The afternoon passed in an air of tension and unguarded joy. The seven of them spent the hours getting reacquainted and deciding what was going to be done. Legally, Buffy was still dead, and there was a great deal that had to be done in order to reintegrate her back into the land of the living. Details were ironed out and plans made, all while they waited for Dawn to awaken.
Over the course of the hours, Buffy grew stronger and steadier in her body, and a quick test of her super powers proved that she still had Slayer abilities; a fact that both pleased and distressed her. Giles told her about Hope, the Slayer who was Called when Buffy died, and the story of her attack on Spike was relayed. After hearing how the Slayer had broken into the house and hurt Dawn, Buffy was fairly certain that she would like this Slayer about as much as she had liked Faith. No one threatened her family or those she cared about, Spike included.
The concept of caring about Spike sat better with her than she thought it would, but she chalked it up to being dead for three months. Being dead changed a person, and she ought to know since she'd been dead twice already. Somehow she was having a hard time reconciling her memory of Spike as a cold-blooded killer with the man who had made breakfast for all of them this morning. But being dead made you look at the world a little differently, so she figured that she shouldn't really be all that surprised.
He was still keeping his distance, she noticed, but he watched her. Sometimes their eyes would meet and volumes were spoken in the brief looks. He was waiting. Waiting for the others to leave so they could have their talk, the one she knew was coming, the one she knew would involve a great deal more than just talking. It hung in the air between them and she found herself hyperaware of him, missing him when he wasn't in the room. At one point, she noticed that he was no longer around and she went in search of him. She found him sitting on the back porch, smoking and playing with the dog. She sat next to him, just outside of his personal space, and waited to see if he would say anything. He didn't, merely kept tossing a rag bone for Annie to fetch. It seemed to be a familiar game between the two. Spike would throw the rag bone clear across the yard, and Annie would gleefully run to retrieve it and drop it back in his lap.
"Does she ever get tired of that?" Buffy asked after she'd watched the dog return for the umpteenth time.
"No," Spike replied, taking another drag on his cigarette. "She's the Energizer Bunny Dog."
Buffy laughed softly and Spike laughed with her. "It's our thing, y'know? I come out here to smoke coz I don't smoke in the house, and she thinks she needs to keep me company. Makes her feel useful. Right, ya mangy mutt?"
"She's not a mangy mutt," Buffy corrected, petting the dog on the head.
"No, she's just a flea-bitten, pain in the arse."
"But Dawn loves her."
"Dawn adores her. And honestly, she's good company for the Nibblet. No one can get within ten yards of her without Annie sounding the alarm. Caught more than one would be suitor trying to climb in the upstairs window that way," he told her.
"Would be suitors? Dawnie?"
Spike shrugged. "She's growin' up, pet."
Buffy snorted angrily. "She's fifteen."
"And you were dating Angel at sixteen," he argued. "She's not a child anymore and the more we try to treat her like one, the more she'll rebel against us. There comes a point where you have to just trust em and let em go."
"Oh what do you know about raising teenage girls?"
"A hell of a lot more than you think I do," he snapped back defensively. "I've done a damn good job with Dawn these past three months. Just ask anybody. I've done right by her, I have. I get her up in the morning, make her breakfast, see her off to school. I keep house, I cook dinner, I help her with her homework. This country's education system rots, by the way, it's amazing any of you ever learned how to read. I do all of this, and Slay, and fend off nosy wankers from Child Services lookin' to prove that I'm an unfit guardian just because a young, single male takin' care of a teenage girl doesn't jive with their family values. They think I'm tryin' ta rob the bloody cradle with her. It's disgusting."
He stood up and began to pace nervously.
"Spike" she tried but he talked right over her.
"And I gotta invite them into the house and listen to them prattle on while they go over everything with white gloves and poke their noses where they don't bloody belong."
"Spike"
"And they're always askin' Dawn these leadin', sideways questions, tryin' ta dig up dirt on us so's they can take her away. And I wish I had this soddin' Chip outta my head so I could just bloody KILL them! But no, I have to be nice and would you like some tea' and oh yes, I help Dawn with her homework every night' and oh, no. No lady friends ever spend the night.' Not that I've had any lady friends I could ask to spend the night for the last three months. And you'd think, after us answering the same damn questions for the hundredth time, they'd shut the fuck up and go the fuck away! Stupid, bloody bitches!"
Annie whined and ran under the porch, cowering, as Spike struggled for control, his hands clenching and unclenching. Buffy blinked up at him.
"Overreact much?" she commented.
"You think I'm overreacting?" he sniped. "You try doing what I've been doing for the last three months, and putting up with the crap I've had to put up with. It got so bad, Giles went and spoke for me to the Court in order to get them to back off."
She gave him a wounded look and it made him feel like scum. Bowing his head, he turned away and lit another cigarette.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. If I could have been here, I would have. And for what it's worth, you have done a wonderful job taking care of Dawn. I couldn't have asked for a better, more devoted caretaker."
Spike shuffled his feet and blushed as much as a vampire could. "Yeah, well, Nibblet's worth it."
"And you made me a promise."
Spike nodded. "So I did. Couldn't have me breakin' a promise, now could I? I've got my reputation to consider, y'know."
She smiled. "Oh yeah, right, as if you always uphold your end of a deal."
"Well, I do! Every deal I ever made with you, I made good on my end."
"And this was why I saw you back in Sunnydale after you promised to take Drucilla out of the country for good."
"And I did. I took her to Brazil where, as you bloody well know, she dumped me for a chaos demon. And I never promised not to come back, I said that I bloody well hoped you'd never see us again," he insisted.
"A technicality."
"True, but one that works for me," he replied with a cocky smile.
Buffy's answer was cut off by Xander opening the back door and looking out onto the porch.
"Oh there you guys are. We were wondering where'd you'd gone."
"Is everything okay? Is Dawn awake?" Buffy asked.
"Everything's fine and no, Dawn's still asleep. We were just going to order pizza for dinner, and we wanted to know if you had any requests."
Buffy winked at Spike. "Garlic. I want lots of garlic."
Xander smiled. "I'll tell the chef to make sure he goes heavy on the garlic."
"Thanks, Xander," she said as he went back into the house. When the door closed, she turned to Spike. "We should go back in."
Spike nodded and finished his cigarette, crushing the butt under his heel, then followed her into the kitchen.
