| Dawnty's Inferno Part 3: But You Hate Me Author: Jerri Cocke Summary: Dawn and Spike meet and talk after the scene in the magick shop. Disclaimer: Joss owns all, I own none. I do try not to break them to badly before I return them. Distribution: If you have, take. If not, ask. Spoilers: I Was Made To Love Him, season five in general. Spike stood outside his crypt. He had finally gotten through to that engineer git, that he would die if he didn't make Buffy for him. With Buffy at his side, he could leave Sunnyhell and never return. His thoughts turned to Dawn. He would regret never seeing her again, but she had made it clear just how much she hated him. He threw down his fag, and pushed open the door to his home. He froze. His keen senses picked up sounds that shouldn't be there. Sounds like a heartbeat, breathing, leftover tears. He recognized the scent of his kitten. He rushed into the dank crypt to find Dawn seated in his recliner. He could see the tear tracks on her face. "What is it pet, has something happened to the slayer?" jumped out of his mouth. "No, Buffy's alright. It's...it's..." the teenager collapsed in a flood of tears as she tried to say what she still couldn't believe, "Mom." "Joyce," Spike drew the sobbing girl to his chest, "Kitten, what's wrong with Joyce? I thought the bloody doctors had fixed her." Dawn drew in a determined breath, she knew how much Spike cared for her mom. "Spike, Mom is d," she tried to say. Finally she managed to get it out. "Mom is dead." She buried her face in the cool cotton covering her friend's chest and sobbed. Spike shook his head, she couldn't be just gone. He knew she was angry at him now, but she would forgive him. Joyce always forgave him. Dead? Wait just a bloomin second here. "Kitten, calm down. I need you to tell me who did this to your mum. Who hurt her?" His demon roared for the need for vengeance. "Nobody did it. They said that she just went to sleep and never woke up. Buffy found her on the couch when she came in tonight. Spike how can she just be dead? I don't understand. I mean I know, but she's mom. She's not supposed to leave me." "Shh, Kitten, I'm sure she didn't want to leave you. But she had to, she knew that there would be a lot of people standing in line to take care of you. Hell, she even knew the Big, Bad would do anything to keep you from getting hurt. You tell anyone that and I'll deny it, I do have a reputation to bleedin protect." Spike forced himself to smile at the teenager cuddled against him. Cor, she reminded him so much of himself, sometimes. All bravado and arrogance. When she was just a kitten in need of someone to look out for her. He wished that he had, had someone to protect him from Angelus, oh no, wait a sec, no he didn't. But he would keep the baddies away from this young lady. She would live a long and good life, if she didn't decide to become a cat burglar, he thought with a grin. The Big Bad would make sure of that. "Wait a minute, didn't you hate me this afternoon? What happened to change your mind?" "I never hated you, but if I told the gang that you were my friend they would send Buffy after you with lots of sharp sticks. I had to protect you." "Now, that's funny. You protecting me. Kitten you can't protect yourself. You wander around in cemeteries on the Hellmouth in the middle of the night looking for a vampire. Sooner or later your going to find one that's not me. Are you okay, Kitten. I need to get you home before the slayer finds you gone and comes hunting for you. I really don't want to get up close and personal with her favorite stake." The tiny brunette sniffed once or twice and wiped her eyes. "Yeah Spike, you can walk me home. I have to sneak in through my window." She grinned up at the blonde vampire. "Piece of cake." "So Kitten, we friends?" "Yeah Spike, we're friends," she looked up at him and parroted his words back at him, "but, don't tell anyone, I have a reputation to protect." tbc |