| Title: Family Author:Buffygirl13 Summery: After her sister's death Dawn is left with the ownly family she has left...Spike. Rating: PG-13 for bloody awfell language. Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I keep wishing but it never happens) and all the charaters belong to Mr. Joss Wenden. <> mean thoughts and stuff. If anyone came to the Sunnydale Graveyard that night they would probably wonder what that tall brown haired man was doing out here so late at night. People got killed that way all the time. More then often lately. His head was bowed in grief and if you looked close enough you could make out the grimace of pain on his pale face. His hand reached out slowly to touch the grave. There it rested for a moment before pulling back as if stung. In the silence a single word broke the still air. "Buffy..." ********** "Bloody hell!" Dawn smiled as she walked into the house closing the door behind her. She was used to this greeting by now. The house was unusally dark because the shades were drawn. When you live with a vampire you have to keep the sun out or you'll be living with a big pile of dust. "Hi Spike." "Umm... hi." (pause) "Dawn, love, were did your darling mum keep the fire extinguisher?" Dawn smiled again, which was a rare sight to see nowadays, " Spike, mom never set food on fire, there was no need for a fire extinguisher." <Was, past tense> "Well that is just bloody swell. Come help me put out the food. And get the number for that pizza place." "You think he'd have it memorized by now." Dawn grumbled. "I heard that." Dawn winced <note to self; vampires have super hearing>. Dawn sighed and went to get the phone book. On the way to the table she happened to catch sight of a calendar above the clock on the wall. Three months. Buffy died three months ago. Her mom died four months ago. Xander and Anya got married one month ago. Giles started drinking a week after the funeral and had been drinking until Willow knocked some sense into him, literally. Willow locked Giles and herself into a room for three hours. No one knows what happened in there, but soon after Giles stopped his late night pub habits. Quickly... "So Dawnie, how was school?" Spike broke Dawn's thoughts as he entered the room, waving away a cloud of smoke from the extinguished fire. "Anything not so boring as usual?" Dawn thought for a moment, "Well let me think, in block I learned how to sacrifice a goat." "That's always important to know." came the reply with a roll of those clear blue eyes. Spike was still the same old Spike. Tall, blonde, sarcastic, snobby, and still dressed in black. Only Dawn saw the other side of him. With her friends he was still a soulless vampire with a chip in his head. The only time he ever showed any emotion was... when he saw Buffy's body. Flashback: Dawn came slowly down the steps knowing very well what she'd find at the bottom. Buffy was lying in a pool of blood after jumping through the portal, being electrocuted, and falling 200 meters to the ground. "Buffy!" Willow screamed falling to the ground next to her dead friend. Tara put her arms around her and heald her close. Giles lowered his head and Dawn could see tears forming in his eyes. Anya was in Xander's arms and she turned her head away onto Xander's sholder. Xander looked like he was having trouble breathing and he clung onto Anya tighter. "On my god... Buffy." Dawn whispered. Something snapped and she started to sob loudly. Her friends were too caught up in their own grief to notice. Dawn covered her face with her hands and continued to cry. Feeling a hand on her shoulder she turned around. Spike was standing there with tears in his cold blue eyes. He folded her into his arms letting her cry onto his unbeating chest. Just like Buffy's chest; cold and unbeating. Dawn sobbed louder, reality slapping her in the face over and over again. "Shhhhhhhhh. Don't cry love, she wouldn't want you to cry. Everythings going to be okay, Dawnie." Spike rocked her back and forth in his arms like a baby. Even as he was saying these words Dawn could fell his tears seeping into the silk of her dress. "Everything will be fine. I'll look after you, I promise." Spike whispered in her ear as he ran his hand threw her hair. Buffy had done that many times before. Buffy would never do that again. Buffy was dead. End Flashback: "Hellooo. Anyone in there." Spike tapped lightly on her forehead. Dawn snapped back into the present. "Knock in off Spike," Dawn said stepping away. "Sorry love, I asked you what you wanted on your pizza and you just stared at me blankly," Spike's mouth twisted into a smirk, "Now Dawn, I know you like my body but it's not nice to stare." "Oh shut up bleach boy." "Why Dawn, I do believe you hurt my feelings." Spike said in mock hurt, griping his heart. "Drop dead." Dawn joked. "Too late." Spike shot back grining. "Ahhh...Fine, you win this round." Dawn said throwing a pillow at him. "As always." Spike said throwing the pillow back at her. "Just for that you have to help me with my math homework tonight." Dawn said enjoying the way the smile on his face turned to a look of pure terror. "Oh god no..." ****************************** The stranger sat in Glies' chair. His long legs where crossed and his hands gripped the arm rest so hard his knucks were white. "Spike aka William the Bloody...is taking care of Dawn. Are we taking about the same Spike here?" "The one and only," Giles said handing the man a cup of his English tea, "and the same Spike seems to be doing a good job of it. Dawn goes to school everyday, gets very good grades, and seems as happy as the circumstances allow. It even looks like she brushes her teeth every day." "This is unbelievible. Spike, the guardian of the Slayer's little sister. How did this happen?" "Well a lot of things happened. First a gorvernment research group put a chip in his head were he can't hurt any living human but can hurt demons and vampire, thus giving him something to kill in his spare time." Giles blew on his tea before continuing, "He came to us for help many times and Buffy didn't feel right killing something that couldn't fight back so he got to live." The man snorted and Giles looked at him, "That sounds like Buffy." Giles smiled, for a moment he looked 30 years younger. "Yes that was our Buffy. Then the tables turned and he started helping us now and then. At first we had to pay him for help but then he stared helping "out of the evilness of his heart" and became sort of a backup for Buffy. No one knows exectly when but he sort of developed a...crush on Buffy." A minute of silence before the man burst out laughing, "Your kidding! Oh my god, Spike of all people! Oh, this is rich!" "Yes, that was Xander's reaction as well. Anyway, Buffy never returned his feelings but she grew to look at him as a friend, a weird one but still a friend. Before Buffy....well you know." Giles stopped at the pained look on the man face that he was sure resebled his own, "It seems before Buffy passed on she asked Spike to protect Dawn if anything should happen to her. That is what Spike did, only he took in a step farther." Silence filled the room as both men were lost in thought. "Giles, how did Spike afford Dawn's old house? You said he was looking to you for money." The man asked looking up from his cup. Giles smiled, "He entered a history contest and won $1,000,000." "WHAT!" "I believe his words were, 'those nansy boys read about history. I bloody well lived it.' " "That is a really good plan for someone like Spike to think of." "Indead. I think he might be a changed man. He even bought Xander and Anya a wedding present. A toster I believe." "Why did Spike look after Dawn? I know he made a promise but why not you or one of the others?" "I couldn't take her. I had some err...problems at the time. The others are still not of age. We were going to have to put her in a foster home a Spike stepped in." Giles turned his eyes to the cealing, "I believe he said, 'Over my broken, unmoving, pile-of-dust body.' " "Huh." (silence) After a bit the man stood up and placed his untouched cup on the table with a clunk, "Thanks Giles." "Angel, don't do anything stupid..." Angel smiled a bitter smile, "I wont do anything that would hurt Dawn." Then he left leaving Giles alone in the living room sipping his cup of tea. Making a face he spat it out, "Now why did no one ever tell me that my tea was this damn awfell?" **************************** "Dawnie..." With a start Dawn sat up in bed. "Dawnie..." came the whisper again. "Buffy?" Dawn called out pushing the covers away. "Help me Dawnie please...I so cold." Buffy voice came louder this time. "I'm coming Buffy!" Dawn yelled running out of her room...and stepped into the graveyard. It was a dark and cold out making Dawn shiver. "Dawn...hurry, Dawnie!" Buffy voice pleaded. " Buffy! Were are you? I can't see you?" Mist covered Dawn's field of vision as she pushed on deeper into the night. "Right here you little bitch." came a venomious voice from behind her. Dawn whirled round and gasped as a cold hand fastened its self around her neck. Glory smiled and squeezed harder, "Looking for someone honey?" Her blue eyes peared into hers. "H-Help." Dawn croaked out. "No one can help you. They're all dead." The mist suddenly lefted and Dawn looked around her and screamed. Buffy, Spike, Giles, Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya, all dead. They bodies mutilated. Their blood dyed the ground red. Anya's mouth was freezen in a silent scream. Xander's head was 20 feet away from his body. And Buffy, oh god Buffy. "They all died...trying to save you." Glory sneared and raised a knife, "Time to go home." "NO!" Dawn shouted jumping out of bed. She was covered in cold sweat and the sheets were kicked off onto the floor. Dawn sat down breathing heavily. <Buffybuffybuffybuffybuffybuffy.> She covered her face and held back a sob. After a minute she collected herself and looked at the clock. 3:57 am. Faint sounds of Tv came from downstairs. Spike was probably watching Passion reruns. When show was cancled he threw a fit. Dawn remembered his words as he kicked the couch over and over again. "I can't believe they stopped the bleedin show just because the stupid ass main character died! I wanna bloody see what happens to the other characters! They can't just leave the bloody ending with everyone crying their bleedin eyes out! It's not bloody fair!" (Author's Note: can anyone guess what the I'm refuring to here?) So now he just watched the late night reruns well he drink his blood. A thing with Spike was he never drink his blood in front of her, waiting tell she was asleep to have his late night snack. Dawn guessed he thought it would gross her out or something. Spike, Dawn's dream came back full force. She needed to see if he was okay. Needed to see his bright eyes look up at her without the horrified look of a dead man. Walking quietly downstairs she pecked into the living room. There was Spike. His eyes focused totally on the screen of the Tv, the light reflecting in his eyes as he drank his "stuff" out of his favorite mug. Dawn watched him for a long time. Finally he pursed his lips together in his familiar fastion and spoke, his eyes never leavng the Tv. "Pet, I can hear you breath from a mile away. Are you going to sit there staring at me all night or tell me whats bugging you?" His eyes finally left the Tv to gaze at her thoughtfully. Dawn smiled sadly and came into the living room. "I had a bad dream." "I heard." Dawn stood there for a moment, shefting from foot to foot neveriously as he eyed her over. Finally after what seemed like an eturnity he sighed and patted the coushion next to him on the couch. With hesitating Dawn sat down next to him and placed her head on his shoulder. Spike stiffened for a moment then relaxed again. He brought an arm around her and started to stroke her hair lightly, like Buffy used to do. Used to. Dawn felt the tears start to come again and she snuggled closer to his cold body. Spike had his eyes back on the cheesy soup on the Tv. For a couple minutes he didn't speak, just sat there in silence stroking her hair. "In must have been a pretty bad dream. You're not usually this touchy-feelly." He muttered into her ear. Dawn closed her eyes and nodded against his chest. "Was it about Glory again?" Dawn nodded again. Spike drew away to study her, his eyes revealing nothing. He spoke again this time with a bit of anger in his voice. "Dawn, we've been over this a million times. It wasn't your falt. It never was. Even if you had gone through that protal instead of her she would have died anyway. Losing you would have been her last straw. No win situation Pet." "But..." Dawn began but was cut off as Spike shook her a bit roughly. "NO! No buts. It's not your falt. Stop blaming yourself." Spike looked away sharply and pushed her behind him as the door smashed open. ************************************* Angel was standing outside Buffy's old house (now Dawn and Spike's house) watching Spike as he sat watching some corny sit-com on the television set. He positivly raged with anger at the thought of Spike in Buffy's house, sitting on her couch, eating at her table (well not really eating). The rage became worse as he saw Spike stroke Dawn's hair. He remembered how Buffy would do that whenever Dawn was scared or upset. How dare Spike even touch that girl. Angel's eyes narrowed as he watched to blonde hair vampire pull away from Dawn and look at her as if...as if she was a meal. When Spike shook Dawn that was it. Spike wasn't good like everyone said. He was just biding his time to when he could pick them off one by one and eat up their pain. Spike enjoyed pain almost more then Angelus did. He must have somehow gottin rid of that chip without anyone knowing it. <I need to save Dawn> Angel's eyes widened as Spike drew closer to her. "No!" he whispered causing Spike to look up. Before you could say "crash" Angel had broken down the front door and stormed into the house. He saw Spike's eyes widen in surprise and Dawn looked around his shoulder to see what was going on. "Peaches?" Spike said using his nickname for Angel, "What areguuuuuuu!!" That was all he got out before Ange had him by the throat. "What the hell do you think your doing Spike?" Angel asked as he shook him by the neck. Spike tried to answer but was unsecessful as Angel had cut off his air. "Angel, NO!" Dawn yelled running at Angel. "No, Dawn..." Spike managed to croke out. "He was trying to hurt you!" Angel yelled slipping into his game face. "No! He was helping me!" "Helping? He was shaking you!" Angel yelled turning back to Spike, "I'll kill you, you mother-" Angel broke off in a yelp as Spike kicked him in the crotch. He let go of Spike very quickly indead. "Bloody hell you great poof!" Spike yelled rubbing his throat. Dawn run to his arms and hugged him. "Spike are you hurt?" "I'll live Pet." Spike said giving her a quick squeeze before he nelt beside Angel who was kneeling on the ground in pain, "One question, are you evil?" Angel looked up at him and rolled his eyes. "I'll take that as a no." "Spike.." Dawn said softly causing him to look at her, "I think I need to talk to him alone." Spike gave her a funny look but walk out of the room muttering something about an early breakfast. "Angel," Dawn sat down on the floor next to the vampire with a soul, "Are you okay?" "Absolutly peachy." Angel choked out, "Did I just make a fool out of myself?" "Yep." "Sorry about that." "No harm done." Dawn smiled. "That's what you bloody think!" Spike yelled from the kitchen. **************************** "So Spike was just helping you with a nightmare?" Angel asked staring at Dawn amazed. "Yep, that's about it." Dawn said trying not to laugh. Angel looked so shocked at the thought of Spike, his old nemises, consouling a scared 15 year old girl. He used to like to eat 15 year old girls probably. "And he's been taking care of you all this time?" "Well, I could have gone to a foster home but it would have been over his broken, unmoving, pile-of-dust body." Dawn grinned at Angel whos mouth was making a perfect O. They sat in silence for a little bit. Angel was to shocked to speak and Dawn thought she would laugh if she opened her mouth. Finally Dawn spoke, all humor gone from her face, "Why did you wait this long to come back? You didn't even come for the funeral." Angel looked pained, "I-It was too hard. When Willow came to tell me I almost had a breakdown. To come back here...all the memories...it would have been to much." Angel sighed and looked down at the carpet. "I'm sorry Dawnie." Angel looked like he was about to cry. Dawn didn't speak just looked at him. "She still loved you." Dawn said making Angel look up. "What?!" "You could see it everytime your name was spoken. For a minute her eyes would mist up like she was remembering something from long ago. It was obvious she still loved you. I think that might be part of the reason Riley left." Dawn looked into Angel's face and she swore she saw a small smile start to form. But it was gone in a second as Angel cleared his throat. "So, are you happy living...with Spike? Does he treat you okay?" "If he didn't I think Giles would have staked him slowly to death all ready." Dawn answered coolly. "But...are you happy." Angel pressed. To his surprise Dawn smiled a true smile that seemed to light up her dark face, "I'm more than happy. I'm family." Her stared into silence before clearing her throat, "So would you like to stay for breakfast? Spike should be burning it right about now." "Oh bloody hell!" Spike yelled from the kitchen, "DAWN! Were do you keep the cereal!" Angel laughed as Dawn rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen. <Family> |