Life without Buffy wasn't easy. Day after day, Dawn went through her normal routine, telling herself that her sister would prevail and not to lose hope, but as time began to pass, the truth of that statement started to become more and more remote. Connor did his best to be there for her and to take care of her, as per Buffy's request, but it was clear to Dawn that he too was going through a personal hell of his own and much as she cared for him, getting through to him once he had closed himself off was another matter all together.

Eventually she just gave up and concentrated on helping the rest of the Angel Investigations team to keep the hotel running in Angel's absence. She tried not to think of Buffy, but it was getting more and more difficult the longer she stayed away. Wesley had been making tentative visits to the hotel to make sure she was OK and that she was holding up well. She was grateful for his presence, as Wesley was soothing company and she sensed that he was in as much pain for different reasons as she was.

On this particular day nobody was in the hotel, save for Connor who was up in his room as usual. Climbing the stairs, she knocked nervously on his door, unsure of the mood he would be in. Sometimes he was the Connor she had begun to discover before Angel disappeared. That Connor only emerged when she was feeling particularly down or upset. It was those times when she would see him smile, see the light in his eyes that she had only begun to discover and that became her strength. Most of the time however, he was the old Connor. He was the sullen, angry and confused person that she had met such a short time ago in the ally way.

She could hear him tell her to come in and she did so, smiling softly in hopes of receiving a smile in return. He tried, she could see the effort but was unsuccessful.

"I was hoping you would come downstairs." She told him. "I was thinking we could maybe get out of the hotel for a little while....maybe walk around, get some ice cream?"

"I'm not really in the mood for ice cream Dawn." Connor replied, his eyes downcast. She sighed, somewhat impatiently.

"What are you in the mood for then?" She sat next to him, and touched his arm gently. "There's nobody here Connor. You don't have to hide from me."

"I'm not hiding." He insisted.

"You are hiding," she replied in a patient, but firm tone. "Ever since Angel disappeared you've been....well, you've been angry and upset and Mr.-locks-himself-in-a-room-guy and it's beginning to frighten me."

"Well what do you expect?" Connor burst out angrily. "I was just beginning to get to know him Dawn. I was just beginning to be able to get past the hatred and past the anger and past the hurt, and then he's ripped away from me, like everyone else in my life has been! He's been lost to me my entire childhood and now I might not get the chance to have an adulthood with him! And it's your fault! If it hadn't been for you I wouldn't have given him a chance, I wouldn't have tried to see him like you do. I wouldn't have started to care that he was gone, I wouldn't have..."

"So you hate me now, is that it?" She countered, her earlier patience replaced with cold fury. "I am trying to help you Connor! I am trying to be here for you!"

"I don't hate you Dawn." Connor assured her. "I could never hate you. But I resent you. I resent that you could get me to care this way, only for me to get hurt again. I'm feeling so many things that I had promised myself I would never get trapped into feeling and it's all because of you. You brought these feelings out in me."

"Well welcome to the world Connor," Dawn said icily. "Welcome to being a human being. You are angry that you're feeling things now? Well boo hoo! At least you can feel! It's better than being a hollow shell, like you were when I first met you. Being able to laugh means that you have to be able to cry and I won't apologize for that. God, did you even stop for one second to consider what Buffy and Angel must be going through? They are trapped in unimaginable hell and you're mad that you mourn them? I never realized you were so selfish Connor. In my opinion, mourning them is the least we can do. We owe them that much."

"How is it that you can always make me feel like I'm only one inch tall?" Connor asked her ruefully. He smiled slightly to show her that his earlier outburst had calmed now. Sighing heavily, he felt all the emotions he had been bottling for days rushing to the surface and although the last thing he wanted to do was to break down in front of Dawn he couldn't help it.

Dawn watched as Connor's shoulders began to shake and realized that he was crying. Touched, she placed a hand on his back, hoping he realized it as a gesture of comfort and compassion. Upon feeling her touch, he gazed up at her, eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"I'm so scared Dawn." He confessed, horrified that he was telling her this. "I'm just so scared."

"Of what?" She wondered, shocked by his words.

"When I was in Quartoth, I had Holtz to care for me. Even when I came here, I knew Angel...my father, would look after me, however much I didn't want him to. Then I met you and you helped me to begin to forgive him and I began to want him to watch over me. This world was so frightening to me, but I had him and I had you and once you came into the picture it didn't seem so scary anymore."

"I'm glad I could do that for you Connor," she whispered.

"But it is scary!" He continued, oblivious to her words. "I mean, I just start to care for him, just start to get to know him and he's ripped away. It's so easy to take someone for granted and even easier to lose them and now I've only got you and what if...." His voice broke and fresh tears overtook his form.

"What if what?" She questioned.

"What if I fail your sister?" His voice was so quiet she had to strain to hear him. "What if I screw up and I lose you too? Nothing is permanent, nothing is forever Dawn, nothing! There's no guarantee about anything and the thought of being without you scares me to death. I don't want to be alone anymore."

"God Connor, you will never be alone." Dawn promised him fervently. "I'm not going anywhere do you hear me? I have to be here for you and for my sister when she gets back. And she is coming back. I have seen her go through worse things. She will bring Angel home and you will get your second chance, I promise."

"Dawn I think that I'm falling..."

Fearful of the intensity of his voice and the consequences that his coming words might bring, she kissed him deeply, hoping to silence his voice and his soul at least for a little while.

"Buffy was wrong when she asked you to take care of me." She finally said after they had broken apart and sat together pondering all that had happened. "She should have realized that you need to be taken care of too."

"We'll take care of each other then?" Connor said, a tentative question lacing the tone of his voice.

"We will." Dawn said firmly. She squeezed his hand to reinforce that. "Now did you maybe change your mind about that ice cream?"

Connor was about to answer her when an intensely loud ripping noise tore through them both, knocking them off the bed and onto the floor. They could feel the ground moving beneath them as if the very fabric of their world was being ripped in half. Eventually everything settled back to normal and Dawn looked to Connor, both of their thoughts on the same track.

"It's them Dawn!" Connor said intensely. "It has to be!"

The two of them scrambled to their feet and raced into the lobby, only to stop dead in their tracks at the sight that lay before them. It was indeed Buffy and Angel, but they were barely recognizable underneath the blood, dirt and grime that caked every part of their body. They didn't move, indeed Dawn wasn't even certain they were breathing. Bruises covered their face like a colourful rainbow of pain and Dawn could see that many bones had been broken.

"Buffy," she whispered, her face draining itself of all colour. "What happened to you?"