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Chapter Seven


Amber set her book aside, all attention on Kennedy. "Sure, anything."

Kennedy smiled to herself. If nothing else Amber was always sweet and eager to be of service. "Great. I have to run out-"

"Is it Faith?" Amber interrupted, stormy questions flashing in her enormous green eyes. For a split second Kennedy thought of waiting until Vi or Rona were back before she left. Amber was a nice kid, but that was the problem. She was a kid. Fourteen was fourteen and no amount of slayer ability could change that. Kennedy was pretty sure if she kept wearing her heart on her sleeve like she did she was gonna bleed to death.

"I don't know anything- not really." Kennedy admitted. "Willow just called, she needs some back up. So I was wondering if you could kinda keep an eye on things until Rona and Vi get back?" Kennedy waited, expecting the usual surge of enthusiasm. Amber was forever begging to help. But instead Amber wrung her hands, her mind clicking with the pros and cons. When Kennedy saw her eyes snake up to the metal staircase, she could tell she was gonna say no so she quickly jumped in, slicing the silence. “Please Amber. It’ll be just a little bit. Vi and Rona are due back any moment.”

“What about her?” She spoke in a quite reverent way, fingers twisting in the green flannel of her shirt.

“Spike’s with her and you’re here. If there’s a problem you can give me a ring on my mobile.” Kennedy assured her. “In the meantime if Spike asks where I went just tell him to the store or to get some blood or something.” As if seeing the questions forming in Amber’s mind she continued. “I just don’t want to worry him anymore than necessary. He’s got a lot on his plate right now.”

Amber was silent as Kennedy walked out the door, but she said a quick prayer. They all had a lot on their plates right now.


*****


Dawn forced a smile as the tallest boy, Sean, ushered her and Faith into his and a guy named Brad's tiny dorm room. The room was cramped with magazines, textbooks, and clothes scattered across the worn carpeting. She carefully made her way over to one of the twin beds, pushing aside the rumpled blankets, making a place to sit. Faith and three other guys filtered in behind them, one of them presumably Brad. Dawn had tried to puzzle them out on the ride over, but she couldn't seem to keep their faces straight in the dim light that filtered into the van from the streets. All she knew for sure was that the guy who led them up the stairs was Sean; his bright blue hair was kinda hard to miss.

"Hey," Sean asked sitting next to her on the small bed. "Want something to drink?"

"Umm..." Dawn felt sick now that she was inside, the air seemed stale and sour, and her cheeks felt uncomfortably hot. Her stomach had an icky swishy feeling, like she had consumed a barrel of root beer. She thought longingly of the days when all she had to do was open her mouth and her mom would be there, a plate full of saltines and a glass of flat ginger ale in her hands. “Sprite?” She asked hopefully, trying to figure a discrete way to stir out some of the bubbles.

“Hey, Devon, got any pop?” Sean hollered at the brunette boy who was sitting on the floor in front of a mini fridge, flipping through a CD case as he put on some music.

Devon sat up, creating barely enough room to open the small door and peek in the tiny fridge. “Sorry man, just Bud.”

“Toss me one of those.”

“Sure thing.” And within moments cold cans of Bud light were being popped open and consumed. Faith downed hers in a few seconds before locking lips again with whom Dawn was pretty sure was Brad.

“Positive you don’t want one?” Sean asked draping an arm over Dawn’s thin shoulder. Her skin burned, as heat surged through her small body, his arm only compounding the problem. She needed something cool to drink. Dawn was about to agree to the aforementioned beer, when the guy sitting in front of the fridge, Devon she thought, vomited on to a pile of dirty clothes.

“Gross man,” commented Brad breaking his make out session with a Cheshire cat smiling Faith to rag his buddy. Faith didn’t say anything, just arched her eyebrows in an amused way as she stretched out on the rumpled bedding. “You gotta get that shit out of here. It reeks.” The smell did in fact stink, blotting out the odor of unwashed socks and cheese sticks that had been left out to long, the sour scent filling her nostrils causing Dawn to fight back a gag.

“Hey there,” Sean asked peering down at Dawn’s blanched face. “You feeling okay?”

Brad piped up from where he was on top of Faith. “Seriously don’t be tossing your cookies in here.” He shot her a serious look. If Dawn wasn’t concentrating so hard on trying to get her stomach under control she might have been pissed off at the fact that it was okay that his friend just threw up all over his clothes but the thought a chick might do it made him upset.

“I just feel a little warm.” Dawn muttered. “That’s all.”

Sean removed his arm placing a hand on Dawn’s forehead much like her mother used to do, but what he was checking for Dawn didn’t have a clue. “I don’t think you have a fever.” He concluded as Dawn fought not to glare at him, no shit. “Why don’t we go for a walk? Get you a little fresh air?”

Dawn nodded dumbly, both embarrassed to be sick in front of him and yet relishing the feeling of being taken care of. It had been so long since she had been babied. “While you guys are at it drop kick his sorry ass back in his room.” Brad lightly kicked Devon to make a point. “Oh yeah and pitch that shit.” He pointed to the pile of clothes that Devon was stuffing into a plastic bag.

Dawn looked to Faith for permission. “Hey, you’re a big girl now. You do what you want.” Dawn managed a meek smile, torn between wanting Faith to demand they go home and honor at finally being treated like an adult.

“Come on,” said Sean helping her off the bed. “The campus is really pretty at night.”


*****


Spike set aside Little Women, slightly disappointed with its ending. It wasn’t a big thing, but turning over the reasons Laurie ended up with Amy was a sight more comforting than trying to understand how earlier today he was barking at Harmony to answer the phone and now his whole world was upside down. He was used to change being a slow subtle thing, crawling in and blooming before your eyes. He wasn’t accustomed to this, sharp and painful, at the snap of a finger. In truth he had faced change like this before, so sudden it stole your breath and locked your heart in your throat, but she had returned, and he didn’t like to think on that time much.

He didn’t like to think of this much. Didn’t want to think of Buffy. She looked like a broken doll and felt like ice, a shadow of a memory, a lacking impression of a girl he once knew. Again she started to shiver, seeming to sense the unhappiness that poured from him, Goosebumps spotting flesh beneath blankets that were worn with time and love.

Detached he pulled the blankets up tighter around her, grabbing the pan of warn water and soaking the rag, lying it on her furrowed brow. This he could do, he could take care of her. Little steps danced daily, the same as with Dru. It was tiring but still he knew he could do it forever if need be, there was no limit to the strength that love gave.

It was the rest that disturbed him. God knows how many new slayers, most of them not much more than babes themselves, crammed into a decaying warehouse. Spike knew without being told that money was obviously fast becoming an issue, otherwise Buffy would never have allowed them to move here. Even if she cared nothing about them she wouldn’t have allowed Dawn to live in poverty. A thought struck out, cold and brutal, that he really didn’t know what Buffy would allow anymore. He looked at the quivering girl under a heap of blankets; his girl didn’t live there anymore.


*****


Willow stood pacing the linoleum floor, repeated squares of white and pale green staring up at her. She had tried to reach Rona and Vi but they hadn’t answered meaning either that they were up to their necks in trouble or that the cheap local cell phone company crapped out yet again. Either way it wasn’t good, less badness with the second one, but cell phones were their primary way of connecting and strategizing, they needed them to be functional at all times. In the end it came down to the one constant in Willow’s changing life, money. Something so trivial was now what kept her up at nights. Demons didn’t frighten her but the mounting bills did, juggling funds as best she could while trying not to worry the others. Finding an abandoned chair by the fish tank Willow sat down, mentally plotting a budget for new pricier phone service, a task so engrossing that she didn’t even notice the quiet vibrating of her own phone.


******


“Note to self,” Joked Dawn lightly. “Winter campus is beautiful but requires a warmer coat.” She was feeling slightly improved, the romp to get Devon back to his own bed had proved a challenging one, the BW campus was spread out over most of the small suburb even seeming to encroach on the high school, which shared its stadium. Snow had yet to fall on the ground but there was a light frost on the windowpanes and the dew froze the blades of grass, encasing them in white splendor.

“Here take mine,” offered Sean, shrugging out of his leather jacket and draping it over Dawn’s shoulders.

Dawn snuggled into the soft brown leather, inhaling the scent of cologne that clung to it. Her stomach was still sloshing but the cold air had stopped her from feeling like a human ball of fire. It was nice, even a bit romantic starry winter night with a prince offering her his cloak, the type of thing that always happened to other girls. Dawn didn’t know much about drinking; she never got to really be the rebellious teen, what with Buffy’s watchful eye. She didn’t know how it could magnify things, make the darker seem denser, the stars brighter. She didn’t know it could disguise lust as love. She didn’t think anything could be more perfect as when he lead her to the granite bench in front of his door and started to kiss her. She just didn’t know.


*****


Kennedy entered through the automatic doors, muttering something to the guard about visiting a friend, too distracted to really care what he thought. Her fingers were wrapped tightly around the rose quartz in one pocket, and her stake in the other. It had been a pretty eventful night over, six dusted, something that would have normally made her day except that every vamp was just another few moments away from Willow.

Her brown eyes scanned the crowed waiting room, finally spotting her girl sandwiched between an elderly lady who was coughing and a tank of brightly colored fish. She walked up to her, Willow’s eyes vaguely glued to the swimming fish. “Hey baby.” She said softly, playing with the ends of Willow’s red hair.

Willow turned to her with a start. The floodgates broken as tears fell down, staining her cheeks. “I messed up.” She croaked out before dissolving into her lover’s arms.


*****


The shaking didn’t stop. He did everything he was bleedin’ supposed to but yet she wouldn’t stop. Her wretched form trembled and twisted, as if being stuck by millions of invisible pins, soft mewings escaping her lips as if it hurt too much to call out. All the while he stood there, helplessly fumbling, starting new books, only to lose his place when she twisted out of her blankets, pulling the blankets over her to have her frown in her slumber. Wondering if she was too warm he removed the top blanket only to have her shiver, teeth chattering in her skull.

He had held off on going to Kennedy for help, not really wanting to pester Will’s girl when she had enough to deal what with babysitter patrol and Dawn’s little Houdini act. But when Buffy’s soft cries formed into a solid quiet word, he decided to hell with disrupting Kennedy. His girl was calling for help.


******


“Nope. Still no answer.” She replied with a small smile, setting down the black receiver.

“Are you sure it was Willow?” Angel questioned for the hundredth time. He had gotten back to find his desk covered with magazines, his office smelling of smoke, and Harmony complaining about Spike’s harassment of her. Oh yeah and the platinum pain in his ass was missing. Not the worse thing except Harmony said he had taken after a call for him had come in.

“I didn’t even say it was that loser in the first place. You’re the one who had them look up the caller ID thingy.” She shrugged. “But if she does call back can you mention that it is rude to yell at someone for something they didn’t do. Oh yes and that falls shouldn’t wear pink.”

Angel looked at her baffled.

“What? She was always wearing pink in high school and with her coloring...” She scrunched up her nose. “It’s really a bad habit. She needs to learn to stay in her color palette.” Harmony nodded her head. “You know I could help her if-“

“Harmony?” Angel questioned, rubbing his aching cranium.

“Yeah boss?”

“Just find me Giles.”


TBC





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