Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy.
Willow, in the Kitchen fetching snacks, frowned as she watched Tara and Faith sitting in the lounge room, apparently in deep conversation. However, her frown was just as much about herself as it was them. Willow was annoyed with herself. She had no right to be jealous. She and Tara were just friends. And now Tara and Faith were friends too. But if Tara wanted to be more than friends with Faith, she had every right to be. Even though the thought made Willow want to leap over the back of the sofa and strangle the brunette.
Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, all thoughts of harming Faith were swept from her mind when the front door swung open, and a familiar blonde teenager strode in, clutching a container of chicken soup. Willow had never been less happy to see Buffy Summers.
"Hey Will, the door was open. My Mom made you some.." Buffy froze when she spotted Faith, and let the soup fall from her hands, spilling over the floor. Tara leaned back into the couch cushions, trying to make herself seem as small and insignificant as possible, but Buffy wasn't interested in her right now. "I knew it!"
"B.." Faith began softly.
"Don't you talk to me!" Buffy growled.
"Buffy" cried Willow, running into the room to attempt to diffuse the situation, "I can explain.."
"Explain what, Will?" Buffy snapped. "How you blew me off to hang out with Faith and.." she finally noticed Tara, and her eyes widened. "You're the girl from the news! The one who ran away!" The blonde shook her head, heading for the door. "I'm getting out of here.."
"Buffy!" cried Willow, panicking. "Please, you can't tell anyone you saw Tara here! Buffy!" She moved to follow her friend outside, but Faith stopped her.
"I'll go, Red."
"But.."
"I'm the problem, I'll fix it" said Faith, heading off in pursuit of the blonde. "Trust me."
"I really hope I can" Willow sighed to herself. "Otherwise, we're screwed.."
"Buffy!" called Faith, chasing after her.
"What now?" Buffy snapped. "Are you dating Xander? Stealing him from me too?"
"Jeez, B, how self centred can you get?" said Faith, annoyed. "This isn't about you! It's not even close to being about you!"
"Leave me alone, Faith."
"Love to, but I can't until I know you won't go blabbin' about Tara."
"Why would I?" said Buffy, voice softening slightly. "I saw the bruise. Now you know, so leave me alone."
Faith fully intended to do so, until she noticed Buffy turn a corner a little way ahead. Somewhat surprisingly, Faith had actually been to Buffy's house before. Twice. Buffy wasn't going to her house. She was heading into the bad part of town, probably going to The Bronze. Faith glanced at the Sun sinking below the horizon. While fine for groups, The Bronze at night wasn't the greatest place for a sixteen year old girl to be hanging out on her own. If Faith hadn't been at Willow's house this evening, Willow may very well have been able to explain the situation to Buffy with little trouble. Faith was the real problem. And even though no one could possibly blame her, if anything happened to Buffy, Faith wouldn't be able to help feeling partially responsible.
"God damn it" she muttered to herself, again following the blonde's footsteps.
As Faith had expected, Buffy headed to The Bronze, which was already filling with it's regular Saturday night clientele'. She watched her from a distance for a while, before moving over to the table she'd claimed for herself, taking the empty seat across from her.
"What part of 'leave me alone' do you not understand?" Buffy frowned.
"I'll leave you alone when ya leave here, B" Faith replied. "This isn't a good place to be alone."
"I've been here before, you know."
"Not by yourself, I bet" said Faith. "And if you have you're an idiot.." Faith realised she'd said the wrong thing almost as soon as she said it, but Buffy had already stormed off in a huff. "Okay, I admit that was uncalled for, I.." Buffy had already disappeared into the crowd on the dancefloor. "..Crap."
Yep, Buffy Summers was having a bad day. First she'd discovered that her best friend had a secret that she'd shared with Faith Lehane, of all people, before her, and now, for some strange reason, Faith wouldn't leave her the hell alone! Why did Faith care if anything happened to her? Faith hated Buffy, and the feeling was mutual. Besides, Buffy thought, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Or at least she'd thought so until someone caught her arm, and she found herself spinning around to face Jack O'Toole. The best way Buffy knew to describe him was a male version of Faith, only worse, and had been worse even before Faith had mellowed out in recent months. Jack was currently repeating his senior year for the second time, though no one knew why he bothered, and their were persistent rumours around school that he was part of a gang.
"Hey" he flashed an unsettling grin, "Want a dance?"
"I was actually just leaving" Buffy chuckled nervously, trying to pull free of his grip.
"Then why did you just walk onto the dancefloor?" he smirked.
"I think I dropped an earring" Buffy lied, "But it's okay, I can just come back tomorrow and ask if someone handed it in.." She jerked her arm again, but he pulled her closer.
"Just one dance.."
"No thanks.."
"Come on.." Jack chuckled menacingly.
"She said no" came Faith's voice as Buffy, with a flood of relief, felt herself being pulled free of Jack's grip. "So back off."
"I know you" Jack grinned. "Faith, right? Your Mom was.."
"I know what my Mom was" Faith scowled. "I'm not my Mom." She turned and headed for the exit, leading Buffy along with her. "Don't" she whispered, when Buffy turned her head. "Don't look back, he'll think you want him or something. Just keep moving."
They headed outside, down the street, and around the corner, before Buffy realised she was still holding Faith's hand and quickly let go, embarassed.
"Uh.. Thanks for that" she said rather awkwrdly. Faith just shrugged. "I should probably go.." She moved to head off down another road, but Faith stopped her.
"You can't go straight home from here. He might follow you."
"I don't see him anywhere" Buffy frowned.
"Ya probably wouldn't, Jack's a sneaky bastard" Faith looked around, then sighed. "Come on, we'll go to my place."
"But he knows your Mom."
"I don't live with my Mom" said Faith icily. "The authorities kinda frown on teenagers livin' with dead people."
"Oh" said Buffy, a little guilty. "I'm sorry, I didn't know.."
"Forget it, I saw it comin' a mile away." Faith began to head off, and after a few moments of hesitation, Buffy followed. For a while, they walked in silence.
"Hey" said Buffy eventually, frowning as something occurred to her. "How did you know I wasn't going home?"
"'Cause I've been to your house before, B."
"What? When?"
"You're thirteenth Birthday party" said Faith. "Joyce invited everyone, remember?"
"Oh, right.."
"And last year, I walked your little sis' home from school one day. She looked pretty upset, she said.."
"Our Dad just left" Buffy finished. It was now Faith's turn to feel awkward. Well, more awkward than they already were anyway. The pair once again fell quiet. "Thank you" Buffy finally broke the silence.
"I couldn't just leave the kid cryin' like that" Faith shrugged.
"Well, thanks for that too, but the Dawn thing wasn't I meant" Buffy sighed. "Thank you for helping me. You didn't have to. I mean, after the way I've always treated you, I wouldn't have blamed you if you hadn't."
"Hey, it's not like I've treated you that much better" Faith pointed out. "But wev'e known each other for too long for me to just sit back and let somethin' bad happen to you. You would have done the same for me."
"Yeah" Buffy was a little surprised to find herself saying, and even more surprised to realise that she meant it. "Yeah, I would have." They soon reached the front door of a house, where Faith paused.
"B, you can't tell anyone who my foster parents are, okay?"
"Okay" said Buffy, a little confused. "Why?"
"Well, you know that I've kinda changed the last couple of months, and been actin' a little different.."
"Not with me" Buffy chuckled, "But yeah."
"Well, they're a big part of the reason why" said Faith. "And I want people to know what they've done for me, I do, but then they'd wanna know about my Mom, and I'm not ready to talk about her yet.."
"I get it" said Buffy. "It's still hard for me to talk about my Dad sometimes, and he's alive. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
"Thanks" Faith smiled. She pressed the doorbell, and soon, a woman came to answer it. Buffy didn't know who she'd expected to see, but it sure wasn't Jenny Calendar.
"Faith!" she frowned, "You were supposed to be home.." She paused when she spotted Buffy.
"Sorry, Jen" said Faith sheepishly. "Buffy got herself into a bit of trouble, I had to help. Is it okay if she hangs around for a while?"
"Oh, sure" Jenny smiled, opening the door wider. "Come on in." For a moment, Buffy hesitated. Just over an hour ago, she'd been yelling at Faith to leave her alone, and now she was at her house? This was insane! But then, she thought of where she might be without Faith, and shivered. So, she stepped over the threshold.
AN: There you have it, Faith's foster parents revealed! Well, one of them anyway, but if you've been paying any attention to who's married to who in this story the other one should be obvious. This is the longest chap of 'My Sanctuary' that I've written so far, and from here the story should start to really move along, so stay tuned!