Hello, All!
Been a hectic week, Chez Nim (West Coast Version). For whatever reason, my Muse is bopping back and forth between no less than four projects.
Since I made you wait on Meant to Be last week, I decided that was the one to release tonight. I'll be working on a sequel to Trix as well, for the adult content audience. Other than that, I've got an original piece in the works, as well as trying to rewrite a classic, set in the BuffyVerse. Yes, an entire play.
Anyway, I hope that this was worth the wait. The angst is back, but I'm easing you back into it!
Enjoy and feedback is a must!
In Beauty, Nimue "For it is in giving that we receive-
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it's in dying that we are born to eternal life. " - Prayer of St. Francis
Title: Ignorance is Bliss (Chapter Twenty - Meant to Be)
Author: Nimue
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Spike/Buffy (Most major characters included)
Feedback: Yes, please
For instant notification of fic releases, straight to your mailbox, please visit Always_Everyday@yahoogroups.com. Also, please visit Always_Everyday's sister group How to Make a Vampire Sundae for fiction with adult content.
The rest of the story can be found at:
And present chapters are being posted on my live journal at:
Disclaimer: All characters (save for the ones I made up) belong to someone other than me; they belong to Mutant Enemy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel the Series, Fox, WB, their affiliates, lawyers and all sorts of other folks that aren't me. :::sigh::::
Summary: Spike and Buffy enjoy a little private clean-up time. That is, until, their privacy is interrupted by what was once their teenaged fan club.
Ignorance is Bliss
"Okay.. So. Yummm," was all she could come up with to say as the tepid water splashed around her now sweaty form. How one could get dirty, or at least sweaty, in the tub was something that she hadn't quite figured out. But leave it to Spike to find a way.
Spike lounged bonelessly back against the cool ceramic, panting, his hair a mass of tangled curls. "Redefines good, clean fun, doesn't it, Love?" His tongue pressed against his teeth and he smiled a devious little smile.
Buffy had no choice but to return it. Not only was he too sexy when he did that, but he was kinda cute too. With his hair curly and unruly and this sly smirk that covered a little boy smile of sheer glee. Not to mention, it was truly difficult to be upset about anything after having not one, but two, mind blowing orgasms in a tub.
He pulled the plug with one foot and the water began draining, but he made no move to leave the little shell of bliss.
"Uh. Done with the bath, right?" Buffy asked, sitting between his legs, chin on her hands on the side of the bathtub.
A water-warmed finger trailed down her back. She turned her head and watched him slide that finger into his mouth and taste it; pink tongue darting out to lick the tip. "Think we might need another. 'Less you want to smell like you just had a bit of a rumble in the bath."
Buffy did her best to smirk and then chuckled. "Bath time bath this time. The rubber ducky clean kind?"
Spike thought for a moment, boyish pout on his face, and then sighed deeply. "I suppose."
Buffy laughed again, leaning back against his chest as he turned the tap on with his talented feet, refilling the bath with warm water. It made her wonder if there was any part of his anatomy that was not clever. Any bit of Spike that wasn't able to impress her.
That thought ended as the bubble bath bottle went flying past her and hit the mirror across the room. "Stupid, sodding."
"That evil elixir of the devil," Buffy finished, getting up onto her knees and retrieving the slick bottle from the floor where it landed. "You know, these things can get wily. A menace to bath time at large."
She pulled off the cap and poured vanilla and rose scented liquid under the water, filling the room with the most delightful smelling steam. A little sexy.
No. This is clean bath, she reminded herself.
"So, Pet," Spike purred, pulling her back down between his legs and wrapping his arms around her as she lay back into his chest. "What do we do for an encore? Don't know if I can top that bit of maritime lore."
Another chuckle from Buffy. "Uh, you always seem to be able to top the last time. But this one's strictly for cleaning, Vamp boy. Take this and start swabbing the decks."
She handed him a loofah, leaning forward and grabbing his ankles, so that Spike could reach every inch of her back. He thought a moment, thinking of how big and bad he really was at this point and decided that his life as a renegade was pretty much over. No more were the days of pillage and loot. Nope. Back scrubbing.
And then she started to moan quietly as he worked the suds into her skin and he rethought the pros and cons of his current raison d'etre. A squirming, moany Slayer, naked between his legs.
Oh yeah. He was still the Big Bad.
That thought was quelled as footsteps traveling at roughly the speed of light thundered up the stairs and the bedroom door flew open. Spike and Buffy both shot bolt upright in their thankfully full tub, waiting, muscles tense. Bodies tight.
"Buffy! Dammit. Spike!"
Dawn.
Before either of them could get out of the tub and locate something more decent, not that they had anything as neither of them were too hurried about the concept of putting clothes on, the younger Summers burst into the bathroom, waving her hand wildly in front of her face to clear the steam.
Buffy sunk lower in the tub, pressing back against Spike. Crap.
"Uh, hi?" Summers-the-elder answered, annoyance in her tone. "And can you get the hell out of the bathroom?"
Spike sat stock still, not quite sure what to do. Getting up was not an option, as not only was he not wearing anything but his lower brain was on overdrive, reminded of his own bigness and badness. Buffy had sunk lower and was now pressed against him, making matters a bit worse.
"No, I can't get out of the bathroom!" Dawn screamed, putting her hands on her hips. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Buffy looked back at Spike without moving. She realized the situation was a bit worse than what could be seen above the heavy suds, and knew that wiggling wasn't going to make it much better.
"S'called bathing, Pet," Spike answered, trying to keep his tone even. "A lot of us do it."
Dawn smirked, hands planted firmly on her hips. "I got a call from Willow," she continued, her voice cold.
Spike nodded. Buffy's head dropped. So, that was what this was about.
The younger girl's voice lowered, her anger turning into fear and sympathy. "Why didn't you call me? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Sort of busy, Dawn," Buffy said quietly, never raising her eyes, her voice becoming hollow. Solemn.
"What? Too busy screwing Spike to ."
"Niblet!" His voice was sharp. Clear. "Enough."
Dawn's eyes flitted to Spike, flames in her gaze. "You should have called."
Buffy looked up, teary, but her voice was more angry. "Last I talked to you, Dawn, you didn't want to hear from us again for a while."
Dawn thought for a moment, remembering her admonishment after picking her sister up from police custody. "Well, I didn't mean."
"You didn't qualify it much," Buffy interrupted. "Besides, there's nothing.. We haven't figured out what to do."
The steam began to clear out of the bathroom, leaving Dawn a better view of what was going on. Yes, they were in the bathtub together. Yes, they were definitely. so they weren't doing the social hot tub thing with the bathing suits and the martinis. But . God.
Spike was covered in bruises of all shades of black and purple and sickly green, stitches over his eye and cheek. Lip split. Eyes dull. Buffy was slumped against him. Shoulders bruised and arms shaking, her hands raw and bloody.
They both looked afraid. Terrified.
"Buffy.. Spike. I.."
Buffy turned her head away from her sister, burying it in Spike's shoulder as he wrapped his arm more tightly around her.
"Niblet, why don't you go to the kitchen and put on some tea, right? Be down in a few minutes and tell you everything, all right?" Spike said calmly, his fingers ghosting over Buffy's back as he spoke.
Dawn nodded numbly, the tableau of how bad things really were painted just for her to see. Maybe she didn't want to know after all.
~~~@~~~@~~~@~~~
Dawn was sitting on the counter, a soup bowl sized mug of tea on one side of her, a bottle of Jim Beam she'd pilfered from Spike's collection on the other side. She'd already doctored the tea and was old enough not to hide it anymore.
Spike walked in, a pair of loose blue sweats hanging low on his hips and a white shirt thrown over his shoulders. His hair was still a tangled mass of curls and he smelled like Buffy. Like roses and vanilla. It made Dawn smile.
"Hey," she said as he made his way over to the cupboard, taking another enormous mug and skipping the tea altogether, pouring himself a generous portion of Kentucky's finest. "Not a good day."
"No." It was simple. Quiet. But that one word made her feel the despair that she'd gotten a glimpse of upstairs. A word full of power and emotion.
"Guess not," Dawn repeated in the same quiet tone, taking a swig of her drink and coughing a little.
The corners of Spike's mouth quirked up a bit. "Aim for a little more tea and a little less rotgut next time, Pet."
Dawn tried to smirk, but didn't feel much like putting in the necessary effort. She took another sip, swallowing smoothly, and set the mug next to her. "Gonna tell me what's going on?"
Spike's head dropped and he ran a hand through his hair. "Short version only, Love. Don't really have it in me to."
"Short version," Dawn agreed, pulling a stool in front of her with one long leg and tapping her foot on the top. Spike looked at her for a moment, so different from her sister and so much the same, and sat down on the offered stool.
"Seems that Rupert and Red got notice of a new little Prophesy 'bout us. Called in the troops from Angel-ville to suss out their take."
"Angel's here?" Dawn said, beginning to bristle. She didn't really *know* Angel. Not really. But she did know that he and Spike weren't best of friends and if there was any Vampire she was backing, he was blond, living in her mum's old house, and sitting four feet away.
Spike shook his head, taking a long pull of whiskey. "No. Watcher Jr. Wesley."
"Faith's old Watcher?" Dawn asked, remembering pictures of a geeky guy in a seersucker suit.
The Vampire nodded. "Though he's a bit rougher round the edges now. Guess losing your charge and spending a few years in the company of Peaches will do that to a bloke."
Dawn laughed. Spike got more and more . Brit. when he got upset. Spike had to smile back at her. It'd been a while since he'd spent any time with her. Even in these less than optimum circumstances, it was nice to have his Niblet's full attention.
"So, Wesley came and." Dawn prodded, taking another sip and grabbing for the whiskey bottle. Spike snatched it away.
"Plan on sleeping here, Love?" He asked, his finger hooked under the rim.
Dawn sighed, shaking her head. "No. Brian's at home in."
"Don't want to know.," Spike interrupted. He knew quite well what Brian was home doing, or recovering from or waiting for. Much the same as what he'd just enjoyed with his own love of his life. But knowing it and hearing it. "Don't get any more of this then, do you?"
"Okay, okay," she conceded, sipping at her now-mostly-tea. "So, Wesley came and."
Spike's head lowered and he swirled the liquid in the cup, watching it whirl around the pale blue painted ceramic. "Sorted out what Rupert and Willow already knew."
"About. about Buffy's baby?" Dawn said tentatively, her face dropping to try and catch his gaze.
Spike nodded slightly. "Our baby," he repeated. "Since I had a hand in it and all."
Guilt swept over Dawn in waves. However, Sunnydale had taught her one good trick. Humour always helped take back the bad. "Don't think it was a hand, Spike."
Red spread across his cheeks in a bright wave. She smiled. He blushed. Dawn made William the Bloody blush. Go Team!
"'Nough out of you, Pet," Spike finally said, recovering from the momentary shock of having what was once his fifteen-year-old fan club say something particularly naughty. "Sure you know more than enough by now, much as I hate to admit it. But let me keep the fantasy that you sit round that apartment of yours playing Scrabble with the boy and sending him to the couch when you're through, all right?"
Dawn smiled, chuckling. "Right. Scrabble. Oh, and s'mores. We eat s'mores. And he sleeps on the porch. Outside. On a chain. And he hasn't found the key to my chastity belt yet."
Spike nodded, a smile spreading. "Better."
"Glad to be of help." She took another sip of tea, watching him take another pull from his whiskey. "Now you going to let me be with the other thing?"
"See your grasp of the Queen's English is up there with your sis," Spike joked, trying not to think about the rest of this conversation.
Dawn wasn't letting him get away with it. "Spike."
He sighed, staring at the amber liquid in the blue ceramic. "Nothing you can do, Love. Not yet."
"What's the plan? I mean, I'm the Key still, right? We can open some dimensional portals and kick some butt or something, right?" Dawn asked, knowing that nothing in life had been that simple in a long, long time. But a girl could hope.
A long moment passed before Spike spoke again. "Not sure what we can do, Pet. Seems that this week's winner of the Prophesy sweepstakes says that the Mite Buffy's. Well, that the dark hats will have some hold on the tot. That she'll be. that she'll want to do us in. Us, Emma.."
Dawn watched it pass over Spike's face like a rain cloud. The darkness. The sadness. Darker than any bruise. Any suture. Any anything. Horrid sadness crushing him right in front of her.
"Spike?" Dawn asked quietly.
He didn't answer at first. "What is it, Nibs?"
"They haven't won yet." It was a simple statement. But so true. So full of truth.
"No, Pet. They haven't," Spike said quietly, feeling a little stronger just for hearing it. "Tried though."
Dawn sighed, hopping off the counter and walking over to her brother-in- law. "What makes you think they will this time?"
Spike nodded a bit, letting her long arms wrap around his shoulders. "Dunno, Love. Just... feel so helpless. Can't even protect the tot properly. Can't even hold her.."
"I know," Dawn whispered, hugging him close. "But you will. Both of you. And we'll win. Because it's what we do. You know. The good guys. We win. We save the World. A lot."
Spike chuckled, kissing her cheek and gently standing Dawn upright. "Go home to your. Scrabble game. Plan your wedding."
Dawn giggled like the little girl Spike remembered, and hopped up and down. "You have to win! I'm putting this off so Buffy doesn't have to wear a muumuu in my bridesmaid pictures."
"Don't you ever say that to her!" Spike joked, punching her arm gently. "I'll never hear the end of it!"
Dawn dodged out of the way, still giggling. She stopped at the back door, becoming quiet for a moment. "Spike, you'll win. I know you and I know Buffy. And you have me. I mean, I may not be all Super-Slayer or hottie- Vampire-fighting machine, but I can still help."
Spike smiled, standing and finishing his drink. "You still think I'm hot, Niblet? Thought that ended years ago." He smirked. One full of effort and charm.
"Vampires," Dawn muttered, shaking her head and letting herself out the back door.
To be contd.
Been a hectic week, Chez Nim (West Coast Version). For whatever reason, my Muse is bopping back and forth between no less than four projects.
Since I made you wait on Meant to Be last week, I decided that was the one to release tonight. I'll be working on a sequel to Trix as well, for the adult content audience. Other than that, I've got an original piece in the works, as well as trying to rewrite a classic, set in the BuffyVerse. Yes, an entire play.
Anyway, I hope that this was worth the wait. The angst is back, but I'm easing you back into it!
Enjoy and feedback is a must!
In Beauty, Nimue "For it is in giving that we receive-
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it's in dying that we are born to eternal life. " - Prayer of St. Francis
Title: Ignorance is Bliss (Chapter Twenty - Meant to Be)
Author: Nimue
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Spike/Buffy (Most major characters included)
Feedback: Yes, please
For instant notification of fic releases, straight to your mailbox, please visit Always_Everyday@yahoogroups.com. Also, please visit Always_Everyday's sister group How to Make a Vampire Sundae for fiction with adult content.
The rest of the story can be found at:
And present chapters are being posted on my live journal at:
Disclaimer: All characters (save for the ones I made up) belong to someone other than me; they belong to Mutant Enemy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel the Series, Fox, WB, their affiliates, lawyers and all sorts of other folks that aren't me. :::sigh::::
Summary: Spike and Buffy enjoy a little private clean-up time. That is, until, their privacy is interrupted by what was once their teenaged fan club.
Ignorance is Bliss
"Okay.. So. Yummm," was all she could come up with to say as the tepid water splashed around her now sweaty form. How one could get dirty, or at least sweaty, in the tub was something that she hadn't quite figured out. But leave it to Spike to find a way.
Spike lounged bonelessly back against the cool ceramic, panting, his hair a mass of tangled curls. "Redefines good, clean fun, doesn't it, Love?" His tongue pressed against his teeth and he smiled a devious little smile.
Buffy had no choice but to return it. Not only was he too sexy when he did that, but he was kinda cute too. With his hair curly and unruly and this sly smirk that covered a little boy smile of sheer glee. Not to mention, it was truly difficult to be upset about anything after having not one, but two, mind blowing orgasms in a tub.
He pulled the plug with one foot and the water began draining, but he made no move to leave the little shell of bliss.
"Uh. Done with the bath, right?" Buffy asked, sitting between his legs, chin on her hands on the side of the bathtub.
A water-warmed finger trailed down her back. She turned her head and watched him slide that finger into his mouth and taste it; pink tongue darting out to lick the tip. "Think we might need another. 'Less you want to smell like you just had a bit of a rumble in the bath."
Buffy did her best to smirk and then chuckled. "Bath time bath this time. The rubber ducky clean kind?"
Spike thought for a moment, boyish pout on his face, and then sighed deeply. "I suppose."
Buffy laughed again, leaning back against his chest as he turned the tap on with his talented feet, refilling the bath with warm water. It made her wonder if there was any part of his anatomy that was not clever. Any bit of Spike that wasn't able to impress her.
That thought ended as the bubble bath bottle went flying past her and hit the mirror across the room. "Stupid, sodding."
"That evil elixir of the devil," Buffy finished, getting up onto her knees and retrieving the slick bottle from the floor where it landed. "You know, these things can get wily. A menace to bath time at large."
She pulled off the cap and poured vanilla and rose scented liquid under the water, filling the room with the most delightful smelling steam. A little sexy.
No. This is clean bath, she reminded herself.
"So, Pet," Spike purred, pulling her back down between his legs and wrapping his arms around her as she lay back into his chest. "What do we do for an encore? Don't know if I can top that bit of maritime lore."
Another chuckle from Buffy. "Uh, you always seem to be able to top the last time. But this one's strictly for cleaning, Vamp boy. Take this and start swabbing the decks."
She handed him a loofah, leaning forward and grabbing his ankles, so that Spike could reach every inch of her back. He thought a moment, thinking of how big and bad he really was at this point and decided that his life as a renegade was pretty much over. No more were the days of pillage and loot. Nope. Back scrubbing.
And then she started to moan quietly as he worked the suds into her skin and he rethought the pros and cons of his current raison d'etre. A squirming, moany Slayer, naked between his legs.
Oh yeah. He was still the Big Bad.
That thought was quelled as footsteps traveling at roughly the speed of light thundered up the stairs and the bedroom door flew open. Spike and Buffy both shot bolt upright in their thankfully full tub, waiting, muscles tense. Bodies tight.
"Buffy! Dammit. Spike!"
Dawn.
Before either of them could get out of the tub and locate something more decent, not that they had anything as neither of them were too hurried about the concept of putting clothes on, the younger Summers burst into the bathroom, waving her hand wildly in front of her face to clear the steam.
Buffy sunk lower in the tub, pressing back against Spike. Crap.
"Uh, hi?" Summers-the-elder answered, annoyance in her tone. "And can you get the hell out of the bathroom?"
Spike sat stock still, not quite sure what to do. Getting up was not an option, as not only was he not wearing anything but his lower brain was on overdrive, reminded of his own bigness and badness. Buffy had sunk lower and was now pressed against him, making matters a bit worse.
"No, I can't get out of the bathroom!" Dawn screamed, putting her hands on her hips. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Buffy looked back at Spike without moving. She realized the situation was a bit worse than what could be seen above the heavy suds, and knew that wiggling wasn't going to make it much better.
"S'called bathing, Pet," Spike answered, trying to keep his tone even. "A lot of us do it."
Dawn smirked, hands planted firmly on her hips. "I got a call from Willow," she continued, her voice cold.
Spike nodded. Buffy's head dropped. So, that was what this was about.
The younger girl's voice lowered, her anger turning into fear and sympathy. "Why didn't you call me? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Sort of busy, Dawn," Buffy said quietly, never raising her eyes, her voice becoming hollow. Solemn.
"What? Too busy screwing Spike to ."
"Niblet!" His voice was sharp. Clear. "Enough."
Dawn's eyes flitted to Spike, flames in her gaze. "You should have called."
Buffy looked up, teary, but her voice was more angry. "Last I talked to you, Dawn, you didn't want to hear from us again for a while."
Dawn thought for a moment, remembering her admonishment after picking her sister up from police custody. "Well, I didn't mean."
"You didn't qualify it much," Buffy interrupted. "Besides, there's nothing.. We haven't figured out what to do."
The steam began to clear out of the bathroom, leaving Dawn a better view of what was going on. Yes, they were in the bathtub together. Yes, they were definitely. so they weren't doing the social hot tub thing with the bathing suits and the martinis. But . God.
Spike was covered in bruises of all shades of black and purple and sickly green, stitches over his eye and cheek. Lip split. Eyes dull. Buffy was slumped against him. Shoulders bruised and arms shaking, her hands raw and bloody.
They both looked afraid. Terrified.
"Buffy.. Spike. I.."
Buffy turned her head away from her sister, burying it in Spike's shoulder as he wrapped his arm more tightly around her.
"Niblet, why don't you go to the kitchen and put on some tea, right? Be down in a few minutes and tell you everything, all right?" Spike said calmly, his fingers ghosting over Buffy's back as he spoke.
Dawn nodded numbly, the tableau of how bad things really were painted just for her to see. Maybe she didn't want to know after all.
~~~@~~~@~~~@~~~
Dawn was sitting on the counter, a soup bowl sized mug of tea on one side of her, a bottle of Jim Beam she'd pilfered from Spike's collection on the other side. She'd already doctored the tea and was old enough not to hide it anymore.
Spike walked in, a pair of loose blue sweats hanging low on his hips and a white shirt thrown over his shoulders. His hair was still a tangled mass of curls and he smelled like Buffy. Like roses and vanilla. It made Dawn smile.
"Hey," she said as he made his way over to the cupboard, taking another enormous mug and skipping the tea altogether, pouring himself a generous portion of Kentucky's finest. "Not a good day."
"No." It was simple. Quiet. But that one word made her feel the despair that she'd gotten a glimpse of upstairs. A word full of power and emotion.
"Guess not," Dawn repeated in the same quiet tone, taking a swig of her drink and coughing a little.
The corners of Spike's mouth quirked up a bit. "Aim for a little more tea and a little less rotgut next time, Pet."
Dawn tried to smirk, but didn't feel much like putting in the necessary effort. She took another sip, swallowing smoothly, and set the mug next to her. "Gonna tell me what's going on?"
Spike's head dropped and he ran a hand through his hair. "Short version only, Love. Don't really have it in me to."
"Short version," Dawn agreed, pulling a stool in front of her with one long leg and tapping her foot on the top. Spike looked at her for a moment, so different from her sister and so much the same, and sat down on the offered stool.
"Seems that Rupert and Red got notice of a new little Prophesy 'bout us. Called in the troops from Angel-ville to suss out their take."
"Angel's here?" Dawn said, beginning to bristle. She didn't really *know* Angel. Not really. But she did know that he and Spike weren't best of friends and if there was any Vampire she was backing, he was blond, living in her mum's old house, and sitting four feet away.
Spike shook his head, taking a long pull of whiskey. "No. Watcher Jr. Wesley."
"Faith's old Watcher?" Dawn asked, remembering pictures of a geeky guy in a seersucker suit.
The Vampire nodded. "Though he's a bit rougher round the edges now. Guess losing your charge and spending a few years in the company of Peaches will do that to a bloke."
Dawn laughed. Spike got more and more . Brit. when he got upset. Spike had to smile back at her. It'd been a while since he'd spent any time with her. Even in these less than optimum circumstances, it was nice to have his Niblet's full attention.
"So, Wesley came and." Dawn prodded, taking another sip and grabbing for the whiskey bottle. Spike snatched it away.
"Plan on sleeping here, Love?" He asked, his finger hooked under the rim.
Dawn sighed, shaking her head. "No. Brian's at home in."
"Don't want to know.," Spike interrupted. He knew quite well what Brian was home doing, or recovering from or waiting for. Much the same as what he'd just enjoyed with his own love of his life. But knowing it and hearing it. "Don't get any more of this then, do you?"
"Okay, okay," she conceded, sipping at her now-mostly-tea. "So, Wesley came and."
Spike's head lowered and he swirled the liquid in the cup, watching it whirl around the pale blue painted ceramic. "Sorted out what Rupert and Willow already knew."
"About. about Buffy's baby?" Dawn said tentatively, her face dropping to try and catch his gaze.
Spike nodded slightly. "Our baby," he repeated. "Since I had a hand in it and all."
Guilt swept over Dawn in waves. However, Sunnydale had taught her one good trick. Humour always helped take back the bad. "Don't think it was a hand, Spike."
Red spread across his cheeks in a bright wave. She smiled. He blushed. Dawn made William the Bloody blush. Go Team!
"'Nough out of you, Pet," Spike finally said, recovering from the momentary shock of having what was once his fifteen-year-old fan club say something particularly naughty. "Sure you know more than enough by now, much as I hate to admit it. But let me keep the fantasy that you sit round that apartment of yours playing Scrabble with the boy and sending him to the couch when you're through, all right?"
Dawn smiled, chuckling. "Right. Scrabble. Oh, and s'mores. We eat s'mores. And he sleeps on the porch. Outside. On a chain. And he hasn't found the key to my chastity belt yet."
Spike nodded, a smile spreading. "Better."
"Glad to be of help." She took another sip of tea, watching him take another pull from his whiskey. "Now you going to let me be with the other thing?"
"See your grasp of the Queen's English is up there with your sis," Spike joked, trying not to think about the rest of this conversation.
Dawn wasn't letting him get away with it. "Spike."
He sighed, staring at the amber liquid in the blue ceramic. "Nothing you can do, Love. Not yet."
"What's the plan? I mean, I'm the Key still, right? We can open some dimensional portals and kick some butt or something, right?" Dawn asked, knowing that nothing in life had been that simple in a long, long time. But a girl could hope.
A long moment passed before Spike spoke again. "Not sure what we can do, Pet. Seems that this week's winner of the Prophesy sweepstakes says that the Mite Buffy's. Well, that the dark hats will have some hold on the tot. That she'll be. that she'll want to do us in. Us, Emma.."
Dawn watched it pass over Spike's face like a rain cloud. The darkness. The sadness. Darker than any bruise. Any suture. Any anything. Horrid sadness crushing him right in front of her.
"Spike?" Dawn asked quietly.
He didn't answer at first. "What is it, Nibs?"
"They haven't won yet." It was a simple statement. But so true. So full of truth.
"No, Pet. They haven't," Spike said quietly, feeling a little stronger just for hearing it. "Tried though."
Dawn sighed, hopping off the counter and walking over to her brother-in- law. "What makes you think they will this time?"
Spike nodded a bit, letting her long arms wrap around his shoulders. "Dunno, Love. Just... feel so helpless. Can't even protect the tot properly. Can't even hold her.."
"I know," Dawn whispered, hugging him close. "But you will. Both of you. And we'll win. Because it's what we do. You know. The good guys. We win. We save the World. A lot."
Spike chuckled, kissing her cheek and gently standing Dawn upright. "Go home to your. Scrabble game. Plan your wedding."
Dawn giggled like the little girl Spike remembered, and hopped up and down. "You have to win! I'm putting this off so Buffy doesn't have to wear a muumuu in my bridesmaid pictures."
"Don't you ever say that to her!" Spike joked, punching her arm gently. "I'll never hear the end of it!"
Dawn dodged out of the way, still giggling. She stopped at the back door, becoming quiet for a moment. "Spike, you'll win. I know you and I know Buffy. And you have me. I mean, I may not be all Super-Slayer or hottie- Vampire-fighting machine, but I can still help."
Spike smiled, standing and finishing his drink. "You still think I'm hot, Niblet? Thought that ended years ago." He smirked. One full of effort and charm.
"Vampires," Dawn muttered, shaking her head and letting herself out the back door.
To be contd.