"We're calling her
Dawn."
"I could be the one to look after her sometimes,
if you need a helper. Mom? Can I take care of her?"
"Ewww, she's stinky."
"Bet you can't push me all the way
around!"
"Oh yes I can!"
"No you
can't!"
"Buffy? Why are Mom and Dad always yelling
at each other?"
"That's... just how grown-ups talk,
Dawn. Hey, you wanna play with my Barbie?"
"Dad
doesn't hate you, Dawn."
"Why doesn't he want to be with
us?"
"Shhh... don't cry. It'll be better once..."
"And
I don't WANT to move. It's not fair. Why can't we stay here? I don't
know anyone in Sunnydale. This is all your fault."
"I
know you let Angel spend the night. I'm SO telling Mom."
"You
do, and I'll feed you to the vampires."
"Oh come on.
Buffy, I'm 11, I don't believe in monsters anymore."
"Yeah.
You'd make a lousy vampire anyway. Let's just keep this our little
secret, OK? I'll let you watch a scary movie next time Mom's
out...?"
"Buffy, it's just Angel..."
"He's
not Angel anymore."
"He changed his name?"
"Please,
just trust me on this. You can NOT invite him in. If he hurt
you..."
"So where were you?"
"LA."
"You
never even called."
"I'm sorry, Dawnie... I just had
to..."
"I hate you."
"Oooooh! I'm a
vampire and I've come to suck your blood!"
"Help! It's
Dracula!"
"Girls, stop goofing around at the dinner
table... and spit out those chopsticks, Dawn!"
"Why
do you care? You're never around anyway. You don't even live here
anymore..."
"God, you're such a brat! I'm in college,
Dawn, I can't spend my life looking after you."
"She gets to be a kid, and she acts like it's the biggest burden in the world. Sometimes I would like to just curl up in Mom's lap and not worry about the fate of the world."
"What was that
all about?"
"Nothing. Sister
stuff."
"Buffy?"
"Yeah?"
"What's
wrong with Mom?"
"I don't know."
"For the last time, Dawn: you do NOT come patrolling with me, you do NOT stay out after dark, and you do NOT 'borrow' my make-up!"
"We have to take care of her. Buffy, promise me. If anything happens, if I don't come through this -"
"I'm trying, Dawn, I am
really trying to take care of things. But I don't even know what I'm
doing! Mom always knew..."
"Nobody's asking you to be
mom."
"Well who's gonna be if I'm not?"
"Tell
me to kill my sister!"
"She's not your sister."
"No.
She's not. She's more than that. She's me. The Monks made her out of
me. I hold her and I feel closer to her than... It's not just the
memories they built, it's physical. Dawn is a part of me. The only
part that I..."
"You'll fail. You'll die. We all
will."
"I'm sorry. I love you all, but I'm sorry."
"I knew what was right. I don't have that any more. I don't understand. I don't know how to live in this world, if these are the choices, if everything just gets stripped away. I don't see the point. I just wish... I just wish my mom was here."
"There's no
time! You have to let go!"
"I can't.
Dawnie, I can't..."