A/N : So glad you guys aren't getting bored with this fic, it's always a danger when writing a story based on a movie. Anywho, here's the next chapter...
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 9 - Take Me Home

Dawn could hardly believe she'd made such a big deal about coming to this party. Connor seemed so cool, and obviously he was gorgeous, but my God, boredom-fest much! It hadn't taken long before someone had asked him what happened last weekend and so had begun the re-run of a fight he'd gotten into with a gang from across town. Himself and his brother, and few others fought for... well, Dawn wasn't precisely sure what the fight was over, but she doubted it was for justice or whatever, probably over somebody's ho of a girlfriend or something. She got bored of listening after the first ten minutes as Connor got overly dramatic about how Angel had taken this hit, and then he himself had knocked some guy into next week. He didn't even notice when Dawn slipped off to the ladies room and never came back.

The youngest Summers sighed and looked around the club. Buffy and Spike seemed to have disappeared, Janice should've been meeting her here but it seemed she hadn't showed, and Connor, oh God he was walking straight toward her. Despite the fact she'd been mentally insulting him for the past half hour, she couldn't help but grin as he smiled and came over to her.

"Hey, I lost you somewhere" he told her as he sat down beside her, "Were you not having a good time?" he checked, looking a little worried.

"No, I was, I..." Dawn started to lie and then changed her mind, but wasn't certain she could bear to tell this guy she didn't think she wanted to see him anymore. She'd made such a big deal about dating him, she finally got her chance and now, somehow it didn't seem quite so important, Connor seemed a little less special the more she got to know him.

"I'm sorry, Dawn, if you felt I wasn't paying enough attention to you, I just..." he began to apologise only to be interrupted by his cellphone ringing in his pocket. He muttered 'excuse me' as he took the call and talked to Cordelia, the woman Dawn knew to be his and Angel's very young step-mother. Their real mother had died when they were little and since then their Dad had been through a lot of women before finally marrying Cordy, who was nearer to the boys age than her husbands.

"Uh, Dawn" Connor said, looking awkward as soon as he'd finished his phone-call, "That was my Step-Mom, she's really upset, she needs me to go home"

"Now?" Dawn checked, not believing that after ignoring her half the night, her date was now leaving, to go running home to his mother.

"I have to, she had a fight with my Dad, she needs someone" he shrugged as he pushed his phone back in his pocket and glanced around trying to spot Angel. He couldn't see him and decided it'd be easier just to go by himself.

"I'm sorry, Dawn" he said once more before he disappeared through the crowds towards the exit.

"Dumped for an older woman on our first date" Dawn said to herself, "Wouldn't be quite so sad if the woman wasn't his step-mother..." she sighed, just as Andrew came over to the table where she sat alone.

"Hey, er, I have a message from Buffy and Spike" he said fast, "She wasn't feeling well so he took her home early. They guessed you'd get a ride with Connor or whatever, but Spike said if you need him to come get you to call his cell" he shoved the piece of paper with number on at her, before turning to walk away.

"Andrew!" Dawn called after him, hating she'd alienated this guy who she'd kinda thought of as a friend, "I... Are you having a nice night?" she asked for lack of anything else to say. She wanted to apologise really, for coming to the party with him and then spending time with Connor, but she was sixteen years old and it wasn't as if they were married or anything. Still, she felt bad for hurting him.

"I thought it'd be better" Andrew told her, wishing he could just walk away from her after the way she'd treated him but he just couldn't. Somehow he'd fallen in love with this girl and he felt he would be doomed to that fate forever, no matter how badly she treated him.

"Me too" she nodded, looking down at her half-drunk soda on the table, "I... I don't suppose you wanna walk me home?" she asked him shyly and even though he knew he was an idiot for saying yes, that's exactly what Andrew did.

Buffy felt surprisingly better after she'd thrown up in spectacular style, and though Spike could have done without seeing her do it, he was glad she was a little less obviously drunk now. He couldn't deal with her like that, she was like a woman possessed. He liked the real Buffy, despite the fact she appeared on the surface to really hate him. He doubted there was as much hate for the human race in Buffy as she pretended to have, especially where he was concerned. Tonight could've been about proving a point, maybe even helping her sister out, but on some level Spike was fairly certain she just liked spending time with him too, even if she used up most of it bitching at him.

Spike waited for the lights to change from red to green as Buffy pushed buttons on the radio, almost smacking her head on the dash when the car started to move once again. She laughed at her own near miss, proof she was still a little worse for wear for the drink.

"I love this song" she sighed as she sat up and leant her head against the cool glass of the side window, watching the world go by, or Sunnydale at least.

"'S not bad" Spike conceded, not fancying an argument at this particular moment in time, despite the fact he wasn't a huge fan of this kind of music. He smirked as she started humming along, singing the few words her alcohol-fogged mind could recall. He was fairly certain she would sound better singing sober.

"I should so totally do this" she said suddenly, one hand gesturing vaguely at the radio.

"Install car stereos?" Spike asked her with a smirk as he glanced away from the road just briefly.

"Oh, wow, you're hilarious" Buffy rolled her eyes, her sarcastic tone very apparent, "I'm talking about music, singing, being in band or something" she explained, even though he'd sort of known what she meant anyway.

'"S not a bad idea, pet" he nodded as he pulled the car up outside 1630 Revello Drive, "Thought about it myself once"

"You can sing?" Buffy frowned attempting to shift in her seat so she could see him better and finding she still felt a little woozy.

"Yeah, well, sort of" he admitted, "Play guitar pretty well too, written a few things, nothin' special" he told her with a shrug, staring out through the windshield. He had no idea why he was telling her all this, nobody knew this kind of thing about him and he liked to keep it that way, but everything was different with Buffy. It was crazy since he'd only asked her out in the first place because he was getting paid too! Now he knew he was falling for the silly bint, and that was just going to cause all manner of problems.

"So, were you ever in a band?" Buffy asked him, "Or are you strictly solo?"

"Decided I wasn't the band type, luv" he told her, "Prefer to be alone most of the time"

"Huh" Buffy looked thoughtful as she leaned closer to him, "That's weird, cos you seemed to make a big deal out of hanging around me lately..." she smiled, knowing she was right, but unsure as yet whether she was saying this to annoy him or to get him to admit something.

"Well, that's different, isn't it, pet?" he smirked, "You're different, you're... special" he admitted, smirk turning into a genuine smile as she almost blushed.

"Special, huh?" Buffy grinned, finding it both amusing and entirely sweet that he was saying this stuff to her. They'd both subconsciously leaned closer towards each other as they'd been talking and the blonde allowed her eyes to fall shut as she anticipated the kiss she guessed was coming.

Spike felt like such a git as he looked at Buffy. She was a hell of a woman, he liked her more than he really should, but there was no way he could kiss her now, no matter how much either of them wanted it, and it seemed she really did. He was being paid for this, it was dishonest and dirty, besides which the girl was still a little drunk and not necessarily in full possession of her sanity.

"Er, reckon you ought to get inside before dear old Mum flips her lid, pet" he said, pulling back and hoping she wouldn't go nuts at him for this.

He couldn't look at her, and so didn't see her stunned expression as she opened one eye then the other, both going wide when she realised what had happened.

"Whatever" she muttered to herself as she fought with the car door in an attempt to get out. The handle got stuck at first and her being so mad at Spike and so eager to get away from him did not help at all.

As she finally made it out of the vehicle, Buffy slammed the car door, almost cracking the glass in it and Spike winced at the sound as he sat back in the drivers seat and cursed himself. He should've just kissed her, he really wanted to, but he knew he'd hate himself more for doing that than he did right now. In any other situation it could've worked out okay, he could see himself being seriously in love with Buffy Summers but he couldn't let that happen when all this should be nothing more than a business deal. He was getting paid to date her and if he got really close to her, only to have her find out the truth... Spike didn't like to think what she'd do to him then, but it'd be so far away from snogging.

As an angry sound, not dissimilar to a growl, escaped his throat he put the DeSoto in gear and drove away at speed, squealing the tyres down Revello Drive and making Dawn jump. She and Andrew were walking just a few feet away, having almost caught up to her sister and Spike since they'd been sitting in the car talking so long and the cool night was making the younger pair walk faster.

"Well, I guess this is where I get off" Dawn grinned as she made her little half-joke, the smile dying on her lips when she glanced across at Andrew's own sad expression.

"You never even liked me, did you?" he accused, sounding somewhat childish but mostly just pained, "I did all this for you, set the whole thing up and all you wanted was Connor Angelus"

"No, I..." Dawn began, realising all too quickly she just couldn't lie to this guy, what she'd done had been too obvious to deny, "Okay" she sighed, "So I wanted to date Connor, and I guess in some ways I kinda did a bad thing to you. Maybe I shouldn't have gone to the party with you and then spent time with him but, my God, Andrew, this was like the first night in forever that I was allowed to go anywhere" she told him, laughing painfully, "I want to live my life, be young, have some fun and everything, I thought I wanted Connor and this was like my one shot" she explained, knowing she probably wasn't making Andrew feel any better and wondering herself why she was saying it. It annoyed her a little that her one night out had gone so wrong, and Andrew was getting a little of her anger mixed in with what should've been a kind of apology.

"You thought you liked Connor?" Andrew checked, having picked up on her wording most particularly because he was hoping she no longer laboured under the delusion that the younger Angelus boy was God's gift to the human race. There was no way Connor was better for Dawn than Andrew, or so the boy himself thought. He loved her, he knew that already, and he wanted to make her happy any way he could, it was why he'd set Buffy up with Spike after all, and risked getting pummelled by Angel into the bargain. Still, he didn't know that he liked the way Miss Summers was treating him right now.

"I do like him" she confessed suddenly, eyes permanent on the ground as she shifted her feet, "but I like you too, and I know I screwed up tonight" she laughed humourlessly at herself then, "The first night I get to go out with a guy, I get a choice of two and I'm so dumb that I mess up with both of them. God I am so lame" she cursed herself but Andrew wouldn't hear her speak so badly of herself.

"You didn't mess up with me" he assured her, "I think you're really great, Dawn. You're beautiful, and so sweet, and just cos you kinda used me a little today that doesn't mean I don't like you anymore. I do, a lot" he admitted, making her blush as she glanced at him in the moonlight. Okay, so he wasn't as obviously gorgeous as Connor, but he liked her, he made sacrifices for her, and he said such beautiful things sometimes.

"Thank you" she said with a smile, "You're a really nice guy, Andrew, and I mean that" she promised him, making it the young man's turn to be a little embarrassed. He didn't get a chance to say anything though as Dawn stepped in closer and moved to put her lips to his in a sweet kiss.

A moment later Andrew heard her say goodnight, and she was gone when he opened his eyes. It was almost as if those few seconds had never occurred, but he knew they had. Tonight hadn't gone exactly how he'd planned but he was certain now as he crossed the street, doing a little happy dance on his way home, that he was in love with Dawn Summers and that she might just feel the same one day.

To Be Continued...