Love Brings You, Chapter 7/14

Title: Love Brings You
Author: maryperk73703
Season: 5
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Buffy’s talk with Glory’s dying monk has surprising revelations.

Chapter 7

“That’s what I thought,” Buffy said with a sigh. “Why exactly did you come here to help? As long as I keep the Key safe, everything will be okay.”

“Except it wasn’t.” Dawn shook her head. “Daddy bled and opened a portal to all the dimensions. He always says that it’s all about the blood. Well, you covered yourself in his blood and jumped to close the portal. You died.”

“Somehow I’m sensing more to the story.”

“Yeah, Aunt Willow brought you back. She pulled you from heaven. Really bad things happened after that. Really, really bad.” Dawn crossed her arms. “It’s been cool meeting Tara and Anya. They died before I was born. And seeing Sunnydale. I’ve really enjoyed that. You and Daddy collapsed the Hellmouth trying to get rid of the First.”

Buffy stared at the young girl. She wanted to deny everything that Dawn was saying as a lie, but her heart just wouldn’t let her. She was going to someday have children with Spike.

The same Spike that had come to Sunnydale to kill her.

The same Spike that had made a truce with her to get rid of Angelus.

The same Spike that she’d spent a few glorious hours being engaged to be married to.

The same Spike that had at first worked with Adam against her until he didn’t.

Yeah, that was the same Spike.

“However, we have a more pressing problem,” Dawn continued. “There’s a demon here to get rid of all the mind-sucked people that Glory made.”

“Glory?” Buffy latched onto a name she didn’t recognize.

“The Hell-God here for the Key. We got the whole story before I did this spell.” Dawn plopped down on one of the benches offered by the downtown business owners. “I talked to Aunt Willow and you. William talked to Daddy and Uncle Xander while Tasha talked to Grandpa Rupes.”

“How is all this possible? Are you really all that magical?” Buffy sat down beside Dawn. She put the machete down on the ground.

“Yeah, I’ve been going every summer since I was eight to Grandma Serina’s coven. I’ll tell you a secret. Grandpa Rupes finally gets a girlfriend.” Dawn let out a breath. “Okay. You see, I get my power from the Key. William gets his power from you and my sisters get theirs from Daddy’s vampire magic.”

“He’s not really a vampire. The monk told me that.”

Dawn shook her head. “True, but the magic isn’t going to leave him. Think of him more like a male Slayer.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, but like I said there’s a demon after the crazies in Sunnydale. It’s after Grandma though because of the tumor.” Dawn got to her feet. “We can protect her at home.”

“How can I be sure about all this?” Buffy said in a disbelieving voice.

Dawn looked around before she leaned over to whisper something in Buffy’s ear.

Buffy reared back with a laugh. “Okay. I believe you.” She grabbed her machete. “Let’s go get mom.”

As the two girls walked down the sidewalk in the direction of the hospital, Buffy asked, “So, what made you decide to be my sister?”

Dawn shrugged. “You told William that the monks considered the idea before putting the Key in Daddy. It wasn’t all that hard to do. Besides, I register as the Key more than he does. Glory will never suspect him because he comes across as a vampire.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being bait.” Buffy glared at Dawn for a moment.

“Well, we could really confuse the whole rigmarole and make some inanimate object to register as the Key.” Dawn laughed. “Get some kind of amulet from Grandpa Rupes and magic it up.”

“You know, he’s gonna have a cow the first time he hears you call him that.”

Dawn laughed louder and longer this time. “Yeah, I know. There’s a picture of it. Well, someday there will be.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Dawn sat in her bedroom, her ears attuned to every noise in the house. In her own bedroom, Joyce was in bed.

“No, don’t to that,” Joyce babbled. “Stop. Stop staring. I don’t like that. I have to rest now. I don’t like how you’re looking at me.”

Dawn rose to her feet. She stepped towards the door to Joyce’s bedroom.

“It’s on me. Help me. It’s a bug,” Joyce screamed.

Dawn stepped into Joyce’s bedroom, and she closed the door behind her. There was a demon vomiting clear goo onto Joyce’s face. Dawn looked around, but the only thing she could see was a hat rack.

“Guess we’ll do this my way.” Dawn raised one hand towards the demon, and her eyes glowed green. She recited an incantation that caused the demon to fly across the room. Dawn hurried over to Joyce who was now wiping the goop off her face.

The demon scurried across the floor, and it jumped onto the bed by Joyce’s feet. Then, it leapt at Dawn, but she was able to deflect it with her magic. The creature flew out into the hallway.

Dawn ran to the bedroom door leading to the hall. “Buffy, it’s here.” Then, she slammed the door shut. She barricaded all three of them with her magic.

Downstairs, Buffy stood in the kitchen with her machete. She stood still while she listened to the house. A door opened behind her, and she whirled around swinging the machete. It was Spike, coming out of the basement.

“Oh my God, I almost whacked you.”

“Yeah. Listen, did you hear a noise?” Spike tilted his head while he listened to something.

“There’s a demon in the house.”

“Well, yeah.” Spike pointed at himself. He realized he was holding pictures of Buffy in the other hand. He shoved them into a duster pocket.

“Not you, silly.” Buffy noticed the pictures, but she had other things to worry about. “A different demon. One that wants to kill my mom.”

Spike narrowed his eyes, but before he could say anything the Queller demon dropped from the ceiling onto his back. The two supernatural creatures crashed to the floor. The damned thing was heavier than it looked. Spike couldn’t get any traction on the slippery kitchen linoleum. He flailed around like a drowning fish.

Buffy tried to get a clear shot at the demon on Spike’s back, but before she could get it with her machete, Spike kicked it out of her hands. It clattered across the room out of easy reach. Without a weapon, Buffy’s only choice was to use her own body.

Buffy and the Queller rolled into the dining room, hitting the dining table chairs as they rolled around. It was hard to get a good grip with the goo that oozed out of the creature’s mouth.

Spike rolled towards the machete. Once he had it in hand, he rotated to his feet. “Buffy! Catch.”

Buffy rolled the demon around till it was underneath her. She held a hand out to catch the machete that Spike threw her way. With a powerful thrust of her weapon, she impaled the demon. It let out a screech and wiggled around for a few seconds before its movements stopped.

Spike went to Buffy’s side to help her up. “You sure know how to have a nice time, Slayer.”

“Glad you enjoyed it.” Buffy looked up at the ceiling. “I need to go see how my mom and Dawn are.” She hurried off towards the stairs.

Spike looked down at the mess on the floor. “Yeah, a real nice time.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

The next day after Joyce’s surgery was a success, Dawn and Buffy returned to Revello Drive. Dawn was upstairs doing eighth grade math. Something that she complained long and hard about, while Buffy was in the kitchen scrounging up something for the two girls to eat.

There was a knock on the front door.

“You just keep doing that math homework,” Buffy called out up the stairs.

“But it’s too easy,” Dawn yelled back.

“Then, you should have it done in no time.” Buffy opened the door to find Riley on the other side. “Oh, hey Riley.”

“Hi, Buffy.” Riley smiled at Buffy while he thrust flowers at her. “I need to talk to you.”

Buffy awkwardly held the flowers. “Um, okay.” She stepped back to let Riley into the house. She closed the door, and then followed him into the living room.

Before Buffy could offer Riley a seat, he was down on one knee in front of her, holding onto a small black box.

“Buffy Anne Summers, will you marry me?” Riley asked. “Let me take you away from this town. Let me give you a normal life away from all the strangeness of Sunnydale. We can move to Iowa, and you don’t have to be the Slayer anymore.”

“Oh Riley, you just don’t get it,” Buffy whispered. “I’ll always be the Slayer. I can’t move away from my mom. She just had brain surgery. All my friends are here.”

“We don’t have to get married right away. They’ll have time to get used to you being gone.”

Buffy shook her head. “No, Riley. I’m not going to marry you. I can’t abandon my responsibilities like that. In fact, I think I’m breaking up with you.”

“God, you’re such a bitch.” Riley tore the flowers out of Buffy’s hand, and he tossed them aside. “You should be happy a normal guy like me wanted to marry you.” He leapt to his feet. “Whatever. I’m going home to Iowa.”

Riley stomped out of the living room, and after a few seconds, Buffy heard the front door slam. The whole house shuddered with the force of Riley’s final departure.

Buffy stood there for a few moments while she gathered her thoughts.

“Was that Riley?” Dawn asked. “Why was he so mad?”

“I broke up with him. I told him I couldn’t marry him and I broke up with him.” Buffy walked over to pick up the flowers. “Well, I guess you knew that.”

 

Originally posted at http://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/538654.html