"My Sister's My Apprentice."

By James Carmody.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel the Series, or Sleepy Hallow besides the stories I purchase from their rightful owners to read and enjoy. I refuse any monetary compensation for this piece of crossover fan-made literature, now and forever.

Characters: Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers, Ichabod Crane, Abby Mills, Jenny Mills, Joe Corbin, and others from those series'.

Pairing(s): Ichabod Crane/Buffy Summers/Dawn Summers (relax folks, this isn't incestuous- there's nothing sexual going on here, Mr. Crane is their new Watcher, and Dawn's not only Buffy's kid sister (such as it is- she's a young adult now), she's also her apprentice Slayer.)

Summary: After Dawn's entry into young adulthood, a surprising change happens to her: she acquires some of the same physical gifts that Buffy has! This brings delight to them due to their affection (and more) for eachother, but then something else happens: she manages to convince Buffy to take her on as her apprentice and keep their sisterly bond! Considering as Buffy's about 27, Dawn would be 22.

Author's Story Notes: Well, folks; I had originally had a story growing along this tack, but thanks to some idiot trying to blackmail me, it got lost besides the memory. Well, not entirely lost, and thanks to watching a newer episode of Sleepy Hallow, that story kind of grew into this one- as well as due to further data from the Buffyverse RPG gamebooks I have, that is. About the story: Ichabod is a new watcher for them, and that inspiration I got from another fan of those stories, but this takes a different tack on that idea.

Also, the idea of Dawn being an apprentice slayer is/was gained by reading a story from quite a while ago o (just remove the spaces to find out what name that is) that the author decided to remove. The author's penname was "Whipping Dawn", and apparently still is, and the story's name I cannot recall. I loved that story, and that one inspired this one, but this is no sequel. However, Dawn's status as an apprentice Slayer will be revealed in "story flashbacks" as the story progresses.

This story is about sibling love, devotion, and care, but there may be elements of fights between them. Don't worry folks, even in the worst of these fights, the goal of those young women is to turn the other around, not to harm her- basically a similar gist to the catfights in "Frozen", to some degree or another.

There may also be other gifts that Buffy has acquired, gifts that may shock and astonish Dawn- especially when she acquires her own of them.

This story has a large degree of ideas from other stories that I liked the ideas of, but here's my take on them (Ichabod Crane being a new Watcher for the Summers women is one of them- that was obtained from another fanfic writer's story that I liked the idea from.), and the idea of Slayers having some magical abilities also may show up here and there- a truly dangerous proposition when it comes to the real threat of the storyline- a temper spirit best thought of as Satan! If he and his demons are able to track them through this, which the series sourcebooks indicate (especially if I'm correct about the First being the Devil); then that poses a great danger indeed!

Finally, telepathy I believe is about the latest blooming Slayer power, oftentimes, though sometimes the first to show up- this is due to some episodes in Season 7. If this is the case, then this would be absolutely an added edge in their arsenal. This [text] shows telepathy in this storyline, and should be seen as such.

Please read, review and enjoy.

Chapter 1.): "Meeting our New Watcher."

Chapter 1 Author's Notes Beginning.): Set some years after Sunnydale collapsed- ignoring the bulk of the comics at this point. The Summers women are living in a small house in a suburb of Rome Italy; easily within reach of anywhere in Rome Italy, including the official center of the Christian world, Vatican City. How Ichabod Crane ended up in Rome Italy will be explained within the storyline, but his involvement with them surprises even him- same deal with the Mills sisters!

It was roughly nine in the morning when Ichabod was awoken by a loud bang of the door to his study in Rome Italy and in walked two young ladies he'd recently gotten to know well, Elizabeth Summers and her younger sister, Dawn. Dawn was wearing long pants that looked semi-dress-up, and Buffy's pants were basically dress-slacks. They wore what appeared to be sturdy blouses, and from the grass-stains on their outfits, it was apparent immediately to Mr. Crane that these two had been wrestling and rolling around on the ground, play-fighting for the last half-hour at least. This was immediately confirmed by the brunette's statement of "Thanks for the workout, Buffy!" said in the middle of laughter on her part, as she walked up to a bag and took out a bagel to munch on, a multi-grain one, from the looks of it. Ichabod still couldn't get used to the interest most people had in fast-foods, he was still getting used to many of the modern technical jargons of the day; he actually often relied on either the Mills sisters or Mr. Corbin to do the "Internet searches" most of the time. His eighteenth-century upbringing still told him not to trust the internet, he often-as-not got the general impression that there was something demonic about the internet... Oddly enough, had he talked to his blonde charge's previous best friend, he would have been surprised to find out that this was alarmingly often the case!

Buffy was laughing along with her little sister as she looked around in the bag to find a breakfast for herself- these two had separated somewhat to get themselves some food, but always, Ichabod knew from his brief time with them, that they really rarely separated in their hearts from eachother. He hadn't known the Summers women all that long, but the one thing he did know was that nothing,and I do mean nothing got Buffy madder than a threat to Dawnie!

Inbetween bites, the older of the sisters mentioned "Next time we go out to spar and wrestle, we wear workout cloths- this is ridiculous!" the blonde finished, muttering while gazing and gesturing with her hand down at her top, which was grass-stained, as were her pants.

Abby Mills, who had just walked into the research room with a pile of books up to her chin caught a bit of a glance at these two new associates of hers and rolled her eyes, saying with a grim smile "Oh, I heartily agree! You two look as if you were fighting some kind of green monster, or did you two turn into said green monster while wrestling with eachother?" she questioned the two younger ladies in the room.

Joe Corbin, who's wendigo problem he'd been able to keep hidden from his newest associates for quite a while, and hoped for the rest of the time he was dealing with them that he'd be able to do so, headed into the room then... with remarkable news "so, apparently, every so often there are unexplained fires in some of the areas of Italy.". He was chatting with his girlfriend about why they were there, a young woman named Jenny Mills "And we're trying to find out if these fires have something preternatural or, deserving of more dread, supernatural behind them." he finished.

Jenny was barreling right after her boyfriend, Joe, and all wrapped up in this discussion with him. She didn't even notice the disheveled state of their newer co-workers.

As the Summers girls munched on their breakfasts, they began to reminisce about how this newest level of their relationship had begun. It was just after Sunnydale had imploded, and they'd arrived in Rome, Italy to live there. They were eating dinner in a cafe one night; it was after dark- one of the blessings of hanging out with a girl knight, especially if said girl knight is your sister, Dawn realized, was that while every nasty wants to get at you, very few dare to try to do so! It was during that dinner that Dawn finally mentioned to Buffy that she wanted her to start teaching her how to defend herself. Dawn already knew that Buffy was pretty advanced in martial arts- a definite plus, she knew- and that she didn't want to be helpless. As Dawn recalled, it had taken some haggling to get her sister to teach her- the biggest concern in Buffy's mind was that she'd injure Dawnie when they were training by accident; but now that Dawn's slayer gifts, apparently acquired from Buffy's DNA, they hypothesized, had started to bloom... it was darn near impossible for her to be hurt!

Buffy remembered the evening slightly with greater clarity, it was a winter's evening, sometime in January, she thought, and she'd been lightly stirring her salad with her fork in a bored mindset when Dawn asked her out of the blue if she'd help teach her how to be a Vampire Slayer. Initially, Buffy'd thought Dawn was joking, and had said as much- albeit gently, but when some Italian Gangster Demons had tried to mug them and kidnap Dawnie, Dawn had actually fended them off- by breaking the necks of two of them before the rest fled and got out of sight. That was when Buffy realized that Dawn's latent Slayer gifts had come into bloom- she'd rarely been so happy; she remembered how astonished Dawn had been when she hugged her full strength and said "Oh, Dawnie!"

As Buffy recalled, Dawn's face had been something like "Muh?!" and she had a slight grimace on before she hugged back, as if she didn't know what to think about this.

If Buffy remembered correctly, as it had been a few years ago, she then professed love to her and explained, happily, that Dawn's gifts had just come into bloom- albeit a dangerous and potentially very traumatic event: an attempted kidnapping, and possibly worse, provided no ransom was paid, apparently.

Dawn's apprenticeship to her older sister began the very next day, as Buffy didn't want her helpless any longer, and now that she could defend herself in all likelihood, once training was applied, Buffy was eager to start training. Of course, the Crucimentium would potentially be the thing that would sever their bond, one reason Buffy got herself a teacher to help oversee her training of Dawn: that being Ichabod Crane. Getting him to come over had been difficult, and had required a good amount of deal-making on her part, besides contacting a hero of the American War of independence to come to Italy and help her out- that was yet another detail she'd have to figure out his reasons for pursuing the arrangement- and she hadn't yet. For some odd reason, she just asked him and he came over- as fast as modern transport allowed.

Flying was something entirely new to Ichabod Crane, and he had had to have some reassurances from his FBI colleagues that it was safe indeed! What they informed him was that he was probably safer flying than he was on a ship, actually- three dimensions to avoid a collision, instead of just two, yes, collisions are far more hazardous in the air, they told him, but they're less likely- provided the pilot knows what he's doing, and they usually do. Finally, he agreed.

What nobody knew, besides Dawn, was that she'd spied on Buffy's internet chat with Ichabod Crane online, and intervened in a particular way: she'd managed to convince the Bishop of Rome to include it in his intentions at Mass once (at least) that her sister gets the necessary help she needs; not mentioning what she needs the help with! One way she had managed to do this was by secretly meeting with him, and once in one of their hikes, she'd seen how some of these Italian Gangster Demons actually tend to avoid his presence. Dawn had concluded that something about his gifts actually burns them, somehow, and she was curious. She didn't offer, and he didn't ask what the matter was her sister needed assistance with- oh, Dawn was ambitious, no doubts there!

Of course, having his gangs interfered with was something the First got incredibly furious about, and now he had yet another reason to have a hit out on the Pope- this guy had been speaking out against the misbehaviors he had been advocating for for all his reign, and now the Secretary General of Perdition was out to end this, once and for ever!

And so, a most unusual alliance indeed was struck, as well as some personal friendships begun...

To be Continued...

Author's Notes, End Chapter 1.): Well, this turned out a little different from what I had envisioned- particularly Dawn's intervention in her own "education" of sorts, but I think this is a pretty good first chapter.

My favorite part was having the Dawn/Buffy wrestling/sparring match reference- the way they come in with cloths that they then realize are grass-stained and covered with soil from rolling around on the lawn and wrestling; it sure was fun though to come up with that sort of interaction between those two sisters!

Relax about disagreeing with me, I don't ban people for doing that- even if you think it's horrible (that scene), just tell me. Only: make sure you are clear what parts you're talking about. Same deal with how the parts of this chapter are woven together- dislike that, make sure you tell me. I don't yell at people for criticizing my artwork- and that's what this is: artwork!