Dawn awoke the next morning in her bed with the covers on her. The first thing she noticed was that her arms and feet were bare, she cringed as she lifted the big blue comforter a bit to look at her body. "Oh, Thank God" she said when she saw that she was fully-clothed and that just her jacket and boots were removed.

She slowly got up and looked around her room, everything looked the same. Her head hurt. A scenario played in her mind. Maybe, just maybe, she had got hit on the head while at the Bronze and Angel took her home, but the memory of seeing the love of her life for the first time in 5 years was left burned on her brain. Perhaps it was a dream, she thought, perhaps it was her subconsious yelling at her for leaving Sunnydale. She needed answers, but her head still ached so she settled on coffee for now.

Her roommate, Jen, was already up and making lots of noise as she made her breakfast. "Good Morning, Dawn!" she said in a chipper voice.

Jen was a cute blonde with light brown eyes. She was also one of the back up singers to Hell's Angels. The rest of the band thought she was too cheerful for such and dark band but Dawn had known her since she moved to Sunnydale and Jen really was a good singer, plus she was the only one of her old friends who didn't freak when Dawn told her who she was, probably because she was still in denial.

"No, Bad Morning!" she said with a groan trying to be cute.

"Oh, sorry, what happened to you?"

"You mean, you don't know?!" Dawn seemed to be going hysterical.

"Nope, you were already out cold when I came home. Didn't have the heart to wake you." Jen said with a shrug, not understanding Dawn's distress.

"Great!" she said sarcastically, as Jen gave a blank stare.

"But don't think I didn't see the hottie!"

"What!"

"That guy, black leather, pale skin, icey eyes, but oh my gosh, a bit too much peroxide, don'tcha think?."

"What!" she said in disbelieve.

"His hair, and the black nail polish, so over!"

"No, Jen, how did he get in here?" said Dawn looking urgent.

"How do you think, though the front door, stupid."

"But if you weren't home..."

"I didn't say that!"

"What?!"

"I was about to unlock the door when he came up the stairs..."

"And you invited him in?!"

"Yea, of course, what was I gonna do just leave a guy holding my best friend unconsious in the hallway!"

"So, he is back." Dawn said in a whisper.

"What?"

Dawn seemed to awake from a trance "Nothing." she said shaking her head. She walked across the bright living room to her bedroom and in a second she was fully dress in a pair of jeans, a slightly oversized "Sex Pistols" t-shirt tied at the end with a hair clip, and her favorite ass-kickin' boots. She walked over to the weapons chest and slipped a stake into her back pocket. Jen looked confused.

"Where are you going, vamps don't come out at 8:30 in the morning."

"No...", she flipped her hair to one side, slightly grazing her 5 year old bite mark, "...but I'm about to make a house call." she said as she stode out the door.

As she was walking the streets of Sunnydale a memory came upon her. She remembered her sister dying, remembered everyone leaving her, then she remembered Spike and that enraged her to a point with no end.

Flashback Dawn was on Spike's bed crying as she heard his motorcycle speed away into the darkness. She could still smell him on the sheets. Sobbing, she fell alseep.

The sun seemed to hurt her eyes as she woke up. She looked at the clock, 7:45. Giles had to be up by now. She picked up the phone, dialed the number, the voice mail came on.

Hello, this is Giles. I'm not available at the moment so please leave your name and number and I will try to respond as soon as possibe. Thank you She hung up the phone, something didn't feel right. She picked up the first outfit she could find and made her way to Giles' house. When she arrived she knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again. Nothing. All of a sudden she remembered where Giles' spare key was. She opened the door, everything was in its place.

She walked over to the phone, there was a note. It said "Dawn" on the envelope, so she opened it up.
Dearest Dawn, I'm so sorry, there is no excuse for this note except the fact that I've always hated long messy good-byes, so I thought it best if I'd leave quietly. I trust that Spike will take good care of you.
Love, Giles

Dawn could feel the tears swell in her eyes. She pressed her back against the wall and slowly slid down it. She was all alone. She wept till after dark. Later on that night, Dawn heard the door open and shut, something inside told her that it was evil in a supernatural sense, but instead of freezing where she was and hoping someone would come to her rescue, she quietly moved towards the weapons chest and pulled out a stake. She slowly rose to her feet. "Ahem." she said. "Would you mind not breaking and entering." The man turned around, it was a vamp, he growled at her and lunged. Dawn kicked him in the face and dropped him to the ground. She felt this feeling of well-being sweep over her like she was finally right where she was supposed to be, in battle. She dusted him, doing exactly what she was meant to, slaying.
End of Flashback

The rest of the thoughts that came into her mind walking to the cementary were about, slaying other demons, training by herself, contacting Angel, starting a band as a creative outlet but mostly importantly, her lack of emotion outside of music. This brought her attention to Spike and she suddenly realized she was approaching his crypt. She stopped, took a deep breath, and marched on.

Spike was in his sitting down, thinking about a time when Dawn didn't cloud his mind, though he bought a lot of it the night before he didn't need alchoal to make him feel drunk. He had love. He decided that if he had any chance of winning his Nibblet he had to think about her not as the little girl who had admired him but as a Slayer, his enemy. Just then he heard a raging heartbeat coming to his direction, he knew it was Dawn.

Dawn kicked open the door. Spike just looked at her and said, "Slayer, what a pleasant surprise."

"Shut up, you bastard!" she said in an almost primal voice. This shocked Spike a little to hear his sweet little Nibblet say such things but then he remembered his plan. Dawn's mind seemed to be playing ping-pong for control over her. He's just a soulless vampire you've staked a million of them. Yeah, but how many loved you, you stupid bitch! Just jump in his arms say you love him and beg for forgivness! No, that would giving in you can't show weakness like that, your his enemy! Show him who's the real big bad! She decided who won.

She walked over to him, boot heels clicking with every step. Spike smirked at Dawn knowing that she would be putty in his hands in a moment.

"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, what a naughty little girl." He stroked her hair and tucked it behind her ear, caressing her scar. She winced as if in pain. He licked her neck then moved up nibbling at her earlobe.

"Please don't" she said in a tiny voice.

"Oh, no, why not." His fingers moving up and down her arms slightly rubbing her shoulders. He could feel her heart racing, blood pumping, it made him hungry and in a few seconds she would be begging him to take another bite. She grabbed his shoulders, as she let out a quiet whimper.

All of a sudden, she pushed him to the wall, plunging the stake into the right side of his chest. He screamed in pain. "Because I'm not a little girl anymore." Looking him right in the eye, she pulled and then turned around

Spike's depostion changed drastically he knew that because they had feelings for each other but were afraid to admit to them, they would always cancel each other out which made silly games pointless. He knew Dawn knew aswell by the realizing look about her. Then, Spike realized the stake was still in his chest. He pulled it out with a groan.

She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. "Okay can we not do this."

Spike sat down and picked up his bottle of Tequila. "Couldn't agree with you more, pet." he said holding his chest where the stake had been.

"Stop it with the nicknames alright. I'm not your Nibblet, or luv, or pet, or anything like that. I'm a grown fucking woman." she said mockingly.

"Done a lot of fucking, have we?" Spike smiled looking back at Dawn.

She groaned with another eye roll. "Not that its any of your business. But..." Her voice changed to a excited tone as she started to sound a bit like her old self. "...,yes! Lots and lots of fucking, oodles of fucking with many different greatly-endowed guys. Every night since you left, in fact. Oh, and the oral pleasure, so pleasing! Yep, one big orgasmathon" Dawn knew she was rambling but she was hoping Spike was buying it. The truth was she was still a virgin, since her big emotional shut down she was unable to feel a thing for anybody.

Spike looked hurt. But then snapped back with "Oh, good for you. Yep, me too, lots of fucking, all blondes, of course." Hoping to make her feel jealous by comparing her to her sister. She did. But her twinge of jealousy was short-lived when Spike winced again from the pain of his wound. Dawn looked concerned.

"Is that still hurting you?"

"A bit." Spike said as he winced again.

"Here let me take a look at it."

"No thats quite alright. It'll heal."

"Just let me see it" she said trying to move his arms away from his chest.

"No! No!" he started to giggle.

"Ah ha! You're ticklish." she said proudly. Then she straddled him and started tickling him avoiding the wound in his chest.

"No! Please don't! NO!!!" Spike couldn't stop laughing. He tried to push her away but her Slayer strength was too strong for a weak ticklish-all-over Spike.

"Say my name, bitch!" she yelled as she tickled faster. "Say it!" She started to tickle even faster.

"Dawn! Dawn! DAWN!" Suddenly, hearing exactly what she wanted to hear, she stopped. Then they took a look at themselves. Dawn hands were behind his back in a hugging position, Spike hands however were pressing against her breasts, but the most awkward thing about their position was where Dawn was sitting and what was under her. She immediately got off of him and moved to a nearby chair. An silence swept over the both of them after ticklefest, so they decided to make small talk.
"So you like the Sex Pistols." Spike said pointing to her t-shirt.

"Yeah, love 'em, thanks to you." she smiled

"Nice to know I've past on a legacy." he smiled, too.

"You met my roommate?"

"What, oh, yeah, Jen, right? Nice bird."

"She's a blonde, ya know? Any fucking thoughts I should know about?" Dawn giggled.

"No, a bit too perky for my taste. Already had a bad experience with one. 'Member Harmony?"

"Yeah, no kidding! I don't which was worse vampire Harmony or human Harmony." They gave a hearty laugh then it trailed off back into the silence.

Then Dawn's face turned grim. "What time is it?"

"'Bout quarter after, I guess, why?"

"Aww, shit! I'm late for work!" she said as she got up and moved towards the door.

Spike looked surprised "Slayers work?"

"Yeah we can't be all bums like Buffy." Dawn said with a smile. "Some of us got bills to pay!" she said in a sarcastic tone. "Well bye."

"Wait will I see you again?" Spike looked up at her with a hopeful. That reminded Dawn of the way she looked when he left. Her anger swelled then softened. As long as they didn't get to close she was fine but she wanted to get close enough to tell him how she felt without flying off the handle because the truth was he was the only man she had ever loved and she didn't want to hurt him or kill him, or maim him, or forget about him but she didn't want to jump in bed with him either. Damn, she was confused. So she shrugged "Sure"

She was about to leave when a thought popped into her head. "Oh and Spike, speaking of Harmony, if you try to get some she-vamp to kill for you and feed you I'll stake you so fast you won't even know what happened till you're dust. Okay!"

"Alright, Slayer, deal." Spike smiled as Dawn waked out of his crypt.

Author's Note: That little tribute to American Pie for my friend Chi. So one last time before she beats me up "This one time, at band camp!"