Title: Summer Rain 8/?

Author: Emily

Category: Spike/Dawn

Disclaimer: If Dawn can't have Spike can I have him? Aww maybe I'll let her have him after all.

Rating: PG 13

Feedback: Leave a review and I'll spend hours digging out another part from the Dawn/Spike lists that I posted ages ago. And maybe even write some more

Dedication: All the great Spike/Dawn authors who inspired me to write my own fic, Christine, Bree, Faery, Cyndy, Sara. And to Christine of Lil' Nibblin cause her site got me obsessed with Spike and Dawn :)

Spoilers: The Gift, Bargaining maybe. Oooh and the one with betting of kittens cause that's a whole big theme here.

Part Eight

" Um, Spike, where are we going?" I asked, after ten minutes of walking through a place that was definitely not the good part of Sunnydale.

"Gambling" He informed me, not turning.

"Oh-kay. Do you even have any money?"

"Yes," He muttered defensively.

"How'd you get it, scaring people with your 'grrrr' face?" I asked sweetly.

He turned and glowered at me.

"Not that that's not a totally valid way to make money" I added hastily.

"Exactly. Also a hell of a lot easier than working. Besides it's kittens not money." Spike told me calmly.

"*Kittens*? You bet kittens? Is this like some demon underworld pet club thing? Demons are nice friendly creatures of the night who like to look after cute little kittens? Wait, oh God, do you eat them? *Can* you even eat kittens?" I stopped and demanded.

"Actually no. Apparently they count as bloody humans," Spike said sourly.

"Good" I said and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well the rest of them eat kittens." He added with a shrug. "Nice and tender."

I stared. Poor kittens. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Miss Kitty for weeks. No, no, don't go there, I told myself. Willow probably just buried her under all the magic junk or turned her into a clog or something. Which granted is bad, but not as bad as getting *eaten*.

"This is the place," Spike announced, turning into a bar.

"Nice," I muttered and followed him in.

***

"You betting her too?" A repulsive mucus demon thing - never did like mucus demons - asked with a leer, gesturing towards Dawn. She looked outraged at this and her small, perfect mouth dropped open.

Bastard. "She's with me," I warned the demon, stepping forward and giving him the intimidating stare. "Don't forget it."

The demon nodded nervously and waved us towards a couple of empty seats at the table.

He dealt out the cards and I saw Dawn's gaze flicker down to a box of mewing kittens on the floor. I nudged her hard, warning her not to say anything.

I watched in shock as the Bit proceeded on to win a howling white thing with claws and fangs. The demons exchanged glances looking pissed off. Dawn seemed to be oblivious to this as she stroked the kitten.

The mucus one shook its head briefly and dealt out the next round of cards, turning to the Nibblet first.

"Twist," Dawn said and won that round too, and then the next. A pile of squealing felines shifted from the basket on the floor to her lap.

"Are we done?" She asked me brightly, scooping the animals up.

I nodded, standing up. Best to make a quick exit.

"Not quite," One of the demons said, clearing its throat.

"Oh?" I arched an eyebrow in his direction.

"The girl cheated." It announced.

"Did not," Dawn said indignantly.

The demon held out its hand for the kittens.

"No!" She protested, pulling them closer to her.

Five demons. Me, the Bit and a whole bunch of kittens. Not good odds.

She elbowed the mucus demon as it tried to grab the animals from her. "Hey!"

Not good odds but what the hell. I spun the demon round to face me and punched it.

***

Spike started to beat the crap out of this demon with really big ears. And this mucus one and another three equally gross demons. I quickly put the kittens into their basket again.

"C'mon" Spike told me, pulling me out of the bar before any of the demons came back into consciousness. I followed him, holding onto the basket with one hand.

"Sorry," I muttered, gesturing to all the bruises that would be appearing soon.

Spike shrugged, "Nothing like a good fight. So, Bit, where'd you learn to play like that?"

"That? I was kind of cheating." I admitted, looking down.

"Bloody hell, Dawn." Spike said in surprise and then laughed.

"Mom and I used to play. With buttons. She taught me how to cheat also."

Spike smiled a little, and gestured to the kittens. "Can we get rid of these things now?"

"No! We saved them from being eaten, we can't just dump them here."

"Sure we can," He told me casually.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay we could but we're not going to. I'll drop them off at the cat and dog sanctuary tomorrow and then some nice people can adopt them."

"Or demons," Spike muttered.

"Will you quit that?"

He smirked and carried on walking.

I looked at my watch again. Oh crap. Way past midnight. They should definitely have noticed I'm gone by now. Probably doing the search parties all over Sunnydale thing.

"Hurry up," I instructed Spike, catching up with him.

"What's the hurry?"

"I didn't exactly tell anyone where I was going is all."

"That was bloody stupid," He said bluntly.

"Thanks," I replied.

"Dawn!" Someone was yelling at me from behind. I turned around quickly.

"Where have you been?" Willow demanded, advancing on me with Tara and Xander tagging behind.

Tara frowned and gestured towards the kittens. "Kittens?"

"We rescued them from becoming demon meals," I said and tried to smile.

"Dawn, you can't just walk out without telling us," Willow carried on.

"Well it's not like anyone even noticed for what, an hour?"

"That's not true. Of course we noticed." Xander protested.

"The same way you remembered my birthday?" I said, looking at them.

"Oh. Oh..." Willow said realising.

"Man" Xander muttered looking guilty.

"Oh God, Dawnie, we completely forgot" Tara said looking upset.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"We're sorry" Willow said genuinely. "C'mon, we'll go home and we can have cake or something. I could decorate the place with magic oh and I'm sure we have some presents somewhere" She smiled enthusiastically.

I shook my head. "It doesn't matter. It's not my birthday anymore anyway. Plus I'm really tired." I added.

"Are you sure? 'Cause we could do that."

"I'm sure" For a minute I wanted to just go along with her, do the party thing and act like everything was just the way it used to be. Thing is, it's not. So I shrugged and told her I was sure.

"Okay" She said and gave me a quick hug. I forced a smile and followed her homewards.

"I'd better be going," Spike said awkwardly, standing with his hands in the pockets of his leather duster.

I looked across at him. "Thanks."

Spike nodded and actually smiled, before doing the disappearing into the night thing.

I stared after him.

Tara took my arm and turned me in the right direction. "We'd better get home."

***

My birthday was actually good. Spike was there which is always a plus. And betting was fun. Boy am I glad I didn't tell Willow about that. The way I told it, she now has the impression we somehow came across some demons in the middle of kitten shish kebabs and then Spike kicked their asses. A smile broke across my face for no particular reason. I flicked the light switch off and closed my eyes.