SECTION 4 - YOU'RE THE ONE

When the cold wind blows
And the rain keeps tumbling down
And there's no one there
And the morning light shines on

You're the one to lend a hand
You're the one who understands
You're the one to comfort me
The keeper of my heart

(Clannad, Album - anam, Words and lyrics A. Brennan, Additional lyrics M. Brennan)




Chapter 4.07
Tuesday, May 14th, 2002

Dawn stood in the kitchen doorway, watching Spike for some time before she got up the nerve to speak. His gaze seemed to be focussed on the bushes and trees around the garden's perimeter, but Dawn couldn't see anything beyond the circle of the porch light. A plume of smoke rose from the cigarette that burned down between his fingers. He had to know she was there, but he gave no sign, and she knew it was up to her to make the first move.

"Spike?"

"What, Bit?" The vampire's tone was more resigned and downbeat than she'd expected and held a lot less bite.

"Buffy said you weren't ticked any more. Guess she was right."

Spike raised his cigarette to his mouth for the first time in an age, drawing deeply and then exhaling before he replied. "Guess so."

Spike was surprised when Dawn sat down, not beside him, but so that one long leg was on either side of his. Her arms wrapped around his waist and she pressed into his back. Surprised or not, he couldn't help but place his free hand over hers. That gesture gave her the courage to take the next step.

"You and Buffy. since you got together, it's kinda like watching a pair of fireflies. You can be with either one of you and you're fine, you're happy even, but as soon as the other one walks in the room, you just light on up. And it's beautiful and I'm happy for you, but it's something that belongs to just you two. That's all I meant about being on the outside. This house has been more like home with you around than it's ever been all last year."

"Might want to tell your young man that, when he gets over his shy phase and comes out the bushes."

Dawn giggled against his back. "You're joking."

Spike made the obligatory gestures. "Cross my heart and hope to die. He's on 'is hands and knees in the mud by the bush two to the left of my tree, checking to make sure I'm not givin' you a whuppin'. Threatened to report me to Social Services if you turned up tomorrow with a single mark on you, he did."

"And what did you say to that?"

"Nothing much. Told him that it'd be a miracle if you could sit down tomorrow without a cushion, but if he dared suggest that any of it was anything but self-inflicted then he really would see me pissed off."

"Hey, I'm not that bad."

"Bit, you have problems enough staying upright on dry land."

"Can't I ask him? Even Wes is going. I just heard him and Willow talking about it in the kitchen."

"Can't do it, love. We can't take chances with someone we don't know. Not when Clem and his lot have got to live with the consequences. 'M sorry, pet. Maybe next time."

"What about now? Can he stay?"

"Just till Xander picks you up, an' only if you make sure he doesn't see us leave."

"Y' know if you want some alone time with Buffy before everybody else shows up, you best go get her."

"I know, Niblet, I know," The vampire flicked his cigarette butt across the yard. Dawn suspected he aimed for the spot where he said Brandon was trying to hide but fell a couple of feet short. He stood and turned to place a kiss on the top of Dawn's head before he jumped over her leg and up the steps, ruffling her hair as he went.

"Phhh. Now I know why I never wanted a big brother," she called after him, once she'd blown or otherwise shifted most of her hair out of her face again.

 

---

 

When Spike found Buffy she was just tipping the last of the pieces of her Scooby Doo statuette into her waste paper bin.

"Leave that," he told her.

"I was just going to put the bits in the outside bin, and then I'd be done anyway."

"'S my mess. You shouldn't have to clear it up. And besides you've got better things to do." He took the bin from her hands and looked her over from head to toe with an appraising eye. "You'll freeze your bits off dressed like that, love. Tell you what. I'll take this out while you get changed." He strolled over to the wardrobe and pulled out the box with the skates in. "See what you can find that'll go with these. I like my women all laced up in leather."

"I bet you do. Time to settle that IOU?" she asked.

"Always pay my debts, pet." He flashed her a grin. "Five minutes out front or I come back in and carry you off over my shoulder in whatever you're wearing at the time."

"You can't seriously expect a woman to get ready for a date in five minutes."

"What's to do? You already look gorgeous. All you need's a couple of extra layers."

"Shows what you know. Watch what you're doing when you put that lot out. Make sure you don't cut yourself."

Spike gave her a slightly quizzical glance. "I'll see what I can do." Finally, he turned to leave taking the bin with him. "Four minutes," he shouted as he heard the door pushed closed behind him.

Spike wasn't in the least surprised to find a slightly bedraggled Brandon sitting next to Dawn on the back porch. When he opened the kitchen door, the pair jumped apart as if they were spring loaded. Brandon scrambled to his feet.

"Yeah, right, Bit. Like that'd fool anyone. An' sit down for Christ sake. Told Bitty there you could stay till Harris came to pick her up. An' I doubt you're goin' to be getting' up to anythin' I'd have to kill you for, in full view of the neighbours." 'I would and Buffy did ' he thought, 'but Bit wouldn't. '

"No, sir."

"And lay off with the 'sir' crap. Do I look like I served in the First World War or something?"

"No, s-. No."

"It's Spike."

"Thought you were leaving," Dawn hinted none too subtly.

"I will be once I dispose of the remains of your sister's tacky statuary."

"That thing Riley gave her?"

"That's the one."

"Congratulations. She's been trying to "accidentally" break that since he gave her it."

"That was kinda why I picked it."

Spike made his way round to the shadows that hid the outside bin and sifted through the broken pieces of pottery as he tipped them into the bin, not really surprised when he spotted tiny fragments of circuit board and wires amongst the broken pieces. 'Nothing we didn't already know ,' he tried to tell himself, but even so, he couldn't help feeling sorry for Buffy, knowing that her ex had been spying on her, even back when they were together.

As he walked past the two teenagers on the back step Dawn called out in mock irritation. "Heyyy"

"What, Bit?"

"I don't get a kiss this time?"

The vampire turned back and gave her a knowing smirk. "I thought that was what he was here for."

Dawn flushed red to the roots of her hair. "That's not the same, beast." She smacked at his leg with her hand, but Spike pulled it up out the way even quicker, leaving her flailing at fresh air. His hand reached out and messed her hair up again and then he was gone, ducking back into the kitchen before she could take her revenge.

"He is so dead," Dawn told her date, completely missing the irony in what she had said, at least for the moment.

"Well," Brandon replied as he lent a gentle hand in the task of re-arranging Dawn's hair. "Personally, I quite like his idea." His hand cradled Dawn's jaw as he leant in to brush her lips with his own.

When she finally pulled back, Dawn nervously licked her lips, trying to douse the unfamiliar tingling sensation. "Definitely not the same."

Pale green eyes sparkled with laughter as they moved closer once more. "Glad to hear it."

 

---

 

Spike didn't stick to his five-minute deadline. Instead, he waited until he could hear Buffy doing her last-minute checklist. "Skates. keys. helmet."

Pushing the room door open, he found her dressed in a whole new outfit. Black cotton leggings moulded themselves to her lower half, leaving nothing to the imagination. Her lilac cashmere sweater clung to her upper body in a similar fashion. Spike was guiltily reminded of having Harmony dress up in Buffy's clothes before he put his earlier threat into action.

Buffy hammered against his back with her fists, but her efforts were somewhat hampered by the giggles that she couldn't keep in.

"Put me down, you Neanderthal."

"Nothing doing, pet." Spike swiped the bag he suspected held Buffy's new skates and picked up the helmet that lay next to it.

"You're a lunatic. You know that."

"Wouldn't be the first time it's been said. Of course, I killed everybody else as said it." With Buffy still beating on his back all the way, he carried her down the stairs and into the living room where Willow and Tara were curled up together on the sofa and Wes lounged on the floor. In the corner of the room a historical drama was playing on the TV. "We'll see you guys later." He turned around so that Buffy could see the people in the room if she raised her head enough. "Say goodbye to the nice people."

"Wes, would you be so kind as to pass me a stake from that chest you're leaning on?"

The watcher smiled, a grin quite nearly as wicked as the vampire's own. "Where would be the fun in that?"

Spike made his way to the front door, pulling it open with some difficulty. All the while Buffy muttered about the other Englishman's bad timing regarding the loss of his fuddy-duddy gene. After what seemed like an aeon hanging upside down, Spike deposited Buffy next to the two remaining motorbikes, Brandon's presumably being abandoned somewhere out of sight but within walking distance.

Buffy beat her fists against the rock solid wall of Spike's chest before her fingers fell to fondling the sapphire silk of another of his new shirts instead. "You are a pig."

"And you're adorably flushed and ever so kissable."

When their lips met it was like an electric current arced between them. Buffy's fingers curled into the lapels of his coat pulling him down to her until she drew away gasping for breath.

"Are you feeling naughty, slayer?"

Buffy couldn't keep the suspicion out of her voice. "Why?"

The vampire dangled a set of shiny keys from his hand, attached to a gleaming key ring with the Harley Davidson logo. "Look what I found on the hall table."

For three whole seconds the slayer hesitated, her teeth pressing ever so slightly into her lower lip as she deliberated. "Well, he did refuse to give me a stake. and it would teach him not to leave things lying around." The vampire ducked quickly back to close the front door and grab Buffy's coat, depositing his own bike keys on the table at the same time.

About a minute later, the roar of the Harley's engine had Wes rushing to pull the curtains aside to peer out into the darkness and confirm his suspicions. He eyed Spike's considerably older, less shiny and less powerful motorcycle with disdain.

"You know, I think he's a bad influence on her," the former watcher remarked.

"You think?" Tara asked as she came to stand next to him. "I think it suits her."

Around the side of the house, Dawn kept Brandon way too preoccupied to notice the vampire wasn't wearing a helmet.