It didn't take Dawn too long to catch up to Connor. Soon she was directly behind him, trying to think of the best excuse she could come up with for following him and endangering herself against everyone else's wishes. She was about to speak up and let him know she was there, when he suddenly whirled to face her, crossbow pointed right at her heart.

"Dawn!" He exclaimed with a mixture of anger and shock. "You really have to stop doing that! That's the second time I almost killed you!"

"Yea, but this time you stopped yourself so it's like you're improving..." Dawn offered lamely. He smiled slightly and lowered the crossbow.

"It's a natural reaction," he explained, "for somebody from Quartoth to shoot first and ask questions, well...never if the shot did what it was supposed to do. There are a lot of things I have to unlearn from that dimension. It's gonna take some time."

Dawn smiled, having the feeling that he meant more than he was letting on, hoping that finally he was beginning to consider Angel in a more objective light. He smiled back at her, caught up in it and then, almost instantly his face closed off and his eyes hardened.

"What are you doing out here anyway?" He wondered. "Angel told you to stay at the hotel with Fred and I doubt Buffy would want you out wandering the streets by yourself."

"I'm not by myself," Dawn corrected firmly, "I'm with you and Angel has no say in where I go or what I do and as for Buffy....well, she's too caught up in the usual Angel angst-a-thon to notice I snuck out...at least for now. I want to come with you to Wolfram and Hart."

"Oh no, no way!" Connor objected. "This is going to be really dangerous. I can't expose you to that. They would kill me...then you."

"When did you become the good soldier?" Dawn asked with a wry smile. Connor realized she was joking and allowed himself a smile as well. "Look, I will take full blame here. I'm sick of sitting at the hotel doing nothing! That isn't what I cam here for! I came here to help."

"What if we get caught?" Connor argued. "If I'm compromised it's of no real consequence, I'm sure that's why Angel sent me, but you...you Dawn. You have people who love you deeply and don't want to see you hurt. People like Cordelia, Angel, your sister..." And me, he thought, but didn't voice it.

"You honestly think that's why Angel sent you on this mission?" Dawn said in surprise, unable to believe how alone Connor perceived himself to be. "You think he sent you because it's not going to matter if you're killed?"

"I know it," Connor said softly, feeling for the first time a stab of sharp pain at the knowledge that his father had no problems sending him on a mission that could mean his death. What was happening to him? Since when did he care what Angel thought?

"It isn't!" Dawn vehemently exclaimed. Connor looked a little surprised at her blatant display of emotion. "Connor I want to come with you not only to help the mission, but to help keep you safe as well. You know I'm not useless...you're probably the only one who knows. And Angel loves you, despite what you choose to think. He sent you on this mission because he knows you have the skills to get it done without getting caught and because he knows that he can't do it himself. He trusts you to come back to him with the information he needs and I don't want to see anything happen to you. I care about you. Can you believe that?"

"I..." Connor paused, unable to hold back the flood of emotion he suddenly felt as he stared into the eyes of the only person other than Holtz who had seemed to care about him so strongly, possibly even love him. And what about Angel? Was what she said about him true? Their argument earlier had softened Connor a little bit towards his father, but how could he be sure he was trustworthy when everything inside him told him he would be abandoning Holtz if he did so? "Dawn, I..."

"Let me come with you Connor." She persisted, stepping closer and gently touching his arm. A jolt of electricity shot through him at the feel of her touch and the depth of caring in her eyes. "Let me do what I came here for and help. You know I can, don't you?"

"Yes," he finally said when he was able to form words again. "Just try to be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you Dawn."

"Me either," she said with a wink, in an attempt to cover up the shiver that was running through her. "I'm kind of fond of me."

"Me too," Connor whispered to himself as Dawn went on ahead.