Kerry looked up as Dawn came in the hospital room the next day. "Oh, Dawn, I thought that you were meeting Naomi at the library this morning?"

Dawn laughed, "This town has the most robust grapevine I've ever seen. I did. She had a personal question that I believe I answered pretty well."

Kerry nodded with a wince, "What can I do for you Dawn. As long as it doesn't involve getting up or moving in general, I'm at your disposal."

Dawn smiled, "No, I just need some advice. You think of me as an adult correct?"

Kerry considered this, "Yes, you've grown up into quite a respectable young lady. Not a surprise with Tara...and Willow also...helping raise you. Why?"

Dawn swallowed, "You see, I need a unbiased opinion, and I don't think that Tara, or Willow can give it to me." Kerry rearranged herself a bit in the bed and held her hand to her head for a moment until the light headedness passed. "I uh...am I gay?"

Kerry burst out with two short laughs before she could collect herself, "I'm sorry. I didn't. Dawn, that is entirely inside of you somewhere. Only you can know who you love, no one else can pass judgment on your sexuality but you. Do you like the woman?"

Dawn blinked, "How'd you know it was a wom...oh right, gay mostly precludes the man thing..." Dawn nodded to herself for a moment while she considered Kerry's question, "She's funny, and kinda cute, and nice, a-and I think she might like me."

"Is she a lesbian?" Dawn nodded, "Well, that is one hurdle you don't have to jump. Is she a demon?"

Dawn blinked, surprised, "W-what? I-I don't think so...why?"

Kerry smirked, "In this town, you can't be too careful. What's her name?"

Dawn took a deep breath, "Zoe."

"Life."

"What?"

Kerry shifted slowly again, "Zoe, it means life. Are you going to see her soon?"

Dawn nodded, "Yeah, tonight. I just don't know if this is something real, or if it is my imagination or something. I mean, aren't I too old to be realizing this?"

Kerry snorted and quickly covered her mouth, "Sorry, but no. And just because you like this woman, doesn't mean that you're a lesbian. I was once married to a man, and my first love was most definitely a man." Kerry smiled as she thought of Mlungisi. She cleared her throat, "Before Kim I had also dated men. Those were real relationships, I loved each of them, but I love Kim in such a different way. It is so much more intense..." Kerry trailed off.

"So you're saying that I should be more open minded?"

Kerry shook her head negatively, "I know that your heart is more open minded than all the gays in the world put together, but I think it is your brain that is having trouble with what to call yourself. Don't get hung up on that. Call yourself... Dawn... if you fall madly in love with Zoe, have a passionate affair, and then never date another woman in your life, then you're Dawn. If you feel that you're a lesbian, you're still Dawn, the same thing if you believe you're bisexual, you're still Dawn. So you need to find you."

Dawn held up her hand and smiled, "I get it, I get it. Thank you Kerry. I think I know what I'm going to do."

Kerry smiled, "I'm glad that I was helpful, at the moment I'm feeling very... not helpful. Now, are you still coming over for dinner on Tuesday?"

Dawn nodded, "Yep, it was either that or eat at Anya and Xander's."

Kerry laughed, "Ah, the better of two evils. Well, hopefully you won't get Kim and Alex's omelets."

Dawn's jaw dropped open, "You mean the ones that Kim and I made for you and Tara when you had just arrived in Sunnydale?" Kerry nodded, "Please tell me you're kidding, I'll come over and cook dinner if I have to. Just anything but the 'spicy omelets'. You are also imparting to Alex some of your culinary mastery?"

Kerry laughed at the almost pleading look on Dawn's face, "I am. If you get there around five, I can put you to work. Willow has also hooked me to keep a mother hen eye on Tara while she is at a computer conference. So the kitchen will be bustling. Just the way I like it." Kerry reflected on that statement. "I never thought I'd say that. Lord, I'm loosing my edge. Could you send in a nurse, I feel the need to weaver someone."

Dawn rolled her eyes and smiled, "I'll be there. Bye Kerry. And thanks again."


Dawn sighed, "Yeah, I liked the Warrior Song. Lucy Lawless had a great singing voice. They really should have let Gabby and Xena actually get together. Have you seen this before Kim?"

Kim glanced up at the television and then back to the issue of JAMA that she was reading. "Yeah, when it came out. The animation sucks."

Alex stuck her tongue out at her mother and smiled at Dawn as the 25 year old groaned while getting up from the ground, "I like the song too. Xena was totally kick butt. Kind of like Aunt Buffy."

Dawn smiled and patted Alex on the shoulder, "Yeah, they both are pretty butt kicking, we should do this again, but at a more...contemporary movie."

Alex sprang up, "Ooh, can we see The Matrix Eight...um...I forget the R."

Kim spoke up distractedly, "Reassessed, Repossessed?"

Alex nodded and Dawn smiled, "Sure." She looked down at her watch. "Oh Sh...Crap. Nice seeing you Kim. How about next Thursday Alex. You don't have school yet right?"

Alex nodded, "Can we bring Naomi. She's kinda cool. She uh..." Alex pushed her glasses farther up on her nose, "She hangs with me at school."

Dawn nodded, "It's a date." Alex came up and hugged


Dawn glanced around the Bronze. It hadn't changed much since she had been to it as a high schooler. Up on stage four women and a guy were all futzing around on the stage with their instruments. Finally Zoe stepped up to the mic and spoke. "Hey everybody."

The crowd cheered, "Well you guys have been a great crowd, can't say that's a bad thing. But, after this one we have to split. Here it is..."

Zoe strummed the first few measures of the piece and started singing.

"Come into these arms again
And lay your body down
The rhythm of this trembling heart
Is beating like a drum
It beats for you
It bleeds for you
It knows not how it sounds
For it is the drum of drums
It is the song of songs."

Zoe finally looked up at the audience and caught Dawn's eye. She smiled as she dove into the next verse.

"Once I had the rarest rose
That ever deigned to bloom
Cruel winter chilled the bud
And stole my flower too soon
Oh loneliness, Oh hopelessness
To search the ends of time
For there is in all the world
No greater love than mine."

Dawn looked up at the dance floor. There were many couples dancing closer than their parents or their principal would want them to be dancing to the mostly slow song. This time the other three players sang with Zoe.

"Love oh love oh love oh love...
Still falls the rain
Love oh love oh love oh love...
Still falls the night
Love oh love oh love oh love...
Be mine forever
Love oh love oh love oh love..."

Zoe seemed to take a deeper breath before she started the end of the song, joined a couple of lines in by the others.

"Let me be the only one
To keep you from the cold
Now the floor of heaven's laid
With stars of brightest gold
They shine for you, they shine for you
They burn for all to see
Come into these arms again
And set this spirit free..."

The place went crazy as Zoe and her Band left the stage and dispersed into the crowd. Zoe came straight at Dawn and sat down with a bump. Dawn pushed across her soda, "Have a drink, you need it more than I do."

Zoe gulped down most of the soda, and then looked up guiltily as she realized what she had just done. "Sorry, I can get you another..." She started to get up, but Dawn's hand on her arm halted her.

"That's okay. I wasn't really drinking it. You guys are a great band, and that song. Who's was it?"

Zoe blushed, although it was mostly unnoticeable in the darkened Bronze. "Annie Lennox, Love Song for a Vampire."

Dawn practically spit the bit of soda that was left out. "Oh..."

Zoe smiled, "I've also written some of my own stuff, but you missed that...being late and all."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Dawn winced, "Got caught up in something. Hey, I've never known a song writer before. You're very talented, your whole band is. What do you call yourselves?"

"The Band..."

Dawn's shoulders shook with laughter, "You really need to come up with something a little teensy bit more descriptive. Ooh...ooh, you like Incubus right?" Zoe shrugged non-committedly, "Why don't you call yourselves the Succubi?"

Zoe frowned, "Uh, cause they're sexual sucking fiends with no morals that are evil."

Dawn held her hands up, "Hey, just a suggestion. So, you hungry, I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry."

Dawn smiled as two burgers were begrudgingly placed before her and Zoe, "Well, I hope you're hungry. Hey, can you pass me the salt?"

Zoe picked up the salt at an angle and suddenly dropped it and gripped her hand, "Ah, God that hurt."

Dawn looked down at the salt shaker, "What, demon, invisi-ray, what?"

Zoe looked down at her hand that now lay in her lap, "Probably was just a cramp or something." With her other hand she carefully handed Dawn the salt. "There you go m'lady."

Dawn happily shook some onto her fries and the two of them munched away on their dinners for a bit. Dawn was the one who finally broke the silence again, "Was that about me?"

Zoe hemmed and hawed a little, "I...uh...well...you know...yes. Kind of."

"Now that, is a straightforward answer."

Zoe stuck out her tongue. "Fine, make fun of the one who just spent what felt like a lifetime under the hot stage lights."

Dawn ate her last French Fry, "Oh, you mean you get stage fright. You looked so natural up there."

Zoe shrugged, "Yeah, only sometimes. But especially when I'm doing that song. Does it bother you that the song was about you?"

"I've never had a song sung to me."

Zoe shook her head, not believing Dawn, "Oh come on, never."

Dawn looked down at the table, "I...no."

Zoe lifted Dawn's chin, "Well, I guess I've had to change that." Zoe got up before Dawn could say a word and went over to talk with her drummer for a moment. He seemed to frown for a moment, and then he whacked Zoe on the back and laughed out loud.

The guy, Justin, walked over to the other three women and had short conversations that finished with the women also chuckling. Everyone got onto the stage and the drummer spoke into the mic by his drums, "Hey, we're back, but don't get used to it." The crowd laughed, "Okay, this is by Boyzone, and well, I'm a boy, so I got to introduce it. You can see I'm in a bit of a minority..." The crowd laughed a little at this. "Right, so here goes nothing..."

Zoe rolled her neck a little as the woman playing the keyboard, Cat, started the song with the weird chk noises,

"Ch-k-ch, huh
Ch-k-ch, huh
Ch-k-ch, huh
Ch-k-ch, huh
Huh,huh, ch-k-ch, huh huh huh"

Zoe took a deep breath, and sent a prayer to whomever was listening that she didn't loose her voice halfway through,

"No matter what they tell us
No matter what they do
No matter what they teach us
What we believe is true"

Justin took up the lyrics from his seat at the drums, since it was his verse,

"No matter what they call us
However they attack
No matter where they take us
We'll find our own way back"

Zoe tried not to look out at Dawn and focused on her guitar during the next verse,

"I can't deny what I believe
I can't be what I'm not
I'll know our love forever
I know no matter what"

Justin was smiling, he actually liked this song, since he got to do something other than bang on the drums,

"If only tears were laughter
If only night was day
If only prayers were answered
Then we would hear God say"

Zoe finally gave in and looked out at Dawn who was nodding her head to the beat, although Zoe wasn't sure if Dawn knew that she was keeping the beat with her head, Zoe thought to herself, 'At least she doesn't look pissed off, that's a good sign.'

"No matter what they tell you
No matter what they do
No matter what they teach you
What you believe is true"

Justin and Zoe came in together,

"And I will keep you safe and strong
And sheltered from the storm
No matter where it's barren
A dream is being born"

Zoe again concentrated on her guitar as she played the short riff.

Justin came in again, there was one slightly bad thing about this song for him. The drum part was extremely simplistic, he shook his head as he came in,

"No matter who they follow
No matter where they lead
Now matter how they judge us
I'll be everyone you need"

Zoe got into this part, as Justin echoed what she was singing every couple of lines,

"No matter if the sun don't shine
Or if the skies are blue
No matter what the ending
My life began with you

I can't deny what I believe
I can't be what I'm not
I know this love's forever
That's all that matters now, no matter what"

Dawn was studying her newly filled glass when Zoe sat back down with a breath out, "Uh, I embarrassed you right?"

Dawn started and stopped speaking a couple of times, "Uh, no, I just. You see, the thing is..."

Zoe frowned and her face tensed up, waiting for the, 'We should just be friends.' or 'Go the hell away'.

Dawn took a deep breath, "You see, you're cute..." Zoe raised an eyebrow at this, she hadn't been called cute since she was about five or so, "And...well, I so thought I liked the boys. And I do, but now, and you're just so damn cute."

Zoe inclined her head to one side, "I'm not sure how the cute thing applies to the current situation..."

Dawn took a deep breath, "Do you, I mean, I'm assuming here, but uh, do you like me?"

Zoe took a deep breath, "I..." she looked down at where the salt had spilled on her hand, "Yeah, I do. Now, if you want to go running screaming out of the Bronze, I won't be hurt."

"Yes you will." Zoe's head snapped up, "I don't know exactly how I feel about you. But damnit you're cute, and I think, I think that I kinda like you, in a not so friendly way. If you..." Dawn was fast turning the color of her red blouse.

Zoe smiled softly, "I know what you mean. I..." Before Zoe could continue what would most likely be another slightly rambling sentence Dawn leaned across the table and captured Zoe's lips in her own and didn't let Zoe pull back.

Eventually they both needed O2 and came up for air. Dawn settled back down in her chair and Zoe...well, Zoe blinked. "Um...you..."

Before Dawn could offer her no doubt witty repartee, Alex came rushing up to the table followed by the bouncer. Dawn put up a hand to stop the guy, "I'll, she's my niece. Alex?"

Alex took a few breaths, "My moms, they're...a monster...and...they...and..."

Dawn was up in a moment, "At your house?"

Alex nodded, "I can...I'm going to catch my breath..."

Zoe made a quick decision after looking between Dawn and Alex. She swept Alex into her arms with negligent ease, "Come on, let's go save your friends..."


Dawn, Alex and Zoe practically slid into the house there was so much goo all over everything. They heard fighting coming from the kitchen and went that way, with Dawn leading the way, her stake at the ready. She stopped at the door to the kitchen and her eyes got large, "Uh, I don't think the stake is going to work."

Dawn stepped into the kitchen anyway, "Hey, gooboy, come on, fresh meat, or...goo...you know, you could have at least wiped your feet. Now these nice..."

Dawn didn't duck fast enough and the demon swiped her off her feet. She landed next to Kim with an oof, "Are you okay Kim?"

She got a groan in response and looked up to see Kerry and Zoe facing off against the large demon. Alex scrambled in next to Dawn and Kim. Dawn slowly got to her knees, "Stay... ugh... stay with your mom Alex..."

Kim tried to get up, but slumped back down. Dawn didn't think before she jumped on the back of the demon and started whaling on its head. Her entire focus was on the demon, but she did see her sister and the other Scoobs come into the kitchen and join the fight.

There was no speech, just grunts and oaths as everyone fought. It was Buffy who finally spoke, although it was more of a scream than regular speech, "Get off..."

Dawn didn't hesitate and fell back with a bang onto the floor as Buffy decapitated the demon with one swoop. Everyone took a breath as the head fell to one side of Dawn. Buffy looked up and quickly brought her sword so the pointy end was right under Zoe's throat. "Who are you. Who let you in?"

Dawn still had her eyes closed and was trying to figure out if she had broken anything as she spoke, "That's Zoe."

Buffy practically growled, "You're dating a Vampire..."

Dawn's head snapped up, "What?" Dawn closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them Zoe was still a Vampire. The other Scoobs and Buffy all watched in awe as Dawn practically flowed up from her position on the ground and slammed Zoe up against the wall. "Who the FUCK do you think you are. Who, the Fuck, are you, to jerk me around like that. Were you using me to get to Buffy, is that it? All the times together as friends, even the fucking kiss. Because you wanted to get to The Slayer..." Dawn spit out the two words as she took out the stake that she had carried with her since her first day back in Sunnydale. "Well, it isn't going to
happen Vamp, hear that, you aren't Zoe anymore, you're just another Vamp without a soul who thinks that she can screw around with the Slayer and her family. Not this fucking time."

With that Dawn plunged the stake into where Zoe's heart was. The stake stuck there and Zoe didn't poof into dust. Dawn wiggled it around. Zoe still hadn't said anything since she had morphed into a Vampire. Dawn pulled the stake out and plunged it back in. "Fuckin' ass, why the hell won't you die."

"You don't mean that."

Dawn practically growled at Zoe, "Like hell I mean it, what ring are you wearing. Spell over you. Hell even Angel could be dusted. Why the fuck won't you DIE!"

"I'm not a Vampire."

Dawn stared deeply into Zoe's eyes, not moving back an inch. She slammed her hand onto Zoe's forehead, ricocheting Zoe's head off the wall. "What do you call those then...huh?"

"I'm not a Vampire."

"Get. Out. If you're lucky. Spike'll have you for a snack. If not, well, there seems to be an influx of
demons in Sunnydale, probably your doing, one of them'll take care of you eventually."

Dawn moved away from Zoe and let her down. Dawn had to set her jaw when Zoe's face morphed back to its human form. Zoe only said two words before she walked out the door of the Summer's home. "I'm sorry."


"Go after her."

Dawn crossed her arms, "No, she's evil, she played me, not even an hour ago I was...and we...no..."

Buffy gripped Dawn's shoulders. "You know that there is no black and white when it comes to love."

Dawn threw Buffy's arms off her shoulders, "No, you know nothing. She killed someone, and she almost could have killed Kerry."

Buffy crossed her arms in front of her, "So have I, does that mean you don't love me. So has Michael, does that mean that you think less of him. "

Dawn gritted her teeth, "You and he had to...she didn't. She lied to me."

Buffy stood up to her full height and stared into Dawn's eyes with a challenge, "And Willow has killed also..."

Dawn's teeth were in danger of cracking under the pressure she was putting on them, "Don't even bring Willow into this Buffy. The goddamed mother-fucker had it coming, both of them...you really want to start something? Least I haven't fucked an evil vampire for the jol..." Dawn found her windpipe held in a Slayer tight grip.

Dawn coughed, trying to pull in air, as Buffy realized what she was doing and dropped Dawn to the floor with a thud. "Oh God...I'm..." Buffy trailed off and when she started to speak again Tara interrupted, "Buffy, why don't you and Mike go into the kitchen for a few minutes?"

Buffy started to speak for a third time, but instead just shook her head and grabbed Michael's arm. Tara sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to her, "Humor a pregnant witch 'kay Dawn?"

Dawn sat down, and Willow sat on the other side of her. "What..."

Willow started, "Let's look at this logically. She's funny." Dawn paused, but nodded after a few moments, her sister trying to strangle her had drained most of her energy, "she's a cop, one of the good guys." Dawn gritted her teeth, but nodded. "On the other hand, she lied to you. Did she ever say, 'I am not Thantos'?" Dawn shook her head negatively, "So she didn't lie outright, she just omitted several pertinent facts."

Dawn made a face, "Very pertinent, and that is the damn same thing as lying, you would say so yourself Will. Damnit all to hell..."

Tara started making circles on Dawn's back, "Well, we live right around the corner from it after all." Dawn exhaled a breath hard. "Right. Okay, I'm the history professor, so how about a little history. I'll tell you a little story. I died, I'm sure you remember that."

Dawn frowned, "Yes, my heart was ripped out and stomped on, then skewered with multiple tire irons and pairs of scissors."

Tara blinked a few times, "You know, you should be doing a writing thing, not being a nerd... But you've already gotten me sidetracked." Tara took a deep breath and touched her belly before she started. "Well, once I was back to the land of the living. I of course found out that Willow had not only used dark magicks practically the second or two after I had died, but had killed more than one person. But I was back, and I had to deal with this somehow. We both had to. The first time she was using bad dark magicks it was hard enough for her to stop that. Now, Willow, my beautiful Willow who wouldn't hurt a fly, loved animals and even beasts alike, had killed someone."

Dawn tapped her fingers on her knee, "Is there a point to this pointless story T?"

Willow frowned, "Shut the hell up Dawn."

Dawn blinked in surprise at Willow's brusqueness, and glanced over at Willow for a moment before Tara continued, "As I was saying. I was of two minds about it. I could finish my senior year living in the dorms, not having any classes with Willow, and generally trying to forget about her, or, I could go back to the Summer's house, and try to fix things. I'll admit, I thought long and hard about just scrapping the wholeness, taking Miss Kitty, and making a strategic retreat to the dorms. It wasn't like I didn't have other friends, could probably even find another person who evoked maybe half the feelings that I felt when I simply looked at Willow. But in the end it was you who convinced me to come back."

Dawn looked surprised, "What? How?"

"It was the second night after I had gotten back to the living world. I was trying to make sense of it all in my dorm room, and you came over. You have always been a real supporter of Willow and my relationship." Tara smiled a little, "Our biggest fan you could say. And you first tried to beg me to come back for you. Didn't work, I made the perfectly good counter-argument that it wasn't as if I were going out of town, I'd be able to see you lots. But then you switched tacks, and started telling me how Willow was doing before she paid a visit to Chicago. It seems as though the withdrawal symptoms had been going on for as long as I hadn't been on this green earth, three
months. And you told me that she would apologize to every person who would come into her room. And some other stuff too. I decided that this time I wouldn't leave so that Willow could get better, I'd go back so that Willow could get better."

Dawn exhaled, "I don't see how that has anything to do with me. You helped her again, you both survived, and are together. I had one kiss with this woman, vampire, whatever she is, and I don't even know if I like her that way." Willow raised an eyebrow, and Dawn looked down at her lap, "Okay, I do know that I like her that way, I'm just scared out of my mind of that fact."

Willow spoke softly, "I think that Tara was trying to say that most rational thinking people would have run the other way from me. I practically blew up the world. If Xander hadn't reminded me of the color yellow...I..." Willow took a shaky breath. "He was babbling on about yellow crayons, all I could think of was Tara's beautiful hair, how it shone in the sun, and when she smiled...and how I had already ruined that with my actions, and blowing up the world would only hurt more people, and I might never get the chance to get my Tara back."

Dawn finally nodded and sighed, "Willow could have been looked at as evil, but you went and loved her anyways...and in the end, she wasn't...isn't evil."

Tara smiled, "Ah...I h-have taught you well my daughter..."

Dawn leaned over and gave Tara a kiss on the cheek, and then did the same to Willow. She got up, "Thank you. I think I'm going to..."

Willow smiled, "Try the Cemetery, I found out something...interesting about Lt. Zoe a couple of days ago."

Dawn nodded, "Thank you...I...I love you guys." She quickly left the house.

Willow smirked and looked down at Tara's belly, "We're good...we are so going to be the best parents."

Tara laughed, "If the bugger ever comes out..."