Title: Dawn's Holiday Discovery
By: evans (aka Roswell428)
Written for the TTH Fic For All 2004 Holiday Challenge
Pairing: Dawn Summers and Chris Halliwell
Disclaimer: I own nothing, as usual.
Dawn Summers sighed as she continued to swing the crystal around the map. Here it was, two days before Christmas, and she was spending the entire day trying to find the source of a magical disturbance. She hadn't even finished her holiday shopping yet. But as Willow constantly reminded the witch-in-training, "Taking care of supernatural threats, magical or otherwise, comes first, Dawnie." Willow had sensed a disturbance in the flow of magic a few days ago and had set Dawn to locating its source, being busy herself with another important magical case. Willow had been feeling these disturbances, all coming from the same general area, for several years, but it was only now that she finally had the resources to do something about it.
Since the hellmouth in Sunnydale was permanently closed, the Scoobies had taken it upon themselves to rebuild the Watcher's Council and from there, to monitor and handle the supernatural threats that faced the world. Since Dawn had turned 18, she had started learning the craft, Willow having assured her sister that they could always use more capable witches. She had been a diligent student, but she had felt as if she was always being given the boring assignments, the ones that didn't really have an element of danger to them. She suspected her sister to be behind this, but she knew better than to speak up, from fear that Buffy would try to stop her practicing all together.
The assignment that she was currently working on was the first to allow her to handle a situation on her own. Willow had told her to discover the source of the disturbance and then to scout it out and find out just what was behind it. Sure it wasn't exactly glamorous, but it was the first time she would be out on her own and she didn't want to screw it up.
Hence the sigh of frustration. She had been swinging that damn crystal for three hours now and she hadn't gotten a single hit.
Just then the crystal flew from her hand to pinpoint a place on the map. San Francisco. 'That's not too far,' she thought. She was currently working in L.A. 'I've just gotta borrow one of the company cars.'
Later, as Dawn was pulling up in front of a manor house, she could feel the trace of magic in the air. "It definitely feels like at least one witch lives here," she said out loud. She studied the name she'd gotten with the address, Halliwell. It also said that they were three sisters who lived together, one of whom had just recently had a baby.
"Well, it's time to find out what's going on," she said as she got out of the car.
When she rang the doorbell the door was opened not by one of the three women she was expecting, but by the cutest guy she had ever seen.
"Hi," she said shyly.
"Can I help you," Chris said somewhat impatiently. When he had first opened the door he had been stunned by the girl's beauty and he definitely wanted to get to know her better, but now was not the time. There was a large demon attacking the sisters in the living room. He had to get rid of her and fast.
"Yeah. I'm looking for Piper Halliwell," she said, a bit put off by his rudeness.
Just then the demon came roaring into view and, grabbing Chris by the back of the shirt, threw him into the wall. Dawn, just reacting to the demon's presence, quickly materialized an axe and flew it at the demon's head, decapitating it.
As the body fell to the floor, she noticed the sisters who had followed the demon into the room. "Uh, hi," she said worriedly.
"You're a witch," Piper said nervously.
"Ya-huh," she replied, "And I'm guessing one of you is as well."
"How did you-" Paige began, but she was cut off.
"What do you want," Phoebe asked.
"Well, since everything's kind of out of the bag, I was sent to find out what the large magical disturbance was that occurred here a few days ago."
"You were sent? Sent by whom?" Piper asked.
Dawn only shook her head. She wouldn't tell them who had sent her or that she was related to the Slayer- that only led to badness.
Phoebe looked closely at the girl. She didn't look evil, but appearances could be deceiving and she knew she was a witch AND she had come looking for them. Leo would probably be able to tell them whether she was a threat or not. "Leo," she called loudly.
Leo orbed down and Dawn backed away a step. Only witches of serious power could do magic like that and if one was messing with the magicks to cause a disturbance like Willow had felt the other day, she had to bet they were dangerous.
Leo caught sight of her as she backed away. His eyes widened, as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "The Key," he breathed.
This made Dawn even more fearful. The only people who knew who she was (aside from her family) were usually the ones who wanted to hurt her. She quickly spun around and tried to flee for the door.
The sisters looked at Leo in confusion before noticing Dawn trying to bolt.
"We won't hurt you," Leo said in his most soothing voice.
Dawn paused at that and turned back around, suspicion and distrust in her eyes. "The only ones who know that are usually the bad guys."
Piper snorted. "We're definitely not the bad guys. Ever hear of the Charmed Ones?"
"Only in reference to an old prophecy. Why?"
Paige jumped in, "Cause we're them and we're most definitely of the good."
Leo was looking a little awestruck to be in Dawn's presence. "I had no idea the key was human. The last I heard it was still a ball of energy."
"It is standing right here," Dawn said snappily.
Leo blushed slightly. "Sorry."
"What is the Key, anyway," Chris asked, smiling at Dawn reassuringly. Though Dawn had been peeved at his earlier attitude, she could understand the shortness when dealing with a demon, so she smiled back at him brightly.
"The Key is a being of great power," Leo explained. "It has been around forever and can be used to open different dimensions. That's all I really know." He turned to Dawn, "How long have you been human?"
"Oh about 6 years now."
"But you look like you're 20," Paige said incredulously.
"When I was created, I was created as a 14 year old and given to… given to someone to protect."
"Who," Leo asked quietly.
Dawn looked into his eyes and knew that she could trust him. "The Slayer."
"The Slayer," Chris repeated incredulously. He had heard about the Slayer of his time. She had gone up against Wyatt and had been one of the few to actually stop him from one of his plans.
The sisters just nodded their heads. They too had heard of the Slayer.
After the introductions were over, the six began to talk and try to figure out what the disturbance had been a few days ago. The Charmed Ones were just as baffled as Dawn. Since they didn't know what it was, they figured it was probably a new evil in town and they appreciated Dawn's offer of help. As they were talking, however, Leo was informed that the sisters needed to get over to the other side of town immediately. An innocent had been taken by a demon. Dawn offered to go with them, but Leo assured her she was better off there. And so Dawn and Chris were left alone together in the house, to watch Wyatt.
As they sat on the ground near the baby's crib, Dawn and Wyatt started talking comfortably.
"So you're a whitelighter from the future, huh? What's that like?"
"I don't know. What's it like to be a being a mystical energy?" Chris asked back mischievously.
"Oh ha ha," Dawn said, and then she stuck her tongue out at him.
Chris, seizing the moment, quickly leaned forward to kiss her. He had been very attracted by this girl since he had met her and he had been waiting for the opportunity to kiss her.
When he pulled back, Dawn opened her eyes slowly. "Wow," she said.
"Yeah, wow," he repeated a smile lighting up his face.
"So I know we haven't known each other that long, like only a few hours," she said blushing, "But um, I really like you and maybe we could do something… something tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.
"You do know tomorrow's Christmas Eve, right?"
"I know," she replied ducking her head, "But Christmas is the season to be with those you love and those you, uh, really like and I really like you so…" She trailed off.
"I really like you, too," Chris replied, "Even if we have only known each other a few hours. So I would love to do something with you tomorrow."
"Great! Have you ever been ice-skating? My sister used to skate all the time and I used to love to go with her. And I hear San Francisco is supposed to have a great rink."
"Ice skating sounds like fun," he said grabbing her hand and kissing it.
Dawn blushed again. "So, uh, when they do this vanquishing stuff, how long does it usually take?"
Chris, getting the hint, quickly looked up at Wyatt to make sure he was still okay and then looked back at Dawn, grinning devilishly. "Oh, sometimes it can take hours."
"Good."
"Really good," he said pulling her against him to let the real kissing begin.