Hero

This is a very short drabble (Dawn's POV as the Scoobies watch a late night movie at the Summers' house) on how everyone is a hero. Slight pairings of XanderBuffy and SpikeDawn.

7-7-7

I can't believe Buffy's making me do this homework. Who even cares about Henry VIII's wives? He had six and was a bit of a womaniser. But if I wrote that, Mrs Copperface will blow a gasket.

"Dawn! Are you done yet?" Buffy calls through the living room to the dining table where I'm working.

"Nearly." I shout back over the cries of Faye Ray screaming as King Kong rampaged through a 1930s New York City.

I flex my fingers to get rid of the cramp. I double check it and find something forgotten about Catherine Howard.

"Hey, you guys! You know Catherine Howard?"

"Is she the woman who does the morning weather?" Xander jokes and I hear the smack of Buffy's fist on his shoulder playfully, followed by the kiss that balances out the pain on the spot.

I'm glad that Buffy and Xander finally got it together. After eight years together, they had finally seen what was in front of them. The drawback is that they're always kissing.

"Can you think of a nice way to say that she was a slut?"

"What about 'sexually promiscuous'?" Willow says.

"Whore?" Spike chips in.

"Well actually, according to accounts, Catherine Howard was falsely..." Giles starts a talk about the fifth wife of Henry the Eighth and I snicker when I hear Willow hit Giles with a piece of popcorn.

I think Willow's is the best. I finish it and shove the homework in my history book for tomorrow. I hop to the kitchen and grab a glimpse of the gang sat on the couch. They all look so happy.

I don't belong here. They were happy before I was created, before the Key turned into me and made me a life, a history. Everyone there has a purpose, Buffy's a Slayer, Willow's a witch...I'm...I'm Research Girl...

I feel tears in my eyes and start to busy myself with making a drink before I start crying like a baby.

"Hey Dawnie, I just came in for a glass of..." Xander stops when he sees my tears.

"Oh God, hey, what's up?" Xander says, enveloping me instantly in a Xander-hug. He smells of sweat and spicy, warm cinnamon and I remember the crush I had on him.

"Just...seeing you all makes me realise...I don't belong here."

"That's ridiculous."

Xander stood next to me, resting on the edge of the sink.

"In high school, I was the sidekick. I wasn't smart like Willow or strong like Buffy or popular like Cordelia or...Oz. He had all the werewolfiness. I thought that I wasn't meant to be part of the gang. Turns out I'm an 'intergral part' of it."

"What's this got to do with-"

"Don't stop me Dawn, I'm on a roll here. You're not a Slayer, Dawn. But that doesn't mean you're not a hero. Look at you, Dawn." I look down at my robin's-egg-blue tee and jeans.

"Not literally. You were a Key. You still are. A Key to everyone's heart. You're strong and amazing. You're not special like a Slayer..." I bow my head at his words, "you're so extraordinary. You're a Champion. You're a hero." I blink more tears at Xander's heartfelt words.

He hugs me and goes into the living room. I make my lemonade and let my heart swell until it's bursting at the seams.

I enter and see Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles and Spike sat on and around the couch.

"Hey Nibblet. The film's starting." Spike says, smiling at me. He pats the couch and I sit gratefully down. He takes my bare feet and places them in his lap. Buffy was so happy about her relationship with Xand that when Spike told her that him and me were...courting, as he put it, she let me.

I feel happy. I'm home. I'm not strong like Buffy. I'm not super-smart like Giles and Willow. But I am a Hero.

Xander winks at me above Buffy's head and I grin back.

Dawn the Hero. Sounds cool. I'll have to get a name tag or get it on a tee shirt.

Nice.

Fin