| Smoke |
| DISCLAIMER: All hail Joss Whedon, UPN, the WB, FOX , Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Theirs not mine. He pats my cheek lovingly, and then rises. �And what this Xander fellow said about Spike being violent, attacking him?� �Well, Dad, Xander accused Spike of just using me for sex�� He holds up his hand. �Say no more, honey, please. Good for Spike. I�d have done the same thing.� He smiles at me. �I shouldn�t have doubted him, based on gossip alone. But you know that old saying, �where there�s smoke, there�s fire�. Just wanted to look out for my girls.� He stops, looks at me questioningly. �I think you may need to reevaluate who your friends are, honey. I don�t think those two acted very loyally, coming running to me telling tales.� Dad frowns, looking at his watch. �I�m taking Dawn over to Mission Grove. The headmistress is expecting us for dinner at her home in a half hour. Then Dawn�s going to spend the night over there, meet her new dorm mates.� He gets up and goes in the kitchen and I follow him. Dawn and Spike are eating peanut butter out of the jar. She is speaking in a low voice, brandishing her spoon in punctuation. Spike�s eyebrows are raised high, looking completely shocked. �I think it�s time we met, young man,� says my father, in a serious voice. Spike jumps, startled. �Yes, Mr. Summers. I�m, uh, Spike.� He offers a peanut butter streaked left hand to my father, and then offers his clean right one. My father shakes his hand firmly. �You got any other name, son, or is it just Spike?� �William, sir,� says Spike, his posture stiff and formal. �That�s a bit more like it,� My father says with a grin. �Makes you sound like a real person instead of something you�d find at the hardware store.� A tiny smirk passes over Spike�s face before he quashes it. �Dawn? Can I speak to you outside for a minute?� I ask. Dawn and I go to the back porch. We both look up for a moment, watching the stars twinkling in the night sky. She turns to me, clearly scared. �Do you hate me for calling Dad? I just didn�t know what else to do to help you, Buffy. Things have gotten so screwed up.� �No, Dawnie, no. I haven�t been taking good care of things since I got back, or before it, really. Calling Dad was what I should have done, a long time ago.� It hurts to admit that I haven�t been doing as well as I wanted to. �But going to boarding school, Dawn? Are you just trying to get away from me because you�re afraid of me?� My voice starts to crack as I say the last words, and she pulls me into a hug. �I�m afraid for you, Buffy. I lost you once and I can�t bear to lose you again. You need to figure out all these changes that you�re going through, and to how to deal with them. I don�t want to see you hurt, not physically and not with all the fighting. � She sighs. �And I don�t want to hurt you too, Buffy, but I need more than this. I need to be a normal girl for a while, and I can�t do that here. Not while all of this is going on.� �And you think you�ll like it there?� My voice is tinged with disbelief. �Janice�s mom sent her to board at Locust Grove after Halloween,� she tells me. �She really likes it there, and we�re going to be roommates. It�s going to be great, Buffy.� �And if you hate it you�ll come home?� I know the answer, but I need to hear it just the same. �Cross my heart, Buffy. I�ll always come home to you.� She hugs me again. She smiles at me, dangling her car keys. �Can we go see the new cars now?� Grabbing my hand, she pulls me around the side of the house, giggling like the teenage girl she is. -TBC- |
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