Fix You by Enigmaticblue

Summary: Desperate times call for desperate measures where the First is involved. In order to prevent the end of the world, Buffy asks Willow to do a spell that's supposed to fix everything, and Spike goes along for the ride.

Chapter 41: Through a Glass Darkly

Spike pursued the Slayer with single minded focus, not wanting to let her face her opponent alone. He leapt the garbage can the vampire had shoved behind him in his haste to get away, and was by her side an instant later.

Buffy gave him a quick, grateful look, and their feet pounded the ground in unison. They were as one, as in tune with each other as two people could be, and when Buffy surged ahead, Spike expected it.

She executed a flying kick into the vampire’s back, sending him sprawling. He rolled over, scrambling to his feet. “Going so soon?” Buffy asked. “We hadn’t even gotten to know each other yet.”

“You want to die that badly, Slayer?” he growled.

Buffy snorted. “You wish.” She drove her fist into his stomach, doubling him over. Spike took the opportunity to plunge the stake into his back. “That was too easy.”

“If we’re done with patrol, we could head home,” he suggested.

She shrugged. “I guess.”

“Worried about your mum?”

“Yeah.”

He caught her hand in his, feeling his ring on her finger. It was a mark of how far they’d come that she would even admit her concern to him. “How’s the Bit doin’ with it all?”

Buffy nodded. “I don’t think Dawn understands how serious this is, but that’s probably a good thing. I don’t want her to worry more than she has to.”

“Do you know when the test results are comin’?”

“The doctor said it could be up to three days,” she replied, sighing. “I hate waiting. I just want to know that everything is going to be alright.”

Spike was silent. Tara had come to him to confess what she’d seen in the scrying bowl, wanting to know if he thought she should tell Buffy. He’d said that he would do it when the time was right, and now seemed like the time. “Tara talked to me earlier today.”

“About what?”

“Saw your mum in the gallery the other day with a baby in her arms. One of her regulars brought her daughter in.”

He waited for the news to sink in and knew that Buffy understood the significance when her grip on his hand tightened. “Then we don’t know that she’s going to make it.”

“We didn’t know before,” Spike said gently. She remained silent, and he added, “Tara and Mairead both looked again, tryin’ to find some answers for you.”

“And?”

“Nothin’ conclusive,” he admitted. “Said they saw her in the backyard in a pretty dress, an’ then at Christmas, but they didn’t know when it was.”

Buffy frowned. “She was in our backyard in a dress?”

“Yeah? Why?” He looked sharply at her. “Does that ring a bell?”

She shook her head. “No, that’s just it. It’s something new.”

Spike wasn’t sure what to say—whether to caution her against getting her hopes up, or to encourage her with the idea—but he was interrupted by the sound of a scuffle. He met her eyes, and Buffy shrugged. “One more for the road?”

“Guess so,” he said.

A big vampire was shoving a young man up against a chain link fence, bending his head to drink. This time, Spike was the one to sprint ahead, wishing he had the Gem with him as he pulled the other vampire away.

The big vamp gave a shout of anger and tried to backhand him, but Spike ducked the blow, coming up underneath his swinging arms to get in a shot to the groin. The vampire let out a squeal of pain, and Buffy yanked him backwards by the collar.

“You know, Spike, I’m getting a little tired of these interruptions.”

“You an’ me both, luv,” he said. “What do you think we should do about it?”

Buffy plunged her stake into the vampire’s back as he began to struggle. “Take care of them as quickly as possible,” she said. “Because I have class tomorrow.”

“Hey!” They both turned quickly, trying to pinpoint the source, since the intended victim had immediately bolted. “Are you two looking for the rave?” A security guard was standing there, flashlight in hand. Spike assumed that he hadn’t seen the vampire dust, because he didn’t appear concerned.

“The rave?” Spike had no idea what he was talking about.

Buffy elbowed him in the ribs. “Yeah! The rave. I heard it was here.”

The security guard shook his head. “No, I chased a bunch of kids off the other night. You know, if it was up to me, I wouldn’t care, but management has rules.”

“Oh, yeah,” Buffy replied, waving her hand as though it wasn’t a big deal. “We were just talking about heading home anyway, weren’t we, honey?”

“Yeah,” Spike agreed, bemused. “It’s getting late.”

As they turned to go, the guard called out after them, “Oh, you dropped your ball!”

Spike immediately recognized the item that he was holding out. “Thanks,” Buffy said mechanically, taking it from him.

“Crazy kids,” the man said with good humor. “Never know what you’ll find around here.”

Buffy glanced over her shoulder as they walked away. “Glory’s going to brain suck that man if we don’t stop it.”

“How are we gonna stop it?” Spike asked softly. “We could warn him, but you know how much good that’s goin’ to do.”

“I know.” She stared down at the glowing sphere. “I was really hoping that we wouldn’t have to do this again, Spike.”

“I know.” And Spike knew that there might not be a lot of options for avoiding the problem.

~~~~~

Dawn was certain that there was something going on that no one wanted her to know about. The witches had come over to their house and put up protection spells. Even though they said it was because Buffy was the Slayer, and they were worried about demons and vampires, she didn’t buy it.

Willow, Tara and Mairead had been back in Sunnydale for months, and they were just now getting around to it. It didn’t make any sense, not unless there was something serious going on. The only thing that Dawn could think of was her mom being sick, and while that was bad, it didn’t have anything to do with magic.

Buffy had been really clear about that.

Spike’s voice called up the stairs, “Dinner’s on the table, Bit.”

That was the only good thing about Joyce not feeling great; Spike was at their house a lot, and Buffy didn’t even seem to care.

“What’s for dinner?” she asked, coming down the stairs. “Please tell me that Buffy didn’t cook.”

“Your mum talked me through the recipe,” Spike replied.

“Excuse me?” Giles asked from the kitchen. “She talked you through it?”

Spike smirked. “Fine. She talked us through it.”

Dawn didn’t know how to feel about Giles being there for dinner. Now that she knew he was her mom’s boyfriend, things were weird. She still didn’t think he liked her very much.

“Did you wash your hands?” Joyce asked, sitting down in the chair Giles pulled out for her.

Dawn shook her head, then went into the kitchen to wash up. Buffy was there, drying her own hands on a towel. “Buffy?” she whispered.

“What?” her sister whispered back.

“Is it weird for you, too? Giles and Mom, I mean.”

“Yeah, it’s a little strange.” Buffy’s expression was wistful. “But a good strange.”

Dawn wanted to tell her that was only because Giles was her Watcher, and therefore kind of like her father. She felt like the odd person out.

Buffy brushed her hand over Dawn’s hair. “Give it time, Dawnie. It’ll get less weird.”

“I guess.” She hesitated. “Is something going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“Willow and the others were here to put a protection spell on the house,” Dawn pointed out. “I thought something must be going on.”

Buffy hesitated. “We can talk about it later, okay?”

She wasn’t sure whether to believe Buffy or not; her sister seemed to protect her by keeping her in the dark. “Really?”

“Really.” Buffy managed a smile. “Come on. Dinner’s going to get cold.”

Dawn couldn’t help but wonder why Buffy sounded so sad when she said that.

~~~~~

This was the part Giles found difficult. Being a Watcher was what he’d trained for, and although he’d had relationships in the past, being the boyfriend of a woman with children required something different from him. Knowing that Dawn was actually a mystical Key whose blood had the power to open the doors between dimensions didn’t make it any easier.

Still, being with Joyce meant making an effort with Dawn, which meant exercising social muscles Giles wasn’t sure he had. How did one interact with a fourteen-year-old who wasn’t one’s Slayer?

“You’re leaving?” Dawn asked, her voice rising an octave.

Giles felt Joyce take his hand, and he squeezed tightly, knowing how hard this was for her. “Not for long,” Joyce promised. “I want to get a second opinion, though, and there’s a doctor who’s very good at this sort of thing.”

“This sort of thing” was, of course, doing brain surgery, and while he knew it was necessary, the very idea scared the hell out of him. Giles kept thinking of Jenny, and what had happened the last time, according to Spike and Buffy. It would have been easier not to fall in love, but it was too late for that.

“What about me?” Dawn asked, with the single-minded egocentrism that only a teenager could display.

“Spike and I are going to be staying here,” Buffy assured her. “It’s only for a few days, and we’ll go with Mom when they do the surgery.”

Dawn’s shoulders hunched miserably. “But what if something happens?”

There was a long silence, and Giles began to see how much trouble Buffy’s knowledge of the future could bring her in this situation. Dawn didn’t know about the fact that they’d come back to the past, probably because the monks hadn’t known. They had merely inserted Dawn into the situation as it appeared to be.

Giles didn’t know when Buffy was going to tell her little sister what was going on, but he knew she planned on doing so before she found out for herself. At this moment, however, it became even harder to know how to respond.

Everyone in the room—except for Dawn—knew what was likely to happen, unless something went differently. Perhaps a second opinion and a different surgeon would be enough, perhaps not. It was impossible to say for sure.

“If something happens to me, you’ll be taken care of, Dawn,” Joyce said gently. “But that’s why I’m going to see a different doctor. I don’t want anything bad to happen to me.” She looked at Giles and Spike. “Maybe you two could give us a few minutes alone?”

Spike rose from his perch on the arm of Buffy’s chair. “Sure, Joyce. I put a couple of beers in the pantry, Rupert.”

“Very good.” Giles followed him outside to the back porch. “I didn’t realize that Joyce and Buffy were going to tell Dawn tonight.”

Spike was quiet. “With Glory comin’ around, we can’t risk Dawn goin’ off on her own, or takin’ other chances. It’s just not safe.”

“Do you think she’ll take the warning seriously?” Giles asked dubiously.

Spike raised his bottle, taking a deep draught. “No, I don’t,” he said bluntly. “It’s worth a shot, though, an’ we remember what happened last time when the Bit was left to find out on her own. It wasn’t pretty.”

Giles was sure that it hadn’t been, and he couldn’t fault either of them for telling Dawn the truth now. Still, he selfishly wished that he didn’t have to be present for the fireworks that were sure to follow.

~~~~~

Buffy wasn’t sure about this. She’d known for a while that they would have to tell Dawn the truth before she went searching for it herself. Actually doing it, however, was something else altogether.

“What’s going on?” Dawn demanded. “Is somebody dying?”

“No one is going to die,” Joyce promised. “But there are things you should know.”

“Like what?”

“You know how you keep asking me why I’ve been acting weird?” Buffy asked. When Dawn nodded, she said, “It’s because I’m not the same. I came back in time to fix something that went wrong.”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “Please. Like I’m going to believe that.”

“It’s true.” Joyce’s voice was firm. “Your sister and Spike both came back from the future.”

The girl’s eyes grew wide. “Do you know what’s going to happen to Mom, Buffy?”

“No, I don’t,” Buffy said as gently as she could. “There’s no guarantee that anything will happen.”

“But you know what happened,” Dawn said. “If you really are from the future.”

“Dawnie—”

“I want to know,” she insisted.

Buffy looked to her mom for help. She did not want to tell Dawn that their mother died in the future she knew. “I’m going to do everything I can to get better, Dawn,” Joyce said quietly. “What you need to know is that you’re special.” Buffy had to admit that it was an effective subject change.

Dawn frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You’re the Key,” Buffy said.

Her sister stared at her as though she’d gone crazy. “The key to what?”

“It’s an energy nexus that can open the doors between dimensions,” Buffy explained. “The Key was in danger from a Hellgod named Glory, so the monks, who guarded the Key, decided to do something to protect it. Glory was planning to use it to destroy the world.”

Dawn’s expression grew fearful. “What did they do?”

“They made you, Dawnie,” Buffy said gently. “And they sent you to us.”

She rose from the couch. “No. You’re lying. I’m not some weird energy thing; I’m real.”

“Of course you’re real, sweetie,” Joyce replied. “But you’re very special.”

“No!” Dawn whirled to run from the room. “You’re lying!”

Spike was suddenly in the doorway, blocking her exit. “It’s gonna be okay, Nibblet.”

“You knew?” Dawn asked. “How long have you known?”

“I came back with your sister, Bit,” Spike said gently. “I’ve known since the beginning.”

Buffy remembered that Spike had been with Dawn the first time she’d found out. Of course, Dawn had cut her arm open last time to see if she bled; it would be nice to prevent her from doing something like that again.

“You didn’t tell me?” Dawn demanded.

He smiled gently. “You just got here, pet. It hasn’t been that long.”

Dawn shook her head, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. “You’re all crazy. You’re lying. You have to be.”

“I wish we were, Dawnie, but we’re not,” Buffy said. “We’ve been waiting for you, though. I wanted you to be here. I want you as my sister. It’s not blood between us, it’s choice, and that’s stronger.”

Joyce wrapped her arms around her youngest daughter as Buffy watched. She knew that this was the better way for Dawn to find out, but it still hurt to watch her sister cry. Not for the first time, she hated the monks who had done this, who had complicated everything without regard for the damage they would cause.

The monks hadn’t been concerned about what their little trick would do to the girl they’d created; Buffy suspected that they wouldn’t have cared, even if they had known. They had a so-called larger purpose, whereas Buffy had a singular goal, just as she had before.

To protect her sister; that was all that mattered.

~~~~~

Mairead looked up when she saw the young man enter the shop. He looked familiar somehow, although she wasn’t sure where she might have seen him before. Anya smiled at him from her new position behind the counter. “May I help you?”

“Are all these magic books?” the young man asked.

Anya raised her eyebrows. “They are. Not all of them are for sale, however. Was there something specific that you were looking for?”

“No, just looking.”

Mairead didn’t like the looks of him. There was something in his face, in his eyes, that spoke of arrogance, and a touch of cruelty. He struck her as a bully, and she generally trusted her instincts. When Tara walked through the door a moment later, shock registering on her face before it was replaced by grim determination, Mairead knew her instincts were right on the mark. “Donny.” There was no hint of a stutter, and she was proud of her girlfriend’s self-control.

“Hey, Tara.” He swaggered a bit as he approached her. “It’s good to see you.”

Tara simply raised an eyebrow. “I wish I could say the same.”

Donny took a step back, as though she’d struck him. “Is that any way to talk to your brother?”

“If you’d treated me like a sister, I might apologize,” Tara responded. She walked across the shop, brushing past Donny as though he wasn’t worth her time. “Hi, sweetie.”

Mairead knew the kiss was intended to make a point, and to make it very clear, but she didn’t mind. In fact, it was rather nice to have a girlfriend who would be so open with her family about where she stood. Her first hadn’t been. “It’s good to see you, too.”

“Sorry,” Tara whispered against her lips. “I needed—”

“Don’t worry about it.” Mairead pulled her closer for another kiss, this one even deeper than the first.

“Tara!”

The voice was sharp with surprise—and disapproval, if Mairead didn’t miss her guess. Tara took her time turning. “Hi, Dad.” This time, there was a slight tremor in her voice, but she held her head high, her shoulders back.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

She smiled. “I’m kissing my girlfriend. Dad, this is Mairead.”

“Anya, what’s—” Giles came out from the back room, frowning when he saw the two men standing there. “Is there some problem?”

“No problem, Mr. Giles,” Tara said firmly. “My dad and my brother were just getting ready to leave.”

Her father frowned, his expression forbidding. “We came all this way to see you. I want to have dinner with you tonight.”

Mairead could see Tara waver, and she grabbed her hand, giving it an encouraging squeeze. She didn’t know if her girlfriend wanted to have dinner with her family or not, but she wanted Tara to do what made her happy.

“You didn’t come here because you wanted to see me,” Tara replied. “You came because you’d like me to believe that I’m turning into a demon in a few days.”

Her father was clearly taken aback by her forthright statement and her open reference to what had probably been a family secret. No wonder that he’d wanted to keep it a secret, because speaking it aloud exposed it for the foolishness that it was.

A girl about Tara’s age walked through the front door of the shop, stopping when she saw the scene in front of her. “Tara.”

“Cousin Beth.” Tara’s voice was even again. “It’s good to see you.”

Beth looked uncomfortable, as though sensing the tension. Mairead had a feeling that all the women of the family were very good at reading moods; Tara certainly was.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?” Spike came sauntering into the shop from the backroom, and Mairead remembered the trap door leading to the sewers that was located in the storeroom. “Seems like we’ve got a family reunion goin’ on.”

“Spike, this is my father, my brother, Donny, and my cousin, Beth,” Tara said. “But I think you probably knew that.”

Spike smiled, his expression just a little bit evil. “Yeah, can’t say I’m happy to see them again. They still think you’re a demon?”

Mairead knew that Spike was perfectly aware of what Tara’s family believed, and she wondered what he was up to. “Yes,” Tara said simply.

Spike’s face shifted, his eyes glinting golden. “This is what a demon looks like,” he said, his voice slightly distorted by his fangs. He turned to Tara and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t think you quite fit the bill.”

Anya spoke up from behind the cash register. “Well, that would depend. What kind of demon is she supposed to be?”

Tara’s family were still staring, wide-eyed, at the vampire. “What?” her father asked, clearly distracted.

“What kind of demon is she supposed to be?” Anya repeated patiently. “Because there are all kinds. Some are evil, but there are quite a few who are productive members of society.”

Tara’s father tore his eyes away from Spike’s demonic visage. “Tara, this is ridiculous. We’re your family. We know what’s best for you.”

“No, you don’t,” she replied. “I know what’s best for me. I’m sorry, Dad, but I think you should leave now. I’m not going home with you. I know who and what I am now, and you can’t take that away from me.”

Donny took a step forward. “You don’t talk to our father like that.” He raised his hand, as though to strike her, and Spike moved to intercept the blow.

Tara didn’t hesitate. She raised her free hand, and Donny was propelled backward until he collided with the steps, sprawling on his back with a yowl. “You don’t want me to show you what else I’m capable of,” she stated simply.

Her father stared at her as though she really had become a demon, no matter what Spike had just shown him. “You’re no daughter of mine.”

She smiled, her shoulders thrown back and her head held high. “No. I’m my mother’s daughter.”

Mairead had never been so proud in her life.