Origins Chapt 13

When Dawn collapsed, Buffy barely caught her before the teen hit the floor. Carefully, she scooped her close and stared at the tear streaks on Dawn's face. The skin around her eyes was red, almost singed.

"I'll take her upstairs," Giles said, his voice nearer than Buffy expected. She flinched, pulled Dawn closer to her. She blinked and moved towards the staircase, her eyes fixated on Dawn.

"No... I can take her up."

"Buffy -"

"Give me a minute. I'll be right back."

Giles watched her walk around the corner, listened to the methodical steps as she climbed the stairs. Hank sniffed behind him and Giles slowly turned, pulling his glasses off. He placed them on the island counter, turned, and leaned against it, crossing his arms as he finally looked at Hank.

Who was still huddled in the corner, pale and shaking.

"Are you alright?" Giles asked. Spike huffed and stomped down to the basement. He didn't need a migraine right now.

"What - how di - what's wrong with Dawnie?"

"If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say she's rather upset."

Hank pushed himself upright, standing as quickly as his knees would allow. "You s-saw her, right? Her eyes? Her... face?" He stalked past Giles to the kitchen door, looking up the stairs. "You saw that, right?"

For just a moment, Giles was tempted to pretend otherwise. To tell this man, no, he hadn't seen his daughter's eyes glow. Treat him like a madman, calm him down, rationalize it as much as possible. Encourage the human mind to explain away the unexplainable like so many of the other people of Sunnydale.

Unfortunately, Giles knew that kind of thinking led to a dark path. Antipathy was rarely rewarded, no matter how justified it might seem at the time.

"I believe it's time we had a talk," said Giles. Hank didn't like his tone, and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like whatever it was that came from this man next.

Buffy pushed hair from Dawn's forehead, tucked it behind her ear. She sniffed and looked to the nightstand, reached for the supplies she'd found in the bathroom. A prescription salve, a soft cotton swab. She opened the salve and set to applying it as gently as possible to Dawn's eyelids and beneath her lashes.

Memories from what seemed like another life filtered into her mind's eye. How had she forgotten that short, horrible time in her life?

"You can't be serious."

"I'm afraid I am. She's been fighting evil since before your separation with Joyce," Giles replied. Spike turned for another lap in his pacing.

"Now?" said Spike.

"Not yet," Giles said. Again.

"What is his problem?" Hank asked.

"He's anxious to... assist me." Spike snorted and rolled his eyes. "But I made sure to stress the importance of waiting for his particular contribution to this discussion."

"What does he have to do with Buffy?"

"He's not gonna believe you, Rupes -"

Giles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright! Spike... If you please?" Spike grinned and turned towards Hank.

"Uh... what -"

Spike bent forward and growled. He shook his head, his features morphing into the demon visage - his Game Face. He sneered, showing off his teeth. Golden eyes focused on the suddenly terrified man staring at him. He pounced, slamming Hank to the ground. Hank tried to scream but his breath seemed to be missing.

Spike made a big show of smelling him before pushing his face right into Hank's.

"I can smell your fear, little m-omph! Ow! What the sodding-"

Buffy kicked him again, this time dislodging him from her father. She twisted, kicked a nearby staff up, caught it and twirled it around, more for show than any real purpose.

Spike grinned and stood, rolling his shoulders. "Blondie wants to play? It's been ages, pet."

"Just take your shot, Spike."

They sparred, Giles watching quietly and Hank openly gawking. This was his little Buffy. The same girl who wanted to grow up to be an ice skating princess. Who asked how chocolate milk was made and if it was because some cows are brown. His baby girl. Fighting monsters.

For the first time since his arrival, Hank truly looked at Buffy. Fine scars covered her face and arms. A bigger set of four scars ran down her neck and it didn't look like she was wearing any kind of make-up to cover them. He wondered what happened to her to cause them. They looked fairly fresh.

Hair flopped down from her ponytail, framing her face. Such a stern and serious expression on his little girl. One she'd had since she asked him to fight monsters for her.

"Guard your left."

Buffy turned, ducked and swept Spike's feet out from under him. He landed, a muffled cry escaping him, and he grinned up at her. Blood dripped from his nose and he caught it. licking his lip clean.

"Ugh." She grimaced and turned to Giles, not even glancing at her father. "Its been a while," she said.

Giles nodded and took the staff from her, inspected it. "You need to be more aware of your surroundings... And I think I'll start training you against unfamiliar fighting styles."

Her face lit with a pleased smile. "Sounds like fun!"

He nodded and gently took her shoulder, inspecting her. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" Buffy's smile faded to an almost haunted look. She shook her head, avoiding eye contact. "Buffy..."

She shook her head. "I can't get into it right now."

"It was my fault," Hank said, forcing himself to rise. He started to dust himself off and winced, looked at his hands. One was scraped during the fall. "I'm the reason she was committed."

Giles noticed Buffy's reaction first - her shoulders rolling forward just a little, her body tightening. "Did you say 'committed'? As in... a mental institution?" He looked to Buffy, who was folding into herself even more. He pulled her to him, wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"What was I supposed to do? My teen-aged daughter - who just burned down the school gym - comes to me and says that it was all for a good reason, that she was fighting monsters!" He scoffed and held his hands out. "I did what any sane parent would do. I got her some help!"

"Bugger it," Spike muttered, stepping towards Hank. He took a swing, holding back only for Buffy's sake, and knocked Hank Summers out. Then he fell to his knees, holding his aching head in his hands. "Aaaargh - it was worth it, it was worth it, it was worth it!"

"I need a vacation," Buffy muttered, glaring at the two men on the floor.

A small smirk pulled up Giles' lips and he looked down, tucking hair behind her ear as he'd seen her do for Dawn. "I think a short holiday would do wonders for us all."

"So we can go to Disneyland?" she asked, lighting up.

"Uh, well, I, uh, that is to say -"

Buffy chuckled and wrapped her arms around him. "It'll be fun, I promise. Dawn's going to be so excited!"