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Chapter Nine: Visitors
Spike waited until he was sure Buffy was on patrol before he made his way into the Summers' residence. He picked the lock on the back door quietly - they'd never trusted him with a key - a paper bag tucked under his arm. He could hear Red in the basement, the radio playing, and iron hissing slightly. Least she wasn't bloody chanting. He meandered through the house and crept up the stairs. He paused at Dawn's door and took a deep breath. He knocked and waited. When the door didn't open immediately, he panicked for a moment, fearing Dawn wasn't there but he could hear her heart beat, strong and steady, on the other side of the door. Thump, thump, thump. The door opened slowly and Dawn's beaming face greeted him. She looked tired and still a little pale but she there and healthy.
"Spike!" she cried happily and wrapped her arms around him in a warm hug. He dropped his chin to her forehead and wrapped one arm carefully around her. She burrowed into his side.
"How you feeling, Niblet?" he asked, concern colouring his voice. He pushed her back slightly, looking her over for any new injuries, assessing the old. He couldn't smell any fresh blood.
"Well I'm going to have to cross bikini model off my futures careers list but other than that, I'm fine." She smiled brightly at him. She noticed the package under his arm. "Presents?"
"Oh yeah." He thrust the slightly crushed bag out to her and scratched his head. "Nothing special, wasn't sure what to get."
Dawn peered into the bag. "Grapes?"
Spike shrugged and looked embarrassed. "S'what you used to get," he mumbled.
Dawn shuffled back to her bed and sat back slowly. "Tara will be happy with you," she informed him. She chewed on a grape, talking with her mouth full. "Clem brought me two massive bags of Japanese candy and she threatened to dump it all if I didn't eat a vegetable soon."
"Glad I could be of service."
He stood awkwardly in the doorway, watching her chow down on the grapes he brought.
"You need a special invitation?"
Spike walked in slowly. He pulled her desk chair over and sat down, wrapping his coat around his legs as he did so.
"I'm sorry," he said, not meeting her eyes. "I should have been better, faster. Shouldn't have riled the boy up."
Dawn frowned at him. "Is that what Buffy said? Because that's not true," she said forcefully. "It was all Riley's fault." She ducked her head and picked at the skin of a grape, peeling it back slowly. "And I maybe should have done what you said and stayed behind the headstone."
"You're a Summers," Spike said, jiggling her knee good-naturedly. "You women never bloody listen."
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Buffy was curled up on the couch with a cup of tea when he finally came down the stairs. The house was quiet and dark except for the warm glow of the lamp beside her. He wasn't sure where the witch had gone. To bed, out. It was all the same to him.
"You came," Buffy said lightly.
He paused at the bottom of the stairs, torn between running away, and throwing away any good sense and running towards her. He walked over to her. He sat down on the arm of the couch. He sniffed and scratched his head.
"Promised the Niblet." He looked up at Buffy and tilted his head. "You okay?"
Buffy nodded. Her eye was blackening up nicely and she had a cut on her temple. "Vamp introduced my head to a grave stone," she said with a shrug. "It'll be fine by morning."
"Good."
They sat awkwardly. Spike exhaled heavily and rolled his lips together. "I should go," he said, pointing over his shoulder. He raised himself slowly and turned to the door but Buffy's quiet voice pulled him back into the room.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you about the eggs. I should have listened."
Spike nodded, surprised at her admission. "Haven't exactly given you reason to trust me." He shrugged.
Buffy smiled ruefully. "Haven't exactly given me reason not to," she responded quickly. She took a sip of her tea. He could see the light steam play at her face as she drank. She was still half in shadow. "Clem and Willy seemed to think it was a ridiculous idea – you being The Doctor," she admitted.
Spike shrugged and sat back down, this time on the cushion beside her. He was still as far away from her as he could get but he knew it would take no more than an outstretched hand to touch her again.
"Was never really my scene."
She nodded slowly and they sat in silence once more. Spike hated it. He ran his hands up and down his thighs, feeling the static in the denim. "I owed him a few kittens," Spike explained, desperate to fill the silence. "So did Clem, still think that game was rigged to be honest, and they said if I held the eggs our debts would be cleared."
He rubbed the back of his head and then twisted his fingers together in between his knees. "I'm not stupid," he told her, suddenly still, "Know sometimes it seems like I am, but I'm not. Knew there was something wrong with the deal. Knew they weren't harmless. S'why they wanted me to do it. Make sure they didn't take over Sunnydale if they hatched. Bit of disposable muscle to keep the little gremlins in check."
Buffy looked at him confused. "So if you knew they were dangerous, why didn't you keep them on ice?"
"Bastard didn't tell me I had to," Spike said scornfully. He looked up and meet Buffy's eye. "Seen a full grown Suvolte demon before. Would have kept the precious spawn in a freezer if I'd known."
Buffy nodded. "I really am sorry," Buffy repeated. "Maybe if I'd listened to you, none of this would have happened."
Spike looked at her, tilting his head to the side. She met his eye. "You knew at first though, you said it wasn't me then he changed your mind."
"You were lying. I could see you were lying so I just…assumed the worst."
Spike scrunched up one side of his face. "Never really got the hang of lying. Used to bollocks up Angelus' plans."
"He could never teach you to lie, huh?"
"Goes against my good nature."
Buffy gave him a small smile.
"I should go. You'll tell the Niblet I'll be by again later?"
"Will do."
She didn't get up to walk him out. He stopped in the open door and turned his head back to her.
"Wouldn't have made a difference if you believed me," he told her. "Boy still would have come back, I still would have thrown the rock and Dawn still would have snuck out."
"Maybe," Buffy said softly.
"Good night, Buffy."
"Good night, Spike."
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This is perhaps my favourite scene of the entire story so I hope it plays as well in your heads as it does mine.
Thank you all for your reviews! 104 at time of posting. I am most grateful. We're nearing the end of the prewritten chapters so I hope you'll keep reading and reviewing if updates became a little more unpredictable.
