Chapter 4: 'I'm a Walking Contradiction'
"Dawn, is that you?" Buffy called out from her seat in the living room. The kitchen door slammed shut in reply. "Dawn?"
There came a badly disguised sob from the hallway and the sound of hurried footsteps up the stairs.
"Dawn!" Buffy repeated, rising from the sofa. She caught a glimpse of her younger sisters retreating feet, and another slammed door.
Jeez you're gonna pull the things off their hinges, Buffy thought, as she traipsed her way up stairs. She turned into caring older sister, and knocked gently, before turning the handle.
Her sister, who wasn't quite so little anymore, was sat on the bed, knees to her chin, rocking back and forth, tears streaming down her face.
"Go…away" She sniffed, taking in big gulps of air, and snuffling. She hacked back a big ball of snot that was making it's way down her left nostril.
"Urgh, Dawn!" Buffy said, disgusted.
"Well I can't help it" She whined. "I'm upset"
"Well at least get a tissue, sheesh." Buffy calmed herself down and entered the room proper. "Dawn, what is it?"
"My life sucks" was the short reply.
"It does?"
"I've got size eight feet, a Slayer for a sister, no friends"
"That's not so bad…"
"I haven't done any school work, I'm allergic to macaroni"
"Since when!"
"I live in a house which now has Scandinavian furniture which doesn't even stand up..and…I nearly died"
Buffy's eyes widened.
"You did?"
"Uhuh" Dawn turned her head to look at her sister. "Just now, coming home"
"But it's not even dark outside"
"I know"
"So what was it?"
"A truck"
"A what?"
"A truck. A stupid fat guy driving a stupid fat truck. I nearly got killed!"
Buffy's mouth opened in disbelief and she hastily closed it again.
"We live in Sunnydale! And you almost got run over because of poor road safety?"
Dawn blinked back furious tears.
"I didn't mean too. It wasn't like I wanted to get run over!"
"Dawn, what have I told you?"
"You've told me to never go out after dark, always carry a stake in my pocket and don't fall in a ditch because they're dangerous… Oh, and that I should never wear pink and yellow together because it clashes with my skin tone"
"Nice to know you've been listening to me" Buffy shook her head. "But that's not the issue…Are you ok?"
"Apart from the near death-ness? I'm fine"
She didn't sound it
"Dawnie…"
Her sister shrugged off the arm Buffy put around her shoulders.
"Dawn!" Buffy watched as her sister got up from the bed and stormed over to the window. She had a pout so huge it had taken up most of her chin.
"Dawn, what's the matter?"
"Spike. Where is he? I want to see him."
"Dawn…you know Spike went to Africa on a motorbike"
"I do?"
"Yes! It's a special aqua-motorbike. Its got fins" Buffy smiled, impressed.
"Buffy. I'm being serious! Why aren't you missing him more?"
"Because he's evil!…I think"
"See?! You're so…ambivalous
"Ambiguous"
"Yeah, whatever. You say one thing and do the other. And then you criticize my road safety!"
"Dawn I am not ambig– "
Dawn crossed her arms, and turned to look petulantly at the Slayer.
"Oh yeah? Cheese"
"What?"
"Cheese"
"…Is orange and made of cow's milk. Normally. Unless it's that plastic stuff."
Dawn raised her eyebrows.
"And…erm. I kinda like it?" Buffy continued, not really sure where it was all going.
"See? There! You either like cheese or you don't! You can't half like cheese. You are so ambiguous"
Buffy frowned. "And you're a nut. A tall, strange, nut"
"Least I'm definitely a nut"
Buffy sighed, and wondered how the hell they had got onto this.
"Great Dawn" Buffy stood. "Now I've got to go and ritually burn our new coffee table that fell down. Or at least see if Xander can save it. You sure you're okay?"
"Yes. I'm fine. I'm alive and still breathing"
Buffy smiled, and Dawn did the same in return.
"That's a good. Cos it's no fun being alive when you're not"
There was a brief pause.
"That was quite sick, wasn't it?"
"Uhuh" Replied Dawn.
Sighing, Buffy left her sister in her room, and made her way downstairs. She'd give Xander a ring, and see if he couldn't pop over after he'd finished work to give her a hand. She was going to be multi-cultural goddammit and she'd spent a fortune (a fortune for her) on this table. It was not going to beat The Slayer!
It was only when she reached the living room that it twigged there had been a demon hiding under her sister's bed.