Thank you to lilmonkeygirl31, JeniRose, hybridwolf10, WeightedTiarra, xSmile, deli41321, OTHlover04, NaLeYBaBiixo, krizue, naley214, Duckygirl, and iftheyonlyknewthetruth for your reviews – I really appreciate them.

Thank you particularly to JeniRose and xSmile, for pointing out my Andy / Keith error! As I was initially writing I couldn't decide between the two of them, who Karen would end up with. And in the show, of course, Keith is dead so I was defaulting to Andy. But I decided that in my show the shooting never happened – it is AU from the second season, anyway, so I figure I can pick and choose what I want from later seasons. And I don't want Keith to be dead! So in the end I changed back to Keith from Andy, on the spur of the moment, and obviously without checking my replacement skills! Rest assured, the error has been fixed, and it is now clear that Karen is with Keith.

Also: we should all know by now – Dan is always to blame for everything.

This chapter is mainly about Faith and how she's going to fit back into the world she was stolen from. Could be sad, so be prepared.

Faith sat upright in the bed, blinking her eyes furiously to avert the tears she knew were about to fall. It had been long enough, and she needed to leave. She couldn't afford to be weak. She couldn't afford not to face the people who had claimed her as theirs.

A fleeting smile crossed her face as she carefully set Tigger aside – under the covers of the bed, so that he wouldn't get cold.

Maybe it would all work out. They were nice, and she wanted to be good. Maybe if she tried really, really hard, everything would be fine and they wouldn't get mad, like her old daddy, or send her back to him when they realised they really didn't want her after all.

But if she wanted to stay, she would need to show them how good she could be.

Faith kicked the blankets back, and stood up. She stretched, blinked her eyes a few times, and then turned back to tidy the bed, snatching Tigger up again as she did. She could do this, but she wouldn't do it alone.

Assured that the room was tidy again and that she looked as tidy as she could herself, Faith turned to the door, and heaved a deep sigh as she walked towards it. Stopping directly in front, her hand on the doorknob, she listened to see what to expect from the other side.

There was nothing, really. She couldn't hear any noise at all. Maybe mommy and daddy had gone somewhere?

Maybe they'd left already?

Panicked, Faith jerked the door open and burst through, only to be confronted by a crowd of very silent people. There was her mommy and daddy, and Uncle Lucas, and a pretty lady with brown hair, and a pretty lady with blonde hair, and a tall man holding the hand of a small girl, about a year or two older than Faith.

Faith's mommy jumped up, smiling widely at her.

"Did you have a good nap, baby?"

Faith nodded. Who were all the people?

Her mommy spoke again. "We thought you should meet your family, baby. But if you're tired, they can go after that."

Haley was nervous. It had seemed like the best thing, to introduce her daughter to the family she'd missed out on – the family who'd been looking for her for the past five years. But, looking at Faith now, Haley wondered if she'd rushed things. Maybe everything was going too fast?

At that point, Jenny gave a 'hmmph', and stalked over to the younger girl, thrusting out her hand.

"Hello, Faith. I'm Jenny. My mommy and daddy are friends with your mommy and daddy."

Faith smiled.

Haley's eyes closed briefly with relief, as Jenny solemnly shook hands with Faith, then began to pull her towards the rest of the group.

"That's my mommy and daddy, and Uncle Lucas, and Aunt Brooke, and you know Uncle Nate and Aunt Haley, obviously."

Faith nodded, her smile slightly dimmed but still enough to allay the tension a little.

Peyton laughed and reached for Jenny. "Honey, don't scare Faith!" Turning to the other girl, Peyton smiled widely. "It's lovely to see you again, Faith. You can call me Aunt Peyton, and this is Uncle Jake."

"Hello."

Peyton smiled wider, involuntarily, her mouth wobbling a little as she grasped her husband's arm firmly. He slid his arm about her waist, pulling her towards him in comfort, as a muffled sob came from the pretty brown-haired lady – Aunt Brooke? As Faith's head jerked toward the other woman, she jumped a little, finding herself quickly enveloped in a tight, exotically scented embrace.

Quickly released, as the pretty lady dashed her hand across her eyes and smiled brightly, Faith rocked a little on her heels.

"Aunt Brooke?"

Brooke nodded. "Yup, that's me, Scott-junior. I've missed you, baby!" She looked at Faith's toy. "Cool! What's his name?"

"Tigger."

Haley laughed, and Aunt Brooke shot a teasing glare at her, then turned back to Faith, a wide smile on her face.

"You know what, Scott-junior? I think we're gonna get along really well." Brooke nodded decisively.

Uncle Luke came up behind Brooke and placed his hand on her shoulder as she crouched in front of Faith. Brooke turned and smiled up at him, clasping his hand with her own and rising to her feet once more.

Faith looked away from Brooke. She had met the others already, of course – mommy, and daddy, and Uncle Luke.

Haley patted the seat next to her on the sofa.

"Come and sit next to me, baby! We all want to get to know you, if that's ok?"

Faith looked at her mother's eager face, and at her father, smiling at her. She smiled back, and walked up to him and took his hand, leading him with her to the sofa, where she sat, pulling him down next to her so that she was wedged between her new parents. She could feel the warmth of their bodies against her sides, and it warmed her inside as well as out. These were her parents. This was home.

And all she had to do to keep it was be good.

Haley looked down at her daughter's bright head, nodding eagerly beside her as she listened to Luke and Nathan argue.

"Hey, man, I warned you that Josh was going to try to recruit you!"

"You did not! You told me to go and see him because he had something to say to me." Luke's voice was wry. "You didn't say that he was looking for coaches for a basketball team full of eight-year-old girls."

"Cmon!" Nathan grinned. "You love it, admit it! They think you're dreamy!"

Luke yelped. "They're eight years old, Nathan!"

"And?"

Brooke interrupted at that point.

"Yeah, Lucas, are you trying to deny it? You know you love the underage hotties."

"Eight!"

Brooke nodded, conceding the point. "So maybe you're looking at their mothers."

Lucas heaved a weary sigh as Jake and Peyton roared with laughter.

"Fine, I'll admit it! Just stop talking about the eight-year-olds! It's creepy."

Faith gave a high, piping giggle, and there was a momentary pause before the others joined in.

Haley smiled.

Nathan darted a quick glance in her direction, and turned back to the conversation.

"Maybe we shouldn't be talking about this in front of an eight-year-old? Or, for that matter, in front of a six-year-old?"

Peyton laughed uproariously at that, drawing surprised glances from everyone.

"What?" she yelped, noticing everyone staring. "Am I the only one shocked that that comment just came from Nathan Scott?"

Jake gave a judicious nod.

"You know, she's right, Nate. Not what one would expect from the guy who had three seniors on a string in his sophomore year. Although I suppose at least they weren't eight."

"Let it go with the eight-year-olds already!"

Faith looked around this crowd of happy, laughing people, feeling strangely secure for one of the first times in her life. She had been introduced to all of them, and they had all been so interested, asking her about herself and her life, but when she had started to quieten, unused to such concerted interest from anyone, let alone a group of virtual strangers, they had started talking to each other. And that was in itself a revelation. She wasn't used to seeing adults interact as friends. Her first daddy hadn't had any friends, and she didn't see many other people. Everything had always needed to be proper, and she had had to be so polite all the time, and she had always been doing something wrong.

These people didn't seem to care what she did, as long as she was happy, and comfortable, and they all seemed to care about each other. It was like the families that Faith had sometimes seen when her classmates' families had come to school activities.

But this time she was a part of it.

Her mommy had pulled her into her lap, and her daddy, even as he argued with all his friends, was holding her hand, playing with her fingers, as if he couldn't bear to lose contact. She was warm, and she was sleepy – all this excitement was exhausting – and she was happy.

Nestling further into her mother's warmth, Faith sighed.

She didn't want this to end. Not ever.

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