Buffy stood on her tiptoes, desperately trying to stretch her tiny frame above the crowd at the airport baggage claim. Reaching out, she wrapped her hand around Spike’s upper arm and used him as leverage as she scanned the heavily occupied area in search of Dawn. With an ear piercing shriek, Buffy released her grip on Spike and began jumping up and down, waving her arms vigorously in attempts to gain her sister’s attention.
As soon as Dawn spotted her sister, Buffy’s shrieks of excitement became so loud that Spike and several other individuals around them to cringe from the shrill noise. For several minutes, both sisters bounced around excitedly, before wrapping their arms around one another for a tight hug. It had been months since they had seen one another and even though they often ended up in some type of sibling argument by the end of the visit, they both missed the other one anyway. With the trial starting early Monday morning, Buffy had insisted that Dawn fly over on Friday so that they could spend the weekend catching up.
Once Buffy and Dawn finally calmed down, Spike helped gather Dawn’s luggage and headed towards the parking lot. The ride home proved to be just as boisterous as the greeting inside the airport. When they arrived at the house it was all he could do to get the car to a complete stop before Dawn pitched herself out of the Jeep.
“OHMYGOD!” Dawn shrieked as she hopped out of the car. “This place is freaking amazing! I cannot believe I get to stay here.” With one final glance at the front of the house, Dawn sprinted around the side and headed towards the backyard; all the while yammering on and on about Buffy’s new home.
“Think she’s a bit excited, pet?” Spike inquired with a hint of his usual snarky sarcasm. Buffy smiled and rolled her eyes at his comment, replying with, “Excited would be an understatement. I have a sneaky sensation that my dear little sister had sugar or caffeine on the plane ride. Oh dear, she probably had both and if that’s the case we are both in for a long night.”
Spike pulled Buffy close and circled his arms around her shoulders; placing a feather light kiss to the crown of her head. “Good thing I’m a night owl.” He pulled back and slid his hand under Buffy’s chin to tilt her head back. Brushing a quick kiss across her lips, he said, “Now, I’ll let you go on around back and deal with the lil’ Bit and I’ll take the luggage in.”
Buffy narrowed her eyes at Spike and stuck her tongue out at him playfully. “You are an evil man, ya know? Leaving me all alone to deal with that sugar-crazed loony, it’s just mean.”
“I’m a Big Bad man, kitten.” Spike replied with his trademark smirk plastered across his face. “I may need to be punished for it later.” Waggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner, Spike pulled Buffy tightly against his chest while his hands roamed up her bare thigh, sliding underneath the hemline of her short skirt until they reached the swell of her
ass. “Know anyone who might be interested?” He growled suggestively into her ear; nipping along the lobe.
Buffy shivered as Spike’s teeth grazed along her ear. Her mind was instantly lost as she imagined in perverse detail all the ways she could “punish” Spike. The high pitched shrill of her little sister’s voice pulled Buffy out of her delicious daydream. From around the house Dawn’s endless cries of happiness split the air and Buffy realized that she must have found the hot tub.
With one last nibble to her earlobe, Spike released his hold on Buffy; slapping her on the ass as he pointed her in the direction of Dawn. “Better hurry, luv.” He said teasingly, “Wouldn’t want her to topple right off the cliff in all her excitement.”
Buffy nodded in agreement, knowing full well that a sugar induced high and Dawn’s usual clumsiness was a recipe for disaster. “Fine, but don’t think you won’t be getting that punishment later, mister.”
“Oh, don’t you worry, kitten. Looking forward to seeing what you’ve got in mind.” Spike replied with a wink. Picking up Dawn’s two large suitcases, he meandered up the sidewalk to the front door; only disappearing inside when he was sure that Buffy had made it to the backyard. Even though he had no doubt that she was safe inside the enclosed grounds, after their previous run in with Riley at the bar Spike had been overly cautious. There wasn’t a moment that went by that he didn’t chastise himself for not being more careful, even though they had been at Caritas where the employees knew their situation, or so they thought. It had turned out that one of Lorne’s newest employees, Warren, had been kind enough to let Riley inside the club in exchange for cash. Needless to say, Warren no longer worked for Lorne; who’s normally easy going temperament had disappeared, showing his employee that underneath his carefree demeanor lay a red horned demon.
Buffy rounded the corner just in time to see the top of Dawn’s head disappear down the walkway leading to the beach. “Dawn!” Buffy hollered. “Wait for me!” Slipping out of her low heeled sandals, Buffy sprinted across the pool area and bounced down the steps after her little sister; whom she found sitting cross legged in the sand with a look of sheer happiness on her face.
“You know, I love England. Really, I do.” Dawn started, “But there is nothing like watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. Or the feel of the sand…or the smell of the ocean water… or the feeling of the warm sun on your shoulders; I miss California.” With an audible sigh, the younger Summers sister flopped backwards, not giving a second thought to wallowing in the sand. “You are so lucky, Buffy. Great house, great view and of course, the way hot guy.”
“Oh yeah, that’s me all right…lucky.” Buffy replied wryly as she sat down beside Dawn’s outstretched body. “I can see the sales slogan now… ‘Get the ever livin snot beat out of you by your fiancé, but live the rest of your life in lap of luxury while trying to hide from him. Sexy bodyguard included.’ Sure sounds like one peachy deal to me.” Not to be outdone by her sister, Buffy reclined back onto the sand with a loud sigh that rivaled Dawn’s.
“So…you aren’t happy?” Dawn asked slowly, peering over her sunglasses at Buffy. “I mean, I know things have been difficult but…” She stopped, not really knowing how to end the sentence. Dawn had noticed something in Buffy’s demeanor when she was with Spike; a spark that wasn’t there when she was with Riley. She just didn’t know how to approach the topic with Buffy, how to put her feeling into words.
“Most of the time, yeah I’m happy; all with the smiles and perkiness.” Buffy explained, raising her arms so that she could position her hands under her head for support. “Spike’s great, don’t get me wrong. I love being with him. It’s just so fast, ya know. I never really got anytime just for me in between the thing with Riley and having Spike with me like twenty-four seven. Things just went so quickly and I just have this nagging feeling in the back of my head that everything is going to explode one day. Like something bad, I just don’t know what exactly.”
“And that wouldn’t be your lovely pessimistic side trying to cause problems, would it? Cause that like never happens.” Dawn remarked playfully; rolling swiftly to the side to avoid Buffy’s arm as she tried to swat at her in frustration. “Well, it’s true! You have to admit that you tend to see the worst in things.”
“Yeah, I guess your right. It’s probably nothing, just my imagination running around like crazy. Truthfully, my nerves have been so wound up about seeing Riley on Monday that it’s amazing I can think straight at all.”
“Don’t worry about that big stupid head, he sucks.” Dawn commented, scooting back towards where Buffy was laying. “In a few short weeks, he’ll be rotting away in prison somewhere with a very large boyfriend. Then you and Spike can attempt to have some semblance of a normal relationship. It’ll all work out in the end. I mean, come one, what more can go wrong, right?”
“Yeah, I guess your right.” Buffy replied, inwardly praying that Dawn was right in her assumptions. For a while longer, they laid there in the sand completely silent, watching the sun disappear over the horizon; turning the sky from blazing orange, to hot pink and finally, a dusky blue before heading back up the stairs towards the house.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
So sorry for taking this long to update, but this time Muse left for a good long while. I have been working on this chapter for 2 weeks, but kept deleting it because well...it sucked. Hope it's not too crappy now.