I love the dialogue between Dawn and Janice. I thought they were Xander's parents at first! Novel outlook.

Good idea! This was engrossing.

This is a great start! Love the way that Spike cares for his Niblet, and I love the quick change from rage to concern when he smelled her blood on the air. Most of all, I love how he begs her not to make him a failure again. So very touching! More soon, please!

hmmmmm, i'm intrigued.

seems to be a nice start!

Beautiful scene at the end. You're doing a great job with Dawn & Spike's characters. Can't wait to see what you do with their grief. :)

Can't wait to see what's to happen next. Dawn doesn't need to be around anymore tension then she's already having to live with. Thank god she has Spike. This does bring back all the resentment I've still got for the scoobies during that summer. He was good enough to help them and take care of Dawn but they never gave him one bit of respect or gratitude for everything he did for them. He's a vampire for christ sake, he didn't owe them anything, he did it out of love for his slayer and her sister. Wonderful beginning Space, I do hope you'll get back to "Your Heart...", I do miss it.

awwww.... what a great start! i love this! Please continue it!! :D awesome chapter

Fantastic start! I look forward to reading more. Loved your banner, I also liked the pretty artwork you displayed on the forum. :)

wow great start. And you will not hear any complaints from me about long chapter lol

Interesting start Space. You need a banner.

good start, can't wait for more.

Interesting that Spike took her to his crypt rather than return her home, and made such an effort to clean so it wouldn't look so bad when she woke up. I loved his terror response when he smelled Dawn's blood and how it sent him into an absolute panic. I also really liked the scene of them holding onto each other and crying while they thought about their loss and how they are presently surviving just for each other. Really nice moments between the two of them. The scene with Janice and her parents provided an interesting counterpoint to what was going on with Dawn. How each of the girls had a home situation that was lacking, but at least Dawn has Spike, and it seemed like Janice didn't have anybody. Not to mention the drinking them seems to be more of a habit with her, which is dangerous considering family history. Hopefully Spike will be able to keep her from at least the drinking in the future

I've wondered what happened during that summer. Great prologue, can't wait to read more.

She was, and I think a big part of her attitude in S7 was because he left her, more than the Buffy thing. All Dawn's know in her real life (not the created memories) is loss.

fantastic, thank you.

This is good! You've got all the characterizations spot on. Best of all, you're captured the relationship between Spike and Dawn perfectly. I actually like longer chapters and am looking forward to more. Soon, please! :)

I've enjoyed exploring that summer, as well. There was a lot that could have gone on.

I so missed their friendship later. he got all wrapped up in Buffy after her resurrection, and poor Dawn got brushed to the wayside.

Awesome begining, I wouldn't mind if all the chapter were like this. This long I mean. Don't take this the wrong way becasue I really like this story but you have a lot of errors, mostly with verb tenses. It's most likly because you copied some stuff from a transcript website or something because it dosen't happen that much in the added on peices.

Loved it. Great idea looking forward to the next update :) personally I prefer the longer chapters, I liked the length of this one :) Great work!!