Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination, characters and situations are the property of Joss Whedon ex al. I do not own the plot, as it is based on a challenge by gidgetgirl at CCS, plus tweakage. I do own Cadence, though.
A/N: Okay, I'm big with the chapter updation, mainly because I know once exams hit in, I'm going to be way not with the updating. So you get two chapters, not one. In answer to questions,
GidgetgirlI have a nickname for Cadence. You'll have to wait and see what her nickname is!
ReganX
Cadence gets a nickname. Hank selling his kid? Hmm... maybe you should reserve judgement on that.
*
Chapter Two – 'All Fall Down'
"We have a sister?" Buffy looked almost childlike as bemusement crossed her face. "Dad... had another kid?" Dawn chewed her lower lip, trying not to see the look of betrayal and pain in her older sister's eyes. It had been a long time since Buffy had been hurt, that they had been hurt. A long time, of OJ in the fridge, and college, and pizza'n'movie night when they were back in America.
"Is she.." Buffy broke off her sentence, her green gaze sweeping Dawn's face as awkward concern entered her voice. "Is she, you know, real?"
Okay, ouch, Dawn conceded. Remembering that she wasn't the real sister, was still, whatever happened a mystical Key-thingy made human was definitely of the world of pain.
"Yeah," she answered, her voice pitched low. She swallowed, clearing her throat and nodded once more, brightly, as confirmation. "Definitely with the live-non-Key-like sister-ness. She's one of the Summers. Angel pulled her mom's records up. She was working for Wolfram and Hart at one point."
Buffy turned and walked a few paces, hugging herself, her shoulders tight and tense. Silence was not of the good here.
"It's okay, right?" Dawn asked, after a few moments of the awkward quiet. "I was right to, you know, tell you?" Her eyes went to meet Buffy's, worried. Buffy pasted on a bright smile.
"Yeah, of course, Dawnie," she dismissed it, almost nonchalantly. "It's fine. We have a half sister."
"There's something else," Dawn rushed on before Buffy could say anything. "There's something uber-odd going on. Her mom left the firm three years ago, little office party, a rubber plant, the works. She and Dad moved to San Francisco," she gave a little nod to Buffy; they'd already known their dad's change of address. "Thing is," she added, "I did some probing on my break. Ally Summers filed a police report in Los Angeles in 2002, reporting a missing person. Her daughter."
Buffy raised her eyebrows, looking back at Dawn. "You think there's an oogedy-boogedy reason to why she's missing?" Dawn shook her head.
"Kinda. Don't you think it's weird that she worked for this big firm with all those legal contacts, all those Seers and stuff, and she made no mention of it? She had no-one on the case from Wolfram and Hart, there's no indication of Cadence on her file, I had to pull up the police report on the microfilm in the Records. And then, poof," Dawn snapped her fingers triumphantly, "Two months later? Report dropped."
"They found her?" Buffy queried, folding her arms across her chest. Dawn shrugged.
"No mention of it. One day it was there, big font in the newspaper, the next day, nada. And then I found this, it was the thing that started it all off," Dawn handed Buffy the piece of paper. The Slayer quickly scanned it, reading across the print.
"Five hundred thousand dollars? That's a lot of money," she whistled, looking back up at Dawn.
"I think Wolfram and Hart have record of this somewhere," Dawn pronounced, taking the paper back. "Cadence is still missing, Buffy, and you know Dad had that car thing two years ago? I don't think that was big up on the coincidence list. I think Wolfram and Hart have something to do with this," she said, more determinedly.
"Our sister is still out there?" Buffy mused it over, nodding. "Okay." She took her jacket off the hook by the door, and slung it around her shoulders.
"Where are you going?" Dawn frowned, staring at her sister. Buffy's lips tightened into a thin line.
"I'm going to go and see Angel."
*
The lump at the bottom of the bed squirmed, and a small head poked out from under the Little Mermaid bedspread, pink from the warmth.
"I'm not scared," the little girl said out loud, a little high-pitched, hugging the bedraggled and faded teddy bear tighter, so as not to lose grip. She blew a wisp of light brown hair out of her eyes and looked up at the window. A flash lit up the room, and she gave a little squeak, and dived under the covers.
"I'm still not scared," she informed the silence, her voice muffled by the bedspread. Pushing the quilt back, she sighed heavily, a very adult sigh for a child, as her left thumb found her mouth. "Maybe they've given up," she addressed the bear around her thumb, dancing the stuffed animal across her stomach to amuse herself. The bear didn't answer.
"Ring a ring of roses, a pocket full of posies," she began to sing to herself, her voice high and clear and childlike. She made the teddy-bear dance once more, holding it high in the air above her.
"Atishoo, atishoo," she sang, as a loud crash of thunder boomed. She dived for the Disney quilt once more, sitting up in bed huddled under it, the bear's nose poking out.
"Okay, okay," she sounded faintly annoyed, "I'm a little scared."
*
A/N: Short update. Future goodness – Angel and Spike rivalry as Buffy arrives at Wolfram and Hart, little girl fun, and the rest of the AI team in Wolfram and Hart prepare for the arrival of the Slayer.
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