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Sorry this took so long to come out. And that it's shorter than usual. But my brother stole my monitor cable and I couldn't get access to my computer. Well, that and a major case of 'I have no idea what I'm doing'. This is really just a filler chapter, but the next part should be up in a day or so.

Chapter 14: Waiting

The entire weekend had passed with nothing going amiss. Tara was released from the hospital on Sunday night, and Willow had taken her home. Spike had continued to stay at the Summers' house, but he had not spent much time in the room Buffy had given to him - Joyce's old room. Dawn hadn't said anything, but with the way she would smirk at Buffy and Spike, they suspected that she knew what was going on between them.

It's not like they'd really tried to hide it from her.

Neither Xander nor Giles had come around to kill Spike yet, so they also assumed Dawn hadn't said anything. As far as the group knew, Spike was staying with them because of his injuries and the Glory situation. Not that his wounds weren't all but healed, but he needed to be there when Glory showed up to take Buffy.

Well, to try and take Buffy.

No way was she going to actually take her. But they had to keep up the charade for as long as possible. The minute Glory worked out that Buffy wasn't the Key, all hell was going to break loose.

In this town, that usually meant literally.

They'd arranged for Dawn to be at Willow and Tara's from early tomorrow afternoon. She needed to be away from Buffy, but she also needed to be protected, and the Wiccas we the best people for the job. It also wouldn't appear suspicious.

They suspected that they were overdoing it a little with the whole cover thing, since Glory was, in Spike's words, a 'stupid bint', but they wanted to be sure. There was no way they could risk Glory discovering Dawn. Especially since there was one danger in their plan that they hadn't thought of beforehand.

If Buffy's blood was enough to fool Glory, then as soon as their deception was revealed she would know exactly who the Key really was. The plan was that Spike would call Willow as soon as Glory showed up, and then they'd move Dawn somewhere while Glory's attention was otherwise occupied. Meanwhile, Xander, Anya and Giles would also try and hide, but doing their best to be seen. They needed to create as much confusion as possible.

Not a great plan, but it was all they had. There was going to be a few hours when it was touch and go. It all depended on how early Glory came to try and take Buffy, and how long it took her to work things out. They hoped she would leave it as late as possible, but Glory was ever the unpredictable one.

Buffy had thought about calling Angel for the extra backup, but had dismissed the thought just as quickly. Calling in the troops would definitely alert Glory to the fact that they knew the time was getting close. Plus Angel and Spike in a room together usually didn't end well, and it would probably be even worse now what with her new, ah… relationship with Spike.

Yeah, that would be a real fun situation.

Spike had reported that the demon surveillance on the house had increased. She worried a bit about Dawn, but a little experiment had proved that Buffy was always the one who was followed.

Spike could really be stealth guy when he wanted to be.

Occasionally he would hurt one of them, just to show that he was protecting Buffy. Glory probably knew how brain dead her followers were, and that they couldn't make up the intelligence of a lamp post. She'd get suspicious if they didn't maim one or two of them.

Spike was enjoying this way too much.

Buffy had woken up this morning unable to find him anywhere in the house, and had been worried about him until he showed up about an hour after Dawn had left for school. When she had grilled him about where he'd been, he just shrugged and gave her this mysterious smile that she had interpreted as 'Sorry luv, just went out to kill things'.

Playing the Key was so frustrating. He got to have all the fun, while she was stuck inside being protected while still trying be the Slayer and pretend to be the Slayer at the same time. She hadn't been able to get some serious action since they'd some up with this stupid idea.

When she'd started ranting at Spike, he'd just smiled at her again and said something that just made her more frustrated and pissed off.

"Depends on the kind of action, luv."

She'd thrown a knife at him. Immature, but he deserved it. And it's not like it was a big knife. Just the one she'd been using to butter her toast. She hadn't even thrown it hard. He really shouldn't have gotten that mad.

Was it her fault he was too busy laughing at her to pay attention?

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"Spike?"

"Sod off."

"Come on Spike. Let me in."

"No."

"It's my house."

"Bugger off."

Buffy sighed. This was getting nowhere. Spike had shut himself up in his new room, and was refusing to come out and talk to her.

"Spike, I'm sorry." It really wasn't her fault. Okay, mostly… but not completely. "Spike, I really am. I thought you'd catch it."

There was no answer from behind the door. Spike had obviously learned how to mope from Dawn. One word answers, silent treatment… Buffy couldn't help but imagine Spike curled up on the bed, his knees to his chest, stubborn expression on his face that said he wasn't ever coming out. She'd seen it on Dawn enough to recognise it. But somehow, swapping Dawn for a Spike image…

She couldn't help it. She started to laugh. When she was still going after about a minute, Spike's indignant voice came through the door.

"It's not bloody funny Slayer."

He broke way sooner than Dawn would have. Buffy chalked it up to more practice. Spike would improve over time. For some reason the thought set her off again, and Spike finally opened the door to find Buffy leaning against the wall, gasping for breath.

Buffy looked up when the door opened and was surprised to see he still had his shirt off. She suddenly felt guilty when she examined his chest and saw the knife wound. Her laugher died immediately, and Spike couldn't help but feel somewhat satisfied that she felt a bit guilty. He'd taken worse from Dru all the time, but the fact that Buffy did care when he got hurt made him feel sort of special. He'd already forgiven her, but he wanted her to at least feel bad for a bit.

"Do you want me to bandage that or something?" asked Buffy, wanting to do something to make her feel less guilty.

Spike shook his head. "Don't worry about it luv. It's not bleeding, and I don't get infections. I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Next time give me a bit of warning though? Throwing knives at me and staking me are only separated by a very thin line." He smiled to take any sting out of his words.

Reaching out, he snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her to him. She leant against him, and Spike couldn't help but marvel that this amazing woman would let him touch her. He could hear her heartbeat speed up and feel her breathing quicken at his touch. He still found it hard to believe that he could affect her this easily.

Buffy relaxed into his arms, feeling comforted and safe, feelings she'd only recently rediscovered. There was something so calming about his presence when he held her like this. Somehow, all her stress and worry would just leave her, and there was no need for words, or fear, or anger.

Of course, as soon as he opened his mouth it was always an entirely different story.

But Spike knew enough not to say anything. Until tomorrow was over there was going to be a lot of strain on both of them, and words were not needed right now. He could tell that Buffy just wanted to forget about tomorrow, forget about the rest of the world.

Block everything out. Ignore it and it'll go away.

Unfortunately, they both knew the world doesn't work like that. You could shut it out for a while, but reality would slowly come creeping back in. Spike ran his hands up Buffy's back, and prayed to himself that this really was reality. That the last few days had been reality and would last forever.

He knew they wouldn't.

It mattered, but not right now. Right now the only thing that mattered was the woman in his arms, someone he loved more than his own existence. He realised that standing in the hallway like they were they probably looked like idiots, but he didn't care. Nobody could see them, and it wouldn't matter to him if they could.

There are some moments that you wish could be frozen in time forever. There are others you wish you'd never experienced, and some you know you needed but wished you didn't. Sometimes, they all intertwined. Often, it was the bad moments that led to the good ones, and the good to the bad. Most of the time, you could never see it until it was over, and by then it was too late.

Spike had lived too long and lost too much not to treasure every moment.

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Dawn struggled to concentrate. With so many things going on in her life right now, school was so far down her list of things to worry about that she almost couldn't be bothered going at all. But she had to, or she could be taken away. She didn't want to lose her friends, or her family.

Sunnydale might be Hell, but it was home.

Which is why she had to pay attention. Or at least pretend to. But it was just so hard when the only thing she had room for in her mind was surviving the next day. After tomorrow, it would all be over. Either Glory would be gone, or she would be dead and the world destroyed.

It really went without saying that she preferred the first option.

So far, Buffy's plan seemed to be working. None of the group had been attacked since Tara, and whenever she went out, Buffy was always followed. They'd also done their best to make sure Dawn was seen alone a few times, and Buffy was never without someone close by.

Usually Spike.

The thought made Dawn smile slightly. Those two were so cute together. Spike was totally smitten, and had been for ages, but seeing the same thing in her sister was something new. Even if Dawn had been able to see it, Buffy had tried to hide how much she really dug Spike until recently. Now, she only hid it when Giles or Xander were around. Sure, they weren't all over each other normally or anything, but they were clearly closer. Watching television, Buffy would cuddle up to Spike, and he'd simply hold her. She could see how tense they were, and the contact was obviously comfort for them both.

What made it really obvious though, was the fact that she'd never actually seen Spike spend the night in his own room since Tara was attacked. Really, anyone ever heard of subtlety? She didn't know if they were actually doing anything, but as long as she couldn't hear it, she didn't have to think about it.

It actually felt kind of good that they weren't trying to hide from her. It meant that Buffy trusted her, and was comfortable enough with Spike to tell someone close to her. Well, not tell so much as just not hide. Buffy knew that Dawn thought Spike was cool, and that she really wanted them to get together.

As far as she knew, Buffy hadn't actually said that she loved Spike, but Dawn could see it. She knew she did. But she also knew she was afraid. She had every right to be, really, what with Angel and Riley and everything else in her life. Dawn hoped Spike might be able to make her lose that fear. It worried Dawn when Buffy was afraid.

But now, both Buffy and Spike were worried and scared, and Dawn was terrified.

One way or another, it would be over soon. But there was a question sitting at the forefront of her mind, and it just wouldn't go away.

Would they all survive tomorrow?

End Chapter 14