Spike IV

Exausted, Spike drags his feet as he walk into the house through the front door. Dawn Willow, Faith, Giles and a potencial are at the dining room table, he nods at them. He is glad that the second slayer got home safe and that Buffy did not want a fight with the girl, but why would she. Buffy did not love him. Spike had to keep repeating that to himself to get through his thick head. As he makes his way across the living room, Dawn steps in front of him. He looks at her in a questioning manner, but she is the one to pose questions: -"Where were you? We saw you discussing outside? Faith arrived saying you were figthing? Something happened? Why hasn't Buffy come in?" She puts her hand on his shoulder, gets on the point of her feet and looks over his shoulder to the door. He doesn't know what to answer. Spike does not want to be the one to tell, he fucked things up with Buffy again. Nervertheless, he takes advantage she stopped the rant of questions to say: -"Let's just say it was a rough night. I am off to bed now." Before he can make himself scarce, Giles calls out to him: -" Spike, we seemed to have come upon a little parch of information indicating that you are the son of Hades. Is that correct?"

Spike growled, now this. In all the times they had to discover this piece of shit from his past, why now? His demon is filled with anger, but Spike was too tired to fight. So the vampire protested loudly: -" That fucking idiot. Hades! Is - not - my - father. My father died when I was 10. Now if I can be excused. I had a rough night. One where you tried to fucking kill me. I turning in for the night." He is surprised when he hears Buffy's stern voice: -"No, you are not." Spike turns around to her, to be meet by the face of the slayer. The face she weared so well, when she meant business. He sighs tiredly as she says:-"The mission is what matters. And it seems you got some explaining to do as usual." Spike nods and heads for the living room, he hears Giles ask: -"So, are you Hades son?" The vampire grumbles low and throws himself in the couch. He looks up to the ceiling in defeat as he says: -"He claims to be..." Giles sounds exasperated when he asks: -"What does that mean exactly? Spike leans foward rubbs his face on his hands, please kill me now he thinks as he answers: -"I don't know. He claims it. I don't reconize it... Its a thing. I do not see how is this helpfull to the mission?" Spike says that directed to Buffy, but he dares not to look at her.

He frowns as Willow says: -"The Beljoxa's eye said that the First could be stopped by Hades' son, if such son could fix the line of Slayers..." Dawn interrupts the witch saying:-"Or make the First submit to him. Do that it sounds way cooler!" He never heard that one before. There were always prophecies, since he was very little. They came and went, not always as prophessed, but not without taking lives. He was already burned out of energy, but to his disgrace, Giles added: -"Where you aware of this?" It seemed pretty much and accusation to Spike and he had it with those. He stood up and said: -"No. I do not care what this thing said ... And I do not care about the fucking mission." He stared straight at Buffy, but she would not look him in the eye. Spike breathed out all the air from his lungs, looked around the room and added: -"I am not Hades son. I am not your guy. Can I leave now? Or is something else being discussed?" Spike growls as the potencial raises her hand and asks: -"Is the First the same person as the man that attacked me?"

What is this girl talking about, Spike shakes his head and gets up to leave. However, once again the Slayer denies him saying: -"Sit down, Spike." He groans, but sits down just the same. Willow is the one to answer the potencial saying: -"No, the first is incorporeal. But I guess we need to talk about that, Buffy. Shannon was attacked by bringers and another guy – dressed as a priest, Faith managed to save her." He watches Buffy flinch at the mention of Faith's name. The dark haired girl is smart to be leaning against the wall trying to stay out of Buffy's sight. It surprises him when Buffy interrupts the witch saying: -"Yeah, Faith. We are all thrilled to have her back. Can you fucking leave my house now?" He feels uneasy when Faith steps out of the dark corner of the room with her chest out in a chalenging way while saying: -"I was under the impression that I was needed here. If you want me gone, I'm out of here." To his dismay Buffy takes menacing steps closer to the girl and says: -"Well, you are wrong. No one needs you here, so get gone." Spike steps in between the slayers and says to Faith: -"She does not mean that. All help is needed."

His heart feels heavy as Buffy laughs and says: -"Oh, look at you two getting along so well. Never thought you would have on of my exes defend you, Faith." Gladly, Dawn interrupts saying: -"Buffy, what is going on?" and Giles says: "Buffy, this is extermely out of line. Faith is here to help." He can see that the slayer is bitting her own tongue, hatred pours out of her eyes like she is going to hit something. Spike sighs, steps in front of her face waiting for the hit, but it doesn't come. He opens his eyes to see that Willow had grabbed Buffy's arm and was now saying softly: -"Shannon says the preacher guy sent you a message that he had something of yours. It could be something to help in the fight. We are all here to help in the fight, Buffy." He watches as she nods, it is time to squeal his way out of this room. As the discussion about the new enemy goes on Spike makes his way to the basement. He hits the cot heavily with thud and metal does some squeaking. Spike hates this thing, but he is glad to finally be laying in it... away from the drama. He tries to still his mind and not think about anything. Spike focuses closing his eyes and steading his breathing, but it does not work.

Spike tosses and turns in his cot making it squeak and causing much more disturbance. His mind keeps wheeling back to the look on Buffy's face, when she had seen them. In less then one minute he had gone from felling happy, to feeling nothing... nothing but pain. That was what his relationship with buffy brougth them, nothing but pain. Till there is nothing left she had said and she was right. Buffy was right. He had to pull away from her, he could not keep hurting the girl. Spike sighed he had been foolish to think that they had stood a chance and that the soul would change anything. Buffy valued the soul so much, but Spike knew it did not matter. He had loved her without it, like he loved her now. The soul had not kept him from hurting her once again and it had not made her trust him. She would never love him. He was beneath her she had said so... twice now. Pain and hell was all they had to offer each other.

It had worried him sick, when she was lying at the middle of the road her hands and knees scraped and bleeding. There she was, crying in the middle of the road, a sitting duck for any vampire that came. He wanted to clean them out, the bruises... to hug her and kiss her, but she had said don't touch me ever again. And by hell on Earth, Spike was going to ablige to her request. He had put that girl through too much. He would never touch her again. He would fight the first and if he survived... Spike would say his goodbyes. He fell asleep with that thought in mind and woke up with the same thought in his mind, but with a pissed-off Dawn staring at him. She lite a match near his face and he jumped back from it. He growled low at her and Dawn snorted as she said: -"You blew it yet again, sparky." Spike ran his hand through his hair and nodded. He felt a knot on his throat remembering Buffy's face. Dawn sat down by his side and said: -"I am starting to think that you have an uncontrolable urge to hurt my sister. Maybe we should get you a chip for that."

He smiled at that. It would definetly solve his problems having a chip that kept him from hurting Buffy. He kept silent as Dawn said: -"Why did you have sex with Faith?" Spike looked at his sister and shook his head, this question was out of line. He did not have to explain. Spike stood up and started pacing whilst saying: -"It's... it's not like.. Me and Buffy, we are not dating... nor shagging.. nor anything. So I wanted to kiss a woman, it is not like Buffy loves me. I thought she could care less. I did not know she would catch the bloody show." His sister was shaking her head at him as she said: -"Oh please. You don't even believe in this ridiculous excuse your brain is giving. Off course she loves you" Spike closes his fists, opens his arms and roars to the ceiling. Bloody Summer women messing with his brain, he stares at Dawn and spells it out: -"Buffy –does – not – love – me., Dawn. I can be with other women." It exasperates him, when niblet says: -"You blew it again, sparky. She cried all night." Spike sighs, sits down, rubbs his hands against his face and mumbles: - "I know. I blew it."

Spike looks at Dawn sideways and says: -"I do not know what to do. I am starting to think me and your sister need to be as far away from each other that we can get." Dawn hits him hard across his right arm and says: -"Stop that right now. There will be no more leaving." The vampire growls and replies: -"I am serious, lil bit. This with your sister... me here is not doing anyone good. After this apocalipse..." Dawn stops him, hitting him again while saying: -"Don't say that... Like I said: there will be no leaving. Are you an idiot.? Buffy wants you here. I just told you she cried all night. She loves you, moron." Spike hangs his head in defeat and says: -"No, she doesn't. Buffy told me she can not love me, niblet." The youngest sumer girl looks a him in despair and insists: -"She does. It is just hard for her to admit... I do not know why. We just need to find out why and fix it." Spike thought Dawn was fucking crazy, he snorted and said: - "Buffy told me countless times that she did not love, Dawn. Ever since I found that I loved her, countless times I screamed my love into the universe, into her face. I spent all my time trying to prove my love, proving I love her..." Dawn stops him and says: - "And you prove it by sleeping with Buffy's friends."

Spike rolls his eyes and ignores her comment as he continues: -"We got to face it, Dawn. There is no happing ending for me and you sister. My love for Buffy it just hurts her, because she doesn't... because she can't love me back." Dawn slaps his head and he frowns at her saying: -"She does not want me Dawn. What am I supposed to do? I can not force her to want me. And lets remembered I fucking tried that... I should had never come back in the first place." She hits him again and he growls at her. Dawn sticks her tongue out at him and says: -"What about me? You forget you are stuck with a little sister now. Me, you and Buffy are supposed to be a family. I know we are. It is not like you can erase the past, but we can build our future. If you would... what? What is that look on your face?" Spike was staring at Dawn, mouth agaped in wonder. How could he have been so silly not to think about that before. He smiles at her and says: -"I got a brillant idea." The girl stares back at him and asks:-"Ahn?" Spike smirks at her and says: -"I thought of a way to fix things!"

At that Dawn stood up and backed away from him while saying: -"Please, do not say this brilliant idea involves magic." He stood up with her and kept stepping towards her. Spike grabs a soft hold of Dawn's hands and says: -" Hear me out on this, nibblet." The girl shakes her head negatively at him and mumbles: -"No, no, no... You now how bad things can go." He tilts his head at her and tries to look as innocent as he can as he states his idea: -"I could go back in time and keep Buffy from dying. Then the slayer line would not be broken... and by doing that I would be fullfilling the Beljoxa's eye profecy." Dawn takes her hands off his and points a finger at him while saying: -"Aha, profecy! So you do admit you are Hades' son!" Spike growls, shakes his head negatively and says: -"Never! Hate that wanker." Dawn smiles and says: -'I thought he was great, a little bit scary and authoritarian, but nice... like he asked why you did not call? So I guess he misses you." The vampire rolls his eyes and retorts: -"You trying to change the subject. You have to help me, this time travel thing could work. Go get Willow! Do not tell, Buffy or anyone for that matter."

The girl was not moving, just standing that looking at him. Spike frowned and said: -"What? This is a good ideia, niblet. We can save Buffy. We can save your mum for all I know." He could see that he had gotten her there, she hesitates looking up to the basement door and then to him, before saying: -"You don't that, that you would be able to save them. It could make things worse, it could..." He interrupts her saying: -"You don't know that either, it can make things better. Save us all from loads of pain, I mean they would not have to die, Dawn.' He does not give her time to ponder and adds: -"Just go and get Willow... we will talk to her, get her opinion, see if it is possible..." Dawn stares at him through squinted eyes. Spike knows she is doubting him, but he hopes that the promisse of Joyce is enough to have her curious. She raises her eyebrowns at him as she says: -"I will get Willow and you will promise that of she says it can not be done... if there is any kind of risk at all... You will back down and you won't try it, not even think about it." He nods at her and she says: -"I will need more than that, son of Hades. Swear by your mother"

Spike rolls his eyes and says: -"By my dead mother I promisse if it can be done, I will not try it." Dawn slaps his arm and says: -"And if there are any risks." He stares at her and says: - "Yeah, you got it kid. Now get going." She rolls her eyes and says: -"Rude much! Is not because you are royalty that people have to be running around during errands for you!" He gives her a mock laugh at her attempt to make fun at him and signals with his hands for her to leave. Dawn laughs as she climbs up the stairs and adds: -"By the way, talking about errands... your father said that when the time comes, he will be waiting for your call." Spike roars as he answers: -" Hades is not my father!", but the girl is already out of the basement and he plops down into the cot once again sulking.