Chapter 14.
Giles mentally ticked off the items on his list before looking up and greeting Dawn with a wry smile,
"I'm doing Xander's job of making sure you all have the correct weapons, in immaculate condition and nicely sharpened. I hadn't realised how exacting it could be. Xander made it seems so simple."
"Yeah, everyone underestimated just how much Xander did as a Scooby. I think it hurt him sometimes. Buffy, Willow, Tara and Anya, even Oz, you all just got stronger and stronger and he got relegated to 'token' normal. It's hard you know, not being 'special', always the odd one out."
Giles glanced at the list in his hand and said thoughtfully,
"Yes, I should imagine it must be that way on occasions. But with typical Xander loyalty, he never let us realise it. Spike was saying that your 'Ring' clothes have very effective camouflage properties?"
Dawn was wearing a long sleeved tunic, pants and boots in the muddy brown leather. She had strapped a wide leather belt around her waist, hooked through the band of her knife sheath and was buckling another crossways over her chest so that her sword was sheathed with the hilt behind her left shoulder. She slipped a short, thin bladed knife out of sight in her right boot.
"It's not perfect but it helps me hide in the shadows. I'm glad you guys were able to find that reference about Strega's sword. I wasn't sure what I'd seen. Damn thing would have been a nasty surprise."
Giles nodded. When the trio had returned to report everything they had learned from the slavers lair, Dawn had mentioned a sword Strega had unsheathed while she watched through the skylight.
Looking bemused she explained,
"What got my attention was that he was being so secretive about it, kinda examining it but making sure none of the others could see what he was doing. And it had this odd light to the blade. No, more like a non-light; like it was absorbing the light so hard it had a black-beyond-black aura. Oh, I don't know! Maybe .. something similar to a vamp not wearing his game face? Human but un-human? Anyway, if he's capable of worshiping anything other than pain, this sword is it; his God!"
Willow risked a small joke,
"Uh, Dawnie? I do all the babbling in these situations, remember? Cause I'm so good at babbling and all. It's a knack I have and you know, magic aside, I don't have many interesting traits. Besides babbling, that is. "
Dawn grinned back and tried, but not too hard, to sound apologetic,
"Oops, sorry Will. No thunder-stealing intended ok? I couldn't beat the Mistress of Babble in my wildest dreams and I freely admit it!"
"Oh goody, I don't have to turn you into a spotted frog or a .. a .. bottle blond like Spike!"
Dawn gave the bristling vamp a horrified glance and hastily assured the witch,
"Never shall I err again, oh great magical one! And other general grovel-y, boot-lick-y stuff."
Giles suppressed a grin and interrupted before said bottle blond vampire had a chance to display his displeasure in terms offensive enough to cause mayhem and disruption.
"If you two have quite finished with the 'Abbot and Costello' routine?"
Two blank faces stared at him and he sighed,
"Never mind; Spike can educate you both later. The sword does sound as if it could be magical and some of us need to hit the books and do a little old fashioned research. Angel? Adanar? Willow?"
Reluctant nods all around and a smirk from Spike,
"Makes peroxiding the hair seem like a smart move to me! Hey Charlie, feel like a game of pool somewhere alcoholic and dusty-tome free? Niblet? Slayer? And don't we make a most fetching foursome! Right then, let's take Peach's car and I'll drive. Bye nerds."
Dawn was brought back to the present by Giles reminding her,
"Any weapon with an ego poses a deathly serious threat Dawn. Please remember how vital it is to keep as great a distance from it as is humanly possible."
"Shouldn't that be a worse than deathly threat, Rupert? And don't us non- and un-humans share the same potentially deadly threat?"
Spike winced and hastily amended,
"Strike the word 'potential' from that sentence! Just reminds me of all those weeks trapped in that Slayer St.Trinians' Hell-U Sorority House still makes me think about playing with pointy wooden sticks or rubbing them together to make fire!"
"I find I favour swan diving from London Bridge myself when the memories won't go away. If you survive the jump, the first swallow of River Thames would finish you off quite rapidly."
Mused Giles; earning a grin from Spike and a 'whatever' shrug of the shoulders from Dawn.
The Watcher recollected himself and continued,
"It would be a help to know the strength of the ego of course, but we must assume that is incredibly powerful. It is the weapon of a Samarian paladin and therefore to be suspected of being the recipient of ancient experience and knowledge. Be very careful, all of you. Both individually and collectively you are probably the best warriors of light remaining in the world today and not one of you can be spared."
"Why Rupert, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. I'm quite touched."
Spike's banter barely disguised his surprise or his pleasure, but he tried.
Digging Dawn in the ribs with his elbow and speaking sotto-voiced he sadly informed her,
"Better tell the Slayer our poor old Watcher 'ere 'as all the signs of senile dementia, pet. Bleedin' sad, isn't it? Hey, how'd you reckon my chances at securing his place on the Watcher Council then?"
"Well you do have a wealth of experience on your side."
Dawn told him thoughtfully before shaking her head regretfully,
"But does being William the Bloody, part of the Scourge of Europe and Spike the Slayer of Vampire Slayers make for a topC.V? I think you might score a little too high on the 'Most Wanted Dead' un- dead list to get the job."
"Oh. Too over-qualified, am I luv? Shame that."
From her seat out on the low wall dividing the patio from the neat garden Buffy watched them chatter together and tried not to feel left out. It was odd seeing Giles exchanging what appeared to be pleasant banter with Spike and seemingly having no trouble accepting Dawn's sudden reappearance as a mature adult. Her vamp-sense tingled and she glanced to her left and was unsurprised to find Angel coming towards her, moving slowly and cautiously without the use of the walking stick that had replaced the crutches he'd used earlier.
"Hey, look at you! Getting about under your own steam; must feel good?"
He returned her smile and settled next to her on the wall. He too frowned at the sight of Giles and Spike seemingly at ease together.
"It's still going to feel wrong not being part of the action tonight. I thought Giles and Spike were still at the 'deadly enemy' stage? Didn't Giles try and set Spike up to be dusted?"
"Robin's mother was the Slayer Spike killed in New York; that duster of Spike's was hers. Giles kept me busy while Robin lured Spike into a trap and tried to kill him. It's weird seeing them like this, all friendly."
Angel heard a note of sadness in her voice and caught a hint of wistfulness in her green eyes as she watched the blond vampire and felt the sting of jealousy towards Spike.
Buffy cut into his thoughts as she said softly,
"He wouldn't accept my apologies for not trusting him with the Wolfram and Hart thing. Not that I can blame him, but I am sorry. I should have trusted him; and you."
Angel sighed and gave her a rueful smile,
"I guess I'm a better actor than I thought; Spike, Gunn and the others were all fooled too. I was treated to an intervention. Don't worry about it on my account. I know how it looked; how it had to look."
"An intervention huh? I got kicked out of my own home!"
"Ooh, ouch. Guess I didn't have it as rough as you."
They sat in companionable silence and waited for the expected phone call that would call some of them to battle.
Dawn glanced at the clock and frowned, Adanar and Gunn had volunteered to set a watch on the warehouse and to call them if and when the slavers made a move. Giles noticed her worried look and said softly,
"It's not fully dark Dawn, so the slavers won't be out and about yet. I have every confidence in both Adanar and Gunn. They are too intelligent to take chances with their safety. I must see Willow and make sure she has everything she needs."
Spike waited until the Watcher was out of earshot before taking advantage of an opportunity to speak to Dawn.
"I've been meaning to catch you alone Bit, but haven't managed to do it till now. I know the timing's not the best but .. I thought you and me were friends, but you don't seem to want to know me anymore. Is it because of what I tried to do to Buffy? Because I still feel lousy about it and always will, but it all got sorted and she .."
Dawn shook her head,
"Well duh, I kinda figured that out. It's not like the two of you bothered to hide it from what I heard. Where did you guys manage to find any privacy in a house full of baby Slayers; in the broom closet?"
Spike ignored her grin and persisted,
"So why am I being treated like such a total stranger then? I'm sorry I let you down, promising I'd never let you get hurt again and taking off just when you needed .."
"Hey, you didn't know Willow was gonna carry that whole Gothic-black-veiny-evil-witch thing too far, none of us did, so don't beat yourself up over coulda-shoulda okay? It was because .. man this is gonna sound so lame but hey, I was only fourteen and lame went goes with the teenage angst routine."
She rolled her eyes and told him, with some embarrassment,
"When Buffy came back it was like you didn't need to take care of me to keep you in with the Scoobies anymore and I felt like I was 'Dawn who?' And like everyone else, I didn't have a clue why; what with the two of you disappearing for hours and hours, sneaking around. Lame, I already said, but it hurt and not only did you break my heart, you even had the bad taste to prefer my sister! I mean puh-lease, what were you thinking? I was so way better everything than Buffy, you know!"
The blond vamp was staring at her, open-mouthed and shocked speechless so that she had to giggle before taking pity on him. Dawn patted his cheek softly and said in a kindly, almost maternal voice,
"Don't take it to heart Spikey, I'm like totally over it now. I didn't mean to ignore you; it's just been hectic with slavers, Buffy, Giles and the whole Willow issue. Once we get this dealt with there'll be heaps of time to catch up. Although I'll have to go and spent a few weeks with Buffy of course; but I'll be back. Adanar and I have decided to stay on here and work for 'Angel Investigations'. But I haven't had a chance to tell Buffy yet, ok?"
Spike gathered his wits,
"Never meant to ignore you Bit and I'd never use you like that on purpose. It was just … Things were so crazy; I was crazy but I never meant to hurt you pet, not my Niblet. So .. we're good? Friends?"
"Always were; always will be as far as I'm concerned. I'm sorry you felt I was punishing you. Like I said I was only fourteen but now I'm older I understand a lot more then I did back then."
They both turned towards Angel, whose cell phone trilled. It was Gunn and they both joined the others as they set about getting ready to set out for the warehouse and the slavers.
A/N; Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's reviewed my story. Sorry if this chapter has been slow in coming but I've just learned what writers block is all about. The next chapter is already underway.
