Rebuilding
Chapter 30 – Miracles Happen Every Day
It took nearly half an hour for Giles to come up with the correct incantation to drive the toxin from Willow and Spike. When he'd managed to free them, the first thing Willow had done was throw herself into Tara's arms and cried fiercely.
Spike had walked as if in a daze to a bench and sat heavily. His hands took Dawn's left as if it were made of the most delicate of materials. There were no tears but the utter look of defeat on his face spoke volumes to all present, especially Hyena and Xander.
Xan had put his arms around Spike's shoulder's, his hands grasped at his chest from behind and sobbed onto his shoulder.
"My fault… my fault," the vampire chanted.
"Dawn, it's time to wake up now and go," Buffybot said cheerily.
"Buffybot…." Willow started by was interrupted by Spike.
"… She's dead, you stupid bint. She's not waking up… at least… not as she was."
"Spike, you're not suggesting…." Giles said.
"… She's turned, Rupes. Just to spite me, Vanessa fed her."
"W-well… that's, uh, good then."
To the shocked stares in her direction, Willow reddened, but quickly clarified, "I mean… we can bring her back, right? W-we just need an Orb of Thesulah."
"Creating another Angel?!" Spike sounded incredulous.
"S-Spike is right," Giles said quietly. "Angel's condition is a curse. It's not to be used lightly."
"B-but we can't just stake her," Tara cried. "We can't just… I mean… she can still be Dawn with Willow's plan!"
"I gotta go with the girls on this one," Xander said, swiping at his eyes. "At least she'll be with us and Angel has learned to make due. Hell, we can even get to her before she has to live with slaughtering innocents."
"But she'll also never be truly happy again," Giles pointed out. "There's no way to modify the original curse without a far greater understanding of the magic that was lost even before Jenny's murder."
"She can be happy enough," Willow insisted. "She'll just be… you know… a girl with powers and, okay, there's the blood thing, but Spike makes due."
"I don't know…," Giles said doubtfully.
"No one is staking her," Spike slammed a fist on the table making them all jump. "I'll take care of her… look after her and keep her from hurting anyone. Willow, ready the curse. We can find another way to migrate her soul or something without being cursed later."
"Spike…," Giles said.
"… No! No, Rupert. Please…," Spike said with such pleading that Giles was shocked into silence. He'd never seen Spike acting like this. "This is my fault… we lost Buffy… not her, too."
"It's not your fault, Spike," Willow said, suddenly turning on Giles with furious anger. "Where the hell were you?! We called… we tried to get you here to help and your fucking cell phone was off!"
"Will," Tara yelled, shocked.
"No! He didn't even bother picking up! You could have gotten here in time to help us! And you, Xander! Where the hell were you, too!?"
"Don't yell at us! We were underground tracking Dawn down! This ain't our fault!"
'Our fault', thought Spike, even as he shot to his feet to glare at Willow in full vamp face. "You watch how you're talking to my boy! You were the one who got herself nabbed!"
"Well, so did you! And you're the reason that stupid, blood sucking bitch was here to begin with," Willow raged.
"STOP IT!"
Everyone looked at Giles who was shaking with emotion, "We will not turn on each other again! Is that clear?"
There were several heartbeats of silence in which no one agreed or disagreed. Finally he added, "Now let's take our little girl home."
"What about the other girl," Tara asked in a near whisper.
"It seems wrong not to try to save her, too," Xander pointed out.
"I don't give two shits about the sow," Spike spat. "Dawn is the only one that matters."
"A-and I don't know if we can get one Thesulan Orb, never mind two."
"Well, she's not a vampire yet. We can't just… I mean…," Xander struggled with what to say.
"I can wait here," Buffybot spoke. "I'll turn her to dust when she wakes up. And then I'll come home to get Dawn ready for school," she smiled.
"Y-yes… well… We'll speak of that later," Giles told her. "In the meantime, you are acting as the Slayer. Carry on."
"This seems really unfair, Giles," Xander said. "It feels wrong."
"Not dusting Dawn is what is wrong," Giles said, ignoring the plainly heard snarl of Spike's. "But she's family. Family is always different. It's a fact of human existence that we'll do for family what we wouldn't do for complete strangers. And though what you are saying is right, I can make myself comfortable with treating Dawn differently."
"I-I guess," Xan reluctantly agreed.
And imagine the help that another vampire will be to the pack, Hyena thought at him. Finally, Dawn is going to be worth something to have around!
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As the sun came up over town, Spike sat on the floor near Dawn's bed. The shade was drawn against the hurtful rays of the day and his eyes remained fixed and immovable on her still shape under the blanket. She was so small… so fragile… and she was another one of his failures.
Willow and Tara were in their bedroom, both on their individual laptops as they scoured the net for an Orb. Giles was talking into a telephone in the hallway, speaking to the school and explaining that Dawn had the flu and they would provide a doctor's note when she returned. Of course, they'd have to report that she had died in order to forestall an investigation when she never went back, but Giles would need the Council to officially arrange the paperwork on something that complicated.
Xander sat front pressed to Spike's back, enfolding him in mortal warmth that today seemed unable to penetrate to the ice block in which he found himself seemingly encased.
"I love you," Xander whispered against his neck.
"You shouldn't. I don't think we're going to work," he returned.
"You don't mean that."
"Xander… I'm only hurting everyone here. I should have left a long time ago. I've got a lot of enemies. Vanessa was only the first and look at what she's done just to get to me."
"We all have enemies. We always will. If we didn't accept that, we would have quit when Buffy made her jump."
"You all can quit now. I'll take Dawn, if they can't track down one of these Orbs. We'll find somewhere out of the way. I'll keep her from hurting anyone. If they can… well, I'm used to traveling fast and light, anyway."
"You're not leaving us."
"Us?"
"Me, the gang, Dawn. You'll stay."
"Why," Spike asked.
"Because family is the only thing that let's us keep our sanity when the really horrible stuff happens to us. You think we're all not ready to hari-kari ourselves over this? You think you're the only one feeling guilt and knowing how much we've let Buffy down? At least with her soul, she'll still be with us."
"It's not that simple and you know that. Angel isn't the human being he was. Dawn won't be either… she'll be… something else."
"I know," Xander nodded into his shoulder. "But I also know that we'll love her anyway. And she'll need us. All of us… together."
Spike sighed.
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It was somewhere close to ten-thirty that night when the blanket began to stir. The Buffybot had gotten home a little after nine reporting that the other new vampire was dusted. She was currently charging as she'd been on the go for two days and her batteries were drawing from her emergency supply.
Now, everyone else was in Dawn's room as what she'd become stirred under the blankets. She let out a huge yawn as she moved the blanket away and sat up, blinking her eyes.
"Everyone stand back… let me handle this," Spike said.
"AHHH," Dawn issued a startled scream. "What the hel… eck!? What are you all doing in here?! Jeez… scare the crap out of me!"
"Okay… now I know you're hungry and confused," Spike said. "But your Sire isn't here, so I need you to listen to me…."
"Sire? Uh, Spike… are you okay? And why are you all looking at me like I'm about to grow horns… oh, God! Am I growing something on my face," she quickly reached up and patted at her nose, her cheeks and her head.
She doesn't smell much like a vampire, Hyena thought.
"Something's weird here," Spike said. "She's not acting right."
"No, I'm acting fine," Dawn said. "You're the ones that are looking at me all goofy. Are you under a group spell?"
"Dawnie," Tara asked, but didn't know how to follow it up.
"D-dawn? I-is it really you," Willow added.
"Okay, you guys are totally freaking me out now. And why am I in my clothes," she said as she pushed the blankets down to reveal her jeans and shirt. Even her shoes were still on her feet.
"Don't you remember…?"
"Remember what, Xan? What is into you guys?"
"D-dawn…," Giles started and then snapped his mouth shut. He tried again, "Dawn… uh… well… that is… you don't recall last night? Being in the abandoned bed and breakfast? The vampires?"
By this time, Spike had sat himself next to Dawn on her bed and was using his fingers on the inside of her wrists. "I don't understand this, Rupes. I have a pulse. And she's warm… even for the blanket. This is human warm."
"Okay… now what the hell is going on?! I didn't do a Key thing, did I," she said worriedly, her eyes suddenly opened wide with concern. "I didn't do another portal?!"
"No… no…," Giles tried, but was coming up blank again.
"Care to explain this Big G," Xander said, a growing smile on his face. For whatever reason, Dawn wasn't dead and he was finally just realizing that she wasn't demonized either. He was suddenly feeling giddy with relief.
"Dawn, you were dead," Spike said in that completely blunt manner he had.
Actually, I'm wondering just how much time he spent with Cordelia while she was in town, Xander suddenly giggled to himself. Oh, yeah… I'm definitely giddy.
Next to him, Tara also broke out into her first smile. "I-I… wow… I mean… I mean this is great! This is… this is a miracle-type of great!"
"D-dead? I was…," Dawn stuttered out.
"And you should be a vamp right now," Spike said with suspicion and awe conflicting in his tone. "I saw it… worst moment of my life, including… including that night. Hey, Rupes… were you going to jump in with an explanation?"
"Well… clearly there's something, uh, very mystical taking place h-here."
Spike's reaction to this profound statement was a deadpan look in the Watcher's direction. He didn't need to say, 'well, duh!'
"Me as a vampire? Ohmygod! I think I remember something! Um… there was a vampire with long red hair. I remember now… she had me in the bed and breakfast like you guys said. But I don't remember anything after worrying about Spike. You weren't moving."
"She bit you right in front of me, Bit. And I watched her feed you her blood. You're supposed to be a fang-filled demoness right about now," Spike told her, though as gently as he knew how.
"Holy shi… oot. So, wait… why am I not feeling like ripping out your throats?"
"And back to the Watcher…," Spike smirked.
"I honestly haven't the faintest. Obviously there is something different about Dawn's make up… something that allowed her to recover from her blood loss and being infected by a vampire's blood." Giles wore a thoughtful look on his face, but said no more.
"Oh, wow! Does this mean I'm like, immortal?! 'Cause that would be way cool! Ooh, do you think I'll get super-powers, too!? Oh, I want to know how to fly! And be, like, Supergirl!"
"L-let's not lose our head," Giles interrupted Dawn's fantasizing. "We don't know what this means. And being immune to being changed into a vampire doesn't necessarily mean you're immune to injuries. In fact, the fact that you could be bitten indicates otherwise."
"Not to mention, Glory's minions could cut you," Willow added.
"Exactly right," Giles continued. "In fact, you may be very fortunate that she did feed you her blood to turn you. Who knows if you would have regenerated your own blood after dying."
"Okay, okay… it wasn't like I was about to throw myself in front a train or anything to test it. Right now, though… I'm really hungry. Can we order a pizza?"
"You can have a sandwich," Xander said.
"Something light," Tara added, "Just to make sure you're not going to barf it up."
In the meantime, Willow was nearly shaking with excitement as something which hadn't occurred to Tara did her.
Dawn came back from the dead! Her Key energy must have been involved… if we can tap it… if we can introduce it to Buffy's body….
As everyone kept asking if Dawn was sure she was alright and either laughing and hugging with relief or continuing to ask how this could have happened, Willow's thoughts were quickly dominated by a new plan to save Buffy; a plan that got around how to put Buff back into her body when it wasn't exactly in moving-in shape right now. She'd sort of been glossing over that problem in her mind since it wasn't important until she knew how to get her out of Hell… now she was wondering if she had just stumbled on how to kill two birds with one mystical stone.
"Ooh, and after dying and everything, I think I deserve a bowl of ice cream, too," Dawn was saying.
The gang continued to act relieved and astounded as Willow followed them downstairs. Her focus was entirely inward… exploring and thinking.
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End Story
Spanderverse Series:
BTVS seasons 1-4.
Spanderverse: After 314
Spanderverse: Spike
Spanderverse: Dracula
Spanderverse: Burial
BTVS: Real Me
Spanderverse: Confusion of Three
Preludes
Tensions
Old Friends
Hospital Visits
The Risks of Glory
Hunting Our Needs
The Family We Choose
Falling Apart
Sunnydale Antics
Feints and Counter-Feints
Pathways
BTVS: The Body
Coming Together
Songs of Pain and Comfort
Battling with a God
Glory's Moment
Spanderverse: Points of View One
Spanderverse: Points of View Two
Spanderverse: Points of View Three
Spanderverse: Points of View Four
Rebuilding