Strangely enough for Sunnydale, the summer months came and went without any sort of world-ending disaster, or even a localized Sunnydale-ending disaster. The only dilemmas that needed to be faced were of a more personal variety, and on that front, there were still a number of battles to be fought. Small battles in the grand scheme of things, but necessary battles all the same.

Xander refused to see Faith when she tried to visit him, but through Buffy and Willow, Faith managed to convince Xander that as long as he was in prison, that he should accept whatever therapy was offered or mandated. Faith had once thought that therapists were just shrinks that made money off of talking about feelings, but there was a lot more to it than that. And from what Faith heard, the man-child was starting to lose some of his childishness and come to terms with his insecurities.

It had been to Faith's great surprise when one day, at the Magic Box, Anya had actually gone out of her way to thank Faith for getting Xander to focus on therapy. He'd apparently had a lot of hidden doubts about his supposedly wonderful plan to marry Anya, but he was facing those fears, and he might even be overcoming them. Anya still wasn't happy that she'd been deprived of her lover, but she was starting to act a bit kinder to Faith out of anticipation of a better relationship when Xander was once again a free man.

By the time his day in court had come, Buffy had made sure to get her friend a good lawyer, and it turned out that Xander might have only been an accessory to involuntary manslaughter. In Faith's opinion, such a defense was Xander getting off easy, but if he learned anything from it, then that would be what mattered. And instead of eight to sixteen years in prison, his sentence had been three to eight years, with good behavior allowing for parole after one year.

Faith was of mixed opinions. On the one hand, she felt cheated. On the other hand, she had to keep reminding herself that her personal feelings weren't the issue, but rather what Xander took away from it all. If he learned even a sliver of what Faith herself had come to learn, then it would be worth it.

Faith thought back to the night where she'd had to confront Riley and all that she'd done to him. The notion that she had to forgive herself still weighed heavily on her, but the acceptance that most everyone was showing her was going a long way. She could never forget all the bad that she'd done, but now she had people in her life worth living for, and these people accepted her for who she was. There were moments, when her guard was down, that Faith felt truly content in her own skin. They didn't last long, and it took a long time before Faith decided that it wasn't wrong to feel that way. Now she looked forward to the day when such feelings were normal.

Going back to that night, Faith remembered how worried Willow had been about having to use her power, and what that would mean. As it turned out, Willow had needed to dust a vampire, and she'd used a bit of magic to create a spark of fire that was enough to burn the vampire to dust. Having been lying awake that night, Faith had heard Willow come home and run to Tara for comfort, and she'd heard the fear in Willow's voice that she'd messed up.

Faith smiled at the memory. Tara had naturally understood that Willow showed a tremendous amount of restraint and had only done the bare minimum needed to get the job done. One day, she might be comfortable with doing more than the bare minimum, but learning control and discipline had been the important thing, and Willow had managed that. Not minutes after that and Faith was happy to use her enhanced hearing to know that the two witches were getting along again, to say the least. The sounds of their lovemaking helped lull Faith to sleep that night.

Soon enough, Tara had moved back in, and Dawn was ecstatic that her favorite couple was back together. And speaking of Dawn, the DNA tests had come back and proven something entirely unexpected. The way Faith understood it, men had an X chromosome and Y chromosome, and women had two X chromosomes. A kid got one from each parent, and the combination determined if it was a boy or a girl. What threw Faith for a loop was that Dawn's two X chromosomes did not come from Joyce and Hank Summers. No, they came from Buffy Summers and Faith Lehane.

That had been a huge dose of cold water for everyone, but Dawn had quickly decided that the genetics didn't matter one bit. What mattered was what they all felt about each other, and Dawn felt that Buffy and Faith were her two older sisters, and that anyone who tried to argue with her was going to learn just how futile it was to argue with a teenage girl who had made up her mind. Strangely enough, Dawn's kid-like attitude made it all easier to accept for Faith. Screw the science, Faith decided quickly enough. Dawn was Buffy's kid sister, and if the brat decided that Faith was good enough to also qualify, then Faith would do everything in her power to be the best damned sister she could, even if she didn't know what that meant just yet.

Going back again to the night where Riley had come to town, someone called 'The Doctor' had been trying to make money off of the killer tribble demons, but Buffy and Riley had caught him. It turned out that it was some kid who had once upon a time decided to sic a bunch of hell hounds on Buffy's prom, and his brother was one of the idiots who had tried to rob the bank all those months ago. He'd called himself 'The Doctor' after some sort of sci-fi character who traveled through time and space. From what Willow had told her, Faith decided that Tucker Wells had taken the pacifistic Time Lord and decided to take a dump on his good name. He was off in some military prison due to Riley being the one to take him in. Buffy had asked him and his people to keep an eye on the three idiots who were currently in jail in case they ever tried anything again, and Riley had assured Buffy that they'd be quietly put under surveillance.

Since that day, however, everything had not only settled down, but had gotten downright pleasant, save for one awful night where Faith had had a nightmare that might have been a Slayer dream. She'd dreamed that some ancient, primordial evil was trying to make sure that there would never be another Slayer ever again. There had been a freakishly strong Catholic priest, only the things he preached were how dirty and sinful women were, and he'd gouged out Xander's left eye. There had been a huge battle in the Hellmouth itself, and then there'd been a ton of Slayers, and then all of Sunnydale had been swallowed up into a crater.

And then, it started to rain shredded mozzarella for some reason, and a weird-looking guy in a suit smiled at Faith and said, "Oh, don't worry. This is the cheesy timeline. Your own looks far lighter in cholesterol." And then she'd woken up. When she'd shared her dream with Buffy, she'd sounded far more freaked out by the cheese guy than the rest of it, but they decided that there was nothing to worry about in the long run.

Aside from that one awful dream, things were starting to level off. Buffy had re-enrolled at UC Sunnydale, and Willow and Tara were comfortable taking classes together again, in addition to other, more intimate gatherings. Dawn was moaning and groaning about her own classes, but Willow was often on hand to help tutor her about things that Faith knew nothing about. Meanwhile, after a lot of convincing from both Dawn and Faith, Buffy had agreed to start training Dawn in self-defense. She'd never be a Slayer, but neither was Xander, and before she'd learned magic, Willow hadn't had any special abilities either. This was still Sunnydale, home of the Hellmouth, and Dawn needed to know how to defend herself.

Practicing with Dawn gave Faith some of her happiest memories, and she thought of Diana and Giles, her two Watchers, and hoped they'd be proud of her. She still wasn't happy that Giles had left Buffy when he did, but for her part, Buffy seemed to be getting better. It was slow, and the changes were slight and came at the strangest times, but Faith was starting to see Buffy grow more comfortable in the world she was living in.

Time rushed by, and before anyone knew it, Xander's parole had come up thanks to good behavior, and he and Anya had decided (after a lot of convincing on Xander's part) for them to get married right at the courthouse, as soon as Xander was released from his sentence. Anya had wanted a larger, fancier party, but Xander had decided to put his foot down and say that his own family was not one that he was comfortable with, and that his real family were the friends he had in Sunnydale. Given the way Anya sounded when she'd told them about the plan, it sounded like it had taken a lot for Xander to fess up that fact about himself.

Faith was surprised to be invited to the impromptu ceremony, but she showed up all the same. She wore a black dress that was more modest than what she might have chosen years ago, but Anya was all done up in her white wedding dress, and they'd rented a tuxedo for Xander to change into after he got out. A county clerk performed the simple, secular ceremony, but when it came time for the newlyweds to kiss, the passion between them was palpable. Absence had clearly made their hearts grow fonder, and dammit, but Faith couldn't help but be happy for them.

Everyone in the Summers household had spent the past few weeks preparing for this day, decorating the house and getting gifts and making sure that everything was just so. It might not have been the giant, glitzy, glamorous wedding that dreams were made of, but everyone who mattered was there, save for Giles, who couldn't make it due to prior commitments with whatever he was doing back in England, but he assured them that a gift was on its way in the mail.

So while almost everyone was hugging and kissing and trading stories, Faith stayed off to the side. It wasn't her fault, but it was because of her that Xander had spent a year behind bars. She'd never been nearly as close to him as everyone else had, so she decided to let him enjoy the company of his family of choice while she tried not to ruin everything.

So it surprised her when Xander broke away from everyone else and approached Faith in the kitchen alone. The two of them hadn't spoken to each other since before Faith had issued her ultimatum over a year ago. She didn't know what to say, so she stayed quiet.

"So," Xander said after a while. "I ended up taking your advice and really giving the therapy and counseling a chance. I didn't want to, but Buffy and Will convinced me. I knew it was you talking, but I'm a sucker when it comes to listening to my friends. And I guess I have something I need to ask you, Faith."

Not knowing where he was going, Faith just nodded. "Sure thing," she replied.

Xander rubbed both of his hands together before finally spitting out suddenly, "How do you live with it? I mean, don't get me wrong, I was angry at you for so long for putting me there, but when I confessed, there were families of the people that I'd… They didn't blame me. They respected me for owning up to a stupid mistake. But when I finally talked about it all with the therapists… I don't remember the faces of the photos that Willow showed me, but all I see when I go to sleep are faces that are burning and frying and it never stops. How do you keep going, Faith? Is there some secret that's gotten you this far? Does it ever get better? Does it ever go away? That feeling deep down that makes you want to vomit every time you close your eyes and see what you can't un-see?"

Strangely enough, Faith felt glad. Not that Xander was suffering, but that he had the capacity to feel for what he'd done. That she wasn't alone in being messed up but wanting to do better. And maybe, Faith felt good that she had a chance to pay forward the second chance that Angel had given her and try to steer Xander in a better direction.

"You live with it every day," she told him. "Some days are better than others, and if you commit yourself to doing the right thing and never doing wrong ever again, then it helps. It never goes away, but if you're lucky, then it does get better. You've got people who love you, who want to help you, and that's gonna count for a lot. As for all those faces you see… I suggest you look up those four people and commit their faces to memory. You're not responsible for people you didn't hurt. But the ones you did… If you ever forget their faces, then you're doing something wrong. It hurts every time you remember them, but it's supposed to hurt. If it ever stops hurting, then you need to check yourself into some sort of clinic. That feeling that you're gonna hurl because the guilt's eating at you… That guilt means you have a conscience that's telling you not to do it again. That guilt is what separates you from the monsters. It hurts like hell, but that's part of being a stupid, messed-up human being."

Xander chuckled without humor. "Well, I can't exactly say that's a happy thought, but I suppose it's nice to know that this awful feeling means that I'm one of the good guys. I guess I just gotta keep checking myself to make sure I stay a good guy. And that's what you've been doing for a while now, isn't it, Faith?"

Raising a glass of champagne, Faith made a toasting gesture. "To humanity. It's messy and painful, but it's what we are, and I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Xander chuckled. "For what it's worth, you were right. I needed to face up to what I'd done. If I hadn't… If I'd stayed oblivious to all of it… Well, you took that option away from me. I hated you for so long for forcing me to face the truth of what I'd done. After a while, though, I realized that if you hadn't, I would have gone on thinking that I'd done nothing wrong. And after all of this, well, I just can't see that anymore. So, uh, thanks, I guess?"

Faith shook her head. "Don't thank me. I was pissed. I felt screwed over. I felt like I'd been made to suffer and you were getting a get-out-of-jail free card just because you were best buds with Buffy. I felt wronged, and I wanted to make it right. I thought you deserved it, but mostly, I just wanted people to stop looking at me as if I was the only person in this house to ever make such a stupid mistake. So don't thank me, Xander. Just keep moving forward and keep being the better man. You're gonna stumble and fall down, because it's gonna be hard. That's okay, though. Only time it isn't okay is when you stop getting back up again."

Faith sighed. "And I don't know if we ever talked, but I did some seriously messed up stuff to you. I almost killed you because I was on some stupid power trip. I don't know if I ever apologized for that, and I don't know that a sorry is enough, but it's all I got."

"I'll tell you what, Faith," Xander said. "Don't worry about what can't be changed. You tell me to keep moving forward? How about you do the same, and we'll call it even, okay?"

Faith nodded and allowed herself a small smile. "You got a deal. Now let's go back to the party before your wife gets all vengeance happy about nothing she needs to be worried about."

"My wife," Xander said. "Wow! That's gonna take some getting used to. But in a good way. Right. Back to my wife."

The two of them made their way back to the living room, and now that the air had finally been cleared, Faith felt comfortable joining everyone to celebrate. She still wasn't exactly close with Anya, but between everything that had happened, she felt comfortable considering herself a part of the woman's life, even if not on the same level as Xander and his friends. Right now, Anya was opening presents from everyone. Buffy and Dawn had decided to take some of the money they had to spare and splurge on various gifts for the newlyweds. Buffy had decided on various appliances and IKEA coupons to help spruce up their apartment. Dawn had decided to capitalize on Anya's love of sex and had obtained a number of risqué costumes meant for roleplay at night when she and Xander were alone. Faith had had to accompany Dawn to make the purchases at the adult store, and judging by the wave of red washing over Buffy's face, Faith figured that she'd have to face a stern talking-to before long. It was still worth it.

Willow and Tara had gotten more modest gifts in the form of spellbooks and magical items that couldn't be obtained at the Magic Box. Anya wasn't quite as enthusiastic about these gifts, but she appreciated them all the same.

Finally, Faith decided to give Anya her present. "Now, I wasn't sure how to wrap this, so it doesn't look like much on the outside, but I hope the actual present makes up for it," she said as she set a simple brown lunch bag on the table.

Anya made a face, but Faith just smiled. "Close your eyes and reach your hand in. Trust me."

Anya grumbled but did as Faith said, and suddenly a wide grin split open on her face as she pulled a wad of hundred-dollar bills out of the bag. "Cash! Lots of cash! Real American currency. And the bills are sequential, too! Easy to count and take stock of! Oh, Faith! This is the most thoughtful gift I've ever received! Thank you so much!"

Faith found herself surprised and on the receiving end of a tender hug. "No problem, Anya. I know how much you dig the stuff, and I have plenty to spare. So I figured, spread the love. You know what you want more than I do, so spend the money on whatever you want. Or keep it and do that capitalist dance you like to do or whatever."

"I think I'll do a bit of both!" Anya said before sitting down and counting her money like a young, blonde Ebenezer Scrooge.

A sound of a tapping on a glass brought everyone's attention to Buffy. She was wearing a simple, peach-colored dress and minimal make-up, but Faith thought she looked positively radiant. And if Buffy wanted to give a toast, then she automatically had Faith's undivided attention.

"So, um… A lot has changed in the past year and half," Buffy said. "Willow, Tara, you've both become such an important part of this family. You were there for Dawn when I couldn't be, and despite a lot of ups and downs, you've always been there for each other, even when you were separated by physical distance. And I just want to say how happy I am that you're together and with us, celebrating today."

The two witches practically glowed as they shared a brief kiss before returning their attention to Buffy. "Xander, Anya, you've also been through some serious ups and downs. But today, you've shown your love for each other, and you've committed to each other, and I'm so happy for you both, and I really hope that the best is yet to come for you."

The two newlyweds smiled at each other and shared a short kiss before returning to look at Buffy and/or their newfound wad of cash.

"Dawn, you lovable little brat, you've probably had it worse than any of us. You've had to grow up so fast, dealing with all of what we've had to go through while also finding your own place. You've come so far, and I'm so proud of you. I love you, Dawn."

Despite being a Slayer, with all the strength that came with it, even Buffy recoiled a bit at the strength of Dawn's tackle-hug. Dawn held on tight before taking her place beside her sister, one arm wrapped around the Slayer.

"Faith," Buffy said at last, and the Slayers' eyes met. "Where do I even begin? Everything from when I came back to right here and now… Looking back on everything, I can't imagine how differently things might have turned out if you hadn't been here, and I don't want to. You're a part of this family now, Faith, and I hope you always will be. I can't promise that it will always be fun or easy, but you've become such an important part in my life – in all of our lives, I think – that I can't picture life without you in it anymore. So, thank you, Faith. For everything."

Faith didn't know what to say to that. Had she really made that much of a difference? Did it matter what she thought so long as Buffy was welcoming her this way? Faith didn't know, but she knew that Buffy was looking at her with warmth and affection, and that made Faith's heart skip a few beats.

"And finally," Buffy said, taking a deep breath, "this last year and a half has been hard on all of us. The last thing I want to do is to make it all about me, but I just want to say that being here, with my friends – with my family - all of us enjoying each other's company…"

Buffy took a deep breath. "We're living, all of us. We're living life. And I've decided that I like that. I'm alive, and I like being alive. I want to keep on living life with you all, and I don't know about all of you, but I'm gonna celebrate that. Life's too short, and it's too hard sometimes, so I'm going to take today, along with every other day, and I'm going to live it and enjoy it as best I can."

Faith didn't know what she was doing, but she couldn't stop herself. She was up from her seat and she was planting a passionate kiss on Buffy's lips. She broke contact as soon as she realized what she'd done. "I'm sorry, B," she said immediately. "I know you don't feel that way about me, but… You don't know how long I've been waiting to hear those words out of your mouth. Every day, I've been dying a little bit, waiting for you to be alive again. And now that you're finally ready to live again… Well, I think I might be, too. I don't know if I'm forgiving myself yet, or if I'm just giving myself the chance to try, but I don't know if I'll be able to do it without you, B. Whatever comes your way, I'll be here for you, in whatever way you need. Nothing more and nothing less. And, if it isn't too much to ask…"

"You'll have the same from me, Faith," Buffy said with a smile. "I do love you, if not in the same way you love me. So long as you can tell the difference and are okay with it, then everything is great."

Faith laughed. "Buffy, for the longest time, I just wanted to be a part of your life. I'll always be in love with you, but just you letting me be here, as your friend, your family, whatever… It's more than anyone has ever given me, and it's something I'm never gonna take for granted. I'm with you all the way, Buffy."

The blonde slayer smiled, and damn, but that smile could light up the darkest night. "Dawn, before I jumped that night, I told you that the hardest thing in this world is to live in it. And that's still true. But you know what? I'm okay with that."

Faith raised her glass of champagne. "To the hardest damned thing in this world. To living life, one small step at a time."

THE END