| In the next room unbeknown to Spike, Dawn was having horrible nightmares. Dawn was up on Glory�s tower again. The wind was blowing through her hair and she was bleeding, the cuts burning and itching. Fighting was going on below her and Dawn was calling for help. Spike came to her rescue just as he originally did, but something was different. Buffy stepped out of the shadows and grabbed him. �We don�t need him in our life Dawnie. We can�t trust him, you can never trust vampires. They will use you and throw you away when they�re done. Then they leave and you�re empty and cold inside, dead just like they are. When the time comes he won�t protect you, just like he didn�t protect you from Glory. He�ll walk away while you burn. I t I won�t let that happen Dawnie, I love you, you�re my sister.� Buffy came at Spike just like Doc had, except in her hand was a stake. Staking Spike through the back she pushed him off the tower. Dawn screamed out his name, louder than she had that night and kept screaming as he burst into ash on the way down. Spike hearing his name being screamed was out of bed like a shot from a cannon. Racing into Dawn�s room he caught her flailing arms and legs. �Dawn, I�m here. Spike�s here Nibblet.� Spike held her in his arms as she began shivering violently, her tears coating his shoulder in wetness. �It was just a dream Bit. I�m here and I�m not going anywhere.� It had been just a minute afterward that the whole AI team burst in the room with Angel at the forefront. �Is she all right?� Angel saw the way Dawn was acting and was deeply concerned. �It was a nightmare. I think she�s all right now. Dawn, can you tell us what the dream was about.� Spike held her in his arms, combed back her hair and looked into her wildly frightened eyes. Dawn told them exactly what she had seen in her dream, and how Buffy had gone off the deep end. She told them that her sister hadn�t been the same since coming back from the dead and probably never would be again. For the first time Dawn looked up, that when she noticed who the other people in the room were. While she had never been a big fan of, Angel�s she was glad that Spike had brought her here. Even with their relationship she knew without a shadow of a doubt that Angel would protect her from Buffy if he had too. �So I guess you figured we could not do this without a fight huh.� Dawn looked into Spike�s eyes and saw the truth. He had brought her here for her safety if something happened. �I�m sorry Dawn. I didn�t think I had a choice. You know she�ll come for you when she gets the chance. I didn�t want for us to get caught alone. As much as I want to, I don�t have the strength to protect you if she brings her whole posse.� Wrapping his coat back around her still slightly shivering frame, he stood up and walked toward the window looking out at the late afternoon sun. �Thank you. I know what it must have cost you to come here to them for help. It means a lot to me. Thank all of you for willing to help me. For you to trust us, means a lot. I�m tired of being scared of my own sister and of Willow. I just want a normal life or at least as normal as I can make it. I�ll do whatever I can to repay you for all of your help.� Taking off Spike�s jacket, Dawn handed it back to him, knowing that he hated being without it. When he wouldn�t take it, she looked at him questioningly. She had never known Spike to be anywhere without the duster. �You hang onto it Bit. I think it�s better off with you for now.� Spike looked at her with eyes full of worry and without saying a word Dawn took the coat back and gently laid it on the back on a nearby chair. �Angel, I need to call my dad and let him know that I�m not with Buffy. He�ll be worried if he tries to reach me and I�m not there.� �Yeah, guys� why don�t you show Dawn where the phone is and get her something to eat. I need to have a moment with Spike.� Angel gently urged Dawn toward the door. �Nibblet, don�t tell your father where you�re at. Tell him you�re going to be staying the summer with the family of a friend down in Mexico and that you�ll check in periodically so that he won�t worry. Willow cannot read his mind finding out where you are if he doesn�t know. It�s better for him to know as less as possible to keep him safe.� Spike turned toward Angel knowing that what decisions they were about to make would be imperative to keeping Dawn safe for the next few days. �You don�t think Buffy would let anything happen to Dad do you Spike?� The look of worry that crossed Dawn�s young face was evident. �I don�t know Bit, but I want all of our bases covered just in case. Go on now and make your call, get something to eat then see if someone will help you get the bags from the car, I�ll move it when it gets dark.� Spike tossed her the keys to the Desoto and gently shut the door on her retreating back. Angel waited until he had heard the elevator begin its descent before he let Spike in on the information he had received from Sunnydale. Some information Dawn didn�t need to know, especially since it pertained to her own sister. �I called some contacts in Sunnydale. The only information anyone has heard yet was that they took the Slayer to the hospital a massive puncture wound to the right side of her neck. She was in immediate need of a blood transfusion due to massive blood loss. According to a nurse if she would have lost another ounce she would have died.� Angel waited for Spike to deny that he had almost killed Buffy, when none came he glared at his grand childe. �I won�t ask you what the hell you were thinking boy, but I�m just glad that I trained you well enough to know when to stop. In this we have a major problem. Buffy is going to want to dance in your ashes, but this gives us at least a day and a half hopeful reprieve. Unfortunately she has the remarkable ability of coming back with a vengeance, it was after major blood loss that she sent The Master and me to hell. Also, now you�re going to have the rest of them coming after you. Xander will be no problem, but if what my source�s say are true Willow will be our biggest obstacle. Seems the witch�s magic is getting out of control and it will get to a point where only the darkness could control it. If this happens in the next few days, we won�t be ready, then we�re all dead. You sure did pick one hell of a time to do this boy.� Angel began pacing the room trying to come up with ideas that won�t get them all killed. It was one of the rare times when he wished a little bit of Angelus would shine through, the bastard was nothing if ruthless and exceptionally cunning. The idea of bringing him back would be as a last resort, he really didn�t relish being a bigger threat to his team that what they were already going to be up against. �Do you have someone who is good enough with the magicks to get barriers put up on this place, along with some kind of a warning signal? I won�t deny that you�re team is probably very well trained, but with the exception of Watcher junior, there is none of them that have gotten on the wrong side of a Slayer. I�m going to start training Dawn tonight in case she has to defend herself against Buffy. She could take the whelp now if she wanted to. My biggest concern is the same as yours, the witch. She knows what Dawn is and can use that against her.� Spike was now pacing in the opposite direction of Angel and it would have been a funny sight if the situation wouldn�t be so dire. Angel stopped mid stride when Spike mentioned Dawn being something. �What do you mean what she is? If there is something you need to tell me, say it now.� �Some monks spliced Buffy�s DNA with this ancient mystical energy known as The Key and made Dawn, and all the memories we have of her. That hell bitch we fought last year used Dawn�s blood to open a portal to hell. If Buffy wouldn�t have jumped into the damn thing, we would be living hell on earth. That�s how Buffy died. I got tortured because I wouldn�t give up that I knew Dawn was The Key. Dawn has had a hard time adjusting to all of this, especially since they gave her everything that has made her human. If Willow gets near her she might try to destroy the energy that made Dawn and frankly I don�t know what that would do. Not just what it will do to Dawn, but what it could do to our whole plane of existence. I might just wipe out everything as we know it.� Spike�s frustration at the unsurmountable odds that lay in front of him had him itching for a fight. Not knowing what else to do, he took his frustration out on the wall, punching a fist-sized hole all the way through to the next room. Pulling his now bloodied hand out of the wall he looked at two fingers that we going to have to be reset before they mended. Angel walked over to him and cuffed Spike on the back of the head. Taking the younger vampires hand in his, Angel set both fingers with one quick tug. �Bloody hell, you could have let me know that you were going to do that.� Spike flexed his hand and was glad for the Slayer�s blood as the bones were already knitting together. �William, do you need to be reminded to control your temper. Or am I going to have to teach you a lesson like I did back in the day. If they would not have been reset quickly with the Slayer�s blood in you, they would have had to be broken again.� Angel actually patted Spike on the shoulder. He was proud of what his grand childe was trying to do and it went a long way in regaining the trust they had at one time with each other. If it wouldn�t have been for problems with Drusilla, their friendship might not have went sour. �Do you ever regret going to Sunnydale, ever regret meeting them and letting them in?� Spike stood next to his grand sire, both of them trying hard to only look at the floor. There had been such animosity toward each other for more years than they could count. Both wondered if there ever would be a time when all the damage had been repaired and they could be like the brothers they once were. �Never, where would we be without any of them. We�re different William, we need them and I believe they need us to. In the past few years I have learned than without them I�m nothing. I�m not even a pathetic excuse for a demon. I�d still be in an alley sucking on rats we�re it not for them, and alone. They�ve helped us become who we are.� For the first time ever Angel really looked at Spike and like him saw a creature that had changed almost beyond recognition. �What two poncey prats?� Spike looked at his sire seeing one of the first friends that he�s ever had. �No, men.� Angel patted Spike on the back and left the room glad for the first time in a century to have a member of his family and his old friend near. Spike looked at the closed door and wondered at the future and what he meant for him and Angel. He didn�t know if they could be the friends� they once were, but no longer did he think of Angel as his enemy |
| Chapter Five |
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