Catastrophe
by
Princess McPhee
Disclaimer: I don't claim. Not mine. Bow to Joss Whedon.
Author's Note: This is going to be, eventually, S/B. But it's long, and it's a story about Spike, Buffy and Dawn, so eventually might be pretty far in. I apologize to anyone who wanted a straight S/B- this is going to be as much a Spike/Dawn friendship as anything else.
Summary: An AU version of the events after 'The Weight of the World.'
Rating: PG-13
Three days later, the house full of people was getting used to the dogs, and Dawn was still riding on a cloud from her new 'babies' arrivals. Angel and Spike were in the process of putting up a fence in part of the yard so that the dogs could go outside unattended, but until it was completed, they had to be walked four or five times a day. There were enough people in the house, though, that it wasn't a bother, and Dawn insisted on going on every single one.
Since the vampires could only work at night, and it wasn't a horribly quiet business, progress on the fence was slow. The sun didn't set until nearly eight at night in August, and residential-area noise-laws being what they were, they could only work for about two hours before they were forced to come in. Still, the other occupants of the hotel had all seen the vampires' strength and speed at work, and knew they could be getting a lot more done if they just didn't bicker incessantly.
"You bloody poof! Just stick the bleedin' nail gun against the wood, and press!"
They were laying pieces of six inch wide, one inch thick and seven foot long board alongside each other on the ground, and then pressing two by fours across them, nailing it all together. Spike worked fast and a little messily, but Angel worked precisely and cleanly, and had only half of his part of the fence-pieces done.
"Some of us would like the fence not to look like it was put together by six-year-olds!"
"It doesn't! It looks like it was put together by a bored but entirely competent vampire!"
"Spike. It barely stands."
Spike growled and hefted his piece of wood up. True, the cross bars were crooked and the nails shot in at all manner of angles, but it stuck together the right way, and Angel was forced to admit that it looked as though it would work, if not be aesthetically pleasing.
"See?"
Angel just sighed and got back to working on his pieces of wood.
Spike sat there and watched, smoking a cigarette, for about five minutes before he was ready to scream. Throwing the cigarette on the ground and stomping it out angrily, he headed for the hotel. "Let me know if you ever want to put the bleeding fence in the ground!" He shouted behind him.
Of course, his anger at his grand-sire was somewhat tempered by the fact that as soon as he opened the door, two piles of muscles and fur launched themselves down the stairs in his direction, connecting solidly with his body. Spike laughed, unable to stay mad with the wriggling heaps of good-will on top of him, and rubbed down both of their sides before continuing into the lobby.
"Spike?" Buffy called, appearing out of Angel's office, "You guys done for tonight?"
Spike shook his head and rolled a tennis ball across the room with the toe of his boot for Cody. Cassidy took off after him, and soon both dogs were engaged in a mock-battle over the ball. "Nope. My bloody grandsire wants every nail to be in perfectly, so he's finishing it himself."
Buffy grinned, then smothered it as best as she could. "Oh. Okay."
"Is the Niblet in bed?" Spike asked briskly, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible.
"It's only nine o'clock, Spike."
He looked at his watch, and then shrugged. "Guess it is, isn't it?" He sunk down on the couch in the middle of the room and propped his boot-clad feet up in a move sure to make Angel have a heart attack, despite its lack of beating. "Make sure she goes to bed on time tonight, kay? We have to go talk to the school tomorrow."
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, I know. I promised her the dogs could come along and we'd take them to the dog-run afterwards. Do you mind sitting in the car for a while? I'm sure we can find a shady spot so you don't have to sit under the blanket for too long."
Spike nodded. "Sure, pet. I'll be fine. I'm sure the Niblet desperately wants to show off her new pets." He grinned. "She's mighty proud of these two lumps o' fur."
"Hey, I heard that!"
"Well, you are!"
"Yeah, but they're not 'lumps of fur'!"
Spike grinned. "Okay, okay." Tapping his hand on his thigh, he caught Cassidy's attention, and she bounded over with only the kind of energy an adolescent dog can have. Then he lowered his voice and started to murmur to her. "You don't mind when I call you a lump o' fur, do you, pet?" Cassidy reached up and swiped his face with her tongue from chin to nose in answer.
The next morning, Dawn awoke early again, but this time it was out of nerves, not excitement. She fed the dogs, who gulped down their morning portion of dog chow with enthusiasm not to be rivaled by anything except maybe vampires feeding, and then started to clean the kitchen, mostly because she couldn't think of anything better to do. By now, though, she remembered to put the coffee pot on before she did anything else in the morning.
Buffy arose nearly an hour later, and stumbled into the kitchen, heading for the coffee pot. Dawn poured her first cup silently, then grabbed a mug for her sister. "Thanks," Buffy mumbled, still mostly asleep, as she collapsed at the table.
A couple of cups of coffee later, a slightly more awake Buffy noticed the fervor with which her sister was moving around the hotel. Picking up this, re-arranging that, folding that. When Dawn went to get the vacuum cleaner, Buffy stopped her by standing in her way. "Are you okay?" She asked, point-blank.
Dawn nodded. "I'm fine."
Buffy put her hand on her sister's shoulder, and tried to get Dawn to look her in the eye. "You're not starting school today, you know. This is just a meeting to decide your classes and stuff. It's no big deal."
Dawn smiled weakly. "I know that. It's just..."
"It's just what?" Buffy asked, uncharacteristically gently.
"It just kind of makes it all real, you know?"
Buffy nodded. "I know."
Dawn reached out for her sister, and Buffy wrapped her in a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Dawn."
"It's not your fault." The teenager pulled away from the Slayer, and wiped her eyes a little. "It's just that it feels like we're really going on with life, now, and it just feels..."
"Wrong?" Buffy supplied.
"Yeah."
Buffy was teary, too, by this point, but she put on a strong expression and faced her sister. "Willow, Tara and Giles would want us to get on with our lives," She told her sister. "You know they would."
Dawn nodded. "I know. But it doesn't make me feel any different."
Buffy could think of no answer for that, so she just hugged her sister again, trying to convey comfort the only way she could think of, for the moment. This was how Spike found them when he stumbled out of bed moments later, looking for his morning blood with almost the same kind of single-mindedness as Buffy had for her coffee.
"Hey, pets." He was instantly awake when he saw the tears in Dawn's eyes. He couldn't see Buffy's face, since she was facing away from him, but from the grip on her sister, he suspected he'd find them in her eyes, too. "Are you two alright?"
Dawn looked up at him and shook her head gently, but smiled slightly through the tears. "No," She told him. "I don't think we'll be okay for a long time."
Spike nodded, understanding what she meant. "We all miss Red and the others," he told her. "But they would want us to be happy, you know."
Dawn nodded. "I know. And even if I didn't know, Buffy just told me. But it doesn't make how I feel any different."
The vampire nodded, and gathered both of the Summers' girls into his arms as best as he could, Buffy's back pressed against his front, and Dawn's head on both his and her sister's shoulders.
They stood there for long moments before Dawn pulled away from them, causing Spike to back up a little, lest the Slayer realize whose arms she was in and get pissy. "Better now?" He asked the younger girl gently, and she nodded.
"Not good, but better." She attempted to smile. "C'mon, let's go eat. We've got to be somewhere in like, half an hour."
"Good thing it's pretty close," Buffy remarked. "Since none of us seem to be moving all that fast this morning." She smiled, too, telling them that she wasn't actually upset, and disappeared into the kitchen.
Spike let Dawn take him by the arm and walk him in the same direction. "So, what's for breakfast, love?"
Dawn looked at him with a strange expression. "What did you think, Spike? Blood."
The vampire laughed. "No, I mean, what kind of food's for breakfast?"
"Toast for me and Buffy, and Wheatabix for you. But you're not eating at the table with us if you put blood on it."
Spike grinned. "Kay. No Wheatabix-and-blood-eating at the table with Buffy and Dawn, check."
Then he frowned. "Hey. How come I get to drink blood at the table, but if I put Wheatabix in it, suddenly I'm not allowed?"
Dawn grimaced. "Cause it's gross!"
"Why? You eat Wheatabix."
"Used to. Not anymore. Believe me, I could barely stand to look at it after I first saw you make that disgusting concoction."
"That didn't answer my question."
"It just is!"
"So what, if I say that I suddenly find toast and jam disgusting, you have to eat it somewhere else?"
"No!"
"Then why do you get to say it about my blood and Wheatabix?"
"Because blood is disgusting to start with, and letting you eat it at the table is a privilege. And then when you put that cereal in it, it just gets to be too much to deal with!"
Spike grinned, enjoying the gentle bickering session with the Slayer's sister. She was slowly relaxing from the earlier emotional tension, and he knew she needed that before she could go to the school and face something else that she would no doubt find trying. Shamelessly, he continued to bait her. "But why is blood disgusting, and whether it is or not, why do you get to decide?"
Dawn threw up her hands and growled, something that made Spike grin even harder. "Ugh!"
Satisfied, Spike poured his blood over his Wheatabix and sat down at the table across from Dawn and her toast and jam.
Duveneck wasn't a huge school, but it was pretty good-sized. The campus was mainly empty as they went to see the counselor they'd made an appointment with, but the occasional student escorted by a parent or two could be seen heading to or from their own meetings. Imagining the campus with a thousand students on it was giving Dawn a headache, so she was attempting to ignore her own mental images, as well as that wasn't working.
Dawn walked between Buffy and Spike, the Slayer with an arm around her waist and the vampire with one over her shoulder. She wouldn't admit it, but the family-like atmosphere that it brought to mind was making her feel all warm inside, even though she knew it wouldn't last.
When they entered the main office, Buffy let go of her and walked up to the desk, checking to see if the counselor was ready to see them. Finding out that she was still with her last meeting, the Slayer returned to sit down with Spike and Dawn. "So," She asked Dawn, presumably to give her something to think about, "What do you want to take?"
Dawn shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I have to find out what classes I have to take before I can decide what classes I want to take."
"Are you still going to take that art class that you and Spike signed up for?"
"Yeah. It only runs for three more weeks anyway."
"Do you think you'll sign up again?"
Dawn shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'll have to start school and find out how much time I have."
A rather large woman in a professional pants-suit came out of the hall to their right, and spoke briefly to the receptionist. Then she came over to greet them, a smile on her face. "Dawn Summers?" She asked, putting her hand out, and all three rose as Dawn shook her hand.
"Yeah."
"And you are?" She glanced at Buffy and Spike.
"Buffy Summers, her sister. And this is... William, a family friend."
The counselor shook both of their hands, too, and nodded. "If you'd come with me?"
It turned out that the meeting didn't actually take all that long. They had to show her the slip of paper from the admissions office, so that Dawn could be formally entered into the computer, and then the counselor showed them a list of the classes tenth-graders had to take. There were five required classes and seven periods, and she had to take at least six classes. In the end, she added a ceramics class to her schedule, and left one period empty.
"Okay," the counselor told them cheerfully. "You're all set! This is your schedule-" she handed a piece of paper to Dawn "and this is the class, teacher, room number and period. Here's a copy of which class you'll have which days, since it can be kind of confusing the first time you try and work with it, and welcome to Duveneck!"
Dawn nodded, took the paper, and left the room silently. She really didn't want to be rude, but she couldn't help it. The school was stifling her. As much as the talk earlier in the morning had helped her clear some things up, it still felt like betraying Willow, Tara and Giles' memories.
She could hear her sister and Spike making excuses for her. "I'm sorry," Buffy told the counselor. "Our mother died about a year ago and then three close friends in the Sunnydale quake- she's still having a really hard time with it."
The counselor's voice was sympathetic. "Poor girl. Tell her she can come see me anytime she wants, alright? I'm always here."
"Thank you. I will. It was nice to meet you." The chairs creaked as they stood up, and Dawn waited for them to reappear before walking out towards the car, giving no outward sign that she noticed them following.
Pulling open the rear door, she grabbed Cody and Cassidy's collars and let the dogs hop out of the car, panting. It was August and though it was morning, it was warm. She had been concerned about leaving the dogs in the car, but Buffy had assured her it would take just a minute. Still, they had parked in the shade and made sure to come back every fifteen minutes to check on them.
Spike dashed across the parking lot until he reached the shade they had parked the car in, and then discarded the blanket. Careful to stay out of the sun, he opened the trunk, grabbed the gallon milk jug of water they'd brought along and the dog dish, then poured it out for the pups.
Keeping hold of their collars, Dawn let the dogs drink, then piled them back into the car. "The dog run, now?" She asked, and Buffy nodded.
"Yeah. Ready?"
"Yep."
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