Disclaimer: *begs* Don't make me say it! Please... *looks at an unresponsive Joss and sighs* Fine... I don't own it- Joss does. *glares at Joss* There... happy now? Soddin' wanker.

SOMETHING BLUE, New and Improved

...time to sprinkle some Dawn into the mix...

Let's see some more of those monk-made memories...

Part One

Buffy hung up the phone. She felt bad about doing this to Willow. After all, she just suffered a major split with Oz and she was doing some harsh pain right now. She knew Oz was like Willow's Angel but… duty calls. These were the times she hated being a slayer, when it ruined her REAL life.

Buffy turned and said, "Spike escaped."

Willow frowned and replied meekly, "So you're going? Right now?"

Buffy hated doing this but, "Sorry, duty thing."

Willow got panicky. "But- what's the rush? I mean... Spike can't hurt anybody right? I figured, seeing as how I'm kinda grievey, we could have a girl night. Ya know eat sundaes and then watch Steel Magnolias and you could tell me how at least I don't have diabetes-."

Buffy hated doing this and wanted to just say "fuck it" and do exactly as Willow described. But the mission counted. She started putting stakes in her bag. Plus, Giles had told her that Dawn was getting antsy. As much as she loved her sister, she sure could be way immature. I mean, god, she never stops thinking about herself! And mom loved Dawn best, always letting her get away with things. Sometimes she wanted to slay Dawn for taking mom away from her. It wasn't fair!

Buffy interrupted her, "Willow, I can't hang with you until I get Spike back to Giles'. You know that. Plus, I have to pick up Dawn. I promised I'd hang out with her and take her off Giles' hands… after all she is my sister- not his."

Willow shrugs, dejected.

Buffy feels guilt welling up inside her and she slowly backs out. "I'll be back soon. Promise."

Buffy leaves and Willow grumbles to herself, "I don't see the big. He's probably just standing out there; you'll find him in two seconds."

Outside, Buffy paused when she saw Spike standing in front of her. 'What is going on?' she thought. "I thought that was going to take longer."

Spike realized where he was. What was going on, he could have sworn he was on the edge of Sunnydale. He felt bad for leaving the 'bit behind, but the damn slayer was using him as her punching bag and he couldn't even fight back. He was fuming.

"Me too. I musta got turned around…" he said, looking around. 'Speaking of not being able of fighting back' he thought as he spotted something. "Hang on… this…"

He bounced over to a patch of grass. Buffy, confused, followed him.

Spike got excited and he thought hard. "This is it! Wait… no. Yes!" He spun around, remembering the slayer was there.

She grabbed his arm. She expressed her confusion when she spoke. "What are you talking about?"

Spike started to shake, he was so excited. If he got the chip out, he could kill the slayer, redeem his ego, take the 'bit and get the HELL outta Dodge. "The lab," he stated. "Commando lab. Door was right here. Where I escaped."

Buffy scoffed. 'Great just great. Not only is he EXTREMELY annoying, he's also insane. No wonder him and Dawn get along. Ugh, which by the way, must be stopped. I will NOT have my sister hanging around with the bleached wonder.'

"I don't think so," her hold on his arm tightened.

But Spike was too excited. He jerked out of her grasp and fell to his knees. The door was right here! He started ripping up the grass, pulling out large chunks. He was going to make them pay for this… this humiliation! He would not be tamed, trained, or put down. His anger flared when he realized he wasn't getting anywhere.

He yelled at the ground, "Open up! I'm going to kill you!"

'Yep, definitely wacko'. "Spike, there's nothing here."

Spike became desperate, his voice becoming strained, "Let me in! FIX ME!"

Buffy looked around. If she was seen with this loony toon it could ruin her reputation here. After all, escaping high school was hard enough. Here people seemed to like her. Even after the whole Parker fiasco. But if she was seen with Spike…

She yanked him up, "Drop the act."

Spike got very pissed. "GET OFF ME!"

He pulled his arm free. Buffy sighed, agitated. "That's it. I'm gagging you."

Spike, incensed, punched her square in the nose without thinking about the consequences. So, of course, he recoils, holding his head from the searing pain the chip bestowed upon him.

"Arrrrrrrrrrr!"

Buffy, being her usually bitchy self, paid Spike back with a right hook to his nose.

Spike hissed, "OW!"

On the way to Giles' Buffy only spoke to Spike once. "When we're at Giles' you will not look at, talk to, or think about Dawn. Understood?" Buffy didn't want this asshole corrupting her younger sibling. Buffy didn't get to have a normal life, so Dawn should be blessedly free of vampires like Spike.

Spike just grinned and said, "So you don't mind me touching her then, do you?"

Buffy glared before kicking him in the stomach. Spike hunched over from the blow, the air whooshing out of his lungs.

Buffy looked down on him, "You make one move toward her and next time I'll make sure I kick a little lower."

Spike growled and allowed Buffy to drag him the rest of the way to Giles' house. At least he'd be seeing his Nibblet again.

^*^*^*^*^*

Dawn listened to "Kids In America" on her diskman. Since Giles was in the bathroom, Dawn indulged herself by humming along and dancing to it. She closed her eyes and her jean-clad bottom swayed with her hips. Her body twisted with her, her long hair flying about her face. Her tight black halter showed off her maturing endowments. She jumped and nearly cried out when the front door suddenly burst open, revealing two beings.

Buffy pushed in an already bound Spike.

"Watchit!" he cried out, disliking being pushed about.

Buffy's eyes narrowed. "One more word out of you and I swear-!"

"Buffy!" her sibling said, her chest heaving. It had given her quite a start.

Spike coveted Dawn. Her long lithe legs that went on for miles were in tight blue jeans. A bit of midriff was exposed due to her halter riding up. Her hair was mussed and her cheeks were flushed, her puffy lips parted slightly as she breathed. Spike was suddenly very aware of the fact that Dawn looked as though she had just been shagged and shagged well. Spike refrained himself from growling at the thought. Although it smelled like sweat, it did not smell of sex. And no one was going to have sex with Dawn but him.

Buffy whacked Spike in the back of the head for eyeing her sister. "Dawn, what were you doing?"

Dawn blushed, suddenly demure as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Dancing…"

Spike listened and said, "The Muffs, nice choice, pidge. I would recommend-."

Buffy hit him again, "What did I say about talking to my sister?"

Spike chuckled, "What are you going to do, slayer?"

Buffy growled, "I'll-!"

"You'll what?" Spike countered. "You're not going to do anything to me. You don't have the stones." He smirked.

Buffy glared, "Oh, I've got the stones." She realized how stupid that sounded and tried to fix it, "I've got a whole… bunch of stones." Buffy grimaced, she just made it worse. Spike's smirk deepened.

Spike rolled his eyes, "Yeah, you're all talk."

Offhandedly Buffy called out, "Giles! I accidentally staked Spike! That's okay, right?"

Giles, who was putting drops in his eyes, paused at the sting. He sighed. "Just a minute.." He attempted to read the bottle of "Clear View", obviously failing.

Buffy was the one with a smirk on her face this time. Spike lost his grin and settled for glaring at her as the Slayer retied him to the chair with the grin on her face.

Dawn, however, was not amused. "Buffy, you won't kill him."

Buffy turned, surprised at her sister.

Dawn realized her error and winced, this was going to be bad… real bad.

"Dawn… why do you CARE? He's just a disgusting, soulless thing!" Buffy shouted.

"If he was so evil, why would he take the time to be nice to me?" Dawn defended.

"Uh, HELLO! You're the sister of the slayer! He'll make you trust him so that he can use you later to get to me," Buffy stated, raising her chin.

Dawn looked at her sister, disgusted. "You know, Buffy, something's aren't all about you!"

Buffy stepped back, that one stung. Just thinking back to when Angelus said something similar made her eyes water slightly. And it was apparent from the triumphant grin on her face that she'd known it would hurt her sister.

Spike was astonished. Now there's the dark, beautiful rose he'd seen in the alley all those years ago. Her hint of darkness made him eager, he sat foreword, enjoying it.

Buffy retorted, "Well, at least I'm not the one who staked her own friend!"

Dawn stepped back, hurt in her eyes. Sometimes she really wished she never told her sister about what really happened on Halloween. Although she exempted certain parts of the night, she never flat out lied. She sort of hopped around the truth and let her sister delude herself into thinking what she wished. But she had tried to forget staking her friend, Allison.

Buffy saw the hurt in her sister's eyes. "Dawn… I'm-."

"No," Dawn growled. "Don't you dare, Buffy. Don't you even dare."

Buffy's anger flared, she was trying to apologize here! "Dawn, come on…" She reached out to touch her sister.

"Don't. Touch. Me." Dawn bit out, glaring at her sister. Buffy stumbled back at the hatred in them.

Buffy felt her anger start to rise another notch. All she was doing was trying to protect her!

^*^*^*^*^*

In Xander's basement, Willow was seething. It appeared everyone was upset tonight. Xander sat on his bed and let Willow rant.

"I mean, I'm going through something- and you'd think every once in a while Buffy could make best friends a priority."

Xander cut in, coming to Buffy's defense. "You know, Will, it's not like she could just let Spike go. And plus, she has babysittin' duties with the Dawnmiester."

^*^*^*^*^*

By now, Buffy and Dawn were at each other's necks.

"Fine, then don't complain to me about how he betrays you when that spell is reversed. I won't cry while they pick up your body for weeks," Buffy commented.

Dawn snorted, "Please, Buffy. He doesn't want to kill me. He wants to see YOU dead. I mean, hello! Vampire," she pointed to Spike, "Slayer," she gestures to Buffy, "dead slayer."

"Spike couldn't kill me if he tried!" Buffy yelled.

"Did anyone ever tell you that your ego is the size of Africa? I mean, it is pretty hard to miss since it's almost as big as your ASS!" Dawn retaliated.

Spike grinned. 'Nice shot, Sweet pea.'

^*^*^*^*^*

Back in Xander's basement, Willow continued to rant.

"Spike and Dawn are more important than Willow. I get it."

Xander sighed, "Buffy's got find out what's up with those commandos. Right now, she needs Spike! And she has to take care of Dawn, she's her sister!"

"Of course she needs to take care of Dawn. Dawn's nothing but a baby. I wish she would just grow up and take care of herself!" Willow's eyes flashed but Xander doesn't notice since he was too busy tuning her out.

^*^*^*^*^*

Back at Giles' house, he was getting tired of hearing the two sisters fight. He came into the room, not noticing the sudden silence.

"Now if you two can remain civil long enough to - dear lord, Dawn!" Giles said, as he notices Dawn. He blinks for a second. Nope, although his sight was very blurry, he could tell that his mind was not playing tricks on him.

Buffy and Dawn had been close before, yelling at each other face to face. Now, however, the slayer had to tilt her head back to look into Dawn's eyes. She saw the change in Dawn and stumbles back, falling into the table. Her hand clutched her heart as her face went pale.

"Dawn…" she whispered.

Spike's jaw dropped. Dawn turned to look at him and there she was. The woman he met in the alley when Dawn became the slayer. Her face was more angular, devoid of the baby fat. She was almost spilling out of her halter and he was sure that if she took a deep breath her breasts would fall out of her shirt. Her halter stopped just before her belly button, revealing more creamy flesh to the vampire. Her waist was smaller and her hips were larger, giving her an hourglass shape.

Dawn looked down and observed herself. And she couldn't believe what she saw. Running to the bathroom, she twirled around in front of the full-length mirror. Yes, that WAS she. That stunning creature was her. As she walked out of the bathroom, she met the baffled gazes of the others. She unintentionally took a seat near Spike and said, "What's going on here?"