"Go Fish"
Rated G, takes place between Seasons 5 and 6.
"Raise you three," Spike said, tossing three pennies into the pile.
"You're bluffing," Dawn accused, looking at him over the top of her hand of cards.
His face was perfectly blank, not a muscle twitching in his face, eyes placid and blank. One might have thought he was dead...moreso. Was he hiding a royal flush, or nothing?
"You tell me, Bit," he replied enigmatically.
She pouted a little, staring at her own meager hand - only a single pair.
"I don't see the point of it," she said disgustedly. "We're not playing for a lot of money, and the hands we've been dealt could both suck."
Spike nodded once, expression never changing. "Exactly. Don't matter if we're playing for pennies or millions, if you're got a royal flush or nothing. Play to win."
"Now," he continued. "Gonna see my bet and raise me?"
Dawn perused his face once more. What did that blank stare mean? She looked once more at her cards, then turned them over, slapping them facedown on the dining room table. "I fold."
With slow relish, the vampire showed her his cards. Not a damn pair in the entire hand.
With an inarticulate "arrrrgggh!" of rage, Dawn threw up her hands. "I give up! I'm just too honest for this."
"Which is why you asked me to teach you the fine art of bluffing after you mastered cheating," Spike said confidently, reaching across the table to take her cards and reshuffle them. "Key's in the poker face. You were givin' me all sorts of signs you weren't confident in your hand. Got to be cool, calm. Play poker like James Bond would play poker."
He slid the deck over to her, indicating she should deal. With a suppressed groan, she did so. "James Bond isn't blond," she needled him.
"Neither am I," Spike said easily. "My hair color's about as natural as the glare coming off your shiny, shiny head."
They lapsed into silence, studying their new hands intently.
The sound of the back door opening and a footstep in the hall made her jump. Dawn's eyes widened - she knew just playing poker (to say nothing of cheating at it) was one of those taboo subjects not for her innocent eyes and ears.
Quick as a flash, almost faster than she could see, Spike rearranged the cards on the table, palming the pennies.
"Go fish," he said, cool as something that was so far beyond a cucumber. He took two cards from his hand, and placed them face-up on the table. Dawn gaped at him a moment before Xander's tread into the kitchen forced her to play along.
"Hmm…" she murmured, keeping her eyes fixed on her hand. If she looked at Spike, she knew she would lose it.
"Evening," Xander said, coming into the dining room. "You know Go Fish?" he asked Spike, studying the table with doubting eyes.
"Been around over a hundred years. You'd be surprised what I know," Spike said cryptically.
"He's not teaching any of the other stuff, is he Dawn?" Xander asked, leaning on the table with both palms, studying their game intently.
"One, I already know Go Fish. Two, no, he's not. Three, the pudding popsicles are in the freezer," Dawn lied, hoping that her voice was laced with enough teenage irritation to be convincing.
"Excellent!" He spun around and went eagerly to the kitchen.
The chipped vampire and the human Key exchanged looks as they heard the freezer door open and the crinkle of plastic wrapping. Dawn mimed a phew with her hands. Spike gestured at her cards.
"Pair of spades?" she queried tentatively. Dawn didn't know how to play Go Fish.
Spike shrugged, and she wondered if he knew the game, either.
"Any calls?" Xander yelled from the kitchen.
"Anya. Said somethin' about invitations?" Spike drawled out the corner of his mouth.
Almost immediately, booted feet started pounding out of the kitchen towards them.
"We're...Anya was thinking about picking the Fourth of July as her birthday - since all she can remember about her first birthday was that it was in summer, and you know the birth of the nation, capitalism and apple pie, rah-rah and all that..."
Xander-babble meant that he was nervous and hiding something, but Dawn wasn't sure about what.
"...so I've got to run and make sure she knows that she'd get free fireworks..." There was a brief, deer-in-the-headlights look before rational thought asserted itself. "Will you be okay with him, Dawn?"
She sighed, for the first time really and truly irritated. "I've been fine for the past three hours," she replied testily.
"Right. Night, then." The door slammed shut behind him.
Dawn tossed her cards down on the table in disgust, for the second time that night. She looked up, expecting to see Spike's poker face.
Instead, his lips curved in the first almost-smile she'd seen on him in nearly two months. His eyes fairly glittered with pride.
"Now that, Bit, was a true bluff," he said, gathering up her cards and reshuffling them.
It should have made her feel better, but all she could summon up was a vague frustration with Xander. "Wish he'd stop that," she muttered.
"Nah," he rejoined, starting to deal the cards again. "Get you trained up enough, and you'll take his paycheck fair and square. Then you and I can hit Vegas and really clean 'em out."
Dawn's lip curled, in spite of her melancholy. "I'm underage," she pointed out. "They'd toss me into the kid's room."
"And I'm over 120," he reasoned, dealing her another card. "Fortunately, fake IDs aren't just for the young."
Dawn cocked her head, contemplating her hand. "I suppose this is one of those things that Xander doesn't want you teaching me."
Casually, he tossed five pennies into the center of the table, lifting an eyebrow at her, poker face back in place.
"You tell me, Bit."