Disclaimer: They don't belong to me, so don't sue me. I'm only borrowing them for writing purposes. ^^

AN: I honestly spent a lot of time writing this part of the fic. It was sort of hard to picture how it would be when Dawn disappears. I wrote the scene with AU Buffy this particular way because Spike didn't actually want to forget Dawn, but he couldn't see her because he was in an AU where Dawn never came to be human. Therefore, his surroundings and the people in it had no memories or hints of Dawn being alive, only his own memories. If that was confusing sorry. Just ignore my babble. R&R please! :D

"Who else is it suppose to be?" Buffy rolled her eyes and pulled out a stake from her back pocket. "Would you kindly step out of my room so I can stake you?"

Spike's face was that of absolute awe. He went up to her and circled her, making sure she was actually real and not the Buffy Bot. He could hear the crimson rivulets flowing through her body and the steadiness of her heartbeat. She was definitely not machine.

"Just so that when you turn into dust, I won't have to vacuum you out of my carpet," she continued before lunging at him, embedding the wooden point in his shoulder.

On instinct he growled and backhanded her into a wall.

Buffy looked disappointedly down at the bloody stake in her hand, "Damn, I should really work on my aim." She lunged again, this time aiming for his chest.

Spike's shoulder throbbed as he avoided the slayer the best he could. This wasn't right. Buffy wasn't should be...dead. How could this be? "Bloody hell Slayer! Hold on a bleedin' minute, will ya. I've got something to say."

Buffy stopped the stake inches away from his chest, pushing him into the wall with a loud thud. "Really? Well, you better make this interesting."

"How can you be alive?" He had meant to ask a smarter question, but that was the only one burning in his mind. He wanted to know--he needed to know.

"Alive? Of course I'm alive. I'm as alive as I'll ever be, but you won't be if you keep up with your mind games." She emphasized herself by pressing the tip into the area where his heart would've been had he been a human.

He stared intently into her green eyes, speaking lowly, "Hell Slayer, I watched you die. Leaped off that tower to save the Bit. Giving her a second chance at life and all that rot. So why are you bloody well and kickin' my ass?"

"Spike, we all know you have problems. But I didn't think you were crazy," She pushed the stake deeper into his chest deliberately bypassing the area of his supposed heart.

"No! Damnit! Your sister younger sister Dawn. Remember? Cute lil bint, brown hair, blue eyes..." he replied angrily trying to trigger her memory.

Buffy looked at him peculiarly. "Nope. Never had one of those around here."

"She's the Key? Swirling glob of energy turned human? You jumped off the tower for her?" Spike questioned, still in amazement that she didn't remember. His was at a loss for any other words. Buffy was alive and she had no idea who Dawn was. Where the hell was he? He was now almost positive that he wasn't in his dimension anymore. Wherever this was, Buffy was happy and kickin' and Dawn was... not even a memory. He grimaced.

Realization hit him. Dawn. Did...she do this? After all she was could break down dimensional walls, so could she actually send someone to an alternate dimension?

Buffy's sweet voice cut through his thoughts. "Nope, doesn't ring a bell."

Unexpectedly a feeling of electric shock ran through his frame and burned his body. He howled in pain, his eyes squeezed shut. "Bloody hell!"

Buffy stepped back as the pale blonde crumpled to the floor, landing on his hands and knees. His body once again glowed green as Buffy and the room swirled and finally faded. Bringing him back to his original place, Dawn's room.

The room flashed and faded into Buffy's old room again. Then Dawn's, where Dawn was curled up and sobbing in her bed. Before he could reach her though, the room was replaced with Buffy's. Spike looked around, head pounding. "Dawn!? Stop it right now!"

He had no idea why he told Dawn to stop it, but it just came out. However, right as the words left his mouth. Time seemed to freeze before his surroundings faded into Dawn's bedroom.

Spike picked himself off of the floor and grabbed the girl, staring her straight in the face. He demanded an answer, "What the hell is going on?"

Dawn flinched away from him and his unbeating heart dropped to his stomach. She was afraid, he was about to let go but his encounter with Buffy was engrave in his mind. His expression turned dead serious. "Dawn. Tell. Me."

"It hurts. It hurts. It hurts." The words came out in a whimper as she pinned him with her eyes. "You're hurting me!"

Stunned, Spike dropped his hands but still towered over the now shaking girl. "I didn't mean to hurt you Bit."

She stared back at him lifelessly.

His face softened as he took a seat and reassuringly rubbed her back. Dawn buried her face in his shirt, arms wrapped around his waist. He stiffened but petted her hair as she sobbed into his shirt.

When Spike spoke his voice softened but was still quite stern, "Did you do that?"

"Do what?" She found her voice after a long while of silence. She sniffed and looked up at him.

Spike's jaw tensed. She didn't even know what happened. "Nothing, Lil' Bit." He wasn't about to tell her what he experienced if she didn't know what he was talking about.

Dawn looked at him with wide eyes when he didn't answer. "She didn't want me," the girl whimpered.

Spike knew who Dawn was talking about. He pushed her away, holding her at arms length, "Dawn, Buffy loved you. So much that she actually gave her life for you. Don't think for a minute that she doesn't," the last part of the sentence came out as a growl. How could she think that?

Dawn looked away, "I saw them. Buffy and the monk. They were talking about me. She wanted him to un...unbuild the memories. To unbuild me."

"Look, she loved you, you know that. Don't let some dream muddle that up for you Bit."

She glanced at Spike and once again buried her face in his shoulder. "I want to believe you, I really do. But it's hard," her voice was muffled. Dawn really wanted to accept what Spike had spoken, but she was certain that what she saw was real. She knew that it wasn't just a bad dream.

"I know Sweet Pea. I know."