Title: The Week
Author: Joy
Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com
Buffy stood outside just after sunset waiting for Spike and his Desoto to arrive to pick up Dawn for their week's excursion to LA. Dawn had been alternating locations of accommodations since the confrontation. Sometimes Spike would spend the night, sometimes Dawn would stay at Tara's, and on the weekends Dawn stayed with friends from school. Buffy was on probation though it seemed only Tara and Spike noticed. Xander and Anya were heavily wrapped in themselves and didn't notice the change. Willow had been looking for a place to stay on campus and decided to join an addicts support group. It seemed to help but it also took up most of her time.
All conversations between the sisters had been short and to the point. Dawn had been living for this trip. She desperately wanted to get herself and Spike out of Buffy's grasp for a while, since Buffy was the source of all evil in the world in Dawn's mind.
The car pulled up with a duffle bag in the back and a vampire in the front. Spike got out of the car gazing at his slayer just standing there waiting for him to arrive. They had spent no time together alone since things came to a head with Dawn. Spike knew Dawn would see it as a betrayal so he kept his distance.
"Hi," Buffy said meekly. "Ya looking forward to getting out of Sunnyhell for a while?"
Spike saw the raw pain in her eyes and the tension in her body. He knew she wanted him to say no but he was looking forward to time away. Maybe by the time he got back he would have constructed enough walls around his heart to protect him from the small creature before him. "Buffy…" he muttered.
"Sorry. Of course you're looking forward to a break," Buffy swallowed. "I guess… I guess when you get back we'll have to have that conversation we've both been avoiding."
"What conversation is that, pet?" Spike stared at her curiously.
Buffy sighed, "The one that has us lay down rules about sharing the same house, space, and responsibilities. The one about us being the grown ups."
Spike held his tongue in regards to the fact that this was a trial visit at Hank's not a vacation. This trip was to see if Dawn liked it better in LA. "We'll see when we get back," he said stiffly.
"So where will you be staying?" Buffy asked looking at her feet.
"Not sure… I called Peaches and told him I'd be in town so if he saw me not to stake me," the blond man said. He spoke quietly, "He offered to let me stay there…with him. I guess things change."
Buffy glanced at Spike's body language he was completely uncomfortable. "Things do change…" she said through hooded eyes. They stared at each other for a long moment. There was a huge chasm between them that had nothing to do with Buffy as the Slayer or Spike as a vampire. It became to painful to look into Buffy's eyes any longer so Spike looked over her head to the door. "I'll see what's keeping Dawn."
Tara had Dawn in the kitchen eating cookies they baked for her trip to the big city. The witch had seen Buffy and Spike trying to talk to one another and quickly steered Dawn clear of interrupting. "Hey Dawn…Spike's here," Buffy said simply.
Dawn smiled at the vampire's name. "Great… Cool spring break huh?" she said to Tara. "A trip to the city with a gorgeous older man," Dawn giggled and grabbed her bag.
Buffy and Tara walked her out to the car. Dawn gave Tara a hug easily and a more stilted one to Buffy. "Call as soon as you get there okay?" Buffy pled.
"Sure enough luv," Spike responded after a short hug from each woman. "See you in a week."
"Yeah…" Buffy answered sadly.
The black car drove away leaving the blonds to look at one another. "Ready to face the firing squad?" Tara joked.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Buffy sighed.
"We don't have to be at the Magic Box for an hour or so why don't you practice on me one last time?" Tara offered.
"Good plan," Buffy said pushing all the air out of her lungs.
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"What's up Buff?" Xander asked.
"Whose with Dawn?" Willow questioned quickly wondering why the blond pest wasn't among them.
Buffy breathed deeply. "Okay I'm going to say a lot and I want you to think and think hard before you open your mouth." With a warning like that Xander and Willow both knew to shut up. "Alright… I don't know if you've noticed but Dawn hasn't been spending a whole lot of time at home recently. Basically she's asked for a recount on parents." Buffy looked at Tara who smiled and nodded.
"Dawn has gone to LA to stay with my dad for a trial week. If she and he get along well and he's there for her more then I can be, she's staying," the slayer stated clearly.
"Wait…I'd didn't know anything about that," Willow protested.
"You know something about what's going on?" Xander barked.
"I live there…I thought…" Willow began again.
"I'm not done…" Buffy said.
"We'll help Buff. We will. I don't want Dawn to live with the guy who's never been there for her," Xander chimed in.
Anya glared, "I don't want to be the mother of a teenager right now Xander."
"Look I don't want her staying with my dad either, but I'm not cutting it as a parent and Dawn needs someone to be the authority figure. She needs someone who can be there when she needs them not just between apocalypses… So, I think my dad is going to suck at this, but if he doesn't, she's gone… And if she leaves, Spike is leaving too. He's taken very seriously the promise he made to protect her. He's with her now… And Xander before you open your mouth about that, they are a great many more things I need to say. So keep quiet."
Xander nodded as Buffy continued. "I've decided that if Dawn wants to come home I will need more help then I have now. I have asked Spike I move into our house to be Dawn's parent." Xander's ears turned as rad as his face. "This was not an invitation by Spike, Xander. This was the best decision I can make under the circumstances. Spike is taking this very seriously and I want you too as well. Dawn loves Spike and Spike loves Dawn. He would die to protect her. My father would not… I can't ask any of you to give up your lives to be a parent and I have shown I can't cut it… So Spike will be moving into the basement of our house… One thing you can do for me Xander is help me set the room up without snide remarks or sarcastic comments."
Buffy observed her friend who had set his jaw. "Since I've already pissed you off, I'll take it one step further…" Tara saw Buffy faltering. The witch's stare gave Buffy what she needed to continue. In a small voice she said, "I've been sleeping with Spike… using him, beating him." Xander looked ready to yell, "That is over and not necessarily because I chose to stop it… I kept going back. I was using him. He pretty much cut me off when everything went bad with Dawn. Spike chose Dawn over me."
By now Xander was glaring, Willow was shocked, and Anya was mildly interested. "I'm telling you this because it is part of my promise to Dawn. If she's going to come home, you all have to know how manipulative I have been and what I'm doing to rectify it." Buffy swallowed as she got to the end of her confessional. "She wanted me to tell you all this so you would know that Spike was not the bad guy here."
"The last thing I need to tell you is big and makes the whole Spike thing make more sense…at least on Dawn's end. The monks didn't give Dawn a soul." Buffy let Willow and Xander gasp before continuing. "Apparently Giles knew and didn't say anything. Dawn found Giles's notes on the subject. She's been listening to me call Spike a soulless monster over and over again. She's taken it inside of her. Since I told Spike I couldn't love him nor could he really love me because he didn't have a soul, Dawn believes I can't love her. It caused her to form an internal bond with Spike. Every time one of us insulted Spike we were insulting her, because he is the most like her in 'composition' I guess. She made it very clear if either you or I, Xander, refer to Spike as a thing she's gone. So as you can see I have to beg you to be a bit more tolerant of him."
"That's blackmail," Xander observed.
"Xander, Spike told Dawn that he liked bickering with both of you," Tara added. "Dawn was just very clear that the term 'thing' was to be avoided. She is over identifying with Spike right now. Buffy's rejection of Spike was painful for Dawn not because she loves him but because she also feels rejected by Buffy. She honestly believes Buffy can't love her without a soul."
"Did she say anything about me?" Xander swallowed.
"No," Tara responded. "She believed that Spike and I could still love her. She suggested that maybe Willow could but she made no reference to you or Anya in this arena." Xander looked relieved. "I don't think that's a good thing though… At first she swore if you made one crack at Spike at all she would leave. My guess is she thinks you will shun her as well."
There was a long oppressive silence in the store. "Everyone's uncomfortable," Anya whined.
Willow turned to her, "We all love Dawn and it's hard to know she's so unhappy here. It's hard to know we were still missing it."
"Yah but you guys are acting like it's a hardship to be nice to Spike. I know he's annoying but you don't treat me that way and I was doing evil way longer then he was," Anya stated in confusion. She stopped and thought hard for a minute. "To be honest its been hard at times to listen to you talk to Spike the way you do… Or like the way you dealt with Hallie's beauty. It was like I never existed before I became a Scooby."
There was another long period of silence. "So what I'm hearing is I have to be nice to Dead Boy because Dawn and Anya will get their feelings hurt if I don't? Am I clear on this?" Xander fumed.
Tara stepped in. "Xander, we trusted Spike as one of the team this summer. We trusted him with our lives and Dawn's life. Buffy coming back, and it suddenly nullified all of our trust somehow." She looked at Buffy briefly. "It was as like if Buffy hated him, we hated him. If Buffy was getting along with him, we were too."
Willow stared at her hands and Xander breathed deeply. "So what would I do to help with Spike's room in the basement?" he finally said.
Tara smiled at Buffy, who breathed a sigh of relief.
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"So pet? This is LA," Spike said to Dawn as they drove up to the Hyperion. "Lets go in and see Peaches. I figure if we stay, I can work with them. Still get in my rough and tumble."
Dawn smiled, as they got closer to the door. "Fine, but I still don't like him."
"You don't have to like him. But may I remind you, you don't like him because he hurt your sister, whom you don't like at the moment," Spike pointed out as they pushed through the front doors.
"I may not like her but I love her. She is my sister," the teen said smoothly.
"Now if you could only believe that was true in reverse," Spike said close to her. "Peaches!" he yelled. "I brought you a Key."
Gunn looked at the blond vampire and pointed a crossbow at him. Dawn got bodily in front of Spike, who kept trying to move her. "Hey… You always treat invited guests this way or are you just prejudiced against people without souls, cause I know you can't have issues with vampires since you work for one," the teenager said before Angel came down with a smirk.
"Now that is a Summers woman if I've ever heard one," Angel said smugly.
"What the hell is going on?" Gunn asked quickly.
"William the Bloody," Spike introduced himself. "Spike for short. One of Angelus' children from the vamp realm."
"Once again…Why am I not shooting him?"
"Hey… You don't know him at all. It's real easy to 'things' when you don't know them at all," Dawn snarled.
"Dawn," Spike said soothingly. "Your sister is the slayer. You know better then anyone not to trust a vampire. We are the exception to the rule, not the rule." Dawn grumpily nodded. "Go see if there's any blood in the fridge, would ya?" The teen headed for the kitchen.
"Wow!" Angel muttered. "I know you said…"
"Ya well. Now you know why I'm here with her rather then letting her be on her own," Spike responded.
Angel eyed him, "I can set up a room for her too if you want to play daddy."
"Sorry you have a bad track record with Summers women at this age," Spike smirked back.
"She is not," Angel's face fell.
"What are you two talking about?" Gunn poked his head in.
"Your employer fell in love with the Slayer, Dawn's older sister, at Dawn's age."
"You fell for Buffy when she was fifteen? Sixteen?" Gunn asked shocked.
"Nailed her on her seventeenth birthday," Spike said crudely.
"I heard that!" Dawn piped up walking toward the group with a warm cup of blood for Spike.
"Thanks, pet," Spike said sweetly.
"I may be pissed at her but you aren't allowed to say junk like that, even if it is true," Dawn said simply.
Angel just opened his mouth a few times and gawked at her trying to comprehend the age thing. Dawn batted her eyelashes, "Don't get any ideas Dead Boy. No testing the moment of pure happiness clause on the other Summers' sister."
Spike spit out his blood all over Angel's shirt laughing at the words that had just exited the teen's mouth. Angel who had been shocked soon recovered having been sprayed with Spike's dinner. "I think I'll change," Angel commented turning toward his room. Behind him Gunn was biting his knuckle to keep from laughing. "Spike, I have the muzzle we used on Dru when she got out of control downstairs if you want it."
"Not necessary. Always on best behavior for me," Spike smiled brightly as Angel just rolled his eyes.
Dawn was glaring at the brooding vampire as he left the room. "Pet, you can't blame him for the comment. You did strike a very low blow," Spike said to her. She opened her mouth to argue. "I know you won't remember this but Buffy and Angel started out like Buffy and I are now, trading barb for barb. He was doing what came natural."
"Fine! Call Buffy please," Dawn grumbled.
"Why don't you call her and tell her how you slammed Angel? She would love that," Spike smirked.
"Where's the phone?"
"That's my girl."