To Prove Their Love

By Vixen

For the first time since Buffy had come back from heaven, she felt complete. The cloud of angst hanging over her head seemed to dissipate when Angel came back to Sunnydale for a visit. It was supposed to be that. Just one quick visit, a chance to reminisce on old times and prove to him that her coming back to life wasn't a rumor. Instead it had turned into one night of happiness and kisses. Resisting temptation had never been harder once they were together again, but she wouldn't change one moment of that night for anything.

Buffy licked her ice cone and opened the door to her house, switching on the lights. She turned towards Angel and whispered, "Everyone's probably still sleeping. So.." The expression she saw on his face was not of the good. He was starring at something in the living room, looking quite horrified. "What? What is it?"

She quickly spun around, hoping it wasn't another big bad or something worse. Even her house wasn't a sanctuary for the slayer. Glory had gotten into her home once and it was always on her mind that something might again try to invade her home. Although Willow had placed magical barriers on the house in an attempt to block out the bad, Buffy couldn't keep from wondering very now and then how long they would hold.

Seeing what Angel had witnessed, Buffy dropped her ice cream on the floor letting the mint chocolate chip dessert splatter all over the wooden hallway.

Spike.

Dawn.

Spike and Dawn.. with the nakedness and the kissing.

Suddenly her world had taken a nosedive into the weird. Letting forth a screech that could have been heard throughout the small town and beyond, Buffy shook her head. When she tried to speak only little mumbled nonsense came out. Finally, she just covered her mouth with her hand to stop the rambling "oh god's" from coming out. Angel placed his hand on her shoulder, giving her the strength to get through this bizarre scene.

"Buffy," Dawn shot up and wrapped the purple blanket that hung on the back of the couch around her small naked frame. Guiltily, she continued, "I know what this looks like, but if you'd just let me explain I'm sure I could come up with a reasonable explanation."

"You.. and Spike!" Buffy shouted, suddenly waking up everyone in the house didn't matter as much. Storming into the living room, she grabbed her sister and hauled her away from the bleach blond vampire who was sitting on the couch grinning at the rest of the world. "There is no explanation that would not make me want to pummel his ass right now."

"Before you do that," Spike rose to his feet, zippering up his pants. Buffy rolled his eyes at the sound. "Let me just point out that me and Dawn have been together since the summer, so if you have a problem it's a little late now to say—"

Buffy punched him, and Spike lost the cocky grin on his face.

"Shut up, Spike," Dawn said through gritted teeth, knowing at least some of the punishment would fall on her next. Not in violence per se but in yelling, screaming and an argument from hell. "You're not helping." Then she gave Buffy the patented teenage pout. "Can we just talk about this first? I really am in love with him Buffy, and I deserve to be treated like an adult once in a while."

Buffy frowned, "Fine. We'll talk. I'll give you fifteen minutes for you to explain to me why I shouldn't put a stake through his heart tonight."

"Okay, great. That's all I'll need," Dawn squee-ed and clapped her hands. She glanced once more at Spike, giving him a big grin before being led away by Buffy. The vampire kissed her goodbye, mostly just for the looks it would cause.

Before Buffy left, she pointed to Angel, and in a tone befitting a captain trying to save a ship from sinking said, "You. Talk to Spike. Explain to him dating my little sister is not a good idea."

"But.. Buffy," Dawn started as she ascended the first few stairs on the way to her bedroom, "You promised you would give our relationship a chance if I convinced you."

"I will Dawn," Buffy nodded, walking up the stairs after her sister, "First you have to convince me though. But, even if you do, Spike and you should both know the consequences of vampire-human relationships."

Dawn knew where her sister was coming from; she had seen first hand the damage that a relationship like theirs could bring when Angel lost his soul. Though, Spike didn't have a soul to begin with so that really didn't play a factor in their relationship. That wasn't a point she wanted to bring up with Buffy however, it would certainty make her lose points in the debate.

Walking into her bedroom, Dawn searched through a pile of clothes while Buffy turned around to give her sister some privacy. Finding a dark purple nightgown, Dawn slid into it and steeled herself against the upcoming argument, going through the reasons why she loved Spike in her head.

"This has been going on since the summer, and you didn't tell me," Buffy said, clearly annoyed.

"It was a hard summer, Buffy," Dawn said in a low voice, not knowing if she should bring up Buffy death and the mourning that had followed. Her sister hadn't been the picture of mental health lately. A part of Dawn wondered if her sister was angry with Willow and the rest for bringing her back. She said she was happy to be back, but Dawn could see the longing for a better place in her eyes. "Spike really helped me through it. He listened to me when everyone else was too busy rushing around trying to make everything go back to the way it was. Him and I were really the only two people that accepted that you were.. gone."

She sat down on her bed and motioned for Buffy to join her. With a sad sigh, Buffy sat beside her sister and brushed a hand through her hair, "I'm sorry for causing you all that pain, Dawnie, but Spike can't be good for you. At least one person in our family should have a normal life, with a normal boyfriend."

"Didn't you hear me, Buffy?" Dawn said twisting away from her sister, annoyed that she wasn't being treated as an equal. "Spike listens to me. He loves me; he said so. Sure he's a vampire, but so is Angel."

"Angel has a soul, Dawn."

"Do you have always have to bring that up when Spike's name comes up in conversation? Angel has a soul, Angel saves the world, Angel is the most perfect person in the world even though he spent how many years killing, maiming, torturing, and well.. I think we all get the picture." She crossed her arms and sat against the headboard of the bed. "Angel only started being one of the good guys after he got a soul, but Spike has been working at being better even when he doesn't."

Buffy looked away, her sister had a point there. "Look, Dawn, I'm not trying to go all Mom on you here, but you should know how difficult it is to have a relationship with a vampire. Me and Angel, we nearly destroyed each other."

"That's only because the both of you are crazy," Dawn sarcastically answered, "Luckily me and Spike are fully in control of our sanity."

"Really? Cause from what I saw down there it didn't look that way." Buffy shot back, "It's way too eww and gross and why Spike? Why couldn't you have found someone a little less into the Billy Idol-look?"

Something below them banged against a wall, breaking up the conversation for a moment. The two of them looked down at the ground as the sound of some pictures clanking to the floor could be heard. "Oh great, your ex-boyfriend is beating up my new boyfriend."

"Angel might be more than that now." Buffy replied and then winced when the fact that Dawn called Spike her boyfriend sunk in, "And it might be the other way around. Spike has been known to be less of a talker and more of an take-action-and-hit-something type."

"Yeah, isn't he the best," Dawn swooned, though the comment had not been meant as a compliment. "I really do love him, Buffy. We both know that it's going to take some work, and that doesn't scare me. He's a good person, Buffy. Whether or not you accept it, it's not going to stop me from seeing him."

The hard truth was starting to sink in. They were in love. Maybe Dawn really did take after her. Those stupid monks, if Buffy ever found them she'd be sure to give them a piece of her mind. When another wall pounding noise was heard, Buffy sighed. It was either accept Spike and her little sister were really in love and get downstairs in a hurry, or let the two men destroy her living room. "Fine. I give up, you're not giving in and I can't really boss you around like you're still a little kid. Damn you and your growth spurt. However, you are my baby sister and I'm still reserving the right to kick his ass in if he hurts you."

"That's fine," Dawn nodded with a huge grin. "I told him you'd say that."

The two women hopped off the bed when some picture frames fell off the hallway wall. They gave each other a knowing look and hurried down the stairs to break up the fight they already knew was in progress. When they saw the mess the two men had made of the living room, Dawn stomped her foot and Buffy stood there with her hands on her hips.

Spike had his arm around Angel's neck, trying out something that looked like a wrestling move, "Just because you're a poncy eunuch doesn't mean the rest of us should be. Bloody hell, Angel, let the girl and me have some fun. Don't see why it's any of your business anyway."

Angel tossed him off his back and threw a bunch at the other vampire's nose, "Do not call me a eunuch."

"'Kay then," Spike ducked the punch, picking up an antique vase to throw at the other vampire. "How 'bout neutured? Spayed?" His eyes went wide, narrowing in on an even better insult in his mental thesaurus. "Unsexed!?"

He chucked the vase at Angel's head with a swift movement, but Buffy stepped between the two of them and caught the object with slayer grace. "Spike, would you care to explain why you are throwing five-hundred dollar vases around my house just after I have agreed with Dawn? Cause right now I'm really thinking about changing my mind again."

The two vampire looked at her and simultaneously asked, "What?!"

"I have decided," Buffy said as she placed the vase down on the coffee table, "I can't change my sister's mind so why bother trying. She loves you than, as strange as it may be, I can't step in the way of your relationship."

Dawn threw her arms around Buffy as she came into the room, "Isn't she the best sister, ever?"

Angel looked at Spike and placed his hand against his forehead, trying to ward off the headache that he knew was coming. "You can't be serious."

"I am. But just as long as they go light on the PDA's cause I'm still trying not to retch when I think of you both together." Then she turned her narrow eyes towards Spike, "And I already told my sister that if you hurt her I'll kill you. Make sure you remember that."

Spike stood there too surprised for words. This wasn't like the slayer he thought he would have to deal with and for a moment thought it might be a trick. Then Dawn kissed his cheek and although Buffy made a small gagging noise, the slayer didn't make any sudden and violent moves towards him. "I won't hurt her, Buffy. Don't think I rightly could. I'll remember our promise, I'll keep her safe."

It was the most sincerity Buffy had ever seen in his eyes and she couldn't help herself from smiling. Then, covering the grin up, she took another look around the destroyed room and began handing out chores. "You boys wrecked the place, you get to clean it up."

She handed Spike a broom from the closet and couldn't mistake the annoyed frown on Angel's face. Dawn and her hopped onto the couch and dug into the bag of chips Dawn and Spike had been eating before.

"Spike's the one who started it," Angel pointed out, "He should have to clean it up."

"Oh hush," Dawn popped a potato chip into her mouth, "She just likes to see you do house work. I used to read her diary about how good your muscles when you were sweeping up the old mansion." Buffy nearly pushed her sister off the couch with that revelation, but Angel accepted her comment and got to work. The girls laughed and watched their boys straighten up the room. There had been a lot of new changes in their love lives, but all in all it was a good thing.

.END.