Catastrophe
by
Princess McPhee
Disclaimer: I don't claim. Not mine. Bow to Joss Whedon.
Author's Note: As always, I apologize for the wait. I know I'm losing people's interest because by the time a new chapter comes out, they've forgotten the plot of the story, but I really just can't work any faster. Nasty, nasty real life. I really appreciate the fans I do have, so keep reviewing and letting me know you're around, okay? Thanks!
Summary: An AU version of the events after 'The Weight of the World.'
Rating: PG-13
Buffy had initially been a little wary about taking two adolescent dogs to a dog run without being sure of how they behaved, but Dawn had pointed out that they would have to find out eventually, and Buffy could always control them physically if she had to. The park would be pretty empty at eleven on a weekday morning in August, so it was actually a good time, she'd argued, too, and in the end, Buffy had either seen the wisdom of Dawn's thinking or a possible way to end her sister's whining, and took it.
There were three other dogs in the run when they got there, a geriatric-looking boxer and his equally geriatric-looking owner, sitting in the corner, the boxer panting and the old man rubbing the dog's head, and a big furry Malemute tumbling playfully with a border collie about the size of Cody and Cassidy, but weighing a quarter as much.
The pups perked up on the end of their leashes as they were walked towards the run, appearing extremely interested, but their tails wagged and Buffy saw no active ill-will on either their part or the dogs inside the run, even as hard as she was looking.
"Can we go in?" Dawn asked impatiently, already in the little area where the first gate opened into, so that it was harder for the dogs to escape as people left. She'd unhooked Cody and Cassidy from their leashes and both dogs were wild with excitement. Buffy scanned the place once more, peered over the fence at the Malemute and the border collie who'd stopped instantly to come meet their potential new playmates, then nodded.
"Okay."
Dawn rolled her eyes, then pushed open the second gate and let both the human and canine siblings free. The dogs bounded out and began to sniff tails with the others, even the old boxer trotting slowly over to meet the new people.
Buffy leaned back on against the bulletin board and watched Dawn play with her dogs, as well as the Malemute and the border collie for a while, laughing and running and throwing tennis balls in every direction, watching as the dogs scattered to dash after them.
In one sunny corner, Buffy could see another figure, one of the dog's owners, she suspected. It was a woman, about thirty-five, and she was keeping a close eye on the Malemute, calling it over and giving it water every once in a while. Where the owner of the border collie was, she wasn't sure. That was, until a slight movement in the darkest, shadiest corner of the dog run caught her Slayer-trained eye, and she noticed a boy about sixteen, sitting in a lounge chair, watching Dawn tussle with the dogs. He'd been perfectly still for a long time now, and Buffy wondered about his motives.
But, as he rose, she checked him out with both her vision and her Slayer-given spider-senses, and felt nothing. As he went to approach Dawn, it all clicked into place, and she smiled. So, her sister had an admirer? A shy one, from the looks of it, but not bad-looking, she was forced to concede.
Dawn was nervous as hell as the boy walked over to greet her and the four dogs. "Hello," He said softly, and smiled. "These two yours?"
Dawn nodded. "Y-yeah. That's Cody, and that's Cassidy."
"They're brother and sister?"
Dawn nodded again. "I just got them. From the animal shelter."
"How old are they?" The boy leaned down and rubbed Cassidy's neck as she trotted over to greet him.
"Ten months. Is the border collie your dog?"
He looked a little surprised. "You know what she is?"
"Yeah. I've loved dogs since I was little... I know an embarrassing amount about the different breeds." Dawn grinned.
"She's mine." Standing up, he whistled once to catch the dog's attention, and then called to her. "This is Becca," he told Dawn. "She's just about to turn five, the old lady, and she's a border collie, as you already noticed." He affectionately ruffled the long fur behind Becca's ears, and the dog wagged her tail while panting exhaustedly at the puppies, who were now yanking on each others' tails.
The boy laughed. "Little fireballs, they are."
"Yeah." She looked over at the boy, and decided to just get it over with. "I'm Dawn."
"Kent. I have two last names, unfortunately, but the alternative is Ken, and I'd rather not be equated with a doll."
Dawn laughed lightly. "Okay. Do you go to Duveneck?"
He nodded. "I'll be a junior in the fall. I didn't think I'd seen you there before." He frowned. "But there's an awful lot of people in that school."
Dawn shook her head. "You haven't seen me. I lived in Sunnydale last year."
Kent's eyes sharpened instantly. "Where the earthquake was?"
She nodded. "I lost part of my family in it." That was true. Willow, Tara and Giles had been family to the Scooby Gang, for as long as Dawn could remember. Their passing was just as hard to deal with as her mother's, maybe harder because of the physical condition she'd been in when she'd gotten the news.
"Sorry."
Dawn shrugged, and didn't really respond. "I'm going to Duveneck now, though. I'll be a sophomore."
Kent grinned, and Dawn caught her sister waving at her in the corner of her vision. "I got to go," She told him. "Buffy's getting impatient."
"Buffy?"
Dawn wrinkled her nose. "I know, weird name. At least I got 'Dawn.' I don't know what our parents were thinking."
"She's your sister?"
Dawn nodded. "She's twenty-two. She takes care of me, now that our parents are gone."
"Must be rough."
The Slayer's sister shrugged. "It is, sometimes. We live with some friends, and she got a job, though, so we're adjusting." Grabbing Cassidy as she dashed by, Dawn put the leash on as quickly as possible. "Any chance you could grab that one?" She asked, grinning.
Kent reached down and called Cody to him. The dog, too smart to come when he was called, ignored him. "Doesn't seem to want to come meet me," he remarked.
Dawn shook her head. "Smart dog. Knows his sister's all leashed up, doesn't want to be leashed up, too." She grinned. "He'll come when we start to leave, though." Sure enough, Cody came bounding over as she started to walk Cassidy towards the gate, Kent moving with them.
"Do you and Becca come here a lot?" Dawn asked.
"Sometimes. I'll see you at school, though."
"Okay." Kent started to hang back as they neared the gate, and Dawn waved as soon as she was a little farther away. "Bye!"
Buffy was grinning as she took the second leash from Dawn and grabbed Cody. "Meet someone special?" She teased, and Dawn blushed a little.
"Maybe."
Buffy raised her eyebrow. "Oh? Really? Do tell." She handed the second leash to her sister, and hooked her arm through Dawn's. "Is he nice?"
Dawn looked at her feet and responded shyly. "Yeah."
"Well?"
"Well, what?"
"What's his name, who's his dog, where's he go to school, how old is he, when will you see him again?"
"Buffy!" Dawn was laughing now. "God, you're nosy!"
Buffy grinned. "I'm a big sister, it's my job. So, tell."
"I can't. I'm a little sister, it's my job." Dawn grinned, then ducked as Buffy pulled back to swing gently at her head. "Okay, okay. His name is Kent, he doesn't want to be called Ken, he goes to Duveneck, he's going to be a junior, his dog's name is Becca and she's almost five, and she's a border collie."
Buffy raised an eyebrow again. "Wow."
Dawn fidgeted a little as they walked the dogs back to the car. "Wow, what?" She asked, a little nervously.
"Wow, you said a hell of a lot without taking a breath!"
"Oh." Dawn smiled embarrassedly, and looked at the ground again. "I did, didn't I." It wasn't a question, but Buffy smiled back and answered he anyway.
"Yes, you did. But you're all excited to have a guy that likes you, so it's okay. All teenage girls do the 'talk about a guy for fifteen hours straight' thing at some point in their lives." She grinned. "You should have heard Willow complain about how much I talked about Angel during our junior year in high school." Her smile faded, and both girls sobered a little, but neither of them felt an unmanageable urge to weep, anymore.
They'd just started to talk about their friends again, the ones that were gone, and sometimes Dawn really enjoyed it. She'd liked Willow and Tara an awful lot, they'd been kind to her and treated her like an equal, and taken care of her when Buffy had needed a baby-sitter, and it was good to hear stories about them. But it still drove everyone into somewhat of a 'blah' mood, as Cordelia called it. They missed their friends, and couldn't help it. They were gone, and not coming back, and Dawn knew they had a right to mourn them properly, no matter how much Cordy complained about their 'blah-moods' turning away customers.
They were silent the rest of the way to the car, letting the dogs sniff and pee on the dirt by the side of the path, both lost in their thoughts of the witches and Buffy's watcher. But, oddly, they weren't mired down by sadness, instead, they were starting to remember the good times with their friends, and occasionally small smiles crept over their faces at the mental images of Willow or Tara saying something funny, or Giles polishing his glasses for the millioneth time during an inopportune or uncomfortable moment.
Pulling open the trunk of the car, Buffy poured out the last of the water for the thirsty pups and then took Cody's leash from Dawn. "Spike?"
The vampire turned around in the front seat, where they'd left him. The edge of the park was extremely shady, and they'd managed to find a spot for him to sit without having to crouch in one of foot wells. "Yeah?"
"You okay?"
"I'm good. Nice spot you found, Slayer."
She smiled. "Good. I was hoping you wouldn't have to be all scrunchied in one of the foot-wells."
Spike's tone was dry. "Believe me, Slayer, so was I." He raised his head and sniffed the air, then turned a piercing gaze on Dawn. "Niblet has a crush..." He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to respond.
Dawn blushed a little and ducked her head. "Yeah, maybe..."
Without turning his head to her, Spike spoke to the elder Summers' sister. "Is he suitable?" He asked, seriously.
Dawn looked up, surprised. "What?"
"Is he suitable?"
Buffy smiled tolerantly and nodded. "He's human, Spike, and he sounds like a decent enough guy."
The vampire nodded slowly, not looking entirely content. Dawn, meanwhile, was not happy.
"Hey! Both of you! Right here!"
Buffy turned to her sister and smiled, then leaned down and stage-whispered in her ear. "He's just a little over-protective of you, you know."
"Just don't want Niblet to end up a vampire, you know, it totally wrecks a bloke's personality."
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "What's that say about you, then?" She asked, teasingly.
Spike ran a hand through his hair dramatically. "Well, I of course, was improved rather than detracted from."
Buffy snorted. "Yeah, right."
"Hey! I'll have you know that William was a damn whiny, poetry-writing blockhead. I'm a huge improvement on him." Spike's tone held the faintest traces of bitterness at his own human personality.
Buffy, realizing the seriousness of what they were getting into, turned to Dawn and handed her the dog's leash, effectively changing the subject. "I'll just go throw out the water, kay? Get them in the car, I'm sure Spike can help you."
Dawn nodded, and threw the ends of the leashes to Spike, who grabbed them. The dogs got in the car willingly enough, but they knew by now that they would jump out while someone were trying to close the door, if given a chance. Therefore, Spike held the leashes taut as Dawn pulled away and closed the door quickly.
"Which seat do you want?" She asked Spike through the open passenger seat window.
He shrugged. "I'm gonna be curled up in a ball on the floor, so I might as well be in the backseat with the dogs. Not really gonna be comfortable no matter where I am."
"They might step on you."
He shrugged again. "I'm tough."
"I think I should sit in the backseat, Spike. I can push them off, I can move around."
"You're easier to bruise up, Niblet. I'll take it."
Exasperated, Dawn went for her last resort in Spike-arguments. "Buffy!"
When they finally arrived back at the hotel, it was lunchtime, and Cordelia was on the phone with the local pizza place. "What do the dogs want?" She asked Dawn, covering the mouthpiece with her hand.
"They shouldn't eat pizza..." Dawn answered, and Cordelia just looked at her.
"Okay, okay, so they'll probably end up with a little. But just a piece of mine, they don't need anything to themselves."
Satisfied with that, Cordelia nodded, and turned back to the telephone. "Make that last one a large instead of a medium," she ordered, and then fed the person on the other end of the line Angel's credit card number.
When she hung up, she turned back to the group who was busily stowing the water dish, jug, leashes and baggies and started to question them. "So, how did it go? Anything interesting happen at the dog run?"
"Interesting like how?" Buffy asked, her brow furrowed.
"I don't know. Like, meet anybody you'd like to see again, or meet anybody you'd NEVER like to see again..."
Dawn laughed. "I met a guy..."
From the corner of the room, Angel's deep baritone spoke up with interest. "Really."
Instantly shy, Dawn scuffed her feet and looked at the floor. Buffy leaned over and whispered to Cordy so that only she and Dawn could hear. "She'll tell you later," She said. "Spike and Angel are just in over-protection mode right now."
Cordy nodded knowingly, and took Dawn's arm, leading her away and up the staircase. "C'mon. I'll help you pick out what you want to wear next time you see this guy..."
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