BUFFY: How could you let her find out like that? From books and papers? You hate me that much?

SPIKE: I was just along for the ride. Not like I knew she was mystical glowy key thing. Nobody keeps me in the bloody loop, do they?

BUFFY: (bangs the lid, steps back) You could have stopped her.

SPIKE: Oh, yeah, here it comes. Something goes wrong in your life, blame Spike. News flash, blondie. (Heaves the lid up off of him, tossing it aside) If kid sis wants to grab a midnight stroll, she'll find a way sooner or later. I just thought she'd be safer with big bad looking over her shoulder.

BUFFY: (glares at him silently for a moment) She shouldn't have found out like that.

SPIKE: You didn't think you could keep the truth from her forever, did you? (angrily) Maybe if *you* had been more honest with her in the first place, you wouldn't be trying to make yourself feel better with a round of Kick The Spike.

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

BUFFY: (calls) Dawn! Dawn!

SPIKE: Yeah, that should do it.

BUFFY: Shut up.

SPIKE: The nibblet scampered off to get away from you. She hears you bellowing, she's gonna pack it in the opposite direction. Can't say I blame her.

BUFFY: (quietly, staring at the ground) You were right. This is my fault. I should have told her.

SPIKE: (sighs) Look, she probably would have skipped off anyway, even if she never found out. She's not just a blob of energy, she's also a fourteen-year-old hormone bomb. (sighs) Which one's screwing her up more right now, spin the bloody wheel. (shrugs) You'll find her, just in the nick of time, that's what you hero types do.

SPIKE: (firmly) You'll find her.

BUFFY: (quietly) And then what?

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

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