"Okay -- so she won't get off work until like, two o'clock in the morning. We've got lots of time!" Dawn announced as she hung up the phone with a huge, triumphant smile on her face, beaming with the exhilaration of the ruse she had just pulled off.

"It only seems like it," Tara reminded her grimly. "It's not that long, really. Twelve hours won't actually get us that far..."

"And before we go anywhere, you two need to eat," Spike spoke as firmly as Tara had heard him speak in a long time. "You haven't all day."

Tara nodded. "We do -- and we need to figure out what to do about the car so we can travel in the daylight -- and where exactly we're headed from here...and like, a million other things..." She sighed wearily, feeling overwhelmed again.

"First, you need to eat," Spike insisted quietly.

"Well, so do you!" Tara challenged him with raised eyebrows, persisting when he looked away. "You do. Me and Dawnie -- we'll eat lots of protein and drink lots of orange juice -- and then, when we get back, *you* are going to drink something, Spike. Before we go anywhere."

Spike did not say anything, but his jaw was working with conflict, and she could see the silent protest in his averted eyes. The past few weeks had conditioned him to mostly keep his contradictions and objections to himself, and go along with the wishes of those around him, but Tara could see that he was still very strongly against the idea of his feeding from either of the girls.

Honestly, Tara wasn't thrilled with the idea either -- but it wasn't as if they had a choice.

And she trusted that Spike would never hurt either of them.

He *couldn't*, really, since he couldn't even bite them without his head exploding into a violent migraine. Dawn had had the right idea with the little pocketknife that Spike had taken from her in the car -- though now that Tara thought about it, another trip to Wal-Mart for something a bit sharper (and therefore less painful) might be in order.

"There's a little diner across the street," Dawn suggested, a note of anxiety in her young voice as she noticed the slight tension between the vampire and the witch. "We could -- go get something there..."

"Yeah," Tara nodded, "let's..." She stopped, frowning, as she glanced uncertainly at Spike. "Except it's daylight -- and that place is all windows. We can't all go over there now..."

"We can't wait much later," Spike shook his head, his eyes focused downward, his voice trembling slightly as he added, "have to get going before -- before long..."

"Well -- me and Tara could just -- just go over there really quick, and come back..." Dawn began, clearly a bit uncomfortable with the suggestion.

"*No*!" Both Tara and Spike immediately objected, with enough force to make the younger girl jump self-consciously, looking between them, wide-eyed in surprise at their mutual reaction.

A quiet, awkward moment followed, broken by Spike's strangely soft voice, as he explained in a anxious, hesitant tone touched with shame, "I -- I'd really rather you -- you didn't...I mean...I don't want to...to be..."

Tara's heart broke for him again, because it was so very obvious how humiliating it was for him to admit his fear of being alone; and yet that fear was so consuming that he was willing to admit it, if only to prevent its coming to pass.

"I'll stay," Dawn offered softly, leaning slightly toward Spike and reaching out a small, tentative hand to slip into his. "We'll stay here -- and you can bring some food back -- and we'll eat here. Okay?" As if suddenly self-conscious over her own words, which could have been taken as a bit too commanding, Dawn shrugged and added, "Or -- the other way around. Whatever."

"No, good...good," Tara assured her, nodding in agreement to her idea. "That'll work. I don't want you going off anywhere by yourself, Dawn. I'll just go and get some food for us, and then we'll all eat here. Then, we'll figure out something to do about the car, and get going."

Spike nodded distractedly, sitting down on the edge of the bed, still not looking at either girl.

Tara decided not to mention it at the moment, perceptively discerning that his mood was mostly due to his embarrassment at needing the presence of the younger girl -- of anyone, for that matter -- to make him feel more secure. The last thing she wanted was to further shame him by drawing attention to it.

After finding out what Dawn wanted to eat, she headed for the door.

"Tara," Spike spoke up just before she walked out into the light, and she turned to face him with a question in her eyes. He swallowed hard, holding her gaze for a long moment before adding in a whisper, "Please hurry."

Her expression softened with compassion as she nodded and promised gently, "I will."

As the door closed quietly behind her, a moment of slightly awkward silence fell over the vampire and the former Key, still hand in hand, as she sat down slowly beside him on the bed, giving him a dubious sideways look. He looked up at her from the side, a slight grimace of apology on his face as he cleared his throat.

"Not that -- not that you don't make me feel -- a bloody hell of a lot better, Bit..."

"Uh-huh," Dawn cut him off in a good-naturedly doubtful voice, rolling her eyes before meeting his in a knowing look. "Because I'm every bit as reassuring against my psycho sister as a full grown, majorly powerful witch."

"No, that's not..."

"It's almost three. I think there's a rerun of Dawson's Creek on in five," she suggested, diplomatically interrupting his half-hearted protest as she scooted back across the bed to lean against the headboard, reaching for the remote.

"Well," he shrugged carelessly, looking away to hide the faint light of interest in his eyes. " 'S better than nothing, I s'pose."

**********************************

Tara walked up to the counter and gave the tired-looking waitress behind it her order, before sitting down on a stool to wait for it to be ready -- but her mind was a million miles away from the tiny little diner where she sat.

*How in the world am I gonna do this?* she wondered, anguished with worry. *I've got to keep both Dawn and Spike safe from a psychotic Slayer who could pound me into the floor with her pinky -- when she's got that mystical mark on Spike, and my uber-witch ex-girlfriend to help her find us...and I've also gotta find some way of traveling safely in the daytime for a vampire...oh, and somewhere along the way, it might be nice to have some idea of where we're actually going!*

She glanced out the window into the parking lot, not really seeing the few random cars parked outside, or the lovely sunny afternoon that ordinarily would have put her into such a cheerful mood. She vaguely noticed as a dark colored van which looked to be several years old pulled into the parking lot and parked in front of the diner.

*Now something like that is what we need,* she observed morosely as a couple of young men got out of the car, laughing and talking casually, and headed into the diner. *Something big and dark like that with a roomy backseat where Spike can avoid the sun...something that's nothing like my car, something Willow can't have the cops out looking for once Buffy tells her whatever story she makes up about how Spike kidnapped me and Dawn, or whatever...*

As the two young men made their way to the counter and gave the waitress their order, Tara politely looked away, still brooding over finding solutions to the countless obstacles in the way of their escape. Their conversation, sounding quite loud in the nearly empty room, still made its way into the edges of her mind.

"Man, I wish your van wasn't such a freakin' piece of junk! I'm almost embarrassed to be seen in the thing!"

"If we had something newer, we could probably make better time..."

"If we had something that wasn't a standard," the first boy corrected, his tone one of good-natured mockery, "so you couldn't kill it every time we slow down, *then* we'd make better time..."

"Hey! I don't kill it that often!" his friend objected, sounding offended.

Tara sat there for a moment in thoughtful silence, before the beginnings of an idea occurred to her. Her eyes widened slightly, as she wondered wildly if she might just be able to pull it off. She glanced discreetly at her reflection in the large mirror behind the counter, reassuring herself that she looked reasonably nice, all things considered; she subtly shifted her blouse so that her neckline was just a bit lower, and brushed a hand quickly through her loose long hair, which she thankfully had washed and brushed while Dawn had been getting dressed.

It had been a long time since she'd attempted to flirt with a boy -- and she was going to need every point in her favor she could get if the insane plan taking shape in her mind was going to work.

**********************************

Dawn and Spike had been waiting in mostly comfortable silence for the past half hour, watching Dawson's Creek and just sitting together on the bed.

Dawn was still holding Spike's hand -- and he felt no compulsion to stop her.

"I'm sorry I'm just a kid."

Dawn's voice spoke into the stillness, and Spike looked at her in surprise. His voice sounded a bit hoarse when he replied, a bit bewildered, "What's that, Bit?"

Dawn shrugged as she clarified matter-of-factly, meeting his eyes with honesty, "I'm just sorry I'm not, you know -- bigger -- or a powerful witch like Tara and Willow..." Her expression darkened as she looked away slightly and added with resentment in her voice, "...or a Slayer, so I could totally kick Buffy's butt..." She shrugged again as she looked back up at him. "I'm just sorry that I can't protect you -- that I don't make you feel safer."

Understanding her meaning did not make Spike feel any better, as he looked down at the mattress between them with a heavy sigh. After a moment he stated softly, "Shouldn't need protecting, Bit. It's enough that you're here at all -- more than enough."

Dawn thought for a moment before pointing out, "We all need protecting sometimes. Some of us -- like, you know, mystical Keys, for example -- more often than others."

That earned a half-hearted smile, as her friend looked up at her warmly for a moment, squeezing her hand affectionately.

Dawn smiled back, though her eyes remained serious. "There's always -- someone bigger, you know? I mean -- you can't be stronger, and faster, and smarter, than everything and everyone. It's okay if sometimes -- if you're the one who needs help, you know?"

Spike did not look up, his mouth working with emotion, as he took in what she was saying gratefully, though he was not quite willing to accept it completely just yet. It meant a lot just for her to say it -- though he hated the fact of how weak and needy and -- and *broken* he had become.

"You don't know how many times -- how many times you protected *me*, Spike. How many times you made me feel safer, when things were -- were really scary," Dawn went on, her voice sounding small and vulnerable in the quiet of the room. "I mean -- if you hadn't been there, Spike -- I'd be dead right now. From -- from Glory...or...or that time when I tried to -- to bring Mom back..." She looked up at Spike, her wide blue eyes round and earnest as she told him simply, "...you're the person who makes me feel safe, Spike."

The vampire who had once been part of the Scourge of Europe, who had been a master vampire, feared and renowned for his thirst and skill for violence, now felt a choked, tearful feeling of warmth welling up in his chest, as he turned damp eyes toward the young girl who had come to mean so much to him.

Before he could say a word -- not that he had a clue what to say -- the door to the room opened, and Tara walked back into the room, carrying a big paper bag, and grinning widely with excitement.

"Hey," Dawn remarked, smiling as she blinked back her own tears. "Their food's that good?"

"Don't know yet," Tara shrugged, her smile not fading. "Let's eat, quick, and get on the road..."

Spike frowned curiously, raising a hand self-consciously to swipe at the tears that filled his eyes, before asking slowly, "What's got you in such a hurry all of a sudden, love?" After a momentary pause, he added, his eyes narrowing slightly over a slight smile, "And what's got you in such a glad mood as well?"

"Take a look out the window," she suggested with a mysterious wink as she set the bag of food down on the table beside the bed.

Dawn jumped up off the bed, curiosity speeding her step to the window, where she drew the curtain back slightly and frowned out into the golden afternoon sunlight. "I don't see anything," she stated, her frown deepening slightly as she added, "except...*not* your car...Tara...where's your car?"