A/N: Hi everyone, I'm back! Writer's block sucks and so does work. Wouldn't it be great if we could get big fatty paychecks to sit around and write fan fiction? I know that's all I would do. Oh, and by the way, in my version of the story Angel is Spike's sire. In "School Hard" when Spike first appeared, that's what he said to Angel. Anyway, if anyone has any amazing wonderful ideas to share about my story please email me. Thanks all! ~E'Lise

Chapter Three: The Other White Meat

When Spike woke up, he was no longer at the strip club. He was tucked into a nice, pillowy bed, a mug of warmed blood at his side. He could tell it was a woman's room by the soft colors and feminine touches. Also by the pile of thong panties on the floor. He didn't know how he had gotten there, or how the place he was at had blood ready to serve. Spike picked up the mug and sipped it.

"Mmm, pork, the other white meat," Spike quipped as he drank. He turned to look at the clock beside him.

"10 a.m.? Then why is it so dark in here?" Spike wondered, before he noticed the heavy velvet drapes on the windows.

"That's not good," he thought. "I should get out of here." Spike was searching for his boots when the door opened.

"Spike, are you okay?" asked a soft, womanly voice from the doorway.

"Yeah nibblet, I'm fine. Just looking for my boots." Spike mumbled, still searching. His brain slowly registered what he'd just said, and he looked up in shock.

Sure enough, there was Dawn silhouetted against the light in the doorway. She smiled at him.

"I didn't think you'd remember me," Dawn said as she turned on the light.

Spike's lil' bit had turned into a very, very sweet bit.

Dawn was tall and shapely. The short, silky robe she had on didn't cover much, and her long legs were tan and muscular. She walked over to Spike and gave him a hug. Spike looked at her tenderly, he hadn't expected to see her again, especially here.

"How did I get here, bit?" Spike asked.

"I had Bear carry you to my place. I don't live too far from the club." Dawn answered.

"So you work as a stripper? I could have sworn it was Buffy." Dawn's gaze fell from Spike's face as soon as he mentioned Buffy.

"What's wrong? She's not..." Spike trailed off. His worst fear was learning that the Slayer had died.

"Oh no!" Dawn exclaimed. "No, Buffy's not dead, but she's not herself, Spike. And speaking of not being themselves, I'm really not who I used to be either."

Spike looked her over. She looked a little different, but she was older and she had lightened her hair quite a lot. It was the color and style Buffy's was when he had told her he loved it so much. Right before she'd chopped it all off. But something else about Dawn was off.

"Dawn, no one hurt you, right? Cause if someone did something to you, I'll bloody kill them."

"Well, you really can't do anything about it now."

"Why, what happened?" Spike looked searchingly at Dawn.

"It's a really, really long story. Why don't you come into the kitchen and we can talk." Dawn held her hand out to Spike. As he took it, she looked at him meaningfully.

Spike gasped.

"Platelet, you aren't warm. Your hand, it's so cold! Oh god, you're a vampire? Who did this to you? I'll torture them, dust them, then I'll bring them back, turn them and dust them again!" Spike was raving mad.

"Spike, I'll explain everything, I promise. Let's just go sit down."

Dawn led Spike into the spacious kitchen area. The home was beautiful; a delicate balance between modern appliances and old New Orleans charm. Spike knew that even if she did extremely well as a dancer, she still couldn't afford this place on her own.

"Nibblet, how can you live in this house? I mean it's huge and beautiful, but the upkeep alone..."

Dawn looked away again.

"It was left to me and Buffy."

"Left to?" Spike furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, when it dawned on him. "You mean like in someone's will?"

"Yeah. Spike, I promise I will tell you everything, I just want to sit down first. Do you need something else to eat?"

"No, I'm fine. Platelet, what's going on?"

Dawn sat down at a small café style table. Spike sat down in a chair across from her. Dawn leaned her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands. She began to speak.

"After you left, a little over a year later, things started to get really strange, even for Sunnydale it was strange. Angel called and told Buffy that he had had a son with Darla, a human son. The baby had been kidnapped by a man named Holtz from Angel's past."

"I remember him," Spike said. "Angelus and Darla killed his whole family, then turned his daughter so Holtz would have to kill her. They were really proud of that. Boasted all the time."

"Anyway, Holtz had jumped into some alternate dimension with Connor. After being a little crazy and trying, unsuccessfully, to get him back for awhile, Angel contacted Buffy. Somehow they trapped the demon that had brought Holtz back from the past and forced him to bring them to where Holtz and the baby were. Holtz was dying, but he'd managed to keep Connor alive and safe. Buffy and angel got him and brought him back to Sunnydale. The PTB made Angel human again, and he and Buffy got back together."

"Bleedin' wonderful," Spike thought. "I leave, and she still manages to break my heart." Dawn was still talking.

"So, Connor starts growing really fast. He went to sleep a baby, and woke up a seven year old. Then he was a teenager. He started getting reckless, no one could reason with him, not even me when I told him I'd only been alive a short while too. One night he went out and didn't come home. Drusilla had come in town and wanted to meet her 'baby brother'. She turned him and they went on a killing spree. Buffy and Angel managed to capture him, but not before he'd nearly drained Angel. They got Angel to a hospital for a transfusion, and Willow gave Connor a soul, sans happiness clause. Buffy and Angel got married and had a little girl named Joy."

"When Joy was almost two, Connor and I got together. I had turned 18, and he had looked 18 when Dru had turned him, but we didn't tell anyone because Buffy and Angel would have freaked. A few months later, Angel was out tracking a demon that the gang had researched. The demon got a jump on him and killed him."

"A demon got a jump on my sire? I can't believe Angel's dead." Spike thought, but didn't interrupt Dawn.

"Buffy totally withdrew from everything after Angel died. With him around she'd been able to go back to school, and she had gotten her degree in Psychology. She was starting up her own practice when Angel was killed. She shut down the office and locked herself in mom's old room with Joy. It was like when we had first brought her back that summer after she died. Connor went nuts too. We were in bed one night, making love, and he started crying. He was so upset about Angel, I tried to comfort him, but when I did, he vamped out and drained me. He quickly came to his senses and turned me. Connor called Willow, and she came and gave me a soul before I even woke up."

"Giles learned of a prophesy that said the Hellmouth in Sunnydale would close and a new one would open. In order to learn where it would open, The blood of the son of two vampires had to be shed over some sacred symbols painted on the child of the Slayer and the souled vampire. Well, Buffy would have died before she let Joy get hurt, but Giles assured her that nothing would happen to her daughter. When they preformed the ritual, Joy opened her mouth and said that the next Hellmouth would open where the great river met the sea, in the ocean sunk land of the South. Or something like that, it was pretty intense. So, Angel had bought this house here, a long time ago, but never really used it. He had left it to Buffy in his will, along with everything else, so we packed up the Scoobs and moved in."

"So you mean that all of the Scoobies are here?" Spike said in wonderment. As if on cue, in walked Xander and Willow.

"Hey, it's Spike!" exclaimed Willow, as she smiled at him.

"Oh my god, Evil Dead, what are you doing here?" Xander moaned as he sunk down on a couch.

"Spike showed up at the club, and I brought him back here." Dawn said. She leaned over and hissed at Spike, so only he could hear, with her teeth clenched in a smile. "By the way, I'm just a cocktail waitress."

Spike nodded, his cocky grin appearing on his face.

"So kiddies, I hear my new town is the new Hellmouth, isn't that just neat." Spike drawled.

"That's the sitch," Willow said. "Oh god, Dawnie, Buffy hasn't seen Spike yet has she?" The redhead lowered her voice. "I don't know if she'll be able to handle it."

"Handle what?" the Slayer said as she walked in the front door, a toddler on her hip. The kitchen wasn't visible from the foyer, so Buffy could only see Xander and Willow.

"Is something wrong?" The blonde girl looked concerned.

Dawn came out from the kitchen and gave her sister a kiss on the cheek. She took Joy from her sister.

"Joy sweetie, why don't you go play in your room, I'll be there in a minute." Dawn said looking fondly at her niece.

"Barbies?" the little girl asked hopefully.

Dawn smiled and nodded. Joy's face lit up and she ran up the stairs. Dawn turned to Buffy.

"We have a guest. I ran into an old friend."

"Dawn who is it? You're being all mysterious." Buffy laughed.

Spike stepped out of the kitchen, and into the Slayer's line of sight.

"Hello Buffy."

"Sss-spike?" Buffy squeaked, and fell on the floor.

"Is everyone going to faint before the day's over?" Dawn was totally exasperated.