Dawn had been moody all morning. The prospect of leaving the sanctuary of the Giles home and returning to the less than ideal Summers one was naturally something she was not looking forward to. All that morning she’d been alternating between making the most of what little time she had left and being miserable about the approaching deadline of her flight back to LA.

Sitting in the back seat of the car now, her head resting on her sister’s shoulder and Spike’s arm reaching around to hold both of them, she just savored this moment.

“Only two and a half more years, and you’ll be able to go away to college,” Joyce pointed out encouragingly.

“Two and a half years of hell,” Dawn grumbled.

“I went through the hell, too,” Elizabeth reminded her. “You’ll get through it. Go out and win yourself a good scholarship and then thumb your nose at mom and dad.”

Dawn couldn’t help but smile at that. “Are you coming home this summer?” she asked hesitantly.

Elizabeth bit her lip at that. She hadn’t really thought about it too much, but… “God, I hope not!” she finally decided.

An amused smile crossed Spike’s face at that, and he planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

“Well, maybe when you figure out what you’re doing, I can visit you?” Dawn suggested. “Just, y’know, for a little while or something. To stave off the insanity.”

A smile quirked on the edges of Elizabeth’s lips. “That’d be fun,” she said, surprised to realize that she actually meant it.

She and Dawn had never really gotten along before, but this vacation had gone amazingly smoothly. It was really the first time she’d gotten to know her half-sister when she wasn’t just an extension of Elizabeth’s step-mom, and Elizabeth was stunned to find herself actually liking the girl.

“Cool,” Dawn agreed. “We can hang out and go shopping and stuff.”

Spike groaned at this. There had been a shopping trip two weeks before, and he had been forced to act as the workhorse for both sisters at once. He still felt the kink in his back from the aftermath of the extensive shoe store purchases.

Elizabeth and Dawn both cast him annoyed looks, and he quickly bit his tongue.

“You’ve got my e-mail, right?” Dawn asked for about the billionth time as they pulled into the airport.

“Saved on my account,” Elizabeth assured her. “And on Spike’s. And in my address book. And in—”

“OK, yeah, I get the point,” Dawn rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics. “But you’ll write me, huh? Tell me all the important…” she cast an approving glance Spike’s direction, “stuff that’s happening?”

“As long as you keep me updated on the Kevin situation,” Elizabeth retorted sternly.

“You’ve got a deal.” Dawn practically hopped out of the car, allowing Elizabeth and Spike to exit the vehicle as well.

“Do you want us to walk you to your gate?” Joyce inquired, standing beside Giles and pretending to help him lift Dawn’s bags out of the trunk.

He gave her a suspicious look when she paused and turned her attention to the young people every time she was about to pick up one of the heavy bags.

Dawn gave her a suspicious look as well. “Mom put you up to this so that I couldn’t jump flights again, didn’t she?” she accused.

Everyone looked anywhere but at her.

Dawn just rolled her eyes. “Sure, knock yourselves out,” she agreed. “It’ll be really exciting what with the terminal and the seats and the Hong Kong businessmen and all…”

Spike chuckled at that and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, guiding her towards the ticketing gate. Not one to be left behind, Elizabeth slipped his other arm around her waist, resting her head against his strong shoulder.

“You can handle those, right honey?” Joyce said with an evil little smile before rushing off after the children.

Giles looked down at the huge bags Dawn had managed to accumulate during her stay and turned his eyes heavenwards. Whatever had he done to deserve this?

“Hmm…” A concerned frown crossed Spike’s face. “Don’t have enough arms to escort all these beautiful women…”

Dawn and Elizabeth blushed and giggled, and Joyce merely rolled her eyes at her son’s flirtation. “I’ve got my Rupert,” she assured him, grudgingly taking up one of Dawn’s bags so that she could walk beside her husband.

“It’s about bloody time,” he commented on his decreased load good-naturedly.

Joyce gave him an evil grin that indicated she had known about his hardship all along.

“So, sweetness,” Spike gave Dawn a playful squeeze, “when you get home and encounter the big bad parents—”

“I’ll be sure to inform them that you and Elizabeth are having kinky monkey sex every night and kept me up the whole vacation,” Dawn teased. Her grin widened when mortified expressions crossed the bleached couple’s faces at the thought that she’d heard them.

“Y-Y-You… I mean…” Elizabeth stammered, embarrassed beyond belief. She tried to bury her face in Spike’s shoulder, only to realize that he’d beaten her to it.  “Hey,” she protested, “I’m trying to hide my head in shame here…”

“More shame. Beat you to it,” Spike’s muffled voice sounded from the soft material of her sweater.

“No way,” she insisted. “She’s my sister. I have way more shame than you do!”

“’ve been corruptin’ the innocent,” Spike retorted. “That triples my shame.”

“Your very existence corrupts the innocent,” Elizabeth pointed out.

“Plus, I caught you that one night in the kitchen wearing nothing but boxers,” Dawn pointed out.

“You saw me?!” Spike’s face flushed deep red.

“You own boxers?!” Elizabeth was equally startled.

Dawn’s face scrunched up at the implications of this last statement. “Ew! So didn’t need to know that!”

Elizabeth’s face turned red again. “Now who’s corrupting my sister?” she asked Spike triumphantly.

“He had hickeys all down his back leading straight to his—” Dawn provided.

“Dawn!” Twin voices screamed in horror.

“Just kidding,” Dawn said with an amused smile. “You two are so easy to embarrass. It’s, like, the most fun thing ever.”

“So there weren’t bite marks?” Elizabeth asked hopefully.

“No bite marks, no loud sex,” Dawn assured them.

“Ha!” Spike said triumphantly. “You haven’t warped her in the slightest then. Just me with my late night snackin’.”

“You have a cute butt,” Dawn couldn’t help herself.

Sure enough, the telltale red flush covered his cheeks once more, and his head returned to the shelter of Elizabeth’s shoulder.

“How horrified should we be?” Giles asked Joyce curiously from where they had sat across from the three bickering youngsters.

“Scarred for life,” Joyce decided with a shake of her head.

“Quite,” Giles agreed, trying to bury himself into the dull, superficial magazine he’d picked up as the only means of distraction.

Joyce looked over his shoulder at it, equally desperate not to hear about her son’s various sexual attributes. “Oh, look,” she tried to drum up some enthusiasm, “ ‘who’s hot and who’s not’…”

Together, Joyce and Giles shuddered.

“Stop terrorizing my boyfriend,” Elizabeth scolded Dawn, completely oblivious to the horror she was inflicting upon the poor, innocent parents as she patted Spike’s head reassuringly. “That’s my job.”

Spike let out an angry breath against her throat at that, but all it really managed to do was tickle her.

“So,” Elizabeth began curiously, ignoring Spike’s reaction, “what are you going to tell mom and dad?”

“Willow and Tara are the most hospitable roommates ever,” Dawn answered with a sly grin, obviously enjoying being part of the conspiracy. “And the professors of yours that invited us over for Christmas dinner that once were so nice…”

“Don’t forget ‘rakishly handsome’,” Giles provided, deciding that the other conversation was safe enough to participate in now.

Spike gave his father a skeptical look and then snorted in amusement. “Right…” he rolled his eyes.

Giles merely huffed in annoyance.

“I think your father’s very handsome,” Joyce countered with a mischievous smile. “Why, I see that sexy pout and I just wanna—”

“Mom!” Spike cried out in abject horror.

“Turnabout’s fair play,” she said with a falsely sweet smile, giving him a little pat on the knee.

“Bloody women’ll be the death of me…” Spike groused, hiding in Elizabeth’s arms once more.

“Oh, dear,” Giles was still puffed up with manly pride from Joyce’s defense, “I do hope he’s not broken?”

“I’ll fix him up tonight,” Elizabeth assured him, placing a gentle kiss in those soft, peroxide-blond curls.

Spike murmured at the affectionate touch, and his mortified hiding turned more into contented snuggling.

“You people are all crazy,” Dawn decided with a wistful sigh. “Boy, am I going to miss this place…”

“Oh, there, there, dear,” Joyce gave her a motherly hug. “You can come back to visit soon. And feel free to call whenever you want. I’m pretty much sitting in that house all by myself while William’s in school, and I need something besides grading papers to keep me company.”

“I’ll be sure to call,” Dawn promised, hugging her back. “You’re, like, the greatest teacher ever.”

“And this from someone who’s never even taken a class from me,” Joyce was obviously pleased.

“You are the greatest teacher ever,” Elizabeth provided in response to that.

A delighted flush reddened the older woman’s cheeks. “The talent of my students helps,” she pointed out.

A comfortable silence settled over the group at that as they absentmindedly listened to the flights being announced.

“At least I’ll be back in school so I won’t have to be at home most of the time,” Dawn finally sighed as the deadline for her own departure drew near.

“Burying yourself in schoolwork is an excellent way to ignore obnoxious, pushy parents,” Giles provided. “And once you get to college, they really can’t control your life anymore.”

Elizabeth bit her lip slightly at that, but Spike quickly caught it between his teeth, drawing her into a slow, sensual kiss. Oh yeah, that’s how I’m not letting dad control my life anymore… She remembered with a satisfied sigh.

“Flight 185 for LAX now boarding. Will rows 22 and higher please board at this time? Repeat, rows 22 and higher.” A nasal voice twanged over the loudspeakers.

Dawn sighed and stood up, fidgeting slightly as she waited for her row to be called. “What are the chances mom’s going to kill me for coming here?” she asked Elizabeth nervously.

“At least one good yell,” Elizabeth decided after a moment’s thought, brushing Spike’s lips in the direction of her throat. “But no killing since it all worked out all right. Maybe a bit of a grounding, though.” She considered it some more. “Yup, definitely a grounding.”

Dawn sighed. “Adopt me,” she only half-joked to Joyce as her row was called.

“You’ll be fine,” Joyce assured her, giving her a good-bye hug.

“And if you’re not,” Giles agreed, giving her a quick squeeze as well, “we’ll be right down to inflict some vengeance on those parents of yours.”

“Thanks,” Dawn said, sniffling slightly. She turned to Spike and was amazed when she got a sweet kiss on the forehead. Her face flushed bright red at the feel of the strong, muscular body that held her, and she abruptly remembered just why she’d had that crush on him in the first place.

“Ha!” Spike said triumphantly. “Finally embarrassed her for once.”

Dawn managed an eye roll at that, although she was still grinning idiotically from the kiss. “I’m so going to get you back for that,” she informed him matter-of-factly.

“’ll look forward to it,” Spike agreed with a grin. “Bye, Bit.”

“Bye, gorgeous,” she countered with a sly smile.

Spike’s face flushed once more. “Weren’t s’posed to get me back right now,” he grumbled good-naturedly.

Dawn laughed and turned to her sister. “Y’know, you’re actually pretty cool. Not the stuck-up cheerleader I thought you were,” Dawn admitted reluctantly.

“And you’re not the whiny, tattletale brat,” Elizabeth agreed.

Dawn rolled her eyes at that, and Elizabeth rolled her eyes in response to the eye roll. They shared a giggle and then a quick hug before Dawn snatched up her bags.

“I’ll e-mail you as soon as I get home,” Dawn promised. “Tell you all about what mom does to me.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Elizabeth assured her.

“Bye, Elizabeth! Bye, Spike! Bye, Joyce! Bye, Rupert!” Dawn couldn’t help but tease with that last one. And, with a final wave, she vanished into the aircraft…

“Got another e-mail from Dawn today,” Elizabeth commented, lying on her stomach across Spike’s large bed and moaning softly at the feel of his hands on her bare back.

“Oh?” he inquired curiously, rubbing the massage oil deep into the knot right below her left shoulder blade. “What’s she up to, then?”

“Mmm…” Elizabeth sighed in appreciation at his hands’ motions before answering. “Back in school. Hates her science teacher. Says she knows more than the teacher does.”

“Yeah, I seem to recall that happenin’ a lot back in high school,” Spike agreed, moving his hands lower so that he now kneaded her lower back.

“She seems pretty cheerful, though,” Elizabeth commented. “Kinda blah about her mom and our dad getting divorced, but otherwise cool. I think she just wants to get out of there fast.”

“Unfortunately, she’s still got half ‘f high school to get through,” Spike pointed out.

Elizabeth sighed. “She says she wants to graduate early. Given the general crappiness of Sunnydale High, she can probably pull it off.”

“Good for her, then,” Spike managed a proud smile for the girl that inspired such affectionate, brotherly feelings in him.

“She wants to come visit this summer,” Elizabeth commented, playing with the sheets idly.

“Does she now?” Spike inquired curiously. “You’re not goin’ back home this summer, then?”

Elizabeth rolled onto her back at that so that she could look at him while they discussed this. He eagerly slipped into her arms, holding her body close.

“Not if I’ve got someplace better to be, no,” she said softly. Absentmindedly, her fingers found the silver chain around his neck and began fiddling with the dagger charm she’d put there.

“But no plans?” he pressed, looking deep into her hazel eyes.

“I hadn’t really thought about it much,” she replied coyly. “Wanna help me make plans?” She fluttered her eyelashes at him.

“Wanna shag non-stop all summer?” he teased right back.

“Mmm, good plan,” she decided, pulling him in for a deep kiss.

Her hands slid up into his hair as she rolled beneath him, letting out contented little murmurs when his strong arms wrapped tightly around her, closing that unbearable distance between them…

“Wanna stay here?” he whispered against her ear after they had back pulled away for breath on some telepathic signal. “Or maybe get an apartment? We could travel, too, I s’pose…”

“Mmm, so much Spike, so little time,” Elizabeth mock-lamented. “And,” she added with a wry grin, “did you just ask me to move in with you?”

He blushed slightly. “Well, er…yeah,” he admitted a bit nervously. “If you want to, I mean. If you’re ready. ‘Cause if you’re not, I—”

She cut him off with a fingertip to his lips. “You, me, cozy one bedroom,” she practically purred. “Sounds wonderful…”

He grinned at that. “Got a one-bedroom back at the dorm,” he pointed out.

“Are you asking me to move in with you now?” she joked lightly.

“Practically do already,” he pointed out. “It’d just save you from havin’ to run down the hall every mornin’ to change for class.”

“And leave Willow all alone in our room?” Elizabeth couldn’t help but tease. “I don’t know…”

“Oh, please,” Spike rolled his eyes. “She and Tara just love havin’ that place to themselves, an’ you know it. Hell, what with all ‘f Tara’s roommates, I don’t know how they managed to do anythin’ together before you and I hooked up.”

Elizabeth relented with a delighted smile. “I’d love to move in with you,” she informed him with a quick kiss. “On one condition.” She held up a finger menacingly.

“Uh-oh.” He tried to decipher the hidden emotion in her eyes, but for once she was unreadable. “All right, I give in, kitten. What is it?”

“You have got to get a bigger bed,” she instructed. “’Cause this,” she stretched out beneath him, savoring the vast space they had for maneuvering, “is nice. And a girl gets spoiled, y’know.”

“Think that can be arranged,” Spike agreed with a chuckle. “Just have to pull a few strings with a certain RA…”

“Who happens to be getting an entire huge room to herself for her own sexcapades,” Elizabeth pointed out.

“Hmm, we should call her tomorrow an’ get everything arranged,” he decided.

“Worry about that tomorrow,” Elizabeth agreed, spreading her thighs so that he slipped in between them. “Right now, I want you to remind me why I’m agreeing to move in with you.”

“My pleasure,” he trilled in a husky voice before his lips crashed down over hers once more.

Her body molded to his instinctively, taking him within the cradle of her hips and arms and holding him tightly. Her lips continued to do battle with his, as their limbs slowly began to move in time together, just rocking at first, getting the feel for one another once more.

One of Spike’s hands slipped in between their bodies, finding a small rounded breast and stroking it gently. He loved the feel of the soft flesh’s weight in his palm. She fit his hands so perfectly, like her body was made just for him, like she was made just for him…

Elizabeth groaned when his mouth enclosed her other milky-white mound. Her hands flew over his body, tracing the strong muscles of his shoulders before rediscovering all the sleek lines of his back. She learned him over and over again, caressing gently all the places that made him quiver.

He flattened his tongue and licked the rough surface over her hardened bud as rapidly as he could, eliciting a quick gasp of his name in response. His thumb attended to her other breast, flicking that nipple in perfect counterpoint to his tongue’s actions, drawing out her pleasure in every way he could.

Elizabeth began thrashing beneath him in response. He had rather trickily managed to capture her legs beneath his so she couldn’t clutch onto him that way, and her hands were running up and down his body frantically in response, trying to give him back just a little bit of the pleasure he was giving her.

His hands moved to still her, however. This one time he just wanted to show her, to give her everything… “Hush, luv,” he soothed. He let out a hot stream of air against the wet skin of her breast.

Gooseflesh rose in response, and she gasped in amazement at the sensation.

“That’s right, pet. Just let me make you feel good,” he whispered in a deep, low timbre. Her body relaxed under his hypnotic tones, and he took the opportunity to trail short, wet kisses down her stomach. His tongue dipped playfully into her navel, and he teased her for a while before exploring the soft outlines of her stomach muscles.

Elizabeth couldn’t decide whether she was in heaven or hell. The things he was doing to her were absolutely amazing, but she wanted so much more, and that seemed to be out of her grasp at the moment. His fervent promise bound her to the bed more powerfully than any chains or ropes could’ve, and she found herself completely at his mercy. It was agony to wait for her sweet release, but she knew her captor was benevolent and wouldn’t make her wait too long…

“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” Spike whispered against her heated skin, his voice husky with desire. “Feels like ‘m on fire, achin’, burnin’. And ‘s never enough. I never grow tired of feelin’ you beneath me, surroundin’ me, your scent… Oh god…”

Overcome by his own words, he ground his hips down into the mattress, desperate to release just a fraction of the pressure there.

“Spike…” she whispered softly, equally overcome by the need to be with him. “C’mere, pet…” She held out a hand to him.

His fingers instantly clasped with hers, and he slid back up her body. Their lips met again with renewed intensity as their fingers intertwined, linked, joined…

“Now, Spike,” she murmured against the heat of his lips, her eyelids heavy with her desire for him. “Now…”

He was inside her almost instantly in response, their bodies melding together into one until neither could tell where one began and the other ended. They moved together to a slow, lazy rhythm, holding on to their union for as long as they could manage.

Fingers ghosted over bare skin, lips tasted delicate flesh, limbs tangled together, stroking, caressing, loving…

“’Lizabeth,” Spike gasped for breath, looking deep into her eyes. “Look at me.”

Lazy sloe eyes fluttered open, widening at the intensity of the emotions they perceived in his own cerulean depths.

“You don’t know what you do to me,” he whispered raggedly in response, never once breaking eye contact as he pushed himself to his physical limits, plunging even deeper within her.

An amazed “oh!” escaped her lips. God, he’d never been so deep. She’d never taken him this far inside before. It had never felt this close, this intimate, this…perfect.

“Never been like this for me before,” he continued to babble sweet nonsense to her. “No one’s ever… Oh god, ‘Lizabeth…”

“Spike…” she moaned in agreement as she felt herself reach the peak of ecstasy.

They hovered there, eyes still locked, bodies moving as one. It seemed as if that moment stretched out for eternity while at the same time the world shrunk down so that it only encompassed the two of them.

And then…

Blinding flashes of light, nerves so sensitive that neither had even realized that they existed before flaring to life with sudden pleasure, heat exploding, bodies falling, air rushing from their lungs, waves crashing, everything, everything…

And yet nothing but the two of them.

And, in that moment, that perfect moment, the time was finally right.

“I love you, Elizabeth,” Spike’s voice seemed a cacophony, echoing through her skull pleasurably as if he were in her mind itself. “God, I love you so much…”

And, thus, we come to the end of the second section of this story. (Yes, I do know it was a short one.) The third and longest section will begin next time where we'll meet the few remaining characters that haven't shown up yet and...yeah. Things will happen. (How's that for a vague hint? ~_^) So, review and...yeah. Just review. ^_^