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Author's Chapter Notes:
I wish to thank everyone for sticking with this story. It means a lot to me.
Spike watched Buffy and her friends interacting throughout brunch. It helped to ease his fear of leaving her in their care when he went back to school. With how they made him feel welcome, he realized he would be glad to see them when he came to visit his girl. The only person missing at the table was his uncle. Ethan was at the guesthouse waiting for Jenny to arrive.

"Spike, will you come in Friday night or Saturday morning?" Angel asked.

"Will have to play that by ear with how much work I have left to do," Spike answered. "If all goes well, I'll come up Friday."

"Just in case you come in late Friday or early on Saturday, here's a key to the house," Anya said as she tossed him a set of keys.

"You trust me with these?" He asked, amazed about the trust they were placing in him.

"Buffy, should I trust him?" Anya asked.

"I do," Buffy replied with a relaxed smile on her face, telling everyone how much she really did trust the man in question.

"That's all I need." Anya then turned to Spike to answer his question before taking another bite of her waffle.

"Do you lovebirds think you can set aside some time Saturday for dinner and a movie?" Darla asked.

Spike looked to Buffy who blushed and looked down at her plate as she nodded her head. He then turned to Darla and said, "I think we can do that, but let's play it by ear."

"Sounds like a plan we can work with," Angel agreed.

Darla noticed the pinking up of Buffy's cheeks and bit the inside of her cheek to keep from teasing her. She needed to talk to Faith about how experienced their Buffy was with men and sex. It never occurred until now just how naïve the girl might be, and in need of some advice in protection and such.

Giles smiled as he watched the young people intermingle. He gave thanks to the powers that be, that everyone he cared for was safe and sitting at the table sharing a meal. This was his family, and there wasn't anything he would not do for any of them. Spike was now included on that short list. He couldn't wait for the town of Sunnydale to learn the truth about Buffy's circumstances and eat their words.

Buffy wondered if the town would ever believe her innocent. Would they blame her for Snyder's fall from grace? She wasn't sure why she was thinking about it at all, until she realized that the day after tomorrow she would face her fellow students and hardest judges.

Spike noticed the change in Buffy and leaned over to ask, "Why the sad face, Luv?"

She turned to look at him with tears in her eyes and asked, "Do you think they will believe me innocent or will they think I led him on?"

Before Spike could answer Giles growled, "To hell with what they think. They are small-minded walking pieces of useless matter, who need to worry more about their pitiful lives, instead of judging another about something they know nothing about. No one at this table has ever blamed you or felt you should be blamed for any of this. The only one to blame is the man who did this. If no one can see that, well, honestly they aren't human."

Everyone was quiet as the normally even-tempered man let loose. Angel was trying to keep from laughing, not sure, how it would or would not offend his sister, Buffy, or Giles. When he was about to say something, Darla squeezed his thigh and shushed him quietly.

Buffy looked over with a sweet smile and said, "Thanks, Giles."

The older man smiled at the young woman who he had come to think of as family and assured her, "You're most welcome, and if you need anything at all, all you have to do is call."

"I'll keep that in mind," she promised.

"Now that's over with, I say we finish eating, wash dishes, and figure out the rest of our day," Anya offered, thinking she liked this new side of Giles and wanted some alone time to tell him so.

Everyone nodded and continued to eat their brunch. Buffy wondered if she should call her mom, and realized Spike would need to pick up the rest of his things so it would be best if she did call. Buffy wondered if her mother would be the best one to arrange for Spike and Dru to talk, but then again maybe not. She would have to run it past Spike later, after they finished cleaning the kitchen.

*******

Ethan stood at the door as Jenny got out of the car. He had just hung up from talking to Joyce and Hank. It looked like they were on board with Dru meeting Jenny later this afternoon.

Hank had run his idea past him about writing a letter to Buffy, and he agreed it might be a good start on repairing their relationship. The advice he gave Hank was not to get too deep into the letter that some of the emotional connection needed to be in person as well.

"Hey, there Doc. What's got you so deep in thought?" Jenny asked as she approached her friend and mentor.

"Just thinking about how much we have to do to fix this family is all," he replied, feeling no need to hide his worry from the one person he could talk to about anything.

"One step at a time is what a wise man told me once." She reminded him of his words to her a long time ago when she to had lost someone very close to her.

"Yes, so true," he agreed, knowing he needed her to remind him of the same thing a few times in the past.

"Come in, Anya and Giles made sure we had something to eat when you arrived," Ethan said as he took her overnight case and led her into the dining room. "I'll let you freshen up and then feed you before we get to work."

"Good, I'm starving actually," she agreed.

Ethan pointed her toward the bathroom as he then set her bag down by the table. He knew they were about to start a long and difficult journey with the Summers' family. However, Ethan knew that he and Jenny would work well together, and do what was best for all involved. There was no one he trusted or enjoyed working with more.

Jenny quietly went into the bathroom to relieve herself and wash her hands. She was very worried about how Ethan was handling everything. There was something more, she was sure of it. There was more to how and why he became involved again with the Summers' family.

Jenny decided for now she would let him set the pace. Then if she felt the need, she would question him more and in greater depth. Jenny had recognized Spike's car outside and wondered how he was involved in this. It could be he just drove his uncle down to Sunnydale, but something was telling her that was not the case. First, she would eat and then work on getting the real scoop and go on from there.

*******

Hank sat at his desk staring down at the piece of paper that could change everything between him and his middle child for the better. He decided to take the advice that Dr. Rayne had given him and kept it simple and to the point.

Dear Buffy

First, let me explain why this is typed and not written as I wished to do. My handwriting is terrible and my printing is not any better. For what I have to say here, I wish there to be no misrepresentation or any miscommunication.

This in no way absolves me of my behavior and treatment of you since- it's hard even now to think about her and not expect Dawn to come bouncing down the steps. It took me almost losing you to see how I've failed my family, especially you.

I hope you can find it in your heart to give me a chance to earn your forgiveness. I know the things I've said and done will be hard for you to forgive.

I truly believe we can make this work if we all want it to. Buffy, I'm ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. I'm willing to seek help from Dr. Rayne and others like him if that is what it takes. I realize how I failed my family, and that is by not accepting the doctor's help when he first offered it after Dawn's death. Instead, I allowed everything to get out of control and lost my way.

Yes, Mr. Snyder is responsible to starting the chain of events that lead us to this point. I'm responsible for letting it get this far out of hand. I accept the fact I let my grief, anger, and pride get in my way. It's something that, with the help of my family I will overcome and hopefully find a better way to deal with my weaknesses in the future.

I truly do love you and beg for a chance to prove to you just how much you mean to me.


Hank Summers, the man who is very proud to say he is your father.

He pondered for a few minutes if he should let Joyce read it first. But then again maybe it would be best if no one did. It should be from his heart, and not someone trying to make his words politically correct. Then again, was that Buffy's father talking or his pride getting in the way again?

Taking the bull by the horns, he picked up the letter and went to find his wife. He would let her read it and give her honest opinion about it. Then he would show it to Dr. Rayne before giving it to Buffy. He wasn't going to lie to his daughter ever again, and by having others help him with making sure, he was doing right by Buffy, then it was something he would make himself do.

*******

Dru stood looking at the room Spike should have slept in last night. In her heart, she knew she never really loved him. She wasn't even sure if she even liked him. It wasn't like they really dated for very long. They had met at a club a month ago when she went to L.A. to scout around the university.

Like most of her relationships, it started with sex, both of them not slacking on satisfying the other. She brought out a bit of the darkness that lingered inside him. Dru wondered if that meant she was a bad girl.

She had seen, even from a distance how differently he looked at Buffy than at her and knew he really cared for her sister. Picking up his tee shirt, she brought it up to her nose and smiled at how much like Spike it smelt. The man did have a distinct aroma that was all his own. It was a shame they would never be together intimately again, but she decided not to stand in Spike's way if he truly wanted Buffy.

"Dru, are you okay?" Joyce asked from the doorway.

She looked over at her stepmother and said, "just saying goodbye to a future that was never to be mine."

Joyce sighed, "maybe because your future lies with someone else."

"I won't stand in their way."

Joyce walked over and gently cupped Dru's face and said, "There is someone out there for you. I get the feeling you were never in love with Spike."

"No, I was in love with the idea of being a doctor's wife. I figured with Dr. Rayne as his uncle he'd be famous and respected just like him," Dru explained as she faced that part of herself. "You must really think badly of me, even worse now."

Joyce hugged the young woman, as she assured her, "No, Dru. I'm actually very proud of you right now. It's takes a lot of courage to face things about ourselves and we're all going to be taking a long hard look at things we've done."

"Are you going to see Buffy today?" Dru asked, as she stepped away to pick up Spike's bag.

"I'm not sure if I'm going to see her, but Ethan is going to have her call me soon. She was eating when I called earlier," Joyce replied. "Why do you ask?"

"I was going to have you take Spike's things to him," Dru explained. "I'm thinking I might have to have a daughter to father talk and try and ease William's transition into the family."

Joyce smiled as she noticed a different woman emerging before her. For the first time she started to feel that the future held good things for Drusilla and that she might be seeing the caring woman her stepdaughter was capable of being.

"Do you want to talk to Spike if he asks to speak to you?" Joyce asked, as she reached out and with a tender touch placed Dru's hair behind her ear.

"Yes, for we need to find closure so we both can move on," she replied with a start of a smile that Joyce noticed.

"We are all starting over in a way," Joyce unknowingly stated aloud and heard Dru say, "I'm sorry."

Joyce's expression told Dru that the older woman did not understand what she was apologizing for and clarified, "I'm so very sorry I left Dawn that night. If I hadn't left her she might be here now with us."

The older woman slowly shook her head as she replied, "We don't know that for sure. It could be if you both had been home, we would've lost both you and Dawn. God forbid if Buffy had been home as well, we might never have found her. Knowing my little girl was out there somewhere hurt or being hurt would've sent me over the edge even more. We can't play the 'what if' game, it will only drive us mad. We need to go forward, not backward unless it's to learn a very valuable lesson."

"That is?" Dru asked, curious about what Joyce was going to say.

"Family is what is important. We lost that- or more to the point - we never really had it and that is why it tore us apart. We now have a chance to make our family unit stronger and I'm not naïve in thinking it will be easy. In fact, I think it will be one of the hardest things we've ever done."

"I really want to try."

"That's all any of us can do," Joyce assured her. "Now, you finish getting Spike's things together. I'm going to go and take a shower and get ready."

Dru watched the woman she'd been jealous of since coming to live here. For the first time she really felt a need to bond with her stepmother, not to suck up to her, but to really get to know the woman. She hoped that in the end Buffy would want to do the same. However, deep down she felt she would understood if Buffy never wanted to do anything more than she had to do.

******





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