A/n sorry this took awhile to get here. but i have a good reason, aside from my muse deciding she hates me. This week my mom and I took a quick trip to the university I'll be going to next year. Its about 4 hours away from my home. We stayed with my great aunt who is the funniest person alive (How many sixty two year old ladies say that certain republican polatitions are such tight asses cuz they haven't gotten it up in forty years. well she does. adn thats one of her more gentle comments.) also while I was at my uni I talked with a officer in charge of my uni's ROTC program. For those of you who dont know what that is its a program where future military officers go to uni get a four year degree while training to become officers in a military branch. alot of these kids get full ride scholarships paid for by the USA military. well come Sept. I will be a United States Air Force Cadet. meaning when I finish uni I will also be a Second Lt of the air force. Obviously that involved a high amount of family discussions. so this is my excuse. now PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read and review. oh and to my English (as in the country not the language) forgive me. The uni in this story is unnamed and fictitious. I dont know the uni system in England and instead of running the risk of discribing a specific uni and failing I created one. As for the system of how things work, I don't know that either, I used the American system cuz thats what I know. if I made any huge mistakes please correct me. oh and I know I made the transfer process laughably easy but I needed it done quick to move the story along. ok thats all folks!

Chapter Twelve

Dawn walked to the campus from her home. Faith, her gang arrived the next day and Dawn wanted to get her transfer stuff done. The past year she attended Oxford University in Oxford living on campus. This year with Anne as her slayer she would transfer to Oxford's sister campus in London. The campus was close enough to her house that she could easily walk to and from uni and be home quickly if needed. She didn't need her transfer papers filed until August but she decided to get it done early before things got crazy.

As she walked down the London streets Dawn wished she had worn a light sweater, the July air was cool for summer time. A ten minute walk brought her to the university campus, Dawn with her rather fallible sense of direction got lost twice before she finally found her way to the admissions building.

"Hi," She glanced at the name plate, "Mrs. 0'Riley, I'm Dawn Summers, I'm transferring from Oxford." She said to the blue haired old lady behind the black walnut desk.

"Hello Ms. Summers. Do you have your transcripts?" She asked.

Dawn nodded and handed her a folder that held all of her papers.

"Hmm…" Mrs. O'Riley said, "You're studying occult studies I see?"

"Yes ma'am." Dawn smiled to herself.

"You know, in the past two years the amount of occult studies students we have has easily doubled. It's the strangest thing."

At this Dawn outright smiled, most of the watchers at the school and a few of the slayers that were in advanced courses studied here and all of those studied the occult.

The admissions officer took Dawn's papers and gave her some forms to fill out to officalize the transfer process. She quickly filled those out and signed the other forms she had.

Half an hour later with all the forms filled out and all of the dotted lines signed Dawn was officially transferred to Oxford's sister campus. She walked out of the admissions building. She saw the campus was mostly empty in the early evening hours and decided to take a few moments to explore the campus. Different buildings connected with pristine walk ways, designed to look like the original cobblestone of London's streets. The campus buildings were built in the Victorian style, clay colored stone work with white trim. The buildings formed a square, creating a court yard in the center. A small student commons area was placed in the center with the walk ways all meeting in the center.

She walked down the walk ways connecting the buildings sometimes stopping to go into a couple and explore. Dawn, like her sister, loved the Scoobies and the other watchers and girls but also like Buffy she loved the few moments she could steal for herself. With all of the others arriving those moments would be more than limited and Dawn planned to enjoy every one she got beforehand.

The girls and guys had taken the news that something was out to kill them better than she expected. She thought at the minimum there would be a mild form of panic at the worst outright chaos. But the slayers and watchers in training just took it in stride. Tonight they would go to the planned sleeping arrangements and get things ready, tomorrow their new roommates would move in. Dawn knew they were better organized this time but this complete order still shocked her. When she asked Anne about it her slayer told her it was because the slayers and watchers trusted the Scoobies. They knew what they had faced in the past and trusted them to face this.

Dawn admitted to herself that Lokar was a lot less scary than the First but she was still more than a bit afraid. She didn't want to lose any more of her family. Sense Sunnydale their father Hank only called once. Neither Dawn nor Buffy considered him family anymore. They all lost people last time. Potentials, Slayers, Spike and Anya. Sure Spike came back but the others didn't.

They still searched night and day for new information on Lokar, more about him, what demons he might send and most importantly how to kill him. The watchers in training helped to. Now instead of all of them going on patrols only the slayers in training did. In that time the watchers researched. Dawns office became information headquarters, poster boards surrounded her walls with any scrap of possibly useful information. Dawn moved her more personal things, her watcher's diary and her personal computer to her bedroom that doubled as her home office. The study, which previously had been the home office became another spare bedroom for all their guests. The couch pulled out to become another, Anne would stay with Dawn in her room, Lorne would stay with Giles in his room where just yesterday they added a spare bed, Faith and Robin would take the spare room, Angel and Cordilia the study turned bedroom and Conner would take the couch.

Lost in thought about what was happening and who was sleeping where Dawn didn't notice the boy walking in front of her until she ran head first into him. When they collided his books went flying and Dawn found herself meeting the ground with a painful jar.

"I'm so sorry!" the boy said as he reached to help her up.

"No it's my fault; I wasn't watching where I was going." Dawn replied. She dusted herself off and helped the boy pick up his thing she scattered.

Straightening back up she handed the boy the last of his things. A graph stuck out of his notebook and she looked at it curiously.

"Political Science major." He said.

Dawn looked up from the notebook into his dark coffee eyes, "Huh?" she asked.

"Well I'm just answering your unasked question."

Dawn smiled as she recognized his casual flirting, "Oh really? What question would that be?"

"Why the question of what kind of person would carry a graph for," he glanced down at the notebook before continuing, "Population Influxes in the Grass Lands of the Upper United States After the Revolutionary War," he griminced as he recited the long title, "And the answer is that only a Political Science major would ever carry something so dull." He shot Dawn a smile she was sure melted the hearts of more than one girl, hers, however, wasn't quite so meltable.

"Well it's nice to know people like you can admit to the dullness they study," She teased, enjoying the casual flirtation.

"Well if that's how you feel tell me, what's your major?"

"Occult and Paranormal Studies." She smiled and waited for the normal ribbing she usually received.

"Really?" he asked. She confirmed this with a nod that was only a tiny bit sarcastic.

"Cool," he started to say more but the chime of Big Ben that could be heard in almost all of London sounded before he got the chance.

"Bullock. I'm late, again. I guess its happened so much my professor won't be surprised." He started to rush down the path to wherever his class was, last minute he turned back, "It was great meeting you. Next time you see me you'll have to tell me more about you. Like your name."

Dawn smiled as the boy rushed off. She didn't date much, never had. She went out to lunch a few times with male classmates the previous year but she didn't like that she couldn't be honest with anyone not involved in slaying somehow. Also a few of the male watchers had shown interest but with them it was nothing about slaying. She needed to find a middle. Sadly, she thought, looking for that middle might cause some to consider putting her in an insane asylum.

After all, she continued to think, look at Buffy, her boyfriend history contained a souled vampire, a commando government special opps dude and well she guessed that Spike and Buffy never dated and weren't dating now but she loved him and he loved her so Dawn threw in a second vampire, first without a chip and then with a soul. Dating for the Summers girls was never a normal experience.

Noticing it was later than she originally thought Dawn turned around to go home. She reminded Buffy to get the spare rooms ready for company but strongly doubted her sister remembered. Ever sense the news came Buffy had done almost nothing but train with the girls. They now did two nightly patrols with different groups. Buffy asked Xander to make a map so they could pinpoint where they slayed various demons and your garden variety vamps.

Dawn let herself back into the house and went up to the spare bedroom. Much to her surprise her sister was in there making the bed.

"Hey Donny," She looked up and smiled at her sister.

"Buffy…" Dawn said, "You're here, you're making a bed."

"You asked me to."

"Well yeah… I didn't think you'd do it." Dawn said. Buffy threw a pillow at her sister.

Dawn crossed the threshold and over to the bed. Grabbing the opposite side of the sheet of her sister she began to help her. She remembered the boy from the university and smiled to herself. Even if nothing would ever come from it, it was still nice to think about.

"You're all happy glowly," Buffy commented it, "now your related to me and I only got that smile when there was a boy involved, but you do spend a lot of time around Willow so it might just be happy new school glow."

Dawn laughed at her sister, "It could be both," she replied.

"Oh really? Tell me." Buffy demanded.

"It's nothing really," Dawn said, "Just flirted with a cute guy on campus. I think he was taking summer courses. We just talked."

"Well you have eyes girl," Buffy reminded her, "What did he look like."

"Auburn hair with darker brown streaks in it. Clear blue eyes, olive skin, cheek bones that would make Spike jealous." Dawn remembered more, a tint of a five o'clock shadow, a straight strong nose, she had liked how his hair flopped casually over his eyes in subtle waves. And his lips, Dawn paused her thinking remembering his lips, yep nothing to complain about there. "Honestly Buffy," she said to her sister, "I didn't pay too much attention to him. After all nothing could come of it. Can you think of the conversation?" she modulated her voice to a deeper tone imitating the boy, "I plan on opening a business, what do you plan?" returning her voice to her normal octave she continued the imagenary conversation, "Oh I plan on using my degree to save the world form vampires, demons and the occasional appocaylapse. Yeah," she said sarcastically, "Like that will ever happen or work. Why couldn't a third vampire with a soul just be waiting around for me?"

The two sisters laughed together and finished making the bed. That night before Dawn went to sleep she thought about the boy again. It would never happen she knew, but still it was nice to pretend.