Thank you! I agree -- I adore Spike and Dawn friendship stories but I don't think there are enough of them out there! By what we saw of them in season five, and the little bit at the beginning of six, I feel like it could easily have gone like this.

I kind of feel that Dawn's always been more observant than the others give her credit for -- she had Spike's love for Buffy pegged before anyone -- so it makes sense to me that she would see through these things. Whether it's her Key-wisdom or just the fact that she watches while the others ignore her, who knows. So thank you for commenting on that.

I'm glad you liked!