"Maybe there's some reasonable explanation we just haven't thought of for it," Dawn suggested without much hope.
"Yeah. Because reasonable is a good term when talking about a battle involving cavemen vampires and the ultimate evil," Connor retorted.
"Okay," Dawn continued, warming to her argument, "a magical explanation. Maybe when Willow empowered all the other Slayers it kind of passed through you on the way."
"I think it happened too much after that. If it had hung around or something the others probably would have got it too."
"We don't know they didn't. You haven't told anyone besides me," she said, then conceded, "But they would have been as freaked out as you, and unless they can act a hell of a lot better, I would've noticed. We could ask. Casually."
"What, like, 'Hey, did any of you acquire short-lived superpowers? Just wondering.'," he asked sceptically.
"Fine, don't tell anyone about it," Dawn said in annoyance. "Just lock it up inside until a singing demon makes you tell everyone." They both fell silent as the pronouncement seemed to echo around the empty bus. Connor glanced ashamedly at Dawn, then looked back at his shoes. Eventually he mumbled,
"I am...I mean I know Buffy- It was just," he began and trailed off. "Kind of a shock," Dawn supplied equally indistinctly.
"Yeah I," he started, then stopped and looked straight at her. "I love you. And I've now said that twice in two days, which I'm sure is against the rules." She smiled slightly.
"I shouldn't have brought it up. I mean, it was pretty embarrassing for you," she said. He grinned ruefully.
"Some Lord of the Dance. Everyone else gets original tunes, I get Barry Manilow with different lyrics."
"Adrenaline?" Dawn offered after a moment's silence. "You hear stories about grandmothers lifting cars to save children."
"It's kinda different. That's just like an increase in strength or something. I had to dodge a couple of things first. And then did the equivalent of driving a stake through a brick wall. Anyway, I always figured the people who did that were demons in human form."
"We'll figure it out eventually I guess. We could ask Willow next time Kennedy uh... is knocked unconscious? We may have to make a diversion to get Willow alone."
"Hm. The locusts are coming back," Connor said looking out the window at the new Slayers hurrying towards the bus laden with shopping bags.
"Speaking of which, you need a girlfriend," Dawn said, slumping back in her seat.
"Working on it. It's kinda hard when you're always surrounded by other girls, and you're never sure which ones understand English. Maybe I could learn another language."
"Yeah, you could ask Giles for seduction tips in Hungarian, then run while he's cleaning his glasses."
"It doesn't really work, does it? You could become a lesbian," he said, feigning sudden inspiration.
"But then Buffy would call me Daw or D' or something."
"You could date Andrew."
"Same thing," she said as the first Slayer got onto the bus.
"It was supposed to be an incentive," he said innocently.
"Shut up."
Several months later-
"I mean, what is this? Have I got some kind of big magic sign over my head saying, "Supernatural Adoption Agency, deposit mystical teenagers here?" Buffy exclaimed in disbelief.
"That would be cool," Andrew interrupted. "Like in The Hobbit when Gandalf puts-"
"SILENCE," the demon said, its inky form barely distinguishable against a background of stars. "REGARDLESS OF YOUR OPINION, THE ONE YOU KNOW AS CONNOR IS NO BLOOD OF YOURS."
"Then who is he? And what's his real name?" The demon shifted slightly, its movement only detectable by the stars it eclipsed. "CONNOR," it said shortly, seeming a bit put out. Andrew seized upon its silence to speak again.
"I bet he's the son of some great warrior trapped in between the forces of good and evil, serving against his good nature an evil empire under the rule of purest evil and devoted to an ultimate evil goa-"
"Andrew," Buffy said meaningfully, shutting him up for almost a minute. "Don't be ridiculous."