Disclaimer: Still not my characters, though if Joss wanted to give me a Christmas present...

A/N: Thanks again to spikeNdru who showed me how to spell paella g


Chapter 10

Hank stirred the eggs, setting the pan back down on the burner. He ran over to the fridge and grabbed the orange juice, placing it on the table before running back to the stove to take the omelet off the heat.

He wanted a good breakfast for his girls for their first day after can't-leave-the-house-craziness, so he'd left early and gone shopping to fill the empty cupboards. Any reports that he'd heaved a big sigh to be out of the house were a complete lie. Definitely…

When he'd gotten home he'd whipped up more Spanish-themed food, suspecting that it would be better received now that the girls had moved from actively hating him to tolerating his presence and maybe…maybe even wanting him there?

And there were things he wanted too. He wanted Buffy to eat something and then he wanted a hell of a lot more details then he'd gotten last night. He wanted to know more about what his girls did, he wanted to know how the people around her fit in, and he wanted to know what the deal was with Spike. He wasn't blind. It was obvious something was going on between the two of them and he needed to know why it didn't matter that the guy was a vampire, or what that even meant. He wanted to know how Willow fit into the equation and why the slightest mention of magic made her flinch.

Buffy came in through the door and Hank began Operation Find Out More by placing a steaming plate of Ouevos Rancheros in front of her. Buffy looked a little surprised, but then hunger got the better of her and she began to dig in. Hank smiled. She was hungry! Phase One complete. Begin Phase Two.

"Buffy, sweetie, I was wondering if you could clear up a few things for me. I still don't completely get this slayer thing."

Buffy's fork stopped on the way to her mouth. Ambushed.

She sighed. If she didn't tell him everything, ok, not everything, but as close to everything as possible without having her dad jump in the first car headed to LA to stake Angel followed by a severe Spike-dusting on the way back, he would keep asking until it drove her insane. But she didn't want to. She just wanted him to be okay with it and then…just be supportive dad guy, making really good eggs and helping with the finances. All this interest was a little disconcerting.

She sighed again at his hopeful and patient face. No time like the present…


Hank was clearing up. Buffy had told him what he wanted to know. Everything he wanted to know…almost. She had been spectacularly unclear about Spike's role after he started helping them. "Sort of helping…he's…he's Spike." And she'd quickly changed the subject. Of course the subject had been Angel and he'd noticed her flush and change the subject once again. Hank really wanted to know why both vampires got a glossy history. Well, he suspected he knew why Spike did. His mind skidded to a halt and swerved nicely into the lush and fertile valleys of Denial. However he wasn't sure about Angel.

He had also wanted to talk to Buffy about teaching Dawn to fight. When Spike had brought it up he had thought it was a really good idea. After all, it was clear that Dawn got into trouble as a result of her sister's profession. A lot. So what better way to protect herself then to know how to fight. But Buffy had said no. Adamantly.

"She doesn't need to know how to fight! I'll be there to protect her."

"Buffy, if I have this clear, you died." Hank was having trouble with that part of the story. He focused on his argument.

"That's not the point! Look, if Dawn knows how to fight it'll give her more excuses to sneak out and wander around. I want her safe, not seeking out trouble."

"So you don't trust Dawnie?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then why—"

"Dad, this isn't up for discussion! I know how to fight demons and I don't want my sister doing it!"

Buffy had run off to work, promising that they would talk more after her job interviews the next day. "At places that didn't reek of potato, pickle, and beef!" she'd laughed before rushing out.

So Hank had a new plan. Operation Make Buffy See That Dawn Needed Training as well as a sub operation that fit nicely with the initial goals…

Dawn finally wandered into the kitchen and Hank placed the plate he'd been keeping warm in front of her.

She smiled slightly. "Thanks…dad."

"Eat up, sweetie. I have something I want to ask you."


Spike stared at her. "Are you insane?"

Dawn grinned. "C'mon, Spike."

"Crazy. You're crazy. Bug-shaggin', round the bend crazy."

"I don't see why this is such a big deal."

Spike looked incredulous. "Because!"

"Because why?" Dawn asked innocently.

"It's a big deal because…because Big Bads don't have supper with the fam."

Dawn folded her arms. "You had 'supper' with me all the time."

Spike glared. "You're different, Bit."

"So what's wrong with having dinner with Buffy and my dad too?"

"Because I don't fancy a staking!"

"C'mon! Buffy'll behave. Dad wants you there."

Spike looked more surprised. "This was his idea? What's he playing at?"

"Spike, not everyone is out to get you."

"Bit, last time your father and I spoke he accused me of…it wasn't a pleasant conversation."

Dawn pulled out the big guns. Her eyes suddenly got bigger, lip poutier, and Spike groaned. Puppy eyes. It had to be the puppy eyes. "That's not playing fair, platelet."

Dawn grinned internally, making her eyes wider and waterier. "C'mon, Spike…for me?"

Spike tried one last burst of stubbornness. "What does he even want me there for?"

"He wants to talk to you. Get to know you because we're friends. Also," Dawn grinned wider, "he wants to talk to you about training me to fight." She frowned. "I think he also has some theory that you and Buffy are together." Dawn rolled her eyes.

Spike frowned, ignoring the last remark. "He's okay with it? Me teachin' you to fight?"

"Yeah, but Buffy's not. When he brought it up she just said no and then changed the subject."

Spike saw images of Buffy staking him, and not in the fun "ooh, Spike you're so evil, I want to stake you but I can't resist your sinister attraction" way. "I dunno, platelet."

Dawn's eyes watered for real. "But, Spike! You promised!"

Spike crumbled. When it came to his Bit he was the biggest pushover in the history of pushovers. He was going to dinner at the Summers' to make nice with a man he hated and conspire against the only woman in town who could make his life more difficult then she already had, all because the Nibblet had big eyes and a trembly lower lip. Big Bad his arse.

"Should I bring anything?" he grumbled, resigned.

Dawn grinned hugely, throwing her arms around Spike, who tried his best not to smile. It was much easier when he pictured Buffy's response to him being there. They hadn't really talked since…the alley. He wasn't sure how this would play out.

He stopped worrying and grinned, picturing just how uncomfortable she would be trying to make nice for daddy. Sod Buffy. He was doing this for his Bit, and if she wanted to make good on her promise to pay more attention to Dawn then she could put up with it.


Buffy whistled as she walked home from work. The prospect of an end to hamburger-hell made working there a whole lot easier. Job interviews tomorrow, and providing she didn't screw it up, she could quit the Palace and never have to wear orange again. Ever. She didn't care if it was the new pink.

She wandered through Restfield, contemplating going to see Spike. They really did need to talk…she gave his crypt wide berth. She had absolutely no idea what to say. "Sorry I pounded your face into the pavement" just didn't have a great ring to it. Maybe "thanks for watching over my sister" would be better. But until such time as she could string a coherent, and not inane, sentence together, she was better off giving him some space. After all, he hadn't approached her either. Space.

Buffy strolled up Revello Drive, happy to have a bit of alone time. She remembered vaguely her dad mentioning that he was cooking tonight. She thought back to the eggs this morning, hoping for something equally as good that contained neither beef nor chicken.

She opened the front door and walked in. "Hey dad, hey Dawnie! I'm h—" she stopped dead in the dinning room, eyes resting on the scene before her. A smiling Hank sitting at the head of the table and a grinning Dawn to his left. A sheepish Spike sitting at the foot of the table and a place laid out for her on the right.

"—ome."


Buffy tightened her jaw, picking away at the paella in front of her. This couldn't get any worse. She hadn't said a word all evening and her father kept giving her worried glances, like she was falling back into the uber-depressed state of his arrival. Nope. Just super uncomfortable.

First, Spike. He seemed to get along great with her dad, after some initial uncomfortableness. Buffy still didn't know what to say to him and he didn't seem to know what to say to her. And Dawn kept throwing the odd dirty look her way, although Buffy wasn't sure what she'd done to earn that. Of course, Dawn wasn't sitting there, picking at her food. She and Spike were cracking jokes and giggling. And Dawn was getting along with her dad! What was going on? Buffy felt very out of the loop.

Spike was enjoying dinner, despite himself. He was chatting his Bit and her dad, who may be a wanker, but at least he was trying. Spike still seethed at the thought of all the things this man had put his girls through, but he was willing to act the part for the Nibblet. The one bum note was Buffy. She just sat there, staring at her food. And for the life of him he didn't know what to say, which was disconcerting to say the least. Anything he would normally do or say to snap her out of it wasn't fit for mixed company. And he wasn't really sure where their relationship, ha!, stood at this point. They hadn't been alone together since…

Hank was speaking to him. He snapped out of his daze. "Sorry, mate. You'll have to repeat that."

Hank smiled. "I was just wondering what your place in the group was? Buffy was a little unclear."

Spike flinched. So this was what he'd been invited for.

Buffy looked up sharply, wondering what Spike would say. She felt a wave of anger. C'mon, Spike. Tell them what you do, or who. See if you can come back for paella. She immediately felt something akin to guilt, but clamped down. How dare he fit in better with her family than her?

Spike smirked at Hank. "I help out when I'm needed. Sometimes they pay me, sometimes not."

Hank looked confused. "But Buffy told me vampires were evil."

Spike's smirk grew. "We are."

"But then, why do you help them?"

Spike's smirk faltered. "Well…"

Dawn cut in. "Dad! Rude much?"

"I'm sorry sweetie, Spike, I just…I want to understand." He smiled encouragingly at Spike.

Spike was thrown. Not accusing, not judging, just…curious.

"Well, I help out when the slayer needs me. I can't kill humans so I've got bugger all else to do." He flinched at how that sounded.

"Why can't you kill humans?"

"I—"

Buffy finally cut in. "At least you're not trying to make it sound noble."

Spike glared at Buffy. So this was how it was going to be.

"Spike can't kill because the government put a chip in his brain which fries him every time he thinks about getting a bite. He helps us when it suits him. Basically, he's a soulless creature, dad."

Spike looked down at his plate.

Hank looked shocked. "Buffy! He's our guest!"

"No, don't worry. Slayer's right. Soulless, evil thing."

Dawn glared at Buffy. Buffy glared back at Dawn. Spike glared at his food.

Hank sighed. It was going so well until Buffy jumped in. He shouldn't have asked Spike at dinner. Now he'd never get to probe for information about their relationship. Dawn had told him he was crazy, but the glint of hope in her eye was enough to tell him that she didn't think it was too crazy.

Hank looked around the table. What a mess. Everyone was glaring at something. He was fairly certain that Spike's paella would spontaneously combust. And if Dawn had anything to do with it, so would Buffy. There was nothing that could make this worse.

The doorbell rang.

Buffy looked relieved. "I'll get it," she said, practically bolting from her chair.

Spike's shoulders slumped. "If you don't mind, I'll skip dessert."

Dawn opened her mouth to convince him to stay, but stopped when her eye caught the opening door.

Riley.