“She’s good, isn’t she?”

Xander jumped as a voice from his past filtered in, along with all the other noise from the club, including the Melissa, the singer in question. Tearing his eyes away from Melissa - a short brunette with pouty lips, whose phone number he fully intended to get eventually – he found a familiar face behind him.

“Faith?”

“In the flesh, Xand-man.” It was definitely Faith. Same grin. Same tattoo. Same teeny, tiny black tank top…

“So, how’s it going?” he asked, making himself concentrate on her answer, and not on her choice of clothing.

“Five by five,” she replied, giving him a tiny smile. “You?”

“I’ve been okay,” he said, returning the smile. A quiet trilling came from his pocket. “Sorry,” he apologized, pulling his cell phone out. “But it’s for emergencies only.”

“Of course.”

“Anya, I can’t come over now, I’m at the club…no, I can’t be in two places at once anymore…yes, I know you wish we’d kept my double around…Anya, this is dumb. I’m hanging up now.” He turned back to Faith as he hit the disconnect button. “Wanna get out of here?”

“Your girlfriend won’t mind?” she asked, gesturing towards the cell phone.

He shook his head. “Ex. Doesn’t matter.”

Faith grinned. “Sweet. Let’s motor.”

“Nice place.”

“Thanks.” He wasn’t sure what to say to her. So he watched as she walked around, looking at the pictures that covered the walls. He could see her confusion as she stopped at the one of him and Dawn. “Your sister?” she asked, turning to face him.

“Buffy’s.”

Her eyes widened. “B has a sister?”

Xander nodded. “You didn’t know?”

She shook her head, and he could see the regret in her eyes. “I was never really a member of the club,” she said, turning back to the photos, running long fingers over Willow and Tara’s faces, over he and Anya’s prom photo, over Giles singing at the club.

“We wanted you to be. You just never let us in.” He spoke softly, gently. She looked so vulnerable right now, he was dying to cross the room and take her in his arms. Only the memory of how she had shunned him the last time he had done that stopped him. Instead, he went to the stereo and turned it on, filling the silence between them with soft music.

“I’m sorry.” It was so soft he barely heard it, and apparently she knew that, because she crossed the room to stand in front of him, looked up into his eyes, and repeated it. “I’m sorry.

“I know you’ll probably never forgive me for everything I’ve done to you, but if it means anything, I regret all of it. Most of all, I regret hurting you and any chance of a friendship we might have had.” Eyes filling with uncharacteristic tears, she turned to the door.

“Faith.” He stepped forward, touching her arm, causing her to turn. Before she could say another word, he pressed his lips to hers in a kiss that had been building for two years, since their last night in that lonely motel room. On and on it went, until finally they broke apart, surprised, confused, uncertain. “Don’t go.”

“Why not?” she asked warily.

He took her hand and led her to the couch. “Because we’re not the same people we were before. And now I want the chance to know the real you. Stay and talk to me?”

He could see the disbelief in her eyes as she nodded. “What if this doesn’t work between us, Xander? I don’t want to hurt you again,” she said quietly.

“We’ll make it work,” he promised. “I just need to know you again.”