Title- Spike Slept here

Rated- M

Pairing- Dawn/spike

A/N- Dawn's age has been adjusted for this story from 15 to 17 during the beginning of s6. I know I upped it a lot, but to me, 15/16 is a little young for where this story will be heading.

Summery- Dealing with the sudden return of Buffy and her lack of intrest, Dawn begins back down the path that she headed in season 5. This could lead to the removal of her from the household. now the gang has to band together to come up with a plan for her stay.

Prologue-

Dawn had skipped school for the first time that week, the sixth time that month and the twenty-fifth time that school year. And the number would continue to grow as the school year progressed. Since Buffy had come back Dawn had detached herself from all caring and feeling of life. She figured if Buffy could continue just 'going through the motions' of day to day life and responsibility, so could she, and so she chose to.

Most of her time was spent skipping school and going to hang out at Spike's crypt in the middle of the day. When she did go to school, she never paid attention, causing her grades to slip beyond considering any suitable option outside of summer school. She spent her time in school giving her teachers reasons to send her down to the office or coming to school on Saturdays. When asked by anyone what caused her to carry on in this manner, her answer was simply, "This is who I am."

To her, her behavior was normal. She felt that how she was going on was an acceptable way of life. Most of those close to her were to busy to really notice anyway. However, child welfare was very aware of the problem, calling the Summers' home at least once a month as the damage was increasing. And every phone call ended with Buffy in tears and Child Welfare holding off with warnings of either a turn around in Dawn's school attendance, or her permanent removal from Buffy's custody.

Continuing to stay wrapped up in their own problems, the group all thought that it was a phase and with a few stern lectures she would eventually grow out of it. Little did any of them know that it would be the cause of a slue of events that were soon to follow, starting with a single phone call one Wednesday morning.

Chapter 1-

"I'm sorry, Miss. Summers," said the woman from child welfare, "but I think it's in Dawn's best interest if she were removed."

"But I know I can fix this!" Buffy defended, "Just give me one more chance."

"You've had plenty of chances and warnings these past few months and you were unable to make any progress toward change. This whole environment that she's living in isn't good for her, it's very unstable."

"It just seems unstable, but it really isn't as bad as it looks from the outside,"

"I'm sorry, Miss. Summers."

"Well you're not going to just take her away so suddenly are you? Can she stay for a few days just to let this sink in?"

"You've got less than a week, Miss. Summers, to get her things together and prepare her to leave."

"Thank you!" Buffy said into the phone, relief for what little time she had been given with her sister.

"You're welcome, Miss. Summers. Good bye."

Buffy hung up the phone after hearing the click on the other end and sat down on the couch. She tried to take deep calming breaths, but it wasn't helping. She was going to lose her sister and it was all her fault.

When Dawn came home Buffy was still sitting on the couch. Buffy was staring straight ahead of her. Dawn walked in front of her. "Buffy? Are you ok?" Dawn waved a hand in her face, but still no response. "Buffy!"

"Huh? Oh, hi, Dawn."

"Are you ok?" Dawn asked again concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Buffy answered standing up to go make herself busy. 'How am I going to tell her?' "How was school?"

"Oh, uh, it was fine."

"What did you do today?"

Dawn looked down at the floor in an attempt to not look at Buffy. "The usual, you know, math, science, lunch. Nothing new." She shrugged.

"Great!" After a moment of silence, Buffy turned around to face Dawn. "Tonight, I'm going to meet with the gang. You know Slayer stuff."

"Can I come with?"

"Um, no, not this time. Maybe next time, ok?"

"Alright. Are you sure that everything's ok?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. You can stay here by yourself, right?"

"Yeah," she mumbled as she headed upstairs.

When Dawn was out of ear shot, Buffy picked up the phone and dialed Giles' number. A few seconds later she heard, "Hello?"

"Giles, it's Buffy. We have a problem."

"What's wrong?"

"I got a call from Dawn's social worker today, and they want to take Dawn away." She broke down into tears as she said the last words.

"Did you ask for another chance?"

"Uh huh," Buffy said as she sniffled into the phone, wiping her eyes. "The women said that she was done giving me more chances and it was best if she was removed."

"Alright, calm down. We'll just have to figure something out," he said trying to console her.

"We have less than a week, before they remove her from my custody." Buffy sniffled again before saying, "I want to have a meeting tonight. Dawn's going to stay here and she knows nothing about it."

"You have to tell her, Buffy," Giles insisted.

"I know, but I won't until we have a plan of action laid out."

Giles sighed deeply, "That's if we get a plan laid out. If we can't find a loop hole we have no choice but to give her up."

"But I will come up with a plan."

"Buffy, this is not some apocalypse that can be averted! We have to play by their rules or we're all going to be in a lot of trouble."

"I know."

"I hope you do," he finished sternly.

"I'll see you tonight," and she hung up the phone.