CHAPTER FOUR
Dawn knew Spike was watching her dance. After leaving her the night before, Spike had struck out at the demon clubs so her suggestion of going to the big post-final party was voted as the next best step for their mission to find Gavin. They decided to risk including Spike again since he might recognize the demon the fastest. She, Faith, and Willow had been doing the gal pal dancing while the boys stalked the perimeter trolling for incubi. So far, it didn't look like they were going to have any better success than the last two nights.
The music turned slow and the group of women broke up to go find their respective partners. Dawn hauled Spike out onto the dance floor. "See anything?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said, and she held her tongue about that not being true. She knew he was seeing nothing but her and she liked that.
"Too bad," she said, putting her head on his shoulder.
Spike held her close as they moved. She didn't think he was looking for Gavin any more than she was. That was so bad. She opened her eyes and saw Angel not far off, glaring.
"Angel looks mad," she said, gesturing at the vampire.
"That's his normal state," Spike said dismissively, and started dancing her towards the periphery. Angel met them but said nothing. "Peaches, just go cut in and peel your boy away from Faith if you don't like it."
Angel just curled his lip at Spike and Dawn saw he was still watching Connor and Faith. Dawn wished she knew what was bugging Angel so much; was it that they weren't really into their jobs; or that even though he was Faith's biggest supporter, he didn't want a murderess dating his son; or given what happened the last time Connor got close to a woman, he was trying to keep the poor kid on a shelf? Dawn knew better than to get involved and knew Spike didn't.
Sure enough, he slowly waltzed her back out onto the floor and rubbed shoulders with Faith. "Faith, luv, go dance with Angel. We can't catch Gavin if you're plastered all over our bait."
Faith glared at him but to Dawn's surprise, she let Connor go and dragged, quite literally, Angel out on to the dance floor. Connor drifted towards the bar. Dawn shut her eyes again, tucking her face into the curb of Spike's neck. She wondered if she could get him to stop smoking so she could actually smell him and not his cigarettes.
As she cocked her head up, hoping to sneak in a kiss she saw Connor heading for the door with a tall, red-headed man. "Spike, look!" She pointed.
"Oh shit! Come on, Peaches will die if we let his kid get raped and eaten by Gavin." Spike started pushing through the crowd on the dance floor. "Angel!"
Angel glanced up then Dawn saw his face go dark. She half expected him to morph in full view of everyone. He and Faith joined her and Spike as they tried to get to the door. From somewhere Willow and Gabe moved in to flank them. They burst through the door into the frigid night air. There were no signs of Connor. Dawn felt her heart pounding. She didn't want anything to happen to him but Angel seemed in control. He stalked around the building into the alleyway.
Dawn saw Connor pressed up against the brick near the dumpster French-kissing the guy...or was that how the incubus fed? She didn't know. Angel took one leap, seeming to almost fly, covering the distance, taking the incubus to the ground. Connor sagged, sliding down the wall. Faith and Spike joined Angel in thrashing the demon but Dawn didn't see that Angel needed any help. Willow seemed to be working up a spell that Dawn had no doubt would be big and bad.
Dawn and Gabe darted in and each took one of Connor's arms, dragging him out of the alley. They almost cleared the alley when there was a loud scream and something seemed to explode. Dawn felt the magic buffeting her and unfortunately the huge overhang of snow on the roof. It cracked ominously and let go. Before Dawn or Gabe could move, they and the barely conscious Connor, were avalanched.
Dawn found herself on top of Connor under the heavy snow. She sat up slowly, having to push hard against the snow. Someone was brushing her clean. She smiled at Spike who was digging her out. "I came how close to having my tombstone reading 'killed by snow'?"
"Not funny, Bit. You okay?" He helped her stand as Angel lifted Connor up out of the snow. Over Spike's shoulder, Dawn saw Willow and Faith helping Gabe up.
"I'm cold," she said honestly as the snow soaked through her flimsy clubbing clothes.
Spike pulled her to him. "Sorry I don't generate much in the way of heat. How's the kid, Peaches?"
"I don't know. Connor?" Angel asked, trying to steady his son, having gotten him on his feet.
"My head hurts," Connor moaned, leaning his forehead against Angel's shoulder. "What happened?"
"We were about to ask you that," Faith said.
"I think maybe we ought to get to our vehicles before Dawn, Connor, and I catch our deaths," Gabe said.
Angel started half pushing, half carrying Connor along to the parking lot. "Do you remember anything, son?"
"You and Faith were dancing and I went to the bar to get a better view of the dance floor. Someone tapped my shoulder and when I turned around there was this guy there with these weird grey eyes. That's all I remember," Connor said as Angel stowed him in Faith's car.
"You almost got eaten," Spike said. "You were good bait after all."
Connor eyed him evilly and Dawn pulled the vampire into the back seat with her before his mouth got him in trouble Faith squeezed in with them as Angel drove but looked like she wanted to sit in Connor's lap and make him feel better. Dawn shivered uncontrollably from the dousing of snow she took. Maybe it would have been warmer to ride home with Gabe and Willow in his truck but then she'd miss out on Spike's arm around her.
When they got home, she jumped in the shower to warm up while Angel and Faith fussed over Connor who really looked like he didn't want fussed over. For her part, she liked Spike fussing over her and when she came back downstairs in her decidedly unsexy but warm tartan flannel PJ's, he had a big cup of hot chocolate waiting for her. He stowed her next to Connor and Faith in front of the fireplace, which Gabe had stoked up high.
"What happened to the incubus?" she asked as Spike settled next to her. "Was it your old friend?"
Spike nodded. "It was Gavin. We...um exploded him."
"I think he exploded himself," Willow said, from her perch on the couch. "Incubi can lose their corporeal forms as a mechanism of escape, sort of like a lizard and its tail."
"But it'll be a long time before he can become corporeal again," Gabe said, "And I would expect him not to show up here when he does."
"We didn't get a good clean kill shot in before he pulled that trick." Faith eyed Angel who sat on the couch with Willow. "Angel was too busy making Gavin's head one with the asphalt."
"He touched Connor," Angel said, simply. Connor looked almost sad somehow and Dawn wondered at that.
"Well, at least he's gone," Dawn said. "And we can concentrate on other things...like the holidays."
"Yes, we can," Faith said with a grin.
"I just love it here," Dawn said, holding hands with Spike. He had tamed down his bad boy appearance a little. He still had on the black jeans but he had gotten a wool sweater from somewhere and looked very non-threatening.
Spike looked around the 'Orchid Room.' "Thought you might. There's just something romantic inherent in flowers. Orchids are one of my favorites."
"I wouldn't have guessed that," Dawn said, as they left the multi-hued, delicate splendor of the orchids behind going on to the next room in the Phipps Conservatory.
"It's bad for the vampire image," he replied primly.
"You and your image." Dawn wagged her head, her long hair swaying. "I really liked the stegosaurus topiary in the Fern Room."
"That was brilliant," Spike agreed.
Dawn squeezed his hand tighter. She suspected by now Willow, Faith, and Angel had figured out that she had been meeting Spike various places around the city in the days after they had defeated Gavin. They had gone for a ride on the Incline and had poked around the Carnegie Museum but the conservatory had to be the most romantic place they'd gone. "How'd you even know about this place?"
He smiled at her. "I have my ways."
She squeezed his hand. "I like your ways."
He kissed her. "I was hoping you'd say that."
Dawn paused in front of a huge head in the 'Stove Room.' The statue was grotesque, nothing but a head with bad stone teeth. An indoor 'creek' poured forth from its mouth past the bamboo. "This thing's ugly."
"Bomarzo," Spike said, getting a closer look.
"Huh?"
"The Bomarzo Gardens in Italy are full of creepy shite like this. People like them. I don't get it." Spike shrugged. "I mean I liked them, but I'm...well, evil at the time at any rate."
"And now that you aren't evil?"
Spike studied the big stone head. "I still like it."
"You can be odd, you know that right?" She grinned at him as she pulled him into the next room. The scent of spices filled her nose.
"I like you, too, so does that make me odd?" He tapped her nose.
"Some people would say yes." Dawn threw her head back and took a deep breath in. "This is nice."
"Agreed." He put both arms around her, pulling her closer.
She kissed him. "And it was sweet of you to suggest Connor bring Faith here."
He laughed. "I thought Peaches was going to swallow his face when I did that. Be sure to remind him that this is a great place to hold weddings."
"You be good and quit teasing, Angel." She pinched his side.
Spike danced away. "Luv, a bloke has to have a past time."
"This one is going to get you killed," she scolded.
"Hey, I could still be teasing him about Gabe having a crush on Connor." Spike smirked.
"Last time you did that, we found you tied up inside a snow man," Dawn reminded him, thinking on all the pictures they had taken of him.
The blond shrugged. "It was worth it."
"That wasn't what you were groaning about when we dug you out and I'm not going to stop Angel if you taunt him," Dawn promised, moving on from the 'Fruit and Spice' room.
"And here I thought you liked me." Spike pouted.
She elbowed him. "I do but I'm not saving you from yourself."
"That's from whom I need saving the most." He batted those beautiful eyes at her.
She slid an arm around him. "I don't doubt it. Ooo, look at that." She pointed to the fountain in the middle of the sweet-smelling 'Victoria Room.'
"That poetry thing of mine...this is inspirational," he admitted, looking at the fountain.
"You can play with the fountain," one of the employees keeping a discreet eye on the gardens said. "They're interactive."
"Cool." Dawn yanked Spike along after her. To her surprise, Connor and Faith already manned the interactive controls. "Oops, I think the cat's out of the bag."
"I'm not sure that it was ever in, luv," Spike replied. "Having fun?"
Faith looked over her shoulder at them. "This is great. Come on play."
They all shared the controls to the fountain for a while as the date morphed into a double date. They all ended up heading home, taking bets on Angel's first words when they got home. Spike won the bet. Angel pouted about it so Faith kissed the vampire's cheek and gave him a swat on the backside much to Angel's chagrin. Willow mollified him by shoving a sugar cookie in his mouth before passing them out to everyone else.
"Tomorrow's Christmas eve," Faith said as if it was coming as a surprise. "Gabe and I are going to his church."
That did come as a surprise to Dawn. She knew Faith loved Christmas but to see the Slayer in church, the world might just be ending.
"You're all invited to join us," she continued, putting an arm around Connor's shoulders. "I figured Angel had you programmed as an Irish Catholic, kid."
Connor rolled his eyes. "Right down to the guilt."
"Good, so you'll be with us," Faith said.
"It's open to people of any faith," Gabe said. "All we ask is that if you're not Catholic you don't take the Eucharist."
"I said I'd go," Willow said with a shrug. "I'm all for new learning experiences."
"There's something very romantic about Christmas Eve Mass," Faith said. "Or maybe it's just me. I never had much to do with the church but as a kid we'd go to Midnight Mass and it was always so special."
"I'll go," Dawn said, not really sure about it. Weren't Catholics supposed to be really somber? Well, if Willow could see it as a learning experience so could she. "It could be interesting. How about you and Angel, Spike?"
His eyes widened. "Do you want the church to fall in?"
"It's not like there's going to be holy water....is there?" Dawn looked at Gabe.
"Not enough to do much damage," he replied.
"There goes the reputation," Spike moaned. "I mean, Peaches will go if Baby Broody is going. If I start smoking, you're all going to get it."
"Don't whine," Faith said, swatting him lightly.
Spike snorted and Dawn thought about it. It could be a very interesting or a very bad night depending. She wanted everyone there. Xander couldn't make it now until the day after Christmas, and Buffy was unfortunately still stuck in Scotland with Giles. She needed family and if it meant dragging a vampire to church she was going to do it.