Chapter/episode 2: The Real Me. I like this one.
Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer
"Nobody knows who I am. Not the real me."
Buffy and Angel walked into Buffy's house. "Mom? Dawn?" Buffy called.
"In the kitchen, honey!" Joyce called. Buffy led the way to the kitchen. "Morning, sweetie. Hi Angel."
"Good morning, Mrs. Summers." Angel said.
Buffy got a bowl out of the cabinet. "I'm going to have some cereal, if that's ok. We don't have any."
"I bought you food." Angel said, clearly having said this many times. "I thought I got cereal, I didn't realize we didn't have any. I'll buy some, ok?"
Buffy laughed and took the milk out of the fridge.
"I bet people wouldn't think she's so great if they had to live with her. She's just special because she can do back flips."
Angel sat down next to Dawn. "Hey Dawnie."
"Angel is Buffy's boyfriend. He's pretty cool, I suppose. He's a vampire, which is really kind of weird considering Buffy is a vampire slayer. He's nice to me, anyway. He tells me I remind him of his little sister when he was human, Kathy. He even called me that by mistake once. He got really quiet afterward. Buffy told me Kathy's kind of a sensitive subject with him.
I've seen a lot of him this summer. Buffy's moving in with him for the school year, but she wanted to live at home for most of the summer, so he came to see her all the time. She's moving in with him right now, though. Her room's full of boxes, and some stuff's already at the old mansion Angel lives at. I'll think I'll miss him more than I miss Buffy. He always has cool stories to tell and he's really smart. He speaks more languages then I can count, and some of them aren't even human. Mom's made Buffy promise to visit more than she did last year, and Angel will probably come with sometimes, so hopefully I'll still get to see him sometimes. He's completely in love with Buffy, so I don't see them breaking up any time soon."
"So what are your plans for today, Buffy?" Joyce asked.
"Well Angel and I were hoping to take a few more boxes up to the mansion, and then we're going to meet Giles and go to the magic shop to buy some stuff for slayer training." Buffy said.
"Great. You can take Dawn to get her back to school supplies." Joyce said.
"What?" Buffy and Dawn said together.
"But Mom, I thought you were going to take me." Dawn said.
"Mom, this is training. Whenever she comes to training she messes something up." Buffy insisted. "Angel, back me up."
"I'm not getting involved." Angel said.
"That's probably a smart move." Joyce told him.
Buffy pouted at him. "Sorry." He said.
She sighed. "Fine, we'll take her." She left the kitchen. Angel followed.
"Oh, come on." he whispered when he caught up with her. "It won't be so bad."
Someone knocked on the door. Joyce answered. "Hello Riley." She said.
"Hi Mrs. Summers." Riley said politely as he came inside.
"Riley is one of Buffy's friends and he is totally in to her. She was already taken by Angel by the time they met, though. Mom think Riley is really sweet, but I don't like him. And not just because he always calls me 'Kid'. Angel hates him. You can tell by the way he looks at him. I guess Riley's just tried to steal Buffy too many times."
Angel growled quietly as Riley went to talk to Buffy. Dawn walked in and stood next to him. He looked at her. "Want to help me take some of the boxes to the car?"
Dawn shrugged. "Sure."
They went upstairs to Buffy's room, which was now filled with boxes. Dawn grabbed one and watched in awe as Angel picked up several of the biggest ones without difficulty. "The vampire strength is really amazing." She commented.
"It does come in useful." Angel agreed.
"The Slayer strength does too." Buffy said as she walked in. "Don't worry, Riley's gone."
"Thank goodness." Angel added. Buffy rolled her eyes at him.
"Anyway, let's get this stuff to the mansion. We have to meet Giles before long."
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The Mansion
Dawn carried the box she'd carried into Buffy and Angel's bedroom. She set it down on the floor and looked around. Buffy had made her mark on the room. There was a table in the corner with a bunch of Buffy's stuff on it. Dawn eyed Buffy's jewelry box, then looked into the hall. Buffy and Angel were both still downstairs. She opened the box and started looking through it, thinking of maybe swiping one of Buffy's necklaces that she liked. But she became distracted by something much more interesting.
She picked up Buffy's engagement ring and looked at it with big eyes. If this was what she thought it was…
"Hey Dawn, are you ready to…Dawn?" Angel walked into the room. Dawn turned around and held up the ring.
"Angel," she said, "Are you and Buffy engaged?"
Angel hesitated. He wasn't sure what to say. Dawn and her mother still had not been told of his and Buffy's engagement. He could say it belonged to someone else, he could try to explain, he could make up a story to explain the ring. In the end, he settled on, "Yes."
"Oh my god!" Dawn shrieked. She hugged him. "This is great!"
"What's going on?" Buffy asked, walking in. Dawn hugged her too, much to Buffy's surprise. "What's going on?" she repeated.
"You're getting married!" Dawn said, holding up the ring. Buffy looked at Angel.
"She found the ring." Angel said, trying not to smile. "Dawn, listen, your mom and Mr. Giles don't know yet, so-"
"Oh, don't worry, I won't tell." Dawn said. Buffy took the ring and put it away.
"Come on. Giles is going to be waiting." She said, and left the room.
Dawn looked at Angel again. "What?" Angel asked.
"You're really part of the family now." Dawn said.
Angel smiled. Dawn had no idea how much that statement meant to him. "Thanks. Buffy's right, we should go."
Dawn sighed. "Right. To the magic shop."
"Hey, it's not that bad. Tell you what: if you promise not to tell Buffy or your mother, I'll buy you a charm or something."
Dawn's eyes lit up. "Like something to make things float in the air?"
"Maybe. Come on."
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They were in Giles's new car. Giles was driving and Buffy was riding shotgun next to him. Angel was behind Buffy and Dawn was behind Giles.
"I don't think Buffy's watcher likes me very much. Maybe it's because he's so old. Well, I don't know how old he is, but I heard him use the word newfangled once, so I figure he must be pretty far gone."
Giles was getting very angry with the car. "I'm fed up with this, it's not working out!"
"Giles, are you breaking up with your car?" Buffy asked, fighting off a grin.
"I really don't know what possessed me to buy it." Giles sighed.
"Buffy look, there's Willow and Tara." Angel said.
"Oh good, they haven't seen my car yet." Giles said, pulling over. Buffy and Angel grinned at each other when he wasn't looking.
"Giles, nice car." Willow said as they stopped.
"Handles like a dream." Giles said. Angel rolled his eyes.
"Hi Willow." Dawn said as she hopped out.
"Hey Dawnie. How's my favorite Chess partner?"
"Willow's the best. She's the only person I know who like school as much as I do. And she's got cool friends. Like Tara. She and Willow are witches, which is so much cooler than slaying. Once I told mom I wished Willow and Tara would teach me some of the things they do together. And…and then she got all quiet and told me to go to my room. I guess her generation's not cool with the witchcraft."
They all headed down the street towards the magic shop. Buffy told Willow about her new training schedule. "So I won't be able to take drama with you." Buffy finished.
"What? But you promised!" Willow cried.
"What happened to the thing about planning?" Buffy asked.
"Well there's the whole best friend loop-hole! Come on, Buffy…"
"Look, Giles said-"
"To hell with Giles!" Willow cried.
"I can hear you, Willow." Giles said.
"Angel, back me up." Willow said.
Angel, who really didn't want to be pulled into this, looked around and said, "Oh, look, we're here." He quickly caught up with Dawn and Tara.
"It's all dark inside." Tara said, peeking through the window.
"That's weird." Angel said, frowning. He opened the door and held it for everyone else to go inside.
"Hello?" Willow called. She stepped forward to look around and tripped over something, falling to the ground.
"Willow!" Tara cried.
"I'm ok." Willow gasped, sitting up. "I just tripped over…oh god." She said. She had tripped over the dead body of the shopkeeper.
"What is it?" Dawn asked, trying to push past Buffy to see.
"Nothing, get back." Buffy said, shoving her back. Dawn got a glimpse of the dead body though. She took a step back.
Angel grabbed her arm gently. "Dawn, wait out here, ok?" he said, pulling her outside the shop.
"Is that guy dead?" Dawn asked, her eyes huge.
Angel sighed. "Yeah. Stay out here, ok?" he went back inside.
Eventually Tara went out to sit with Dawn. Buffy, Angel, Giles, and Willow looked around the shop. "Ok, so it looks like some books were taken." Willow said. "A whole bunch of books about the Slayer."
Angel looked at Buffy. Buffy looked at her book list. "Were those the only copies?" she asked.
Giles took the record book from Willow. "I wonder…good lord." He said.
"What?" Angel asked, walking over.
"Giles, what?" Buffy said when Giles didn't answer Angel.
"I had no idea the prophets from a store like this were so high." Giles said. Angel sighed and kept looking around.
"Hey," he said, "Something's missing from this cabinet."
"What was in there?" Buffy asked Willow, who started looking through the list again.
"It was probably powerful or dangerous. Or both." Angel said.
"Unicorn statue." Willow said. "Twelve dollars."
"Oh." Angel said, surprised.
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"So not only did you not get Dawn her school supplies," Joyce was saying, "But you took her to see a dead body."
"It's not like we went looking for it." Buffy insisted. "We just sort of found it. And she didn't see the body. Angel took her out of the room. And I've told you how dangerous the magic shop can be, but you wanted me to take her."
"And now you want to get out of watching her tonight so you can go out with Angel." Joyce said.
"To patrol." Buffy cried. "It's not like we're going to dinner!"
"Joyce," Angel spoke up from his place in the doorway. "There's something really dangerous out there that we have to stop or people will die. What if we found a babysitter?"
"Yeah." Buffy said.
"Where are you going to find a babysitter on such short notice?" Joyce asked.
"I don't need a babysitter!" Dawn yelled from the other room.
"Yes you do!" Buffy and Joyce yelled together.
"Um…Xander." Buffy said.
"Xander?" Joyce repeated.
Dawn suddenly ran over and appeared next to Angel. "Ok." She said.
"Xander's so cool. He's cute and super-smart. He even skipped college and became a construction worker. He's really brave too. Like just last week, he went undercover to stop Dracula."
Dawn opened the door as Xander arrived. "Hey Dawnie." He said. She smiled.
"He doesn't look down on anyone."
Suddenly Anya appeared behind Xander. "Hey little girl!" she cried.
"Even when he should."
"Ok." Buffy said. "Angel and I are just going to do a patrol and then we'll be back."
"No problem, Buffy." Xander replied. "Go kill bad things."
Buffy nodded. "Bye." She said, and she and Angel left.
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Angel walked through the graveyard with Buffy. Buffy was ranting. "She's just everywhere and she's always messing up everything. It's like no matter what I do I she's right there behind. It's driving me crazy. And she always gets all the special attention."
"Dawn's not so bad, Buffy. She's keeping our secret about the engagement." Angel pointed out.
"Yes, but have you thought about how she found out in the first place? She was going through my stuff! She never leaves me alone!"
"Well, yeah." Angel said. "You're like her idol, Buffy."
Buffy looked at him in surprise. "Huh?"
"Come on, honey, think about it. You're her older sister. You're in college. You've got super powers, a group of great friends, a sexy creature of the night boyfriend." The last one caused Buffy to giggle.
"I suppose." She said. "But…it's not just that. She's…" she trailed off.
Angel looked at her. "She's what?"
"She's the one who gets all the attention. And I realize how childish that sounds, but it's true. Just once I'd like Mom to hold me instead of her, I'd like to be the one she fusses over. But I'm not. And I know it's always been this way. She's the baby. But lately it's just really getting to me."
Angel stopped walking and turned to face her. "You're no less important. You know that. But you aren't a little kid anymore. Your mom is trying to let you go live your life. Dawn's still a kid. And she's still being treated like one. That's the way of the world. Your mom loves you just as much."
Buffy smiled. "How is it you always know exactly what to say?"
Angel grinned slightly. He kissed her. "And if it makes a difference," he whispered, "Dawn's great and all, but you'll always be my favorite."
"It makes a world of difference." Buffy replied. They kissed again.
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Buffy stared at Xander for a moment and then burst out laughing. Next to her, Angel started laughing too. "Harmony…Harmony has minions?" Buffy gasped through her laughter.
"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too." Xander said.
They were back at the Summers house after a very unsuccessful patrol, standing in the kitchen with Xander and Anya. Xander was filling them in on the events of the evening.
Buffy, still laughing, looked at Angel, who was also still laughing. "Harmony has minions!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah." Xander said. "Buff, you might want to stop, it gets less funny."
"Sorry." Buffy said, gasping for breath. "It's just…Harmony…minions…"
"Yeah, well she came over here to kill you." Xander told her.
Buffy and Angel glanced at each other before laughing again. "I-I'm not too worried about Harmony killing me." Buffy said.
"Well, you might want to be, seeing as now she can get into this house whenever she wants." Anya said.
Buffy stopped laughing abruptly. "What?"
"She sort of…got invited." Xander admitted.
Angel frowned. "But neither of you can…" he looked at Buffy and knew they were both thinking the same thing.
"Where is she?" Buffy asked, her voice dangerous.
"In her room." Xander replied nervously. "Buffy, don't be too hard on her. Believe me, no one feels worse than her right now."
"She knows better than this!" Buffy cried, her eyes full of anger.
"Buffy, it was a mistake." Angel said. "Anyone could have done it."
Buffy sighed and grabbed the weapons they had taken on patrol and went to put them away. Xander and Angel followed. "Angel's right, Buffy." Xander said once they were in Buffy's mostly empty room. "It could have happened to anyone. I mean, just last week your mother let Dracula in."
"That…that was different. She didn't know he was a vampire. Dawn knows Harmony. She should have known better than to invite her in." Buffy insisted.
"I'm just saying we should go easy on her." Xander said.
"We're not doing her any favors by going easy on her!" Buffy cried angrily. "All we're doing is turning her into a stupid, spoiled brat who's going to get herself killed."
"Buffy!" Angel said.
Buffy sighed and cradled her head in her hands. "Sorry. You're right, that was out of line. But I work so hard to keep her and Mom safe and she's not making my job any easier!"
Angel was about to respond when he heard something. "Angel?" Buffy asked after seeing the look on his face.
"There's something going on downstairs!" Angel shouted. He raced down the stairs with Buffy and Xander in tow. Anya was lying on the ground in the kitchen and the back door was open.
"Anya!" Xander cried. He and Angel crouched down next to her.
"We should get her to a hospital." Angel said.
"Dawn…" Anya moaned. Buffy whirled around.
"Dawn? What about her?" She asked frantically.
"They…took her." Anya gasped. Buffy looked horrified.
"I have to go find her." She said.
"Go." Angel said. "Xander and I can take care of this."
Buffy left. Xander and Angel moved Anya to the couch in the living room. "I can drive her to the hospital." Xander said.
"Good." Angel said. "I'll stay here in case Joyce gets back before Buffy and Dawn."
"What are you going to do if she comes back?"
"Talk my way out of it."
"Good plan, Deadboy."
"Could you not call me that?"
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Needless to say, Buffy beat Harmony and her minions (she still smiled whenever she thought about that) easily. Harmony got away, but it didn't matter. Buffy got Dawn and they walked home.
The walk was uncomfortably quiet. Unable to stand the silence any longer, Dawn said, "So…you're marrying Angel."
"Yeah." Buffy said shortly.
"When did he ask you?"
"A few months ago."
"And you still haven't told Mom?"
"We'll get to it!" Buffy cried defensively.
Dawn nodded. "Is that why you're moving in with him?"
A smile flickered across Buffy's face. "Actually, he asked me to move in first. Turns out he was already planning to ask me but hadn't yet. Apparently he chickened out more than once."
Dawn laughed. "Well I think it's great. I like Angel. And he loved you, and you love him. Everybody's happy."
"I'm not sure Mom will be." Buffy admitted. She hadn't said that out loud before.
"Nonsense. I think she's kind of taken to him. She'll be thrilled."
They walked into their kitchen where they found Angel sitting at the table anxiously. "Did everything go ok?" he asked the instant he saw them.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, we-"
"Shh!" he cried suddenly. The front door opened and Joyce came in.
"Hey guys." She said as she walked in the kitchen. "How was it?"
Buffy and Dawn looked at each other. "Good." Buffy said. "Angel and I killed the evil things and then we watched some cartoons."
"Well, good. But I know at least one of us who should be in bed by now." Joyce said. Dawn frowned but said goodnight and went to bed.
Buffy sat down next to Angel. "I'm tired." She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "Can we go home?"
Angel smiled. "Yeah, we can go home." He stood up and picked up Buffy.
"I don't need you to carry me to the car." She said, though her fight lacked its usual stubbornness.
"Oh well." Angel said. "I'll do it anyway. Goodnight, Joyce."
"Goodnight Angel. I'll see you tomorrow, Buffy, love you."
"Love you too Mom, bye." Buffy replied. Angel carried her out of the house.
"Buffy probably would have gotten into more trouble than me, but it was nice of her not to tell.
Nothing's really changed. Buffy's still Buffy. I'm just her little sister. Everyone thinks I'm no one special. But they're wrong."
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