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DISCLAIMER: Because I create friendships and then forget about
them. Right.
SUMMARY: G. Never leave Dawn in charge, that's a lesson Spike will learn.
WORDCOUNT: 1062
NOTES: Written for Carebear at the Choose your Author Ficathon.
THE RISKS OF (not!) BABY-SITTING
by Leni
Dawn washed her hands under the kitchen faucet, watching the colour fade from her wrists.
She smiled. Now this was what she called a good night. The Buffybot was away patrolling
far from the house, Willow and Tara had gone for a romantic evening and wouldn't be back
until later. Of course, Anya had demanded that she and Xander did the same, leaving Dawn
under the watchful eye of...
"What the? Are you bloody kidding, you twits. No way in hell I'll..." Tara had
covered her ears and led her into her room after that, but Dawn was sure she could fill in
the gaps. Spike had kept cursing, Willow had tried to reason with him, then Spike had
threatened to burn down the house (for the sixth time this week) and Willow would make
something 'accidentally' combust right beside him.
The result?
A still grumbling Spike in front of the TV, yelling her name every fifteen minutes to make
sure she hadn't climbed down her window. ("You're Buffy's sister, reason enough for
me.") Four hours later, with no sign of the witches, he'd begun flipping the channels
in barely contained annoyance, cursing and calling her guardians by names Dawn wasn't sure
she wanted to understand.
That was when she'd begun her attack. Single-mindedly, just as the Buffybot went about the
'joys' of patrol, Dawn had begun rounding around the sofa. Finally she'd been close enough
to sit beside him without him rushing out of the house. ("Red finds me within a foot
of you, she'll get weird ideas. No, thank you.") Talking to him while his favourite
soap-opera was on had been difficult, but Dawn Summers was nothing if not determined.
She'd whined loud and long enough for him to pay attention. It'd been hard. It'd been a
battle of his reasons against hers. It'd been one of the most difficult things she'd done
this summer. But one hour later she'd worn Spike down enough to convince him. One of her
dreams coming true; life was sweet. Armed with gloves, a plastic sheet and the box she'd
bought weeks ago waiting for this very moment, Dawn had proceeded to dye Spike's hair.
Now Dawn smiled as she dried her hands. She couldn't wait to see her final work. Life was
too sweet when it let her get away with this. Of course, she couldn't be that
lucky.
"Dawn?" Spike called from the living room.
She looked up and made a noise that told him she was listening.
"You dropped a glove, Nibblet."
Dawn shot a look at ther tools in the table. Indeed, only one glove was resting over the
plastic. Oh no... She gulped, noiselessly backing away from the kitchen door, instead
trying to get outside before Spike caught her.
"Stop right there."
She froze, her lips thinned automatically but after a second she forced them into a smile.
The smile became real when Dawn turned around and saw the vampire. Now she had to tell
herself not to grin in mirth. "Yes, Spike?" she managed; to her relief her voice
sounded normal.
He studied her measuringly; she answered with one of her most innocent looks. His eyebrow
cocked and he glanced in doubt at the glove in his hand. The free one went through his
hair even though he was still fixing her under his stare. There was silence for several
seconds.
Then Dawn snickered. Just a low, tiny giggle. It was her downfall. Spike's eyes glowered
as he advanced towards her. "So it is green dye, you little..." The girl
squeaked and jumped out of his way. Not fast enough to escape him, but enough to get him
out of balance when he trapped her. Both fell awkwardly to the floor. Dawn laughed for
real this time, long and loud. Any other time she would have blushed at the closeness
between their bodies, now she ignored the knowledge, too happy to care. "I---
I." She swallowed. "I just had to see what it looked like."
Spike didn't seem moved by her 'reason', if anything his grasp on her tightened as his
expression darkened. But he wasn't vocally threatening her, so Dawn took it in her favour.
"I swear," she said, hoping her tone sounded placating, "I'll get it back
to normal. I have your usual platinum in my room just." She wiggled a little and he
released her. "give me a sec." Using his shoulder as support, she was on her
feet instantly.
"Be right back," she shot over her shoulder. She was surprised when Spike
stopped her, taking her hand. "What? You're not mad, are you? It's not as if you
wouldn't have done the same."
"Touché." He grinned. "Nah, just wanted to say that..." He shrugged a
little. "It's nice to see you laughing again, that's all."
Dawn knitted her eyebrows at the unexpected words. "I always laugh." And she
did. Buffy's death had caused the gang a lot of grief, none of them were fully over it.
But in the last weeks she'd been able to smile sincerely and, when something as
laugh-worthy as Spike's 'new' hairstyle happened, laugh sincerely too. "Maybe you
should be around more." She grimaced to herself when she noticed how accusatory she'd
sounded. She hadn't meant to. Not really.
While she'd been musing, Spike had gotten up too, taking one of the booths by the counter
for himself. "Maybe I should, bit." He touched his hair again, plucking one
strand out. He almost chuckled when, indeed, it came out green. She'd done it well, he
admitted that; he'd never seen it coming, didn't really believe it even after noticing the
greenish spots on the forgotten glove. Damn mirrors hadn't helped, he could have easily
gone like this until the next day. And if the others had seen him... "You ain't doing
this again," his voice was serious now, but it was obvious that he smothered another
laugh. Slayer blood or not, Dawn was something else. Spike shook his head and shooed her
with one hand. "Now go before I change my mind about who is the soulless fiend in
this house."
Dawn rolled her eyes and ran upstairs. Once in her room, she rummaged in her closet for
the right box. Now, if only she could manage to take one picture before dyeing that
hair back to its usual colour...
The End
21/10/04
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