Dawn was sitting in the passenger seat of the Desoto and sulking. Normally, the idea of a road trip with Spike would have sounded like a cool idea, but not when she was being sent away for her own 'protection'.
She had argued with her sister until she was practically blue in the face, and they had each slammed several doors, but it hadn't done her any good. Not even pointing out that she was older than Buffy had been when she started fighting demons had earned her a reprieve from exile.
So, she was being shipped off to L.A. with a chaperone to hide out with Angel's son, while the rest of the L.A. crew headed to Sunnydale to help Buffy with the latest group of demons trying to reopen the Hellmouth. No one wanted "the kids" to get into any trouble.
Pfff...
It wasn't that Spike wasn't cool. She had even had a bit of a crush on him, after he had saved her from that weird old guy with a tail, on that scaffolding thing. Everyone was a little bit nicer to him after that. Even Xander's barbed exchanges with Spike had become more form and less feeling.
Then he had gone off to South America to "find himself," or something, and had come back with a soul. He had tried to explain it to her once, when he was drunk - something about Buffy and being a better man and her believing in him. After that, it was just weird - to be crushing on a guy who was crushing on her sister.
It was still cool to hang out with him, though. Even if he did get a little over-protective sometimes, he didn't treat her like a child. Of course, if Buffy asked him to do something, it was like a sacred duty or something. She was surprised that he didn't just get down and kiss her feet - or other parts of her anatomy.
She snickered at the thought, as eww-some as the image was.
Spike heard her and glanced over. "Done sulking, bit? Just in time, we are about to enter the City of Angel's - however poof-some they may be."
Dawn frowned and scrunched up her face, unsure if she was ready to give in and play nice. She was still mad, dammit. However, they hadn't stopped since they had left Sunnydale, and she had skipped dinner out of protest. Now, she was hungry - and she really had to pee.
She sighed and gave in - a temporary truce. "Can we stop somewhere, Spike? I'm hungry."
He looked at her assessingly. "We're almost to the poof's place. We can order a pizza, or something."
"Is it far? I *really* need to stop."
He seemed to catch on. "Ok, there's one of those arch places ahead. We'll stop there."
She used the facilities and lingered over her burger and fries as long as possible. Finally, Spike nudged her tray. "Eat up, bit. Angel's whelp is waitin' on us, and it's gettin' late."
Dawn rolled her eyes, not only was she going to be cooped up in L.A. for the weekend, or longer, while her sister saved the world - again - she was stuck with the bleached wonder and her sister's ex's loser son.
Ok, well, Spike was alright, but Connor was...
... gorgeous. Holy cow! What rock had he been hiding under? She was so glad that Angel had dumped her sister, even if it had made her a whiny bitca at the time, 'cause that whole step-brother thing would be so uncool right now.
Apparently, he was as happy about this whole "baby-sitting" thing as she was. He was currently telling Spike how he could take care of himself, and how he certainly didn't need a vampire to do it for him. He killed vampires.
"That'll make you real popular at family reunions, whelp," Spike was answering with a grin.
Connor began to charge Spike and Dawn stepped between them. Gorgeous or not, he wasn't going to hurt Spike.
"Spike is good. He has a soul."
"Yeah, there seems to be a lot of that going around."
Dawn blinked in surprise, but behind her, Spike burst into laughter.
"Noticed that, did you, pet? Now run along like a good little boy. 'Cause unlike your daddy, I'm not above a little torture to keep you in line until he comes back to claim you."
Connor narrowed his eyes and stalked off. Dawn watched his... watched him leave, and then flopped down on the nearest sofa. "Tell me why we're here, again?"
Several hours later, Dawn was in her temporary room and bored out of her skull. Spike was off raiding Angel's liquor cabinet and watching the TV that he had pulled into the lobby, where he was 'standing guard'.
She decided to sneak out of her room and explore a bit.
Apparently, she wasn't the only one with that idea, as she saw Connor making his way to a window at the end of a corridor. When he opened it and slipped out, she decided to follow him.
It was a lot like watching Buffy patrol - if she were a boy, and really hot. He had that look of intense concentration on his face like Spike got when something weird was about to happen.
Suddenly, he took off, jumping over a bunch of boxes and dodging around dumpsters and a homeless man. She heard sounds of a fight. That was her cue to lay low and find a weapon.
As quickly as she could, she made her way toward the sounds. She could hardly see in the darkened alley. Just before she reached Connor, she tripped and fell. One of the vamps turned and came toward her.
Instinctively, she felt on the ground. "Yes!" she thought as her fingers wrapped around the broken piece of wood that she had tripped over. She stayed down, pretending to be hurt and helpless, lulling the vamp into a false sense of cocky superiority. When he bent down to grab her, she plunged the make-shift stake up into his chest. He exploded into a cloud of dust, revealing Connor coming to a halt a few feet away from her, his three other opponents nowhere in sight.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"I could ask you the same thing. Hmm?" Dawn retorted as she dusted herself off.
"It's none of your business. You shouldn't be here."
Dawn didn't back down. "You shouldn't be here either. We're both supposed to be snug in our beds. You're not, so I'm not either."
"You shouldn't have followed me. You could have gotten hurt. I know what I'm doing."
"Oh, like you're the only one entitled to sneak out and stake vamps. Hello, my sister's the slayer."
"Yeah, but you're not." He sniffed the air. "You're bleeding."
"What? Where?" Dawn looked down at herself in confusion.
He stepped closer to look. "Your leg, by your knee, and here...." he reached down out and brushed his thumb across her cheek, then held it in front of her, the red wetness apparent on the pad.
She reached for his hand to get a closer look and he drew back from the touch, causing her to stumble forward. She landed against his chest. He instinctively caught her.
Dawn felt herself flush from head to toe, both at her clumsiness, and because she could feel the hard planes of his chest, against her. She looked up and he was staring at her in shock. His mouth was parted slightly, so she did what any insane girl would do in this instance - she kissed him.
Apparently, that was a good call, because he was kissing her back. Awesome.
After a bit, they pulled back and separated. "Come on, let's go back. With you bleeding, every vamp for blocks is going to be looking for an easy snack."
She chose not to argue and followed him back down the alley. It was almost dawn anyway.
When he stopped at the mouth of the alley, for her to catch up, she smiled, then reached out and grabbed his hand. They walked back to the Hyperion together.
Connor motioned for her to be quiet as they climbed the fire escape back to their window. It was pretty pointless, though, as the first thing she saw when she got all of the way inside was Spike, leaning up against the wall and waiting for them.
"Shit!"
"Have a nice little adventure, pet? He asked as he tossed his cigarette and used his heel to grind it into the carpeted floor of the hallway.
"And you..." He lunged for Connor as soon as he was fully inside. "What the hell were you thinking, taking her out there. She's bleeding. What you do when the poof is here is your business, but she is mine."
Spike was totally vamped and Connor was looking like he wanted to add Spike to his tally for the night.
"Men!" she grunted to herself, and shook her head in disgust. She stepped between them, once again. This time, her back was to Connor and she yelled at Spike. "Spike chill! We're both here and in one piece and we won't do it again." She turned to look sternly at Connor, then back at Spike. "OK?"
Spike looked at her for a moment. "So, it's like that, is it?"
"Yes, Spike," she replied. "It's like that."
"Alrighty then, it's time for all good children to be in their beds - if they don't want to spend the weekend tied to them. Off you go." They both understood the underlying steel in his jovial tone and scurried away down the hallway.
Dawn blushed again, as he shouted after them, "Separate beds!"
She glanced back to see him shake his head and mutter, "Kids!"
Maybe being stuck in L.A. with Spike and Connor wasn't so bad after all.
Series: 3
Stories: 97
Chapters: 105
Word count: 156780
Reviews: 0