Death and Love
by maryperk




Summary:
Set in Season six prior to OMWF. Spike, Buffy, and Dawn enjoy a little family time.

Author's Notes: Written for Spikesdeb who wanted a Spuffy and Dawn family interaction. I hope this is what she wanted. Betaed by Tasha



Chapter 2

Thanks to Jade for translating my Valley Girl into Brit slang.

Buffy strode across the grassy area with more confidence than she felt. It had been one thing to be dressed like this at home, but now they were out in public. Luckily, she had fought enough times in heels in the town’s many cemeteries not to let her boot heels sink into the soft earth. She ignored the whispers that followed in her wake. For the most part she didn’t care what anyone thought about her or her companions. The smiles on Spike and Dawn’s faces were enough to squelch any misgivings she had about the whole situation.

Buffy stopped in an open spot. “It’s nice here. Put down the blanket, Dawn.”

Dawn spread the blanket out on the ground. “Put the basket over there, Spike.” She pointed to one corner of the coverlet.

As Spike put down the food, Buffy looked around the area. She spotted a booth selling beer and sodas. “Go buy us some drinks.” She unclipped the leash from Spike’s collar.

“Of course.” Spike gave a small bow. He really liked the gasps of surprise from the surrounding people. He sauntered off towards the drink booth. He was already having a wonderful time, and the concert hadn’t even started yet.

Buffy’s eyes narrowed when a skinny, skanky, badly dressed Goth girl popped up out of the crowd to follow Spike. She growled in possessiveness. That little bitch had better not touch her vampire, or she’d go all Slayer like on the bimbo.

“The skanky slut doesn’t have a chance with him.” Dawn laid a hand on Buffy’s arm. “He’s so completely and totally into you. It’s absolutely sickening to watch,” she teased.

Buffy looked at her sister. After a few moments of contemplation, she grinned. “Yeah, that’s true. He’s mine.”

“Right on.” Dawn grabbed the program guide. She flipped it open to peruse the contents. “Spike’ll like the first group. They’re gonna do songs by the Sex Pistols.”

Buffy nodded absentmindedly as she watched Spike get their drinks. He moved so sexily and predator like that she regretted not being able to fight with him any more. She hoped that there was something out to fight later that night. If she couldn’t fight Spike, at least she could watch him.

“Oh, then the Ramones, followed by the Clash.” Dawn continued to speak. “He’s gonna so love this night.”

Buffy turned her attention back to what Dawn was talking about. She knew that Spike would shoot the skank down in a heartbeat. She didn’t have to watch him to make sure he did. She really enjoyed watching him though.

Spike stood in line. He remembered a time when he would have tore through the humans in his way like they were nothing. However, he knew that wasn’t his life now. Buffy’s influence made the monster want to be a man. Granted it took getting drinks a bit longer, but it was worth the delay.

“Hey there, handsome man. Why don’t you dump that blond bitch? I’m Tarantula, and I’m the best you’ll ever have.”

Spike turned to glance at the girl in line behind him. He gave her the once over, taking in her scrawny body type and unbathed appearance before he sneered, “Nobody gets to call m’girl a bitch but me. B’sides she’s an angel from heaven, and you have no chance of comin’ close to being better than her. I’m not interested.” He turned away.

“Whatever.” Tarantula shrugged in an uninterested manner. “All I care about is jumping your bones. I didn’t ask to set up house or anything with you.”

Spike growled deep in his chest, and his eyes flashed yellow at the woman’s tone of voice. He turned to snarl at the skanky Goth bitch. “You can’t handle a bloke like me.”

Tarantula’s eyes opened wide, and she backed away from the blond man. He was obviously not someone she wanted to mess with. She still had nightmares from five years before when gang members on PCP invaded the Bronze. The police had said it was just a little turf war between rival gangs, but Tarantula remembered the yellow eyes and fangs. “What the fuck are you!?”

“Your worst nightmare! Run away, little girl.” Spike let his fangs and facial bumps come slightly out.

Tarantula let out a scream, and she hurried away.

Spike shook his head in disappointment. Some humans were just too easy, and Angelus wondered why he had been so obsessed with Slayers? He turned back to the line unconcerned that several others were giving him a wide berth now. After all, he had a beautiful Mistress to keep happy.

“You were a very bad boy, Spiky,” Buffy cooed when the vampire sauntered up with the drinks in hand. “Flashing fang in front of all those people.”

“Stupid bint called you a bitch. She wouldn’t leave me alone.” Spike handed the girls their drinks before he settled himself on the blanket next to Buffy. “Besides I just told her nobody calls you that but me.”

Buffy patted Spike’s cheek. “What a sweet talker you are too. Out for a walk… bitch.” She touched the tips of several different fingers to mimic Spike’s actions when he said that to her.

Spike leaned back on his elbows, crossed his ankles, and grinned at the Slayer. “Had barely admitted my feelin’s for you to myself, pet. Certainly wasn’t gonna tell you about them.”

The conversation was interrupted by a man taking the stage and announcing the first band. After the music started, Dawn brought out the food. Buffy was glad to see it was better looking than she had anticipated. After they had eaten, and the remains had been put away, the Slayer leaned into Spike’s side. She closed her eyes to listen to the music. It wasn’t what she liked, but it wasn’t as bad as she had originally imagined. Soon, she felt Dawn’s head on her lap, and Buffy sat there petting her sister’s hair.

Spike was almost scared to move. Buffy was cuddled into his side, unafraid that anyone would see them. He almost wished a Scooby or two would stroll by, just so he could sneer at them. Well, maybe not Demon girl or Glinda, but Xander, Giles, and Willow were fair game in his opinion. Before Spike realized it, he was purring deep within his chest. He felt so warm and loved at that moment under the stars with his Slayer and his Nibblet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy slipped her arm through Spike’s as they strolled down the street. Dawn skipped on ahead with the blanket tucked under one arm.

“You know that wasn’t a bad concert. I could really get into the punk movement with a little work,” Dawn called back over her shoulder. “I can see why you took on Billy Idol’s look, Spike.”

“He stole if from me, I’ll have you know,” Spike spluttered. “Met the bloke at a Sex Pistols concert in ’75. If I had known he was gonna steal MY look, I would have eaten him instead of givin’ him a bit of a scare. Wanker kept staring at me. I thought he wanted my manly bits.”

“Oh, so if I write him a letter he’ll remember you?” Dawn asked. She let out a giggle. “I know what I’m doing tomorrow!”

Buffy rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics. It was good to see the teenager happy again. Buffy herself felt more like smiling now than since her return from the grave. She grinned up at her vampiric companion. “I bet you have lots of stories to tell. Even though the content was disgusting, you were quite poetic when you told me all about the Slayers you killed.”

“Buffy, what is going on?” Xander’s voice rang out.

Buffy looked behind her to see the Scoobies hurrying towards her. She didn’t like the looks on their faces at all. It appeared they might be trying to stage an intervention of some kind. Why do they have to try to ruin one of the few bits of happiness I’ve had in months. Buffy untucked her hand from Spike’s arm, but she put a firm grip on the leash that she still had in one hand. “Dawn and I went to the zoo for a concert.”

“We called your house!” Xander said. “Aren’t you going to patrol tonight? Why are you dressed like that?”

“I thought I just said I went to a concert at the zoo, Xander. Are you deaf?” Buffy twirled the end of the leash. “You know I am allowed to have a life outside of the Slaying.”

“You went with him?” Xander noticed the leash in Buffy’s hands. His eyes followed the strap of leather up to the silver studded collar around Spike’s neck. He and Anya had played enough bedroom games for him to realized what the leash was for. His jaw dropped when Buffy pulled Spike’s head down to whisper in his ear.

“Play along,” Buffy whispered. She grinned when Spike gave an answering nod. She turned back to the Scoobies, and she studied each one in turn. Tara and Anya both seemed the least perturbed by the leash. Heck, Anya looked like she wanted to ask some inappropriate question. Giles looked constipated, Buffy thought. Xander was stunned, but the Slayer could see the fury starting to flare up in his eyes. Willow didn’t look too happy with her either. “Of course I went with him. It was a punk rock concert. Who else would I go with?”

“I’m not sure this is appropriate behavior,” Giles commented. “You’re the Slayer. You need to take some responsibility for your life.” He thought that Buffy needed to grow up and become an adult. Giles had decided that if he stuck around Sunnydale much longer that Buffy would never take any responsibility.

“Hey, that’s not very nice, Giles,” Dawn spoke up. “Buffy went and got a job today. I think that’s pretty darned responsible. We even kept a look out for any demon activity at the concert.” So, that might have been stretching the truth a little bit, but Dawn knew that Buffy and Spike would have taken care of any trouble if there had been some.

“Thank you, Dawn.” Buffy nodded towards her sister.

“Your dating the undead again has something to do with the hell dimension you were in, doesn’t it?” Xander spluttered. “How do we even know you’re the real Buffy? The real Buffy would never give an evil bloodsucker like Spike a chance. And… and… and she’d never dress like that.” He pointed at the clothes Buffy was wearing.

Buffy snorted. “I mentioned it was a punk rock concert, right? I couldn’t go as a California valley girl now could I? Like, Oh my God, as if.”

“Like, the concert was so bitchin’ it was tubular. Like, Oh my God.” Dawn joined in on the valley girl speak. “Like, we should go home and veg before these dweebs and Joanie’s barf me out, totally.”

“Huh?” Xander let out an inelegant grunt. “What the hell did you just say?”

Spike let out a snort. “The Nibblet said ‘the gig was bangin’, and now we should head back to her gaff before you nobs and birds make her chuck’… tosser.”

Buffy let out a giggle. She knew Xander would have about as much clue over Spike’s statement than he had over her own or Dawn’s.

“Huh? What the hell did you say?” Xander looked at Giles for a translation. “Can’t they speak English?”

“That was English, you berk,” Giles grunted.

“Well, translate it for me then,” Xander demanded. He hated when Spike spoke in British slang.

“The concert was great, but Dawn wants to go home before we make her sick,” Tara said quietly. “Am I right?”

Spike gave the Wicca a slight nod. “Very good, Glinda. You’re a right smart gal.”

Xander turned to point at Willow. “You need to fix this! Are you sure that this is Buffy? Maybe she got turned into a demon while in hell.”

Buffy’s face turned stony. “What makes you think I was in Hell, Xander?” She was really starting to get irked by the fact that they all assumed the worst. “Did I ever say that’s where I was?”

Dawn let out a sharp gasp. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” She stared at Buffy in horror. If her sister wasn’t in Hell that could only mean Buffy was in Heaven.