Restive Nature
Rated NC-17
Chapter Ten
Growing Older, Growing Wiser
"Oh my God," Buffy groaned, staring at her excited sister. "Dawnie, don’t joke, not at this hour of the morning."
"I’m not joking," Dawn grinned at her slightly bleary eyed sister. You’d think that romping around for however long, as Dawn realized they were on her way out and taking a nice hot shower would be enough to wake anybody up. But no, Buffy was still running on Slayer schedule, even having turned in fairly early the night before. "And it’s almost noon. Wake up."
"What got your motor revved Nibblet?" Spike asked, settling himself at the table and taking one of the papers from her. She’d already circled a few likely looking prospects. He noticed immediately that they were all part time offers though.
"Well," Dawn frowned a moment. She had thought a lot about this as she was dropping off the night before and had solidified things in her minds this morning. She just wasn’t sure if her sister would be offended by her thoughts. "I’m really glad and everything that you’re getting married. But, well, weddings are expensive. And not only that, I’m going to school in the fall. I know that we have that covered, but there are always extra things that pop up. Food, clothes, things I’ll need." She paused; knowing this might be the start of a big argument. "And I was thinking, maybe… I could help out around here." She glanced apprehensively at her sister, but Buffy appeared to be deep in thought. The blonde glanced at Spike, as if silently asking his opinion. He shrugged. In all his figuring, he’d rarely calculated in Dawn wanting to work. It just didn’t seem feasible when facing a scholastic schedule. But it wasn’t his place to dissuade her.
Their family had established boundaries. And as much as they might chafe at times, they were familiar and all three tended to cling to them at times. To Dawn, Buffy was the Mom. She was the one who put her foot down when Dawn came up with brilliant ideas. She was the one who had to keep Dawn down to earth, get her out of messes and keep her safe. When Dawn had been younger, even as recently as a year ago, she’d often felt betrayed. Buffy was not her mother but her sister. And Dawn had felt that Buffy should have encouraged her more, let her wet her feet. Reach out for some stars and to hell with getting burned. But she had recently come to understand that even before their mother had died, Buffy had been doing her job. Buffy was the older of them and it was her responsibility, however much it annoyed her. Finding out that little sister was really an amorphous blob of green energy only reinforced her feelings.
And while Dawn had craved a sister who was a friend in her own adventures, she’d managed to find one in Spike. He didn’t care if her ideas were dangerous or flighty. He was an active participant in these capers, with a few noticeable exceptions. The most glaring being after Buffy had sacrificed herself. Then he’d done everything he was capable of to fulfill the vow he’d made to take care of Dawn. And at times, he was certainly more of a strict enforcer than Buffy could have ever imagined.
"You know," Buffy finally spoke, her words drawn out. "I have to be honest Dawn. I don’t like the idea of you having to work." Dawn looked as if she were going to protest, so Buffy held up one hand. "Listen. There’s a difference between having to work and wanting to work. The thing is Dawn, even though your name isn’t on the deed, this is as much your house as the one back in Sunnydale was."
"I know that," Dawn interjected softly and both girls visibly softened.
"Good," Buffy declared, pulling one of the papers from her hand. "I have an idea."
"What’s that then?" Spike asked. He didn’t want to interfere, as Buffy seemed very willing to work this out with her sister on their own terms. But neither did he want it to erupt into a screaming match as their discussions did on occasion. He wanted Dawn to be happy in whatever she was doing.
"I’m thinking," Buffy smiled, "that depending on the kind of jobs that we get, "she indicated Spike and herself, "that if you do get a job, you should keep the money. Part of it could go into savings, and the other you could use for all those things you mentioned." Dawn looked slightly mutinous.
"But what if you guys don’t get jobs soon?" she asked worriedly. "I mean, there’s not a lot that any of us are qualified for."
"She’s got a point there," Spike snorted. "Not many people in the market for a Slayer whose only experience is maiming and torturing." He spoke of himself only. His education in this world had been somewhat outside the conventional norm.
"I suppose if I didn’t find something right away, I could always go blackmail the local Doublemeat Palace into giving me a job," Buffy chuckled. But then shuddered. The nightmare that was that job was based more in the greasy nature of the food, the clamoring noises of unsatisfied customers and aching feet from standing hours on end without break.
"I don’t think that’s the best impression to start out with," Dawn rolled her eyes. The fast food industry was not her first choice for work, but it seemed to be her best chance, as she would only turn eighteen the next day. Not many other places took a chance on a relative kid.
The conversation lapsed into an almost strategy planning session. Since it was Dawn’s birthday the next day, and she was aware of the financial status of the house, she’d privately decided not to make a big deal out of whatever they did. And when Buffy had asked, she’d declared that she was tired of all the celebrating they’d been doing and she just wanted something small. So they’d decided on a pizza-fest and movie night with Willow. Talk went around various subjects, touching on the wedding, jobs, and school, their friends and back around in a circle. Nothing was definitely decided, aside from looking through the classifieds.
As Spike reasoned out, the summer rush for jobs was over. All the college and high school kids looking for work over the summer would have done so in June. That covered a lot of part time work. Hopefully, that left more of the full-time jobs for them. And as Spike and Buffy were adults with a settled home, they were able to offer a little more stability to their future employers. When taken in that light, their chances seemed good. If only they could reflect it in their resumes. They worked together until late afternoon with each other, trying to decide what to include. Buffy’s was the easiest of them all, as she actually had work experience that was recorded in a national database. Eventually, they decided to pick Willow’s brain about it the next day.
*****
Dawn’s birthday rolled about in typical fashion. A glorious sunrise awakened nature in its own fashion. And had the buoyant teen out of bed earlier than normal. It was the one thing she regretted about her new room. The window in the basement was at the lowest level, so she only caught the briefest flare of light as the sun rose. But it was enough to get her moving. She hurried upstairs to get coffee brewing while she took a shower. She tried to be quiet, not wanting to wake the couple. They’d been out late, casing the city for likely looking hot spots when it came to Vampires. The AI team had a fairly good handle on the demon population. So Buffy and Spike were able to get back to Slayer roots so to speak. By mutual consent, the Vampires were theirs.
Dawn returned to the living room, after procuring a cup of coffee and curled up in her robe on the sofa. She’d pulled open the curtains as wide as they allowed and was now watching the sun's rays peeping over the house closest to them. She sighed with simple pleasure. Things had come together nicely and she allowed herself a moment to feel the peace around her. It was a rare thing, having learned long ago to always allow a small amount of tension to remain inside herself. Living on the Hellmouth and actually being aware of it caused a tiny fissure of caution to flow through her at all times. Even when she heartily ignored the danger, she was aware of its possibility. But in this moment, she knew she was safe.
But she didn’t allow herself to feel it for very long. Dawn knew that she couldn’t let her guard down often or it would become luxurious habit. After all, even though LA had no obvious portal to hell in it, there were dangers aplenty. Sometimes more physical than mystical, but they were there all the same. So she wasn’t totally surprised by her sister plopping down by her side. She’d sensed it with the intuition that she’d slowly been developing over the years. With a little sigh of contentment, she leaned against her sister as Buffy took the coffee mug from her hand and took a quick sip.
"Thanks," she murmured. "Needed that." Dawn nodded. She didn’t mind as she once might have. It was just coffee. There was more in the pot. But it spoke of familiarity that she’d subconsciously craved since she came into existence. It cheered her that she and Buffy were comfortable enough with each other finally to share things like this. Of course, she had to purposefully ignore the fact that Buffy and Spike often commingled spit, so it wasn’t just her sister’s spit and germs that she was getting back.
"I didn’t expect you to get up," Dawn replied quietly. "How was patrol last night? I didn’t hear you come in."
"Two Vamps, but not in the same place. It was late when we got back," her sister confirmed. "We checked on you and you were pretty zonked."
"That’s me," Dawn smiled. "Zonk girl. I could probably give Xander a run for his money some days."
"Maybe you’re still growing," Buffy teased. Dawn wasn’t going to top six foot, as many of them had teased, but she was definitely a tall and leggy woman now.
"Good God no," Dawn rolled her eyes. "It’s bad enough that I’m made from your genes, don’t make me more of a freak."
"Hey," Buffy nudged her sister’s curled up leg with her knee. "Those are good genes. Of course, they used up all the terrific stuff on me and gave you the leftovers." It was a common joke between them when Willow had brought up scientific theory in bafflement. When they’d discovered that Dawn had been made from Buffy, Willow had explained that Dawn should almost have been a clone of her friend. Buffy’s initial theory, that the monks had made Dawn look different so that the Vampires wouldn’t attack her seemed the most likely. After all, why send a girl to the Slayer for protection, just to put her in harm’s way in that manner. Because general consensus was that most Vampire’s were lucky they didn’t need to breath as most were too stupid to even figure that out.
Things turned quiet once more until Buffy felt the need to speak. After all, turning eighteen, a momentous occasion needed something. "You know, after my seventeenth birthday, Mom asked me if I felt any different. She said I looked different. I always wondered what exactly it was that looked different to her. Sometimes I wonder if she was just seeing me the way she thought she should have then."
"She still didn’t know the truth then," Dawn commented softly. It wouldn’t be right if their mother weren’t mentioned. She still held a very strong place in both their hearts, as it should be.
"Not then, no," her sister mused. "And of course, with everything that happened with Angel, I suppose there was bound to be something in my face that told her all was not well."
"And your eighteenth birthday was no better," Dawn commiserated.
"No it wasn’t," Buffy shook her head. They were getting off the topic she’d wanted. "But aside from the way actual day itself turned out, my birthday was important to me. It was a way of physically keeping track of the changes I was going through. And it took me so long to figure something out." Dawn waited for her sister’s usually laughable pearl of wisdom. "The thing is, we never stop growing. Mentally, emotionally. Years shouldn’t really count. We should always be becoming. Dawn, you don’t stop now. Just because you’re eighteen, it doesn’t mean that you are who you’re going to be for the rest of your life."
"I know that," Dawn nearly rolled her eyes. Of course she was going to keep being something.
"I don’t think you do," Buffy sighed. It didn’t seem that she was getting through yet. "See, you have plans for the future. School, whatever. But that’s not the important thing in life. Living is. Learning things. If you stick yourself on one path and try never to deviate, you’re going to be old and worn out before you’re thirty."
"So I should be flexible?" Dawn queried, enjoying the mounting frustration in her sister’s eyes. She understood where her sister was coming from and what she was trying to say, but some impish part of her liked making Buffy use words. It stroked her own ego a little to show up her perpetually misunderstanding sister with her own grasp on logic.
"Well, yes," Buffy frowned. "Always flexible. But you should be open to things." She shook her head. "I guess what I’m saying is that I hate the idea that you’re growing up. Yet I’m excited at the same time. I feel this sudden urge to give you advice, so you don’t end up an emotional wreck like me."
"You’re not a wreck," Dawn protested, then thought for a moment. "Well, at least not anymore you aren’t."
"Thanks," Buffy dryly interjected.
"Was that what you learned?" Dawn was curious. "Was the flexible thing what finally let you be with Spike?"
"In a way," Buffy shrugged. She’d tried once before, to explain why she’d chosen Spike over Angel, to the at the time Vampire himself. But at that time, he’d been too hurt to listen and understand. She’d told him before the fight with the First Evil that she wasn’t who she was meant to be yet. She still blushed slightly over the whole cookie analogy. Even at her age, stupid things were always popping out of her mouth when least expected. But to take it a step further, she needed a partner in life who was willing to grow with her and apart form her. And Angel wasn’t it. She could see that even with the changes LA had wrought in him, he was still stuck. He’d formed an idea about life and was tenaciously clinging to it.
Of course, she’d never known about the possibility for Shanshu. If she had, she wondered sometimes if it would have made a difference. But knowing what they all knew now, with Max’s coming, she was sure something would have broken them apart. Maybe even they themselves would have done the breaking.
"You know what?" Dawn interrupted her musings.
"What?"
"Even with all the crap we’ve been through," Dawn sighed as she snuggled close to her sister, "I’m glad the monks chose you."
"Me too Dawnie," Buffy smiled, resting her head on the teen’s. "So very glad."
When Spike finally rose from the late night excursion and followed his nose scenting out coffee, he was mildly surprised at his find in the living room. Both women were curled up together. Dawn had her legs pulled up and was snuggled in close, her head resting on Buffy’s shoulder. His fiancée had her head resting on her sisters and her legs were up on the coffee table. A coffee mug rested precariously in Dawn’s hand and Spike was quick to move it. Preferable to having it spill and cause a large stain. Not to mention that he wasn’t sure how hot it was. After watching them for a moment, he went off to fulfill his own need for caffeine. When he returned, they still hadn’t stirred, even though it was going on nine o’clock in the morning. He settled into an armchair, drinking his coffee and watching them. It only took ten minutes before Buffy began to stir. He motioned at Dawn and she glanced down at her sister with a smile.
"You were up early," he commented. It didn’t bother him. He understood that there were occasions when it just needed to be the two women.
"I heard Dawnie this morning," she explained. "And I wanted a chance to talk with her, about… well…"
"Women stuff?" he asked teasingly. They’d been living together for long enough and had been a Vampire long enough that most things didn’t bother him any more.
"Growing up stuff," she corrected gently.
"It’s a big day for her," he agreed. "I’m surprised that she didn’t want a big blow out."
"Me too," Buffy yawned, shifting her arm slightly to get the kinks out that had developed. "But I think Dawn is trying to shoulder some responsibility. She told us yesterday that she’s aware of stuff going on here and as much as I hate her having to deal with it, it hasn’t been a problem yet."
"I think in some ways the Nibblet has been too grown up for her own good at times," Spike murmured. He spoke quietly, for the teen had an annoying habit of coming into the middle of a conversation about her and taking things the wrong way.
"She has," Buffy agreed. "I think we all have. But that’s just life."
"And how are you doing with it luv?" Spike asked kindly.
Buffy turned her fond gaze back to her sister. "I made Dawnie promise to live for me and I think it’s time I held her to that. I can’t expect to go on with my life and have her remain a little girl forever." Neither noticed Dawn’s secret little smile, having been aware of the conversation the entire time.
By the time Willow had arrived that evening, the trio had cleaned the house, made the birthday cake and had ordered the pizza. While they waited, Willow gladly helped them out with their resumes. She’d come up with a cover story of what she’d been doing in Sunnydale for the past few years since quitting college full time. And she was more than willing to share her secrets.
"Actually, I was thinking about all those Slayerettes living with us," she explained. "And I was thinking about how all the different things we had to do with them was applicable to a job."
"So what did you come up with?" Buffy asked.
"Well, what we had was actually somewhat like a halfway home," Willow enthused. "I mean, these girls weren’t running away from home but from intrinsic evil. But we had to take care of them. So I put on my resume that I was like co-director of this home, in charge of all sorts of things to do with providing for these girls."
"An’ that impressed some bloke ‘cause it was practical experience combined with humanitarian acts," Spike snorted.
"Exactly!" the redhead crowed. "You guys could do that too. I mean, you were housing the girls, training them in self-defense, teaching them to become productive members of society."
"Productive of what?" Dawn snorted. "Beating the crap out of Vampires and demons?"
"Yeah, saying that isn’t really smart during an interview," Willow rolled her eyes. "I just maintain that the destruction of Sunnydale caused us to close up shop, but all the girls returned to their homes, happy and fulfilled, at peace with why they came to us in the first place."
"Impressive Will," Buffy complimented her friend as the doorbell rang. "But now, I think it’s time to party." Spike headed for the door to retrieve the pizzas and pay the delivery guy. He returned and the group dug into the food as Dawn picked out the video she wanted to watch. They were full of good cheer as they stuffed themselves.
To Dawn’s surprise, she had a good-sized pile of presents waiting for her. Willow had brought not only her own, but also one that Xander had sent, not knowing their new address yet. And the AI team, enjoying taking kids under their wing as Gunn and Fred could attest to, had sent a little something. Not to mention that there was the new outfit Dawn had been eyeing for the last week at the mall. So she was extremely happy by the time they got to the devil’s food cake, frosted this time. Spike teased her about the number if candles causing the fire alarm to go off. Dawn teased right back about his true age. He had to shut up then, but was quick to come up with other things. The avid way she attacked her chocolate, her glee at ripping open the presents, threatening her with a birthday spanking, her excitement over the letter Xander had included with his card.
It was the only low point that evening that Xander wasn’t with them. Discussion soon turned to sharing what he’d been relating to them individually. It made for interesting discussion because Xander had turned into quite the avid storyteller. Even Spike was interested, as he could recall from his days in Europe some of the places that Xander talked about. He seemed to be travelling around, finding work as he could. The only strange thing that occurred to them was that he wasn’t over Anya yet. Not that he ever totally would be. But he made absolutely no mention of the former Vengeance demon. But her spirit hovered over everything Xander said and wrote. They could all see it.
Finally Dawn was yawning more than talking. Before anyone could say anything about it, she gathered up her new bounty and said good night. There was a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ s and wishes for pleasant dreams. Dawn descended the stairs carefully as conversation continued between the other adults. She put her stuff in a pile on her bed, indulging in the childish delight of sleeping with her gifts nearby. She opened Xander’s letter and reread it, smiling that her good friend had taken pains to make sure she knew he hadn’t forgotten her on her special day.
Working Girls
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