Title: History lesson and sweets
Author: Joy
Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com
The Hyperion had no activity inside when the Summers women and their men came to the grand hotel. Wolf gazed down at his sweet in his arms fast asleep. Spike came to gather Dawn, but Wolf decided he'd risk the vamp's torture, "That's okay. I can manage."
Spike looked at him sternly. "Alright mate. But I'm walking you to her room and watching you tuck her in… You're the only one I would allow to do that much. If Gunn developed a thing for my girl, I would be carrying her up…Understand?"
"Yes, Sir," Wolf responded out of habit and climbed out of the car with Dawn in his arms.
"Who says 'yes sir' in California?" Buffy asked.
Spike looked at her then at Wolf, "A man raised with discipline… It's kind of the whole Sire bit, but more human." Buffy nodded as they went into the hotel.
Fred led the Summers trop to their rooms. "This is your room Buffy. I don't know why you would like it." Spike smiled and wagged his eyes at her. Fred blushed. They walked down the hall past a few rooms, "This is your room Wolf and Dawn will stay in the next. I live in the room next to Dawn's. I guess that makes me the grown up on patrol." Fred smiled at her little joke. Wolf smiled at her and then followed Spike into Dawn's room. Spike turned back the sheet so Wolf could lie Dawn down.
Wolf placed her on the bed and covered her with the sheet. He kissed her forehead and she whispered, "Wake me when you're done."
"I don't know… We'll have time tomorrow," he whispered back stroking her hair.
"But conversations are so much better at night," she whispered.
Wolf looked pitifully at Spike, begging for any scrap of time he would be allowed. Spike sighed and kissed Dawn's head. "Night, bit. Love you."
"Be nice," Dawn whispered. Spike sighed at the fact that the pulling away process had already begun. The Boy hadn't been there more then five hours and already Spike didn't get his 'love you' from Dawn. She yawned. "Love you Spike," she whispered sleepily. He had to smile and bent over to kiss her again.
Spike walked past Buffy who had been watching the whole scene. She grabbed him by his coat sleeve, "Wake me up when you're done." She leaned into his ear and softly said, "There are so many things that are better at night."
"Luv, you're going to kill me, I swear," Spike said as his body responded to hers. He gave her a quick kiss and then waved Wolf forward in an annoyed manner.
"Wes," Spike called at the studious man in the office. Wesley stuck his head out. "Can I have a pad of paper and a pen? Also do you have anything on the Clan of Fenris or any of its splinter groups?"
Wesley looked at him quizzically, "I guess it's that we're English that we tend to gear toward Norse mythology?" Spike smiled curtly and waited for the man to rummage through historical text. "Here you go," the ex-watcher said. "What are you looking into?"
"Gonna see if I can be adopted by the wolves since the Vamps won't have me?" he commented as he flipped through the book and headed to a first floor room they could chat in.
Wesley's face blanched. "He was kidding," Wolf said quickly gathering the pad of paper and pen from him. Wesley nodded and Wolf followed the strange vampire.
"Have a seat…" Spike said in a very orderly manner. He was like the worst substitute teacher you could think of because this one could kill you. Wolf swallowed and did what he was told. "Since I want to get on up to Buffy, I'm going to make this cut and dry... You are a wolf shape shifter and so is your father. That I think you know already. From what Lorn has told me, your father didn't want you exposed to his clan or any clan until you were eighteen."
"Here is my theory… Your dad is the Ulrich of his clan. Which would make him be the end all be all authority over his clan. That's a fair amount of people if he isn't just in charge of the suburbs. In which case it would make sense for him not to expose you. Clans discourage mating outside their species- or animal. Two shape shifters of different animals conceive a child; it's likely the child would be deformed enough to be noticed… My other part of the theory is your mother is entirely human but with some natural mystical talent. Witches normally mix very well with shape shifters…"
Spike was about to go on but Wolf stopped him raising a hand, "You think my father is a powerful 'wolf leader' and my mom's a witch… Why? Why would my mom be anything other then human?"
"She is a human… The snuggly blond and redhead are both human and both very magically inclined… I'm just saying a witch who can defend herself in battle in one way or another would be more welcome then a human that the Ulrich would always be protecting while the rest of the clan are supposed to be protecting him," Spike explained.
"So then what would I be?"
"That's where things get murky… Your father is supposed to be coming up with the answers to these questions tomorrow, because I can only guess. If I were to guess the answer is…Well, you're not a Werewolf or anything like that. Shape shifters have more control over their animals. They are a small part the person rather than something you have to shove down all the time," Spike said from experience.
"I'm sorry," Wolf said slowly.
"For what?" Spike asked.
"The whole orphan thing…"
Spike nodded and went back to the previous conversation. "I'll tell you some basics about clans. Fenris was a great wolf that was destined to destroy the world…general apocalypse sort of stuff. Clans that descended from the Clan of Fenris tend to be very war like and hostile…more on the demonic side because they're looking to cause trouble. Lately there have been more clans that are peaceful just providing human wolves a place to find family. My hope is your father is part of one such clan…however I don't know that." Wolf looked despondent. "There is a common general structure of dominant and submissive members, where you can work your way up in the ranks. In some clans this is by killing a challenged opponent while others would be more likely to protect members of the clan from outside hostility."
Wolf sat with his head in his hands, "So basically I come from monsters and I don't know which side my father is aligned with…good or evil."
"Those questions will be answered tomorrow by your father… Tonight read over the accounts in this book and don't spill anything on it or Wesley will kill you," Spike said sympathetically. "Now… about Dawn…"
Wolf sighed and almost began to sob, "No wonder you don't want me anywhere near her."
"Bloody Hell!" Spike cursed. "No… I'm just being a dad. You're right, I don't like the notion that Dawn would be dating someone who could be dangerous, but everybody said the same about me."
"You don't want to rip my throat out?" the boy asked quietly looking down at his feet.
"If you don't give me a reason to want you dead then no…" Wolf turned to Spike quickly. "The things that will cause me to want to rip your throat out are 1) taking advantage of this whole destined to be thing, 2) being an overly hormonal teenage boy and not thinking about how sex at an early age is a bad idea, 3) not remembering that Dawn has only been in existence for a year and half, which leads to all sorts of weird feelings and questions about her identity, 4) keeping Dawn out when we don't know where she is, 5) letting her take the lead on important stuff that doesn't jive with you, like letting her drive even though she doesn't have a license, 6) I find you in Dawn's room when we didn't know you were visiting, 7) I will kill you first and ask questions later, if I find you in a compromising position or asleep on the same bed as Dawn. Understand?" Spike stated very clearly.
Wolf's eyes were big, "Has this happened before?"
"Yeah, but to Buffy," Spike shrugged his shoulders. "She was dating Angel, the poofter that owns this place. He believed that since he hadn't been able to feel anything for a woman since he got his soul, long story."
"Caught most of it from Dawn," Wolf said meekly.
"Yeah well, he assumed that they were destined to be together. She was fifteen when he met her. He forgot how young that really is because she faced life and death everyday. There were plenty of times where neither of Buffy's parents knew where she was because of him. He encouraged her to fight her destiny as the slayer rather then face it. He forgot that letting her take the lead even though he had some reservations could be a very bad thing… like sleeping together and him losing his soul and turning into the bastard that he was for a hundred years or so. Buffy eventually had to send him to hell after he got his soul back again. When he popped back into this world things were just the same. They fought together and snuggled and then finally Buffy's mom had to come to Angel and ask him to leave so Buffy could have a life. He left and she was broken for a long time," Spike said the words like it had happened ten years ago.
"But then you came along and everything got better," Wolf said with a smile.
Spike shook his head. "No… I came to kill her first off, formed an alliance with her to stop Angelus from destroying the world, I came back and screwed up big time, came back again and tried to kill Buffy again. I got chipped and violence seemed less important. I still like to fight but that's restricted to evil demons who attack people…in other words demons like me." Wolf looked at the older man just listening. "I fell in love with her and acted like a moron. I did pretty well drive her rebound guy away. When I told her I loved her, she was chained to the wall while I threatened her to admit she felt something for me… I'm a huge wanker… I started to figure out how not to try to gain her affections by process of elimination."
"When Dawn was created I loved her. She was a part of Buffy. And I loved Joyce, their mother…she died last year…that was awful. The three of us would drink coco and talk. I'd see Joyce at her gallery… Even if Buffy never loved me, I loved them and I would fight to protect them… After all the stupid things I did, I redeemed myself somewhat because of Dawn. I got tortured to an inch of my undead life but I would never give Dawn up to that stupid Hell bitch… In the end I did my best to protect her and still failed. Buffy jumped so the world wouldn't end and all I could think was 'I should have died protecting them.'" Spike had a far off look as he spoke. Wolf just watched him and listened being told things he had no context for. "Nibblet and I banned together over the summer while Buffy was dead. Each day was torture but I promised to protect Dawn until I was dust. Buffy and I being together has nothing to do with me being a great guy to pick up after Angel, but it had everything to do with the fact I could manage to love deeply despite my lack of soul."
"I…" Wolf began as Spike turned to him. "Lorn told me I was missing part of my soul…"
Spike smiled, "Yeah so does Dawn… You finish each other."
"I'm sorry Buffy had to go through all that," Wolf spoke softly.
"Just follow the rules and hopefully we'll have no repeat performances… Go up and talk to my LilBit for a while," Spike said as he stood. Wolf grinned and headed up the stairs.
Spike dipped into Angel's weapons closet. He grabbed a bag from the room and soon found Angel's trunk unlocked. Spike smirked. Angel didn't want to discuss any of the contents of this trunk with his staff so he simply left it open for Spike to grab from. He smiled as he filled the bag with mainly tame toys and a few just to freak Angel out, since he was sure the Sire would survey the trunk when he got up. Spike cackled at the thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wolf slipped into Dawn's room and watched her sleep. He pulled a chair over his dream girl. He touched her hair and caressed her face. All sorts of poetry he had read over the years kept popping into his head. She was his Juliet without the horrible death scene, he hoped. He stroked her face so lovingly and whispered, "I've been waiting for you for so long…" Wolf played with some of her hair, "Seventeen and never dated…very weird apparently. Not that I mind because you're here and you're real… And I promise to never put you through what your sister had to… I will never be the one you hate because I hurt you and left. I will never be the one that breaks you. I will always come for you."
As he leaned over to kiss Dawn's forehead he notice the tears descending her face. "You were listening," he whispered touching her cheek.
She nodded and did begin to cry out right. "Great, I'm being a weepy female," Dawn snorted. Wolf continued to stroke her cheek. "Come lay down beside me," she said sleepily.
"No… Not a good idea. One of the things specifically off limits for a long while," He answered as she pouted. "Come climb in this big comfy chair with me." Dawn got out of bed and sat down on his lap. "See much better… No mixed signals or moving too fast."
Dawn rested her head on his shoulder. After a few moments of silence Dawn meekly said, "My dad left when I was little and he's been pretty MIA for my whole life. Mom died last year so Spike and I have that whole orphan feeling going. Buffy doesn't seem to have that issue. She mainly thinks all men will eventually leave… First Dad, then Angel, then Riley, and now Giles… um, sort of surrogate dad to Buffy mainly and me a little. He was her watcher. That's hard to explain… He went back to England because he was afraid Buffy would give up on life if her were there… Wow, I'm rambling."
"Keep rambling… I like it. Spike rambles too. Maybe if you ramble some more it will make his rambles make more sense," Wolf offered hugging her around the waist.
"What do you want to know?" Dawn asked lifting her head to look into his eyes. The violet turned almost lavender as he spoke to her. It was like they changed color because of the depth of his emotions.
"I want to know about your mom and her gallery. I want you to tell me about this summer with Buffy being dead. I want you to tell me about nearly getting killed… I want you to tell me all the things you have locked away that you reserve for Spike. I want you to tell me everything that matters to you and all the things that have hurt you. I want to here about all the parts of your life, especially the parts you're afraid to show people because they aren't pretty," Wolf answered with confidence.
Dawn's eyes darted back and forth between looking at each of his eyes. She was shocked and scared and mainly overcome by the sense she was going under fast for this guy. With unblinking eyes, tears rolled down her face. Wolf kept an eye on how freaked she was but gently approached her cheeks to kiss her tears away.
When her tear stained cheeks were completely peppered with kisses, Wolf went up and kissed her forehead. He then kissed each of her eyelids and then kissed her nose. Dawn began to blink a few times and still looked shocked but not so scared anymore. Finally Wolf looked deeply into her eyes and kissed her lips so softly.
He pulled away from Dawn slightly. Her expression hadn't changed. It was only then that he realized she was clutching her fists at her chest holding her shirt. She was terrified. Wolf brushed her hair behind her ear. He swallowed and said, "I'll be going… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to scare you."
He went to pick Dawn up and place her back in her bed. "I… I guess I'm a little unnerved," she whispered.
"Why?" Wolf asked trying to look in her eye.
"Watching my sister fall in love at my age and then how awful that turned out. I guess my defenses are up even though I know that everything points to this being real… It's just not that simple," she said stiltedly.
"You asked me what I wanted to know. I told you… I never said it had to be tonight or any night soon. But I would like to be allowed into that place of confidence that it seems only Spike resides," he said slightly shamefaced.
Dawn smiled at his jealousy of Spike's place in her heart. So they both weren't confident about some things…that she could live with. She bit her lip and said, "That takes time…and we have time. Stay for a little while longer and we can just be… here… together."
"I'd like that," Wolf whispered and kissed her lightly.
"You can do more of that if you want," she said teasingly.
"Oh really," he smirked.
"Yeah," she smiled.
"Who could pass up the opportunity to kiss those lips?" Wolf asked.
Dawn laughed, "A lot of people."
"Yes, but a lot of people haven't been dreaming of you night after night…hoping you were real and not the figment of a lonely boy's imagination."
At that, Dawn kissed Wolf very swiftly. She stood up beside the chair and pulled him to his feet. He stared at her very confused. Dawn turned on the radio low and strong. When she turned back around Wolf immediately gathered her back into his arms. He led as they danced together. Dawn leaned into Wolf's chest to get comfortable. One of his hands was around her waist and the other was clasped in hers. Dawn could hear his heart race and his breathing pick up as they danced close. She drew lazy patterns on his chest with her finger.
Wolf felt like he was drowning. Her barest touch turned him on his ear. "Dawn," he half moaned, half growled at her.
She was completely unfazed. "Yeah," still tracing patterns on his stomach.
He was just trying to see straight and catch his breath. "You touch me…" he muttered trying to choose the next words carefully, "and I melt. I've never felt this way before… I never knew that I would be this over powered."
"Kind of like me a few minutes ago," Dawn smiled against his chest.
"I guess… but I also want things… things I don't understand where they're coming from," Wolf ground out to keep from growling.
"Tell me," she whispered as she took her fingernail and drew it behind his head on his neck. Wolf's eyes flashed for a moment and then began to glow. He growled for a second then Dawn drew him further into her embrace, "Tell me."
Wolf had to focus on what Spike said about keeping limits even if Dawn wanted to test them. He pulled away and kept her at arms length holding her hands. Wolf looked Dawn directly in the eye, "I may have a better clue what I am but I don't know what will happen if you keep that up… I'll tell you what I saw and felt but from now on you aren't allowed to push me to find out, alright?" Dawn sort of got the message and nodded. "I… I had an intense desire to bite you…your neck. This wasn't a 'I want to rub my face next to your neck.' This was a dark desire to lick your neck and bite it… Not drain you like a vamp but bite you… Please don't ever push me like that again… I couldn't bare hurting you."
Dawn looked lost, "I… I'm sorry… I was seeing it too…you biting me…"
TBC