"Lehane, you've got a visitor," one of the female guards said. She was a brutish looking woman with short red hair, Faith had never learned her name, but she was one of the guards that had earned her respect for her professionalism.

"Conjugal?" Faith asked, mentally cursing the hopeful tone that had crept into her voice.

"Not this time, though you are scheduled for a visit on Wednesday," the guard noted not unkindly but keeping her voice hard, to make it clear she was not teasing her. "Take your time, we need an hour to add some amenities to your cell."

Faith gave her a nod and retrieved her few personal items, putting them on her rack. "I don't need an escort; I know the way."

The guard nodded and stepped back, waiting for Lehane to depart before entering the cell to bag the items and search for contraband.

Faith was a model prisoner, but that didn't mean she was going to forgo regulations.

Faith watched the guard in the reflection of the plexiglass at the end of the hall as she waited to be buzzed through. It'd take her just under fifty seconds to overpower and knock her out, providing a hostage to distract the rest of the guards and get the facility placed in lockdown, providing her a much-simplified playing field to work with.

The gate buzzed, breaking her from her internal musings and she proceeded to the visitor's center ignoring the part of her that was pointing out how thin the plexiglass windows were and how little actually stood between her and freedom.

"Do you have anything on you?" a guard asked as Faith approached.

"Nada," she replied, holding out her arms to be searched.

The guard simply nodded. "Interview room three."

"Interview room?" she asked, just to be sure. Interview rooms were used to talk with lawyers or case workers and as far as she knew she wasn't even up for parole.

"Interview room three," he repeated and gestured down the hall.

Faith nodded and continued past the visitors booths, wondering if Angel or Xander had managed to get her a new lawyer to go over her case; the one the state had provided had been all but worthless, which was understandable as he'd had all of forty five second to go over her file and prepare a defense.

Not that it mattered, she knew she was guilty and deserved to be here.

Opening the door to the interview room she gave it a quick look over, noting the table and chairs bolted into place along with the fluorescent light overhead sealed behind a layer of armored glass and the two way mirror hiding the observation room where a guard was supposed to be stationed, but was currently empty.

An eyebrow was raised and Faith froze in the doorway wondering how she had missed the smoking hot redhead that had at least three weapons hidden - five weapons hidden on her person.

"Seven," the redhead said. "Have a seat."

Faith swallowed her mouth suddenly dry as she cautiously entered the room and took a seat. "Telepath?"

"Training," the redhead replied dryly. "You can call me Natalie."

"You didn't say it was your name," Faith noted.

Natalie nodded. "Indeed. Miss Lehane, I work for a branch of the US government that concerns itself with making sure light does not shine on things the general public is not ready to know."

Faith appeared to relax into her seat while preparing herself for a fight. She hadn't thought the government would try to assassinate her-

"If you were my target you would have never seen me," Natalie said unconcerned, breaking Faith's train of thought.

"You sure you ain't a telepath?" Faith asked thinking about going around the left side of the table and taking out the threat.

Natalie tilted her head infinitesimally to the left and raised an eyebrow. "Unconscious body movement make telepathy unnecessary."

Faith swallowed and thought about going to the right while subtly preparing to go left.

"Your foot positions haven't changed," Natalie noted.

"Shit," Faith said leaning back, unsure what was going on, but deciding that taking on this woman was not good for her longevity.

"Alexander Harris did some contract work for us, and in investigating his background you were brought to our attention," Natalie noted. "Your case was not simply mishandled, you were set up."

"Doesn't mean I don't belong here," Faith said honestly.

Natalie watched her for a second before nodding, conceding the point. "But do you really think waiting in here is the best way to make up for your sins?"

Faith flinched. It was safe in here, she didn't have to worry about what she might do, out there…

"You would have a handler to make sure you make the right decisions," Natalie said.

"Never pictured Boy-Toy working as a government assassin," Faith said to cover for what she thought of as a moment of weakness, even though she knew better. If there was one thing being locked up did, it was give her time to think and figure out where she'd fucked up and one of those ways was by not thinking things through and facing her problems head on.

"He doesn't," Natalie said with a hint of approval in her eyes, "he simply took in our situation at a glance and explained what we were doing wrong and how to peacefully resolve our problems."

Faith nodded. "He does that," she agreed, recalling how he'd distract everyone, disarm flaring tempers, and get them thinking rationally so they could see the solution. It reminded her of that Greek dude she'd been reading about in her enormous amount of spare time lately.

"It's a useful trait," Natalie said. "I understand he helps guard the Hellmouth," she stated.

Faith looked Natalie over carefully, keeping herself absolutely still. "You're pinging my radar in a familiar way, almost but not quite."

"I was a potential who was never called," Natalie answered.

"Congrats?" Faith answered, unsure what to say, while being a slayer had its downsides, it was still one of the greatest things that had ever happened to her, because it meant she mattered.

"I was called for a different profession, one that was much more difficult in some ways," Natalie replied easily, "but we aren't here to talk about me."

After a few seconds of silence Faith realized she was waiting for Faith to respond to her earlier question. "I can't work for anyone, if I'm not in here, I have to answer the call."

Natalie nodded. "And that is exactly what we are discussing, having you return to duty with proper oversight and intel. The world isn't going to wait for you, it's going to get worse while you're in here."

Faith sighed. "Fuck, didn't think of that."

"Alexander is handling things while you're in here, I assume?" Natalie offered. At Faith's continued silence she gave a slight nod. "The only question I really have about him is this, is he trustworthy?"

"Yes," Faith replied confidently.

"Good. Now, when can you be ready to leave?"

"Um, I have a conjugal on Wednesday," Faith blurted out before realizing what she'd said and burying her face in her hands.

Natalie chuckled, genuinely amused. "I'm sure Alexander won't mind having it in more congenial surroundings."

"Really?" Faith asked hopefully.

"We'll tell him you're on work release and only people we've vetted are allowed intimate contact with the prisoners," Natalie assured her. "I'm sure he'll come through for you."

0o0o0o0o0o

Robin woke to the sound of his shower running and was momentarily confused until he recalled the night before and smiled.

A glance at his alarm clock showed it was just ten minutes before he normally got up, so he turned off the alarm and got out of bed.

Alexis came out of the bathroom and retrieved her duffel bag from beside the bed completely naked. "I've got to put on my face and get ready for the day."

"I'm not sure makeup could improve on your looks," Robin said as he watched her.

"Thanks, I'll let my mom know you like her work," Alexis replied with a saucy smile, "but I mean this." She pulled a face out of her bag. "I work as a body double."

Robin blinked as she vanished into the bathroom. Of all the responses he'd expected, that hadn't been one of them.

Alexis came out of the bathroom a few minutes later and he just stared, she looked exactly like Xander Harris, one of the slayer's support staff.

"How do I look?" she asked in a completely masculine voice as she adjusted her flannel shirt and checked the buttons on her shirt.

"Magic?" he asked, completely at sea.

"Prosthetic face, lifts in the boots, and padded clothing," she replied, looking and sounding like Xander Harris.

"Seeing you now, I would never have imagined you were anyone else," he said honestly.

"Excellent," Alexis said in Xander's voice as she gathered her clothes from around the room and stuffed them in her bag.

"When can I see you again?" Robin asked quickly, the weirdness of the situation not something he was going to let interfere in one of the best nights of his life and hopefully the start of a new relationship. It was hard to find someone who both knew and understood his drive to hunt demons, so he wasn't about to let it go at a one-night stand if he could help it.

Alexis smiled. "The background check on you came back clean this morning, though you need more white meat in your diet and should consider some vitamin supplements. Do you want to go on a date-date or a hunting-date, because I'm all about the hunt."

"Background check?" Robin asked.

"It's the Hellmouth, a gals' gotta take precautions," she said in Xander's voice with his cocky grin.

"That's a good point," Robin agreed, knowing how dangerous the life of a slayer was. "I'm surprised you went home with me before the check was done."

"Sometimes you gotta go with your gut," she said. "My gut said you're exactly who you appear to be and thankfully the background check backed that up or I would be making excuses not to see you again and wouldn't let you know what I do during the day."

"A hunting date would be great," Robin assured her, impressed with her precautions, but then there was nothing she did he hadn't been impressed with including impersonation a man.

"Great, I'd advise getting a nap after work and I'll pick you up around… nineish?"

"That works," he said, flinching as she leaned in for a kiss.

She chuckled in Xander's masculine tone. "Sorry, didn't know you'd react like that, but then if you liked kissing guys it would screw with our plans," she said. "See you tonight."

"See you tonight," he assured her before she left. "Damn she's good at that," he said, before getting up. "Hope she didn't use up all the hot water."

0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Wakey, wakey," Jamie said as she shook Xander awake.

"It's morning already?" Xander asked cracking open his eyes.

"You were up quite late talking with your friends and making plans," Jamie said, "it's understandable you'd still be tired."

"It was a good night," Xander said with a smile as he sat up and stretched.

"Yes, now get up and shower, Alexis will be here soon," Jamie said. "I'll have breakfast ready by the time you've showered." She turned and headed for the kitchen.

"Who's Alexis?" Xander asked as he got up, and quickly covered himself with the stack of clothes she'd set on his nightstand.

"We made you a body double to cover for you at work when you're injured or busy with the slaying," she called back.

"Seriously?" he muttered as he entered the bathroom.

"Seriously," she called out.

After his shower

Xander walked into the dining room and froze.

His doppelganger smirked at him. "Sup?" Alexis said, with a smile he saw in the mirror every day.

"Wow," Xander said numbly as Jamie guided him into a chair across from his duplicate where a plate loaded with pancakes and eggs was waiting.

"I'll need to shadow you for a day or so and ask a bunch of questions to make sure I can cover for you," Alexis said.

"If they see us walking around together it's kinda going to give the game away," Xander pointed out.

Alexis frowned thoughtfully. "That is a good point. I was planning on altering my looks so I could claim to just be a close family member, but even revealing a close resemblance could conceivably endanger the secrecy of the mission." Alexis stood up and picked up a black duffle bag. "I'm going to go change faces and clothes, I'll be right back."

Xander began to eat, watching until Alexis had left before asking, "So why make a stand-in for me? I can see how useful it could be, but I've done fine without one up until today."

"Your primary function is taking care of 'your girls' with a secondary function of performing manual labor," Jamie replied. "By assigning a unit to assist in your secondary function you'll be able to perform your primary function more efficiently."

"I'm not sure that order is correct… but the priority is," Xander admitted.

"I was going to be Jamie's new body," Alexis said as she returned, appearing female once more, dressed in clothes Faith would have considered tame but wearable, "designed with improvements suggested by Stark, but since I needed testing it was decided that I would be my own unit, since that would provide plenty of time to impersonate you as needed."

Xander looked over Alexis. "That is one heck of a change."

"All I have to physically change is my face," Alexis explained, "the rest is covered with specially designed clothes. The odds of you needing to be naked in public is low enough that it was deemed a non-issue."

Xander continued eating as he digested what they'd done. "So, combat?"

"I dusted nine vampires and prevented the death of two civilians during my initial testing phase last night," Alexis reported proudly. "I also made contact with an independent hunter and had a Frappuccino and a large cookie. It was a good night."

"Robin Woods, son of Nikki Woods, a slayer that was active in New York during the mid-seventies," Jamie offered, knowing Xander would want to know. "He is currently employed as the high school principal so he can watch over the kids."

"I'll have to meet him some time," Xander said with a smile, thinking Robin sounded like a great guy and he could use some male friends.

"We are going hunting together tonight," Alexis said with a bright smile and a bit of a squeal in her voice that Xander recognized from Willow.

"Make sure you have a full charge," Xander said, "learning to impersonate me is of secondary importance to your safety."

"I have replaceable batteries now, so it only takes a few seconds to switch them out," Alexis assured him.

"I can't wait to get an upgraded body," Jamie said, "that sounds so convenient and would save so much time."

"You know not to stake Angel and Spike, right?" Xander asked, thinking it was strange that this wasn't the strangest conversation he'd ever had.

"Angel is currently in LA and Spike has departed the Hellmouth, so there's little chance of that," Jamie reminded him.

"I know, I just like to cover all the bases," Xander replied. "And Spike leaving in search of a soul is still hard to wrap my head around, but… I wish- I mean, I hope he finds what he's looking for."

"Don't use the 'W' word," Alexis said with a nod, connecting his behavior with the files she'd been given.

"Another thing to keep in mind," Jamie agreed.

"Good breakfast," Xander complimented Jamie as Alexis picked up his dishes before he could and took them to the sink.

"Thanks," she said cheerfully. "Now, we have to pick up a crew and head for LA, is there anything more you need to do in town before we depart?"

"No, but make sure we stop by the Bell and get a load of tacos for Fred when we reach LA," Xander said.

"Noted," Jamie agreed.

"You should get a notebook," Xander said, "people like to see you actually write things down rather than rely on memory, it makes them believe you're a professional."

"Adapt human habits even when they are redundant," Jamie agreed with a nod. "I had overlooked that aspect of human psychology."

"If it can fool them into thinking I'm professional it'll work for you as well," Xander said. "Let's roll."

Typing by: fyrewolf5

TN: not as upbeat as usual, but good plot progress