Inward Reflections - August 29th
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 29
Title: Inward Reflections
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SG-1
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or SG-1 people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Daniel and Buffy have to make a decision.
Notes: Follows Go Joyce! Based on Challenge 8637 at TtH
Seasons: November 2001 (Season 6 after “Wrecked”/Season 5)
Characters: Daniel, Sam, Buffy, Willow, Dawn, Xander, Anya, Spike
Word Count: 2720
“Why did this happen?” Buffy asked the room. “Until sometime last year she was a ball of energy, why would her father not be my father?”
“Because your mother and father weren’t having unprotected sex at the time,” Anya supplied helpfully.
“Why would that matter?” Xander said. “Dawn was created in Buffy’s blood. Everything before sometime last year is a bunch of memories…”
Anya sighed, straightening as she prepared to educate them. “Life - especially sentient life - is an energy that cannot be created from nothing. I’ve been through what Giles found on the monks that protected the Key. They would have had to have access to a source of potential life that never made it to realization.”
“Like a miscarriage?” Willow asked.
“Yes, that would work, or something at the earliest potential for human life, pre-fetus.”
“A zygote!” Xander said.
The room looked at him strangely.
“High school biology,” he told them sheepishly.
“All they had to do was use that potential group of cells to create the spell to put the Key in human form.”
“So fifteen years ago, my mom really had sex with a stranger and it resulted in a bunch of cells with potential. Then two years ago, the monks took those cells and created Dawn?” Buffy summed up.
“Yes.” Anya nodded her approval. “Whatever else Dawn is, she is biologically Doctor Jackson’s daughter.”
“We can’t let her go with them,” Willow said. “He doesn’t know what she is, or how dangerous she could be.”
“Do you have a plan, Buffy?” Xander asked.
Buffy tensed. She wished they would stop expecting her to solve everything.
“Maybe it’s best that he doesn’t know that she’s not just a fifteen year old girl,” Anya told them. “Do I need to remind you what Buffy did when she found out Dawn wasn’t real?”
Buffy shifted, unable to deny the claim.
“All of us treat her differently, because she’s not just Dawn, she’s the Key. The reason Buffy died. And a responsibility we all had to shoulder over the last year.” She shrugged. “Maybe her father wasn’t your father so there would be someone to take care of her in the event you couldn’t.”
“Buffy has taken great care of Dawn,” Willow defended.
“You still live here,” Anya shot back. “And this house is hemorrhaging money and none is coming in - from either of you.”
Willow’s mouth snapped shut and she focused on her hands. Her part in why Dawn could be taken away suddenly becoming clearer.
“Ahn,” Xander said softly.
“Don’t give me that,” Anya snapped. “You’re all worried about one person here and it’s the wrong person.”
“Dawn-” Buffy started.
“No one here is worried about Dawn,” Anya said coming to her feet. “They’re worried about you, that without Dawn around you’ll get yourself killed to go back to the heaven we ripped you out of.”
Buffy waited for either one of her friends to deny the suggestion. But the room was deathly quiet. Aren’t I doing the same thing? She wondered. Aren’t I holding on to Dawn for me, not because it’s what’s best for her?
88888888
Dawn entered the house after school to find three people waiting for her. Buffy, Doctor Jackson, and a woman she did not recognize.
“Dawn,” Buffy said. She stood and rubbed her palms on her thighs.
“What’s going on?” she asked rudely, “who are you?”
“I’m Lara Duncan, I’m a social worker.”
“She’s your case worker,” Daniel said.
“So that’s it, you both give up and she’s here to take me away?” Dawn sneered, pain instantly transforming to white-hot fury. “Do I get time to pack or are you just going to cart me off with what I have?”
Daniel stood. “Ms. Duncan isn’t taking you anywhere. I’ve claimed my parental rights, so you’re coming with me.” He swallowed and waited for her reaction.
Dawn’s face blanked. “Why?”
“Buffy and I talked it over. We don’t think this is the best environment for you.” He glanced at Buffy. “For either of you. Buffy is going to start treatment for her own problems and start looking for a job.”
“I’m also selling the house,” Buffy said. “I’m going to see about finding an apartment or something - something I can afford.”
“All alone, just like you want,” Dawn scoffed. “Everything is coming up Buffy.”
“Stop!” Buffy ordered tiredly. “Have you even made it to an entire week of school since mom died?”
“Screw you, all of you!” she turned and rushed up the stairs.
Buffy waved Daniel to stay. “Finish with the paperwork. This is something that needs to come from me.”
Daniel nodded and sat back down.
Buffy took a deep breath and climbed the stairs. She stopped at Dawn’s door and knocked. The only answer was a thud as something struck the door. She gripped the handle, finding it locked she gave a bit of super-strength and twisted the handle.
Dawn had swept things off her dress and desk, littering the floor with various things.
“You freak!” Dawn screeched. “You broke the doorknob.”
“Stop, Dawn,” she said. “Just, stop. Because this isn’t your fault and it isn’t his.”
“No, this is all because some monks dropped memories in our heads about the last sixteen years.”
“Not really. According to Anya, Mom and Doctor Jackson had to have done…that for the monks to have had anything to turn into…you.” She sighed and sat down on Dawn’s bed. “Apparently, for a human form to exist, there had to have been the potential for human life.”
Dawn frowned. “What?”
“You know the egg-sperm thing? It had to happen for you to be here. Whatever else, he really did have a night with Mom. To him, this is any other long-lost daughter story. Married woman never wanted to know the truth, they didn’t really share any information…so he didn’t know about you because that was what Mom set in motion.” She sighed. “So you’re going to go with him, because he can do what I can’t - what the Scoobies can’t…”
“What’s that?”
“He’s going to get to know you, for who you are, instead of what you were.”
Dawn blinked several times. “Just like that, you’re going to get rid of me?” Her sadness and pain were evident,
“No. We’re going to talk every night and you’re going to go to school. And I’m going to get better.” She shook her head. “Because I’m not okay, Dawnie, I’m alive but it feels…wrong. It’s hard to explain, but I need to fix me, because I can’t be there for you when I’m like this. I’m the Slayer and somehow I can’t stop being that, but it’s going to get me killed again if I don’t fix whatever is screwed up about me.”
Dawn nodded, tears in her eyes. “Just, do me one favor.”
“Anything.”
“Don’t hurt Spike,” she whispered. “He loves you and all he did this summer was take care of me and make sure your friends didn’t get killed while they patrolled.”
“He’s a vampire,” Buffy argued weakly.
Dawn gave her a hard look. “If Spike had a soul and were going to lose it, he would have already.”
Buffy looked at her alarmed. “What?”
“Just stay with me. The curse for the soul had a loophole, one moment of pure happiness, right?”
“Y-yes.”
“Spike’s wouldn’t be getting you into bed. It would have been when you pretended to be the Buffy-bot and kissed him or when you invited him into the house because you trusted him.”
“How do you know about that?”
Dawn grinned. “Spike spent a good deal of time drunk when you were dead, when he wasn’t looking after your friends. Those were two things he kept bringing up.”
“And you think obsession means that he loved me?”
Dawn’s lips pulled down. “Obsession with you wouldn’t explain taking care of me when you were dead. Friendship barely made Xander and Willow take care of me, because I was the reason you were dead.”
“That’s not-”
“Yes, that is how they see it,” Dawn countered. “You forget, I always seem to walk in on conversations at the most important bits.”
Buffy seemed to consider.
“And if either of us had known what they planned we wouldn’t have let them do it. We would have killed all of them before we let them risk you coming back…against your will.” Dawn sat down next to Buffy.
“What if Spike got the chip out or it stopped working?”
Dawn shrugged. “I imagine you’d both have a field day knocking each other around. Sparring with words and fists.” She shadow boxed a few punches. “I think you’d finally be on even footing with him.”
“But he’s a vampire.”
“And I’m a mystical Key. And Willow is an addict. And Anya is a thousand year old vengeance demon. And you’re a screwed up Slayer. What exactly is your argument?”
Buffy wrapped an arm around Dawn’s shoulders. “Think you can apply all that brain power to your school work?”
“Probably,” Dawn admitted.
“You understand I’m not sending you away-”
“I know. It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.”
88888888
Daniel paced the floor after the social worker left. Dawn and Buffy, after the initial racket, had gone quiet. He looked at the copies of paperwork sitting on the coffee table. He could barely believe what he was doing. Sam was at the motel, waiting for the SGC to complete their background checks. She had also collected some of Dawn’s DNA to have an independent lab test the sample against his. But he knew she was his daughter, it was obvious in every way except her attitude.
Ms. Duncan had pulled Dawn’s school file in anticipation of the answer. He frowned, trying to remember the closest high school to his house. The relator had said it was in walking distance, but he could not recall seeing it.
Finally, there was commotion at the top of the stairs. Buffy came down with two large bags. Dawn followed a second later with a duffle, backpack, and purse. She stopped halfway down the stairs and plucked a picture off the wall, putting it in her duffle, then continued to the bottom.
Buffy put the suitcases down and turned to Dawn. “Are you sure this is all you want to take. I can box up-”
“No. I got the important things before Willow and Tara took over Mom’s room. So they’re in my jewelry box. Sell whatever you can, give away the rest.”
“That was quick,” Daniel noted, surprised.
“I don’t like long goodbyes,” Dawn told him, “or insincere ones. So Buffy will tell the others tomorrow morning, once we’re far enough away.” She looked at Buffy. “I want to call Tara, she at least deserves to know since she’s not here. And I want to say bye to Spike in person.”
“I’ll go get him,” Buffy offered.
Dawn nodded and headed for the phone.
Daniel looked between the two as they left him alone. He pulled out his cell phone and called Sam.
“Carter,” she answered after one ring.
“Sam, it’s me. Looks like we’ll be leaving today.”
There was a moment of surprise. “So soon?”
“Looks like Dawn and Buffy are trying to get through this as fast as possible so they don’t back out or get emotional.” He scratched his eyebrow. “Any results?”
“Background check hit something and was immediately marked as non-threatening but redacted.”
“What?”
“Buffy’s, not Dawn’s. Looks like Dawn has made very little waves until last year when she started popping up as witness to some incidents her sister was involved in. That’s all I’ve got.” She paused. “Are you sure, Daniel?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to book a flight out for me. You should rent a car, get to know her on the way home. Without other people nearby.”
“In case she doesn’t like me?”
“She’ll like you just fine.” Sam sighed. “It’s in case she needs a few minutes to cry or get sick…”
“Thanks, Sam.”
“Let me get a flight, I’ll be over shortly.” She hung up with him.
Dawn entered the living room, wiping at tears. She swallowed and straightened.
“Who’s Tara?” he asked.
“Willow’s ex-girlfriend. She and Spike are the only ones who treat me like I’m worth knowing. She moved out a few weeks ago.”
“How many people live here?”
Dawn shrugged. “A few.” She sat down on the couch, looking at the paperwork. It all looked so formal and official. “So where do you live?” Dawn asked.
“Colorado Springs, Colorado,” Daniel answered. “I work for the Air Force at Cheyenne Mountain.”
“Odd choice of jobs for an archeologist,” Dawn noted.
He looked at her in surprise.
“Willow did some background on you. Buffy shared some of what they’d learned.”
“Like what?”
“You’ve been published, but not in almost a decade. Never married, no kids - as far as the legitimate kind, you hold a few of degrees, you’re thirty-six, and had a night in Vegas with my mom.”
He grimaced.
She grinned. “At least it explains where I got my blue eyes.” She rubbed her cast, wondering how much he knew about her.
“I’m accident prone,” Daniel announced after a moment.
Dawn’s eyes shot up in surprise. “What?”
“Of everyone on my team, I’m the one most likely to end up injured just by walking into a room.”
Dawn chuckled. “Do you happen to stick your foot in your mouth when you’re nervous?”
“Often.” He grinned.
“Well, that’s a couple more traits explained. On a good day I only walk into a wall, on a bad day…” She lifted her cast covered arm.
“How did that happen?” he asked as he sat down.
Dawn shook her head. “Minor car accident.”
“How long until it comes off?”
“Doctor wants to check it in a month.”
“Luckily, one of my best friends is a doctor. She’s also got a daughter, Cassandra, who just turned sixteen.”
“Already got someone to pawn me off to,” she guessed.
“No, I was just-” Daniel stopped. She was not completely wrong. Dawn would spend a lot of time with Cassie and Janet given the amount of time he spent going through the Stargate. “I’m close with only a handful of people, she is the only one who has a kid.”
“And Sam?”
“We work together, we’ve been friends for five years. As far as family goes…they’re pretty much it.”
“Not so different than here,” Dawn noted. She looked around the living room, letting the memories wash over her.
88888888
Spike started in surprise at the appearance of the Slayer. He had been awake for a few minutes when she came in. He paused in his raid of the refrigerator.
“What’s goin’ on?” he asked.
She did not answer. Instead, she covered her mouth with her hand and started crying. Full, anguished sobs spilled from her.
Not sure what happened, he grabbed her arm and pulled her to sit down.
“Is it Dawn?”
Buffy nodded, then shook her head.
“Bloody hell. You’re sending mixed signals here, luv.”
She took a shuddering breath. “Dawn is going with her father,” she admitted quietly. She looked up into his eyes. “And I’m relieved. And I shouldn’t feel that way.”
“You and Dawn deserve the best,” he told her softly, brushing her face away from her face. “Maybe you just aren’t the best thing for each other.”
Buffy wanted to be angry with him, to defend herself, but she was willing to admit in this one instance he was right. “But I’m supposed to…”
“Supposed to what?” he asked. “Work at some menial minimum wage job just to keep a roof over your head and food on the table? Every extra cent going to the debt left from the last year? Go out every night slaying?”
She sighed, wiping at her tears. “I’m supposed to be her sister.”
“Exactly, not mother and father and sister.” He took her hand, rubbing it gently. “Do you take care of Dawn because she is the Key? Or your sister? Or because your mom left her in your care? Or is it because you’re the Slayer and she was given to you to protect?”
Buffy looked away, because she did not have an answer. “Why did you protect Dawn when I was…gone?”
“Because you asked,” he told her.
Title: Inward Reflections
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/SG-1
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or SG-1 people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Daniel and Buffy have to make a decision.
Notes: Follows Go Joyce! Based on Challenge 8637 at TtH
Seasons: November 2001 (Season 6 after “Wrecked”/Season 5)
Characters: Daniel, Sam, Buffy, Willow, Dawn, Xander, Anya, Spike
Word Count: 2720
“Why did this happen?” Buffy asked the room. “Until sometime last year she was a ball of energy, why would her father not be my father?”
“Because your mother and father weren’t having unprotected sex at the time,” Anya supplied helpfully.
“Why would that matter?” Xander said. “Dawn was created in Buffy’s blood. Everything before sometime last year is a bunch of memories…”
Anya sighed, straightening as she prepared to educate them. “Life - especially sentient life - is an energy that cannot be created from nothing. I’ve been through what Giles found on the monks that protected the Key. They would have had to have access to a source of potential life that never made it to realization.”
“Like a miscarriage?” Willow asked.
“Yes, that would work, or something at the earliest potential for human life, pre-fetus.”
“A zygote!” Xander said.
The room looked at him strangely.
“High school biology,” he told them sheepishly.
“All they had to do was use that potential group of cells to create the spell to put the Key in human form.”
“So fifteen years ago, my mom really had sex with a stranger and it resulted in a bunch of cells with potential. Then two years ago, the monks took those cells and created Dawn?” Buffy summed up.
“Yes.” Anya nodded her approval. “Whatever else Dawn is, she is biologically Doctor Jackson’s daughter.”
“We can’t let her go with them,” Willow said. “He doesn’t know what she is, or how dangerous she could be.”
“Do you have a plan, Buffy?” Xander asked.
Buffy tensed. She wished they would stop expecting her to solve everything.
“Maybe it’s best that he doesn’t know that she’s not just a fifteen year old girl,” Anya told them. “Do I need to remind you what Buffy did when she found out Dawn wasn’t real?”
Buffy shifted, unable to deny the claim.
“All of us treat her differently, because she’s not just Dawn, she’s the Key. The reason Buffy died. And a responsibility we all had to shoulder over the last year.” She shrugged. “Maybe her father wasn’t your father so there would be someone to take care of her in the event you couldn’t.”
“Buffy has taken great care of Dawn,” Willow defended.
“You still live here,” Anya shot back. “And this house is hemorrhaging money and none is coming in - from either of you.”
Willow’s mouth snapped shut and she focused on her hands. Her part in why Dawn could be taken away suddenly becoming clearer.
“Ahn,” Xander said softly.
“Don’t give me that,” Anya snapped. “You’re all worried about one person here and it’s the wrong person.”
“Dawn-” Buffy started.
“No one here is worried about Dawn,” Anya said coming to her feet. “They’re worried about you, that without Dawn around you’ll get yourself killed to go back to the heaven we ripped you out of.”
Buffy waited for either one of her friends to deny the suggestion. But the room was deathly quiet. Aren’t I doing the same thing? She wondered. Aren’t I holding on to Dawn for me, not because it’s what’s best for her?
88888888
Dawn entered the house after school to find three people waiting for her. Buffy, Doctor Jackson, and a woman she did not recognize.
“Dawn,” Buffy said. She stood and rubbed her palms on her thighs.
“What’s going on?” she asked rudely, “who are you?”
“I’m Lara Duncan, I’m a social worker.”
“She’s your case worker,” Daniel said.
“So that’s it, you both give up and she’s here to take me away?” Dawn sneered, pain instantly transforming to white-hot fury. “Do I get time to pack or are you just going to cart me off with what I have?”
Daniel stood. “Ms. Duncan isn’t taking you anywhere. I’ve claimed my parental rights, so you’re coming with me.” He swallowed and waited for her reaction.
Dawn’s face blanked. “Why?”
“Buffy and I talked it over. We don’t think this is the best environment for you.” He glanced at Buffy. “For either of you. Buffy is going to start treatment for her own problems and start looking for a job.”
“I’m also selling the house,” Buffy said. “I’m going to see about finding an apartment or something - something I can afford.”
“All alone, just like you want,” Dawn scoffed. “Everything is coming up Buffy.”
“Stop!” Buffy ordered tiredly. “Have you even made it to an entire week of school since mom died?”
“Screw you, all of you!” she turned and rushed up the stairs.
Buffy waved Daniel to stay. “Finish with the paperwork. This is something that needs to come from me.”
Daniel nodded and sat back down.
Buffy took a deep breath and climbed the stairs. She stopped at Dawn’s door and knocked. The only answer was a thud as something struck the door. She gripped the handle, finding it locked she gave a bit of super-strength and twisted the handle.
Dawn had swept things off her dress and desk, littering the floor with various things.
“You freak!” Dawn screeched. “You broke the doorknob.”
“Stop, Dawn,” she said. “Just, stop. Because this isn’t your fault and it isn’t his.”
“No, this is all because some monks dropped memories in our heads about the last sixteen years.”
“Not really. According to Anya, Mom and Doctor Jackson had to have done…that for the monks to have had anything to turn into…you.” She sighed and sat down on Dawn’s bed. “Apparently, for a human form to exist, there had to have been the potential for human life.”
Dawn frowned. “What?”
“You know the egg-sperm thing? It had to happen for you to be here. Whatever else, he really did have a night with Mom. To him, this is any other long-lost daughter story. Married woman never wanted to know the truth, they didn’t really share any information…so he didn’t know about you because that was what Mom set in motion.” She sighed. “So you’re going to go with him, because he can do what I can’t - what the Scoobies can’t…”
“What’s that?”
“He’s going to get to know you, for who you are, instead of what you were.”
Dawn blinked several times. “Just like that, you’re going to get rid of me?” Her sadness and pain were evident,
“No. We’re going to talk every night and you’re going to go to school. And I’m going to get better.” She shook her head. “Because I’m not okay, Dawnie, I’m alive but it feels…wrong. It’s hard to explain, but I need to fix me, because I can’t be there for you when I’m like this. I’m the Slayer and somehow I can’t stop being that, but it’s going to get me killed again if I don’t fix whatever is screwed up about me.”
Dawn nodded, tears in her eyes. “Just, do me one favor.”
“Anything.”
“Don’t hurt Spike,” she whispered. “He loves you and all he did this summer was take care of me and make sure your friends didn’t get killed while they patrolled.”
“He’s a vampire,” Buffy argued weakly.
Dawn gave her a hard look. “If Spike had a soul and were going to lose it, he would have already.”
Buffy looked at her alarmed. “What?”
“Just stay with me. The curse for the soul had a loophole, one moment of pure happiness, right?”
“Y-yes.”
“Spike’s wouldn’t be getting you into bed. It would have been when you pretended to be the Buffy-bot and kissed him or when you invited him into the house because you trusted him.”
“How do you know about that?”
Dawn grinned. “Spike spent a good deal of time drunk when you were dead, when he wasn’t looking after your friends. Those were two things he kept bringing up.”
“And you think obsession means that he loved me?”
Dawn’s lips pulled down. “Obsession with you wouldn’t explain taking care of me when you were dead. Friendship barely made Xander and Willow take care of me, because I was the reason you were dead.”
“That’s not-”
“Yes, that is how they see it,” Dawn countered. “You forget, I always seem to walk in on conversations at the most important bits.”
Buffy seemed to consider.
“And if either of us had known what they planned we wouldn’t have let them do it. We would have killed all of them before we let them risk you coming back…against your will.” Dawn sat down next to Buffy.
“What if Spike got the chip out or it stopped working?”
Dawn shrugged. “I imagine you’d both have a field day knocking each other around. Sparring with words and fists.” She shadow boxed a few punches. “I think you’d finally be on even footing with him.”
“But he’s a vampire.”
“And I’m a mystical Key. And Willow is an addict. And Anya is a thousand year old vengeance demon. And you’re a screwed up Slayer. What exactly is your argument?”
Buffy wrapped an arm around Dawn’s shoulders. “Think you can apply all that brain power to your school work?”
“Probably,” Dawn admitted.
“You understand I’m not sending you away-”
“I know. It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.”
88888888
Daniel paced the floor after the social worker left. Dawn and Buffy, after the initial racket, had gone quiet. He looked at the copies of paperwork sitting on the coffee table. He could barely believe what he was doing. Sam was at the motel, waiting for the SGC to complete their background checks. She had also collected some of Dawn’s DNA to have an independent lab test the sample against his. But he knew she was his daughter, it was obvious in every way except her attitude.
Ms. Duncan had pulled Dawn’s school file in anticipation of the answer. He frowned, trying to remember the closest high school to his house. The relator had said it was in walking distance, but he could not recall seeing it.
Finally, there was commotion at the top of the stairs. Buffy came down with two large bags. Dawn followed a second later with a duffle, backpack, and purse. She stopped halfway down the stairs and plucked a picture off the wall, putting it in her duffle, then continued to the bottom.
Buffy put the suitcases down and turned to Dawn. “Are you sure this is all you want to take. I can box up-”
“No. I got the important things before Willow and Tara took over Mom’s room. So they’re in my jewelry box. Sell whatever you can, give away the rest.”
“That was quick,” Daniel noted, surprised.
“I don’t like long goodbyes,” Dawn told him, “or insincere ones. So Buffy will tell the others tomorrow morning, once we’re far enough away.” She looked at Buffy. “I want to call Tara, she at least deserves to know since she’s not here. And I want to say bye to Spike in person.”
“I’ll go get him,” Buffy offered.
Dawn nodded and headed for the phone.
Daniel looked between the two as they left him alone. He pulled out his cell phone and called Sam.
“Carter,” she answered after one ring.
“Sam, it’s me. Looks like we’ll be leaving today.”
There was a moment of surprise. “So soon?”
“Looks like Dawn and Buffy are trying to get through this as fast as possible so they don’t back out or get emotional.” He scratched his eyebrow. “Any results?”
“Background check hit something and was immediately marked as non-threatening but redacted.”
“What?”
“Buffy’s, not Dawn’s. Looks like Dawn has made very little waves until last year when she started popping up as witness to some incidents her sister was involved in. That’s all I’ve got.” She paused. “Are you sure, Daniel?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to book a flight out for me. You should rent a car, get to know her on the way home. Without other people nearby.”
“In case she doesn’t like me?”
“She’ll like you just fine.” Sam sighed. “It’s in case she needs a few minutes to cry or get sick…”
“Thanks, Sam.”
“Let me get a flight, I’ll be over shortly.” She hung up with him.
Dawn entered the living room, wiping at tears. She swallowed and straightened.
“Who’s Tara?” he asked.
“Willow’s ex-girlfriend. She and Spike are the only ones who treat me like I’m worth knowing. She moved out a few weeks ago.”
“How many people live here?”
Dawn shrugged. “A few.” She sat down on the couch, looking at the paperwork. It all looked so formal and official. “So where do you live?” Dawn asked.
“Colorado Springs, Colorado,” Daniel answered. “I work for the Air Force at Cheyenne Mountain.”
“Odd choice of jobs for an archeologist,” Dawn noted.
He looked at her in surprise.
“Willow did some background on you. Buffy shared some of what they’d learned.”
“Like what?”
“You’ve been published, but not in almost a decade. Never married, no kids - as far as the legitimate kind, you hold a few of degrees, you’re thirty-six, and had a night in Vegas with my mom.”
He grimaced.
She grinned. “At least it explains where I got my blue eyes.” She rubbed her cast, wondering how much he knew about her.
“I’m accident prone,” Daniel announced after a moment.
Dawn’s eyes shot up in surprise. “What?”
“Of everyone on my team, I’m the one most likely to end up injured just by walking into a room.”
Dawn chuckled. “Do you happen to stick your foot in your mouth when you’re nervous?”
“Often.” He grinned.
“Well, that’s a couple more traits explained. On a good day I only walk into a wall, on a bad day…” She lifted her cast covered arm.
“How did that happen?” he asked as he sat down.
Dawn shook her head. “Minor car accident.”
“How long until it comes off?”
“Doctor wants to check it in a month.”
“Luckily, one of my best friends is a doctor. She’s also got a daughter, Cassandra, who just turned sixteen.”
“Already got someone to pawn me off to,” she guessed.
“No, I was just-” Daniel stopped. She was not completely wrong. Dawn would spend a lot of time with Cassie and Janet given the amount of time he spent going through the Stargate. “I’m close with only a handful of people, she is the only one who has a kid.”
“And Sam?”
“We work together, we’ve been friends for five years. As far as family goes…they’re pretty much it.”
“Not so different than here,” Dawn noted. She looked around the living room, letting the memories wash over her.
88888888
Spike started in surprise at the appearance of the Slayer. He had been awake for a few minutes when she came in. He paused in his raid of the refrigerator.
“What’s goin’ on?” he asked.
She did not answer. Instead, she covered her mouth with her hand and started crying. Full, anguished sobs spilled from her.
Not sure what happened, he grabbed her arm and pulled her to sit down.
“Is it Dawn?”
Buffy nodded, then shook her head.
“Bloody hell. You’re sending mixed signals here, luv.”
She took a shuddering breath. “Dawn is going with her father,” she admitted quietly. She looked up into his eyes. “And I’m relieved. And I shouldn’t feel that way.”
“You and Dawn deserve the best,” he told her softly, brushing her face away from her face. “Maybe you just aren’t the best thing for each other.”
Buffy wanted to be angry with him, to defend herself, but she was willing to admit in this one instance he was right. “But I’m supposed to…”
“Supposed to what?” he asked. “Work at some menial minimum wage job just to keep a roof over your head and food on the table? Every extra cent going to the debt left from the last year? Go out every night slaying?”
She sighed, wiping at her tears. “I’m supposed to be her sister.”
“Exactly, not mother and father and sister.” He took her hand, rubbing it gently. “Do you take care of Dawn because she is the Key? Or your sister? Or because your mom left her in your care? Or is it because you’re the Slayer and she was given to you to protect?”
Buffy looked away, because she did not have an answer. “Why did you protect Dawn when I was…gone?”
“Because you asked,” he told her.