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Love, Keyness and Impending Marriage by Ariel Dawn
 
Awkward Moments
 
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Disclaimer: Joss said we could, right?

Author’s note: Beta’d by the wonderful Bloodytearsoflife. Thanks to everyone still reading and reviewing! *huggles*
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Chapter 10: Awkward Moments

Dawn stifled a yawn as she walked towards the Espresso Pump, on her way to see Willow. She was hoping Willow was in a manic stage and that Andrew was far, far away. Happy Willow, plus a far away Andrew equalled a very happy Dawn. She never thought she’d miss Buffy and Spike as much as she did this weekend. She never thought that Andrew would give her the creeps like he was.

She shivered uncontrollably for a moment as she entered the coffee shop, and saw Willow sitting at a table, stirring her coffee and staring off into space.

“Uh? Willow?” Dawn asked waving her hand in front of the witch’s face.

Willow came back to reality with a start and smiled back at Dawn softly.

“Hey, kiddo! How’s it hangin’? Or am I too old to say that now?” asked the witch.

“You aren’t old!” protested Dawn. “Twenty-two isn’t old.”

“I feel old though. Kinda like the magic’s making me old...” Willow trailed off.

Ok then, depresso Willow today, noted Dawn mentally with a pout.

“So how’s everything with you and Tara?” asked Dawn, trying to get Willow onto a happy topic of conversation.

“Tara’s wonderful. So caring and happy and gentle. I don’t know how she stays with me...”

“Because she loves you, cares about you. That’s why she’s with you, Willow.”

Thankfully at that moment Dawn was saved from trying to make Willow feel better by the appearance of Graham, ordering a coffee from the counter.

“There he is,” said Dawn softly, not realising that she was looking dreamily at the solider.

“Who?” questioned Willow turning around to face the way Dawn was gazing. “Ooh! That’s...that’s Graham, Riley’s friend. He’s dreamy? I ... I thought you and Andrew were supposed to get all groiny and have the children...you know, in the future.”

Dawn made an eww face. “From what Buffy says, it’s a ‘you want kids and your friend Andrew wanted kids...presto kids‘. She didn’t actually say there was groiny...goings on. It could have been a test tube baby,” she added, nodding emphatically. No way was she and Andrew getting groiny.

Willow nodded in understanding.

“Andrew is creepy,” said Dawn not losing sight of Graham as he put cream and sugar into his coffee.

“And Graham isn’t?” Willow asked looking curiously at the commando. “He’s all soldiery.”

“And all I can say to that is...mmm, man in a uniform,” hummed Dawn with a dopey smile.

“He’s also way too old for you!”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t look,” the teen noted with a coy smile on her face. “Besides, Angel was way too old for Buffy and they were going out...”

“Angel doesn’t count...He’s not human. You’re jailbait to Graham...” observed Willow.

“So?” asked Dawn.

“Human laws mean nothing to you, do they?” asked Willow, sighing dramatically.

“Why should they?” Dawn asked. “I’m a million year old key.”

Dawn opened her mouth to go on about the unfairness of mortal laws when Graham walked towards them, causing the teen to clam up and stare goo goo eyed at the soldier.

“Hey,” he greeted as he walked by. “Willow right?” he asked, looking at the witch.

Willow nodded her head. “And you would be Graham, friend of Riley and involved with soldiering and possible government kidnapping of demons.”

Dawn could tell that Graham didn’t know what to make of that, so he turned to Dawn. “Nice to you see again, Dawn.”

“Uh, thanks,” Dawn answered back. “Heard from Riley lately?”

“No, not since he was back in the states. Riley and Sam are in Europe, last I heard,” he supplied.

“You wanna sit down?” asked Dawn. “Join us?”

Graham looked between the two girls for a moment, before grabbing the nearby chair and sitting down, placing his coffee next to Dawn’s clasped hands.

“You not a coffee drinker?” he asked, looking at her blue eyes.

Dawn shook her head no. “I’m a hot chocolate drinker,” she responded smiling. Graham made as if to get up, but Dawn stopped him placing her hand on top of his. “I don’t need anything, but thanks.”

He settled back down into the chair and took a sip of his coffee. “So, Willow, still at Sunnydale U? You must be close to graduation...”

Willow looked down uncomfortably at her now empty mug. “Not so much,” she whispered.

“What happened?” he asked, genuine concern in his voice.

“I...I don’t want to talk about it,” Willow mumbled. “I’m gonna go,” she said in a much louder and confident voice.

“Ok,” nodded Dawn, glad that she got to have alone time with Graham. “Feel better? Okay?”

Willow nodded and left the two brunettes at the table, lapsing into an awkward silence.

“So how did your shopping trip go yesterday?” he finally said, cutting through the silence.
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Buffy walked through her front door, holding it open for her flammable fiancé. As Spike sped through, holding a blanket over his head and slamming the door closed behind him, Buffy set down the suitcase she’d been carrying.

“Hello? Dawn?” Buffy called out into the house. “Andrew?”

The quiet of the house was the only response.

“Maybe they’re out on a date?” asked Spike quizzically.

Buffy raised an eyebrow to that. “I didn’t think you were hugs and puppies about Dawn and Andrew.”

“’M not, just making a guess,” he offered.

There were footsteps on the basement stairs, drawing Buffy and Spike’s attention to that location in the house.

“Andrew?” asked Buffy cautiously, still concerned why he hadn’t answered her call. “Is that you?”

The basement door opened and out stepped Anya, holding a sweater and a bottle of Shout.

“Buffy, you should know this, what gets out entrails?” she questioned, not looking at the couple but at the red sweater she held in her hands.

“What the bloody hell are you doing in the soddin’ basement?” asked Spike, suddenly angry that Anya had been in the house and not answered when Buffy had called out.

“What does it look like? I’m doing laundry. The laundry services of Arashamahar haven’t evolved since the dark ages,” she informed the owners of the washing machine she’d been using.

“Well the Shout is a good start for the entrails,” started Buffy. “And do NOT tell me why you have entrails on your sweater. Have you seen Dawn?”

“Yep,” answered Anya, holding out the sweater and looking for more stains.

“And?” prodded Spike.

“She stayed over last night, with me, in Arashamahar. She’s a little freaked by the nerd wonder. He’s not here by the way. Probably with his dragon master or at Radio Shack or wherever the nerds hang out,” supplied Anya. “Have you started planning the wedding yet?”

“Hey!” protested Buffy. “No changing of the subject! We have to find Dawn, and Andrew.”

“I don’t know pet,” Spike said as he leaned against the kitchen counter and lit up a cigarette. “Might be something that the kiddies got to work out for themselves, ya?”

Buffy stepped over to her mate and pulled the lit cigarette out of his mouth. “No smoking in the house!”

“Oy!”

“He’s got a point, Buffy,” answered Anya, finally finished with the sweater and about to head down stairs again. “This isn’t something you can fix. Fixing at this point would only lead to vengeance and possibly bad sweaty sex. That can never be good. Unless it’s good, that is...” she trailed off as she stepped down the basement stairs.

Spike just looked smug at that point.

“I hate it when you are right,” huffed Buffy. “Makes me think that all my years of experience are worthless. Maybe I should just get myself a rocking chair and learn how to knit. I bet you’d look stunning in a knit sweater.”

Laughter echoed up the stairs from the basement as Spike’s jaw dropped.

“Shocking that I never learned to knit after all these years isn’t it?”
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No matter what Buffy tried Spike refused to let her out of the house to find either of the missing inhabitants of 1630 Revello Drive.

The sun was just setting when Andrew crept through the door.

“About bloody time you came back,” spouted Spike, sitting in a comfy chair in the living room.

“I...I couldn’t stay here, all alone. Dawn left me all weekend!” he whined.

“Scared the bit off is what you did,” responded the vampire. “Got the Slayer right worried too, you did.”

“I didn’t mean to!”

“It doesn’t matter what you meant to do, whelp,” Spike scowled.

“She won’t even talk to me anymore, she just leaves, goes away, like I’m icky or something. I don’t like this! I ruined everything by living here!”

“Question is though,” continued Spike, “just what are you going to do to make this right? Whatever the Slayer says about the bloody future and you and the Bit, forget it. It’s all bloody screwed up now, isn’t it?”

Andrew nodded.

“Might be a good idea to just leave off. Sometimes the bints don’t like it when you stalk ‘em,” the vampire said with a smile.
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Buffy’s worrying and pacing throughout the house was getting on Spike’s nerves. He had never thought that anything that Buffy did would annoy him so much as this did. The sun had long set and Dawn still wasn’t home.

Andrew was cloistered down in the basement pouting about how he didn’t know what to do about the Dawn situation.

“Where is she?” asked Buffy looking out the window for the millionth time. “She’s in a ditch somewhere. I have this terrible feeling that something’s up.”

Spike stepped closer to his mate and put a hand on her shoulder. “The Bit can take care of herself. All she needs is a door and she can get away.”

“What if there isn’t a door? We should have never left!” she whispered sadly walking away from the window and sitting heavily on the couch.

Then there was a bang from the kitchen. Spike and Buffy leapt up off the couch and ran into the kitchen, to see two bodies pressed against the kitchen door from the outside. And they were smooching by the looks of it.

“Dawn!” gasped Buffy, walking towards the back door with purpose. She glared at the two people pressed against the door, her hands on her hips.

Spike didn’t have the same amount of patience, after all he was the one with the enhanced hearing. He wrenched open the back door, making Dawn and her partner nearly fall to the ground.

Struggling to keep her balance, Dawn wiped her mouth and looked up guiltily at Spike and Buffy.

“Uh, Buffy, you remember Graham don’t you?” the teen started.

Buffy’s eyes went wide for a moment as she stared at Graham, who was standing rigidly and looking at Spike with a not too friendly eye. It seemed that the two men were having a staring contest.

“I remember,” responded Buffy with barely contained ire. “What I don’t remember is when you met him or when you told us that he was your boyfriend...”

“Oh...uh,” stammered Dawn looking for some help from her kissing partner, who was still staring at Spike.

“It’s whitebread number two,” spat Spike at long last.

“Hostile seventeen,” responded Graham in kind.

Gingerly Dawn took Graham’s hand trying to calm down the situation, but only making Spike even madder.

“Hey!” came Andrew’s voice from the basement door. He’d heard the commotion and decided to join in. “Who are you? And why is Dawn holding your hand?”
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tbc...



 
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