A/N: This was just something I threw together after a spark of inspiration. I'm not sure if I should keep going past this chapter so any progress will depend on just how enthusiastic you are to see more.

Update: Made some small minor changes to this chapter leading up to the release of chapter 2.

Chapter One: Hangover Nightmares.

I woke with a hangover, which was weird because I didn't remember drinking the night before. "Dorogoy Bog" I slurred in Russian trying to block the sunlight pouring in through the window. I raised my arm to try and block the light while I looked around the room. It took me a moment to figure out what was wrong. I knew I had been out with friends last night but the room I was in didn't look like their house. The walls were familiar but I couldn't quite figure out where I was. The decorations looked like they belonged in a young girls bedroom complete with a big teddy bear on the bed.

Swinging around I moved to stand when I noticed something else strange. My legs looked shorter for some reason, though it may have just been the hangover. Forcing my self up into a standing position I stumbled over to a full length mirror hung on the wall. Trying to rub the blurriness out of my eyes I stared at the reflection not understanding exactly what I was seeing. The girl staring back through the mirror looked just like me at 14. Not fully understanding exactly what was happening to me I did the only reasonable thing I could think of. I screamed.

By the time the scream had died in my throat someone burst in through the door behind me. I was starting to hyperventilate and my breath became erratic. I sank down to my knees barely hearing the woman who barged in calling out to me. Now completely sitting on the floor I turned my head to look at the other woman in the room. She was saying something but the blood in my ears kept me from hearing what it was. I knew who she was and instantly I recognized the room. What I didn't understand was what the two of us were doing on the set of a canceled television show.

"Kristine? What are we doing here?" I asked trying to get a grip of myself. None of this made any sense. Why did I look like I was a teenager.

The woman in question looked back at me with concern clearly written on her face. "Dawn what's the matter? Why did you call me Kristine?" She asked.

I gaped at her in response not able to form a coherent sentence. Why was she calling me Dawn? I hadn't played that character in ten years. Had Joss decided to shoot something and I got so drunk I forgot? That didn't make any sense. There weren't any cameras in the room in fact a wall was standing where the cameras should have been. Why hadn't I noticed that before? This wasn't the set of a TV show this was an actual bedroom. Looking at the wall on the other side of the bed I noticed a poster for some boy band that I didn't remember ever seeing before on the show. Turning back to the woman in front of me I asked in horror. "Mom?"

The look on the other woman's face broke my heart. This was clearly not Kristine this was Joyce Summers or someone who thought she was. "Did you have a nightmare Dawnie?" She asked me with a soft motherly tone. The concern and love in her voice drove the final nail home. I wasn't dreaming the pain in my head and the ache in my throat from screaming were clear indicators that this wasn't my imagination. But if not then what was it? How could this be real? Surely I hadn't magically become a 14 year old Dawn Summers.

"I don't know." I told her truthfully. I was sure that this wasn't a nightmare even though it should have been. Her look was soft and I had no idea what to say. "Der'mo" I swore under my breath.

"What was that Dawn?" She asked. I was jerked out of my slump. She had heard the curse even if she wouldn't understand it. Even though she wasn't really my mom I felt bad swearing in front of her.

"Sorry." I shook my head trying to clear it. "It's nothing, I'm fine mom." I lied trying to get out of this awkward situation. I needed her to leave the room for a minute so I could try and get everything figured out.

"I'll give you a few minutes sweetie but you need to start getting ready for school." She said with a smile before walking out of the room.

School. She expected me to go to school? Seriously?

Of course she does. To her I'm just a teenager and a bratty teenager at that.

Shakily I got back to my feet. Looking at my reflection I groaned loudly. I had never been particularly busty but the girl in the mirror had almost no curves at all. If I had to be Dawn why couldn't I have been the 16 year old from the final season? Why this age? Why this particular part of Dawn's life?

Now that I thought about it I wasn't sure exactly when this was. Clearly it was sometime in season 5 since Joyce was still alive. Or was it? Could it have been before that? Dawn hadn't been on the show in the first four seasons but maybe in what ever bizzaro world she was in Dawn had existed before then.

I stepped past the mirror to the closet and opened the door. I blanched at the cloths. Had we really dressed like this? I held up the hem of a pair of jeans. The leg flared out wider than anything that was fashionable in 2014. I found a pair of jeans that had straight legs and grabbed a pink shirt from the dresser. I walked out of the bedroom and down the hall to where I knew the bathroom would be. Of all the alternate universes to get stuck in at least I got one that I was familiar with.

After I made it into the bathroom and found a towel something else felt off. Where was Buffy? In the show Buffy and Dawn always seemed to need the shower at the same time and were constantly arguing over it. For that matter I hadn't heard her in the house at all. Deciding not to overlook small mercies I quickly disrobed and hopped in the shower. Trying to avoid getting my hair wet I washed as fast as I could. Naked my teenage body was even less impressive than I hoped. This body was still wearing training bras and the look of my prepubescent chest was mortifying. I wasn't going to turn any heads looking like this. After my shower I dressed and brushed my teeth. Not knowing if Dawn wore makeup or not I didn't bother and went down stairs.

1630 Revello Drive was a quaint suburban house. Walking down the stairs I felt this wave of nostalgia wash over me. This house felt so familiar even though I had never really been here. I made it into the kitchen where Joyce was making something at the stove. Having still not seen any sign of Buffy I assumed that she had left already. I sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen and waited for Joyce to finish whatever she was fixing.

It didn't take long for the older woman to finish and I was quickly staring down at a plate of sausage and pancakes. I poked at the decidedly not kosher sausage as Joyce complained about Buffy leaving too early to walk me to school. I knew that the character I had played was from a protestant family but I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do about the food sitting in front of me. Deciding to avoid them for the moment I picked up my fork and began eating the stack of pancakes. I hummed along to Joyce's conversation as she described her day and promised we would go to the mall after school. It was hard for me to fathom what exactly the day was going to be like. I wasn't looking forward to a repeat of 9th grade.

I drifted off not really paying attention to Joyce anymore and started thinking about my friends and family in the real world. Thinking about never seeing my parents made me start to hyperventilate again. I had to force myself to calm down to keep from freaking out Joyce. Choosing to continue to ignore the sausage I got up from my seat and went up stairs. It wasn't hard to find the pink tote bag with school books in it sitting on the desk in my room. I grabbed the bag and a pair of keds tennis shoes and ran down stairs just as Joyce was calling up for me.

After a short drive in Joyce's car we pulled up outside Sunnydale Junior High. I let out a sigh of resignation as the older woman gave me lunch money and I jumped out of the car running toward the school. Beside my sour mood it was a warm sunny day and I had a hard time not feeling at least passably optimistic. I mean seriously how much worse could things get?