This story takes place shortly after the season finale of season 5, after the Glory storyline. It is the seventh in the "Spike & Cerberus" series...

Spike was starting to agree with the little red crab in that mermaid movie. “Teenagers… Give dem an inch, dey swim all ova you.” Not that he would ever admit to having seen it if anyone had asked. But it was because the crab was right that he had seen it in the first place.

Dawn had wanted to see it. Ok, whatever, so they rented it. When they got home, he was informed that she expected HIM to watch it with her. It had taken very little begging on her part, he was sad to admit; all it took was a solemn vow on her part not to tell the Scoobies. A solemn vow she promptly broke. But he didn’t get mad. Whatever Dawn wanted, she got.

Well, what could you do when her sister was dead because of you?

So now he was in a bit of a conundrum.

Giles had business to attend to back in England, and had left Spike in charge of Dawn—mostly because he was the only one who didn’t have a life to worry about. And Giles had been against the idea at first, after the little drug trip Spike had been on that had nullified the effects of his chip temporarily. But Willow, Tara, and Anya had talked the ex-Watcher into it. Knowing the Scoobies still didn’t like or trust him entirely, he was determined to prove himself worthy of the task and the bit of faith they HAD put in him. It fit right in with his vow to protect Dawn anyway.

Hence the problem.

What could you do when you couldn’t deny the girl anything she wanted out of a sense of obligation, when her request potentially was at odds with that very obligation?

**It’s only a date. What harm ever came from a mating?**

“You watch you’re mouth! Don’t go given’ ‘er any ideas, there, mate!” Honestly, since the dog had learned to speak to him he was hearing more and more that made him wish he DIDN’T know what Cerberus was thinking!

**She can’t hear me!** Oh yeah. **And you’re avoiding the issue. Just what exactly is the big danger in her going out with this Kevin fellow? He smelled pleasant enough…**

“Oh, that’s what they like you to think! Bloody predators, teenage boys are! I ought to know, I used to be one!”

Cerberus smiled a doggy grin. **Oh yeah, William the Bloody Lady-killer. Have you forgotten I can read your thoughts? William the Bloody Looser Who Couldn’t Get Date ‘Till After He Was Dead--**

Spike was about ready to give the dog a good kick in the nose when Dawn came in the room.

“What are you doing?”

“Iiiiii….. waaasssss jussst… teaching Cerberus my scent! In case he needed to track me.”

Dawn crossed her arms and scowled. “Don’t lie to me! You were going to kick him! Kick a DOG, Spike. TELL me you haven’t gotten THAT pathetic.”

“HE was saying nasty things abou’ me—hey, waitaminute. What d’you mean, ‘THAT pathetic’?”

Dawn slipped into her condescending teenager tone, the one reserved for equals or lessers. “Please. In the entire time I’ve known you, I can hardly remember a time that you actually scared me. ‘Big Bad’ my ass… Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date waiting for me.”

When exactly had he lost control of this situation? Scared, she wanted, huh. He’d give her scared.

Vampire speed could be a handy thing at times. Before she had even fully turned around, he was blocking the doorway, game face on. “I seem to recall telling you that you weren’t going ANYwhere tonight. First of all, you were grounded for not doing your chores. And secondly, you’re not going off to who knows where with some boy none of us knows. You bring him over for dinner, let us meet him, and THEN we’ll talk about you going out with him! Unless you want me as a chaperone…”

She threw up her hands, exasperated. His being vamped out had considerably less effect when everyone knew you couldn’t really hurt them. “Why the hell not? You follow me around like puppy dog as it is!” Cerberus bristled at that one, but she didn’t notice. “I’m guessing that’s what you’d do ANYway! And as for dinner?” She took on an extra chipper tone. “’Hi, Kevin, welcome to my home. Have a seat next to the vampire, while the two lesbian witches pass you the salt without even touching it and an ex-demon serves up supper!’” With a disgusted look, she turned and moved to go out the other door.

“Dawn, don’t you walk away from me, not after saying that, you ungrateful git!”

She didn’t look at him as she waved a hand goodbye.

He didn’t remember even picking up the bowl. Had never even seen the thing until it lay in shards on the floor, having left a dent in the wall by the door as a reminder of it’s once solid existence.

Dawn stared at him with those wide, doe eyes of hers. His eyes were just as wide as he stared at what he’d done. He could have hit her! Why hadn’t the chip kicked in? Was it because he hadn’t aimed it at her? It could have hurt her anyway!

He didn’t realise until that moment how he had relied on it to keep Dawn safe from himself. Neither, apparently, had she.

He let her go with no argument when she ran out of the room. The further from him, the better. He had promised Buffy he would protect her, but how could he if the greatest danger she faced was from himself?

As he picked up the pieces, he didn’t even once consider the fact that the chip might no longer be working, much less what that might mean for him. Instead he spent the time laboring to clean up his mess under the weight of a massive guilt trip.

He hadn’t noticed the door close, but Cerberus had. **Do you think we should follow her?**

“No, let ‘er be. Getting’ in ‘er face now is only gonna make things worse.”

**But I thought you didn’t want her going out!**

He shrugged. “I don’t.” Then he realised what Cerberus was telling him. “OH, BLOODY HELL!!!!”

Dawn was late. Kevin had been on a few dates before, so he wasn’t worried. He had thought the idea of the girl always being late was just a cliché, but experience had taught him that there was always a bit of truth to old wives tales. Besides, she’d even said she might be a bit late.

She also had said she might not make it at all. He prayed that wasn’t the case…

And why had she insisted on meeting in a graveyard, of all places?

He wasn’t there.

No matter. This was only the first place Dru had looked for her wayward boy. The next stop was the Slayer’s house. The thought made Dru both ill and excited at the same time.

It sickened her that the man who had loved her so much once could love their mortal enemy just as strongly. Dru had torn Spike’s altar to Buffy to pieces, pretending it was the Slayer herself that was being desecrated. Such a yummy thought. It actually made the idea of killing the slayer so much more gratifying, having it be a personal vendetta, unlike the other slayers that Spike had killed just for fun. And there was the added bonus of having an excuse to punish Spike as well, for his naughtiness… Yes, he would like that.

She thought of the things he’d done to her the last time she’d seen him. She remembered every detail, frozen in her deranged mind like a beautiful, sparkly ice sculpture. She would poke him with a tazer and tie him up and… kill the slayer while he watched. He would remember what fun they’d always had together. His ridiculous obsession with the girl would finally end. Then Dru would torture him— why waste him being tied up?

She clapped happily as she thought of the dream she’d had again, the one that had prompted her return to Sunnydale. She and Spike dancing as the sun rose, yet not getting all crispy. The grave of the slayer was their dance floor, and it was raining frogs. Such a delicious dream. She liked frog’s legs.

“Sorry I’m late!”

Kevin swept Dawn up in a tight hug, swinging her around. HE gave her a light kiss when he set her down, then gestured to their surroundings. “Why did you want to meet HERE?” He managed to keep the sense of unease he had out of his voice.

Dawn smiled wickedly. “Because this is the last place in the world ANYone would bother us…”

Spike slammed his fist in frustration against the tree he hid behind. Bloody stupid Nibblet! Meeting the boy at Spike’s own crypt??? Did she really think no vamps came into that part of the graveyard anymore, just because it was Spike’s territory?

She was going to hate him for it, but there was only one thing to do. Grab her arm and drag her kicking and screaming back to the house, where he would proceed to tie her up and keep her that way until Giles got home. Except that someone might stop him if she was kicking and screaming down the street. And he doubted the boy would put up with that. Hmmm. He thought about it for a moment.

Cerberus decided it was best he not say anything.

Dawn pushed open the door to the crypt.

She promptly walked right into Dru.

The crazy vampress stared at the young girl for a moment. Her voice, when she spoke, was a mix of irritation, wariness, and curiousity. “Why do I see two worlds when I look at you? In one, I see you, and know you. In the other, you aren’t there at all. I can see right through you, but you aren’t a ghost…” Dru shuddered, a look of anguish coming over her. “What are you doin’ to my ‘ead?” Her eyes narrowed. “You’re the Slayer’s sister!” She smiled, and it sent a wave of fear crashing through the teens. “You can be my bait!”

She stopped smiling when the dog bit her. She kicked out in reflex, sending the mutt crashing into the wall. The dog sank to the floor and dtayed there, unmoving. Dawn rushed to the Dog’s side.

Dru was about to attack the girl next, but a pair of hands grabbed her, and she found herself immobile. Normally she liked it when Spike held her this way, but now she growled in frustration.

“Dru. What are you doing back here, luv? It’s over—WE’RE over.”

“Oh, no, Spike! It’s never over! I had a dream. We danced on the slayer’s grave, you and I! You were meant to kill her, not love her!” She motioned with her head to dawn. “THAT one has you confused. She confused me, too.”

“I DID kill the Slayer, luv.”

Dru squealed like an excited child. Then she quickly frowned. “You were supposed to wait for me, Spike. I wanted to watch!”

“It’s not somethin’ I’m proud of.”

It was strange. Not so very long ago he would have given anything to be holding Dru. Yet all he could think about now was how much he missed Buffy, how much he wished he could be holding HER at that moment. Dru, who had been the light of his life, who still loved him, it seemed, was a stranger to him now. He was a stranger to himself. So now it seemed he had lost TWO loves. How he wanted to weep!

Dru pulled her arms free while he was distracted. She grabbed his face in her hands and forced him to look at her. “Look in my eyes, Spike! See who you were in them, and remember! Come back to me! Come ba-“ She stopped, and looked deep into his own eyes. Her eyes widened in horror. “You didn’t kill the Slayer! You lied!”

So she didn’t believe the Slayer was dead, did she? He grabbed her arm and dragged her outside. He pulled her, scratching and biting, over to Buffy’s grave, and threw her down in front of the tombstone. “SEE? SHE’S DEAD! I killed her! ME! WILLIAM THE BLOODY! Her blood is on MY hands as surely as if I’d thrown her off the bloody tower MYSELF!”

Dru looked up at him, her face twisted in rage and disgust. “YOU didn’t kill her! Stop taking credit for what you didn’t do, William!” Yes, Spike definitely needed to be punished. She leapt at him, screeching.

Spike fended off her assault, but only half-heartedly. Soon his face was a mess of scratches. Then she had him pinned to the ground. She grabbed a nearby stick and made to plunge it into his heart.

The sunrise stopped her. At least, that’s what she thought the bright light was at first. When she looked, she saw the light was coming from the girl. She stared, mesmerized. Until a flying frog hit her in the eyes.

Dawn looked at her hands in disgust. She had thought she had picked up a rock—it wasn’t until the little beast was flying towards its mark that she realised what it had really been. Ewwwwwww…

Spike shoved Dru off him and stood. He pulled a stake from his coat. He looked at it, and at his former love. He knew he SHOULD stake her for Dawn’s sake. But he just couldn’t do it. What the hell was wrong with him?

Dru stood, eyeing the stake as she spoke. “I understand my dream now. It wasn’t what I thought at all. I thought Buffy being dead would bring my Spike back to me. But he’s been dead a long time now. She killed him very long ago.” She looked into Spike’s eyes. “I don’t know ‘o you are. There is nothing for me here, now. Let me go.”

Spike said nothing for long moments, stake poised to strike if she tried anything. Then he slowly let it drop, nodding. “Go then. Don’t come back.”

She dropped her eyes and nodded sadly, She walked away without another word. Her walk stiff and numb like a victim walking away from a wreck. The wreck her unlife had become.

Spike might not love her as he once did, but he still felt a pang of sorrow and sympathy.

Kevin cleared his throat. Spike saw then that the boy was holding a still unconscious Cerberus in his arms. Spike suddenly realised that he liked this boy. So long as he was still standing a few feet apart from Dawn.

“Kevin, my boy, I think it’s time you met the family.”

When they got back to the Summers house, Spike immediately called the remaining Scoobies. They rushed over, armed with pizza.

They thought at first that they might be able to pull the wool over Kevin’s eyes about the whole scenario. At the very least he believed that the Buffybot was the real Buffy. But enough people had seen Buffy fighting evil monsters, enough students remembered the whole fiasco at the old Sunnydale High (including Kevin’s older brother), that holding a dead dog that later got up and walked around was enough to convince Kevin that everything he’d heard was true. To Dawn’s relief, he found the whole thing exciting. That only worried the other Scoobies, though, who were afraid the boy thought of the whole deal as a big video-game. Such thinking could get him into serious trouble.

So after much debate in the kitchen, it was decided that Willow and Tara would tweak the boy’s memory a bit (with his permission, of course, although some might argue that Xander strong-armed him into it). All he would remember was Spike, “Buffy’s boyfriend”, having a spat with an old lover in the graveyard, and later having dinner with Dawn’s friends. And he would conveniently forget carrying a dead dog back to the house.

And Dawn would get to see Kevin again. After she was no longer grounded.