Chapter Three

"I still don't see why I had to get dressed up!" Michael complained quietly as he squirmed in his seat at the table that his friends were now gathered around. Max was sitting next to Liz, who was next to Maria, who latched on to Michael, who sat near Isabel, there were two empty chairs, followed by Kyle, Jim, and then Alex. Their table was in a private party room with it's very own bathroom along the wall, which Tess was currently occupying as they waited for one other person to appear.

"Michael!" Maria scolded, "This is nice restaurant, I will not allow any boyfriend of mine to walk in with jeans and a sweat shirt!" She looked at all the other males who were currently in dress shirt and pants, as well as the girls who were in nice dresses.

"Well, I didn't want to come in the first place!"

"Michael you had to come, Tess is going to show us who this Faith girl is…she might be SlayerFae." Max said in his broodingly quiet, yet commanding way.

"Well, she never said it was her friend Faith," Isabel said from across the table. "When Tess called, all she said was she wanted me to get you all here so she could introduce us to someone."

"Well, given that Faith is the only new person around, it is very likely that it is her that Tess wants to introduce." Liz added taking Max's hand.

Isabel rolled her eyes at the sickening display of affection, as she shook her head slightly, she noticed that Michael had a similar face to the couple's motion. They caught each other's eye, holding the gaze for a moment before looking away, a small smile on their faces… But the moment was ruined when the door to the room was violently pushed open.

Liz and Maria immediately recognized the girl who entered as the one from the hall. Her outfit had changed into a black tank toped dress, with a V-neck, allowing everyone to see her muscles and tattoo.

Kyle choked on the water he was drinking when he got a good look at who had entered the room. "Faith?" he asked.

Faith looked suspiciously at him before answering with a question of her own, "Kyle?" he nodded, "Tess here?"

"Y-Yeah," he replied, then after a pause, "She's in the bathroom." She nodded slightly as he looked away, "Smooth Kyle" he thought to himself, "…really smooth."

The doorknob to the bathroom started to turn as a sly smile graced Faith's face, not unnoticed by the group at the circular table.

As the door opened, and Tess stepped through, out of nowhere Faith threw a knife at her friend. Cries of warning were about to break out too late, when Tess caught the knife by the handle, right in front of her face and launched it back at Faith.

Faith caught the knife with ease, though a little stunned, "Jesus Christ Tess!" she exclaimed, "Since when did you start throwing knives back at people? You were always going on about how I'd almost kill you every time I'd throw one at you!"

Tess looked away sheepishly before replying, "Sorry, Naesado wanted me to do more than defensive tactics."

Faith just smiled at this, returning the knife back to it's hiding place without any one noticing, "That's my girl, I have taught you well."

To this Tess just laughed, drawing in the attention of a certain dark haired king in the process. She soon noticed the odd looks that she was receiving from those around her and blushed as her gaze connected with a certain boy's. "Hey guys," she said, leading Faith over to the group, "This is my best friend, Faith."

"I'm your best friend?" Faith asked, faking wonder, "Man you really were telling the truth when you said no one lik…"

"Shut it you," Tess said cutting her off with laughter in her tone.

"Just kidding Tessie, you always were an easy mark," Faith said as she looked at the group, her gaze landed on Jim, "You Sheriff Valenti?" he nodded as Faith approached him, holding out her hand to shake his, "Thanks for taking care of Tess, it means a lot to us back in Sunnydale, to know someone is looking out for her." At this the three aliens looked away.

"It's my pleasure, Tess is like family to us." Jim replied shaking the extended hand.

"I hope she's not too much of a hand full, she was always getting into trouble when she was a Scoobie…"

To this, Tess playfully smacked Faith's arm, "I was not always getting into trouble…" Faith just gave her a look, "Ok, so there was that one time…but as I recall it, it was I who was always saving you from trouble…" She threw Faith a look that ended in the both of them laughing.

Jim joined in as well, "No trouble at all."

"…Scoobie?" A quiet voice, AKA Alex, asked after a while.

"Just the name for a group of friends we had back in Sunnydale." Faith answered nonchalantly, sitting down in the empty chair, next to Kyle, "Long time no see Kyle."

He chuckled a little, "Yeah…" he turned to Tess, "Why didn't you tell me Faith was here?"

"You know her?" Max asked a little taken aback that Kyle knew of this Faith person.

"Yeah," Faith answered leaning back in her chair, "Tessie here took him up to visit me and the gang over spring break."

Tess sat down, "Yeah…good times…"

"Good times?" Kyle asked, "Good times! Do I have to remind you what happened when we visited that god forsaken place?"

"No," Tess replied, reaching for a roll, "Nothing happened, and besides Faith had your back."

"…God forsaken place," Faith muttered to herself, "Yup that's home…"

And with that a very tense dinner started, as more questions arose with in the minds of the aliens about the new comer as well as how much they actually knew about Tess' past.