Chapter 4
Dawn
I see him waiting outside the store fifteen minutes before I get off and all I want to do is run outside. He’s leaning against the DeSoto, smoking a cigarette and staring at the sidewalk.
My manager, Lesa, is checking him out and she blushes when I catch her.
“That guy looks sorta suspicious, like he’s casing the store or something,” she says. “I think you should stay in here until your puppy shows up.”
The first time that Clem came to pick me up, he actually came in the store and Lesa muttered that he looked like a pug puppy. She had the decency to look embarrassed when I told her that he was my ride and that he had a rare disease that made his skin look that way. I half wanted to tell her that he was a demon who could suck her eyeballs out of her head and eat them without a second thought but I didn’t. She did, however, insist on calling him puppy though.
“That’s Spike,” I say and I can’t help the big grin on my face.
“Who?” Lesa asks.
“Spike,” I explain. “He’s sorta like a big brother to me. He’s been away though and Clem was just picking me up until Spike got back.”
“Oh.” Lesa looks out the window again. “He’s cute…Is he single?”
“Yeah, but he’s way in love with my sister,” I say hoping that Lesa will get the hint and back off.
“Wish someone that hot would be in love with me…your sister must be blind if she hasn’t snatched him up…” Lesa finally notices me hoping from one foot to another impatiently and laughs. “Alright, get out of here and say hi to your sort of big brother.”
XXX
Spike
Dawn runs out of the video store and throws her arms around my neck. I hug her back, smiling to myself about her reaction. Nice to be missed, ya know? Not so nice to have the bag of movies she’s holding hit me in the back of the head. I wince and she starts to apologize, but then hits me in the chest instead.
“Oi! What’s that for?” I rub my head in the spot where the chip was removed. Nice aim there.
“Where have you been?” She demands, hands on her hips in an imitation of her older sis. “I’ve been worried sick. You didn’t even leave a note.” She flings her arms around my neck again and I can feel her tears. “I thought you weren’t coming back.”
I sigh and wrap my arms around her. “Didn’t think I’d be gone so long, luv. Would’ve left a note had I know.”
She sniffs. “Where did you go?”
“Doesn’t matter,” I mutter. “Now, into the car with you while you tell me what ‘ve missed.”
And tell me she does. In the five minute drive from the video store to her house I learn how the Scoobies have pulled a Houdini, how Watcher man returned to England, how the bills have forced the Slayer to get not one but two jobs, and how my bit had to pick up a job to help as well. By the time we pull into the driveway, I’m torn between feeling guilty for being gone so long and feeling angry enough to tear Red and the Whelp to pieces.
“Are you coming in?” Dawn asks.
“What time is big Sis coming home?” I ask.
Dawn shrugs. “Well, she works until 2:30 or so and then, depending on how tired she is, she may try and do a quick patrol, but…I think she has to open at the Doublemeat Palace tomorrow, so I’m not sure.”
The Doublemeat Palace? My Slayer has been reduced to working minimum wage at a fast food joint? She’s above that…fuck, the bloody Council of Wankers should be paying her…my mind is racing with things I can do to help. I spent every cent I had saved on removing the bloody chip…wonder if I can get a job in the demon black market…heard you can earn good money doing that kind of shite…
“Spike?”
“Sorry, wot? Right, erm, yeah I’ll stay with you until big Sis shows up.”
XXX
Willow
I sip on my Coke and smile at Tara. I get that happy twinge in my chest when she smiles back. The past month has been great. No vampires, no Hell Gods, no Apocalypses, just my girlfriend and me having a normal life. I miss Buffy, but not as much as I thought I would. To be honest, life just seems less stressful without her. That sounds horrid, doesn’t it? It’s not Buffy’s fault that she was Chosen and everything, but…
I’m so lost in my thoughts that I don’t notice that Xander and Anya have joined us.
“Earth to Willow, come in Willow,” Xander jokes.
I smile brightly. “Sorry, I was being space cadet girl.”
“He asked if you wanted a drink,” Tara said.
“Yes, me be man. Me get drink for woman,” Xander pounded his chest in caveman style.
“He means that in a friend way because I’m his woman and I don’t share,” Anya said.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes at her. I really, really wonder what Xander sees in her.
“Hey look,” Anya says. “Isn’t that Buffy?”
“Ahn, don’t point,” Xander mutters, grabbing her hand.
I look to where Anya pointed and see Buffy leaning against the bar talking to the bar tender. He puts several drinks on the bar in front of her and for a moment I’m half jealous that she’s already found replacement friends and half angry that for the same reason…until I see her put the drinks on a tray, lift the tray above her head, and head out into the crowd.
“Didn’t you say that she was working at the Doublemeat Palace?” Tara asks Xander.
“Uh, yeah. Saw her there maybe a week or two ago,” Xander replies.
“Maybe she quit,” I say.
“I think she’s working two jobs,” Anya said.
“How do you know?” I ask.
“Well, Dawn came into the Magic Box a few weeks ago and asked for a job, but I told her that it probably wasn’t such a good idea as you and Xander were trying to avoid Buffy.”
My mouth drops open.
“You did-said what?!” Xander stutters.
Anya looks at him. “What? You said that you didn’t really want to hang around Buffy anymore so why would I hire her sister thus making her come to the store more often? Really, that wouldn’t make any sort of sense.”
“I-I thought t-that you s-said she was busy,” Tara said. “Are you really avoiding her? I thought she was your b-best friend.”
“Well, not avoiding exactly,” I say. “More like, not-“
“Returning her phone calls?” Anya says brightly. “That’s what Xander does.”
“Ahn!”
“H-h-ow could you a-avoid your best friend?” Tara asked looking angrier than I’d ever seen her. “Her mother just died and she’s obviously trying to raise her sister, this is the time that she needs friends the most!”
“I wanted to protect you!” I practically shout. “I almost lost you! I can’t go through that again!”
Her face softens for a moment and she touches my cheek. “That’s life, Willow. Sometimes we lose people we love…and that’s when we need friends the most.” She stands up. “I think…I think I’m going to go home.”
I jump up. “I’ll walk you.”
“No, I think…I think I’d like to be alone.”
XXX
Buffy
I saw them the minute they walked in, but they weren’t at one of my tables. It’s the first time I’ve seen Willow in a month and the first time I’ve seen Xander since he came into the Doublemeat Palace…he never came back. I’m not dumb, I’ve figured out that they’re avoiding me. At least they’re still talking to Dawnie.
That thought makes me pause. Why would they be talking to Dawn and not me? A wave of fear goes through me. I am dumb. Xander isn’t walking Dawn home from work at night. Oh, God! She’s probably walking by herself.
I run into the back room and dial home. My hands are shaking so hard that the phone keeps hitting me in the ear.
“Hello?”
I let out the breath that I didn’t know I’d been holding.
“Hi, you’re home?” I try to sound casual.
“Yep,” Dawn answers.
“Xander picked you up?” I ask.
There’s silence on the other end. This is the first time that I’ve out and out asked who picked her up from work.
“Um, no, someone else did,” she finally answers. At least she didn’t try to lie about it.
“Who?” I ask.
“A friend,” she replies.
“Dawn,” I say sternly. “Xander has never picked you up from work, has he?”
There’s silence on the other end.
“Dawn!” I yell.
“I just wanted to help,” she says softly. “I knew that you wouldn’t let me have the job otherwise.”
“Dawn, who has been walking you home?” I’m shaking again, but this time from anger.
“Clem.”
“Who is Clem?”
“He’s…he’s a friend of Spike’s.”
“A friend of-a friend of Spike’s!? You trusted a friend of Spike’s?!” I’m screaming into the phone, but I don’t care. “You let a demon walk you home! To our house!? What are you thinking Dawn?”
There’s a noise on the other line and my heart stops for a minute. What if that demon is in the house? What if he’s hurting Dawn? I’m two seconds away from dropping the phone and running out the door when I hear the voice on the line.
“Slayer.”
I close my eyes. “Spike,” I grind out.
“Don’t be angry at the bit, she wos just tryin’ to help and Clem, he’s a good guy. Harmless demon of sorts.”
“Why are you at my house?”
“Keepin’ the bit company ‘til you get home. Don’t worry ‘bout patrol, ‘ll take care of it.”
He’ll take care of it? He thinks he can just disappear for a month and then waltz back into our lives? I tell him just that and am met by silence on the other line.
“A month? That’s how long I was gone?” He asks like he’s surprised by that. “I-I didn’t mean to be gone so long…”
I rub my eyes tiredly as I hear Jack, the bartender, yell my name. “Look, I have to go. Be gone by the time I get home and if you hurt Dawn…“
“I’d never hurt her.” He almost seems hurt by my accusation. “I just want to help.”
He just wants to help? He’s been gone for a month and now he wants to help? What worse is that I need the help and I begrudgingly accept it. Deep, deep, deep in my soul I know that he won’t hurt Dawn because…just because.
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