Dawn's Blackout

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Premise: This is the companion piece to Blackout. Seventeen year old Dawn Summers is in the Big Apple vacationing with her sister- who she hasn't heard from in hours. Luckily her new friend, Connor, is there to keep her company. The darker it gets…the more interesting. D/C

Distribution: Link me baby J (but please let me know)

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Chapter 1- Light's out

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Dawn was in Grand Central Station with Connor, taking pictures of the artwork on the ceiling, when the lights went out. He quickly grabbed her hand and lead her to the nearest exit before she even knew what was going on.

"Wow!" She said, as they headed out into the daylight. "What happened?"

"Not sure. I think we should head back though."

As they walked towards the Marriott Marquis together they heard inklings of conversation about what had caused the blackout, still nothing was yet clear as to the cause.

When they reached the hotel it was completely dark inside. The woman at the guest desk advised them to try to find some candles or a flashlight before it got too dark to look because it didn't look like the lights would be on any time soon.

They walked up the darkened staircase to the 6th floor where the Summers' room was. It was already becoming incredibly warm without the air-conditioning and Dawn really wanted to change the shirt she was wearing.

"I feel rally bad now that I didn't go shopping with her. I really should have. She planned this whole trip for us, it's the least I could have done."

"I'm sure she'll be fine Dawn. Don't worry."

"Where are your parents?"

"Just my dad. Cordelia is his girlfriend. I never knew my mom. They're halfway to Atlantic City by now. They weren't planning to be back until tomorrow."

"What happened to your mom?" She asked, even though she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

"She died during childbirth."

"I'm sorry," she said, "I know what it's like to not have your mom around. Ours died a few years ago. It's just been me and Buffy since."

"Don't be. It's hard to miss what you never had."

Dawn's look of sympathy was wasted in the darkness because he couldn't really see her face from where he stood, still- he shared her quiet understanding.

Dawn reached into her sister's duffle bag, finally finding what she'd been looking for. Pulling out the scented candles and matches she lit one carefully.

"Let there be light!" She said, "thank goodness for Buffy and her stupid aromatherapy!"

"Nice! He noticed she was going to light another when he stopped her, "don't. We don't know how long we're going to be here. You might want to save them."

Smiling, she put them on the nightstand. "How'd you get to be so smart? Were you a boy scout or something?"

Connor couldn't help but laugh. Boy scout? Hardly. "I guess I've had to fend for myself for so long that I kind of developed a survival instinct. My dad and I bump heads a lot."

"Connor? Would you mind staying with me? I really don't want to be alone in the dark, especially without Buffy here."

Connor smiled, "I was kind of hoping you'd ask. I'd hate to walk up another 6 flights of stairs, just to set alone in the dark."

Dawn could not hide her relief. She started rummaging through drawers looking for a different shirt to change into. The one she was wearing was really sweaty from walking up the stairs and she didn't want there to be any kind of b/o issues while she was trapped in the dark with the cute guy. She walked towards the bathroom, and without closing the door tugged the t-shirt she'd been wearing over her head. He wouldn't be able to see with it being so dark anyway, she figured.

Connor watched through the reflection of the mirror as she pulled her shirt off, the flicker of the candlelight making her skin glow like gold. Her back looked silky and smooth, as her hair fell onto it in waves.

His breath caught for a moment and he tried to turn away, but he couldn't. Watching her pull the clean tank top on was almost as good as seeing the other shirt come off.

He pulled his own baggy tee off, staying with the wife beater zoo york shirt he'd been wearing underneath. It was the only way to pull away from her image.

She walked back into the room and sat down next to him on the bed. "So? What should we do now?"

Connor really had an answer for that one, but he knew that he was thinking with the wrong head at this point. "Maybe we should try to find something to eat while it's still early. Once it gets dark it's going to be really hard."

Dawn bit her bottom lip a moment as if considering what he'd just said, but the sexual innuendo in his last sentence had been unmistakable. Okay you little pervie…he meant difficult…dif-fi-cult…not that other thing.

"That's a great idea," she said. "Besides, if we're going to be up all night we might get hungry." She was glad it was dark after she said it, because she realized that what she'd just said also had a hint of sexual reference in it and she could feel her cheeks blushing. Okay…stop with the sexy thoughts.

Connor blew the candle out and grabbed her by the hand guiding her to the door, happy that his skater-boy pants were as baggy as they were for obvious reasons. This was going to be a long night.

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TBC if interest warrants it. This is my first Dawn story so let me know what you think. I don't know how many D/C shippers there are, but I thought it would be interesting to do this as a companion to the B/S story that's going- it made sense to me.

This one's not on my site yet (sadly I have no Dawn or Connor graphics), but eventually there will be an NC17 version there.