Part 35: Spotlight on Dawn
Selected items from UNS Q&A session with Dawn Summers, sister to Buffy Summers-rah, occupant of Taran United Watcher's Council building, pre-founding, circa September 2003. Camlin Tikri reporting.
Less is known about Dawn Summers than even Andrew Wells. However, the silence around her existence has a very different tenor. The shield around this young woman seems to be carefully protective, rather than harshly ostracizing.
That's not to say that Buffy's sister is an utter mystery. Historical records left from the early-to-mid-21st century Tara reveal that she grew up to be Dr. Summers-Horvath, a prolific author of hundreds of medical research papers, was considered one of the best trauma surgeons in the world, and was based out of the Cleveland Clinic, one of the premiere medical facilities in what was then called the United States. Her revolutionary (at the time) ideas about treating trauma patients lead to a legacy of countless lives saved and a revolution in how catastrophic injuries were treated.
Her stature in the field of medicine has been forgotten by our modern times. Medical achievement, like all scientific advancement, eventually must give way to new discoveries, a constantly evolving understanding of the human body, and new treatments that make patient care less onerous. However, there is no denying that while she lived Dr. Summers-Horvath saved more lives with her ideas than most single Slayers can hope to save in a lifetime. That does not change, even if the sands of time have covered her lightly imprinted footsteps.
Dr. Summers-Horvath herself acknowledged that such a fate was only right and proper for her. In the only surviving contemporary interview of any of the Sun'dayl Survivors in Cleveland, the physician said, "The human body is a puzzle behind a locked door. As doctors, it is our mission to unlock that door as we try to discover how all the pieces fit and work together. Any doctor should view himself or herself as a key designed to unlock that door, take hold of the puzzle, and try to put it all together. The good news is we don't have to do it alone. Everything I've ever done has built on what other people have discovered before me. After I'm gone, other people will build on what I have done, leaving me in history's dust. That's the way it should be." [TouchInfor Reference: New York Times Magazine, 'Changing the Tragedy of Trauma: One Doctor Bucks the System and Wins,' January 26, 2025, p1]
Beyond her relationship to Summers-rah, the records of the United Taran Watcher's Council are mysteriously silent about her. Yet, re-read the journals left behind by her friends and family in the Cleveland household, and you might find traces of her elusive presence in the very vague references to a mysterious person known only as "the Doc." The Doc—whoever it may be—taught various Watchers and Slayers first aid and undertook late night missions of mercy when injuries were too difficult for limited medical training or Slayer healing to overcome.
The strongest evidence—maybe even the only evidence—we have that Dr. Summers-Horvath did not entirely turn her back on her sister's life lie in the legacy she left Seneca Academy for Young Women—the euphemistic name the United Council used for its public face during the 21st Century—after her death in 2057. She willed her entire considerable estate to the United Council for the sole purpose of building a state-of-the-art, fully staffed medical facility. She insisted that the new medical complex be named The Alexander Lavelle Harris Memorial Medical Center because, as she wrote, "He was the driving force behind making sure all students at the school were trained in first aid and he was the only one willing to risk his neck going to Tibet during the Mystical Rayne Plague so I think he deserves it, especially since he died to get that cure. If some of you don't like it and want a different name? Then you don't need my money all that much. Hope you enjoy actually paying for health insurance and co-pays for doctors' services." [TouchInfor References: Last Will and Testament of Dawn Summers-Horvath, dated October 27, 2043, certified copy, United Taran Watchers Council, Record Number 41007]
It should be noted here that her gift incubated the beginnings of what is now the Key Medical Order, the corps of physicians that work directly with both Councils and their allied Slayers.
These tantalizing tidbits tell us nothing for certain about this mysterious woman, although one can almost imagine the contrary personality that made her a great physician in those brief glimpses we can find or imagine we find. One can't help but think that she'd like it that way if she knew, as we shall see an exclusive UNS interview.
DS: Knew you'd come around to me sooner or later.
UNS: {chuckle} Everyone else has expressed shock and surprise that I want to talk to them.
DS: Lyyyyyyy-ing. Well, maybe Faith was surprised because she was the first person you grabbed. But everyone else? *pfffffft* [leans forward and adds] Although I think you've laid the trauma down on everyone during the interviews. You don't pull punches do you?
UNS: [sits up] I haven't…
DS: They're all soooooo gonna need therapy. Buffy's been hiding under the bed since you talked to her. I had to bribe her with cheese to get her to the last house meeting where Xander broke the bad news that your Arrow isn't an actual Arrow.
UNS: [squirms] Unh, I didn't…
DS: Actually, they all need therapy anyway. I mean, how long have they known each other? Like for-eeeeever. And they still can't figure out how to talk to each other. It's soooo stupid. I'm practically ready to start walking around with a staple gun and {makes a ker-chunk sound} start pounding metal clues into everyone's forehead.
UNS Are you saying the lines of communication aren't very clear between…
DS: What I'm saying is: promise the Scoobs a big, ugly nasty; promise them there'll be quippage; promise them pain; promise them that they'll be bleeding before the end; and don't forget the rip-your-heart-out emotional moment with sobbing and wailing and they are all over that. Get them in a room to have a real conversation? They'll find a way to trip over a random big, ugly nasty so they'll have another shot at pain, bleeding, and sobbing just to avoid talking.
UNS: Unhhhh…You sound frustrated…
DS: {sighs} Sorry. I had to bribe Buffy with a cheese omelet this morning to get her out of bed. She thinks she's fooling me with her peachy-with-a-side-of-keen act, but she's not. I just don't know what to do. She's so hard to figure out sometimes. [pause] Should I be worried about her Cracker Barrel addiction?
UNS: Well, she is a Slayer and Slayers are wired a little differently then…
DS: OOOOooooo! I hate that! That is such utter crap! That's almost as bad as 'the Slayer stands alone.' Whenever I hear that I just want to…
UNS: [cowers] Scream?
DS: Smack Buffy into next week.
UNS: Ah.
DS: Besides, screaming doesn't work. Talk softly and carry a big clue-by-four, that's my new motto.
UNS: Klew-buy-for?
DS: It's like a two-by-four, only you whack people with it when they're being stupid.
UNS: I still don't…
DS: The thing is, everyone's a still an emotional wreck after Sunnydale but—shhhhhhhhh—don't talk about it and—shhhhhhhhhh—don't admit you're still hurting because then someone might mistake you for someone who's weak and a coward.
UNS: That's…that's…but…aren't heroes supposed to soldier on?
DS: Stupid heroes.
UNS: Well maybe…
DS: Look. Take a really good look. Everyone's dealing by not dealing. Robin's hiding behind the "must save the Slayers" schtick. Xander's hiding behind the "must help the Slayers" schtick. Willow's hiding behind her computer. Giles is hiding behind the fact he doesn't have a book to read that isn't from this month's Harlequin line. Buffy's hiding under the bed. Faith's hiding underneath Robin. The baby Slayers are hiding behind the wall of whine. And no one, not one person, is willing to say, 'Hey! You know what? I'm hurting over here and I'm sick and tired of being brave. Will someone let me fall apart for one lousy second?'
UNS: [amused] You're willing to say it, at least.
DS: [deflates] I'm the biggest hypocrite of all. I'm hurting, too, but do I say anything? Nooooo. I go to school and pretend I'm normal girl. Paint a big red N on my chest and the picture's complete.
UNS: What do people say at school when they visit you here?
DS: [harshly] They don't. {sigh} I mean, how do I explain this? How? I've come up with a few choice excuses, but, c'mon, they all sound worse than the truth, and the truth would get me locked up in a rubber room with 24-hour bell service provided by the Men in the White Coats.
UNS: You don't know that.
DS: Okay, hmmmm. I know, 'This is a convent and all my housemates are nuns-in-training. Except for Faith. She's the hooker they're trying to reform.' See? That one sucks. Oh! How about this? 'We're a home for runaways and our mission is to get these troubled girls back on the right path. Except for Faith. We keep her around to show what happens if you don't walk the straight and narrow.' Still doesn't work. 'Everyone here is a member of an apocalyptic doomsday cult because we know sooner or later we'll forget to lucky and when that happens, you're all toast. Except for Faith. She thinks dying happens to other people.' That last one has the problem of being a little too close to the truth. Maybe if I throw in a bit about how we have a Stargate in our basement made out of kitchen parts that will allow us to escape when the big bang happens? Nah. Then I'd sound too much like Andrew.
UNS: I'm sensing a trend. You're not exactly fond of Faith, are you?
DS: I have Faith-shaped problems. I admit it.
UNS: Why?
DS: Faith did her share of bad back in Sunnydale. When I first met her, at least when my memories tell me I first met her, I thought she was cool and everything. Then she starts believing her bad girl persona and goes really bad. She takes off, gets herself reformed, blows back into town, and she's all, 'Hey! Sorry about that!' But I don't think she really feels it, y'know. Just toss a 'Hey!' and all things are cool? Not buying.
UNS: But isn't she…
DS: One of the good guys. Yeah. I'm being unfair a little because, y'know, she's doing patrols and offering to help out in little ways. But, I don't know…maybe it would be nice if Faith acted less cool beans with her Baby Docs and tight jeans and her trophy boyfriend and acted more like a real person.
UNS: Well…
DS: And if you so much as hint Slayers are wired differently, I will hurt you.
UNS: [amused] You seem pretty insistent on that point.
DS: [silence, thoughtful frown] Thing is I've been around Slayerness my whole life. Well, not my whole life? Yes, I do mean my whole life if we're going to stick with the true facts. For the longest time I just wanted…I guess I wanted to be special too. It's like being the sister to a prodigy, y'know? When your sib can pull an Amadeus and write operas at the age of 6, and even though you get straight As and are pretty smart for yourself, you just don't measure up because you'll never be as good as your sister, who gets all the petting and extra attention she wants and needs because no matter how special you are, you're not as special as her.
UNS: Sounds like jealousy.
DS: A little. I guess. The thing is, according to my memories and everyone else's, I was on board with the Buffy-pandering and the Buffy-worship. Then the past two years…[shrug] I know it sounds mean, especially since Buffy was going through a two-year bad patch kicked off by mom dying and then dying in the fight against Glorificus…
UNS: Wait, wait. Buffy died?
DS: Twice, but she's feeling much better now.
UNS: [checks MemePad for bio on BS for date of death, sees 7/17/2036—Gavrok Infestation, St. Augustine, Florida] I don't…I don't…
DS: [waves hand] Willow got Xander, Anya, and Tara to help her raise Buffy from the dead.
UNS: [checks MemePad for bios on WR and AH] I, unh, don't see anything here…
DS: Duh! Not surprised since they weren't supposed to do it in the first place. Giles was furious when he found out.
UNS: But I'd think that he'd be…
DS: Like I said, we're feeling better about it now, but I really doubt we'll be doing it again because [shudders] the consequences weren't pretty. Sounds ungrateful, I know, especially since Buffy died saving me from Glorificus who wanted to use me as the Key to open a portal back to her hell dimension.
UNS: Why?
DS: [startles] Hunh?
UNS: Why did this…Glor-if-fikis? Think you were the key to…
DS: [airily waves hand] Helloooooooo! Crazy hell goddess. Who knows why she thought what she did? We were stuck with dealing with the fact she believed it. [grins] Do I look like a green, glowing blob of energy that's older than time?
UNS: {laughter} No.
DS: See? [taps finger to temple, giggles] Total nut case. [sobers] But after that, after Buffy came back from the dead, I felt like I was locked on the other side of the looking glass. Buffy was shutting me out because she thought I was too young, too stupid, and too innocent to understand everything she was going through. But I really think it boiled down to: 'I am the Slayer, and you are not, so you can't understand.' She never tried to explain anything.
UNS: How did that make you feel?
DS: Well, that made me feel like I was the one who had a problem because I really did want to understand her. That meant getting more involved with her world. Wanting to fight. To kick ass. You know, the Slayer bit. But…
UNS: But?
DS: [mouth twitches] Thing is, Sunnydale didn't just leave a big, gapping hole in the ground. It left a big, gapping hole in everyone's hearts. Even mine. Maybe especially mine. I dunno. When we first hit Cleveland and I was feeling even more alone than ever because I was surrounded by Slayers. All of them powerful, all of them naturally beautiful and athletic—I mean, have you ever heard of an ugly Slayer—all of them with that special hue around them. And me? I'm just Dawn, Buffy's sister. Oh, and I can translate any dead language you want. I'm a regular Rosetta Stone.
UNS: But that's a useful talent, especially if you want to get into research or become…
DS: Will you let me finish? God! I'm trying to explain something here.
UNS: Sorry.
DS: The thing is, before we motored into Cleveland, I had a plan. "Dawn Summers, Junior Watcher." That was me to a T.
UNS: Sounds like a good plan.
DS: The problem with any plan you think up during an apocalypse is that it kinda tends to fall apart once the apocalypse has been avoided, you know? Life eventually has to go back to normal, well, as normal as it can be when your sister's a Slayer and everyone you know fights demons. I still had to go to school and still had to plan for college.
UNS: [nods in understanding] So the normal life is more alluring?
DS: How can I explain this? The first week at my new school I was all: 'This sucks. I don't want to be here. I want to be home where all the important stuff is going on. Not taking World History or English Lit.' Then one day Lisa and Tammi, they're two Slayers who live here, they grab me and ask me how school went, and what did I learn, and what did I think of the teachers, and if there were any cute boys.
UNS: Why?
DS: I'm getting to that. At first I was mad because I thought they were making fun of me. I mean, who wants to go to school when they don't have to? But they kept asking questions, and asking for details, and they seemed really interested. When they asked me to get information about the GED, that's when it hit me: they wanted to be me.
UNS: They're not happy being Slayers?
DS: That I don't know, but…well, I think what they wanted is to have a choice. Being a Slayer may be cool, but that fact that I could be anything I wanted to be? They seemed to think that was cooler. After I realized that I started really paying attention to what was going on and know what I found out?
UNS: What?
DS: That the baby Slayers don't understand me at all. They really don't. To them I'm completely normal and because of that my future is anything I want it to be. If I want to be a doctor, lawyer, Indian chief—well, maybe not an Indian chief—but if I wanted to do it, I could just go do it. Nothing is written in stone for me. My future is wide open. I can make my own destiny and there isn't any prophecy, any mission, anything at all that can stand in my way. So if I had that, why did I want to be here when I could be out there?
UNS: [sits up] So that's why you aren't upset about us not knowing about you!
DS: [grins] Means that whatever I'll do, I'll do it because I want to do it. My life, my future is my own. [grin disappears] But I feel bad for everyone else, though. They don't have that luxury at all, do they?
UNS: [shrugs] We honestly don't know because…
DS: Oh the timeline being all messed up, yeah. But…I dunno…look at it from their point of view, hunh? You've got people from the future reacting to people in this house like they're heroes, villains, or nothing at all. That kind of reaction registers even with people who need to ride the short bus to school. Whether you like it or not, that will affect what they do from here on out. Now, maybe Faith and Buffy are cool with that, being Slayers and all. Destiny kinda comes with the territory. Maybe Robin's okay with it because he's the son of a Slayer. Maybe even Giles is okay with it because he's a Watcher and Willow's cool with it because she's a witch. The person I really feel bad for is Xander.
UNS: Why?
DS: [looks down] Before you guys showed, he was like me in a way. He could choose what he wanted to do and go where he wanted. I don't think you guys realize it—I don't think even he realizes it—but you, all of you, stole that from him. [tears start to spill] You placed a load of destiny on his shoulders and took away the one thing that made him different from everyone else.
UNS: [softly] The ability to choose his own future…oh, hada.
DS: Maybe I'm being overly dramatic, because I really doubt that Xander would ever walk away from us. Not really. But it's like [angrily wipes away tears] you've locked him into place. Made him just as much a creature of history and destiny as Buffy ever was and that's just wrong. He doesn't deserve that happening to him. He's too extraordinary for that.
UNS: I don't know what to…
DS: [straightens in chair, glares at UNS] But you're not going to do that to me. Do you understand? I'm going to choose my future. Nothing is written for me and for that I will get down on my knees every day and thank God. Let other people translate ancient texts; there are plenty of people who can. Let other people be the Slayers because now there are plenty of them around, too. Let other people be the ones to Watch; I don't want to do it because that means destiny might someday grab me and not let me go.
UNS: What are you going to do?
DS: Me? Someone has to help the other normal humans out there and there are lots of possibilities. Lots of them. But the point is I will choose. Not you. Not destiny. Not history. Me. And that is what makes me extraordinary, whether anyone in the future remembers me or not. [stands]
UNS: Wait, I have more questions…
DS: [grins] I'm sure you do, but I don't have any answers. I do want to thank you, though.
UNS: What? Why?
DS: Until you guys showed up, some part of me wondered if the world would end when I died. Now I know it won't. Thank you for that. I can now make my own future with a clear conscience.
UNS: Why would you believe that? That the world might end when you died?
DS: The key to that mystery? That key belongs only to me.
TBC…