Chapter 9

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, Just borrowing.

When Faith felt she was far enough away from Dominick and her apartment, she slowed her pace down to a walk. She could barely walk let alone run any longer. She was shaking from head to toe with the force of trying to contain the hot tears that were burning her eyes. She had no clue where she was walking to just that she was going to keep walking because the moment she stopped she would break down and everything that she had been told just moments before would be real. She was hoping she would run into someone, one of her friends and that they would be able to comfort her. Faith couldn't believe that someone could do something like this to her, especially Dominick whom she had trusted with everything for as long as she could remember. She had a sharp pain in her chest and she had a feeling that was from her broken heart, but her throat felt tight and it was becoming difficult to draw a breath. Her mind kept replaying her and Dominick's conversation, he had kidnapped her, taken her from her home and her family. She didn't know why she had no memory of having a sister, and she couldn't help but wonder if the council especially Quentin had played with her mind or her memory in some way. She also was thinking about Joyce, Buffy's mom, no her mom now. She wondered if Joyce knew or had thought of the possibility of Faith being her long lost daughter. Faith reached into her pocket, feeling the hard wood of the stake she had placed there, and decided that it was time to kick some undead ass. To Faith kicking ass was like comfort food, and she knew it would make some of the pain of Dominick's betrayal go away for a little while.

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Xander was walking through Restfield cemetery twirling a stake in his fingers and saying a silent prayer that no monsters would chose now to attack him. He knew if Buffy and Faith found out that he was out here alone without one of them they would kill him. That was the first rule of hanging out with the slayers, never go out alone at night. But right now he didn't care about that, ever since Faith had run out of the library earlier that afternoon he had been worried, and it just got worse when she never came back to the school. He needed to find her figure out what had happened to her, why she had run off like that, he wanted to help her. He had already been through 5 graveyards that night and still there was no sign of her anywhere. He looked at his watch and saw that it was a little bit after nine and he decided he would check one more cemetery and then head home. He couldn't help but notice just how quiet Sunnydale was at night. Even though most of its citizens lived in a constant state of denial about what went on after the sun went down they still stayed off of the streets, but even the streets were devoid of the normal oogly boogly bump in the night things. He was almost out of the cemetery when he saw a movement in the corner of his eyes. He turned to look at where it was coming from and saw Faith walking in the opposite direction. Xander turned and ran towards her, grabbing her arm.

" Xander!" Faith yelped spinning around to face her attacker or so she thought. "Go home Xander." She turned away from him and began to walk the other way, he followed her and soon fell into step next to her.

" Faith, I'm worried about you. What happened in the library?" Xander asked her.

" Xander, I said go home! I'm fine, don't worry about me. I'll deal." Faith told him.

" Faith, someone who is fine doesn't run out on her friends and never come back." Xander told her.

" Please Xander, just leave me alone." She said a pleading tone in her voice.

" Faith," He said grabbing her arm and turning her to face him, but she wouldn't meet his eyes, "I want to help you, I'll help you deal." Faith pulled her arm out of his grasp, and Xander expected her to turn and run away from him. But she just stood there fiddling with the stake that was clasped in her hand. Xander reached out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and he realized the small raven-haired slayer was trembling.

" God Faith you are shaking." Xander said, wanting to pull her to him and try to calm her shaking body. Faith looked at him her brown eyes filled with tears.

" Xander everything is so messed up." She managed to tell him in a hoarse voice before the sobs overtook her body. Her tears shocked Xander and for a minute he just stood there watching Faith collapse on the ground her face buried in her hands, her shoulders shaking with sobs. Xander snapped out of his shock and knelt down on the ground next to her. He wrapped his arms around her protectively and pulled her against his chest. She looked up at him for a second, and he wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks as she turned and buried her face in Xander's chest, her sobs starting anew.

" Shh, Faith, you're all right, you'll be okay." Xander soothed the girl, rubbing her back. He realized what he said sounded like a completely idiotic thing to say but it was the only comfort he could give Faith. Xander felt Faith relax in his arms and he rested his chin on top of her head. All the pain of Dominick's betrayal came pouring out of Faith while she laid in Xander's arms. For some reason being in Xander's arms felt comfortable and she no longer felt she had to keep up her emotional barrier. Xander wanted to ask her what was wrong, why she was crying but he didn't want to take the risk of her running of into the night, especially not when she was upset and definitely in no mood to fight. After awhile he felt Faith stop shaking and he knew she had finished crying but she still didn't move, she just leaned against Xander. Xander sat there holding her, not saying anything, waiting for Faith to make the first move.

" Xander," Faith said pulling her face out of Xander's chest and looking up at him, her eyes wet and lost much like a child's. Xander reached out a hand and wiped some tears from her cheeks and then stroked her hair. "Thank you." She said pressing her lips to his and Xander couldn't help but respond. He kissed her back, parting her lips with his tongue and kissing her deeply. Their kiss went on for awhile until Xander pulled away.

" Sorry." He mumbled, standing up and offering a hand to Faith, pulling her to her feet. She just shrugged, and stood next to him, taking his hand in her own and lacing her fingers through his as they began to walk towards the exit of the cemetery.

" Xand, can I stay with you tonight?" Faith asked.

" What?!" Xander asked feeling his cheeks turn red at the thought of a girl staying overnight at his house. He saw Faith studying his face and heard her giggle softly, and assumed he must have some kind of stupid expression on his face. "Faith, what happened? Why can't you go home? Did Dominick do something to you, because if he did I swear to God I'll-"

"Xander he didn't do anything, just lied to me my whole life that's all." Faith said stopping when she realized she had told him more than she wanted to.

"Faith, because you are upset I'm gonna stop pushing you to talk. And if you really wanna stay at my house tonight, then you can, god knows those people I call parents don't care what I do." Xander said giving Faith one of his grins. Faith nodded, and they walked towards Xander's house hand in a hand. When they got to the door Xander found himself praying that his parents would be sleeping so that they wouldn't do anything to embarrass him. He opened the front door and led Faith in seeing that his house was dark and the only light was the glow from the television in the living room. Xander peeked into the living room and saw his father passed out on the couch, beer bottles surrounding him. Xander put a finger to his lips to tell Faith to be quiet and he took her hand leading her up the stairs to his room.

" Nice pad." She said observing his bedroom skeptically. He just nodded and sat down on his bed taking his shoes off. "I'm so tired." Faith said crawling into his bed causing Xander to jump off of it. He hadn't had a girl spend the night since he was ten and that was just Willow. Now he had hormones and had hit puberty and he didn't know what kind of betrayal his body planned if he stayed in the same bed with Faith.

"I'm going to change." He said, grabbing a white tee shirt out of his dresser and going to the bathroom. When he came back Faith had taken her shoes off and placed them next to the bed and was curled up underneath his comforter, her eyes shut. Xander walked over to her and he thought she was sleeping and he pushed a few strands of hair off of her face, and kissed her forehead. As he turned to go grab his sleeping bag from the closet and he felt a hand clutch his wrist.

"Xander come lay with me, I don't want to be alone." Faith told him sleepily. He couldn't help but comply, who was he to argue? He slid under the covers next to Faith tensing his body praying to every God he could think of for his body to be compliant. Faith raised herself on her elbows facing him, and then leaned down and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her kissing her back. Their kisses became more and more passionate and Xander pushed Faith onto the bed, rolling on top of her, kissing her feverishly. Faith slid a hand down his back and then he felt one of her hands beginning to slide down the front of his boxers. When he felt that he stopped kissing her, moving one of his own hands and grabbing her roaming hand in his own.

"Faith, no." He said, rolling off of her. He then heard her breathing start to get ragged and he knew she was crying again. "Faith, listen. Its not that I'm not attracted to you, I really am, but your upset and I don't want you to do something you may regret in the morning."

" Xander," Faith said rolling over on her side and laying her head against Xander's chest, "Thank you, you really look out for me, any other guy would totally have take advantage of that situation, but you didn't." Xander didn't say anything, just lay there listening to Faith's breathing as it began to become even again and running his fingers up and down her arm absentmindedly. He was proud of himself for stopping Faith before she managed to do something she regretted, but she had gotten him worked up and now it was just time for him to sleep. He leaned up a little just to glance at Faith and see if she was sleeping. Her eyes were closed and she looked peaceful, so he knew she must be asleep. He finally was able to relax and felt himself drifting off to sleep Faith's kisses fresh on his mind.