Xander paid a lot of attention to his surroundings on the way. Things didn't look any different from his Sunnydale but he wasn't about to get his hopes up.

As he entered the shop, Giles looked up at him and smiled.

"Ah, Xander. You're early. Faith isn't here yet, so why don't you have a seat. I'll make some tea while we wait."

"Uh, okay."

Xander sat at the table in the corner of the shop while Giles made tea. He figured the Englishman would appreciate having some while he told him who he was and why he was here.

"Wait a minute… Faith?"

Xander wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Maybe he should just find somewhere to hide until the next shift. Faith was bad news.

Giles came out of the small kitchenette in the back with a tray of tea and cookies. He placed it on the table and sat down opposite Xander. Xander took a deep calming breath and slowly let it out. Then he looked at Giles and grinned sheepishly.

"Giles? We need to talk."

The explanation itself took awhile, then there were the questions. Pretty much the same ones the previous Giles had asked. Xander was considering making a list to hand out. It would save time.

By the time Giles was convinced that Xander was telling the truth and he really wasn't the Xander of this world, Faith had come strolling into the shop. She plopped herself down on Xander’s lap and kissed him soundly.

"Hey Xan, what's up? I thought we weren't meeting ‘til later?"

Xander spluttered and stood up so fast he dumped the brunette slayer on her ass. Giles stifled a laugh and Faith glared at the man she thought was her lover.

"Oh God. Lips, Faith lips! Kissed by Faith! No, nononononono. Not good. I gotta go."

Xander made for the door, but Faith was faster. She held him back and looked at her watcher searchingly.

"What the hell is wrong with him? Did he get possessed again? Did Willow cast a spell? Why is he acting like he's scared of me?"

Giles took off his glasses and polished them with his shirttail. He sighed and motioned for Faith to bring Xander back to the table. Once they were seated again - Xander as far from Faith as he could get - Giles began to explain to Faith what had happened.

"So, you mean this isn't my Xander?"

"No. It appears that he is from an alternate reality - one in which you were not a nice person. In his world, you were the one who worked for Mayor Wilkins, not Buffy."

"Damn. No wonder he fled."

Xander had remained quiet, allowing Giles to explain the situation to his slayer, until he heard that Buffy had been the one to go bad.

"Buffy worked for Wilkins? No way! She wouldn't do something like that."

Giles went to speak but Faith held up her hand and silenced him. She looked at Xander with sympathy.

"After she sent Angel to hell, she was never the same. She left Sunnydale. She stayed away a long time. Angel came back; Willow found him and helped him. I showed up in town and started cleaning things up. The place was a mess. A hellmouth with no slayer is not a fun place to live. Angel helped me for awhile. I was an angry young woman when I first got here. He taught me how to channel my aggression into my calling. But you were the one who helped me the most.”

"Me? How?"

"I ... I'm not proud of this. I took advantage of you, practically raped you one night. I tried to choke you to death, but Angel saved you. I expected to be run out of town, for you to hate me. You didn't. You forgave me. You said you understood what it was like to grow up without anyone who loved you, and that the darkness was an easy trap to fall into. I found a kindred soul in you."

Xander nodded. He did understand that, and yeah, things could have happened that way. It wasn't as far-fetched as it seemed. If anyone could understand Faith, it would be him.

"O-okay. But Buffy?"

Giles sighed and took over the explanation.

"When she left town, she was not in her right mind. She had just sent her lover to hell. She ended up in Los Angeles; she worked a few odd jobs but she seemed to be lost. A law firm took notice of her and ... well they weren't your average run-of-the-mill law firm. They worked for demons. They took her in, trained her to become a heartless killer. She wasn't Buffy any more. She was cold, hard, and vicious. Wilkins hired her as a bodyguard and to spy on us. She almost fooled us all."

Xander could see how hard this was on the man. Buffy had been more than just a slayer to him. She was like a daughter. He felt sick knowing that this could have happened in his reality, that his Buffy could have turned out this way. Giles continued the story.

"Surprisingly, it was Spike who informed us of her duplicity. He and Drusilla came back to town after being experimented on by some military group that was based in South America. He found out about the Mayor’s ascension plans and traded us the information for fixing him and Drusilla. We didn't want to do it, but we needed to stop the Mayor."

"You de-chipped Spike? Are you nuts?"

"Well, it is not as if I wanted to. I really didn't see any other option at the time. If the Mayor had ascended, the whole town would have been destroyed."

"Yeah, I get that. So what happened?"

"Long story short? Faith and Angel killed the Mayor, Buffy escaped back to LA, and Spike and Drusilla left town."

"Is Buffy still working for those evil lawyers?"

"Er, no actually. Spike was able to add another slayer to his collection. She was killed shortly after returning to LA."

Xander put his head down on the table. This was a lot to take in - just knowing that all of this was possibly his fault. If only he had told the truth, told Buffy that Willow was trying the spell ... damn it! He had been such an asshole back then.

The shop door opened and he heard someone approach the table.

"Hey guys! How's my favourite brunette today?"

Xander looked up in time to see his double kiss Faith. It was going to be a nightmare explaining himself again. Hopefully Giles and Faith would do it and just let him brood in peace.