Title: Lessons to Learn Chapter Two: Sweet Sanity
Author: SlayrGrl55 (aka Anna)
Rating: PG
Pairing: B/S
Spoilers: Lessons
Feedback: pretty please?
Disclaimer: I don't own 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'…yet ~laughs deviously~
Buffy watched the hands on the clock move until it was 3:15. That was usually when Dawn got home. How am I gonna explain this? How is Dawn gonna deal? Buffy thought. Her hands still played with Spike's hair as she played out the different scenarios in her head. Dawn could A) stake Spike B) hug Spike C) take off running…
Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the front door unlock and Dawn came into view. "Oh my god, you will never believe how weird my math teacher is-" she was cut short when she saw the vampire asleep in her sister's arms. Her expression was unreadable as she stared in shock. "Is he...is he okay?" she whispered. Her bag fell to the floor and she knelt down in front of Spike.
"I don't know, Dawnie. I found him in the school basement. He was acting…crazy. I don't know what happened to him. He tried to cut his heart out. I bandaged him up, he cried for a while, and then he fell asleep." Buffy explained. She looked at her sister empathetically. Dawn didn't know what to think either. Slowly untangling herself from the sleeping dead, Buffy stood. "I'm gonna go get changed into PJ's and make dinner. This day's been exhausting. Stay with him, call me if he wakes up." Dawn nodded and took Buffy's place on the couch.
The Slayer disappeared up the stairs and Dawn was alone with him. "Where have you been Spike? We needed you. You said you would protect me. Till the end of the world. What happened?" She quietly began to cry and didn't notice when he stirred. He heard the crying and opened his eyes to see Dawn, his Nibblet.
He reached out a hand and touched her arm. Her head snapped up and before she could speak he tried to comfort her. "Don't cry, Nibblet." He whispered. As he sat up straighter she saw the bandage on his chest. "Oh God, Spike. Did you really try to cut it out?"
He looked away and stood up. "I came back to Sunnydale and my crypt was occupied by this Tarnack demon, ugly fellows they are. So I saw the school and hid out in there. The next thing I know that Warren guy is talking to me."
Dawn began to interrupt, but he shushed her. "And then he turns into…into Glory. She's all bitchy and telling me how she's going to kill me. Been there done that. And then she's Adam. He called me Number 17 and told me they could be patient. Then he's suddenly this middle-aged man, telling me he sold his soul and something about a slippery weasel. Then Dru was there. It was horrible. She was talking to me like she used to. And then all of a sudden there's the master, rambling on about the beginning. They wouldn't let me sleep. They wouldn't let me feed. They were driving me crazy. Buffy found me, but then she ran off to save you. They came back again. But then Buffy was there. She said something about power. A little while later the real Buffy came back and dragged me back here. I haven't slept in weeks." By the time he finished speaking he was sitting in a chair.
Dawn stood up and walked over to him. He watched her, unsure what she was going to do. She took him off guard when she hugged him, completely falling into his lap. Her laugher turned to tears and they both began to cry. Buffy heard the commotion and came back down the stairs. Spike looked up when he sensed Buffy as near.
Dawn loosened her grip, but kept her position on his lap with her head on his shoulder. "Feeling more sane, I see?" she gently teased him.
"Yea, your presence seems to sooth me." He answered. Buffy chuckled but Spike was serious. "I'm not joking. I haven't slept since I came back to this town. I feel much better. Not good, but much better."
She smiled. It was good to see him talking normal-talk instead of crazy-talk. "You really freaked me out today." She said.
"Sorry." He apologized. Dawn looked back and forth between them. Definite vibes. Definite good vibes she determined.
Buffy looked down for a moment before returning eye contact with Spike. "Nothing to be sorry for." She told him.
Author's Note: This started out as a simple one-time story. But omg I have never gotten that many reviews so fast and so many! I would feel guilty if I didn't continue. I'm not really sure where to go from here. I have an idea for the next chapter that all my fellow B/S 'shippers are just gonna love…but after that I have no ideas. Review and tell me what you think I should do, please!