Quick Notes

These characters belong to Mutant Enemy.

Reviews/Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Special thanks to Joss Whedon for creating all these great characters, and letting fans mess around with his universe.

Chapter 1: Memories

"I'll get it mom!" Christina Harris yelled as she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly zipped down the steps, two at a time.

"Chrissy, don't run! You'll trip and hurt yourself!" Her mother yelled from the kitchen.

"Sorry mom." She replied as she came down loud on the hardwood floor. Her bare feet pattered across as she reached the door, yanking it open.

"Hiya kiddo!" The young 23 year old woman said as she looked down on the child.

"Dawnie!" Yelped Chrissy as she jumped up and hugged Dawn Summers. "I've missed you so much!" She then jumped back with a big smile, definitely something she inherited from her mother. "Did you bring me any presents for my birthday?" The inquisitive young child asked as she looked at Dawn's luggage.

"Of course I did silly! You think I would forget that today is your birthday?" Dawn reached back to grab her bags and walked in through the door. "Hey Chrissy, could you give me a hand with these?" The child did as Dawn asked and picked up one of the smaller bags and set it down in front of the stairway. At that moment Chrissy's mother walked out of the kitchen.

"Is that who I think it is?" Cordelia Harris asked as she walked over to greet Dawn.

"Cordy, you look fantastic!" Dawn complimented as the two women hugged.

"Of course I do!" Cordelia smiled as they broke the embrace. "You're looking great yourself." Cordelia felt old looking at this young woman who was once the small mousy child she first met in Sunnydale. "How are the others?" Cordy asked as she led Dawn into the living room.

"They're doing great." Dawn said as she sat down on a leather couch. "Willow is now heading the most influential Coven in Europe. Buffy is just keeping up with the Slayage. Faith takes on the responsibility of training the newbies. So it's basically more of the same......."

"Hey I found presents!" Squealed Chrissy, as she opened one of Dawn's bags. The two women glanced at the young girl.

"Chrissy!" Cordelia Snapped. "You know better than to snoop in other people's belongings without asking."

"But mom! Presents?" Whined the little girl, as she gave a hurt puppy dog look reminiscent of her father.

"Chrissy, you know that look won't work with me. You don't get to open your presents until after dinner. Okay?" Cordy said to her child.

"But mom!"

"I said not until after dinner, and I'm not going to repeat myself." Chrissy recognized the look on her mothers face when she was annoyed, and she knew better than to push it.

After having just eaten dinner, they sang Chrissy happy birthday as the young girl then scarfed down two Twinkies.

"Mom can I have another one?" Chrissy yelled into the kitchen as Dawn and Cordelia loaded the dishwasher.

"Absolutely not, you'll make yourself sick." Cordelia replied as she walked back into the dining room. She saw the slight frown come across her daughters face. However Cordelia knew instantly how to cheer her up. "Besides honey, wouldn't you rather open your presents." Chrissy's frown instantly turned into a huge smile. "Go wash up and meet us in the living room." Cordelia smiled as her daughter hopped out of her chair and ran to the bathroom.

After a few minutes they reconvened in the living room, and Chrissy tore through her gifts. One after one she gleefully removed the wrapping. Cordelia smiled as she watched how happy her daughter was. After a short time one side of the living room was piled with tattered wrapping paper, and Chrissy examined a book she just unwrapped.

"What is this?" Chrissy asked as this puzzled look crossed her face.

"It's a little spell book that Willow put together for you." She then looked over at Cordy. "Don't worry, it's completely harmless. Just little spells to make multicolored floating light orbs." Dawn then looked back over at Chrissy. "However make sure you have your mommy help you with them." Dawn then got up to get something out of her suitcase. While Dawn did that, Chrissy hopped onto the couch and cuddled up with her mother, and showed her the book. "I have one more thing for you." Dawn said as she walked over and handed her one last gift. "In fact it's for both you and your mom. It's from Giles. He really wanted to be here and give it to you himself. Unfortunately he got tied up with business."

"Oh neat!" She tore off the wrapping paper and then stared at what was a framed photograph.

"Oh my god. Xander." Cordelia whispered to herself as she looked at the photograph her daughter opened. In the photo was herself, Xander, and Chrissy. It was taken when Chrissy was just a year old. It was their first family photograph of just the three of them. They looked so happy. She hadn't seen the photograph in years. All of her belongings and photographs had been destroyed when the Hellmouth closed in on itself. Tears began to roll down her face. This was the first time in years that she has looked upon her husbands face. She looked down on her daughter, Chrissy not sure what to make of the situation.

"Mommy?" Chrissy looked up at her mother while pointing at Xander's image. "Isn't that daddy?" Cordelia pulled her daughter closer.

"Yes baby, that's your daddy!" She looked over at Dawn with tears in her eyes. "Where did Giles find this?"

"He was going through some old boxes he had stored away in England. Xander gave it to him when he moved to England after Buffy had died fighting Glory." Dawn continued. "After all his moving around, he had thought he had lost it. He found it just last month. He thought you and Chrissy would really want to have it." Dawn looked over at the little girl as she examined the photo up and down, smiling.

"Mommy, daddy's ears are just like mine." Chrissy giggled as she looked up at her mother and noticed the tears coming down her cheeks. "Mom, why are you crying? Is something wrong?" She nuzzled up closer to Cordelia, attempting to cheer her up. Cordelia looked down at her smiling.

"No baby, there is nothing wrong, nothing at all." Cordelia then held her daughter close as she kissed her forehead and they stared at the photograph together.

She was supposed to be asleep, but Chrissy rose quickly out of bed and scampered out of her room. Quietly she tip toed down the hallway, being careful not to wake her mother as she passed by her bedroom. She then tip toed further down the hall towards the guest room. She crept towards the door and could hear Dawns voice inside.

"She loved the photo, they both did in fact. You should have seen the look on her face." Dawn must be on her cell phone Chrissy thought to herself. "Yeah I told her that you wanted to be here to give it her personally. She really misses you." Dawn stopped to listen to the person on the other line, then continued speaking. "That's fantastic, they will both be ecstatic. So you and Willow will be here in two days?" Dawn stopped again to listen. "Yeah I won't tell them. I'll let it be a surprise. This will be great, Chrissy will be so happy to see the two of you. Well my battery is about to die. So I'll see you in two days. Bye Giles." Chrissy's little heart sped up with excitement. After a minute she calmed down and remembered what she had to do. She lightly tapped on the door, and then opened it.

"Dawnie?" Chrissy said as she poked her head in. "Can I talk to you?" Dawn looked over at the young girl.

"Shouldn't you be in bed sweetie?" Dawn asked as the little girl slowly crept into the room and softly closed the door behind her. She saw the sincere look in the girl's eyes as she walked over to sit on the bed next to Dawn.

"Yeah, mommy would be mad if she knew I was still up. However I wanted to ask you something." The girl then gave her big Cheshire smile. She only put that on when she was trying to butter up adults. It always worked.

"Sure Chrissy, what is it?"

"I remember hearing about when Buffy died, that Auntie Willow was able to bring her back." Dawn listened to the girl. However she wasn't comfortable with where the conversation was going. "Well I was thinking that maybe we could do a similar spell, so I can talk to my daddy?"

"Oh Chrissy, I don't know. Those types of magicks are highly dangerous and unpredictable. I just don't think it would be a good idea." She looked down at the little girl, tears slowly forming in Chrissy's eyes.

"I just want to talk to my daddy, just once!" Chrissy began to sob. Memories and guilt began to flood into Dawns mind. She thought back to the final battle at Sunnydale High. When Xander pushed her out of the way, and was impaled by The Bringer's knife. She remembered Xander dying. His last words were how sorry he was that he was leaving his little girl. Dawn still felt tremendous guilt over Xander's death. As the guilt began to take over, she looked down at Chrissy. Feeling so sorry that this little girl can't remember how wonderful her father was, and how much he loved her. She eventually made up her mind about Christina's request.

"Okay Chrissy, I'll help you."