Disclaimer: Nothing here is mine, yet.

Rating: PG 13. Warning: underage sex

Pairing: Dawn/Connor, a little B/A

Author's Note: Yes, I'm alive. And in a way I kept my promise...I promised this story in December....-sheepish grin- I know, I know, but I just needed a little break after finishing Bound By Fate. But I'm back now! Here it is, the third installment of my little D/C series. I hope everyone likes this chapter. It's cute. It takes place right after Chosen/the end of Meant To Be. Remember, Angel season 4 post Spin the Bottle never happened. Sorry for all the B/A ness, I know this is a D/C fic but I just couldn't resist. Well I hope you enjoy, please review and let me know what you think. I hope that everyone had a great holiday, and happy New Year!

Chapter 1: Midnight Mission

About two hours later the bus finally pulled to a stop in front of the Hyperion Hotel. They had already stopped at the hospital, where Faith was with Robin and the others that had been seriously injured. Dawn eagerly climbed off the bus. She was stiff, hungry, and she had to pee.

"Here we are again," Connor said, taking her hand.

She smiled. "Lots of memories here."

"We'll make more," he said, smiling back. He opened the door and held it while the potentials wandered inside, admiring the hotel.

Buffy was the last one off the bus, feeling slightly apprehensive. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. She knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep knowing that Angel was under the same roof. So close. She instantly thought of a certain blonde vampire and she felt guilty for her thoughts.

What are you doing? Get it together, she said silently to herself as she entered the hotel. "Angel?" she called, her voice quavering a little.

"Buffy," he said, coming downstairs. He smiled directly at her, relieved to see that she was okay. "Guess we won't be needing that second front."

She smiled despite herself. "I guess not."

"Whoa," Gunn said, entering the lobby to find twenty teenage girls wandering around.

Fred, Wesley, Cordelia, and Lorne were close behind him. Dawn waved excitedly, happy to see the people that she had gotten to know during that week months ago.

"Dawn! Buffy. What's going on?" Cordy asked, giving Dawn a hug.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion. Just Sunnydale isn't really there anymore, and we needed somewhere to stay. That is, if you don't mind," Buffy added quickly.

Angel nodded quickly. "Of course." He glanced around, seeing the familiar faces of Xander, Willow, and Giles among the group of mostly strangers. He brightened when he saw his son. "Connor! Hey."

"I'll get the First Aid kit," Fred said, noticing that many of their new guests sported cuts and bruises. Buffy nodded in thanks.

"Hey Dad," Connor said, still holding Dawn's hand tightly.

Angel smiled at them. "So, are you guys okay? No injuries?"

"We're fine," Dawn said, thinking sadly of those who hadn't made it out of Sunnydale. Amanda, Anya, Spike...

"That's good. That's great." He looked around. "It's a good thing we have so much space, huh?"

"Hey, anything will be better than having to share one bathroom," Dawn said, grateful that those days seemed to be over.

"So what did she mean, Sunnydale's gone?" Cordelia asked, talking to Xander across the room. She struggled to look everywhere but at the eye patch. It had been a long time, but it was a shock to see him like that.

"Big hole in the ground. Big, empty hole," he said. "You, um, you look great."

She smiled awkwardly. "You...you too." She turned away, feeling herself starting to flush. "So what are you guys going to do now?"

Xander looked down, fully aware that she was uncomfortable. If he had been in a better mood, he would have joked about it. But the pain that he was feeling inside from the loss of Anya was still too strong to ignore. "I don't know. I guess that's up to Buffy."

"So now every potential slayer in the world is a full fledged Slayer," Wesley said, fascinated. "That's a marvelous idea. You have changed the entire course of the slayer prophecies."

"Yeah. Well it was all Buffy's idea," Willow said modestly.

Fred handed the First Aid kit to Buffy. "I'm going to go get some of the rooms ready."

"Thanks," Buffy said, appreciative. She sat down on the couch and applied some antiseptic to the gash on her forehead, which had already started to heal.

"Is this seat taken?" Lorne asked, sitting down next to her, studying her intently.

"No," Buffy said. She began quickly aware that the kind demon was staring at her. "What is it Lorne?"

"Have you talked about it yet?" he asked quietly.

"About what," Buffy lied, playing with the lid on the First Aid kit.

"Hon it's coming off you in waves. You're grieving."

She looked at him. "I'm fine."

"No you're not. Maybe he was right, maybe you don't love him but that doesn't mean you're not hurting," he insisted.

She stood up quickly. "I'll be fine. I know...I know he died saving the world. And besides, I have more important things to worry about," she said, walking away quickly.

"Take care of yourself sugarplum," Lorne said quietly, concerned.

Fred came back downstairs. "The rooms on the second floor are ready," she said, trying to speak loudly over the hubbub that had come off the bus from Sunnydale.

"Thanks Fred," Buffy said gratefully. "Stop wincing!" she commanded as she tried to clean a gash on Andrew's forehead.

"Well hey sorry I don't have like super healing powers. And it stings," he whined.

Buffy caught Dawn's eye and rolled her eyes. She handed the kit off to Vi and came over to Dawn and Connor. "Hey, I just wanted to ask you guys to please take separate rooms for tonight."

Dawn looked at Connor in alarm. "What? But you said..."

"Yes I know I said but do you really want to see Angel's reaction if he finds out you guys are shacking up?" she asked, with an eyebrow raised.

Dawn looked down in defeat. "I guess you're right...so you're not going to tell him?"

"I hadn't thought about it," Buffy said honestly.

Connor looked at Dawn, then at Buffy. He personally didn't want his father to know about the existence of his sex life, but he also didn't want to push his luck with Buffy since she was being so understanding. He knew that they were lucky that she was going to allow them to be together at all. "Okay." He glanced towards the stairs and saw that many of the former potentials turned slayers were migrating upstairs. "Well I guess we should go turn in. We've had a long day."

"Tell me about it," Dawn said. "Night Buffy."

"Night Dawnie." Buffy gave her sister a quick kiss on the cheek before continuing her rounds.

"You know, your sister is a pretty cool chick," Connor said, wrapping his arms around Dawn's waist.

Dawn narrowed her eyes. "Should I be jealous?"

Connor smiled slyly. "Don't worry. You're the only girl I want." He kissed her softly. "Besides I don't really want my dad to kill me. Right now, he's checking out Buffy, thinking that no one is looking."

Dawn glanced over, and saw Angel turn away quickly as Buffy began to move back in his direction. "They've still got it bad for each other."

Connor put his arm around her waist and started to guide her towards the stairs. "Too bad about the separate rooms," he whispered.

She sighed. "I know. Hopefully we won't be staying here too long."

He laughed. "Yeah."

Dawn groaned suddenly. "What is it?" he asked.

"I just realized that I don't have pajamas. Or a hairbrush. Or anything for that matter," she said grumpily.

"Don't worry. We'll go out and get everything we need tomorrow." He paused. "We should also pick up some, you know, birth control," he said, whispering the last part.

Her eyes widened. "Oh yeah! Well I guess we couldn't really...do anything tonight then."

He shook his head. "I always come prepared." He patted his pocket.

They reached the second floor and stopped. "Well, maybe after everyone goes to bed, I can come see you," she said slyly.

A slow grin spread across his face. "Okay. But be careful."

"I will." They kissed again.

"Good night. I love you," he said softly.

"Love you too." They kissed again before slowly moving apart. "It looks like the rooms are filling up."

"Here's one," Connor said, pushing the door open wider. He saw the clean bed and briefly fantasized about carrying Dawn into it. Shaking the thought from his mind, he took her hand. "Here, you take this one. I'll go down there." He gestured to some still empty rooms down the hall.

"That's so far away," Dawn moaned. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." They kissed again, before finally separating.

Dawn entered her room and closed the door. She sat down on the floor. She would just listen until everyone was asleep, then go see Connor.

Buffy sighed, cleaning up the last of the First Aid supplies. Giles, Willow, and Xander had just gone up to bed, and the Angel Investigations crew seemed to have disappeared. Faith and the other hadn't returned home from the hospital yet either. As far as she could tell, there was only one other person on the bottom floor of the hotel, and that was the one that she could sense a mile away.

"Buffy," he said, standing over by his office. "Can I talk to you? Alone?"

She nodded. "Of course." She put everything down and followed him to his office. He was already seated at his desk when she entered, closing the door behind her.

"I heard everyone talking about what you did today. It sounds like you were incredible. Not that that's a surprise," he added with a slight smile.

She smiled back. "It was really a group effort. Willow did a lot of the heavy lifting."

He nodded, looking down at his hands. "How long have they been sleeping together?" he asked calmly.

Buffy straightened in surprise. "What...how did you..."

"I can sense these things. Smell them. Just like I sensed Spike all over you," he added quietly.

Buffy closed her eyes, uncomfortable. "I...We...I haven't slept with him for over a year."

"I didn't say you had."

"Besides, he's...he's..." she looked down, unable to continue.

"I know." There was a brief, awkward silence. "Did you love him?"

Buffy sighed. "Angel, is that really important right now?" He gave her a pressing look. She looked up at the ceiling. "I honestly don't know." She had thought she knew the answer to that question, but Spike's final words to her kept playing in her head, and she grew less certain of what she had said to him earlier with every silent repetition.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have...." his voice broke off. "I know it's been a long day, and it's not my place. So, back to my original question." He looked at her expectantly.

"Last night was their first time," she answered.

He nodded, considering that. "Have you talked to Dawn?"

"Yes. They are very happy together. And I gave them my blessing."

He stared at her. "You gave your sixteen year old sister your blessing to be having sex?"

"Angel, stop. She's almost seventeen, she's not much younger than I was. And what else am I supposed to do? Forbid them to see each other? That would probably just make them run away. And then we would never see them again. So if you have a better idea to deal with the situation, then fine, I'd like to hear it," she said stubbornly, crossing her arms.

He was silent for a minute, taken aback. "I wasn't questioning your judgement, I'm just a little surprised. And we know how well it worked out for us."

Buffy closed her eyes, well aware of how it had worked out. "Angel, they're different. Connor is human. He doesn't have a curse!"

"He is the human child of two vampires. I think we both know he's not exactly Joe Normal," Angel retorted.

Buffy looked at him defiantly. "Well Dawn used to be a blob of energy until less than three years ago. But that doesn't have anything to do with anything."

Upstairs, Dawn quietly opened her door and slipped out. The hallway was dark and empty. She could hear faint voices coming from downstairs. Buffy must still be up. Walking on her tip toes, she made her way down the hall. Almost there...

"Dawn!" A voice sounded behind her, causing her to jump and stub her toe painfully.

"Ouch," she hissed. "Who's there?"

"It's Vi. Are you hungry too?" the hesitant redhead asked.

Dawn cursed silently. "I guess a little. Are you going to get something?"

"Yeah. Fred said that there's food downstairs. Do you want to come with me? This hotel is kind of creepy in the dark," she said.

Dawn sighed. "Sure."

"Well my point is just that they aren't exactly a normal couple either," Angel said. "I just...I'm not a big part of Connor's life. Not like you are with Dawn. You see them, every day. I don't."

"I promise you that I'll watch out for them," Buffy swore.

Angel cracked a small smile. "I know you will." There was a brief silence. "So where do you think you want to go?"

Buffy sighed and sat down in the chair. "I have no idea. Honestly? I wanna go to the beach. I wanna go shopping. I just want to not be thinking about saving the world every five minutes."

He laughed lightly. "Well you definitely deserve that."

They both heard a noise in the doorway and looked up. "Sorry to interrupt," Faith said awkwardly.

Buffy stood up. "It's fine. So how are they?"

"Everyone's fine. The doc wanted to keep them overnight. Can't wait to see how Rona explains her wounds being mysteriously gone by morning," Faith said with a smirk.

Buffy nodded. "Well tomorrow they can come back here and then we can figure out what to do next."

"Sounds good." Faith smiled at Angel, who was still behind his desk. "Hey."

"Hello Faith," Angel said. "How've you been?"

"Saving the world. I'm still working on the whole redemption thing, but I think that's a step in the right direction," she replied. "Got a place I can crash?"

"Yeah, Fred cleaned out the rooms on the second floor. There should be some still empty."

Faith nodded. "Thanks. Good night."

"Night," Buffy said softly. When they were alone she turned back to Angel. "Well I guess I should go to bed too." She didn't realize until after how awkward it was to say those words to him.

"Go ahead," he said. "Good night Buffy. I'm sorry if I was rude."

"No, it's okay. I was a little freaked when I found out too." She paused just outside the door. "They're going to make it work."

He smiled. "I know."

She hesitated. "Good night." Before he could reply she was gone.

Dawn groaned as she reentered her room. Slayer powers had done wonders for timid little Vi: she wouldn't shut up! Dawn listened at the door as the new slayer shut hers across the hall. There were a few moments of silence.

"Okay, take two," she whispered, easing the door open. She ran on the tips of her feet down the hall. Just a little farther...

"Dawn, hey," came another voice from behind her. This time she managed to stop without hurting herself. She turned around.

"Faith! Hey," she whispered, not wanting to wake anyone else up.

"What are you doing still up?" she asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I'm just...I got lost coming back from the bathroom. Silly me," she said nervously, moving back towards her own room. "See you tomorrow."

Faith shrugged. "Okay." She remembered something. "Dawn, wait."

"What?" Dawn asked tentatively.

"How did that advice I gave you work out for you?" Faith asked, a smile on her face.

Dawn grinned back. "Great. Thanks, by the way."

"Don't mention it." She watched as Dawn went back to her room.

"Dammit!" Dawn hissed once back in her room. All she wanted was a nice night with her boyfriend, how hard should that be?

She heard a door close, probably Faith turning in. Okay, I'll try this one more time.

She opened the door for the third time. This time, taking no chances, she crept down the hallway. Her heart started to beat faster when she was halfway to the end of the hall with no interruptions. Okay, just a few more feet...

She pulled open the door at the end of the hall triumphantly, closing it behind her. "Hey, I'm here."

A startled Andrew sat up in the bed, pulling the blankets around himself. "Isn't it a little late for Dungeons and Dragons?"

Dawn slumped against the door. "Sorry. Wrong room. You know what? I give up." She turned and walked out of the room, leaving a bewildered Andrew staring after her.