Disclaimer: Who are we kidding here? Obviously if I owned these shows certain characters would have been a bigger focus.
AN: I had no idea that good reviews were like positive peer pressure. Cool. I'm glad that so many people are enjoying the cast additions that I made last chapter. I'm not really going to be bringing in anymore major roles to the story though, just cameos and stuff from here on out.
Chapter 7: What the Heart Needs
When Dawn hung up the phone after her call to Jonas that night she was in a good mood. Jenny and Robyn had arrived undamaged and having not murdered Andrew, the movers hadn't damaged anything, and Jonas had been cool about not meeting the kids yet. If the day had gone any better, she would have worried about impending doom. Good thing a prolonged argument between the girls and Andrew, that had apparently started days ago, had kept things from being too perfect.
Now, however came the hard part. Now Dawn had to talk to the girls about Jonas, and get them to keep their mouths shut. It was a really good thing that she had already sent Andrew home via portal a couple of hours ago. He had never been good with the secret keeping thing, and the one time that he had actually been able to do it, well, he had nearly been beaten to death by a posse of pissed off slayers. Keeping Spike's resurrection a secret from Buffy was hurtful, keeping it a secret from Vi, Rona, and Caridad was moronic. They hadn't developed any amount of self control yet. After that fiasco, resulting in both Spike and Angel getting dropped hard on their asses when they showed up on Buffy and Dawn's doorstep and not showing their faces to anyone outside of the US again, Andrew was just too scared to keep anything from the slayers. Who knew that any of the Sunnydale potentials had actually bonded with the crazy souled vampire anyway? Which brought up the point that since she was now on his turf, Spike might actually drop by. What the hell would she do then? AHH, just focus on the here and now, don't borrow trouble.
Anyway, getting the girls to agree to keep her new relationship quiet wasn't really her worry. Her real worry was that they would slip, or one of the visitors would notice something and rat her out. She was being a bit paranoid, but she was convinced that the second any of the Scoobies knew that she had a boyfriend and that they slept together, a lot, someone was going to show up on her doorstep, or his, and ruin it. Right now she just wanted to enjoy the peace that she had bought with this change of life, and that included having a personal life that was not ruled by the expectations and judgments of her family.
Putting her cell phone on the coffee table and getting up from the couch where she had been ensconced for the past 45 minutes, working herself into a state of panic, she stretched and went into the kitchen, where Robyn and Jenny were munching on what was left of their road trip junk food supply. She jumped up on the counter next to Jenny and stole a cookie from the bag in Robyn's hand as the teen walked by her and seated herself on a stool near Dawn's feet at the kitchen island.
"Ok, there are a few things about our new situation here that we need to get straightened out right away." She stated, trying to project an air of authority. "I know that being out here on our own, without a bunch of other slayers and their watchers in our space seemed exciting, but I also know that the idea of meeting a bunch of new people and having to keep a big chunk of who we are is kinda scary."
As she said that last part she put her arm around Jenny's shoulders and squeezed. Jenny had come to them from a group home in Canada at the age of 10. She had been social awkward and shy due to her childhood bouncing from one family to the next, with stints as short as 3 weeks sometimes, since she was 2. She had been so withdrawn that a few of the watchers had suggested that she was mentally ill, or handicapped. It hadn't helped that the environment at the WC at the time was much like the group home they had found her in. All the girls living together in dorms until arrangements could be made to get them into a more home like situations. Dawn had known that she could help her, but met with a lot of resistance. They all thought she was too young to be responsible for a child, and she was working at a frantic pace with her education. It had taken 6 months to get them to hand the then 11 year old girl into her care. She had dedicated herself to making Jenny feel loved, and wanted. She was Dawn's first priority, and they were family. Jenny even started calling her mom when they were alone, and Dawn loved it that she had such a close bond with a kid who wasn't even a decade her junior. Giles had nearly had a coronary when she had asked that legal guardianship be put in her hands so that she could be sole caregiver. Now, 3 years later, she was the only stable figure in the girl's life, and she understood how much change disturbed her.
Robyn was a completely different story. She had come to the council's attention at 13. Her family was a lower middle class happy home. Dawn had gone herself to Florida to meet with them and give the whole slayer speech. When Robyn had found out that she was not losing her mind, her dreams and strength were real, she had been ecstatic. When she had told them that there was a special school, with a world class education and no fee, for the girls, the whole family had nearly cheered. After a few hours of negotiating visits and ground rules the Hansly's had agreed to send Robyn to England, but only if Dawn agreed to be personally responsible for her. When Dawn had decided that she was leaving she had gone to Valrico to see them personally and explain what she was doing. They had been very understanding and agreed that Robyn should join her, as long as she was enrolled in a good private school and continued to be home for long weekends and holidays.
Robyn had been thrilled; she missed America and couldn't wait to be back. She also wanted to get away from the watchful eyes of all those people. She wanted to live someplace more like her home, with a small core group and everyone else just visiting. Robyn really enjoyed living with Dawn. She was like a big sister who taught her stuff and kept an eye out for her. She loved it when just the 3 of them went on a patrol together, not that they got to do that often with the number of slayers that needed the practice. With Dawn and Jenny, it was like having a second family, but without someone who was not her mom trying to by all mothery.
Jenny was nervous, but she trusted her mom to look out for her. She had been happy at their apartment in HQ, but she knew Dawn was excited to have a place all her own. Plus, now that they were a continent away from Mr. Giles and the council, she could call Dawn mom any time she wanted to without worrying that someone would disapprove. Apparently it was ok for them to change her last name from Green to Summers, but she was supposed to keep a bit of distance from her watcher. 'Bugger that.' she thought as she leaned into the hug.
"So," Dawn continued after a long pause, "first thing we are going to do is get this mess cleaned up, and then I'm going to show you our house." She gave about 3 seconds for that to sink in and waited for their responses.
"What do you mean our house? We get a house? I thought we were just getting a suite of rooms to share. We get a house?" came from Robyn, while Jenny just looked up and said, "Cool."
Dawn hopped down from the counter and helped the girls throw out their trash and put the remaining food away."Grab your bags and follow me"
As they walked out the kitchen door and down the gravel path, Dawn let herself get excited. The house was a huge surprise that she had spent months getting ready for them. When she first came to inspect the property, she had indeed planned on them sharing a suite on the top floor of the old mansion. But the more she thought about it the more that kind of defeated the purpose of them moving thousands of miles to have their own place in the world. Going from living in a small apartment in the same building as ¾ of the entire Watchers Council, to living in an even smaller suite in the same building as all of them and more would be passing through constantly was really self defeating. So, she got the plans out and looked for an alternative. What she found was a huge stable that she would have never used. She got a separate architect and construction crew together and used a big chunk of her private savings to organize the renovation. She had decided that there was no reason to have her personal home lumped in with the Council's business. That and she wanted to have final say in all aspects of her house, something which wouldn't have happened if it had been part of the work that Giles was overseeing.
Outwardly, the house still looked like the Stable it once was, except for the fact that the huge doors weren't real anymore. Instead there was a red door with beveled glass panels to one side. Dawn opened the door and led the girls inside.
"Those big doors are just for show, but there is a set of rolling doors that do work in the back off the family room. There are huge screens back there so we can leave them open if we want. Your stuff, and all our personal furniture and everything, was ported over here last week, separate from the stuff for the big house. Your rooms are all set up and ready to go. Robyn, your room is down here. I made sure you have a private bathroom, and that your room is big and comfortable. Jenny, you and I are upstairs. On one side of the hall is my room and my bathroom. Your room is right across from mine. Your bathroom is shared with the guest room, but there is no hall door, so it's practically private. There is a good sized half bath off the family room and kitchen for guests so no worrying about people in your personal space for the most part. Now go put your stuff in your rooms and meet me in the family room for our rules and new cool plans conversation."
As the girls ran to drop their stuff in their rooms, Dawn went and made hot chocolate for them. When that was done she went and got comfortable to wait for them. Most of the stuff in the house was the stuff that had been in their apartment at HQ. The only big purchases she had made for their home were a nice living room suite, a dining room suite and new furniture for Robyn and the guest room. She kept her old bedroom and Jenny kept the furniture from her and Robyn's room, minus the second bed, which was now the guest bed, with the rest of the room built around that. The living room and dining room stuff from the apartment were now in the family room and breakfast nook, and all the same dishes and things were in the kitchen. She wanted the transition to be as easy as possible in that way, they were going to have enough changes to deal with.
Jenny came running in, followed by a more sedate Robyn. They grabbed their mugs and got ready for the big moving talk that Dawn had promised them.
"Ok, in two weeks you guys are going to be starting school at Colorado Springs Christian Academy. It's a really good private school, and their classes start at 10 in the morning instead of 8, so that means a bit more sleep after patrols. There will be uniforms, you will wear them, and you will just have to deal with looking dorky in class."
Robyn rolled her eyes and groaned, while Jenny just giggled.
"Second thing is patrolling. I already explained that there is very little activity here, so we are going to be doing one random graveyard and a section of town per patrol. We aren't going to patrol every night, just 3 random nights a week. It's gonna be kinda boring, but you guys are young and we don't need to be running ourselves into the ground anyway. This means that you do get a date night every week." Robyn looked giddy. She sat forward in her seat and pulled her long red hair around over one shoulder so that it fell near the middle of her stomach. She looked like she was going to get up and do a little dance any second. "One each week. I will make sure you know at least a couple of weeks in advance which nights we are going to be patrolling, so you can make plans. If there is a specific event you wanna go to, we can discuss it and see if we can work it out. Robyn, you already know the conditions for you dating and you have spent a big chunk of your summer vacation at home getting lectured by your parents about responsibility with boys. I will be reporting to them, so behave. Jenny, if you want to date we'll work it out then. You are still kind of young for that, but you can come to me about it when you're ready. Ok?"
Both girls nodded vigorously and smiled.
"Good. Next thing is guests. If you guys want to have friends come over, even just normal school friends, they are welcome any time. Just let me know so I can have food and stuff ready. This isn't like HQ, we don't have to hole up here and be all self contained. The only rules about having friends over are, 1, I have to be here if there are any boys in the house, and 2, all friends come here and not to the big house. We are keeping our lives separate from the slayers coming in and out of there. Plus, they are on vacation; they don't need to deal with keeping up some kind of act because a bunch of kids show up out of the blue. Each of you will have chores, just like before, there will be a small staff to cook and clean over at the mansion, but they are not cleaning up after us. Allowances are the same, responsibilities are the same, house rules are the same. Understand all that?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Ok."
Dawn took a deep breath. Now the hard part. "The one huge change we are going to be making is about privacy." Both girls looked a little confused, but she definitely had their undivided attention. "This is our home, nobody else gets a say in how we handle our family. I know that both of you have been asked, by lots of people over the years, about where we go, who we see, what time we go to bed, even what we have for dinner."
Both girls frowned and nodded slowly.
"No more of that. We don't answer personal questions about each other anymore. If you want to share things about your day, or your life, that is up to you, but, if someone asks you about what the other, or I, do with our time, no dice. I have had enough of being scrutinized and not being able to have a normal life. Robyn, the only people that you HAVE to answer to are your parents and me. Buffy, Giles, Martin, any of the WC people, have no say in how we raise you. Jenny, you are mine. I know you love Buffy and Xander and all of them, but if they start to pressure you about stuff, tell them to talk to me. This is something that has been bothering me for a while, but the biggest reason I'm bringing this up right now is that I've started seeing someone here in Colorado, and I want to keep it just between us. There is no reason for anyone to know about who I spend my time with, except you guys. I want to have a normal relationship, without them messing it up for me, and I want for you guys to have that too. If we don't stand firm now, you guys will still dealing with it when you're my age. Do either of you want to have them breathing down you're necks the way they do me?"
Robyn crossed her arms and both of them shook their heads.
"I don't like it much either. So, if anyone asks about me dating, you say?"
"Ask Dawn." Said Robyn.
Jenny looked thoughtful for a moment and, smiling, said, "I don't know. How is your sex life these days?"
Dawn laughed and nodded in the direction of the cute little brunet. "Nice, nobody will know how to react to that."
She leaned back on the couch and looked at her watch. "It's pretty late, and I think I've covered all the bases. Any questions before we go to bed?"
Both girls smiled at her and bombarded her with questions about Jonas, and what exactly was going on with them. She gave them the PG version of events and promised them that they would meet him soon, then rushed them off to bed before taking care of their dishes and going to bed in her own room for the first time.
AN: Ok, so this was super long, and big with the exposition. Oh well, how are we gonna give a crap about these kids if we have no idea who the hell they are.
