Spike remembers when they found her. Well, Dru had found her, traded all their money in New York. She was sick and even more out of her mind because of that mob in Prague. They had just gotten into the harbour a few hours before and he had left to get the Desoto out of storage and he thought she would have a nap. When he got back, there she was. Dru had traded some worthless junkies who sold their only child for a few more fixes and then dressed the little street rat up like her dolly. Of course, Spike had wanted to get rid of the thing but Dru had cried and cried for her brand new dolly and said she would never forgive her Spike if he harmed a hair on her head.
Of course, Spike was the one who had to take care of her. Dru had no concerns over whether the dolly was fed or not. Spike treated her like a piece of furniture or a pet. The girl was just there. When they had arrived in Sunnydale he made sure to give all the new minions a thrashing to make sure they didn't touch the girl. It bothered him a bit that she was so at ease with these monsters around her that only brought death, how screwed up had her life been before that she was at ease in this situation.
But being near the Hellmouth brought out the worst in Dru when it came to the girl. She treated her like a dolly still but now she was a naughty dolly who mummy burned with matches, scrubbed in water until her skin was raw, and whipped until she passed out from pain. Of course Spike had to clean her up because the idiot minions couldn't be trusted with a bloody bleeding human. He made sure to calm her when he cleaned her because Dru would be ten times worse the next time if she cried even a little.
Thn Dru had become well again and he had lost his legs and he became a little more sympathetic to the girl. He was the one who had needed caring for and the minions bend to his every whim but she was the one that kept watch of him , even when Dru was gone at the hunt.
Then Angelus had returned and life was worse for all of them. Dru now stayed in his bed and Spike was the minor annoyance at best. The girl had it worse though. Angelus took a shine to the girl and was irritated that Dru wouldn't allow him to kill her. Even if she didn't play with her anymore because daddy was home, didn't mean she wanted to just throw her away. Angelus wasn't allowed to kill her but he sure as hell made her wish she was dead. Spike could hear her cries throughout the mansion and from what Angelus would describe every morning after the fact , he was surprised she didn't throw herself down a well. And every night she would return to keep watch over him, silently, without saying a word or shedding a tear.
One night had been particularly brutal that it even made him cringe and he had driven bloody railroad spikes through people's head. She had come like always silently through his door afterward. He smelled the blood on her as soon as she had opened the door. Before she sat on the bench against the wall, he extended his arm without a second thought and motioned for her to come to him. He didn't know if he was going to kill her or comfort her and he didn't think she would have cared either way. She burried her head in his shoulder and cried and even without a soul, he decided that killing her would be too heartless.
Over the next few months the same scene had played out over a few dozen times. He had taken to talking to her about her life and how hard it had been before he was turned and how much a bastard Angelus had been even back then. They bonded over their mutual hatred of him but he got mad at her whenever she said a cross word about Dru . Even if she had betrayed him, he still loved her with all his cold dead heart.
She told him of the only life she had ever known, surviving off dumpsters and handouts that she could hide from her parents. She saw being sold as a good thing and it was for a time. He would stroke her hair and sing her to sleep only waking her when he could sense the others nearby. She would help him work his legs and forced him to drink from her wrist when Angelus would leave him to starve for days , even instructing the minions not to feed him a thing. He never once thought of draining her even when starving. She was his only shred of sanity left.
Then one night after the abuse he heard Angelus being struck by Dru for almost draining her dolly. The next night he had gone to the slayer.
Dru seemed to hate him as much as she cherished her. She would scream at him and then pamper her dolly. Eventually she had cheated so much that he was forced to leave. He had gotten drunk, went back to Sunnydale, and then gotten into a row with the Scoobies again and then returned, determined as ever to win back his dark princess. The only thing he found was the girl half dead and his princess gone.
He nursed her back to health and they spent the rest of the year in a stupor in Mexico. She would lure the roughest meanest men into the dark alleys and he would drain them. He taught her to fight and win and made her aware of all the nasties that went bump in the night. He bought her pretty dresses and scared all the young men away that came knocking at their door. He may have been a bastard but he had never let a lady down when he could help it.
But he couldn't get Sunnydale off his mind. He wanted to be the death of a third slayer. He begged her to come with him, she refused, saying that town would be the death of them and one night she left. He acted like he didn't care but he missed her, he lost himself in the quest for the gem.
And that was the last time he had saw her until right now, sitting in his kitchen with a very angry looking Tara.
He was angry and confused and upset.
And he was relieved.
She looked up at him and she knew all was forgiven and water under the bridge and with tear-filled eyes she ran as fast as she could and crashed into his open arms as he enveloped her.
They stood their for an eternity with Tara and Faith looking on in confusion but neither of them noticed anything but each other in those moments. She sobbed in relief as he let out a comforted sigh.
"Dawn" was the only thing he muttered.
Faith was just blown away by this little 14 year old that sat beside her. Who knew there could be a kid even more screwed up then she was , but here sat this little tattooed and pierced kid who had won gold in the fucked up Olympics.
"So you're a slayer, huh?" Dawn looked her up and down and took a drag off her cigarette. "I thought you'd be a bit more epic the way Spike and Angelus talked, you are supposed to be a big deal or something..."
Faith snorted and look on incredulously, This kid had balls and she kinda liked her.
"The only one in all the world. Well, I guess the only two in all the world that stands against the darkness and yadda yadda yadda" Faith rolled off as she pushed herself off the steps and stood on her feet "But hey, if you think you can take me there, Streets. Let's have us a go"
The kid actually moved surprisingly fast and was deceptively solid for the tiny little lady she appear to be. Faith threw her punches and kicks wide and faked a few but this little firecracker was slamming them into her face so hard that it was stinging pretty good. The counter moves Dawn were using was impressing her pretty well too.
"Sure your not part bloodsucker there, Streets" Faith threw another punch.
Dawn dodged her fist and swept at her legs which sent Faith to the floor .
She put her foot to Faith's neck and looked down at her "Naw, just trained by one who killed two of you chosen ones"
She extended her hand towards Faith who accepted it
"Sorry about not pulling my punches like you were. Spike just taught me never to pull punches because unlike you or him, I don't have any powers. It's kill or be killed and I'm the kind of girl that looks for the fight." Dawn looked down at her feet as she apologized.
"No skin off my nose. Five by Five, Streets. With those kinda moves, you ever kill a baddie or two? " Faith gave her a gentle knock in the shoulder and even when Dawn didn't look up she still smiled.
"A few when Spike was training me and a lot after I left. Let's just say between him and Angelus, I had some real surrogate Daddy issues." Dawn continued as Faith gave her a nudge.
"Did I ever tell you about the time mine transformed into a snake demon and tried to eat the whole town?" Faith retorted "Course I was in a coma at the time due to a knife in the gut"
Spike had told her everything as soon as Faith and Dawn went into the backyard.
Tara was a blur trying to make up the guest room.
"She can stay here for as long as she needs … she she can consider this as her room … we never h-h-have guests anyway and our friends live in town … it's not late in the school year …. we could probably get her some ID and enroll her in school or something … I wanna make e-e-everything perfect for her ,,, make her h-h-happy"
Spike stopped her and held Tara close to him
"You can calm down, luv. She's used to sleeping in alleyways and abandon mansions with a stake under her pillow and a knife on her hip. This is the bloody Ritz compared to all that. I wouldn't be talkin bout higher education too much or else she'll give me the slip again."
Tara smiled up at Spike and gave him a peck on the lips , her warm smile melted away after a moment to a stern scowl " And you mister … no more bars with minors. She's had enough bad in her life and it's your job as a bad influence to get her on the right path." she poked him in the chest sternly and Spike chuckled at her.
" Coz you cured me of all my naughty behaviors , didn't you, My Glinda" He grinned as he leaned in to kiss her " Made the Big Bad a good boy who never does,,," He pulled her in and ground her hip against his, " naughty things"
She returned his kiss with both tenderness and passion and brought her hand to the side of his face, she missed him in the mornings usually he was dead asleep in bed when she got up for classes.
"A world of gross." echoed in the hallway, startling both Spike and Tara and they turned to see a cross-armed Dawn looking on in annoyance.
" This where I'm crashing. Good . Don't wake me up anyone or I'll stab you . Night ..." She slammed the door from the inside before anyone could react leaving Spike to roll his eyes and Tara to open and close her mouth repeatedly with no words coming out.
Suddenly, the door swung open again and Dawn stuck her head out. Thanks for the stereo and CDs and the hospitality and stuff, Tasha" She fired out quickly before closing the door again.
Tara shrugged as she pushed Spike to bed , She had to shower so she took what she got.
Riley like these new perks he got from the blood he had consumed. His strength had tripled from that of his previous vampiric strength, if not more and things like crosses and holy water just stung a little when he came into contact with them. He could even walk in the sun for a few minutes at a time before his skin started to sizzle. But oh... the hunger consumed him. Before he would just drain his victims until their heart stopped, now he sucked em dryer than a kid with a Capri Sun in the middle of a heatwave. He had no need to rest as long as he had a steady stream of victims and the lepers made sure he was not disappointed.
He continued to mull things over as he soaked in the tub, a lair courtesy of his dearly departed victim, The Great Glorificus. Even thinking about her made him remember that flow of power that slammed into his mouth with each pull of blood.
He stood up with a grin on his face and stepped out of the bath to be toweled off. He was gonna get Drusilla up and they were gonna fine some pretty little thing in the wine cellar and make her wish she was never born, maybe another one after that … and then …. sometime real soon … they were going to have their coming out party; and Spike and Buffy and whoever else got in the way of his big dreams … they were gonna pay.
Spike had to take a break from the training room.
Faith had gone a bit loopy in the past few weeks because vampire activity had all but dried up minus the random rising from the grave and the rest of the demons seemed a little bit unnerved so Faith and Spike had spent most of the past month sitting in Willy's every night instead of patrolling, keeping an ear out, along with the occasional beer and poker. Willy let them drink on the house when he found out he could have his own slayer/bouncer taking care of things when they got a little unruly. The demons who went to the bar were a bit wary that a slayer was there but she soon made it clear as did Spike as long as the demons weren't killing people or trying to end the world , they were five by five. They had even done some moonlighting for some of the lone sharks, the high risk collections paid well and were not evil but just dark enough that both Faith and Spike got a little bit of satisfaction for their not-so-good sides.
Faith hadn't killed anything for a week and that was why Spike was leaning up against the door frame of the training room inhaling a cigarette while his ribs crunched with unneeded aspirations. He was all for a good dance but he even thought Faith was a little much.
He decided to check on his girls in the shop. Both were doing their homework . They had convinced Dawn that in order for her to move in that she needed to be in school. It was only going to be a year or two at most and Tara had insisted that she go. Spike had it rigged up with some paperwork that Tara was her guardian and they enrolled her at the local high school (The one not located on a Hellmouth that was currently extra crispy). Faith and Dawn would brawl like sisters and Spike was the father always having to step in. Dawn liked to be by herself in her room a lot and seemed to develop a taste for the CDs that Tara had provided. The house was a little less punk and a lot more 90's alternative. Spike even caught himself humming a few bars of Letters to Cleo before shaking it away with some Ramones.
They sat their silently doing their homework side by side, not talking at all. Every once and a while he saw Tara steal a glance at Dawn, giving her a very loving look but at the slightest twitch of Dawn's face she would return to her own work. Tara was always asking Spike if Dawn liked her, Dawn was very guarded and was more about the rough emotions and had very little of a tender side on the surface. Spike had explained the situation and Tara, while wanting to dote on the girl, kept her distance and let the girl sort through her new situation on her own.
He continued to watch them as the door clanged a new customer in and Anya chimed in, "Welcome to the Magic Box , how may I help you spend your money ?" along with a scolding almost silent sigh from Rupert. The old librarian was smiling though, she was tactless but she was shagging the old codger senseless so he gave her some slack.
The faceless voice responded " I am looking a girl named Tara Maclay and we've heard she comes here quite often".
Spike watched as all the strength and beauty that he had come to love in Tara's face blanched and drained out of it, only to be replaced with almost wide-eyed fear . Her hand started clenching and unclenching and she trembled as she rose. So much that it alarmed both Spike and Dawn went immediately to her side.
Tara made her way to the front, not even acknowledging the two that stood at either side of her and silently followed. That voice scared her more than anything and she had to make sure that this was a dream or that voice was someone else. They couldn't have found her. There was no way in Hell they could have found her . And she stood there is absolute horror as her worst nightmare became reality.
The tremble in her hushed whisper made Spike gasp in anguish.
"Daddy?"
