Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the setting of the story. As far as I know, Dawn Summers and all things I borrowed from the Buffyverse are a creation of and belong to Joss Whedon, and Milton Fine belongs to the creators of the Superman comics, and Warner Bros and whoever else owns "Smallville".

Timeline – after "Hypnotic", before "Oracle" and "Vessel"(Smallville), post Chosen (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer), post NFA (Angel)

The chapter is more a gathering of scenes. Don't seem to be able to focus. It's not bad, I wouldn't post it if I thought it was really bad, but it's not as good as I wished it was.

Chapter 13, part 2

Dawn pouted, and held him tighter. He created for her the illusions of a heart beating in his chest. Her cheek was pressed against his neck, and he simulated blood flowing through imaginary arteries.

"She'll be going on patrol soon. We could go upstairs for a while," Dawn whispered.

He kissed her, and did not stop until he heard Xander's footsteps.

"Sometimes, I wish I was completely blind," Xander said, averting his gaze from the couple that had separated abruptly and guiltily.

"Don't be like that," Dawn said reproachfully.

"How do you expect me to behave? He's twice your age. He's your teacher. He's taking advantage of you."

Dawn put her hand on Fine's arm as a signal not to react in any way.

"Xander, your opinion means more to me than my own father's ever has. I know this bothers you, but please try to put aside your prejudices, and accept my choice."

"In other words, I should be a grow up about it," Xander said.

"I know it's asking a lot," she said, with a smile.

"Very funny," Xander said, his voice displaying no signs of amusement. "I'll try."

The young man walked away, and the Kryptonian A.I. downgraded his threat status. Dawn had neutralized a potentially dangerous situation, thus unknowingly saving her friend's life. He put his arm around her shoulders and was rewarded with her instinctive acceptance. She leaned into him and he could feel the tension in her body slowly dispersing. He kissed her temple softly.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"I was thinking that the phrase 'wise beyond your years' suits you perfectly."

"Don't be mad at Xander. It's more than brotherly concern. Not only you're... well... not the kind of boyfriend he considers appropriate for me, you also look so much like... and there's a lot of history there."

He nodded. He had sensed young Xander's attraction to Buffy, and assumed that he had not approved of her relationship with Spike.

"Are you OK with my staying in Cleveland?" he asked.

"Sure. Why not?"

"I gather that your sister and Spike had a very serious thing going."

Dawn huffed.

"Not according to her. But yeah, I guess they did. I'm not the jealous type, if that's what you meant. Just don't give me reasons to become."

He kissed her lips tenderly.

"Never," he vowed.

After the winter holiday

The days since Dawn's return to Metropolis seemed to crawl. Time was relative, but this was getting ridiculous. She had promised to visit him every weekend. He had made sure she had money for the plane, and felt like a dirty old man doing that, despite the fact that he was technically about a year old. Or a few thousand years, if he counted the period of his journey from Krypton. Either way, he was not a good match for a beautiful, almost completely normal twenty year old Earth girl.

He tried to fill his time joining Buffy on patrols, and following up on whatever creatures they encountered. This was time consuming indeed, but thoroughly boring. Everything felt boring in Dawn's absence. He felt something like withdrawal being deprived of the energy she emanated when they were together. And he yearned for the moments when he broke free of his cybernetic chains.

He was walking along the blond girl through the cemetery. He had been doing that ever night since Dawn had left. Sometimes he could see a resemblance to Dawn. The sisters were quite different, but even so, there was a family air that made him feel Dawn's absence more acutely every time he noticed it.

He looked at her when the silence had grown too long. She had been watching him, and he was surprised to see the hurt in her eyes. Hurt and longing. He guessed that, had he been human, he would've felt the same if he ever lost Dawn. He did not want to think about that.

"I could grow a beard," Fine said guessing the reason behind Buffy's silent pain.

She smiled sadly.

"Wouldn't help. Thanks for offering."

"You must have loved him."

She remained quiet. Dawn had written in her diary that Buffy never talked about her feelings for Spike. Should he press the point?

"My job doesn't allow me many illusions about her human nature. I find love both interesting, and extremely varied in depth and even type."

The vampire's attack put an end to the conversation.

Dawn's first weekend visit

"We... can... talk... now," he informed her, thrusting in her rhythmically.

Dawn giggled and moaned at the same time.

"Right now? Don't think I can."

He smiled. He hadn't been with her for five days. He wanted to talk to her without the watchful eye of the ship, but at the same time, he wanted to make her happy. He could not feel pleasure, but he experienced something very much like satisfaction and completion when she was lost on the peaks of orgasm, even if he could never join her there. Bringing Dawn the ultimate pleasure made her radiate energy on levels no other human could. That still wasn't pleasure for him, but it gave him a sense of belonging. Similar, but at the same time quite different than his communion with the ship. The difference between being Borg, and being the Yang to her Yin. Harmony, not uniformity.

The BrainIaC monitored her readings from its orbital spy, then compared it with the readings taken by its unfaithful human extension once the connection resumed. Fine enjoyed the pretext. If that hadn't been the situation, the logical step in gathering data would've been to seduce the other sister. Not at all difficult. It would probably have been even easier than it had been with Dawn. Buffy had loved the vampire.

He did not approve of the suggestion to invite another human incarnation, as his twin brother. He reasoned in consensus with the mainframe that the coincidence of him looking like Spike was already suspicious enough. To present a second copy would do more harm than good. And to try to get to her under another shape would not have the advantage of the girl's previous love. He could probably seduce her starting from nothing, but that would take time. Time spent away from the Dawn project. And they could neither risk the contamination of another exemplary, nor spare one from the virus/Lex Luthor project.

Beyond the reasoning, he realized he was uncomfortable with the idea of brining another Milton Fine unit into Dawn's life. Would she be able to tell them apart? Would she give herself to the other one without even noticing the difference?

Another weekend visit

"We seem pretty compatible. Physically," Dawn said slowly, her head resting on his chest.

"Why, thank you," he said.

"I was just wondering... how safe is what we're doing?"

"You mean, diseases?"

"That and umm... pregnancy..." she said.

"I don't think you have to worry about that. It is quite impossible."

No. There was no risk of pregnancy. Should he tell her now? Should he tell her what he was? The thought of diseases came to the front. As far as he knew, he could not infect her in any way. Not accidentally. Could the mainframe do something to her without his knowledge? Why not? He was able to think independently and apparently conceal this from the ship.

Brutus and Caesar. Jesus and Judas. They all started out as best friends. What happened? Well, if history teaches us one thing, it's that even the most powerful men can be betrayed by those they trust the most. The reason betrayal is such a predominant theme throughout history is really quite simple. Duplicity is human nature. He had never imagined he would come to live like that himself when he had said that during one of his lectures in Metropolis.

Metropolis... He had been trying not to think about it. Dawn was living in Metropolis and if the plan went horribly wrong, if there was an accident in the Luthor laboratories and the viruses were released... She was in danger. He had to get her out of Metropolis. He wished he could take her away, somewhere safe. The thought he kept pushing away broke through his firewall. There was no place on Earth safe for Dawn. She was too interesting to be left alone. Or alive. And once Zod arrived, Earth would not be safe for any humans. Could he prevent that? He had bent his programming, but could he break it completely? He had been designed to release Zod.

He looked at the beautiful, innocent woman who was looking up at him smiling. He felt the strange energy envelop him. He imagined her beautiful body dissected and analyzed by the others. Or worse, by the cleansed version of himself. No. He could not accept that. He had to find a way to save her.

To be continued...