Dawn let out a moan as she slowly pulled herself out of bed. It had been almost two months, and Buffy still hadn't taken away all of her restrictions. God, you would have thought that with Riley coming back with his wife in tow and the almost disaster of Xander and Anya's wedding, she might have at least given her a break. Of course, whatever it was that was going on between her and Spike had definitely affected her mood though...

The teenager's thoughts were abruptly interrupted as she felt a wave of nausea sweep through her. In one motion, she pulled herself out of bed and practically dashed to the bathroom. As quietly as she could, she dropped down in front of the toilet and quickly emptied everything from her stomach into the bowl. After a few minutes of gagging, she slowly stood up, flushed the mess down the drain, and started cleaning herself up.

As she washed her face, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She could see the almost unnoticeable fear in her eyes as she thought about how many times that she had been sick lately. With a nervous laugh, she quickly turned off the water in the sink, dried her face, and hurried towards her bedroom.

She stopped for a moment to look at Buffy lying asleep in her bed, looking more peaceful than she had in ages. Please, don't let me be right about what's wrong with me, she prayed silently. Without saying a word, she hurried on down the hall to her room. Dawn quickly threw some clothes on over her head and hurried down the stairs. She wasn't very surprised to see Willow already sitting at the table.

As she hurried into the kitchen and poured her a glass of orange juice, she waved at the redhead. "Willow, tell Buffy 'hi' for me when she wakes up," she said, gulping down her juice as quickly as she could. "I'm running late for school. See you at the Magic Box this afternoon!"

----------

Several hours later, Dawn hurried down the streets of Sunnydale. She had conveniently forgotten to mention to Buffy that school was going to be released an hour early, but she still didn't want to get there too late just in case Buffy knew about the early release.

Fingering the small wad of dollar bills in her pocket, Dawn hurried into a small convenience store near the magic shop where she was supposed to meet the others. She knew which aisle she was heading towards, but it still took all of her courage to go there. As she stepped onto the aisle, she immediately felt out of place. No, she didn't need to be here. She had to be imagining things. She probably just had a case of the stomach flu or something, nothing to worry about...

Suddenly the familiar feeling of nausea came to her. Having learned from past experiences, she quickly leaned against the shelves and waited for it to pass. A frightened look came to her face as it finally let go. It was impossible. She had her suspicions about what had happened that night at the bar, but still… just the once? She couldn't be… not after just one time. One mistake.

Dawn quickly pushed the thoughts out of her mind as she hurried on down the aisle to pick up what she had came for. As she stepped in front of the pile of them on the shelf, she reached out her hand to pick out a few different boxes. Her hand hesitated over them for just a moment, but she finally grabbed them.

Looking around her to make sure no one was watching, she hurried towards a checkout lane in the back of the store. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that no one was there except for the cashier, a young, raven-haired woman in her mid-twenties. Stepping up to the desk, she tentatively placed her purchases on the counter.

The woman looked at her with a curious expression on her face as she typed in the prices. "That will be $8.32," she said matter-of-factly. "Aren't you a little a bit young to be buying this?"

Dawn shrugged her shoulders as she handed over the money to the woman. She raised her eyebrows slightly as the woman flinched when she touched the cross charm that was on her bracelet. "Aren't you a little undead to be working as a cashier?" she asked, her hand atomically drifting down to the small stake she kept hidden under her jacket.

The vampire gave her a weary smile as she handed over the two small boxes. "Hey, not all of us go around attacking humans," she said. "Some of us live pretty normal lives. A nice, dark apartment, a job to pay for it, fresh blood stolen from the hospital... It's a pretty good unlife, once you get used to it."

Dawn fingered the small stake in her pocket for a moment before turning around and heading towards the exit. "Yeah, I guess that it would be," she said lightly. "At least you don't have to worry about anything like this."

As she walked away, she motioned towards the two small boxes inside her shopping bag. She was slightly surprised to see the vampire smile at her, humor twinkling in her eyes.

"Yeah, we really don't have much of a use for pregnancy tests."

----------

Dawn quickly shoved the bag inside of her backpack as she walked into the Magic Box. Buffy was sitting at a table, her head resting on it wearily. Willow and Tara were sitting beside her, quietly talking to each other -- a big improvement over how they had been acting around each other just a few months earlier. She was getting ready to walk over to them when she noticed a deeply tanned couple standing at the counter.

"Xander! Anya! You're back from your honeymoon!"

Her exclamation caught Buffy's attention, causing her to sit up and look at her watch. A curious expression came to her face as she listened to her sister start talking loudly with the newlyweds. Raising her voice loud enough to be heard over their conversation, she quickly addressed her younger sister.

"Dawn, is it me, or are you here a little early today?" she asked suspiciously.

Dawn quickly looked up at the clock hanging on a nearby wall. With a sheepish grin she turned to her sister. "Didn't I tell you that school was going to be let out a little early today?"

Buffy shook her head, a bit of uncertainty in her eyes as she let her head lay back down on the table.

"No, you didn't," she said tiredly. "At the moment though, I really could care less. Wake me up only if some horrible evil comes walking through the door. And then only if it kills the rest of you."