles said, turning his attention to the argument. "What has he been stealing?"

"Just pinchin' a bit of burba weed, Watcher," Spike said with a dismissive wave. "Not like you're movin' it anyway."

"That hardly seems the point."

"Yo, can we get this meeting going or whatever?" Faith asked. She was getting more and more antsy waiting around here.

"Why?" Willow asked. "Do you have somewhere else to be?"

Faith glared at the redhead who, Faith was pleased to see, shrank back into her chair.

"You know, I have it on good faith that if you make that face too much, it'll get stuck like that," Xander said. "Hehehe. Good Faith."

"It's very funny, sweetie," Anya said, pulling up a chair beside Xander. Spike hopped up on a counter and pulled a cigarette from the pocket of his jacket.

"Where's the bit?" he asked.

"No smoking," Giles said. "And Dawn is staying at Janice's for the evening."

"I'm picking her up after the meeting," Tara told him.

"I'm a little surprised," Xander said. "Dawn seemed to really want to be involved in all of this."

Giles nodded. "She still does. However, I'm told that we are up against a combination of ice cream, dancing and talking about boys."

Xander shook his head sadly. "Never stood a chance."

"That sounds like fun," Willow mused. "Well, not so much the boys part…" She grinned at Tara, who grinned right back.

"Can we get past the open-minded love-fest?" Faith asked, annoyed. "I got enough of that shit inside."

"I'm sorry, Faith," Giles said, a bit sarcastically. "I didn't realize our continuing friendships and lives were such an annoyance to you. Shall we get started then?"

"Hey," Spike protested. "I whinge on about you lot shutting up all the time!"

"Yes, Spike, but nobody cares in the least what you think."

Spike gaped. "And all of a sudden you care what Slutty McStabberson thinks?"

Every single eye in the shop turned and stared at him. Spike ran the sentence over in his mind again and slouched, dispirited. "Bloody hell. I've been infected with your speech patterns. I hate every single one of you."

Xander nodded at the vampire. "Right back atcha."

"We are here to discuss a time frame," Giles began. "A few subjects to go over. First, Xander, how will you be dealing with your work situation?"

"Ah," Xander said. "I'm going to give my two weeks notice tomorrow."

Willow turned in her chair. "You're quitting?"

Xander nodded. "We've got no idea how long we'll be gone. I can't just hang the guys out to dry like that. Gotta give 'em time to train my replacement."

"What the fuck?" Faith said. "You get me on and now you just hang me out to dry like that? Man all those guys fucking hate me, I'll be gone as soon as you are."

"Actu –"

"I can't believe this shit." Faith shot to her feet, sending her chair skittering across the floor. "You're fucking hanging me out to dry. Thanks for nothing, asshole."

"See?" Spike pointed his still unlit cigarette at Faith. "Why can't we have more entertainment like her? She hates all of you and she's hot."

Faith leapt over the table at Spike, only to be intercepted by Giles. She pulled up just short of ramming her hands through his chest.

"Loathe as I am to stop any harm coming to Spike," Giles said quietly, "I am rather fond of my shop, and not in any mood to clean up after a temper tantrum. Please sit down and allow Xander to finish."

Faith snarled at him a little, but backed away, retrieved her chair, and sat down. She was not happy.

"Xander?" Giles prompted.

Xander glanced sideways at Faith, who refused to look him in the eye. "Right. Um. As I was going to say, Esteban, the guy who's gonna replace me, really likes the work that you do. And unless there's a huge problem, the bosses take their cues on who stays and who goes from us lower management types. So. Unless you mess up, you're fine."

Faith scowled and looked away. She heard Giles sigh. "Anyway, the next –"

"This is the part where you apologize," Anya interrupted.

"Ahn," Xander said.

"No, Xander," Anya said. "You're always telling me that I need to apologize when I've said something inappropriate or hurtful, and what she said was both."

"Anya, sweetie," Xander said, raising his hand in a calming gesture, "it's okay."

"Why?" Anya asked. "Why does she get a different set of rules than the rest of us? Why does she get to say mean things and get away with it? Why does she get to just yell at people and I don't?"

"Anya," Giles began.

"No," Willow spoke up. She looked all pleased with herself. "It's a fair question. Faith overreacted, and she owes Xander an apology."

"Thank you." Anya nodded emphatically, and Willow grinned at her. Faith rolled her eyes at the pair of them. She figured those two probably spent their whole days gushing over what a great guy Xander was. Probably became best of friends bonding over how much they loved him.

Faith waved her hand dismissively. "Sorry," she grunted.

Anya grinned at Xander. "See? Results."

"Bet you never pull that shit with Buffy," Faith muttered.

"Buffy would never have said anything like that!" Willow defended.

"Well, maybe not with as much vulgarity," Anya allowed, "but she certainly snaps to judgment. Although, she probably would have apologized right off. And genuinely felt bad about having said it. I have a feeling that Faith's apology was somewhat insincere."

"Whatever," Faith said. "If all you're gonna do is talk about saving Queen B, I don't really need to be here. I'm gonna hit the streets and see how much damage I can do."

Faith strode out of the store. She wasn't surprised when nobody tried to stop her, nor when, from just outside the Magic Box, she heard a round of laughter. Figures they'd make fun of her.

'Screw them,' she thought, stalking off down the street. 'I'll make my own way in this town. I'll show them a real Slayer.'

It never occurred to her to wonder why she cared what they thought.

----------

End Chapter 10