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CHAPTER 42: Sugary treats, and sour threats
Buffy opened the front door and seeing that it was only her sister standing there, rushed back to the kitchen with a “come in” shouted over her shoulder.
Left alone on the front porch, Dawn bellowed: “Happy morning to you too, beloved sister of mine.” before letting herself in.
“Sorry!” Buffy yelled from the kitchen. “I was in the middle of a delicate operation.”
“The life or death kind?” Dawn asked, walking into the kitchen.
“To my Crepes Suzette, it could be, yes.”
“Crepes Suzette?” The tall brunette glanced over her sister’s shoulder with a frown. Buffy shooed her away.
Dawn casually perched herself on the breakfast bar from where she could observe the scene without being in harms way.
“Isn’t that a dessert?”
“And your point?” Buffy asked distractedly while looking around for something.
“Well,” Dawn continued, “It’s like, ten in the morning for one thing…”
“Uh huh.” Buffy found the bottle of Grand Marnier and splashed some over the crepes.
“AND there’s alcohol in this. Not good for my future niece or nephew.”
Buffy rolled her eyes and grabbed the lighter on the counter. “It’s flambé, Dawn. The fire burns away the alcohol. That’s why it goes out on its own after a few minutes.”
She faced the younger girl with an evil grin on her face, clicking the lighter threateningly. “Maybe you want to take cover. Just in case.”
Dawn hid her face behind her hands, pretending to be scared. “Tell me when to look. And since I’m risking my life here, can I have some too?”
“So you’re telling me that not only do I have to put up with you on my only day off, but I have to feed you as well?“ Buffy lit the dessert and watched the pretty blue flames until they vanished a few moments later.
Dawn jumped off the counter and went to get two plates from the cupboard. “No, you got it all wrong. The truth is that you have the incredibly rare luck of experiencing my delightfully entertaining presence on this beautiful day, and you also have the honor of sharing this sugary masterpiece you prepared with yours truly. And in the wise words of mom…”
“…sharing is the best way to express your love, and sisters are supposed to love each other; therefore they should share and blah, blah, blah.”
Dawn grinned. “Amen.”
Buffy served the sweet treat in two plates and poured two glasses of milk. She handed Dawn hers and they made their way to the living room. They sat on the floor in front of the coffee table and Buffy turn the TV on to the cartoon channel. This had been a ritual for them when they were little girls. Every Saturday morning, they’d eat breakfast while watching cartoons. They were rarely together on Saturday mornings now that Buffy lived in Sunnydale and Dawn was in college in L.A., but whenever they had a chance, they tried to keep the old tradition alive.
Buffy smiled when her sister closed her eyes and moaned in delight after taking a bite of her crepe.
“I take it it’s good then?” Buffy asked, grinning proudly.
“Are you kidding? I think I blacked out for a second. Who would have thought you’d become such a great cook. Do you remember that Thanksgiving when mom was sick and it was just you and me?”
Buffy groaned. “Could you please not remind me?”
“You were so desperate to have a real Thanksgiving even if mom wasn’t there that you spent the entire day cooking. You turned into the kitchen Nazi. I was not in the celebration or thankful mood, but you threatened to tie me up to a chair if I didn’t eat what you cooked and enjoy it.”
Buffy pouted. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“Worst turkey I had ever had. And the yams… Oh God, the yams.” Dawn scrunched up her pretty face in disgust.
Buffy swiftly snatched the plate away from her little sister.
“Hey! Give that back!”
“Not until you apologize, missy. Mean people don’t get crepes.”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, give it back. It was great turkey and those yams were delicious. And did I mention the gravy? Best gravy ever. Didn’t taste burned at all.”
Buffy smiled. “OK, now you’re just being pathetic.” She put the plate back in front of Dawn and the brunette dove back into the dessert like a starving woman.
“And just so you know,” Buffy added, “you’ll be cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year. That gives you nine months to prepare mentally. That will teach you to make fun of me.”
“Yeah right, as if mom would let me cook anything after the peanut butter pancake incident.”
They laughed at the memory. The two girls finished eating in silence while watching some Japanese cartoon. When the cartoon was over, Buffy stood up to bring the dirty plates in the kitchen. Dawn followed her and grabbed a cloth to dry the dishes.
“How did you get here anyway? Did you take the bus?” Buffy asked conversationally.
“No. My roommate went on a romantic weekend with her boyfriend. She didn’t need her car so she let me borrow it.”
“Did you plan on making this an overnighter?”
“Well… yeah. Unless you have plans and you don’t want your bratty little sister around.”
“My bratty little sister is always welcomed here, you know that. But I do have plans for tonight. So I hope you don’t mind staying here by yourself.”
“Are you serious? With all the free food, free booze, satellite TV… I can even order porn and everything. It’s gonna be awesome!”
“Ha ha, funny.” Buffy gave Dawn her best ‘mom’ look and the taller girl put her hands up in surrender.
“Does that mean no porn then?”
“AND no booze.” She added sternly.
“Party pooper.”
“And proud to be.”
“So, where are you going?” Dawn asked curiously.
Buffy took the clean plates and put them away, turning her back on her sister. “I… uh, I have plans. With Willow. She’ll be here soon.”
Dawn turned around and crossing her arms, gave her sister a funny look. “You… uh… have… plans?” She repeated, mocking her.
Buffy sighed, annoyed at her sibling’s perceptiveness. “Fine. If you must know, Willow and I are going to a party tonight… at Angel and Darla’s.”
Dawn’s eyes bugged out. “At Angel and Darla’s? As in ‘the’ Angel and Darla? The ones that killed that girl and sent Spike to prison? You’re going there? With 5’2’’, 95lbs, Willow as your bodyguard? Are you NUTS?” Her voice got more shrill by the end of her tirade.
“Woah! Hold on just a minute.” Buffy exclaimed, giving her sister an incredulous look. “What the hell happened to ‘Go frame Angel’ and ‘Fight like a lioness for her cubs’ and all that stuff you were saying when I told you I was pregnant the other day?”
Dawn had the decency to look embarrassed. She went to sit at the kitchen table, shoulders slumped in defeat. “I said that, didn’t I?”
Buffy went to sit in front of her. “Pretty much, yes.”
“I guess it’s different when you’re faced with the fact. Saying this in the middle of a conversation, not exactly the same as knowing you’re going there tonight. Are you sure about this, Buffy?”
She waited a beat before answering, but when she did, her voice held no doubt. “Yes I am. I don’t think anything will happen tonight, at least anything that will get Spike out of jail. They don’t know me enough yet to share their dark nasty secrets, but it’s a step forward and I need to do this. I’m confident that this is all going in the right direction and that there’s a chance I’ll get what I want. I don’t know, maybe it’s the fact that I’m actually taking action that makes me feel more positive. But in any case, it’s better than sitting on my ass and complaining about the situation.”
“Yeah, I guess. But you can’t blame me for worrying about you. You’re pregnant…”
“Not invalid. And besides, I don’t think they’d attack me or anything. It’s just a party.”
“When did you meet them? You didn’t even tell me.”
“Sorry kiddo, everything happened at the same time and I forgot to call you. I met them at the bar last week.”
“And I guess it went pretty well if they invited you to a party.”
“Yeah, they seemed to like me a lot.”
Dawn snorted. “I knew they were crazy.”
Buffy opened her mouth, feigning to be shocked. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, did I hurt your feelings? I meant that you’re adorable, of course.” She laughed, clearly amused by her own joke. “So, are you gonna tell me how they are?”
“Pretty much what you’d expect. Sleazy, trashy, nasty, obnoxious. Basically, not so nice people. And I acted just as badly so they really liked me. Which is what I wanted so yeah, it went well.”
“And what does Willow have to do with all this? Does she know about Spike? I feel like I missed an entire chapter.”
“Nah, you didn’t miss all that much. Willow doesn’t know. I don’t want her to know so be careful what you say in front of her later on when she arrives.”
“Hey, I’m a little insulted. Do you think I have that big a mouth?”
Buffy just raised an eyebrow without answering.
“Fine, whatever. I won’t say a word. Does she know you’re pregnant?”
“No. So again…”
“Yeah, yeah, not a word. I get it. But you still haven’t told me why she’s going to this party.”
“Will came to me to other day to tell me she believes William is innocent. I told her I thought so too and when she said she wanted to do something to help him, I told her about my plan. I asked her if she wanted to come to the party with me because, honestly, I’m a little nervous going there by myself.”
Dawn nodded silently, apparently lost in thoughts. “And why is she coming here so early?” She finally asked.
“Huh… did you ever meet Willow? Do you seriously think she could go to a party with these people and blend in?”
Dawn’s face lit up. “Make over?”
“Absolutely!”
The sisters’ laugh was suddenly interrupted by Buffy’s Blackberry ringing. She looked around, not sure where she’d put it, but quickly located the ringing device on the kitchen counter. She stood up and went to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Hey beautiful.”
Buffy looked down to hide the silly grin that automatically appeared on her face at hearing her lover’s voice. But not fast enough for Dawn not to notice. The girl put her hands together and batted her eyelashes mockingly while whispering “Oh Spike, I missed you soooo much baby!”
Buffy rolled her eyes and turned her back on her sister, trying to ignore her antics.
“Hey baby, how are you?”
Dawn stood up and came up behind her sister, making kissing noises in her ear. Buffy pushed her away to no avail. She finally turned to her little sister and gave her a murderous look.
“Would you quit it already? He’s only got fifteen minutes!”
“Geez, sorry.” She put her face close to the phone and yelled “HI SPIKE!”
On the other end of the line, Spike chuckled.
“Don’t encourage her,” Buffy scolded. “She’s being a brat.”
“Come on, put the phone to her ear for a second.”
“Fine.”
Buffy took the Blackberry and put it to her sister’s ear.
“Hi nibblet.”
“Hi Spike!”
“Try not to drive your sister barmy or I’ll never hear the end of it, all right pet?”
Dawn giggled. “Fine. I’ll try to behave. Bye Spike.”
“Bye nibblet.”
Buffy took the phone back and Dawn went to sit back at the kitchen table.
“Sorry about that. I fed her sugar this morning, it always does that to her. I should know better.”
“Having a good time with your little sis, pet?”
“Yeah. She showed up on my door step this morning. We had breakfast together and watched cartoons.”
“Sounds fun.”
“What did you do this morning?”
“I had one of those rare good morning actually. Woke up at 8, had porridge that tasted like glue, then I went outside and found a quiet corner to read that book I just started. It’s really good.”
“Are things OK between you and Gunn now?”
“…”
“Spike, you did talk to him, right?”
“If by talking you mean exchange of words, then yeah, we talked.”
“Are you telling me you haven’t talked about what happened yet?”
“We haven’t spent that much time together this week.”
“Spike, it’s been DAYS. He’s your friend. You have to discuss this. He felt really bad for what happened, and I know you’re pissed that he jumped to conclusions about you. You can’t just leave it like that.”
“All right, I’ll talk to him. Bloody hell, woman.”
“You can ‘bloody hell’ me all you want, but you’ll bloody thank me when you still have a friend, mister.”
“OK pet, I’ll do it. Promise. Now, speaking of talking about things, wasn’t there something you were supposed to tell me about this week?”
**crap**
Buffy shut her eyes and winced. “I’m so sorry, Spike. Things have been insane this week and Giles went to Chicago for a seminar. I know I kept telling you tomorrow, then tomorrow I’d say tomorrow and yesterday, I was finally supposed to see you and then something happened, and…”
“Pet, slow down. I know, it’s all right. Don’t fret over this. I just thought maybe you could tell me now.”
Buffy swallowed hard, then licked her suddenly dry lips. She glanced toward Dawn only to see the younger girl staring intently at her, listening to every word.
“Spike, it’s really, really not something I can tell you over the phone. Believe me. I know you’re surrounded by people right now and you have no privacy at all. I prefer telling you in person.”
When he spoke again, there was concern in his voice. “Is it that bad, luv? You don’t… want to end things between us, do you?”
“What?” She exclaimed, horrified by the thought. “NO! Of course not. It’s not bad, it’s just… Damn it, can you just trust me on this? Please?”
From the corner of her eye, she could see Dawn’s countenance change dramatically. She was slowly shaking her head, the look of disapproval in her blue eyes stating clearly that she understood what the conversation was about. Buffy tried her best to ignore her.
“Baby please, don’t worry. It’s nothing bad, or at least, not that kind of bad. I’ll tell you soon, I promise, but I don’t want you to worry.”
“And the more you repeat that you don’t want me to worry, the more bloody worried I get. But I’ll wait if you say it has to be said face to face. It’s not like I have a soddin’ choice in the matter.”
“Are you mad?” Buffy asked in a tiny voice.
“No pet, I’m not mad. I’ve just been waiting all week to find out what the big secret was and I’m getting curious, is all. Sorry if I’m being a wanker. Weekends do that to me because you’re not here.
She smiled a little at that. “Sorry. Maybe I could start working seven days a week. I could give an all new meaning to the word workaholic.”
Spike chuckled at that. “No pet, wouldn’t want my girl to be exhausted. You work hard enough as it is. I’m sorry,” He added sadly, “I have to go. I ran out of time and the guard is telling me to hang up.”
“All right. Have a good weekend. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Can’t wait. Bye kitten.”
“Bye. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
Buffy hung up reluctantly, then turned to face her sister’s wrath.
“How could you?”
“What?” Buffy asked innocently.
“Buffy Anne Summers! I can’t believe you. You haven’t told him yet??”
“I didn’t get a chance to.”
“Liar! You’ve known for almost a month! Don’t try to make me believe you haven’t seen him or talked to him for a month because I don’t believe you.”
“I have seen him, and I have talked to him, Dawn, but the circumstances weren’t favorable to that sort of talk. And every time I was about to tell him, something would come up.”
“Buffy, no offence, but if you really wanted to tell him, you would have. You’re the warden, it’s your prison, you do whatever you want to do. When it comes to finding ways to see him because you miss him, you’re never out of ideas.”
Buffy stood up and went to the kitchen to make coffee, needing to get away from her sister. She knew Dawn was right and it was making her angry. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s not that easy.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No it’s not!” Buffy snapped angrily.
“Really?” Dawn said, following her sister in the kitchen. “You know what I think? I think you’re getting pissed off because I’m right. The truth is, you’re being a coward and you’re pissed at yourself.”
“Fine!” Buffy yelled. “I’m a coward. Feel like switching place with me for a week, see if my life is so fucking easy, Dawn? I really wouldn’t mind having your life right now. Your biggest problem is respecting deadlines for schoolwork,which college boy to make out with, making sure you get invited to the coolest parties and that you hang out with the coolest people. Well guess what? My life IS scary right now. And yes, I’m scared of telling Spike and I’m probably subconsciously stalling. It’s stupid and immature of me but I feel like as long as he doesn’t know, it doesn’t hurt him. Judge me all you want, Dawnie, but you‘re not in my shoes.”
“I’m not judging you. But Buffy, if you don’t tell him... I will.”
Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and took a step toward Dawn. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Dawn took a step closer to her sister. “Watch me.”
“This is none of your business, Dawn.” Buffy said through clenched teeth.
“You’re wrong. It is because when it all blows up in your face, it’s my shoulder you’ll cry on.”
Buffy narrowed her eyes at her sister. “All right. I’ll put your name on the list of people who aren’t allowed to visit him or talk to him if I have to.”
“ARGH! GOD!” Dawn threw her arms up. “I’m gonna walk away because I really want to shake some sense into you right now and you’re so small that I’d probably cause you some internal injuries. Considering you’re already brain damaged, it would be kinda mean.”
“I’m not brain damaged and don’t walk away in the middle of a fight. I’m not done!”
“You’re not done? You obviously haven’t been listening to some of the stuff coming out of your mouth because none of it makes any sense and you really should quit while you‘re ahead. I mean, come on! Miss “Oh I don’t want to hurt him” and then later on you threaten to stop one of the only people he has from visiting him? Wow, you really DO care.”
A part of Buffy really did want to keep screaming at Dawn, but somehow, her anger deflated. “I didn’t mean that and you know it. I was just… I didn’t know what to say. You started it by saying that you’d go ahead and tell him.”
“I was trying to get you to wake up and smell the coffee, Buffy. Of course I wouldn’t tell him. It’s not my place to do that. But I can’t let you ruin your relationship with Spike and just sit back and watch. When he finds out that you lied to him about this, it will cause damage that you won’t be able to fix. You know it.”
Buffy sat down and put her head in her hands. “I need more time.”
“You don’t have more time. You’re two months pregnant. It’s not like you can pause your pregnancy to buy yourself time. If you tell him right now, you can still pretend you just found out. If you wait any longer, it won’t be possible anymore and he’ll know that you waited that long to tell him. How do you think he’ll feel knowing that all this time you were seeing him, you knew you were pregnant with his child and you were not telling him? He deserves to know.”
“I know.” Buffy said quietly. “You’re right.”
“You’re keeping everyone you love in the dark, you’ll have to tell them one day or another. Mom, Cordelia, Xander…”
“Hey! You won a battle, don’t start a war. It doesn’t always pay to be too ambitious. I said you were right and I will tell Spike Monday.”
She didn’t need to look up to know there was a satisfied smirk on her sister’s lips.
“Don’t gloat.”
“I’m not. I’m just…”
“Gloating.”
“Enjoying being right is more like it.”
“Which is basically the same thing.”
“I’m sorry I was mean.” Dawn said, offering the olive branch.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you like a crazy woman.”
Dawn went to kneel next to where Buffy was sitting and put her arms around her sister. They hugged in silence for a moment, enjoying the calm after the storm.
“Buffy?”
“Hum?”
“I don’t need to be in your shoes to know that life has been tough for you lately. I’m sorry if I sounded like I don’t get it. But I do. Get it, I mean. I know you’re having a tough time, but I’m sure it’ll get better. And also… I really don’t mind when you cry on my shoulder. I don’t know why I said that. That’s what sisters are for, isn‘t it?”
Buffy smiled down at her sister, and with one hand, tucked her long brown hair behind her ears in a familiar gesture. “I know Dawnie, it’s OK.”
“And I wasn’t really gonna shake you or anything.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “All right, can we move on?”
Dawn pulled away from the hug and grinned at Buffy. “Yeah, let’s move on.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I know I always have a good reason not to update, but I had surgery and the recovery was tougher than I thought it would be. I'm all good now and ready to write again, I promise. Thanks for being patient with me ;)