" Punch bug!" Dawn yelled while patrolling with Connor and Mya. Neither the miracle child nor the fortenger princess had any clue what she was talking about. "You know, punch buggy. Like a beetle."
Mya was the first to catch on. " You mean the insect?"
"No Mya the punch bug. Like a voltswagen."
"Oh the car! Why'd you hit me because you saw a car?" Mya said. Dawn was getting frustrated.
" Because that's just-that's what you- God were you two raised under a rock?"
"Actually," Connor said " She was raised underground and I was raised in a hell dimension… Let's head back home."
"Oh come on Connor. Five more minutes" Mya begged.
" Don't 'come on Connor' me. You're not even supposed to be here. Dad would kill me if he found out you were patrolling. Besides you have to listen to me and Dawn. We're older, we know how to protect you." Mya rolled her eyes. She was the baby of the family and hated it when people played the 'I'm older than you' card.
"Well Connor you're really about 1 year old and Dawn you're about 3 so I'd say the 15 year old here should be the one in charge." Connor smiled at Dawn and whispered to her.
"She does this every other week."
Dawn smiled back "And how do you usually handle it?" She asked.
"Watch and learn." He replied. " Mya you're the only one here who has school at seven in the morning."
" I'll be fine!" Mya snapped back. Connor tried not to laugh. They'd had variations of this same conversation for months. He always won with his closing argument.
" Mya you are so right. You'll be fine. And I'm sure that guy you like- what is his name? What's-his-face Something-or-other -I'm sure he wont notice the huge circles under your eyes from going to bed at 2am."
Mya thought for a second before saying "Let's go home" Mya, Connor and Dawn were sneaking back into the hotel…or so they thought. Angel and Buffy were both sitting in the hyperion lobby. Connor waved "Hi dad."
The next ten minutes were a haze of yelling and lectures. "Dawn, Connor what were you thinking?" Buffy screamed.
"Were you thinking at all? Connor, Mya could have been hurt you could have been hurt. Do you understand at all how serious this is?" Angel said.
" I'm sorry." Connor whispered
" Don't be mad at him. Don't be mad at either of them. They didn't want me to go, I went anyway. They wanted to go home early , I begged to stay out. I'm not helpless and I just wanted to prove it." Mya sputtered out.
"By putting your life in jeopardy?" Angel said cutting her off.
"Dawn you're grounded for a week." Buffy said
"Just me?" Dawn asked "How come they're not grounded."
"I'm YOUR guardian Dawn. I'm sure Angel will come up with an appropriate punishment. Now let's go to your room and discuss all the sword polishing you will be doing."
Once they were gone Angel said "Mya I know you want to come with us on missions and patrolling and you will once you have your powers completely under control. So I am doing you a favor, since from now on your training sessions with Wes will be an hour longer. Not to mention you also will be grounded for a week. Now go get some sleep, you have school in the morning."
"Yes sir." Mya said as she gave Angel a hug goodnight. As she walked up the stairs she mouthed to Connor "Good luck."
Connor smiled at her. His smile faded when his father began to speak. "Connor you're 20 years old. Mya looks up to you. I can't baby you any more."
"So does that mean I'm not grounded?" Connor asked.
Connor opened his door. Mya was sleeping on his bed. She had nightmares about her father all the time so she slept in Connors room on one of the twin beds. He was getting undressed when he heard a knock at the door. Dawn walked in. "Hey. How'd the sentencing go?" She asked trying not to notice his lack of a shirt.
"Well," he answered " Apparently I am old enough to no better than to goof around, but young enough to still be grounded. And I'm on filing duty for the week. How about you?"
Dawn sighed. " Pretty much the same thing. Except I'm polishing weapons."
Connor smiled and said " So you and me filing and polishing all day. Doesn't have to be all bad you know? We could get to know each other better." Dawn started to turn pink
" I'd like that. Listen I better go. Don't want Buff to blow a gasket twice in one night." She started to leave but before she knew what she was doing she was right back in his room kissing him. Dawn what are you doing? She thought to herself. Get off of him. You hardly know him. He's ANGELS son! Buffy would freak. Stop kissing him. Oh God he tastes so good. NO bad. Stop it right now. Right… I didn't even know tongues could do that. When she finally pulled herself away from him she said "I am so sorry. I should go. I'm sorry." Connor put his hand on her cheek.
"Don't be." He said. Then he planted her with a soft sweet kiss goodnight and said "I'll see you tomorrow."
Next Day
"So then he smiles at me and goes 'Calm down. What are you on the rag?' so… I decked him the way spike showed me. But don't be mad or anything cause he's not gonna tell the principle or anything like that. He's far to embarrassed that the big bad jock got floored by a 5ft 1 girl." Mya babbled on as Connor walked her home from school. "Conn? Are you even listening to me. Connor!"
He finally heard her and said "Yeah? What's up kid?" Mya stared at him. She saw it in his eyes .
"You kissed Dawn!"
Connor vigorously shook his head. " I did not kiss…You don't…Why would you say that?"
" Did you kiss her?" When there was no response Mya added "Oh my God. You liked it. You like her. You dirty dirty boy. You kissed your dad's ex's sister!" she teased.
" She kissed me!" he said without thinking and immediately wished he could take it back. " Mya, things are weird right now. Between the whole Dawn and Buffy moving in and Cordy and dad have enough to deal with Buffy being dads first love. Everything needs to be settled before we tell anybody. You gotta promise you want talk to anybody about this. Not even Dawn."
"Well im pretty sure she knows Connor." Mya said under her breathe.
" I don't want her to think I'm going around telling everybody everything." He said.
"Fine I wont say a word. Cross my heart. So was it good. I mean did you just kiss or did you… tussle?"
Dawn polished away at the double-edged sword thinking about the events of the night before. What the hell was I thinking? What do I do now? Is he my boyfriend or like a one night thing. And what if he is my boyfriend and we have some big huge break up. What happens then? Do we have to move out of the hotel? Oh this is way too complicated. When he comes back I'll just explain that it was a mistake and it can never happen again. She heard Mya and Connor coming down the stairs.
" I can't believe I have to spend an hour and a half working on spells and floating. I mean Wes is cool, but it is so boring. Hey Dawn!" Mya said as she looked up at Connor. "I'm such a ditz. I forgot my… thingy upstairs. Don't move. I'll go upstairs and get it. You two stay here" She said making a wink to Connor.
"Hey" Connor and Dawn said at the same time.
" You first" Dawn said.
" Ok" Connor started " Here's what I was thinking. This could get really complicated. Dad and Cordy and Buffy might not like it. I mean its not normal to date your dad's girlfriends sister." He said. Dawn was hurt. That was exactly what she was thinking but hearing him say it broke her heart. Then Connor added " But, we're not normal are we." Dawn hugged and kissed.
"What the hell is that" Buffy asked
" I don't know but- ewwwwww" Angel responded.
