Connor was sitting on his bed in his new room at the hotel, sulking. He couldn't believe it except that he had seen it with his own eyes. His father, Holtz, had had that red headed woman Justine stab him just to make him think that Angel had murdered him. Except Connor had overheard Gunn and Fred talking by the ocean and raced back and caught them.
He could still see his father pressing her hand to his throat making her stab him, all to make him hate Angel. Connor growled in his throat, all the lies, the manipulations; it was just too much. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to be here with Angel now, but he had nowhere else to go and he knew Angel was worried about him.
Connor threw the book he had been staring at for the last hour across the room with a curse. He shook his head getting up wanting to push the anger away like he used to do. He sighed, talking to himself, "I wish for just once in my life I could know just one truly good person." With that he tossed his shirt off and crawled into bed shutting off the light and finally submitting to sleep.
The son of two vampires didn't even notice the vengeance demon that had been lurking in his room all night. Halfrek smiled gleefully, this was the perfect opportunity for her to get some vengeance of her own on a certain little Summers girl. "Wish granted," she answered the darkness.
Dawn awoke slowly stretching by arching her back as she always did, once she was done she placed her hands on her stomach to stare at the ceiling. It seemed so much further up today, and her skin seemed harder, with more muscles. Dawn jumped out of bed topless and looked around, she was in a strange room, and had no clue how she'd gotten there.
She slowly looked down and let out a low whimper, she had a flat chest again, but now there were muscles she had never made a move to tone. Dawn took a deep breath closing her eyes before peeking out and pulling the waistband of the sweat pants she was wearing out so she could peer inside. She jumped and screamed at what she found there, not only was she in a strange room she was in a strange body.
Angel heard his son getting up down the hall and was headed to see how he was doing today after seeing Holtz die last night. Poor Connor had already been through so much but for Holtz to try to manipulate him that way was unspeakable. Angel's head snapped up as he heard his son scream and he broke through the door trying to get to him.
Dawn jumped and let out a squeak as Angel came barging through the door. Quickly she turned away from him and covered her chest. "Angel," she whimpered out wondering if he would recognize her like this.
Angel stood in the doorway looking around, checking for any demons that might have hurt his son. He could tell Connor was distraught from the way he was hunched over himself but didn't smell any blood. "What's wrong?"
"I have a thing," Connor squeaked out. Angel didn't think his son was capable of squeaking, it was all very strange. " A guy thing," he whimpered out quietly, a thread of panic in his voice.
"What guy thing?" Angel paled, had Holtz really not explained even the basics of the birds and the bees?
"A... you know... part..." Connor ventured shyly.
Angel stepped closer to his son only to have the boy turn even further from him, covering his chest almost the way a girl might hide her breast. "Well, yeah, that's part of being a guy."
"I'm not a guy," Connor almost sobbed. "I'm a fifteen year old girl! I shouldn't have a.. thing," he motioned quickly towards his genitals.
Just then Gunn popped his head in the door, he had been listening from the hall for the last two minutes. "Umm, Connor, hate to break it to ya, but your a guy... with guy parts and everything, not a girl."
"Who's Connor?" Angel's son cried flopping onto the bed.
He took a step forward finally getting it, this might look like his son but it wasn't. Not even minutely. "More importantly who the hell are you? And what have you done with my son?"
"Son? Angel... you're a vampire you can't have a son that's one of the top three reasons you and Buffy broke up," Dawn shook her head at the vampire she'd known most of her life.
"Who are you?" he growled.
Dawn shrank back from his imposing figure, she'd never really been afraid of Angel before, Angelus definitely but never Angel. "I'm Dawn," she cried let her tears of panic begin to fall. "You know me Angel, since I was a little girl and now this has happened..." she trailed off being to rock back and forth on the bed.
"Dawn?" he asked stunned, surely it couldn't be...
Back in Sunnydale Connor woke up in a very different room, in a very different body. "Dawn, get up already," Buffy screamed from downstairs alerting the young man that he wasn't at all where he'd fallen asleep at. This room was brightly colored with frilly curtains, white painted furniture, littered with girly knick-knacks.
He was a lot slower and clumsier than he normally would have been as he bolted out of the bed. Someone must have drugged him but who. He looked around slowly taking in everything, instantly searching for an exit and a weapon. Connor notices a single door sitting partially open, clothes were hanging inside, must be the closet. There was a window but he wasn't sure how far up he was or what would be waiting for him below. He peeked inside a door to the left of the closet and found another bedroom. This bedroom was larger and filled with boxes and a rolled up carpet against one wall. Connor could see the blood stain that was spotting the closet, someone had been hurt here.
"Dawn, come on already," the female voice shouted again from below. He carefully moved to check the desk and found a poorly whittled stake there. Connor took the stake and headed downstairs watching for who or whatever Dawn was.
Connor was sneaking down the stairs watching for the owner of the voice that had been shouting before. Suddenly a short blond woman popped out at the end of the stairs surprising him, he hadn't even heard her coming. Connor tripped over his pant leg and went sprawling down the stairs landing on his face.
"Dawnie, are you okay?" the blond asked worriedly coming closer to him.
Connor pushed up as quickly as he could, still feeling very clumsy and slow. He glanced around hurriedly looking for this Dawn person. He watched the blond wearily waiting to see how she would attack; he'd lost his stake when he fell.
The blond shook her head and walked off to the living room picking up as she went. "I have to go to work, I need you to finish packing up Wills' room, do your laundry, the dishes, and please take out the trash," she groaned.
Connor stood at the bottom of the stairs still looking around the strange house, he spotted several weapons in a chest beyond where the short blond stood. "Who's Will?" he heard a gentle feminine voice asks and it took him nearly a whole minute until he realized the voice was coming from him.
Buffy stood looking at her younger sister, wondering what was going on. Dawn was standing there, after taking a slight flop on the stairs before, looking around as though she'd never seen the place before. "Dawnie?" she questioned moving towards her little slowly. Had Dawn hit her head? Did she have a concussion? Or was it something else?
"Who's Dawnie?" she asked almost angrily, stopping the slayer in her tracks.
"So Angel had a son with Darla? That woman that fed on my mom that one time... and I'm now in his body," Dawn sighed flopping her head into her hands. She was downstairs sitting on the couch in the lobby of Angel's hotel, he had already explained to everyone he worked with that she wasn't his son.
Dawn had thrown on a t-shirt to cover her chest but left the sweat pants untouched. Cordy was explaining how Connor had come into existence. "That's right sweetie," the cheerleader cooed and Dawn wondered what had happened to make Cordelia turn nice.
The teen squirmed in her seat again as Fred came in carrying a pile of books to research the possible body swap. "Something wrong?" the sweet brunette asked.
"She has to pee," Cordelia explained going behind the counter to file something.
Fred had a funny look, "so why doesn't he- she just...?"
The cheerleader sighed looking at where Dawn continued to squirm within Connor's body. "I don't want to have to see that.. thing again," Dawn responded with a shudder. Gunn chuckled as he entered the room, there was something so amusing about seeing Connor, even if it was only his body, shudder and act repulsed at the thought of going to the bathroom.
Buffy was edging closer to who or whatever was occupying her sister's body. "Who are you?" she growled. Connors instincts told him to prepare for a fight as the blond edged closer to him. Both ignored the phone that began to ring.
Buffy stopped when the answering machine picked up and she heard Angel's voice pour through. "Buffy you there?" he asked. "Look its' hard to explain but Dawn's here with me... only not in her body I guess," he sighed. "I'm hoping that it was a straight switch and Connor's there with you..."
Connor pushed past the blond who he was guessing was the slayer his dad had dated before. "Dad," he answered picking up the phone and frowning at his girly voice.
"Oh my god, Connor," Angel sighed with relief. "Is everything okay?"
"Well I woke up in a strange house and I'm talking like a girl, you tell me," he answered.
Buffy stood in a baffled state for a whole minute before she turned, "Dad?" she blurted out interrupting them.
Angel was groaning at hearing the slayers surprise, "can you put Buffy on?" Connor stepped back handing the blond the phone and waited a few stepped away.
"What does she mean Dad? And what do you mean Dawn's with you, she's acting weird but trust me Angel she's standing right next to me!" Buffy was beginning to freak out.
"Dawn seems to have swapped bodies with my son, Connor," he explained.
"Your son? You can't have a son Angel," she pointed out.
"Look, can you just drive down here with him... her... so we can figure this out. I'll explain when you get here," he pleaded knowing this conversation would be so much easier if they had it face to face.
"Fine," she conceded looking at Dawn or Connor standing next to her.
Angel walked out of his office to find a squirmy teen attempting to cross legs in a very feminine way that didn't work on the masculine body she was in. "Ow," she whined. "Now I see why guys don't sit this way."
"I called Buffy, she's on her way," he announced and went to fix himself a cup of blood.
After a moment Dawn was up sniffing the air. "What's wrong?" the tall black man named Gunn asked.
"Something really stinks," she pointed out sniffing again. "Can't you smell that?" Angel came back in drinking his blood, as he walked by the full order of it hit Dawn's noise. "Oh, that's disgusting," she pointed out covering her nose and sitting again.
"You can probably smell that when we can't cause Connor seems to have some super senses," Fred explained feeling bad for the young girl.
Connor walked up the stairs again, what had Angel meant by swapped bodies, he was still himself. He entered the very feminine room he'd woken in before and caught sight of himself in the full length mirror on the closet door. Moving closer he opened it out further so he could see himself, there he was a pale young girl, with glittering blue eyes, and long dark hair. Connor slowly traced the curves on his chest, and down to his now wide sweeping hips. So that's what Dad meant, he thought in wonder.
Downstairs Buffy was sitting on the couch answering Xander's questions, "so that's not Dawn, that's Connor... Angel's son..." The blond nodded as her best friend paced before her. "And they swapped bodies so we're all going to L.A. to fix this?" Xander took a seat on the couch next to her as the shock set in, "is this like some weird sweet sixteen mojo or something?"
"I don't know," Buffy pouted, "either way it's totally crashing that surprise birthday party we had planned for tomorrow night."
Xander nodded his agreement as Dawn or Connor came downstairs now dressed in a t-shirt and blue jeans. He couldn't help but notice the lack of a bra present and cursed himself for it. "Hi, I'm Xander," he greeted trying his best not to freak out. The young man in Dawn's form only nodded at him mutely before they headed out the door.
Dawn finally succumbed to her need to go to the bathroom and awkwardly freed her male anatomy from the sweat pants. She cringed, this shouldn't be how any girl first gets to see a boy naked. Dawn knew guys would stand for this and figured that might be the easier option considering the idea of trying to tuck it down to sit sounded painful. She took a deep breath and pointed it as best she could, not quite used to maneuvering something like this. Once she began she gave out a startled laugh, it was easier than it looked and kind of felt good. Then as she began to stop it dripped all over the place making a mess, Dawn frowned. Oh well, at least I got most of it in, she concluded tucking the masculine appendage away. She washed her hands twice to be sure and walked back into the lobby.
"Feel better?" Cordy teased.
"Much," she grinned glad to have the tension of needing to go over with.
Lorne walked in just then, not having been present when the introductions were made earlier. "Hey cupcake," he greeted Cordy. "Good to see broody boys son grinning, what brought on this kind of happy?"
Dawn froze and stood staring at the green skinned, red eyed, horned demon in front of her. Cordelia looked between them and almost laughed at how big Dawn's eyes were getting. "Dawn this is Lorne, he's a friend," she explained hastily. "Lorne, this is Dawn... Buffy's sister... She and Connor seem to have swapped bodies."
"What?" he asked confusedly.
"You're a nice demon?" Dawn asked cautiously.
"Yah, kitten," he answered hedging closer to the young man who just yesterday had been threatening both him and Cordelia. Lorne could read her aura from here, this girl, who ever she might be was pouring off the kind of open loving acceptance that said she didn't have a bone of hatred in her body. It was really refreshing, "you really are a ray of sunshine."
"Thanks," she smiled.
Just over two hours later Buffy came walking in with Xander and Connor in tow. "Angel," she demanded of Cordelia. The girl pointed to the office where Angel had been brooding away since Dawn informed him that his pigs blood stank. The short blond went stomping off to demand answers leaving Xander and Connor to wait.
Dawn stepped forward looking over her body carefully, Connor was doing the same. He never realized just how tall he was until now. He looked far to thin too. Dawn however was taking in her apparel, Connor had dressed her in purple sneakers with blue jeans and a red t-shirt. She shook her head, "this is so wrong," she moaned. "I mean red and purple together? What were you thinking?"
Connor hated the whiney voice coming from his body, "I just grabbed the first thing I came to." He frowned looking down at the way he was dressed, it looked okay to him.
Dawn pointed being utterly outraged, "and you didn't even wear a bra! I could get breast cancer from that you know!"
Connor rubbed a hand across his ribs, "I tried wearing one of those torture devices, I don't know why you'd willingly put that thing on."
Dawn watched his hands move across her flesh. "Stop touching my body, you freak!" she screamed. Connor just rolled his eyes in response.
"Enough you two," Cordy said stepping between them, they were giving her a headache reminiscent of her pre-demon vision days.
Buffy came out of the office with Angel, "so how close are we to putting them back where they belong?"
"I don't know," Fred answered flipping through her notes, "we don't actually know what started this so its going to take some time to fix."
"Time?" Dawn pouted, an expression that didn't look quite right on Connor's body.
"Sorry," she sheepishly put in.
Dawn rolled her eyes, "great just great. Every girl wants to spend her sixteenth birthday as a boy!" Everyone watched as she turned and stormed up the stairs.
Gunn watched her go, "I don't think I'll ever get used seeing Connor's body walking around acting like a teenage girl."
"Hopefully we won't have to," Xander put in as he watched her... him go.
Connor watched his body and the girl in it flee up the stairs and quickly pushed past them to follow the her. He found her slumped up in a ball on his bed, and even though she looked like him the thought of a girl on his bed still had his heart pounding. "Look I like this even less than you do, but they'll find a way to fix," he insisted.
"I know they will," she murmured angrily. "Tomorrow's my birthday though, my sixteenth birthday... I know Buffy's got a party planned and all my friends will be there," she groaned sitting up against the headboard. Connor sat down across from her and listened. "Everyone already thinks I'm a freak," she continued, "but I can't show up at my birthday party with a penis!"
Connor moved forward and wiped a stray tear from her face, "I've never had a birthday party."
Dawn looked up at his... or her eyes, she'd never noticed how soft her skin was before. "Never?" she sniffled.
"I grew up in a hell dimension, time was different there... harder to really keep track of," he explained looking down at the bed.
Dawn shifted as a clever thought hit her, "I've got an idea!" Connor frowned a bit not sure what she meant, "you look like me and live in this big fancy hotel... If we can get switched back in time for the party tomorrow night you could pretend to be me, and have the party here. Then you get to experience what its like to have a birthday and I won't be a complete social leper for the rest of my life."
Connor carefully got up and backed away shaking his head, "I don't think I could pull that off."
"Oh sure you could, I'd be there to help you the entire time. Besides aren't you one of the good guys? A hero?... Who rescues damsels in distress?"
He laughed a bit, a somewhat tinkling sound he found he liked. "You're more of a distressing damsels actually."
"Please," she pleaded sticking out her lower lip.
"Fine, but stop making me look like that," he conceded with a frown.
"I can't believe I agreed to do this," Connor groaned as Dawn adjusted the dress she was making her wear. He looked at the flat shoes she had picked out for him and was glad Dawn wasn't making him wear the kind of high heels that Cordy was so fond of.
"You agreed to it cause you're sweet," Dawn informed him as she began rearranging his hair to make sure it was just right for the party tonight.
He frowned up at her, "I'm really not."
She paused in pulling out a tube of mascara, "yes, you are... Whoever's said otherwise was an idiot."
Connor paused her hand on its way to his lashes, "thank you for that but you really don't know me Dawn."
Dawn smiled a bit as she started on his makeup, thinking doing makeup like this certainly made things a lot easier. "I'd like to," she concluded thinking that Connor had to be the nicest boy in her age group she'd ever met.
"So we're having Dawn's birthday party here?" Xander was asking Cordelia as they moved to hang her sweet sixteen banner for her.
"Yep," she answered affixing her end to the baluster.
"And Connor is still in Dawn's body and she's in his, but he's pretending to be her?" Xander nodded climbing down from the ladder he was standing on. "Why?"
Cordy rolled her eyes and headed back into the office area behind the counter, "because Dawn is a teenage girl and wants a social life in her future."
"I see," he answered still somewhat confused by the concept of it all.
Angel stood with Lorne on the balcony above watching as the hotel lobby was transformed into any sixteen year old girls dream. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he moaned.
Lorne chuckled and took a sip of his sea breeze, "I know what you mean Angel-cakes, I never would have guessed you'd be doing this."
"Yeah," Buffy agreed as she walked up to join the two men, "you opening you're home to a bunch of teenagers for a party, I think the world really might end."
"Ha- Ha-," he deadpanned. He looked his ex over carefully she had her hair curled lightly, and was wearing a pale cream dress that blended with her skin tone perfectly. "You look great," he sighed knowing he and Buffy could never be together again.
"Thanks," she nodded. "You're gonna try to ditch the party and hang up here in the shadows aren't you?" Angel nodded, "have fun, then."
Connor was standing with a silly looking tiara on his head, Dawn was standing next to him in the lobby as the guests started to arrive. Janice and Marci were amongst the first in. "That's my best friend Janice," Dawn pointed out in a whisper, "and my second best friend Marci."
"Anything else I should know?" Connor whispered.
"Yeah, you got talk, be energetic, and happy... Oh and smile," she told him in a rush.
Connor grinned, "okay, I'll just think of you naked then." Dawn choked on her breath as she watched Connor walk away and greet her friends with a smile and a hug.
Connor was jerked over by Buffy to a table filled with colorfully wrapped boxes that people kept bringing in. "It's time to open your presents Dawnie," the slayer announced. Dawn hung off to the back anxious to see what she got.
"Yes, open your presents so we can eat cake and go home," Anya insisted.
Connor began opening one gift after another, getting more and more clothes, jewelry, books, cds, and shoes. He doubted there was room for it back in Dawn's already crowded bedroom but he was sure she'd manage somehow.
Once he had opened all the presents he was given a cake topped with candles and told to blow them out. "Make a wish, but don't tell us what it is or it won't come true" Buffy told him with a grin. Connor looked up at Dawn and realized his wish from a few nights before had come true. "It already did," he whispered blowing out the candles.
"Oh!" Anya let out in an outburst and shook her head when everyone looked at her. "I'll tell you later," she nodded and smiled at a very confused Buffy.
Once the party was over and everyone had departed Anya filled in the blanks for them, "he was an unhappy child. Earlier he said his wish had already come true..." she waved a hand as though that solved the whole of their problems.
"A vengeance demon," Buffy groaned, "its that Halley woman again."
"How do we reverse it?" Angel asked.
Anya shrugged, "I know Halley, she won't just reverse it. You could try breaking her amulet, but good luck finding her or getting to it."
"Great, and while we're doing that we can all have a sex changes to match Dawn and Connors," Xander fumed.
"Hey, I didn't make the rules Xander," Anya pointed out angrily. "Trust me there are a few I would definitely change if I could."
Dawn walked out of the room wondering where Connor had slipped off to, leaving the old couple to bicker, again. She found Connor sitting on his bed upstairs crying profusely and cursing the sting of the mascara he wore. "You okay?" she asked coming in and closing the door behind her.
"Yeah," he nodded profusely, "can't a girl cry without being stared at!"
Dawn chuckled and brought him a cool wash cloth to wipe away the make up. "Sure you can, as long as you tell me why you were crying."
"Everyone was so nice, they all love you so much, and I want that," he pointed out tiredly.
"Oh," Dawn cooed pulling Connor into her arms and brushing his dark silky hair back. "Angel loves you, and Cordy, and Gunn, and Fred, and even Lorne."
"I know," he cried snuggling into Dawn's chest and looking up into her eyes.
Dawn looked down and Connor, and noticed just how soft his lips looked, all pouty and swollen. She leaned down and kissed him gently, he melted against her mouth and sighed. Oh, that's what I kiss like, she thought.
Connor was all fire and passion in her arms as she leaned him back onto the bed, and groaned when she felt that same annoying hardness she'd woken with that moment hit Connor's hip. "Darn it," she said pulling back and looking at where Connor lay; the dress he wore pooling to one side of her body, showing the long length of his legs.
"What is it?" Connor asked staring up at the strong masculine figure above him.
"You're darn... em.. part keeps doing that," she said motioning to the general area said part resided.
Connor leaned back watching Dawn to see how she'd react, "I could help you with that."
"How?" she asked curiously.
He sat up and motioned for Dawn to come closer, "lean back against me." Dawn moved until her back was firmly pressed against Connor's chest, which only served to make the ache in her pants grow. "Trust me," Connor whispered to her as he unzipped her pants and pulled her male appendage free. Dawn let out a slow moan as Connor began to slowly stroke her, relieving some of the pressure as he did. "This feel okay?" he asked.
Dawn laughed, "its your body, you know very well what you like."
Connor chuckled, his warm breath tickling her ear, "I know." He watched over his shoulder as his or rather Dawn's hand ghosted over his shaft again and again. He had to admit it was the hottest thing he'd ever seen in all his life.
Dawn took a deep breath through her nose as she relaxed into Connor's arms, smelling the sweet musky tinge of his arousal on the air. "You smell so good," she sighed.
"Technically, you smell so good," he pointed out nipping her ear lobe with his teeth.
She turned to face him and captured his lips with her own again, "let me make you feel good, too." He nodded and relaxed back onto the bed as Dawn moved to push the dress from his shoulders. Dawn kissed and nibbled along his shoulders and caressed the firm curve of one breast. She couldn't remember it feeling this good the last time she'd tried this on herself.
Connor moaned and arched up against her, his fingers sliding away from the hardened shaft he'd been stroking. Dawn kissed him as she pushed the dress down to his hips and then moved to free his breast from what he'd deemed to be a torture device. Connor slid his finger's through her hair as her tongue came out and suckled his nipple into her mouth. "Oh God," he groaned.
Dawn rolled them until they lay side by side on the bed, their legs tangling as they kissed. She cupped and stroked her breast while he reached between them to work his hand over her taut flesh again. Dawn let out a groan as his small warm hand worked until the pressure inside her exploded.
Connor laughed against her lips at her expression, "glad, you enjoyed that."
"Heh," she moaned and snuggled into his arms. She grasped one round breast, rubbing as she did, "now I know why guys are so obsessed with their pen- I mean, parts." Dawn pressed a gentle kiss to his lips and pulled a blanket up to cover them.
Both awoke in the darkened room a few hours later, Dawn lay with her breast exposed and looked over at where Connor lay. She traced the line of his masculine face in wonder. "Connor," she whispered in amazement.
He blinked at her and grinned, "hey, you're you again."
She nodded slowly, "and you're you too."
The next afternoon the two Summers girls and Xander were packing up to go back to Sunnydale. "So how'd they get change back again?" Fred asked confused.
Anya chirped up, "simple, they were happy. Its not vengeance if those the vengeance spell affects are happy. So no more body swap plus Halley won't get in trouble for this or end up killing any of you."
"Great," Buffy drawled.
"Hey, Dawn," Connor called her over. Dawn followed him away from the crowd of people throwing advert glances at the two joyous teens. "I got you something for you're birthday," he told her handing her a long thin package.
Dawn looked at the size and shape of the box and had a strangely dirty thought pop into her head. "Please tell me this isn't a... stake?" she finished opening the box.
He nodded with a grin, "I noticed the one you had in your desk was kind of..."
"Bad," she laughed. "Thank you."
"Yeah, I, uh, carved it myself," he said running a hand through his hair. Dawn smiled, lovingly stroking the wood, and reminding him of what had transpired between them the night before. "Anyway, happy birthday," he whispered leaning down to kiss her.
Buffy and Angel both looked like their jaws were about to fall off and their eyes were going to pop out of their heads. Dawn pulled back blushing slightly, completely aware of their audience. "I'll see you later," she whispered and headed out the door, stake in hand.
Connor walked away whistling a bit and headed upstairs. Lorne stared after him aghast, some of the positive aspects in Dawn's aura had clearly rubbed off and stayed with him, healing the old damage that had been inflicted on him. He patted Angel's back as he walked off to make himself a drink, "don't worry broody, she's the good for him."
"I have a feeling I'm going to kill your son," Buffy groaned before turning to leave herself.