And so we reach the final chapter in the story!! And what a ride it's been, huh? My love to every single person that has reviewed, you are the reason I kept this story going instead of just sending it to the Recycle Bin. Your loyalty surprises me. Here's some shout-outs (in alphabetical order) to some of you in particular that've been awesome:

AR -Erithius-, BFGirl, Electra126, fabutvs26, Hotcutii3, KCaps2424, Musical'n'MagicFreak, retratserif, texican, uluvme

Every review is appreciated, but it's you guys that seem to have stuck around for the longest and that's wicked cool.

As for why I'm ending it now, and so suddenly (or so it appears) --- Inspiration slapped me in the face late last night, and ever since then I've been writing like a madwoman. Thus the ending I planned from the very beginning was reached faster than I expected. Otherwise a heads up would have been given, I assure you. :P

I wasn't planning on writing a sequel, but with the way I ended things I'm suddenly feeling the weird inclination to start one up. But it won't be for awhile, I need to take the time to appreciate the feel of not having to write when I don't wanna. I get stressed easily.

With that rant aside i'll leave you to the story - thanks again everyone. I've had a blast. :)

By the time I finished off the third bottle, things were startin' to look up. Sure I still got Buffy on my mind, but at least it's hazy enough that I don't feel like kicking my own ass for fuckin' shit up. Blond boy has been poutin' at me since that first bottle was opened up since I didn't let him have any, so I finally decided to give in and start sharin'.

"Here ya go, Goldilocks." I laughed, pouring him a shot of whatever's in the bottle I just opened.

"Oh, you're finally willin' to share then, yeah? 'Bout bloody time." He snatched the glass all quick, like he thought I was gonna change my mind.

"Don't make me regret it, bleach boy."

"I got a name you know." He growled. Which is really makin' me wonder why the dude is so tolerant, like really. Never seen a vamp that would hold back the punches... Aside from Angel of course, but he's a pansy so that don't count.

"Yeah? So fill me in, money bags."

"It's Spike, and you'd damn well remember it. Gonna pay you a nice little visit once I get the soddin' chip out." He finished off his drink, so I poured him another. Better to have him drink than talk I figure.

"Someone shove a Dorito into ya or somethin'?" I laughed. Booze makes everything funny. Kinda why I decided to get tanked tonight of all nights.

"For your information some government ponces decided to grab ol' Spikey here and run some experiments on him, so now he's the bloody reject of the demon world."

"Not followin' ya here, pal. Speak English. And not that fucken British English, I'm talkin' English Enlish." Hope he doesn't notice that I'm already totally shit faced. Really I'm about to keel over... Probably should get outta the demon pit before that happens, but fuck it, long as there's booze I'm stayin' put.

"Didn't you wonder why I decided not to make you a midnight snack? Not because of morals, I can tell ya that much."

"Huh. So no more bitey for Spikey? Too bad. I hear I'm mighty delicious." I think I just winked. Did I really just wink? I usually save that for a potential good fuck. No way I'm gonna fuck a vamp, that's for damn sure. I really must be drunk.

"That right, pet?" He smirked, bringin' his tongue out to lick at his lower lip. "I'd like to find that out for myself."

"Keep buyin' the drinks and we'll talk." Why did I say that? Fuck this really is some strong crap. And I haven't gotten drunk in a good long while, so there's no way things are gonna end well. "On second thought..." I snatched one last bottle and stood up on wobbly legs to give old Spike a crooked salute. "I'll just take one more for the road. Later, Spook."

"Spike." He corrected, annoyed. Think his demon buddies are gettin' a kick outta this.

"Tomato potato." I shrugged, turning around and leaving without another word. I kinda wandered the streets for awhile, with no clue where in the fuck I was. I'm actually surprised nobody tried to take advantage or nothin', it was pretty obvious I'm not in a good state of mind.

Anyways I eventually wound up at the docks. Who knew, right? It's like bein' back at home in Boston. Me and my buddies hangin' at the docks with some beers we stole from our parents. We'd stow away and wait to be taken someplace better, but the damn things never left. Maybe the ones here will.

I didn't get the chance to find out though. Just as I started towards one of the freighters I notice footsteps trailing me. How I didn't hear 'em sooner, fuck if I know.

"Faith..." I stopped and turned around to see Xander standin' there lookin' at me with these puppy dog eyes. "You don't have to do this."

"Do what?"

"Leave town." He took a few more steps forward, which just made me take a few steps back. "I heard about what happened and I'm sorry. But it doesn't mean you have to take the easy way out."

"Don't need your sympathy, Xan. Dunno what ya heard but nothin' happened, and I don't gotta explain shit to you so you can just back off." I turned and continued on my way, but the fucker is faster than he looks so he caught up in no time.

"Faith listen to me, I'm serious." He grabbed at one of my arms to try and stop me, but I just pulled away. He may be fast but he's not that strong. "You can't do what she expects!"

"What the fuck are you going on about??"

"Buffy." That made me stop. It shouldn't have, but it did, and I fucken hate it. How that one name can always stop me dead in my tracks without hesitation. "If you leave now nothing between you... nothing will fix it. You can't leave her."

"Hey she's the one that up and left me, so I don't see why I gotta do shit about it!"

"You just do, Faith. If you don't..."

"Then what? What's so goddamn important here??"

"If you don't prove to Buffy that she was wrong to do what she did, then she'll think she was right, and it'll be all over. And I know that's not something you want."

"So what, she was the one that wanted to end things, ain't up to me."

"It's up to you to set things right." He gave me this look, all serious and crap. It got to me. "Don't let us down." And with that he just up and left, like he knew what he said had done the trick. The annoying thing is that it did.

Dunno what I gotta do, but it's gotta be somethin' pretty damn good or like the Xan man said, i'll probably end up losing Buffy for good...

Somehow I got it in my mind not to wait for the whole dramatic gesture thing, so now here I am at 3 in the fuckin' morning, makin' my way to the old Summers place. At least I didn't drink that last bottle, ended up smashin' it 'cause of how pissed off I got along the way. Probably pretty stupid to be doin' this while completely shit faced, but hey, I'm too damn stubborn to stop now.

So now here I am, right where the old slayer connection drew me. Figures she didn't wanna stay at the dorm tonight, musta thought I might've stopped in or whatevs. Well tough shit, she knows better than that, if I wanna find her I'm gonna find her. Now if I can just get up to her bedroom window...

"OW fuck!!"

Thanks to my drunken stupor I managed to fall straight down on my ass, just as I was within reachin' distance of the fucken window. And now the light turned on and the window just opened up. This isn't really goin' as good as I hoped.

"Faith?" Buffy whispered, tryin' not to wake her mom I guess, while leanin' out to look down at me. My vision may be blurry but I can still tell her eyes are all red and puffy and crap, like she was crying. Kinda gives me hope that maybe she does give a shit about me after all. "What are you doing?"

"Well I was tryin' to get to your window but that didn't work. I think I broke my ass!"

She shushed me and held a hand out. I got up and made my way back up high enough that I could grab on to her hand and she pulled me the rest of the way. Not into her room, just up to the ledge so I could cling on.

"There, you're up. Now what?" She made a face and took a step back. "And why do you smell like a brewery?"

"Probably 'cause I'm sorta drunk."

"Of course you are." Shit, I think that pissed her off. Why didn't I just wait to do this until after the booze lost its effect? Might as well just get this over with so I can stop wastin' her time.

"Why'd you dump me?" Right. That doesn't sound pitiful at all.

"I didn't..."

"Bullshit. You dumped me and I wanna know why."

"It's complicated."

"Better give me more than that, no way I broke my ass tryin' to get up here just so you can tell me 'it's complicated'. Spill it, B." She made a face, and I started to get worried that she might pull my hands away from the ledge and toss me right back down on my ass.

"It just.... It didn't feel like you were taking things seriously."

"Bullshit."

"Will you let me finish?" I rolled my eyes, and she pouted, which kinda made me want to smile 'cause goddammit she's so cute when she does that.

"Sorry, just go ahead."

"Good. You didn't take anything seriously, you freak out whenever the 'L' word is dropped, and then back at the coffee shop, with the way you talked... it sounded like you were mad that we haven't slept together yet."

"You finished?" She nodded. "Okay... let me start by sayin' I'm not mad that we haven't fucked. Sure you're wicked hot and I wanna get you naked, like, right now, but I'm not mad that we've waited. It's what you wanted and I respect that. Not gonna force your legs open or nothin'. I coulda told ya that, all you had to do was ask, so there's no reason to get pissy about it."

"Very eloquent." She smirked. Fucken smirked, this girl totally digs me, it's obvious.

"As for me takin' things seriously, again I say bullshit. Maybe it doesn't seem like it, but I do. And ya gotta remember B, I'm not exactly relationship girl here, so I don't know shit about the basics. I'm not gonna take the same crap seriously that you do, 'cause I don't know what to make a big deal about, yunno?"

"Somehow your drunken ramblings are making sense." She reached out to hold my hands, and for a second there I seriously thought she was gonna do that whole 'toss me on my ass' thing I was expectin', but no, she just held on to me. "But there's still one issue left."

"There is?" Dammit I'm really drunk. Did I already mention this was a stupid idea, comin' in all wasted?

"Yes. The 'L' word."

"What, lesbian? Think yer buds know all about us already B, so that shouldn't be an issue." With the way she just laughed I think I messed up somehow.

"I meant love, weirdo. You freak out whenever the word 'love' is used in conversation."

I think she noticed me get all tensed up, 'cause she just held me tighter. Aight I knew this was gonna have to happen sooner or later, let's just see if I got the balls to do it. Shoulda saved that last bottle, yunno, so I could have a shot of courage or whatever they say.

"About that, B... You know what my life was like, right? How I grew up?"

"You've given some hints, I've got the basic picture down. Alcoholic mom, abusive dad, broken home?"

"Right." I took a minute, still tryin' to get that damn courage to emerge from wherever it was hiding. Didn't look at her when I spoke. "So... When I was real little my parents, they'd tell me they loved me, and I'd say it back. Things didn't suck, yunno? But after some time went by it just, it all got fucked up somehow. Things weren't all roses and candy no more. Last time I ever said the words and heard 'em said back to me was when I was about 8, when my big brother ran away from home... I was the only one he said goodbye to. I left after he did, and since then nothin' has been much better." I felt her hand on my cheek then, wiping away somethin' wet... which I guess means I'm crying. Dammit! "Anyways... that's why I've always freaked the fuck out whenever I'd hear the word. I just wasn't ready to deal with it."

"And now?"

I finally looked up at her, and found that she was cryin' to, and it sorta looks like she's holdin' her breath but maybe that's just me.

"I'm in love with you, Buffy. More than I know how to deal with, actually. I've never loved someone so fucken much my whole life, and it scares me to death." Okay I'm just flat out bawlin' now like a little pussy, but I guess it's okay 'cause she just pulled me up into her room and is kissin' the hell outta me. I musta finally done something right.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered after we pulled apart, pressin' her forehead up against mine. "I had no idea..."

"Never had the balls to say it before." I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close, just needing to feel more of her with me.

"Faith..." She put her hands on my face, to make sure I was lookin' at her. "I love you too."

"Don't gotta say it to make me feel better." Even though I'm happy as fuck that she did, and I think she knows it since I got the stupidest grin on my face. I can't even help it, it's just like my whole body got set on fire... but in a good way. Warm and tingly all over, and goddammit I sound like a fucken Hallmark card don't I? The things this chick does to me...

"I said it because I mean it. I love you, Faith. And I would've said it sooner, only I was afraid of how you'd react." She got the sweetest little smile on her face then, I swear my heart did a backflip. "But seeing the look on your face right now... I wish I'd said it sooner." She took one of my hands and led me over to her bed, and I swear it musta looked like I was gonna piss myself 'cause she started laughin' at me. "Sleep, Faith. It's late and you're drunk, so there's no way I'm sending you home to be taken down by a group of demons."

"Oh." I think I'm actually blushing! Fuck, she brings out the stupidest crap in me... "Sleep then." She got under the covers then pulled me right in with her, and got all cuddled up against me with her legs tossed over mine like she was tryin' to keep me there. I just held her close as the booze worked its magic in knockin' me out. "'Night, B..."

What I wasn't expecting when I woke up, was a bright light and confused mom starin' me right in the face.

"Buffy... why is there a drunk girl in your bed?"

THE END