A/N: Okay, here's another chapter for you! This one is longer then the last two, hope you like it!

Special thanks to: Xeelia, ba2006, and beth.l for reviewing, you guys are great! Please let me know what you think of this next chapter!Chapter 4

The work out with Connor was going pretty good in Dawn's opinion. He was a lot faster then Buffy and the others, but she was keeping up. While they were sparring, Wesley and Gunn walked in. They watched them for a minute, but then went to their own workouts. After about half an hour, Dawn started to sweat, but she was used to long work outs. They stopped after an hour and she started doing sit ups. She poured her frustration and anger into the movements until it felt like she wouldn't be able to move. After two sets, she stood up and stretched. She leaned up against the wall and watched and Gunn and Connor sparred. How was Connor not tired at all? Deciding to shower, she turned on her heel and collided with a hard chest. She jumped back and looked up to apologize only to have it die on her lips. Connor grinned over at them and called to the new comer.

"Hey Spike, feel up to taking me on today?" Dawn stared at the bleached blonde who was staring back. Gunn and Connor stopped what they were doing. Connor walked over to them and placed a concerned hand on her shoulder.

"Dawn, are you okay?" Spike was the first one to speak, smiling down at her finally.

"Dawnie…I forgot you were coming here. How've you been, bit?" Dawn's eyes filled up with tears as she looked at him. After a moment though, her sadness at him keeping himself a secret was replaced with anger. Without thinking of what she was doing, Dawn pulled her arm back and landed a punch right on his jaw. She pushed by him and ran to the kitchen. She reached the fridge and opened the freezer up. She located a rag and placed some ice on her hand. When she turned around, Angel was standing in the doorway with his eyebrow raised in question.

"Did you actually hit Connor?" Dawn saw the amusement on his face, but she couldn't bring herself to return his smile.

"No…I hit Spike…why didn't you tell me he was here?" Angel sighed and moved towards her. He could tell that she was still severely pissed off.

"Honestly, with everything that happened yesterday…I forgot to mention it. He comes and goes as he pleases, he's not really a part of our team." Dawn nodded and looked down, trying to hide her tortured face.

"We thought he was dead…Buffy said he didn't make it out of the school." Before Angel could answer her, Spike was there looking grim.

"I didn't make it out of there, pet." Dawn looked at the two vampires with confusion.

"Then how are you here, Spike? Please, enlighten me." He shrugged his shoulders, not meeting her eyes.

"I honestly can't tell you. One minute, I'm down under there burning up and then the next…I'm here. I was a bloody ghost, Dawn! I was walking through walls and everything!" Angel chuckled, remembering how it happened.

"IT was highly annoying, actually." Spike smirked at him, but Dawn ignored their jokes. She walked closer to Spike, making him look at her.

"When did you get fixed, Spike?" Spike winced at her words and looked down at his feet.

"I've been corporeal for over a year now." Dawn pursed her lips and glared at him.

"Right." She didn't say anything else, just walked by them, back into the lobby. She passed Connor and walked up the steps, ignoring him as he called her name. She closed her door once she reached it, locked it, and leaned against it. Needing to hear a friendly voice, she picked up her phone and dialed. When Xander answered, she sighed.

"Yo, Xan man!" Dawn giggled at the way he answered his phone.

"Xander…it's Dawn. You don't hate me too, do you?" Xander sucked in a breath at her words.

"Dawnie, don't ask questions like that, no one hates you! I miss you like crazy, Dawn. It's just not the same with you over there and not with us. I have no idea what's going on with Buffy." Dawn closed her eyes for a moment.

"This is so strange, Xander. They're all being very nice to me, but it's not the same. I sang for the empath demon and he said that I'll never be able to fit back in with you guys." Xander scoffed into the phone, not believing that for a minute.

"Well, what's that all about? Dawnie, you'll always be welcome here, especially in the house of Xander." Dawn smiled into the phone…he was such a dork. She missed Xander the most out of everyone.

"There's something else, Xander…it's Spike…he's here." Xander paused and Dawn felt better that it wasn't just her reacting like that.

"What the hell do you mean Spike is there? That's impossible, Dawnie, he didn't make it out of Sunnydale." Dawn walked over to her couch and sat down.

"I'm totally not joking, he's here. He said he came back, but he'd been a ghost or something. He said he's been corporeal now for over a year…why wouldn't he let us know he was alive…er…you know?" Again, Dawn heard silence on Xander's side of the line.

"Maybe he didn't know where we were, Dawnie." Dawn laughed coldly at the statement, that sure wasn't true.

"No, he's been staying with Angel." Xander paused again.

"Well, maybe he didn't know how to tell us."

Dawn had stayed on the line with Xander for over an hour. They'd talked about everything until he'd had to go to sleep. Dawn had ignored all of the knocks on her door and had skipped dinner. She was curled up on her couch reading "Twilight", one of her favorite new novels. It was a vampire story and Dawn couldn't stop reading it. There was a soft knock on her door, which Dawn ignored. She continued reading when there was a louder, more persistent knock on her door. She tried to ignore that one, but whoever it was kept knocking on her door. She started groaning, because she heard yelling next.

"Leave her alone, Spike, she obviously doesn't want to see you!" Dawn was surprised to hear Connor's voice outside of her door. Spike's booming voice quickly followed.

"I think I know the little bit better then you do, brat, so sod off! Dawn and I are very close." Dawn stood up at that and threw the door open.

"Spike, if we're so close, why didn't you tell me when you were back?" Spike smirked at Connor and then walked into the room.

"See? Pet, if we weren't close, you wouldn't have opened the door just then. Look, I'm sorry for being a ponce and not contacting you, it's very complicated. Now, where is your sister, I should talk to her."

An hour later, Spike and Dawn were laughing in her living room floor. She'd told him about the whole mess with Buffy and he'd been dutifully pissed on her behalf. They both agreed not to tell Buffy about his presence. She was so happy to have someone she was comfortable around to talk to. She filled him on what happened to them after Sunnydale and he filled her in on most of what happened to him. They decided that they'd earned a good patrol, so they'd left together to wander around the neighborhood. They were walking around a cemetery when he paused to talk to her.

"You know Angel's brat has a thing for you, right?" Dawn blushed bright pink.

"Nah, we've just been getting know each other, that's all." Spike snorted at her, clearly not believing her.

"You Summer's women are so daft! He's completely bonkers over you! He stares at you, he's very defensive towards you…he's batty!" Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her head. Spike just laughed with her.

"You just wait, bit. The next time you see him, watch how he looks at you…the blush…the eyes…you'll see." Dawn stopped in her tracks and wasn't looking at him anymore.

"Vampires." Spike stopped and followed her gaze.

"Good eye, Dawn….about three of them." The group of vamps didn't notice them, they were having too much fun playing with a crying girl.

"Spike, she can't be more then ten years old." Spike nodded, agreeing and pulled a crossbow out of his duster.

"You got your stakes and holy water?" Dawn reached in her pocket and pulled a stake out. Spike took aim and shot of them perfectly through the heart. The other two jumped around as it vanished into dust and surged towards them. Spike grinned and threw the crossbow down on the ground.

"Get read, Dawn." Dawn took her stance as the smallest one jumped up in the air toward her. She was ready for him, because he jumped over her head, giving her the advantage to land a kick to his knee. He howled more in anger then in pain and turned around to face her. Dawn blocked all of his punches, but couldn't stop the kick it landed on her side. She tumbled to the ground, getting the wind knocked out of her. The vampire walked forward slowly and grinned.

"Little girls shouldn't play with pointy items…they might get hurt." Dawn set her lips together and glared at him. She waited for him to strike, and she rolled over, jumping up on her feet.

"Little vampires, shouldn't play with slayers." The vamp turned towards her, his smile now gone.

"Slayer?" Dawn just smiled as he jumped towards her. She dodged once more and she staked him from behind. She stood up straight with a sigh as he burst into ashes. She turned towards Spike, who was having way too much fun. She rolled her eyes and ran over to where the girl still stood. Spike raised his head and yelled.

"Stay away from her, Dawn! It's a trap, she's a vampire!" Dawn stopped in her tracks, but she hadn't been fast enough. The little girl sprung forward and tackled Dawn. Dawn struggled to get her off him when all of the sudden, she wasn't there anymore. Dawn stood up and saw that Connor had tackled her back and gotten her off of Dawn. He made quick work of her and dusted her. He turned to glare at Dawn, anger in his eyes. Dawn ignored the look and ran over to help Spike. Spike wasn't in the winning position, so she picked up his lost stake and shoved into the vamp's back. Standing up, Spike swiped his jacket clean.

"You alright, bit?" Dawn grinned and mimicked her favorite slayer.

"Five by five, Spike." Spike chuckled and they both turned towards Connor, who was still glaring. Spike raised an eyebrow, not really intimidated.

"Oy, what's with the look, princess?" Dawn giggled at what he called Connor, but he just walked forward, still pissed.

"What the hell were you guys doing out here? My dad said that Dawn couldn't go hunting without me or Gunn." Dawn made a face at his words, not liking the authoritative sound.

"I was perfectly fine with Spike, Connor." Spike glanced at Dawn and chuckled.

"Don't defend yourself to this Ponce, Dawn. He has no right getting in your face. I would have taken care of you, you would have been fine." Connor sneered at him.

"Oh yeah? Then why did I have to save her and then she have to save you? Dawn, you don't come out here alone again." Dawn stepped forward, really pissed now.

"Connor, you don't tell me what to do. I trust Spike way more then I trust you. Spike has always protected me, I don't know who you think you are. Come on, Spike, I could really go for one those onion blossoms you keep talking about." Spike's eyes lit up at her words. He paused and looked at Connor before following her.

"Later, Nancy."

A/N: HEE HEE! I JUST HAD TO ADD SPIKE INTO THE MIX, FOR I LOVE HIM SO!!!!! PLEASE REIVEW!!