You Need What You Need by slaymesoftly
 
 
Chapter #1 - One-shot
 
Title: You Need What You Need
Prompt: A friend in need
Summary: Spike and Dawn with just a hint of Spuffy. He's always there for his girls when they need him.


You Need What You Need


"Spike! Spike, where are you? This is important!" Dawn's voice was somewhere between a whine and a command. Her foot tapped impatiently as she waited for him to answer her. A mutually embarrassing encounter the previous week had taught her not to climb down into his bedroom without an invitation; even though the glimpse she'd had of his naked body sprawled on the bed had her thinking her sister was seriously crazy not to want what they all knew Spike wanted to give her.

"What's the big emergency, Nibblet?" came a grumpy voice from downstairs. "And don't come down here!"

Dawn frowned, not sure she wasn't hearing a whispered conversation from the lower level, but she responded sharply. "Wasn't planning to! I'm scarred enough as it is."

"'s what you get for peeping into a man's bedroom uninvited," he said, his tousled hair appearing at the top of the ladder. He was just tugging his tee-shirt into place as he climbed into the room, making Dawn very grateful she hadn't looked downstairs.

"You're not a man," she huffed, turning away so he wouldn't see her flaming face.

"Is that so? Could've fooled me. I was sure it was my manly bits that had you screaming and coverin' your eyes last week," he said, wincing when he heard something crash downstairs.

"What's that? Is there somebody here? Were you... Ewwww, Spike!"

"Keep your 'ewws' to yourself, pet." Spike's face was suddenly serious. "I'm a grown man and I'm entitled to have a life. One that doesn't include checking with little girls to see if my activities are acceptable. You got that, Bit?"

Dawn's eyes filled with tears she tried to blink back. Since Buffy's death the previous spring, Spike had never spoken to her in anything but soft tones and with affection. Granted, she wasn't seeing him as much now that Buffy was back, but he was always glad to see her when he did. This unwelcoming, and apparently busy Spike wasn't what she'd come to his crypt for.

"I... I'm... sorry. I'll just... Never mind." She whirled and sped toward the door, choking back a sob. A firm hand on her backpack halted her forward progress; she stopped, but refused to turn around.

"I'm sorry, Dawn." Spike sighed, his voice once again the patient, loving one she was used to. "Had no right to growl at you like that. It's just... you're my Nibblet, and I'd like to keep you sweet and innocent as long as possible. Gonna be hard to do that if you keep popping into my home when I'm not expecting you."

"I'm not all that innocent," she grumbled, relaxing her shoulders but still not turning around to face him.

"You bloody well better be! Or I'll be testing out the limits of this chip on the wanker responsible."

"Oh, so you can have a sex life, but I can't. Is that what you're saying?" She gave a haughty sniff and tried to look mature and worldly as she turned around to glare at him.

"Got it in one, pet. That's exactly what I'm saying. There's no reason for you to even think about copying my lifestyle – any of it – any more than you might want to take up drinking blood just 'cause I do it."

"It doesn't seem very fair. Why not?"

He stared at her, his eyes bulging comically. "Why not?" he roared, forgetting about being gentle with her. "Why not?"

"Yeah." Dawn raised her chin and gave him a stubborn stare. "Why not? I've got Buffy to treat me like a ten-year-old. You're supposed to be my friend, and friends help their friends... do stuff."

He gave a bloodcurdling snarl, clenched his fists, and visibly seized hold of his temper. Taking a deep breath, he led her to the chair and gestured for her to sit. He began pacing in front of her.

"Let's go back to why you should be doing as I say and not as I do. You are fifteen, human, vulnerable, and all the woman I love has left in the way of a family. I'm 150 years old and a vampire – an evil soulless creature who has been cultivating his bad habits for over a century. Stop me when I get to something we have even remotely in common."

"We both love Buffy," she said, so quietly only his vampire hearing allowed him to catch it. She repeated it more loudly when he didn't respond. "We both love Buffy."

"We do," he admitted. "And that's why it's so important to me that you stay safe. Your sis has enough to worry about right now without you doing anything more dangerous than living in this hell-hole of a town. There isn't a one of my bad habits wouldn't put you in some kind of danger. Not a one."

He dropped to his knees in front of her and took her hands in his, "Do you understand what I'm sayin' here, Nibblet? We love you, your sis and I. We're not trying to keep you from having fun or growing up, we're jus' trying to keep you safe while you do it."

"You can't speak for Buffy. You don't know what she's been like since she came... back. I don't think she loves anybody."

He flinched and glanced toward the ladder. "She does, Bit. She loves just as much as she ever did. She's jus' having a hard time showing it right now. Give her some time. Think about where she was and what it must feel like to have lost that." He cupped her cheek with one hand. "You can show me how much you're growing up by having some compassion for your sister. I know being a teenager is all about being the one the world revolves around. And I know that last year, with the whole Glory thing going on, it pretty much did revolve around you. But now? Now it's got to be about Buffy."

"Buffy wasn't much older than me when she boinked Angel." Dawn's lip came out in stubborn pout.

"An' we all know how well that turned out...."

"Okay, bad example, but—"

"There are no 'but's here, Bit. There's just doing what we can to ease her burden and help her learn to live in the world again. An' if that means passing up some good times.,.."

"You were more fun before you fell in love with Buffy," she grumbled, hiding a smile.

"Don't doubt that for a minute, Bit," he said, grinning and rising to his feet. "But it is what it is. You'll just have to deal with it."

"Hmmmph!" Dawn stood up too and moved toward the door.

"What did you want?" he said. "When you came bustin' in here all annoyed that I wasn't right here at your service?"

"Oh. I wanted you to help me with my French homework. But it's okay, I can—"

"I'll come by this evening," he interrupted. "We'll work on it while the Slayer's busy slinging hamburgers."

"You will? Really?" She broke into a smile. "You'll help me?"

" 's what friends are for, innit?"

Dawn waved and walked out into the sunlight, remembering at the last second to grab the door and pull it shut behind her. Spike watched the room darken before he spoke.

"You heard?"

"I heard... Thank you. You didn't need to do that."

He stiffened in surprise when she rested her cheek against his back and put her arms around him.

"It's what friends are for, love." He turned around slowly and put his arms around her, resting his chin on her head. "It's what friends are for."



The End