As they
entered Wolfram & Hart Dawn tried to wrench herself out of
Angel's hold, but his hand kept a firm grip on her upper arm. She had
been right. From the moment his surprise wore off he had been railing
at her. Lecturing her on the dangers of roaming the city alone,
asking her where Buffy was. It didn't really matter because she had
been tuning him out the whole time.
At first she had tried to
walk away from him, but that was when Angel had seized her and
refused to let go, insisting that he take her back to his place so he
could keeping an eye on her until he reached Buffy. Dawn was seething
anger. Where did he come off, thinking he had a right to play her
personal babysitter? At seventeen she felt she didn't need a
babysitter. Especially not him.
Finally, She whirled around to
face him. "Angel, Let go of me!"
He didn't even
look phased by her outburst, just kept leading her down the
hall.
"Who do you think you are?!"
"Dawn
-"
"Let go of me!" Angel dropped his hand be
stayed blocking her escape route. At least he no longer had a death
grip on her. "Why did you drag me here anyway?!"
"I'm
not letting you out of my sight until I call Buffy."
Dawn's
eyes widened a little in fear. Buffy would kill her if Angel made
that call. She decided her only option was to beg. Dawn put on her
best puppy dog face and pleaded, "No, don't call Buffy. Call
Willow, anybody besides my sister. You don't know how angry she'll
be. Buffy might actually kill me. Please, call anyone but
her."
Angel's features softened a little when he heard
the slight trembled of Dawn's voice, but he had to call her sister.
"Dawn, I have an obligation -"
"You don't have
an obligation to do anything!"
Spike stretched
out on the bed in his new suite and grabbed a book off his bedside
table. Even after a century he couldn't quell his love of the written
word. Very few people knew of his desire to read every book in sight.
Only Buffy was aware of that little secret. He might not have even
told her if Buffy hadn't caught him at it. It was something he had
even kept from Dru. Now that Buffy was gone he didn't plan on letting
anyone else close enough to find out. He might not have even told her
if Buffy hadn't caught him at it.
He missed her, missed her so
much that it was sometimes almost unbearable to exist without her.
But he had made his choice. Buffy deserved to live her life to the
fullest. How could she do that if he just suddenly decided to pop in
and say, "Hey, I'm not dead." It would upset her, throw her
now peaceful world out of whack. He couldn't ever do that to her. He
loved her too much.
And yet, she had said she loved him. Spike
didn't believe her. He knew she cared for him, but love. No, it had
just been something that she had said in the moment, because he was
about to be a pile of dust. That was all it had been. And Spike was
fine with that. He got to go out as a hero, saving the world and all
that rot, with the girl he loved finally able to be proud of him. Not
a bad way to go.
Spike shook off all the thoughts of Buffy
that decided to assault his mind and tried to read his book. He might
have actually accomplished the task but just then he heard yelling
right outside his door. Not just any yelling either, it was Peaches
and some bird. Very interesting.
Hopping off the bed, Spike
silently made his way to the door to get a better listen. Whoever
this girl was she really didn't like Angel, that was for sure. As
the seconds rolled by and the woman's voice escalated higher, Spike
began to recognize it. He should have been able to tell who it was
sooner, but that didn't really matter because he knew who it was
now. Still he just had to see her to believe it.
Swinging open
the door to his suite Spike found Angel and a woman standing with her
back to him. He knew it was her. Only Summers women smelled like
that. "Niblet?"
