Salty Thoughts Sweaty Solutions:
Dawn moves through the empty kitchen grabbing a banana, which is still slightly green, for breakfast and then heads out the door. Her bag is tossed over her right shoulder and she's perfectly prepared for another day of classes. Today, however there are things on her mind, thoughts and feelings that have been there for a while, that have been growing in the back of her brain; thoughts that were planted by soft touches and tender kisses.
"Bye," Dawn yells into the penthouse as she shuts the door behind her. Buffy and Spike are sound asleep and she doubts they heard her exit, but saying bye over the years has become a habit.
Dawn moves down the hallway and gets into the elevator; however she doesn't hit the button to go to the first floor. Her thoughts are leading her, pushing and moving her to hit another button. After she does she glances down at the banana in her hand and notices how hard it is obviously still not ripe, instead of eating it she throws it into her bag. She needs to talk, needs to get the thoughts that are building up and forming questions in her mind out before they burst through her skull.
--
Willow opens the door after loud knocking had startled her from a book she was reading. Her eyes furrow creating a wrinkle between them as she sees Dawn standing in the doorway.
"Willow, I need to talk to you," Dawn says pushing her way into Willow's apartment.
"Uh, okay… what's up… is something wrong?"
"No, no… yes, uh, I don't know… I need some advice… I… how did you know when it was the right time to… to you know?"
Dawn sits down at Willow's kitchen table and Willow sits down beside her.
"Um… well… the right time to what?"
"…Alden and I have been going out for a while and things have been getting a little…"
"Oh… Oooh"
"Yeah… how did you know when it was the right time?"
"Well, I mean… um… it just kind of happens… not that it should just happen, you should plan and be safe and… and actually just don't do it at all."
"Willow, I'm older then all of you were your first times... don't treat me like a kid."
"…Okay… well, you and Alden have been going out for a while so that's good at least… do you feel like it's the right time to… you know?"
"I don't know, maybe… yeah I think so."
"Dawnie, I think the best advice I can give you is that it needs to feel right and if you're not sure, don't do it… does that help?"
"Yeah… I think I just need to think about it all a little more… I should go though, I'm gonna be late for class. Thanks Willow."
--
Dawn walks into class late and shuts the door as quietly as she can behind her. Alden has saved her a seat. Chemistry 101, this was their one and only class together and while they both hated it they liked that they at least could hate it together. Their professor gives Dawn an evil look as she takes her seat. She flashes Alden a quick smile and then turns her attention back to the white board where she tries to make it appear like she's more interested then she is to keep her professor from getting too upset with her, after all she is already late.
As class goes on, however, Dawn finds that she can't concentrate on the Chemistry lecture, but instead finds herself thinking about the chemistry between her and the special someone sitting next to her. Alden then twists his fingers through hers from under the table and Dawn feels her whole body flush red; that is until Professor Leach lets out a deep dry cough and takes a long drag of water from his glass. He always had water with him; the man never seemed to go anywhere without a water bottle and from what Dawn can remember it's always full.
--
Spike wakes to his shoulder being shaken violently by a very awake blonde slayer. As he opens his eyes he sees Buffy standing before him fully dressed and with her make up applied. For a moment Spike's worried that he's slept the day away but when he glances at the alarm clock he realizes that it's only ten am. Spike looks up at Buffy with a confused face.
"What the bugger are you waking me up so early for?"
"Nanny's."
"What?"
"The Nanny's are coming today… remember I had Giles look up some Nanny's who're… knowledgeable about… what we do so we could hire one?"
"No I don't remember that… what the bloody hell do you want a Nanny for?"
"For when we're both out on patrol or some big bad crashes in… I want someone here that I trust to look after Jayden… come on get up."
Buffy pulls Spike out of bed forcing him awake in what would be the middle of the night for his sleep schedule and the vampire finds it in himself to get ready and sit through this application process with the woman he loves.
--
Dawn and Alden exit Chem class and walk side by side down the hall. They hold hands as other students pass by moving swiftly to get to their classes. Professor Leach is in front of them with a water bottle in his hand and Dawn watches as he lifts the bottle to his mouth and drinks greedily.
"That guy is so a demon," Dawn says.
"What… really, how can you tell?" Alden responds.
"Oh, no, he's not… at least I don't think so… I just meant… he's just… evil."
"Yeah, we have a two hundred question test next week, don't forget…. defiantly evil."
"He's just so weird… like have you noticed that he's always drinking water? The man is like a fish or something."
"You know I have noticed that… I've heard he takes showers here on campus during his lunch hour," Alden says.
"Really?"
"Well I don't know if it's true."
"Wait, where's he going?"
Dawn and Alden watch as Professor Leach opens up a door that leads below the building. Across the front of it the word Maintenance can be read. Dawn has an odd feeling about this, a bad feeling, but that feeling only makes her want to follow after Professor Leach more. As Dawn thinks about her situation she boils down the way she handles things to being the Slayer's sister. After all those years of listening about Buffy get in trouble Dawn's not surprised that her sister's habits have worn off on her.
"Well he is faculty."
"Yeah, faculty not maintenance… I think we should follow him."
--
Myla pushes her way through the door of Xander's apartment with a box in her arms. As the door swings open Xander follows her in with a box in his grasp as well. She makes a b-line for Xander's bedroom swiftly walking past the beige love seat and down the hall. Myla plops the brown box on the fluffy white comforter atop the bed. Xander follows her in and sets the box he was carrying beside hers. Myla turns around and wraps her arms around Xander. As he looks down at her he sees a big smile plastered across her face.
"I'm really glad you asked me to do this," Myla says.
"I am too… now come on lets get your stuff unpacked," Xander responds.
"Mmm, I had better ideas, my stuff can wait," Myla says as she wraps her arms around Xander's neck and pulls his lips to meet hers.
--
Buffy and Spike sit side by side in the living room. Across from them their first applicant waits for their next question. Spike scratches his head as he looks over the otherworldly nanny. She has four tentacles protruding from her body instead of arms, a human like face with long green hair, thick black rimmed glasses and blue skin. Spike glances at Buffy and can tell that she's trying as hard as she can not to make that cute disgusted look that she does on occasion.
"So um, miss… Zan…zig-wa… well you uh, you have great references, glowing really… but um… we… we just have a lot of applicants to go through and we'll get back to you as soon as we can," Buffy says.
"Thank you," the octopus lady says with a strange sound to her voice and exits the room.
Buffy turns to face Spike with an 'eh' face, her eyebrows are raised and one side of her lip is cocked ever so slightly. Spike can't help but chuckle at her a little.
--
Dawn and Alden descend the stairs on the other side of the Maintenance door moving slowly so not to make a sound. The only light comes from a few hanging bulbs and as the pair moves shadows dance across the stairs with every step. They watched professor Leach make his way down the stairs and walk around the corner. Now they've reached the bottom of the stairs and prepare themselves for whatever they may see next. The sound of running water and rattling metal enters their ears from further in the depths of the school basement.
Dawn peeks around the corner. Professor Leach is no where in sight, but water is pooling on the ground. Slowly she moves in the direction she believes her teacher to have gone and then she hears it, voices. Dawn and Alden reach the end of the wall and both of them peak their heads around the corner. Water is flowing from a broken pipe and a young girl is chained by her wrists to another pipe. Her blonde hair and clothes are wet form the water falling from above and the look across her face is of total fear as Professor Leach nears her.
"Please, please, Oh God, please just let me go," the girl says in a muffled voice as the sound of the running water echoes through the room.
Dawn's eyes bug big and Alden finds himself feeling nauseous at the sight before him. Then in horror they watch as their Professor's face morphs, His mouth grows wide and round and his teeth multiply into millions of rotating tiny shards. The professor nears the girl and she screams a loud terrified shrill. His teeth tear into the skin on her neck and as he engorges himself with blood Dawn and Alden turn away. They listen to the sounds of her death fade in the distance as they rush back up the stairs and into the hallway of their school.
--
After hours of unimpressive interviews Buffy and Spike are starting to get restless. They have a few nannies left on their list and while the thought has crossed both of their minds to just give up Buffy is hoping that just one of the following applicants will look promising. Then there is a knock at the door. Buffy glances at Spike and the both of them just sit there for a moment neither wanting to get the door.
"Ill get it," Spike says.
"No… no… I've got it," Buffy says as Spike is about to get up. He sits back down and Buffy goes to the door.
Buffy forces a fake smile across her face takes a deep breath and then turns the door knob. She pulls the door open. Her first thought of the woman before her is that she looks reasonably together and that just maybe this one would be a good one. Buffy looks the woman up and down. She appears to be human with red and black hair; her clothes seem slightly odd on her frame as if they were stolen from a forty year old woman's closet. She wears a tan suit with floral top and tan heels. Buffy looks the woman in the eyes which are her one and only clue that this person standing before her isn't human. Her eyes are jet black.
"I'm here for the nanny position," the woman says.
"Hi, um… come in," Buffy says gesturing the woman into the penthouse.
Spike stands as the woman enters and observes her from head to toe as she looks around the apartment. He finds something about her unsettling but doesn't know what it is. The woman takes a few steps farther into the room then turns around to face Buffy and Spike.
"Is that the baby's room down there?" She asks.
"Yeah," Buffy says, "I'm sorry I didn't get your name."
The woman takes a few steps toward Buffy and Spike but instead of responding with her name she brings her hand up below her lips. The onyx eyed woman takes a deep breath and blows a kiss of sparkling pink air. Her breath shimmers and fills the space quickly. Buffy reacts taking a step forward to take out the woman knowing that she's not who she appears to be, but the second the pink mist meets her lungs Buffy falls unconscious to the ground.
--
Alden's dorm room door slams shut as he and Dawn rush in out of breath. Alden locks the door and Dawn sits down on the bed. The room is empty besides them as Alden's roommate is in class. Alden turns to face Dawn and then runs his hand through his hair still shaken from what they both saw in the basement.
"What do we do now?" Alden asks his girlfriend who looks up at him with big blue eyes.
"I… I don't know," Dawn replies. "He's been killing people on campus, and that girl… God, when I said he was a demon I was just kidding… I didn't think…"
Alden moves to Dawn's side sitting down next to her on his bed. He puts his arms around her and Dawn leans into him. She's seen a lot in her lifetime, but that was one of the most gruesome images that she can remember. Alden kisses her forehead in an attempt to calm both of them. Dawn tilts her head up to look at him. Their eyes meet for a moment and then so do their lips.
--
Black eyes look over baby Jayden in her crib. As Jayden see's the red headed demon hovering above her she begins to cry and it's then that the demon lowers her hands into the crib to pick her up, however, before her hands can reach the child she's knocked to the ground.
Spike stands with a glimmer of gold in his eyes above the female demon ready to take her out. The mist that she had blown in Buffy's face knocked her out, but Spike's dead lungs didn't breathe any of it in. When Buffy collapsed to the ground Spike had moved to her side and laid her on the couch, then after a moment to make sure she was still breathing he ran into the bedroom to see the evil nanny hovering above his child's crib.
The demon gets to her feet and glances back at the open window behind her. Spike takes a step forward ready to throw another punch, but before he's able to do anything the demon is gone in a flash. She darts to the window and jumps out it without hesitation. Spike dashes to the window and looks out to see that the nanny has spread large black bat-like wings and is flying off.
Spike moves to the crib where Jayden is crying, he picks her up and holds her close as he closes the bedroom window.
--
Dawn's back is flat against the soft comforter on Alden's bed. She's taking in the feeling of his soft skin and hard muscles from beneath his t-shirt while his hands are running through her hair. Their lips part for a moment as Dawn and Alden each take a deep breath and then they meet again in a fevered rush. Things are starting to get more heated and they're still alone in Alden's dorm. They're in dangerous territory and Dawn knows it. Alden's fingers are trailing up Dawn's side underneath her shirt and then they move down to the waistband of her jeans. Stop. Dawn knows things are about to move to the next level and in that moment she decides that she's not ready yet.
Dawn puts her hands on Alden's chest and pushes him back. Immediately he withdraws his hand and the two of them sit up on the bed.
"Stop," Dawn says softly.
"I'm sorry, I… I shouldn't…"
"no, it's okay… I just… I'm not ready yet."
"I know… I completely understand, and that's fine… we don't have to do anything you're not ready for."
"Really?"
"Yes, absolutely… I love you Dawn, and yeah, I'd love to… but not until you're comfortable with it… I'll wait."
Dawn smiles and thinks to herself how much better she feels having just had that short conversation with her boyfriend. Hearing those words from him has makes her feel completely secure in taking the time she needs before being with him.
"Thank you," Dawn says and Alden pulls her into a hug. As he does Dawn's eyes move around the room behind him and then she sees it. Sitting on the small side table in the room is a take out box from the night before and a salt and pepper shaker. Dawn eyes up the salt shaker and gets an idea. She pulls out of the hug and looks Alden in the eye. "I know how to stop him."
--
"Are you sure about this?" Alden asks as he helps Dawn set up the trap in the basement of the school.
"Yeah, I mean, no I'm not positive… but I'm pretty sure."
Professor Leach is in class and Dawn and Alden are positive that he won't be entering the basement for at least the next ten minutes. They set up a bucket filled with salt to hang above the door with a rope attached ready to spill it. As Dawn watches Alden hang the bucket she thinks to herself that there's no way with how much water that guy drinks that this won't try him out.
"Okay, that's it," Alden says as he finishes up hanging the trap.
"Alright good… now we just wait."
Dawn and Alden move off to the side. They want to be a safe distance from the door incase their trap doesn't work and they have to run. Then they sit down and wait. Their nerves are on high as they watch the door intently. A few minutes pass, then a few more, and then finally they know Professor Leach is out of class and Alden tightens his grip on the rope.
Finally a few minutes later the door opens. Dawn watches as the light between the door and its frame widens then disappears as the professor closes the door behind him. Alden waits just long enough to make sure that it's Professor Leach who's walked through the door and then he pulls on the rope. The bucket of salt falls and Dawn and Alden watch as their teacher screams an inhuman sound as his skin sizzles and boils like when pouring salt on a slug. His body shrivels and distorts and then finally Dawn knows that he's dead.
Dawn stands and makes her way over to the white bubbling mass of tissue that is all which remains of her professor.
"We did it," Alden says.
"yeah we did."
--
Spike walks into the living room with a glass of water for Buffy who has just woken up. Willow sits beside her holding baby Jayden in her arms. They've just finished explaining to Willow what happened with the Nanny search and attack on Buffy.
"Do you think this has to do with the prophecy that Giles was talking about?" Willow asks.
"I think that's a safe bet," Buffy replies.
"So Red, what can we do?" Spike asks as he sits down on the couch beside Buffy.
"Well, we should call a meeting with everyone tomorrow and figure out what this demon is, but I can have some spells put up around the penthouse to help keep out anything that shouldn't be here."
"Thanks Willow," Buffy says as she takes a sip of water. "I think we have a new big bad on our hands, I wanna take this seriously."
"Of course… I mean anything that puts this little girl's life in danger is so with the serious. Don't worry guys; we'll get this figured out."
A/N: Sorry this chapter took forever to get up... The next few will be a little on the slow side as well, I've been very busy, but this fic will get finished eventually; so if you like it just hang in there and check out my website for updates. Thank you to all my readers. I'll get "9.08 Welcome to the Fabulous World of Vampire Slayage" written and up as soon as possible.