A/N: Okay, this is the last chapter until I write more tomorrow. Hope everyone likes it! Please Please Please Review!!
Chapter Seven
The next morning, they all met in the front office of Angel Investigations. Everyone was there to see them off, and Dawn was kind of sad to be leaving. She had a tearful goodbye with Spike, whom she made promise several times that he'd stay in touch with her. She said her goodbyes to Fred, Lorne, Wesley, and Gunn, but when it came to Angel, it was kind of difficult. He was more than a little quiet, and he seemed on edge. When she asked him what the problem was, he just said he was worried. She knew that he didn't trust either one of the boys, but that wasn't his call to make. She hugged him and said her goodbye. She would be riding in the jeep with Talia and Sam, so she opted for the backseat so Talia could sit up front with Sam. She noticed him frown slightly, but she forced herself not to think about it. It was going to take them about two days to get to Phoenix, and that was with stopping each evening. The Winchester boys seemed to have special engines or something, because they sure did know how to make travel time.
After a few hours of being on the road, as was her usual, Talia conked out. It left Sam feeling a little awkward because he sensed that something had changed between Dawn and him and he didn't know what. She seemed to have decided that a relationship with him would be a bad idea, and it hadn't even begun. When she didn't make any moves to say anything, he couldn't help himself.
"So, I guess you're going to miss those guys. Have you known them long?" Dawn smiled brightly at the statement.
"Angel and my sister had a thing when she was sixteen. It's been an ongoing epic love triangle between them and Spike." This caused Sam to frown.
"How does Spike fit into it all?" Dawn sighed.
"Well, when Angel moved to L.A., he broke things off with Buffy. She tried to have relationships, but they never seemed to work. So, she started to date Spike before he had a soul. It was the weirdest thing, really. Spike didn't have a soul, but he was completely nuts about Buffy. He actually went through some trial thingy to get his soul for her. When he died…I don't even like to think about it. Anyway, Spike used to babysit me a lot. Buffy felt that besides her, Spike was the strongest person she knew to protect me. He really was great with me when Buffy…well when she wasn't around." Sam didn't press her, but smiled.
"I think that's really cool." Dawn frowned.
"You think what's cool?" Sam shrugged.
"You've got this huge network of people that care about you and worry about you. I just think that sometimes you might take that for granted." Dawn's feathers were ruffled and he knew it. He wanted to see how far he could take it.
"You have no idea how suffocating it can be being the youngest person in that network. Everyone treats you like you're permanently fifteen years old. They always walk on eggshells afraid of what they'll say in front of you. You have no idea what that's like." Sam glanced in the rearview mirror.
"You're absolutely right, I don't understand that. I've only got my brother. I do know that he can be infuriating at times, but he's there when I need him and he'd willing give up his life for me…almost has on several occasions. Also, you didn't see your sister and the state she was in after you went into your room the other day. She was terrified at what could have happened to you." Dawn started to say something, but changed her mind. Sam sighed and tried a different approach.
"I'm just saying that you should see both sides of the argument." Dawn shook her head again and put her headphones in, basically shutting him out. Sam nodded and put his full attention on the driving.
Dawn had apparently fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, she was being shaken. She quickly opened her eyes and saw that Sam was trying to wake her. She sat up straight and jumped out of the Jeep. She noticed that they'd stopped at a diner along the highway. Sam didn't wait for her to start walking, just left her beside the car. She glanced around and saw that Talia had already joined Faith and Dean. She groaned before walking to the entrance of the restaurant. It looked like it was going to be even more awkward than she had originally thought it was going to be. She had just sat down next Sam when her phone began to ring. She looked at the caller ID and didn't recognize it. A bit warily, she opened it up and answered.
"Hello?" There was silence on the other end, so Dawn tried again.
"Hello?" Just as she was about to hang up, she heard a buzzing noise.
"Leave the Winchesters before you hurt yourself and your friends." Dawn was not in the mood to be threatened.
"Have you threatened many people in the past, because you're seriously lame at it." This seemed to get everyone's attention at the table, because they all became silent. After a few more seconds later, the buzzing came back.
"Leave the Winchesters before its too late or I'll gut all of your little friends like they're fish." Dawn was starting to get a little freaked out, but she wouldn't let it show.
"Right…I'm hanging up now." Again with the buzzing.
"You do that…Dawnie…but who will help your sister in Rome or your friends L.A.? You have been warned." Then the line went dead. Dawn jumped out of her seat and ran outside. The others quickly followed, but she didn't say anything to them. She dialed the Mansion in Rome, knowing it would be early there. Willow picked up on the third ring.
"Hello?" Dawn willed her voice to remain calm.
"Willow, is everything alright there?" Willow sounded a little taken aback
"Dawn? Honey, everything's fine. Are you okay?" Dawn sighed.
"I can't give many details, but just keep an eye out okay? Someone just called my cell phone and threatened you guys, I mean they mentioned the house." Willow became very alert just then.
"Okay, I'll have Buffy call you when she gets back from patrol. I'll set up my intruder spells." When Dawn hung with them, she dialed another number. Spike answered right away.
"Dawn, you've only been gone for a few hours, what's the problem?" Dawn didn't hesitate.
"Someone just called my cell phone and threatened you guys…they mentioned the office space. I just want you guys to be on the lookout and be careful." Spike was game.
"Right, I can tell you're in a hurry, call me back with the details of what the hell is going on." When she hung up, she looked at the girls.
"Get whatever food you can and bring it with us. We're not stopping, I think that we're being followed. I mean it, go get food and meet at the cars in ten minutes. We do not stop for sleep, only gas, we just get to our destination so we can regroup." Faith and Talia took off in a sprint towards the diner and Dean followed. Sam stayed behind to keep an eye on Dawn.
"Dawn, are you okay?" Dawn looked at him and she let her emotions run free.
"I have never heard anything like that. It was an eerily deep voice and there was a bunch of static. It kept saying to 'leave the Winchester boys.' He went into detail about what he would do to my friends and where they lived. How could someone know all of that?" Without even thinking about it, Sam wrapped his arms around her as if trying to shield her from everything. Dawn rested her head willingly on Sam's shoulder and let the ripples rock through her body. When he finally let go of her, she looked into her eyes.
"Sam, I have been in several bad situations…one of which was fighting the first evil itself, and even then I wasn't this scared." Sam hugged her again.
"Nothing is going to happen to you as long as I've got breathe, okay?" Dawn knew that she shouldn't believe him, but at that very moment, she did.
