ADVANCEMENT OF THE SPECIES
Part 5: The Acid Test
by perletwo
"Rupert Giles?" Jean said, in tones of astonishment. "He's kind of famous in some academic circles. I heard him deliver a paper once, on the rash of paranormal occurrences reported during the Salem witch hunts."
Rogue smiled. "Yeah, that's the kind'a thing he'd likely be an expert on. But he's not so academic anymore; turns out he's gone into retail..."
"Rupes, this is my friend Rogue. Please don't stake 'er; she's a mutant, not a vampire. We think. The mutant part, I mean. We know she's not a vampire," Spike rambled.
"Spike? What *are* you talking about?"
Ah was lookin' back an' forth between 'em like ah was on the front row at Wimbledon.
"Rogue, this is Rupert Giles. He was my sister's Watcher," Dawn explained.
"Dawn! You've told this young woman about - about - "
" - about Buffy, and about her dying? Yeah, Giles. Sue me." Dawn plopped back down on the stone bench thingie. "She's not a demon or a vamp or any other kind of bad guy, Giles. She's just a normal girl who kinda got sucked into Hellmouth craziness. I can relate."
"An', an' ah'm really just passin' through, Mr. Giles," ah said. "Ah'm tryin' to make mah way up to Alaska, someplace there's as few people as possible so ah can't hurt anybody else."
"Alaska? Really? Cool! I've never been anyplace," Dawn bubbled. "Not really, I mean. I've got memories of family vacations and such, but they're all phony, of course."
"Really, Dawn, I'm not at all certain you should be telling all your life's secrets to a - a total - "
"Stranger? We know Rogue pretty well actually, Rupes, though I'll certainly give you the strange part..." Dawn an' ah looked at each other, an' started throwin' pretzels at him. "OI! Okaay, okay, sorry. Geez! Women!"
Giles harrumphed a bit more, but Spike ran him down. "An' secondly, Rupert, nobody but you's ever said anythin' about Dawn's life had to be a secret. Buffy's death, obviously, but Rogue's shown us we can trust her with that. Oh, Dawn *can* keep everything real about her life bottled up inside, but it's a mighty lonely way t'live. Unless you're plannin' on stayin' with 'er 24-7 just in case she needs to blow off steam."
"I'm not Buffy, Giles," Dawn said softly. "I can't live my life like her. And you can't make me her."
"Dawn..."
"Before you get off the subject, Rupes, lemme just get Point Number Three in here, all ri'? Three. Before you go condemnin' Rogue, you might wanna just ask'er why she's worried about hurtin' anyone," Spike interrupted.
"Anyone *else,*" Dawn added, and Spike nodded once.
"Miss - ahh - Rogue?" Giles turned his attention on me, an' ah squirmed.
"It's like Spike was sayin', Mr. Giles. Ah'm most likely a mutant. Ah guess. Don't know how you go about provin' that, but ah've got this - power. Curse. Ah don' know what t'call it. But it's not good. Whenever anyone touches mah skin, ah - ah suck this energy out of 'em, it's hard to describe."
"But a vamp name of Griffin found it out the hard way when 'e bit 'er out behind the Bronze earlier tonight, Rupes," Spike explained. "Hence the game face on the girl. She absorbed his mind an' personality for awhile too, about 15 minutes or so before she came back to 'erself. I'd staked Griff before I realized things were unusual, an' I was curious. Also afraid she'd start tryin' to hunt. So I brought her back here and fed her."
"And you're quite sure she's not really a vampire?" He was lookin' at me like ah was a bug under a microscope.
"She's got a pulse, Giles," Dawn said. "And she's nice. Let me cry all over her and everything."
"Dawn...if you felt the need to cry, you know -" He broke off when Dawn did her eye-rolling number. "Erm. Yes. Well. Miss - ah - Rogue - would you mind -" He started to approach, and ah hopped back in self-defense.
"Rupert! Wot'd I just finish sayin' about the girl's skin?" Spike chided, clearly enjoying Giles' discomfort.
"Ah. Quite." Giles, unruffled, reached into the pockets of his blazer and came up with a pair of thin white cotton gloves.
"You carry those around all the time?" Dawn wrinkled her nose while Giles put on the gloves.
"Certainly. Anya and I often take possession of very rare and delicate artifacts with magickal history at the shop. Museum-quality pieces some of them, needing particular care," he explained, and approached me hesitantly.
"May I?" he asked, reaching for mah throat.
Ah glanced at Spike; he nodded, so ah relaxed an' leaned mah head back a bit for him. He put two fingers on the big vein in mah throat, an' his eyes widened.
"Good heavens. You are indeed alive," he said.
"Tolja," said Dawn.
"Sorry to be so skeptical, my dear. But I've been studying vampire lore my entire adult life and I've never seen anything quite like this," he apologized.
"S'okay. Ah've never *been* anythin' quite like this." He smiled, an' ah started to relax an' like him a bit more than ah had at first.
"So. Rupes. How's about we 'ave us a word in the kitchen?"
Spike's arm around Giles' shoulders was just tight enough that refusin' was outta the question, ah could tell. They went into the little kitchen area an' started whisperin', but ah don't think they realized ah still had the vampire's sharp hearin' an' could make out every word.
"See, they do this a lot, the Scoobies. Go off in the next room and whisper like I'm some kinda -"
"Shhhhh!" Ah waved Dawn down, strainin' to hear an' still stay casual about it. "Ah'm tryin' t'listen in here...Giles is all upset 'cause you snuck out without tellin' or leavin' a note."
"No duh, we knew that from the way he came tearing in here..." she whispered back. "What're they *saying*?"
"Rupert. You know perfectly well Dawn's safe here." Spike was slouchin' against another stone thingie he'd moved into position as a kitchen island, back to us.
"Yes. Yes. I'm willing to admit that, after all we've been through the last few months, Spike. But it's the time between *leaving there* and *getting here* that worries me. Along with not knowing she was gone in the first place." Giles was almost, but not quite, pacing in the small space.
"All ri' then. Wot's the trouble, Rupert? I know there is some. Anxiety's pourin' off you, I can smell it in your sweat."
("As soon as Spike said that, ah realized ah could smell it too. Weird. Is that what wolf-form's like for you, Rahne?" Rogue asked, and the young mutant nodded, riveted by the story.)
Ah leaned in carefully toward Dawn. "There's some kind'a trouble, ah think he thought you were caught up in it when they realized you'd skipped out."
"H'mmph. Wouldn't be the first time, that's for sure," she whispered back.
"Shhh!"
Giles'd stopped his prowlin', an' wiped his face with both hands. "There was...a young girl, about Dawn's age...mauled, by some kind of animal or monster...She'd been in the water, I saw them bring her out...she was...unrecognizable, Spike. And when I realized Dawn wasn't where she ought to be..."
"Yeah. Yeah, I see, Rupert." He took a deep breath an' let it out slowly. "All ri' then. Let's get the young ladies safely distracted an' us set to findin' your beastie, then."
Giles' eyebrows raised. "Just like that, Spike? No disaffected posing, no protestations of how much you hate us Scoobies? You're slipping, man."
"I think we're past all that, aren't we Rupes? Since the last apocalypse, I mean." Spike pulled out his cigarettes and silver lighter, busied himself with them so he wouldn't have to look Giles in the eye, ah think. Certainly he never got around to smokin' one that ah saw. "Promised Buffy I'd protect Dawn. Just call me a proactive protector, all ri'? Now. What water was this gel in again?"
"There's a girl our age been killed, Giles saw 'em get 'er body outta some water," ah whispered. "He thought it might be you. He an' Spike're fixin' to -"
A leather-gloved hand plunked down heavily on my shoulder. Spike. When'd he find the gloves?
"Nibblet. Rogue. Got a project for ya," he said, voice just a little too hearty. "I've been meanin' to make the lower level of the crypt a little more habitable for awhile now, ever since Dawn started hangin' out here."
Lower level? But Dawn just nodded, like she knew what he was talking about so I just...rolled with the punches.
"I'd like to make it into a proper bedroom where Dawn can sleep over if she wishes, or if the Slayerettes need a place to hide her. But goin' out in the daytime to shop the furniture stores is a bit of a problem, what with the sun makin' me all dusty an' all. So I'd be glad if you two girls would help me out here. I've got a nice stash of poker winnings I've been savin' up for the purpose I can send along with you."
Dawn frowned. "Umm, Spike? I don't think the furniture stores'll deliver to SunnyVale Cemetery."
"Not a problem, Dawn," Giles chimed in, also a little too fake-cheery. "Spike and I were just discussing this, and I think it's an excellent idea. You can have them deliver the furniture to the shop, and we'll all help Spike move it into the crypt via the tunnels."
Ah looked over at Dawn, hopin' she could read the question in m'demon face. She grimaced back understandin', then nodded once. Ah nodded back. "Hey, who are we to pass up a chance to spend somebody else's money? C'mon, Rogue. Let's hit the stores."
"Rogue, I'm counting on you to make sure Bite Size here doesn't set me up with frills an' Backstreet Boys posters an' teddy bears," Spike said. Dawn stuck her tongue out at him.
"Ahhh, small problem, guys? Ah don' think ah can go out lookin' like this - " And just like that, as soon as ah said it, the pain in mah face faded away to nothin. Dawn lit up in a smile.
"Cool! Rogue, you're back to normal! And you're *pretty!* Look -" she rooted through her bag again an' came up with a blusher compact. Ah looked in the mirror an' sure enough, mah same ole face was starin' back at me, none the worse for wear.
"Got a reflection then, ducks?" Spike peeked over my shoulder. "Guess it's not just you learnin' t'do the shift, then. Ready to risk sunlight? I'd call that the acid test."
Ah twisted around t'look at him. "What happens if ah've still got any vampire left in me? Won't ah go poof?"
"Not all at once, ducks. First you'll start to smoke, then you'll catch fire, an' if you're dumb enough to stick it out long enough, *then* you'll go poof. There'll be plenty of warnin' for you to get back inside," he said. "But frankly, I don't think anything'll happen at all. Your scent's shifted to human."
Ah glanced nervously from one face to the other. "Okay, ah'm game. Ah think."
Dawn followed me out the crypt door, kinda circlin' me nervously. She wound up standin' half in an' half outta the door, back up against the jamb an' one hand on the knob, ready an' poised to yank me back indoors at the first sign of trouble.
It was right about then ah realized how scared she must be of losin' anybody else she cares about. Ah mean, if she was that nervous about losin' a friend she'd just made, what'd it have done to her if she lost somebody she really depended on, like Spike or Giles?
But as it turned out, she needn't've worried. Ah handed her mah coat an' stood out in the full sun, with li'l bits of skin showin' even, for a good five minutes an' nothin' happened. Spike said ah'd've been smokin' by then if anythin' was gonna happen, so we figured all the vampire energy'd drained out of me or whatever it is it does when ah go back to normal. "Guess ah'm all me again, guys," ah called into the crypt.
Dawn cheered. "This calls for a celebration, Rogue - let's go SHOPPING!"
Giles and Spike looked at each other with the same thing written on their faces, though neither of 'em actually said it - WOMEN!
"The only place you're going to be celebrating is in school, my dear," Giles said, stepping up to take hold of Dawn's elbow. She pouted up at him. "I'll give you a ride. Rogue, you're welcome to come along and drop her off with me, and pass the morning at my shop. I'd be quite glad of the company, and I'm sure my partner Anya would be pleased to meet you."
Giles was drivin' a little low-slung red sports car that just screamed "midlife crisis!" Dawn an' I just barely fit in the thing, but we got in.
When we pulled up at the school though, the gates were blocked off with a police barricade.
Giles parked an' got out of the car. "What's going on here, officer?"
The cop glanced inside the car at us. "School's closed for today, sir. I'll have to ask you to move along and make other arrangements for your daughters."
"Only one is my...godchild, and enrolled here. The other is our houseguest from down South, we had already made arrangements...May I ask what's happened to bring the police out to enforce a school closing?" he answered.
The cop leaned in close. "There's been a murder at the school, sir. Sometime last night. Quite a bit of property damage to the school, too. We think it's a gang on PCP. Can't let the students back in until we're sure it's safe."
Dawn, Giles an' I all turned to look past the gates. The cops were swarmin' all over what looked like the gymnasium area.
"Anyone I know, Officer?" Dawn piped up.
"I'm not at liberty to say, miss, I don't believe she's been identified yet," the cop said, tippin' his hat to her.
Giles looked even grimmer at that li'l slip of the cop's, an' ah wondered if this was related to the girl ah heard him an' Spike talkin' about. Obviously it wasn't the same one, or Giles'd never have brought us to the school in the first place.
"Now, the two of you please stay home and stay out of trouble until Anya relieves me at the Magic Box, all right?" Giles admonished as he pulled up in front of Dawn's house.
"Awww, but GI-iiiiles! Shopping!" Dawn pouted at him prettily.
"You need to collect Spike's poker winnings before you can go anyway, dear," he pointed out, and kissed her cheek. "Now be a good girl, preserve a few years of my life and the pigment in my hair for just one day, please? Rogue, it's lovely meeting you. Few surprises in Sunnydale have been as pleasant as this." Ah waved an' smiled as we hit the pavement an' he pulled the Midlifecrisis-mobile back out into traffic.
"So, you do realize they've just cooked up this whole shoppin' thing to keep us outta their way while they go play detective about these two dead girls, right?" Ah followed Dawn up to the stoop.
"No duh. I mean, Giles offering help to a vampire? I think that's one of the signs of the apocalypse. Not that we don't have one of *those* every other week." She unlocked the door an' we went inside. "Hope you don't mind hanging here with me for a few hours."
"Nah, actually ah was thinkin' of blowin' you off an' headin' back to mah penthouse suite at the Ritz-Carlton..."
Jean put a couple of slices of bread in the toaster. "Now why do I think running up a shopping bill's not the worst trouble the two of you were going to manage to get into?"
Rogue just smiled and sipped at her coffee, and Rahne giggled.