Spike lay wrapped tightly around Dawn when she woke. He could feel the pull of her awakening and the urge to protect her, to keep her from all harm, surged even stronger in his veins than ever before.

As Dawn awoke her face took the ridges of her demon. She opened her new vampire eyes and blinked at Spike. "How?"

Spike ran his hand through her long silken hair. "I couldn't lose you Bit, Buffy asked first but I could have said no, wasn't gonna do it, but couldn't lose you. Never gonna lose you now."

Dawn's demon eyes were so unlike any Spike had ever seen. Not only were Dawn's vampire eyes ringed in dark green with a rich gold within but they held so much emotion he couldn't believe it was possible. She was gorgeous, her ridges made her look almost feline, as opposed to Drusilla's more reptilian look.

Dawn's eyes dropped. "For Buffy, of course…"

Spike felt a tinge of panic, did his girl really think like this? "Bit didn't you hear me? She asked, yeah, but I didn't do it for her, I did it for me! I'm a selfish bastard luv, I couldn't lose you, not when I could stop it. You mean a hell of a lot more to me than you think you do."

Maybe he does care about me too.

Spike growled lightly. "I told you I did, I never lied to you Dawn, ever."

Dawn looked at him with confusion and her gameface slipped away. "I didn't say anything Spike."

Spike huffed. "Yes you did, you said "Maybe he does care about me." I heard it loud and clear."

No Spike I thought it, just like I'm thinking this. Guess you can hear my thoughts.

Spike was dumbstruck. He knew this type of thing happened once in a while, but had never expected it. Can you hear me Bit?

Dawn nodded. Her thoughts raced. Spike could pick up bits and pieces as she frantically tried not to think of certain things, which made her think of them. He could feel how alone she had been, how much guilt she had felt, how much she really cared about him. He smiled, this was easy to fix. He open his thoughts more, allowing her to feel and see how much he cared about her.

Dawn's eyes got huge. "Oh!"

Spike chuckled. "Believe me now Platelet?"

Dawn nodded just as her stomach growled. Immediately images of blood popped into both Sire and Childe.

Thankfully for Spike Willow had followed Buffy's instructions and removed the behavioral chip from his head. It was slightly ironic that he hadn't even asked, Buffy said that she trusted him not to feed and that he may need to punch or knock down humans trying to help Dawn adjust. Spike hadn't answered and let the witch take it out. Then he had left to return to the crypt with Dawn's stuff, having left her there earlier.

Stupid fucking Scoobies will pay for their foolishness as well as their sins against him and his Little Bit. They should have known that Dawn was more important than any of them now, that her demon would crave revenge on them for abandoning her.

Yeah, this was going to be fucking fun.