A/N: Okay so it's going a little slow. But this is my first multi-chapter fic so I'm just getting to grips with the pacing. I'm used to slow character introspection. Sorry. Well, practice makes closer to perfect so it should get better.
"And Ba is…damn, wait. Ba is..erm.. Aha! Ba is barium!" Dawn concluded with a satisfied smile as she walked with Jake through the campus. "I believe that means you owe me ten bucks." she said poking her companion in the arm as he shook his head in disbelief.
"You remembered all of them?" Incredulity laced his voice. "I can barely remember twenty of them!" Still shaking his head as he admired the girl beside him Jake took his wallet out of his pocket. Dawn laughed gaily when she saw what he was doing.
"Oh come on! I was kidding you don't actually have to pay me because I did my chemistry homework!" She exclaimed batting his hand away. Adamantly trying to push the note into Dawn's hand Jake smiled in turn.
"Nope you have to take it. You won the bet. Fair's fair." Dawn moved to stand in front bringing the pair to a halt in the centre of the pavement. Holding both hands up to ward off the boy trying to give her money she cocked her head to the side consideringly.
Apparently coming to a conclusion Dawn dropped her hands to her side and said with a coy smile; "Well, I suppose you could use that money to buy me dinner tomorrow." Jake's expression would have been comical if it didn't worry Dawn so much. "I mean, that is, if you want to?" she stammered out, hurriedly returning to Jake's side and beginning to walk along again. His hand shot out and curled around her upper arm bringing her to a stop. She span quickly, that action normally requiring her to use some of the self-defence moves her sister her made sure she knew before she left home. Seeing the smile on Jake's face Dawn ordered herself to relax and impishly pushed her long hair behind her ear to cover up the fist that had been starting to form.
"I'd love to take you." Jake said moving his hand down her arm till his fingers curled around hers. Dawn smiled at the action and felt herself start to relax a fraction more. As the pair set off in the direction of her dorm the darkness of the night suddenly occurred to Dawn.
"Hey Jake, what time is it?" Spinning their joined wrists around Jake glanced at his watch.
"Just gone three. Why? You're all right coming back this late aren't you?" Worry laced his voice and etched his face causing Dawn to mentally groan. As if she didn't have enough surrogate big brothers with Spike, Xander and Angel to have potential boyfriends containing the 'must-protect-Dawn' gene.
"God no, that's fine. I was just thinking about how it's kinda dangerous at this time of night." Dawn unconsciously phrased the words carefully, years of hiding the truth about the un-dead coming into play.
"Well, that's why I'm walking you to your dorm." The expression on Dawn's face told Jake that that was completely the wrong thing to say. "Not that you need protecting or anything." he back-pedalled quickly. She rolled her eyes at him and forced a grin. Dawn had learnt the hard way that even with all the new slayers in the world she was still a target being the original slayer's sister and all. It also didn't help that she was a millennia-old ball of energy. She didn't like to think that Jake might be a target just because he was with her and not have a clue about how to defend himself. Least she could put up a good fight.
"Well you know I could walk you to your dorm. Exercise some of that feminist power I'm supposed to have." Dawn said laughingly. Jake was giving her a curious look.
"Dawn, it's fine. Your dorm's on the way to mine. It's really no big deal." She opened her mouth to protest but a hand muffled whatever she was going to say. "And anyway," said Jake, emphasising the last word. "We're here." Dawn's eyes widened as she took in the building a few feet away.
"Oh." she murmured as Jake removed his hand.
"I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" Jake asked leaning over to give Dawn a chaste kiss on the lips.
"Sure." said Dawn, watching him walk away from her. "Be careful." Sighing wistfully she turned to walk through the door to her hall.
And came face to face with a fang-carrying member of the un-dead. The vampire growled menacingly, advancing towards his prey. Dawn merely sighed in annoyance and pushed her hair behind her shoulders so it couldn't get in her way. It always bothered her when her hair flew in her face when she was fighting and she never could understand how it didn't bother Buffy.
Sid stilled, slightly perturbed at the girl's reaction. True, he hadn't been a vampire very long, just last week he'd been serving popcorn at the movie theatre but since he'd become one of the legion of un-dead he'd gotten used to people fleeing in terror not standing looking like they were trying to decide between salted or sweet. Well, if she wasn't scared then she obviously didn't know what was coming. Sid licked his lips in gleeful anticipation; this was going to be an easy kill. Much easier than that football player who'd managed to slam his head into a wall before he'd gotten a good hold on his jugular.
But now the girl just looked irritable. Sid considered this. She probably thought that he was part of some fraternity prank that was supposed to scare the young co-eds. Well, she was in for a surprise when Sid revealed that his pointy teeth weren't plastic and could sink into the smooth skin of her neck and lap up that sweet, young blood like nectar from a…. The girl suddenly moved forwards muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "Oh, for God's sake." and Sid barely had time to even think of nipping at her neck before the wooden stake found it's home nestled between his ribs piercing his stilled heart.
Dawn brushed off her jeans whilst pocketing her stake. Either the vampires were just getting really lax on passing on their killing techniques or they were just picking total morons to change. Dawn had an inkling it might be the latter if only because of the completely idiotic look on the vampire's face when she'd dusted him.
Dawn pushed open the door to her sparsely furnished dorm room finding it practically bare of furniture and roommates. "Trust me to hook up with the gentleman." Dawn muttered irritably before raising her fingers to her lips remembering the brief kiss with a smile. She threw the stake into the weapons trunk that lay at the end of her bed and threw herself back onto the blue and red patterned duvet without even taking off her shoes. Glancing at the answer phone she rolled over irritability slamming her hand onto the 'play' button.
"Dawn? You there? Dawn? Erm, well okay, it's Angel, just checking up on you… wait! I mean, I'm just checking you're okay! Just, you know, call me when you get in. Bye." Three more messages pretty much encompassed the same territory causing Dawn to roll her eyes whilst hitting speed-dial.
"Hello, Angel Investigations. We help the helpless." Cordelia's cheerful voice greeted Dawn, causing her to smile into the phone.
"Hey, Cordy. It's me. Just, you know, calling to tell you I got in." Dawn could practically see the older girl biting back a laugh.
"He just worries Dawn." Dawn once again rolled her eyes.
"Right, because it's not like I fought vampires for years or anything." This time Cordy couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled over the line.
"Well, it's hard to explain. It's just you sort of remind him of someone." Dawn's eyebrows quirked up in curiosity.
"Who?" Cordy cleared her throat giving Dawn the distinct impression that she'd said more than she should have.
"Hey you know what Dawnie I gotta go. I'll tell Angel you're okay and come visit us soon, kay?" Cordy said hurriedly before leaving Dawn to stare perplexed into the handset.
"Weird."
