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It was the first time that Buffy had sat down for a meal at this particular table in two years, and she found she wasn't exactly enjoying the trip down memory lane. Every time Giles glanced her way she blushed, unable to ignore the fact that he most likely knew she—along with his son—was now a member of the "Mile High Club."

And the fact that her mother had not said a single word to her the entire meal didn't help things much at all.

Dawn was her saving grace. The teenager's excitement hadn't gone down at all, and she spent most of the meal chattering away animatedly, earning her several admonitions from Joyce about talking with her mouth full that hadn't actually done anything to slow Dawn down in the least.

When dinner was over, Buffy began gathering up the dirty dishes, more from force of habit than anything else. That had always been her job before, and it seemed like it should still be.

But apparently it wasn't, as Joyce quickly stood and took the plates Buffy was holding from her stating, "I'll get them. I'm the one who lives here."

Buffy felt tears threaten to form in her eyes, but she pushed them down, not wanting her mother to see them. "I was just trying to help."

"Coming from you, Buffy, that would be a first," Joyce replied. "You've never thought of anyone but yourself."

The tears weren't going to stop this time, and Buffy turned and walked from the room, knowing her mother would probably label her a drama queen for the action, but deciding that was preferable to breaking down in the dining room.

Spike sucked in a breath and counted to ten, having heard somewhere that calmed anger. Instead, he found himself having had ten seconds to grow even angrier at the woman who'd made his Buffy cry. He stood up, pushing his chair in hard enough that the remaining dishes rattled on the table. "Girl's been through hell, Joyce. Might want to try a little motherly compassion."

Joyce was visibly startled by Spike's response. "Buffy chose to leave here," she replied after a moment. "She's the one who turned her back on her family."

"Can't imagine why, this bein' such a nurturing environment and all." Spike didn't wait for Joyce's reply as he stormed upstairs, finding Buffy sitting on the bed, her face buried in her hands.

Spike couldn't stand to see her cry. Just knowing she was hurting made his heart break, too. He regretted insisting they come to Sunnydale for the holiday. He should've listened to her when she'd told him her mother would be like this. After living with Joyce before, he hadn't thought her capable of being so cruel, but it was obvious now that he'd been wrong.

He wanted to get Buffy out of there, even if it could only be for a little while. She needed some fresh air and some time out from under the same roof as her mother. Only one place they could go popped into his head, and he figured it was a little silly, but better than nothing. "Want to go get some ice cream?"

Buffy looked up, her face tearstained. "Okay."

Spike held his arms out to her. "C'mere, kitten."

Buffy didn't care that the door was open when she ran into his embrace, hugging him tightly. She just wanted him holding her. She cried a little against his shoulder, though feeling Spike's arms around her was already making her feel better. It wasn't long before she looked up at him, sniffling. "Can we bring Dawnie?"

"'Course. Not even sure the bit would stay if we told her to. Probably hide under the car."

Buffy chuckled at that image. "Come on. Let's get Dawn and get out of here."

Joyce was in the kitchen, loudly cleaning up from dinner, and Giles and Dawn were in the living room, looking slightly afraid. "Hey da—is she still in the garage?" Spike asked

"Yes. And I've been taking care of her for you, don't worry," Giles replied. "Keys are by the door."

"Where are you going?" Dawn asked.

"Get ice cream," Buffy replied. "Wanna come with?"

Dawn glanced at Giles who gave her a small nod of permission before she hopped up, running over to Buffy and Spike. Spike gave his father a wave goodbye before walking with the two Summers girls to the front door, grabbing his keys on the way out.

"So what's in the garage?" Buffy asked as they walked towards it.

"His baby," Dawn replied with a roll of her eyes. "I have never seen anyone more in love with a car."

"She's a bloody good car," Spike said. He pulled open the garage door, walking over to the black 1959 Chrysler DeSoto Sportsman and stroking its hood. "Rupert taking good care of you, baby?"

"See, he even talks to it," Dawn said.

Spike shot her a look. "Your point?"

"That you're insane," Dawn replied.

"What exactly is the point to having such a big car?" Buffy asked. "It's not like you have to compensate for anything."

Buffy didn't realize what she'd just admitted to having intimate knowledge of until Dawn screeched, "Oh my god! It was the two of you on that plane!"

Buffy immediately turned bright red. "What? No!"

"It so was! You're blushing now just like you were at the airport. And apparently you know the size of his…" Dawn trailed off, blushing herself.

Spike said nothing, leaning against the car and waiting to see how this was going to play out between the two sisters.

"You cannot tell Mom," Buffy said.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. Mom would be such a spaz about the whole thing."

"So you're not going to freak about it?" Buffy asked.

"No. I mean, there's a bit of an ick factor since you're my sister and I think of him as my brother, but obviously you two don't have the sibling-type feelings for each other, so I can get past that," Dawn replied. "Besides, I love both you guys, and if you're happy together, then I think it's totally cool."

"We are happy together," Spike said. "I love your sister very much."

Dawn squealed. "This is so cool! And no wonder you went off on Mom after dinner, Spike."

Buffy turned towards him quickly. "You went off on my mom?"

Spike shrugged. "Just said a couple of things, is all."

"He totally stood up for you," Dawn said. "It was really cool."

Buffy walked over to Spike, kissing his cheek. "Thank you."

"Don't like people hurting my girl," Spike said, looking down.

"Okay, you guys are just too cute," Dawn said, grinning widely.

"So are we getting ice cream or standing around in the bloody garage all night?" Spike asked.

"Well, you think this car can make it out of the 'bloody garage,' then…" Buffy teased, attempting to mimic his accent.

"Oh, you are so gonna get it later, missy," Spike replied, shooting her a dirty look.

"Looking forward to it," Buffy replied with a wink.

"Okay, could you keep it down with the innuendos around me, please?" Dawn asked. "I'm totally okay with you two getting together, but the sex part—still kinda creepy."

Spike chuckled. "We'll try. Now into the car with both of you."

Buffy gave him a quick peck on the lips before walking around to the passenger's side of the DeSoto.

*** *** ***

"Wow. You know you're in Southern California when an ice cream place gets this much business two days before Christmas," Buffy said as they walked into the store.

"Yeah, well, you're living in the frozen North," Dawn said. "Probably have to wear parkas year round."

"Dawnie, I'm in New York, not Siberia," Buffy replied.

"Still cold." Dawn added with a grin, "Is it true sometimes it gets so cold that white stuff falls from the sky? Like in Christmas movies?"

"Ha ha, California girl," Buffy replied. "Go order."

After they'd gotten their ice cream and found a booth, Dawn watched as Buffy and Spike both gave each other tastes of theirs. In all honesty, she thought it was cute, but seeing as the little sister is was her sacred duty to be annoyed, she had to act as such. "Ew. Could you two like, not? I'm eating."

Buffy responded by giving her sister a dirty look and then pulling Spike into a long, slow kiss. Dawn rolled her eyes, trying to look put out but unable to keep a smile from creeping to her face. She hadn't seen Buffy this happy since before everything had started with Angel, and she was thrilled that her sister was doing so much better. Whatever Spike was doing to make the old Buffy come back, Dawn wanted him to keep doing it—even if it was things she so wasn't going to think about. "So how exactly did you two hook up?" Dawn asked, pulling Buffy away from her impromptu make-out session. "I know Giles and Mom's wedding was like forever ago, but you two didn't exactly get along then."

"We had lots of time to get to know each other," Buffy said. "Turns out he's not so bad after all."

Dawn grinned. "So give me details. What happened? Only, y'know keep it at least PG-13, 'cause delicate virgin ears and all."

Spike put his arm around Buffy's waist as she cuddled closer to him in the booth. "Well, I was sort of seeing someone else," Buffy began, "although I really liked Spike…"

"She was being damn stubborn about it, though," Spike interjected.

Buffy smacked his arm. "Hey, I'm telling the story."

"Well, you were," Spike muttered.

"Anyway, I'm on a double date with this guy, Riley, and we end up at the club where Spike's bad was performing that night. And oh god, he looked so hot on stage, but then he started singing to me and gah…"

"So that was what did it?" Dawn asked. "He sang to you and you were hooked?"

"Not quite yet," Buffy said. "That song made me all melty Buffy, but then later he sang a song he'd written for me."

"You wrote her a song!" Dawn exclaimed. "Spike, that's so sweet!" She frowned. "Unless it was raunchy. It wasn't raunchy, was it?"

"No," Spike said, looking a little offended. "It was not raunchy."

"It was a very sweet song," Buffy said with a smile.

"So then what happened?" Dawn asked, leaning forward on her elbows, good table manners going by the wayside for the promise of a romantic story.

"Riley was way not happy," Buffy continued. "He tried to drag me out of the club. But Spike jumped off the stage and made Riley leave me alone."

"Go Spike!" Dawn said. "So you guys got together then?"

"Yep," Buffy replied. "Although pretty much the whole rest of the night goes way over that PG-13 rating."

"In that case, I have plenty of details," Dawn replied. "And Spike, you totally have to let me hear that song."

"'Course, bit."

Dawn bounced in the booth. "Cool. I love hearing you sing."

"He does have a nice voice, doesn't he?" Buffy said, turning towards Spike to give him an adoring smile.

"It's all right," Spike said, looking down a bit, his normally cocky demeanor fading under the praise.

"Aww! He's bashful! That's so adorable!" Dawn exclaimed, earning her a dirty look from Spike.

"Gonna have both of you teasing me all week, aren't I?" Spike said.

"Yep," Buffy replied. "You'll have nowhere to run…nowhere to hide."

"I can think of worse fates."

Dawn watched as Buffy and Spike kissed again, although this time she decided to forgo the exaggerated gagging. She was too happy for them, too happy to know that they'd found something with each other. She turned her attention back to her ice cream, smiling as she ate.

*** *** ***

Buffy stared at the air mattress that Giles had set up on the floor of her old bedroom. "You think he's rigged it somehow? Like he's measured how much air is in it, and he'll be able to test it tomorrow and know if you slept on it or not?"

Spike gave her the look she'd dubbed his "are you daft?" look since that was often the phrase that accompanied it—although this time, the look stood alone. "I'm serious!" Buffy exclaimed with a pout.

"Kitten, if Rupert was really all that interested in me sleeping away from you, he would've put you and Dawn in here together and me alone in the other room. He knows as well as we do that this mattress is only going to be used to make where I'm really sleeping a little less obvious to your mum."

"Or it could be a trick to catch us in the act and make us admit that we're together," Buffy replied.

"No. He wouldn't do that. Not his style," Spike said. "He'd ask us to our faces, all official like. Not really one for subterfuge, my da."

"But…"

Spike sighed. "Just get in the bloody bed, Buffy. I'm tired, and I know you are, too."

"Fine, Mr. Grumpy Bear," Buffy muttered as she got into the bed and pulled the covers over her.

Spike stopped, his eyebrow arched. "What did you just call me?"

"Mr. Grumpy Bear," Buffy replied, giving him a look that dared him to challenge her.

"Last time I checked, I didn't have a soddin' rain cloud painted on my stomach." At his reply, Buffy broke out into a fit of giggles. "What's so bloody funny?"

"You know the Care Bears!"

"Well, yeah. I was a kid once, you know."

"You are so adorable." Buffy held her arms out to him. "Come here."

Spike got in on the other side of the bed, pulling her to him. "You're such a freak," he said lovingly, kissing the top of her head.

"But you love me anyway."

"Yeah, I do." Spike was silent for a while before he spoke again, asking her the question that was weighing on his mind. "Are you going to be okay this week? Do…do you need us to go back home?"

"I think I'll be okay," Buffy replied. "It's going to be hard, but…I like the time we've been spending with Dawn. I missed her. And I'll have you here."

"Yeah, you will. And if things get too bad, I'll have you out of here in a moment, Buffy. I promise. Won't make you have to be miserable."

"I love you, Spike."

"Love you, too," Spike replied, wrapping his arms tighter around her as their eyes closed.

*** *** ***

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