Chapter 11

Dawn and Buffy were completely stunned when they saw Faith lying on the guest bed, tears pouring down her cheeks, sniffling, red- and puffy-eyed. They both walked in gently and sat down on the bed. As one, they reached out to hold and hug her, to give her some human contact. After awhile, she calmed down and looked up at them.

"Thank you. The mention you made earlier - about being lucky I wasn't an official Summers girl - it got me started on thinking about all the guys in my life. My dad, your dad, my boyfriends, all of it. At first I took it out on the punching bag, but then I just couldn't take all the emotions flying through me. I usually keep it all in. I don't talk about my past, and I don't like people pushing to find out." The sisters shared a quick glance; they knew how true that statement was. Faith had only shared her past once, and that was only because Buffy had shared hers first. "I came here because I wanted to be alone and I thought you guys would go to your mom's house. And I thought it would be later."

"Faith, you are always welcome here, even if I'm not at home. Why do you think I gave you that spare key? And we all know that the past can be painful. Sometimes it's nice to just have a good cry. If you want, we can leave you alone to finish."

"No," came the whispered reply. "Just stay here with me. I hate feeling so alone, like there's no one else who cares. You guys make me feel better." At this, the three girls curled up together, comforting each other in a way that only close friends can, as only best friends can. Each one had known pain beyond pain, and just being there with each other, not saying anything, just communicating through the bond that friends have, helped them all.

[A/N: Some of you with more disgusting minds will read the above paragraph and think it's some kind of reference to lesbian sex. It's not. Each of the above girls, in this particular story, has gone through some tragic time in their life where they felt worthless or disgusting. They have talked about it before, and just lying on a bed, not doing anything, helps them feel better. They know that at any time they can talk to these people and feel loved and respected. Friends do that, and there's nothing lesbian about it. Plus, Dawn and Buffy are sisters, so anything between them would be utterly disgusting. For the rest of you, if you are confused about why each girl is in pain, that's okay. Actually that's good. Makes you more interested in reading the rest of the story, because you will find out.]

Giles and Joyce lay happily intertwined in bed. They had had a relaxing day, and now felt prepared to face anything. They got up, got dressed, and called their daughters before going out to dinner. There had been no answer at either the gallery or at Buffy's house, but as sensible parents, they knew that their daughters were probably asleep. After all, it had been a most tiring day.

Buffy lay on the bed with Dawn and Faith, thinking over her past and theirs, too. So much had happened to all of them, so much pain and suffering. It seemed that the whole point of life was to make them miserable. But then she thought of Angel, and realized that if that were true, she never would have met him. And, if she was completely truthful with herself, she never would have found Riley. Even if she wasn't in love with him, he had made her happy for a long time. Yawning, she relaxed and started to drift off to sleep. *It's been a really tiring day.*

Several miles away, a car drove silently through the night. The headlights came upon the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign. The man inside kept driving. He passed Joyce and Giles enjoying a nice evening walk. He passed Cordelia and Xander sitting peacefully on their porch. Then the car stopped on Buffy's block. The man got out. He walked stealthily towards the Finn house. The lights were out inside. He peaked through windows and checked that no one was inside. Then, he entered through the back door. He went upstairs to Buffy's room. She wasn't there. He checked the other rooms until he saw the three sleeping girls inside the guest room. He smiled and went back to his car. The man then drove to a motel and got a room. He would continue watching her the next day.