Part Four

Dawn cringed when she saw Buffy standing in the doorway with a rather unpleased look upon her face. "Um, hi Buffy, we were just -"

"Wait, let me guess, you were just walking around and happened to trip and fall on his lips?"

"Well -"

Buffy interrupted her again. "-And then his tongue just happened to break your fall?"

"No...." Dawn's nervous look was replaced by one of irritation. "What you saw was exactly what happened. We were kissing, end of story. It wasn't an accident."

Dawn's bold statement made Buffy falter a bit. She hadn't been prepared to see one of her best friends making out with her sister, nonetheless have her sister be so straightforward with her.

Xander quickly glanced at Dawn, also taken aback by her matter-of-fact tone. This was not the way he had envisioned greeting Buffy after a year of not seeing her. He looked at Buffy again who looked like a bull who just had a red cloth waved in front of it. "Uh, hi Buff."

Buffy shifted her hardened stare from Dawn to Xander and her stony gaze softened a bit. "Hey Xand." She looked down uncomfortably at her shoes and then back up at him. "I see you're back from Africa."

He nodded slowly. "Yep."

After a long awkward silence, Buffy rolled her eyes. "Oh jeez, come here and give me a hug."

Xander quickly glanced at Dawn in sheer surprise for a moment before enveloping Buffy in a long overdue hug. As she pulled back from their embrace, she looked at Dawn. "I can kinda tell now why you wanted to kiss him so bad; he's built better then Hulk Hogan!"

Dawn couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her lips. "Hulk Hogan? Still living in the 80's are we?"

Buffy shrugged. "I'm not up on my wrestling these days; Xander who's the new "cool" wrestler guy?"

Xander didn't even hear her question; he just stood there looking at his arms and grinning. "Huh? What did you say?"

Dawn patted him on the shoulder. "He's still basking in the compliment you gave him."

A small smile formed on Buffy's lips. "I meant every word." She walked over to the table and patted the chairs next to her. "So, let's talk about this little matter-at-hand before I go back out to patrol."

The two reluctantly sat down around the table much to their disappointment. Xander opened his mouth to talk, but Dawn beat him to it. "Look Buffy, I really didn't want you to find out about us this way; I was going to sit down and tell you about it instead of you getting the audio/video version up close and personal." She cleared her throat and continued. "I don't think I ever told you how I felt about Xander. I mean, I know you always knew I had a crush on him a few years ago and all that, but its a lot more then that now, I think I'm in love with him." She nervously twirled a piece of her long brown hair before glancing at Xander and smiling. "And it turns out he feels the same way. I know how weird it must feel for you to see your best friend and sister kissing in front of you, but I think we've all seen weirder things in our lifetimes then this so I'm going to ask you to please accept it and be happy for us okay?"

Buffy just sat there looking at her sister who in the span of two minutes grew up right in front of her. "I..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I just -" She blinked a few times and Xander and Dawn saw her eyes become glassy. "When did my little sister grow up?"

Dawn felt herself get choked up and as she went over to Buffy's chair, she threw her arms around her sister and they held each other tightly for a few moments before Buffy pushed back a stray hair from Dawn's face and smiled. "Of course I'm going to be happy for you two." She looked at Xander and squeezed his hand. "I'd rather her be happy with you then anyone else you know, and I'm sorry I got mad before, I just wasn't expecting it."

"Thanks Buffy, that means a lot you know." Xander gave her an appreciative glance before grinning seductively at Dawn.

Buffy caught the look and rolled her eyes. "Just please, if its at all possible, let me not see any gratuitous making out or anything of the sort." She got up from the table and picked up her leather coat from the coat rack. "I'm gonna go patrolling real quick, I'll be back in a little while." She turned towards the door and then looked back at Xander and Dawn who were looking at each other like hungry wolves. "Oh, and if I ever see the two of you in bed I will not be responsible for any lost appendages that may happen as a result." With that, she casually closed the door behind her.

Xander unconsciously placed a hand over the front of his pants while Dawn laughed out loud next to him. "So that went rather well dontcha think?"