~*Chapter Eight*~
~*~*~*~*~*~
Dawn grinned, trying to stiffle her giggles as Anya talked quickly, her arms making jerky gestures, Xander standing to her with mud on his dress slacks and a pout playing on his lips.
A month. A month had passed since she'd written that awful...angst filled chapter to her diary. So much had happened since then and she was becoming happy again.
Anya had come back...she and Xander had been reunited and had just gotten back from their 3rd date. They were taking things slow, but Dawn loved it. She hadn't realized how much she missed Anya's frankness until she'd just shown up one day, running the Magic Box again.
Anya was, at the moment, giving her the details of their third date gone bad, but she could tell they were both so happy and having fun. The car had broken down, Xander had tried to fix something and fallen in a giant mud puddle and that's why he was dripping dirt and water all over the floor, but Dawn was too engrossed in Anya's story to care.
Everyone was happy, including herself. Since Buffy hadn't allowed her to go to LA, Connor had come to her, almost three weeks ago. He'd popped up in town for the weekend. He hadn't turned away because she was huge, he had still wanted her, in his heart...in his mind and life....he still wanted her physically too. They had stayed up talking all night, much to Buffy's anger.
But then he had gone, promising to visit again, and instead of letting herself be pulled back into her depression, she'd gotten happier with her men. Buffy came around the house only to sleep or eat...or change it seemed, and she didn't care at all....
Willow had been back for two weeks, recovering from her magic high, and Dawn didn't even pretend not to see how she snuck into Spike's room at night. She's seen the dovey eyes the witch and her cuddly vampire gave each other and she was delighted. She'd easily forgiven Willow, knowing it hadn't really been her fault, and...well...she was just happy, there was nothing she could say other than that.
"....go home." Anya was saying, snapping Dawn from her thoughts.
"What?" She asked with a confused frown.
"We're gonna go home. It's getting late and Spike warned us not to keep you up because you need sleep.." Anya said quickly, in a matter-of-factly sort of way.
"Yeah...I don't know how he knows it, but he ends up pinning us when he comes home and finds out you were up late." Xander scratched the back of his head in confusion, then moved to get their coats. "We'll stop by in the morning, I'll bring doughnuts." He grinned and before Dawn could say anything, they were gone.
She shook her head with a sigh, then slowly pushed herself up and off the couch, wincing as her child kicked hard against her stomach. "Come on now...mommy's gonna go to bed, can't have you keeping her up." She muttered as she rubbed her stomach, then began to wobble towards the stairs.
If this had been every other night, Spike or Willow would have been at her side to help her upstairs, but Spike was in LA helping Angel with something...and giving Connor her little message that he was to come visit her soon, she missed him. And Willow was working late at one of her healing classes, helping out some new wiccans or something like that. Buffy was probably patroling...she didn't care.
She grunted with a frown as she finally got to the top of the stairs and ran straight into a shorter form...not much shorter, but still shorter.
"Oh...Buffy..." It had seemed like it was forever since she'd seen Buffy, but she'd seen the blonde just the other day.
"Dawn..." There was a sneer in her sisters voice and then everything was a blur to her. She could hear angry words being said to her, then her own voice shouting back, but it was like she was outside looking in, and but the time she was back in her body, trying to control her overpowering emotions, everything had gone horribly wrong.
It was a blur again, and all she could feel was pain and was surprised to find herself on her back, at the bottom of the stairs.
Everything went black.
TBC...
~*~*~*~*~*~
Dawn grinned, trying to stiffle her giggles as Anya talked quickly, her arms making jerky gestures, Xander standing to her with mud on his dress slacks and a pout playing on his lips.
A month. A month had passed since she'd written that awful...angst filled chapter to her diary. So much had happened since then and she was becoming happy again.
Anya had come back...she and Xander had been reunited and had just gotten back from their 3rd date. They were taking things slow, but Dawn loved it. She hadn't realized how much she missed Anya's frankness until she'd just shown up one day, running the Magic Box again.
Anya was, at the moment, giving her the details of their third date gone bad, but she could tell they were both so happy and having fun. The car had broken down, Xander had tried to fix something and fallen in a giant mud puddle and that's why he was dripping dirt and water all over the floor, but Dawn was too engrossed in Anya's story to care.
Everyone was happy, including herself. Since Buffy hadn't allowed her to go to LA, Connor had come to her, almost three weeks ago. He'd popped up in town for the weekend. He hadn't turned away because she was huge, he had still wanted her, in his heart...in his mind and life....he still wanted her physically too. They had stayed up talking all night, much to Buffy's anger.
But then he had gone, promising to visit again, and instead of letting herself be pulled back into her depression, she'd gotten happier with her men. Buffy came around the house only to sleep or eat...or change it seemed, and she didn't care at all....
Willow had been back for two weeks, recovering from her magic high, and Dawn didn't even pretend not to see how she snuck into Spike's room at night. She's seen the dovey eyes the witch and her cuddly vampire gave each other and she was delighted. She'd easily forgiven Willow, knowing it hadn't really been her fault, and...well...she was just happy, there was nothing she could say other than that.
"....go home." Anya was saying, snapping Dawn from her thoughts.
"What?" She asked with a confused frown.
"We're gonna go home. It's getting late and Spike warned us not to keep you up because you need sleep.." Anya said quickly, in a matter-of-factly sort of way.
"Yeah...I don't know how he knows it, but he ends up pinning us when he comes home and finds out you were up late." Xander scratched the back of his head in confusion, then moved to get their coats. "We'll stop by in the morning, I'll bring doughnuts." He grinned and before Dawn could say anything, they were gone.
She shook her head with a sigh, then slowly pushed herself up and off the couch, wincing as her child kicked hard against her stomach. "Come on now...mommy's gonna go to bed, can't have you keeping her up." She muttered as she rubbed her stomach, then began to wobble towards the stairs.
If this had been every other night, Spike or Willow would have been at her side to help her upstairs, but Spike was in LA helping Angel with something...and giving Connor her little message that he was to come visit her soon, she missed him. And Willow was working late at one of her healing classes, helping out some new wiccans or something like that. Buffy was probably patroling...she didn't care.
She grunted with a frown as she finally got to the top of the stairs and ran straight into a shorter form...not much shorter, but still shorter.
"Oh...Buffy..." It had seemed like it was forever since she'd seen Buffy, but she'd seen the blonde just the other day.
"Dawn..." There was a sneer in her sisters voice and then everything was a blur to her. She could hear angry words being said to her, then her own voice shouting back, but it was like she was outside looking in, and but the time she was back in her body, trying to control her overpowering emotions, everything had gone horribly wrong.
It was a blur again, and all she could feel was pain and was surprised to find herself on her back, at the bottom of the stairs.
Everything went black.
TBC...