A/n Here's another chapter, I think I have another couple of chapters with this new angle.

Chapter Ten

Willow awoke the next morning with Faith snuggled close to her. She smiled and relaxed in the slayer's firm embrace and tried to fight back the worries she still had. The therapy on her legs wasn't going so fast, which caused her to fear that she would never fully heal from the accident that Buffy had caused. It seemed everything that went wrong of late was due to the actions of her once best friend. She didn't even know if she had a best friend anymore considering both of them had deceived her in the worst way. She also knew that both parties would never be able to forget the cost of deception because it was around them daily, wheelchair bound and nearly helpless. When Willow's mind drifted back to the present, she found Faith staring at her inquisitively. "Red, what's up?" Faith asked as she gently kissed her lover.

"I guess I was just on a pity mode again." Willow said quietly, she didn't want Faith to know how much everything was getting to her. Faith was trying hard to change herself and help Willow and Willow didn't want her to think she was failing. When a person who is in a big struggle to change their life around believes they are failing at most aspects, they tend to give up and Willow didn't want this to happen to Faith.

"Red, talk to me. How can we get through all of this if you shut yourself off? I tried that for years and still have a long way to go but you gotta teach me this open up deal or I won't learn." Faith knew she had made sense; she had a lot of demons to fend off but wanted Willow to get over hers first. She was willing for the redhead to help her be a more trusting and decent person but needed full disclosure from the redhead in order to allow her guard down enough for this to happen.

"I just don't know what to do about all of this Faith. Buffy, Xander, my legs," Willow rubbed her head with her palms in frustration. "I just want everything to be normal and stuff." Willow tried hard to keep the emotions from showing but found out quickly that she was not as good at doing that as Faith. "It's just not fair," she concluded as a tear escaped down her cheek.

"I know it's not fair and normalcy is something that we can't expect here Red." Faith pulled the redhead close and kissed her a few times. "B has gone totally nuts and I think Xan will be all right. He really is sorry, I can tell it when I look in his eyes. Y'know, he's like a puppy, feed him, give him a bone to run with and he's gone. That's what she did to him."

Willow seemed to relax instantly as Faith kissed her gently and wiped the few tears from her face. "You're right Faith." Willow said and returned the kisses of her girlfriend, if that's what she was. "I just need to stop worrying over it and do something about it."

"Now you sound more like Red," Faith said and helped Willow to her chair.

- - - - - - - -

Angel and Anya awoke to a banging on his door. They had talked most of the night in preparations of leaving Sunnydale for a time. He was willing to help Anya fight off the bad vengeance desires and, in turn, she was willing to help him free himself of Buffy. The vampire was saddened for what Buffy had become but knew he could no longer help her. She would not listen to any rational advice and it hurt him too much to sit and watch her split apart at the seams.

"I'll get the door," Anya said in an unhappy to be awakened tone. She and Angel had done a little more than talk that night and it really felt good. She felt in her heart that she had finally found a decent man, over a thousand years of searching, but she did it. She knew for certain that Angel would not betray her and, most importantly, not cheat on her. The smile on his face, after they made love, warmed Anya's heart. That was enough to give him hope that he could find some form of happiness thus defeating the curse and it gave her hope that she could find a way to beat the vengeance demon organization while staying a demon.

Anya opened the door to an anxious Cordelia. "Sorry to um," she looked at the demon and smiled. "I hope you both are happy, this is great!"

"Fine, now what do you want at this hour?" Anya gestured impatiently at the smiling brunette.

"It's almost noon but there is a man here looking for Faith. We didn't want to disturb she and Willow so thought we'd see what Angel thought we should do. He claims that he is her fiancé and she left him back in Boston."

Anya's mouth dropped and she stood as still as a statue. "What are you even talking about? Faith is not old enough to get married so I'm certain there is nothing to this." Anya managed to blurt out as Angel came in the room.

"Whatever the facts are, there could be a potential problem with Willow over this!" Cordy barked back clearly showing her frustration in her voice. "Willow has been through enough and something needs done about this."

"Yeah, Buffy needs harnessed and chained up." Angel hissed angrily as he rested his chin on his hands. He hoped that Buffy didn't have anything to do with this, but feared she did. She seemingly was the cause of everything wrong in Willow's life of late. "Well, we need to go warn Faith before he miraculously finds the mansion." Angel said sarcastically.

As he turned to head towards Willow's room, Faith appeared in the big living room pushing Willow's chair. "We need to talk," Cordy said urgently. "Do you know a Brian Kirtz from Boston?"

Everyone in the room, minus Willow, watched Faith's face carefully for some kind of reaction but found none. Faith's poker face was still one of the best and hard to read by most everyone. "Yeah I know him, why?"

"He's here, is that going to create a problem?" Anya enquired wanting to get this matter over with so she and Angel could retire back to their planning and smooching.

"Na," Faith said coolly. "He was some kid in the neighborhood. His brother used to get my mom her fix."

"Well he claims he is your husband to be," Cordy added. She was unwilling to be defeated in the snarky tactless department by Anya, this was seemingly an ongoing battle between the two.

Faith's face didn't change expression at all, as she looked at the Scoobies. "That's stupid, anyone who knows me, knows that I wouldn't allow someone to get that close in the past."

"There's got to be something more to this," Willow said confidently. She was undaunted by this new revelation as she knew how hard it was to get through Faith's walls.

"Maybe you let one through and something went wrong. Maybe he is the one who caused you not to want anyone else in your life!" Cordy snapped angrily at the dark-haired beauty.

"Give it a rest queen C, the only thing Brian ever did for me was phone his brother for my mom!" Faith's anger was beginning to surface towards Cordelia. She had never planned to give out this much information about herself to the gang but was feeling backed into a corner and forced to do so. This was a feeling that Faith didn't like much and Willow knew it.

"Core, stop it! Faith and I will deal with this from here and thanks for letting her know!" Willow said in a dismissive yet harsh tone. She wanted Faith to know that she was on her side plus would help keep her secrets if that is what she wanted her to do.

"Why don't I help Will with her therapy, An can maybe get something to eat rounded up and Faith can go check the situation out." Angel offered in an effort to stop a possible outburst from the slayer.

"Then I will go tell Xander that you've been informed," Cordy turned on her heel and sauntered out of the mansion.

"Sounds like a plan," Faith said, then leant down and kissed Willow. "You all right with this Red?"

"You said he was nothing like that to you and I believe you." Willow returned the kiss and smiled at her lover. Though she was wondering what brought all this on, she did believe Faith and trusted her fully.

Faith gazed down at Willow as if there was something more she wanted to say but chose not to. There were a few things she had not yet discussed with Willow but wanted to do it in private. The time for full disclosure from the slayer was at hand and she felt good inside upon realizing that she was both ready to tell it all and comfortable with doing so. "I'll be back real soon Red." Faith said and kissed Willow again before leaving the mansion.

- - - - - -

Faith walked around Sunnydale trying to find the guy claiming to be her fiancé. She couldn't figure out why he would make such a claim unless Buffy somehow found him then got him in on her scheme of the day. Brian was always a good kid unlike his brother Billy, who gave her nothing but bad memories. He was a real piece of work, getting her mom crack from the streets in return for money and sexual favors.

Faith recalled the night that her mom tried to make her give Billy one of the so-called sexual favors at the young age of twelve-years-old. She had refused and it got her knocked around by the young man. She then left the house and all went downhill from there. She knew that if she could only contact her real father, much of the crap in her life would have been avoided but that could never be done. Her mother and father shared custody of her until she was eight, then tragedy happened which lead to her mother changing their names and going into hiding. The problem was, her mother had all the freedom to do as she wished and trying to pimp her child out because the Lehane money was gone, was one of said things she chose to do.

As Faith entered a small diner, her worst nightmare came true. In fact, it was not Brian Kirtz who sat at a corner table but rather, his brother Billy. "Well hello there Faith," the young man smiled evilly. "Your cover has been blown," he tipped his drink to his mouth and finished it off.

Faith stared at the man coldly. "You don't scare me Billy. You never did but especially don't now." She sported a smug look on her face as she spoke. Inwardly, fears ran rampant, not for what Billy could do to her but for what he could cause to happen to her. "What's your game Billy?"

"Straight up, you leave Willow Rosenberg and become my wife or I let the wrong people in Boston know where Faith Lehane, not Faith Spenser is."