Note: Sorry this took so fricking long. School, work, and the holidays are to blame.

Note 2: Thanks to Merlin, Bradshaw, and Sheriff for reading this chap and replying. Special thanks to Spanky Bunny.

Note 3: THE SEX IS COMING. BE PATIENT.

Ian was trying to keep his temper in check. He could not let his anger out, couldn't deal with the consequences. He had trained too long to keep the rage that was a part of his soul contained to direct it at the most important person in his life.

There was a reason Ian hated his family. He came from a very evil bloodline. Murder, rape, incest, these things were far from unknown to his blood. For the last nine generations only two members of his family had not been overtaken; Ian and his grandfather. The atrocities that Ian had seen, and sometimes been forced to deal with, would have broken a lesser a lesser man. If not for his grandfather Ian might have been one of those lesser men. His grandfather, while far from being a righteous man, had been able to balance the good and evil within his soul. He had taught Ian how to do the same. When his father found out, Ian was forbidden to see his grandfather. That same night Ian" grandfather kidnapped him and handed him over to Wilkins, knowing Richard would give him a purpose. Years later, when Ian had made a name for himself, he tried to track down his grandfather to thank him. This was when he discovered that his family had tortured and murdered his grandfather for taking Ian. For the next 18 months, Ian had only one purpose: hunting down and killing every member of his bloodline, partly for vengeance and partly so that the corruption would end. As of now, only two members still lived; Ian and his brother Thomas, who he had never been able to track down.

Ian needed to calm himself down. He decided to indulge in one of his guilty pleasures. Opening up a locked case, he withdrew one of the tapes. Sliding it into the VCR, he turned to make sure the door was locked before sitting down. He had to keep this a secret. It wouldn't do for his adopted family to discover one of the most feared men had a soft spot for Disney films. He relaxed as Beauty and the Beast began.

(One musical Disney film later)

He stopped the tape, wiping a tear from his cheek.

"I love that movie."

Turning to his computer he decided to check his email. Logging on and accessing his Mail.com account, he saw nothing of particular interest, mostly messages from egroups and a few emails from fellow warriors. However, he still hadn't looked at the email from his potential client. Sighing, he decided to check it out. As he read through it his eyes took on a yellow tint, which meant what Richard had affectionately called his beast was coming to the forefront. This usually only happened when stuff was about to be broken, usually bodies. Ian closed his eyes and breathed deeply. This was not the time to lose his temper again. It was a time for answers. Hitting the print command, he prepared to confront his family.

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Ian found everyone sitting at the table, eating the fish Faith had prepared. He just stood, watching them without being seen. He watched as Xander and Spike made fun of each other. Ian found it funny that the two of them could act so childish in private and become so ferocious when fighting. They were like brothers; they could make fun of each other but pity the fool outside the family who tried.

What had surprised him was Dawn. Originally he had thought she was having sex with both. It turned out he was wrong. Her relationship with the vampire was more like a brother/sister bond. He thought it was cute. He also thought it was cute how Ersus had taken to protecting Dawn. Ersus defied category. Where Ian had expected him to reach 150 lbs, Ersus currently weighed in at 250 lbs, and Ian suspected he would get bigger, all muscle and sinew. the only thing ruining his image was the fact that he acted like a huge puppy, rolling on his back to have his belly scratched, begging for scraps, Now that Dawn and Xander had their own room Ersus could be found sleeping beside it, ready to protect her. Ersus was currently being fed by both Dawn and Faith.

Ian was about to make his presence known when his eyes fell below the table. He saw That Dawn and Faith's calves were rubbing against each other. It looked as if they didn't even notice it was happening, but it also didn't look idle. 'Now that's a nice image.' Ian thought. 'No, must remain stoic. Time for naughty thoughts later. Naughty thought? I did not just think that. I used to be so cool.'

"Hello everyone." Ian said, acting casual.

"Ian, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't ...."

Ian held up his hand. "It's okay Faith. You had every right to be angry. I should realize that you need no one to take care of you. Though, can I ask you a question?"

Slightly off center at the quick change in topic, Faith merely nodded her head.

"What would you say your life was worth? Because I do."

Everyone at the table was stunned. Why would Ian ask a question like that?

"What do you mean, how much is my life worth?"

"Faith, I just got a contract of $2,000,000 to bring an organization your head. Now, I want to know why you used to work for Wolfram and Hart, and how you could have pissed them off so bad that they sent this to me." He tossed a folder at her. He looked like he was barely keeping his temper in.

Faith quickly scanned the pages. It was true that she had a price on her head. Her eyes widened when she saw that they wanted her alive, for 'personal' reasons.

"You kill people for those snakes?" Faith had fire in her voice.

The anger on Ian's face deepened. "I have never worked for those bastards. The contract they have out on me is ten times yours." A dangerous smirk crossed his face. "They don't like it when someone kills one of the senior partners."

Spike stiffened at this. The Senior Partners were devils, even more powerful than major demons. For a mortal to have killed one would mean only one of two things: he had help from either above or below, or he was one powerful mofo. Spike didn't know which Ian was.

"Umm, for those of us who haven't crossed to the dark side, who are Wolfram and Hart?" Xander asked.

"Lawyers, mate. Lawyers in league with beings from hell. They defend those agents of hell who get caught by the authorities. Vindictive bunch, they are."

"Which begs the question, what do they want with our little Faith?"

All eyes turned to Faith, whose own were pointed down. This was a moment she hoped would never come. She feared they wouldn't be able to handle it. "When I left Sunnydale, I went to LA. They found me there and gave me fifteen grand to off Angel for them." A gasp went up from those at the table. Ian remained silent. "I couldn't kill him, so I tried to get him to end the miserableness I call my life. He wouldn't do it and shortly there after I turned myself in. I never thought they'd do this." She had tears in her eyes, feeling she had lost her family.

Ian felt shitty, a feeling he didn't particularly like. "I'm sorry, Faith. I shouldn't have accused you until I got the full story."

Faith was shocked. "What do you have to be sorry about? I'm the one who fucked up."

"By fucked up, you mean you made a simple mistake a few years ago and had to go it alone, making bad decisions because no body had tried to teach you to make the right ones?"

"Are you about to tell me that none of it was my fault?"

"Hell no, you fucked up, kitty. I'm just saying that it's easy to turn to the dark side when those representing the light aren't too shiny." Ian sat in a chair, pulling Faith into his lap. He began rubbing her back, an action he knew made her calm down. "Just know, honey, that whatever you've been through, so have I. And I won't let you make the mistakes I have."

Faith lowered her mouth to his, relaxing into the kiss. For a few seconds they lost each other in it, Faith seeking comfort and Ian more than happy to give it.

"Thank you." Faith said in a soft whisper.

"Anything for you."

Ian turned to see the others start to get up to give them some privacy. "Sit." he commanded. Instantly three butts hit the wood of the chairs. Ian grinned. "Within a few hours I have discovered two dangers to the woman I love. Since they are her enemies they become mine. I will face these enemies and if I feel it is necessary, I will kill them. To tell you the truth, killing them won't bother me very much. However, this is not your fight. I will understand if you don't want to get involved. You left that behind when you moved here and I will respect that decision. What I need to know is, are you in or not? Because once you jump into a fight with these groups you can't back out later."

Dawn, Spike and Xander looked at each other for a moment. They seemed to communicate with each other silently, coming to a decision. Turning, Dawn said "We're in."

All five grinned. Rather than stand back when their two friends needed them most, they had decided to back them up. The same friends who had taken them in when they had no where to go. The same friends who had given them a purpose. The same friends who had become family. In that moment those two little words cemented the five. All over the world, evil in all it's myriad forms, whether demonic or human, shivered as if someone had not only walked over their graves but was now doing a little jig.

Ian turned to Spike and Xander. "I'm going to need you guys to take over the construction of the club for about a week."

"Why, mate?"

"Because I've got to go make sure they cancel the contract. They sent this to me first, but if I don't answer they'll send it to others. I can't let that happen."

"But what about the Watchers?" Dawn asked. "Won't they come back?"

"I don't think so. I've got a hunch that they'll go back to where they came from to regroup. Remember, they have no idea that my killing the Trackers is connected to Faith. To them they are two separate incidents. I think we have a few weeks till they make another move."

While this discussion is going on, Faith became strangely quiet. She didn't know what to do. So much was happening so quickly and she felt like she was barely keeping her head above water. And her life preserver was about to go out of town. As corny as it sounded, she liked knowing that Ian would be by her side in an instant if she needed him.

"We're going with you." She blurted out.

"No your not." Ian answered. "I work alone. I can't take the chance that something will go wrong and one of you will be hurt."

"Now you look here. I am not going to allow you to go against them alone. I don't care how good you think you are, I am going with you. Accept it." Faith had fire in her eyes as she said this. Ian's face hardened, not being accustomed to be spoken to in such a way. He got nose to nose with Faith, looking straight into her eyes.

With a voice that could freeze fire he asked Faith, "I'm going to lose this fight no matter what, aren't I?" Then his face broke into a grin.

Smiling back at him Faith said, "Bet on it, stud."

"We leave tomorrow." Ian said. "We need to convince W and H to leave us alone."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Spike asked, grinning. This was going to be fun.

"Fruit basket?" Ian asked. They shook their heads. "Singing telegram?" Again with the shakes. "I know, sea bass."

Xanders pinky went to the edge of his mouth. "Are they ill tempered?"

Ian gave Xander a look. "Mayhaps. Mayhaps." This broke everyone into laughter.

When the laughter stopped Dawn asked "How long will we be gone?"

"Bout a week. Shouldn't take that long. And you can all visit that Angle guy."

"Angel." Faith corrected.

"Whatever. All right everyone. Time for beddy bye. For tomorrow, the hunt begins." The others went to their rooms to the sound of Ian laughing maniacally. Really bad maniacal laughter. 

The most evil nice guy in the world, Dark Jester