Disclaimer: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and Angel are property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and the WB. Not mine, please don't sue.

Chapter 2: Explanations

Connor was stunned. That was the only word for what he was feeling at that particular moment. Dawn was in his arms, a place he'd dreamed about her being for years, and he couldn't think of one damned thing to say to her. Dawn's sobs settled into a quiet snuffling, and she met his gaze with embarrassment. She hastily wiped her face, and pulled back out of his embrace. His arms suddenly felt hollow as she leaned back into his couch.

"Can you tell me?" Dawn asked him. If she was going to get to the bottom of how she'd ended up in the Twilight Zone, then she needed to have all the info to survive in the world she was in.

"About Buffy and Dad?" He replied. She nodded, reaching for the glass of water he'd brought her a few minutes earlier. As she did, the shoulder of her robe slipped slightly, and Connor couldn't help but stare at the exposed flesh. Dawn either didn't notice or didn't care, he wasn't sure which. "Well, pretty much right after I returned from Quortoth, Dad and Cordy had this big showdown. There was this mystical pregnancy and some kind of God. Once Dad defeated her, he received this thing called a Shanshu. It made him human. By the time the leaves were falling Dad came back here, looking for a new direction in his life. Within couple of months, your sister and my dad were married." Connor gave her the short version. Things had gone differently this time. He and Angel had a great relationship, and he'd never fathered a baby with Cordelia – there was no way he was going to repeat his mistakes. He already knew how that life turned out.

"And the night with Glory and the tower?" Dawn questioned. She was desperate to know, but also terrified of what she might have done.

"From what I've been told, which isn't much, is that while the portal was opened, it was also closed without anyone dying. Only you know what really happened up there, and you aren't talking. Buffy made everyone quit asking you about it." Connor told her. She seemed to be processing the information.

"I wish I remembered." Dawn whispered.

"Well, that's what happens when you play with memory spells." He admonished her. While he wasn't afraid of magic, he didn't like it. Dawn glanced at him sharply, a weird look in her eye. "You know, this afternoon. The memory spell. Dad and Buffy freaking out." Connor went on. Her shoulders seemed to sag a little, but he couldn't figure out why.

"Right. The memory spell." Dawn echoed. She propped her chin up with her hand, and sighed.

*

Across town, Willow was tossing and turning in her bed. No matter what she did, or which was she turned, sleep was far from coming. She didn't know quite what it was, but all day she'd been plagued with this feeling that something was off. Really, she supposed, since early afternoon, when Buffy had called about Dawn. She flipped over again, careful not to wake the person sleeping next to her. It was bad enough she was still awake. Maybe she'd forgotten to do something.

Slinging the covers back, Willow slipped her feet into her slippers, and slid her robe on. Silently, she made her way out of the bedroom. She shut the door behind her and flipped the hall light on. Glancing in the second bedroom of her apartment, she saw nothing out of place. Willow continued toward the living room, double-checking the front door to make sure it was locked. It was. She sighed, resting her hand on the doorknob.

She just couldn't put her finger on what the problem was. Sighing again, she headed into the kitchen, and took a half-gallon of milk out of the fridge. Maybe a cup of hot chocolate would settle her nerves.

As she stirred the ingredients in her saucepan, and watched them come to a boil, an arm slipped around her waist from behind, and a kiss was planted on her neck. She smiled, stirring the hot chocolate mixture.

"I didn't mean to wake you." She said.

"You know I can't sleep in that bed without you." Lindsey drawled, leaning against the counter beside her. She smiled, and poured the hot chocolate into two mugs. He picked them up, and then settled themselves on the living room couch, her feet in his lap. "So why couldn't you sleep?" He asked, taking a sip.

"I've just felt off, you know, like something's not right?" Willow explained. She twisted her engagement ring, hoping to alleviate the anxiousness she was fighting. No luck.

"I'm sure it's nothing, babe." Lindsey said, reaching out to cover her hand with his. "You know how you get sometimes." Willow smiled back at him, feeling reassured for the moment.

He smiled at her, making her insides melt. After Tara's death, and going all black magic Willow, she never thought she'd love again. Lindsey had blown into town, and had come into the Magic Box a few times. While he'd flirted, and called her, she'd made it pretty clear that Tara was what she'd wanted. After Tara, and everything else, Lindsey had been there for her. Here they were a couple of years later, engaged. She wouldn't have believed it if it had been prophesied. They finished their hot chocolate in silence, just enjoying each other's company. "Think you can sleep now?" He wanted to know. Willow shrugged.

"Here's hoping." She said, getting up. Hand in hand, they headed back down the hall to the bedroom.

*

Connor stepped out of his bathroom, and flipped off the light. He opened his mouth to speak to Dawn, when he realized she'd fallen asleep on his couch. He went over and sat down next to her. They weren't really that close, he reflected. Of course, she'd been a little taken aback by his existence in the first place. Now that Buffy and his dad were married, he was technically her nephew, and fact which seemed to bother her to no end.

Dawn had been freaked about trying to explain his presence to her friends, and even though Buffy had come up with a pretty good cover story, Dawn was not satisfied. So she didn't explain him at all. She didn't bring her friends home, and she knew she didn't talk about him to her friends either. As far as Dawn was concerned, when she wasn't home, he didn't exist.

It was easy enough for her. He'd never gone to Sunnydale High, and the transcripts they'd used to get him into college had been forged. All his learning had been the result of strenuous tutorials with Willow. He had managed to get his GED, and have a graduation.

He sighed, staring at Dawn. He debated on waking her, but figured that since she looked so peaceful, he'd let her sleep. Connor reached out and scooped her up silently, and carried her over to his bed. He stiffened in shock as she snuggled into him, murmuring gently against his throat. Desire shot through him, and he hated himself.

Resisting the urge to crawl in with her, he settled for his couch, and flopped down on it. All thoughts of going out on patrol had been erased with Dawn's arrival, and now he was stuck brooding about her.

He supposed he'd been infatuated with this Dawn from the moment they'd met. They'd had a fiery confrontation, and it had ruined their relationship from day one. She'd pulled him aside, and in a rapid-fire manner, demanded to know how he'd appeared on the tower the night she'd been sacrificed by Glory. Wondered if he should have told her the truth haunted him still. That he and her future self had been doing a memory spell, and somehow they'd managed to actually go back in time through her memories. That because they'd dived into the portal, saving her life, they'd also altered reality. Hell, it'd sent him back to the moment he'd portaled out of Quortoth. He hadn't said any of that. Instead, he'd treated her like a head case, and he'd paid for it from that moment on.

Connor ran a hand through his hair. He'd been so sure she'd remember too, like he did. He couldn't figure out why she didn't. Just over two years had passed since he'd left Quortoth, and every year on this day, this very day, he prayed it would be the day that Dawn remembered everything. Most importantly, he wanted her to remember that she loved him. It seemed like it never going to happen, and now, she was losing memories of this life too. It couldn't be a coincidence. Could it?

His thoughts tormented him until he fell into an uneasy sleep.