Part Seven:
Almost Normal Life
Xander struggled to sit up in the bed as Anya walked into the hospital room.
"What did they say?" Xander asked.
"You can go in the morning." She sat down in the chair by the bed and put her hand on his arm. "You shouldn't be up and walking anyway. You could pull out the stitches."
Xander leaned back into the bed and groaned. "I hate being here. I just feel so helpless."
"Not much more we can do for Buffy," Anya said sadly. "You know, besides getting our necks snapped and dying."
Xander looked over at his fiancee and noticed the tears filling her eyes.
"Hey," he said, reaching out and grasping her hand. "Don't worry, we'll get her back."
"That's not it," Anya said, "It's just...something like this is *always* happening. A friend goes all evil, or a god wants to kill you, or a robot-monster or giant snake comes along, and it *never ends*. How can we get married and start a family in a place like this?"
"Anya -"
"No," she stood up, tears streaming down her face, and shook her hand out of his. "I can't do this. I love you, Xander. But how can I go on seeing this sort of thing happen to you?"
Xander felt his entire body go cold. "Are you saying you don't want to marry me?"
Anya took a deep breath. "I'm saying...I don't know."
*
Giles had come to their room early in the morning to wake up Spike and Dawn. He told them that Willow and Tara were researching other spells, and Xander and Anya were still at the hospital.
"So um...do you two have any plans for today?" Giles said from where he was leaning against the dresser.
Spike, having changed into a clean pair of jeans, sat on one of the beds rummaging through a pile of his shirts in search of one that wasn't ripped nearly in half or covered in blood. "Whatever the little bit wants," he said. He turned to Dawn, who was sitting on the other bed, playing with her hair and looking morose. "Except we're not going to any sodding stores again," he told Giles. "Girl was putting on short dresses and talking about showing off her knickers." He looked over at Dawn and smiled, hoping for a smart-mouthed retort from her.
"I was just kidding," she said. "I wasn't really gonna show boys my underwear. I haven't even kissed a boy ever. I'm like, the only one in my school who hasn't." She sighed and turned away from them both. "Or at least I *was*, before I stopped going."
Spike pulled the least stained shirt over his head, only to discover a large tear down the center of it. "Bloody hell," he muttered.
"Yes, I remember that you used to like going to school," Giles said. "Perhaps you can start fresh in the fall."
"No I can't," Dawn snapped. "If I show up they'll call Social Services and make me go back with those stupid foster parents."
"But you'd want to go back to school?" Spike asked. He had discarded the torn shirt and found one with only a minor rip in the hem. "That'd make you happy?" He pulled the shirt over his head.
"What would make me happy is a normal life." She chuckled sadly. "Okay, maybe that's too much to ask for when you live on the Hellmouth, your sister is an evil Slayer, you hang out with witches and your best friend is a vampire. Maybe I can't even have a normal life, but...kinda almost normal? Would that be possible?"
Spike and Giles exchanged worried glances. "How about some breakfast?" Spike asked her. "You and Rupert go get something at the diner, I'll go buy some blood, and we'll meet back here."
"Fine," Dawn said sullenly.
*
Willy's bar was empty this early in the morning. When Spike walked in, the chairs were on the tables and Willy was sweeping the floor.
"Spike!" Willy said when he saw the familiar vampire. "Haven't seen you in a while. How's it going? Kinda early for you to be roaming about, but I could get you a pint of blood. I got fresh O positive in just last night -"
"I need ID," Spike said gruffly.
"ID?" Willy leaned his broom against a table and looked at Spike quizically. "Well, yeah, I know a guy in town who'll do you a great ID, and at a reasonable price. But uh...I never figured you'd be worried about being carded for smokes."
"And a birth certificate too," Spike said. "All that rot. Also, if anyone calls you asking about a guy named William, you tell them I work here, got it?"
"Why would you want me to say that?" Willy asked.
In a flash Spike had Willy by the collar. "Because if you don't, I'll suck your limp little body dry."
"Well...when you put it that way," Willy stammered out.
*
After visiting the man Willy recommended, Spike took the sewers to the Sunnydale County Building and entered through the basement. He walked up to the Social Services office on the fifth floor and stood in front of the secretary who manned the doorway.
"May I help you?" the woman asked, as if the last thing she wanted to do was help anyone.
"I need to get custody of this kid," Spike said.
"Are you a family member?"
"Yeah." Spike took his new ID out of his pocket and tossed it on the table. "See, all legal and legit, just like you real people."
"William Summers," the woman read off the driver's license.
"Dawn's cousin," Spike said. "The girl hates her bloody foster parents, so she's going to stay with me, alright?"
"Um...it's not quite that easy, Mr. Summers," the woman said. "You need to go to the Family Court office on the third floor. They'll help you fill out the necessary applications and file them with the court."
"And then she can stay with me?"
"No, then you can wait for the paperwork to be processed, which shouldn't take more than a few days. You'll be notified of a court date by mail. The court date is usually within a week, but the court calendar has been busy lately. Still, it shouldn't be longer than a month."
Spike groaned. "So then when I go to court, I get the kid?"
"No," the woman continued. "When you go to court, your application will be considered. Then the court orders a background check, where they make sure you don't have a police record or anything like that. There will also be a home study, where a Social Worker will visit you regularly. When this process is complete, you'll get a second court date, and if all has gone well, your application will be approved, and you'll be granted custody."
"Bloody hell, woman!" Spike said, shocked. "You lot are worse than the sodding Initiative. They just wanted to stick computer bits in my brain. You people are trying to drive me mad!"
The woman smiled sarcastically and handed the driver's license back to Spike. "Third floor, to your left, and you're welcome."
*
Willow sneezed as she opened the book. She and Tara had been in the Magic Shop, going through every dusty volume for hours.
"Bless you," Tara said.
"Thank you!" Willow replied with a big smile. She gestured to the book in front of Tara. "Anything yet?"
"Well, I found one spell that's says it 'holds a captive in invisible binds', but it's meant for vampires, because it doesn't let the trapped person breathe. And breathing...ya know...kinda a necessary thing."
Willow sighed and put her head in her hands. "There isn't going to be enough time," she said.
"We could always just hide from her until we figure it out, right?" Tara asked hopefully.
Willow shook her head. "I have to tell you something," she said gently, turning to her girlfriend and taking her hand. "But you can't tell the others."
Tara nodded.
"Spike's going to try to kill Buffy," Willow said, her voice catching as she spoke her friend's name. "He thinks it's the only way. And...well, I kind of agree. I'd fight to get Buffy back forever, even if it killed me, which it very well could...but then there's you, and Dawn, and the others." Willow took a deep breath. "And even if we wanted to, I don't think we could stop Spike from doing it."
"So if we're going to find another way," Tara said. "We have to find it today."
"And before sundown," Willow said, looking towards the window.
*
"But it's a special case," Spike explained.
He was sitting in a small, dusty office with a thin, aging man. After he had finished filling out his application for custody, he had gone looking for Dawn's Social Worker. But the man had been out of his office, so Spike spent that time lurking through the alleys of Main Street with a newspaper in one hand and his coat held like a shield in the other, blocking the dangerous rays that darted through the gaps in the buildings. When he found what he wanted, he returned to the County Building and tracked down the Social Worker.
"Special case how?" the man said. "We usually only grant these sort of requests if the child is in immediate danger from living with the foster parents."
"She *is* in immediate danger," Spike said, growing impatient quickly. "She refuses to stay with them. If you toss her back in there she'll just run away again, and there's your bloody danger. She could get get attacked by vamp- I mean, muggers."
"Then she shouldn't be living on the streets," the man said.
"That's what I'm bloody telling you, you stupid wanker!" Spike shouted, leaning forward and banging his hands on the desk. "The girl's in trouble, and if something happens to her, I swear I will come back here and rip your bloody lungs out!" Spike bit his lip, trying to control his anger, and sat back in the chair. "She lost her mom. And she lost her sister. I'm the only family she has left."
The man didn't blink. "Alright, she can stay with you, pending the approval of your custody application. But I'll have to begin the home study immediately."
Spike stood up. "You've got my address. I'll be seeing you, mate."
He left the building the way he had come in, through the basement. After making a quick stop for a small, and - he thought - understandable theft, he followed the sewers back to the motel.
*
When he returned to the motel, the room he had been sharing with Dawn was empty. With one of the room's blankets draped over his head, he went to the room Xander and Anya had been occupying.
When he knocked on the door, Anya opened it and stood in the doorway with her finger to her mouth.
"Xander's sleeping," she whispered.
"And I'm about to burst into flames," Spike said. "Lemme in, you stupid bint."
Anya stepped outside, closed the door behind her, and gestured for Spike to follow her into his room.
"Where is everyone?" Spike asked when he was safely able to toss the blanket off his shoulders. His chest was still sore from the near-constant injuries, so he pulled his shirt off and examined his battle-scars.
"Dawn was getting restless, so they went to the movies," Anya said. She noticed the wounds on his chest. They were almost-healed, but they were still deep red indentations in his flesh. "Ew."
"Sod off," Spike mumbled and he ran his hand over his torso. "So how's your pin-cushion man?"
Anya sat down on one of the beds and put her hands to her temples.
"Not getting any since he got himself all cut up?" Spike tossed his shirt onto the floor. "Well, if you need someone to pick up the slack while monkey-boy's mending, it's the least I can do." He sat next to Anya and put his hand on her knee. "As a friend."
"What? Ew!" Anya leapt to her feet and took a few steps away from Spike. "It's not about sex. It's..."
"About the lack of sex?" Spike asked. "Your painful and burning desire for a hard and ageless body to press against?"
"It'a about everything," Anya said sadly. "Remember when you told me that you missed killing people? That you wished you'd stopped and smelled the corpses while you could?"
Spike chuckled. "Yeah. You feeling powerless lately?"
"Not so much powerless as..." She threw her arms up in frustration. "Here I am, being a good human, and what's the point? How can I have a normal life when every few weeks some two-by-fours fall on me or my fiance gets stabbed? I thought this was what I wanted, but I don't know if I can do it. You have all these humans on Earth, trying to be good and everything, but why do they even bother?" She moved closer to Spike, studying his face carefully. "Why do you bother?"
"What do you mean?"
"You don't have to be here," Anya said. "Protecting Dawn, helping us. You could go on a big fun murderous rampage. So why don't you?"
"Hmm," Spike said. "Good point. I think I'll kill you now."
Spike stood up but was immediately pushed back down into a sitting position.
"You will not," Anya said. "I know you won't."
Spike shrugged.
"So tell me why," Anya demanded.
"I don't know," Spike said. "I guess...I guess when you got nothing else, you still need a reason to fight." Spike stood up and paced to the other side of the room. "I mean, look at me. The woman I loved for a hundred years left me. Three bloody times she left me. Not to mention that she was a raving lunatic to begin with. The man who was my mentor grew a soul and wouldn't have anything to do with me. Then I fall for another girl, and she does a swan dive into oblivion. If I didn't have a fight, I'd just off myself right quick and be happy." Spike looked off at the covered window, which was beginning to darken with the sunset. "But I guess no one wants to die."
A soft and steady rumbling sound seeped into the room, and for a moment it seemed as if they could hear the Earth as it rotated, moving along slowly but ceaselessly, as if urging them towards decisions they would rather not make. Then they saw the headlights in the window and realized it was only a car approaching. They heard Dawn and Giles before the two walked into the room.
"How was the movie?" Anya said.
"Sucked," Dawn said. But then a small smile broke out on her face. "But Giles got me popcorn *and* M&Ms, *and* gummy worms." She walked happily to the other side of the room and tossed her backpack onto the floor. "The four basic food groups: salt, chocolate, sugar, and Pepsi." She approached Spike and playfully punched him on the shoulder. "Where've you been all day?"
Spike smiled slyly. "You'll never guess what I did."
Giles' face went pale. "Did you kill someone?"
Spike stood up abruptly. "For the last time, I am not evil! Do I have to put up a bloody billboard?"
"What did you do?" Dawn asked.
Spike looked down at the eager eyes awaiting his response. "I applied for legal custody of you, nibblet."
Dawn's face seemed to explode, her mouth turning into a wide O, and then breaking into a smile bigger than Spike thought she was capable of. She squealed and threw her arms around him.
"Really? Oh my God!" Dawn cried out. She giggled insanely and bounced up and down as she hugged him.
"You did *what*?" Anya said.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Dawn said. She reached up and planted a kiss on Spike's cheek.
"Spike, I'm not sure this is such a good idea," Giles said. "I'm not sure it's even possible."
"It's possible, Rupes," Spike said, one arm still around Dawn. "I got all the forged documents, which really just shows how bloody stupid this country's government is. I saw some idiots and filled out twenty sheets of paper, and it's done." He turned to the beaming girl beside him. "Of course, they way those buggers move, it'll drag on forever. We'll have to go to court a few times and they'll be nosing around the apartment, but as long as I'm not beating you and making you clean the chimney and such, I wager we'll be alright."
"Apartment?" Dawn said.
"I don't think this would be a good situation for Dawn at this -" Giles began.
"Yep," Spike said to Dawn. "Nice place. Two bedrooms, and this huge window that looks over main street."
"How did you afford that?" Anya asked.
"I killed this demon last week that had come to town looking for the jewel of something-or-other," Spike said. "So I hocked it." He shrugged. "Apparently there's some money to be made in being one of the sodding good guys."
"What?" Giles said. "But do you even know what this jewel was? It could have been -"
"Spike, this is so great," Dawn said, her small arms still tightly clenched around his body. "Now I can live in a real place, and still hang out with everyone, and go to school..."
Spike hung his head down so that it was close to Dawn's. "Not *completely* normal, sweet bit, but -"
"Almost normal," Dawn said softly. "Which is better than I ever imagined I'd get."
Spike was distracted from the glowing eyes staring at him by the sudden blackness of the window beyond the heavy motel curtains. "I have to go out for a while," he told her.
"Where are you going?" she asked. "Can I come?"
Spike shook his head. "I gotta go beat the hell out of Willy. Social Services people want me to have a job, so I gotta convince him to vouch for me."
"But you'll be back soon, right?" Dawn said.
Spike's chest rose and fell with the involuntary breath that filled him at the site of her hopeful gaze. "I'll try," he said softly. He placed a quick kiss on Dawn's forehead and walked to the door.
"Spike, we really need to talk about all this," Giles said.
"Later," Spike said.
He crossed the motel parking lot and headed for the street that would lead him into town. As he passed a line of bushes by the side of the road he reached in to retrieve the item he had stolen earlier. He wasn't sure where to find Buffy, but he had a good idea.
And he also had an axe.
Almost Normal Life
Xander struggled to sit up in the bed as Anya walked into the hospital room.
"What did they say?" Xander asked.
"You can go in the morning." She sat down in the chair by the bed and put her hand on his arm. "You shouldn't be up and walking anyway. You could pull out the stitches."
Xander leaned back into the bed and groaned. "I hate being here. I just feel so helpless."
"Not much more we can do for Buffy," Anya said sadly. "You know, besides getting our necks snapped and dying."
Xander looked over at his fiancee and noticed the tears filling her eyes.
"Hey," he said, reaching out and grasping her hand. "Don't worry, we'll get her back."
"That's not it," Anya said, "It's just...something like this is *always* happening. A friend goes all evil, or a god wants to kill you, or a robot-monster or giant snake comes along, and it *never ends*. How can we get married and start a family in a place like this?"
"Anya -"
"No," she stood up, tears streaming down her face, and shook her hand out of his. "I can't do this. I love you, Xander. But how can I go on seeing this sort of thing happen to you?"
Xander felt his entire body go cold. "Are you saying you don't want to marry me?"
Anya took a deep breath. "I'm saying...I don't know."
*
Giles had come to their room early in the morning to wake up Spike and Dawn. He told them that Willow and Tara were researching other spells, and Xander and Anya were still at the hospital.
"So um...do you two have any plans for today?" Giles said from where he was leaning against the dresser.
Spike, having changed into a clean pair of jeans, sat on one of the beds rummaging through a pile of his shirts in search of one that wasn't ripped nearly in half or covered in blood. "Whatever the little bit wants," he said. He turned to Dawn, who was sitting on the other bed, playing with her hair and looking morose. "Except we're not going to any sodding stores again," he told Giles. "Girl was putting on short dresses and talking about showing off her knickers." He looked over at Dawn and smiled, hoping for a smart-mouthed retort from her.
"I was just kidding," she said. "I wasn't really gonna show boys my underwear. I haven't even kissed a boy ever. I'm like, the only one in my school who hasn't." She sighed and turned away from them both. "Or at least I *was*, before I stopped going."
Spike pulled the least stained shirt over his head, only to discover a large tear down the center of it. "Bloody hell," he muttered.
"Yes, I remember that you used to like going to school," Giles said. "Perhaps you can start fresh in the fall."
"No I can't," Dawn snapped. "If I show up they'll call Social Services and make me go back with those stupid foster parents."
"But you'd want to go back to school?" Spike asked. He had discarded the torn shirt and found one with only a minor rip in the hem. "That'd make you happy?" He pulled the shirt over his head.
"What would make me happy is a normal life." She chuckled sadly. "Okay, maybe that's too much to ask for when you live on the Hellmouth, your sister is an evil Slayer, you hang out with witches and your best friend is a vampire. Maybe I can't even have a normal life, but...kinda almost normal? Would that be possible?"
Spike and Giles exchanged worried glances. "How about some breakfast?" Spike asked her. "You and Rupert go get something at the diner, I'll go buy some blood, and we'll meet back here."
"Fine," Dawn said sullenly.
*
Willy's bar was empty this early in the morning. When Spike walked in, the chairs were on the tables and Willy was sweeping the floor.
"Spike!" Willy said when he saw the familiar vampire. "Haven't seen you in a while. How's it going? Kinda early for you to be roaming about, but I could get you a pint of blood. I got fresh O positive in just last night -"
"I need ID," Spike said gruffly.
"ID?" Willy leaned his broom against a table and looked at Spike quizically. "Well, yeah, I know a guy in town who'll do you a great ID, and at a reasonable price. But uh...I never figured you'd be worried about being carded for smokes."
"And a birth certificate too," Spike said. "All that rot. Also, if anyone calls you asking about a guy named William, you tell them I work here, got it?"
"Why would you want me to say that?" Willy asked.
In a flash Spike had Willy by the collar. "Because if you don't, I'll suck your limp little body dry."
"Well...when you put it that way," Willy stammered out.
*
After visiting the man Willy recommended, Spike took the sewers to the Sunnydale County Building and entered through the basement. He walked up to the Social Services office on the fifth floor and stood in front of the secretary who manned the doorway.
"May I help you?" the woman asked, as if the last thing she wanted to do was help anyone.
"I need to get custody of this kid," Spike said.
"Are you a family member?"
"Yeah." Spike took his new ID out of his pocket and tossed it on the table. "See, all legal and legit, just like you real people."
"William Summers," the woman read off the driver's license.
"Dawn's cousin," Spike said. "The girl hates her bloody foster parents, so she's going to stay with me, alright?"
"Um...it's not quite that easy, Mr. Summers," the woman said. "You need to go to the Family Court office on the third floor. They'll help you fill out the necessary applications and file them with the court."
"And then she can stay with me?"
"No, then you can wait for the paperwork to be processed, which shouldn't take more than a few days. You'll be notified of a court date by mail. The court date is usually within a week, but the court calendar has been busy lately. Still, it shouldn't be longer than a month."
Spike groaned. "So then when I go to court, I get the kid?"
"No," the woman continued. "When you go to court, your application will be considered. Then the court orders a background check, where they make sure you don't have a police record or anything like that. There will also be a home study, where a Social Worker will visit you regularly. When this process is complete, you'll get a second court date, and if all has gone well, your application will be approved, and you'll be granted custody."
"Bloody hell, woman!" Spike said, shocked. "You lot are worse than the sodding Initiative. They just wanted to stick computer bits in my brain. You people are trying to drive me mad!"
The woman smiled sarcastically and handed the driver's license back to Spike. "Third floor, to your left, and you're welcome."
*
Willow sneezed as she opened the book. She and Tara had been in the Magic Shop, going through every dusty volume for hours.
"Bless you," Tara said.
"Thank you!" Willow replied with a big smile. She gestured to the book in front of Tara. "Anything yet?"
"Well, I found one spell that's says it 'holds a captive in invisible binds', but it's meant for vampires, because it doesn't let the trapped person breathe. And breathing...ya know...kinda a necessary thing."
Willow sighed and put her head in her hands. "There isn't going to be enough time," she said.
"We could always just hide from her until we figure it out, right?" Tara asked hopefully.
Willow shook her head. "I have to tell you something," she said gently, turning to her girlfriend and taking her hand. "But you can't tell the others."
Tara nodded.
"Spike's going to try to kill Buffy," Willow said, her voice catching as she spoke her friend's name. "He thinks it's the only way. And...well, I kind of agree. I'd fight to get Buffy back forever, even if it killed me, which it very well could...but then there's you, and Dawn, and the others." Willow took a deep breath. "And even if we wanted to, I don't think we could stop Spike from doing it."
"So if we're going to find another way," Tara said. "We have to find it today."
"And before sundown," Willow said, looking towards the window.
*
"But it's a special case," Spike explained.
He was sitting in a small, dusty office with a thin, aging man. After he had finished filling out his application for custody, he had gone looking for Dawn's Social Worker. But the man had been out of his office, so Spike spent that time lurking through the alleys of Main Street with a newspaper in one hand and his coat held like a shield in the other, blocking the dangerous rays that darted through the gaps in the buildings. When he found what he wanted, he returned to the County Building and tracked down the Social Worker.
"Special case how?" the man said. "We usually only grant these sort of requests if the child is in immediate danger from living with the foster parents."
"She *is* in immediate danger," Spike said, growing impatient quickly. "She refuses to stay with them. If you toss her back in there she'll just run away again, and there's your bloody danger. She could get get attacked by vamp- I mean, muggers."
"Then she shouldn't be living on the streets," the man said.
"That's what I'm bloody telling you, you stupid wanker!" Spike shouted, leaning forward and banging his hands on the desk. "The girl's in trouble, and if something happens to her, I swear I will come back here and rip your bloody lungs out!" Spike bit his lip, trying to control his anger, and sat back in the chair. "She lost her mom. And she lost her sister. I'm the only family she has left."
The man didn't blink. "Alright, she can stay with you, pending the approval of your custody application. But I'll have to begin the home study immediately."
Spike stood up. "You've got my address. I'll be seeing you, mate."
He left the building the way he had come in, through the basement. After making a quick stop for a small, and - he thought - understandable theft, he followed the sewers back to the motel.
*
When he returned to the motel, the room he had been sharing with Dawn was empty. With one of the room's blankets draped over his head, he went to the room Xander and Anya had been occupying.
When he knocked on the door, Anya opened it and stood in the doorway with her finger to her mouth.
"Xander's sleeping," she whispered.
"And I'm about to burst into flames," Spike said. "Lemme in, you stupid bint."
Anya stepped outside, closed the door behind her, and gestured for Spike to follow her into his room.
"Where is everyone?" Spike asked when he was safely able to toss the blanket off his shoulders. His chest was still sore from the near-constant injuries, so he pulled his shirt off and examined his battle-scars.
"Dawn was getting restless, so they went to the movies," Anya said. She noticed the wounds on his chest. They were almost-healed, but they were still deep red indentations in his flesh. "Ew."
"Sod off," Spike mumbled and he ran his hand over his torso. "So how's your pin-cushion man?"
Anya sat down on one of the beds and put her hands to her temples.
"Not getting any since he got himself all cut up?" Spike tossed his shirt onto the floor. "Well, if you need someone to pick up the slack while monkey-boy's mending, it's the least I can do." He sat next to Anya and put his hand on her knee. "As a friend."
"What? Ew!" Anya leapt to her feet and took a few steps away from Spike. "It's not about sex. It's..."
"About the lack of sex?" Spike asked. "Your painful and burning desire for a hard and ageless body to press against?"
"It'a about everything," Anya said sadly. "Remember when you told me that you missed killing people? That you wished you'd stopped and smelled the corpses while you could?"
Spike chuckled. "Yeah. You feeling powerless lately?"
"Not so much powerless as..." She threw her arms up in frustration. "Here I am, being a good human, and what's the point? How can I have a normal life when every few weeks some two-by-fours fall on me or my fiance gets stabbed? I thought this was what I wanted, but I don't know if I can do it. You have all these humans on Earth, trying to be good and everything, but why do they even bother?" She moved closer to Spike, studying his face carefully. "Why do you bother?"
"What do you mean?"
"You don't have to be here," Anya said. "Protecting Dawn, helping us. You could go on a big fun murderous rampage. So why don't you?"
"Hmm," Spike said. "Good point. I think I'll kill you now."
Spike stood up but was immediately pushed back down into a sitting position.
"You will not," Anya said. "I know you won't."
Spike shrugged.
"So tell me why," Anya demanded.
"I don't know," Spike said. "I guess...I guess when you got nothing else, you still need a reason to fight." Spike stood up and paced to the other side of the room. "I mean, look at me. The woman I loved for a hundred years left me. Three bloody times she left me. Not to mention that she was a raving lunatic to begin with. The man who was my mentor grew a soul and wouldn't have anything to do with me. Then I fall for another girl, and she does a swan dive into oblivion. If I didn't have a fight, I'd just off myself right quick and be happy." Spike looked off at the covered window, which was beginning to darken with the sunset. "But I guess no one wants to die."
A soft and steady rumbling sound seeped into the room, and for a moment it seemed as if they could hear the Earth as it rotated, moving along slowly but ceaselessly, as if urging them towards decisions they would rather not make. Then they saw the headlights in the window and realized it was only a car approaching. They heard Dawn and Giles before the two walked into the room.
"How was the movie?" Anya said.
"Sucked," Dawn said. But then a small smile broke out on her face. "But Giles got me popcorn *and* M&Ms, *and* gummy worms." She walked happily to the other side of the room and tossed her backpack onto the floor. "The four basic food groups: salt, chocolate, sugar, and Pepsi." She approached Spike and playfully punched him on the shoulder. "Where've you been all day?"
Spike smiled slyly. "You'll never guess what I did."
Giles' face went pale. "Did you kill someone?"
Spike stood up abruptly. "For the last time, I am not evil! Do I have to put up a bloody billboard?"
"What did you do?" Dawn asked.
Spike looked down at the eager eyes awaiting his response. "I applied for legal custody of you, nibblet."
Dawn's face seemed to explode, her mouth turning into a wide O, and then breaking into a smile bigger than Spike thought she was capable of. She squealed and threw her arms around him.
"Really? Oh my God!" Dawn cried out. She giggled insanely and bounced up and down as she hugged him.
"You did *what*?" Anya said.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Dawn said. She reached up and planted a kiss on Spike's cheek.
"Spike, I'm not sure this is such a good idea," Giles said. "I'm not sure it's even possible."
"It's possible, Rupes," Spike said, one arm still around Dawn. "I got all the forged documents, which really just shows how bloody stupid this country's government is. I saw some idiots and filled out twenty sheets of paper, and it's done." He turned to the beaming girl beside him. "Of course, they way those buggers move, it'll drag on forever. We'll have to go to court a few times and they'll be nosing around the apartment, but as long as I'm not beating you and making you clean the chimney and such, I wager we'll be alright."
"Apartment?" Dawn said.
"I don't think this would be a good situation for Dawn at this -" Giles began.
"Yep," Spike said to Dawn. "Nice place. Two bedrooms, and this huge window that looks over main street."
"How did you afford that?" Anya asked.
"I killed this demon last week that had come to town looking for the jewel of something-or-other," Spike said. "So I hocked it." He shrugged. "Apparently there's some money to be made in being one of the sodding good guys."
"What?" Giles said. "But do you even know what this jewel was? It could have been -"
"Spike, this is so great," Dawn said, her small arms still tightly clenched around his body. "Now I can live in a real place, and still hang out with everyone, and go to school..."
Spike hung his head down so that it was close to Dawn's. "Not *completely* normal, sweet bit, but -"
"Almost normal," Dawn said softly. "Which is better than I ever imagined I'd get."
Spike was distracted from the glowing eyes staring at him by the sudden blackness of the window beyond the heavy motel curtains. "I have to go out for a while," he told her.
"Where are you going?" she asked. "Can I come?"
Spike shook his head. "I gotta go beat the hell out of Willy. Social Services people want me to have a job, so I gotta convince him to vouch for me."
"But you'll be back soon, right?" Dawn said.
Spike's chest rose and fell with the involuntary breath that filled him at the site of her hopeful gaze. "I'll try," he said softly. He placed a quick kiss on Dawn's forehead and walked to the door.
"Spike, we really need to talk about all this," Giles said.
"Later," Spike said.
He crossed the motel parking lot and headed for the street that would lead him into town. As he passed a line of bushes by the side of the road he reached in to retrieve the item he had stolen earlier. He wasn't sure where to find Buffy, but he had a good idea.
And he also had an axe.
