A/N: Voici! Thanks for all the great reviews. I know this chapter's short, but I didn't feel the need to make their conversation any longer. I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 11 - Disappointment
Spike reached Dawn, just as she was about to head onto the dance floor. He grabbed her arm, and ignored the small warning his chip gave him as he dragged her towards the centre of the floor. Before she could protest, he was leading her in a waltz, ensuring that she could not escape from his grasp.
"I need to talk to you, Nibblet, and I doubt your going to like what I have to say."
Dawn wrenched her arm out of Spike's grip, and looked at the vampire with a cross of confusion, anger, and shock. "Geez, you could have just asked me to dance. What's with all the harshness Spike?"
Without answering, Spike took Dawn in his arms and started leading her around the dance floor in classic Victorian form. At first Dawn was tripping over both his feet as well as her own, but after a few minutes Dawn had found her bearings and was comfortably allowing Spike lead her around the floor. Neither said a word, but as the first song came to a close, Dawn started to get impatient.
"So are you going to talk? Because to not like what you say, I kind of have to hear it first."
"I don't think I've ever been disappointed in you before Nibblet."
Dawn rolled her eyes and tried to move out of Spike's arms, but Spike tightened his grip and continued to spin them around the dance floor.
"I think we've already had this conversation. Let's do a quick summary, k? You treat me like a child, ignore how I feel, and don't let me have any independence. But, like everyone else, you can't seem to see that. Just so you know, the conversation is really getting old for me. So if you don't mind, I'm going to skip the talk and go dance with the cute boy I was with when you so rudely interrupted."
"That boy is a demon, Platelet. A Cornu demon, to be precise. They age about ten-times slower than humans. He looks about seventeen, so he should be around a hundred and seventy, give or take a bit."
Dawn looked at Spike in shock, then over her shoulder at the boy in question. There was a look of disgust on her face when she turned back to face Spike. "Ew. I really didn't want to know that."
"There's a lot you probably don't want to know that you should know."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just saying that you want to be a grown up, but you're still innocent about the world around you."
Dawn just rolled her eyes again, and snorted. "I think I've dealt with enough demons to know more about the world than your average person. Besides, I want to know those things, but Buffy won't even let me help research."
"That's not what I'm talking about Nibblet. I'm not talking about the Big Bads and demons that big sis slays. I'm talking about the dangers your big sis and I can't protect you from." Spike spoke softly, a look of protectiveness crossing his face as he thought about all the things he wanted to protect Dawn from. It wasn't the vampires and other things that went bump in the night he was worried about, but the people that would take advantage of her and the dangers that she faced during the daylight hours.
"I think I can handle the dangers of dating and having a social life. It's really not as scary as you think." Spike had to restrain himself from shaking the teenager in front of him. It was like talking to a brick wall. If there was any trait that Dawn got from her sister it was her stubbornness and unwillingness to see anything but what she wanted to see. The Summers women were probably the most skilled beings on the planet when it came to denying what they didn't like or agree with.
"What if I hadn't been at the Bronze last Friday night?"
"I probably would have had a really good time." The perky statement was followed by a smirk from Dawn that made Spike's teeth grind. He briefly wondered if his own smirk was that frustrating and irritating.
"What if something had happened?"
"Like what? A demon attacking the Bronze? Been around for a few of those."
"No. What if one of those wankers you had been flirting with slipped something in your drink? Or if you had gotten jumped in the alley on your drunken way home? What if one of those boys expected a lot more than a dance and a peck on the cheek as a good night? What then?"
"It wouldn't happen. You wouldn't let it happen."
"What if I wasn't there Dawn? You're bloody lucky. Buffy was probably about to go to sleep when I dragged you in and she had no clue what you were up to. She thought you were happily at that little bint you run with's house watching movies and eating ice cream. If I hadn't been there, anything could have happened and there would be no one to help you. It happens to girls every night." As Spike spoke, he had been getting angrier and more upset. The mere idea that his girl could get hurt in any way scared him more than words could describe. The possibility that he wouldn't be there the next time made him feel sick to his stomach.
Dawn gulped and looked up at Spike with big eyes. She could hear how upset he was, and she knew it wasn't just anger. The protectiveness he had exhibited the night Buffy came back was strong in his voice, and for the first time since she had been busted Bronzing it with Janice, she felt a nagging bit of guilt at her actions. "I'll be more careful, okay?"
"It's not just about being more careful Dawn. Do you have any idea at how upset your sister was?"
"She kind of made that clear on the numerous occasions she's screamed at me about it."
"I'm not talking about angry, Nibblet. Your sister has never had the choices you have. By your age, she was already Chosen and was out slaying nasties all night, a short life expectancy already hanging over her shoulders. She doesn't want you to deal with all the crap she puts up with daily. She wants you to have as normal a life as possible and as safe a life as possible. You should respect how much she sacrifices to ensure you don't have to sacrifice anything."
"I respect Buffy. I've never said I didn't. I just wish she'd treat me with more respect and treat like a person, not a pet."
"Running around drinking and partying at all hours is not showing her respect. Do you have any idea how much your actions hurt her?"
"Does she have any idea how much her actions hurt me? While all my friends have late curfews and are allowed to do what they want, I'm still stuck with babysitters. I'm not some baby who needs coddling every moment of every day. If Buffy would just let me have some freedom, maybe I would listen to her stupid rules."
"Those stupid rules are in place for a reason. Can you even tell me how many time you've been kidnapped because of who your sister is?"
Dawn paused mid-step and looked over her shoulder, doing a mental count of how many times she had found herself in some demon's hands. As the count got bigger and bigger, Dawn furrowed her brow and looked at Spike. "I lost count once I hit Buffy's high school years." Spike raised his eyebrows, but before he could give Dawn his usual cocky smirk, she spoke again. "Technically, though, I've only actually been around for, like, a year and a half. So really, I haven't been kidnapped that many times…"
Spike couldn't believe she was trying to cop out of the argument with that excuse. He silently cursed the monks for how good a job they had done – she was definitely a Summers through and through, just like her sister.
"And, if you or Buffy would teach me how to defend myself, getting kidnapped wouldn't be such a big problem."
"Brick wall." Spike mumbled the words as Dawn continued to justify her position. At the whisper, Dawn stopped speaking and cocked her head to the side.
"What?"
"Nothing, Nibblet."
"No, not nothing. What did you say?"
Spike sighed even though he didn't need the breath. He knew she wouldn't relent until he told her what he had said, and if he told her he'd get to see another Summers trait: her short temper.
"I said brick wall."
"What's that supposed to mean?" The snapped words were exactly what Spike expected, as was the look of anger that was starting to show in Dawn's expression.
"Nothing. Forget I said anything. Not what I wanted to talk to you about in the first place."
Dawn wrenched her arms from Spikes grasp and crossed her arms, a gesture that made her look just like her older sister. "Fine, whatever. Why don't you tell me what you wanted to say so that I can go?" Spike drooped his shoulders and rubbed the bridge of his noise. He looked up and studied the youngest Summers face. He contemplated just walking away and forgetting about trying to fix things between the only two humans on the planet he loved, but decided against it. What he had originally come to say had to be said.
"I'm disappointed in you because you forgot about your mother. What she would want for you. You want to know what Buffy was most upset about last Friday? The fact that she wasn't doing the job she knew your Mum would have done looking after you." Spike looked down and turned around, the pain in Dawn's eyes too much for him to take. But it needed to be said. "Remember something, Nibblet – you're what's left of Joyce in this world. Don't shame her memory by acting the way you have."
As Spike walked away, he couldn't help but rub the few tears forming in his own eyes. The conversation had made him think of his own mother again, and the combination of thoughts of her, Joyce, and the look on Dawn's face had done him in. He headed towards the door of the hall, and headed out into the night. The thought of being in the brightly lit room for one more moment made the blood rise in his throat. He couldn't understand why he was feeling the way he was, why for the second time that week he was remembering the past he had never given a second thought to for so long. He had finally pinned down the feeling he had felt the evening at the gift store, an emotion he hadn't felt since the night he met Dru. The feeling was one he thought he would never feel again.
Guilt.