(Here is what happened to Dawn Summers that day.)

It was one of those moments of clarity for Dawn. You knew you'd been kidnapped too much when you start to critique their technique. Not out loud, of course - Dawn wasn't stupid, just accident-prone - but to herself. They weren't about the pizzazz, but they were efficient, she could say that for them. As she began to sink into numb shock while they carried her out, she was at least grateful that she could see Xander breathing as he lay in an unconscious heap where he'd been standing watch outside her room. One fewer person she had to feel too guilty about.

Although, distantly, she wondered what it mattered, because Glory had her now. Nobody was safe. Not anymore.

She didn't really fight. It wasn't like there was much of a point to it. Whatever she was...whatever combination of things she was, none of them was super-strong. And she didn't know what the creatures that had kidnapped her were, but she knew that Glory wouldn't send just anyone to capture her prize.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked, her voice dull. One of her captors shook his head.

"Her Most High Eminence will decide what is to be done with you," the minion said. "We are not to harm you."

Dawn nodded. "Okay," she said quietly.

The city seemed so weird. Being kidnapped during the day was a new one for her, and the act of walking with her captors in the daylight felt wrong. The blush of sunrise had just left the edges of the sky, and to be honest this wasn't a time of day that Dawn was super familiar with, but it was pretty. It was going to be a really pretty day, where Sunnydale lived up to its name. She closed her eyes, trusting Glory's minions to lead her, and felt the warming morning air caress her face, as if to say things would be okay. The world couldn't end on a beautiful day like this.

And it wouldn't, because Dawn wouldn't let it.

She really hoped that Buffy wouldn't come after her, but she knew that her sister would. The fact that they were hurrying her to Glory told her that Buffy was already on her way. She knew that her sister hadn't been in the house when she was taken. But maybe they'd find the wrong place. Maybe they wouldn't be there.

Maybe Buffy wouldn't have to see Dawn kill herself.

Because she was going to, if she had to. She'd realized it last night, after Buffy had left. It wasn't that she'd come to terms with being the Key, or had some kind of epiphany. It was how the Doctor had looked at her, like she was some kind of deadly weapon. And she was, she knew it. She was a ticking time bomb. And she was going to make sure she hurt as few people as possible when she went off.

She knew that Glory wouldn't be able to suppress the urge to monologue once she finally had Dawn in her clutches. No Big Bad could resist the monologue. She'd spill the beans about whatever ritual it was going to take to use her to open the portal, and Dawn was a pretty smart kid. She'd be able to figure out what it was that Glory had to do to open it, and just make sure it didn't happen. It was living blood, probably. And that was why Dawn had slept with a dagger in her shoe. (It was really, really uncomfortable to walk on, but she was proud of herself for not even limping.) She wouldn't let Glory make a weapon out of her. She wouldn't.

The warehouse was starker than she had expected, but she wasn't really sure what she should have been expecting. Something fancier, but Glory probably wouldn't want to get blood all over her nice carpets. That thought forced a small smile out of Dawn, perversely. Gallows humor.

"Glad to see you smiling, Dawnie." Dawn looked up, and there stood Glory, looking like the devil wearing Prada. She walked up to Dawn and put her hands on Dawn's face. Dawn stiffened at her touch, suddenly afraid that Glory would brain-suck her before she had a chance to kill herself. Glory made a shushing noise. "Calm down, baby doll. I'm not gonna do anything to you."

"I doubt that," Dawn said. She was shocked by how calm she was.

Glory laughed and put her arm around Dawn's shoulders, guiding her around corners into another room. "Well, I'm going to do something to you. But all I want to do is release your potential, honey. Get you out of this meat-bag that's doing nothing but holding you back. Together, me and you, we're gonna rock this world."

Dawn said nothing, passively allowing herself to be led into the room that she knew was a trap for Buffy and the Doctor. Hopefully she'd get a chance to finish it before they showed up.

"You'll have to forgive the melodrama," Glory said lightly as she released Dawn into the hands of two of her minions, who guided her into a chair and proceeded to bind her. Not too tightly, not painfully. A show. A centerpiece for whatever showdown she was planning to have. "But I have to make this look good for your darling sister and the good Doctor."

"And then what?" asked Dawn quickly. Glory gave her an odd look, and she reined it in. "I-I mean, at least let me know what to expect."

Glory walked over to her, crouched by her knees. She stroked Dawn's arm with her smooth, cool hand. Dawn shivered. "Don't worry, sweetie," she said. "It'll be over before you know it."

Dawn was about to press for more information when they all heard the big doors open. Dawn's heart sank to her feet. It was too early. She hadn't had enough time. She only needed a few more minutes -

But she was out of time. Glory smiled widely and patted Dawn on the shoulder. "I'll be right back, sweetie," she said, "with our guests. Sit tight!"

Dawn could do nothing but watch as Glory led Buffy and the Doctor back into the room where she was tied, standing behind her like some kind of sick Vanna White. Nothing but watch as Buffy cried out, wrestled with the Doctor to come to her, to come save her, like always. But this time she couldn't. Glory wouldn't let her, as she proved by laying a slender dagger against her chest. Dawn mouthed I'm sorry, and Buffy's desperate eyes told her to hang on, to just wait. That she would make it all right.

Dawn wished she could believe her. But they'd had one hope, and that was Dawn managing to do one thing right. And she couldn't.

"...finally suffer the consequences of your genocide. Those are your choices. I'd choose wisely," said Glory, as Dawn began to pay attention to their conversation again. She saw the look of horror on Buffy's face, uncomprehending horror, and she felt it, too. But she understood. She'd seen him do it. But the new piece...that Glory was one of his people...that was a shock. She watched as Buffy withdrew from the Doctor, as her sister became completely alone, and she wanted to cry out that she didn't understand, that he wasn't what she thought he was, what Glory said he was.

When they took Buffy away, she started to despair. Her sister looked so dead. Like Dawn, she barely struggled. Dawn began to tune out as Glory kept using her as a prop, alternately threatening the Doctor with her harm or promising him a share in what Dawn could bring them. She tried to detach from the situation, pretend it was another nightmare that the Doctor brought her, something that had already happened to her. Something she was watching from the safety of her warm bed, kept watch over by her friends. Her family. Who she would never see again.

Suddenly Glory and the Doctor were gone from behind her, and the Doctor knelt over Glory to her right, her dagger in his hand and at her throat. She could just barely see his eyes, but she saw the bright panic, the horror at what he was about to do, the horror at what would happen if he did not. And then, as she thought he was going to drive the blade into Glory's neck, something even weirder happened.

Glory disappeared, replaced by Ben. No. Glory turned into Ben. Trembling under the dagger in the Doctor's hand, a baffled expression on his face. And the Doctor stared at him.

"Ben is Glory's prison," Dawn said quietly, finally speaking as the pieces fell together in her mind. The Doctor turned to stare at her, then back to Ben. "I don't think he remembers what happens when he's...her."

The Doctor pulled the dagger back from Ben's throat, trembling as well. Ben exhaled heavily in relief. He didn't release the dagger, but he put his other hand on Ben's face, the tips of his fingers reaching Ben's temples. He closed his eyes, and Ben did, too. The Doctor began to laugh. "Oh, you clever girl," he said quietly. "I should have known better than to think it would be easy. A human shield, in the most literal sense." He took his hand away, and Ben watched him out of wide, wary eyes as he rose. The Doctor looked down at him sadly. "Another innocent."

They stayed like that for a moment, the Doctor standing over Ben's shaking form, the gleaming dagger in his hand, a decision being made in his eyes. Dawn couldn't help it. "Doctor, there's got to be another way. Can't you just...get Glory out of him? The necklace, maybe you could do something with the necklace?"

The Doctor turned his eyes to her, and shook his head sadly. "No, Dawn. I wish so much that I could. But he's not strong enough to survive without her, without the energy she's collecting from all the people she's infected. If I take her out, he'll die."

"She promised me she'd let me go once she'd opened the portal." Ben's voice was disbelieving, and the Doctor and Dawn both turned to him. His face betrayed his fear, his shock. "She said she'd make me immortal."

The Doctor passed a hand over his eyes. "I'm so sorry. She can't. Even if you could survive the separation, she doesn't have the power to make you immortal." He hesitated. "Well, I say she doesn't. She doesn't have the knowledge."

Ben looked away, sitting up and clenching his shaking hands together. He took several deep breaths, and without looking at them, whispered, "I don't want to die."

The Doctor looked like he was trying to find something to say, trying to formulate the right words, but the tension in his body just rose and rose until he finally turned away from both Ben and Dawn, releasing a cry and kicking an empty plastic barrel out of the room and down the hallway. He leaned against the wall with his fists clenched, placing his head against it and whispering to himself. Dawn was afraid he'd just lost it. And with Buffy tied up and the Doctor nuts, they were screwed.

But then she started to be able to make out his words. "...so tired," he was saying. "I can't be responsible for another one. Not by my hand. Not again. Please, not this time. Please."

Fixated on the Doctor, Dawn almost screamed when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Buffy put her hand quickly over Dawn's mouth, bending down and pulling a dagger out of her own boot. Dawn had to smile. Guess it ran in the family. "He can't do it," Dawn whispered. Buffy nodded.

"Doctor," Buffy said, and the minions seemed to realize that she had gotten out of her bonds. They rushed at her, but she brandished the dagger. "I will stab all of you so full of holes that the cause of death will be recorded as swiss cheese-ification," she threatened, and something in her tone convinced them to back up. Wielding the dagger, she backed up until she was close to the Doctor. She didn't look at him. "I don't know what happened with you and Glory and your planet and that War or whatever, and I have to say I don't really care. But either you kill Glory, or I will."

"You can't," the Doctor said. "He's human. I know who you are, and you don't kill humans."

"I will if it stops Glory," Buffy argued. "So you stab him or I will."

"You don't mean that," said the Doctor. "Buffy, stop and think. An innocent life - "

"You said that they were gonna end all of time and space," Buffy cried. "You told me that. And now you're telling me that one person's life isn't an acceptable price to pay for avoiding that? Hell, if it was my life, I'd say do it."

"Do it."

Buffy, the Doctor, and Dawn all turned and stared at Ben, who was standing. His stoic face was at odds with the red dress that Glory had been wearing, but Dawn couldn't find it in her to be amused. "Kill me. I know what she's planning. I can...I understand some of it. And if I'm going to die anyway, then I might as well die for a reason."

The Doctor said nothing, but nodded. He gripped the dagger as though he was afraid it would slip - did Time Lords get sweaty palms? Dawn wondered absently - and took a step towards Ben.

Who started to scream.

"Now! Hurry!" Buffy cried, and the Doctor ran at Ben, knocking him to the ground. He raised the dagger high -

And his arm was gripped by a finely-manicured hand. "God, I just can't stand a martyr," Glory said. She stood, pushing the Doctor up with her. "Grab the Slayer and the Doctor. If he won't help me, then I'll just do it on my own."

Her minions did as they were told, and disarmed both Buffy and the Doctor before grabbing them and forcing them to their knees. Glory then walked over to Dawn, who looked up at her fearfully. This was it. "I don't have more time to waste," Glory said, untying Dawn and dragging her up by the arm. Dawn cried out as her shoulder wrenched. Ignoring her, Glory turned a poisonous smile to the Doctor.

"But time is about to be something I won't ever have to worry about again, isn't it?"