Chapter 26: What lies beneath…

Disclaimer: No ownership. I've got most of the DVDs, though!

Rating: I think I'm boring everyone to death repeating the same thing each time. See the first fourteen chapters if you haven't, yet :)

(Ah, thanks to Dieu Anonyme! You gave me the motivation to get this one out quickly! Amazing, reviews. I swear, they're the medicine for writer's block. And yes, Dieu Anonyme, I wrote this chapter for your thirst of Riley-bashing, only for those who don't like Riley-bashing, I'm still attempting to be level-headed. He's kind of stressed at the moment, and as we saw in Season 4, that tends to make him act irrationally.

But please, more reviews, people! I'm going to be away for about a week or so, and if I come back they'll be the only thing I'll be able to live on!

Okay, enjoy!)

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"What are you waiting for, you prick?" I snorted. "Aren't you gonna go after her?"

I didn't need a hand in this, but I couldn't resist tweaking it a little bit. Oh, the things I could have said… but Cardboard had screwed it all up nicely himself. Still, I wished I could rub it in a little more…

The idiot gave me the chance.

He rounded on me, fists clenched and a vein in his temple throbbing. "You did this, didn't you? Set me up…"

Oh the irony of that statement, I wanted to laugh out loud, but instead, I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second and revelled in… I wasn't quite sure what, actually. Outwardly, I could hear him begin to rant about some conspiracy plot, and smirked. Ah yes, you can take the boy out of the army but you can't take the army out of the boy.

I cut him off in mid-rant "Tell me, Soldier Boy, why would I bother? It's not exactly like I have that kind of time on my hands, I've got to help the Slayer with patrolling…"

The look on his face was priceless.

"After all, you've messed it up nicely yourself…"

He swung, and I dodged, laughing now as I read his face. Like an open book it was. Bloody boring, too. If he'd been a novel I woulda ripped it up long ago and mocked the author for being worse than I used to be. "Oh, I see," I smirked again. "That's the way it goes. There's been trouble in paradise recently, hasn't there?"

His eyes turned black with fury, and I chuckled.

"Oh, hang on a minute. Longer than that? Been brewing ever since… ah, ever since Draccy. Or before? When you met?"

"Shut up, creature," he spat as he lunged. "You don't know anything about…"

Oh, but I do. See, I watch. But no-one ever sees me watching. No-one but the moon and the stars.

I skipped neatly aside, but not before his fist grazed me and I winced slightly. A demon the other night had managed to bruise me, but he obviously thought his paltry blow had actually hurt, and he when he regained balance, he swung again, faster this time as he gained confidence.

I can't believe you don't ever see it, boy. Of course, you wouldn't know me. I'm just a creature to you, aren't I? You wouldn't know the glory of the hunt, you wouldn't know the fierce joy of the kill. That's between the Slayer and me, and you can't touch that, can you?

I cursed my chip.

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"Did this happen before?" Daniel whispered so Dawn couldn't here.

"No, it…" Cass replied, before stopping as Dawn turned around from the window and faced them almost half-defiantly.

"I don't mind the fact that she's mad at Riley," she announced. "I just can't believe the fact that he didn't know her from that 'ho!"

"It sounds like he does feel sorry, though," Daniel murmured thoughtfully.

"Well, yeah," Dawn relented. "But still! How could you not tell the difference! Buffy's all like 'I'm the Slayer and I can do backflips so you better listen to me', and Faith's all like 'I'm a bad girl and I want to…'"

Crash!

They froze in their positions.

"What was…?"

From below, they heard muted yelling and swearing. Quickly, Dawn's face lit up with a potent mix of fear and anger.

"Spike!"

They clattered down the stairs, just in time to see Riley swing again and Spike evade, barely. The Master Vampire was growing frustrated at his inability to hit back.

"Spike!" Dawn and Cassandra shrieked again as they launched themselves at Riley. Aided by the distraction, Spike leapt lithely in and held Riley against the wall, not hard enough to hurt or make the chip fire, but hard enough so that the ex-soldier was pinned.

Riley was breathing heavily. "Get out of here, Dawn, Cassie, Dan. This isn't your business."

"I beg to differ," Daniel stepped behind the bleached blonde.

"Buffy is my sister, and Spike is our friend," Dawn followed suit. "How does that not make it our business?"

"Go to your room," Riley tried.

"Why the hell should we listen to you?" Cassandra demanded furiously. "I mean, apart from you being Buffy's boyfriend…"

Spike growled.

"And the fact that you've severely pissed her off," Cass added hurriedly. "And my name is Cassandra. You have no right to call me Cassie. Or Cass. They're reserved for friends."

She smiled as defiance coursed through her veins as she stopped stuttering half-incoherently. It felt good. But none of them noticed.

"Go to your room," Riley whispered again, but he sounded defeated. He slumped in Spike's hold as he watched them listlessly.

"Or not," Dawn snorted.

"Juniors," Spike said, deceptively calm. "Thanks for your help here, but go to Nibblet's room now. I'll speak to you later."

Before they even thought about it, they were halfway to the staircase.

Riley stared at him in disbelief.

"It's a spell, isn't it?" he demanded furiously. "It's a spell and you've cast it over all of them…"

Spike chuckled harshly. "Yeah, well if I could find a spell like that you'd be dead already. Call it my natural charm, will you?"

Riley began to struggle. "Natural charm? You're an animal…"

Spike's unrelenting hold tightened, sending warning tingles into his brain, but he ignored them. It felt so good to have his enemy writhing under his grip, to smell the fear that he was trying to mask. He slowly morphed into game-face, and the fear heightened.

"You can't hurt me," Riley said defiantly. "The chip…"

Spike's golden eyes fixed on his, unblinking, and Riley unconsciously attempted to meld himself into the wall with the pure intensity in them. The fire.

"Chip or no," Spike enunciated softly. "The next time you threaten me and mine, I will rip your head off and drink, long and deep."

"You and yours?"

Spike's eyes went an even darker shade of gold as he growled, ridges rippling menacingly. "You know what I mean."

"They're not yours," Riley, newly incensed, swung at him. In the close proximity, Spike just took the blow without flinching, raising his scarred eyebrow. He was getting tired of this… he had to talk to the Juniors and then find Buffy. The vampire contemptuously released his hold, and ducked the punch he saw coming a mile away.

"They're mine more than they'll ever be yours," Spike mocked. "And shouldn't you be running after your girl around now?"

One last, murderous look. "You can't touch me. Stay away from all of them."

"Or what?" drawled Spike.

Riley almost gave in to his rage again, even though inside he knew that he wasn't so much angry at the vampire as he was at his own failure. Instead, he declined to take the tantalizing bait.

"One day," he promised, before sprinting out the door.

"One day?" Spike asked out loud, disbelievingly. "Of all the movie clichés…"

He heard footsteps pattering upstairs, and he sighed.

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Oh…

"You know, Juniors, I don't really have anything against you lot eavesdropping, but not when it's something like t his."

Dawn's chin jutted out defiantly. "But…"

He looked them over. "Now, I don't really have time for this conversation at the moment. But mark my words, I will when I've finished running after your sister."

And with that, he was gone.

There was a silence in the room for a few seconds. "That wasn't really fair," Daniel muttered.

Cass watched Dawn's face. "S-sorry… should we go?" she stuttered.

A weary smile graced Dawn's face. "You don't have to."

"But we probably should," Cassandra hugged her friend impulsively. "You let us know when it's okay, won't you?"

Dawn nodded. "Yeah."

As Cassandra dragged Daniel away, Dawn peered out of the window again. It took her about five minutes for her mind to register something. Darkness. A sudden thought chased into her mind.

Daniel and Cassandra are walking back to Giles' in the dark!

As she began to panic, an inner voice seeped into her from nowhere, calming her. Instantly, her mind seemed to mist slightly, and her vision blurred. The moon outside twinkled.

Dawn felt herself moving, led by instinct itself. Padding across her teenage haven to the door, she slowly turned the knob, still somewhat in a dream state.

The corridor seemed ghostly. She drifted down through the passageway, noting the shadows that glided along with her, falling on each step that she took. Down to the door at the end.

Dawn opened the door carefully, and her mind shook as she saw her mother sitting on the bed, looking alone and worn. Neither of them noticed a spark of green energy dance into her blue eyes.

"Mum?" her voice sounded thin and high-pitched to her own ears.

"Oh, pumpkin-belly," Joyce looked up at her. Coloured bags weighed down her eyes as she tried to smile.

The pure sorrow in her voice seemed to radiate a different wavelength to her. She felt the years of sadness, and the joys and laughter and tears. She felt the ache, and most of all, the inner spirit of indomitable love. The flame and fire that no-one and nothing could quench, of compassion and gentleness.

Dawn stepped softly over, until she too sat on the bed. And for once, she pulled her mother down into a hug. She wrapped her arms around her mother as Joyce wept.

Gradually, she began to make out words through the tears. A sadness that enveloped her, and that only the ageless conscious of her mind could understand.

"I love you both, my Dawn. My Dawnie…"

No words were needed. None but the faltering syllables spilling out of her mother's mouth.

"But I just get so tired…"

Exhaustion.

"I'm just like any mother, baby."

Extraordinary.

"I just want the best for you."

Empathy.

"Because you're my two girls, and I want you to live."

Endless.

"And it hurts when I see you two hurt. It does. It really does."

Love.

She stayed in that semi-conscious state until they both fell asleep, and then turquoise power radiated through her dreams, spiralling in patterns of teardrops.

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