A/N Well here it is, the last full chapter of this tale. There will be an Epilogue to follow, but it should be pretty short. This chapter came out a lot more serious than I intended when I first started, but it felt right so I went with it. As always I would like to thank eveyone who has read or reviewed my little tale, I appreciate the time you've taken. So with a wink and a nod to Dickens, I give you . . . . . .

A TALE OF THREE CITIES

PARIS

Willow was awake in bed, looking down at the unfamiliar face of her best friend. Xander in Cordelia's body still freaked her out, but right now it was a background freak because much more important stuff was going on in her brain. Xander had held her, all night. Willow remembered the exact second when she realized that Tara wasn't coming back, the feel of her heart breaking was still fresh, but not devastating; not anymore. Because Xander had been there for her, just like so many times before, and he had made everything; well not OK but bearable. She had broken down and he had held her, she had nearly passed out and still he held her as he tried to put her to bed. She had protested then so he joined her in bed, holding her all night, just as Willow had been holding him. Only he now had a fun new shape that was much more in line with what Willow was interested in when it came to playtime and that was the problem. Willow wanted him, more than anything else she had ever wanted; she wanted her best friend right now. But she knew that he didn't want her, not in the same way that she wanted him. She knew that he loved Faith, someone that Willow had never cared for, and would be true to her; but at this very moment she almost didn't care. Willow sat back a bit and thought; now at least she had some inkling of what Xander had gone through for 6 years. Willow had always known he had cared for Buffy and to be by her all that time and never have any sort of physical interaction (beyond hugging of course) would have tried the patience of Gandhi; she literally had no idea how he had managed. But now she knew how he had felt, she was close; so close but couldn't take, wasn't allowed to take that last step. Slowly she eased back down in bed and snuggled up to the larger girl's body "I love you Xander" she whispered. She was almost asleep when she heard "I love you too Wills". With a small smile she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

When she woke up again the sun was out, the birds twittering and she was alone in bed, but the sound of off key singing could be heard in the shower. Smiling she got up, put a robe on and knocked on the bathroom door "you gonna be done in there soon?"

"Why, you wanna come in and help me with those hard to reach spots" Xander replied jokingly.

Willow blushed, thankful that Xander couldn't actually see her "no, but I do need to destinkify myself, and you're using up all the hot water."

"Sorry Wills, I'll be out in a minute, and when you're done I'll take you out for breakfast; that sound OK?"

"Sounds fine Xander, now hurry up and get out of my shower."

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They bought some pastries and coffee at a local shop, then walked to one of the bridges of Paris and just watched the Seine go by; finally Xander asked "so what are you gonna do?"

"I honestly don't know Xander, I mean this was the retirement plan; you know settle down with Tara away from all the fighting evil and other craziness. I was just wanting to grow old with her, now I've got to come up with a new plan and right now I'm just to screwed up to think straight."

"Could I make a suggestion?"

"Of course."

"Well I talked to Buffy about taking a vacation somewhere warm on the Pacific, why don't you go with her and Dawn, it'll give you some time with some good friends to get your life together."

Willow looked at him a bit suspiciously "are you trying to set me and Buffy up?"

Xander smirked at her, which really looked odd on Cordelia's face "no, she's 'too big a fan of the penis' to go there; all I was thinking is that you both need friends right now to help you through what's going on in your lives."

"And what about the shop?"

"Well, you've got a couple of people living there now that are out of work and do know about magic and stuff; why don't you sell them Tara's half of the business. That way they can watch the store for you now and you'll return the favor sometime later, they get jobs and you get some built in security."

"What about Tara?"

"Well, the girl she's with is well off so that money isn't a concern for her right now, and knowing her; finding out that you've metaphorically cut your ties to her by selling her part of the business will help her get over the guilt she's feeling right now."

"You think she feel's guilty?"

"Don't you?"

Willow thought for a moment "yeah, I know she feels bad, it's just that right now I wouldn't mind too much if she felt worse if you know what I mean." She looked up at her friend "does that make me evil or something?"

"Nope, it just makes you human." Putting his arm around the red-headed witch he said "come on; let's go ask Riley if he wants to enter the wonderful world of retail."

"I hope they say yes."

"I just hope they're taking a break when we get there" Xander replied. "Speaking of which, I want to thank you for not making a move last night."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Wills, this is me you're talking to; after the emotional roller coaster you went through yesterday having me in your bed, not to mention the added goodness of me being in Cordelia's body; and yes I know you always kinda envied her body, it took a heck of a lot of willpower for you to not make any kind of play; so thank you."

"So why are you thanking me specifically?"

"Because I don't know if I'd have been able to say no" Xander replied.

"Oh; well in that case your welcome" Willow answered and putting her arm around he best friend's waist, the two of them headed back to the shop.

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Xander closed his eyes as France passed by his window. He was headed north, Willow was on a train south, and Riley and Sam were reuniting in the most romantic city in the world, not a bad day's work. Just one more stop to make and then it was back home to Cleveland, and more importantly, back home to Faith.

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LONDON

Giles sat his Blackwych Stout down on the bar with a sigh; he was in his sanctuary; the place where, at least for a little while, there was no council, no slayers and nothing that went 'bump' in the night. Here he was just some bloke having a pint and not the head of an international organization dedicated to fighting demons. He sighed again and started watching the tele over the bar where Blackpool (his team) was being embarrassed by Arsenal. Surprisingly this made him smile because it is always nice to know that some things never do change. He felt himself finally start to relax as the cares of the job faded in his mind. He was so into the match that he was only peripherally aware of someone sitting down next to him, at least until she spoke.

"So, which team you pulling for G-man?"

Giles jerked around and found that he was looking into a pair of whiskey brown eyes that seemed to sparkle with barely repressed laughter. He took a deep breath in an attempt to get his heart-rate and emotions back under some semblance of control then replied "Blackpool actually, I pulled for them when I was much younger and now that many years have passed and I'm older and wiser, they are playing exactly as I remember from my youth; which is to say poorly". Then he turned back to see the end of the match but his voice carried to the person next to him "it's good to see you Xander, I was wondering when you'd look me up."

"Well I was in the neighborhood so I thought I'd say hey. So how's the whole 'running the council' thing working out for you?"

Giles took another sip of his beer and smiled a sad smile "I used to think that dealing with American teenagers was the most aggravating job anyone could have, regrettably I have been shown otherwise. Quite frankly it is unending aggravation with everyone sure that their way of doing whatever is superior to anything that I might suggest or jockeying for my job or control or autonomy or whatever. I often find myself longing for the days where you were in high school where all we had to worry about was the Hellmouth." Lifting his beer again he said "so what can I do for you, I assume this isn't just a social call?"

"I'm hurt Giles, you know why I'm here."

"Indeed, and why pray tell should I make you Faith's permanent watcher?"

"You mean aside fro the whole 'she trusts me' factor and the 'six years experience on the hellmouth' benefit?"

"Yes aside from those."

"How about if you don't I'll tell Buffy how you and Angel conspired to have her kill the Immortal."

Giles flinched, only for a moment and just for a second, but Xander caught it and it told him volumes. "And how did you reach that rather fantastic conclusion?"

"Lets see" Xander said, leaning back and looking at the ceiling "you've got the fact that the girl told us that Angel had Wolfram and Hart shadowing the guy for a week, but they got the information about twenty four hours before we got there; that tells me it was a set up. She was carrying a sign that said 'Harris' on it even though I've been using Chase as my last name, only someone outside Wolfram and Hart would think of me as 'Harris'. Finally the girl was a slayer and no local authority would allow a slayer to work with Evil Inc. so those both add up to you." Xander looked back down into his mentor's eyes and waited for the anger, the heated denials, the claims of misunderstanding; he got none.

Instead Giles smiled "not bad my boy, but you forgot to tell me why I would do something like that."

"A couple of reasons I suppose; one is that you're trying to cure Buffy of her 'bad boy' phase. I know you never showed her the watcher diaries detailing all of the things Angelus and Spike did in their past so you decided to not make that mistake again because when you get right down to it, Buffy is still your slayer and your responsibility. Now while this thing wasn't real, I imagine that the dirtbag has done similar things in the past. So you did it because you care about her" then Xander leaned closer, her eyes hardening "and because you need her here to back you up. With the gang scattered you don't have a big stick to smack the troublemakers with and Faith can't be pulled off of the Hellmouth so you need Buffy or Willow or both."

Giles sat back and smiled broadly "excellent Xander, really that was quite well done." Then he sobered a bit "so you're saying that if I do not acquiesce to your demands you will tell Buffy how she was manipulated, thus denying me the benefit of my plan."

"Not to mention destroying the trust she has in you."

"Yes, that as well."

Xander took his time to really examine the man across from him; Giles was gazing back expectantly, like there was more. "This was a test wasn't it; a test to see if I was aware of the clues and able to piece things together. You could have set up the Immortal any time you wanted, Deadboy would have helped whether I was here or not so the timing tells me that I was integral to this and that means it was a test."

"Of course, I'm not going to put someone untried as the sole watcher responsible for the oldest active slayer."

"And now if someone bitches you can honestly say that you've tested me yourself."

"A test that you passed quite well."

"Thanks Giles, but I've got to wonder something."

"What's that?"

"Won't the watchers here in England wonder about your judgment, I mean considering the soccer team you support and all; it would be like someone in America saying 'you can trust my judgment, I've been a Cubs fan for decades'?"

Giles' only answer to Xander's laughter was to pinch the bridge of his nose and wonder if he really missed the boy as much as he thought he did.

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They were headed back to Watcher's Keep in Giles' car which was a rather dilapidated Cooper Mini. Giles had offered to put Xander up for the his stay in England, that way it would be quicker getting the paperwork done so that Xander would officially be Faith's watcher. "You know there is one thing I don't understand."

"And that is?"

"Actually there's two things, one is your attraction to wretched cars, and the other is why you isolated Willow. I mean I understand why you did what you did to Buffy, I don't like it but I understand it; but why go to the length's you did to get Willow back."

"This car is perfectly serviceable and efficient, and what do you mean about Willow?"

"Come on Giles, you must have seen trouble coming, so when a separation occurs you have someone waiting in the wings to pounce on Tara, thus separating her and Willow."

"I assure you Xander; I had nothing to do with that."

"You expect me to buy that, after seeing the depth's you're willing to sink to. Come on, the girl's family are old school Watcher's, heck; her uncle is the guy Buffy chucked a sword at during the Glory confrontation. And I'm supposed to believe that it is purely coincidental that she ends up with Tara?"

"I'm not saying that it wasn't a set up, what I'm saying is that I know nothing of it. I will admit it does seem a tad too circumstantial to be the product of random chance. Do you want me to look into it?"

"Nah, I've already asked Deadboy to backtrace the girl, if something comes up he'll let me know."

"But why. . . . . ."

"Because if it is the Council, you could accidentally give it away, W&H is on the outside so they've got a better chance of coming up with something without setting off any alarms; plus I wasn't sure if it was you or not."

"I see, and if it was a deliberate act."

Xander turned and looked at Giles, the expression on Xander's face was one that the older man was familiar with, a look of cold calculation "then someone deliberately hurt one of my girls, and that's not acceptable."

"You would be willing to kill over this" Giles asked with some surprise.

Xander's voice became even colder "do you really want me to answer that?"

Giles just looked away.

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Once they got to the keep Giles insisted on escorting Xander to the guest quarters. Along the way Xander's enhanced hearing picked up the sound of someone coming and he decided to get a little payback for what Giles had done to Buffy. His steady walk turned into a drunk's stagger and his voice began slurring "tell me again why you insisted on coming to this dusty old place when my flat was so much closer" he said just as the needed witness rounded a corner ahead of them.

"What the devil are you talking about" Giles whispered furiously, his eye on his subordinate.

"My flat darling, you've been there before and I just got done replacing those nasty old ropes with the smooth nylon ones you like so much" Xander continued, sounding like a drunken sorority girl. He noted with some satisfaction that the junior watcher was looking straight ahead but his eyes were the size of silver dollars.

"Xander what on earth are you . . . . ." his whispered question died on his lips as he saw Xander glancing at the junior watcher. Giles just sighed; he should have expected something like this.

"Oh very well" Xander continued, making sure he pitched his voice loud enough for the junior watcher to hear clearly "you can tie me up and use the whip this time, but I insist you use the riding crop and not the cat o'ninetails, you're so much better with that one." He broke off the commentary as the junior watcher finally turned a corner and was out of sight.

"I suppose you think that was terribly clever."

"No, but I do think that after what you did to Buffy, a little payback was owed."

"Quite possibly" Giles conceded "here is your room; I'll see you in the morning about the paperwork."

"Thanks Giles" Xander said "I do appreciate this."

"Yes well just keep any comments to yourself in the morning and I will consider the matter even."

"But Giles" Xander pouted "with just a bit more talk you might have all the female Watchers coming to you to be punished, you know what they say 'all work and no play'."

"Thank you Xander, now it will take at least two hours of reading about demonic tortures to get that image out of my mind. Good night."

"Night G-man, see ya in the morning" Xander called out as Giles was walking away. Turning to his room he muttered I gotta remember to tell Faith about this when I see her.

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A week later he was on a flight back to the States. Giles had rammed all the paperwork through and he was now an official Watcher, knowing all the secret handshakes and everything. He looked over at the girl next to him, he hoped she would be as good as he thought she could be, the Hellmouth would tell. With that thought Xander closed his eyes and smiled as he sank down into the seat, soon he would be home.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

CLEVELAND

Faith wasn't happy, and when Faith wasn't happy, no one at Cleveland house was. Not that they meant to be so empathic, it was simply the fact that Faith was so good at spreading her bad mood around.

Speculation was rampant as to the cause of the bad mood; not enough slaying or too much slaying, not enough partying or too much but the more observant of the lot were able to tie Faith's bad mood to Alexa's lack of presence lately. So little was known about the tall brunette that no one knew how to search for her because they didn't have a last name to go by; so it wasn't known if she was still in town and had broken up with Faith, or if Faith had broken it off with her or if Alexa had taken off to parts unknown. Regardless of the reason Faith's bad mood had put everyone on edge, to the point where the newbie slayers were debating on drawing straws to see which one would try and get Faith laid in an attempt to sweeten her temper, but so far no one wanted to jump on that particular grenade.

So there were five grumpy people patrolling through Shaker Heights cemetery (usually the busiest because it was closest to the new Hellmouth); Faith, Shannon (a Sunnydale survivor), Maria, Astrid and William Smithson, a Watcher and the son and grandson of Watchers, four of whom were wondering what Faith's problem was. The problem, in a nutshell, was that Faith was scared. Not about the slayage, or being in charge of the mini-slayers or even dealing with vamps, demons and Watchers. No, what had Faith scared was the fact that someone had found their way into her heart and now she was in a situation where she wasn't in control and that was something she really didn't like. Ever since she'd been chosen Faith had sworn she'd be in control of her own life and that was a vow she'd done her best to keep right up until Xander waltzed back into her life and every bit of control she had went out the window. He loved her, he had told her so and more importantly he had shown her that as well, but while Faith knew this, she still had trouble really believing it. Every time the phone rang she nearly cringed, afraid that it was him calling to tell her that he was gonna shack up with Baby D and thanks for the good time. Deep down she couldn't understand why he'd pick her over his past.

Suddenly Faith stopped cold; her vamp meter was going nuts. When Faith had stopped everyone else stopped as well, knowing that something bad was about to happen. Turning to Astrid Faith asked "what kind of numbers?" Of the slayers at Cleveland house, Faith and Astrid had the best vamp sensing abilities, Faith was better at judging the power levels and Astrid was better at estimating numbers; the blond turning paler than she already was answered Faith's question. Turning to the rest she raised her voice "OK guys we've got a shit load of vamps coming our way. Now they're only coming from one direction so we get that as a plus. Now Shannon, Astrid and Billy boy, you guys drop back about fifty yards and set up some defensive cover while me and Maria slow em down; now we'll need ya to pick off the stragglers and to keep our backs clear so pay attention, but only fight from a distance. Then the two of us fall back and join you, now we don't have a lot of time so move guys."

As the other three hurried back to set up for the attack Marie moved up next to Faith and whispered "we're gonna die here tonight, aren't we"?

Faith turned to look at the younger girl "no kid, I'm gonna die here tonight. When the uglies show up I'm gonna send you back to tell the others to run cause there's too many, then I hold em off while you get away."

"But" Maria began, looking devastated.

"No buts kid, every night we go out could be our last, we know that and we go out anyway, my way one dies instead of five dieing, I know it sucks but that's what slaying's all about sometimes; just a cold equation. So I tell you to run and you run, and get the others outta here, got me?"

All Maria could do was nod and wait.

As soon as the horde of vamps crested the little rise in front of them Faith told Maria to head back and make damn sure everyone got clear. Faith could see the tears in the younger girl's eyes as she ran back. She then turned to face the demons, a stake in one hand and her knife in the other. As she watched them approach a twinkle of mischief appeared in her eyes and she bellowed out "you shall not pass". She almost laughed when the demons slowed down, looking unsure of themselves for a moment; in that moment she remembered when X had talked her into watching the whole damn series of flicks, he'd been bouncing around like a kid at Christmas when she'd agreed and had smiled the whole damn time they were watching them, Faith realized she'd never see him again and the urge to laugh went away. As her head cleared Faith was able to get a fairly good count 'crap, over sixty of the bastards; someone's been planning this for a while'. Idly she wondered who was behind it and how hard they'd die, then the horde charged her and all thought stopped. She was among them now; whirling, slashing, stabbing and over all determined to take out as many of them as possible. She knew she was racking up an impressive tally, sometimes it was hard to see through all the dust around her, but she knew it wouldn't last. Then suddenly her own prediction came to pass; a vamp had gotten behind her and even though she staked it, doing so had left her off balance and not able to properly absorb the punch that came her way. Off balance, she went down with the realization that she'd probably not have the chance to get back up. She looked up just in time to see the vamp that was stooping down to bite her burst into flames, and she saw vamps all around her doing the same thing; then she became aware of a sound, soft and in the background, some sort of clattering metal sound along with high pitched whines. After a second it came to her, someone was using a silenced machine gun, but who, and why were the vamps flaming out? Deciding that if someone was shooting, flat on the ground was probably the best place to be, Faith just lay there listening to the battle and watching the vamps turn into flambé. Finally the sounds died away, she heard two people moving towards her so she sat up. Both were female, both were carrying some big honkin' hardware and both were dressed entirely in black; making sure she had a good grip on her knife she stood up and said "thanks for the save". The taller one reached up and pulled off her ski mask "no problem babe, I'm just glad I was in time to save that cute little caboose of yours."

Faith's mouth worked for a moment or two, but no coherent words seemed to find their way out, finally she just said "Xander" and jumped into the tall brunette's arms. Xander laughed at the other girl's exuberance until their lips met and then it was time for kissing and crying and whispered words. Finally the sound of someone clearing their throat broke through to the two lovers.

"Sorry, where are my manners, Faith this is Rebecca Cohen she's being assigned here; Rebecca this is Faith."

"A pleasure to meet you Miss LeHane."

"Just Faith kid, and thanks for the rescue as well." Then she turned back to Xander "this place has a full compliment of slayers, why're we getting an extra?"

"Long story Faith, lets head back to the house and let em know you're still alive."

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William Smithson looked down at the pile of papers in front of him "so to summarize; Miss Cohen will replace Miss LeHane, you will become Miss LeHane's sole Watcher, and you both are now independent of the command structure."

"Exactly" the young woman he knew as Alexa answered "Faith and I will remain in Cleveland for the most part where we will work with you, not for you; however, we will also be sent into situations that might require extra manpower or someone outside the traditional council structure. Think of us as roving trouble shooters with Cleveland as our home base."

"I must say Miss Chase, I find the entire situation unseemly. I know that you and Miss LeHane are . . . . . together, I know that you have very little formal Watcher training and I know that you embrace the unorthodox"

"Like guns"?

"Yes, like guns; much too quickly for my taste. However, Mr. Giles has vouched for you and I trust his judgment but know this" he leaned forward "there will be a lot of attention on you and how you perform; from myself as well as others and if I believe that your methods or judgments are harmful, then I will do everything I can to remove your influence from all slayers" he concluded with a glance over at Faith.

For her part, Faith was ready to jump across the desk and pummel tweed boy; it was only Xander's presence that was holding her back so she just sat there and smoldered.

Xander just looked at the watcher across from him and smiled "that's good to know William and since we're putting our cards on the table I should make you aware of the fact that since this is an experiment on Mr. Giles part so I do expect an extraordinary level of scrutiny and I would return your warning to you, as a Watcher if I feel that your animosity towards this program is endangering the girls I will have you removed, one way or another." This last was delivered with a hard look and a tone somewhere around the temperature of liquid nitrogen.

Smithson looked shocked for a second but covered it well, British manners coming to the fore "well since we know where we all stand I will bid you two good evening and get Miss Cohen settled. He stood up and extended his hand "it will be interesting working with you Miss Chase."

"I look forward to it Mr. Smithson" Xander replied "I'll let you know when we've found a permanent residence."

"Thank you and good evening" he said as he watched the two young women leave.

Once they were outside the house Faith turned to Xander "so where are we shacking up for now?"

"I've got a room down at the Hilton; we'll stay there till we find our own place."

"The Hilton" Faith purred "do you think they have good soundproofing?"

"Why don't we go find out" Xander replied.

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Hours later, a thoroughly exhausted Faith snuggled into her lover's side the night had been incredible "I couldn't believe it when I saw you, I figured you'd never come back."

Xander raised his head and looked at the raven haired slayer "why would you think that, I love you."

"I know and I believe you; well most of the time anyway, but I figured you'd see the old gang especially Red and Baby D and decide you'd be better off with them than me. All the time you were gone I half expected a 'thanks for the memories' phone call every time the phone rang."

Xander just thought a moment "Faith, I know you were hurt in the past by people that said they loved you, so I can understand why you feel the way you do" here he rolled onto his side so he could look the other girl in the eyes "but I love you, you Faith and the only way anyone and I mean anyone will get us apart is if one of us is dead."

"Thanks Xander" Faith sighed "you're a hell of a guy."

"With great tits" Xander replied with a smirk."

"Absolutely" Faith replied "that's one of the reasons I love you."

"Don't you mean two of the reasons."

Then there was laughter and love and finally sleep.

THE END

POE1911