Chapter Seven – Say It Like You Mean It

Buffy opened the front door and Spike rushed in, his heavy blanket hot and smoking. He threw it to the floor and sighed loudly; he'd had enough of moving about during the day, the sewers were fine but running from the street into the house was far too painful. Willow came walking into the hallway to see what all the noise was about; she stifled a smile at the sight of Spike straightening his hair while stamping on his smouldering blanket.

"Mornin' Red," he growled, Willow nodded in acknowledgement and raised a questioning eyebrow in Buffy's direction.

"No, Will. I just brought him back to talk to Dawn," said Buffy, obviously unamused at the suggestion of her and Spike being back together. Willow shrugged and Spike looked around, not quite understanding the connotation of the conversation and not really caring.

"So, is she in her room?" asked Spike, looking up the staircase.

"Yeah, do you want me to go with you?" asked Buffy, Spike shook his head and stalked up the staircase, he already knew where her room was. Buffy and Willow sat down on the sofa, Willow was anxious to know what had happened that morning and most of all, why Spike was here to talk to Dawn.

Spike knocked on Dawn's bedroom door and waited, he could hear her moving about inside. He heard the thump as she fell of the bed and started to walk across the room.

"Jesus, Buffy! You talked, I listened, can I please get some sleep?" she shouted as she opened the door. Spike stood in the doorway looking unwelcome and uncomfortable. "What are you doing here?"

"Er… big sis thought you might want to talk to someone about last night. She thinks you were off doin' all sorts and you don't want to tell her so… Well, she thinks you'd rather talk to me about it," said Spike, Dawn moved aside so he could enter her room. She closed the door behind him and jumped back onto the bed.

"Well, she'd be wrong. She's only freaked out 'cause of the bruises and stuff," said Dawn, moving her hair aside to show Spike the damage he had left behind. "She didn't see it; she thought it was just another bruise,"

"I'm sorry, Nibblet. I didn't realise, we were pretty wasted last night,"

"Hey, I'm the one who asked you to do it so don't worry about it," sighed Dawn, Spike sat down at the edge of her bed. "I'm sorry about the stuff I said this morning; I didn't mean to blame you for everything. I know it was me as well,"

"Some of the stuff you said was true, pet," said Spike. "I wasn't thinking about Buffy, I was just thinking about myself. And you,"

"You don't regret it, do you?" asked Dawn, hating the slight whine that was in her voice. He grinned cheekily and placed his hand on her leg, stroking it softly.

"Evil, remember? I never regret anything!" he smiled, Dawn laughed gently and threw her arms around his neck; she had never needed or wanted a hug from anyone so much. "So, are we back to good, pet?"

"Yeah, I just feel bad about what I said to you. I didn't mean any of it,"

"Enough apologising, Nibblet. We don't owe each other anything so just stop. We had a good time and that is that, okay?" grinned Spike. Dawn nodded and grinned widely before bursting into a fit of laughter. "It isn't that funny, pet,"

Downstairs, Buffy and Willow sat in the living room listening to the laughter that was coming from upstairs. Buffy was relieved that Dawn wasn't as reticent as she had been when she came through the door that morning. She leaned back into the sofa and sighed loudly with contentment.

"How does he do it?" mused Willow, her eyes fixed on the ceiling above them.

"I don't know but right now, I don't care how much time she spends with him as long as he makes her this happy," smiled Buffy, Willow grinned and nodded.

"I think she has a crush on him," she said, Buffy sat up and looked at Willow. "I mean it. Think about it logically, she spends as much time with him as she can and every word out of her mouth is 'me and Spike' or 'we'. It's sweet,"

"Do you think so? Do you think that's why she's been seeing him so much? Why she's been ignoring me? She knows that Spike's in love with me so maybe she sees me as a threat or something,"

"Slow down, Batman. It's her first schoolgirl crush; she doesn't see you as a threat so just chill out. Sometimes, you worry as much as Giles," laughed Willow, Buffy looked at her offended but couldn't help laughing along with her. What was there to worry about? Dawn's behaviour had been explained and from the sounds of things upstairs, things were about to improve.

Spike came practically running down the staircase and joined Buffy and Willow in the living room, he collapsed into the comfy chair and pulled out his packet of cigarettes. Dawn was slowly following down the staircase, her cheeks flushed with laughter and smiles.

"Spike, you are not smoking in here," warned Buffy, Spike rolled his eyes and put his cigarette packet back into his pocket. "So, you feel better?"

"Yeah, I was just tired, I told you," said Dawn, sitting down next to Willow on the sofa. Buffy nodded and smiled at Spike, mouthing the word 'thanks'. He just nodded and smiled back before returning to watching Dawn, she had cuddled into Willow for a hug.

"I think I'd better be off. Sunlight and all that, want to get back to the crypt," announced Spike, standing up and grabbing his blanket from the floor. Buffy started to stand to let him out but Dawn was already on her feet and walking with him into the hallway. "See you later, Nibblet,"

"Yeah, I'll see you later," Dawn grinned, opening the door and watching Spike run across the yard and disappear down the open sewer grate in the middle of the road. She closed the door and walked back into the living room, sitting in the chair Spike had just occupied. "So, what are we doing today?"

"I have a huge plan of nothing," smiled Willow. "You?"

"Same here, I've got homework but I think I'll do it tomorrow, Buffy?"

"No, I'm not doing anything today. I might go see Xander for an hour and I've got to patrol tonight but other than that I am housebound girl,"

"So, Dawnie, are you gonna tell us about your crush on Spike?" said Willow.

"Willow!" shouted Buffy, attempting to salvage some of Dawn's dignity.

"It's nothing," said Dawn calmly, shocking Buffy with the adult tone of her voice. "I just think he's cute and he makes me laugh, that's all,"

"Does he ever talk about me?" asked Buffy. She hadn't meant to sound so desperate but she really wanted to know how Spike felt about her, if he still loved her, if he still even thought about her.

"Not to me," shrugged Dawn. "I don't know if he even loves you anymore,"

"Oh," said Buffy, a little disheartened. "Okay,"

"Don't quote me on it but he doesn't talk about you anymore. Not ever," spat Dawn, getting up from the chair and running up the stairs back to her room.

"Maybe I spoke too soon about you not being a threat," sighed Willow.

Buffy laughed hopelessly and leaned back into the sofa, what else was she supposed to do? If all the problems between her and Dawn were down to Dawn's feelings for Spike then there was nothing else that could be done. Buffy was just going to have to sit and wait, there was no way Dawn would come around until she realised that there was nothing between Spike and Buffy or until she realised that Spike was an evil, soulless vampire and wouldn't be good boyfriend material.

"I told you she was too much like me," laughed Buffy. "Only my sister would fall for a vampire,"