See chapter 1 for general disclaimers

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"The Return"
by OldScout

Three days later a small group of people stood in the chapel in the basement of the WCI North American headquarters in New Chicago. It was an unofficial service. These people knew what was supposed to happen though some didn't believe. The eldest of the group, Julie Maria Sumpter-Harrington, looked at the linen wrapped body and shook her head. "We aren't supposed to have a ceremony."

"But what if it isn't true, mom?" A younger man standing next to her asked. "We can't not say goodbye." He put his arm around his wife Ellen as she walked up. For her sake, he tried to sound optimistic. "Wow long will it be?"

"It's always different, William." Julia said. "The wik says it's been as little as ten days to over a year. But it always happens."

"I can't believe this." Ellen said through tears. "She was the nicest woman I knew and we are not having a ceremony. We should at least have some testimonials or something. She was your grandmother." Ellen spoke directly to her husband. "And you're barely concerned that she was murdered by one of those maniac immortals."

"I told you why." William said. "Just wait and see."

"I've seen a lot of things." Ellen replied. "But this is hard to believe. None of you were around the last time it supposedly happened. How can you be so sure?"

Julia put a comforting hand on her daughter in-law. Ellen, dear, you have to believe. I do. She assured me it would happen, I've seen the records. It's true, Father saw it and others have as well. Now, let's be about it." With that, Julia pushed a button and the linen covered body with its carefully positioned and covered head slid into the crematorium.

Ellen leaned into her husband's shoulder and wept as the small chapel was filled with the roar of the gas powered flames.

"- -"

One hundred and forty four days after the non ceremony in New Chicago, a fourteen year old girl with long, straight brown hair; wearing a pink t-shirt and light blue jeans appeared ten feet over Sunnydale Lagoon. She screamed as she fell into the water. "Mom!"

Some how, she didn't know how, she just knew, that this was Buffy's fault. Dawn plodded along the well manicured walking path next to the lake she'd just climbed out of. Shivering, she hugged her arms close and walked past the strangely dressed people she occasionally passed on the path. This had to be Buffy's fault it was some stupid 'go jump in the lake' wish or something. Mom was so going to kick Buffy's ass for this.

No, that wasn't right. Dawn looked out at the lake. There was something familiar about it, something about the hills around it. Why wasn't mom going to be mad at Buffy for dumping her in the lake? She sat on a bench, tears running down her dirty face. Something was wrong, her mother and her sister where gone, long gone.

"Excuse me." A friendly woman's voice said from behind Dawn. "Young lady, are you alright?"

Dawn looked at the woman. She was middle aged, lines starting to form at the corners of her eyes, she had curly blonde hair cut short with long bangs. She's too old for that hair style was Dawn's first thought.

"Do you need help?" The woman asked. "My God, dear, you're soaked. Did you fall in the lagoon?"

"You could say that." Dawn replied.

"Where's your family?"

"I don't know." Dawn motioned toward the lagoon. "Out there I think."

"Are they on a boat?" The woman continued. "Did you fall out?"

"I don't know." Dawn murmured. "Where am I?"

"You're on the walking path, south of the lagoon." She held her hand out to Dawn. "Come on, let's get you to the reception center and get you cleaned up and dried off. Maybe they'll be able to find your parents."

Dawn took the offered hand and stood up. "Lagoon. What lagoon?"

"This is the Sunnydale Lagoon." The woman said.

"But Sunnydale doesn't have…" An image came to her, more a memory, of the road collapsing behind them as they raced out of town. "Oh." She started to shake and felt an arm around her as her knees got weak.

"Are you all alright? Should I call a medic?"

"No I'm alright." Dawn straightened out and picked up her pace a bit. She continued to hug herself as they approached a large reception center.

"- -"

Dawn sat in a corner of the small reception center lounge. She really hadn't paid much attention to what was happening around her. She now wore a bright yellow thin sweatshirt over a matching bright yellow t shirt. The woman had bought both for her at the gift shop. The sweat shirt and t-shirt both featured a goofy looking cartoon dinosaur or something with the slogan "Come meet Sunny at Sunnydale Lagoon." She also wore a pair of sweat pants one of the clerks pulled out of the lost and found. There was now an effort underway to find her family. Of course there was nobody to find. That much she knew or remembered or something.

After finally calming down a bit, Dawn wiped the last round of tears from her eyes and cheeks and started looking around the lounge. Something caught her eye. It looked like some kind of computer interface mounted to the wall. She watched as somebody used one to make a video call. They had asked for names of people to contact, but the large body of water a hundred meters away told her nobody was home. Now she looked at the Vid. A vague memory whispered in the back of her mind. She walked over and examined it.

The Vid had several methods of access; a card wave, an access code and bio metrics. Dawn looked at the biometrics and ran her finger down the main interface causing a new panel to slide out. Dawn placed her palm on the panel making it glow slightly and withdraw back into the wall. A word appeared to float to the surface of the monitor, like a response floating up in the old Magic Eight Ball. "Acknowledged."

Tired of the lounge, Dawn started exploring the center. There were displays and photographs illustrating the Sunnydale subsidence. She'd been on the last bus out, that much she remembered, but not much else. It was like a dream coming back one image at a time. Dawn stopped when she came to a large photograph on the wall. She looked at the images of her sister and friends and people she didn't know. Tears came back as she saw how much older they all looked. Even she was in the group only older and taller than Buffy. She smiled at the thought. That always bugged Buffy.

Next she looked at Xander. What happened to his eye? She traced the tips of her fingers along his face. God, he always hated that patch but he never let anyone know. In public it was a war wound, a red badge of courage, he wore it with pride. But in private, her dear sweet husband dreamed of having his eye back.

Dawn stumbled back. Husband? She was only fourteen, she'd never been married. When was that picture taken? She didn't remember it. It was right after the battle with the First when the town collapsed. Dawn's head started to spin.

"Hey mom!" A little girl near Dawn yelled. "She looks just like that girl in the picture."

"I'm so sorry." The girl's mother said seeing the upset look on Dawn's face. She looked at Dawn again. "But you do look a lot like her."

Dawn ran from the display hall back to the lounge. She returned to her chair and grabbed the towel she'd used to dry off with earlier. She buried her face between her knees and began to cry.

She had no idea how long she sat there. She was all cried out now as she rocked back and fourth with her legs still folded up in front of her and her face buried between her knees. She was waiting, she didn't know who for but she was sure somebody would come; eventually.

"Excuse me." A young female voice said from next to Dawn.

"What?" Dawn didn't look up she didn't want to admit her face was still red from crying like a baby.

"Are you Dawn?"

Wiping her face as she looked up, Dawn looked at the new comer. She was a little taller than Dawn, had a solid build, shoulder length brown hair pulled back in a tight braid and she appeared to be standing at parade rest. Great, a teenage female Riley Finn. "Who are you?"

"I'm Luv Gordon." The girl said. "Are you Dawn?"

"Yes." Dawn started to unfold herself from the chair. Luv offered her a hand and effortlessly pulled her to her feet.

"I was told to find you here and take you to New Chicago." Luv stated then mumbled. "As if I didn't have anything better to do."

"I'm sorry to be an inconvenience." Dawn wiped her nose with the back of her hand and looked the other girl in the eyes. "If you're too busy lifting weights or something, I'm sure somebody else could be found."

Luv Gordon bristled. "I am quite capable." She looked at Dawn's pile of damp clothes. "Grab your stuff, let's go."

"Why Chicago?" Dawn asked as they headed out of the lounge.

"Because that's where Head Quarters is."

"Oh." Dawn rolled her clothes into a bundle and followed Luv through the reception center and out a different door than she'd come in. Outside something caught her attention. A twelve foot tall black granite obelisk stood close to the water. "What's that?" Dawn asked as she veered away from Luv to inspect the thing.

"It's the monument." Luv tried extremely hard not to snap at this girl, Dawn. But she was acting like some scatter brained five year old. If she was involved with the Council in some bizarre way, she should have known why they were going to New Chicago. Now she was acting like she'd never heard of the monument. Everybody knew about the monument.

All four sides were etched with the epitaph "They saved the world, a lot." Seeing the inscription, Dawn dropped her clothes and approached the pillar of black stone. Hundreds of names where carved in the granite. She traced her finger tips along the edges of some unfamiliar names until she spotted some she knew. Willow was there and Kennedy. She found Giles whose name was marked with a star just like Willow's. She stopped and stared at Buffy Anne Summers and nearby, her own, marked with a star. "That was the first time I reset my identity." Dawn thought. Suddenly her knees got weak and she dropped forward onto the base. It was all she could do not to start crying again.

"Do you need help?" Luv asked not bothering to hide her exasperated tone.

"No." Dawn said. "Just give me a few minutes." She began to circle the monument again. She was studying the names and trying to place meaning to so many lives. Some she knew intuitively, like she'd never forget her sister's name or her mother's names. She stared at Reginald David Harris with a star. She'd never seen the name before but somehow she knew he was family

"Luv Gordon, what brings you here?" A man's voice asked from behind the young woman patiently waiting for her charge. "They didn't spot Sunny again did they?"

"Nope. No aquatic wild life." Luv said as she turned slightly to look at her visitor; a tall man in his early thirties, he had closely cut hair and a small goatee but no mustache. "So Jackson, what brings you out here?"

"I got word you'd been pulled out of school on an emergency. Figured I come out and see if you needed any help."

"Help?" Luv looked at the girl, Dawn, who'd been staring at the monument. "I was told to indulge her before taking her to New Chicago. I am indulging."

Jackson looked at the young girl with totally out of style long straight hair. "Ah, Luv, did they tell you who she is?"

"Nope. Just said to get myself down here asap, pickup her up and get her to New Chicago." She frowned. "And to indulge her."

"She doesn't look familiar?" Jackson asked.

Luv shook her head. "Nope."

"At all?"

"Should she?"

Jackson smiled. "History's never been one of your stronger suits has it?"

"I don't care what's behind me." Luv shrugged. "Unless it's close enough to kill."

"Do you mind if I talk to her?"

"Be my guest." She grimaced. "Just don't make her cry again."

"Trust me. That's the last thing I want to do." Jackson walked forward, picking up Dawn's clothes as he went. "Hi there." He greeted the girl as he approached.

Dawn turned to the new comer. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jackson, a friend of Luv's."

"Are you her watcher?" Dawn asked very softly.

"Sometimes. Can I ask you something?"

"You just did." Dawn pointed out.

"Are you related to anybody up there?" Jackson stood next to Dawn looking at the monument.

"A few." Dawn admitted.

"Summers-Harris?"

"Sort of, I guess." Dawn whispered as she fought back her emotions.

Jackson smiled. "It's an honor to meet you. Your family usually doesn't come here." He nodded toward Luv. "You ought to get going. Luv has to be in school tomorrow." He handed Dawn her jeans and t-shirt.

"So do I." Dawn said looking out at the lagoon. "But it doesn't exist anymore."

Jackson watched the two young women leave. He'd heard a strange story once that Dawn Summers from Sunnydale was still alive. It'd been an interesting and imaginative tale but now it was one he'd never repeat. Ever.

To be continued...

" - 00 - "

The Sunnydale lagoon and the monument are taken with permission from the excelent story 'With a Star' by DonSample

And, yes, I do allude to another crossover in this chapter, but I do not have plans to expand on it anytime soon.