Part 6 Room for a Few More

Dawn's screams had become broken sobs by the time Anya and Giles made it to her room and Buffy there with her arms around her sister. "Dawn are you hurt? What's happened?" Giles asked but when he came closer to Dawn she flinched away.

"It ok Dawn, he won't hurt you. I won't let him hurt you" Buffy said, "It was the first again Giles."

"It was Mom; she said that Giles would kill me. That my death won't matter because to him I'm not real."

Dawn was wearing red and white Mickey Mouse pajamas. Her face was blotchy from crying and even though she was obviously a young woman to Giles she looked horribly young. The prior truth to Dawns words made Giles stomach twist. What should he say or do? In spite of his love for Buffy he'd always doubted having any paternal instinct. He held out his hand and spoke softly, "Dawn, take my hand and hold on. I want you to know I'm real. I'm just as real as you are. Do you remember I said my vision was like a photograph? You were in it and you weren't fading in and out. You were standing right between Buffy and Willow."

"Really?" Dawn pleaded

"Really, I promise I will never hurt you. I'll never allow you to be hurt if I can prevent it." When he finished speaking Dawn was convinced she let go his hand and threw her arms around him.

"See, Dawnie." Buffy said sounding entirely big sister all trace of role as surrogate mother gone for the moment. "I tried to tell her that you said from now on it was 'One for all and all for one.' Giles, Just like the three mousekeeters only with more of them."

Anya was by the door watching all this and puzzling over the fact that instead of being jealous she felt unnamable warmth and a little pride. When Giles agreed that yes they were indeed the mousekeeters Anya figured it was time to break up the party. "Well, you can either let me in on the group hug or let go of Rupert. I want to have-"To Anya's surprise they took her up on the first option and she was enfolded by all three before she could finish her sentence. When they back in their room Anya wondered if she was a Scooby now or maybe they were all some new cartoon? Then Rupert put his arms around her again and they got so busy she forgot to ask.

"I'm really sorry you went through all that." Xander said after Dawn explained the events of the night before.

"You really must be you took your eyes off Faith for like a whole minute." Dawn said she was sitting between Xander and Wesley but both men were ignoring her in favor of Faith who was working with the potentials.

"I prefer to think of it as sixty seconds. I just can't believe I slept through a Dawn scream even on the other side of the house."

"It's ok Buffy was there real quick and Giles and Anya were both really nice." Dawn said then thinking that mention of the couple in such a couple-ish way might hurt Xander she quickly changed the subject. Turning to Wes she asked "Is Faith dropping her right shoulder?"

"I hadn't noticed it." Wesley said and reminded himself to observe Faith's fighting stance and not her breast. He quickly turned his attention to Xander before he was caught. "You know for some reason I though you were the one engaged to Anya not Giles."

"Yeah well, that's what happen when you leave a girl at the alter somebody smarter than you is bound to find her there."

"God, I didn't realize. What is it about Sunnydale? I come back here and become an idiot again."

"Don't worry about it. The idiot in this village is me. Its funny show me an apocalypse hand me an axe and I'm in but romance not so much." Xander said with a shrug

"Yes." Wes nodded he couldn't say anything more.

"Hey this isn't cheerleading practice you two stop ogling and come over here and help out." Faith said, breaking into their respective self pity.

"You need a punching bag?" Xander asked.

It was a good thing Faith didn't blush considering her history with both men "No they need sparing partners. You up for it? I'm sure you've pick up a lot of experience over the years." Faith was smug some things don't change Xander Harris may be a little bulkier but he was still cute when he squirmed.

Xander was reluctant to tell Faith he'd never really trained before considering the last time she volunteered to be his first time. Fortunately Wes saw his discomfort and said, "Stop shuffling Xander it's not all about form I'm sure you've picked up enough knowledge over the years to get by or you wouldn't still be here. The girls can only benefit from your help. If you want more formal training you only have to join in."

"You guys are talking about training aren't you?" Dawn asked with an arched brow.

"Yes of course we are whatever else could it be?" Wes answered, putting as much starched cotton and tweed in his voice as he could. "You should spar too Dawn. I'll observe"

"Nope, I don't think my sister wants me to learn to spar yet." Dawn bussed Xander on the cheek and then patted the spot for good measure. "You Guys have fun .I promised Andrew I'd help with a grocery run anyway." She strolled away confident she'd just proven that someday soon she'd be able gain male attention for much longer than sixty seconds.

Wes turned to Xander and asked. "Was Dawn always this way?"

"I think the word you're really looking for in this case is frightening that's sort of a new development."