Buffy rolled her eyes with amusement. "I think I remember sleeping through a biology lecture about recessive genes," she said. "That must be where the crazy comes from. We'll blame Dad's side of the family for it."
"We learned about that in science last year," Dawn grinned. "Punkett squares right? And when in doubt, blame Dad," she added, which had been a Summers' women mantra for years.
She got quiet when she replayed her last few comments in her head.
Sitting up properly, Buffy tried her best not to cringe at the current situation. "Dawnie, try not to think about it too much," she offered. "It's complicated and stupid and none of that matters, not really."
She knew she should take her sister's advice, but it was hard not to. It was her life after all. "It's just I didn't learn about it last year in science, because I didn't exist last year. And I've never even met Dad, not really..." she trailed off, stepping out from under Spike's arm and crossing over to the window. "And now that I'm here, I never will. Will I?"
Spike sighed lightly, glancing over at Buffy before pushing off of the desk and following the teen over to the window, stopping a few feet behind her
( ... )
Buffy stood and made her way over to the two most important people in her entire world. She slipped her arm around Spike and leaned her head against his shoulder. "And I'll let him," she promised her sister with a smile. That seemed like the best promise she could make, since they both knew Spike was the one more likely to actually follow through with the threat, though only just. (Buffy hadn't exactly been a fan of the monks. Or the knights. Or Glory's minions. Really, overall it had been a pretty crappy year of dealing with not fun people.)
Dawn turned away from the window so she was facing her sister and her boyfriend, giving them a watery but genuine grin.
"Well it's not like you were the first vampire I had ever seen," she said to Spike in reference to their first encounter. "I mean maybe Mom didn't have a clue, but I did. I mean I had a whole pile of clues even."
"Oh yeah? And what where those that led you to the conclusion that it was The Slayer, with The Stake, in The Graveyard, Nibblet?" he asked with teasing curiousity, wanting to encourage, but not draw attention to the fact that she was talking about her memories not as they were manufactured by a bunch of monks, but as memories as she remembered things happening.
Buffy rolled her eyes and poked Spike's side with a finger. "I don't know how I'm going to survive having both of you running around this place causing trouble," she complained without any real force behind the words. Quickly pointing a finger at each of them in turn, she added, "Which you'd better not, by the way, or you'll have me to answer to." The last was mostly for Dawn's benefit, though it did apply to Spike as well. He tended to listen when she threatened to put a stake in his sex life.
"Well Mom may not have noticed Buffy going out the window every night, and Angel jumping on the roof all the time, but I did and I totally saw him in game face once. Also, I may or may not have snooped in Buffy's room and found all her slaying stuff," she admitted.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Dawn told her sister with faux innocence, which was even less effectual than usual considering she just admitted to snooping around her sister's weapons when she was 12.
"Yes, I don't know what you're talkin' about luv," Spike agreed just as disingenuously, shooting Dawn a promising wink.
"If you knew, I'm surprised you didn't try to use it against to your advantage," he said with a conspiratorial grin, even though he really didn't like the idea of Captain Forehead going though a teenage Buffy's window.
Buffy shot Spike a slightly warning glare and then turned a stern glance Dawn's way. "Is that how my favorite crossbow got broken after we moved to Sunnydale?" she inquired with typical older sister narrowed eyes. Not that there was anything she could or would do about it, she just felt it best to know these things. Years after the fact. It was part of sisterly bonding!
"We already established that I can't get in trouble for something that happened in another dimension," Dawn reminded her sister, quite enjoying this little loop hole, or get out jail free card as it were.
"I'd be lying if I said I never thought about it," she told Spike, suddenly more serious. "But after what happened in LA..." she trailed off for a moment, her voice softer when she spoke again. "When she came back she didn't talk about it anymore. I didn't want Buffy to get sent away again, so I didn't talk about it either." She looked up at her sister. "I never thought you were crazy, even back then, I believed you."
The arm he had slung over Buffy's shoulders tightened slightly as he looked down at the blonde, knowing what it was that Dawn was talking about and knowing it was a sensitive subject.
Buffy was quiet for a long moment, watching Dawn as she remembered those horrible days from before even Sunnydale. "That means a lot, Dawnie," she finally said softly, giving her sister a smile. It hurt so much to think back to that time, to how her family had abandoned her, that hearing Dawn say those words... It really did help.
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She got quiet when she replayed her last few comments in her head.
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"Well it's not like you were the first vampire I had ever seen," she said to Spike in reference to their first encounter. "I mean maybe Mom didn't have a clue, but I did. I mean I had a whole pile of clues even."
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"I don't know what you're talking about," Dawn told her sister with faux innocence, which was even less effectual than usual considering she just admitted to snooping around her sister's weapons when she was 12.
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"If you knew, I'm surprised you didn't try to use it against to your advantage," he said with a conspiratorial grin, even though he really didn't like the idea of Captain Forehead going though a teenage Buffy's window.
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"I'd be lying if I said I never thought about it," she told Spike, suddenly more serious. "But after what happened in LA..." she trailed off for a moment, her voice softer when she spoke again. "When she came back she didn't talk about it anymore. I didn't want Buffy to get sent away again, so I didn't talk about it either." She looked up at her sister. "I never thought you were crazy, even back then, I believed you."
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