Chapter 1:

Spike had been watching Dawn a lot lately. She hadn't noticed, of course, he didn't make a show of it, but every time she left the room to be by herself, he followed, always staying just out of sight. He often caught her sitting on the roof outside her bedroom, smoking. Since when does the Bit smoke?

He also, noticed that the majority of the time when she left the room, it was usually when Buffy entered, and she never had a conversation with her, unless Buffy was the one to initiate it. And even then, she didn't say much. Not that she was really given a chance to, for the most part, the slayer ignored her unless she needed something, usually something like language translating or some other rot. The Bit was surprisingly good with that sort of thing. Well, it shouldn't be that surprising, she always was exceedingly bright.

He could easily see that they weren't close. They never really were, the slayer tended to close herself off from the people she loved, but this was different. This time it was Dawn doing the closing off. It seemed as though she could barely stand being around her sister anymore.

*~*~*

Spike stood in the shadows as he watched Dawn listen silently as Buffy laid into Giles about the plan he and Principal Wood had come up with to kill Spike. He could smell the rage coming off of her in waves. That made him smile. Maybe she did still care for him just a little bit, after all.

Dawn had waited until everyone was in bed asleep, before she snuck out of the house. Spike had followed her, making sure that nothing would get to her and harm her, a bit like old times, he thought to himself, amused. He was careful to make sure he didn't alert her to his presence. And when she had made her way to Wood's sanctuary, he was more than a little curious to find out what she intended to do.

Surprisingly, he was still in the same spot Spike had left him earlier, still slumped over against the wall, bleeding everywhere. He looked dead and Dawn wasn't sure if he was even still alive, so she kicked him in the side...hard. When he grunted in pain and jerked slightly, she reared her fist back and punched him square in the face and his entire head snapped back from the force of her blow. Spike chuckled to himself, The girl's got a nice right hook, I taught her that.

"You tried to kill Spike tonight." she stated, clearly pissed off.

"He deserved it." Wood spat out at her.

Dawn slapped him again, "What did he ever do to you?" she asked.

Spike ducked his head a bit, Ahh, so the Bit didn't know the whole story, no wonder she was so quick to defend him. He was sure she was going turn and leave once she got the details.

Wood clenched his jaw, "He killed my mother." he said evenly.

Dawn's eyes widened slightly, she had know his mother was a slayer, but she never knew that Spike had killed her. "Well, she was a slayer and he's a vampire, what did you think would happen? That they would play a friendly game of checkers?" she asked sarcastically. "If it hadn't been him, then it would have been some other vamp or demon. It doesn't matter either way, that was a long time ago and it doesn't give you the right to try and kill him, and he should have killed you for even trying...looks like he nearly did." she said through gritted teeth. Dawn bent over to pick up a silver handled knife that had been lying on the floor, "Maybe I should do it, that way you don't have another chance to try and finish what you started. What do you think?" she asked as she glided the blade along his throat.

Spike couldn't believe that she was still taking up for him. He moved closer to the door to get a better look, but still kept himself unnoticed. He was intrigued, he had never seen Dawn like this before. She looked dangerous, dangerous and beautiful, and he couldn't tell if she was bluffing or not.

"You wouldn't." he said confidently.

Dawn cocked her head and raised an eyebrow, looking very much like Spike did sometimes, "Wouldn't I?" she asked as stilled the knife on his adam's apple.

Wood looked scared now, "What would Buffy think?" he chocked out.

This angered Dawn even more and she pressed the blade against his skin hard enough to draw blood, "YOU HONESTLY THINK I CARE WHAT THAT BITCH THINKS? HUH? SHE GETS EVERYTHING, TAKES EVERYTHING AWAY FROM ME, EVEN THE THINGS SHE DOESN'T EVEN WANT! AND YOU ALMOST DID THE SAME!" she screamed at him, "Besides, she would never know." she said coldly as she readied herself to slit his throat.

Damn, she's serious, she's really gonna do it. She's actually gonna kill the bastard. But he couldn't let her, he didn't want her carrying around that kind of guilt the way he does, especially not for him.

As the scent of Wood's blood began to get stronger, he gently grabbed her wrist to stopped her, making his presence know for the first time. "Don't luv, he's not worth it," he said softly, then whispered for only her to hear, "and neither am I."

Dawn stared at him wide eyed, she hadn't known he was there. Shit, he must have heard everything...what I said about Buffy...and him. FUCK! What am I gonna do? "Spike. How long have you been here?" she asked not knowing what else to say and desperately hoping that he had only just arrived.

"A while. Come on, pet, let's go." he said to her, taking the knife out of her trembling hands and tossing it on the floor next to Wood. Once he was outside with Dawn, he told her to stay there, while he went back in.

He crouched down next to the principal and let his demon visage show, "This never happened, mate. She was never here. You got that?" he growled. Wood nodded the best he could, "Yeah, I got it." he choked out.

Dawn didn't say a word to Spike as they walked back to Revello Dr. She didn't even look back at him as she went up to her room.

AN: Here is chapter 1...should I still continue??