Cordelia gasped as the doors of the Hyperion swung open and Angel carried Dawn in who was limp in his arms.
"Oh my god. What happened? Is she going to be ok?"
Angel said nothing and laid her on a couch and Connor pressed some cloth to her wound. "Get Lorne, she needs a spell, we don't have time to get her to hospital. Her heartbeat is fading."
Lorne soon stumbled down the stairs in his dressing gown and rushed to her side. Fred was frantically flipping through magic books but Lorne seemed to know what he was doing.
"Fred, get me some yellow bitter root to stop the bleeding and some marram grass." Seeing Angel's face he smiled, "She's gonna be fine sweetcheeks, don't you worry."
He moved to Fred to get a pestle and mortar and some water to grind the bitter root. Having produced a paste he knelt by Dawn and spread the mixture over the two puncture wounds, with Connor and Angel anxiously watching his every move. Almost immediately the flow of blood ceased and the wound started to heal. Lorne smiled and chanted a few words softly and then went back to the counter to grind the marram grass. He poured the herb into some hot water and stirred in some sugar. He brought the drink to Dawn and dipped his fingers into the drink putting a few drops on her lips.
"This will get her strength back up but I'll just give her a bit at a time."
Angel moved to Dawn's side, "Thanks Lorne, thanks. I can give it to her if you want."
Lorne shrugged and stood up letting Angel take his place.
"So she'll be ok?" Cordelia spoke nervously.
Lorne put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "She'll be just fine. She lost a bit too much blood and she'll be weak but it's nothing a few herbs can't fix."
Angel stroked her hair and propped her up so he could pour some of the liquid down her throat. She coughed a little as he did this and appeared to be coming around. She opened her eyes slowly and blinked a few times.
"Angel? Connor? Is Connor ok? You didn't hurt him did you?" She spoke slowly as if confused.
Connor stepped forward into view, "I'm here Dawn, I'm fine, don't worry Angel couldn't hurt me."
Dawn smiled slightly at this and Angel raised an eyebrow before giving her more of the drink. She sipped it slowly and felt herself slipping into unconsciousness again. Angel looked alarmed but Lorne put a finger to his lips.
"The drink is supposed to make her drowsy Angelface, so her body can rest and rebuild itself."
Angel relaxed and scooped her up so he could carry her up to the bedroom. Having settled her into the bed he moved to the corner of the room and sat down, intending to watch over her all night. Cordelia followed soon after but he didn't look at her.
"I'm sorry Angel."
No response.
"Angel, I know I was wrong to let her go but this would have happened sooner or later. She's an independent teenager and if you kept tying her down she would have rebelled even more. She's been through an awful lot and she needs time to regroup and she must be strong to have got through this much so young but she is young and has her own way of dealing with things."
"Getting herself killed is not a way of dealing with things."
"Oh well duh, Angel. Connor said that she hadn't meant to be out so long. She had meant to come back to me at the time we agreed but she made a mistake. It was stupid. But Connor was there and she's ok, isn't she?"
"She could have died."
"But she's alive and well."
Angel felt his voice breaking, "I can't lose her Cordy. I almost lost her today through some stupid mistake."
"Is it because of Buffy?"
"No. Well yes, of course she reminds me of Buffy. Sometimes it is so obvious that they are sisters…mostly in the way she doesn't take no for an answer… but then sometimes she is so different. But it isn't just about Buffy. She's my link to Sunnydale, the girl I've vowed to protect and she's so young."
Cordelia put a hand on his arm, "But you can't mollycoddle her. You're doing your best Angel."
Angel looked at the sleeping girl in the bed. Her breathing was less laboured than earlier and some colour was returning to her face.
"I have to look after her. It's my fault her family have been taken away." He paused staring at her, "I'll train her."
"Angel, I don't know…"
"No, I'll train her, so she can take care of herself. Sure, she's young and maybe not so strong but she'll be able to fight off the demons, at least when I'm not around."
"Angel this is exactly what I mean. Yes, it's great that you want to train her but you haven't asked her. She's the most important one in this decision. She has to do what she wants to do."
Angel sighed.
"Get some rest Angel. She'll be fine here. I'll watch her if you want."
"No, no, I want to do it, I have to make sure."
"You don't trust me with her do you."
Angel looked up at her, "It's not that Cordy. I don't blame you for what happened today but I have to be here for her."
Cordelia looked less than satisfied but she left anyway leaving Angel to watch Dawn sleep through the night.
When Dawn woke, she felt weak and disorientated and her head hurt. She wondered if she had touched any alcohol before feeling the stiffness on one side of her neck. She placed her hand over the bite wounds and the evening flooded back. Connor came into her memory and she smiled a little, he was more than cute…but arrogant if she remembered rightly. She didn't notice Angel for a while but her eyes widened when she saw him sitting in the corner staring at her.
"Morning." She said sheepishly.
He didn't smile, simply got up and sat on her bed.
"I'm sorry Angel, truly I am. I got so carried away with the park…and the sleeping and I didn't mean to make you worry and again with the sorry."
He still said nothing.
"Angel, please, I didn't mean for all this. Jeez I'm really, really sorry. I won't ever go against your instructions again?" She spoke hopefully.
"Dawn."
"Ahah, a response."
"Dawn this isn't funny."
She shook her head solemnly.
"I really thought I'd lost you last night…that some low-life vampire had taken your life and that I hadn't been there to save you. Don't do that to me again Dawn…please."
Dawn looked genuinely remorseful. "I won't."
She climbed out of the covers and into his lap, putting her arms around him in a large hug. He squeezed her tightly, not wanting to let go.
"Ughfluh Angel! I'm still human ya know, still… need to… breathe."
Angel released her immediately and she looked into his brown eyes and he knew that she hadn't meant to cause all this trouble.
"Look Dawn, what happened last night got me thinking."
"You're gonna buy me a cell phone?" Dawn spoke with amusement in her voice.
"Dawn, be serious!"
"Ok, ok what are you thinking?"
"I want to train you to fight, at least defend yourself…if you want to of course."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Well I suppose it's a great idea. I mean Buffy…taught me a few moves in Sunnydale but she never really let me get into a situation where I needed to use them so she didn't teach me much."
This made Dawn look at the ground feeling tears building in her eyes and Angel look away guiltily.
"So you want me to teach you?"
"Yes. Maybe Connor could help. He looks pretty spry."
"Well he is my son. What more could you expect? But I don't know whether it's such a good idea."
"You two don't get on? Yeah I read the back of the cereal box."
"We have our issues."
Dawn sighed but then smiled, "I slept really well last night, didn't have the dream."
Angel smiled, "That's good Dawn. Lorne's drink must have knocked you out."
Dawn nodded. "Is Cordelia mad?"
"Furious."
"Really?" Dawn looked worried.
Angel chuckled, "I think she's just glad you're ok."
Dawn smacked Angel playfully on the arm but Angel just smirked.
"You wait mister. I'll get a stake and wipe that smile off your face."
"As if you could take me."
"You just wait…until my headache dies down and I've had a shower…then you'll see."
"Looking forward to it."
Dawn glared at Angel's grin and he left the room laughing.
She rolled her eyes and climbed into the shower, washing away the dirt and gingerly removing the residue from the bitter root paste over her bite wounds. When she headed down to breakfast there was a large selection of food on the table. Everyone went silent and stared at her as she entered the room. Cordelia was the first to speak.
"Hey Dawn, how are you feeling? Eat lots of food you need to get your strength back."
Dawn smiled half heartedly, "I'm sorry Cordy, for not coming back and making you worry…and getting you into trouble with Angel."
Cordelia smiled, "Just don't do it again." She enveloped her in a large hug.
"Yeah, eat up Dawn because we can start training after breakfast."
"Training?" Wesley spoke up intrigued.
"Angel is going to train me, well actually he's gonna teach me self defence but we'll pretend it's training."
"That sounds like an excellent idea. If you want any help do just ask."
"You Wes? No offence but you were hardly a fighting man back in Sunnydale." Dawn smirked in his direction.
Wesley snorted. "I've changed an awful lot since then. I've experienced things."
Dawn looked interested. "Things? You'll have to tell me more about these things."
"Oh yeah, Wes is a real man now," Gunn said sarcastically.
Wesley glared at Gunn and Dawn quickly put some toast on her plate and sat down to avoid the crossfire. Lorne came in at this moment, smartly dressed in a purple suit.
"Ah, there's our beautiful one, all healed I take it?"
"Oh Lorne, Angel told me what you did, thank you." Dawn got up to give the green demon a hug.
Lorne grinned, "Any time sugar. You wouldn't go deserting us again though would you."
Dawn shook her head and returned to the toast, buttering it slowly. Fred came hurrying into the room, a flustered look on her face.
"We've got a problem guys. Sightings of what sound like Ruinosus demons in three places. They've already clocked up quite a high damage rating."
"And so another day begins. Can't they come out at night like most other evil?" Cordelia sighed.
"Well I'm up for it," Gunn said.
"Ooh can I go watch? Might be useful," Dawn asked eagerly.
"No Dawn," Wesley and Angel said at the same time.
Dawn rolled her eyes and Gunn made his way to the weapons cabinet to seize an axe and dagger and take a quick look at the map which Fred had marked with big crosses to show where the demons had been seen.
"Remember Gunn, neck and eyes are the soft spots…oh and be careful of the blood, tends to burn," Angel said quickly, "and Connor might already be out there".
Gunn made a quick salute of thanks and headed out the door.
"So Dawn, you up for some fighting or you still feeling weak."
"I'm ready."
"Come on then. We'll start with a stake since you're likely to encounter a few vampires in LA but then you did live on the Hellmouth so it shouldn't be anything new."
"Tell me about it. My date turned out to be a vampire."
"You were dating vampires!"
Dawn smiled, he sounded just like Buffy. They had been so perfect for each other and her smile fell thinking about how tragic their relationship had been.
"Dawn? You ok?"
Dawn snapped out of her thoughts and nodded, "Go on then, give me the stake."
He tossed a stake to her and she put herself into fighting mode, crouching very slightly, eyes alert.
Before she knew what had happened, Angel had knocked the stake out of her hand and had his arm around her neck.
"No fair Angel, you have super speed."
"So do all vampires Dawn. Now I know that wasn't fair but vampires don't do fair. You're not a slayer but you have to maximise the senses you have."
He let her go and handed her back the stake, turning around to return to his original position. While his back was turned she pounced on him knocking him to the ground, making his face distort to show his vampire features. He turned on to his back and then flipped Dawn so she was beneath him, the stake knocked halfway across the room. She struggled under him but she was pinned.
"Not so easy is it? That wasn't bad though. Now what can you do now? I'm about to drink from you."
Dawn continued to struggle pressing against his weight.
"Come on Dawn! This is life or death. What can you do? I may be a vampire but I still have male anatomy."
Taking the hint Dawn managed to free her leg and brought her knee against his groin hard. He growled and rolled off her while she struggled to her feet and dived for the stake. He moved towards her and went to knock the stake from her hand again but she was ready and blocked his blow with a move Buffy had shown her. She moved to press the stake against his chest but he easily pushed her away.
"What now Dawn?"
"Well you tell me. You're supposed to be the trainer."
Angel shook his head, waiting for her next move. Wesley got up from where he was watching the fight and moved to Dawn, turning her so her back was to Angel and whispered something in her ear. Dawn smiled and charged towards Angel with the stake pointed at his chest and at the last moment dashed to the side intending to surprise him. But as she tried to run to the side he grabbed her arms and pulled her towards him so her back was pressed against his chest.
"Nice try Wes, but you of all people should know that I can hear whispers as clear as bells."
Wesley just nodded grinning and Dawn ducked and bent forward pulling Angel with her and with great effort managed to toss him over her shoulders so he crashed to the ground. While he was momentarily stunned Dawn jumped so she was standing over him and knelt down pointing the stake at his chest.
Angel growled and Dawn smiled triumphantly, "Thanks Wes."
"Of course I know you have vampiric hearing Angel but with your senses you should have noticed the note I gave her."
He walked to Angel and dropped the note with instructions for Dawn to toss him over her shoulders which he had written whilst watching them fight.
Angel morphed back into his human features and jumped to his feet. "That was good Dawn, very good, very encouraging."
Dawn smiled satisfied and then grimaced as she moved her hand to massage her shoulder. "You're too heavy Angel."
Wesley smiled sympathetically, "Come here Dawn. I give fantastic massages, if I do say so myself. I think watchers are born with the ability so that their slayers don't get muscle strain." He spoke with a twinkle in his eye.
Dawn collapsed into a chair and closed her eyes contentedly as Wesley rubbed her aching shoulders.
"I think I've kicked your ass enough for one day."