~Chapter 7: Lonely Stops~
"Daddy, is Buffy gonna be my new mommy?"
Spike stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk, convinced that his daughter was trying to kill him. "What!?"
"Buffy." Dawn repeated, her head turned away from him, watching the cars on the street pass by them as they walked toward her bus stop. "Is she gonna be my new mommy?"
"Why would you ask that, Dawn?" Spike treaded carefully, looking down at her brown head.
"Because she seems nice." She said the words like it was he dumbest thing in the world to be explaining.
"A lot of people seem nice, Dawn."
"Whatdaya mean?" She looked up, bewilderment written all over her face.
"Never mind." Spike shook his head, looking ahead at the group of children gathered around a stop sign a block ahead. "And no, Dawn. Buffy's not gunna be your new mum."
"Why not?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Beca-" He stopped himself, looking down at her with an amused expression. "Now, don't get us goin', sweets. You know daddy doesn't like it."
"I know." She smiled cheekily, looking down at her little blue sun dress that had tiny sunflowers printed all over it. "I really like this dress, daddy."
"I know you do, princess. S'why I bought it for you." He smiled adoringly. That was half true. He also bought it to stop her from asking more questions about when Buffy was coming back over to play dolls with her again.
"It 'minds me of Buffy."
"Dawn.” He sighed, heavily running a hand through his usually curly locks. He really hadn't felt like taking the time to tame them this morning, and was running late with getting Dawn off to school on time. Due to police procedure, Fred had not been able to pick up his Desoto on Saturday and it was still at the high school. He was forced to make the six-year-old ride the bus; something he swore he would never do since he hated the big, hideous, yellow vehicle.
Those bloody things are just an accident waiting to happen, really.
Fred had offered to go try to pick the Desoto up on her lunch break, but until then, Spike was left to walking around a town that he was starting to hate.
"What, daddy?" She looked up at him with those big blue eyes, and he felt instantly guilty for wanting to get snippy with her.
"Let's not talk about Buffy right now, 'kay?"
"But wh'not? Don't you like her or somethin'?"
"I like her just fine, Dawn." He replied huffily. Bloody hell, what in the world could he say to make her want to talk about something other than Buffy Summers? Since the moment the six-year-old came bounding down the stairs Saturday evening only to find her father in the kitchen heating dinner with Buffy gone, she had been constantly on his case about the blonde. She apparently had made a new play friend, and it took him a surprise visit to the mall on Sunday afternoon with Fred to get the little girl's mind on other things. Shopping had preoccupied her for a little while, but once they got home, she started again.
It was now Monday morning, and Dawn was still going on.
"Then why don't you wanna talk 'bout her?"
"'Cause I wanna talk about something else."
"Like what, daddy?"
"I don't know. Anything." He told her, furrowing his brows in the bright sunlight.
"Well, if Buffy's not gonna be my new mommy, then who is?" Dawn sulked, giving her father a glare.
"And why would you need a new bloody mummy?!" Spike replied, stopping abruptly.
"You said 'bloody,' daddy!" She gasped, stooping beside him and pointing an accusing finger at him.
"Sorry, pidge. Didn't mean to." He apologized, reaching to touch the top of her head. "But why all the mommy questions, all of a sudden?"
"I dunno." Dawn shrugged. "I was thinking that it might be neat if we made Buffy my new mom, is all."
"Why's that?"
"'Cause she's nice. She played Barbies with me, and everything! Even Aunt Fred doesn't do that, daddy!"
"I know." Spike nodded, keeling down to her level, to look in her eyes. "But I do. We play bloody house all the time! We have lots of fun, just the two of us. Why do we need a new mommy?"
She gasped again. "You said-"
"I know, Dawn." Spike said gently, holding up a hand to cut her off before she berated him for cursing again. "Answer my question."
She looked at him for a moment, seemingly thinking very hard about what he was asking her. "'Cause she looks lonely."
Spike frowned. "Wha?"
"Buffy, daddy. Buffy looks lonely, and you look lonely sometimes, too. And I thought we could make her my new mommy, and then nobody'd be lonely an' more."
"You think I'm lonely?" Spike wondered in surprise, biting his lip in question and head tilting to the side.
She nodded.
"Why?"
"Well, 'cause other daddy's have mommies 'round so they don't get lonely, but you don't." She told him, and Spike wondered how his little girl become so very insightful all of a sudden. "And Buffy doesn't have any kids or a daddy to help her not get lonely either, so maybe we could ask her to be my new mommy. Then she'll have a kid and a daddy."
Spike smiled, thinking her the cutest thing in the world all over again. Her pushed a strand of unruly hair behind her ear, and left a kiss on her forehead. His voice was filled with awe when he spoke. "You luv me, don't you, princess?"
"Of course I love you, daddy. You're bein' silly." She grinned up at him.
"I am, aren't I?" He grinned back.
"Uh huh."
Spike stood up, grabbing her tiny hand in his larger one, and they walked in silence.
"You know, Dawn." He started, gently. "Buffy might not want to be a mommy. There are some people who don't."
"Like my real mommy?" Dawn inquired, innocently.
"Yeah, like her." Spike spat the word out, not bitter that Cecily left him. God knows, what they had wasn't anything real to begin with, but…Her leaving Dawn was what made him bitter. Women like Cecily didn't deserve to be mothers.
"But Buffy likes me, right?"
"'Course she does." Spike affirmed, squeezing her hand softly. "She thinks you're…swell."
"I think she's nice." Dawn went on, not really paying attention to anything else, as they neared the bus stop. "And pretty. Don't you think she's pretty, daddy?"
Spike smiled, chuckling softly. "She's very pretty. But you know what?"
"What?"
"She's not as pretty as you."
Dawn smiled, swinging their hands. "Because my nose isn't funny shaped?"
Spike roared with laughter, stopping them when they reached the stop sign and kids. He looked up and noticed a few parents standing close to their kids, whispering softly, their eyes never leaving him. He wasn't stupid. He took in the accusations in their looks, and realized that the story must have leaked out to the public over the weekend. More than likely on the news, or in the papers that he didn't bother watching or reading for fear of what might be in them.
"Here comes the bus, daddy."
Spike looked up as the big yellow bus came to a shard stop in front of the stop sign, starting all the kids into action. Dawn pulled on his grip, and left go. "Bye daddy."
"Bye, huney. Remember, I'll be pickin' you up at the school, so don't get on the bus home, kay?"
"Kay." She yelled back, running to get in the line of kids waiting to climb the steps of the bus.
After the bus was out of sight, Spike turned to go, but stopped when one of the mothers called out.
"Mr. Pratt?"
He turned around to find the woman who was mother to one of the students in Dawn's class, Mrs. Eve Kensington.
"Yes?"
"Look, I'm not gonna beat 'round the bush here. As you know, Sunnydale is a very small town, and word travels fast. 'Course it also helps when everything's plastered all over the news and papers in town. Everybody knows what happened." She told him, in her little rat snake like voice.
"Mrs. Kensington, I-"
She cut him off with a wave of her hand and continued on like he had said nothing at all. "A few parents are starting to worry. We like knowing that the bus stops in this town are a safe place for our children to get to school. We feel that it would be best if you no longer came here. I mean, I'm sure Dawn could fetch a ride with a friend or relative. So she wouldn't have to know the difference."
Spike stood there in a stunned silence, not believing what he was hearing. How was he supposed to live in a town that all condemned him before he had a chance to defend himself? This day just kept getting better and better.
Was this really happening?
"You understand our cause for concern, don't you, Mr. Pratt?" She smiled condescendingly.
Spike slowly nodded his head, mouth agape, not really understanding anything at this point. He felt numb.
"Good. I'm glad we could have this conversation." She smiled, nodding in a way that made Spike want to scream at her. She then turned and walked away with the other parents waiting nearby.
Standing there a moment more, watching them leave, Spike felt torn between breaking down, and crying, or punching something, hard. Instead, he took one shaky deep breath, and turned to go.
He needed a drink.
~*~*~*~
Buffy jumped slightly when a loud knock came from the hallway, settling on her door. She had just finished getting ready for work, pulling her loud hair back at he nape of her neck in a tight chignon. Wesley wanted her to come in a little bit later than usual, more than likely to go over something for the Pratt-Rayne case, and she had been grateful for the extra sleep.
Walking quickly told the door, she made a shushing noise at Connor when he wouldn't stop barking at the loud noise, silencing the puppy immediately. Making quick work of the lock, she threw the door open wide.
And was surprised to find a drunken William Pratt stumbling all over her doorstep. "'Lo, pet. Mind if I come in?"
Please Review!!!
[Reviews - 92]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 1872 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry about the longer wait. When the site was down last Tuesday, I couldn't update, and then RL hit me all at once over the weekend. As a side note, updates might be going to every other week, instead of every week because of classes starting next week. Don't worry, though. The story will still be regularly updated. Hope you enjoy :)