Disclaimer: I don't own anything, especially the characters in these stories (if I did, they wouldn't be doing what they're doing right now in season five…ARGGGGG) um but I digress
Summary: Just a fluffy Dawn/Angel story…cause it seemed like a lot of fun. It ended differently than I expected, but apparently I can't hide my true nature.
Distribution: use it where you'd like but give me credit, let me know, oh and make sure I can get feedback if there is any.
Feedback: to me at
kgoretrout@go.com or here. Oh and about the feedback. I really love to know what people thinkAnd now…
The Dawn Of Time
"Buffy"
"Angel"
she wiped her palms against the soft leather of her pants. How could he still make her palms sweat? Buffy gathered her thoughts quickly and pulled Dawn forward.
"um, I need a favor"
"Buffy, I don't want to stay with him" Dawn was whining, almost petulant.
"Dawn Shut up"
Buffy made a subtle eye movement and tilted her head as she walked towards the enclosed patio. Angel followed.
"Cordelia, why don't you get Dawn a soda" he tossed over his shoulder
"Angel I need you to watch Dawn for a couple of days, I wouldn't ask if it weren't important.
"Buffy, I really don't have the time to baby-sit your kid sister"
"Angel, she's in danger, my mom…well, she just isn't up to watching her right now, and you know how flighty my dad can be when it comes to the protective stuff"
"what kind of danger?"
"I can't tell you"
"but you have to go?"
"yeah, I've got a meeting that I have to take"
"a meeting. Since when do you take meetings?"
Buffy gave him a crooked smile, "it's a long story and it gets longer every time I tell it, but I have to meet with a couple of guys from the council."
"the watchers council? You're taking orders again?"
"no, not even a little, but they have some info. I need and well, we arranged to meet, but they refuse to do it on the Hellmouth, so LA. And, I can't leave Dawn,"
"she's really in danger?"
"yeah, she is I told her that we're here to take my dad out for a birthday dinner, and we will, when I get back. But that's all she needs to know."
Angel smiled, "she was always really trusting"
Buffy had a sudden memory of Angel talking to Dawn, comforting her because she was crying. But that couldn't have happened, but it did, but it didn't…suddenly Buffy remembered why she tried not to think too hard about her memories of Dawn as a kid. Instead she smiled
"yeah, and I think she always kind of had a crush on you, so you know, maybe she'll listen when you tell her not to go anywhere"
"Buffy, is this some demon kind of danger or just a kid with no idea how dangerous things are kind of danger?"
"little of the kid thing but mostly, big nasty demon. So, you'll keep an eye on her?"
"what? Oh yeah" Angel seemed lost in his own thoughts "oh and Buffy, I'm really sorry about your mom"
"thanks."
Buffy put a hand on each of Dawn's shoulders and looked her in they eye. Okay, Dawn, a day, two at the tops, you listen to Angel, and Cordelia and Wesley, and you DON'T, under any circumstances leave the hotel without someone. Got it?"
Dawn shrugged Buffy's hands off of her shoulders. "Yeah, fine Whatever"
Buffy headed towards the door, and mouthed a thank you to Angel.
"so Dawn, you wanna go um, to the mall?" Cordelia brightened up, remembering how much she had loved the mall at Dawn's age. Well, at any age really.
"no, Dawn sat down and pouted, and what did you do to your hair? It looked way better long"
Cordelia frowned, shrugged at Wesley to indicate she was out of ideas and went back to reading her magazine.
"I have to go upstairs"
all eyes turned to Angel,
he didn't stop, but he could feel their glares boring into his back.
When he got into his room and closed the door he leaned against it for a moment before he settled into his favorite brooding chair. At least, that's what Cordelia had named the thing.
Why hadn't he ever noticed it before he wondered. And then he shook his head. Maybe he was seeing what he wanted to see…but no, he didn't Want to see this, but it was there. In Dawn's eyes. He sat down, for once with something other than Darla to brood about.
Dawn. She was an Old Soul. He'd run across a couple in his days, both his souled and unsouled days he wondered how it had escaped his attention before now. but then, he had never really paid any attention to Dawn before, he was always too wrapped up in what he and Buffy were in the middle of.
Maybe he hadn't noticed because she had been so young, the last time he had seen Dawn she had probably been eleven. But no, he'd noticed it in kids before, seen it in their eyes.
The little girl on the beach that day, that one day when he had worn the gem of Amara. She had looked at him and smiled. She'd had a soul that dated back thousands of years, he would bet on it. And he saw it, no felt it, now, in Buffy's kid sister. She had eyes that seemed to date back to the Dawn of time. He pondered this, and how he had missed it. He pondered and brooded for about 15 seconds and then Dawn burst into the room without knocking.
"Dawn"
"Angel"
Dawn stared at him as if she could see through him, at least that's what it felt like to Angel.
Dawn stared at Angel, aggravated that she had to be here and confused as to this piece of her sisters life. She knew Buffy was a slayer, and she understood a lot of that stuff now, especially since she'd been allowed to sit in on the scoobies sessions so much. But she had never understood how Buffy could love a vampire. Buffy explained about the soul thing but it didn't' make any sense.
Spike was nice to Buffy, and he didn't have a soul. And sometimes Anya, who did have a soul was so mean Dawn wanted to cry. So what was the big deal about this vampire. Dawn admitted grudgingly that he was good looking if you went in for older guys. But he was a vampire. Dawn didn't get it.
"what do you want Dawn?" Angel needed to say something, her stare was starting to affect him. Dammit, her eyes were really really…NO…he stopped himself. This was Buffy's kid sister.
"I want to know about vampires"
Angel stared at her, "you're sister is a slayer and you don't know about vampires?"
"I want to know more than how to keep them out of the house"
"couldn't I just tell you about sex…it would be less complicated"
"duh, I already know about sex…I want to know about, you know…drinking blood and stuff"
images flashed through angels mind too quickly to sort them out.
Dawn with a game face.
Angel drinking from dawns neck,
Dawn riding someone to the heights of ecstasy, head thrown back…NO…he stopped himself again…this is Buffy's kid sister.
He wanted to know what she knew about sex, weather it was all theoretical of if some fumbling boy with a nice face had lured her into the back of his daddy's car. Suddenly Angel needed to sit down. It did nothing for the murderous rage he felt towards a theoretical boy, but somehow it felt the right thing to do.
"Dawn, if you want to know about vampires ask Buffy"
"all Buffy will tell me is that they are bad, stay away, and don't invite them in the house" Dawn approached Angel, and brushed her hand across his, " I want to know why you're always cold, and why you need to drink blood, and what it's like not to have a heart beat. And if you can get sick. She was standing directly in front of him. I tried asking Spike, but he won't talk to me."
"you've tried asking Spike?"
"yeah, him and Buffy hang out sometimes, cause of the chip in his head, but I don't' think her really likes me, besides, he always smells like cigarettes, and I hate that"
Angel tried to keep his head from exploding but there was too much information being pressed into it at once, and it was coming from the innocent look of a fourteen year old, with a soul, that was older than he had ever seen.
"Buffy hangs out with Spike"
"well yeah, lately, cause, he kills demons, and you know…that's what Buffy does too so they have a lot in common"
Angel, for a moment entertained the ridiculous notion of Buffy and Spike, and then wrote it off for what he was sure it was, rampant jealousy. Buffy hated Spike.
Angel sighed, the idea of Dawn wandering off to ask vampires about these things concerned him, if Spike wouldn't' answer her, and Buffy wouldn't' tell her, well, it's the age old question with teenagers, he thought to himself, do you hope they get good information on the street before they make a mistake, or do you tell them what they need to know, extinguish that part of their curiosity.
"what do you want to know Dawn?
Dawn was surprised. She had expected this argument to take much longer. She sat down on the edge of the bed, across from him.
"don't you get cold? you and Spike, you guys always feel so cold, how come you don't shiver?"
it was such an innocent question he almost had to laugh. "for the same reason tables and stuff don't shiver. I don't respond to temperature."
'but you can burn…and feel pain?'
"yeah, but it takes a lot more, and we heal quicker"
"and you don't get sick, like my mom did?"
"no, we don't get sick, he flashed back to Darla, and pushed the thought out of his head"
Dawn pulled her hair back from her face, " what does it feel like to get bitten?"
Angel looked at her, he wanted to lie…to tell her it hurt, it was excruciating, but he tried a different tack "it's like anything that's really bad for you, it feels really good at first"
"so it doesn't hurt? but you don't bite people"
"no, I don't"
"but if it doesn't hurt them, why don't' you do it?"
"because it's bad for them, it will kill them, or turn them"
"and it's bad to be turned?"
"Dawn Spike, and I, we're not regular vampires, most vampires are bad and evil and kill people"
Dawn had gotten stoned a couple of times with her friends, and she flashed back to everything everyone told her about drugs, how they were bad and evil and killed people. And then she remembered how much fun she'd had and how she hadn't been scared for the first time, well since she found out about vampires and stuff. Dawn didn't believe what Angel was saying about all vampires being evil. She was beginning to doubt that her sister knew much about vampires at all.
She knew arguing this with anyone would be pointless, no-one ever listened to her, so she took a different route, feigning innocence.
"You don't have a pulse?"
"no, I don't"
"so you don't have any circulation?"
"right"
"so you can't have sex"
there was a long silence. Dawn bit her lip not to smile,
Angel sat there, not sure what to tell her about this.
Finally he started…carefully "vampires can have sex"
"but we learned in health class that when a penis is erect it's because of blood flow…you don't have any blood flow"
"yes but we still have…" Angel stopped himself, he had almost said passions, "other human abilities…we bleed, if you cut us…there is some blood"
"so that blood flows"
Angel was for the moment very glad there was no way he could have children.
"Dawn…enough, it doesn't matter, vampires can have sex…but they can't have sex with YOU"
"but you had sex with Buffy…and she's a slayer"
"yes and I have a soul, when you find a vampire with a soul…" again Angel stopped himself, this was a dangerous road he was traveling down.
"You know what Dawn I'm tired, why don't you go ask Cordelia about some stuff, she will give you a woman's perspective."
"has she ever slept with a vampire?"
"I don't know…go ask her" Angel felt a twinge of guilt sending her down to talk to Cordy, but he felt even more uncomfortable sitting here, watching dawns lean body, so like her sisters curl up on his bed. Seeing the piercing eyes full of untapped knowledge, sensing her warmth, and answering these very personal questions was not on his agenda today.
He walked Dawn to the door, and shut it behind her.
Dawn snuck out the back. The good part of staying in a hotel was there were lots of places to sneak out. It was almost dark out. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she had nabbed the address from Angel's desk, she had an idea.
"Angel. Angel! He heard the pounding, but Cordelia was always pounding on his door, or skulking around it, trying to decide if he was about to turn evil again. And lately he didn't blame her the way he had been acting. He got up and opened the door.
"what?"
"Dawn's gone"
"Buffy came and got her? That was a quick meeting"
"no, gone…as in snuck out, left, went away"
"dammit" he grabbed his jacket and headed down to the lobby. He stopped off at his desk to pick up the address he had left there, he would find Dawn, and then see the client who had called yesterday. The address was gone.
"Cordelia, I told you not to touch the stuff on my desk"
"yeah and I don't"
"so where's the notes I took yesterday"
"pfft, how should I know…and um Angel…Dawn."
It clicked "dammit, she's gone to the mystikills"
"wait that's a Goth club, specializing in real vamps. Why would a fourteen year old….oooh"
"was she asking you vamp questions too?"
"me, no she didn't say anything to me... except well, maybe about how you know vampires are weird but they don't get sick and they don't die and you're not evil and maybe they're not evil and we're wrong to kill them and…"
by the time Cordelia looked up to ask Angel what he thought, he was out the door.
Dawn wanted to laugh at all the people dressed up like what they thought vampires should look like. She'd seen so many of them and most of the time they just looked human, if a little pale.
"you look upset" it was a boy who wasn't dressed like Dracula, he was wearing jeans and an old leather jacket.
"no I'm not it's just I wanted to meet a real vampire, and there aren't any here."
"and you think you could tell a real vampire from a poser?" he was yelling into her ear, the music was loud, and it was hard to hear.
"yeah I've seen lots of em"
the boy smiled "lets go outside, so we can hear each other, I'd love to hear about real vampires"
Dawn smiled and when he took her hand, it was cold. Her stomach knotted in excitement, this was it.
He walked her through the club to the back, and kissed her, she kissed him back, his tongue was cold, not like the other guy she'd kissed. He pulled back, and she saw him put his game face on.
"don't kill me, she whispered, just turn me."
He looked into her eyes "whatever you want baby" it was almost a growl.
Dawn shivered with excitement and fear, she moved her hair off of her neck and tilted her head just a little further to the left. She didn't close her eyes, she wanted to be aware of what was happening. He bit. And it hurt for a second. And then…there was dust.
Angel saw Dawn standing there, he watched her tilt her head, it was voluntary, and as the boy moved in Angel came up from behind Dawn, he reached around and staked the boy through the back watching him turn to dust. He couldn't see Dawn's expression, but he wasn't interested at the moment. He grabbed her arm. "lets go"
"hey, you're hurting me"
"seems to me you're looking to get hurt" Angel could smell the blood, saw it trickling down her throat deeper into her sweater. He tried to block the image of her young pert breasts with a rivulet of blood tracing them gracefully. He tightened his grip on her arm and threw her into the car.
"you wanna tell me what the hell you think you're doing"
Dawn was crying now. She curled up on the front seat of the car and refused to talk to him.
"Dawn you don't have to answer to me, but you're gonna have to answer to your sister"
Dawn looked up "you can't tell Buffy about this"
"then why don't you tell me what in the hell you were thinking"
"I just wanted to be okay, you know to be strong like Buffy, and to never be sick, I thought maybe I could turn my mom, and then she wouldn't be sick either"
Angel had heard it before, he'd seen it before, turning to avoid death, it was never the answer he would think Dawn would understand that, she wasn't exactly uninitiated in the concept of vampires. He was angry.
They took the rest of the drive in silence. When they got back he grabbed her arm again and dragged her upstairs, he practically threw her into the room, she landed on the bed.
"Angel" Dawn was scared now.
Angel looked at her, young, and beautiful, blood flowing from her neck, the desire was so strong, images flashed through his mind, he and Darla, he and Buffy, blood, all the innocents who had screamed and all the innocents who hadn't. Darla, Buffy, Darla, Buffy, he had drank from both of them, and neither had complained. Dawn.
Dawn, her eyes piercing him, she looked scared, and all thought left.
Dawn watched in fascination, and fear as Angel changed, his head morphed, his eyes glowed. She had seen Spike vamp once, but it was nothing like this. He leaned in towards her, and she opened her arms to him.
He didn't have to bite, the wound was already open, he drank, removing her clothing with expert hands.
Dawn couldn't believe what she was feeling, this was nothing like what she and Sean McGarity had done in the broom closet that one day. This was different. This was…and then all rational thought left her.
They were both naked, Angel's broad chest against Dawn's small frame, she opened her legs and he fell between them, first his mouth, biting at her thigh, and drinking, and then lapping between her legs, he felt her convulse with pleasure and his head moved higher, nibbling, at her nipples.
He bit down on the other side of her neck as he entered her. She was hot, wet, ready. He pulled out of her completely and watched with satisfaction as she whimpered, not in fear, but in need. She thrust herself up towards him, begging him with her body to fill her. To drain her. Angel obliged.
As he stroked in and out of her, he drank and then stopped, drank and then stopped. He had no desire to kill her. Or to turn her, he merely wanted her. It was a desire he was tired of resisting. The years of want that he had dealt with, Buffy, Darla, all of it, came surging forward and he pounded all of his frustration and pent up energy into this small girl with the old eyes. And she met him stroke for stroke.
Dawn was lost on a sea of sensations, pleasure and pain were so linked at this point that to stop one would be to remove the other. Her entire body seemed to be melting and suddenly she exploded. Shattered.
Angel felt her body convulse around him, felt her tighten against him and suddenly, felt her body shatter. Not metaphorically.
Dawn's body shattered into a billion pieces as a bright light of pure energy burst forth from the point where her heart had been. Angel was blinded by the sheer intensity of it.
And in a blinding flash he knew everything. What Dawn was, and why she was here, and why he had been so drawn to her. Her soul wasn't a soul at all, it was the energy of good that kept the pure and ancient evil from spreading throughout mankind.
Dawn was THE KEY
And Angel felt the change come slowly. He felt the demon die. The demon within him. No demon, no entity of evil could be this close to THE KEY and survive. He felt his pulse. And smiled again. He had one.
Buffy came back the next day, and was surprised to find Angel smiling. She had hardly gotten through the door when he kissed her. She didn't know what to say. He put her hand to his heart, and she felt the warmth of his chest, and the solid thump thump beneath it. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes,
"am I dreaming"
"no" he kissed her again, and led her upstairs.
"but why? How?"
"later." he whispered against her neck.
And she agreed, "later" and made a mental note to call Spike, she was gonna have to be more discreet with him in the future.
The end.
If you want. You can pretend the last line isn't there…it's really for my own amusement.
Oh and Feedback, please . Kgoretrout@go.com