"I have to go back."
"Well, duh! Even Xander would be happy to see you if he could see what Buffy's going through."
"Doesn't everybody know – can't they see?" Angel was very confused. From the way Dawn had been talking, he would be surprised if even Xander didn't know. It wasn't like she was hard to read or anything – she was practically as easy to read as a picture book. Even to Angelus!
"She's built herself a nice little cocoon that nobody can see into (except me). Not even mum can see what's going on. Not even Willow, Xander or Giles. Only me – and I can't exactly do much to help her, can I?"
"I think you've probably done far more than you realise, and now I'm going back, and we'll talk."
Dawn rolled her eyes, "Yeah, sure you'll talk. You've been separated for about a month, and you're going back so you can just talk."
Angel just looked around uncomfortably. "Shouldn't you be going back to your dad's place? I know I said I would take you, but there's the whole vampire thing, unless you want to take the sewers – which aren't actually as dirty as they sound. I mean, if you want me to, I can take you almost anywhere via the sewers, but I doubt if you'd want to, and I don't know where your dad's place is, so that would also be a problem." Angel, he who broods and never talks, was rambling to a twelve-year-old girl. Will wonders never cease?
"But I thought you were going to take me home? Y'know, to Sunnydale. That's what you said yesterday. I could always phone mum, but you did say you would take me – and you're going into Sunnydale anyway, so it's not like it's out of your way or anything. Is it?"
"What? I never said I would take you back to sunny – oh never mind. We can leave at sunset. Do you need to collect anything from your dad's place? If you do, tell me where it is, and I can take you in the sewers, or get someone to take you back."
"I'm not a kid – I can go back to the apartment by myself you know." She paused for a moment, "can you really get there by sewers?"
"Are you sure this is safe, and, like, allowed? To go traipsing through the sewers like this? And what happens if we get lost or something?"
"Yes it's safe. I have no idea if it's allowed, but I doubt very much if anyone would be here to threaten us anyway. And even if they were, most people wouldn't even care – plenty of homeless kids use these tunnels to live in. And I told you before, Dawn, I have a photographic memory, so I can remember the route on the map, and we can't get lost, because I can track our scents back to where we went wrong. Don't worry, I know these sewers better than I know the back of my hand!
"If you say so …"
Man and girl continued into the dark tunnels deep under the city of L.A.
"Alright Dawn, the sun's set!" Angel yelled in her general direction, where she was sprawled on the sofa, reading (which translates to flicking through) very old romance novels. "Time to go! You've got all of your stuff, yeah?"
"Yes, Angel. You've only asked about ten times already!" She put down her current book and grabbed her bag, walking over to him with it in hand. "And what's with all the romance books? I never figured you for one to read that kind of mush."
"I don't." He replied far too quickly, "It's just that over 250-odd years, one collects a lot of things."
"Sure."
Sorry, this is sort of a filler before the next chapter, and really pointless (I just wanted them to be able to get into the car without any confusioin). Are song words allowed on this site anymore?