"Do you mind if we go somewhere else?"
The question wasn't only directed at Xander but also at Remus who nodded his consent and Sirius, who smiled and said,
"Why don't you use my dear old mother's parlour? I cleaned it out the other day, so it should be fine."
Willow walked to the door and held it open for Xander, who stood to follow her,
"Do you want me to send you any drinks or more dessert or anything?"
Molly asked starting to stand up again, Willow quickly started forward saying,
"No thank you Molly, the meal was wonderful and I don't think that I could eat another bite if I'm honest, Xand?"
Xander smiled at the woman seated at the table and said,
"Ditto, Thanks all the same."
And with that the two friends left. The door swinging back and forth in its frame indicating their departure, everyone had been silent watching the exchange, but as soon as they were gone the questions began.
"So what was all that about?"
"Is there any more pie mum?"
Molly swept her eyes critically over her youngest son and said,
"Ronald Bilius Weasley..."
"Never mind,"
He said simply and put his spoon down, everyone else was watching Remus and Faith waiting for the answer to Sirius' question about what had just taken place. Remus didn't really know what to say so he just looked at Faith guiltily and smiled apologetically in her direction. She knew immediately what was going on so she looked at him and said with smile,
"I've known you less than a week and your already using puppy dog eyes to weasel your way out of things."
He just chuckled, Faith using her napkin dabbed the corner of her mouth, when that was done she placed it back down on the table and turning to the rest of the company said,
"Willow and Xander um well.... What do you want to know?"
"Did they used to date or something,"
Hermione asked ignoring the dark looks Harry and Ron gave her as they were indicating Remus, Spike snorted and said,
"Please why would Red go out with whelp boy?"
Catching Faith's eyes he said,
"They wouldn't have worked together they tried but it didn't.... I'm just going to shut up now, Slayer going to clean this mess up?"
Glaring at him faith continued saying,
"I don't really know the whole story about them, not that there's a story really. It's difficult trying to find words to describe how they felt about each other. They were best friends basically from the moment they started school. Helping each other through everything life threw at them. Neither of them had great parents and Wills was well targeted by the other girls for being quiet and studious. Xander and Jesse helped her through all of it..."
"Who was Jesse?"
Remus asked, he'd never heard about him before. It made him wonder what Willow had kept from him, Faith faltered for a moment she didn't know what to say.
"I never knew him, he died a long time before I met them all."
"How did he die?"
Ron asked,
"He was turned by vampires, I think it was Xander who eventually staked him... he told me once that was the moment he realised he wasn't a child anymore, when he lost his innocence."
"He killed his own friend?"
Ron asked his eyes wide,
"When a vampire's turned they're not who they were when they were alive. They look like the person you knew, they have the same voice and the same memories but they're not them. It's the hardest thing in the world to stand before someone who was a friend, who you loved and listen to the demon that wears they're face taunt you. When it comes down to it you have to move past who he was and kill the monster that wears his face. It's the only thing you can do to truly honour you friend."
Spike finished using his serious voice, Ron looked at him processing what he had just said and nodded saying,
"It must have been hard."
Faith nodded and shot a small smile too Remus before carrying on saying,
"The love Willow and Xander had... Have...had for each other is stronger than anything you could imagine. I guess you all know about Willow and... well yeah. Has she ever told you what stopped her? Why she didn't go through with what she started?"
Mostly every one shook their heads, Molly said,
"We just assumed that she either realised what she as doing or that she run out of power."
Faith suppressed a small smile and said,
"She had the power and knew what she was doing, she was so far gone. It's impossible to describe what she must have been feeling every moment of pain of anguish of hatred anyone had ever felt, she felt it as she poured her power into that statue. The thing that stopped her... The one thing that stopped her was Xander."
Sirius looked up and said,
"I thought he was a muggle? How could he have stopped someone that powerful?"
"Love."
Faith whispered.
"He stood in the way would have let her kill him before he let go through with what she wanted to do. She almost did but that's what stopped her anyway. So it isn't that they're old lovers or anything they're just friends."
Faith said, trying desperately to wrap everything up without giving too much away. They were not easily put off though and Faith was cornered when Harry asked,
"Why is he so mad with her then?"
Faith looked down at her top and said,
"He's not mad."
Harry persisted and said,
"So why won't he talk to her?"
Faith looked at him and said,
"Nothing's Black and white kid that's what you've got to learn to understand, there's a hell of a lot of grey mixed in there. I'm guessing you know bout the first and the end of Sunnydale?"
Everyone nodded so she continued saying,
"We lost some people in the battle, something which happens in all wars I guess, it's a danger and people are always going to loose people they love. We lost a lot of good slayer Spike there sacrificed himself... But that's another story and more importantly to Xander we lost Anya."
"Who was Anya?"
Tonks asked for the first time looking up from her plate,
"Anya was Xander's.... well I don't know what you call her really, she was an ex-vengeance demon who was 1000 years older than him. She lost her powers as a punishment for something but I can't remember what."
"Her amulet was broken... it was the source of her power."
Spike said softly from his corner of the table, he had liked Anya a lot she was one of the few people at that time that he had considered a friend.
"They had a strange relationship and eventually decided that they were going to get married, but they never did really."
"Why?"
Sirius asked not really liking the direction this story was going,
"He had a visitor the morning of the wedding it was one of Anya's victims from the past, he pretended that he was from the future and had come to warn him not to marry Anya. He showed him visions of what would happen. He told me when he was drunk once what they were, It was of them how they would be, he was injured and couldn't work she had to work constantly to support him. They had two children one of which he didn't think was his. The love had completely disappeared and he ended up killing her."
There were a couple of gasps and a lot of sad looks round the table at that and Faith continued saying,
"He'd grown up in a home like that, where there was no love. He didn't want to have to go through it again and he didn't even want to imagine hurting her in that way. He loved her so much, that's why he left her at the alter; She didn't understand not that you could blame her really. It took them a while but I think they were beginning to work things out again. But like I said she was killed in the battle, he stayed for as long as he could looking for her, she died a heroes death. He loved her so much it killed him to loose her he started to leave this world you could see it in his eyes. Then a few hours later when we stopped Willow left us, we had stopped at a service station to buy some food and medical supplies and she just left. He lost the two woman he loved within hours of each other, it nearly killed him."
"Why did she leave?"
Harry asked.
In the parlour of number 12 Grimmauld place two best friends sat opposite each other, neither knowing what to say, how to start how to even begin what needed to be said,
"Why did you leave?"
Xander eventually asked breaking the silence. Willow looked up at him meeting his eyes finally, her hair, which she had let grown long again swayed across her shoulders and she let out the breath, she hadn't been holding,
"I couldn't stay, it was too hard I couldn't bare to start it all over again. I needed to leave, you didn't need me any longer."
Xander looked at her tears creeping into the corners of his eyes as he said,
"I needed you."
Willow felt the tears begin to shed in her own eyes as she said,
"No you need the old me, not the me I had become."
"No Will, I needed you... I needed you to be there for me just like I was there for you."
He knew what he said was harsh but it was what he felt,
"After everything you did after Tara did, I was still there for you, I knew you needed me. I was willing to die for you to help you, but you just left me... left me when I needed you so much Wills I thought I was going to die and there was no one there to help me and then you left and I truly thought it would be easier to just die."
Willow started crying again and said,
"I'm sorry but I couldn't stay."
Xander stood up and looked at her and said,
"It wasn't only me you hurt you know? Buffy was so scared and Kennedy, how could you just leave her? You broke her heart."
Willow was weeping now her head held softly in her hand and her hair falling over her, covering her face.
"I never meant to, I just couldn't stay. I wanted to leave so long ago but couldn't not with the first. I couldn't face you, not to tell you that I was leaving because I knew that if I had to look into your eyes I wouldn't be able to do it. I wouldn't be able to leave you any of you. For once I had to think of me first, I had to leave. I would have gone mad if I'd stayed don't you understand?"
Xander had turned ashen he was so angry and hurt but most of all he felt betrayed,
"All this time I thought that you had left because you were scared of what was to happen next all this time I've felt guilty because I wasn't there to help you. So many times I've sat down with a bottle of whatever and drunk myself into a stupor trying to forget the guilt I felt every time I thought of you. I imagined you in all kinds of situation each worse than the last sometimes I even thought you were dead that you had killed yourself... in the most awful moment I imagined that you had been turned. I felt guilty about what had happened to you. When all the time you were here living a perfect life, God Wills you didn't even write us a leaving note. Did we really mean that little to you?"
He stood up from his chair and looking at his once best friend whose fragile frame was shaking as she sobbed walked towards the door saying,
"I'm sorry for coming back and spoiling your perfect world, but don't worry you won't hear from me again. I hope you have a real nice life."
He left the room without a backward glance and walked back down the hall to the kitchen, she shoved open the door and stared at Faith, she took one look at him and stood up breaking from the conversation she was having with Sirius about the new formed council and walked over to him, they needed to leave now, she could tell that much from looking at him. Louise stood up quickly when she saw Faith get up, after looking at Xander she knew he was upset and that meant they would be leaving soon she smiled at Hermione and walked over to where Faith was standing, Spike was the last to stand up he walked straight out of the room and took Louise with him, grabbing her hand and pulling her through the door saying,
"Come on Slayer Bit, best leave the grown ups a minute."
Faith turned to look at the table of Wizards and said,
"I think we better go."
Before pushing Xander out of the kitchen, as they left Willow walked past them and entered the kitchen she had been crying, but Faith couldn't stop to see what was wrong with her she just needed to get Xander out of there. They had just reached the entrance hall when Remus followed them saying,
"What's wrong?"
Xander would meet his eye's so he pushed forward grabbing the boy and shoving him against the wall,
"What's happened? What did you and Willow talk about."
He still wouldn't meet Remus' eyes instead choosing to look at the floor,
"TELL ME WHAT YOU SAID TO HER!"
He shouted raising his fist as if to punch him, but finding he couldn't, he turned and saw that Faith had grabbed his fist.
"Let Go!"
He snarled angrily at her, she tightened her grip slightly and said,
"I won't let you hit him, you're my uncle and I don't want to hurt you but don't threaten my friends."
He looked at her searchingly for a moment before dropping his fist, Sirius appeared from behind them and gripping Remus on the shoulder said,
"Come on mate, it's not worth it, go and see to Willow."
He watched as Remus walked back towards the kitchen before turning back to Faith and saying,
"I'd ask you all to leave but there's no point, Faith we'll probably meet again there's no way to stop that. Don't mind Moony he's just protective of Willow she was so lost when she first came here. I like you all of you in fact, but Remus is my oldest friend and I care for him like I would my own blood so until he invites you back to this house, you're no longer welcome."
He looked from Xander's betrayed expression to Faith's heartbroken one before saying,
"I'm truly sorry, but you must understand..."
Faith finished doing up the buttons of her coat before cutting him off saying,
"It's ok, thank you for having us and don't worry about having us again... tell Remus... tell him it's like what I said I already have a family it would have been nice but it's obviously not meant to be and that I understand... telling him good luck for his wedding you know... I hope he's happy."
With that she turned to leave through the big main door followed closely by Xander Spike and Louise, she turned one last time to say simply,
"Good bye Sirius, tell Molly Thanks for the meal."
And with that the four of them walked off down the road.
A/N I know that's not how most people thought the conversation was going to go so I'm sorry. Still not sure bout the pairings, thanks to Puffy Marshmallow, Cow as White as Milk and Shouldbeblonde for reviewing the last chapter:) this chapters dedicated to you three.