Things started to spiral soon after I was released from the hospital. A week after to be exact. Kris had been out hunting until sunrise the night before, and Lorne claimed he had "some important business" to tend to; so I took Kyle to work with me. It was the average day; I worked the cash register and Kyle sat at one of the tables coloring. He walked over to me and tugged on my hand.

"What, sweetie?" I asked, looking down at him. His normally sparkling brown eyes shined with fear, and he had a look on his face that would rival Angel's broody one.

"I drew you a picture," He whispered, holding out a piece of white construction paper to me. I took it gently from him and placed it on the counter, kneeling next to him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nuttin," He mumbled, looking at the ground.

"Kyle,"

"It's stupid," His voice was barely a whisper.

"Honey, nothings stupid. What's the matter?"

"Bad things are coming…they're going to kill us, Mommy," I was about to respond when the bell above the door of the shop went off.

"Sit down, I'll come over as soon as I can," It turns out, that that day happened to be the day before a major writing assignment was due at the high school. Judy, Katie, and I spent the remainder of the day helping procrastinating teens with their homework. I couldn't help but think how Giles dealt with Buffy and I all those years.

"Dawn, go home," Katie ordered, once the mob had cleared out of the shop. I still had two more hours left to work for the day.

"But…"

"Dawn, Kyle is asleep on the table and you're dead on your feet. Go home, curl up with him, and watch some Disney. I'll see you tomorrow," I smiled at my boss, who ironically wasn't too much older then me, "Don't forget to do your homework," She teased, as I pulled on my jacket and scooped Kyle into my arms. I grabbed the picture he drew me and stuffed it into my pocket, waving to Judy and Katie as I left the store.

"Kyle, sweetie, what do you want for dinner?" I asked as we walked, him still clutched into my arms.

"Mommy," He whispered, touching my cheek with a soft hand. His face was the last thing I saw before I felt exploding pain in the back of my head and the world faded to black.

"Oh Lord, I'm going to top Giles soon," I mumbled, referring to the fact that I had been knocked unconscious yet again. I felt the cold cement under my body and the stiffness of the limbs and knew I had been lying there for a while. What I couldn't figure out was why. Why was I knocked out again? What was going on?

Big brown eyes. Scared brown eyes. Mommy. Kill. Us. Kyle. I shot up as the memories flew back threw my mind.

"Kyle!" I yelled, looking around. I searched for any sign of the small boy and found nothing. Running home, the only thing that kept me set on my goal was the rhythmic thumping of my feet on the ground. I collapsed onto the porch, tears pouring from my eyes. Kris found me there, two hours later just as the sun set.

"Dawn, what happened," I didn't respond, he shook me but all I could do was cry and utter Kyle's name. I had failed him. I had failed the one person who depended on me, who needed me.

"Kyle," I cried.

"Dawn, snap out of it. We have to go find him. You cant fall apart now, damn it," He yelled as Lorne came up the walk.

"We have a problem," No sweetcheeks, or doll, or any of Lorne's other endearments added at the end. I sat up, wiped my face and stared at the green demon.

"I know," I said, standing up.

"Eight children were killed by vampire tonight," Kris grabbed my shoulder to steady me. Children. Kyle. Kyle, dead. "They were all in Ms. Van's third grade class," Relief flowed threw me.

"Kyle was kidnapped," Kris told Lorne, his hand still resting on my shoulder as though he were afraid I would fall back and sink into oblivion.

"I know," The words barely left Lorne's mouth before I had him pushed against the wall, my hand at his throat.

"How do you know," My voice was a deadly whisper.

"That's why I'm here, Dawn. He's the magical essence of good, all stuffed into that little body of him. A cult of vampires has a ritual which will basically end the world and kill your little boy. Wes found a prophecy on it when we were looking for stuff on Melly. When you wrote Spike, we put two and two together." My hand dropped to my side, and I ran into the house and grabbed the weapon's case. A rock flew threw the window, shattering it. I glared, reading the note attached.

You wanna save the squirt, come unarmed and we'll negotiate.

"What's the plan?" Kris asked, skimming over the note.

"We old school it," I answered, walking upstairs to my bedroom. "Hand me the back pack in the closest," Kris retrieved it for me as I rummaged threw my hair supplies.

"Do these constitute as weapons?" Lorne questioned, coming in with a set of chopsticks. I grinned at the green demon, my mind determined to save my little boy. I used the chopsticks to put my hair up and grabbed a can of hairspray. Kris raised an eyebrow at me. I flicked on my lighter and proceeded to light the shower curtain on fire. He nodded, suddenly well aware of how pissed off I was. I gathered more supplies and we walked out of the house, carrying our makeshift non-weapons with one goal in mind.

Save the world. Again.

But this time…there was a little more at stake. A little thing that I was not willing to lose.

A/n: Updated and Longer. Gimmie some reviews and (maybe) I'll tell what happens.

-P.d.