Author's Note: Here's chapter 6! Only one more chapter to go, but remember this is the first in a trilogy. The trilogy will be called "Dawn & Connor: Miracles Happen." The next installment will be called Meant to Be and will begin immediately after chapter 7 of Falling. So enjoy, and please R&R! I also want to mention that this story is now listed at Unnatural, the D/C shipper site. Yay!

Chapter 6: Sweet Time

Wednesday, Los Angeles

Dawn hurried down the stairs the next morning, grinning. "Hey!" she said, greeting her new boyfriend with a hug and a kiss.

"Hey yourself," he said, pausing a moment to shake the water off his clothes. It was pouring outside.

Dawn pouted. "It's all crappy out."

Connor smiled and pulled her closer to him. "We can find ways to entertain ourselves inside," he said softly, kissing her again. They broke apart when the sound of Angel clearing his throat loudly interrupted them.

"Hey Angel," Dawn said, blushing. It wasn't every day that your boyfriend's father, who happened to be your sister's ex, interrupted one of your make out sessions.

"Hey. Connor, can I talk to you for a minute?" Angel asked.

Connor looked at Dawn, reluctant to leave her side. "Okay, I guess," he said, following Angel to his office. Once they were inside Angel shut the door and began to pace.

"I just needed to talk to you about this...thing with Dawn," he said slowly.

Connor frowned. "It isn't a thing. I really care about her and this last week has been the best of my life. And what business is it of yours, anyway?"

Angel stopped pacing and stared at him icily. "Connor. It is my business because not only are you my son but Dawn is Buffy's sister."

"But you dumped Buffy. So what does it matter?" Connor said, not even trying to be nice.

Angel frowned. "I still care about her very much. But that isn't why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to talk to you to make sure you realize that in a few days, Buffy will be coming through that door to bring Dawn home."

Connor looked down. "I know. We've talked about it."

Angel sighed. "Well what did you decide?"

"That we were going to enjoy this time together and deal with it when the time came," Connor said simply.

Angel blinked. "Well that time is fast approaching. And I do not want to see you break Dawn's heart like-"

"Like you broke her sister's," Connor finished. "And don't worry, I would never hurt Dawn like that."

Angel rubbed his forehead. This conversation was definitely not going as planned. "Okay. I can see you don't want to listen to me. But let me just remind you that Dawn is 16 years old. She is young, she is still in school and she has her whole future ahead of her."

"I know that. And so does she. Are we done here, because my girlfriend's waiting for me," Connor said, standing up.

Angel looked down. "Fine." Connor turned around and went back to Dawn.

"What was that about?" she asked nervously.

Connor shook his head. "Nothing. He just wanted to grill me on our plans for when...for when Buffy comes back."

"What did you tell him?" Dawn said quietly.

"I told him what we decided. Do you want to go do something?" he said, eager to forget about his conversation with his father.

Dawn nodded. "Sure. I don't really feel like training today, so is it okay if we just go upstairs and hang out? We can watch tv, or we can just talk."

Connor smiled. "That sounds nice." Then they headed upstairs, hand in hand, while Angel watched from behind the desk.

He was so not looking forward to Buffy's return. The one major problem was that she didn't even know that Connor existed, and she probably wasn't going to take the news too lightly, especially when she found out he'd been making out with her little sister all week. He just had to find the right words to tell her everything, before she found out about Dawn and Connor. Then maybe he could salvage the situation. But it wasn't going to be easy, especially because every time he was around Buffy his desire for her made it so he could barely think straight. It was hard to have a civilized conversation with someone when every bone in your body was telling you to take them right there, on the floor, and-

He didn't let himself finish that thought. It also didn't help that every time he saw her he remembered the forgotten day. It made him ache all over when he thought of what they had, and what was stripped away. What she didn't remember.

He shook his head to clear the thoughts. Right now he had to focus on the case files piled up on the desk. He could figure out what he was going to say to Buffy later.

"I just wish he would get off my back. He just doesn't get me at all. Not like you do," Connor said to Dawn. They were upstairs in her room, sitting on the floor near the bed.

Dawn squeezed his hand. "I know. But he really tries," she said helpfully.

"What exactly happened with him and your sister? Because every time I bring her up he gets this look," Connor said.

Dawn sighed. "I know the look. Buffy gets the same one when you mention Angel." She paused. "I can tell you the whole story if you want, we have time," she said.

Connor nodded. "I'd like to hear it. Maybe then I can understand him better."

Dawn sighed. "Well it all started back when we moved to Sunnydale..."

"Wow," Connor said quietly, over an hour later. Dawn had just told him the whole tragic story of Buffy and Angel. "I didn't know that it was..."

"That bad," Dawn finished for him. "I know. And you didn't have to live through it. Even though I wasn't technically...you get the point," she said, frowning.

Connor touched her hand gently. "It must be hard. Knowing that your memories aren't real," he said softly.

She smiled slightly. "But the ones from this week are. And that's all that matters."

Touched, Connor leaned in and kissed her. Then they were interrupted by a knocking on the door.

"Dawn? Buffy's on the phone," Angel called.

Dawn stood up. "I'll be right back."

She followed Angel downstairs and picked up the phone. "Hey Buffy."

"Hi Dawnie. How are you? I miss you."

"I'm good," Dawn said. She had to be careful during these conversations, because she wanted to tell Buffy about Connor in person.

"Guess what? We're almost done here. We kicked a little demon booty and we're getting ready to come back. We're bringing three girls with us, they're potential slayers and they need training. They're about your age."

"That's nice," Dawn said, her heart sinking faster than the Titanic.

"So we're trying to get a flight ASAP. We could be back as early as tomorrow."

Dawn bit her lip. "Great."

"Well I've got to go, we have to call the airport to book a flight. I love you."

"Love you too." They hung up.

Dawn just stood there for a minute. During the short conversation, everything had become all too real.

"Hey, are you okay?" Connor said, coming down the stairs.

Dawn laughed. "Yeah. Buffy's coming back as early as tomorrow to bring me back to Sunnyhell where I will have to share our house with 3 other teenage girls. I'm just peachy."

Connor put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "It's going to be okay as long as you know that I'd do anything to stay with you."

Dawn smiled slightly. "I know." They broke apart. "I want to do something extra special tomorrow. Maybe we can have a picnic in the park? Just the two of us?"

Connor smiled. "I'd like that." They hugged again. Even though she was now looking forward to spending tomorrow with Connor, Dawn had a feeling that things were going to get very, very ugly when Buffy returned.