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What She Has
Chapter 2
"Is this really what we want to do?" Willow questioned the small group gathered in the Summer's... Dawn's living room. It couldn't really be called a group, just a trio really. Herself, Xander, and Spike. Giles and Anya were at the shop, and Dawn was school shopping with Tara. Everyone but Dawn had weighed in on the topic previously. This was, hopefully, the last of many secret discussions on the topic.
'It's the last one I'm going to be involved with at least.' Willow thought to herself. But then she thought that during all the subsequent discussions as well. She just hoped it was true this time.
"No." Xander spoke up, and Willow looked at him gratefully, glad she wasn't the one to be saying it. Spike, who was hovering in the entry way to avoid the sun rays peeking through the not quite closed curtain, closed his eyes and nodded, conceding without fight to the fact that once, just once, he was going to agree with the Boy. He quickly retracted that thought though, when he didn't stop there,
"No. We don't want to do this. But," Xander glanced at the front door and continued, "We have to. For Dawn." He glanced at the front door again as if worried that just saying the teenagers name would make her appear. It didn't, but Dawn had a habit of appearing when you were discussing things you weren't quite ready to share with her.
"Right." Willow whispered, "For Dawn. We can't lose her too." She barely registered that Spike had left the room. "I'm going to go start dinner." She informed Xander blankly, "Tara and Dawn are supposed to be back at six, so be back by 5:30, we'll figure out the game plan then." She didn't wait for his reply as she walked into the kitchen, only peripherally acknowledging anything around her.
---
"We're back." said Dawn, who sounded upbeat compared to how sedate she had been recently. Tara followed Dawn into the room and the sound of crinkling bags of clothes and school supplies filled the house. Dawn faltered back a step as she saw the group of people watching them from various posts around the living room. Everyone was watching her as she set her heft of bags down next to the stairs. They were all staring at her expectantly, her hands, of their own volition gripped a death grip on her purse.
"Whats going on?" She asked shakily, looking at the group, all of them were there. And while that in itself wasn't strange, it was usually a casual, "Hey how ya doing?" type of thing. This didn't feel like that.
"Nothing's going on Dawnie." Tara was the one to speak, as if she would know, as if she hadn't spent the whole day with Dawn away from everyone. 'Their planning something.' She thought to herself even as Willow stood and excused herself from the room, saying something about dinner.
"We just thought a dinner with everyone would be nice." Anya said a little too loudly, as she too excused herself from the room. Anya usually said things a little loud which made Dawn relax the slightest bit.
"Why don't you go wash up Dawn?" Tara suggested, "Xander will help me carry everything upstairs."
"You sure?" Dawn asked, as she edged towards the stairs.
"Positive." Tara replied with a reassuring smile, waving her hands at Dawn, who shrugged and did as was suggested of her.
---
"So guys," Dawn ventured to the tense silent group sitting around the dining room table, all of them avoiding eye contact with anything that wasn't their dinner. "What's going on? Is this an intervention or something?" Dawn added a fake laugh to that, "Because as far as I know I'm not..." She trailed off because if she continued she would be flat out lying to them. And she didn't want to do that. At least not while they all seemed to be going along with the standard issue Sunnydale obliviousness. It was nice just to ignore that something was up with her.
"No not an intervention of any kind. We have some news. Well, we've been talking something over and we wanted to get your input on it." Willow sighed and turned to look directly at her, everyone else seemed to do the same at the same time. They were looking at her too much and she shrunk down in her chair, avoiding looking into their eyes because frankly, it was just a little bit freaky.
"You see, some stuff is coming up that requires you to have a guardian. And since Giles is leaving..." They all waited for Anya to interject her thoughts on the subject, as she had recently taken to doing, but for once Anya held her tongue and Willow continued, "And none of us are likely to receive custody of you, we thought maybe it would be easiest if,"
"Your sending me to my Dad?" Dawn asked, shocked that they would do that. She'd never even met the man for real, and they were just going to send her off to live with him.
"No!" They all rushed to say.
"Of course not!" Willow assured her, "That's the last thing we want."
"Then what?" She asked.
"Well, we thought it might be in your best interest to… rebuild the, the Buffy Bot." Willow stopped and took a gulp of her water, feeling as if the very name of her best friend, her dead best friend was enough to choke her.
"But we wanted to give you final veto power." Xander interjected into the silence that followed, "We won't do it if you don't want us to." Giles and Tara murmured their agreement with his words.
Dawn looked up to study their faces, all of them wore the mask she had become used to seeing in their presence. That strong, everything's already alright expression that she, on a day to day basis, hated and appreciated more than she would ever be able to express. Everyone had their own variation of that expression plastered on their face, except Spike. He wasn't as good at it as everyone else. Right then he wasn't even trying.
He looked... furious as he glared at his empty plate, until he noticed she was watching him and he looked over at her and gave her a brittle smile and a nod. A nod that anyone else would think was on of encouragement, which it was, one encouraging her to do the right thing.
'The right thing by him.' She thought nodding back imperceptibly and catching the look of relief that flooded his face before turning to look at Willow, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"If it means we get to stay together than I think you should do it."
There was a momentary silence before everyone breathed a sigh, of something, it didn't seem to be one of relief though the sound level in the room rose to a normal level one would expect to hear at a Scooby dinner. Dawn was grateful for it, as everyone seemed to forget their tenseness and lapse into the easy going relaxed attitude that they usually had. Dawn took the chance to look over at Spike, to see his reaction, he was avoiding looking at her again, but this time instead of glaring at his plate it was settled firmly on Willow.
As if all this was her fault.
Willow hadn't noticed, and Dawn reached over and grabbed her hand before she could turn and see the look of hate directed at her.
"Thank you." Dawn said softly. Willow smiled in response and squeezed her hand, Dawn made a quick pass with her eyes over everyone at the table. No one else seemed to have heard.
No one except Spike who glared with increased fury at the Witch.
---
TBC
What She Has
Chapter 2
"Is this really what we want to do?" Willow questioned the small group gathered in the Summer's... Dawn's living room. It couldn't really be called a group, just a trio really. Herself, Xander, and Spike. Giles and Anya were at the shop, and Dawn was school shopping with Tara. Everyone but Dawn had weighed in on the topic previously. This was, hopefully, the last of many secret discussions on the topic.
'It's the last one I'm going to be involved with at least.' Willow thought to herself. But then she thought that during all the subsequent discussions as well. She just hoped it was true this time.
"No." Xander spoke up, and Willow looked at him gratefully, glad she wasn't the one to be saying it. Spike, who was hovering in the entry way to avoid the sun rays peeking through the not quite closed curtain, closed his eyes and nodded, conceding without fight to the fact that once, just once, he was going to agree with the Boy. He quickly retracted that thought though, when he didn't stop there,
"No. We don't want to do this. But," Xander glanced at the front door and continued, "We have to. For Dawn." He glanced at the front door again as if worried that just saying the teenagers name would make her appear. It didn't, but Dawn had a habit of appearing when you were discussing things you weren't quite ready to share with her.
"Right." Willow whispered, "For Dawn. We can't lose her too." She barely registered that Spike had left the room. "I'm going to go start dinner." She informed Xander blankly, "Tara and Dawn are supposed to be back at six, so be back by 5:30, we'll figure out the game plan then." She didn't wait for his reply as she walked into the kitchen, only peripherally acknowledging anything around her.
---
"We're back." said Dawn, who sounded upbeat compared to how sedate she had been recently. Tara followed Dawn into the room and the sound of crinkling bags of clothes and school supplies filled the house. Dawn faltered back a step as she saw the group of people watching them from various posts around the living room. Everyone was watching her as she set her heft of bags down next to the stairs. They were all staring at her expectantly, her hands, of their own volition gripped a death grip on her purse.
"Whats going on?" She asked shakily, looking at the group, all of them were there. And while that in itself wasn't strange, it was usually a casual, "Hey how ya doing?" type of thing. This didn't feel like that.
"Nothing's going on Dawnie." Tara was the one to speak, as if she would know, as if she hadn't spent the whole day with Dawn away from everyone. 'Their planning something.' She thought to herself even as Willow stood and excused herself from the room, saying something about dinner.
"We just thought a dinner with everyone would be nice." Anya said a little too loudly, as she too excused herself from the room. Anya usually said things a little loud which made Dawn relax the slightest bit.
"Why don't you go wash up Dawn?" Tara suggested, "Xander will help me carry everything upstairs."
"You sure?" Dawn asked, as she edged towards the stairs.
"Positive." Tara replied with a reassuring smile, waving her hands at Dawn, who shrugged and did as was suggested of her.
---
"So guys," Dawn ventured to the tense silent group sitting around the dining room table, all of them avoiding eye contact with anything that wasn't their dinner. "What's going on? Is this an intervention or something?" Dawn added a fake laugh to that, "Because as far as I know I'm not..." She trailed off because if she continued she would be flat out lying to them. And she didn't want to do that. At least not while they all seemed to be going along with the standard issue Sunnydale obliviousness. It was nice just to ignore that something was up with her.
"No not an intervention of any kind. We have some news. Well, we've been talking something over and we wanted to get your input on it." Willow sighed and turned to look directly at her, everyone else seemed to do the same at the same time. They were looking at her too much and she shrunk down in her chair, avoiding looking into their eyes because frankly, it was just a little bit freaky.
"You see, some stuff is coming up that requires you to have a guardian. And since Giles is leaving..." They all waited for Anya to interject her thoughts on the subject, as she had recently taken to doing, but for once Anya held her tongue and Willow continued, "And none of us are likely to receive custody of you, we thought maybe it would be easiest if,"
"Your sending me to my Dad?" Dawn asked, shocked that they would do that. She'd never even met the man for real, and they were just going to send her off to live with him.
"No!" They all rushed to say.
"Of course not!" Willow assured her, "That's the last thing we want."
"Then what?" She asked.
"Well, we thought it might be in your best interest to… rebuild the, the Buffy Bot." Willow stopped and took a gulp of her water, feeling as if the very name of her best friend, her dead best friend was enough to choke her.
"But we wanted to give you final veto power." Xander interjected into the silence that followed, "We won't do it if you don't want us to." Giles and Tara murmured their agreement with his words.
Dawn looked up to study their faces, all of them wore the mask she had become used to seeing in their presence. That strong, everything's already alright expression that she, on a day to day basis, hated and appreciated more than she would ever be able to express. Everyone had their own variation of that expression plastered on their face, except Spike. He wasn't as good at it as everyone else. Right then he wasn't even trying.
He looked... furious as he glared at his empty plate, until he noticed she was watching him and he looked over at her and gave her a brittle smile and a nod. A nod that anyone else would think was on of encouragement, which it was, one encouraging her to do the right thing.
'The right thing by him.' She thought nodding back imperceptibly and catching the look of relief that flooded his face before turning to look at Willow, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"If it means we get to stay together than I think you should do it."
There was a momentary silence before everyone breathed a sigh, of something, it didn't seem to be one of relief though the sound level in the room rose to a normal level one would expect to hear at a Scooby dinner. Dawn was grateful for it, as everyone seemed to forget their tenseness and lapse into the easy going relaxed attitude that they usually had. Dawn took the chance to look over at Spike, to see his reaction, he was avoiding looking at her again, but this time instead of glaring at his plate it was settled firmly on Willow.
As if all this was her fault.
Willow hadn't noticed, and Dawn reached over and grabbed her hand before she could turn and see the look of hate directed at her.
"Thank you." Dawn said softly. Willow smiled in response and squeezed her hand, Dawn made a quick pass with her eyes over everyone at the table. No one else seemed to have heard.
No one except Spike who glared with increased fury at the Witch.
---
TBC