Never Right

A Fic By Bloody SunSet

----

A/N This was originally going to be a one shot Dawn ficlet, but turned into something that might eventually have a plot if enough people like it. Otherwise, I'll just leave it here, and no one will have to look at it ever again. Promise. Review would also be a key word here, just so you know, they're what keep me going most of the time.

----

Stupid Buffy. She was always right, always better than her. Never could be wrong, just because she was the Slayer, and the Slayer was too strong, and too awesome to be wrong. She was the perfect sister, and somehow Dawn couldn't picture herself like Buffy. Not ever.

Because I'm the stupid little sister. She thought, because I can't do anything right… no one even gives me half a chance. It's always, 'Dawn be careful, you might get hurt!' or 'Dawnie, go inside.' or 'You're too young. You wouldn't understand.'

I'm not to young, you were doing this when you were my age. Running around all popular and better than me. Dawn ground her teeth together as she grabbed her diary, ripping it open to a page she couldn't remember writing. But looking back through the words, a bitterness filled her. Buffy had always been the special one, the Chosen one. Did that really make her that much more special than Dawn? Even before she was the Slayer Buffy had gotten everything. From their parents, and from the school. She had all the friends, and all the guys. Of course, that had fallen apart, mostly, when she'd become the Slayer. But she still got the guys.

Dawn wasn't saying Pike was the sexiest guy on the planet, but who wouldn't want a guy willing to risk their life to save you running around helping you with something most people would say was 'crazy' or 'nonexistent' And Joyce and Hank? They liked Buffy better, even before the split up--which was Buffy's fault, whether she knew it or not--they'd always paid more attention to the older Summers' daughter than they had to her.

But then again, Buffy hadn't meant to become the Slayer. And she really wasn't mean to Dawn, she only trying to protect her from things that could kill her, literally. And Dawn wasn't about to just jump into her sister's shoes to save the world every other week. But it just wasn't fair. Why couldn't Dawn be chosen for something better than a key to open some kind of mystical portal that would inevitably bleed every dimension into their own and destroy the world?

Like that was cool in comparison to being the Slayer.

Not.

She likes it too--all the attention she gets when she kills something. I wish I got attention when I killed something. Oh wait--I'm not allowed to kill anything, I'm too young to defend myself so you'd better lock me inside at night so I'll never be able to help myself when good ol' Buffy's not around!

Dawn sighed and flopped face first into her bed, burying her head in the five pillows that were neatly stacked there. Grumbling to herself.

"She's even to dumb to notice she's got Spike practically drooling over her." She said, pouting to herself, "He'd never even look at me like that, and she just beats him up when ever she gets the chance."

Sighing, Dawn sat up and grabbed a pen off of her night stand. If she wasn't allowed to go anywhere, she should probably make the best of it and write something in her journal. Maybe get some of her anger out so that she didn't blow up at Buffy again. She winced remembering what had happened at the Magic Box that night.

----

"Spike, you come with me, we'll cover the northern cemetery and that part of town. Willow, Tara, take the south cemetery. Anya, Xander, get the hospital and that side of town. Alright?"

With a nod from each member of the Scooby gang, Buffy and the others prepared to move out, only stopping when Dawn spoke.

"What about me?" She asked, and Buffy turned to face her younger sister.

"Dawn, you can stay here with Giles in the store." She told her.

"Why can't I come with you and Spike?" Dawn asked, using her best, 'please can I come?' voice.

"Because. It's too dangerous, and you're to young." Buffy tried to explain without getting angry with her.

"I'm so not to young! You were my age when you were going patrolling, and you didn't even have help back then!" Dawn said, glaring at Buffy.

"I was also the Slayer, Dawn. This is different. You're not strong enough to handle a vampire, much less a demon, you'll be safer here at the Magic Box."

Dawn clenched her fists at her sides, "That's not fair!"

"I don't care if it's not fair Dawn. You're staying here, and that's final." Buffy said, turning on her heel and walking to the door, only to be stopped by Dawn's voice once more.

"Well maybe I'll just go off on my own then." She said, raising her voice just a little bit to make sure Buffy heard it. "That way you can't stop me."

Buffy turned on her sister, "You will do no such thing, Dawn."

"Maybe I will, it's not like you'll be around to stop me."

"Dawn-"

"No. Don't even try to deny it Buffy. You're never around anymore. You couldn't stop me from going if you wanted to. You're to busy to care if I just leave anyway."

Buffy took a deep breath to calm herself. It was true, she wasn't around to be with Dawn anymore, but that wasn't her fault. She was trying to juggle both her slaying and doing the family thing with her sister, but the slaying had taken over her life a little bit as of late, and Buffy knew it was because she was always frustrated and needed something to take it out on. Demons were perfect for that type of thing.

She really didn't try to ignore Dawn, and it wasn't exactly like she planned for a demon attack on the town that would take up more than all of her time lately. But for Dawn to just bring it up randomly now, in front of her friends, wasn't going to work for her.

"Dawn." She said calmly, "You're going to stay here with Giles until I get back. If you want, he can take you home. Otherwise you're going to stay here. Clear?"

"Whatever." She said, sitting down huffily in a chair, glaring at everyone around for not helping her. She was not pleased about that happening in front of everyone. Just made her look like even more of a baby. At least Spike gave her an apologetic look before he left with Buffy. She was still mad at him though, he hadn't said anything to make Buffy change her mind about Dawn going along, nor had he stood up for her at all.

----

Ok, so it really hadn't been all that bad, but Buffy still treated her like a baby. And the fact that she couldn't even be alone in her own house pissed her off even more. Giles was downstairs, refusing to leave until Buffy got back from patrol.

Stupid British…Dawn thought, tapping the pencil on her paper, before beginning to write down, in her own words, what had happened at the Magic Box. Of course, she made it seem a lot worse than it had been, but still, her journal, her story.

And that's when she heard the door slam downstairs.

Great… my sister's home. Dawn rolled her eyes and closed her diary. But what she heard next down stairs wasn't what she normally heard when he sister got home from patrolling.

"Giles!" That was Spike's voice, not Buffy's, and he sounded panicked.

Dawn jumped up and ran to her door, opening it quickly, suddenly forgetting her anger, as it was replaced with fear--since when did Spike call for Giles when something went wrong? She raced down the stairs, and gasped at what she saw.