A/N : Thanx muchly to the latest reviewers; Moonjava, Baby Girl Geller-Green, funkydevil206, Ape18, Mita427, SiriusSpikeLover, demonica mills, kim, Moluvsnumber17, alba's room, katie, EMBER91, bella-lover, Brunettepet, and spuffygrl. You all rock, and I love all your ideas about what might happen! Here's hoping you continue to enjoy this story as it progresses.
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 13 - Family Values

Monday morning came too soon and Buffy knew she was going to have to face Spike at work. She was at least grateful he wouldn't be giving her a ride to work since she and Xander had managed to get the papers signed, the money paid, and their few belongings into the new apartment late on Sunday. It was going to take a little while to fix up their new home, but Buffy and Xander had found the last tenants had left the place in pretty good shape and thankfully it came fully furnished without being astronomical in price. Xander was pretty certain there was a catch somewhere, this great place for so few dollars, but until he found out what that catch was he planned to not worry about it much.

Buffy was too worried about Spike to have time to think of anything else, hence the reason she almost went to work in a pair of shoes that didn't match at all and a wrongly buttoned blouse. Thankfully Xander noticed and she sorted herself out before leaving for the office.

Getting in early she hurried through the main office and shut herself away in her own little space before Spike had a chance to arrive. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him, not really. He was possibly the best guy she'd ever dated and she was fairly certain she was falling for him, but what she had to talk to him about was so huge and wig-worthy, it made Buffy nauseous just to consider it.

It was nearing lunch time and the blonde had yet to leave her office, except for once when she was forced to run through to the ladies room. Still, running was precisely what she'd done and though she knew it was ridiculous she was so relieved when nobody stopped her on the way.

"I'm worried about, Buffy" Willow admitted as she put on her jacket to go to lunch, "I mean, none of us have talked to her since Saturday night when she was all head-achey and everything and this morning she's been shut in that office like the whole time"

"Maybe she's just busy" Oz shrugged, "Although Giles is out visiting clients all morning, I can't think she has that much to do"

"Thank God" Spike exclaimed suddenly, "I thought I was just being paranoid, but you noticed too?"

He'd been worrying all morning about the blonde. They'd got along so well on Saturday and when he'd kissed her it'd been heaven. Dawn had said she approved of her father's relationship and Spike was on Cloud 9 about the whole situation...until this morning. Xander had called him to say Buffy wouldn't need a ride to work since they'd already moved into their new place. Xander had called not Buffy, that was when Spike had started to feel his perfect little daydream with him and Buffy and Dawn had started to break down. Now she seemed to be avoiding him in the office and that only made him feel worse and wonder what he'd done wrong, not that he thought he could've done anything, he'd been a bloody gentleman and then some the entire time!

"So, you gonna go tell her we're headed for the Espresso Pump?" Willow asked him, "Cos if we're going we should kinda go now"

"You two go" Spike told her, "We'll catch up"

"Okay" the two red-heads nodded as they disappeared out of the office. Spike turned to the door that led through to Giles and Buffy's offices and knocked.

"Come in?" she called uncertainly, smiling nervously when Spike's head appeared around the door.

"You alright, luv?" he asked as he came into the room.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" she asked looking at the papers on her desk and not at him. Suddenly his hand came into view, catching hold of her wrist to still her frantic moving of paper. She glanced up and their eyes met.

"Did I do something to upset you somehow?" he asked, looking so worried about it that it only made Buffy feel worse.

"No" she promised him, "No, you didn't do anything I just...things are just a little complicated in my head right now" she admitted, at least it was mostly the truth.

In a moment Spike had grabbed another chair spun it around and sat down straddling it on the other side of the desk.

"Tell me what's on your mind, sweetheart" he said gently titling his head as he gazed at her. Buffy smiled at that, feeling suddenly embarrassed.

"I'm a sweetheart now?" she asked shyly and Spike realised what he'd said.

"Well, yeah" he said with a smirk, "You matter to me Buffy, I thought you knew that" he told her seriously, reaching across the desk to take her hand in his, "I want you to feel like you can talk to me, trust me with stuff y'know?"

"I do trust you" she was quick to tell him, "and I really like you a lot, Spike, I do..." she trailed off then, looking away and the bleached blond sighed.

"I sense a 'but' coming" he guessed.

"No" Buffy shook her head, squeezing his hand reassuringly, "No, I promise, no buts at all" she told him, "although there is kind of something I need to talk to you about, and it's not so much something for the office so...you wanna come over and see the new apartment one night this week?" she asked him in a rush, "I could cook dinner?"

"Sounds great, pet" Spike agreed, "Any night you like, I'm easy" he told her. She gave him a look and he replayed his last sentence in his own head.

"I should probably re-phrase that" he realised with a smirk, "Still, name a night, I can get Giles to sit with Dawnie or she can go to a mates house"

"No" Buffy told him, "You choose, work something out with Dawn and get back to me" she said, and Spike thought it was a little odd that she was so concerned about not upsetting his daughter. He considered it to be a good thing though, if the two women in his life were so concerned for each other feelings and his own, that could only lead to happiness all round, he assumed.

"Alright" he nodded, "I'll talk to the Bit and let you know. Meantime, you fancy grabbing some lunch at the Espresso Pump?" he asked, "Red and Oz are already down there"

"Sure" Buffy smiled, getting up and taking hold of the hand he offered, "Let's go"

"Alright, Bit?" Spike asked her as she got in the car, "Good day at school?"

"It was school, Dad" she rolled her eyes, "Not exactly a thrill"

"I remember" he nodded as he pulled away from the kerb and headed for home. They'd been driving for fully five minutes when Dawn sighed.

"Okay, spill"

Spike glanced between her expression and the road.

"What do you mean, Bit?" he asked and she rolled her eyes once again.

"Come on, Dad, 'fess up" she urged him, "We always get way talky on the way home from school. If not it's cos you're singing along to the radio, and hello you just totally ignored a Sex Pistols song!"

Spike looked first at her then the radio as the DJ told him what had just been played, his favourite punk band had just finished belting out God Save The Queen.

"Bugger" he muttered to himself, realising his mind had been so much on Buffy everything else had faded into the background.

"So, what's up? What's with the zone outage" Dawn pressed, getting a little worried now, "When Sandy Jackson's Dad started zoning out a lot it turned out he was having little black outs and seizures, and then..."

"Dawnie, calm down" Spike told her, hearing the hysteria creep into her voice, "I'm not sick, I promise you...I was just thinking is all"

"About what?" Dawn asked, a little more calmly now. She'd lost her mother, she couldn't bear to have her Dad leave her too.

"Buffy" he admitted with a sigh, "I think she's upset about something but she won't tell me what. She wants to talk to me about something, which may or may not be the same something, but she wants to see me one night this week for that"

"So what's the big?" Dawn shrugged, "You go over there tomorrow night and you talk and stuff and everything's fixed" she said simply, before making a face, "but if you guys make out or whatever, please don't ever tell me"

"Scouts honour" Spike smirked, stopping at the red light and turning to his little girl, "You're okay with me going over there tomorrow night?" he checked, "I mean, I can get your Grandpa Giles to come sit with you I s'pose"

"Or I could go over to Janice's to study like I told her I would, and then maybe just stay the night too?" she asked hopefully and the sight of her innocent little smile made Spike cave.

"Just this once, since you helped me out and all" he told her, ruffling her hair and making her complain. He didn't usually let her stay over at a friends house on a school night but Janice's parents were decent people, and besides if he didn't sort things out with Buffy soon he was going to wind up crashing the car from the constant zoning out.

"Oh we should so totally go tell her now!" Dawn said suddenly, practically bouncing in her seat.

"Who, what now?" he asked with frown.

"We should go pick up Buffy from work, tell her you're going over to hers tomorrow and then take her out for ice-cream or something" she suggested.

"You sure you just don't fancy ice-cream and you're using Buffy for an excuse to go?" Spike smirked.

"Maybe" Dawn conceded, "but you know if you don't tell her now she won't know til tomorrow morning and nobody likes to plans these things last minute"

All thoughtful and sensible but with a bit of fun thrown in, it was times like this that Dawn reminded Spike so much of Dru that it hurt. He hid it well, at least he hoped he did, but sometimes when she said a certain thing, looked a certain way, he felt like crying for the loss he'd suffered. It was crazy to think Dawnie wasn't his and Drusilla's baby by birth, she could so easily be mistaken for their biological child and had been on many occasions.

"God you really have to think about something other than Buffy" the girl sighed when she realised her father's eyes had glazed over again.

"Wasn't thinking about Buffy, Little Bit" he admitted softly, "Was thinking about your Mum"

Dawn didn't have an answer to that and the journey continued in silence as Spike drove them home. Dawn dropped off her school bag and changed her clothes, whilst her father tidied up a bit and checked himself in the mirror. Caught somewhere between memories of Drusilla and worries about Buffy, he felt a strange mixture of feelings that he'd like to get rid of as soon as possible.

Dawn and Spike were waiting outside Giles Electronics ten minutes before Buffy was due to get out of work. Dawn found it quite amusing to watch her father tap his fingers on the steering wheel and check his watch every few seconds. She hadn't seen him like this before, never so nervous over anything.

"Dad?" she said thoughtfully and he turned his attention from the door of he building to his daughter, "When you and Mom first dated, were you like this then?"

"Like what, Sweet Bit?" he asked looking confused.

"Hello, with the tapping and the clock watching and complete nervous overload" she giggled at the fact he hadn't even noticed he was doing all these things.

"No, pet" he smirked, "Much worse than that. Your Mum made me what I am now, which is a damn sight better than I used to be. Just think, your Dad might've been a geeky book-ish type if not for your Mum's influence"

Dawn burst out laughing then, unable to believe her father was anything other than coolness itself. She'd figured her parents had always been the way she knew them, and whilst it seems that may have been true of her deceased mother, it was not true for her Dad.

"You were really a geek?" Dawn laughed, trying to imagine it and failing.

"Yeah, I was" Spike rolled his eyes, "Complete with glasses and poetry writing and a nervous stammer reserved especially for all beautiful women" he admitted, "And exactly why the bloody hell am I telling you all this?" he cursed himself as his daughter bust up laughing all over again.

"Well, somebody seems happy" Buffy smiled as she stopped by the car and peered in at Dawn who could barely breathe she was laughing so hard.

"Laughing at her father's past misfortunes, pet" Spike smirked at the blonde, "'S what kid's do ain't it?"

"I wouldn't know" she said a little sadly as Dawn finally found her voice.

"We came to pick you up" she told Buffy, "To take you to the ice-cream parlour" she grinned, "You wanna come with right?"

"I don't know, Dawn" she said awkwardly, "Wouldn't you rather just go with your Dad?"

"Apparently I'm not good enough on my own anymore" Spike smirked, "What d'ya say luv? I'm buying"

"Okay" she conceded, getting in the back of the car and Dawn turned to look at her.

"Oh, Dad's gonna come over to yours tomorrow night if that's okay. I have a friends house I can go to so it's no big"

"Oh, okay" Buffy said, looking at Spike for confirmation of his daughters scheme.

"That okay with you, pet?" he asked, glancing at her reflection in the rear view mirror. She confirmed that it was, just as Dawn decided she liked the song on the radio and cranked it up, as she sang along. When she said she needed back-up, Buffy was a little stunned to hear Spike join in and soon found she couldn't help but sing too. It was such a happy little family scenario, if only it could all work out so easily.

To Be Continued...