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Drusilla knew that she had to wait for the right time. If she rushed, things would get all jumbled, and neither Miss Edith, nor she, would get what she wanted. Her Daddy had already promised to help her get back what was stolen from her, so that wasn't the worrisome part. The worrisome part was William. The sprite had burrowed so deep inside of him now, that it was hard to tell where she ended, and he began. Just how did one begin to separate the wheat from the tears, when they were all mingled into one? If she didn't wait until the stars aligned themselves, she might destroy the thing she hoped to save, and, that wouldn't do at all.

True, William would be cross with her, for a time, but he would come to see her way on things, he always had before.
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"Bit, do you think you could call Red in here, for me?"

"What do you need, Spike? I can get you whatever you need," Dawn said.

"Normally, you'd be the one I'd ask, but what I have to ask about might bring back some unpleasant memories for you. I know the subject brings me nausea, so I don't want to bring you anymore bad feelings, in regards to me."

Dawn looked at Spike's eyes; they looked like they had right before Doc pushed him off the tower. Something clicked, and she understood, "You're scared, aren't you?" she asked, sympathetically.

Spike was chagrined. His Little Bit still knew where all his vulnerable points were. She still knew that, two minutes alone with her, and he was rolling over, like a sodding pup, and exposing his soft underbelly to her, "Yeah, Bit, I am. Drusilla's mind is so full of twists and turns that even I got dizzy at times. I don't like the idea of the Slayer going into this blindfolded, and with her hands tied. Drusilla can be incredibly cruel, at times; learned well from her Daddy, she did. I need to know how far Buffy will go, for me, if she's driven to it."

Dawn remembered the hollow, far away look in Buffy's eyes that day, on the Hellmouth. She'd tried to use humor, the tried and true Scooby way of dealing with staring into the face of Death, but the most she'd gotten out of Buffy was a ghost of a smile. The look on her sister's face made her heart hurt, and the fact that Buffy didn't speak, for hours afterward, only confirmed her worst fears: Spike was dead. Really dead; her best friend was dust, and he wasn't coming back. And she hadn't told him how sorry she was.

Dawn didn't want to tell Spike how Buffy had refused to let the bus move an inch, from the spot where it had stopped, until well into the wee hours of the next morning. She didn't want to tell him, how, after waking up, with a kink in her neck, from a fitful night's sleep, on the bus seat, she found Buffy climbing down into the crevasse, in the desert, that just that morning, had been a small town; had once been her home. Dawn found Buffy frantically digging in the earth with her bare hands. When Dawn called down to her, Buffy's face looked back at her, tear-stained, and anguished, "He could still be here, Dawn," she'd sobbed, digging further into the dirt and debris, "All I have to do is keep digging. Just a little deeper, and I know I'll find him. I know he's here," she whimpered, "He has to be. He promised."

"Promised what, Buffy?" Dawn asked, trying to soothe her sister, and trying not to show her sister how much Spike's death had really affected her.

"He promised he'd never leave me, Dawnie," Buffy's voice became a high-pitched wail of grief, but she never stopped throwing aside handfuls of sand and dirt, "I don't want him to have to dig himself out. I know what that's like, Dawn. I can't leave him here," in the moonlight, Dawn could see the black glow of blood on her hands. She'd dug until her fingers bled, trying to find a love her heart realized too late.

Dawn stayed there, along with her friends, who had gathered at the edge of the gap, silently sending her sister all the love she couldn't give Spike. She'd tried to coax Buffy out of the spot that had become Spike's grave, but she wouldn't come. A part of Dawn wanted to climb down and help her, because it was hard to believe that Spike was really gone.

It wasn't until the sun started to come over the horizon, and Buffy knew that there was no hope, that Buffy climbed out of the gap, sobbing, bleeding, and exhausted, and left him there to rest, forever.

By the look on Dawn's face, Spike could tell she was reliving some very painful memories. Her bright face had aged fifty years, just in the last thirty seconds, "God, Bit, I'm sorry," he apologized.

"No Spike, don't. It's all right," she smiled, "Now that you're here, it all seems like a bad dream."

"Could turn into a nightmare, if Buffy goes in blind. Drusilla may be crazy, but she's patient, when she wants something, she'll wear you down, use every trick in her arsenal, to bring you around to the point where the only way out is the way she's cleared for you. I don't like to think of the things Dru could cook up. Vengeance is her favorite thing. She dances in it," he sighed, "If Buffy's written Dru onto her dance card, in exchange for me, she needs to know the steps."

"Vengeance," Dawn was shocked, "Why would Drusilla want vengeance on Buffy?"

"For what Buffy did, without even trying, Bit," he smiled, sadly, at her, "Stole what had been hers, for over one hundred years."

Dawn nodded, her face matching his, showing a mixture of sadness and joy, at being together again, "You mean your heart, don't you, Spike?"

"Yeah, Bit," he said, "my heart."

"In that case," Dawn heaved a sigh, "Do you remember what you felt like, after Buffy died?"

He did remember. Only his love for Dawn had kept him from walking into daylight. He'd been numb. The only thing that let him know he existed was the nightly patrol, with that cursed Buffybot. And even then, having her image there, close enough to touch, and have it be a lie, ripped his guts out, every night. The thing was insipid, but in an Alice-down-the-rabbit-hole sort of way, he'd needed it with him. Some feeling was better than being numb.

"Yes," even saying the word, brought the pain back.

"You remember, you would have, you did, do everything in your power, to have her back again," Dawn said, "I know you, if you could have, you would have turned the earth, spinning in the opposite direction. Just like the superhero in that movie?"

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Magnify that by a million, and that's what Buffy, or I, would do for you," Dawn said, tears welling in her eyes, "To have you back."

"Oh God, Bit, I didn't know. If I had known..."

Dawn watched tears creep down Spike's cheeks, "It's going to be okay, Spike. Buffy will be all right."

"I'm terrified for her, Bit," he looked up at her, unable to keep the fear from showing on his face, "Truly terrified. Dru will kill her."





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