2002

Sunnydale

Exactly one week before the wedding, Hank Summers decided to pay his daughters another visit. Buffy had been on the phone with the Justice of the Peace while Spike slept in the bedroom. Faith was hacking celery to pieces at the counter, chopping as if the vegetables had *done* something to her. Dawn answered the door when no one else noticed.

"Oh. Hey, daddy." She smiled weakly, worried about yet another Buffy versus Hank argument, "Buffy's in the kitchen."

"Oh, that's fine." He told her a she shut the door behind them, I needed to talk to you."

"Um...OK...What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I was just...Are you happy, Dawn?"

Dawn raised her eyebrows at him and shrugged, "Well, yeah. I mean, everything is pretty good, right now. Buffy and Spike are getting married. Which, yeah, really weird, but I'm excited. And Faith's here, and she's pretty cool. And Angel and Cordelia and Wes are visiting till after the wedding!"

"Who?"

"Just some old friends." Buffy told him, standing in the doorway, "What brings you to our neck of the Hellmouth?"

"The what?"

"Nothing. Did you come to talk about Dawn again?"

"No, not this time." Hank sighed, "I wanted to apologize, for being so irrational. I've been an absentee father, and I'm sorry."

Buffy smiled, "I'm glad you aren't...yelling, this time."

"I want to propose a deal."

The Slayer's smile faltered, "What kind of deal?"

"Just that Dawn comes to visit me in the summers. If you want to come, you can too. But, I figured, with you getting married, you would be too busy."

"I'd be willing to make that deal." Dawn cut in, anxious to end the dispute, "A few weeks out of the year, no problem."

Buffy nodded slowly, "If Dawn agrees, so do I."

A look of relief passed over Hank's face, "Good. Also, since you're my daughter, and whether you believe it or not, I do love you, I want to help with the wedding."

"Oh!" Buffy laughed, "Oh, no, don't do that. It's really small. Just me, Spike, Dawn, and maybe ten friends. It's not even a church wedding. We're having it at night, here at the house with a small reception at the Bronze."

"What's a Bronze?"

"It's a club around here, very small. Actually, I don't even have bridesmaids..."

Hank tilted his head to the side, "How long have you been engaged?"

"About a month."

"So, this is a really, last-minute kind of thing? That seems a little...shady."

Buffy felt a wave of fear hit her. He knew. "Um...nope. Not shady at all. We just want to keep it simple."

"Uh huh...Well, either way, I'd like to be there to give my little girl away."

Buffy once again panicked. She stuttered as she tried to find the words to explain that Giles would give her away, "Well, Dad...there's this thing..."

2003

Los Angeles

Dawn paced nervously around her bedroom in her dad's LA apartment. She had *no* slue what was going on, only that she had been told to go back to her father's while everyone else from LA ran off to Sunnydale. And they hadn't bothered to tell her what had happened that was *so* urgent.

"I am seventeen, people." Dawn mumbled to herself, "I am ALLOWED to know what's happening with my own SISTER."

"Dawn?" the feminine voice from the other side of the door only served to annoy Dawn further. She and Buffy's future *step-mother*, Gretchen, was a primo-bitch who was always acting like the perfect mommy in front of their father, all sappy and irritating.

"What?" Dawn snapped, yanking open the door.

"Your father wanted to know if you felt like going out with us to Chez Ramon for dinner." She asked sweetly, and Dawn glimpsed her father in a tux, fastening his cufflinks behind Gretchen, "You can get all dressed up, you'd like that wouldn't you, Dawnie."

"Don't call me that." Dawn muttered, "And, no, thank you. I'll just order pizza."

Gretchen rolled her eyes, then turned to Dawn's father with a huge smile, the skirt of her fancy black dress so tight Dawn wondered *how* the woman moved in it.

"Suit yourself, Princess." Hank called as they left, and Dawn fought the urge to flip him the finger.

"See ya, suckers." She muttered as soon as she heard them get into the elevator, her ear pressed to the penthouse door, then she hurried to her room, packing a bag to head home to Sunnydale.

2003

Sunnydale

Three slightly dusty people joined the crowd that had begun to gather where Drusilla and Buffy fought, watching with interest.

"Wow. Back to basics, huh?" Cordelia smirked, "It's a good old fashioned cat fight."

Faith nodded, "Think I should jump in and help?"

"Don't you DARE!" Spike called from his spot against the wall, still chained, "This is way too fun Let it last a while."

Fred rolled her eyes and skirted the fighting pair, picking up a ring of keys that had been dropped during the fight, and went unnoticed to unlock Spike's chains, "You don't have to be a physicist to know to unchain the prisoner." She muttered, trying one of the keys in the shackles binding his feet to the floor.

Meanwhile, Gunn fought off any stray minions while Tarah and Willow chanted furiously side by side. Buffy back flipped, almost slamming into the watching crowd, her hand massaging her scalp.

"You pulled my HAIR!" She said in disbelief, glaring at Drusilla, "Enough of this junior high crap. What's the matter Dru? Too afraid to *really* fight?"

Spike watched, completely still, and Fred had stopped fumbling with the keys. The look Drusilla was giving Buffy was murderous. He knew what it meant, and he knew damn well Buffy probably *didn't*.

"Buffy, luv..." He tried to get her to take her gaze off her opponent, his voice wavering slightly.

"Look into my eyes." Drusilla whispered hypnotically.

Across the room, Angel realized quite suddenly what was happening. He looked over at Faith, "This is where we jump in."