Title: Role Reversal

Author: Christine

E-mail: Xanderette43@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: Joss owns em all, I'm just idolizing him.

Distribution: If you have anything of mine already its yours to take. If not, just let me know.

Feedback: Better then chocolate and half the calories! Feed me.

Couple: Spike/Dawn

Spoilers: "Once More, With Feeling"

Author's Note: My wonderfully talented friend Regina wrote the songs found in the story, the other one is by that guy... I think his name's Joss Whedon or something *laughs*


******

Dawn pushed open the heavy wooden door and looked around the empty room. Frowning, she walked to the closed coffin in the corner and placed the gold chain she had clasped in her hand down on it gently. Turning around, she was just to the door when she felt his presence behind her. She stopped and spun around, her hand reaching in her pocket for the stake she kept with her since her ordeal with Justin.

Her hand had just grasped the wood when his hand grabbed her wrist. She gasped and spun around, her eyes wide with fear. Spike's eyes burned into hers and the stake she held clattered to the floor. He took her other hand and entwined his fingers with hers, his coolness mixing her warmth. He could hear her heartbeat faster in her chest, her blood pumping away; making the demon inside of him whisper wicked ideas to him.

She opened her mouth to speak, but his finger on her lips silenced her. His eyes were still locked with hers. "Do they know you're here?"

Her head shook side to side.

"Why are you here?"

She shook his hand off her lips. "I just came to give you something... and maybe you wanted to spend some time together, I mean you haven't exactly been around much lately, plus this whole 'bursting into song' thing's kinda got me freaked out."

Spike's head tilted to the side, a smirk appearing on his handsome features. "A song eh?" He turned around slowly and walked to the door and opened it.

"I died
So many years ago
You can make me feel
Like it isn't so
And why you come to be with me
I think I finally know
mmm-mmm"

Dawn's eyes widened again and she stepped back until her back was against the coffin. Spike walked towards her, his eyes roaming up and down her.

"You're scared
Ashamed of what you feel
And you can't tell the ones you love
You know they couldn't deal
Whisper in a dead man's ear
It doesn't make it real"

His hand brushed her hair back he leaned into her neck, whispering his song into her ear.

"That's great
But I don't wanna play
'Cause being with you touches me
More than I can say
And since I'm only dead to you
I'm saying stay away and
Let me rest in peace"

Her arm reached up to brush against his cheek, and he leaned into it placing a kiss on her open palm.

"Let me rest in peace
Let me get some sleep
Let me take my love and bury it
In a hole 6-foot deep
I can lay my body down
But I can't find my, sweet release
So let me rest in peace"

He took her hand and kicked the door open, walking though the endless row of graves with Dawn at his side. He turned to her and knelt down on one knee looking up at her.

"You know,
You got a willing slave
You just love to play the thought
That you might misbehave
Till you do,
I'm telling you
Stop visiting my grave
Let me rest in peace"

A soft sigh escaped her open lips and he continued as he walked ahead of her kicking up the dirt from the ground.

"I know I should go
But I follow you like a man possessed
There's a traitor here beneath my breast
And it hurts me more than you've ever guessed
If my heart could beat, it would break my chest
but I can see you're unimpressed"


A vampire jumped out from the shadows, but before he could get to Dawn, Spike spun around and impaled him with a broken tree branch on the ground. His lips curled into a smile and he grabbed her hand as he walked up the old seesaw. He pulled her to him and together they slid down the other side.


"So leave me be and
Let me rest in peace.
Let me get some sleep
Let me take my love and bury it
Im a hole 6-foot deep
I can lay my body down
But I can't find my sweet release"

As they walked by the park's swings, she reached out to take his hand. He looked at her in confusion, and raised his eyebrow as she pushed him into the swing. She started walking to the one next to it, but Spike caught her arm and pulled her to his lap. She looked up into the stars above and started singing softly.

"So you say,
Your love it's real,
but you just gotta understand,
I don't know if I can deal"

She got up slowly and leaned against the metal pole holding up the swingset. He looked down at the ground, digging the top of his boot into the sand. She reached over and touched his chin, making him look up at her.

"Speak to me with lying lips
Doesn't make it true,
Why should I believe,
That this is really you?"

He looked down again and she knelt in front of him looking up into his eyes, her blue eyes mesmerizing his own.

"Are you just exchanging me
To hide the way you feel?
Give me some answers,
Quit with all your lies,
As much as you deny it I can see it in your eyes . . . ."

He reached out and ran his hand through her hair, gently brushing it back from her face. She shook his arm off and stood up, walking way. He jumped up and ran after her, moving in front of her.

"I'm not her
I can't be
So tell me when you look at me
Is it her you see
I've gotta know
if this is real
I can't just give away my heart
If this isn't what you feel"

She moved away from him and continued walking through the park. Dawn crossed the street and he followed her as she made her way home.

"You gotta let me know,
Is it really me you want
are or you just playing games
Messing with my heart"

She turned into her front walkway and stopped when she got to the steps. Spike gently laid a hand on her shoulder and she turned around. His face fell when he saw the tears in her eyes threatening to fall.

"I can't go on
loving you this way
And always fearing deep inside
That there will come a day
When she decides,
She's finally good for you
Tell me then where will you be
Is what you're saying true?"

Her lip trembled and she wiped the tears away, her hand shaking. She looked up at the sky again and he saw the stars reflecting in her eyes.

"So give me some answers,
Quit with all your lies,
As much as you deny it I can see it in you eyes . . . ."

She turned away from him again and ran up the steps and into the house. He ran after her and closed the door behind him. He saw her feet on the top step of the stairs and quickly dashed up them to catch up with her. He heard her silent sobs behind her bedroom door and he hesitated before opening it, wondering if he was doing the right thing.

He slowly turned the knob and walked in, cringing at the noise the door made. He looked around the room and saw her sitting in the corner, her arms hugging her knees. He knelt down besides her and gently placed his hand on her knee. She jerked it back, and she let out a choked sob. She scrambled up off the floor and ran out of her room, her footsteps loud against the stairs. Spike was on her heel, and he quickly grabbed her arm.

"Dawn, listen to me."

She shook her head. "No... that song that I sang, I shouldn't have sung it Spike. This spell, whatever it is, made me sing it, and now I can't take it back."

She turned her back to him and was halfway into the kitchen when she heard him singing again. She stopped and listened to his words.


"I feel it in my soul
You're the only one I need
The one to make me whole"

She turned slowly around and walked slowly towards him, her mouth opening to respond to his song.

"You gotta let me know,
Is it really me you want
are or you just playing games
Messing with my heart"

He nodded slowly and took lightly ran his hand up her arm, grazing her neck with his fingertips. She leaned into him slowly and saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"So you see
You gotta stick around
I've been around enough to know
That it's true love I found"

She sighed softly and before she knew it words came pouring out of her mouth again.

"So you say,
Your love it's real,
but you just gotta understand,
I don't know if I can deal"

He leaned down and kissed her forehead softly, his arm reaching around her, pulling her closer to him. He tilted his head towards her and whispered into her ear.

"I know
That you think your scared
But love that's just the way it goes
When all our hearts are bared"

She could feel his cold ragged breath against her neck and her heart sped up. He took her hand and kicked the kitchen door open. Spike picked her up and jumped down the back steps onto the wet grass below.

"So come love take my hand,
Don't be scared of what we'll share
Because when it comes to loving you
No one can compare ...."

She reached out with her hand and he laced his fingers with hers as he bent down and pulled a wildflower out from the earth. He tucked it in her hair and she looked down, her cheeks turning a burgundy color. He released his grip on her hand and knelt down in front of her, the bottom of his duster becoming dirty.

"So help me rest in peace
Help me get some sleep
Don't make me take my love and bury it
In a hole 6 foot deep
Come and lay my body down
I'll finally find my sweet release
Come and help me rest in peace."

He rested his head against her abdomen and he could feel her tears falling on to his coat. He quietly murmured the last of his song to her.

"Come and lay my body down
I'll finally find my sweet release
Come and help me rest in peace."

Her knees gave out and she slowly collapsed into his open embrace on the ground. His arms went around her, his fingers entwining themselves in her long brown hair. She could feel his strong arms holding her tightly and for the first time in her existence she felt truely loved by someone other then her mother and Buffy. Her heart pounded in her chest and she suddenly felt something wet on her shoulder. She pulled back a little and looked at Spike. His eyes were glassy and she noticed a small tear running a trail down the side of his face. He looked away from her, and she slowly lifted her hand up to turn his head back towards her. Dawn leaned foward and touched her lips to the teardrop. She could her him inhale sharply and his eyes darted to hers. He moved his face unexpectedly and her lips brushed against his. She gasped and when he started to pull away she moved foward and crushed her lips to his, bringing her arms around him again. Spike's mind was swimming in all directions. He wasn't sure if he should be doing what he was doing, but he knew it felt right, and he hadn't felt so at home with anyone as much as he did this moment with Dawn.

He felt her lips press against his again and he slowly slid his hand up her abdomen, pulling her gently towards him. He heard something behind them and as much as he hated to break their kiss, he did and turned around angrily, his vampiric senses heightened. His hostility faded though when he saw the townspeople singing softly behind them. He turned back to Dawn and held out his hand. She looked at him curiously and took it, a look of puzzlement across her face.

"Can I have this dance?"

Her lip quivered and tears sprang to her eyes making them shine in the moonlight. He lifted her up from the ground and took her other hand, putting it around his neck. She did the same with her other hand and his arms went around her waist, closing the gap between them. He moved slowly to one side and she followed his lead.

"Spike I - "

"Shhh, you don't have to say anything Dawn."

She looked up at him, his face filled with longing and rapture. Her lips curved into a smile and she leaned over on her toes to place a kiss on his lips.

"You know I love - "

He placed his finger against her lips. "I know Luv, I know." He spun her around and caught her in his arms, her face angelic in the pale moon's light. "Just as I do you."