Disclaimer: Only Lexie and Ellie belong to me.

A/N: Please, please, please reveiw! It will help me be a better writer, I promise!

Little Princess

Chapter 2

At first, when the step sister had told her a handsome prince would one day come to her rescue, she had laughed, because she knew that no prince could ever love her, but, after a while, the little princess' imagination gave in, and she began to dream about her prince. He would charge up to her step father's house on his magnificent white horse, and he would banish the old man to the most barren and unforgiving place in the entire kingdom, where he couldn't hurt his love any more...

24 hours after the hardest fight of their lives, and the battle weary hordes were gathered in the former headquarters of Angel Investigation's, the Hyperion Hotel. Giles had driven the school bus to LA, where a quick phone call to Angel had resulted in them occupying the hotel. Now after those badly wounded had been taken to a hospital and everyone else was cleaned up and well rested, it was time to start thinking about the future. A task that was far more important to some than others.

Right now, Giles was standing in the centre of the lobby; ready to address the troops, after spending a great deal of the night discussing the plans. Faith looked around the room for Xander, but she couldn't see him anywhere. She had tried to give him some space, the woman that he had loved for the past few years was dead, and she wasn't sure how to approach him, so she hadn't sought him out, but hoped that he would come to her. So far that hadn't happened.

For the next half an hour, she listened to Giles tell everyone that they were going to set up a special school for Slayers, that groups would be dispatched all over the world to find those that were called and to bring them to the school. So far, they didn't know where the school would be, so the hotel would remain as the temporary base of operations. When no one objected to his proposal, Giles dismissed the meeting.

Hanging around in the lobby, Faith overheard Willow and Giles talking quietly.

"I'm worried Giles, he won't talk to me, he won't leave his room, I don't know what to do," Willow said frustrated.

"Just give him time Willow, everyone grieves differently, you know that."

"I know, I just wish I could help him, that's all."

Faith quietly left the lobby, desperate to talk to Xander, but not wanting to upset him further, so she headed dejectedly back to her room.

Unbeknownst to Faith, Xander was, at the same time on his way to see her. He hadn't expected that Anya wouldn't have made it, and it had hit him hard, he wasn't denying that, but right now all he could think about was Lexie and Faith. When he had first read Faith's letter, he had been floored, but as time went on, he found himself wanting more and more to be the baby's father. If he was being honest with himself, it probably had something to do with why he couldn't marry Anya. He had never told her when Faith wrote to him, and if he had really loved her enough, shouldn't he have been able to?

Thinking about all of this was starting to give him a headache, but Faith had said that they would talk after the First was gone, and here they were. He just hoped that he wouldn't be interrupting her and her latest boy toy. He knew that he had no claim over Faith, even if he did turn out to be the father of her child, but there was a part of him that couldn't help but be jealous of Robin, and he knew that soon he would need to figure out what all of that meant.

Walking towards her room on the second floor, he saw her coming from the opposite direction, though she didn't seem to have noticed him.

"Hey," he said softly, trying not to startle her.

"Xander." She seemed to be a little taken aback that he was there, "How are you? I wasn't sure if you'd be up to talking, I mean Willow said that you wanted to be alone so I thought I should wait, you know,"

"Faith, it's okay, I'm fine," she nodded in acceptance and let him continue, "I guess we've still got a lot to talk about, huh?"

"Yeah, come in," she said holding the door open for him. When she moved to close the door behind them, she realised that her hands were shaking, the next time she left this room, her entire life would turn upside down, she just hoped that it would be a change for the better.

Xander looked around the room that she was sleeping in for now. It was much like the one he was staying in himself; a bed, small bathroom, years worth of dust, and no evidence that was being shared with anyone.

"Um, sorry that I haven't been to see you sooner, I just had some stuff to work through..." Xander trailed off, "But I guess you've been busy looking after Robin anyway, so-"

"Whoa, Robin?" she asked, slightly taken aback by what he was implying, and why he sounded like he was fishing for information.

"Yeah, look I didn't mean to imply anything, I just heard that the two of you got pretty close in Sunnydale, I thought maybe you would carry on seeing him, that's all." Xander explained, trying not to upset her.

"Forget it, it was a one night stand, I've got more important things to think about right now," she told him defensively, but not unkindly.

"Right, of course. So what are we doing then?" he asked, glad to be talking about what he came to talk about.

"I talked to Angel, and he said that Fred can do the test, but Lexie will need to come here, so Angel will let me use his private jet to pick her and Ellie up from Boston. I just have to call and say when." She told him, sitting down on her bed, leaving the armchair for him, which he took silently.

"Can I come with you to pick them up?"

"I thought about that, and no." when he looked like he was going to argue, she quickly jumped in, "Just listen for a minuet, okay? When she meets you, it's either going to be as Xander, or as Daddy. I don't want to confuse her any more than necessary by having to introduce you as one and then the other, okay?"

"Yeah, I never thought of that," he looked at the ground, unable to think for a moment, as he realised that he could be a Daddy soon. It was mind blowing. Faith watched him, worried by his silence.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice laced with concern. Her question caused him to look up at her.

"It's just starting to hit home, I think. When you said 'either Xander or Daddy,' it just hit me, you know?" he paused before, in a rush, adding, "Faith, how likely is it that it's me?"

Faith had been waiting for this question for a while, and she still wasn't sure how to answer. Deep down she knew that she should be honest, but lying to protect herself was second nature. One look in his eyes, though, seeing his hope, his trust in her, she knew that she could never lie to him.

"It's very likely." She whispered, tears starting to form in her eyes, but she never let her gaze fall from his one eye.

"Faith is she my daughter?" she could tell he was angry, but he was keeping himself calm.

"I think so," the tears were falling freely now, but she ignores them, "You weren't the only guy, but you were the only one that I didn't use anything with, and you know, dates and stuff, you're the most probable. I wanted the test to make to real though" His anger seemed to have lessened when she finished.

"I'm sorry I wasn't completely honest before, I just didn't want to get your hopes up, or mine, for that matter." She started to get a little nervous when he didn't say anything. "Are you mad?"

"A little," he told her, "but not really." He moved from the chair to sit next to her on the bed. She sighed in relief, he wasn't angry. "I understand why, I just need to know for sure now." Faith nodded in agreement.

"There's something else we need to talk about, though," she said.

"What's that?"

"Angel said he's gonna try and get me pardoned, but if he can't do it, and I have to go back to jail, it'll be for life, they won't ever let me out. If that happens, and she is defiantly your daughter, then you'll get custody of her, you know that right?" It was so hard for Faith to say that she might have to go back to prison, and never see her baby grow up.

"That's not gonna happen Faith," he told her firmly taking her hand, "If Angel can't do it we'll find another way. Lexie needs a mother, and you going back to jail will achieve nothing. The only way you'll ever find redemption is by being a slayer, and doing what you were born to do," she looked at him, once again searching his eyes for a lie, but finding the truth.

"Thank you," she breathed, whilst silently praying she was right that he was Lexie's father. "So what are we gonna tell everyone else. There're gonna be really fucking angry,"

"Yeah, maybe we should wait till we know for sure,"

"Chicken shit," Faith snickered at him, making him laugh for the first time in a while. After he had sobered enough he said,

"You should make the call."

She took a deep breath and got up with determination, he followed suite, and giving her a final smile, he headed out to give he some privacy. As he was about to leave she called out.

"Xander, I really am sorry about Anya,"

"Thanks, that means a lot," he replied, before leaving.

TBC...

Coming up: Mother/daughter reunion, Faith and Xander get closer, and what will the Scoobies say?