Spike. (lessritualnow) wrote in chaos_cube, @ 2008-04-02 20:02:00 |
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Who: Spike and Dawn (Closed) Backdated to, um, before the weather/season change.
Where: Suburbia Bar
What: Because they need to talk.
Another shot of Jack Daniels finished, Spike surveyed the bar, none too surprised to find it nearly empty. Most people, he guessed, had better things to be doing than spending half the day in a bar drinking. Of course, Spike only entertained himself in four ways when he was bored: sex, drinking, fighting and the tele. Seeing as the last two were out of the question here, that left the first two. And, well, he hadn't seen anyone he felt inclined to have sex with…not since Buffy, so that left drinking. Lots of drinking.
She was tired of the libraries - both of them. She didn't care for the archery range after that one time. She didn't ice skate - she hated ice skating ever since that once time her class had gone on a trip and Donnie Lark had thought it would be a good idea to shove her while their teacher wasn't looking, so she fell on her ass. In front of everyone. Including Thomas Smith, who she'd had the most intense crush on at the time.
There beginning the mishaps with every crush for the next six years after that, she thought to herself all the while ignoring the part of her that said it had never actually happened, and rolled her eyes as she entered the Suburbia Bar. God, she couldn't wait until the seasons changed. One drink. Just one drink and she'd go to her room and-
"Spike?"
Her heart almost literally stopped as she saw the bleached blond at the bar.
His glass refilled, it was halfway to his lips when he heard her voice - and he'd recognize her voice anywhere. Slowly, tensely, he set it down, and turned slightly in his seat to look at the door. She looked different, older than he thought she would look, and she seemed shocked to see him. Not angry, mind. Just...shocked.
"Nib-" he started, and then he flinched, deciding that she probably wouldn't want him to call her that. Considering everything. "Dawn."
A slow smile bloomed on her face before she stopped, realizing that he'd called her Dawn. She knew he wasn't her Spike, because they'd had that talk already. The one where she told him that she would have never actually followed through on her threat and that she'd felt so lost without him, and her Spike would have started yelling at her for disappearing out of nowhere months ago, followed by informing her that Buffy was blaming Faith for all of it. But since he wasn't yelling at her, and was uncomfortable, that could only mean that he was from…oh.
"I didn't mean it," she said, taking a few steps inside. "I mean, I practically cried all night after we closed the hellmouth. You don't do that over someone you want to set on fire, do you?"
It took a moment, as he sat there watching her walk towards him nervously, listening to the words she spoke, to realize what she was saying.
"Did you really?" He asked, hopping off the stool and standing by the bar almost awkwardly as she continued to come closer.
"Yeah, I did." She said with a slight smile. "To the point where Giles thought I needed a shrink."
"He would," Spike rolled his eyes in annoyance, focusing on the young woman before him, because this was no girl. "A lot's changed, yeah?"
"Yep." Dawn agreed, coming to a stand right in front of him. They were almost the same height, she noticed, especially in her heels. "I'm 21. From the future, just to get that out of the way. I was being pissy, and I was hurt, and mad, and I said something I totally didn't mean. I love you, and I missed you, and I understand why you didn't come to Rome."
Whether she knew it or not, Dawn (much like her sister) had the power to make him feel like the Big Bad, like a force to be reckoned with, or like he was worth shit. And at this exact moment, he felt important. Only to her, but it was enough.
He smirked, deciding that he didn't need to know what happened, if she'd even tell him, and said, "Missed you too, Dawn. More than you know."
"You still call me Bit, and stuff. It feels weird when you don't." Dawn said, a full-fledged smile then breaking out on her face and she pulled him into a hug.
For a moment, Spike remained frozen, and then he returned the gesture, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent, trying to remember when the last time had been that he'd been able to talk to her. More than two years, he realized with a sinking, guilty feeling.
Well, he decided, holding her tight, just have to make up for lost time.
"Got a boytoy?" He asked, though it wasn't necessary. Spike knew from the scent.
Dawn laughed, stepping back out of the hug. She grinned widely."Yeah, I do, actually. His name's Murphy. And we accidentally ended up Here together."
"Do you like him?" Spike asked, watching Dawn intensely as she smiled, seemingly unable to stop. He wanted to meet this Murphy, he decided, just to see what he was like, especially if he made Dawn that happy. After all, the Scoobies were much better at ruining love lives, especially each others.
"Yes. A lot." Dawn answered, biting her lip to stop smiling, though it wasn't working. She bet right now Spike was thinking that she had completely lost it.
"Good." He said, letting it end there. He sat back down on the stool, tapping the one beside him, and picked up his half empty glass, then draining it of its contents. "Refill on the whiskey."
Dawn took the seat Spike pointed out. "Vodka - neat." She said, grinning at Spike as it appeared.
"Neat?" Spike asked, the look on his face dubious.
"Okay, unlike Buffy, I can totally hold my liquor." Dawn said in protest, picking her drink up and taking a healthy sip, knowing that Spike was watching her. She didn't look in his direction until after he looked away.
"So." She started. "Speaking of Buffy…"
"What about her?" Spike asked, attempting to be as nonchalant as possible and hoping it was working.
"She's here." Dawn answered, watching Spike for any sort of reaction, and finding herself slightly disappointed when there was none. "Have you seen her?"
"The first day I got here, actually." Spike answered after a moment, almost reluctant about it.
"And?" Dawn raised an eyebrow.
"And what?" He looked over at her, raising an eyebrow in competition.
Dawn only rolled her eyes at that. "Well, what happened during this reunion?"
Instantly, Spike remembered how it felt to have Buffy's lips on his, to feel her skin against his…to be inside her. Somehow that memory overrode anything else about seeing her again. He shifted on the stool and sucked in his cheeks, pursing his lips before he picked up his drink and finished it off again, calling for another refill.
"We talked."
"Is that what you're calling it?" Dawn asked, a smirk on her face. Yeah, she found it slightly amusing. It made her wonder, though, if her Spike was staying away just because he thought it would be better to, or because he really wanted to. He always said it was because he wanted to, Angel did too, but she couldn't tell if they were lying. Or maybe it was both. Maybe it started out with them thinking it was better to, and ended up with them wanting to. She'd have to remember to ask when she got back.
Spike gave Dawn a sharp look, a reprimand on the tip of his tongue before he remembered that this Dawn was 21, and gorgeous as she was, had had sex before. And she was an adult, old enough to be sipping on that vodka legally where they were from. He settled instead for leveling a glare in her direction. "That's not your concern."
Dawn's initial reaction was to laugh, so she did. Hard, and long, until the look on Spike's face darkened and she stopped, quieting, though the smile remained on her face. "Fine," she answered when she was calm, picking up her drink and taking a sip.
"Good." Spike said as his refilled glass appeared.
Dawn stole a look in his direction and found herself smiling slightly. Not too much - just a slight upward turn of her lips, but enough to show that she was happy. The way she acted, it was almost as if she hadn't been seeing him monthly for the past three years.
But, then again, it had been months since she'd been where she was supposed to, months since she'd talked to him, and she had missed him. A lot. She hoped he was being the voice of reason, as unlikely as that sounded. Until she got back, though, she had this Spike. And any Spike was fine by her. Just as long as he existed, with her.