Hey! Sorry that there was such a delay updating this, seems like all I'm doing at the moment is taking exams and appliying to Uni. Hope you all had a good Christmas!

Everyday she would dream of her prince, imagine what he looked like. In her mind, he was tall and handsome, with dark hair and eyes to match. And not only was he handsome, he was also kind, she knew that her prince would keep her safe and love her like no one else ever had…

Hyperion Hotel, LA

Giles was stressed. He hadn't had a moment of peace since they arrived in L.A. if it wasn't one of the new Slayers wanting something; it was Willow or Buffy wanting to talk about their plans. The only person that hadn't been bothering him was Xander, and yet it was Xander that had him the most worried. He had been in Xander's position when Jenny died, he knew, to an extent, what he was going through, but he still had no idea what to say to the boy.

Giles was in Angel's old office trying to contact any surviving Watchers. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be many. Willow was also in the office, trying to hack in to the Council's various bank accounts, because setting up a new Council was going to be very costly. He also owed a lot of people some hefty compensation payouts.

At that moment Dawn bounded into the office in a very Dawn like spirited way.

"Great news guys! Xander's left his room, he told me to wait down here while he gets Buffy. I think he wants to talk to everyone together."

"How is he? Did he seem okay? Do you think it's bad news?" Willow babbled, luckily Dawn and Giles were used to it after all this time.

"I don't know, he just said to wait here. Why? Do you think it's bad news? I mean he didn't seem really sad but I only saw him for a minuet he could-"

"Girls!" Giles interrupted, "I'm sure that there's nothing to worry about. No doubt Xander has a good reason for wanting to talk to us all."

"That I do G-man," Xander said from the door as he guided a confused Buffy into the office, closing the door behind them.

"Xander! How are you? We were really worried about you," Willow said sadly

"I'm fine Wills, or at least I will be. I wanted to talk to you altogether though, cause I have something kinda important to tell you all. Faith and Angel are on their way to Boston,"

That wasn't really the opener he had planned, but there just didn't seem to be any easy way to do this. At least it had confused them all into silence, as far as they knew, Faith was up in her room, and Angel was in his penthouse. The four of them were staring, waiting to see where he was going with this. At least no one ha interrupted him yet.

"They've gone to pick up Faith's daughter." Okay, he thought, bombshell number one dropped.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Buffy asked, "I could have sworn you just said Faith had a daughter." Xander just nodded to confirm.

"What? How? When? WHAT?" dawn babbled, a little too shocked to bother with something like coherency.

"Well, that's quite…unexpected." Giles said, cleaning his glasses, then frowning, "but why exactly are you telling us, and not Faith?"

"She probably conned Xander into it because was ashamed to face us herself," Buffy said coldly.

"Actually Buffy, Faith's private life really is none of your business. I'm only telling you all because there's a very good chance that she's my daughter too."

Angel's Jet

Angel had been only too happy to offer his services, or rather, his companies services, to Faith, but he couldn't deny his boyish excitement at trying out the jet. That said though, all his attention was currently focused on Faith. She sat up straight, every muscle tensed, wringing her hands nervously in her lap. Any casual observer would probably just assumed that she was afraid of flying, but Angel didn't even think that she had noticed they were even on the plane. The only thoughts going through her head were those of her daughter.

Angel reached over and squeezed her hand, and she looked up at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked her gently, she managed to give him a small smile in return.

"It's just so…big, ya know? And there's all these what ifs racing through my head, and I can't straighten them out." She sighed, "What if she hates me?"

"She won't."

Faith snorted derisively, "You psychic now?"

She groaned and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands, frustrated. " I'm sorry for being a bitch when your being so nice. It's just all so…"

"Big?"

"Yeah."

Hyperion Hotel, LA

"I'm sorry, WHAT!?" Buffy screeched.

"Wait; that means that she was pregnant when she was in a coma, because you slept with her before she went bad, and she wasn't pregnant when she woke up…oh my Goddess Buffy! You stabbed a pregnant woman!" willow deduced.

"Hold on a sec. can we go back to the part about Faith and Xander having sex?" Dawn said, clearly not as informed as the rest of them. Giles though, seemed to ignore her, and quickly became his usual level headed self.

"Xander, when you say that there's a 'chance', you're the father, how much of a chance do you mean?"

"A pretty good one. I'm not the only probability, but Faith thinks that it could be me."

"Wow," Buffy began, " I mean, I knew she was slutty, but I never would have guessed teen pregnancy! I wouldn't worry though Xand, you were probably one of a hundred guys she had sex with, so it's probably not your kid anyway."

Xander gaped at Buffy. Granted, there was still some bad blood between the two slayers, but Buffy's attitude was uncalled for. Not for the first time in recent months, Xander wondered what had happened to his best friend. Only, this time Xander wasn't the only one that had noticed.

"I think that that might be a little harsh Buffy," Giles reasoned, "Why don't you let Xander tell us the whole story before we judge anyone's actions." Xander nodded and smiled gratefully to Giles.

"Okay, so about two years ago, Faith wrote to me from Stockton, she'd been inside for a while and she was starting to sort her head out, and in general, she was doing pretty well. Anyway, basically, she told me that after about two weeks of working with the mayor, she found out she was pregnant, and she spent the next few weeks denying it to herself, the only person she told was her step sister who was still in Boston. She still hadn't really come to terms with it all when the shit hit the fan. When she woke up from her coma, it was eight months later and she wasn't pregnant anymore, a quick read through her file and she found out that she had a baby girl, delivered by C section on the 25th of October, who was in the custody of Faith's next of kin, her step sister.

Pretty much as soon as she turned herself in, she wrote to Ellie and told her what had happened. Ellie brought the baby to see her in Stockton, and that's the only time she's ever seen her. That's when faith wrote to me and told me that he might be mine. And now, with Faith out of jail, we're gonna find out for sure, which is why Faith and Angel are on their way to Boston to pick her up. They should be back tomorrow afternoon."

He could see the four minds of his friends working to process what he had just told them, leaving him to just hope they would understand it all, and support him through it.

"Wait," Dawn was the first to speak, "You've known all this time, you've been in contact with Faith, and you never told any of us?"

"I know that I shouldn't have kept this from you, but it mine and Faith's business. Besides, it took a long time for me to come to terms with it myself; I couldn't deal with telling you guys as well."

He saw Dawn nod in acceptance, of all of them, a teenaged girl could probably understand the desire for privacy the most. He looked to the others, Giles and Willow seemed to have resigned themselves to the facts, or at least, they weren't challenging anything he had said. Buffy though, her face was contorted with anger, she didn't say a word as she stormed out of the room.

Angel's Jet

"So how's Xander taking it all?" Angel asked.

"Okay, I think. He's known for quite a while though, so he's had plenty of time to get used to the whole idea. I think once the test is done he'll be cool." Angel frowned a little, it seemed to him that Faith was awfully stuck on the belief that Xander was the father, he would hate for her to be let down if Xander wasn't Lexie's father.

"What if the test is negative though? Won't he be disappointed?" Faith was quiet; she turned her face away from Angel.

"Faith?"

"I only ever slept with one guy in Sunnydale, Angel."

"But you said-"

"Yeah, I lied."

"But why? And why bother with the paternity test?"

" Because…look, if I told Xander that, he'd believe me, and he'd do a great job as her father, but, at some point he might have started to doubt it all. I haven't exactly lived the life of a nun, and he knows that. This way he won't ever doubt it."

"Okay, I think I can understand that." Angel told her, he hoped that Xander would to, but right now he was going to concentrate on getting Faith through the next day, so he didn't bring it up, "She's going to love you Faith."

Her answering smile, though small, and still a little unsure, was the most genuine smile that Angel had seen her give.

Hyperion Hotel, LA

Back in the office, Xander, Giles, Willow and Dawn all winced in unison as they heard the front door slam. Xander sighed, he would have put money on Willow being the one that reacted like that, she was his oldest and best friend, and always would be. A little part of him, though, couldn't help but be thankful that it was Buffy, because that meant that Willow didn't hate him. At that point Dawn came up and gave him a hug.

"If that test is positive, then she's one hell of a lucky kid Xander," she kissed his cheek and pulled away, "Now, I'm gonna go and find my pigheaded big sister." Sometimes Xander, not to mention Willow and Giles, were amazed at how mature and well adjusted little Dawnie had become. As she left, he turned to face the other two, the two who's support and respect he wanted the most. Willow went first.

"I'm angry at you," she said, though her face was soft and her voice gentle, "because you should have trusted me enough to tell me, but I understand why you didn't. I think that through these last few years, we've all been a little too self involved, and it's about time we started to trust one another again, because we're family, and if it turns out that our family is about to be extended, then, the more the merrier, because you're my best friend, so if I'm going to be an auntie, that would be wonderful."

As Willow was talking, he could feel his heart swell, he was so worried that she wouldn't have accepted it all, but he couldn't have hoped for a better response. He held here in a tight bear hug and told her that he loved her, and thanked her over and over again. Eventually, Giles had to give a not so subtle cough to separate the two. Xander prepared himself for Giles' thoughts, though he was less worried now that he had Willows support.

"In these past seven years I have watched you grow into a fine young man, Xander, you truly are the son I never had. If you need anything at all or if Faith and the child need anything I'll be only too happy to help you." Xander couldn't help himself; he hugged Giles, much to the Brit's surprise. When Xander pulled away he was grinning.

"Giles, what can I say apart from; 'you're going to be an amazing Grandpa.'"

"Oh Good Lord! What have I done?"

Almost in Boston

Not long after the revelation that Xander was the only possible father to Lexie, the Wolfram and Hart jet entered Massachusetts airspace, and would soon be landing in Boston.

"Faith, I hate to ask this but, how much does Lexie know? About you; who you are, where you've been?"

"She knows that I'm her mother if that's what you mean, Ellie made sure of that, as for where I've been, Ellie just told her that I had to go away for a while, but one day I'd come for her. She doesn't really understand too much, she's only four, so we tried to keep things simple. She sent me some pictures, though, photographs of her, and some drawings she did. But she's never spoken to me, never seen me in person."

"Until today." Angel squeezed her hand in a brotherly fashion as he passed her his mobile phone to call ahead, and let Ellie know they were close.

As the taxi slowly came to a halt outside of a typical New England brownstone, Faith cursed mercilessly at the sunlight, which had prevented Angel from travelling with her, and instead confining him to a hotel room. Meeting her daughter for the first time, without the support of the vampire, meant that she was more than a little nervous. She had been counting on the usual Massachusetts weather to block out the sun enough that angel could safely travel in the shadows. Instead though, he had had to go straight to the Wolfram and Hart owned hotel. Faith had called Ellie about an hour ago, as soon as the plane landed, and her step sister had insisted that she come over right away.

It seemed to Faith that, unlike herself, Ellie had no doubts that Lexie would love her, despite absence for the past few years. That reassured Faith some what, after all, who knew Lexie better than the woman who had raised her since she was born?

Climbing slowly out of the cab, she saw movement at the window, and before she had had time to reach the top of the front steps, the door swung open to reveal her sister. As soon as she made it to the top step, she was enveloped in such a tight hug that even a slayer would have trouble giving.

"It's really, really good to see you Faithy." Ellie said. Faith wanted to respond, but right then she didn't trust her voice. Talking on the phone once a week was nothing compared to seeing her in person. Ellie seemed to understand, and didn't expect her to say a thing. She pulled away from the hug and Ellie looked over the little girl that she had protected so fiercely.

"You look so grown up!" Ellie told her, which just made Faith even more tearful, though she did manage to collect her self enough to talk.

"Hi." Well, sort of. Ellie smiled delightedly and took her hand.

"Come on, there's a little girl in here who's being dying to meet you."

TBC

Please review, it'll be like a late Christmas present!

I'll try and update ASAP, but I have A Level exams in a few weeks, plus a driving tesy soon, so it might be awhile.

Happy New Year!