Author: ImmatureLittleGirl Email: immaturelittlegirl@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Joss Whedon and maybe other people, I'm not sure I just know that I don't own them...

Summary: Dawn goes to live with her father in LA and has to learn to live without her sister. Strange coincidences lead her to meet an interesting person. Dawn/Connor

Rating: PG-13 I guess.

AN: Sorry if I confused anyone, I fudged the timelines a little bit to make it work. It's somewhere in Season 6 of Buffy and Season 4 of Angel, I think.

AN2: I'm really sorry it's taken so long to get this part out. I'm the worst procrastinator alive, on top of the fact that I have been really busy. I hope to have the next part out sooner. Thank you so much to everyone who sent feedback; you're the best! I hope this chapter is okay, please let me know what you think!

PART 6

Sprinting as fast as I could, I maneuvered through the rows of gravestones, trying to lose the train of vampires following close behind me. After about ten minutes of running with everything I had in me, I began to realize that the chase was becoming futile. I could barely breath and my legs felt like they were turning into rubber, yet it seemed like the vamp on my trail was just getting started. The only thing that could save me now would have to be heaven-sent.

Just as I thought I was about to collapse, I felt the vampire's cold fingers swipe at my shirt, causing a fresh rush of adrenaline to flow through me. Using up the last of my energy, I tried to put as much distance possible between the bloodsucker, and me, before I resorted to my very last tactic. Taking one last deep breath, I spun around, stopping abruptly while tightly gripping the stake in front of me. The vampire continued barreling forward directly into me and the stake. To my own complete shock, my stake collided with the vampire's heart and exploded into dust.

"One down, thr-… err… none to go?" I mumbled to myself in surprise. I took a moment to scan the graveyard, searching for the other fledgling vampires that had been on my tail only moments ago. Strangely enough, it seemed they were no longer in my immediate vicinity, which allowed me the perfect opportunity to run home as fast as possible and never-ever go looking for trouble again. That is, of course, until I got home and decided it wasn't that bad, and I convinced myself I had the whole situation under control the entire time… I blame my stupidity on Buffy; it's her fault danger gives me such a rush.

As I started cautiously making my way out of the cemetery, I began to wonder what had happened to those other vamps. It was possible they were hiding somewhere, waiting to ambush me again, but what reason would they have to use such a complicated strategy when, from what they could see, I was just a sitting duck? An innocent young girl with no way to defend myself, they could have all continued chasing me and killed me without much difficulty. It seemed more likely that they had gotten bored chasing me and taken off after someone easier to catch, than they were off wasting precious thought, plotting my demise. I was still sure to keep my eyes open for any possible attacks, while walking home.

The realization of how lucky I had been for the past few days finally hit me. This was the third time I had been out on patrol since my discussion with Buffy, and all three times I had miraculously overcome the strong odds against my succession. Surprisingly, it seemed that every time I was outnumbered, the rest of the vampires would disperse while I was preoccupied with the first vampire. On three patrols, I had killed just four vampires, but had been attacked by about ten. At this point, I was just hoping that I would make it home before my luck ran out.

***

I crept quietly down the empty corridor as my heart began to beat out of my chest. It wasn't as if I had never broken any rules before, it's just that I hadn't done so here, yet. I had my nice clean slate spread out in front of me, and here I was skipping class, after only a few weeks at Hemery. It wasn't as though I could actually use the excuse that it was for the good of mankind. I have found a new sympathy for Buffy, I'm sure she used that excuse more than a few times in high school. And there I was, following in my sister's footsteps; or at least, trying to, but kicking demon ass is a bit more difficult than she made it look. This brings me to why I'm skipping out on algebra, so that I can research demons and fighting techniques in the library.

Slipping into the large library, I could see many people milling around. The library appeared to be teaming with people, to my delighted surprise, which I hoped would ensure that I would go unnoticed. Deciding to get right down to business, I began my search for knowledge of the demonic sort immediately, using an unused computer to find the mythology section. From there, I found the isle with mythology and ran my finger along the spines of the books, looking for a title having to do with demonology. My finger came to an abrupt stop as it traced the spine of a book entitled 'The Encyclopedia of Demons'. I smiled as I pulled the book from the shelf and began scanning the index, looking for vampires first. Flipping to the pages it specified, I began to read about the history of vampires and the different ways to kill them, most of which I already knew through Buffy. I smirked as I scanned over the 'legendary' vampire slayer. I turned the page to see a large gruesome drawing of a vampire, just as a large hand rested on my upper arm. I jumped and slammed the book shut, spinning around to find Connor looking at me quizzically.

"Hi," I greeted in a nervous high-pitched squeak, as I quickly moved the book behind my back.

"Hello," Connor replied eyeing me strangely.

"What are you doing here?" I asked backing away slightly. I exhaled, after noticing I was holding my breath.

"Study hall," he answered simply, still looking at me as if I were the strangest person he had ever met; which there was a good chance I was, but that wasn't the point. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"I, uh, yeah… I-I was just, uh… reading," I stuttered, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Reading what?" he asked, giving me a doubtful look.

"Uh, history! Yeah, history stuff. I'm big on the history!" I exclaimed a little too loudly, my eyes widening as I tried to emphasize my enjoyment of history. "I love history," my voice faded off as I realized the last statement was overkill. He continued looking at me strangely before glancing over to the bookshelf and reading some of the titles on the books.

"In the mythology section?" Connor asked, turning his attention back toward me. His eyes narrowed suspiciously, and I had to resist the urge to let out a nervous squeaking noise, as he stared at me.

"Uh, yeah. Mythology, history, same thing, right?" I responded quickly, hoping he would go for that.

He remained silent, looking at the bookshelf and continuing to read the titles of the books, before looking back to me suspiciously. He looked as though he was about to ask another question and I was suddenly overcome with an immediate panic. Thinking quickly, I tried to come up with an idea to distract him. Grabbing both of his shoulders I stood up on my tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. I pulled back quickly to see his surprised _expression. He stood still staring at me with wide eyes. I might have panicked at this point if I hadn't already been half near hysterical to begin with.

"That was for helping me the other day. Ya know, uh, thanks," I explained quickly feeling the blush creep up my cheeks. He continued staring at me in silent shock. And I thought he had been looking at me strangely before…

"Sorry, I mean, thanks, I mean I have to go now," I replied quickly, then leaned up again to press another kiss to his mouth for good measure, and because I couldn't help myself; his stunned _expression was just too irresistibly cute. I was surprised when he cupped my cheek with his hand and kissed me back slightly, but I pulled away quickly and darted down the isle, tossing the book on an empty table and hurrying out of the library. As I got to the empty hall, I realized I now had nowhere to go.

Finding an empty bathroom, I hid inside where I intended to spend the rest of the period. Looking at myself in the mirror, my eyes widened as I realized that I just kissed Connor! Twice!

***

Having been in the bathroom close to twenty minutes I was still replaying the events in the library over again in my head as I sat on the counter, my feet dangling a few inches above the floor. I heard the bathroom door open, but didn't pay it much attention; people had been coming and going the entire time I had been in there, no one bothering to give me a second look.

"Hey Dawn," I heard a familiar voice greet. I looked up to see Emily smile cheerfully back at me.

"Hey," I replied with less enthusiasm.

"What's with the pensive?" Emily asked as she approached the mirror and began applying a thick coat of eyeliner.

"I kissed Connor," I whispered quietly, as if I were afraid he would actually hear me.

"You what?" Emily screeched; a huge smiled plastered across her face as she hurried closer to me. "When? How? Why? Details!"

"I don't know," I answered, burying my head in my hands.

"Aww, Dawn! You have to tell me more than that. It couldn't have been that bad, I mean, it wasn't, was it?" Emily inquired, looking at me expectantly.

"No, it wasn't bad. It was… good. Except for the whole complete randomness of it and the fact that he is probably currently thinking I'm completely psycho!" I answered, my voice laced with despair.

"Oh. I'm sure it's not so bad. I mean he likes you; that's obvious. Did he kiss you back?" Emily tried to reason with me.

"The second time…"

"The second time?!? How many times didja kiss him?" Emily asked in surprise.

"Twice," I squeaked, biting my lower lip.

"I see. Well if he kissed you back, then he's equally guilty! So you're both psycho!" Emily rationalized, with a smile and a shrug.

"Oh good." I remarked sarcastically, leaning back against the mirror, and closing my eyes.

"If it helps at all, I'm sure you'll have way more embarrassing things happen in the future and this will seem like nothing!" Emily climbed up onto the counter beside me, putting her arm around me in friendly support.

"Can't wait… My God! As if he didn't already think I was completely insane," I exclaimed as the memory came back to me again.

"Why did he think you were insane before?" Emily questioned looking at me seriously.

"Probably because I am," I answered with a shrug.

"Well, he's really not one to go accusing other people of insanity. You've met the boy haven't you? I mean, I agree he is definitely one of the more attractive males of the human race, but still… He's a little off, you must admit," Emily replied, smirking.

"I guess. Oh God, we have lunch next! What am I going to say?" I gasped.

"Ooh, I can't wait!" Emily remarked smiling wickedly.

"Emily! You're not helping!"

"Sorry, Hun. I'm sure you'll be fine. I have to get back to class, though. See ya in a few!" Emily hopped down off the counter and started toward the door.

"Bye," I muttered as I watched her go. My head fell backwards and smacked the mirror again. What was I supposed to do now?

***

As I entered the cafeteria, my head began to flood with possible scenarios of how lunch would go once I sat at the table. How would Connor act towards me? Would he have told Tim and Josh about the incident in the library, just as I told Emily? I could just imagine what fun Josh could make of the situation. As much as I hoped to not become the butt of Josh's jokes for the next few days, I was honestly more nervous as to how Connor would behave towards me. Just as I thought he was beginning to warm up to me, I go and make a ridiculous move on him. From what I knew of him, it wasn't his style to treat people cruelly, but he did not seem to have a problem shutting people out. In fact, he did so rather swiftly, whenever he seemed to feel uncomfortable, and earlier having seriously overstepped my bounds, was probably reason enough to shut me out. I'm sure he was now thoroughly convinced that I was a complete freak; then again, he wasn't all that wrong, was he?

I walked slowly down the center isle in the cafeteria, trying to force myself to calm down before sitting down to lunch. Connor and Tim were already seated at our table but Emily and Josh didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. I hesitated for a moment before sitting at the table, hoping Emily would arrive soon to lend silent support.

The moment I approached the table, the conversation between Connor and Tim came to a seemingly abrupt halt, leading me to worriedly believe that they were speaking about me. If Tim knew anything, he didn't let on to it, and instead smiled pleasantly as I sat beside him, across from Connor.

"Hey Dawn. What's up?" Tim greeted, still smiling.

"Uh… Nothing," I denied pathetically. I dared to steal a quick glance at Connor, who remained stoic and undisturbed by my presence, to my immense relief.

"Good. Hey did you guys hear about the affair between Mr. Whitman and Miss Douglas? I guess they were caught screwing in the teachers lounge, by Principal Huntley!" Tim filled us in on the latest gossip enthusiastically.

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear, Tim," Emily remarked as she sat down at the table along with Josh. "Don't you think that would be grounds for being fired, if it were true?"

"I suppose, but some of the gossip you hear around school is more believable than other stuff. For example, the rumor that a vicious werewolf mauled Chad Winston, is less believable than, oh say, the rumor that you and Josh were engaged in a rather heated make-out session in the chem. Lab after school, yesterday," Tim responded, smiling gleefully at the guilty looks that crossed both Emily and Josh's faces. Josh looked up from the sandwich he was just about to bite into before looking between Connor and me. I sucked in my breath, knowing about what his next comment would be.

"Guess we're not the only ones, at least," Josh muttered under his breath before continuing to take a bite out of his sandwich, which he choked on as Emily's elbow connected with his gut. For a moment, I seriously considered killing Emily for telling Josh, but I supposed I couldn't really blame her. I chanced a look in Connor's direction, and saw him staring at me intently, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Did I miss something?" Tim asked suspiciously.

"Nope," Emily said quickly, giving Tim a thin fake smile.

"Anyway, I hear Mr. Whitman's wife kicked him out last night, and that's why he's wearing the same clothes he was yesterday," Tim continued on obliviously, living up to his title as the 'gossip whore'.

***

Strolling heedlessly through the cemetery, I twirled the stake in my hands, as I went over the day's events in my head. After lunch, Connor had not made any move to speak to me, but that had not been completely abnormal, considering he rarely spoke unless he actually had something to say. Although, one would think, after the incident in the library, he would have something to say, but then again, I hadn't tried to speak to him either. The whole situation was such confusion. I couldn't even figure out what I had been thinking when I kissed him in the first place. Some sort of primal instinct had completely taken over.

I was startled by the sudden abrupt yank of my hair and my loss of balance as I found myself hurdling into a near by gravestone. My head struck the cold rock with a loud smack, and I let out a wounded yelp as I felt the pain shoot through my skull. I was disoriented for a moment, before I saw the stupid looking vampire come at me, seizing me by the throat and lifting me up to his eye level. I could feel that he was stronger than most of the fledglings I had been taking on earlier in the week, and could tell he had been around some time, judging from his feathered haircut and wide bell-bottoms. His resemblance to Kelso from 'That 70's Show' would have been comical under different circumstances.

In a panic, I kicked out at him, my heal connecting with his gut, causing him to fall backwards. He stood up again undaunted, grabbing me by my upper arm and pulling me closer to him as he wrenched the stake from my grip and threw it aside. I pounded on his chest, trying to loosen his grip but he simply smiled down at me with his goofy grin.

"Your blood, it smells so… yummy," he commented, revealing his extensive vocabulary.

He leaned down and licked my face causing me to visibly cringe. Thinking hard, I tried to come up with any idea to get him off of me, but nothing came to me. Buffy was right, my own carelessness was going to be the death of me. I scrunched my eyes shut, preparing for him to bite into me, when I suddenly heard an agonizing screech and felt his hold on me dissolve. It felt as though Kelso-vamp had just spontaneously combusted, but I knew that that scenario was just completely impossible, and so I continued to squeeze my eyes tightly shut.

"You want to tell me what you're doing out here in the middle of the night?" I heard a deep familiar voice question.

I opened my eyes to see that not only was Kelso-vamp gone, but Angel, my sister's undead ex-boyfriend, was also standing in front of me, an annoyed _expression covering his face.

"Angel?" I asked in confusion.

"You've been wandering through the grave yards at night all week long. I'd think growing up with Buffy, you'd have learned it's not safe out here at night," Angel stated, crossing his arms over his chest. I couldn't help wondering when he had gotten that 'disappointed parent' look down. I supposed it was just something all adults were capable of, when given the justification to use it.

"Hey! You're the reason that all those vamps have been mysteriously disappearing all week! You've been following me!" I gasped as the realization hit me.

"You wouldn't have made it through the first night without me watching out for you. And what do you think you've been doing? You are not properly trained or equipped for patrolling," Angel chastised. It was strange how adults always tried to warp the situation into being your fault.

"I was just trying to protect the innocent people of LA. I think we are still overlooking a very important fact here! You've been stalking me. Last time you were all crazy-stalker-guy, you were seriously lacking in the soul department. You're not Angelus again are you?" I questioned suspiciously, lamenting the fact that he was now holding the only stake I had brought with me.

"First of all, most of the people that hang around in this section of LA are hardly innocent. And to answer your question, I still have my soul. I highly doubt without it I would have bothered to follow you around all week, in order to keep you from the danger you continuously place yourself in," Angel replied harshly, his voice still laced with irritation.

"It's good to see that you still have sight of the mission to protect people, too," I spat back sarcastically. "You don't have to follow me around. I can take care of myself, but I am not going to sit back without trying to help."

"Fine. If you're going to do this, I'll walk around with you. Maybe I can at least show you some defense techniques. I promised Buffy I would keep an eye on you, anyway," Angel admitted.

"Buffy asked you to watch out for me," I asked angrily. I hid the fact that I was slightly happy to hear that she still cared enough about me to ask Angel for help.

"She just wanted me to make sure you weren't doing anything stupid, like hanging around in cemeteries at night, looking for trouble, since she's been so busy with the end of the world and related things, to do so herself," Angel replied, falling into step beside me as I began to stalk off in a different direction.

"I don't need a babysitter," I snapped, bitterly.

"I'm not your… Oh for God's sake, why do I bother? Tell me something, what is it with teenagers? Do you just hate everyone?" Angel asked, his irritable disposition shifting to one of confusion.

"Just you," I answered flippantly, swiveling around to look him in the eye.

"Great," he responded, rolling his eyes.

***

TBC…