Chapter 7: To Sleep
It was just a few hours before sunrise. Spike was lying on his bed, clad only in a pair of black jeans, staring at the ceiling on the crypt. He couldn’t help but think of her. Granted, she was all he could think of before, so it wasn’t much of a change to him. Several times since he had left her in front of her house, he had almost gone back to her. Not even to talk to her, just to see her. Watch her from outside, as he had done so often. But he was afraid – no, the Big Bad was not afraid – he was irritated by the idea that she would be with the poof. These two had been waiting to be together for years, and now he, Spike, had made it possible. Ok, so the Witch had. But whose idea had it been ? A great plan, that. Him and his bloody plans. He should have forgotten the whole soul thing, and left town with her. Left the country even. Teach her to hunt with him. Make her his Childe in all possible ways. Make her love him like only a Childe could love a Sire. He should have. But he hadn’t. That wouldn’t have been his Buffy. And it was Buffy he wanted, not just any female vamp.
The door of the crypt creaked open, and briefly he thought that one of her chums had come to dust him. But it was her. Even without looking at her, he knew. Had she changed her mind about staking him ?
Silently, she came to his side. He looked at her hands first. No stake. Then his eyes traveled up her body. She was wearing a coat on top of pajamas. PJ’s covered with kittens. He almost smiled at that. Finally, his gaze reached her face. Her eyes were red.
“I couldn’t sleep,” she mumbled.
He opened his arms to her. Shedding her coat, she climbed in the bed next to him. He held her tight, just like he had the night before.
“It’s alright, luv. Everything will be alright. You’ll see.”
Before long, she was asleep, her cheek resting on his unstirring chest.
Dawn ran all the way from Revello Drive to the cemetery. She hadn’t told them where she was going, they wouldn’t have let her.
The night before, as they were all waiting for Buffy, they had almost taken a vote on who was going to dust Spike. She was the only one who wasn’t upset with him for turning her sister. As she saw it, better have a vamp Buffy than no Buffy at all.
And right now, that was exactly the problem. They had no Buffy.
Dawn had been the one to notice it, creeping in her sister’s room just before sunrise, to make sure her shades were drawn. They weren’t, and the window was open.
The teen had awoken Willow before running to the living room where Giles was sleeping. The Witch and the Watcher had talked. A lot. But not done anything. Which infuriated Dawn. Her sister was somewhere out there, with a bad case of sun allergy, and she was the only one who had noticed that the sun was already shining. Eventually, she had sneaked out, running to the only person she could think of.
She rushed into the crypt, pressing her fist against a nasty stitch in her side, and yelled : “Spike ! You gotta help me ! Buffy is.”
At that point, her eyes identified the two forms moving in the bed, obviously awakened by her intrusion.
“.Here,” she finished, out of breath.
Buffy scrambled out of the bed, fully clothed. She picked her coat on the floor and smiled apologetically at Dawn.
“‘Morning Dawnie. Sorry, I didn’t want to freak you out. I just came to. talk to Spike. and I kinda fell asleep.”
“It’s ok,” the teen mumbled. “Just leave a note or something next time.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Buffy said decidedly. “Let’s go home.”
She took a step toward Dawn, and Spike’s hand shot up and grabbed her arm.
“You can’t go , luv,” he said, seemingly half asleep.
“Of course I can ! You have no right to tell me what I can do or not !”
She yanked her arm away and he let go of it.
“You’re right. You can go wherever you bleeding please. But if you go now you won’t go far.”
He sounded really pissed off, though for what reason Dawn couldn’t guess. She cleared her throat and said softly : “Buffy ? Sun ?”
The Slayer shot a contrite look to both Dawn and Spike, who ignored her.
“I guess I’m stuck here for the day, then.”
She sounded really unhappy at the idea. Spike gave a deep sigh, which always amused Dawn. He didn’t need to breathe, but sometimes he seemed to forget it.
“Nibblet, how about you go home, grab a nice blanket and wait by the sewer’s entrance ? You know the one. I’ll show the way to big sis. We’ll be there right after you.”
Dawn nodded and darted out.