Spike followed her quick little turn to the sidestreet easily and thought nothing of it at all. She was wandering, mostly, didn't seem to have much direction, but that was all right because he didn't have much of anywhere to go anyway. "I think facing it might help."
"I know," he said at her comment about Dawn. Anyone that knew Buffy at all would know that's all she wanted for her sister. But her sister had been gone from their world for a long time and things had changed, she'd grown, and maybe Buffy felt lost because of that growth. She wasn't the delicate little flower that needed protecting all the time, and maybe that was too much for her to wrap her head around for some reason. "but you know..you said earlier, you wanted her to live...that's why you...why you sacrificed yourself, for her, for the world, but mostly for her...so she could live, right? And, you know, that's what she's doing here. She's living." He hoped maybe she would see that one day, but he wasn't sure she could. She had blinders on half the time, it seemed.
"Yeah," he nodded, "I guess it is." Now, after following her, talking to her all this time, he could hardly remember what he was doing out tonight anyway. But it didn't really matter, did it? This is what it had turned into and maybe, just maybe, some piece of what he'd said would sink in, would make some kind of difference. He'd been that difference for her before, that anchor. He'd do it again, if she'd let him.