9
Dawn woke at a reasonable hour the morning after her night out with Spike, despite probably drinking a whole bottle of wine over the course of the evening. She was smiling, it really had been a good night, yeah there was the little problem of him not remembering her but it had been so good to be close to him again. It'd had been so long, even before he died they hadn't been on the best terms and I was a age since they just hung out the two of them.
There was also the slight problem of him potentially walking right up to Buffy at work. She couldn't let her find out like that, it would be a mess she just knew it. She rolled over in bed and took her cell from the nightstand. There was a text from Spike 'I had a good night. This my number. Call me. Spike' she laughed for someone who wrote for a living he didn't have much of a way this words via text.
She wrote a text to Buffy and hit send - 'Hey u working today? X'
It wasn't long before her phone beeped in replay - 'No day off, just gotta a class then relax for the rest of the day xx'
Dawn felt the relief pass through her body, this bought her some time to come up with a master plan. Granted her master plan from the day before hadn't gone too well but she'd come up with something.
'Cool gave a good day, I'll call you later.' She replied.
So on to the more pressing matter of what to do about Spike. She selected Willows number from her cell and hit the call button.
"Hey Dawnie what's up?" Answered a chipper sounding Willow.
"Hey look I need to talk to you about something but you absolutely cannot freak out and call Buffy, k?"
"Ok, Dawn was is it, is something wrong?" Willow sounded a little less chipper now.
"I don't really know how to explain but yesterday I, well ok so yesterday I met, I mean I ran into, into... Spike"
"What the, I mean how, no where? How is this even possible? What did he say, where is he now?" Willow rushed assaulting her with questions.
"I don't know and that's the thing it's definitely Spike but he has no idea who I am, or who he is, or who he was even. Oh and he's human. I spent the night with him trying to work is out but I got zilch."
"You, you spent the night with him?"
Dawn felt her cheeks burn and Willow made the suggestion, she hadn't thought there how that sounded. "No not like that, obviously, ew that's just gross. No what I meant was I spent the evening talking to him and he has like no clue about me, or vampires or Buffy. Nothing, he just thinks he's a normal 27 year guy."
"Are you sure it is Spike?"
"Yes I'm sure, he's even called Spike, Will it's definitely him, but I just don't know how. That's why I'm calling I need you to help me figure this out so that we can fix him."
"Whoa there fix him? Like what make him back into a vampire?" Willow sounded even more flustered.
"What? No, I hadn't even thought of that but we need to get his memory back. He can't be just walking around thinking he's got this normal life when he hasn't. We've got to do something."
"I don't know Dawn, that sounds like some pretty powerful magic and I don't know if I could, or whether we even should. Have you called Giles?"
"No" Dawn should "no Giles, and definitely no Buffy at the moment not at least until we can figure out what's happening."
Willow sighed, she didn't feel comfortable with this. The only reason any of them kept things from Giles was because they knew he wouldn't approve, and normally he'd be right not to approve. He was far older than them and had seen first hand what messing with things you didn't understand could have. Maybe if she just did a little research first and then they could speak to Giles before they actually did anything. She didn't even want to begin to think about what Buffy might do or say, that was a problem for another day.
"Ok leave it with me, I'll see what I can find and I'll call you later."
"Ok just make it quick hey."
"Why Dawn, what did you do?"
"Me do, nothing, I totally didn't do anything, but you know there might be the slight complication of Spike going into the bar where Buffy works looking for a job..." Dawn trialled off.
"God, ok I'll be as quick as I can" Willow said ending the call.
—-
It felt like it took an age for Willow to call back but in reality it was probably only an hour or two. Dawn hit answer almost the moment the phone rang as she hadn't let it leave her hand all morning.
"What you got?" She said.
"Not alot but I did do a soul locator spell and you're right it's definitely Spike. His soul's strong and I could see it clear as day up there in Manchester, no mistaking it. So we know that it's definitely him."
"I told you" Dawn interjected.
"Yeah I know but I had to be sure, and even if he was back who's to say his soul would would have come along for the ride. Anyway important thing is it's truly him, but aside from that I've got nothing. It could be a resurrection spell but I don't know who would do that or why. It could be a prophecy thing and if it is it could take us months to unearth that and why that would bring Spike back as a human after so long." Willow took a deep breath, "I think we need to call Giles."
"We can't, can you imagine what Buffy would do if she found out that Spike was back and I'd told you and Giles and not her, can you say psycho slayer much?" Dawn pleaded.
"Well tell her then, if he's hanging around it's not going to be long before she runs into him."
"I know but you know how she gets about Spike. She gets all sad, and it's not been that long since the anniversary, it really took it out of her she, was a mess." Dawn spoke softly hoping that Willow would see why she couldn't speak to Buffy just yet.
"She didn't seem that bad, sad yes but I wouldn't say she was a mess."
"Did you not notice that she took the bottle of whiskey to bed with her. It wasn't long before she just started swigging straight from the bottle, all I wish things had been different, I wish there wasn't any baggage and on and on." Dawn explained.
Willow spluttered, "Buffy made a wish?" The question hung in the air.
"Oh god she did this" Dawn exclaimed "but how there was no vengeance demon and I'm pretty sure it wasn't like a 'I wish this would actually happen' type of wish. Oh god."
"I think you should talk to her."
"Uh-huh at least if she made this happen she can't be too mad, right?"
The call ended and Dawn thought about how she could broach this. It was tough, she couldn't exactly just call her and say hey remember your boyfriend, who you refused to actually call your boyfriend, who died 10 years ago. Well he's back only with absolutely no memory of you and you made it happen. Surprise!
Whatever she said it wasn't going to be an easy conversation, this had shut down Buffy written all over it. It'd probably be best if she went to see her and tried to explain.
—-
Dawns fingers hovered over the call button, her brain telling her to just make the call but her body didn't want to respond. She still didn't know exactly what she was going to say. The more she tried to plan her little speech the more muddled and confused the words got. There just wasn't going to be an easy way, she had to just make the call say what she needed to say and deal with the consequences once she had.
Pressing call she listened to the phone ring and ring, argh why wouldn't she just answer. Dawn was on the verge of giving up when the ringing stopped and she heard buffy's voice on the other end of the phone.
"Hey Dawn"
"Hey can I come round?"
"Oh now's not a great time I'm just making some food and I want to get an early night I'm pretty wiped. How about tomorrow, late afternoon?"
"I can't I'm working, and I really want to see you." Dawn was trying to sound casual but she really wanted to see Buffy face to face, and soon.
"How about the day after?"
"No I just need to talk to you about something and I kinda wanted it to be in person."
Buffy chewed her bottom lip a little, Dawn sounded stressed but she really was tired and she was working early tomorrow. "You can talk to me over the phone, I'll put you on speaker while I cook."
"No, oh never mind." It wasn't working out how Dawn had planned, "I've just been thinking about the anniversary and you and Spike."
Buffy's stomach dropped, was this some kind of intervention. A Dawn pre-prepared speech about how Buffy needed to move on, try dating again. She so did not need this now.
"I've been thinking about it too and you know what it's time I stopped thinking about it. It was 10 years ago and life had moved on, and I'm going to as well. I know you worry about me but with the anniversary it brought it all back but really I'm fine." Buffy stayed firmly trying to reassure her younger sister.
"Buffy it's not that it's just you we're wishing all this stuff and"
Buffy interrupted her, "I say a lot of stuff when I've drunk half a bottle of whiskey, most of which I can't remember but it doesn't matter, ok."
"But it does matter, what if Spike..."
Buffy cut her of again, "What if Spike nothing, there's no point in what if's, it's done he's dead end of." Her tone even firmer no, she really wasn't in the mood for this.
"No Buffy listen to me if Spike"
"No Dawn you listen to me, I'm not having this conversation now, or ever for that matter. You wanna help me? Well how about you try leaving it when I tell you, yes I was upset on the anniversary and I've just gotten my head clear again thank you very much so I'd really appreciate it if you just let it go. I'll speak to you in a few days." And with that Buffy hung up.
Dawn stared down at the phone, realising that she really wasn't all that good at master plans. She considered just sending a text and being done with it, after all it wasn't like it was her fault. It was just a fleeting thought she couldn't do that.
She opened up the text from Spike - 'Yes we'll do it again, how'd the job hunt go?'
Her phone beeped quickly 'Went ok, I'll keep you posted. Drinks on Friday?' Read his response.
Good it didn't sound like he'd gotten anywhere with the job thing, maybe if she could keep him away from the Northern quarter for a while she could still speak to Buffy in time.
She replied - 'Sounds good we can check out Deansgate. I'll text you Friday.'
That was something, she'd meet him on the other side of town, what's more a side of town Buffy hated.
Dawn went into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of popcorn, food of champions, and tried to just forget about this mess for a little while. Maybe she sound call Giles he'd know what to say to Buffy, but no who was she kidding all Giles would say was good lord and clean his glasses excessively. Tomorrow was another day, she'd go round to Buffy's place after work and just blurt it all out before she had chance to stop her. That was it, a much better plan.