Part 3
Dawn felt like a total wreck the following morning from her
restless, mostly sleepless night.
Fortunately it was Sunday, so she still had another day before she had
to be back to school. She spent the
morning as she'd spent most of the previous day, completely withdrawn, trying
not to think, but unable to push the unwanted thoughts and the remaining
glimpses of her dreams out of her head.
Buffy was going to be spending the afternoon with Giles, as she felt she
needed to get back into her training as soon as possible. Dawn showed no outward signs of change, but
she lightened up inside as she realized this was her chance to get out and go
see how Spike was doing. No such luck as
it turned out. Buffy once again had
Willow and Tara come to stay with Dawn while she was out, and they weren't
letting her out of their sight. She did
her best to make it seem that she was over the despair she'd been in the last
couple days. "Hey, Willow, can I go out to the mall? I'd really like to do some shopping."
"Sure, we can do that if you want." Willow smiled at her. She was glad to see Dawn feeling so much
better than she had the day before.
"Oh, you guys don't have to come. I'm sure you have better things to do. Magicky stuff and all.
And I do know how to get to the mall, and how to shop!"
"That's ok. A bit of
shopping sounds like fun." It didn't
really, but Buffy had made it clear that she didn't want Dawn left or wandering
off alone, just in case she got upset again.
And although Buffy hadn't said it, she was also afraid of Dawn going to
see Spike and realizing that he was much worse off than Buffy had let on.
"Never mind", grumbled Dawn, who withdrew back into herself
and went back to watching the wall as if it was the most fascinating thing
she'd ever seen.
That night, the dreams continued. As exhausted as Dawn was from the previous days, however, she did
manage to sleep most of the night.
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The next morning, realizing that she wasn't going to be able
to sneak off by herself until Buffy had calmed down from the whole Glory
affair, she decided she'd better just ask Buffy to let her go see Spike. It didn't seem an unreasonable request under
the circumstances, and maybe Buffy would worry less if she knew for sure where
Dawn was going to be. But she had to be
able to go alone. As she and Buffy ate
breakfast, Dawn mentioned casually, "I never did get to thank Spike for saving
me. I'd like to stop by after school so
I can tell him." Buffy almost choked on
the bite of muffin she was eating. She
thought desperately for a way to stop Dawn from going to see him. Buffy had stopped by briefly while out
patrolling last night and he was still lying right where they'd left him. She couldn't blame it on being the middle of
the day this time. He'd obviously been
unconscious for two full days. "Dawn, I
don't think that's such a good idea.
He's really not up for visitors yet."
"You got to go see him."
"Yeah, but I didn't stay long. It's best if you wait."
Dawn tried to keep from losing her temper, since she knew it
wouldn't help her case any. "He was
injured when you had him hide me in the caves to protect me from Glory. Are you telling me he's hurt worse than when
Glory tortured him for hours?"
"Yes. No! Just hurt
differently. He'll need longer to get
back to feeling normal."
Dawn noticed that her sister was acting kind of funny. What was she trying to hide? Dawn worded her question carefully, "Hurt
differently… how?"
*Damn it, Spike, you'd better wake up soon*, thought Buffy,
*I can't keep lying to Dawn.* She tried
to keep her lie as close to the truth as possible. "I think the blast from the portal really drained him. His energy level is… really low."
*The blast from the portal!* Dawn was seriously worried now.
Did Buffy know more than she was letting on? "The blast knocked him unconscious", Dawn started cautiously, "Do
you think it permanently… damaged anything… in his head?" Inside she cringed, hoping she hadn't said
the wrong thing.
*Brain damage?*
Buffy hadn't even thought about that.
Was that even possible for a vampire?
Would a vampire heal from that, or was it still like with a human? Might Spike never wake up? Buffy started to feel panicky as these
thoughts started running through her head.
She realized that Dawn was still watching her, waiting for an
answer. How long had she sat there
without responding? She didn't even
know, but she knew she'd better answer.
"Dawn, even if it had caused some sort of brain damage, I'm sure
in a Vampire it'd heal. I'm sure he's
just very drained and just needs more rest and recovery time."
*Ok… that was not the answer I was expecting* thought
Dawn. She didn't know whether to feel
relieved, since Buffy didn't seem to have noticed, or scared because Dawn
hadn't even considered the possibility of brain damage. Had Buffy let slip the real season she
didn't want Dawn to see Spike? Had Dawn
once again brought terrible suffering on Spike? *Somehow I have to get out to see him. I have to know.*
