Disclaimer: Joss, not me, owns Dawn, Buffy, Xander, Willow, their mothers, their cousins, they're half-brothers, their mom's sister's boyfriend's mother, and Spike.(despite my wishes to the contrary) Reviews: please Distribution: Just tell me

'Spike' gonna get turned. Spike's gonna get evil. Spike's not going to have a chip. They don't even have chips. Not even potato ones. Get a hold of yourself, Dawn. Drusilla's gonna be here. Darla's gonna be here. ANGELUS is gonna be here. Crap. Crap! CRAP! Not cool. Not kosher. Breathe Dawn; they're looking at you. Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. It's okay. You'll be out of here in no time. Buffy and everybody are working really hard to get me home. Yup. I'll be at home by lunchtime. No problem. We'll kick the First's behind six ways from Sunday in good ol' 2003."

"Miss Summers?"

"What!" she gasped. Geez, Dawn. Strung out much. She look at the shocked William. He stuttered.

"Would you like some..."

"Yes, I'm starving," she said, absently taking the plate he offered, her eyes blankly ahead.

"Miss Summers, are you quite all right, my dear?" William's mother asked. Dawn looked at her, her eyes resembling a deer caught in headlights.

"I'm' fine," she squeaked. "May I be excused?" She forgot her hunger pangs as she left the table and running outside to the gardens she had seen last night. She felt the warm morning sun hit her as she struggled to breathe?

'But when?' she thought. Spike had told her about his turning. He was at a party. The one with Cecily or whatever the stupid broad's name was. If she could find out when it was, she would know when to skip town. Why? Why was she put here? Was it the first trying to get her killed? What else could it be? Willow gone awry again? She needed to find out when it was. She had to get out of there!

"Miss Summers?" William asked. Dawn gasped, looking at him.

"Don't scare me like that!" she said, forgetting wit wasn't Spike. She regretted it when he shied a bit. She didn't mean to flip out on him. "I'm sorry," she said softer. "I'm just a little... overwhelmed right now. I mean, I don't even know how I got here. I barely remember my name." William smiled shyly.

"It is all right," he said. "I understand. I only wanted to see if you were well. You seem extremely tense."

"Yes," she said. "I am. I just, want to find out how to... get home." William's smile faded a little at the thought. Surely she would want to get home. He would if he were in her situation. The thought saddened him still.

"Of course," he said. "We shall find your parents as soon as possible. I will send a note to the constable to search for any missing persons, if it pleases you to do so." Dawn nodded, playing like she didn't know. He hadn't seen her modern clothes, and his mother would probably never speak of them, so she probably wouldn't be found out any time soon. She didn't like lying to them, but what was she going to say? 'Uh, actually, I'm from the future, so it really won't so any good.' She'd probably be hanged as a witch or something.

"Miss Summers, my mother sent me to ask you if you wished to go shopping with her today. I believe she wanted to buy you a few dresses..."

"Oh, no," Dawn said. "I couldn't. She's already done so much..."

"No no," he said. "She's always wanted a young girl around to spoil. You'll be ruining her fun." Dawn smiled.

"No, I really couldn't..."

"She told me to tell you that she won't take no for an answer." Dawn sighed.

"I believe she want to show you off at the upcoming ball in a few weeks." Dawn paused. Ball? She asked that very question.

"Yes, a social of sorts they hold every so often. You wouldn't mind being my guest, would you?"

"How can I refuse?" she said, maintain a sweet façade but cringing. Great. Great. A few weeks was all she had.

"Don't be modest," William's mother said, insisting that she twirl so that she could see the rest of the dress Dawn was wearing. Dawn was torn between feeling like a fool and feeling like a princess. She didn't like the thought of some stranger buying all this stuff for her, but it was Spike's mother. Did that give them some kind of weird connection? Her dress was deep green velvet, made for night parties. It was supposedly in style. William's mother insisted that she would be the prettiest thing at that party.

"Mrs. Abinton will be so jealous. She's always throwing her two daughters at every rich man that she comes across. And they're not half as beautiful as you are. Now, now, don't be blushing. We can't be ignoring the truth, now can we." Dawn now understood what William meant. Maybe She had wanted a daughter to spoil. She still didn't feel right accepting gifts from her, but she couldn't convince her otherwise. She was simply lightly pinched on the cheek, being told 'such a sweet girl'. She felt like some child that was being patted on the head.

"Thank you," Dawn said quietly on the ride back to their house.

"Oh Dawn," she said. "Humor and old woman." Dawn smiled shyly. She could manage that. Everything was happening so fast. One minute she was fighting the root of all evil the next she was being shopped for by Spike's mother while Spike was human: in 19th century England. Fate, it seemed, was not without a sense of humor. And it wasn't hard to notice William's attraction to her. She wasn't conceited, but he wore his heart out on his sleeve. It wasn't hard to notice that she felt the same way. Every feeling she had managed to bury toward Spike was knocking at the door inside her. It was so easy to love William because it was so easy to love Spike. Spike was a bit wiser then William, but they were so much alike. Spike, even while a vampire, always let the world know what he thought, In more of a sarcastic way. William let everything he thought shine through his actions and words. She only hoped that this feeling for William and resurfacing feeling for Spike, which were the same, because they were the same person, was merely some kind of byproduct of time travel, too much trauma. Not to mention the next few weeks. She was nearly two weeks away to being smack in the middle of the Scourge of Europe. It figured, with her luck. How was she going to get out of that one?