Chapter Ten

A Plan of Action

"No! Absolutely bloody not!" Spike's voice was nearly a shout as he cut off Tara's soft explanations. "I will not have her coming here, seeing me lookin like a soddin victim, knowing it was her own bloody sister what done it!" Angry fire flashing in his eyes, blue flames once more, he whirled around to turn his back on her, shooting vicious looks at her various knick-knacks arranged around the room, obviously wishing that they were his to take up and smash against the walls.

"Spike," Tara tried again softly, taking a step toward him, reaching to touch his shoulder, only to have him vehemently shake her hand away. Actually, though, she was relieved to see a bit of his old temper showing up at last. It was the closest she had seen him come to expressing any anger toward Buffy for what she had done; in spite of everything, his emotions toward her still seemed to be centered around fear, and a desire to help her. "She's seen you a lot worse than this. You think she's a child but she's not blind. She--she knew about you and Buffy, and no one said a word to her."

At that he turned around, guarded surprise in his eyes. "She did? Bout which part exactly?"

"She knew that you two had some kind of secret relationship going," Tara clarified. "And it hurt her that both of you kept it from her."

He looked down guiltily. "Wasn't my choice, pet."

"I know."

There was a brief pause; he looked defeated, the anger that had fueled his rant deflated by his guilt over hurting Dawn.

Tara took the opportunity to proceed, albeit gently. "Think about what she's just been through. She just found out an awful lot she'd probably rather not know about her sister, in a very traumatic way. She probably doesn't feel like she's got a lot to lean on right now…and I'm sure she wants to be with her best friend."

Spike looked up, a rare sparkle in his eyes. "She said that, did she? I'm her best friend?"

Tara smiled; it was endearing that the child-like title being bestowed on him obviously meant so much to him. She nodded. "She did."

Concerned now, he continued, "And she knows not to let on to Buffy that she knows anything? I don't think Buffy's above hurting her to find out what she wants to know."

After what she had found in his crypt, Tara did not think so, either. "She knows."

Spike's sigh spoke of his defeat and Tara's triumph, at least for now. "Right, then. Well, if it means that much to her…all right. Have her come on over then." He allowed himself a small smile, as he admitted softly, "Can't say it won't be right nice to see the Niblet."

Neither of them said a word from the time Tara picked Dawn up at home until they were climbing the stairs to her apartment. Just down the hall from her door, Tara took Dawn's arm and stopped walking.

"Now, Dawnie," she said softly, her tone serious, her eyes sad, "You should know that last night…Buffy got to him again…we got away ok and all, and she still has no idea where he is…but he's a little banged up…I just thought you should know before we go in there."

Dawn gave her an impatient look as she replied, "Tara, how bad is it? Cause I've seen him pretty bad. I don't think 'a little banged up' is going to be too traumatic for me."

"You're right," Tara conceded, realizing that the girl's words were true; compared to some of the beatings Buffy had given Spike, the few blows she had managed to deliver the night before were nothing.

Tara unlocked the door and the girls walked into her apartment. Spike was sitting on the loveseat, and stood up when they entered. To a perceptive, psychically gifted person like Tara, it was pitifully obvious how hard he was trying for casual. But the attempted smirk and swagger failed miserably; he ended up just standing there gazing at Dawn as if she were the most amazingly wonderful gift he had ever received. "Bit," he acknowledged, his voice low and thick with emotion.

Dawn stood there for a moment, staring at him, taking him in, the bruises and bandages, his expressive eyes and what she read there, the so-familiar form that she had missed so dearly. Then she ran to him, hugging him fiercely. "Oh, Spike, Spike!" she whispered against his chest, holding on to him as if she'd never let go. "I missed you!" Then she pulled away slightly and glared up at him, thumped him lightly on the chest and pouted, "Don't you ever go into hiding and not tell me again! I was scared out of my mind! Jerk!"

"Just didn't want you to get hurt, Bit," he explained, running his fingers through her long, silky dark hair.

She glared at him a moment longer before letting it fade into a smile and leaning back against him, admitting, "I know." Her face suddenly serious, she reached a gentle hand up to lightly touch his bruised cheek. He pulled away, uncomfortable.

Frowning, anger beginning in her eyes again, she turned to Tara without letting go of Spike. "You think I have any magical powers or anything left over from my key-ness? Cause I sooo wanna kick my sister's butt for this!"

"You and me both, Sweetie," Tara said, her tone and expression dark.

Noticeably absent was any similar comment from Spike. He simply looked at the floor, uncomfortable with the discussion, unwilling still to express any desire to hurt Buffy.

Dawn's frown became thoughtful, as she glanced between her two friends. "You could, you know," she pointed out, her eyes coming to rest on Tara. "I mean, come on, Tara… you're like, earth-power girl here…"

"No, I'm not so powerful, Dawn. Willow's the one with the power," Tara grimaced at the thoughts that statement brought up.

Dawn was still thinking. "Well, Willow could…"

"No!" Tara objected quickly. "For a million reasons, no. First off she can't know about Spike being here and everything. She's Buffy's best friend, and she thinks like her. There's no way she would keep it from Buffy. And anyway, she doesn't need to be doing any more magic."

Dawn didn't look convinced until Spike backed Tara up. "She's right, Niblet. Willow's not gonna keep anything from Buffy; leastwise not anything like this."

"If she wasn't the Slayer I could just kick her butt the old-fashioned way," Dawn grumbled.

"If she wasn't the Slayer, Spike could wipe up the floor with her," Tara pointed out.

"Hate to break up the little Buffy-bash," Spike interrupted, a smile of amusement crossing his face. "But let's not forget we want to help her…get back our Buffy…not kill her."

Dawn frowned in confusion, not having heard this part of the plan.

"You're right," Tara sighed. To Dawn she explained, "Buffy's changed lately, Dawnie. You have to have seen it. She hasn't always been this way. We want to try and find some way to help her deal with whatever's making her act this way."

Dawn's frown just deepened, and she suggested quite seriously, "Have either one of you considered the possibility that maybe she's just a total bi…" She stopped suddenly, eyes widening, realizing that both of these people saw her as a little sister and probably neither would appreciate the language coming from her.

But Spike burst out laughing, and Tara could not suppress a smile.

"Thought did occur to me," Spike smirked. "Round the time her soddin' fist was smashing into my face."

All three laughed, and Dawn hugged Spike again, contented.

"So I was thinking," Tara began, changing the subject. "Do you two wanna watch a movie or something tonight? I mean, we have all night." When they agreed, she smiled and said, "I'll go pick us up some food, and a movie or two; you two just hang out here and catch up. Ok?"

Spike flashed her a grateful smile as he led Dawn to the couch and sat down. "Sounds like a plan, love," he softly replied.

On her way to her bedroom, Tara returned his smile, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. As soon as she had disappeared into her bedroom, Dawn looked at Spike and then toward her door pointedly, eyebrows raised in an unspoken question.

Spike looked away, pretending not to understand, as Tara walked back out of her room, purse in hand, and toward the door, doling out more casual contact as she did, a light brush of her fingers against his back, Dawn noticed with growing interest.

The moment Tara had walked out the door, Dawn pounced. "Sooo," she began, her tone teasing. "You and Tara are getting awfully….close." Her eyes were laughing, and a gentle smirk was on her lips.

"Just friends, pet," Spike muttered, not meeting her eyes.

"I see…do you always blush when you talk about your friends?" Dawn asked innocently.

"What? No! I mean, I'm not!" Spike babbled, inevitably blushing even harder as he tried to argue. Then he put his head in his hand with a sigh, "Oh bloody hell!"

Dawn laughed. "I knew it!"

"I know, I know, I'm a soddin' idiot, Bit," he sighed. "She leans more the other direction, not to mention she could do so much better…I don't have a chance."

Dawn frowned, surprised. Feeling the need to support her friend, she scooted closer to him and leaned against him, as he put his arm around her. "Um, I know she's gay and all…but…looks to me like she might forget it a little when she's with you."

He glanced sharply down at her. "What do you mean?"

"Spike…she's always touching you…the way she looks at you…come on, don't tell me you haven't…you haven't noticed," she realized, shaking her head, incredulous. "Spike she's totally into you."

"Bit, she's a warm, good-hearted woman, and what you're seeing is bloody pity. That's all," Spike said with self-disgust. "She feels sorry for the poor pathetic prat what got beat up by his bint and she's too bloody good a person to put me out in the street. But she'd never love me, pet."

"Oh please Spike, give yourself a little credit," Dawn scoffed. "You are totally hot!"

He sputtered out a laugh in surprise at her blunt honesty, as she went on, "She couldn't help but notice. You shouldn't be surprised if she likes you."

"You're saying I'm hot enough to turn a bloody lesbian straight?" It was his turn to look incredulous. He laughed softly, shaking his head. "Lovely thought, that…would make for bloody good bragging rights…but I don't think it's more than a fantasy, love." The change in tone on the last statement indicated he was no longer talking about a lesbian in general, but Tara specifically.

"I guess we'll see," Dawn smiled.

When Tara entered her apartment about an hour later, she found them still on the loveseat, snuggled up together and talking softly. Dawn's arm was comfortably across Spike's waist, and he was idly playing with her hair. The sight was warming and brought a smile to her face.

"I come bearing gifts," she smiled, setting the large bag of Chinese takeout and two Blockbuster cases on the counter.

"We were just sitting here chattin, love," Spike began. "bout what might have happened to Buffy…and we realized…it started when she came back."

"Exactly when she came back," Dawn nodded. "Like night and day. It's like she's a totally different person now."

"So we were thinking…what if it's something to do with the spell?"

Tara frowned thoughtfully. "Could be. Buffy wanted me to check it out before, to make sure she came back...normal...human...and she did...but that doesn't mean something else didn't go wrong with the spell. We'd have to find out a little more about it to know for sure. And Will's the only one who knows exactly what went into that spell, for sure. I could ask her if I could see it."

"Good idea," Dawn nodded, satisfied.

"Good," Spike echoed with a sigh of relief. "Maybe we can finally make some bloody progress here."

Tara's feelings mirrored his; she was ready to finally start working on their plan to help Buffy, instead of just trying to avoid her and ignoring the problem while it got steadily worse and worse. Feeling relieved that they actually had a plan, she put a video in the recorder and settled down on Spike's other side to enjoy the rest of the evening.