A/N: Hey, sorry for the delay. I'm hoping I still have readers! If it's any consolation I had a great time on holiday and am now completely broke from all the shopping and so have no money to do anything but write. This should be finished very soon, probably in a couple of days.
Jake stared at Dawn, a shocked expression etched onto his face. He opened his mouth to speak, a strangled sound issuing forth rather than any comprehensible words. He seemed to give up on speaking and just went back to staring at her. After a few minutes of this and with no change forthcoming Dawn began to get a bit fidgety. "You want some coffee or something?" she asked hopefully, gesturing at the kettle occupying a shelf in her dorm room. Jake didn't acknowledge her, he just kept staring, his mouth slightly open giving him a permanently ridiculous expression. "Jake?" Dawn asked tentatively, before flicking the switch on the kettle.
Jake tracked Dawn across the room, his frenzied mind trying to sort out the jumble of emotions that were dashing through his mind. He decided to try speech again. "Vam-vampires?" he managed to stutter out. Dawn shrugged matter-of-factly.
"Yup. And you know a ton of other creepy supernatural things like demons and witches," Dawn said, "though they can be good." she hastened to add.
"And your sister fights them?" Jake asked, sounding as though he was categorically going through everything she was telling him and placing into it's own colour-coded file in his mind. Dawn suspected it was all going under red for 'weird'.
"Yeah. And I've technically only been alive for two years. Before that I was just this big pile of mystical mumble-jumble." Jake dropped his head into his hands with a groan as she said this. Dawn winced. "Sorry. Maybe I should have saved some of the revelations for another time." she said, apologetically.
"You think?" Jake retorted sarcastically, raising his head to look at her critically. He seemed to lose some of his anger, just flopping back on to the bed. "Kinda explains some things." he said, fixedly examining the ceiling.
"You mean like the weird things that always seemed to happen now have a reason? Because everyone always says that." Dawn said, pouring herself a cup of tea, a habit she'd long ago acquired from Giles.
"Nah, now I just have a reason for all the weird things that always happened with you."
"Oh." muttered Dawn, wrinkling her nose whilst she decided whether or not she should be insulted.
"What about me though?" Jake asked from his spread-eagled position on the bed, sounding so like a lost little boy that it nearly broke Dawn's heart.
Dawn sighed deeply. "I wish I knew." Depositing her teacup on the shelf she moved to lie next to him, positioning herself in the crook of his arm. Dawn tensed as she felt him move, worried about his reaction now that he knew what she was, but she relaxed almost instantly as his arm moved round to grasp her gently. "I guess it could be a spell. Or you know," she said happily, "it could just have been adrenalin."
Jake made a sound that was half-way between a groan and a laugh, dropping a kiss on the top of Dawn's head. "That's what Chris says."
"Well, it could be." Dawn answered defensively.
"God, I wish." Dawn didn't reply and after a few minutes Jake found that he could hear her steady breathing, indicating she'd fallen asleep. Jake smiled and smoothed her hair down, realising, even as he slipped off, that his arm was going to be completely numb in the morning.
*
The first thing Dawn was aware of as she slowly emerged from the depths of sleep was a loud banging on the door. The second thing she was aware of as she finally woke up was that she being crushed by the boy-shaped pile resting on her like a lot of dead weight. "Jake." she murmured, her voice scratchy as she ineffectually tried to move him.
"Dawn?" the worried voice floated through the door causing Dawn to close her eyes to embarrassment. Angel. The guy who was like a very over-protective big brother was going to find a boy in her dorm room. Dawn felt like letting the earth swallow her. Or even better, just let the Hellmouth swallow her.
"Angel, hang on a minute!" Dawn yelled. This also resulted in Jake waking up as his ear was dangerously close to her mouth.
"Huh?" Jake muttered looking round groggily as he rolled off Dawn. She took the opportunity and leapt off the bed to yank the door open.
Angel stood in the doorway, looking his usual imposing self.
"Navy-blue?" Dawn asked stupidly in greeting. Angel glanced down at his shirt and shrugged bashfully.
"Cordy decided I needed colour in my wardrobe." Dawn raised an eyebrow. "This was as far as I was going." A discreet cough caused Angel to peer around Dawn.
Angel's face drained of colour as he glimpsed Jake perched on the bed, rubbing his arm with a pained expression. "Connor." he whispered, the name appearing of it's own volition. Jake's head shot up as though he'd heard something but Dawn apparently didn't hear anything.
"Is there something you needed Angel?" Dawn asked, fixing him with her most charming smile. It wasn't necessary as Angel's attention was nowhere near her.
With what appeared to be a great deal of effort, Angel tore his eyes away from the young man and pinned them on Dawn. "I just came by to make sure you were okay and you are so bye." The long sentence was finished with a flourish as Angel turned and fled down the corridor before Dawn could even say 'goodbye'.
Dawn turned back into the room, closing the door behind her. She looked at Jake who was looking back at her quizzically. "He's normally more polite than that. Maybe he had some bad blood."
"Blood?" Jake choked out.
"Oh yeah," Dawn said dismissively, still mulling over his strange behaviour. "He's a vampire but he has a soul so it's all good."
Jake resisted the urge to close his eyes and lull himself back to sleep. Instead he focused on the strangest part of the whole thing. "He knew me, Dawn."
Dawn glanced at him. "How'd you figure that?" Jake glanced at her knowingly.
"You saw how weird he went when he saw me." he explained.
"Maybe it was just seeing little Dawn with a boy in her room."
"I don't think so." seeing Dawn's slightly scandalised expression he added, with a teasing smile. "I'm sure he's used to that."
"Hey!" laughed Dawn, throwing a cushion at him. Jake laughed, a sound Dawn was seriously happy to hear and cocked his head to look at her.
"How would Angel know me?" he asked, suddenly serious again. Dawn shrugged.
"He wouldn't." Jake stood up and began to pace the room. His agitation made Dawn think of a caged animal, aching for escape.
"You said he worked for that giant law firm."
"Owns the giant, possibly evil, law firm." Dawn corrected. Jake glossed over the 'possibly evil' dimension.
"So they have files on people." Dawn stood to face him, halting him mid-stride.
"Jake." she started warningly. "What are you thinking?" He smiled at her, a wicked smile that once more made Dawn think of a predator and sent an involuntary shiver down her spine.
"I'm thinking I have a plan."
