Summary: This is a sequel to my story A Creature I Don't Know which can be found here: s/8467907/1/A-Creature-I-Dont-Know

A/N: I strongly recommend a good understanding of season 5 to follow this: Family especially for this update.

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox, UPN and WB Television Networks own the television shows, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel". Dark Horse and IDW own the Comics. No copyright infringement is intended, no money is being earned by myself. The title of each chapter, and the story as a whole, come from K's Choice songs/Album titles. (Given that I had soundtrack for the first I thought I should have one for the second).

Thank you all for your kind words and support for my last story. I hope you enjoy my continuation of it. I would love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts. Many thanks.

3. Dad

Faith had been listening to Buffy and Xander discussing what to get Tara for her birthday for too long. They were sat besides her at the table in the Magic Box under the guise of researching the woman who had fought, and beaten, Buffy the other night, and yet she found the pair of them were simply distracting her from her homework.

When Giles had first approached she was hoping he would get them back on track, possibly even get them to shut up, however he simply joined in their conversation. None of which was helping.

It was bad enough she had to go to school again, it was bad enough she was stuck in the year below her with nothing but rich girls for company, but now that she was actually trying to study she found Buffy's 'present buying headache' was getting in the way.

"Are all these magic books?" A young man asked the group approaching the table.

"No, this one is math." Faith said, directing her irritation to Buffy, "A subject which I've been trying to study for the past hour now but someone keeps talking about candles!"

"Private collection." Giles answered the man's question more directly. "The books for sale are along the wall there." He pointed across the room before walking back to the counter and Anya.

"So all these books got spell's in 'em? Turn people into frogs."

"No." Faith shook her head. "Normally they just make Buffy and I kis-" an elbow to her rib prevented her from finishing her sentence.

"I was going to make a joke about a race of frog people but," Xander smiled at the pair of them, "we really don't talk about your relationship enough!"

"And we're not going to start in front of strangers!" Buffy scolded him.

"So," the man looked between them all, "are you all witches?"

"Was there something in particular you were looking for?" Giles asked. He watched as the man started to respond, but found the stranger's attention had been taken by Willow and Tara entering the shop.

"Well what do you know?" the man smiled at Tara, forcing her to stop in her tracks, the conversation she'd been having with Willow forgotten. "What's the matter? Don't got a hug for your big brother?"

"Brother?"

"Tara didn't say she had a brother?" he frowned at Willow, before breaking into a smile. "I'm a dirty little secret."

"Willow, this is D-Donny."

"Hi."

"Nice to meet you." He continued to smile at Willow.

"And these," Tara gestured between the table and the counter, "are m-my friends."

"What, al'ya hang out?" Donny asked them all. "That's more people than you met in high school." He went to playfully hit her with the back of his hand but she stepped away. "Tara wasn't too social back when. I don't think she spoke 'til she was eight-"

"How did you find- I mean, how come you came?"

"Well, duh, birthday girl. We came down in the camper, been all over the campus-"

"We?"

"Dad, you know, and cousin Beth." He nodded. "We went all over campus looking. They oughta circle back here in a bit."

"No, we should find them. We could go-" She looked towards Willow "-I should go meet them."

"Yeah sure…"

The door bell sounded and Faith looked towards the entrance and watched as a couple more people entered the shop.

"Look who I found…" Donny smiled, swinging an arm over Tara's shoulder and showing her off proudly to the man.

"Dad! Hi."

"Well." The man half smiled as they exchanged a strained hug. "There's my girl."

"Its such a s-surprise."

"Yes. One of your dorm-mates said you might be here."

"Oh." Tara's arms were folded tight across her chest, she let one fall momentarily to gesture back round the shop. "These are my friends… Mr Giles, he runs the shop."

"How do you do?" Giles extended his hand to her father.

"Pleasure." He nodded before turning back to his daughter, "Well, I don't mean to interrupt your plans, I know we've come on you kind of suddenly. But I though we'd have dinner."

"Okay."

"Why don't I pick you up at six?"

"Yes, sir."

"Forgive me for running out," Mr Maclay apologised to the group, "we're double parked." He ushered his son and niece out of the shop before pulling the door behind him.

Faith watched as Willow tried to cover up the evident hurt at not being introduced to Tara's father, she watched as Tara tried to brush her family aside. She'd never known any one else to ever call their father 'sir' before.

She'd left Buffy to argue with Dawn as to why she could no longer hang out with short people and headed over to the university. It seemed weird to travelling towards campus knowing that Buffy wasn't going to be there. Buffy had managed to live on campus for a week before deciding to move back home with her mom and sister. Faith had been sad to give up the dorm room, she liked having the privacy, but she knew Buffy was right – she was needed at home.

As she climbed the stairs towards the dorm rooms she couldn't help but remember the look of hurt on Willow's face as she hadn't been introduced to Tara's father. For the first time she'd seen the other side of it. Buffy always told her it didn't matter, and she was just coming to terms with her sexuality she didn't need other people to have to come to terms with it too, and a hundred and one other reasons. Willow didn't have such a talent for hiding her emotions though. Willow had been hurt because Tara had been ashamed.

She knocked on the door, but found no response from within. She turned to leave but heard raised voices coming from the other side. Automatically she opened the door and was sickened to find Mr Maclay leaning over his daughter as she cried.

"I'm interrupting." She nodded as she stepped into the room. "I hate it when I interrupt some quality father-daughter crying time."

"I don't feel much like eating right now." He told his daughter, standing tall again and straightening his tie. "I'll give you a little time, but we need to be gone by morning. You family loves you, Tara, no matter what." He leaned in close to her again and whispered in her ear, an ordinary person wouldn't have caught his last sentence to his daughter, but Faith wasn't ordinary. "How do you think your friends are going to feel when they see your true face?"

He calmly walked towards Faith as if he owned the room. He nodded his goodbyes like an honest, southern gentleman before stepping out into the corridor. Faith closed the door in his wake and moved across the room towards Tara.

"Wh-what do you want?"

"I know we're hardly BBFs," Faith said, sitting down on her bed, "but we've got a lot in common, you and I?" She turned over one of Tara's soft toys in her hands. "Its hard trying to break into the Scoobies. They've been together for so long now, I don't think they'd know how to breath without having a group meeting first." She turned the bear to face her, unsurprised that she was the one doing all the talking. "Thing is, they don't know what its like having dad's like ours… Sure Xander likes to complain about his drunk family, but they're not abusive…"

"M-my… M-my…"

"I know we don't really talk much, or at all really." Faith replaced the teddy and stood up, "Just know that-" she cut herself off when she realised there was a better why of explaining it all. "Did Willow ever tell you about that crazy dream we all had?" Tara simply nodded. "Well, in my dream you were there, and you were telling me that I shouldn't worry about my feelings for Buffy- Yes." Faith rolled her eyes. "I know I don't talk about myself much, and I especially don't talk about my… whatever I've got going on with Buffy…" she shook her head, trying to focus once more. "You told me that your dad didn't like you being gay and so you ran away."

"This isn't about being gay."

"No, its about daddy issues."

"Go home Faith. Just, go."

She went to the door and pulled it open, "If you ever want to talk about it… you'll realise we're not all that dissimilar." Faith told her before pulling the door closed behind her. She got all the way to the stairwell before she turned back. She didn't bother knocking this time, just walked straight in. She found Tara looking through one of her old books. "I just wanted to say," Faith smiled awkwardly at the girl, "whatever your daddy issues are exactly – get over them. I've known Red for a couple of years now and… she'll deal. Trust me."

She walked through the shop door and watched as her friends struggled against just three demons. Even Buffy seemed out of her element. Faith rushed past her and instantly took one she was struggling to deal with into a headlock and snapped its neck.

"What are you all looking so confused for?" she shouted. "HIT THEM!"

"Easier said than done." Xander called back to her as he looked bewildered around the room, inadvertently backing into Spike.

"I don't think they can see them, Pet." Spike explained fighting another one in the corner.

"Spike?" Buffy questioned him looking in completely the wrong direction.

"Okay what the hell is going on?" Faith as she ushered Anya behind the counter to safety and snapped another's neck.

Tara rushed into the centre of the room from the street. "Blind Cadria, lift your veil, give evil form and break my spell."

Xander jumped when he realised how close he had been standing to the vampire. "Why are you even here?" he asked him.

"I only saved your bloody arse!" Spike explained killing the final demon and dropping its body to the floor.

"I repeat: what the hell is going on he-" Faith cut herself off when she watched the rest of Tara's family walk through the stop door.

"What in the name of God is that...?" Mr Maclay asked.

"Lei-ach Demon. Fun little buggers; big with the marrow-sucking." Spike said as he wiped the blood from his nose.

"I don't understand..."

"I don't understand why you were all letting them beat you to death!" Faith said simply slouching against the counter.

"They seemed to be wearing invisibility cloaks." Willow said looking sadly at Tara.

"I'm sorry... I'm s-so sorry..." she responded quietly. "I w-was just trying to hide... the spell went wrong..."

"Tara, what...?"

"I didn't want you to see... what I am."

"What you are?"

"I told you," Faith watched as Mr Maclay joined in Willow and Tara's conversation, a smug smile crossing his face, "you try to run from it you'll put these people in danger."

"I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."

"I'm still lost on the part where you don't want people to know what you are!" Buffy said, moving closer towards her.

"Demon." Mr Maclay answered for her. "The women in our family have demon in them. Her mother had it-"

"My dad used to say that." Faith nodded interrupting Tara's father. "Only he didn't use the word demon. He used to use words such as Evil, Sin, Satan…" Buffy placed her hand in Faith's as she trailed off.

But Willow wasn't listening, she was focusing solely on the girl in front of her. The girl she loved. The girl who had lied to her.

"You put a spell on us," Giles suddenly spoke up, "to keep us from seeing your demon side. That's why we couldn't see our attackers."

"You could have got them killed." Buffy frowned at the girl, after sending a protective glance at Dawn who had emerged from under the desk.

"I'll go." Tara sniffed, looking around the room but never meeting anyone's eye line. "I'm very sorry."

"The camper's outside." Her father nodded.

"Wait! Go? She just did a spell that went wrong! Buffy," she suddenly spun around looking for support, "it was just a mistake!"

"It's not the point and it's not your concern. The girl belongs with us. "We know how to control her problem."

"Tara, look at me." Willow begged her girlfriend. "I trusted you more than anyone in my life. Was all of that a lie?"

"No! No..."

"Do you want to leave?"

"That is not your decision, young lady-"

"I know that." Willow snapped at the man before turning her attention back to Tara, no longer caring that everyone could see the tears falling down her face, "Do you want to leave?"

Faith watched as Tara shook her head ever so slightly.

"You are going to do what's right, Tara. Now I am taking you out of here before somebody does get killed. The girl belongs with her family, I hope that's clear to the rest of you."

"Yeah," Faith nodded stepping between the girl and her father, "I don't think you're going to be taking Tara anywhere."

"What?"

"You want to take Tara out of here against her will, then you got to come through us." Buffy gestured between herself and Faith.

"And me." Dawn moved besides them.

"Is this a joke? I am not gonna be threatened by three little girls."

"You don't want to mess with us." Dawn warned him, her arms folded across her chest.

"She's a hair puller." Buffy explained pointing to Dawn, "And Faith's a Southie."

"And you're not just dealing with three little girls." Giles stepped in line besides Faith.

"You're dealing with all of us-"

"Except me."

"-Except Spike." Xander finished.

"This is insane! You people have no right to interfere in Tara's affairs. We are her blood kin!" Faith was astounded at how similar this man was to her own father. "Who the hell are you?"

"We're family." Buffy explained simply.

"Tara, if you don't get in that car," Donny suddenly stepped forward and into Tara's face. "I swear by God I'm gonna beat you down."

"And I swear by God," Faith stepped back in between him and his sister, "you lay a hand on her I will break you."

"And I swear by your full and manly beard," Xander moved besides her, "I'll let her."

"Well," Tara's cousin suddenly piped up from the shop entrance, "I hope you'll all be happy hanging around with a disgusting demon."

Anya stepped around from behind the counter and raised her hand, reminding everyone that she was there. "Excuse me. What kind?"

"What?"

"What kind of demon is she?" Anya elaborated growing in confidence, "There's a lot of different kinds, some are very, very evil, some have been considered to be useful members of society..."

"Well, I don't... what does it matter?" the girl frowned back at her.

"Evil is evil."

"Well, let's narrow it down..." Anya said.

"Why don't I make this simple..." Spike stepped over the demon he'd killed and walked up towards Tara. He punched her quickly and sharply in the nose before suddenly roaring with pain.

"Hey!" Willow reacted with anger before realising what he'd done. "Hey!" she smiled at her girlfriend.

"He hit my nose!" Tara sobbed.

"And it hurt! I mean; him!"

"And that only works with humans..." Buffy smiled smuggly at the Maclays.

"There's no demon in there." Spike sighed, his hand still at his temple. "That's just the family legend, am I right? Bit of spin to keep the ladies in line? Oh, you're a piece of work. I like you."

"I'm not a demon?" Tara smiled to Willow.

"You're not a demon."

"He hurt my nose."

"Yeah, you're welcome." Spike said.

"Mr. Maclay," Giles offered the man a false smile. "I'd say your business here is finished."

"Unless you really would like me to break you all." Giles took Faith by the shoulder and held her back.

"Tara... for eighteen years your family has taken care of you and supported you, if you want to turn your back-"

"Dad." Faith was so impressed to watch as Tara moved towards her father and looked towards him with quiet strength. "Just, go." Faith could only hope that if she ever saw her father again she would finally be able to stand up to him too.

She pulled open the door and was surprised to see Faith still in her school uniform. Not been home yet, was all she received by way of an explanation. That and a shrug of her shoulders. She hadn't seen Faith for a couple of days, she assumed it was because she'd revealed a little too much of herself to the others. She always pulled away when she felt she'd shown too much.

What amazed her, however, was the fact that Faith took her by the hand and led her back into her house. Faith barely touched Buffy within a block of Revello Drive just in case someone spotted them. Just in case someone, somewhere thought she might be gay.

Faith pulled her through the house ignoring Buffy's questioning. She pulled her up the stairs and only stopped when she spotted Joyce, fixing her makeup, in her en suite.

"I'm dating your daughter." She said quietly to the bathroom tile. "I don't know what it means, or where its going. But we've been dating for a while and its my fault Buffy didn't tell you." She turned towards Buffy and shot her a sad smile, "Taken me a couple of days to build up the courage to do this. My dad doesn't like gays, or the Polish," she explained to Mrs Summers who was just looking on in amazement, "I was raised to believe that this is something to be ashamed of."

Buffy waited as her mother processed the information Faith had handed her.

"Why doesn't your father like Polish people?" Joyce asked after a pause.

"Something about jobs," Faith shrugged, "and getting all the best Popes... Or Popes and getting all the best jobs."

"Your family is Catholic?"

"Only my dad and then its only the bigotry bits. My mom was too into drugs to bother with God."

"And you're dating Buffy?"

Faith remained silent. Buffy squeezed her hand tighter and brought it closer to her body. "Yes Mom."

"If you're lesbians now," Dawn asked from behind Buffy and Faith, "does that mean you're going to be doing spells too?"

"Oh my God, Dawn!" Buffy let go of Faith's hand and chased her sister back into her bedroom. Faith listened as the two argued about eavesdropping, but she was brought back into the room when Joyce pulled her into a hug.

I've always liked you, was whispered into her ear.

Thank you all very much, Circus