Author's Note: twin who likes to travel – True Buffy could jump tall fences in a single bound and bend bars of steel. But do you think for a second in a world where the First took over that it would not have made preparations to house a Slayer and keep it contained. After all it was revealed that Dawn was unable to even portal, via the Key, out of the room so there had to be magic involved to contain her. Originally there was to be a reveal of one other person escaping the Hellmouth besides Buffy, Willow, Faith and Dawn. That Giles had been turned and become a master vampire. As we know Giles is capable of doing magic (as is evidenced several times in the show) and he would have made sure that Dawn could not escape by any means.

Chapter 2: The Watchers

September 12, 1997 - Friday

The alarm, which Dawn did not remember setting, woke her up at six in the morning. She groaned as she got out of bed, crossing to her dresser where the alarm was. She had learned, years before, that it did her no good to have the alarm clock on the bedside table next to the bed; if she didn't get out of bed to turn the alarm off, her morning would turn into an endless round of 'punch the snooze' and eventually waking up hours later. (A/N)

Dawn formulated a plan for her day while she showered. The first was to talk to Willow. She then debated calling her lawyers to see what they could do for Xander with Tony and Jessica Harris. Dawn brushed out her hair, deciding to let it remain loose and flowing, then dressed. Simple but elegant was her goal with her clothes. She dug out a pair of designer jeans and a matching sleeveless blouse.

Breakfast was funny-shaped pancakes; she had a moment's pause while mixing the batter to wipe tears from her eyes. The five years being held captive was finally hitting her like a punch in the stomach. She had hardened herself so that the First would not break her. But inside she had felt so lonely. She had missed Xander, Willow, Giles, Buffy, all of them. To a degree she still missed them. But she knew as she reformed the friendships with her friends' younger selves, she would slowly find the whole in her heart healing.

By the time she was done cleaning up from breakfast, it was seven am, and time to head over to Willow's. Upon arrival at the Rosenberg home, she watched and waited till Sheila and Ira Rosenberg left. She went up to the door and knocked. She heard footsteps come from upstairs and then the door opened to reveal Willow.

"Dawn," said Willow surprised to see Dawn there.

"I know it's early," said Dawn. "But I have something I need to talk to you about."

Willow nodded as she let Dawn inside and closed the door behind them. She led Dawn upstairs to her bedroom where she sat down at her desk.

"I know you have been, or will start, practicing magic," said Dawn. "In my time you were a powerful witch. But there were some speedbumps along the way. You remember I mentioned Buffy dying, three times?" Willow nodded. "The first as you know was in the Master's cave. The second was when she sacrificed herself for me. Well after the second you channeled Osiris and resurrected Buffy, ripping her out of heaven."

Willow's hand shot to her mouth in shock.

"That's the same reaction you had when Buffy finally admitted where she had been. After Buffy's resurrection you started delving more and more into the dark arts as they slowly began to corrupt you. It all came to a head when someone you loved was killed. You tried to destroy the world because you didn't want to feel the grief anymore."

"So, I won't do magic then," said Willow.

"I was going to offer that I teach you," said Dawn.

"You can do magic?" asked Willow.

Dawn waved her hand and a portal opened. "Look out your bedroom window."

Willow stood and looked out her bedroom window she saw in her front yard a matching portal like the one that was in her bedroom. She sat back down and looked at Dawn. "You will teach me to do that?"

"That no," said Dawn. "While that is magic, it is also an ability that innate with me. But I can train you in your magic so you can reach your potential without delving into the dark arts. I don't want to see you become as someone once called you, Darth Rosenberg."

"I'd like that," said Willow as she smiled at Dawn.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At 5:30 pm Dawn walked into the library. "Hey, Giles," she said. She spotted the people from the Council, all but one of of whom she recognized. "Ah I see they are here."

"Good evening, Ms. Summers," said Giles keeping it formal for the other Watchers benefit. "This is the team I mentioned that the Council would be sending. Dawn Summers," he gestured toward Dawn. "This is Phillip Muirhead, Nigel Iyer, and Chloe Payne. They're here to examine your claim to being a Slayer. They'll ask you some questions, test your strength and reflexes, and so on." (A/N)

"Uh, nice to meet you all," said Dawn. "I look forward to talking with you all."

Chloe came around the table that she, Giles, Nigel and Phillip had been standing next to. She tentatively held out a hand. "Good to meet you, Miss Summers. I'm Chloe Payne. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we're intrigued by your claims. And I'd like to especially say that I'm looking forward to working with you if things work out as I hope they do."

"I take it that if you agree that I am a Slayer then you are the one that would be assigned to me as a Watcher?" asked Dawn.

"Well..." Chloe looked nonplussed. "Well, yes. You're a Slayer..." She paused when Nigel coughed. "Sorry, you might be a Slayer, and Slayer's need a Watcher. And if you are – I hope you are – that's me. Personally, I'm looking forward to working with you."

Dawn knew by way of Buffy what Wesley had been like and she knew from Faith what Diana had been like. She even had heard about the ex-Watcher that had tried to steal some glove for herself. Out of the three Diana sounded like the best of the bunch, at least that was how Faith had portrayed the woman.

"If you don't mind me asking, Miss Summers – " Chloe said.

"Dawn. I'd prefer it if you called me Dawn," said Dawn. "After all Buffy has the same last name as I do since we're cousins. It might get confusing if you continue to call me or her by our last names."

"You make an excellent point," said Chloe. "In which case I insist you call me Chloe." The woman smiled, and it was actually warm and welcoming. "Anyway, I wanted to ask, just how did you find out about your, er, empowerment?"

Dawn lied her ass off. She told them that she had a dream where a girl was fighting an unending array of vampires and demons. That the girl had looked at her and asked, "Are you ready to be strong?"

"That's incredible." Philip exclaimed. "She asked you if you were ready to be strong?" He turned to his colleagues. "Has a dream like that been recorded in the annals of the Slayer?"

"No. No, it hasn't." Nigel said. He didn't believe her. "Ms. Summers, if you would, would you mind holding this –" he held out a gold-colored coin "- in one hand, and this – " he held up a short knife "- in the other?"

Dawn took the two objects. "Okay, what now?"

Nigel pushed her hands together. "Hold your hands like this. Now." He waved a hand over hers. "Emunabit!"

Dawn yelled out in pain as she hurled the two items away. One stuck in a wall the other in a book. She leapt at Nigel, grabbing him by the collar with one hand and lifted, hauling her other hand back and into a fist. "What in the freaking heck was that?"

"Sorry... I'm sorry." Nigel said as he held his hands up in surrender. "We had to know first thing! You wouldn't have reacted that way were you not a Slayer. "

Dawn dropped Nigel, who collapsed to the floor. She shook both of her hands out. "You could have warned me about the electric shock. "

"Dawn, let me apolo—" said Giles.

"You don't have to, Giles," said Dawn. She looked at Nigel. "You could have freaking warned me, you know."

"Truthfully?" admitted Nigel. "I believed the spell wouldn't react to you."

"You thought I was lying," said Dawn. "I will admit that was a reasonable assumption."

"Well, Ms. Payne," said Giles. "I would say that Dawn is your Slayer."

"If everyone doesn't mind, I am going to take a small bathroom break," said Dawn as she headed out of the library. The moment the doors were closed she opened a portal and grabbed both Xander and Willow. Several minutes later they returned to the library to find that both Phillip and Nigel gone.

Chloe looked from Dawn to Xander to Willow. "Dawn, the evaluation and our discussions are not... There are certain things that we have to keep confidential."

"No," said Dawn. "Xander and Willow have been Buffy's friends since Buffy moved to Sunnydale. Since their introduction to the night life of Sunnydale. Buffy isn't back from her summer vacation, but I wanted to introduce you to her team."

"Team?" said Chloe with a shake of her head. She looked at Giles. "You allow this?"

"Reluctantly, yes. Buffy and I both tried dissuade them," answered Giles. "They persisted. They had seen too much and refused to back out. They wanted to help. And I decided to utilize them. Willow herself is good with this infernal machine," he said as he motioned toward the computer. "She found information on the Master being buried under this very room, though at the time we did not know the Hellmouth was under our very feet. And Xander has not only faced and staked a vampire, a former friend of his and Willow's that was turned, he also is the one who performed CPR and revived Buffy when she went to face the Master, creating the divergence in the Slayer line that called Kendra Young. They have both been invaluable to Buffy."

"See? I can't keep them from helping me anymore than Buffy could." Dawn explained.

"But... but that's just not done." Chloe was apparently building up a full head of steam. "The Slayer has always fought alone, in the shadows. As your Watcher, I forbid you from doing this."

"I'm going to show you something and you are going to see how difficult it will be to forbid me from doing anything is," said Dawn. She waved her hand and twin portals opened on either side of the room. Chloe looked back and forth in shock. "You are a witch?"

"I am but that is an ability that I only currently have," answered Dawn. Though she knew it was possible with instruction that if her younger self had access to the Key that she too would be able to open portals as well. "Stick your hand through."

Chloe hesitantly did as instructed, she saw her hand poking out the other portal. She immediately pulled her hand back and then looked at Dawn with a sigh.

"I have done some research into this, Ms. Payne," Giles said. "The Slayers without the aid of a team died within hours or even days of their calling. Take for example Rei Mori. It is a truly tragic tale. Slayer Rei was not only young when she was called – only thirteen – but she wasn't just killed but was turned. She'd been the Slayer for fifteen days when she met the master vampire Nakamura, who turned her. She was finally dispatched by my Slayer's predecessor India Cohen."

"And one who worked with a team?" asked Chloe.

"Nichole Wood of New York City," Giles said. "She lasted as Slayer from 1970 to 1977, when she was killed in a fight with William the Bloody. She was three weeks and two days away from her seventh anniversary as the Slayer when she died."

"How old was she when she died?" Willow asked, she knew that Slayer's had a short lifespan. After all Buffy had technically only lasted a year and a half before the Master killed her.

"Twenty-four. She was twenty-four. She was assisted by a pair of New York City police officers and a private detective, and had many other connections in her community. She even had a son."

"What does that tell you about the tradition of the Slayer acting alone?" Dawn asked Chloe. "I know what it tells me."

Chloe stared at Dawn for a moment. "All right, then, tell me. In your infinite wisdom, garnered as it was by your sixteen years of life and your two days as the Slayer, what does it tell you?" Chloe asked. She was smiling, but it was a tight smile.

"Relax, Chloe. We're all friends here. Want a hug?" Dawn snarked with a friendly grin.

Chloe shook her head and smiled. And in that smile Dawn realized the young woman was fresh out of the Watcher's Academy. Which meant she couldn't be much older than nineteen or twenty, maybe even twenty-one. "No, but ice cream later, maybe. What does the examples of those two Slayers tell you?"

"What it tells me is I want no part of this Tradition. I'm not a tool. I'm not replaceable. I am not a cog in a machine. I am not a fire-and-forget missile that can be used and discarded. Neither is Buffy, as Giles himself learned." Dawn stared at Chloe. "So right now, I want you to make me a deal, Chloe. You will follow Giles example, that you will stop seeing me as the Slayer, who just happens to be a girl. I want you to start seeing me, just as Giles sees Buffy, as a girl who just happens to be a Slayer. You do that, and I'll do everything you ask that I think is reasonable."

"That sounds reasonable, I think," said Chloe.

"Good. Glad we got that settled," said Dawn. "Oh, and Chloe, Giles... there's one exception. Neither Buffy or I are going to be undertaking the Cruciamentum. Don't even bother trying."

"How did..." Chloe's eyes were wide. Instead of continuing, she swallowed, and said, "We'll discuss this later."

"No. There's nothing to discuss. It's not going to happen," said Dawn. "Try it. I dare you. I'm all for us cooperating to accomplish the mission, and I know Giles is a good person and I think you are too, but if you think you're justified pulling that shit? I'll open a portal, take Aunt Joyce, Buffy and myself and you will never see us again."

"The Council isn't going to like that," Giles said.

"Giles," said Dawn with a shake of her head. "You know how Buffy feels about them. Do you think she wouldn't disappear if push came to shove?"

"If it came right down to it," said Giles. "I don't know. She jokes about it, but otherwise I just don't know."

"What's the Cruciawhatsis?" Xander asked.

"Cruciamentum." Dawn supplied. Her eyes hadn't left Chloe's. "It's a test to see if a Slayer when she turns eighteen can slay a vampire without her powers. I call it attempted murder."

"Yeah. Neither you or Buffy are doing that." Xander was adamant.

"To be honest, I never agreed with the necessity of that test." Giles finally said after a long moment of silence. "It's always seemed... barbaric."

Chloe looked at Dawn and slowly nodded. "All right. That said, Mr. Giles is correct, the Council won't like it if we refuse to administer the Cruciamentum. But we have two years to figure something out."

They all sat in silence again before Xander sighed. "So how about the evaluation? We still going to do that? What's involved in that?"

"Well, we can proceed, I think." Chloe said. She picked up a clipboard from the library's counter. "Now, Dawn... the first part of the evaluation are some questions."

"What, like a quiz?"

"Ah, no. Not as such." Giles answered.

"As Mr. Giles says. There aren't any right or wrong answers. They're just questions that will help us evaluate your non-physical gifts." Chloe answered. "Now, the first set of questions involves prescient dreams. You told us earlier that you had a dream that informed you that you were the Slayer. Did this dream seem, um, more or less real than your regular dreams seem?"

Dawn glanced toward Giles who nodded in understanding that the dream had been a lie of course. After all Dawn had been called years in the future. She looked back at Chloe. "What do you mean, more realistic?" she asked.

"Were they more vivid? Brighter colors?" Chloe thought for a moment. "Did the imagery you saw look true to life, regardless of how bizarre the images actually were?"

Before Dawn could answer, Giles threw a small crystal sphere, about the size of a billiard ball, at her. Dawn caught it out of the air. "Juggle these please?" The first sphere was swiftly followed by two more.

Dawn had never juggled anything in her life, but she quickly figured it out. "Okay, juggling."

"That's fun!" Willow said. "Think you can teach me?"

"I could try. Of course, I'm not sure how I'm doing this. I've never juggled before," said Dawn.

"And yet you're doing splendidly." Giles said. "Just so you know, the world record is eleven balls at once, and that is from someone who doesn't have the heightened coordination of a Slayer."

"Could you answer the question while you're juggling, please?"

"I think they want you to multitask, Dawnie." Xander chuckled.

"Right." She flipped the three balls into the air one after the other. "What was the question again?"

Chloe spoke up. "Was your prescient dream more or less realistic-seeming than your regular dreams?"

"Oh, uh... more realistic. It didn't feel like I was dreaming at all." Dawn gasped as Giles flipped a fourth ball into her hands. Without pausing, Dawn incorporated it into her juggling routine. Xander clapped quietly, then gave her the thumbs up, which she returned by sticking out her tongue at the boy.

"In your dream, did anyone communicate with you, or did you just see images? And if they spoke, did you get the impression that they were speaking English, or some other language? And was what they showed you or told you cryptic, or was it clearly understood?"

"I think we should let Dawn a chance to answer, Ms. Lamontagne, before we load her down with more questions." Giles interrupted. He flipped a fifth ball at her, which she also caught and juggled.

"Oh, right. Sorry. So, did anyone communicate with you in this dream, or did you just see images?" Chloe asked.

"Uh, one of the previous Slayers spoke to me." Giles flipped her a sixth ball.

"You're pretty good at that." Xander noted. "How many do you think you can do at once?"

"I, uh, don't know. The first five were easy. I'm having to keep my eye on these more." To anyone watching, Dawn was passing the balls into the air and through her hands with ease.

Giles flipped a seventh ball into her hands. "You mentioned that you thought the girl who spoke to you in your dream was a previous Slayer. Was she dressed as if she was relatively recent, or was she dressed in an older fashion?"

Dawn tried to look as if she were thinking about it. "Definitely recent. Her clothing was pretty up to date as far as style's concerned. Assuming she was real, I'd say she was from sometime in the last ten years or so."

"So, you think she was called in the last decade." Giles retrieved a book from his office and began flipping through it. He paused at one page, and tossed Dawn an eighth ball. Dawn fumbled and almost dropped it, but eventually got the eight balls going in rhythm.

"In the past ten years there were five Slayers called. Other than yourself, Buffy and Kendra Young in Jamaica, of course. The girl... did she look Caucasian, Asian, or African?" Giles flipped through a few more pages.

"Mr. Giles?" Chloe's expression asked the unspoken question.

"Trying to confirm that the girl she saw in the dream was actually a Slayer." Giles flipped a couple of more pages in the book. "Was she Caucasian, Asian, or African, Dawn?"

"Caucasian."

"That narrows it down to three, and eliminates one of the other current Slayers." Giles muttered. He was still flipping through the book. "Was she blonde or brunette?"

"Brunette." A bead of sweat trailed down the side of her brow and onto her cheek. She was really concentrating on not dropping anything now.

"Brunette. That's leaves two and eliminates the other current Slayer. Did she have light skin, or was she deeply tan?" Giles had stopped and was looking back and forth between two pages near the end of the book.

"Uh... light skin. She didn't look tLyssad at all." Dawn spared a glance in Giles's direction and saw he was tapping a page while showing it to Chloe.

"India Cohen." Chloe said. "The Slayer who preceded Buffy Summers."

Giles held the book open in front of Dawn. He winked at her to let her know he understood what she was doing. Till Chloe was let in on the fact that Dawn was from the future, this would let them know about future information in a public setting. "Have a look. Is this her?"

Dawn stole a glance at the page he was tapping. "Yep. That's her."

Giles read the information in the book and said, "It says she was a very successful Slayer. Lasted almost four years. Died after trading herself to a master vampire in exchange for some innocent hostages. Voluntarily allowed herself to be fed on."

Chloe wrote on her clipboard, then asked, "Have you had any more prescient dreams?".

"Um, yes, several. But I don't know what they all mean. One of them had that same girl. India?" Dawn said as she looked at Giles pointedly. He nodded in understanding. She was about to reveal future information. "She told me about the Scourge of Europe. In another one she told me about Buffy. I had one last night which showed me this girl – I don't know who she is. It was just images, no visits from India. Anyway, last night I had a dream about a girl."

She went on to describe Faith and explain what would happen. She looked pointedly at Giles as she kept repeating the word faith in the hope he would catch on. "I didn't recognize her, but she looked my age, about a month or so younger than I am. Anyway, she was dressed in blue jeans and a rock concert t-shirt. Standing next to her was this older woman, about your age, Giles. And the older lady, she said that, uh... what was it she said, exactly. Something about how I had to have faith in her, and that she wouldn't be able to watch over the girl anymore if we didn't help her, and that something horrible was coming, and that I was to have faith and keep her close to me. She said if I had to keep faith and protect her, and if I failed, the girl would be lost to darkness."

Dawn caught the balls one-by-one and put them down on the table nearby. "The lady had a British accent. Almost like yours, Chloe. And after she finished speaking, this huge thing came out of the shadows and... it. Uh, did things to her. The older lady. Bad things. Horrible things."

"What sort of bad things?" Chloe asked.

"What happened to the lady was monstrous. And she sounded so, so desperate," said Dawn.

"Desperate? Do you think this dream represented something that was urgent?" Chloe put the clipboard down. "Some impending apocalypse, perhaps?

Dawn shook her head. "No, it felt more personal than that. More... more intimate. Like... it wasn't world-shattering. What I mean is, well, sort of like the immediate danger would only affect those two people, the lady and the girl, but if something wasn't done there'd be long-term consequences for other people."

"Which people?" Xander asked.

"Us." Giles began to say something, but Dawn interrupted. "Not just the Slayers or the Watchers, but everyone in this room. It was like... if we don't save the lady and protect the girl from this bad thing that happens, something even worse happens down the line." She looked pointedly at Giles and he understood instantly. The girl she was talking about was the one that had died protecting her, the one that when she had died had called Dawn.

"But the dream wasn't clear about who they were? No names were given, or locations?" Chloe pulled a pen and a small notepad out of her jacket pocket. "Well then, perhaps were should see what we can do about interpreting your dream, shall we?"

"Okay. Uh, where do we start?"

"First, can you describe the woman?" Chloe asked expectantly.

"Uh, well, she was sort of in shadows. I didn't see her face. She had a British accent... she sounded really educated, too. She used some fancy words." Dawn paused. "To, uh, well, she reminded me of you, Giles."

Giles nodded in understanding, the older woman was a Watcher. That meant the girl was a potential.

"Can you remember anything else?" Chloe was writing everything down.

"Just what she said, that if we didn't help, she wouldn't be able to watch over the girl anymore, and that we were supposed to have faith. She kept repeating it. I was supposed to have faith." Dawn repeated this point. "I was supposed to have faith. I was supposed to keep faith with something. And if I kept faith, the girl would be safe."

"Wonder what that means." Willow was writing on a legal pad. Every once in a while she'd circle something. Dawn leaned over to see over her shoulder, and it looked like Willow had diagrammed everything she said.

Xander joined Dawn in looking over Willow's shoulder. They stared at the complex network of words and phrases that Willow was constructing. "Willow, that's, uh... wow. I knew you were smart, but sometimes you scare me a little." Xander patted Willow on the shoulder.

"Thanks. Its, uh... I like to solve logic puzzles." She looked up at Giles.

"Oh hey!" Xander was still reading over Willow's shoulder. "I think I got it. This girl's a slayer. Or maybe she's, whaddaya call 'em. She's going to be one someday."

"You think the girl in Dawn's dream is a potential Slayer?" Chloe came over to look at Willow's notepad. Dawn and Xander scooted aside to give her room. "Show me. How'd you come to that conclusion?"

Xander pointed. "Okay, we've got the woman talking like Giles. And the woman says she won't be able to watch over the girl if Dawn doesn't help her." He grinned and nodded at everyone.

"Yes. And?" Chloe prompted.

"What? Come on! It's obvious, right?" Once again, he grinned and nodded at everyone, this time excluding Chloe.

Giles looked at Dawn who looked straight at him and she mouthed knowing he could read lips, 'Faith Lehane, Boston.' He nodded. 'Her Watcher is Diana Dormer. Diana dies from the master vampire, Kakistos.'

"I think I understand," said Giles. "The woman is a Watcher and the way the word faith keeps being repeated." He looked at Chloe. "Isn't there a potential in Boston, by the name of Faith Lehane?"

Chloe looked at Giles as she thought about what he said. "I believe so, and if I am not mistaken her Watcher is Diana Dormer."

"I'll make the call," said Giles. "I think that will be all for today though."

"There is one thing before we adjourn," said Dawn. "Giles, have you been training Xander and Willow in self-defense?"

"I have not," admitted Giles. "I see where you are going. Since they have been helping Buffy, they should know at least how to protect themselves if nothing more should they be out and neither you or Buffy are on hand." He began putting the books away. "You three be safe." He looked over at Chloe. "You coming?"

"Ah, not tonight. Everything I have packed with me is at the hotel, and I'm only packed for a three-day jaunt. I'd like to visit tomorrow, and perhaps I'll stay overnight then." Chloe started to say something more, thought against it, then started again. "Dawn, I'm flying back to England on Sunday, as scheduled. Mr. Giles will be in charge of you until I get back."

"No problem. Good night, Chloe. I'll see you tomorrow." Dawn gave her Watcher a hug before leaving. She knew how important to Buffy, Giles was. Since she technically did not have a mother, even if in reality she did, it would be nice having someone to be there for her if needed. So, she was going to try and become as close to Chloe as the older woman would allow.

When Chloe returned the hug Dawn whispered into Chloe's ear, "I want us to be friends. Not just Slayer and Watcher, but Dawn and Chloe. Friends. I'll see you tomorrow." When she pulled back, Chloe was nodding. She turned to the others, who were watching her expectantly. "Okay, guys. Your portal awaits. Anyone else hungry?"

"I could eat." Xander said as he followed Dawn out. "How about you, Will? You hungry?"

"Sure. Food sounds good." Willow put an arm around Dawn's shoulder. "What do you think about Chinese, guys?"

"I was actually thinking Mexican." Xander said, taking up a position to Dawn's right. "There's that new place out on Groveland, called 'Los Hermanos'. Don Beasley said they were amazing, and not that expensive. Beez said that I've got to try the enchiladas verdes."

"Whatever you guys want. I'm hungry enough to eat a horse." Dawn dug out her keys and unlocked the car doors. "Then maybe tomorrow we can hang out at my place, assuming you don't mind helping me unpack."

Willow took the shotgun seat as Xander climbed in behind her. "Oh, sure! We'd love to help. With your unpacking, I mean."

"Absolutely. It'll give us a chance to poke around in your things and learn your every dream, aspiration, and nightmare!" Xander chuckled.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Fun times ahead. So, Mexican?" There were nods all around. She started the car, and drove out of the school's parking lot.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn was just getting into bed when she heard someone or something knocking at her front door. She walked back downstairs, flicked on the porch light and opened the door to reveal Xander. She saw that her friend was bruised on one arm and that he had a black eye. She turned angrily and went to the landline and picked it up. She dialed one of the numbers for her lawyers that went straight to their home. She looked at Xander as she waited for someone to answer. "Are you okay?" she asked. "I know the physical answer is no. But emotionally?"

Xander shook his head afraid if he spoke his anger for his parents would escape.

"Aurora Hope."

"Aurora, this is Dawn Summers," said Dawn as she looked at Xander who had moved to the sofa and had sat down. She could see that Xander was trying to hold himself together. "A friend of mine here in Sunnydale is being abused by his parents."

"Have you called the police?" asked Aurora Hope.

"He just showed up on my doorstep," said Dawn. "And you were the first I thought of. Calling the cops is step two. I want to get Xander legal representation. I'll pay for it myself."

"That is a generous thing to do for your friend. Is he at your house, now?"

"He is," said Dawn. "The visible bruises I see are a black eye and another on at least one arm."

"There of course could be more. Call 911, they likely will want to take him to the hospital. Let them so he can be properly examined to make sure there is no other evidence that needs to be catalogued. I will have one of our associates meet him there in the morning. What is name?"

"Xander Harris," answered Dawn.

"Tell him that everything will be all right. How old is he?"

"My age," said Dawn. "Maybe a few months younger or older. If he wants to, could we potentially try and do what was done for me?"

"If the courts agree and he wants it, yes. But there is one problem with that. Unlike yourself he may not have the money to live on his own."

"That's not a problem, it's not like I lack for room. He can stay with me."

"Very well. Call 911 and let him know someone will be by in the morning to advise him. Good night, Dawn."

"Night, Aurora, thanks," said as she ended the call. She then dialed 911.

"911, what's the nature of the emergency."

"A friend of mine just showed up on my doorstep. Based on the way he looks I believe he may have been abused by his parents who seem to always be drunk."

"We will send someone from SVU as well as an ambulance, what is your address?"

"1625 Revello Drive," answered Dawn.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Elliot Stabler sat at his desk looking through various files which called for their attention. Olivia Benson sat at her desk, her nose buried in a file as her dark eyes scanned over the content.

It was then that Cragen walked in with his face set into a grim line and stopped in front of their desks. "We just got a call in from dispatch; a boy is being transported to Sunnydale Medical for potential abuse by his parents," Cragen said as Elliot and Oliva moved to get their coats on.

Elliot and Olivia slipped into Elliot's car a few moments later and pulled away from the station. It was only a twenty-minute drive to the hospital and soon enough they were pulling up outside. It looked like a typical school

Standing in the waiting room was a young woman next to a police officer.

"I am Elliot Stabler, and this is my partner Olivia Benson," Elliot nodded to Olivia who nodded at the officer and young woman.

"This is Dawn Summers," the officer said. "She is a friend of the potential victim. She called 911 when Mr. Harris arrived on her front porch at ten o'clock tonight."

"Is there somewhere we can speak more privately?" Elliot asked as the officer nodded and let them and Dawn to a side room usually used so a doctor can speak privately with a patient's family.

Sitting down they skipped the niceties and got straight down to business.

"Start with telling us what you know," Olivia started.

Dawn gave a sigh and began to talk. "Xander arrived on my doorstep, I could see bruises on his arm and he was sporting a black eye. I know his parents drink a lot."

"Has he ever been beaten or attacked before?" asked Elliot.

"I don't know," said Dawn. "I know Xander through my cousin who is one of his best friends, I only just moved to town myself."

"Who are his parents?" asked Olivia.

"Buffy, my cousin who by the way is out of town on vacation she should be back tomorrow, said their names were Tony and Jessica Harris," answered Dawn as a knock came at the door. They turned to see a woman wearing a white coat standing there.

"Dawn Summers?"

"I'm, Dawn," said Dawn looking at the woman.

"I'm Doctor Ogowa," the doctor said. She turned and looked at the detectives. "I take it you two are from SVU?"

"We are," Elliot answered. "I am detective Elliot Stabler and this is my partner Olivia Benson. I assume this is about Mr. Harris?"

"It is," said the doctor as she entered the room and closed the door behind her. "Principal examination only show evidence of bruising, not breaks or fractures. That said I had x-rays done. I found evidence of past abuse. I pulled up Mr. Harris' file and I saw he has been admitted to the emergency room in the past. Why the doctors in the past did not notify the police about this, I have no idea. But in my medical opinion Mr. Harris has indeed been abused."

Author's Note: I suffer from ADHD (inattentive type) as well as depression and I actually do this all the time when it comes to shutting off my alarm. I have to have something to actually force me to get up or I'll just lay in bed for hours.

Chloe Payne is the name of Michelle Trachtenberg's character on the TV show Mercy.