Chapter 8 – Life Lesson #2 – When In Doubt, Ask The Nibblet
~~
"You want to get her to love you, don't you?" Spike turned over in the bed he was lying on, looking up. Dawn was standing by his bedside, looking down at him.
"When don't I?" he sat up and watched her sit cross-legged on the bed, staring at him.
"You help me and I'll help you." She smiled. "I know you're loaded with money."
"And how might you know that?" He raised a brow.
"Because I have it right here." She took it out of her pocket. His mouth dropped.
"You little bugger! Did you steal that from me?" he demanded.
"Well, technically yes but I call it more like borrowing and practicing my thieving skills. I didn't spend any money, so don't worry." She smiled innocently, offering it back. He snatched it.
"When'd you start stealin'?" he asked suspiciously.
"Just a talent I sort of grew in to." She grinned. "But listen—if you want to really get to my sister, you buy me this CD I want and I'll get you the date."
"Why does that seem too easy?" he raised a brow.
"I just don't like stealing big stuff like that." She grinned brightly. "You're loaded with cash now, so if you help me I can make even you a dream date."
"Are you sayin' I'm not one all ready, Nibblet?" he raised a brow.
"Actually, that's exactly what I'm saying." She grinned. "You're cute an' all, but you definitely need some work. So is it a deal?"
Spike paused. "Can't believe I'm going to say this, but fine. It's a deal." They shook hands. "Just one CD though."
"That's the deal." She nodded her head. "Well, I bet you're real tired after your first day in a long time. I'll let you sleep. Bright and early tomorrow—"
"But don't you have to go to school?"
"Oh, didn't I tell you? You're gonna help me get out of the day too." She smiled. "Good night."
Spike just frowned. He was beginning to question his sanity when he started getting conned into things by a fifteen year old. Deciding not to be bothered by it, he laid down again in the bed that Mrs. Summers used to sleep in. Buffy had said that even though that happened to be the truth about the room, she didn't want Spike sleeping on the couch. He was a guest, after all. Well, that and the fact that she probably didn't want him to think about returning to his so called room.
He fell into a nice deep sleep an hour later.
~~
"Wake up." He groaned as the voice started calling him into awareness. Doing the only thing he could think of, he turned over away from the voice and put a pillow over his head. "Don't even try that."
"Go away. Wake me up in the next bloody century." He responded, still half asleep.
"Come on, get up." He felt someone jerk away his pillow. He sighed loudly in defeat and turned over lazily, opening his eyes slowly to see Buffy standing there, still clad in the clothes she slept in last night.
"What? What is it?" he asked, gruffly, sounding a little annoyed at the sudden intrusion on his sleep.
"Dawn's sick." She responded. Spike tried not to grin at that. He had to admit, the girl was extremely good at tricking people.
"And you want me to do what?" he asked, regaining his composure that he almost lost to a fit of laughter.
"I need to go out and do stuff today, I want you to take care of her." She responded. "It's the least you can do after I've let you board up here."
"If I remember correctly, you're making me stay here." He smirked.
"Details." She waved a hand.
"But I have classes today." He replied innocently. She raised an eyebrow. He sighed loudly. "No I don't. I have to watch your sister. I got you."
"That's what I thought." She smiled.
"Can I go back to sleep yet?" he asked, giving her a pleading look.
"The whole point of watching someone is staying up and watching them sleep." She explained. He gave a disdained look.
"Whoever made THOSE rules should be bloody well shot." He swung his legs over so they were dangling over the edge of the bed. "All right, all right, I'm up."
"Good." She turned to leave.
"Wait, Buffy—" he stood up. She turned to face him.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"What am I supposed to do?" he asked. He was making SURE to make it look like he had no idea what Dawn was doing.
"Just be a slave to her. It's not too hard." She shrugged, then turned and left.
"Sucker." He mumbled under his breath, finally letting out the grin. He stood up, stretching. The pain was more or less gone now, and only the bruises remained.
That and his torn up clothes.
Xander had retrieved the clothes from Spike's room, and now he had at least a few more things to wear. So he threw on whatever, then walked to Dawn's room when he saw Buffy was nowhere to be seen. He entertained and instantly she began moaning. He smirked slightly.
"Quit the act." He rolled his eyes. Instantly she opened her eyes and sat up. He closed the door behind him.
"Did she buy it?"
"Every word. You're a pretty cunning kid." He said lowly.
"No duh." She grinned, almost proudly. "Just keep it up until she leaves, all right?" And then the door opened, and Spike saw Dawn instantly put up her act again as Spike blinked, quite impressed at her acting.
"All right, I'm gone. I'll be back later. Maybe around 3 PM?" she smiled. "Thanks for doing this."
"Not a problem. Have fun." He waved and she left. Both him and Dawn went silent until they heard the door shut. After a few moments, Dawn got out of bed. "All ready dressed?"
"Sure. Why not?" she tilted her head.
He held his stomach when it suddenly growled. She stared at him oddly. "Ow."
"When was the last time you ate?" she asked. He scratched his head.
"Ate?"
"Are you telling me you haven't eaten once since you became—um—well, 'William'?" she peered at him.
"Um—maybe?" he scratched his head. "Guess that's bad, huh?"
"Come on, we better get some food in you. It's not like being a vampire. You sort of need to eat every day." She tugged on his arm and he shrugged and followed. He glanced around the room as she started to take things out.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Trying to figure out what we have. Let's see—well, this is your first meal as a human for a few centuries, what do you want?" she turned to him.
"I don't know." He blinked. "Whatever you have."
"I can make eggs, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal—cereal—well, that's about it." She looked at him.
"How about everything?" he asked. She blinked.
"You mean like—all of it?" she asked, surprised.
"Yeah, sounds good." He nodded. She paused, then shrugged.
"All right, if you say so." She responded uneasily. He then walked into the living room, not exactly sure of what to do.
He looked at the clock and smiled. "Say, Jerry Springer's on."
He entertained himself with that.
~~
"Are you positive you're all human?" He looked up and swallowed the huge mouthful of food.
"Yeah, why?" he cocked his head before stuffing his mouth again.
"No reason." She mumbled, making a face at the 4 empty plates.
"You want that?" he pointed to her food. She shook her head, which was probably a bad idea because he took her plate.
"Good?" she asked, wincing as he took another hungry bite.
"Very." He nodded his head. "When'd you learn how to cook, Bit?"
"Something I picked up." She replied, trying not to watch him.
"You pick up a lot, eh?" he smirked. She nodded. "Stealin's a bit of a nasty habit, though."
"I never get caught." She responded defensively.
"Maybe so, but what would sister think if she found out?" he raised a brow.
"I don't know." She shrugged. "God, are you a bottomless pit?"
He looked at the plates. 7 plates, all empty when they once were full. "I was hungry."
"Apparently." She smirked.
"That was good." He smiled. "Thanks for the meal."
"No problem. You full now?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think so." He nodded. "So, wanna go?"
"If you want. You're the adult." She grinned. "And the one with the motorcycle."
"We should make it look like you didn't just cook, though."
"Dishes duty?" she frowned.
"Got that right. I'll help you fight back them nasty little scum devils." He stood up, wiping his mouth with his hand. He grabbed a few plates and walked into the kitchen. He looked at the sink with utter disdain.
"That's a lot of dishes." He sighed.
"Got that right." She responded. "Happens when you make enough food for 5 people."
"Better get to work." He frowned.
He started cleaning quietly then. He hadn't remembered doing stuff like this in a long time. It was strange, though, but he actually was appreciating the fact that he could do this. His eyes wandered to Dawn, who was looking at a piece of something on a plate like she was trying to figure out what it was, a serious look on her face. He smiled slyly suddenly, and tossed a few soapy suds at her.
"Hey!" she looked at him, surprised.
"Smile." He said simply. She gave him a weird look, but ultimately did smile.
"You're a goof."
"It works for me." He chuckled lightly. She must have noticed the large bruise that was slightly showing on his shoulder. "Do you remember when you got that?" she asked, curious.
"Oh, what, this?" he looked at his arm as well. "Probably sometime during that fight. It was like the thing was after me. It doesn't hurt much anymore. Still a little sore but I've had worse."
"Buffy told me you were KO'd because of her." She said simply.
"Well, guess you could say that. I at least scared the bugger off—she mentioned that?" he asked.
"Yeah. But I don't think stories of you saving her is very new." She continued. "Which is probably why I'm helping you. She talks about you a lot, more then she realizes."
"So you think she likes me?" he inquired, hopeful.
"Well, it's not like she never dated a vampire before." Spike shuddered at the thought. "And you'll always have one up on Angel. See, Angel fell in love with her with a soul, which is pretty easy." She turned to him fully. "You fell in love with her with no soul at all, which was deemed impossible by every single book in Giles' library. I mean, it's like you defied every law there could be about vampires."
Spike thought about this for a second. "Well, hopefully you're right, then."
"I'm about 99% positive." She confirmed.
Spike smiled at that.
~~
"What if she doesn't want to go?" Spike frowned. They stood in front of the ritziest looking restaurant Spike had ever seen around here.
"If a guy invited me to this place, I'd just die." She grinned. He looked at her. "Well not in the literal sense, of course."
"Well, if you say so." He sighed loudly. "I cannot believe I'm getting dating tips from a 15 year old."
"And what's wrong with that?" she raised a brow.
"Nothing at all. Let's go put in one of those—things."
"Reservations?"
"Yeah, that." He nodded, and they walked into it. It was even bigger then the outside. Spike whistled in awe as he looked around. "I don't have clothes for this." He whispered to Dawn.
"We'll take care of that later." She whispered back, and he nodded absently.
"May I help you?" Spike looked at the snooty old man that was staring at them.
"I'd like to make—ah—reservations." Spike said, a bit nervous.
"Name, please?" the man raised a brow.
"Jarome. William Jarome." He replied.
"Time?" he asked.
"7:00." Dawn spoke up for Spike, who obviously wasn't doing so well. "Best table in the place." And she proceeded to give him a nice 100 dollar bill. Spike blinked, turning to look down at Dawn who smiled innocently. Sighing loudly, he nodded.
"Yes. Best seat." The man looked at the money in shock, but nodded.
"As you wish, sir. Best table." He responded quickly, realizing that if they could just throw away 100 dollars like that— "Have a nice day, sir."
When they found themselves outside, Spike turned to Dawn who continued to smile innocently.
"Where did you get that bill?" he asked.
"Um—I borrowed again?" she scratched the back of her head.
"Did I tell you stealing was a nasty habit?" he raised a brow.
"Of course." She nodded proudly. "Hey, I didn't spend it on myself."
"Still—oh, whatever." He rolled his eyes. "So, what next?"
"Well, you need a suit." She nodded.
"I don't do suits." He shook his head. She smirked.
"Well you won't get into that place without one." She replied simply.
"You and your ninny mortal rules. God, when I was your age I had to—well—um—wear a suit." He scratched his head. "Guess that didn't help my case, huh?"
"Not really, but it was a good try." She patted his arm.
"I thought so too." He nodded, not noticing her smirk.
That was the basics of their trip around town. She kept telling him where to go, and he went. By 2:30 he really did have everything set up, including a dress for her, since Dawn said she probably wouldn't have a nice enough one for the night. Thing was, he seemed to suddenly realize there was one huge flaw in this entire plan.
"If she's coming back soon, how am I going to surprise her?" he asked her as she got into bed.
"Don't worry about it, I have it covered." She smiled. "Trust me."
"Right. Trust you. Can you tell I'm desperate?" he raised a brow.
"Oh yeah." She nodded. They both quieted when they heard the door slam.
She was back.
