Call and Remember It

Disclaimer: Do I look like Joss Whedon? Wait... you can't see me. (whispers: I don't...)

Timeline: Takes place during Enemies and Salvage (the Angel episode)

Enemies

March, 1999

At the top of the stairs, Dawn squinted her eyes at Angel. He was acting weird. Too weird. She watched her mom let him and Faith in. She moved into the hallway as the two of them headed towards Buffy's room.

"Hey D," Faith said as they reached her.

"Hey," she replied, still staring at them.

Angel pulled on Faith's arm and nodded towards Buffy's room. "Come on." Yep. Weird. Are they… No, Dawn was sure Angel and Buffy were still dating, if just based on that look her sister got when Angel was mentioned. But then what was off with him?

As Dawn saw the two slayers and the vampire come out of her sister's room a thought struck her.

She went up to Angel. "Are you evil again?"

Faith went pale and looked away and Buffy sort-of smiled. Weird.

Angel gave her a smile that didn't quite meet his eyes. "Why would you say that?"

Dawn blushed, feeling embarrassed. "Well, you're acting kind of weird today, and, um…"

He put a hand on her shoulder and gave her that not-quite real smile. "I'll tell you what, I'll talk to you later. Your sister, Faith and I have some Slayer stuff we have to do right now."

Dawn nodded and watched the group head out of the house.

Dawn could tell Buffy was upset when she came back, but she wouldn't tell Dawn what the problem was. Dawn huffed and sat down by her window. She got out her diary and was about to write about her day when she saw Angel hesitantly approach the door. Dawn quickly opened her window, excited at the prospect of learning what the heck was going on. Angel looked up at the noise.

"Angel!" she said, not too loud, but she knew he could hear her. She jumped up and grabbed her hoodie. She quietly snuck down the stairs and creeped outside.

"Hey Dawnie."

"Are you going to explain why you were acting weird today?" she asked.

He sat down on the porch and sighed. She plopped down next to him. He explained the basics about what had happened. That to learn about the mayor's plan, he pretended to lose his soul. And that Faith had betrayed them and was working with the mayor.

After he finished, Dawn stayed silent. "Is that why Buffy looks upset?"

"What?"

"It was hard on her, wasn't it? To see you pretending to be evil."

"Yeah. It was."

Dawn looked up. "You did a good job. I even thought something was wrong, and you were acting nice."

Angel paused. "That's a good thing."

"What?"

"That you noticed I was off. If I ever… turned… again… That gut feeling... remember it."

Dawn nodded. If he became evil again, then realizing it happened was too important to take lightly. She would remember it.