Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox,
etc... except of course the ones I make up.
Summary: The consequence for Buffy and Spike's daughter, Kat, is revealed. It was the last thing that they ever expected, and the most horrible thing that anyone could have imagined. *Sequel to "FAMILY"*
Spoilers: None. Just know that everything after "Normal Again" didn't happen.
~*~
TRADEOFF
Chapter 2: Heartbroken
When Buffy entered the living room, she smiled at the sight of her daughter curled up on the couch with Tigger settled comfortably on her lap. Tigger, a small gray and white kitten, had been one of Kat's fifth birthday presents. She began questioning about having a little brother or sister, so Spike and Buffy decided it would be a good idea to get her a pet to get her mind off of it. The little cat worked like a charm. As far as the child was concerned, Tigger was her little brother.
Buffy sat beside Kat and kissed her on the forehead. "Time for bed, love."
The small child yawned and rubbed her eyes. "But Mommy, I'm not tired yet."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll bet you're not. Now come on, let's get ready and I'll read you a story."
"Mommy I don't wanna!"
Buffy was in no mood for an argument. "Now Kat-" Before Buffy had the chance to reason with her daughter, the doorbell rang. "Now who could that be? Kat, are you inviting boys over again?"
The girl laughed as if that were the funniest thing she had ever heard. "You're so silly, Mommy!"
"Don't I know it. Now, I'm gonna get that and you're gonna go up to bed, little miss."
Buffy saw Spike coming down the stairs just as she reached the door. "Who's that?"
"I suppose we'll find out." Buffy pulled open the door and saw a devastating site. It was Dawn; her face was puffy, red, and tear-streaked. Buffy hadn't seen her sister look this distraught since the day her mother died.
"Dawn, my God! What happened?"
The younger slayer stepped forward and fell helplessly into her sister's arms and sobbed relentlessly. She spoke a few inaudible words that neither Buffy nor Spike could make any sense of.
"Come on, Dawn, let's go over to the couch."
Buffy sat her sister down on the end where Kat was not sitting. She looked at her daughter who was clutching Tigger tightly to her chest and had a look of fright upon her tiny face. She was obviously upset by the sight in front of her. Buffy knew how hard it could be to watch an adult you looked up to cry.
"Spike, would you-"
"Of course." He picked his daughter up off the couch with the cat still in his arms. She didn't struggle with him.
"Come on, Kitten, off to bed we go."
When Buffy was sure that Spike and Kat were upstairs and out of earshot, she asked again, "Dawnie, what happened?"
The girl wiped a few tears from her cheeks only to have them be replaced with fresh ones. "D-Dave broke up w-with me!" She choked the words out to her sister as a new batch of tears flowed relentlessly from her eyes.
"What?!" Buffy was expecting a demon or death or something... else. She hardly believed the words passing through Dawn's trembling lips.
"He's moving out. He- he said that it wasn't working, that something was off... missing. I don't understand, Buffy."
"This is so sudden. Oh Dawn, I can't even..."
"I know! I don't get what happened. Everything was fine! It was all fine and then boom! What? I don't love you anymore? How do you just stop loving someone?"
"You don't. How, when did this happen?"
Dawn looked at the clock. "Just over and hour ago. He came home and I was watching TV and he just had this look on his face. When- when something's bothering him he does this thing with his mouth... anyway, I asked him what was wrong and then he got all flustered and didn't say anything, just walked back out of the apartment. He was so... off. Then he came back not even five minutes later and said it wasn't working. I'm so confused. I didn't even know anything was wrong."
"Me either. He sure does hide his feelings well, then. I've never seen you two being anything but lovey-dovey with each other."
"I don't- I can't believe this is happening. It's like... like I had him and now he's just..." tears fell more furiously from Dawn's eyes as she spoke the word, "gone."
"Oh, Dawn," Buffy cooed softly as she pulled her sister into her arms. "I don't even know what to say."
Dawn shrugged. "Me either. I mean, what did I do, Buffy?"
"Don't blame yourself, Dawnie, it was his decision. Not yours."
"Still, I just feel... I don't even know."
"So what's the deal? He's moving out?"
"Yeah. He asked if I wanted him to just go and he'd get his stuff tomorrow, but I told him no. How could I spend tonight in that place? Everything is him, Buffy. Everything in there is ours and now there's no us. He acted like he didn't even care. I've never seen him be so cold."
"Well, I don't even have to tell you but you're welcome to stay here as long as you need to."
Dawn choked a laugh and calmed down a bit. "I was kind of counting on that."
"You know that I'm always here for you, anything you need."
Dawn leaned into her sister. "I know."
At that moment, Spike came down the stairs and walked straight to the couch. He kneeled down beside the sisters a look of sheer concern plastered on his face.
"Dawn, what's wrong, pet? Were you hurt."
"In the worst way."
"What? What happened? A demon?"
Buffy shook her hand. "No, just a man."
Dawn began to ball again, harder than before. "Dave broke up with me."
Buffy had never seen Spike look so shocked, except, maybe, for their first time when she had him pinned to a wall. "Excuse me?"
"Please, Spike," Dawn begged, "don't make me say it again!"
"No, no, I just..." Spike couldn't find the words. "Is there something I can do?"
Buffy just shook her head at him as Dawn cried, her expression asking what he could possibly do to mend a broken heart.
~*~
Buffy eyes traveled over to the clock again though she had been trying not to look. Is this what it had come to? Watching the clock, waiting for her sister to come home. It shouldn't, it should not be like this. Dawn was twenty-three years old for God's sake! She didn't need to be looked after, well, normally she didn't, but these were very special circumstances. She had said that she needed to be alone, and though Buffy's better instincts told her it wasn't a good idea, she wasn't going to argue with her deeply depressed sister. It was now one fifteen in the morning and Dawn had left over four hours ago to patrol. Even on a bad night it shouldn't take this long, and Buffy couldn't help but worry.
Spike walked into the living room from the kitchen and saw Buffy's distraught expression even though the only light was the bluish glow from the TV. He had to admit, he was worried as well. Dawn was upset, well, beyond upset, and that may not be the safest way for her to go into a cemetery full of deadly vampires. Not that Spike thought Dawn couldn't handle herself, she had proved time and time again that she could. It was just that she wasn't one hundred percent.
"Do you want me to find her?" Spike asked after a few minutes of watching his lover and listening to the low buzz of the television.
"What? No! I mean, would you? God, I feel terrible asking you to do this but-"
"Hey, you didn't ask, I offered."
"Thank you."
"Anytime, pet. Be back before you know it."
An hour later Spike wished he hadn't said that. He was truly convinced that he had jinxed himself. After having to fight two vampires and a Cremslaw demon, he was sure that he would never find Dawn when her picked up on her. He could sense her from a mile away, the perks of originating as a ball of glowy green energy. She had a vibration like no one else's.
As Spike got closer to Dawn, he heard her crying and smelled... what was that... vodka? "Oh, lovely."
He ran to her and saw her sitting on the ground, back against a headstone. He kneeled down in front of her and took her shaking hands.
"You all right?"
She shook her head. "Yeah." When she spoke, Spike could smell the alcohol thick on her breath.
"My God, Dawn, how much did you drink? And when, I thought you were patrolling?"
"I went to Willy's first, I couldn't be seen at the Bronze. I had a few drinks and then I came here."
"Real smart, Dawn, get bleeding smashed before coming to a vampire infested graveyard."
Her face became angry and dark. "You can't tell me whadda do, Spike! You're not my mother!"
"No, but that doesn't mean I'm any less concerned. Look at you, sitting out here in the dark, you're shivering in bleeding seventy degree weather. C'mere." Spike pulled off his trademark duster and wrapped it around Dawn's shoulders. She pulled it by the napes close to her body and allowed Spike to help her up.
"Let's get you home."
"Always taking care of me, hmm? I woulda been fine ya know."
"Yeah, a fine mess. Now stop your whining, we can talk about this at home, out of danger."
Dawn's tears started afresh. She leaned into her friend and he put his arm around her. "I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I just... I don't know how to make this go away. This hurting, it's so bad."
"I know, love, I know."
"Spike?
"Yes?"
"I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Just not on the coat, okay? Aim away from the coat and uh... give me fair warning will you?"
"Can do."
The pair made it home without Dawn making mess on Spike any of or his things; however, once they reached the house, she shook the duster from her shoulders and bolted up the stairs like lightening. Buffy stood up and walked to Spike who just shook his head at her.
"Poor girl."
"Is she wasted?"
"Yeah."
"I should have guessed as much. Where's you find her?"
"Cemetery, 'bout a half mile from Clem's."
"She went to the graveyard drunk?"
"That was pretty much my reaction, yeah. But don't give her a hard time, she's had a rough night."
Buffy sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "God, it's almost three in the morning, I'm gonna check on Kat and go to bed."
"Sounds, good, I'll look after Dawn."
"What would I do without you."
"Lord only knows, Buffy."
The slayer put her arms around Spike's neck and held onto him tightly. She was so used to him being there, to always having him around. What if he too had a change of heart? Could it happen to them, that one day he would decide it wasn't working? The thought frightened Buffy more than she would have liked.
"Never leave me, okay?"
"Not for the world." Spike kissed her hair and watched her walk out of sight and up the stairs. Once he heard her enter their daughter's room, he took a deep breath and headed for Dawn. He knocked on the bathroom door and heard a gurgling noise that he took as "come in." He entered to see Dawn sitting on the floor next to the toilet, her face was beat red and her eyes were puffy and bloodshot.
"I hate this," were the first words out of her mouth and Spike walked in and sat down beside her.
"I know, Bit."
"I mean, how do people go through with this? How do people deal?"
Spike shook his head. "Dunno. Pretty much how you did tonight."
"I feel like part of me is just gone. I can't even function like..." Dawn lost the words mid-sentence.
"I won't even try to say anything to make you feel better, I know from experience that it won't help. Besides, I think you'd probably prefer that I be honest right now."
"Thanks," Dawn smiled before descending back into her despair. "It's just not fair. I can't understand how this happens. It's like... it's like you've got this great thing going, you know? I spent six and a half amazing years of my life with this... entity, this being until the whole situation took a life of its own. And then boom! It's over, done, because one person just says so? No warning, no closure, nothing. Just, nothingness. That's what I feel like right now, nothing."
Spike sat with her for a few moments of silence before she abruptly turned and stuck her head in the toilet. The vampire pulled back her hair and rubbed circles on her back until the episode was over. When all was said and done and she was leaning against the bathroom cabinet, Spike wet a washcloth with cold water and pressed it against her face. Dawn laughed.
"What?"
"When did you get so domesticated?"
Spike grimaced and helped her to her feet for the second time that night. "I'm going to chose not to answer that."
Dawn nodded. "Fair enough."
Spike helped his surrogate sister into bed. "Sleep on your side, all right? And call if you... whatever."
Dawn nodded and snuggled into a bed which used to be hers in a room which she lived in for over ten years. "'Kay. Thanks for taking care of me."
"Always," Spike whispered and turned out the light.
~*~
TBC...
~*~
Summary: The consequence for Buffy and Spike's daughter, Kat, is revealed. It was the last thing that they ever expected, and the most horrible thing that anyone could have imagined. *Sequel to "FAMILY"*
Spoilers: None. Just know that everything after "Normal Again" didn't happen.
~*~
TRADEOFF
Chapter 2: Heartbroken
When Buffy entered the living room, she smiled at the sight of her daughter curled up on the couch with Tigger settled comfortably on her lap. Tigger, a small gray and white kitten, had been one of Kat's fifth birthday presents. She began questioning about having a little brother or sister, so Spike and Buffy decided it would be a good idea to get her a pet to get her mind off of it. The little cat worked like a charm. As far as the child was concerned, Tigger was her little brother.
Buffy sat beside Kat and kissed her on the forehead. "Time for bed, love."
The small child yawned and rubbed her eyes. "But Mommy, I'm not tired yet."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll bet you're not. Now come on, let's get ready and I'll read you a story."
"Mommy I don't wanna!"
Buffy was in no mood for an argument. "Now Kat-" Before Buffy had the chance to reason with her daughter, the doorbell rang. "Now who could that be? Kat, are you inviting boys over again?"
The girl laughed as if that were the funniest thing she had ever heard. "You're so silly, Mommy!"
"Don't I know it. Now, I'm gonna get that and you're gonna go up to bed, little miss."
Buffy saw Spike coming down the stairs just as she reached the door. "Who's that?"
"I suppose we'll find out." Buffy pulled open the door and saw a devastating site. It was Dawn; her face was puffy, red, and tear-streaked. Buffy hadn't seen her sister look this distraught since the day her mother died.
"Dawn, my God! What happened?"
The younger slayer stepped forward and fell helplessly into her sister's arms and sobbed relentlessly. She spoke a few inaudible words that neither Buffy nor Spike could make any sense of.
"Come on, Dawn, let's go over to the couch."
Buffy sat her sister down on the end where Kat was not sitting. She looked at her daughter who was clutching Tigger tightly to her chest and had a look of fright upon her tiny face. She was obviously upset by the sight in front of her. Buffy knew how hard it could be to watch an adult you looked up to cry.
"Spike, would you-"
"Of course." He picked his daughter up off the couch with the cat still in his arms. She didn't struggle with him.
"Come on, Kitten, off to bed we go."
When Buffy was sure that Spike and Kat were upstairs and out of earshot, she asked again, "Dawnie, what happened?"
The girl wiped a few tears from her cheeks only to have them be replaced with fresh ones. "D-Dave broke up w-with me!" She choked the words out to her sister as a new batch of tears flowed relentlessly from her eyes.
"What?!" Buffy was expecting a demon or death or something... else. She hardly believed the words passing through Dawn's trembling lips.
"He's moving out. He- he said that it wasn't working, that something was off... missing. I don't understand, Buffy."
"This is so sudden. Oh Dawn, I can't even..."
"I know! I don't get what happened. Everything was fine! It was all fine and then boom! What? I don't love you anymore? How do you just stop loving someone?"
"You don't. How, when did this happen?"
Dawn looked at the clock. "Just over and hour ago. He came home and I was watching TV and he just had this look on his face. When- when something's bothering him he does this thing with his mouth... anyway, I asked him what was wrong and then he got all flustered and didn't say anything, just walked back out of the apartment. He was so... off. Then he came back not even five minutes later and said it wasn't working. I'm so confused. I didn't even know anything was wrong."
"Me either. He sure does hide his feelings well, then. I've never seen you two being anything but lovey-dovey with each other."
"I don't- I can't believe this is happening. It's like... like I had him and now he's just..." tears fell more furiously from Dawn's eyes as she spoke the word, "gone."
"Oh, Dawn," Buffy cooed softly as she pulled her sister into her arms. "I don't even know what to say."
Dawn shrugged. "Me either. I mean, what did I do, Buffy?"
"Don't blame yourself, Dawnie, it was his decision. Not yours."
"Still, I just feel... I don't even know."
"So what's the deal? He's moving out?"
"Yeah. He asked if I wanted him to just go and he'd get his stuff tomorrow, but I told him no. How could I spend tonight in that place? Everything is him, Buffy. Everything in there is ours and now there's no us. He acted like he didn't even care. I've never seen him be so cold."
"Well, I don't even have to tell you but you're welcome to stay here as long as you need to."
Dawn choked a laugh and calmed down a bit. "I was kind of counting on that."
"You know that I'm always here for you, anything you need."
Dawn leaned into her sister. "I know."
At that moment, Spike came down the stairs and walked straight to the couch. He kneeled down beside the sisters a look of sheer concern plastered on his face.
"Dawn, what's wrong, pet? Were you hurt."
"In the worst way."
"What? What happened? A demon?"
Buffy shook her hand. "No, just a man."
Dawn began to ball again, harder than before. "Dave broke up with me."
Buffy had never seen Spike look so shocked, except, maybe, for their first time when she had him pinned to a wall. "Excuse me?"
"Please, Spike," Dawn begged, "don't make me say it again!"
"No, no, I just..." Spike couldn't find the words. "Is there something I can do?"
Buffy just shook her head at him as Dawn cried, her expression asking what he could possibly do to mend a broken heart.
~*~
Buffy eyes traveled over to the clock again though she had been trying not to look. Is this what it had come to? Watching the clock, waiting for her sister to come home. It shouldn't, it should not be like this. Dawn was twenty-three years old for God's sake! She didn't need to be looked after, well, normally she didn't, but these were very special circumstances. She had said that she needed to be alone, and though Buffy's better instincts told her it wasn't a good idea, she wasn't going to argue with her deeply depressed sister. It was now one fifteen in the morning and Dawn had left over four hours ago to patrol. Even on a bad night it shouldn't take this long, and Buffy couldn't help but worry.
Spike walked into the living room from the kitchen and saw Buffy's distraught expression even though the only light was the bluish glow from the TV. He had to admit, he was worried as well. Dawn was upset, well, beyond upset, and that may not be the safest way for her to go into a cemetery full of deadly vampires. Not that Spike thought Dawn couldn't handle herself, she had proved time and time again that she could. It was just that she wasn't one hundred percent.
"Do you want me to find her?" Spike asked after a few minutes of watching his lover and listening to the low buzz of the television.
"What? No! I mean, would you? God, I feel terrible asking you to do this but-"
"Hey, you didn't ask, I offered."
"Thank you."
"Anytime, pet. Be back before you know it."
An hour later Spike wished he hadn't said that. He was truly convinced that he had jinxed himself. After having to fight two vampires and a Cremslaw demon, he was sure that he would never find Dawn when her picked up on her. He could sense her from a mile away, the perks of originating as a ball of glowy green energy. She had a vibration like no one else's.
As Spike got closer to Dawn, he heard her crying and smelled... what was that... vodka? "Oh, lovely."
He ran to her and saw her sitting on the ground, back against a headstone. He kneeled down in front of her and took her shaking hands.
"You all right?"
She shook her head. "Yeah." When she spoke, Spike could smell the alcohol thick on her breath.
"My God, Dawn, how much did you drink? And when, I thought you were patrolling?"
"I went to Willy's first, I couldn't be seen at the Bronze. I had a few drinks and then I came here."
"Real smart, Dawn, get bleeding smashed before coming to a vampire infested graveyard."
Her face became angry and dark. "You can't tell me whadda do, Spike! You're not my mother!"
"No, but that doesn't mean I'm any less concerned. Look at you, sitting out here in the dark, you're shivering in bleeding seventy degree weather. C'mere." Spike pulled off his trademark duster and wrapped it around Dawn's shoulders. She pulled it by the napes close to her body and allowed Spike to help her up.
"Let's get you home."
"Always taking care of me, hmm? I woulda been fine ya know."
"Yeah, a fine mess. Now stop your whining, we can talk about this at home, out of danger."
Dawn's tears started afresh. She leaned into her friend and he put his arm around her. "I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I just... I don't know how to make this go away. This hurting, it's so bad."
"I know, love, I know."
"Spike?
"Yes?"
"I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Just not on the coat, okay? Aim away from the coat and uh... give me fair warning will you?"
"Can do."
The pair made it home without Dawn making mess on Spike any of or his things; however, once they reached the house, she shook the duster from her shoulders and bolted up the stairs like lightening. Buffy stood up and walked to Spike who just shook his head at her.
"Poor girl."
"Is she wasted?"
"Yeah."
"I should have guessed as much. Where's you find her?"
"Cemetery, 'bout a half mile from Clem's."
"She went to the graveyard drunk?"
"That was pretty much my reaction, yeah. But don't give her a hard time, she's had a rough night."
Buffy sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "God, it's almost three in the morning, I'm gonna check on Kat and go to bed."
"Sounds, good, I'll look after Dawn."
"What would I do without you."
"Lord only knows, Buffy."
The slayer put her arms around Spike's neck and held onto him tightly. She was so used to him being there, to always having him around. What if he too had a change of heart? Could it happen to them, that one day he would decide it wasn't working? The thought frightened Buffy more than she would have liked.
"Never leave me, okay?"
"Not for the world." Spike kissed her hair and watched her walk out of sight and up the stairs. Once he heard her enter their daughter's room, he took a deep breath and headed for Dawn. He knocked on the bathroom door and heard a gurgling noise that he took as "come in." He entered to see Dawn sitting on the floor next to the toilet, her face was beat red and her eyes were puffy and bloodshot.
"I hate this," were the first words out of her mouth and Spike walked in and sat down beside her.
"I know, Bit."
"I mean, how do people go through with this? How do people deal?"
Spike shook his head. "Dunno. Pretty much how you did tonight."
"I feel like part of me is just gone. I can't even function like..." Dawn lost the words mid-sentence.
"I won't even try to say anything to make you feel better, I know from experience that it won't help. Besides, I think you'd probably prefer that I be honest right now."
"Thanks," Dawn smiled before descending back into her despair. "It's just not fair. I can't understand how this happens. It's like... it's like you've got this great thing going, you know? I spent six and a half amazing years of my life with this... entity, this being until the whole situation took a life of its own. And then boom! It's over, done, because one person just says so? No warning, no closure, nothing. Just, nothingness. That's what I feel like right now, nothing."
Spike sat with her for a few moments of silence before she abruptly turned and stuck her head in the toilet. The vampire pulled back her hair and rubbed circles on her back until the episode was over. When all was said and done and she was leaning against the bathroom cabinet, Spike wet a washcloth with cold water and pressed it against her face. Dawn laughed.
"What?"
"When did you get so domesticated?"
Spike grimaced and helped her to her feet for the second time that night. "I'm going to chose not to answer that."
Dawn nodded. "Fair enough."
Spike helped his surrogate sister into bed. "Sleep on your side, all right? And call if you... whatever."
Dawn nodded and snuggled into a bed which used to be hers in a room which she lived in for over ten years. "'Kay. Thanks for taking care of me."
"Always," Spike whispered and turned out the light.
~*~
TBC...
~*~