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And the Dream Will Set You Free by randi
 
Chapter Ten
 
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Notes: Some dialogue shamelessly filched from Blood Ties.

Disclaimer: Not mine, all Joss.

And the Dream Will Set You Free
Chapter Ten

*****
Buffy looked around the research table.  As she had both expected and dreaded, disbelief was plainer than plain on four faces, and she let out a breath.

There’s something I need to tell you about Dawn…

Unsurprisingly, she felt better for having let them in on the secret that she, Spike and Giles had held, though she knew that she was going to be in for a boatload of guilt for not telling them sooner.  As soon as they recover the ability to speak, anyway, she thought, amused in spite of herself.

She glanced at Giles, standing near the sideboard, tea in hand, then at Spike, perched in his customary spot on the ladder to the upper level.  Spike raised an eyebrow back at her.

She already knew what he was trying to say, but she had her reasons for calling this meeting during the day, while Dawn was in school.  Really, and she winced a little at the defensive tone of her own thoughts.  Lots of reasons.  The foremost being that I really don’t want Dawn to know… and I really, really don’t want her to see the others’ reactions to me telling them that she isn’t real.

Thinking about how she had protested when the monk had told her and Spike about the Abomination and the Key made her feel ashamed.  In all the ways that counted, all the ways that meant anything, Dawn was her sister, and it felt all kinds of wrong to think about her as… not.  As a thing, as something not real, even though she knew the truth.

Even though she had her reasons, and they were pretty good ones, for keeping the knowledge from Dawn, part of her felt that she was betraying her sister instead of protecting her.  But… if she doesn’t know, maybe it won’t be so hard on her?  I can just treat it like that time Angelus tried to kidnap her, tell her that I’m just trying to keep her safe…

Even though that never happened…  She shook the thought away.

“You… you’ve known this – that Glory was after Dawn – all along?” Willow sounded hurt that she hadn’t been in the know.  “Buffy…”

“Oh, Buffy.” Even though Tara spoke very softly, Buffy still heard her words, and the compassion in them warmed her.

Maybe it won’t be all bad…

“I’m sorry,” she said, as she had before dropping the bomb on them.  “Maybe I should have told you before.  I just… I thought you’d all be safer that way… you know, not knowing.  I didn’t want to put you in that kind of danger…”

“And that’s different from the danger we’re usually in… how?” Xander asked, his tone filled with sarcasm, holding up his still-healing arm for emphasis.

Buffy flinched and stared down at the table.  Yep, that’d be the guilt, right on schedule. “If you’re all gonna help me against Glory, you really deserve to know.  I am sorry.”  She sneaked a peek.

But the wounded look on Willow’s face didn’t fade at her apology, nor did the mulish one Xander wore.  And neither went unnoticed.

“Are you on the Slayer’s side or not?” Spike scowled at both Xander and Willow.  “She’s gonna need your help on this one.  No time here for boo-hoo-in’ over who knew what an’ who didn’t.”

Glaring, Xander started to retort.  “Who died and made you… Oh, wait, it was the crazy vampire, wasn’t it?”

Spike bristled at that.  “Shut your gob.”

“Enough, both of you.”  At last Giles spoke up.  “I find myself in the unutterably strange position of agreeing with Spike.  He’s quite right.  If we are to defeat Glory, we must all work together.”

For a moment, Buffy saw her friends looking ashamed.  But then that moment passed.

“All right,” Xander said, still glaring daggers at Spike.  “We’ll work together, just like we’ve always done.”  The way he enunciated the words made Buffy groan silently.  “And just to make it clear, that means that we don’t want you around, Fangless.”

“That a fact?”  Spike slouched back against the ladder, grinning smugly.  “Might want to make sure on that point, Harris.”

Before Buffy could even open her mouth to put a stop to their sniping, Xander turned his angry gaze on her.   “Buff… color me confused, but this was supposed to be a great big secret, right?  So what is he doing here?”

Spike opened his mouth to interrupt with some remark that she was certain would send Xander over the edge.  Quickly, she answered.  “He already knew.  He was with me when the monk told me about Dawn.”

Willow shifted uncomfortably, looking between Xander and Buffy.  “He knew?  Before we did?” The hurt returned, even greater than before, and Buffy felt herself flush at the implication.

“And he’s still undusty?” Xander gaped at her.  “Hello, Earth to Slayer!  What if he’s given this information to Glory?”

“And what if you were a moron?” Spike growled, then gave a mock frown.  “Oh, wait.  You already are.  Never mind.” Hi eyes twinkled, however, with devilish humor.

Xander jabbed a finger in Spike’s direction.  “See?”

“You sound like a couple of five-year-olds,” Buffy muttered.  She blew out a breath.  “Xander, just chill.  I trust him.”  She met Spike’s eyes across the table, and tried very hard not to smile at him.  He gave her a smug little half-grin that just about ruined her efforts.  “And you… remember civil?” she admonished softly.

Spike’s eyebrow arched higher in amusement, and her heart did that little double-hammer that it had taken to doing around him.

“You trust him?”  This time, Xander’s disbelief was palpable.

Buffy scowled at him.  “Just what part of that sentence are you having trouble with?” she demanded, her voice harsh.  “‘Cause I didn’t think I was speaking in a foreign language.  Look,” she went on, attempting a more reasonable tone.  “Me and Spike… we’re the only ones strong enough to stand toe-to-toe against Glory physically, even if it’s only for a couple of minutes.” She ignored Spike’s audible huff.  “I need his help, and he’s willing to give it.  Yes, I trust him, Xander.  And I’m asking that you try.  Please.”

Since her feelings for Spike had become so clear a few days ago, she hadn’t let herself think about it at all.  Everything in her screamed to deny it – he was evil, a soulless vampire, the very thing she’d been Chosen to slay.

But she couldn’t.  Couldn’t deny it even if I wanted to.  Couldn’t ever tell him, because hello! How wrong is this? I’m not even supposed to be friends with him, and that thought gave her a shiver she tried hard to control.  But I can’t kill him either.  It practically destroyed me to kill Angel.  I can’t go through that again.

Why, why, why do I always fall in love with vampires?

“I just don’t get it.”

The words startled Buffy out of her thoughts, and she jumped a little, not quite sure if she’d been musing aloud.

But no one was looking at her funny, so she breathed a silent sigh of relief and managed to focus her attention on Xander, who had spoken.  “What?”

Xander leaned back, crossing his arms.  “I don’t get why you trust the defanged one.”  Before she could do more than scowl at him, though, he went on, stabbing the air with one finger.  “But fine.  Whatever.  When he snaps and decides he’s going to chow down on us, I am so very much going to be the first one to say ‘I told you so!’ There may even been a ‘neener neener’ thrown in for good measure.”  He subsided, looking sullen.

She couldn’t help but smile, knowing how hard it was for him to give Spike the benefit of the doubt, even a little bit.  “Thank you, Xan,” she said softly.  “I really appreciate it.”

Then she looked at the others, remarkably silent all this while, and asked, “What about you guys?”

Willow’s glance darted back and forth between Buffy and Xander, as if she couldn’t believe what was going on.  Buffy knew she’d come to a decision when her expression firmed.  Willow nodded to Spike and gave him a little wave.  “Hi,” she said, her tone meek.  “Welcome aboard the Scooby train.”

Spike grinned in return.  “Thanks, Red.”

“Now that we’ve got that settled,” Anya interrupted brightly, “let’s move on to more important matters.”

“Quite right,” Giles muttered under his breath.  “From what I’ve been able to decipher…”

“I’m not talking about that,” Anya interrupted before he could go any further.  “I’m talking about planning Buffy’s birthday party.”

Watching Spike snicker at Giles’ expression, Buffy felt her heart constrict.  I want… She put a stop to that thought before it could go somewhere she wasn't really ready for it to go.

Spike caught her watching him from across the table, and raised his eyebrows in silent question.  She just shook her head and tried to drag everyone back on topic.

Later, she told herself.  I’ll think about it later.  But she already knew just what she wanted.

***
Enough was enough.  In fact, Dawn thought, flinging herself onto her bed so hard that she bounced, enough is more than enough.  Everyone was acting weird around her – like she’d sprouted little green antennae or something – and it was freaking her out.

Maybe that was an understatement.  They’re acting like…  Groping for a comparison, the only thing her teenage mind could reach was like they don’t even want to be around me anymore.

For a little while, she lay there sulking, thinking about how strange – stranger than normal, even – Anya had been, and how Xander hadn’t been able to hush her fast enough.  Willow hadn’t been willing to tell her what she’d been doing outside the magic shop except in the most general of ways, and that wasn’t like her at all.  And Tara… it was like Tara wanted to cry or something.  Her eyes looked wet and sad.

Thinking about it just made her angrier and more confused.  This is way more than just the normal Sunnydale weirdness, she thought, rolling over to stare at the ceiling.  This is… it’s like extra-Hellmouthy Sunnydale weirdness, even more bizarre than Buffy’s mega-protective streak…

She paused, remembering.  Buffy really wigged out when that reject with the bad hair was here.  We were at Spike’s place in less than 10 minutes.  And when Buffy came back to get us… Whoa.  Like the Watchers had done or said something that had just totally wiped her out.  Brow furrowed in thought, she wriggled around until she was leaning against the pillows.  I know there’s something going on.  What’s making them act that way? She pulled a pillow across her stomach and bit her lip hard to stave off tears.  What could… what… something new.  It has to be. After a moment of thought, she realized.  That book is new.

The book didn’t fit.  Giles’ other books were all old and musty and big.  The one that she had seen had been too new and way, way too small.  Dawn crossed her arms over the pillow, tapping her fingers on one arm as she thought.  Could be he just needed a new little journal because Buffy failed the Slayer test or whatever it was.

But that just didn’t ring true.

Plus, she thought, no one started acting like this until that book showed up.  I mean… the Council leaves, the book shows up, and everybody starts acting like I’m some kind of freak.  And really? Coincidences like that aren’t so much coincidences when you live on a Hellmouth.

So…Giles’ special new book has some secret that I’m not supposed to know about.  Surprise, surprise.  The anger, which had faded a little as she’d been thinking, returned.  I told you I’d find out about things!  Maybe next time you’ll listen!

And the best time to break into the shop and try to find that book would be… She smiled in slow realization.  Now.  Everyone’s downstairs for Buffy’s birthday.  The shop is closed, and I know where everyone is… it’ll be simple.

Moving carefully and trying not to make any more noise than necessary, Dawn swung herself off the bed.  She eased open the window and looked out, biting her lip.  The ground looked so far away.  Why did Buffy have to get the room with the tree right outside? she groused.  That is just so unfair.  Hoping the trellis would hold her weight, she climbed outside.

She checked to make sure that the yard was empty before she hopped off the trellis, but by the time she’d actually reached the ground, Spike had melted out of the shadows.  She nearly bumped into him when she turned away from the house, and had to stifle a shriek.

Busted.  Then she thought about it again.  Spike was helping her sister, but he was still a vampire.  Since he didn’t have a soul, he was still evil, according to everything she’d ever overheard Giles say.  Maybe I can convince him to come with me and help?

“So, Nibblet.”  Spike glanced up at her open window, at the lights shining from the kitchen, then back at her, one eyebrow arched.  “Mind tellin’ me what you’re doin’ sneakin’ out this time of night?”  There was a flash of silver as he lowered the sword he was carrying over his shoulder.

Dawn huffed and stuck out her lower lip.  As much as she didn’t want to admit what she was doing, because there was always the chance that he’d tell Buffy, she was pretty sure that appealing to his evil nature was more likely to get him on her side.  “I’m going to break into the Magic Box,” she said, with more boldness than she actually felt.  “And steal things.”

Both of his eyebrows rose.  “That so?”

“Yep.”

“Gotta reason for startin’ your very own crime wave?”

“They’re acting weird!” she burst out, just barely remembering to keep her voice low. “They’re all acting weird, and I want to find out why.  There’s a book Giles was writing in, and I think…” She paused.  “I think I can find out from that.”

“Why not ask them?” He cocked his head to one side, studying her.  “Would think it’d be easier.”

She blushed a little and scuffed her feet, looking away from him.  “No one ever tells me anything,” she pouted.  “They always seem to think that I’m too young or too dumb or something to know.”

“So your plan is to go through Sunnydale after dark when all the beasties are out, gamble that you don’t get arrested for breakin’ an’ enterin’, then have your mum an’ sis come get you from jail?”  He snorted. “Brilliant.”

“Oh, like you could do any better,” she retorted, piqued.

“Already got a better plan, platelet.”  Moving too quickly for her eyes to follow, he wrapped a hand around her wrist.

His fingers are so cold, she thought.  Stunned by his movement, it seemed too long before she registered what he’d done and could react.  She opened her mouth, preparing to scream, but thought better of it.  Maybe he’ll just let me go?

He didn’t.  Instead, Spike leaned down toward her, until they were eye to eye.  The planes of his face were thrown into stark relief by the light of the windows and the shadows from the tree.  He looks like… like someone caught between good and evil, she thought distantly, and bit by bit, she became aware she was a little afraid.

“I’m on your side, Dawn,” he said, his voice low, eyes boring into hers.  “No matter what you think, I’m on your side.”

His words vibrated with sincerity, and slowly, almost unwillingly, she nodded.  She couldn’t help but believe him.

“All right.”  He nodded once in return, then straightened.  “Slayer!” he bellowed.

Immediately, betrayal filled her and she started trying to pull away.  “You jerk!” she gasped, struggling against his grip.  “You just said…”

“Slayer!” he shouted again, and his grip around her wrist tightened. “Now would be good!”

The back door flew open and before Dawn could blink, Buffy was beside them, looking from one to the other in some confusion.  Spike’s hold on her wrist relaxed instantly, but she knew that she was even more trapped by her sister’s presence, and just glared at him resentfully.

“Spike!” Glancing back to the kitchen door, Dawn saw Giles and her mother standing there, the others behind them.  Xander had been the one who had spoken, spitting Spike’s name as if it were a curse.

“Spike?” Buffy sounded like she was out of breath, which she couldn’t be, because Dawn had seen her run a lot farther and faster than she just had.  She decided she’d just imagined it because she sure didn’t sound that way saying her name.  “Dawn? What’s going on?”

“I told you he couldn’t be trusted…”

“Xander!” Buffy snapped over her shoulder.  “Please.  Let’s just figure this out first, all right?”  She turned to look at Spike expectantly.

“Found kid sis here sneakin’ down from her room.” Spike nodded toward the house, and the damningly open window.  “Said there was somethin’ at the Magic Shop worth riskin’ gettin’ eaten to find out about. Somethin’ about Giles’ books, wasn’t it, Nibblet?”

Dawn just sniffed and turned away.

“Dawn?” Buffy spoke softly, but she didn’t sound angry, so she glanced at her and got a shock.  Her sister looked scared, like she had when the skank had been at the house.

She began to feel a little scared herself.

“Said you lot were actin’ different, an’ thought that the answer might be in that book.”

Buffy shook her a little.  “Dawn, why…”

The anger boiled over.  “Because you never tell me anything!” she cried.  “They all act like they don’t even want me around, or like… like I’m a stranger or something!  And you won’t even let me hang out with my friends or do anything I want to!” To her disgust, she could feel tears stinging her eyes.  “I just want to understand!

The night was so still after her outburst that she heard someone breathe “Oh, sweetie,” though she couldn’t tell if it was her mother or Tara.

“Slayer.”  Spike’s deep voice was filled with compassion.  “Think maybe it’s time, don’t you?”

Buffy nodded.  “You’re right.  Funny how often that happens, isn’t it?” The white of her grin flashed in the darkness, there and gone so fast Dawn wasn’t quite sure she’d actually seen it.  “Come on, Dawn,” she said, and started back to the house.

“Hey!”  Dawn stumbled, not expecting her sister to drag her along behind.  “Let go of me!  What are you doing?”

“We’re gonna tell you the truth,” Buffy replied, and now that they were in the full glare of the kitchen lights, Dawn could see her sister’s eyes were bright with tears.  “Just like Spike wanted us to do all along.”

Shocked, she glanced back at Spike, still standing in the yard.  He’d heard, of course, and quirked an eyebrow at her.

Then she felt a hand on her back, was enveloped in the scent she’d always associated with Mom.  Looking up, she saw her mother’s worried face.  “Just remember, sweetheart,” Mom said softly, “that no matter what, we still love you, all right?”

Glancing between her mother and her sister and the frightened looks they wore, suddenly Dawn wasn’t quite so sure she wanted to know anymore.

***
“She took it hard, Giles.”  His Slayer slid onto one of the stools by the store counter, and Giles could easily see the dark circles under her eyes.  “I mean, I suppose it could have been worse, but I don’t know how.”  She rested her elbows on the counter and leaned forward to run her fingers through her hair.

This was one of those times he felt that a Watcher would have something meaningful or comforting to say, and, as always, he felt he fell rather short of the mark.  “I imagine,” he said quietly, “that it must be unbearably confusing to be told that every part of your life wasn’t really your life.” He quickly took refuge behind his mug of tea.

Buffy sighed, raising her head.  “Yeah, plus the screaming and crying and telling me and Mom…” She cut herself off and swallowed.  “But I can’t help but think that no matter what, it was better than if she really had managed to convince Spike to help her break in here and steal your book.”  The thought of it made her shiver.  “That would be worse.  Way worse.”

Giles frowned thoughtfully.  “Knowing that Spike wanted you to tell Dawn, I simply can’t fathom why he tell her himself.”

“Maybe because he knew that it would hurt less coming from me and Mom than anyone else.”  She stared down at the countertop, letting one finger swirl in an aimless pattern over the glass.  “He cares, Giles.”

His first instinct was to scoff and call it nonsense.  But then he took a moment to recall the myriad ways that Spike had managed to cast doubt on the Council’s doctrine that vampires were incapable of feeling anything other than bloodlust.  “Perhaps he does, Buffy,” he allowed reluctantly.  “Indeed, stranger things… may have happened.  But please, no matter how much… caring he seems to display, don’t let that blind you to what he truly is.  Vampires are evil.  Spike is no exception.”

The stricken look in his Slayer’s eyes came as something of a shock.  “I know that, Giles.  In my head, I know that everything you and the Council say about vampires is true.  But… but I just can’t apply it to Spike anymore.  It’s not fair.”  Her voice took on a pleading cast as she continued.  “He said he would help, Giles, and he has.  He’s been going out on patrol with me, and helping me protect Dawn, and oh, big one! He hasn’t told Glory who, what and where Dawn is.  Maybe he’s evil… but I don’t think he’s all evil.  I think maybe he could change.  He’s my friend, Giles.  I couldn’t turn around and kill him, not after all this.”

Before he could marshal his logic for a response, the bell over the front door of the shop pealed, signaling the entrance of Xander, Anya, Willow and Tara.  The discussion already in progress between them filled the shop.  Buffy turned to greet them, pasting on a smile that Giles could clearly see was false.

He didn’t pay close attention to their conversation.  Instead, he reflected on what his Slayer had told him, wondering at her defense of the vampire that only months ago he would have said she loathed above all others.  Was it possible for a vampire to change?  In his experience, the answer was an unequivocal no; not without a soul thrust upon it.  And even then…

Is Spike really changing for the better or is he merely pretending for Buffy’s sake? he asked himself.  And whichever is the truth, why is Buffy so willing to believe in him?

His teacup held no answers.

***
She had thought that her sister was starting to deal with the whole Key thing, but she was very wrong.

Dawn had run away, and Buffy was frantic.

“Mom went up to see if she wanted any dinner, and she was… gone.”

“I’m guessing it’s not the good kind of gone,” Xander said, and she knew he was just trying to lighten the mood, but she was in no way ready to be lightened.

“There is no good kind of gone,” she retorted.  “And if there was, it’s definitely not the kind where Dawn leaves her window open and the curtains blowing in the breeze.”

“I know she knows better than to go out after dark alone,” Willow began, “but maybe… maybe she didn’t really run away?  I mean, maybe she just…” She trailed off helplessly at the despairing look Buffy gave her.

“Maybe,” she admitted, pressing the heels of her hands briefly against her forehead, trying to keep from exploding at the anger, fear and frustration boiling inside.  “But… it’s like everyone is after her. There’s Glory, and the Knights of… of Hack-‘n’-Slash, and the usual Hellmouthy nasties.  I just…  She’s my sister.

She turned around, and the sight of Spike prowling around the research table calmed her slightly.  She’d picked him up on her way to the Magic Box, explaining what had happened in a few terse sentences.  He’d been ready to help instantly; she wasn’t even sure he’d remembered to turn off his television.  Now he shot her an edgy glance before flicking his eyes toward the door.  Yeah, she thought, we’ve gotta go.  Gotta find her…  She took a deep breath and blinked to clear her vision, looking at each of her friends in turn.  “Please,” she said softly, “please help me find her.”

“Of course, Buff,” Xander agreed.  “Anything you need.”

Less than 30 seconds later, the others were all paired off, and she was practically dashing out the door, Spike a silent shadow by her side.

For a long time, there was no conversation between them, only her calls for Dawn.  Gradually she became aware that Spike was trying to catch Dawn’s scent in the air, and no matter how eeww it was, Buffy decided she wasn’t going to knock the vamp sense of smell if it helped find her sister.

She was so caught up in the search and trying to quell her own panic that she didn’t even think about the fact that she’d paired herself with Spike.  It was almost automatic.  They’d been on patrol together so much that it didn’t feel at all weird; it just felt… natural.  Besides, she thought, grimacing slightly, if I’d put him with anyone else, they would have been arguing as much as looking for Dawn.

“Anything?” she asked as they crossed the park.  But, just like the other 6 or 60 times she’d asked, she already knew the answer.  If he’d even caught a hint of her, he would have said.

Spike shook his head.  “No, nothin’.”

She sighed, shoulders slumped in defeat, and stopped at the edge of the park.

“Sorry, pet,” he offered.  “Know it’s not what you want to hear.”  He stepped off the curb, but paused when she didn’t follow.  “Slayer?”

“She said I only cared about her because she was my job.” Buffy cringed at the neediness in her voice, but she’d been thinking about it since Dawn had said it, and it just burst out of her.  She clenched her fists at her sides, trying to restrain herself from taking comfort in him as she had done before.  Not because she didn’t want to, because oh, she did, but because she wanted him to offer, to show her that it was all right.

To let her know that he really did care.

He studied her, head tilted slightly to one side.  “You know the Nibblet’s just upset, love,” he replied, and his tone was warm.  “She didn’t mean anything by it.”

“She doesn’t think she can come to me or Mom, and we only want to help her.  She ran away from us.”

And saying it out loud, admitting it like that, made something else come clear.  “It’s my fault,” she added quietly.  “You were right.  I should have told her sooner.”

Spike sighed softly.  “She prob’ly would’ve skipped off anyway.  She’s not just a blob of energy; she’s also a 14 year old hormone bomb.  Which one’s screwin’ her up more right now, spin the bloody wheel.”  He met her gaze, and stepped back to the curb so their eyes were nearly level.  When he spoke again, his voice was low, but the absolute conviction in it – the trust that she would succeed – forced her to catch her breath.  “You’ll find her, just in the nick of time.  It’s what you hero types do.”

She couldn’t look away from him.  If she’d ever wondered what she saw in him, why she felt such an urgent need to defend him, why she’d fallen in love with him, she didn’t have to wonder any longer.

For no other reason than because she’d asked him, he was out helping her search for her runaway sister.  Somehow, he found the words to encourage her whenever her belief started to fail.  She wondered if he even knew he was doing it.

She tensed, about to throw herself at him and tell him she loved him, as she still did every night in her dreams, and hoped that he cared enough about her to not laugh in her face.  But he must have seen something else in her expression, something she didn’t know was there, because he laid his hand on her shoulder, a gentle touch meant to reassure.  “You’ll find her, love,” he said firmly.

And just like that, the world suddenly skewed back into focus.

Buffy swallowed, drowning in guilt at letting her priorities shift from Dawn’s safety to her own love life, and had to look away.  “But then what?” she whispered.

She wasn’t really expecting an answer; it was a question she was directing more toward herself than him, anyway.  So when he did speak, her eyes returned to him in surprise.

“Don’t know, love.  I expect that’s up to you.”

Slowly, she nodded.  It took everything ounce of determination she had to step off the curb and continue searching.

The desire for his comfort had only grown.

***
They were a little late to get to the place the Slayer had designated as where they would regroup; Spike could see the others already there and waiting.  The disappointed expressions they wore were equally plain.

The Slayer bit her lip when she didn’t see her kid sister.

“I’m sorry, Buffy,” Giles said when she looked at him.

She took a deep breath and let it out.  “We’d better check the hospital then.”  The brave front she put on didn’t have fooled any of them, no matter how thick they were.

Spike trailed behind the group a little, concentrating on sussing out what had happened between him and the Slayer as much as finding the Nibblet.  Seemed like she wanted… something, he thought, brow wrinkled in thought.  Dunno what, though.

He knew what he’d wanted to do, though.  He’d wanted for her to wrap her arms around him, to bury her face against his shoulder, and just let him hold her.  Like a friend, he amended quickly.  Like I did before, when she got the news about her mum…

Soft breaths tickling his ear, the feel of her warm body against his, feminine curves and firm muscles…

That train of thought stopped abruptly when a whisper of the Nibblet’s scent tickled his nose.  “Slayer,” he called, instinctively turning into the breeze.  “This way.”  Without waiting to see if any of the others followed, he started off.

The Slayer was at his side immediately.  Her eyes were wide and hopeful.  “Spike?”

“Think I’ve got her, Slayer.” The smell grew slowly stronger as they wound their way through Sunnydale, moving faster as the trail freshened.  Before he knew it, they were in the vicinity of the place where he and the Slayer had beheaded the snake-beast Glory had called up.

The Nibblet’s scent suddenly overwhelmed him, spiced liberally with fear.  And blood.  He grabbed the Slayer’s arm and began to run.  Oh, Christ, the Slayer’s gonna go off her bird…

She stumbled for a few steps behind him before hitting her stride.  “Spike, what…”

“She’s scared,” he bit out.  “Dunno by what, and didn’t think you’d wanna stop to figure it out.”

“You’re right,” she panted, and stretched her legs to stay even with him.

“Buffy!”  The group lagged behind them, apparently confused as to why they’d suddenly broken into a run.  Giles had called out to them., just as they entered a small copse of trees.

“Come on, you guys,” she threw over her shoulder.  “There’s a clearing up ahead, right, Spike?”

“Yeah, not too far…”

Just then, a scream shrilled through the night air.  “Help! Buffy!”

“Dawn!”  The Slayer burst ahead of him, leaving the branches to sting his face as they whipped back into position after she passed.  He managed to avoid most of them, but a few left welts on his hands and cheeks.

He managed to catch up with her just at the edge of the clearing.  The moon shed enough light to let them see what was going on.  A glittering humanoid figure wielded something long and almost shiny in the fickle light, swinging it at something – or someone, Spike realized – on the ground.

The standing figure moved, swinging his weapon again, and the one on the ground shrieked and scuttled away.  She tried to scramble to her feet, only to stumble and fall once more.

‘Least the bit is still alive, he thought, and was that relief uncoiling in his chest?

“Gotta plan, Slayer?” he asked as they pounded across the clearing.  He could still hear the rest of the Scoobies crashing through the trees behind them.

“You grab Dawn,” she ordered.  “I’m gonna pound on him for a while…”

Then they were there, and Dawn was attempting to gain her feet once more.  Spike dove forward, catching her around the middle, and his momentum was enough to propel them both out of the path of the sword.  As soon as he had tackled her, he twisted his body, wanting only to get between the Nibblet and the ground.

The impact felt like it jarred every bone in his body, but the chip didn’t fire, so he guessed that he’d managed to keep her from getting hurt.  He had to untangle himself from her long limbs before he could get either of them to their feet.

“S-spike?” Her voice quavered, and all he could smell was blood and tears.

“You all right?  Where are you bleedin’ from?” He started to check her over, but all he could find was a scrape along one arm.  It was just deep enough to bleed, and even that was now becoming sluggish.

“I-I’m okay,” she answered, but the tears still trickling down her cheeks told a different story.

“Dawnie?” The Slayer was there the very next instant, wrapping her arms around the Nibblet, and Spike stepped back.  He hadn’t heard a bit of the fight behind him.  Looking over his shoulder, he saw Dawn’s attacker sprawled on the ground, unconscious.

Its heart was still beating, and now, able to study it more closely, Spike could see that it was actually a he; a human male dressed up in armor, of all things.  His sword had been flung some distance from his hand.

He had a strange mark on his forehead, like a stylized sun.

“I just went out for a walk, Buffy, I swear,” he heard Dawn say.  He drifted back to join them, as the rest of the group arrived, puffing.  “I just wanted to have some quiet to think.  I never even noticed it getting dark.  Then he found me.  He… he knew I was the Key.”  She shook her head, her long hair tossing wildly.  “He was like the crazy people, all mumbling and… but he knew.  Then he said ‘The link must be severed,’ and started hacking at me…”

“One of the Knights of Byzantium,” Giles mused aloud, and knelt down next to the knight’s prone form.

“Buffy, I was so scared…”

“Me, too, Dawnie,” the Slayer whispered, and tightened her embrace.

Watching them, watching the Slayer shed her worry and hold her sister safe in her arms, Spike felt a warmth flutter through him.  For the first time since Buffy had stopped by his crypt hours ago, he relaxed, content to just watch his girls have their reunion.  For once, he didn’t feel the urge to snark, not even at Harris.

He had seen Buffy and Dawn back home, into the welcoming arms of their mum, and was back at his crypt before it struck him.

Heated breaths gasping in his ear, fingernails digging into his shoulders, his back, breasts flattened against his chest…

But that never happened, he realized, stunned.

The rest of the evening took on a different light at that realization, one that sent him reeling, staggering over to slump into his chair as if he were drunk.  An’ maybe I am, he thought, staring at the dusty floor.  Certainly can’t be sober. To confirm that fact, he fished around under the chair and came up with a bottle that wasn’t nearly full enough.

But even when that bottle was empty, the thoughts rolling around in his head just wouldn’t be denied.

I want the Slayer.
 
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