A/n: I love The Almighty Johnsons, but especially Dawn and Anders. I've always wondered what Anders' boon from Bragi was and I caught the idea that maybe he'd already used it. So came this story.
It was the biggest secret he had ever kept from her.
They had always been friends, even before JPR. They had met in University, she had dropped her books and he had helped her collect them. He had just turned 21 and hated everything about his life, she was only just 19 and full of dreams and light. They spent the afternoon talking before his classes and he fell in love.
Dawn had been the light of his life.
They had been friends for a year before they kissed for the first time. They'd been writing a paper for their shared history class and she was laughing as he tried and failed to pronounce the names of some of the Japanese generals. She looked breathtaking. Cheeks blushed from laughter, lips wine stained and eyes brighter than stars. Before he'd been able to stop himself, he'd taken her face into his hands and kissed her.
It was only lips to lips, but it was the most passionate kiss he'd ever shared with a woman. His hands slid down to her waist and she'd taken to cupping his cheeks with her hands. The kisses didn't deepen, but they continued for several minutes before the door to her dorm opened and her roommate gasped and apologized before leaving again. The kisses had stopped, but only for the time. They had sat in stunned silence for a moment before Dawn had reached out and pulled him down into another kiss, this time their tongues met and they were locked into a deep make-out session. They didn't have sex that night, Dawn too worried about his reputation and him to scared to ruin their friendship.
They fell into an easy pattern of kisses and touches, never realizing when they shifted from friends to a couple. Dawn resting her head on his shoulder and him turning his head to kiss her. Him reaching for her hand and Dawn wrapping her arms around his one. Greetings whispered between kisses and outings becoming dates. They were so wrapped up in each other, that he forgot who and what he was.
They had been together for a year, waking up in each other's beds, teasing each other gently and making love more than they cared to admit. How many times had they been late to a class or to work because they couldn't keep their hands off each other. It had been the best year of his life and he had the ring picked out, paid for and in his pocket. He was going to propose and take her home to meet the boys and Mike. He was going to flaunt her in Valerie's face and watch as the woman realized he could be loved.
They were laughing and talking happily when a young woman came flying out of a set of apartment buildings. She had tears running down her face and was barely holding her clothes together. Anders saw this for what it was. She'd been slipped something at a house party and woke up raped and barely able to get dressed. He caught her just as a man came out of the building, "Hey! Get your hands off my girlfriend!" Anders looked at the girl, who was shaking her head and passed her off to Dawn who was calling the cops and an ambulance.
"I think we both know what happened here, mate." the man snarled and grabbed Anders by the front of his shirt. Anders pulled Bragi forward and spoke, "You're going to let me go and turn yourself in. You're going to admit to everything and give that girl back some of her dignity." the man must have felt guilt somewhere in his heart because he agreed and soon he and Dawn were off again to their lunch date.
They sat down in a privet part of the restaurant and had just ordered their meals when Dawn spoke softly, "Anders, that thing you did with the man back there... when your voice changed... what was that." he stared at her in shock and realized that he had never lied to her and he wouldn't start now. He told her everything, whispered it to her and willing her to believe him even though it was only sounded more and more crazy than ever before.
She didn't believe him and she left him at the restaurant with a ring still in his pocket.
She didn't speak to him for three days, but when they talked again and his story didn't change or waver she ignored him and his calls for a week. He began to give up hope, thinking that she would now leave him forever and he'd lost his truest love. She showed up after that week and without another word, they fell into bed together. They laid together and spoke together, Anders telling her more and more about himself and his family.
Dawn ran her fingers through his hair and whispered softly, "Do Gods only marry Goddesses?"
"No. Mike married a mortal. She doesn't know what we are though." Dawn hummed softly and stared at him, "I've never used my powers on you, Bragi really likes you."
She smiled at him sweetly, "So, are you going to ask me or do I have to do it?" it took him a moment, but he shot out of bed and grabbed the box from his pants drawer. He slid down to one knee, still naked as the day he was born, and held it out to her.
"Rebecca Dawn Sutherland, will you marry me?" she agreed quickly and gasped at the gold ring with three fair sized diamonds. Anders grinned, "I wanted a ring with three stones. One for each roll you play in my life." Dawn prompted him to continue, "You're my best friend, the love of my life and now you're my future." Dawn pulled him into bed again, tears running down her cheeks.
They didn't get out of bed until the next night.
Anders thought it was just a weird night. Drunk drivers, faulty lights and clumsy deliverymen, then a guy tried to rob them at knife point. He had thought Mike had made up the rule about mortals because he didn't want to be famous or something stupid. Now he realized that it was true. Telling a mortal about the gods would only get the mortal killed. Anders talked down the man with the knife and took Dawn home.
While she took a shower, Anders summoned Bragi into full force and silently begged the god to make it work. She stepped out of the shower and smiled at him sweetly, Anders took a deep breath and cupped her cheeks, "Dawn... we're the best of friends. Such good friends that we both know we would never work as a couple..." he sobbed his way through the rest of it. Making her forget everything and seeing the last few months as nothing more than friends being friends. He made her forget that they'd ever made love, that he'd ever told her about his family and everything about him being a god. He made her forget and it broke his heart. Anders smiled at her and rubbed her arms, "You're going to go to sleep. You're going to go to sleep and stay asleep until 7 tomorrow morning. Two hours before your first class. I'll see you for lunch." Dawn went to their bed, HER bed, and fell asleep. Anders pulled out his suitcases and some extra bags to pack his stuff in. Leaving some things was fine, they were best friends after all, but he had to pack most of it away and find somewhere new to live.
That was close to twelve years ago.
They had drifted apart and Anders had bedded anyone and everyone in a skirt that Auckland had had to offer him. Bragi had more than approved of their new life style, but anytime Anders brought home a blond, she suddenly became Dawn in his mind's eye and nothing would change that.
Now, he stood at the door to the aisle that Dawn would be walking down in 5 minutes. He didn't know why she had asked him to walk her down the aisle, but he wasn't going to ruin her day by refusing. Axl and Mike stood with Ty and Stacy and Gaia stood for Dawn, but Anders would give her away and then marry them.
She stepped out of her dressing room with the hair stylist fixing her vale as she walked out. His heart about stopped to see her in white with a sweetheart neckline and the empire waistline with a full shirt. She carried a bouquet of lilies and red carnations. He smiled at her, "You look fuckable, Dawnsie." she rolled her eyes at him, "Last one. Promise." he held out his arm for her and she kissed his cheek.
"I wouldn't expect anything else, Andy." his heart froze in his chest when she called him by his old nickname, but her smiled and nervous jitters gave nothing else away. The music started and they walked slowly down the aisle, jaws dropping and tears falling at seeing how beautiful Dawn looked in her gown. He stopped and gave her away to Ty before stepping up to start his bit to marry them.
He grinned out at the family and friends gathered, "If you love someone, you have to let them go. If they loved you it will come back. This has never been more true than with Dawn and Ty, and they'll never let go again."
Their love was the biggest secret he'd ever kept, from her and everyone else.