Spike had said that the kid was old enough to know what she was doing. Dawn knew the risks, she better accepted the consequences too.

He only laughed when Xander called him a soulless bastard and calmly lighted a cigarette when a enraged Willow asked him coldly to leave. He even threw a kiss in Tara’s direction as he crossed the doorstep and then, as the gang was too busy discussing where the young girl could be, Spike went to the Bronze, the ice-cream parlor and her closest friends’ houses.

But he wasn’t looking for her, of course not. Let the pansies do that themselves. This was just a new route in his ‘Look for demons’ patrol.

That excuse flew away the moment he heard her whimper as he was crossing an indistinct alley.

"Fuck!" was what followed the helpless whimper and Spike threw his fourth cigarette onto the ground as he practically run into the dark alley.

Once there he ignored the sweet scent around them. Spike knew better than to lick his lips never to find the comfort of blood on them anymore. His hand fingered a cigarette's butt deep in his pocket but he ignored that urge too. She needed help. He focused on the fact that she was hurt and needed help as much as he could.

He finally found her in the deep end of the dead-ended alley. There she was, barely standing and leaning all her weight on a dumpster. Spike shook his head as he remembered that he wasn’t supposed to care. "Kid?"

Dawn raised her head, trying to straighten as soon as she saw the vampire. "What are you doing here?" She crossed her arms over her chest, wincing when she obviously pulled a sore muscle. He took a step forward to help her, but she cringed back. "I can do it myself, damn it!"

The half-anger, half-annoyance in her voice made him instantly decide that he *definitely* wasn’t interested in her predicament. Spike was tired of women telling him to take his help somewhere else. Damned if he added Dawn Summers to the list.

He watched silently as the girl tried to walk on her own. It was in vain, she couldn't support her weight on one leg. Between her gasps and her expletives, Spike's hand automatically searched for a cigarette in his pocket while the other flipped his zippo open. He was about to bend down and light his Marlboro when Dawn’s tired voice distracted him.

"Hey, I need some help, can’t you see?" For further attention, she pointed to the rip in her pants, stained with blood.

He cocked an eyebrow even as he discarded the thought of carrying her home. The slight girl was not as slight as she seemed at first glance. "Could’ve fooled me," he muttered as he finally took a drag. "The others are worried, shouldn’t you have been at home hours ago, Bit?"

She shrugged. "So they actually noticed?" she mumbled under her breath and Spike wondered if she really thought he couldn’t hear it. "I was just walking back from Marie's when this stupid vampire grabs me and pushes me in here." Her head shook in disbelief. "Didn’t even know who I was, the fool. Don’t demons do their homework anymore? I remember a time when vampires cared to study the Slayer before invading her hometown." Slight pause. "You did."

Spike smirked, remembering the tapes of Buffy and her little family walking through the town in those rare evenings they went out together. Because it hadn’t been only about learning her fighting techniques, it was about learning her every weakness. "You okay?"

Dawn snorted. "I’m not dead, am I? That vamp didn’t know what was waiting for him until he was dust." She motioned to a spot on the floor where Spike supposed the ashes had rested until the wind blew them away. He suppressed a shudder, the sight of the end of immortality wasn’t as easy for him as everyone seemed to think.

"Makes you nervous, doesn’t it?" Dawn said haughtily.

Except, maybe, the little girl in front of him.

"The fact that I’m bleeding and you can’t do anything. Must suck to have that chip in your head."

Or maybe not. Spike laughed. "In your state?" He looked at the tired expression in her face, the limp as she tried to move from the dumpster to the wall. As the fifth cigarette’s burning end disappeared under his shoe, he decided that he could spare a second to grab her arm and steady her. "You are too weak, Dawn," he said as the girl decided to take a rest leaning on his chest instead. "What would last more, I wonder, my pain or your life?"

Dawn chuckled bitterly. "Bastard." Then she glanced up at him and he recognized the glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Would you really try it?"

He shook his head even if he had wondered about it.

Dawn pushed herself out of the comfort of his body and supported herself on the wall. "Coward," she muttered and this time Spike knew she’d meant him to hear it. "Too afraid to end in the same way of that vampire?"

He shrugged. "Beginners’ luck."

"That’s not it and you know it." Her eyes now had an angry expression and she looked ready to show him how she'd killed the other vampire. That was better, Spike thought, he would rather take her anger than her wistful longing for oblivion. "They all think I’m helpless. Can’t you at least see the truth? You never wanted to protect me before, why would you do it now?"

Good question, and the wrong answer would be the fact that he’d promised Buffy to do exactly that. "Just because."

Dawn rolled her eyes and Spike tried not to laugh at the typical teenager expression. "Come on, silly girl," he said as he snaked an arm around her waist. "Time to get your arse home." She didn’t resist when her body came to rest directly onto Spike’s, instead threading her own arm around his back and grabbing his shirt for dear life. "Not so hard," he hissed.

Dawn properly ignored him. He could worry for wrinkles in his favourite shirt later.

Slowly, and to the total surprise of Anya, who had been called to stay at the Summers’ while the others went on a search for the missing girl, Spike brought Dawn home. He even decided that the girl didn’t weight too much – and wasn’t he supposed to be a strong vampire anyway? What would it say about him if he couldn’t carry a fifteen-year-old? – and got her into her own room. Spike only smirked when Anya drew the line when he tried to get Dawn’s sneakers off and he wished he had thought of doing more if only to annoy the ex demon.

As he'd planned, Spike was gone long before the others could decide between thanking or throwing him away.

Anya only shook her head when she saw through Dawn’s window as the vampire left. This behaviour wasn’t like Spike at all, normally he’d just dial Willow’s cell and let the gang take care of their own. Or if he did bring Dawn home, he'd certainly brag about it. Why would he possibl-

Dawn moaned lightly.