A/N : Thanx so much to; vanillagigglez, Moonjava, Mita427, bella-lover, Brunettepet, demonica mills, sheilamarie, Dark Drusilla, LisaMR, xmadbrilliant, star2421, Xtremely-Canadian, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, EMBER91, katie, spuffygrl, amy, and Moluvsnumber17 - you all rock entirely for taking the time to review my story. So everyone seems to think Dawn is Buffy's daughter. All I can say is it's fun to see you all guessing, but the truth will only be revealed during the story, I'm not giving anything away til the plot leads us there - aren't I cruel? lol. But I'm updating today, so I can't be that bad, right?
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 6 - Awkward Conversations
Spike knew he should say something. Despite the fact the distance from his place of work to the High School took just ten minutes to cover in the car, he and Buffy had spent the last six in silence, and not the comfortable kind.
"You okay, luv?" he asked her, eyes flitting from the road to her face for just a moment, "You're awfully quiet there"
"Sorry" she shook her head, bringing herself out a daze "I'm fine" she assured him, though it was an outright lie. Her mind was in over-drive thinking about the child she'd come to Sunnydale to find, the one that might walk right past her in a matter of minutes and she wouldn't even know about it.
"I feel like I've given you half my life story over the last couple of days but I still don't know anything about you" Spike said as casually as he could " What's your story, pet?" He hoped that had come out okay. It sounded fine in his head, but had he just made an idiot of himself by actually saying it?
"Kinda boring really" Buffy shrugged "My parents split when I was sixteen, Dad left the country a little while after and I haven't seen him since" she explained, staring out the window the whole time "Mom died three years ago now, which would have left me pretty much alone except I had Xander. He's really been more like a brother to me than a cousin"
Spike spared her a look and nodded that he understood what she meant. Willow and Oz had been more than friends to him, more or less family when he needed them so badly. He knew Dawn saw them as an Aunt and Uncle really.
"No blokes about then" Spike pressed to make conversation "other than your cousin"
'Smooth Spike, really smooth' a voice in his head taunted, 'You stupid bloody poof, do you want to come off sounding desperate!'
His mental argument finished just in time to park the car straight, outside of Sunnydale High, and to catch Buffy's highly uncomfortable expression.
"Sorry, none of my business" he said quickly as he shut the engine off and they waited for the kids to come out of the school.
"It's okay" Buffy told him, knowing she'd made him feel bad when it really wasn't his fault. She'd only had two major relationships, if you could even count one of them as that, and both had ended so badly, it was really the last thing she wanted to talk about right now.
"Er, tell me if this is another bad question" he said next and she turned to look at him, since now they'd stopped moving it seemed silly to keep staring out of the window "but, how come you came to Sunnydale? I mean, it's hardly a place you move into unless you have family here or something"
"It's sort of complicated" she told him, "and I can't really explain it all right now"
It was weird but a part of her really wanted to tell him, there was just something about this guy, she thought he might understand. Besides he was really quite attractive and he'd been so nice to her so far...
"Hey" a voice by the open window made her jump slightly from her thoughts.
"Hey there, Nibblet" Spike grinned at the girl standing by the car, "Good day at school?"
"Not bad" the brunette shrugged, and Buffy realised this must be Dawn, especially when the kid stuck a hand at her and announced, "Hi, I'm Dawn Giles"
"Hi" Buffy smiled, shaking the girls hand, "I'm Buffy, Buffy Summers"
"Oh, the blonde from the ice-cream parlour" Dawn recalled, shooting a look at her father who shot his own one back and told her to hurry up and get in the car. If the clouds were anything to go by they were about to have a downpour, unusual for Sunnydale but not wholly unheard of.
Dawn scrambled into the back of the car and put on her seatbelt as Spike put the car in gear and pulled away from the kerb.
"Those girls give you any more grief today, Dawnie?" he asked his daughter as they drove along.
"Nah, it was cool" she shook her head, and Buffy watched her in the rear view mirror. The brunette noticed and decided to make conversation with her Dad's new friend, "Hey Buffy, did you like High School?"
"Er, yeah, I guess" the blonde was kind of surprised by the question and not at all at ease when it came to answering, "I suppose everyone has their good times and bad times"
"Were you popular?" Dawn wanted to know, "Like a cheerleader or whatever?"
"Yes, actually, I was" Buffy frowned, looking at Spike who sighed.
"Dawn" he called into the back of the car, "Give it a rest with twenty questions, eh pet?"
"I was just making conversation" she said grumpily, folding her arms over her chest and pouting like a child at least five years younger than she was. Sometimes when she behaved that way, she reminded Spike of Drusilla. His princess would sulk something chronic when she didn't get her way, though that hardly ever happened, he could deny her nothing.
"Could you stop here?" Buffy broke his train of thought and he pulled over by a large apartment block. The rain was coming down pretty fast now and Buffy prepared to run from the vehicle to the shelter of the building, "Thanks for the ride and for helping with the job" she said with a grateful smile.
"You're very welcome, pet" Spike assured her, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow"
"You will" she nodded, "It was nice to meet you Dawn" she called into the back as she opened the door and ran.
"You too!" Dawn yelled behind her as Spike leant over to wind up the window that was letting in rain-water, one eye watching Buffy dart into the apartment building. With a sigh he pulled the car away from the kerb and headed for home.
"So that was Buffy, huh?" Dawn asked innocently as she could and Spike smiled a little when he replied.
"Yeah, that's Buffy"
Down the street, the blonde they spoke of peeked her head out of the apartment block and saw the tail lights of the car disappear around the corner. As soon as she was sure Spike and Dawn were gone she ran out into the pouring rain and darted down the street to the motel. Though it wasn't all that far, it was raining hard enough that she got soaked through, but it was all worth it. Getting a job was worth it, and as stupid as it was after just two days of acquaintance, Buffy felt like Spike was worth it too.
"Come on then" Spike sighed as he and Dawn came into the house, "Out with it"
"Out with what?" she pretended not to understand as she pushed the hood of her jacket off her head and dumped her school bag on the floor.
"With the reason for why you were so quiet in the car" he said as if it were obvious, "and don't you tell me it's cos Buffy was there cos even after she got out the car you were still little miss quiet-as-a-mouse" he pointed out "It's just not like you, pet" he was frowning slightly now as he sat down on the sofa and she came to join him. He didn't like it when she was quiet, it meant something was wrong. In that respect she was very like him, and it always made him stop and think how she'd turned out so like him and Dru, when technically she was not their child at all.
"I was just thinking is all" the girl sighed, looking at the carpet, "You like Buffy, right?" she chanced, glancing over at her father who tilted his head thoughtfully.
"Sure" he nodded slowly, "She's a nice lady"
"Yeah, I get that" Dawn agreed, picking at the nail polish on her fingernails, "But you really like her...don't you?"
It was only when she stressed the 'really' like that and gave him a look that he realised what she meant.
"Ah, do I really like her..." he repeated the question as more of a statement as he considered it.
He knew it was true, that he was beginning to like Buffy that way, even though he'd known her for a ridiculously short amount of time, but did he want Dawn to know that? Should he tell his daughter what he was feeling before he even told the woman he was having the feelings about? Well, let's face it, who else would he tell?
"Dad?" Dawn pressed, when he still said nothing and ran a hand back through his bleached hair.
"Dawnie, I don't know what to tell you, sweetheart" he said honestly, "You're not completely wrong when you say I like Buffy, cos I think I really do..."
She looked away then and he winced. It probably hurt her to know that a woman other than Dru could mean anything to him, but he was still a man and he was attracted to women, his wife's passing didn't mean he was dead too.
"Hey" he said, reaching hand out to her shoulder and urging her to turn and face him again, "The last thing I would ever want to do is upset you, Little Bit" he promised her, "But you deserve honesty, and that's what you'll always get from me"
"I know" she forced a smile as she nodded in agreement, "and I think it's great that you might have found someone, y'know like a 'your age' person" she told him.
He smiled at that but it wavered when a tear crept down her cheek.
"Then what's this about?" he asked, wiping it away for her. She sniffed into her reply.
"I dunno" she shrugged, "I think, I just...I miss Mom" she admitted, more tears running down her cheeks as she gave in and cried. Spike pulled her to him and hugged her tight, as she buried her face in his shoulder. He rested his chin on top of her head and fought his own tears as he tried to comfort her.
"I miss her too, Dawnie" he told her as he rocked her gently, "Every day, I miss her"
"Hey Buff, you're soaked" Xander frowned as his cousin entered his room at the motel. He was sprawled across the bed reading as Buffy dripped her way towards him.
"State the obvious much, Xand?" she half-smiled, rolling her eyes as she realised he was half way through an X-men comic, "I'm gonna take a shower, but I have news to give you first...I got a job!" she grinned and without thinking the brunette leapt up from the bed and hugged her tight, getting his shirt soaked in the process.
"That wasn't a good plan" he said, as he pulled away from her and looked down at the wet patch on his front. Buffy just laughed.
"You change whilst I shower, then we can do the whole 'all about my new job' thing, 'kay?"
"Sounds like a plan" her cousin agreed as Buffy disappeared into the bathroom and he rifled through the newly filled closet for a clean shirt.
Half an hour later they were sprawled out in either direction on the bed, as he explained about the job he'd got at a construction site just outside of town where a new housing estate was being built. Then it was Buffy's turn and Xander began to realise as she talked about her day that a vast amount of her story included the name Spike.
"So, this Spike guy" he said casually, "Do I get to meet him?"
"I dunno" Buffy shrugged, looking down at her hands, "Why would you ask that?"
Xander grinned at her attempted innocence.
"Er, cos you mentioned his name like twenty times in as many minutes" he told her.
"No way!" she argued, shoving him in the shoulder, though she was smiling because she knew he was right.
"Way" he countered, just like when they were kids "You're allowed to like him, Buff" he told her when she kept her eyes down almost guiltily, "There's no law against it"
"He asked a lot of questions, Xand" she sighed, "I don't think he meant to but...there was so much I couldn't answer, even though I kinda wanted to"
Xander reached out a hand to her shoulder in a comforting way and she looked up with tears in her eyes.
"Hey, I know you came here for a reason Buff, and I know you don't have stellar history with guys" he sympathised, "but there are some nice ones out there. No-one's saying you gotta marry Spike or whatever, but if you like him, that's okay" he told her.
Buffy managed a smile at that as she reached for the hand on her shoulder and took it in her own.
"What would I do without you, Xand?" she asked, "You're my strength, you've never let me down" she couldn't continue as she burst into a mixture of happy, sad, and confused tears. Her cousin sat them both up and pulled her into a hug.
"What can I say?" he sighed, "I'm one of a kind" he joked gently, pleased he got just a slight laugh out of her, amongst all the sobs that wracked her body. He really hoped that if she had fallen for this Spike guy, that he'd treat her right. After Angel, and then Riley, she deserved a good guy.
"Do you think we'll find her, Xander?" Buffy broken his train of thought, her voice too weak to be her own, he thought as she spoke. He'd half wondered if the tears had been all about the guys in her life, or if someone else was the cause.
"Yes Buffy" he told her, "No matter what else happens, no matter what it takes" he said, moving to see her face when he made the vow, "I promise, we will find the baby you had to give away"
To Be Continued...