Settling In
XxxxxxX
"Oh, I just love the first day of school, don't you?"
"It's the biggest thrill of my life."
Patty and Rizzo (Susan Buckner and Stockard Channing), "Grease"
XxxxxxX
At the end of the day, Dawn felt that her triumphant return to the life of a High School student went much better, all-in-all, than she had any right to expect. It had started when she walked into her Spanish class.
"May I help you?" The teacher was a short woman with coppery hair, huge bottle-bottom style glasses, and an unusual accent. It wasn't quite Spanish, but it was definitely in the neighborhood.
"Uh, I hope so. I'm Dawn Summers. New student. Are you Mrs., um, is it Iarzagarai?" Dawn handed over her pass. "Mrs. Chambers gave this to me, and I had Mr. Giles in the library co-sign it, since I had to go to him for my books. I, uh, could have been here sooner but I dropped my other books off at my locker."
"That's fine." The teacher read the note, then nodded and dropped it on her desk. "Very good. And its pronounced 'Yar-za-GAIR-eye', not 'eye-ar-zuh-GARY'. But that was a good try. Most of the other students just call me Mrs. Yarza. Go ahead and take a seat. There's one next to Mr. Harris, who needs to try harder to stay awake."
She sat down next to Xander, who was asleep. His legs were stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles, and his head was as far back as it would stretch. Dawn grinned for a moment, then nudged him on the shoulder. "Time to make the donuts, Xander."
Xander shot wide awake in an instant, immediately sitting straight up in his chair. Still not quite coherent, he blurted out "No burlarse del miedo del demonio!"
Dawn giggled. "You okay?"
"Whahuh? Dawn?" Xander rubbed his eyes, unaware that he was now the center of the entire class's attention. "What are you doing here?"
"Hopefully paying more attention that you have been doing, Mr. Harris." Mrs. Iarzagarai said with a sardonic grin. She turned back to the blackboard. "So, now that were all among the conscious, let's return to conjugations of the word 'escushar'. David, why don't you try it?"
Dawn leaned toward Xander and whispered. "I was hoping you'd be in at least one of my classes."
"It is pretty cool that I'll be able to see you first thing every day." They both turned their attention back to the class. Dawn, being already fluent in the language, was having a hard time concentrating, so she spent most of the remaining class time acting as an impromptu tutor for Xander.
"So," Xander asked as they were leaving class. "What do you think of Mrs. Yarza?"
"She seemed okay. Not her fault I already know how to speak Spanish. I'm taking the class for an easy A." Dawn shrugged. "Her accent is strange, though."
"Yeah, not the usual Mexican you hear in California. I think someone once told me she was from Europe." Xander said. "But not Spain, I mean. Somewhere else. Andro-something, I think."
"Andorra?"
"Maybe." It was Xander's turn to shrug.
"That would explain the accent. The Basque version of Spanish is like, completely different from regular Spanish." Dawn reached out and took his hand. At the contact, he jumped a bit, but almost immediately settled down. He looked at her with a smile, and she returned it.
"So what's next for you?" Xander gave her hand a little squeeze. His smile had grown bigger, as if he wasn't quite sure what he'd done to deserve the attention, but what glad for whatever it was.
Dawn thought for a second. "Um. Trig, I think." She fished her schedule out of her pocket and flapped it open with one hand. "Yeah, Trig. With Mr. Lauder."
"Heh. Good luck with that." Xander chuckled. "I've got Biology."
"What does that mean? Good luck with that; what does that mean?"
"Well, how to put it." Xander tapped on his chin in exaggeration. "Mr. Lauder's a pretty good teacher, and a nice enough guy, but he's kind of old and he get's distracted pretty easily. If its a pop quiz day, count on someone asking him about his experiences in the Korean War, at which point the class will switch from Trig to history."
Dawn giggled. "That's silly."
"But entertaining! Anyway, I'd walk you to your locker, but I've got to stop by mine, and its in the other direction." He gave her hand another squeeze. "Let me see your schedule real quick?" She handed him the paper. "Okay, looks like we'll be seeing each other again at lunch and then in PE. And hey, you and Willow are both in Computer Science. She's also in P.E with us." He handed her back the schedule.
"No classes with Jesse?" Dawn looked at the schedule, then folded it and shoved it back in her pocket.
"Nope. Just lunch."
Dawn suddenly remembered her first problem of the day. "Oh, hey... I don't suppose there's a place to buy, like, a school t-shirt and some gym shorts, is there?"
"The shirt you can get at the school store. The shorts? I don't know. Check with one of the coaches. I've got to go that way."
"Okey doke. I'll see you at lunch. Wish me luck!" Dawn gave Xander a wave, and then he was lost in the crowd.
It turned out that it had been pop-quiz day, and as Xander predicted, someone deflected it by getting the teacher, Mr. Lauder, talking about the Watergate Scandal and Richard Nixon. It took Dawn longer than normal to get her World History book out of her locker, and she arrived at class just as the bell was ringing. Unfortunately, that meant Dawn had to sit next to Cordelia Chase. Dawn wasn't particularly in the mood, but apparently Cordelia was.
"Oh look, the new Girl." Cordelia smirked to her coterie, all of whom were arrayed in the desks around her. Cordy examined Dawn with a discerning eye. "One would think someone from Beverly Hills would know better than to hang around with the freaks and the losers. Guess you're just not 90120 material."
Dawn rankled. She'd never had a chance to meet Cordelia Chase while she was alive, but she talked to her on the phone occasionally. She had heard stories from Buffy and Xander and Willow of how brave she was, how honest and forthright, and how loyal. She'd also heard the stories from Willow and Xander of how she had been the queen bee of the high school and got there by being the cattiest, most shallow, most mean-spirited bitch anyone had ever met. So it rankled. Dawn had little patience for bullies, and this Cordelia had yet to grow up and out of her bullying stage. This Cordelia had to be taught that some people couldn't be bullied.
Dawn didn't even smirk. "You're Cordelia Chase, right?"
"You've heard of me?" As Cordelia spoke, Dawn could almost smell her shallowness. It was like a pervasive odor.
"Oh, sure! You see, I asked this kid outside of the office how to find the most popular girl in school, and he said all I'd have to do is look around for the most arrogant, self-centered, selfish back-stabbing slut-faced ho-bag around. He also mentioned how you'd be wearing far too much badly applied makeup and would be perfumed like a French whore-house. But now that I've met you, I think he was mistaken. Your makeup isn't badly applied at all." Dawn almost laughed. Everyone who had just heard her insult Cordelia Chase to her face was staring at her in shock.
"Did – did you just say there was something wrong with my makeup?" Cordelia's eyes were as wide as saucers.
"Sure. If that's all you got out of what I just said, take it and run with it. Why not." Dawn gave Cordelia a nice friendly smile.
"If you girls are finished talking about whatever it is you are talking about, I'd like to get back to the subject of the Middle Ages." Miss Rossdale had written a list of facts on the blackboard and was now facing the class. Specifically, she was staring at Cordelia and Dawn.
Having fired her own shots across Cordelia's bow, and having scored a considerable hit, in her opinion, Dawn proceeded to ignore the other girl for the rest of the class. Not only did Dawn's seeming indifference utterly annoy "Queen C", it helped Dawn get through the history lesson without getting bored.
Lunch was the only tense time during the entire day.
She met Xander outside of the school's cafeteria, picked up their meals from the line, and joined Willow and Jesse, both of whom were packing bag lunches. It had amused Dawn to look at the contrast. Willow's meal was in multiple parts, and included a carefully constructed sandwich with what looked like turkey, a piece of a lettuce leaf, and a handful of bean sprouts on whole grain bread, a small Tupperware container of fruit, some celery sticks, a resealable pot of what had to be low-fat ranch dressing, and a juice box. All very healthy Jesse's bag lunch, on the other hand, was bologna on white bread with mayonnaise, put together in the classic 'slap-slap-squish' method, a Snickers bar, and a can of warm Mountain Dew.
Xander and Dawn, in comparison, were eating something semi-liquid, reddish in color, with lumps that might have been meat, poured over rice. It was accompanied by overcooked green beans and some white slurry that might have been either mashed potatoes or oatmeal. Always an adventuresome eater, Dawn dug in with gusto while Xander just stared at her.
"Whah?" She asked, him, her mouth half full of food.
"How can you eat that stuff? I mean, I think of myself as having an iron stomach -"
"It's true. He once drank an entire jar of picked onions on a bet." Jesse said around a mouthful of bologna sandwich.
"Oh! And there was the time that he beat Tucker Wells and Paul Driver at maple syrup chugging." Willow added.
Dawn swallowed her mouthful of whatever it was. In her head, she was labeling it 'beef tips a'la ketchup sauce', but to be honest she wasn't sure about the beef part. "Maple syrup chugging? What's maple syrup chugging?"
Xander had a hand up to his forehead. He seemed embarrassed "It was a silly game."
"Xander and Tucker and Paul had a bet to see who could chug an entire 32 ounce bottle of Mrs. Butterworth syrup in the quickest time. They had to finish the entire bottle. Xander just tipped the thing up," Jesse mimed the action. "And sucked it all down. Tucker had to stop in the middle, and Paul only got about three-quarters of the way before puking. It was awesome!"
Dawn started giggling uncontrollably, joining both Willow and Jesse in their merriment at Xander's expense. At first Xander just scowled, but eventually even he was laughing at himself. "Yeah, awesome. I was sweating maple syrup for two days after that." Xander chuckled at his own folly. "Not my smartest moment."
Dawn reached out and covered his hand with hers and gave it a friendly squeeze. "That's okay, I like you anyway."
Jesse looked at their hands together, then looked to Dawn, then Xander. He turned to Willow. "Is there, like, something going on between them?"
"Well..." Willow began. "Its more like they're going to see if there could be something between them, but there's not really a lot between them right now. If you know what I mean." Both Dawn and Xander blushed. Neither could meet each other's eyes, nor the eyes of Willow or Jesse.
"I totally don't. What are you saying?"
Willow sighed. "There's something going on between them. In the beginning stages of going on, I mean."
"I thought so. There were all these clues." Jesse leered at the pair. "All those coy looks and subtle comments, and the flowers and the poetry. Its just so romantic." Jesse fluttered his eyes and put his hands to his heart. "A real Hallmark moment." He settled down, suddenly serious. "And how do you feel about this recent development?"
Willow shrugged. "Why would it matter to me who Xander dates?"
"Oh come on." Jesse was scandalized. At his exclamation, Willow blushed from her scalp to her toes. "How long have we known each other? I know better than that, Willow Danielle Rosenberg! Don't try to, uh, do something that you would do when you don't want to admit how you feel."
Xander turned to Dawn and whispered, just loud enough to hear, "What in the heck is he talking about?"
But Dawn was shaking her head. "Nope, sorry. You'll have to go to the source for that. My lips are-" She was suddenly and abruptly silent. Dawn's friends saw her go pale as a sheet, and her breathing hitched as she stared past Jesse's shoulder.
"Dawn, what's the matter. What's going on?" Dawn's head tracked as the person she was staring at moved across the cafeteria. Xander tried again. "You're beginning to scare us, Dawnster. What's going on?"
"What?" Dawn would recognize Warren Mears anywhere. Anywhere. But the 'her' from the here-and-now would have no idea. She found this subterfuge was difficult to maintain, because what she wanted to do was chase the young man down and rip his spine out of his back with her bare hands and damn the consequences. But she couldn't. There were too many things that would go wrong if... "Oh, sorry... just saw someone I thought I recognized. But its not him. Its someone different.
Warren Mears. Dawn forced herself to look away from him.
"Who?" Xander was looking around, trying to find the person she was talking about. "That guy? Warren? In the white button down, talking to the girl in the plaid over by the drink machines."
Dawn nodded.
"Oh... yeah." Willow was nodding. "Warren Mears. He's a senior. Won the state-wide science fair three years running, though he didn't compete this year. He's some sort of computer engineering genius. I heard somewhere that he's been accepted at Cal Tech, MIT, Georgia Tech, Princeton. I also heard that his folks can't afford to send him to any of those schools, so he's got to stay here at UC Sunnydale."
"Yeah, well, he looks like someone I used to know back at Beverly High." Dawn went back to her lunch.
Xander was looking at her in that in-depth way he had that no one seemed to notice. "From your expression, the person back at Beverly must have run over your puppy or something. That was a serious mad-on, Dawn. Anything I should know about?"
"Not really. I mean, I'll tell you some day, but not right now. Just... not a pleasant memory. I sort of had a flashback, you know?" Dawn shrugged. "I'm just not ready to discuss it yet.
"Okay. We'll be here when you need us." Xander rubbed her shoulder.
"Thanks. I appreciate it. I really do." She flashed Xander her widest smile, then grinned even bigger when she saw the boy blush.
After lunch, Dawn found out that her English class was more of a Literature class. The teacher was going through one of T.S. Eliot's poems, entitled The Hollow Men, about British veterans returning from the battlefields of World War I and the problems they faced reintegrating with society after the horrors of war. In Dawn's opinion it had an interesting premise and some intriguing wordplay, but overall was dull and lifeless. Which might have been the point, she conceded.
Computer Science class brought Dawn back into contact with Willow, who was, despite her statements of the night before, friendly and helpful, if slightly snarkish. The fact that Cordelia and two of her brown-nosing followers, Harmony and Aura, were also in the class was just the cherry on top. Computer Science It also brought Dawn into contact with a person she'd only heard stories about: Jenny Calendar, class's teacher.
Ms. Calendar seemed likeable enough, and seemed to be handy at showing students how to use the school's computers to good effect. But knowing that her name wasn't really Jenny Calendar, and knowing how she was tied in to Buffy and Angel, sort of put Dawn on edge.
She had no idea what to do about Jana Kalderash. All during class, just thinking about it almost drove Dawn to distraction. Would she still become peripherally involved with the Scoobies this time? If so, would she still end up in a romantic relationship with Rupert Giles? And what about the fact that she's connected to Angel's curse? Angel. What to do about Angel. If Buffy never get's involved with Angel, is there still a chance his curse will be broken and he'll go back to being Angelus? I need to make sure Angel doesn't come within sniffing distance of Buffy.
"Miss Summers, are you paying attention?" Dawn blinked and started at her desk, realizing she had missed a question by zoning out.
"Sorry about that." She said sheepishly.
"Try not to let it happen too often. Now, if you would all..." And Dawn was once again zoning out, considering the things she needed to do. Wait... if what Buffy told me was right, Angel's been in town for weeks and is waiting for her to arrive. If I'm going to do something to get Angel away from Buffy, I need to do it in the next couple of days.
The second time, Dawn came out of the zone quickly enough to catch the question. "You need to close the brackets to end the agreement."
"Very good. See what paying attention in class can do for you?" Miss Calendar turned toward another student and asked them a question, leaving Dawn to her thoughts. So do I confront Jana Kalderash about the curse? Do I confront Angel about the curse? What happens Angel refuses to stay away? Can I beat him in a fight? For that matter, can I make myself stake him if I need to? She thought about these things for the entire class, and at the end, she was no closer to answers.
Dawn had been able to buy a school t-shirt (it was mustard yellow, with a crimson pig on the front of it) and a pair of ugly gym shorts (they were red, with yellow piping; the colors matched the colors of the t-shirt), so she got to participate in her P.E class alongside Willow, Xander, and Jesse. The class was broken up into two teams for volleyball, during which Dawn became somewhat of a sensation by demonstrating a rather powerful spike.
Dawn invited Willow, Jesse, and Xander to the library after school for the meet-and-greet.
XxxxxxX
Dawn and Xander entered first, still chatting about the volleyball game and how well the two of them thought the individual members of their little group had done. If they happened to occasionally bump into each other, or brush each other's hands or arms, that was fine too. They were trailed by Willow and Jesse. Jesse was watching the interaction between the two with some amusement. Willow was faking it.
Rupert Giles and Lydia Lamontagne were sitting at the research table, talking over what looked like cups of tea. Their discussion ended when the four teenagers walked into the library. Giles stood, while Lydia remained seated, but both looked surprised and slightly irritated.
"Hey, Giles. How was your day?" Dawn asked as she sat.
"It was fairly ordinary. Nothing exciting. And you?"
Dawn couldn't tell if he was feigning interest or if it was genuine courtesy, so she gave Giles the benefit of the doubt. "We kicked butt at volleyball."
"Dawn is mistress of the close spike!" Jesse mussed her hair, causing Dawn to bat his hands away. "Little Miss Future Olympian!" Dawn rolled her eyes.
"It wasn't bad for my first day at a new school. Vice Principle Snyder is a rodent. I couldn't help notice that Ms. Calendar, the computer teacher is so pretty even I think she's a little hot." Dawn said. "Oh, and did you know that the Black Death sparked the rise of the Middle Class?" The four teenagers sat at the other end of the table, two on each side.
"Yes, actually, I was already aware of that." Giles put his hands on his waist, pushing back the tails of his tweed sport coat.
"Really?"
"Yes, Miss Summers. You see, when one attains a PhD in history, you're required to actually know a little bit about the subject. History, I mean. But I am glad to hear your day went well." Giles voice was polite, but his tones were clipped.
"Wait, you have a PhD in history?" Buffy had never said anything about Giles having a PhD. "So why aren't we calling you Doctor Giles?"
Willow nodded at Dawn's question.
"Well, I felt it would be best if I raised as few questions as possible. Given that I am working as a high school librarian as a cover identity..."
"Oh, right. How many PhDs in history are going to take a job as a High School librarian. That's brilliant." Xander smiled at the older man. "Hide in plain sight!"
"Er, yes. Precisely." Giles was nonplussed.
"That's cool." Dawn put a thumb up. "I guess that's one reason why you're Buffy's Watcher. You've got a PhD."
"Actually..." Lydia began, then stopped.
"Actually?" Dawn turned toward her own Watcher. "You were saying?"
"Well... I was about to say that actually, all Field Watchers have doctorates. Its part of the job requirement." Lydia put her hand above her heart. "I, for example, have a PhD in Folklore and Mythology. Nigel's doctorate is in Biblical history, I believe. I can't recall what Phillip's doctorate is in."
Giles said, "I believe he's a Linguist."
"Okay, now you're all really impressing me. That's very cool. So... speaking of the other Watcher guys, I thought we were going to do my Slayer evaluation this afternoon. Where are they?"
"Nigel decided that, since I'm now officially your Watcher, it might be better for just me and Mister Giles to do your evaluation, to talk to you about a training schedule, work out some patrol routes, and so on."
"That makes a lot of sense, I guess." Dawn smiled at her Watcher. "Oh, hey, do you have a place to live yet?"
Lydia was thrown by the question. "What? Why do you ask?"
"Well, you can't stay at the hotel all the time, right?" At Lydia's nod, Dawn continued. "I was thinking about it during volleyball, and it occurred to me that there's a couple of spare rooms at my place, and you could have one, since you're going to be around. And it'll give us a chance to get used to each other."
"That's an excellent idea, but I'd have to talk to your parents first. If they approve, I'd love to." Lydia smiled at Dawn.
She'd expected a comment or a question about her parents. Dawn feigned a hurt look, then immediately covered it up. "My parent's are, uh... they died, Lydia. Both of them. I lost them in a plane crash last July. They were on their way to Rome, a second honeymoon, and their plane exploded and crashed into the ocean." Dawn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was hard, she discovered, to feign caring about people who might never have actually existed except as names on paper.
"You okay, Dawn?" Willow to the rescue. The red head put a hand on Dawn's shoulder and squeezed.
"Yeah, peachy. I was a wreck for a while, but I'm getting over it." Dawn took another deep breath, trying to look like she was forcibly avoiding the bad emotions. "Anyway, Lydia, since its just me in the house, I guess it up to me. So would you like to stay at my house?"
"You're in a house all by yourself? How did you buy a house? You're only sixteen, right?" Willow's forehead was scrunched up in the question-look Dawn recognized.
"I'm an emancipated minor." Dawn said. "Which is a fancy way of saying I'm on my own. The house is really owned by my trust fund, and that's run by my lawyers. I won't technically own the house until I turn 21. Same with my car."
"I was wondering how you ended up with a Mercedes." Xander said with a laugh. "A trust fund? So, uh, are you rich?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I sort of am." Dawn looked him right in the eye. "Will that be a problem? I know, uh..." Dawn shrugged, trying to telepathically let Xander know what she was thinking.
"A prob – no! No, not at all. But when we go out, I'm definitely going to let you grab the check more often. I'm all in favor of equality and letting the girl pay occasionally, especially when she's loaded." His grin made Dawn laugh.
"Cool!" Dawn sat up in her chair and nudged Xander. "So where do we start. We are still doing the evaluation, right?"
"But..." Lydia looked from Xander to Jesse to Willow. "Dawn, the evaluation and our discussions are not... There are certain things that we have to keep confidential."
"Oh, its okay." Dawn said. "Anything you need to tell me you can tell the guys."
"No, I don't think so. There needs to be -" Lydia began.
"Okay," Dawn interrupted. "Let's put it this way, we can have this talk in front of them, or we can do it in private and I'll just tell them everything once we're done. Either way, I'm not going to keep them in the dark when it comes to Slaying."
"Excuse me, but do you really think it is wise, encouraging these children to become involved?" While the question was framed in polite tones, it was clear from her face that Lydia was upset.
"I'm not encouraging them, I'm channeling them." Dawn replied. Like Lydia, she was keeping her tones polite. She had expected this topic to be raised and Dawn figured it would be better to get it over with as quickly as possible.
"Channeling them?" Giles interjected with a question. "How do you mean?"
"I mean that they aren't going to sit on the sidelines just because I, or you Lydia, or you, Mr. Giles, tells them to stay home. You can try to bench them, but they're not going to stay benched." Dawn turned to Xander. "Right?"
"Damn straight." Xander's jaw was set. "Now that I know vampires exist, there's no way I'd sit on the sidelines and pretend like nothing wrong wrong."
"Yeah!" Jesse put a hand on Xander's shoulder. "I'm, uh, you know... its like, how could you look at yourself in the mirror?"
Willow was nodding. "I'm not anxious to come up against a monster, but I want to help! I need to help!"
"See? I can't keep them away from the fight. They'd just go behind my back." Dawn explained. "So since we can't control my friends, we might as well make them as prepared as we can and use them ourselves."
"But... but that's just not done." Lydia was apparently building up a full head of steam. The Slayer has always fought alone, in the shadows."
"Yes, I've already pointed that out." Giles said from the sidelines. "She ignored me."
"Ignored you? Why?" Lydia turned to Dawn. "As your Watcher, I forbid you from doing this."
"You 'forbid me'?" Dawn chuckled. "Ooh, she'd forbidden me from doing something. Whatever will I do?"
"Yes, I forbid you!" Lydia had missed Dawn trying to make it a joke and was taking it very seriously. "Its bad enough that you insist on... on socializing. I at least understand that, and while it goes against my training as a Watcher I'm not going to stand in the way of you having friends and getting your education and living as normal a life as possible."
"Oh, thanks." Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Don't be smart." Lydia said. "Look, I know that you missed the early training you would have received had the Council been able to detect you were a potential when you were a child. I also know that the circumstances of your Calling are obviously unusual and unknown. But that's no reason to throw out centuries and centuries of Tradition." The older woman took a deep breath and let it out, slowly. "I can see the... the attractiveness... of involving your friends in this fight, but it cannot be. You are the Slayer. You are on the front line of a war that is kept out of the sight of ordinary people, not only for your protection but for the protection of everyone else around you. They..."
"Lydia, let me ask you a question." Dawn interrupted.
"All right." Lydia looked thrown off that her tirade had been interrupted.
"If you know, what is the average lifespan of a Slayer once she's been called?" Dawn's face gave nothing away, but she was beginning a maneuver as carefully planned as that of a military operation.
"Around eighteen months, give or take a month or so." Lydia looked uncomfortable about the subject. Willow gasped at this information. Jesse was studying his hands, and Xander was shaking his head, as if to deny everything he was hearing.
Dawn walked to where he was sitting and knelt in front of him. "It's okay. I know I'm on a timer. I'm dealing. So, a year and a half is the average. I intend on beating the average." She leaned in, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. They held each other for a long while. Finally, she pulled back. "You okay?" Xander nodded and she laid a gentle kiss on his temple.
Dawn turned to note the two Watchers paying attention to anything but her interaction with Xander. "So, Mr. Giles. Who was the longest-lasting Slayer?"
Without hesitating, Lydia said. "Nichole Wood of New York City. She lasted as Slayer from 1970 to 1977, when she was killed in a fight with William the Bloody. She was three weeks and two days away from her seventh anniversary as the Slayer when she died."
"How old was she when she died?" Willow's voice was shaky.
"Twenty four. She was twenty four."
"Who's William the Bloody?" Jesse asked.
"He's, uh, a particularly violent vampire." Lydia began. "William the Bloody enjoys causing chaos wherever he goes. No respect for authority, even among other vampires. He's called 'Spike' by some because of his fondness for using railroad spikes to torture his victims."
Xander was about to say something, but Dawn put a finger to his lips. "Later, okay? Who's the second longest-lasting Slayer, Lydia? Mr. Giles?"
Lydia looked at Giles, a questioning look on her face. Giles thought for a moment, then spoke. "I believe that would be Amelia Duncan of Chicago, Illinois. She lasted five years, three months, between 1963 and 1968. Her death called Antoinette Placeville of Nice, France, who was Nichole Wood's predecessor."
"Who was the third longest-lasting Slayer?" Dawn was getting closer to her point.
"Ah... that would be... hurm." Giles went silent. Lydia was staring into space.
"Could it... I think it might have been Sally Martin, of Leeds." Lydia said at least. "She lasted somewhere around five years. Or perhaps Evike Tokacs of Budapest. She also made it around five years."
"Right. Okay, so the best any Slayer has been able to do is between five and seven years. The average is only a year and a half. How about the other end of the scale? What were the three shortest tenures?" Dawn knew this would be bad, but she had to know.
"Ah, well, the shortest tenure for any slayer was Rapinder Johar of Calcutta. She was called in 1891 and lasted for two days. She died in her first fight with a vampire." Giles shook her head. "The tragedy was how young she was. Rapinder Johar was also the youngest Slayer ever called; she was only eight."
"EIGHT? My god!" Willow put her face in her hands. "I cannot... that poor girl." She stood, her hands still covering her eyes. "I – I need air! I've got to... I need air!" Willow dropped her hands and ran for the door.
Jesse stood up to follow her, then looked to Dawn and the Watchers. "I'll make sure she's okay."
The four people looked at each other. No one wanted to say anything. "Yes, as I said it was tragic." Giles took his glasses off and cleaned them. "Um... number two and three on the list of shortest lived Slayers aren't much better. The second shortest was Irlinka Androva, from Saint Petersburg. She managed to survive six days. She was eleven. And if I remember correctly, the third was, ah... what was her name. The girl from Tokyo."
"Yes, Shimada Yoko." Lydia closed her eyes. "She's a truly tragic tale. Slayer Shimada was not only young when she was called – only thirteen – but she wasn't just killed but was turned. She'd been the Slayer for fifteen days when she met the master vampire Rodrigo Perez, who turned her. For two hundred years, the Beautiful Devil, as she was known, terrorized southern Japan until she was finally slain by Slayer Andrea Rousimoff in 1857."
Xander, who looked angry enough to rip the head from a demon with his bare hands, asked, "So what was the point of the history lesson, Dawn?"
"In a second. I promise. Mr. Giles, out of the three longest-lives Slayers, did any of them break the 'I work alone' rule like I intend to?" Dawn asked.
"Ah, well... er... yes. Actually, all three of them did." Giles said. "Amelia Duncan was assisted by her father, who was a retired Army officer. Nichole Wood was assisted by a pair of New York City police officers and a private detective, and had many other connections in her community. She even has a son. Evike Tokacs was married and her husband assisted her."
Xander's anger was visibly leaching. Dawn guessed that he had figured out her line of reasoning. "And the other three?" he asked. "The tragedies? Did they follow tradition?"
"Ah, I see your point. Yes, yes they did." Giles nodded. "In fact, they were taken from their families and raised by their Watchers, trained from a young age to do nothing but consider the mission."
"What does that tell you about the tradition of the Slayer acting alone?" Dawn asked. "I know what it tells me."
The two Watchers stared at her for a moment. "All right, then, tell us. In your infinite wisdom, garnered as it was by your sixteen years of life and your three days as the Slayer, what does it tell you?" Lydia asked. She was smiling, but it was a tight smile.
"Relax, Lydia. We're all friends here. Want a hug?" Dawn snarked with a friendly grin.
The Watcher shook her head and smiled. Dawn was suddenly struck by the fact that she had probably overestimated Lydia's age. Where at first Dawn figured she was somewhere in her mid-30s, it was apparent that Lydia was at eight to ten years younger than that. "No, but ice cream later, maybe. What does the examples of the Slayers we've talked about tell you?"
"What it tells me is I want no part of this Tradition. Its pretty clear that the entire operating alone thing does not lead to long-life for the Slayer." Before either Watcher could protest, she continued. "I'm not a tool. I'm not replaceable. I am not a cog in a machine. I am not a fire-and-forget missile that can be used and discarded. Neither is Buffy." Dawn stared at the Watchers. "So right now, I want you to make me a deal, the both of you. I want you to stop seeing me as the Slayer, who just happens to be a girl. I want you to start seeing me – and Buffy, when she gets here – as girls who just happen to be Slayers. You guys do that, and I'll do everything you ask that I think is reasonable."
The Slayers were nodding. "That sounds reasonable, I think. How about you, Mr. Giles?" Lydia turned to her colleague. There was something in the woman's eyes that Dawn couldn't read.
"Yes, um, I agree. Imminently reasonable." Giles gave Dawn and Xander a weak smile. "Given my own Slayer's unusual background and history, I wasn't planning on abiding by tradition over-much in any case."
"Good. Glad we got that settled." She put a hand on Xander's shoulders and gave him a rub. Xander looked up at her. She thought his eyes were strange. There was something behind them. It didn't feel like a bad thing, just a thing.
"Xan, you okay?"
"Yeah. Just thinking about Dead Poet's Society."
Xander's answer caused Dawn to giggle. "Okay, then. What about Dead Poet's Society?"
"Carpe diem." Xander reached up to catch her hand in his own.
"Oh." She blushed. To hide it, Dawn turned back to the Watchers. She was about to ask what was next, when something occurred to her. "Oh, and Lydia, Mr. Giles... there's one exception. I'm not going to be undertaking the Cruciamentum, and neither is Buffy Summers. Don't even bother trying."
"How did..." Lydia's eyes were wide. Instead of continuing, she swallowed, glanced at Xander, and said, "We'll discuss this later."
"No. There's nothing to discuss. Its not going to happen. Try it. I dare you. I'm all for us cooperating to accomplish the mission, and I think you both are good people, but if you think you're justified pulling that shit? You'll never see me again and I'll make sure Buffy disappears as well."
"The Council isn't going to like that," Giles said.
"You're assuming I care."
Xander was seething. "What's the Cruciawhatsis?"
"Cruciamentum." Dawn supplied. Her eyes hadn't left Lydia's. "Its a, I guess you can call it a coming-of-age ceremony imposed on the Slayer by the Council. They drug her, then lock her in a building with a vampre. She has to slay it without her strength or speed. The Council calls it a 'test of resourcefulness'; I call it attempted murder."
"Yeah. You're not doing that." Xander was adamant.
"To be honest, I never agreed with the necessity of that test." Giles finally said after a long moment of silence. "It's always seemed... barbaric."
"But its – right. Tradition kills Slayers. Fine. It goes against everything I've been trained to believe, but I don't want to see a Slayer die needlessly either." Lydia slumped. "As Mr. Giles says, the Council won't like it if we refuse to administer the Cruciamentum. But we have two years to figure something out."
They all sat in silence again before Xander sighed. "So how about the evaluation? We still going to do that? What's involved in that?"
"Well, we can proceed, I think." Lydia said. She waved toward Giles. "You can watch, okay? If we have a question you can answer, go ahead, but otherwise..."
Dawn nudged Xander, who held up both his hands and grinned. "Right. I'll be sidelines boy. Quiet as a church-mouse."
"Church-mice are actually pretty noisy. They squeak quite a bit." Giles commented out of nowhere. "Now, Miss Summers..."
"Dawn, Mr. Giles. Call me Dawn. We're all friends here."
"Yes, of course." Lydia picked up a clipboard from the library's counter. "Now, Dawn... the first part of the evaluation are some questions."
"What, like a quiz?"
"Ah, no. Not as such." Giles answered.
"As Mr. Giles says. There aren't any right or wrong answers. They're just questions that will help us evaluate your non-physical gifts." Lydia answered. "Now, the first set of questions involves prescient dreams. You told us this morning that you had a dream that informed you that you were the Slayer. Did this dream seem, um, more or less real than your regular dreams seem?"
"What do you mean, more realistic?" Dawn asked. Internally, Dawn was suppressing a smirk. This is perfect. Exactly what I need to use future knowledge without raising suspicions.
"Were they more vivid? Brighter colors?" Lydia thought for a moment. "Did the imagery you saw look true to life, regardless of how bizarre the images actually were?"
Before Dawn could answer, Giles threw a small crystal sphere, about the size of a billiard ball, at her. Dawn caught it out of the air. "Juggle these please?" The first sphere was swiftly followed by two more.
Dawn had never juggled anything in her life, but she quickly figured it out. "Okay, juggling."
"Could you answer the question while you're juggling, please?"
"I think they want you to multitask, Dawnie." Xander chuckled.
"Right." She flipped the three balls into the air one after the other. "What was the question again?"
Lydia Lamontagne spoke up. "Was your prescient dream more or less realistic-seeming than your regular dreams?"
"Oh, uh... more realistic. It didn't feel like I was dreaming at all." Dawn gasped as Giles flipped a fourth ball into her hands. Without pausing, Dawn incorporated it into her juggling routine. Xander clapped quietly, then gave her the thumbs up, which she returned by sticking out her tongue at the boy.
"In your dream, did anyone communicate with you, or did you just see images? And if they spoke, did you get the impression that they were speaking English, or some other language? And was what they showed you or told you cryptic, or was it clearly understood?"
"I think we should let Dawn a chance to answer, Ms. Lamontagne, before we load her down with more questions." Giles interrupted. He flipped a fifth ball at her, which she also caught and juggled.
"Oh, right. Sorry. So, did anyone communicate with you in this dream, or did you just see images?" Lydia asked.
"Uh, one of the previous Slayers spoke to me." Giles flipped her a sixth ball.
"You're pretty good at that." Xander noted. "How many do you think you can do at once?"
"I, uh, don't know. The first five were easy. I'm having to keep my eye on these more." To anyone watching, Dawn was passing the balls into the air and through her hands with ease.
"Hey, what did we miss?" Jesse called from the door. He had his arm around Willow's shoulders.
"Hey, Willow." Dawn said. Her eyes never left the balls. "You doing better?"
"Oh, yes, it's amazing what a crying fit can do for you. Are you... Hey, you can juggle? That's fun!" Willow was still a little pale, but she no longer looked like she was going to fall apart. "Think you can teach me?"
"Yeah, I'd like to learn, too." Jesse nodded.
Dawn looked over to Xander quickly, and received a nod and a grin. "I could try. Of course, I'm not sure how I'm doing this. I've never juggled before."
"And yet you're doing splendidly." Giles flipped a seventh ball into her hands. "Just so you know, the world record is eleven balls at once, and that is from someone who doesn't have the heightened coordination of a Slayer." He paused as he watched her. "You mentioned that you thought the girl who spoke to you in your dream was a previous Slayer. Was she dressed as if she was relatively recent, or was she dressed in an older fashion?"
Dawn tried to look as if she were thinking about it. "Definitely recent. Her clothing was pretty up to date as far as style's concerned. Assuming she was real, I'd say she was from sometime in the last ten years or so."
"So you think she was called in the last decade." Giles retrieved a book from his office and began flipping through it. He paused at one page, and tossed Dawn an eighth ball. Dawn fumbled and almost dropped it, but eventually got the eight balls going in rhythm.
"In the past ten years there were five Slayers called. Other than yourself, of course. The girl... did she look Caucasian, Asian, or African?" Giles flipped through a few more pages.
"Mr. Giles?" Lydia's expression asked the unspoken question.
"Trying to confirm that the girl she saw in the dream was actually a Slayer." Giles flipped a couple of more pages in the book. "Was she Caucasian, Asian, or African, Dawn?"
"Caucasian."
"That narrows it down to three." Giles muttered. He was still flipping through the book. "Was she blonde or brunette?"
"Brunette." A bead of sweat trailed down the side of her brow and onto her cheek. She was really concentrating on not dropping anything now.
"Brunette. That's leaves two. Did she have light skin, or was she deeply tan?" Giles had stopped and was looking back and forth between two pages near the end of the book.
"Uh... light skin. She didn't look tanned at all." Dawn spared a glance in Giles's direction and saw he was tapping a page while showing it to Lydia.
"India Cohen." Lydia said. "The Slayer who preceded Buffy Summers. Your predecessor's predecessor, as it were."
Giles held the book open in front of her. "Have a look. Is this her?"
Dawn stole a glance at the page he was tapping. She recognized the book he was holding immediately. It was Carson's The Slayer Concordance, Volume 74 . Giles had given her this exact book for her birthday before they had to flee Sunnydale. Her copy had been printed in 2002, and listed every Slayer called between 1901 and 2001, including Buffy, Kendra, and Faith, with a picture and short biography and a listing of their accomplishments as Slayers. The copy Giles had given her had been lost in the Sunnydale crater. From the looks of things, this printing didn't include Buffy yet. "Yep. That's her."
Kendra and Faith. What am I going to do about Kendra and Faith? She was still working on this part of the plan. If I keep Buffy alive, Kendra won't be called, and that's not so bad, is it? She'd still be safe with her Watcher in Kingston. But Faith... Faith is going to become hunted. That vampire, what was his name. Taquitos? No. Shit, that's what Buffy called him. Without being a Slayer, Faith is nothing more than a quick meal. What am I going to do?
Giles read the information in the book and said, "It says she was a very successful Slayer. Lasted almost four years. Died after trading herself to a master vampire in exchange for some innocent hostages. Voluntarily allowed herself to be fed on."
Giles put the book down and Jesse picked it up, much to the older Watcher's irritation. "India Sophia Cohen. Born 1978. Called March 1993, Died November 1996. Killed by the voodoo houngan known as the Wanderer. Eliminated... hmm..." Jesse read out-loud. "So this Buffy you guys said was coming, she's only been the Slayer for, like, five months?"
"Yes." Giles said. "Only five months. But she's already destroyed Lothos, one of the oldest and most powerful vampires in existence at the time. Its quite an accomplishment."
"If we could return to the questions?" When Dawn nodded, Lydia wrote on her clipboard, then asked, "Have you had any more prescient dreams?".
I know what I'm going to do, Dawn thought to herself. I'm going to get Faith here. Even if she is never Chosen, she'd be safer living here under the wings of two Slayers than she would just with her Watcher in Boston. Kendra, you're on your own. Dawn felt kind of bad about that, but it wasn't like she knew Kendra like she'd known Faith. She'd only met Kendra the one time.
"Um, yes, several. But I don't know what they all mean. One of them had that same girl. India?" At Giles's nod, Dawn continued. "She told me about the Scourge of Europe. In another one she told me about Buffy Summers. I had one last night which showed me this girl – I don't know who she is. It was just images, no visits from my Spirit Guide."
"What do you mean by your Spirit Guide?" Willow asked.
"The girl whose been appearing in my dreams. India Cohen. My spirit guide." Dawn felt bad about lying, but how else to explain that she not only knew about India Cohen from reading the very book Giles was looking at, but that she'd read the books five years in the future.
"Oh, yeah."
"So far it sounds as if your prescient dreams have all been informational, as opposed to being warnings." Lydia said.
"Anyway, last night I had a dream about a girl." Dawn said. "I didn't recognize her, but she looked younger than I am. Anyway, she was dressed in blue jeans and a rock concert t-shirt. Standing next to her was this older woman, about your age, Mr. Giles. And the older lady, she said that, uh... what was it she said, exactly. Something about how I had to have faith in her, and that she wouldn't be able to watch over the girl anymore if we didn't help her, and that something horrible was coming, and that I was to have faith and keep her close to me. She said if I had to keep faith and protect it, and if I failed, the girl would be lost to darkness."
Dawn caught the balls one-by-one and put them down on the table nearby. Then she closed her eyes. And the Oscar goes too... "The lady had a British accent. Almost like yours, Lydia. And after she finished speaking, this huge thing came out of the shadows and... it. Uh, did things to her. The older lady. Bad things. Horrible things."
"What sort of bad things?" Lydia asked.
How should I know, Dawn thought to herself. Faith never told anyone what Taquitos had done to her first Watcher. Just that she'd witnessed it and that it was nightmare fuel. Dawn kept her eyes closed and just shook her head. She felt Xander put his arm around her waist. Dawn leaned into him and hid her face in his neck. The very image of the traumatized teenage girl.
"Dawn, are you okay?" Willow came close and began rubbing Dawn's back. It's okay. It was just a dream. Even if it was one of those psychic dreams you were talking about, you can still fix it." Willow's concern just increased Dawn's shame at lying to everyone, and she burrowed even further into Xander's shirt.
"Right. Let's take a break from the questions while Dawn collects herself." Giles took off his glasses and began to rub them.
"No, I can go on." Dawn wiped her eyes on Xander's shirt. The emotion might have been faked, but every little girl knew how to generate tears on demand. "Sorry, its just, what happened to the lady was monstrous. And she sounded so, so desperate."
"Desperate? Do you think this dream represented something that was urgent?" Lydia put the clipboard down. "Some impending apocalypse, perhaps?
Dawn shook her head. "No, it felt more personal than that. More... more intimate." Dawn's mind whirled. How to get the message across without it sounding contrived. "Like... it wasn't world-shattering. What I mean is, well, sort of like the immediate danger would only affect those two people, the lady and the girl, but if something wasn't done there'd be long-term consequences for other people."
"Which people?" Xander asked.
"Us." Giles began to say something, but Dawn interrupted. "Not just the Slayers or the Watchers, but everyone in this room. It was like... if we don't save the lady and protect the girl from this bad thing that happens, something even worse happens down the line."
"But the dream wasn't clear about who they were? No names were given, or locations?" Lydia pulled a pen and a small notepad out of her jacket pocket. "Well then, perhaps were should see what we can do about interpreting your dream, shall we?"
This should be fun. Easiest dream interpretation ever, Dawn thought to herself. "Okay. Uh, where do we start?"
"First, can you describe the woman?" Lydia asked expectantly.
Oh shit. The only things Dawn knew about Diana Dormer were her name, the fact that she was Faith Lehane's Watcher, and that she died horribly right in front of Faith and at the hand of a massively powerful, horribly ancient vampire. "Uh, well, she was sort of in shadows. I didn't see her face. She had a British accent... she sounded really educated, too. She used some fancy words." Dawn paused. "To, uh, well, she reminded me of you, Mr. Giles."
"Reminded you of me? How?"
"Well, she felt a little, I dunno, stuffy. Uptight, I mean. No, that's not what I mean. Formal? Yeah, that's it. She felt formal." Dawn shrugged. It was as good as she could make it. "Like she was a professor or something."
"Can you remember anything else?" Lydia was writing everything down.
"Just what she said, that if we didn't help she wouldn't be able to watch over the girl anymore, and that we were supposed to have faith. She kept repeating it. I was supposed to have faith." Dawn repeated this point. "I was supposed to have faith. I was supposed to keep faith with something. And if I kept faith, the girl would be safe." Come on, someone, key to it.
"Wonder what that means." Willow was writing on a legal pad. Every once in a while she'd circle something. Dawn leaned over to see over her shoulder, and it looked like Willow had diagrammed everything she said.
Jesse and Xander joined Dawn in looking over Willow's shoulder. They all stared at the complex network of words and phrases that Willow was constructing. "Willow, that's, uh... wow. I knew you were smart, but sometimes you scare me a little." Xander patted Willow on the shoulder.
"Thanks. Its, uh... I like to solve logic puzzles." She looked up at Giles. "You know those magazines they sell in the grocery? I love those."
"Er, yes. I'm familiar with them." Giles looked sheepish. "I buy the ones with the crosswords."
"Oh hey!" Jesse was still reading over Willow's shoulder. "I think I got it. This girl's a slayer. Or maybe she's, whaddaya call 'em. She's going to be one someday."
"You think the girl in Dawn's dream is a potential Slayer?" Lydia came over to look at Willow's notepad. Dawn and Xander scooted aside to give them room. "Show me. How'd you come to that conclusion?"
Jesse pointed. "Okay, we've got the woman talking like Mr. Giles, like a professor. All stuffy. And the woman says she won't be able to watch over the girl if Dawn doesn't help her." Jesse grinned and nodded at everyone.
"Yes. And?" Lydia prompted.
"What? Come on! Its obvious, right?" Once again, he grinned and nodded at everyone, this time excluding Lydia.
"Apparently not." Giles said. "What are you seeing that we aren't."
"Oh come on, really?" Jesse looked authentically disappointed. "Gus, come on. Dawn! Who do you know who are stuffy and sound like professors and watch over teenage girls?"
Thank you, Jesse. Remind me to give you a big kiss when this is over. "The Watchers. The woman is a Watcher. That means the girl is a potential Slayer!"
Lydia was thoughtful. "I must say that is well-reasoned. What do you think, Mr. Giles?"
"Well, I believe that, correct or not, we can't take the chance that its wrong. As you say, it is well-reasoned." Giles put a finger to his chin. "About what the woman said, about keeping faith. Dawn, are you religious?"
Dawn shrugged. No more than anyone else. I mean, I believe in God. I mean, its sort of obvious, right? Because crosses work on vampires. Of course, so do the holy symbols of other religions, too. So yeah, I know there's something out there greater than us. I just don't know if I buy into any specific religion. You know?"
"Hmm... yes. I understand. I was wondering what you were supposed to stay faithful to if you weren't religious."
"What if she meant the other kind of faith?" Xander asked. "You know, like, uh, loyalty, or confidence in something. Like, 'I have faith in you' kind of faith, not 'I believe in God' kind of faith." Xander had never bought into the idea of God in the first place. He wasn't convinced there wasn't a God, he'd just seen damned little evidence for it.
Okay, time for a nudge. "So it could be religion, it could be confidence. Could be a lot of things." Dawn shrugged and smiled. "For all we know, its the girl's name, right?" She laughed at her own comment but hoped someone would pick up on it.
"Right." Giles looked at his watch. "Its getting late and its already dark outside. Perhaps we can continue this tomorrow. We did sort of get sidetracked. Dawn, I trust you can see your friends home safely?"
"Wait, tomorrow?" Jesse protested. "You want us to come back to school on a Saturday?" Willow and Xander both rolled their eyes at him.
"Actually, Mr. McNally, the only one of you who needs to come back tomorrow is Dawn. Though I suppose asking you not to come back tomorrow would be wishful thinking." Giles sighed.
"Completely wishful thinking." Willow said in response. "Oh, unless... Dawn, if you don't want us here..."
"No, I think if you're going to be involved you need to be involved in everything. I've read Harry Potter, and if there's one thing that story will teach it, its that keeping secrets from people who need to know them can get people killed."
"Oh, I saw that book at the store. Is it any good?" Willow asked. Her expression was wide open and enthusiastic, and Dawn reflected to herself that Willow had never been that open when she was older, about anything. She also reflected on how weird it was that, in the here-and-now, Harry Potter hadn't skyrocketed into 'worldwide phenomenon' territory yet.
"Definitely worth the read. Would make a great movie, for that matter." Dawn couldn't resist adding.
"And you're sure you want them participating?" Lydia asked. At Dawn's expression, she held up a hand. "I had to ask. I want you to be sure. Its not every day you abandon millennia of tradition."
"I'm sure. Totally sure." Dawn began collecting up her things. "You know, if I'm going to include them, and I don't think we can stop them, we should look into showing these guys how to fight."
"What? You want them to fight?" Lydia was shocked.
"No, of course not. I just want them to be able to defend themselves. You know, just in case? I'm thinking Aikido. And maybe some crossbow practice. Ooh! Spears!"
"Spears?" Jesse asked. "You want to teach us how to use spears?" As he asked this he brought his arms up and made a 'stab-stab-stab' motion with both hands.
"Sure. Make sure the pointy end is made of wood instead of metal and your spear turns into really long stake, right?"
"Yes, well, that does make a certain amount of sense." Giles began putting the books away. "You four be safe. Don't take chances. We'll see you tomorrow." She looked over at Lydia. "You coming?"
"Ah, not tonight. Everything I have packed with me is at the hotel, and I'm only packed for a three day jaunt. I'd like to visit tomorrow, and perhaps I'll stay overnight then." Lydia started to say something more, thought against it, then started again. "Dawn, I'm flying back to England on Sunday, as scheduled. Mr. Giles will be in charge of you until I get back."
"No problem. Good night, Lydia. I'll see you tomorrow." Dawn gave her Watcher a hug before leaving. Knowing how important to Buffy Giles would become, she didn't want to get between the two. She was going to try and become as close to Lydia as the older woman would allow.
When Lydia returned the hug, Dawn got a warm feeling inside that surprised her. Maybe it will work out, she thought to herself. The hug had made her realize that she felt a bone-deep loneliness. It had been so persistent and all-encompassing that she hadn't noticed it. The simple act of hugging an older woman who just happened to be a potential mentor had made her feel a little bit better when she hadn't actually realized she was feeling bad in the first place.
"I want us to be friends." Dawn whispered during the hug. "Not just Slayer and Watcher, but Dawn and Lydia. Friends. I'll see you tomorrow." When she pulled back, Lydia was nodding.
She turned to the others, who were watching her expectantly. "Okay, guys. Your chariot awaits. Anyone else hungry?"
"I could eat." Jesse said as he followed Dawn out. "How about you, Will? You hungry? Xan?"
"Sure. Food sounds good." Willow put an arm around Dawn's shoulder. "What do you think about Chinese, guys?"
"I was actually thinking Mexican." Xander said, taking up a position to Dawn's right. Jesse was on the other end of the line, to Willow's left. "There's that new place out on Groveland, called 'Los Hermanos'. Don Beasley said they were amazing, and not that expensive. Beez said that I've got to try the enchiladas verdes."
"Whatever you guys want. I'm hungry enough to eat a horse." Dawn dug out her keys and unlocked the car doors.
"Guys, I'd love to, but I've got about two bucks to my name. Maybe later." Jesse said as he climbed into the back seat behind the driver. "You can just drop me off."
"Nonsense," Dawn said. "I'll cover you. Pay me back by coming over tomorrow after we're done with Lydia and Giles. Help me unpack. I'm still living out of boxes."
Willow took the shotgun seat as Xander climbed in behind her. "Oh, sure! We'd love to help. With your unpacking, I mean."
"Absolutely. It'll give us a chance to poke around in your things and learn your every dream, aspiration, and nightmare!" Xander chuckled.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "Fun times ahead. So, Mexican?" There were nods all around. She started the car, and drove out of the school's parking lot.
XxxxxxX
"I got to hand it to Beez, when he's right, he's right. Those were some excellent enchiladas." Once again, it was Dawn and Xander alone in the car. Willow was living up to her word. She kept her personal reactions to the obvious affection Dawn showed to Xander as quiet as possible and kept out of Dawn's way. Jesse, on the other hand, seemed to be actively encouraging the budding relationship. So when they left the restaurant, Jesse loudly announced that he had to be home first, but that since Willow's was on the way to his house, she could be dropped off first.
"That they were." Dawn stared up at the Harris house alongside Xander. It was obvious he was hesitant to get out of the car. "You going to be okay?" The concern was written on her face.
"Yeah. Nothing I'm not used to." He was obviously uncomfortable. "Look, Dawn..."
"No, its okay. You don't need to explain anything. You don't even have to talk about it if you don't want to. I just... it bothers me, because I think you're a good guy and you deserve better."
Xander shrugged. "It's not like I'm anything special. I -"
"Don't you ever say that! Not to me. Not ever!" Xander's eyes widened at Dawn's sudden anger. "You have no idea how special I think you are. I'm 'Chosen.' I have a destiny now, because I'm a Slayer. And my destiny is to fight and fight and fight, constantly in danger. I can't stop fighting, I can't just say, 'Sorry, I'm done' and walk away. I have to do this for the rest of my life and I have no idea how long that's going to be, Xander. But you, you actively chose to help me. I might seem heroic, but I'm just doing my job. You're the one going above and beyond. So don't you dare tell me you're not special."
He rubbed his face where she slapped him. "I'm -"
"I'm not done." Dawn ducked her head. "Let me finish, please. Just, let me finish." Xander nodded, and Dawn took a deep breath. "One of the two wisest, most compassionate men I ever met once told me that its hard, living near the spotlight but never actually having it shine on you. It's hard making the effort knowing that in the end you're not going to get the credit because you live in the shadow of people who are more capable than you are. But you see, that's what makes you special, Xander. That's what makes you extraordinary." She swallowed, trying not to cry. "When I asked if you wanted to help, did it ever occur to you, just once, to say no? Even for a little while?"
"No. Not after – I had to help. Its too big a job for one person, and I have to help." Xander was staring at his shoes, not sure of where this was going.
"And that's why you're special, Xander. Because you aren't shying away from it, and you're not going to let it make you give up. So don't you ever tell me you're not special. You, Willow, Jesse... you're all extraordinary." She leaned across to his seat and put her arms around him. For a long while, they sat, just like that, holding each other.
Finally they pulled away from each other. "I know you don't want to, but if you ever need to talk about your Mom and Dad, I'm always available. And if you need someplace to run to when things get really bad, I've got another spare room. Its yours as long as you want it." Dawn took a deep breath and let it out slow. "And I'm going to keep telling you how special you are until you believe it."
"I appreciate it, but I think even Tony and Jessica would notice if I just up and moved out on them."
"Okay. But keep it in mind." Abruptly, Dawn took his face in her hands and kissed him, first gently and then with more feeling and passion. Xander was surprised in the beginning, but swiftly caught on that they were kissing. That kissing was now something they would be doing in the future.
But eventually it had to stop. "I'd better get inside." Dawn nodded at him, not saying anything. He turned back to her before closing the car door and said, "I'll see you tomorrow at school."
"You want me to drop by and give you a ride in?" Dawn asked.
Xander thought about it for a minute. "Nah, too much chance that Tony or Jessica would be up and around."
"You sure? You don't have to be -"
"I'm... I don't want to see how they'd treat you." Xander said, again staring at his shoes.
"Okay. We've got time, you know. It's okay." Dawn smiled at him. "Night, Xander. Pleasant dreams."
He waved at her as he walked to the door. Dawn stayed at his curb until he was safely inside.
XxxxxxX
As her second morning in the house was also her first Saturday, Dawn felt much less hurried than she had the day before. She took her time with breakfast which on this day was four bowls of what she called her 'perfect cereal mix' of two parts Peanut Butter Crunch to one part regular Captain Crunch and one part Crunchberries. After her shower she contemplating continuing the trend she was following for dressing stylish yet simple but in the end went with a pair of blue-jean shorts and a dark blue t-shirt that read People Hate It When Sentences Don't End Like They Potato! She finished the ensemble with a pair of knee-high Pippi Longstocking socks and some combat boots.
She was lacing the boots up with her favorite yellow shoe-laces when her phone rang. Dawn actually had to hunt around in her purse for it. "Hello?"
"Dawn? Good morning. This is Michael Kuzak."
"Hi, Mike. Guess it was your turn, huh?"
She heard the lawyer chuckle. "Yeah, Leland and Arnie and I figure we'll take turns. So are you settling in?"
"Hmm," Dawn thought about it. "Well, sort of. I mean, I started school. Met some people, some good some bad. Made a couple of friends. Met some cool teachers. Its been a couple of days. I managed to make a grocery trip, but I am still living out of boxes. I've got some new friends coming over later today to help me unpack."
"That's good to hear, that you're making friends. Kuzak chuckled again. "As for it being a couple days, I understand. I've always thought that the good eventually made up for the bad."
"One hopes." Finished with the laces, she put her boots on one-handed.
"What?"
"I said 'one hopes'. That it all balances out, I mean." She juggled the phone while tightening her shoe-laces.
"Oh, hey, Dawnie... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up... Look, you know what? Just try to have some fun, okay?"
"I will. I'm meeting my friends at the school gym. They keep it open on the weekends for the teams, and you can go and use the equipment as long as one of the coaches is there. We're going to shoot hoops, I think."
"Then you go have fun. I'm glad you're making friends."
Dawn sighed. "Me too." She was about to start ending the call when she remembered. "Oh, I might be taking in a boarder. She's a visiting professor and doesn't have any place to stay while she's here and I think I'm going to rent her a room. This place is too big for me by myself."
"Do you think that's wise?"
"Why not? I don't think she's a psycho-killer or anything. She's shorter than me and looks about as offensive as a piece of Wonder Bread."
"Well, let me get her name. I want to check her out."
"Mike."
"No, Dawn. This is what we're here for."
"All right. Fine." Dawn huffed. "Her name's Lydia Lamontagne..."
How do you spell her last name?"
"I don't know yet. But its "la-mon-tayne." It sounds French, so its probably spelled with a g-n-e at the end of it instead of spelling it like 'la mountain'. I've talked to her. She's quiet, bookish, and sweet. Please don't mess this up. I need a roommate and I like talking to her."
"Okay, but if we check her out and find anything suspicious, I'm calling the cops."
"Fine. Look, Mike, I've got to go."
"Right. You have fun, Dawn. Bye."
"Bye, Mike." Dawn folded up her phone and tucked it back into her purse. She had all the confidence in the world that no one at McKenzie, Brackman would find anything unusual about Lydia. Soon after, she was in her car, heading toward the High School.
She got side-tracked as she drove past 1630 Ravello. There was a moving van in front, and her mom's – Buffy's mom; not her's anymore. Buffy's mom. The maroon SUV was in the drive, and the front door was open. Dawn drove past, slowly, and as she did she saw her – Buffy's mom come out of the front door along with a couple of the movers. Shortly thereafter, Buffy herself was moving from the house to the truck. She disappeared for a moment, then reappeared carrying a box. Dawn could remember this day. If things were the same, then her eleven-year-old self was up in her room, digging through the boxes for her stuffed animals and other toys.
She couldn't help it. Dawn pulled to the curb and got out of her car. She approached the house slowly and casually. There were butterflies in Dawn's stomach – no, they weren't butterflies, they were full-blown monkeys jumping around in her stomach, and it was made even worse by a faint buzz that creeped into the back of her head. It grew stronger as she approached the house. Dawn kept a smile on her face. As she approached, Buffy came back out to grab another box and Dawn immediately recognized her sister as the source of the buzz.
Buffy stopped in the middle of the sidewalk when she spotted Dawn approaching.
"Hi!" Dawn called. I was driving by and saw you moving in and figured I'd stop and say 'welcome to the neighborhood'! I'm a couple of doors down, at 1625." She extended a hand. But Buffy ignored it.
Instead, Buffy was staring at Dawn, intensely, as if studying her face. She looked towards the house, then back at Dawn, then back at the house, and then finally back at Dawn. Buffy's face was a mask of confusion, fear, and a tincture of anger. She said nothing for several seconds, before blurting out, "DAWNIE!?"
XxxxxxX
Author's Note the First: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is owned by Warner Brothers in association with Mutant Enemy Productions. L.A. Law is owned by 20th Century Fox Television. Grease is owned by Paramount Pictures. All I own is the idea and the words.
