Disclaimer: See chapter one.
A/N: Wow guys thanks for the reviews, and I promise that Spike will be making his appearance soon! Don't worry I'm a die hard spuffy fan too :O)
Chapter two: A turn for the better
Buffy regretted setting her alarm as soon as the shrill ring of the clock woke her from her dreamless sleep. After seeing her sister stay home and sober for all the night before, Dawn had for some reason assumed that Buffy's lifestyle was going to take a turn for the better, thus persuading her to set her alarm early like she did ten months ago. Buffy had to laugh out loud at that; unless Dawn had somehow come up with another way to numb the ripping pain that losing Spike had caused the slayer, she would continue to live her life the way that she felt was best to take her mind off of her platinum vampire.
Unfortunately, this way of living was frowned upon by everyone else.
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Dawn Summers was excited. The teen felt that she had managed to get through to Buffy the previous night and was hoping to finally spend the day hanging out, having coffee and maybe even doing some shopping together by taking advantage of her raise at work. It would be almost exactly like old times and spending some quality time with her sister was something that she had wanted to do for a while now.
Upon hearing the sound of the alarm clock in Buffy's bedroom, Dawn smiled and waited for the slayer to come out so that they could discuss the day's events. After ten minutes had gone by, the younger sibling frowned and went to see what was wrong. She sighed when she saw that Buffy had just rolled over and was sleeping soundly once again.
"Buffy!" she shouted and she heard a muffled groan come from the bed, followed by Buffy's tired voice,
"What?" she groaned, annoyed. Dawn took an opportunity and pushed her sister off of the bed. Buffy stood up, obviously angry,
"Hey! Can't you see I'm sleeping here?"
"Buffy, it's ten O clock, you should be getting up now anyway…I was thinking that maybe when you're dressed we could do something together like, I dunno, shop or go see a movie?" Buffy raised her eyebrow,
"I'll tell you what, you go with Corey and I'll stay here on my own…I could do with some quality time with Buffy right now" Dawn sighed,
"It's Rory, and you've had months of time alone"
"Yeah, well I need some more. Just go" Dawn realised that she was getting nowhere and sneered,
"You're pathetic, do you know that?"
"Just go" Dawn gave her sister a look and strolled out of the apartment, leaving Buffy once again alone with her thoughts…and alcohol.
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Hours later, a half-drunk Buffy; dressed in a short, brown leather skirt and white spaghetti strapped top was on her way to her usual bar. Upon entering she was met by the sneers from most of the women and sniggers from the men who, she assumed, would try every pick up line in history to get her into bed. Sighing dramatically, the slayer plopped ungracefully down on one of the bar stools and ordered her first two tequila shots of the night.
She was just about to down the second shot when a tall man who Buffy guessed was in his mid thirties came and sat next to her. He smiled enthusiastically,
"Darren" he said and she smiled sweetly,
"Buffy"
"I know…" he said, "…I'm a friend of Paul's"
"Who?"
"Paul, y'know week before last you two got it on" Buffy rolled her eyes; she remembered nothing of this Paul. Darren continued,
"So, can I get you another drink?" Buffy gulped down the tequila shot and held it up,
"Another couple of these please"
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Dawn opened the door to the apartment and sighed when she noticed that Buffy wasn't there. 'So much for taking a turn for the better' she thought as she took off her jacket and sat on the sofa with a magazine, she was just acknowledging herself on the latest news about Britney's pregnancy when she heard a soft knock on the door,
"Coming!" she called, rushing over to let the visitor in. Her mouth dropped open and the magazine fell from her hands when she saw who it was;
The first, wearing Spike's body was stood in the doorway. Dawn narrowed her eyes,
"What the hell do you want?" Dawn could have sworn that the first looked surprised at the hostility that she was showing it,
"Look, bit…"
"Don't call me that!" she screamed, "Nobody except Spike calls me that nickname!" The first looked confused,
"What's going on Dawn? I am Spike" Dawn's anger only grew at this statement,
"You are not Spike! Spike is dead…" tears began falling down her reddened cheeks as she spoke,
"…and you can look like him right down to the colour of his eyes but you will never, ever be him" she began to sob uncontrollably,
"I am Spike, now invite me in and I'll prove it to you" Dawn sneered,
"Nice try"
"Well you come out here then" Dawn narrowed her eyes and paused for a moment, before cautiously walking out of the apartment and into the hall,
"Go on then…" she whispered, "…prove it" there was a short pause before Dawn felt two cool, strong arms wrap around her and pull her into a silent hug, and the teen sobbed when she realised that it was indeed Spike. Pulling away from him, she didn't know what to say so she was relieved when he spoke first,
"How have you been?"
"I've been okay; I have a boyfriend and a job…"
"A boyfriend?" Dawn laughed, this was definitely Spike, no-one else could be this protective of her when it came to boys,
"Yes, his name is Rory and he's fully respectable" Spike nodded and decided that he couldn't hold off his next question any longer,
"What about your sister? Does she have a boyfriend?" Dawn took a deep breath and shook her head. Telling Spike about the state that Buffy was in would do nothing but ruin the moment. She walked into the apartment,
"Buffy's not home right now she's…busy. Come in" Spike walked over the threshold and into the small apartment.
"Do you want anything? I'm sorry we don't have any blood" Spike shook his head,
"No thanks, I ate about an hour ago so I'm good" The two ex best friends sat opposite each other at the kitchen table and there was a silence before Dawn spoke,
"So…what happened? Buffy said you burned up down in the hellmouth and now you're here…"
"Even I'm not too sure about that myself, all I know is that after the big fight I somehow became trapped in that amulet, nineteen days later I woke up in the crater that used to be Sunnydale" Dawn frowned,
"But it's been ten months, why didn't you come here straight away?"
"Well, for the first six months, I was incorporeal. I couldn't touch or move anything so I physically couldn't" Dawn nodded,
"And then what happened?"
"Well I decided that the only person that could help me was the person I hated the most, Angel. So after a lot of arguing and persuading I managed to convince him to do a spell that made me solid again, after that it was just a case of building up the courage to come back to you and Buffy"
"How did you know where we live?"
"I annoyed Angel so much that he told me just to get me to go away" Dawn chuckled but stopped when Spike asked his next question,
"So when will Buffy be back?" Dawn froze. It was almost two in the morning; Buffy usually came home about now. Dawn took in a deep breath and let it out again as she thought about the state that Buffy would be in when she returned home, most likely with yet another drunken man.
"Uh…I'm not sure, maybe…" she stopped when she heard the sound of Buffy's key in the door.
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