DISCLAIMER: Nope not mine. I wish but it ain't going to happen anytime within my lifetime.

SUMMARY: This piece was inspired by a pair of role-playing groups I have been a part of. It explains some of the posts I made in the beginning.

DEDICATION: This is dedicated to Kit and Drew. Without them, the groups never would have happened and this story couldn't have come to be.

May 28, 2003

Spike and I have reached Salina, KS. It doesn't seem all that much different from Sunnydale in some ways. There's only one club that kids my age can go to. It's not even a good club. Some of the older folks call it Romper Room, but the actual name is Rumors.

Spike and I showed up out there about eleven tonight and the place was packed with cops driving through the parking lot every so often.

While we were inside, Spike thought about settling down here. It seemed to be an overall quiet town. Not a lot of demon-like activity.

"What do you think of this place, bit?" he asked me, leaning in so that I could hear him over the music.

"It's quiet. Kind of. A little like Sunnydale used to be. The most trouble that ever happened there, that anyone knew of before Buffy, was the occasional runaway."

"Yeah. The folks back there were a bit on the naïve side until big sis came along and woke them up to what was truly going on."

"I just don't know if we should stay or not. A few days should decide it." I was ready to stop for a while and the longer the better in my eyes. I just wanted to set up some new roots. You know what I mean. Put Sunnydale and those I lost behind me.

I think we'll stay in the hotel where we are for now. We need to find out if this would be a place we can stay or not.

June 5, 2003

We're running again. Demons found us in Salina last night. I can't believe it. We were so careful. We didn't do anything to draw attention to ourselves but they found us.

I fell asleep crying when we got back to the hotel only to throw everything into the car and take off. I cried for a good 100 to 150 miles before I fell asleep with my head in Spike's lap.

As I drifted off, I heard him tell me with a catch in his voice, "You're safe, bit. I'll find a place where you'll be safe forever. I promise."

June 6, 2003

We made it to St Louis, MO tonight. I can't believe we're running again. I was ready to settle down in Salina. It was a nice place. Not overrun with demons and no sign of a Hellmouth.

When we arrived exactly I don't know. Spike carried me inside while I was still asleep. I woke up a while later to a nightmare about them finding us.

We had just woken up. It was about nine at night and we knew that Spike couldn't go outside just yet. We were just waiting for the sun to finish going down.

Suddenly, from the other side of the hotel we heard screaming. Spike stood back as I threw open the curtains to see five or six demons staring in the window.

I screamed. I couldn't help it. These things were even uglier than the ones that came to Sunnydale just as Buffy came back from the dead last time.

I just knew that this was it. I wouldn't be able to stay here. The demons had found me and I wasn't going to be the cause of this town meeting the same fate as Sunnydale.

Spike grabbed me and threw me out of the way as the first one came through the window. I ran into the bathroom and shut the door. It was the only way in or out of that room. I would be trapped if Spike was beaten but it was there that I felt the safest.

It seemed like forever before silence filled the room. Suddenly, there was a knock on the bathroom door.


"Bit? Are you ok?"

I threw open the door and saw Spike standing there all beaten up and bloody. It reminded me of the time that he had helped me home after Buffy died the summer we lost Mom. He fell to his knees and I went to mine in front of him. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close. We scooted back into the bathroom and kicked the door shut.

He put his head in my lap and relaxed for a few minutes before looking up at me. "Dawn, I'm sorry. We have to run again."

"I know," I whispered. I didn't want to but we had to. Apparently, we were in danger here again.

We both got up and packed what little we had, loaded it into the car and left before anyone even noticed we were gone.

It had been a long night. We drove fast, breaking all the speed limits. Spike acted as if he couldn't put enough road between them and us.

He looked over at me after a couple of hours of driving hard and fast to see the tears running down my face. "Bit, I'm not mad. Not at you anyway. Those demons are persistent. I just bloody well want to find a place where we don't have to run anymore."

He reached out a hand and pulled me in close. I snuggled into his shoulder and started crying again. He just held me as he pulled off the side of the road.

When we had stopped, he pulled me close and buried his face in my hair as we both cried for a little while. Until both of us were worn out between the fight and the flight.

What are we going to do now?