Dawn Winchester?
Summary: Dawn isn't a magical clone, she's Buffy's daughter, and John's
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it ain't mine
A/N: For those of you who have reviewed this story, a great big thank you! Many of you have commented on the shortness of the chapters. This is one of the reasons I can post so quickly. It also is not my fault. My muse has the plot bunny on a leash and the bunny has me by the throat. :) I can only do what they dictate!
Dean had volunteered to meet the delivery in L.A. Anything to get away from Sam's questioning looks. He was not psychic! It hadn't helped that Buffy had given him her stuffed pig toy after that bowl had freaked him out. The smirk she had given him as she did so negated completely the fact that he'd calmed down so fast. He didn't care that 'Mister Gordo' was her baby toy. He wasn't a baby, he was a man. He was nearly 30 years old! He did NOT need a baby toy! He couldn't believe someone had had the nerve to put the damn thing on the dash of the Impala. And he couldn't do anything about it because if it was damaged in any way while he had possession of it, a little lady who he had 13 inches and more than 100 pounds on would break him into little tiny pieces. What was worse, he had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't meant as a tease at all. After all, he could totally see Tara putting it there as a sincere offer of help should he need it during this trip. He was after all going to go get a lot of weapons that had a high chance of having been used to kill innocent people. He was not going to think about it. It was much better to think about the fact that he and Sam had completely emptied the Impala and the only weapons he had were the ones on his body. He spent the entire trip to L.A. cursing his brain in as many languages as he knew.
Sam sat on the couch folding clothes while Joyce repaired the rips, tears and cuts that Buffy's clothes had collected after a night of vigorous slaying. With Dean picking up the weapons in L.A. and everyone else researching the demonic lemmings he kept seeing every night, he was taking his turn helping Joyce around the house. It absolutely floored him how these people managed to balance their normal (they were having a dinner and movie night tonight!) and their paranormal (Buffy was taking him on patrol with her after the movie) lives. It truly was the best of both worlds and he couldn't wait until his dad married Joyce. There was no question in his mind that John Winchester would do everything he could to set the situation right with Dawn. He had given a solid code of honor to his boys about how to treat ladies and not standing up to your responsibilities as a father was unacceptable. She was just what John needed to drag him back into life too. A new baby and a new wife who already knew about the supernatural would show his dad how he didn't have to sacrifice a normal life with normal things for the life of hunting. It was possible to have both. For the first time ever, Sam felt his life was in balance.
That didn't mean they didn't have problems of course. Dean was in tough guy denial about having any abilities. Why was it so hard for him to believe he couldn't have a touch of psychic abilities too? And why he persisted in doing the 'dumb grunt' act Sam didn't know. Dean's grades in school were as good as his had been, and he was an absolute genious when it came to mechanics. Not many people could build on EMF from scratch, much less build one from cannibalized parts. Not to mention all of the other gadgets Dean had built over the years. Dean seemed to think that as long as he didn't freak out over whatever it was he was picking up from things Sam and the others wouldn't notice he was picking something up at all. Sam shook his head as he got up to take another load out of the dryer. He knew his brother's body language far too well not to see that whatever ability Dean had it was happening at an accelerated rate, much like his own premonitions had exploded into their fully active state. There had to be information out there on how to deal with it. Giving Dean a baby toy was not an option. Although the look on Dean's face was priceless when Buffy gave him her 'Mister Gordo'. Sam snickered as he placed the laundry basket on the couch. He was so glad he got that picture. He had sent it to his dad with the caption 'Dean's freak out being calmed by Mister Gordo'. When Joyce looked up at him he just said "Mister Gordo."
"Buffy has had him for years. It was the first thing her father bought her at her first ice show. They went every year until the divorce. Some times I think Hank never forgave her for growing up. He hasn't even tried to contact her in years now. I think any pretense at visitation lasted all of 6 months and she spent 1 summer being ignored by him while he slept around with women who were trying their hardest to look as young as she was." Joyce snorted. "Good riddance to bad rubbish. Mid-life crisis my hiney! He just never wanted to grow up. And I'm glad in a way." she added thoughtfully.
"How?" Sam asked, curious. Would her answer have something to do with his dad? From what he could see, having his dad in her life would help her as much as it would help John. Especially if Hank had been as big of a jerk as she was telling him.
Joyce laughed. "He would never be able to handle the fact that vampires are real. The idea of Buffy being the Vampire Slayer would give him an aneurysm trying to figure that one out. No, all in all, I'm fairly glad things have worked out the way they have. I'll never be happy about the danger, but I don't think any hero has ever had a parent happy about the dangerous work they do. I'm very proud of all of them though."
"I noticed you seem to have adopted all of them. You are more like the dorm mother I had at Standford than someone who is neck deep in the supernatural war and recovering from cancer to boot." Sam said.
"I did adopt all of them. They are my daughter's best friends and not only do they make her happy, but not one of them has had what I would call a good home life. Willow's parents are very neglectful. Sometimes I wonder if it is just absent mindedness or if they really do forget they have a daughter. Not that they don't love her, they just never notice anything about her. She cut 8 inches off her hair and her mother didn't notice for 4 months. I'm not sure she would have ever noticed if it wasn't for demonic intervention. Xander on the other hand, well his situation is abusive. There is no other word for it. And he has no way out in this town. Not until he can move out on his own. I'd let him move in here in a heartbeat, but that boy has a stubborn streak like you wouldn't believe. He'll make it on his own or not at all.
"As for the supernatural, I didn't find out about that until Buffy was forced to kill a vampire right in front of me. It was almost a year and a half after she had been called. I thought all the trouble she had been getting into was a reaction to the divorce. That happened right about the same time as her being called to be the slayer. I did NOT handle it well. I started yelling and before I knew it, I had issued an ultimatum she couldn't live with. She was to give me the very long explanation of what was going on, with all the details and if she walked out before explaining she was to never come back." Joyce bit her lip in remembered pain. "I really didn't understand that she had to go stop an apocolypce that night. Or that she was a murder suspect in the killing of her sister slayer Kendra." Joyce looked at Sam with tears in her eyes. "She chose to save the world and ended up running away from home for over 4 months. I was so glad to get her back, I promised myself I would never make her chose between her calling and her family again."
"My dad basically threw me out because I wanted to accept a scholarship to Standford University. It was more than 4 years before I talked to him again. It took losing my girlfriend to the same demon who killed my mom before I really understood him. I don't think he'll ever understand me though. There has literally never been a time in my life when I can remember not knowing about what's out there. I was only 6 months old when the war was declared between my family and the demon. For Dad and Dean, they had that innocence. I think I respect them more for that than anything else. They saw what was out there and they didn't turn their backs on it. Just because you freaked out doesn't make you a bad parent. It just makes you human. The fact that once you recovered from the shock you chose to support Buffy in any way you could makes you a great parent." Sam grinned. "I really think that the way you make sure she gets to have as normal a life as possible is extraordinary. That's the one thing my dad never managed."
"It wouldn't be possible without Xander and Willow. They told me that they jumped feet first into becoming slayerettes and flatly refused to leave. With them the 'let's have fun with this job while we do it' party outnumbered and overwhelmed the stuffy British 'treat this as a sacred calling' party. They've helped keep her alive and sane for years. Literally in Xander's case. Buffy drowned the first year we were here in Sunnydale. He was the one who performed CPR and brought her back. She was dead long enough to activate the next slayer. That was Kendra. Buffy felt so awful about her death."
"Believe it or not living on the hellmouth has helped too. I spent most of my childhood living in motel rooms. The longest we ever stayed in one place was about 8 months when I was about 11. In fact, one year we moved 12 different times, and that's not including the summers we spent on the road." Sam told Joyce, watching her eyes widen in surprise. "I still managed to get a full ride to Standford. Dad was always stressing the importance of education. Even if Dean insists the only Latin he knows is the exorcisms, don't believe him. I think he has a bad memory of a teacher to tell the truth. I seem to remember a loud argument about a history paper and his notes being written in Latin so a bully couldn't copy them." Sam smiled at Joyce, who was now staring at him in shock. "Never buy his 'dumb grunt' act, Joyce. He's a lot like Buffy that way. I've seen her pull her dumb blond act out." Joyce laughed and nodded. Buffy's dumb blond routine was brilliant. No one who saw it could ever believe she had a single brain cell in her entire head.
Buffy walked in during this exchange and huffed at them both. "I'll have you know my dumb blond act is exceptionally good. Dean on the other hand is far to sure of himself to ever pull off the 'dumb grunt' roll." She picked up her laundry with exaggerated dignity and said over her shoulder at the 2 people laughing on the couch, "Giles has found this year's prophecy for our yearly apocalypse. If you want to be informed, everyone is gathered in the dining room." Then she ran off to put her clothes away. She was pleased that Sam had managed to make her mother laugh. It was something she did too seldom these days.
Sam stood up and offered Joyce his arm. She took it to help steady herself against her giggles as he escorted her to the dining room.
John opened his e-mail and started laughing. Dawn looked up from her math assignment and demanded to know what was so funny. He waved her over to where she could see the picture Sam had sent him and explained that the man in it was her brother Dean. "Well the pig is Mom's. She's had it forever. If she's given it to Dean, they're getting along well. It is one of the few things her dad gave her that she still has. He's pretty much ruined the memories for everything else." John nodded, and continued to smile at the look on Dean's face. He didn't know what Dean had been upset about, but if Sam and Buffy were teasing him like this, it couldn't be too bad.
Dean stood polishing his Impala in a secluded parking lot. It wouldn't be long before the delivery truck arrived and he wanted to spend the time doing something useful and had the added value of being something the cops would look at as normal and harmless. He had hidden Mister Gordo in the pocket of his jacket. It would stay safe there and if he needed it (he hoped like hell he wouldn't!) he could get to it quickly. He really didn't want to believe he was now hooked up to the psychic hotline. That was Sam's gig. He was already dealing with one totally freaky life-changing event. A little baby sister! The fact that a hellgoddess had tried to kill her was actually the most normal aspect of that situation. He did not need another.
He patted the Impala's hood. At least she never gave off any skin crawling vibes. Nope, just a warm homey feeling. He stood straight up in shock. NO! Not his car too! Not his baby! This car had been his since he could talk. It was one of the few stories his dad would tell from Before. Mom had carried him out to meet Dad after work one day and as she kissed him, Dean (who was all of 2 years old at the time) had leaned over, patted the car and said very clearly and loudly "MY CAR!" John had laughed and promised that when he was old enough he could have the car. His dad had kept that old promise. When Dean was 15, John had gotten a job with a garage in Denver. He had picked up a truck body for literally next to nothing and had spent 6 months completely rebuilding it. He had tricked that truck out into the ultimate hunter's rig. The minute it was done, and the same day Dean had gotten his first drivers license, he had handed the keys of the Impala over to Dean. What was he going to do now?
The delivery truck arrived then and Dean went through the motions of accepting the delivery by rote. The smartassed comments and attitude flowed out of his mouth without any input from his brain. It was totally automatic. Not even loading up the Impala with all of the boxes of grenades and rockets in the trunk and putting Caleb's special presents in the back and passenger seats woke him up from his shock. What did, was the Impala itself. Sitting in the driver's seat, surrounded by weapons of extreme, if not mass, destruction, Dean could feel a sensation of satisfied expectation crawling over him. Some how the Impala knew, he thought. Had it been possessed? Nope, he shook his head, there were too many warding charms etched and ground into its parts and body. He guessed it was just an effect of having been exposed to so much magic and so many ghosts and the like over the last 20 years. The car wasn't able to think (not like that bowl had UGH!) but it, she he corrected himself, was aware. "That's right baby." Dean said as he finally calmed down. "We've got the stuff and its time to go kick a hellgoddess' ass. Nobody gets away with trying to kill a Winchester, especially a baby Winchester. We're a deadly bunch, just like the rifle."
