Part 2

The girl bounded down the stairs and stopped in front of the kitchen counter, looking at the woman standing behind it curiously.

"Yep?" she asked, smiling before sitting down at one of the bar stools in front of her.

"Dinner's ready, Faith," the woman said and pointed at a couple of plates that the girl readily picked up and carried into the dining room.

"Where's Buffy? She's not here yet…," the brunette said and walked back into the kitchen to grab some more stuff they'd need to eat.

"Oh, she called after practice and said she had a project to do. She was going over to someone's house, but she promised to be back before ten. It'll just be you and me for dinner," Joyce smiled at the girl she considered a daughter by now and watched as the brunette carried the rest of the stuff over to the table.

She'd found out about the girls' relationship about half a year ago, and at first she was pretty dubious about it. But she could see that Faith was a nice girl that had been dealt some very bad cards and Joyce had decided to take her in. Buffy had made a good catch and her mother hoped that her daughter wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that. Nevertheless, Joyce had vowed to herself a while ago that even if their relationship didn't work out she would never kick Faith out of the house. She liked her too much for that.

Following the brunette into the dining room Joyce hoped for a quiet and relaxing dinner. She'd really earned it.

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Buffy unlocked the front door and sneaked in as quietly as possible. She didn't want to wake anyone, mainly because it was about two hours past her curfew. Closing and locking the door she tiptoed up the stairs and snuck into her room. With a relieved sigh she let her backpack slide to the floor and took off her shoes. The blonde looked around her room and then at her bed. Moonlight was reaching through the window and enabled her to see almost everything at least slightly. As she stepped closer to her bed she stopped and looked down at the person lying in between all her blankets and pillows.

Faith was tangled up in the sheets, lying on her stomach and her dark hair fell across the pillow. She was wearing plaid pajama pants and a tight, gray shirt; an outfit that always had reminded Buffy how cute her girlfriend was. But now the blonde could only swallow and slowly back away from the bed. She changed into her pj's quickly and slipped out the door towards Faith's room. Although they both had their own room, it was way better to share a bed at night than to sleep alone. Except for tonight, the blonde thought and let herself fall onto Faith's bed.

She couldn't believe what had happened. What she had done. She had slept with Donnie, a boy she hadn't even really known before today and all for…she didn't even know for what. Sure, Donnie was very attractive and nice, a charming boy with a good sense of humor and not to mention that he was very athletic. And good in bed. Rubbing a hand across her forehead Buffy wished she'd never found that one out. She'd cheated on Faith, one moment of weakness and she'd risked everything that had made her happy in the past year. But for some reason there'd been that desire burning deep inside of her and she had wanted Donnie right then and there. It'd been different from the way she felt with Faith, sure there was passion and desire with them but this had been totally different. This had been raw, not much behind it in the department of feelings. Just raw, passionate sex that really meant nothing.

But despite telling herself that, Buffy knew it did mean something. It meant that she would have to hurt the girl she loved. It meant that the whole school might find out how easy she was. It meant that her whole life could have been ruined by that one night. Though Donnie had seemed as surprised as her. He'd seemed shy even at the end, promised her that he hadn't known what had come over him either. He wasn't one of those guys that would go and brag to everyone tomorrow. Or was he?

Sighing in despair Buffy closed her eyes and hoped he wouldn't go tell anyone. Cause if Faith never found out about it, the blonde wouldn't have to worry about explaining it and hurting the girl even more.

Only slowly did the blonde girl drift off into a dreamless and restless sleep.

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He sat next to his two best friends with a huge grin on his face that immediately let the two know he was up to something. Taking off his backpack he searched through it, the eyes off the other two people at the table on him and the boy finally pulled something out of his bag.

"Aha! Here it is," he smiled triumphantly, holding up the red sweater-jacket and looked at his two friends.

"Uh Louis…not to sound stupid or anything…but isn't that a little too girly for you?" his friend Tawny asked and he glanced at her quickly, confused. Realizing what she meant he looked back at the sweater and then leaned close to the two teens conspiratorially.

"This…sweater…is my plan of revenge," he muttered and the girl looked at him as if he'd actually lost his mind this time.

"Right…and Louis, how is this sweater going to revenge you?" Twitty asked in between a spoonful of green-lime jell-o.

"See that girl over there?" Louis asked, sitting down next to the two and pointed at a blonde sitting with the popular kids and laughing about some poor nerd.

"Yeah…she's one of the snobs. Buffy or something, right?" Twitty commented and received a slap on the back from his friend.

"Right, well just last night she was over at our house. Something about a project with Donnie!" the brown-haired boy exclaimed, his voice excited.

Tawny and Twitty looked at each other, shaking their heads and sighed when turning their heads back at Louis, "And how exactly is that going to get you revenge?"

"Oh…well I heard them having sex," Louis shrugged, his voice back to normal as he watched the blonde flip her hair back.

"Whoa…doesn't she have a girlfriend? The brunette girl that sometimes hangs with our more remote friends…," the sandy-haired boy replied, his jell-o now actually forgotten for the moment.

Louis nodded at them, searching the cafeteria for said brunette and eventually spotted her at a table towards the end of the room. Tightening the hold on the sweater he grinned and turned back to his friends.

"But what's the sweater got to do with everything man?" Twitty asked and both Louis and Tawny rolled their eyes.

"The bitch, Buffy or whatever, she left it. I'm gonna go give it back to her girlfriend, and make a Freudian slip about Buffy sleeping with my brother," Louis got up and nodded to his friends, ready to set out on his mission.

Before he could leave however a hand wrapped around his arm tightly and he looked down at his friend. Tawny gave him one of those looks that usually warned him when he was about to go do something stupid, "Louis, think about what you're going to do. You're not just going to get revenge on a snob…have you even thought about what this might do to her girlfriend?"

Louis looked at her for a second and shrugged with a grin, mumbling that he had thought this through and walked away from their table. His eyes were fixed on the brunette girl, so intently he didn't even realize he'd passed his sister on the way who'd already feared the worst. He usually never missed an opportunity to embarrass her, and Ren stood up, wondering what could possibly make her brother so determined he even overlooked her.

The boy walked up to the older girl, who was sitting on one of the lunch benches all the way at the end of the room, leaning over some school book. Everyone else in her group had already left, but that was fine with him. Louis walked up to her and stopped next to her, the red sweater clutched tightly in his hand. The girl looked up at him after a few seconds, her dark eyes gazing at him questioningly.

"Uh hey…Faith right?" he started and the girl nodded, leaning back some to get a better look at the boy.

"Yeah, what's up?" she responded and for a second he actually felt bad about doing this; this girl was actually talking to him like a human being, unlike some snobs whose names were not to be mentioned. Yet.

Louis held out the sweater to her, seeing that she recognized immediately whose it was and pulled his hands back, "Uh I know you live with Buffy, she would never let me get near her so I figured I'd give it back to you. She left it last night at our house…it's a wonder she didn't leave more, though," his voice was sturdy at the beginning and he chuckled at the end to put more emphasis on the whole line.

"Wha…what do you mean?" Faith asked, her voice a lot smaller than it'd been just a few seconds ago and she looked at him questioningly.

"Well the way her and my brother ripped the clothes off each other…I'm just surprised she was able to find most of them afterwards," he added, full aware that he didn't exactly know what had happened, but they just might've ripped their clothes off.

But it didn't even seem to matter to the girl who slowly got up off the bench, staring at him for a few seconds. She brushed some dark hair from her eyes, and he noticed them filling up with tears. Louis bit his lower lip, realizing that Tawny had probably been right and he was just considering telling her that he'd been kidding. But instead Faith turned, crossing her arms and slowly walked from the cafeteria into the bathroom, never even once looking back.

Staring after her he felt someone walk up behind him and turned to see his sister look at him disapprovingly. Ren narrowed her eyes and glanced to where the brunette had vanished behind the doors.

"What'd you tell her Louis?" she snapped and feeling slightly dumbfounded he took a second before looking at his sister.

"Uh that her girlfriend…that snobby girl Buffy, she slept with Donnie," Louis responded and looked away quickly, fearing one of those 'if-looks-could-kill' stares from his sister.

Not even wanting to wonder about what the hell Louis was saying about Donnie the dark-haired girl walked into the restroom as well.

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Faith was leaning over the dirty sink of the disgusting bathroom. A quick, hateful glare at the few girls that had been in here and they'd left quicker than she could've thrown them out. People didn't like to get near her and she was perfectly fine with that. As long as Buffy was there with her…Buffy. She couldn't believe what that kid had told her. Sure, people lied all the time to get back at her, but this was different. Besides that, he'd had Buffy's sweater. And then she remembered that her girlfriend had opted to sleep in Faith's bed last night, offering some lame excuse about 'I didn't want to wake you'. Not to mention the way Faith could've sworn Buffy winced away this morning when she'd greeted her girlfriend with a kiss.

Sucking in deep breaths she glanced up at the mirror. She was crying for god's sake, she hadn't even as much as noticed. Her fingers were wrapped around the stained yellow porcelain so tightly she feared either one had to give eventually. She doubted she would've cared much if it had been her fingers though, pain was something she'd just been drowned in and what was a little more gonna do. Buffy had promised her so many times that she loved her, that she'd never hurt her. One thing Faith hated even more than being hurt was being lied to. And the blonde had done both, with no apparent feelings of remorse. She hadn't even as much told Faith about it, probably hoping the brunette would never find out.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she never even heard the other person come into the bathroom. Faith was still leaning over the sink, tears streaming down her face and she was trying so hard to hold in the sobs. Suddenly a hand came to rest on her shoulder and the brunette swore that if it was Buffy trying to 'explain' things now, she wouldn't even hold back the anger. But as Faith turned her head and looked at the girl standing next to her with concern etched on her face, she almost raised an eyebrow in surprise. It was the same girl from her homeroom, with a name she still wasn't able to really remember. She'd pegged the girl to be a snob, a popular bitch who didn't care about anyone else, but the dark-haired girl was standing in front of her, seeming very shy but still worried.

"Hey…," the girl spoke softly, looking at Faith with deep brown eyes.

Faith stood, pulling away from the sink and looked at the brunette in front of her. She was a little bit taller than the girl, but not by much. They looked into each other's eyes and Faith felt the tears threaten to spill over again. She tried to take a deep breath but it didn't help and the tears ran down her cheeks once again.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked, her hand squeezing Faith's arm gently as she watched the crying brunette.

For a second she considered mumbling that she was fine, but it just wouldn't come out. Instead Faith shook her head and bit her lip, forcing the tears to stop that still wouldn't listen. The girl's hand was still squeezing her arm, but for once Faith didn't mind the contact.

"If my brother said or did something to upset you, I'm real sorry. He's an idiot, he doesn't know what he's doing," the brunette girl's voice was gentle and Faith looked at her slightly confused.

"Your…brother?" she managed to choke out, wiping some of the tears away with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Louis…the annoying kid that was talking to you."

"Oh," Faith responded, thinking for a second. All this 'my brother/my sister' crap was confusing the hell out of her.

"Do you mind if I ask what he told you to make you so upset?" she asked, although Louis had kind of mentioned what he'd told the brunette.

Faith hesitated, she wasn't one to spill her guts to just anyone. Or she hadn't been like that, ever since being with Buffy she'd almost gotten soft. Like she was even willing to open up to other people. Thinking of Buffy, and then thinking of the girl she loved sleeping with some jock, brought the tears back to the surface.

"He…he said that his brother, your brother too I guess,…he slept…he slept with my girlfriend," Faith whispered but eventually her voice broke and she started sobbing for the first time since she'd found out.

And to her surprise two slender arms wrapped around her and the girl she'd never talked to let her sob into her shoulder. Faith grasped the fabric of the girl's shirt tightly, feeling like she'd totally lost control over her body as she just continued crying. And the girl didn't even push her away once her sobs had slowed and finally stopped at all. Faith pulled back, wiping her eyes and offered a small smile to the girl.

"Your…your name's Ren, right?" Faith asked softly, finally thinking that she remembered the girl's name. When the brunette girl nodded Faith smiled at her sincerely, "Well then, thanks Ren. For actually worrying whether I was alright, no one has really ever done that."

Ren smiled back and brushed some dark hair behind her ear before looking back at the girl, "Well, I don't like to see people hurt, especially not if it might've been my brother who caused you pain. So, if you ever need someone to just talk to, you know my name."

Nodding, the taller girl stepped up to Ren and gave her a quick hug, whispering 'thanks' into the girl's ear and walked towards the door. She turned around to look at the brunette and smiled again, "I think I'm gonna go home, I'm really not in the mood for school. Thanks again…and if you ever need something, my name's Faith."

"Okay Faith, thanks. And good luck with your…girlfriend," Ren mumbled after the girl as she vanished out the bathroom doors.

Walking out of the restroom herself, Ren found Louis still standing in the same spot as before and she decided to blackmail him into a little more information.

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Buffy opened the door and stepped into the house with a relieved sigh. School had just been way too much stress. All that talk about SAT's and applications was really getting to her. She took off her shoes and jacket, walking the few steps into the living room to see her mom and Faith sitting on the sofa. But as soon as Buffy entered the room Faith got up and vanished upstairs before the blonde even had a chance to ask what was going on.

The girl walked up to her mom, who was still sitting on the couch and gave her a quizzical look, "What's up with Faith?"

Joyce Summers looked up at her daughter, a sigh on her lips that she never uttered and took a deep breath. She'd never expected her daughter to do this to anyone, let alone Faith. Let alone have a one night stand with some boy that couldn't've mattered to her. But instead Joyce decided not to mention anything, this was definitely between Faith and Buffy and she had no intentions of getting in the middle.

"I picked her up from school early, she said she wasn't feeling well. Maybe you should go talk to her," Joyce offered and stood up as well to walk into the kitchen. After the three hours she'd just gone through trying to calm down Faith she truly deserved some coffee to give her back some of her energy.

Buffy shrugged and followed her girlfriend upstairs, walking up to Faith's closed door. She knocked quietly and barely heard the brunette telling her to come in, but Buffy opened the door and stepped inside the room to see her girlfriend lying on her bed. Faith was staring up at the ceiling, her arms crossed behind her head and the blonde walked up to her.

"Mom said you weren't feeling alright. What's wrong babe?" she asked softly and sat on the edge of the bed, resting her hand on the brunette's thigh.

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Faith spoke up, her eyes never once leaving the ceiling, "Buffy…do you love me?"

The blonde stopped any thinking she'd been doing and stared at the girl lying in front of her, "Of course I love you, why would you even need to ask?"

Faith shifted slightly, seeming to consider something and then she continued, still staring at the ceiling, "So then you wouldn't wanna lie to me, right?"

Buffy swallowed, not knowing where this was going and she lifted her hand from Faith's thigh to nervously play with her fingers, "No, I wouldn't. Where's this going Faith?"

Finally the brunette looked down, her gaze trained on Buffy and she locked her eyes with the blonde's, "So then please don't lie to me when I ask if you cheated on me."

The blonde's eyes widened and she opened her mouth, ready to say anything but the pleading look she was receiving from her girlfriend made her stop. Looking down at her hands she closed her eyes for a second, before mumbling a weak apology, "I'm sorry Faith. I never meant for it to happen."

As she looked up she saw the brunette's eyes were closed, but tears were escaping anyway and running down the sides of her face. She'd never wanted so desperately to wipe them away, but Buffy didn't move.

"I trusted you Buffy," the brunette spat, her words tearing at Buffy's heart and she felt her own tears starting to fall.

"Faith…," the blonde tried and reached out for her girlfriend but Faith moved away from her, curling up against the wall with her back to Buffy.

Closing her eyes again Buffy stood up and didn't even bother to brush the tears away as she walked towards the door. She turned, looked at the brunette girl who was sobbing on the bed and felt her heart break. Never in a million years had she wanted to do this.

"I love you Faith, no matter what. Is there any way things can ever be right between us?" she whispered, knowing her voice wouldn't play along if she tried to speak out-loud.

"I don't know Buffy, I really don't know. I can't be with you when it hurts this much…maybe I need time. I just don't know," Faith's voice broke a couple of times during the sentence and Buffy really wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around her girlfriend…ex-girlfriend she corrected herself and took a deep breath.

She nodded, knowing Faith couldn't see but it didn't really matter. Opening the door Buffy left the room quietly and slowly walked over to her own. When she'd shut herself in her room she started sobbing as well.

TBC