Broken Children

Author: Xeelia

Pairing: Angel/Spike/Dawn

Disclaimer: **No characters are mine!!**

Summery: Dawn is broken, Spike is broken, can Angel really fix these lost children?

Spike was a broken vampire. The woman of his love and obsession was no more, died in the stead of her baby sister. She had given the girl to him in her death. Left a note in her room before they left, Dawn was to be Spike's responsibility. Spike didn't know what to do.

The first few weeks went OK. They cried and moped and he made sure they both ate. She would pout cutely and say she wasn't hungry just like Dru had when she was weak, so, just as he had with Dru, he would pout right back and say, "Eat for me luv?" So she would, but unlike Dru, Dawn would turn it around on him so that he would eat.

Eventually it became clear that the Scoobies were drifting away. Willow was holding off the nasties with the new Slayer. Giles had returned to England taking a very broken Xander with him. Anya had died in the battle and Tara had taken over the Magic Box. They rarely even talked to the vampire and his charge any more; they didn't know what to say.

Spike began to realize that he and his Sweet Bit were eating less and sleeping more. It worried him but he wasn't sure what to do about it. They would curl around each other and cry themselves to sleep, they both wanted to get better but they didn't know how and so simply clung to one another. It was during one of these clingy slumbers that Angel showed up.

He walked into the Summers' living room and shuddered. He had never felt sorrow quite so deep. He found Spike and Dawn in her room on the floor so curled into one another. They were so close he wasn't sure whose body was were. At any other time he would have been aghast but he knew better than to think that with this much sorrow coming from his boy that he was doing anything unsavory with the girl.

He simply began to stroke both of their heads until they woke slowly.

"A-angel?" Dawn stammered out of sleep. Angel noticed she clutched Spike even tighter.

Spike shuddered when he realized it was Angel petting his head. He quickly pulled Dawn as so close her eyes watered. Angel noticed even though Dawn was obviously in pain she wouldn't let Spike know that.

"Spike, you're crushing her." Angel gently stroked Spike's hair. Spike realized that he was in fact hurting her and released her.

"Bit, baby, I'm sorry. My poor princess." Spike's full attention was now on Dawn. He gently wiped the tears away and smoothed her hair before giving her a barrage of kisses on her forehead and cheeks. "Never hurt my baby girl, yeah?"

Dawn just smiled a tiny smile for him and said, "You never hurt me Spike, you take care of me."

Angel watched the exchange sadly. These two were lost children. Neither having anyone besides the other for too long, until now.

"Spike, you and Dawn are coming to LA. You are staying with me, I'll take care of you."

"Why?" was all Spike could say.

"Because you're my boy William, and she was Buffy's, you're both mine now and I take care of what's mine." Angel smiled down at them.

"You're not taking 'er away!" Spike was suddenly standing over Dawn and growling at his Sire. "She's mine, Slayer gave 'er to me!! You'll break 'er!!" Spike was almost hysterical.

Dawn scooted behind Spike before standing up and looking with huge worried eyes at Angel. "I won't leave him!!" Angel chuckled at the little growl she made, though he wasn't even sure she knew she had done it.

"Not taking one without the other, children. But make no mistake you are BOTH coming with me. You are falling apart here, you need someone to take care of you. I won't hurt either of you, now go get packed." Angel made sure that they both heard the dark deep tone in his voice. It was a control trick he had learned from The Master himself.

Wordlessly both Spike and Dawn gathered the important things to them and the clothes they wanted to take. It was clear that they had both been living out of Dawn's room. There were empty blood bags in a corner along with teen magazines, an ashtray with both cigarette butts and bubble gum in on the dresser, it was all so sad it was almost funny.

He got them into the car and out of Sunnydale as quickly as he could. With Buffy's death Angel had made a decision, family would come first. Spike and Dawn were all he had left. He dreaded telling Spike that Dru had been staked. Soul or not, Angel knew he was Angelus, he may feel bad for the evil he had done but he was still a possessive bastard who wanted his family by his side. He wanted what was his.

He led Spike and Dawn to his room. "I don't want either of you alone, you will both stay here." He turned and left the room.

Spike bit his lip. This wasn't right for his Bit. She was supposed to be in the sun and giggling, not about to enter a world more warped than any of the Scoobies could imagine. But as Dawn clung to him he realized how much a part of him she already was. He wouldn't be letting her go, and when he really looked at her he could see that the sun and the giggles of the past were not something she welcomed now. She was his. She was Family. She would be Aurelius.

Angel walked back into the room to find Spike and Dawn standing right where he had left them. "You two need showers."

Spike led Dawn to the bathroom and, as Angel watched, undressed her. Angel was shocked to see the familiarity and the lack of modesty but mostly he was shocked about the bruises that covered her. None were from a hit but rather they were from the tight embraces the two shared. Dawn stood perfectly still as Spike ran the water for her shower. Once Spike had the temperature right he removed her underwear and Dawn stepped into the shower.

"She's fragile." Spike looked at Angel as he spoke. "She needs to be babied. Precious girl she is."

"Very precious William. We'll take care of her, keep her safe. I will keep both of you safe." Angel met his Childe's eyes.

"You left us, me 'n Dru. I took care of Dru really good though Da. Then she left, told me the Slayer was dancin' 'round my head. Wasn't till then though, think maybe she tricked me yeah? Failed with my Sweet Bit though, couldn't stop that bastard from cuttin' 'er, makin' my baby bleed. Slayer saved 'er though, she saved the whole bloody world, she did. Broke Bit though, can't make her stop cryin'. Take care of her though, make sure she eats. Just nibbles though my Nibblet, never bites only nibbles." Spike's broken heart was obvious. "Slayer left 'er, died on me, my fault, should have saved Bit from getting' cut. Wasn't good enough Da, never was, was I?"

"You listen to me William, this is that Hellgod's fault NOT yours! You tried. Buffy had a death wish; I knew that the last time I saw her. It isn't your fault she is dead. As for your girl in there, she doesn't blame you, just like you don't blame her, but you are both blaming yourselves. You want to help her then you have to believe me and trust me William. I have learned my lesson boy, nothing is more important than you and her to me. Family is everything in this world, and you and Dawn are all that is left. Dru's gone too Spike, she stole the wrong girl's boyfriend." Angel stroked Spike's hair as he spoke. "I'm getting that chip out of your head."

"Why Sire?" Spike was confused.

"Because I trust you Will, you're my boy, and I will punish you if you betray that trust and you know it." Angel growled lightly.

Spike gave him a small, but genuine, smile. Then he bolted to the bathroom. Angel followed quickly. Spike pulled back the shower curtain to reveal Dawn staring blindly at the wall as if in a trance. Soap and shampoo being beaten off by the water and it is running in her unblinking eyes. Spike, having dropped his duster on the way in, gently tilted her head back and wiped her eyes with a clean wash clothe. "Bit, come back to me baby, don't wander away now, need you…" Spike's voice was almost a whine but it did the trick and Dawn snapped out of her daze and finished rinsing off.

"Sorry Spike, I just got scared, you were so far away…" The two vampires both smell her fear and can see she is about to cry but she fights it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wander."

"No worries luv, never far from my girl, promised didn't I? Now come on, let Angel dry you off Bit so good ole Spike can take a shower yeah?" Spike knew she needed someone with her and he knew he needed a shower. He also knew Angel wouldn't take his girl away. It never crossed his mind that neither of them should be undressing or dressing or seeing Bit naked, she belongs to him, well to them now. For this to work he had to do something he hadn't done in ages, he had to trust Angel/Angelus/Liam completely.

Dawn for her part trusted Spike and so walked over to Angel while Spike striped for his shower. She had seen him naked before, they dropped modesty a while back, but it has never been sexual merely comfortable. Angel wrapped her in a large white towel and led her to the bedroom.

She held completely still as Angel gently wiped every drop of moisture from her body. He wrapped her hair before slipping her underwear and then nightgown on her. Then he released her hair and slowly dried it.

"Why are you helping us? No one else wanted to be around us." Dawn's question didn't completely surprise Angel but it hurt him to know that he is right, the Scoobies abandoned her as well as his Childe.

"Because you need it, because Spike is my only family left and you are his, making you my family too, family means we need to stick together. It took your sister's and mother's deaths for me to see that. You are safe here, Spike and I will NOT let anyone harm you." Angel's words came out a bit more forceful than he would have liked but Dawn's suddenly calm demeanor show him that they worked. "I'm taking Spike tomorrow to have his chip removed, I can't let you come but if you like I can make sure you sleep through the time we are gone."

Dawn knew what he meant, he could drain enough blood from her to knock her out for a while. He did that once before when he lost his soul. Spike had bitten her too, more recently to mark her as his. It didn't hurt much and she would rather not sit and worry. She looked up to see Spike standing in the doorway. He nodded his head.

"OK" She replied and crawled up to the head of the bed. She sat cross legged waiting for Spike.

After drying off and changing into sweat pants Spike looked to his Sire. Angel changed into silk pajama bottoms, feeling no need to hide his body from Dawn either.

"Who is sleeping in the middle?" Dawn's voice broke the eye lock the two vamps had on one another. Both turned and told her the same thing. "You."

With that Dawn smiled a tiny smile and cuddled under the covers. Angel lay on her left and Spike on her right. Spike turned her so her back was facing him and spooned her, making sure to keep a tight grip on her waist. Angel lay facing her and wrapped his arm around both bodies sharing his bed. Dawn felt secure and safe and fell quickly into a sleep.