Title: Morning
Author: Joy
Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com
Tara arrived at Spike's crypt first thing in the morning to pick up the wayward teenager. Since she had never been in the lower section of Spike's crypt, she approached carefully for fear of traps. Tara climbed down the ladder slowly. When she hit the floor she saw Dawn still asleep in Spike's bed but no Spike.
"Pixie," he said from under the ladder in the shadows. Tara jumped a foot. "Got to protect my bit," he ground out. "What does the slayer have to say for herself?"
Tara cleared her throat. "Why don't I take Dawn back to my place to shower and change? I'll come back after I get her off to school."
Spike grabbed her arm roughly when she moved toward the bed. "You wouldn't be thinking about taking her away from me, would you?" he snarled.
She looked at him curiously. "What happened last night Spike?" she asked quietly. "Nothing's changed…We'll try to keep Dawn in Sunnydale. If not you'll both go to LA to stay with Buffy's dad."
Spike was almost feral in his protection of Dawn. "She's not staying with Buffy one second longer," he growled.
Tara looked him over very concerned. "Seriously Spike what happened?"
He attempted to breath easier but he couldn't not at the thought that his LilBit was suffering the same contemptuous attitude that he had from Buffy. "Dawn doesn't need to be treated for one more second like she's this evil thing in the way."
"Are we talking about Dawn or you?" Tara asked quietly. Spike's blue eyes flashed yellow for a second. "Buffy had me look into why your chip doesn't work with her. I know what's been going on… We talked a lot last night. She's ready to put it all on the table for everyone. Willow found out last night… You aren't becoming the bad guy in this scenario."
All the anger that had been building inside him since Dawn suggested she understood his hurt with Buffy was diffused. "I don't understand," he said pathetically.
"We formed a game plan last night. Buffy threw a temper tantrum that involved yelling about me taking your side which led to Willow coming to the stairs to listen. She heard most of the rest of the conversation which filled in some of her questions," the blond witch said simply.
He was almost trembling, "You defended me?"
"Yeah Spike. I've only known you since you've been chipped. I don't have the hang ups of remembering all the ways you tried to kill me, because you never have. Plus I really think you've changed," she said sweetly. His breath caught in the back of his throat. "You can still be the Big Bad if you want to but it's probably in your best interest to let it go until we get this sorted out with Dawn."
"So you aren't going to keep me out of the mix?" Spike pled.
"No… You will be a huge part of any decision made," Tara said simply. She turned back to the sleeping teen that was now waking at the sound of voices.
"Thank you," Spike whispered from behind her.
"Your welcome," she answered not facing him knowing he wouldn't look at her anyway.
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Tara was waiting outside Dawn's school at the end of the day. "Hey there," Dawn smiled. "Dropped off and picked up. Such attention!"
The witch chuckled. "We'll go back to my place until just before sunset, when we'll go pick up Spike… I'll leave the two of you to talk and stay calm and not work each other up again."
"Again?" the brunette asked.
"This morning Spike was more then a little…high strung. Do me a favor? Listen to what Buffy and I have come up with before you go nuts or have Spike go nuts for you," Tara said soothingly as she wrapped an arm around Dawn.
"I still don't know what you mean about Spike," the teen said completely confused.
Tara eyed her a couple of times. "Spike was overly identifying with you. I don't think that just happened out of the blue."
Dawn blanched, "Why? What'd he say?"
The chuckle Tara emitted broke the tension a bit, "Don't worry Dawn. I know you see Spike is a beaten puppy by your sister. I think you might have drawn a correlation between you and he when it came to Buffy that sort of made him…feral."
"I'm sorry… It's just she doesn't want me, but she does, just like Spike," the teen said as they walked toward Tara's apartment.
"Did you say that to Spike?"
"Ya," Dawn swallowed.
"Oh honey…There's a lot of stuff you don't know about Spike and Buffy, a lot of hurtful stuff," Tara stated clutching Dawn closer to her body. "I'll let Spike or Buffy explain things to you in whatever detail they feel is appropriate."
Dawn stopped walking. "Why don't you tell me since you aren't one of the injured parties?"
"You sound like a lawyer," Tara answered.
"If it gets the job done," the brunette replied.
Tara could see Dawn would not be swayed from the conversation. "All right but this is very one sided, well sort of… Buffy and Spike were…well…in a severely dysfunctional relationship." Dawn tapped her foot knowing that wasn't the important part. "Basically every time they…" Dawn raised her eyebrows. "Well every time Buffy would run off afterwards telling Spike how evil and awful he was when he wanted to actually date her."
"I understand the evil and awful because of the whole Angel thing but…" Dawn said trying to make the pieces fit together.
"Spike's chip doesn't recognize Buffy as human so he can hurt her," Tara filled in.
Dawn's eyes went big, "But he hasn't. He wouldn't."
"Dawnie… He's a vampire…" Tara began to say.
"I don't want to hear that speech. Whatever pain he caused her I'm sure she deserved it," the teenager fumed.
"I wasn't done… Vampires like certain things when they well…ya know," the blond witch blushed. "This is harder then I thought… Spike likes rough sex Dawn… I said that out loud."
"So Buffy thinks Spike's disgusting because of what he likes in bed, but she keeps doing it with him?" Dawn said frustrated.
"That's why Buffy's been so out of it. She can't figure out why she keeps going back. She basically admits she is using Spike and that she likes it rough…that's why Spike's been so beaten up lately," Tara explained.
"I'm going to kill her," the brunette spat angrily.
Tara put a hand on each of the teen's shoulders, "I don't know why Buffy's doing what she's doing, but neither does she… So when you said to Spike that Buffy wanted you but didn't want you that hit something very pained in him. See Buffy will use his body but won't let him be loving to her. Her rejection of him is absolute every time. He can only imagine what that would feel like as a sister… I'm assuming that's why he was freaking out this morning." They started to walk again. "However mad you are with Buffy please let her try to explain things. It took her a long time to admit she was doing anything wrong because Spike's a vampire. Don't push her into defense mode. That will just end badly."
Dawn clenched her jaw a few times. "She's been leaving me to go f…" Dawn didn't get the word out because of Tara's glare. "Screw Spike. She would stay out till all hours beating on him and then leave him telling him he was the monster. Am I clear?"
The blond sighed, "But Dawn you have no idea how she wept in my lap for what she was doing. Give her a chance… Both of you give her a chance."
"I want to go see Spike now!" Dawn demanded.
"All right."
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Spike woke to the sound of someone bounding down his ladder. He blinked once before the teenage girl cast herself on him bodily hugging him for all he was worth. Tara climbed down slowly. "What's up Nibblet? Need me sleep before seeing your sis tonight," Spike said in broken English sitting up holding Dawn to him.
She began to cry. Spike looked to Tara for guidance. Tara just smiled briefly and mouthed, "She knows."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…I shouldn't have said what I said. I didn't know," the teen blubbered. "I want to make her hurt for what she's done to you."
Spike just gaped at the little girl in his arms. He opened and closed his mouth a few times in shock before he finally shook it off. "LilBit…This isn't about me and Buffy. This is about making sure you're cared for good and proper," he said looking her in the eye. "Let me be mad at Buffy for what's happened with us."
"You're allowed to be mad at Buffy for what's happened with me and her. Why can't I be mad at her for your stuff?" Dawn argued.
Spike looked from the incredulous teenager to Tara. "Hey, she's be pulling a lawyer imitation since we left her school."
"Thus being how she even knows," he said sarcastically.
"Ah…Yeah…" the white witch answered.
"Bit you have enough to worry about without taking on my junk…Now I promise to talk to Buffy about our junk one more time if you'll give your sister a chance," Spike said diplomatically.
"Yeah well…I have to…Tara says so," Dawn slightly pouted.
"All right…Enough with the pity party you two. Buffy's got a lot to say to both of you… She was planning on laying the situation with Spike on the table for you Dawn," Tara said simply.
"I'm still not clear why she would do that," Spike inquired.
"Hey, Buffy's going to do her own talking tonight. I'm not going to steal her thunder, especially since it's so hard for her to do," Tara explained. "Ya want to just stay here and hang out with Spike?" Dawn nodded. "Okay… I'm going to your sister's. Now both of you behave and don't attack her and things might end fairly well."
"I'm still not con…" Spike began to say.
"Spike…Be the grown up. This isn't about you!" Tara snapped at him. Both blonds looked at each other in shock. "I'm sorry. I just… Please trust me. Just trust me. If you come in willing to listen rather then jump all over her, things will go much better. Don't raise to her baits and I'll do my best to call her on it before things get out of hand."
"So…Tinkerbell does have some balls," Spike smirked.
"Obviously you've never seen the Disney version…Besides I've been balancing you and Buffy for the last day. I think I've proven myself quite well… now remember what I said," Tara answered.
Spike nodded and smiled. "See ya later Pixie."
"See ya."