Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own 'em. I don't own any of these Characters 'News from the file marked 'Duh'…
Rating: PG-13. Might have a bit of swearing in it.
Shopping with a former Klepto
(If you're gonna get mad at me every time I do something stupid, then I guess I'll have to stop doing stupid things—Homer)
Chapter 2: Fluorescent Man and Destructo-girl
They walked to the store in silence. Dawn stubbornly strolled ahead of the Vampire, wanting to put as much distance as possible between them. The Electricity Company had shut down and the only light came from the moon, which was barely visible through the cloudy sky. She had stumbled a few times; her eyes not use to the darkness. But she went about her way like she hadn't tripped, or put a foot wrong. She tried to ignore the slight chuckle from behind as she wobbled on a stone that had found its way onto the pathway. Dawn frowned into the darkness, the stupid Vampire was laughing at her, and was amused at her helpless clumsiness. She grabbed the branch of a nearby shrub and flicked it violently backwards. Satisfied, when she heard the small groan coming from behind.
They arrived at the Supermarket and stared at the large building. The front was made of panels of glass, giving a clear view into the darkened store. Spike's reflexively looked around. He didn't know why, he felt stupid when he realized what he had just done. It wasn't like any security guard was going to catch them. He turned back around, and noticed the thick, black, eyeglasses Dawn was now wearing. He shot her a weird look, as he decided to break the silence that had been consuming them:
"Look Love, this isn't Mission Impossible. Don't think we need the Sunnies. Besides, do you really think you need more vision impairment? Let me get something to whack our way in, then we'll be shopping in no time," Spike said, as Dawn seemed to ignore him and rummage through her bag, "Right, well, I'll go find something that can smash Mr. Glassy down…"
"Something like a mallet?" Dawn asked, seemingly innocently.
Spike stopped in mid-stride, staring off into the empty parking lot. "Yeah, a nice big hammer would do fine" He nodded, "Don't really think they'll be one lying around though".
"Got that one covered," Dawn replied, as a large shattering noise disrupted the quiet night.
Spike's eyebrows raised in confusion. He turned, only to spin back around. He shielded himself with his leather jacket, as fragments of glass rained on him. Still slightly holding onto his leather duster, Spike turned around more cautiously this time. Dawn stood casually among the broken glass, smiling wildly, the black glasses still in place. Gripped in her hand was a good-sized mallet, which she swayed proudly to and fro.
"How? —What? —Huh?" Spike stuttered, as he stared at her dumbfounded.
Dawn shook off her bag, and placed her smashing device back into it. "Told you I'd be fine without you," she told him triumphantly. She grinned with victory, happy to see the Vampire in a state of shock. It was nice to push him off his pedestal. Show him that she really didn't really need him here. She pushed her glasses up; as she stepped into the store, "Don't forget the shopping cart".
* * * * *
By the time Spike had pulled a cart apart from a group of them, and pushed it through Dawn's defacement of the front of the store, he had found her behind one of the checkouts. She was trying hopelessly to open a cash register. The girl was really going for Miss Police records tonight, Spike thought. First breaking in and now she was stealing cash? It made him wonder if he really knew who Dawn Summers actually was, not that he really knew her that well anyway. But this wasn't the Slayer's little sister that wanted to break into the Magick shop, this was some wild, somewhat crazy bird. He had covered up his concern for her safety before by being utterly flabbergasted at her actions, but now this was just ridiculous. Why on earth did she need money? He sighed unbelievably, as he pushed the cart towards her.
"Dawn, I don't really think we need the green stuff. Won't do us any good, unless you think we can buy the First off," Spike said, as he left the metal cart and walked up behind her.
With one last tug at the cash register, she turned around and gave him an irritated look. "Yeah Spike, that's it. I thought the First just wanted some dough, not world domination," Dawn said as she rolled her eyes at him.
Spike although slightly put off by her obvious dislike towards him, still stood waiting for a sensible answer. He wouldn't say the progress between them was improving. It was different, she was talking to him now and slightly listening to him—she just wasn't hanging on his every word like she use to, or complimenting him on his cool badness anymore.
Dawn sighed in annoyance and said, "I was seeing if there was any money so I could give it to Anya. You know Anya and money; match made in heaven. Least someone would be happy".
Spike caught the hint of sadness embedded in her words. It was true, no one was really happy, that was pretty much expected. With everything going on, the First Evil, Buffy leaving the Summers' residents, there wasn't much to be happy about. Her sincerity was genuine though. She wanted to at least make the ex-demon happy, and Anya did love money. He sighed again, slightly pushed her aside, and rested his hands on the sides of the cash register. "What gives you the idea that the people who ran this store would leave their money behind" he muttered, as he forcefully jerked it open.
To his surprise, shiny green notes smiled up at him. He raised his eyebrows in disbelief, while Dawn grabbed the money and stuffed it in her pockets. She didn't waste a second in giving him an I-told-you-so look, then hopped merrily over the counter. Spike slammed it shut; annoyed that she had made a fool of him two times tonight. The owners must have been in a hurry to leave, if they'd left cash lying around. It seemed everybody was in a hurry to get out of Sunnyhell.
He pushed the cart up towards Dawn, who was staring at the dark aisles. Tapping his fingers lightly on the cart, Spike looked from Dawn to the aisles and then back to Dawn again. He didn't know what she was waiting for, weren't they supposed to be doing something?
"So…" Spike murmured, "Shall we? You know, go shopping. It's like some poor mother's fantasy right? Everything's free. No snotty workers ignoring you, or bugging you. No…"
"It's kind of dark," Dawn said cutting into Spike's ramblings.
"Yeah well, that's what happens when they cut the electricity…"
"Spike. Shut up. We need torches or something," Dawn suggested, squinting into the darkness. She had forgotten to bring one, what with the hype of bringing along a mallet, "We all don't have buggy eye vision like you".
"Well, where's the torch aisle?" Spike asked, choosing to ignore her comment about his eyes.
"There is no torch aisle, there's just an aisle with torches. And how should I know, it's not like Buffy and me really go grocery shopping that much".
"Right. Then you start at one end, I start at the other and we're sure to find some".
"Fine," Dawn muttered as she walked away from him.
It was quiet and dark. Way too quiet and dark for Dawn's likings, something that didn't really sit well with her image of a store. It was missing the tacky background music, the babies crying and an overhead announcement saying 'have a nice day'. It was missing life.
Dawn was still feeling a bit shaky from bashing in the glass panels, although it was a pleasure to see the look on Spike's face. He must have thought she was insane, and as she thought back to her state of mind when doing it he probably wasn't far off. She had forgotten all consequences; let it slip her mind that she could be seriously injured. But miraculously she hadn't been hurt, or maybe she had been and she was in some weird shocked condition so she couldn't feel the glass lodged in her back. Dawn twirled her hand around, and patted her back. She sighed in relief, when she couldn't feel any sharp objects embedded in it.
She walked down an aisle, which seemed to be the cereal aisle. She could make out the faint cartoon characters printed on the boxes, which were all smiling way too widely. In the darkness they didn't look so friendly. In fact, their manic faces were kind of creepy. She made her way down the aisle and turned to the next. As she turned the corner, she sucked in a deep breath. A high-pitched scream escaped her mouth.
* * * * * *
Something smelt really off. All the meat and dairy products were starting to get a little iffy. This was one of those times Spike wished he didn't have vampire sensitive smelling. But being a vampire, also meant having very good vision, so it wasn't hard to find the torch and accessories bit of the store. Spike ripped apart the plastic that was covering a red torch and batteries, placed the batteries in the torch, and then turned it on. He beamed the light over the other Torch brands, examining the sizes and the different types.
"Glow sticks…" Spike muttered, reading off a package. He pulled it off the hanger, mildly interested in the product, "Snap to light up". He shrugged, maneuvered the torch to rest in his armpit, and ripped the packet open. Spike grabbed one of the plastic tubes that were inside, and did just what the instructions said, 'snapped it'—in half. He growled and swore when the slimly liquid spurted on him. The torch dropped to the ground as he brushed his hands on his shirt. He irritably grabbed the torch and looked at instructions once more, he read in brackets 'Do not break'. "Now you bloody tell me," Spike said, as he wiped the remaining slime off his loose hand.
He grabbed another tube and this time successfully snapped it. The stick started to radiate a creepy fluorescent green, which Spike twirled in the air for a moment and then tucked into his pant pocket as he started to snap the remaining sticks. Spike had to admit that they were quite fun. And they came in a range of different colors too! "Oh red," Spike said as another one he had snapped lit up.
Eventually the packet was empty and Spike's pockets were full of glow-y sticks. Spike was about to grab another pack when he noticed they came in different sizes as well. There were ones that could be connected to make rings. So he grabbed those instead and started to snap them. He put one around his neck, two around both of his arms, another two around his ankles and just for fun, one around his head. He didn't exactly know why he was doing this; maybe he was still a bit insane.
Before Spike could grab another torch, a scream echoed through the store.
"Dawn…" Spike said to himself. He swiftly turned and ran down the aisle, glowing in fluorescent multicolor.
AN: obviously not taking this very seriously. Don't really see Dawnie not getting hurt when smashing the glass, let alone actually breaking it. But mhh what you gonna do. Oh and my brilliant sister of mine decided to wipe our computer clean cause it was working real crap-ily, all my work is on a disc and I can't be bothered setting it up on the computer again. Lazy sod I am. Yes well, got exams (just did my Psychology exam, I'm real 'psyched!') so you probably wont hear from me for a while. Probably. You don't know your luck though; I might feel like procrastinating a tinge, so you never know. But that doesn't mean I don't want to hear from you guys, so please review. :)