Drugs Don't Work

Spike drew Buffy closer to him, she snuggled closer to his chest and sighed happily. They had watched the sunrise on the beach like planned, followed by a trip to the mall and the cinema and dinner in the pizza place round the corner; and now they were lying on Buffy's balcony looking at the stars.

Both had had the most amazing day in there lives. And was the happiest they'd ever been.

"I can't believe how quickly things have changed," Buffy sighed.

"I know," Spike agreed. "A few days ago if somebody told me I would end up with you in my arms I would tell them to go fuck a dog." Buffy giggled and looked up at him.

Spike lent down and kissed Buffy roughly. Their tongues invaded each others mouths. They only pulled away when they heard a voice coming from the ground.

"Dawn, this is not a good place for a nap!" Faith was yelling into the young girl's ear.

"What is going on?" Buffy yelled down. She popped her head over the edge of the balcony. Faith didn't even need to reply. As soon as Buffy saw Dawn lying on the floor in a heap she started climbing down the trellis. "What happened to her?"

"Bit too much Coke," Faith explained. Buffy frowned.

"You can't get drunk on Coke. She must have had something else."

"She didn't mean that kind of Coke," Spike said as he jumped down from the trellis.

"Dawn does Coke!" Buffy screamed at Faith. "How could you let her!"

"She does what she wants," Faith shrugged. "Now I gotta go home." She jumped in her car and drove off before Buffy could protest.

"Help me carry her inside," she instructed Spike. Together they carried Dawn and placed her on the sofa.

"Dawn, wake up!" Buffy slapped her little sister round the face. Dawn moaned and opened her eyes slightly. Buffy sighed in relief. "Thank God you're alright." She threw herself on Dawn and gave her a hug.

Dawn smiled weakly. Buffy suddenly came to her senses.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She screamed. "Going out, doing Coke! Coming home unconscious! Scaring the living daylights out of me! "

Tears started to well in Dawn's eyes, she had come down from her high. "It made me feel better. It stopped the pain."

Spike came and sat down next to Buffy and Dawn. "Drugs don't make anything better, Dawn. I know that from experience."

"I only did it this one time," Dawn said, trying to make it seem better.

"One time is all it takes to kill you!" Buffy explained.

"There was this kid, Sharon, I used to live with," Spike began. He was going to use a real life story to hopefully scare Dawn. "She died when she was 13 from drugs. I don't want that to happen to you, neither of us do."

Buffy nodded in agreement.

"I won't take any more, I promise." Dawn begged, she didn't want her parents finding out. "It felt really cool at first, like nothing mattered and I was happy. But now, now I feel terrible."

"Ill have to take you're word for it," Buffy sighed. There was nothing she could do. She wasn't Dawn's mother, she couldn't punish her. "But I'd feel better if you didn't go out for a few nights."

"Done." Dawn agreed automatically,

"That's my girl," Spike ruffled Dawn's hair making Dawn laugh. "Now the best thing you can do is drink lots of water and do something like reading or watching TV."

Dawn nodded and headed towards her room.

"Thank you so much," Buffy said to Spike once Dawn had gone. "She probably wouldn't have listened to me if you weren't there."

"S'ok," Spike shrugged. "Used to talking kids out of drugs. Been there once or twice myself."

"You did drugs?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah. 'Bout eight months ago I spent two months in hospital. Doctor said I'd never talk again."

"You could never not talk," Buffy grinned. "Wanna go back to look at the stars?"

"I think try get some sleep, I'm beat," he yawned.

"I'm not-" Buffy paused to yawn, "sleepy". He raised an eyebrow. "Ok, ok, bed for me too."