A/N : Well, here it is, the final chapter, although there will be an Epilogue to follow this which will hopefully be posted tomorrow! In the meantime, Buffy must face her parents and tell them she's dating Spike...
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 34

"Don't worry, Buffy, I'm sure it'll all be fine" Willow assured her friend as they spoke by phone on Saturday.

It was just after lunch, and today was the day that Buffy and Spike had decided they ought to tell her parents the truth, that they were together and in love. In one hour he would arrive at her house and then the deed had to be done.

Of course Buffy knew that she could continue to keep her relationship with Spike from her parents, plenty of teens did worse than have a secret boyfriend, but she had no reason she could see to be ashamed of the man she loved, and they'd done enough lying and sneaking around already; no more.

"I think maybe they'd understand about Spike" Buffy sighed into the phone, "I mean, he's British which my Dad will like, and he can do the good manners thing" she considered, "but I'm not so sure it's gonna thrill Mom or Dad that he was dating Faith first. Honestly, it doesn't make me the happiest girl in the world"

"Oh, Buffy, you know Spike didn't love Faith or anything, they were just..." she paused when she realised she didn't know quite how to phrase it politely or delicately.

"I know what they were, Will" Buffy assured her, saving the red-head from having to describe further, "I..." she stopped when she heard an engine outside and looked out of her window to see Spike pull the DeSoto into the drive, "Oh my God, he's early"

"Good luck, Buff" Willow told her friend, "Me and Wes are thinking of you"

Buffy thanked her friend before shutting off her cell, flinging it onto her bed, and bolting down the stairs. She met Spike on the driveway, leaving the door swinging open.

"What are you doing here so soon? I'm not ready yet, I-I'm not prepared" she rambled a little at him.

"Hey, don't panic, luv" Spike said calmly, "It's all alright. The thing of it is, Faithie's got it into her head she ought to be here when we tell your folks about us"

"Are you kidding?" Buffy's eyes went wide, "Like this isn't hard enough anyway, you know how Faith can be, she'll..."

"I know, pet, which is why I'm early" Spike explained, "We get this done ahead of time, then when big sis gets here there'll be nothin' to wreck, right?"

Buffy opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by her mother calling from the house.

"Sweetheart, is somebody at the door?" Joyce wanted to know.

"Um, just a minute, Mom!" Buffy called back, turning back to face Spike, and physically shaking as his hands went to the tops of her arms.

"Now or never, luv" he told her, as she took a deep breath, "You alright?"

"Sure" she nodded, "It's fine, we can do this" she said with more confidence than she actually felt as Spike gripped her hand and they walked up the porch steps and into the house together.

Joyce met them in the hall and was quite surprised to see the young man she knew as her older daughter's boyfriend with Buffy.

"Hello, er... Spike, isn't it?" she checked with the bleached blond, who smiled and nodded that she was right.

"Mom, I... we need to talk to you" Buffy explained, "Dad too, actually" she said, looking around for him.

With a puzzled look, Joyce headed back to the kitchen from whence she'd come, taking with her the dish she'd been drying on the towel in her other hand.

Buffy led Spike through to the living room and they sat down together on the couch. She was visibly shaking and he felt bad for her.

"Breathe, luv" he whispered to her, "It'll be alright" he promised, though honestly he wasn't so sure.

Mr and Mrs Giles were likely to hit the ceiling when the truth was revealed and he'd been dreading this moment almost as much as his girlfriend.

"Buffy, my dear, are you quite alright" her father checked as he appeared in the doorway, munching on an apple, his wife following him into the room.

"Yeah, sure" she said nervously as he eyed Spike with suspicion, "It's just, well, we have something we need to talk to you about"

Sharing a worried glance, Joyce and Giles moved towards the arm chair, her sitting down, him hovering behind it.

"Mr and Mrs Giles" Spike said, clearing his throat, trying to find that very proper voice his mother had taught him to speak with as a boy, "The thing of it is, Faith and me... and I" he corrected himself, "Well, we've sort of had a parting of ways"

"Oh" Joyce reacted with mild surprise, "I'm sorry to hear that, Spike, but I'm a little confused as to why you're here telling us this, unless..." she trailed off as she caught a look that passed between this young man and her little girl, "Oh, Buffy, now I understand" she sighed and the blonde's eyes went wide.

"You do?" she squeaked, wondering how her mother had ever worked this out and how she could look so calm about it.

"Of course, sweetheart" Joyce smiled, "You wanted to ask if your sister could move back in with us"

"Kinda not" Buffy admitted with an uneasy laugh and shake of her head.

"Then do tell us, dear, to what this conversation tends?" Giles urged her, as he took another large bite from his apple.

"Okay" his daughter took a breath, steeled herself against any negative response, and finally bit the bullet, "Spike and I are together"

The first sound to follow her admission was that of Giles choking on a mouthful of semi-chewed apple that seemed to have a sudden urge to escape out of both his mouth and nose. Joyce rushed to his assistance, slapping her husband on the back as he bent double, and Spike looked heavenward praying he was anywhere than here right now.

"Buffy, what on Earth do you mean by that?" her mother demanded to know, as Giles' coughing fit died down to nearly nothing.

"I mean, we're together, Mom" the little blonde admitted, "I love Spike, and he loves me"

"It's true, Mrs Giles" the bleached blond nodded taking hold of his woman's hand, "I do love your daughter, this daughter, Buffy" he clarified, realising just how awkward the situation was and how he wasn't making it better.

"Are you out of your senses, Buffy?" her father asked her, looking decidedly red in the face after his momentary suffocation, "He's a... well, he was living with your sister and..."

"And he didn't love her, and she didn't love him" Buffy told him firmly, volume of her voice rising as she panicked and tried hard to get her point across, "I know it doesn't look good from the outside, I know it seems like Spike's a bad person or something, but I swear he's not" she told her parents, who still looked less than convinced.

"No, no, of course not" Giles rolled his eye, sarcasm evident in his tone, "Of course every decent, well-bred young man lives with someone like Faith whilst he works on her impressionable, much younger sister!" he said, getting louder as his sentence went on.

"Now, hang on a second...!" Spike began to protest.

"I think you should sit down...!" Joyce yelled back at him, as the leather-clad young man got to his feet.

"Daddy, please listen to me...!" Buffy waded into the argument too.

All four continued to yell over each other and pandemonium reigned for several minutes, til suddenly a piercing whistle silenced the whole room, shattering a few ear drums in the process.

"Geez, talk about your home sweet home" Faith smirked as the four turned to gaze at her, "It ain't exactly a friendly atmosphere in here, guys" she stated the obvious as was her way, "Who made B cry?" she wanted to know, as she spotted the tears on her kid sister's face and didn't look happy about it.

"They don't understand, Faith" she told the older girl sadly.

"Of course we don't understand, Buffy" Joyce told her with a scathing look, "How can you expect us to accept that...?"

"Hey, Mom?" Faith interrupted, catching everybody's attention once again, "Can I just cut in real fast, I kinda have news for you too"

"Oh good God, tell me you're not pregnant" Giles checked, removing his glasses for no apparent reason except he'd got worked up about all this.

"Funny you should mention..." she said, shooting Spike a look which he returned, "But no" she confirmed, "Actually I think you're gonna like this news, at least half of it" she smirked, "I finally decided runnin' around with a dozen guys ain't doin' me no good, so sweet little Faithie who you guys all love and adore" she joked, hands pressed together and eyes pointing heavenward as she mocked a praying angel, "went and got herself somebody to stick with, for a while at least"

"Faith, you have a boyfriend" Buffy gasped, "Like, a real one?"

"Kind of" her sister nodded once, her smirk widening to a grin as she looked out into the hall, towards the front door, "Yo, baby, get in here!" she yelled as a figure appeared beside her in the doorway, "Come meet the folks"

"Good afternoon, strange family of Faith" said the girl, clad in leather, with blue streaks running through her hair, eyes bright and cold as ice.

"Guys, this is Illyria" Faith introduced as she put her arm around the girls waist and the odd young woman followed suit, "We kinda have a thing. It's different, way cooler than what we had" she told Spike, who was too stunned to be offended anyway, "And y'know, Mom, Spike is better for B than for me, he's not the badass he looks, and that was a damn shame" she smirked at the bleached blond, who returned the expression, "He'll treat little sister okay, y'know?" she told her Mom and Step-Dad who were still staring at Illyria in apparent shock, as was Buffy.

"I know I am beautiful, but must they stare at me so much?" Illyria asked Faith, "It is disconcerting"

"I think maybe we should split, let reality catch up on them" she smiled, "And hey, if you're still worried about Spike and B" she told her parents as she turned to leave, "Trust me when I tell you he won't step out of line. He'd have me to answer to if he did, and who do you think gave him the bruises?" she said, with a wink as she gestured one hand towards Spike's face which was still a little purple around his nose from the punch she'd thrown a few days ago.

As her sister walked away, a laugh escaped Buffy's throat that she wasn't even expecting. She just couldn't help her reaction to such an extreme situation. She needn't have worried about her parents reaction to Spike. It wasn't great but they'd get over it. As always, Faith had gone one better, and this time, her crazy outlandish behaviour had actually paid off for Buffy.

"I love my sister" she said softly, "I really do"

The End

(except for the Epilogue, which will follow tomorrow!)