Karma: I'm back finally! No, aliens did not abduct me, finals just overwhelmed me, but I'm back now. Thank you for the reviews! I love them! They make me feel all special inside! Please keep reading and reviewing!

Dawn followed Buffy and Willow as they searched for Willow's girl friend Tara. Dawn liked Tara. In Dawn's opinion, Tara was the only one who didn't treat Dawn like she was a little kid. Dawn stared at the college campus in awe. She had heard stories about it, but had never actually stepped foot on the campus.

In her father's opinion the University was evil, so he had banned her from going near it. Spike had been afraid that if the Initiative learned about Dawn, they would experiment on the only known child of two vampires. He had only been lucky that Dawn had been with Clem when he had been captured.

Dawn had been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed that they had reached a little bookstore across the street from the campus. Tara was standing just outside of it, waiting for them.

"Hi, Dawnie." The blonde witch greeted.

"Hey, Tara." Dawn said enveloping her in a hug.

Tara smiled. "W-willow, I have to go t-talk to one of the c-counselors about something."

Willow nodded. "Okay, I'll come with you, Sweetie." She looked at Buffy who nodded.

"Go ahead, Willow. Dawn and I are fine." Buffy reassured her.

The redhead nodded and left with her girlfriend. Buffy turned to face Dawn. 'This is going to be a long day.' Dawn however, was looking at the books that were in the window. "Do you want to go inside?" Buffy asked her.

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, I want to show you something. Daddy's going to kill me, but eventually he'll understand." Buffy stared at the girl, somewhat confused. "Oh, come one." Dawn pulled the slayer straight to the poetry section at the back of the store. Immediately she began looking for a particular book.

"Dawn, what are you looking for?" Buffy asked her trying to be helpful.

The brunette ignored her. Suddenly, she smiled and pulled a book off of the shelf, and began flipping through it.

"The Best Unknown Poets of the Nineteenth Century? What do you need to show me that's in this book?" Buffy asked confused.

"This." Dawn said smiling as she found the page she was looking for. "Read this page."

Buffy took the book out of Dawn's hand and began to read:

"My soul is wrapped in harsh repose,

midnight descends in raven-colored clothes,

but soft...behold!

A sunlight beam

cutting a swath of glimmering gleam.

My heart expands,

'tis grown a bulge in it,

inspired by your beauty...

effulgent."

Buffy's voice caught in her throat as she finished reading it. "Oh my God, that was beautiful. Who wrote that?" Dawn smiled and pointed to a name at the top of the page. 'William Crawford.' "Your dad?" Buffy breathed.

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, he wrote it for a woman he was in love with when he was human. Her name was Cecily, but when I was looking through a book at Giles' house, I read about a vengeance demon named Halfrek who went by the name Cecily in the late 1800's. But I never brought it up to my dad."

Buffy nodded, still lost in the words of the poem. 'It's so beautiful. Who knew Spike could write like that? But it wasn't Spike though, it was William.' Buffy thought for a moment. "Does your dad still write poetry?"

Dawn shook her head. "No, but he reads it though. Sometimes I'll catch him reading Romeo and Juliet, or a book of Shakespeare's sonnets. He's always loved Shakespeare. Mum once said it was the only human weakness he had. Then she said there were burning baby fish swimming around his head, so I'm not really sure what she meant."

Buffy nodded slowly, and was about to ask Dawn another question when her cell phone rang. "Hello?"

'Hello, luv.'

Buffy smiled. "Hi, Spike. How did you get this number?"

'Peaches gave it to me.'

Buffy nodded. "Oh." She felt uncomfortable. Since the dream, she wasn't sure how to act around Spike. "So, why are you calling?"

Spike laughed. 'Not in the mood for games today, eh Slayer?' He paused. 'I just wanted to see how Dawnie's doing.'

Buffy nodded. 'Of course. Why else would he be calling?' "She's fine, she's right here. Do you want to talk to her?"

'Sure, Slayer, put her on.'

"Dawnie." Buffy motioned to the girl. "Your dad's on the phone."

Dawn smiled. "And why would he be calling you? How did he get your number?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Dawn, do you want to talk to him or not?"

The girl quickly grabbed the phone. "Daddy?"

'Hi, Bit.'

"Are you in LA?"

'Yeah, got in right before sunrise.'

"Grandpa did know you were coming, right?" Dawn asked him. Spike had been known to just show up on Angel's step with out even telling him he was going to be in town.

'Yes, Dawn, he knew I was coming. He called me to come to town.'

Now Dawn was interested. "I didn't know that. What did he call about?"

'Dawn.' Spike said frustrated. 'I'm not going to tell you.'

"Dad, why do you insist on treating me like a little kid? I'm not one, you know." She said angrily.

'Fine, Bit, do you really want to know why I'm in LA?'

"Yes."

'Your mum's in town.' He said quickly.

"Mummy?" Dawn asked quietly.

'Yeah, Bit, I'm looking for her.'

"Are you going to stake her?" Dawn asked.

'Dawn.' Spike started. Obviously this was a conversation they had had before.

"Daddy, you aren't going to let her live after what she did to me, are you?" Dawn asked, fear evident in her voice.

'Dawnie, let me settle on finding her first, alright.'

Dawn nodded. "Okay, Daddy, just promise me you won't take her back."

Spike froze. 'Dawn, I wasn't planning on it.'

"I know, just promise me." She insisted.

'I promise, luv. Baby, I gotta go.'

"Okay, tell Grandpa and mum that I love them."

Now Spike was confused. 'Baby, you just said-'

"I know what I said about Mummy, that doesn't mean I don't love her."

'Alright, Dawn, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?'

Dawn nodded. "Okay, I love you."

'Love you, too, Bit.' Dawn handed Buffy the dead phone.

"Did you know why Daddy was in LA?" She asked her. Buffy nodded slowly. "He's not going to take her back, right?"

Buffy looked at Dawn. That was the last thing she had ever expected Dawn to ask her. "I don't know, Dawn." She answered truthfully.

Dawn nodded in understanding. "Um, did you still need to register for classes?" Buffy nodded, and they walked across the street to the campus.

An hour later, they met up with Willow and Tara. Willow was looking at the list of classes that Buffy had signed up for. "Poetry?" She looked at Buffy who shrugged.

"I had some inspiration today." Buffy said, leaving out exactly whom her inspiration had been.

Willow nodded, and they began to walk back to Buffy's house.

More soon, I hope... The more you reveiw, the more I write, so reveiw!