Chapter 4.01
Wednesday, May 8th, 2002

Wednesday Evening

"Lucky it wasn't a girl or he'd probably have ended up playing stalker before he worked out who she was."

"Dawn!" Buffy's shocked exclamation coincided with Spike's snicker of amusement, which was only curtailed when Buffy redirected her glare. Spike didn't really care. Nothing was going to spoil his good mood. He was sandwiched between his two favourite women. The kitchen-island was strewn with Chinese food cartons. On the other side of said island, Tara and Willow were obviously still on their reconciliation high.

"What? It's not like she's wrong. You know the Poofter was followin' you around lurkin' in bushes even before you moved to Sunnyhell. Told me 'n' Dru all about it," Spike replied smugly.

"I give in. You two yuk it up while you can." Buffy turned her attention to her food knowing that when the blond one and her sister discussed Angel she wasn't going to be able to curtail the sarcasm however hard she tried.

"So," Dawn took this as dispensation to cross-examine Spike, "Does The Next Gen look like someone glued a cliff formation to his forehead as well, 'cause, like, he's never going to manage the broody glower without the overhang?"

Spike snorted before he replied, "nah, pet. This one at least looks human. Apart from hair colour he seems to take after 'is mum, fer looks anyway. God help us all if he's got her temperament."

"What I don't believe is none of them even picked up a phone when he was born." Willow added her opinion. "I mean we've let them know all the really big stuff. I even took the bus to tell him in person when Buffy... left. You two went to tell him in person about ...you two. Xander wrote to Cordelia to say he was getting married. I rang them to say he didn't and all the time, baby, hello!"

"You haven't heard the best bit yet, Red"

"What?"

"Cheerleader."

"You're telling me, there's more? Other than her being part demon and being in love with Angel but too busy getting off with some other guy, not of this earth, to realise?"

"Yep." Spike raised his hand holding his fingers roughly level with his jaw. "Hair lopped off to here and damn near as blonde as mine, except for the bits they left brown. Does not suit her complexion. And it's all sort of flat, makes her face look rounder or she's put on weight. Not sure which. Helluva waste."

"No!" Dawn was shocked, while Willow merely turned to Buffy for confirmation. The slayer looked up from successfully transporting two grains of rice from her carton to her mouth using chopsticks to notice her best friend's attention concentrated on her. "What?"

"Is it true?"

"What, Cordelia's hair? Yeah, all true though I'm not sure that the overall effect is as bad as he's making out. Doesn't seem to bother Angel, but then maybe I'm not in a position to judge 'cause I," her eyes slid to Spike with a meaningful glance, "wasn't attracted to her when she was a brunette either."

Willow wrinkled her nose and looked at Spike. "Really? Cordelia? Ew, for two guys that argue all the time you and Xander seem to have the same taste in women."

"Yeah, well, hello. Why did you think we don't get on?" Spike replied. "And, anyway, next time Wolf Boy's in town, he can back me up. She did look pretty damn good last time I was down there. Whether she's his type or not I don't think he would argue." Spike looked around the table at the four women.

Tara gave him an amused smile. "Quit while you're ahead, Spike."

"Anyway, Will, I think you're being unfair. Even Xander's never sunk low enough to "date" Harmony," Buffy grinned mischievously, her words somewhat mitigated by the fact her foot was currently rubbing up and down against the inside of Spike's shin.

"Well you know what you said about that?"

Buffy looked over at Willow. "You better refresh my memory."

"'Guy, dating Harmony, dead. Must be the most tolerant guy in the world.' So is he?"

Spike gave Buffy his full attention, scarred eyebrow raised skyward. "Pretty much." She gave him a soft smile. "He puts up with me."

"Yeah, well, that just proves it," Dawn interjected with typical little sibling glee. "I mean look how long your first roommate lasted, less than a week wasn't it."

"That's so not fair. Like it was my fault they made me roomies with a demon that tried to steal my soul and played Cher non-stop."

Spike smirked. "You make it sound like the Cher was the worst bit."

"You try listening to "I believe" for two hours in a row and see how you like it."

"No thanks, pet."

"So anyway what other news have you brought back from LA?" Tara asked.

"Well, Wesley might come back to Sunnydale. Giles has offered him a job at the Magic Box..." Buffy offered, "but then you've never met Wesley either, so yet again you're going to have no clue what we're talking about. You must be bored silly."

"Wes the Wonder Wuss?" was Dawn's comment. "Not sure she wants to. The only one who liked him last time round was Cordelia and even she went off him after he kissed her."

"Seemed alright to me, Bit," answered Spike.

"Wesley and Spike bonded," Buffy said. "They talked about beer and motorbikes and hell and soccer and killing demons, which was about the only bit I understood. He doesn't really seem all that wussy at all any more actually. I think, if he does come back, you'll all get a surprise.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else."

"I think that pretty much covers it, pet. I think the whole kidnapped prophecy baby saga was probably the highlight," Spike confirmed.

"Well, I vote for you taking a chunk out of the King of Pain, actually," Dawn gave Spike a beaming smile. "That's my personal favourite anyway."

"What is it with you and Angel?" her sister asked.

"The guy was a creep, Buffy. Skanking round after jailbait schoolgirls. He never spoke unless he wanted me to go fetch you and then he'd patronise me like I was three or something instead of ten. The only time he spoke to Mom was to tell her you'd done the down and dirty. If he was really in love with you, don't you think he'd make more of an effort to get on with your family? He was a loser. You just couldn't see past the soulful eyes. Jeez, if that's what you wanted, you could have talked mom into letting us have that St Bernard. Do you want me to start on the "evil" version now?"

"Maybe you'd better not. I think I get the picture."

"Yeah, we all got them, remember, creepy charcoal sketches of us all sleeping. Except Giles. Jenny wasn't sleeping in his picture. She was dead. He killed her, set up Giles apartment like a seduction scene, arranged her body and then sat there and drew her. Giles has never seemed as happy since, as he was with Jenny."

"He's got Olivia now," Willow offered as a token defence.

"Yeah, yeah and he likes her but he doesn't go all glowy when someone mentions her name like he used to with Jenny. He had the real thing. Now, he's settling. And to even have that, he's had to leave all of us."

"Boy, all those times you got told to sit quiet in the corner and do your homework, you didn't get much homework done, did you?" Buffy asked.

"Blame the monks, and I still did more than any of you, except Willow, and if she was sleeping more than three hours a night, I don't know how," replied the one-time key.

"Hey, I used to manage a good five hours most nights, I'll have you know," the redhead responded, "and it was partly effective time management and partly the fact that my parents never actually expected me to spend any time with them."

"Maybe we shouldn't invite the Poofter to the wedding, pet. Unless you want him there." Spike suggested in a soft voice.

"But he's the only family you've got that you can invite. Well, him and Stephen. And I sort of already said he'd be getting an invitation," Buffy admitted.

"What's the bigger issue here, pet, not inviting your ex who didn't even bother to tell you he was a father or spoilin' a special day for the guy who's been your father for the last six years?"

"You liked Stephen though, and you can't ask him without asking his dad?"

"The kid's only two hours up the road. There'll be plenty of time to play happy families after we're married, if he ever gets over his xenophobia. And if the junior watcher does shift back here I'd rather have him around than the Great Poof, but it's your choice and you don't have to decide yet."

"I'll think about it. Like you say, there's plenty to do before I have to make up my mind."

For some time after that the room was silent except for the sound of eating, before Buffy decided it was time to clear the air on another subject. "Em, Will," she nodded her head in Spike's direction for clarification, "and I were discussing what we were going to do about living arrangements after the wedding."

"Oh... oh!" Willow's eyes went large and round.

"No, Will, wait a minute. We're not asking anyone to leave, not unless they want to, and if our plans work out there should be room for Tara too. If you two decide to ...you know, move back in together officially.

What we were wanting to do, is use my room for a box room, and do a conversion on the basement, section it off so you have a separate laundry area where you go in and convert the rest into a second big bedroom and another bathroom. We thought we wouldn't disturb everybody else as much that way ...coming back from patrol in the middle of the night and stuff." Buffy blushed profusely.

"Sounds good to me. I don't want to be scarred for life listening to you two, or say, tripping over all your clothes when I go to brush my teeth in the morning," Dawn answered brightly as Buffy turned a shade redder.

"Bit," Spike decided it was time to rescue Buffy. "For one thing, you're exaggerating. It wasn't all our clothes, and for another if you want to be treated like an adult, you're going to have to tone down the bratty kid sister act. Hopefully, by the time we get married, things will be arranged so we've all got a bit more privacy. In the meantime, the occasional nights that I do stay here, we're not going to patronise you by pretending there's nothing going on. It's a perfectly natural situation between two adults who care deeply about each other. If you're as grown up as you like to think you are, then you'll just accept it as such."

"Okay," Dawn drew out the word until it was almost a sigh, but made no move to protest the ruling. Buffy found herself looking back and forward between the two, wondering how he managed to avoid all the back talk she got whenever she tried to get her sister to do anything.

She shook her head, turning her attention instead to the two Wiccans. "Well, anyway, how does that sound to you two? It'll mean getting builders in for a while, and I don't know how long it'll take, but most of the disruption should be when you're at college ...or school."

"It all sounds fine, Buffy, but it's an awful lot of trouble and expense. I mean if we weren't here, you and Spike would probably just move into your mom's old room." Tara offered.

"Even if we knew, now, that you girls were going to get your own place we'd still go ahead with getting' the basement done," Spike gave by way of a rebuttal. "It gives us more privacy, potentially more space. Sunlight's less of an issue." He shrugged and looked at Willow. "Red?"

"Sure. It sounds okay to me. Just I hadn't thought about what we'd do. I mean I know you said that you weren't asking us to leave, but do you really want two extra people around when... well, newlyweds."

Spike looked over at Buffy as if to say 'Your turn'. "You know how I feel, pet."

"Okay, if you guys move out, then Dawn's going to be left alone every night when we patrol. Either that, or we have to take it in turns to go out alone. We're not all that keen on either of those options. If Willow stays and maybe you move back in at some stage, then Dawn has people around when we're not here, at least often enough that the bad guys can't rely on her being alone. We're not saying we would expect you to be here for her every night. With an extra bathroom we'll probably be less in each other's ways than we are now.

We don't want you to feel you have to stay. You didn't sign on to live with Spike. And you could probably get somewhere closer to campus and maybe you two want some privacy.

What I mean is, there are all sorts of reasons why you might decide that you would rather move out, and if that's what you want then that's fine, but we'd be happy if you stayed. And we know ...or at least as far as we know, you two are still working things out, and it's not like we want you to make any decisions before you're ready.

Just make up your own minds, in your own time."

"In other words, sort it out between the two of you. We're okay with whatever you decide to do.

Thing is, I think the slayer actually brought this up for a different reason. She doesn't know whether she should ask Harris if he wants the job or not," Spike put in.

"Ask Xander to build you a cosy little love nest?" Tara asked in a quietly sceptical fashion.

"Well," said Buffy, "that's one way of looking at it and the other way is, what's he going to think if we hire somebody else without asking him? D'you think you could maybe feel him out, Will?"

"Gee. And, once I've done that, can I gargle with crushed glass?" the redhead sing-songed. "Sure, Buff. I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks. Dawn, did you get your homework done?"

"All the stuff for tomorrow, yeah, but I could do with some pointers on my English for Friday." The teenager looked across at Spike.

"What is it?"

"Three page essay on "The Scottish Play". I've done the outline. I just want to make sure I'm on the right track before I start to pad it out."

"D'you need me to look at it tonight, or if I'm here straight after school tomorrow will that do?"

"If you look at it tonight I can work on it in study hall tomorrow."

"Okay. I'll have a look at what you've got tonight. If something's wrong I should be able to spot it, but I could do with re-reading the play before I can say whether there's anything you should add ...if you've got a spare copy anywhere in the house."

"Mom had one of those "Complete Works" things. It's probably on the bookcase in the dining room. I'll get it." Dawn dashed off to the far room.

"You're going to read a whole play for tomorrow, just to help her with her homework?"

"S'not like I'm going to find something better to read."

"You could find something less prejudiced against witches, though," Willow replied. "That play alone—"

"Shh, baby. No point getting all upset about something that was written centuries ago," Tara tried to calm the redhead.

"And it's been giving people the wrong impression about witches ever since."

"A valid point, but not one Bit's English teacher would probably class as one of the main points of the story." Spike stood up, placed a quick kiss on top of Buffy's head and made his way out of the combat zone with a few whispered words. "I'll just go catch up with Dawn, have a look at this outline that she's got done. If I'm longer than quarter of an hour, send a search party."

Meanwhile Willow's anti-Shakespearean tirade continued. "And all the three's. Like it isn't perfectly acceptable to do magic alone, or in pairs ...or eight's. And why would they be meeting in the middle of a moor? And who's meant to have carried the cauldron out into the middle of nowhere?"

Buffy decided if she and Tara were going to have to listen, they deserved some creamy cold goodness in compensation. She slid off her stool and ransacked the nearby freezer for several minutes before her search attracted Tara's attention.

"What are you looking for, Buffy?"

"You guys can't have eaten all the leftover ice-cream from Monday night?"

Tara nodded, looking slightly guilty and Buffy realised that Willow's monologue had faded to a whisper and then stopped. She straightened up until she could see an equally guilty expression on Willow's face.

"Spike bought three quarts. Different flavours. The expensive stuff."

"Dawnie was kinda missing you guys, so we had sundaes and shakes," Tara explained.

Buffy sighed and climbed back on her stool. "You do realise it was a con. She never used to see Spike anyway and I burnt breakfast for her before she went off to school in the morning, which is more than I would have managed if I had late shifts at DMP. She was just working the sympathy angle so you'd let her get her teenage mits on my cookie dough ice-cream."

"Sweetie, she used to miss you when you worked late shifts, as well. And she's been missing Spike since you ran him off to make sure she and Will didn't notice the thing between the pair of you. Sunday night and Monday just reminded her why she missed him and how much. Only difference is that this time we had some ice-cream in the freezer."

".And Tara was here to get her to say what was wrong ...cause she's still not really talking like that to me after the car thing," Willow added.

"I'm a bad mother. Spike's a better mother than me. Why doesn't she want me to help with her homework? Why didn't she tell me she missed Spike? Why didn't she say she missed me?"

"'Cause you weirded out on her whenever she brought Spike up? She knew that you had to work, and she knew your options were limited with all the slayer-related absences and stuff. And like she said, we all spent more time researching demons than doing assignments and she knows it. You were doing the best you could and she didn't want to make things worse for you than they already were," Willow replied.

"Look at it this way, cutie. You've got a fresh new start. You can't change the past, but it's up to you what happens now." Tara gave her some practical advice.

"I guess I could take up the clothes I bought for her, once I give her hell for not leaving any ice-cream."

Buffy picked up her shopping which had been dumped in the corner of the kitchen when they brought in the food. She slung the bag of magazines onto the coffee table in the living room and took the rest of the stuff up to her room. She paused to find a particular lingerie set amongst the many she had bought, putting it on the bed and laying to one side the things she'd bought for Dawn she put the rest of the bags away in the bottom of her closet. She pulled a gym bag from a closet and filled it with a selection of other clothes, a spare pair of boots and a few bits and pieces from the bathroom, lastly placing the new lingerie on the top, before closing it up and putting it in the hall.

Then she picked up the carrier bags with Dawn's things and knocked on the door of her room, waiting for her sister to answer before she opened the door. "How's the homework going?" she asked the pair, who were both lounging across Dawn's bed with her English file spread out between them.

"Sorted," replied the vamp, flipping the file shut and picking up a large, thick paperback.

"Have we got time for Dawn to try on some clothes before we go?" Buffy asked the other blond.

He gave a theatrical sigh. "Sure, if we leave patrol till after she goes to bed for the night. I suppose this means I have to leave the room."

"I got a few things for you up in LA. We can exchange any that don't suit. I think we're going to be visiting LA a few times between now and the wedding." This prompted another sigh from Spike. Buffy held out a hand to him, pulling him up off the bed. "We'll wait in my room while you change, but I don't think Spike needs to see you model the underwear. Quicker you're done, quicker you get to nose round Spike's apartment."

Buffy passed her the bags, which had been hidden out of Dawn's line of sight behind the door.

Dawn's eyes widened as she looked in the first two. "Buffy, you must have spent a fortune."

"Thank Spike, if we were talking DMP wages you'd probably be trying to make do with some of my old stuff. I guess it's a token effort to make it up a bit for all the stuff that I had at your age that I haven't been able to buy you the last year or so ...but if you keep pigging all the ice-cream you'll have too many zits to go out anywhere and none of it's going to fit anyway." The last bit was thrown in as she pulled the door shut and Dawn started to strip.

The first couple of outfits were quickly checked for size, approved by Buffy and Spike and discarded. The third, a lavender mini-dress and knee-high boots had Spike obviously wanting to make an objection. "I suppose it's okay as long as you're going out where there's someone to keep an eye on you," was the best he could finally manage. The two women in the room looked at him as if he were an idiot.

"I wore dresses at least as short when I was her age," Buffy answered indignantly.

"Yeah, and that's why you had the Poof followin' you round, but you could fend off the pimple squad and the vamps. Bit doesn't have super-strength, so she should be a bit more careful."

"So train me some more," Dawn looked at the vamp.

Spike smiled. "If your sister doesn't mind, once I move in, I probably will. Just remember that fighting's your last option."

"I know, I know. Shout for help if you or Buffy or any of the witches are nearby and run. Only fight as a last resort because things or people can be tougher than they look." Dawn recited the rules imposed by her one-time trainer and then headed for her room.

"When were you training my sister?" the slayer asked.

"The last couple of weeks before Willow and that brought you back. Didn't get very far." Spike shrugged.

"Why?"

"'Cause it was more fun than trying to work out what was going on in those Bollywood movies, even if I can speak a teeny bit of Hindi? Why d'you think?"

"You know she's going to want to patrol." Spike was surprised that her tone came out even rather than angry.

"I know. I'd still rather she had more options than screamin' and dyin' if she gets herself cornered. And she knows she'd have to be damn good before I'd even think of takin' her, which gives her an incentive to improve."

"If she got to where she was half-way decent, she'd probably be safer with us than in the house on her own," Buffy admitted.

"I know. We'll worry about that when she is half-decent."

"I don't think I ever thanked you for looking after her while I was gone."

"There's no need for thanks. Lookin' after the people I care about, it's just what I do." The vampire looked at his nails as if embarrassed by her attempt at graciousness.

Buffy leant over towards him, her words barely a whisper against his cheek. "Thank you for being you, then." Her lips pressed against his pale flesh, and they both knew she wasn't just talking about him looking after her sister.

As the blondes waited for Dawn to model the fourth outfit, Spike started to fidget.

"Read your book. I'll go give her a hand," Buffy told him before heading for her sister's room.

It was still a further five minutes before Buffy knocked and held the room door open to herald her sister's entry. The gown wasn't dissimilar in style to the one Buffy had worn to her senior prom though the bodice was cut square across the front, showing the smallest hint of cleavage. The fabric shimmered between a pale greenish-turquoise and sky blue and it made Dawn's eyes seem even bluer, and she wore sandals with narrow straps in the two shades, obviously from the same range. The outfit was finished off by a wrap in the sky blue hue.

Spike's jaw dropped when he saw his Niblet looking so grown up. No make-up, no hose and no special hairstyle or jewellery, but she still looked gorgeous to him.

"Junior prom?" he asked, gaining brownie points from his fiancée for being aware of the upcoming events in her sister's life.

Dawn nodded.

"You'll be the belle of the ball, pet."

"Thanks to you two." She hugged and kissed both of them, before she stood in front of Buffy's dresser for one more look.

By the time Dawn was back in normal clothes another half an hour had gone by. Willow and Tara had been summoned upstairs to see the transformation. Everything had been neatly hung up or packed away and Dawn had escaped the boned ivory basque her sister had bought for her to wear under the dress.

"You guys are so cool. Of course, I don't have a date, but that dress is so great. Stacey'll go green when she sees it."

"Just remind me to tell you about my junior prom night and what mom told me."

"Are we going to get moving at some point or are you pair goin' to blub on each other for the rest of the night?" Spike asked, his tone totally belying the harshness of his words.

"Ooh, who's getting all sarky, then?" Buffy responded, but she also started heading for the door, picking up her gym bag and coat on the way. "Best grab whatever you need, Dawn. If we don't hurry he might resort to biting wit?"

"No, save us," giggled Dawn as she ran down the stairs, headed for the car.

"Women." The vamp took Buffy's hand as they walked downstairs together.