Author's Note: Yup, I'm back to writing my usual stories. It's nice to know some people are still reading even with the finale...

"Spike, you here?" Dawn shouted out, kicking off her shoes and scattering various bags of paraphernalia around her as she entered their suite.

"No," came the sarcastic retort, "I decided it'd be a bloody brilliant idea to work on my tan." There was some scuffling from the direction of Spike's bedroom. Knowing him, he'd managed to get unnecessarily naked in her absence and was now remedying the situation.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "You're not getting out of research that easily," she informed him. "Now get your skinny, white butt out here."

A long string of exclamations that were quite obviously bizarre, incomprehensible curse-words followed Dawn's proclamation. They were punctuated by yet another crash.

Rick just sort of stood in the doorway, looking mildly stunned.

"Please tell me you don't need an invitation," Dawn said with a quirk of her lips.

That quiet smile lit up his face and he ran a nervous hand through his ebony locks before stepping over the threshold. "No invitation necessary," he assured her.

"Good," she agreed. "Now, shut the door. It's getting cold in here." She shivered slightly at the December Colorado air that leaked into the open hallways of the inn.

Rick did as she asked, gazing around the room curiously. "Nice room," he commented. "Much more spacious than the single rooms."

"That's why it always pays to make unreasonable demands," Dawn grinned up at him from where she was snuffling around in one of Spike's duffel bags. A profusion of various pointy instruments and black garments fell out in a haphazard manner. "Dammit, where did you put it?" she grumbled under her breath, studying Spike's complete lack of organization with something akin to despair.

"You're looking for something?" Rick's accented voice was unnecessarily hushed. He felt strangely out of place in this situation, like he was being hidden away from the vampire's watchful eye.

"Laptop," Dawn nodded in similar subdued tones. "It's – surprise, surprise – black. Let me know if you see it around anywhere."

Through the darkened lenses of his glasses, Rick studied the contents of the table beside him. An axe almost as large as he was made him shift nervously. He shook his head as well at the complete chaos that seemed to follow Dawn's undead partner.

"Aha!" Dawn exclaimed in delight. She brushed aside the grimy old blanket Spike used for his daylight excursions and produced the shiny black rectangle she'd been seeking. "Book?" she requested.

Rick promptly released the thick tome they'd picked up from Veronica when they'd run into each other in the parking lot. "I still cannot believe that she convinced Ms. Collins to give us this."

Dawn nodded. "Never underestimate the power of annoyance," she agreed. "What I'm amazed at," she flipped open the book to the marked page, "is that she actually handed the book over to me. It would have been—" She paused at the cryptic writing within. "Or maybe she couldn't have read it," she hastily amended.

Rick peered over her shoulder curiously. "Can you read it?" he inquired.

"Not off the top of my head," Dawn agreed. She turned back to the closed door. "Spike!" she demanded loudly.

"Research innit about to fly away," he grumbled sourly, bursting forth from the bedroom. His eyes narrowed for a second when they landed on Rick, but he promptly turned his attention back to Dawn. "Siggy get a hold of you?" he demanded.

Dawn frowned. "She was trying to?"

"Kept callin' me and demandin' whether you had your cell-phone," he insisted. "Told her you probably had the damn thing turned off."

Dawn removed the small phone from her pocket. "On," she defended herself, showing it to him.

"Don't yell at me," he grumbled. "Siggy was the one that couldn't call you."

Dawn sighed. "The reception's a bit sketchy in the mountains," she commented, looking down at the silver device in her hand with disappointment. "What did she say?"

"Bugger if I know," Spike shrugged. "Was half asleep at the time."

Dawn rolled her eyes.

Spike stalked right into the common room, keeping the corner of one eye fixed suspiciously on Rick the entire time. "Slayer stopped by," he commented offhandedly.

Dawn looked up at him in surprise.

"Or slipped a note under the door, at least." He held up the flier in one hand.

" 'Winter Ball'?" Dawn read quizzically. "We're celebrating what now? All the suicides and murders?"

Spike snorted his agreement. "More like insatiable greed," he agreed. He dropped the flier onto the table and plopped down onto the sofa beside Dawn...and directly between her and Rick.

If the Hispanic man noticed Spike's defensive behavior, he didn't let it show. "This Haunting seems to thrive on human confusion," he pointed out. "A celebration of this sort is likely to lead to disaster."

"Yeah, that was kinda my point," Spike shot back sarcastically.

Dawn elbowed him in the ribs. "Rude much?" she scolded him before frowning down at the book in front of her once more.

"Whatcha got there?" Spike inquired curiously, squinting at the book and sniffing the air slightly as if that would tell him anything.

"The Collins woman finally coughed something up," Dawn informed him. "What do you think of the language?"

He frowned. The spell itself was written in a sprawling, spidery hand and was quite clearly German. It was the segment of text below that was the mystery. Blocky red...letters? symbols?...formed a regular series of columns that left him baffled.

"'S not human," he finally pointed out.

Rick ventured to peer over the back of the couch to see what had the pair of demon hunters so perplexed. "How can you tell?" he inquired curiously.

"The script's an old demon one, used predominantly in the Kassite area a few thousand years back," Dawn provided. "I'm not having much luck reading it, though."

"Obscure, dead demon dialect," Spike agreed with an exasperated shrug.

They looked at each other. Blinked.

"We sooo need Siggy," Dawn decided.

Spike scowled. "Don't see how she's gettin' here," he pointed out.

"Well, you see," Dawn teased in a patronizing manner, "they have these new inventions called 'cars' and, with them, it is now possible to travel long distances in very short amounts of time."

"Except Siggy's got no way 'f gettin' a hold of a car," Spike refused to rise to the bait.

Dawn gave him a pleading look.

"No," he insisted stubbornly.

A sniffle.

"No!" he repeated vehemently.

"Uh...what is happening?" Rick asked confusedly, feeling very much like the train of conversation had derailed on him several turns back.

"Spike's just being his normal greedy self," Dawn provided before turning back to him. "C'mon," she insisted, "you know we can't afford a rental for—"

"That woman is not getting behind the wheel of my baby!" Spike insisted vehemently. "For cryin' out loud, Bit, she's a scarier driver than you!"

"She's never been in an accident," Dawn pointed out.

"That's because all vehicles and pedestrians flee the instant they see her!" Spike insisted.

"And who crashed whose car into the lake in Central Park?" Dawn demanded, accusingly.

"There were mitigatin' circumstances!" Spike exclaimed. "And if this is payback..."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "I'll owe you for life if she crashes it," she promised.

"Bloody well right, you will," he shot back.

"So...we can't read that now?" Rick broke into the little argument the other two had become trapped in.

Spike rolled his eyes. "Spell's just your usual jammerin'. 'So and so poofy nature god, make this boring incantation work if I kiss your ass enough'..."

Dawn just shook her head. Sometimes Spike got too irritating even for her to handle. "The coven just did this spell," she commented. "Which, really, looks just like a juiced up containment spell. But this text..." She sighed. "I'm willing to bet they didn't even translate it. You know, I'd give a lot right now to know where they got this book..." She flipped it closed and studied the blank, leather cover as if it would answer all her questions.

"Looks like time for another trip to the Collins place," Spike sing-songed. "Hey, you, whelp. Why don't you get gone and make yourself useful?" He leaned back into his seat, stretching out his limbs and plopping his feet down on the coffee table as he did so.

Rick's lips tightened to a hard line and for a second...

Spike blinked. He hadn't really seen the red flash in the other man's eyes, had he?

"Knock it off!" Dawn hissed at him angrily. She gave Rick an apologetic look. "Vampires in the morning..." she assured him.

Rick's expression was inscrutable. "Of course," he agreed politely, turning for the door. "I'll just leave you to your work..."

Dawn was about to object but gave up when she saw the scowl on Spike's face. "I'll see you at the meeting this evening," she assured him. "If we have anything by then, we'll let you know."

Rick gave her a quick nod, and then he was gone.

"Good riddens," Spike shuddered slightly before snatching the book from her lap and studying it.

Dawn felt what little patience she had left snap. "What on earth was that about?" she demanded.

"What?" Spike said with wide-eyed innocence, leafing randomly through the spell book.

"Ridiculous testosterone display?" Dawn suggested. "This ringing any bells?"

"He's a soddin' wanker," Spike shrugged dismissively. "Don't see why you were lettin' him follow you around anyway."

Dawn blinked. "Me?!" she demanded. "At least I'm not having mysterious bedroom encounters with my abusive ex!"

Spike blinked in surprise. "You're jealous!" he accused.

"No, you are!" Dawn insisted.

"No, 'm not!"

"Well, I'm not either!"

They both had their arms crossed over their chests by now, nose to nose in their argument.

"Then..." Dawn began hesitantly, "what on earth are we fighting about?"

Spike frowned at that. "Absolutely no clue," he agreed.

Dawn looked right into his eyes, head tilting this way and that.

"What're you doin'?" he asked, baffled.

"Searching to see if they're red," she provided. "I'm starting to wonder..."

"What?"

She shook her head when the crimson glow she'd heard described so often didn't present itself. "Never mind," she insisted.

"No, I do mind," he countered. "You just accused me of—"

"All right," Dawn sighed wearily, slumping back in her seat. Sometimes, it was scary how incoherent her conversations with Spike were. They'd definitely known each other for way too long... "You're being...weird about Rick," she pointed out.

"Because you're sneakin' off on him on these odd 'missions' 'f yours," he countered.

"Odd missions?" Dawn asked incredulously. "I told you exactly where we went!"

"No, you told me where you were goin'," he countered, crossing his arms over his chest like a child and sulking. "Din't mention a bloody thing about 'Rrricardo'." He affected the same ridiculous trill and high-pitched squeal that Lena used when she was about to pounce upon Rick. It was actually kind of scary.

"What is your problem with him, anyway?" Dawn demanded. "You've been giving him these nasty looks all along."

"Somethin's not quite right with that one," Spike commented, serious once more. "He just sets off this li'l itch..." He scratched the back of his neck in response.

Dawn frowned. Spike might be irritating with his protective big brother act, but his senses were rarely wrong and he never lied to her. "Does it have any connection to what's happening here?" she inquired.

He sighed. "Can't pin it down," he admitted, "but there's somethin' unnatural about that one. He wears sunglasses in places where I'm squintin', for crying out loud!"

"I had wondered about the sunglasses at night bit," Dawn agreed. "That's taking the 'cool shades' act a little too far..."

Spike's brow furrowed as he tried to remember something. "You ever seen 'im without 'em?" he finally asked.

Dawn frowned as well. "I'm sure I..." she trailed off. "I can't remember," she finally admitted.

"Guess you and your new boyfriend aren't so close, after all," he commented snidely before snatching up the tome once more. Which was obviously a completely useless act since they'd already established that he couldn't read the demonic script.

"He's not my boyfriend," Dawn pointed out, "and you can't just keep chasing away every guy like ever looks at me."

"Why not?" he demanded somewhat unreasonably.

Dawn sighed at the wounded expression that he was trying so hard to conceal and scootched over to him so that she could rest her head on his shoulder. "One of these days I'm going to find someone," she pointed out. "I'm not a kid anymore."

"I know," he agreed with a sigh, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "I just..."

"That doesn't mean you'll be alone again, though," she pointed out gently. "You know we'll always be family, right?"

He gave her a soft smile. "Right," he agreed.

She smiled at him and then her expression turned demanding once more. "Now, why exactly did I find you in Buffy's bed this morning?" she interrogated him.

He gulped. "Wasn't anythin'," he insisted. "She just had this nightmare and started screamin', so I thought she was dyin' and I ran in and..."

Vampires didn't really have circulation the same way that humans did. They were pretty much pale all the time. However, that didn't mean that there weren't subtle differentiations in skin tone that could be provoked by various emotional responses. And Dawn had known Spike long enough that she could pick out every one.

In short, Spike blushed; Dawn noticed.

"Spill," she demanded in a voice that brooked no argument.

"It was nothin'," he insisted, nervously pulling back and scratching the back of his head.

"You slept with her?" Dawn guessed.

"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed in shocked disbelief. "'f course, I din't—"

"You're in love with her again, then," Dawn guessed. "Or is it still...?"

He was indignant by now. "There's no way I—"

"Spike..." Her tone held a note of warning.

"Was just...nice," he defended himself, waving his hands around vaguely.

"Nice?" she repeated.

"Getting rid of some 'f the old emotional baggage," he agreed.

"Uh-huh." It was physically impossible to look any more skeptical than she did right now.

He let out an exasperated sigh. "OK, so yeah, 's occurred to me that...she's still Buffy only...nicer to me."

"Uh-huh." Dawn had a quirking smile on her face now.

"Doesn't mean anything, though," he insisted, all puffed-up bravado. "'m my own man now, and I don't need her to—"

She cut him off with a hand on his shoulder, her expression worried. "Just be careful," she requested. "She's already hurt you once and..."

He nodded numbly. "Nothin's probably gonna happen anyway," he assured her. "After all, I haven't felt..." Anything since that night in the alley...

Dawn seemed to hear the unspoken words and caught him up in a fierce hug. "I worry so much about you sometimes," she confessed.

He stroked her throat when he'd marked her affectionately. "'ll be all right, li'l sis," he assured her. "Takes more'n a Slayer to bring me down."

She smiled at the rarely-used epithet. "Just so long as you watch your back, big brother," she agreed, "only not in the creepy 1984 'Big Brother' sense," she hastily amended.

He grinned at that. "Got you to watch my back, too," he reminded her.

"You do," she agreed with a little sniffle.

He let out a groan at the sentimentality of the moment. "We're out of Chex Mix," he promptly announced out of the blue. He pulled free of her grasp and held up the empty bag in distaste.

Dawn rolled her eyes at the totally unsubtle diversionary tactic. "God, you're hopeless," she decided.

"Completely," he agreed, kicking his feet up on the table and tilting his head back to catch all the crumbs that poured out of the Chex Mix bag. A good portion of them ended up all over the couch.

Dawn flinched. "You are so cleaning that up," she informed him.

"Make me," he shot back.

She gave him an evil smile. "So, what was your answer to 'are you still in love with Buffy'?" she asked with false sweetness.

Instantly, he was on his feet. "All right, already, 'll clean it up," he conceded his defeat...

Yeah, sorry I couldn't give you Spuffiness in this chapter after the finale and all, but...mih, we're sort of kind of getting there... Review for more.