About a week after the note about other timeline Willow having a black magic dealer, Faith was visiting Casa Summers. Joyce found her staring at baby Elizabeth with an odd expression on her face.
"Faith? Is something wrong?"
"I just realized, she wouldn't exist if it wasn't for those notes this other Xander has been leaving for us. Someone else would. This Dawn, what was she like? Was she smart? Did she play any sports? What was her favorite color? How did I take care of her and Slay?"
"The same way a single mother raises a child and works, by a combination of hard work and depending on babysitters."
"So the Scoobies would have helped."
"I can't see them not helping, so yes. Would you like to hold her?"
"Oh no, that's a bad idea! I might drop her or scare her or something."
"Faith, it's okay to be scared." Joyce assured her. "Sit in that chair over there." She indicated the large chair in the living room. Faith reluctantly sat down in it. Joyce picked Elizabeth up out of her bassinet and gently placed her in Faith's arms. "Support her head, babies have very weak muscles in the neck. It takes time for them to figure out how to hold their heads up and strengthen the muscles to do it. She's working on figuring it out. There, that's right."
"Why's she staring at me? I got something on my face?"
"No, she doesn't know you, Faith. She's over five months old and you rarely see her. She's getting a good at look at you and making decisions on how she's going to react."
"She's not me, but she's made from me. It's hard to understand and hard to deal with. And I'm afraid of hurting her. My Ma was like Xander's Pop."
"You've mentioned that a few times. It's why both you and Xander are afraid of the possibility of being parents."
"Yeah, but X has the Queen and I bet she'd be awesome at being a mom. Not like you, I mean. You're like naturally motherly. The Queen's more like, I'll figure it out as I go along and I'll be naturally awesome at it."
"Self confidence is one thing Cordelia doesn't lack, isn't it? And you could have someone in your life if you wanted. I've seen the glances between you and Tara. You're both interested."
"Glinda's a long haul person, Joyce. I'm not built like that."
"No, you think you're not built like that. Being the Slayer has made you aware of mortality on a level most people never know it. But you've already lived longer then most Slayers."
"That's because of X's fight smarter philosophy."
"It still means you've lived longer and could live for a much longer time. And even if it's a short time, it's the things we don't do because of fear, that we often regret the most. See, you were afraid you'd accidentally hurt Elizabeth, instead she feels so safe in your arms, she's fallen asleep."
"She did, didn't she. So you don't have any issues with me and Tara maybe getting together?"
"Why would I have any issues with it? If you're happy and aren't hurting anyone, then it's no one's business who you love. And I know none of the others would have a problem with it."
"X would probably use it to fuel a few fantasies."
"What makes you think he hasn't already? Men are...predictable."
Both laughed quietly, not wanting to wake Elizabeth. Faith continued to gaze at the soft, round little face, while Joyce went back to doing her chores. About a half an hour later, she was jolted by the sound of the phone ringing. Elizabeth woke up and was immediately annoyed at having been awaken abruptly and began to cry.
"Oh, no. Now what? Calm down, okay? It's not that big a deal, it's just a phone ringing. Life's always interrupting peaceful moments, it's just something you gotta get used to." Elizabeth stopped crying and looked at Faith with sad, watery eyes and quivering lip, like she was trying to be brave, but wasn't sure how. Faith started to sing softly to her and slowly Elizabeth stopped looking upset.
"Very nicely done." Joyce commented. "That was Rupert, Xander called him. He got another note."
"Something need Slaying?"
"No, this is a human problem. According to the note, some kids who you all went to school with, may be going down a bad road. The notes says, Johnathan Levinson, Andrew Wells and Warren Mears invented an invisibility device of all things and used it on Buffy on purpose. Warren apparently declared them her arch nemesis'. The others have discussed it and decided to talk to Johnathan, who's a childhood friend of Xander and Willow's and see if they can't find out what all's going on and help him out if he's gotten himself in trouble."
"So not something I need to rush out and help them with. I can get more cuddles in."
"I don't think she minds and she seems to be enjoying the singing. You have a lovely voice by the way."
"Thank you." Faith went back to singing to Elizabeth and the Scoobies set about dismantling the Trio before they became an issue.
Johnathan, who knew something of Magic and was a scifi geek himself, was fascinated by the idea of the notes and the implications of them. He and Xander endlessly debated the scifi ramifications, while he and Willow debated the actual science. He also laid out the Trio's plans to the Scoobies and they in turn, informed the Mayor of the wanna be criminal's plans. The information was passed on to the police who dealt with Warren and Andrew through legal means. Which turned out to be a good thing given the information future notes had.
