Disclaimer - See the last chapter if you really care that much!

I Can Feel You Breathe by Seven Sins

PG to PG-13

Chapter 2 - Revenge on Andrew

Posted: 7.28.04

Spike almost fell over when Dawn jumped on him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"I knew Andrew wasn't insane!" she said.

Spike hugged her back, looking over at Illyria, his eyes filled with hate.

When Dawn finally let go, she stood in front of him, her eyes brimming with tears, "When he was under that truth spell, he was rambling on and on about you, and Buffy and Williow just thought it had worked wrong! But I knew that he was telling the truth. There was no way I could have messed up the ingredients!" she was talking fast without breathing and Spike was afraid she was going to start turning blue if he didn't stop her.

"Bit," he paused, not sure what to say. She didn't seemed very shocked to see him, which was strange.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked calmly, setting his hands on her shoulders.

Dawn abruptly stopped talking and took a deep breath. Then she stared at him for a minute, before her expression changed to anger, "I'm going to kill him!" she said suddenly, pulling away from Spike and heading back towards the apartment building.

Spike blinked a few times before he rushed after her, Illyria following nonchalantly behind him.

He grabbed Dawn and spun her around, "What?! Kill who?" he demanded.

She pulled away and walked back over to her grocery bags, "Andrew," she said as she picked them up, "Afterwards, I asked him if the stuff he said was true and he said no," her voice was full of rage, "He made me look like an idiot!" she reached into the bag and pulled out some celery sticks, "And now I'm going to beat him to death with these!"

Before Spike could stop her, she threw open the doors for lobby and stormed up some stairs.

Spike finally caught her arm and spun her back around, "Dawn!" he yelled, "Calm the hell down! We'll both deal with Andrew later," he said, "But first," his voice quieted, "Where's your sister?"

Dawn shrugged, "She's probably still at work," she said, sticking the celery sticks back in the bag, "But she'll be home in an hour."

Spike cringed. An hour. For some reason, that amount of time seemed like forever.

Dawn sensed this and continued, "But if you want to kill time, Andrew's upstairs. We can start torturing him now."

Spike considered this for a moment, and then shrugged, "Yeah, okay."

Dawn's face broke into a huge smile as she continued walking up the stairs.

"C'mon, Illyira," Spike called over his shoulder.

Illyria pulled away from the houseplant she had been feeling just inside the door, and reluctantly followed after Spike.

"Whose that?" Dawn asked over her shoulder.

"That," Spike said, gesturing over his shoulder, "Used to be Winifred Burkle. She worked for Angel."

"Hm," Dawn said as she pushed open the door for their floor, "Who is she now?"

"Now she's Illyria. Ex-Demon God who still hasn't gotten over the fact that humans are now the dominant race on this planet," Spike answered, following her.

"Ah, I see," Dawn walked down the hall to their door, "What, did she possess her or something?"

Spike shrugged, "Something like that. Its a long story," he leaned on the doorframe as Dawn struggled to fit her key into the lock.

Illyria had become deeply engrossed with another houseplant, and was ignoring the conversation going on about her.

Dawn finally fit her key in with a triumphant, 'aha!' and pushed it open. She stepped inside as the door swung back and hit the wall with a loud 'bang'.

"Let's go, Your Highness," Spike called to Illyria as he stepped into the apartment.

Illyria followed after him, glaring, "You mock me, mortal," she said.

"Mhm," Spike said, not hearing her. He was busy staring around at the apartment. It hadn't changed much since he last saw it, except for the basket of laundry sitting next to the couch and the stack of magazines on the end table.

Dawn, who had just set the grocery bags down on the floor, turned around and looked at Illyria questioningly, "Wait," she said, looking back over at Spike, "Spike's not mortal," she said, "He hasn't been for a couple hundred years. What are you..."

And then a look of realization passed over her face, "How'd you get in here without an invitation?" she asked, pointing to the door.

Spike took a deep breath, "Yeah, um..." he started, "Well first of all, I've been here befo..."

"Dawnie!" Andrew called, rounding the corner of the hallway with a dishtowel in his hand, and his fists on his hips, "You are late, missy!" he scolded, "And you slammed the door off the wall again! I swear, one day I'm going to video tape you coming home so Buffy will stop bla-" He froze when he spotted Spike.

"Spike!" he said, "How good to see you old friend!" he stepped forward and hugged him.

Spike's entire body stiffened and a look of utter discomfort crossed his face.

When Andrew pulled back, he spotted Illyria and nodded toward her, "And I see you've brought that lab woman from Wolfram and Hart! What's you name again? Freita?"

Illyria scowled, "The former owner of this body was named Winifred Burkle, and I am not her," she looked over at Spike, "May I change form now, disgusting human, since we are no longer in public?"

"Whatever," Spike sighed.

Illyria closed her eyes, and her body slowly began to change back, from her feet up. When she finished, Andrew and Dawn both stared in awe.

"Holy shit!" Dawn exclaimed, pointing to her, "Its a human sized Smurf!"

"Yeah, yeah, she's amazing," Spike said sarcastically, "Now, Bit, as I was saying..."

"Wait," Andrew interrupted again. Spike a deep breath and glared at him, "Spike's not human Smurf woman. He's a 'vampyre'!" he said.

"No, I'm not," Spike said, shoving Andrew down on the couch, "And if you'll all stop interrupting me, I'll explain," he looked over at Dawn, "Sit," he commanded.

Dawn nodded and sat down in the chair next to the couch.

"What do you mean, you're not a vampire?" Andrew asked.

"Shut your yap, and I'll tell you what I mean," Spike said.

"Now, first off," he started, "Dawn, I didn't need an invitation, because I've been here before. Though at this point, it wouldn't've mattered either way, because I," he pointed to himself, "Am not a vampire anymore. Turned out the shanshu wasn't for Peaches," he said, proudly.

They were all silent for a moment.

"How? When?" Dawn asked.

"I don't know, and about 24 hours ago," Spike answered.

"There was a flash of light and everything changed," Illyria said, crossing the room and looking out the window at the city below.

Spike rolled his eyes, "According to her, there was some kind of flash," Spike made finger quotes in the air, "But I don't remember it."

"Wow," Andrew said, "Human, vampire, and human again," he stared down at the ground and tapped his finger on the arm of the couch thoughtfully, "You know, you should write a movie about your life," he said, "It'd be so cool!" the excitement was growing in his voice, "All your adventures and love affairs! I bet we'd even outsell Harry Potter!"

Spike looked at him the way you would look at a child that isn't making sense, "Shut up," he said, "You're already in enough trouble."

"Yeah," Dawn said suddenly, whirling around to face Andrew, "You lied and made me look like a moron!"

Andrew huddled into the corner of the couch as Dawn sprang up and started beating him with a pillow.

"He told me not to say anything! Ouch! He said he'd, OW, kill me! Spike help!" Andrew yelled.

Spike grabbed the pillow from Dawn, "Give me that!" he said, glaring at her.

Dawn glared back at him, and they stayed like that for a second or two. Just as Andrew was about to sigh in relief, Spike lifted the pillow and continued what Dawn had started.

"Stupid wanker! Told you to keep your big mouth shut!" Spike said between swings.

"It wasn't my fault!" Andrew cried, "Dawn slipped it in my drink!"

Spike stopped, "Is that true?" he asked her.

Dawn nodded.

"Oh," he paused, "Well I'm still going to beat the living hell out of you!"

Andrew screamed and threw himself over the back of the couch, running down the hall for safety.

"Don't you run away from me, pansy!" Spike yelled, running after him.

Illyria and Dawn stared after him.

"It is beyond me how one being can act so idiotic," Illyria said.

Dawn shrugged, "People will do crazy things for love."

Illyria shook her head, "No matter how many times I have different individuals explain it to me, I still do not understand this "love" you all speak of."

Dawn shrugged, "It's kind of one of those things that can't be explained," she said, looking up at the clock.

"Oh hell," she muttered, rushing down the hall in the direction of Andrew's screams.

She turned the corner into the bathroom to find Andrew huddled in the space between the bathtub and the toilet, while Spike hit him mercilessly with the pillow.

"Spike!" she yelled.

Spike stopped abruptly and turned to her, "What?"

"Thank you, young Dawnie, for coming to your senses and rescuing me!" Andrew said.

Dawn looked at him like he was a bug, "I'm not rescuing you," she said, "You deserve everything you get," Andrew's face fell, "But its almost eight," she said, looking back at Spike.

"And?" he asked.

"Buffy gets home around eight."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I don't really think you want her to see you for the first time in months after thinking you'd died beating the hell out of Andrew next to the toilet," Dawn said.

Spike nodded, "Yeah, that's uh...probably not the best entrance..."

The three of them stood silently for a moment, both Andrew and Spike catching their breath. Dawn smiled.

"You breath. A lot," she commented.

"Mhm," Spike said, "Its weird, you know. Actually having to do it. Makes things a bit more difficult."

Dawn nodded, "Hm. Do you want to go out into the kitchen or something? I can get you water. Or pop. We don't have any beer though, sorry. But you know, drinking helps when you're all out of breath. Plus, You can tell me about the romantic plan you have for when Buffy walks in the door," she grinned.

Spike raised an eyebrow, "What romantic plan?" he asked.

Dawn's smile fell, "You mean you don't have some kind of cute, romantic thing planned?"

Spike slowly shook his head, "No."

Dawn looked utterly offended, "You just thought you waltz up here, open the door and say, 'Hey Buffy! Guess what! I'm not dead! Let's go boink on the sofa!'"?

Spike considered this and then nodded, "Yeah, that's about it," he admitted.

Dawn rolled her eyes, "You're such a guy," she muttered, turning and walking down the hall to the kitchen.

Spike and Andrew looked between each other, neither one sure what the big deal was. Finally, Spike threw the pillow at him one last time, and followed Dawn down the hall.

Andrew knocked the pillow away and stood up quickly, "Hey, don't think you can just get away with that, mister!" he said, walking after Spike, "You're not a big, bad vampire anymore! I'll bet my revenge!"

Spike whirled around.

"I'm sorry, please don't hurt me!" Andrew apologized, covering his face with his hands.

Spike turned back around and walked into the kitchen. Dawn was standing over the sink, filling a glass with water. She turned around and pushed it into Spike's hands.

"Here, you useless, un-romantic, male," she said sourly.

Spike took a sip, "Thanks, needed that," he said as Illyria walked into the kitchen,

Dawn rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, leaning back against the counter.

"So, Angel know you're here?" she asked.

Spike hesitated, "Angel's dead," he answered.

"Well no duh," Dawn said, "And so were you two days ago, she reached behind her and picked up a pack of gum.

"No," Spike explained, "I mean really dead. As in dust."

"Oh," Dawn said, shoving a piece of gun into her mouth, "I see."

She was about the ask how, when they heard a key in the door. Everyone in the kitchen froze.

Andrew's face lit up, "I have to get the camera! This is an important part of my documentary!" he ran out of the room.

Spike would have yelled after him to stop being a wanker, but at the moment, he was unable to move.

Illyria looked between Dawn and Spike, "I inquire from your expressions that that is the 'Buffy' you've been talking about?" she asked.

Spike nodded wordlessly.

"Dawn! Dawnie, I'm home!" Buffy's voice called.

They heard the door shut and the sound of Buffy walking down the hall toward the kitchen, "Daw--Andrew get that thing out of my face! What're you taping for anyway?" she rounded the corner into the kitchen and stopped short.

She gasped and the keys she had been carrying fell to the floor as her hands flew up to cover her mouth in shock.

"And so starts the next chapter of the 'Buffy' saga," Andrew whispered.

"Shut up, Andrew!" Dawn, Buffy and Spike all yelled in unison.

Andrew cringed, but kept the camera on, turning to catch the expression on Spike's face.

Everything was quite for what seemed like ages, until finally Buffy spoke.

"Spike?"
A/N - Blah...I need to start making my chapters longer. Anyway R&R! It'll get my muse working better! And I'm not working anymore, so I'm willing to Beta anyone in my free time if they need it. My turnaround time will be 24 hours unless I'm on vacation or dying. Just thought I'd put it out there, in case anyone's looking!

seVensIns

7sins(dot)bravemusings(dot)com