Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (unsurprisingly), and I do not earn anything with this story (except hopefully a few reviews).

AN: This is my fourth story, and it's set a couple of weeks after "Two More Talks". If you haven't read the first three stories, I suggest you do so for better understanding.

And now, enjoy! As always, feedback is very welcome!

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In the so-called "Slayer Central", Xander sat on the couch of the living-room. The TV was on, but he didn't even notice it, for he was lost in thought.

The last few weeks had been very strange, but in a very positive way. Since the day he'd made up with Buffy, everyone had been extremely nice to him: The baby slayers had treated him with utmost respect, bordering on being ridiculous with their wide-eyed stares and timidity. He suspected that someone must've told them a few things about him (and probably have exaggerated while doing so); there could be no other reason for their behaviour.

Buffy had been exceptionally nice as well; it was clear she was more than relieved and happy that they were still friends, and it showed. He'd never been hugged or smiled at by Buffy as often as in these past few weeks. She'd also obviously learned from her mistakes: She didn't disregard other opinions as quickly as she used to, especially not his. In fact, she often sought his advice these days when it came to tactics and slayer operations.

Kennedy had been very sweet to him ever since he'd returned from hospital after the vineyard battle; he supposed Willow had told her girlfriend a lot about their past, because Ken had been rather waspish before.

Willow tried to spend as much time with him as she could these days, but she was travelling a lot, bringing in slayers; even Kennedy sometimes complained about never having a quiet moment with her.

Dawn patrol had been as loveable as always; she'd been the sister he would've liked to have for as long as he could remember.

Even the phone calls with Giles, who was back in England, rebuilding the Watcher's Council, had clearly shown how much the senior watcher obviously respected him, a concept so surprising that Xander had needed some time to wrap his mind around it.

And then there was Faith. The change in her had been the most significant of all. Whenever she'd caught sight of him these past few weeks, a radiant smile appeared on her face. They'd spent a lot of time together, talking, watching movies, preparing for patrols (well, she prepared and he kept her company) and generally hanging out. He had to smile when he thought about her. Who would've thought they'd ever become friends?

As if on cue, the raven-haired beauty entered the living-room, bringing him out of his reflections. "Yo, X! You ready?"

He rose. "Sure. Just need to get my coat, and I'm good to go."

She frowned. "You know I'd feel better if you stayed here…"

He sighed with exasperation. "We've been over this, Faith. I won't stay behind and guard an empty house when everyone else is out fighting. Tonight's a big night, and I'll be there watching your backs, even if it's with only one eye." Seeing that her frown didn't disappear, he continued, taking a step towards her. "I have to do something, something useful. Don't make me feel like I'm no help." His voice had become very quiet towards the end.

She looked into his eye intently. "You know that's not it. I…" She looked away for a moment before returning her gaze at him. "I'm just worried. I don't wanna lose you."

Xander could almost feel the tension rising. There had been a few moments like this in the last two weeks, moments when the mood would suddenly shift, become much more personal and intimate. Xander shook it off.

"Then you should understand that I feel the same way about you and the others."

When he mentioned the others, hurt briefly flickered through her eyes. She turned away. "Well, if that's how you're feeling…" With that, she walked toward the door.

Xander blinked in confusion. "Faith! What did I say?" He could see that he had somehow hurt her, but he couldn't figure out how.

She didn't stop. "Nothing, everything's five by five. You coming?"

He hurried after her. "Faith, wait!" He quickly caught up with her. "Faith, please, I don't –"

"Xander!" he was interrupted by Buffy, who appeared in the doorway. "Are you ready?"

He looked at Faith for a moment, hoping for any kind of response from her, but all she did was glare at him defiantly. He sighed and turned. "Yeah," he quietly responded. "Let's go."

For a second, Faith felt the urge to stop him and tell him what bothered her, but she suppressed the impulse. They had to focus on the upcoming battle now.

-

The battle was indeed grand.

Faith grunted, decapitating another demon. She had lost count of how many she'd killed, and the foul creatures still kept coming. Once again, some demon worshippers had thought it would be a swell idea to open a portal to the dimension of their "gods", and now all hell was loose. Several of the young slayers and at least two watchers that she knew of had already fallen to the onslaught, and Faith felt her strength slowly leaving her as well. If they didn't manage to close the portal soon, they'd kick the bucket this time.

The Bostonian saw Buffy and a few of the most experienced slayers trying to get to the portal. She hoped the blonde would manage to get through and close the damn thing, because she sure as hell wasn't going to be able to join in the portal closing fun anytime soon, not with another pack of demons charging her.

"How many of you suckers do I have to kill to get the message across? You're not welcome here!" she snarled, taking another demon head off with a swing of her short sword. The demons either didn't understand or didn't care to answer, as they merely kept attacking her.

"Just great!" Faith grunted. Then she noticed three slayers hovering a short distance behind her, obviously scared to enter the fray.

"Yo!" she hollered to them while stabbing yet another demon. "Get your sorry asses over here and fight!" Scared slayers? Who'd ever heard of something like that?

Her bellow made them cringe, but it also caused them to finally attack the demons.

Faith uttered a string of curses as one of the demons managed to land a solid blow to her shoulder before she severed first his arm and then his head from his body. Her latest kill earned her a short reprise, and panting, she tried to assess the situation. Buffy had almost reached the portal now, and it was about time, too: the number of demon corpses was almost too large to count, but what made Faith grind her teeth were the bodies of fellow slayers that lay in the midst of the fallen enemies. She recognised a few of them, and it made her stomach turn. She forced the unpleasant feeling down. No time for mourning the fallen now; they had a battle to win first.

She looked around: The three slayers who had just joined the fight seemed to have everything under control, so she decided to try to get to the portal as well. After all, there was no way she'd let Buffy hold over her head that she'd missed all the real action! She'd fought her way toward her goal halfway through, when she saw something that caused her heart to miss a beat: Buffy was just dealing with the worshippers when a demon attacked her from behind. There was no chance she'd be able to dodge or deflect the attack as she hadn't even seen it coming, and that's when Xander jumped in between her and the monster, parrying the blow. How the hell had Xand managed to get into the thick of the battle? Damn him!

She redoubled her efforts to get to them; she knew Xander could hold his own in a fight, but with the attacks coming from all sides, he was at a serious disadvantage, unable as he was to see what was happening on his left side. Relief flooded through her when she saw Kennedy join him on his left; at least he wasn't completely on his own now and his blind side covered.

Faith had almost reached them, when it happened: Kennedy was pushed aside by an especially vicious attack, and Xander, keeping a demon in front of him at bay, was hit by a spear in his no longer protected left side.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment, but then everything happened at hyper speed: Xander collapsed with a pained sigh; Kennedy screamed at the top of her lungs, hurling herself at Xander's attacker with tears leaking from her eyes; Buffy turned, having just defeated the last demon worshipper, and blanched at the sight before her.

Faith didn't feel anything, no exhaustion, no pain, nothing. Suddenly, she found herself at his side, cradling his motionless body. Only later would she find out that she'd hacked through almost a dozen demons in mere seconds to reach him. The only thing she registered was the one-eyed carpenter, who lay unconscious on the ground and was bleeding from a deep wound in his side. Never one to think about decorum, Faith ripped her skin-tight top from her body and pushed it against his wound to stop the bleeding. The next thing she noticed, Buffy was at his side, too, checking for a pulse and barking out orders at everyone around her. With the demon worshippers beaten, the portal had collapsed and the remaining demons quickly been finished off by the slayers and watchers. It didn't feel like a victory to Faith, though. Xander was much too pale, and he just wouldn't wake up. What if he didn't make it? What if their last conversation had been a petty argument that she'd been too stubborn to resolve? She didn't even want to think about it; he had to pull through!

She didn't know how long she'd pressed her top against his wound when someone softly tried to move her away from him. Panic set in. They couldn't take her away from his side! She began trashing wildly, when Buffy's voice somehow reached her.

"Faith! Faith, it's okay! They're medics! They're treating Xander! They're helping him!"

Somehow, after a moment, the meaning of these words registered with the distressed brunette, and she finally allowed herself to be led away by her blonde colleague. More words reached her.

"Come on, put this on."

Someone handed her a jacket. When she tried to slip into it, she noticed how much her entire body was shaking. Carefully touching her face, she realised that she was crying and probably had been ever since Xander had collapsed. Slowly, she began to notice her surroundings: Buffy was at her side, her eyes very red, but she seemed to be keeping her head. Xander was on a stretcher now and being carried to an ambulance. The surviving slayers and watchers were being treated as well where necessary, but Xander seemed to be the worst off. She swallowed hard, trying to stop her tears.

"I gotta go with him."

Buffy placed her hands on her shoulders. "Faith, listen. They're taking Xander to the hospital and into surgery. Let's go home and get cleaned up, then we can go and wait for him to come out of the O.P., okay?"

"But –"

"There's nothing we can do for him, and I think we don't want to look a mess when he wakes up, right?"

For the first time, Faith noticed how dirty, bloodied, smelly and exhausted she was. She caved in. "Okay, but we'll hurry, right?" she asked almost pleadingly.

Buffy gave her the best smile she could manage. "Sure."

Kennedy slowly approached them. "Faith…" Her voice was hoarse and subdued. "I'm so sorry. I wanted to keep him safe… I…" Her voice failed.

The Bostonian merely shook her head. "I saw it, Ken. Wasn't your fault. How're the others?" She didn't want to talk about it, and thankfully Kennedy realised it.

"We… we've lost a few girls. Reika, Liz, Sandrine, Leah, Andrea and Crystal. Mr. Richards and Mr. McLaggen didn't make it, either. The others are bruised, but they'll heal."

Faith nodded. "Should we take them home?" she asked, obviously trying to distract herself from her worries about the one-eyed carpenter, who was now being taken to the hospital.

This time, it was Buffy who answered. "That's already taken care of. Come on, there's nothing we can do here anymore. Let's get going."

Faith rose slowly. "Don't we have to answer questions? What about the police? What about the demon corpses?"

Buffy shook her head. "The bodies vanished, and we told the police the usual story."

The usual story was that they had suddenly been attacked by strangers and barely managed to subdue them.

Faith gave sort of a shrug and walked towards the cars with Buffy and Kennedy, wondering how long she'd been out of it, as everything had already been taken care of.

-

Only one hour later, Faith was pacing in the waiting area of the hospital, waiting for someone to tell her how Xander was. She'd cleaned her wounds, showered and dressed in one of her most conservative outfits (that still managed to attract a lot of looks) before jumping into one of the cars they owned and rushing over to the hospital in record time.

The only one with her was Kennedy; Buffy had stayed behind to take care of the other slayers, but promised to follow as soon as she could.

The younger slayer was sitting in one of the cheap plastic seats the waiting room offered, looking thoroughly subdued. Finally, she couldn't take Faith's impatient pacing anymore. "Faith, please sit down for a moment."

The Bostonian looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "I can't sit now, Ken! Not when we don't know if he… if he'll make it."

Kennedy gulped. "I'm sorry."

Faith took a calming breath. It didn't help much, but it was better than nothing. "Listen, it's not your fault he's here. Damn foolish man should've stayed out of the fight!"

Kennedy shook her head. "I failed him. Now he's in the hospital because of me… again."

"Not because of you. Because of the decision he made. He wanted to fight, Ken; it just isn't in him not to help his friends." She almost snorted. "And he did save B's ass again, didn't he? Damn…" She shook her head. "White knight."

"What?" Kennedy looked at her, confused.

Faith's face showed a small, sad smile. "It's something Fang told me during one of his visits. X's always been Buffy's white knight. He'd do anything for her."

Kennedy noticed a hint of bitterness in Faith's voice. "He'd do the same for you." At Faith's sceptic look, she added: "Or Willow. Or Dawn."

The Bostonian had to smile, her eyes moist. "Yeah…"

"You like him very much, don't you?" Kennedy carefully asked.

"Yeah… He… he's the best guy I know…" She looked incredibly young for once. "I don't wanna lose him." It was barely more than a whisper.

Just as Kennedy was about to answer, Willow came storming in. Apparently, Buffy had called her, because she wasn't due to return for another week. Judging from her exhausted and somewhat ragged appearance, she had teleported back, something she usually loathed to do.

"How is he? Any word yet?"

It was her girlfriend who answered. "Nothing yet, Will; they're still operating."

The red-headed witch seemed to deflate a little. "And how are you holding up?"

Kennedy shrugged. "Well, we're waiting. Nothing much else we can do."

Willow sat down, putting her arm around her girlfriend. "I know… I hate waiting…" After a moment, she tried to smile a little. "At least you aren't hurt."

Suddenly, Faith was at her side. "Isn't there anything you can do? Some major wicca mojo you can work?"

The witch was taken aback by the pleading tone in Faith's voice. She'd never seen the buxom brunette so desperate; in fact, she had never seen her desperate at all.

"I'm sorry, Faith, but that branch of magic is the most dangerous and unstable one of all. There's a very good chance I end up hurting him more or even worse if I try something. I would've healed his eye weeks ago if it wasn't so dangerous."

"So there's nothing we can do?"

"I'm sorry," Willow repeated, trying to calm the devastated slayer. "We'll just have to wait and hope for the best."