Chapter 19
"Yeah that's what I thought. Damn it Dawn how could you be so irresponsible. First of all you're not allowed to date. And to schedule it in the middle of an apocalypse, Dawn what were you thinking." Buffy ranted furiously pacing back and forth.
"It's just a movie, Buffy I mean you're watching a movie tomorrow night with Xander and Willow it's the same thing." Dawn tried to justify quickly.
"It's not the same thing Dawn, because I have no romantic inclinations towards Xander or Willow. Can you say the same thing about this Dave?" Buffy demanded daring Dawn to lie to her face.
Dawn dropped her head and said quietly, "No."
"Exactly. And to lie about it, I mean what's that all about? Did you think you could just sneak out without telling anyone? Damn it Dawn we need to be able to trust you…" Sam cut off Buffy.
"Whoa, slow down Buffy." Sam said crossing the room to stand in front of the irate slayer. "First of all Dawn didn't lie, or keep this from you on purpose. She told me about it two days ago. Time just got away from us and we both forgot to bring it up. Secondly it's not a real date, it's more like a pre-date, a starter date if you will, and I was going to go as well. Blend into the background, but be there in case something happens." Sam put both his hands on Buffy's shoulder's stopping her in her tracks. "This whole thing is just one big timing error. It's a mistake that nobody made on purpose, and I know Dawn would never deliberately lie to you, so I hope you'll support her in this. It's a big deal to her Buffy, and if you stop thinking like a slayer and more like a sister I think you would see that."
Buffy took a deep breath and looked at Sam and then turned and looked at Dawn. Dawn who was looking at the ground appeared to be trying very hard not to cry. Buffy crossed over to her sister and said quietly. "Dawn is this true?"
Looking up Dawn was relieved to see Buffy didn't appear to be mad anymore, just tired and concerned. "Yes." Dawn answered truthfully. "I really meant to tell you Buffy. The only reason I told Sam first, was because I knew you wouldn't let me go with out a chaperone. I wanted to have everything in place before I even asked. But then we had the meeting with Jess the all-night grave robbing session. I completely forgot. I didn't even remember today was Friday." Dawn rushed out trying to make sure Buffy knew it hadn't been a deliberate lie.
Taking another deep breath Buffy said, "It's okay Dawn I believe you. And I'm sorry I didn't ask first before yelling. I'm just feeling a little stressed right now, and it was a bit of a shock." Buffy finished with a laugh throwing her arm around Dawn's shoulders. "On the up side, he is really cute."
Hugging her sister tightly Dawn said, "Duh. Do you think he's still waiting at the door, or went running into the night at the face of an irate slayer?"
"Well if he did he's definitely not the guy for you." Willow piped up from the corner.
"Uh Will I think we can safely say he's not the guy for Dawn, since the guy for Dawn's the one going as a chaperone." Dean joked lightly with the redhead.
"Oh yeah." Willow blushed. "Well then he's not the one for you right now." She clarified throwing Dean a wink.
"You're all hysterical. Now how do I look?" Dawn demanded running to the mirror above the fireplace. "Seriously do I look awful? Buffy where's your make up case. I can't believe I forgot. Whose got a brush?" Dawn asked trying to primp quickly in the mirror.
"Take a breath Dawn." Sam said "I'll go hold up Dave while you get ready. You've got 15 minutes till you have to leave or you'll be late." Sam said as he crossed to go introduce himself to Dave in the front hallway.
"Bless you, bless you. I am madly in love with you right now." Dawn gushed from the mirror, then turned to Buffy and pleaded. "Buffy help me!"
Buffy was already rummaging through her purse for her makeup kit as she yelled out orders. "Will, Tara, can you hold pseudo-Riley in stasis for a minute and help over here. Where's that top you were wearing earlier Tara, and Willow do you have that sparkling clip you had in your hair yesterday?" Buffy finished rushing to Dawn's side.
"Coming right up, don't worry Demon boy's hearing and seeing none of this right now." Tara said as she rummaged through her bag for the top Buffy had mentioned. "We're still channeling your combined power, it's not draining you is it?" Tara asked concerned as she crossed to Dawn and Buffy with the top in hand.
"Nope still good to go." Buffy replied fixing Dawn's eye make-up.
"Good, here you go Dawnie." Willow said as she came up behind Dawn with her clip. "I think half up half down is the best way to go, let me help."
"Thanks guys I really appreciate this." Dawn said quietly as the three girls fussed around her.
"Hey this is a right of passage. Every girls first date should be a big deal." Buffy answered with a grin. "I'm just sorry it got off to such a rocky start."
"Hey water under the proverbial bridge." Dawn said. "So how do I look?" She asked as the girls finally stepped back from her signaling they had finished their preparation.
"Oh Dawnie you look beautiful." Tara said with a smile.
"Smoking Dawnster. Davey boy's not going to know what hit him." Dean threw in with a grin from the couch.
"You look very lovely Dawn." Giles said happy that in the midst of such chaos a little normalcy could be found.
"Absolutely beautiful." John said, "Poor Sammy's going to be fighting them off all night long."
Grinning from ear to ear Dawn threw her arms around Buffy and hugged her tightly. "Thanks again." She said before dashing towards the hallway with a wave.
"Have fun." Buffy called after her feeling sad all of a sudden at how fast Dawn was growing up. That thought made her laugh since Dawn was technically two, so it was even faster then normal.
Wrapping his arms around her from behind Dean said, "You okay?"
"Yeah just thinking." Buffy answered as she leaned back into his embrace.
"Well not to interrupt or anything, but we do have a restrained demon in the room we might want to get back too." John broke in ironically.
"Oh yeah." Buffy grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."
"Not your fault. It's kind of nice to know the worlds still turning. That's why we do what we do." John answered.
"Well said." Giles ginned then getting serious got back into place to finish questioning the demon. "All right ladies let's get back to work…" he started only to get cut off by Buffy exclaiming.
"Wait did anyone test to make sure Dave wasn't evil?"
"Please, what do you think Sam was doing while you were getting Dawn ready? Trust me if Dave was evil he'd already be dead." Dean answered hugging Buffy tightly.
"Right, right, sorry for the second interruption." Buffy sent her watcher an apologetic glance.
"Perfectly all right Buffy. One can't be too careful. Done now?" Giles answered trying to slow his heart rate back down after Buffy's shriek.
"All done. Let's finish interrogating dumb demon here and call it a night." Buffy said determined to focus on the job at hand.
"Sound's like a plan. Ladies." John waved a hand at Willow and Tara indicating that they should release the demon.
"Let the games begin, again." Dean joked
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Dawn and Dave sat in the backseat of the Impala talking quietly as Sam drove them to the movie theatre.
"So, how did you know I was at the mansion?" Dawn asked, "I'm sorry I didn't call by the way life's been really crazy."
"It's okay, I know how it goes." Dave replied, "As for the mansion my mother took me to your house, but your mom told us where you were. She seemed very surprised to see me, but when she saw my mom waiting she relaxed." Dave said nudging Dawn's shoulder.
"Yeah, sorry about that, there was this massive family crisis with my sister's job, and time kind of slipped away from me, I mean I totally forgot it was Friday." Dawn giggled apologetically.
"Yeah that's what your mom said. I was worried you might be sick since you weren't in school today, but when you didn't call I figured everything was good to go." Dave finished smiling shyly at Dawn.
"Oh yeah I've been looking forward to this ever since you asked." Dawn smiled back. "Your mom was okay with Sam driving us?"
"Yeah, I'm supposed to call her when the movie is over so she can come pick me up. It was cool of your brother to do this, beats arriving with mom any day." Dave joked.
"Tell me about it. Sam's not my brother though he's just a friend. We can give you a ride home after the movie, so your mom doesn't have to come out again." Dawn eagerly offered.
"You're sure he wouldn't mind?" Dave eyed Sam warily. His interrogation while waiting for Dawn had been intense.
"Not at all, we wouldn't want your mom to have to drive by herself that late at night anyway, right Sam?" Dawn kept the pleading out of her voice, but begged him mentally through their link.
"Of course not." Sam said sending Dawn a smirk, and a mental message to please calm down, because he was getting a headache.
"See, completely cool." Dawn gushed.
"Thanks." Dave let out a deep breath and tried to relax.
"So what movie do you want to see?" Dawn asked excitedly.
"Well there's this great new action movie that's come out about this video game me and the guys love to play." Dave started out sounding very excited. However a quick cough from Sam had him saying, "But you'd hate that, so why don't you pick." Before glancing quickly at Sam for approval.
"That's so sweet, but if you really want to see the video game one we can, I don't mind." Dawn smiled sweetly then quickly shot Sam a glare for interfering.
"Oh no, it's not a big deal, I can go with the guys later. We want to discuss how it compares with the game anyway. What do you want to see?" Dave asked with an eager voice.
"Gosh I don't know." Dawn said panicking. "I haven't even looked at the listings. Do you know what else is playing?"
"Uhm well I know there's some horror film." Dave started only to be interrupted by a resounding "NO!" coming in stereo from Sam and Dawn.
Grinning sheepishly Dawn said, "I always get scared and have nightmares, so no horror okay?"
"Oh sure no problem, there's the new Jack Black comedy, about him being a wrestler." Dave offered up quickly.
"That sounds great." Dawn said letting out a sigh of relief. Maybe this dating thing wasn't so hard after all, she thought as Sam pulled up to the theatre.
As Dave paid for her ticket over her protests, Dawn couldn't help but feel special and grinned all the way to the concession stand where Sam bought the popcorn and drinks for everyone, so Dave wouldn't have to shell out anymore of his hard earned money. As they got settled in the seats with Sam a few rows away staring intently at the screen Dawn was filled with a feeling of peaceful normalcy and was glad she'd had this opportunity before facing a battle of apocalyptic proportions.
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Back at the mansion no one was filled with a sense of peace. Frustration, rage, fear, and fatigue where the emotions of choice as the interrogation wrapped up. The information they'd gleaned from the demon had only been partially helpful. While it was a relief to know that Glory and Aaquerafet didn't know who the key and lock were, they hadn't gotten any new info on the upcoming battle. Apparently Aaquerafet was smarter then they'd originally thought since he never shared his whole plan with anyone including his son.
"Damn it!" Buffy shouted her feelings of inadequacy and frustration becoming too much for the slayer. She was action girl, and so far there had been no action.
"Dean why don't you take Buffy and go patrol. Work off some of your frustration. Willow Tara you ladies should go home and get some rest, you did good work tonight thank you." John said addressing the group.
"What about him?" Willow asked pointing towards the demon.
Sharing a glance with Rupert, John responded, "We'll take care of him don't worry, you just go get some rest, and fill in Xander and Anya please. I know Xander's probably eaten up with curiosity right about now." John finished with a grin.
"Let him know about movie night tomorrow, would you Will?" Buffy piped up as she and Dean prepared to leave. "Tell him if he needs to talk I'll be up late, so he can give me a call." The last was said as she and Willow shared a glance at the former Riley. Both girls were aware that Xander was not handling the situation well.
"Will do, Buffy you bring the hot water and I'll bring the tea bags." Willow brought up the old joke from previous movie nights to lighten the mood.
"Hop off the outlaw train before we all get in trouble." Buffy supplied the next line willingly with a smile. Turning to Giles, and John she asked. "What are you going to do with him?"
"Don't worry, Buffy. John and I will figure something out I assure you." Giles said in a mild tone that caused Buffy to pause.
Looking at her watcher and John then to Riley's slumped form Buffy started to speak, "Giles…"
Rupert interrupted his slayer, "Buffy it's time for you to patrol. Let John and I handle this, and take care of yourself tonight." Giles voice was laced with steel and compassion.
Accepting the inevitable Buffy voice was thick with tears when she replied, "Okay Giles, John we'll see you in the morning." She and Dean started for the door, after Willow and Tara how had already left.
Dean shared a nod with his father making sure there wasn't anything he could do to help. At his father's headshake he led Buffy out of the mansion.
Once everyone had left John turned to Rupert and said, "Why don't you fix us a cup of tea. I'm sure we can both use one."
Looking at John with all seriousness Giles replied, "John I have a duty…"
"Rupert go fix me a cup of tea please." John said his own voice laced with finality.
Accepting John's gift Rupert walked into the kitchen and began to prepare the water for the tea. As he was pulling the tea bags out of the cupboard he heard the unmistakable sound of a single gunshot echoing from the living room. Hanging his head Rupert Giles let out a long sigh and tried to fight back the sudden well of tears that filled his eyes. It was never easy to lose someone in this never-ending battle even though loss was inevitable. Rupert ached for the pain and guilt Buffy must be feeling, and felt a deep gratitude towards John for willingly taking the burden of killing the demon off of his shoulders. Having to look Riley in the face and pull the trigger would have been excruciatingly painful even knowing Riley was for all intents and purposes dead. Giles felt a sudden pang of sympathy for Buffy when she had to kill Angel. At the time mired down with his own grief and rage over Jenny's murder he'd been unable to comprehend how devastating killing him must have been to an already distraught teenager. Finishing up the tea Giles crossed back into the living room to see John coming back inside from the courtyard. Meeting his eyes Giles knew that John didn't need his words of thanks and gratefulness, but found he was unable to hold them inside. "Thank you, John." He simply said.
Crossing to the couch and sitting down his face showing the signs of strain John replied with an easy, "You're welcome, Rupert."
Rupert poured the tea and handed John a cup then took a seat letting out a bone weary sigh.
Rolling his head around to work out a kink in his neck John took a second to look at Rupert, and ask, "How'd you get in this business Rupert? If you don't mind me asking?"
"Not at all, I didn't have a choice really. My father was a watcher, and his mother before him. He informed me at the age of nine that my destiny was to follow in the family's footsteps." Rupert reminisced.
"How'd that go over with you?" John asked curious if Giles had taken the news like Sam, who rebelled, or Dean who conformed.
"Not well, I had no desire to be a watcher what so ever. In college I rebelled quite strenuously. Dropping out to dabble in the black arts, live on the streets, play in a band, and basically do everything and anything my father would hate." Giles grinned at the look of surprise on John's face. He did have to admit that he didn't look like much of a bad boy anymore.
"So what brought you back?" John queried.
"A friend of mine was killed because we were messing around with powerful magic and unleashed a demon. It shocked me back into reality quickly." Giles closed his eyes as he remembered the horror of watching his friend die.
"That will do it." John offered.
"Indeed." Giles answered with his eyes closed and his head tilted back to rest on the back of the couch.
"So on a lighter note how do you think Dawn's date is going?" John asked with a wry grin.
"Though I've only known your sons a short while I think I can safely say that Dave has no idea what he's getting into." Giles chuckled.
"Can you imagine what Sam will do if Davey boy actually tries to kiss her." John burst out laughing at this thought holding his stomach with one hand.
Giles' shoulders shook with repressed mirth as the mental image danced through his mind. "Oh you're a cruel, cruel man John Winchester."
The two men continued to converse about all manner of topics resting, and taking comfort in each other's presence. Both men grateful for the unexpected friendship that had taken place, each knowing the value of finding someone who understands without judgment. As John drifted off to sleep he sent a silent prayer heavenward for the fortuitous family that he and his had become apart of so quickly. He found himself in the awkward position of having to be grateful to the damn demon for drawing him here for this opportunity. With that ironic and somewhat disturbing thought in mind John drifted off deciding that how he got here didn't matter, only that he had at last arrived.
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As Buffy and Dean patrolled, Buffy continued to grow more and more distressed. Her fights were lasting longer and getting excessively brutal. She would pound on a vamp for a full 5 minutes before going in for the kill. Dean didn't know what to do, to help her through this, and it was driving him crazy. By the time she'd finished with the latest vampire Dean was racking his brain for the memories that they'd shared during their bonding process.
"Hey Buffy?" Dean finally said not sure if this approach was going to work or not, but just praying it didn't land him in the hospital with a broken jaw.
"Yeah." Buffy answered still obviously distracted.
"I don't love you." Dean blurted out, then grabbed his head with both hands. "Wait!" He said quickly since that had caused Buffy to focus on Dean for the first time since they'd left the mansion. "Let me clarify. What I should have said is that I don't love you YET. Look I like you, you like me, but we're just getting to know each other here. I mean we might have this bond thing going on and we've shared memories yeah, but that doesn't erase the fact that we've barely known each other a week." Dean finished rambling.
"I don't understand." Buffy said looking confused and a little hurt. "What are you getting at Dean?"
"What I'm getting at is that I think you need to go home and call Angel." Dean said finally.
"What!" Buffy said looking shocked, "Why would I…" Buffy trailed off as she noticed the look of compassion and understanding in Dean's eyes.
"You need to call him because up till about 3 days ago you thought he was the person you were going to spend the rest of your life with. You need to call him because you love him, and he's still in your heart. You need to call him because you're destroying yourself with guilt over being bonded with me, and the fact that Riley got killed, and that life didn't turn out the way you thought it would. Buffy we've got all the time in the world. But right now you need to talk to the one person who's always helped you deal with the shit storm that is your life, and it isn't me."
"Dean." Buffy said softly unsure how to deal with this amazing gift he was giving her.
"Go make peace with your past Buffy, the futures going to take care of its self." Dean brushed a lock of hair off Buffy's face and then said. "I'll see you in the morning beautiful."
Buffy wrapped her arms around Dean's neck and pressed her lips to his in a kiss so soft, and full of gratefulness, Dean felt tears forming in his eyes. "
"Thank you." Buffy whispered when she finally broke away.
"You're welcome." Dean answered with a grin, feeling happy as he watched Buffy walk away, grateful that he was able to give her exactly what she needed. Pulling out his cell phone he called Sam, who answered with a whispered "Hello."
"Yo, dude what movie are you watching, cause you're getting some company." Dean said nonchalantly.
"The new Jack Black flick, and get me some milk duds when you come in okay?" Sam answered easily before hanging up when the couple next to him sent him a dirty look.
Whistling Dean walked towards the movie theatre feeling pretty damn good. He loved Jack Black.
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When Buffy got home she stopped long enough to reassure Joyce that Dawn's date wasn't evil and she didn't mean to forget about mentioning she had one in the first place. That taken care of Buffy excused her self and went into her room and dialed the familiar number for Angel investigations. After three rings she heard Cordelia say, "Angel Investigations we help the hopeless."
"Hey Cordy, its Buffy is Angel in?" Buffy tried to keep her tone light and conciliatory
"Hey Buffy it's not apocalypse time is it? I have a date tonight, and it's been a loooong time." Cordelia asked worriedly.
"Don't worry the apocalypse is at least a week away, no I just need to speak with him, it's personal.
"Oh okay, well try not to make him all broody if you don't mind it takes forever to get him out of it."
"I make no promises, but I'll do my best." Buffy answered seriously.
"Thanks," then the muffled shout of "Angel telephone its Buffy." Could be heard echoing down the receiver.
A few minutes passed until Buffy heard the familiar voice whisper in her ear. "Buffy?"
"Hey Angel." Buffy said her voice starting to crack as she realized how much she missed him and still loved him.
"Buffy what's wrong? Did something happen to Dawn?" Angel's voice was frantic.
"No, oh god Angel I just really needed to talk to you." Buffy said at a complete loss as to where to start. "Riley's dead."
"Oh Buffy, I'm so sorry." Angel said quietly knowing the guilt had to be eating away at Buffy.
"That's not all, you remember when I told you about the Winchester's?"
"Hunter's that were going to help with Glory, yeah Buffy I remember. What's going on?" Angel asked confused at the change in topic.
"Well Sam the youngest is apparently the long lost lock to Dawn's key, and they're all bonded now. Then Dean, that's the older brother, and I ended up bonding accidentally, and now we've got this life long bond." Buffy babble her words coming out so quickly it took Angel a moment to piece them all together.
"Buffy, honey slow down you're not making any sense. What do you mean bonded?" Angel asked trying to make sense of Buffy's babble.
"I mean I'm now bonded permanently to someone else." Buffy answered quietly.
Angel felt like his world just stopped. "Oh." He sighed.
"I'm so sorry Angel." Buffy choked out brokenly.
"It's not your fault Buffy." Angel spoke softly.
"I just didn't want you to hear about this from anyone else. Then with Riley dying my whole worlds been flipped on it's ear, and the one person I wanted to talk to, I felt like I shouldn't call anymore." Buffy cried quietly into the phone.
"Buffy you can always call me no matter what." Angel answered emphatically. "I'm glad you did, Buffy what we meant to each other will never change. I love you, and I'll always love you, we just won't be in love anymore." Angel accepted the future that he'd already known would one day arrive.
"You don't hate me?" whispered her darkest fear.
Letting out a chuckle Angel was filled with relief that he could once more be there for this amazing woman. "Buffy I've come to accept that the world if full of infinite possibilities, but there is no way in this reality that I could ever hate you."
Letting out a sob of relief Buffy said, "Oh thank you, thank you Angel."
"Buffy just please promise me you won't ever feel like you can't call me for any reason. I love hearing from you." Angel said giving voice to how much he'd missed having Buffy as a daily part of his life.
"I've missed you too, but I don't want to cause you pain." Buffy said determined not to flaunt her future.
"Buffy being apart has caused me pain, not knowing what's going on with you has caused me pain. Wondering if your okay, if you need help, if you ever figured out how to now mess up your hair doing a flying spin kick." Angel joked at the end needing Buffy to not cut him out of her life anymore.
"Angel how can this work?' Buffy asked.
"It can work because we want it too Buffy." Angel answered seriously.
"I love you." Buffy sighed. "I don't want Spike to be right."
"I love you too, and Spike's a moron. We're not giving up a life together we're just changing what roles we're going to play." Angel voiced with conviction. "Now start from the beginning and tell me how all this happened. It sounds like you've had a hell of a week." Angel said, his heart pulsing with love, regret, and gratefulness that he got to keep Buffy in his life. Even if it wasn't how he'd originally imagined.
"Well," Buffy answered her own gratefulness evident in her voice. "It all started with a dream.
To be continued.
Sorry it took so long to post this chapter, but I was hoping to have a beta check it out for errors before I posted. I'm still looking, so please forgive any glaring errors, and if you're interested in being my beta please contact me. This piece is getting really long, and I'd like some help making it better. The first nine chapters really need to be redone, and overhauled. Anyway, I'm still here and working, so please please please please please review. You don't know what it means to me. I hate to be a pest, but every review really does help and inspire me to do better. Have a great labor day.
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