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Joyce rushed outside and quickly took stock of the situation. Tara stood behind William silently crying, while a sobbing Buffy was entangled around him. William himself was on his knees with a shell-shocked look upon his face. As she looked back up, Joyce caught sight of Xander walking towards her. She knew that this was the reasoning behind her doomed feeling. Something terrible had happened, and what ever it was had hit them all.

“Mrs. Summers, I’m afraid we found Faith this morning.”

Joyce interrupted him then; she was afraid of what he would say next. “But she’s alright, isn’t she?” She knew from the look on Xander’s face that Faith wasn’t alright. “Oh no, please don’t tell me, she’s not....?” She couldn’t seem to finish any sentence and Xander seemed to understand that.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Summers, but Faith is dead.”
Joyce stood there shocked, nonetheless, once the words left his mouth. She must have started to faint because one minute she was standing and the next she was being held up by her arms against Xander. When she looked towards Buffy, she found her vision had blurred from the tears falling from her eyes. Right now all Joyce wanted to do was wrap Buffy up in her arms and remind herself that no matter whose genes Buffy had, she was her daughter. Following that train of thought, though, reminded Joyce that the last time she’d seen Faith had been during the fight from two weeks before. The sob that tore through Joyce with those thoughts left anyone hearing it realize that she was hurting not just emotionally, but physically as well. Joyce soon found herself wrapped in Buffy’s arms and they both sat there and cried until there were no tears left.

******************************************************************

William stood back with Xander while Tara helped both Buffy and Joyce into the house. The two other officers had slipped away, realizing that this was personal and that neither of them belonged. Once the girls were out of earshot, William turned around and stared pointedly at Xander. “I want to know what the hell is going on. All the details, understood? And don’t pull that 'this is police business' crap on me. I want know everything.”

“I figured as much. Why do you think I called you? I figured with you being her boyfriend and all you’d be ready to kill.”

William became pensive after hearing Xander refer to him as Faith’s boyfriend. They had been that just twenty-four hours ago. It may not have been love any more but he still cared about Faith and right now all he wanted to do was break down and mourn. First, though, he had to take care of Buffy and Joyce. Later tonight he’d grieve, once he was alone. Then he’d seek revenge on whoever had taken Faith’s life. “We weren’t dating anymore. I showed up at her apartment yesterday, and she was there with another man.” William waved his hand to stop Xander from asking the hundred questions he knew he had. “Yes, I can give you a description, but later. Right now I want to be here with Joyce and Buffy. Also, yes, I have an alibi. I was in L.A. and then here with Buffy last night. Does that answer enough of your questions for now?”

“Just about. Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. So are you leaving?”

“Yeah, I’ll get the details about that guy from you later. Let Buffy know I’ll be back, right now I have to get back to the station. I’ll have to get statements from both Buffy and Joyce then about the last time they saw Faith. For now watch over them.”

********************************************************

Buffy now lay on a bed hugging Mr. Gordo close to her heart. She ran her hand over the deep black comforter, as her eyes traveled around the room, appreciating the one who’d lived here. She got off the bed with the pink pig held tight, and moved towards the desk. There on top sat a picture of her and Faith. It had only been taken a few months back. Buffy didn’t know when everything had changed. For years, Faith had treated Buffy as an outsider; like she didn’t belong. Then when Faith cleaned up from the drugs, it was like she was a different person. Buffy had felt as if they where getting closer. Then, within the last month, Faith had started to pull away again. Buffy had wondered if maybe it was because Faith was using drugs again, but she had thought Faith was stronger then that.

Buffy slammed her fist on the desk and the picture toppled to the floor. She clutched Mr. Gordo tighter to her chest and let out a loud sob. The next thing she knew, she found herself being held close to a hard chest, which just caused her to cry harder. She didn’t know what to do anymore; she felt lost and alone and yet she wasn’t. It made no sense to her, so she just stopped thinking about it. She held tight to whomever it was holding her, and she let the feelings out. While she cried, the pig lay on the floor where it had fallen, inches from her hunched form.

****************************************************

William had seen Buffy standing in the bedroom when he came to the door. She had been holding the stuffed pig like it was a life line. At first, he merely stood back, having figured that this was her time to be alone, and that if she needed someone he would be close by. As William watched Buffy stare at the picture and start to cry, all he had wanted to do was wrap her into his arms and never allow anything to hurt her ever again. He was brought out of his thoughts by glass breaking. When he looked back at her, he saw she’d fallen to her knees. Then his eyes where drawn to the broken frame that now lay upon the floor.

William stayed where he was until he heard a sound that could have caused the skies themselves to cry. William quickly took Buffy into his arms and held her tight. For a brief moment, he thought she was going to push him away; but then she wrapped her arms around his torso. He rocked her back and forth while whispering soothing words of comfort in her ear. William didn’t know if the words were calming Buffy, but they were calming him. He didn’t know how long they sat there before Buffy’s sobs turned into trickling tears. What Willaim did know was that when William pulled back, he couldn’t have stopped what he did next even if he had wanted to.

**********************************************************

Joyce sat on the front porch steps waiting. She had called Giles just minutes before, and he said that he was only forty-five minutes outside of Sunnydale. He had immediately wanted to know what was wrong, but she had just told him to come straight to her house. Joyce knew she should call Hank but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She watched the road for a few more minutes, wondering why time seemed to have slowed down. Then she heard the door open behind her. Tara walked out with two cups of tea, handing one to Joyce and setting the second on the step next to her.

“That’s for dad when he gets here.” She turned around and started walking to go back inside.

“How did you know?”

“I’m good at these things, that’s all.” She got a mischievous grin across her face. “Also, I overheard your phone call.” With that she went back inside.

Five minutes later, Giles drove up. Once he made it to the porch, he reached down and pulled Joyce to her feet. Then he cuddled her to him. She started crying again and once again she wondered if she could make it through this. Weren’t you supposed to die before your kids? She just didn’t understand; she knew that her daughter was dead but her mind just couldn’t wrap itself around that fact.

“Now Joyce what has happened?”

“Faith is dead.” she answered quietly.

Giles pulled back from her and stared deeply into her eyes. Joyce knew his eyes were searching for a different answer, but like her, he would find no other answer. Faith was dead, and there was nothing any of them could do about it. Joyce watched as Giles seemed to lose all muscle strength and slumped to the porch steps where she had been minutes before.

“How? I don’t get it. Are they sure it was her?”

“Xander was the one to tell me. I’m guessing he had doubled checked--maybe even triple checked-- before telling us.”

“Yeah, I know he is like that.” Giles said while reaching up and taking his glasses off. She half expected him to start cleaning them but he didn’t. Instead he just rubbed his hand over his face like a sudden tiredness had come over him. She realized how much had changed in just the few short hours since she’d left him at the hotel. Mostly though, she wondered if anything would ever be the same again.

************************************************************

Buffy felt William’s lips on hers, and for a few seconds she was shocked, but then she started returning the kiss. They kissed until both of them needed to breathe. Buffy pulled back and then rested her head against William’s shoulder.

“Wow.” She whispered.

“What was that?” William asked with a chuckle in his voice.

Buffy looked back at him. He smiled at her but it didn’t reach his eyes. She knew that he must be hurting as much as she was, and yet he tried to be strong. Sometimes she could hardly believe this was still the same boy who stood outside his house, and wouldn’t look her in the eye. He had changed so much since that first meeting. From his outward appearance, one would expect him to be some geeky, wimpy, schoolboy, and he let people think what they wanted.

Only those that really knew William were aware that he could take just about anyone in a fight. She was surprised he had shown so much restraint with Riley earlier. Although she shouldn’t have been-- Giles had taught him well. Buffy could still remember William showing up at her house instead because he didn’t want to go home and worry Giles.

******************************************************************

*Flashback*

“Oh, no. William, what happened?”

“Got caught by Mr. Harris while helping Xander to run away.”

“WHAT ”

“Xander decided he was getting out of there. So I helped him get out tonight. Would have worked too if not for my clumsiness. I ended up knocking down one of the flower boxes and got my foot stuck in a rabbit hole. Well, the noise woke up Mr. Harris, and when Xander was nowhere to be found, he figured out what had happened.”

“That Xander had run off and you had helped?”

“Yeah. He wanted to know where ‘His Boy’ was. I wouldn’t tell him and that was when he did this.” William said, pointing to his bruised face.

“Well, I have to call Giles.”

“No, don’t-- he’ll just be angry.”

“No, he won’t... He cares about you no matter what you think.”

“Yeah, right. With all the shit I give him he really cares. Right.”


“William Calendar, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Buffy said with a chuckle and then promptly blanched. “Oh William, I’m sorry. You know I didn’t mean it that way.” William nodded but Buffy saw the pain that lay behind his blue eyes. She wanted to do anything to make what she’d said better. She knew he didn’t show pain though, so she compromised. “Fine, I’ll help you out.” She knew that her mom would be home soon anyway. Buffy knew the minute her mom saw William that she’d be on the phone to Giles.

“Thanks. Do you have anything that I can use to clean up?”

“Yeah, in the bathroom under the sink.”

*End Flashback*
*****************************************************************

Buffy had been right though. Her mother was on the phone to Giles the minute she got home. When Giles had shown up, he had looked pissed. Buffy knew that William had thought Giles was mad at him but Buffy had known better. Within a week, Giles had started teaching William how to take care of himself. William hadn’t wanted to press charges against Mr. Harris, as he was to afraid the police would then try to find Xander then. That was one thing that William never did tell anyone. Xander would show up for school and afterwards, would promptly disappear after. No one but William ever knew where he was.

As for Mr. Harris, he got his just dues too. Right after William was beaten up, someone had ‘supposedly’ jumped Mr. Harris. He always claimed that he had hit his assailant back and they looked worst then he did. Buffy and her friends all thought that they knew what had happened but never pushed, because Giles had bruised knuckles the next morning after Mr. Harris’ ‘attack’. Buffy knew though, that had William wanted to, he could have taken Riley earlier today. She also knew that Giles had always taught him you only do what you must, and he had. He’d kept Riley from hurting himself or William. As she looked at William, Buffy realized how strong he really was. She also knew that he’d keep his feelings to himself if she allowed him. She loved him for that strength but she didn’t need him to be strong right now. Right now she needed to see what he was going
through too. She reached up and caressed his cheek lovingly.

“William, I love you-- don’t shut me out. I know you loved my sister, or you wouldn’t have worried about hurting her. You don’t have to be strong for me. Just be here.” She watched as his eyes slowly filled with tears which ran down the contours of his sharp cheek bones. They both held each other close both crying for the woman they’d never see alive again. She had lost a sister; he, an ex-lover.

A/N: Hi there another chapter done. Did you like it or hate it, let me know which by reviewing. Also if you would like to know when I update just write me an e-mail at behind_closed_doors_spuffy@yahoo.com . Just put in the subject line ‘I wanna be updated’. That way I know what the e-mail is for and I don’t accidently delete it. Anyway thanks for reading and keep an eye out for the next chapter. Also all my thanks to my wonderful beta Lana.





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