A/N: So sorry for the delay. I have been writing a lot, just other stuff, Serena Chronicles, The Underpass, and a chapter for my guild's round robin. That has some great D/C stuff, you guys would like it, check out my fave stories, it's called Love and War in London. But I have a nice long chapter for you here. This one is cute and fun, I think everyone will enjoy it. Thanks to Kitty for pointing out that Dawn would probably catch onto the Italian fast, I am going to use that. And again, I don't speak Italian, all of it is from the handy AOL translator. I have no idea how correct it is, lol. At the bottom of the chapter I have some requests for your reviews...lol I would like everyone's input on a few things. Okay, now get to it! Enjoy!
Dedication: This one is for everyone who has reviewed so far: Sanity Fair, Broken-Sunrise, Fred, Gigi13, pumpkinbelly, freezyboncoolipants, cherrygurl1225, waynej, and daybreak and destructo boy. Also thanks to DawnConnor from the BET forum for her kind words and support. Your reviews mean so much to me!
Chapter 4: The Apartment
Connor rolled over and glanced at the clock on the bedside, translating from the European format to the one he was used to. 7:15. They had slept for almost eight hours.
He glanced down at Dawn, who was still sound asleep. She looked so beautiful, her hair spread out on the pillow, and her eyes lightly shut. The hotel's blanket covered her up to her shoulders, which were peeking out a little, clad only with the thin strap of her tank top. His mind wandered back to the last time they had shared a bed...hopefully they would be able to be really together again soon.
He heard a noise from the other side of the room, and looked up to see Buffy sitting up groggily. She glanced over and smiled slightly, seeing that she wasn't the only one awake. "Much better," she said, sounding refreshed and pleased. She too glanced at the clock before looking back at Connor. "Why don't you wake Dawn up. We can go get something to eat." She stood up, stretching slowly. "I'm going to take a shower." He nodded as she gathered her things and headed into the bathroom.
He debated the best method of waking his love from her sleep, finally deciding on kissing her exposed shoulder lightly, moving up to her neck. "Mmmmm," she moaned, beginning to stir. A slow smile spread across her features as she became aware of what he was doing. "Morning."
"Actually, it's night," he said, now intently kissing her earlobe.
She grinned widely at him. "Is that the shower I hear running?" The water had just been turned on.
"Mmhmm," he said, stroking her hair.
"So does that mean we're alone for a few minutes?" Dawn said suggestively, pulling him on top of her.
Connor smiled. "I suppose we are...you sure you're not too tired? You know, jet lag and all," he teased.
"I'm suddenly very awake," she mumbled, kissing him. He had his hand up her shirt when suddenly the door to the bathroom opened. A towel-clad Buffy cleared her throat.
"I thought I said no monkey business!" she said sternly, giving them a look.
Connor quickly moved off of her. "Sorry."
Buffy glanced at Dawn with a playful seriousness before closing the bathroom door again.
Dawn sighed, readjusting her tank top. "So much for that."
Connor sat back in the bed. "I'm sorry. It's probably better that we wait anyway, we wouldn't have had much time, and I want our next time together to be special."
Dawn smiled a little. "I just have to wonder how long we are going to have to wait! With my sister the underage sex patrol on the prowl..."
Connor laughed. "Don't worry. Soon we'll move into an apartment, look for jobs, get you enrolled in school...it's going to be a whole new life."
Dawn took his hand. "That all sounds great. But right now, all I want is some Italian food."
Connor laughed. "Why don't you get ready and as soon as Buffy gets out of the shower we'll go get some food."
Dawn climbed out of bed and went over to her suitcase. She spotted her Victoria's Secret bag hidden at the bottom and a slow smile spread across her face. Their next time together would definitely be memorable.
> > > > > > > >
The next morning they sat down in the hotel restaurant, the local newspaper spread out in front of them to the real estate listings. Buffy took a bite of her bagel with one hand while holding the dictionary in the other. "I think this one has a hot tub!" she frowned. "Wait, maybe that's running water."
Dawn leaned over to look. "Actually, neither. I'm pretty sure that says it has a working bathroom. Sounds glamorous."
Buffy sighed. "This is really hard. Why don't we just try and narrow it down to a few and then arrange times to look at them."
"Well this one's nearby," Dawn said, recognizing the street name from their walk to get dinner last night. "And this area is pretty nice. We also need one with two bedrooms, that narrows it down a lot." She quickly scanned the listings over again, circling four in red pen. "Let's start with these."
Buffy looked at her in amazement. "You're catching on really fast, to Italian."
Dawn shrugged modestly. "After having to read books written in ancient demon languages this is nothing."
Connor beamed at her. "That's my girl." She smiled back.
They finished their breakfast and stood up, gathering their stuff. "Well I'll call these numbers from the room, make an appointment for a tour," Buffy said. She frowned. "Or maybe Dawn can. We don't know if these people speak English."
> > > > > > > >
Two hours later they stood outside the first building. The agent who had agreed to show them the apartment was already ten minutes late. That couldn't be a good sign.
Dawn sighed. "And we thought Americans weren't punctual."
"Here she comes," Connor said, as a black car with the words "Realty di ComoditB" written on the side. A tall woman dressed in a black pantsuit climbed out, carrying a briefcase. "Ciao. Sono il pij spiacente mantenerli attendere. Continueremo?"
Dawn listened carefully. She had caught most of that but she still decided it would be better if the woman could speak English. "Parlate Inglese?" she asked hopefully.
The woman shook her head. "Spiacente, parlo soltanto italiano."
Dawn nodded, a little disappointed. She would think that most good real estate agents would speak a few languages, with the amount of foreigners that moved to Europe all the time. That combined with the woman's lateness gave her a bad feeling about the apartment. She slowly stated the phrase she had prepared this morning. "Approvazione. Vorremmo ora vedere l'appartamento."
The woman nodded politely, leading them inside the building. To Dawn's slight surprise it appeared pretty nice. The hallways were painted a fresh pale yellow and the lighting was good. Maybe her assumption had been wrong.
She opened the door to the second apartment they passed, holding it open for them to enter. "Cib P uno spazio fine, due camere da letto, un bagno, vista piacevole della cittB, vicinanza piacevole. Prezzo eccellente per la qualitB."
Dawn blinked. The woman spoke so fast that she had only been able to catch a few words. Buffy looked at her expectantly, waiting for a translation. "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Guess we'll just have to see for ourselves." They entered the apartment, which looked pretty spacious. The bathroom was just to the left of the doorway, and a decent sized living room complete with furniture was just ahead. Off of the living room were two small bedrooms.
Connor looked at Buffy and Dawn. "Not bad."
Buffy frowned slightly. "I don't know. It almost seems...too perfect. I mean, this is the first one we've seen."
He shrugged. "Maybe we just got lucky."
Buffy nodded, still a little suspicious. She walked slowly through the living room, stopping to examine the couch. She noticed that it wasn't pushed all the way against the wall. She peered behind it, her eyes widening when she saw two baited mousetraps. She turned to the realtor, flipping through the dictionary. "E ci un problema del roditore?" she asked suspiciously.
The realtor shifted a little at the mention of rodents. "OH no. tutte le precauzioni Italiane dell'introito degli appartamenti," she said quickly. She hurried to the bathroom doorway. "Avete visto la stanza da bagno bella? Molto moderno."
Dawn and Connor watched as Buffy entered the bathroom at the woman's request. She looked around. It did appear pretty nice. She was about to go check out the other rooms when her slayer ears picked up a slight noise. Something...dripping?
She turned around, heading over to the sink. She leaned in, looking for the source of the noise. She spotted a tiny wet spot on the floor, the dumping point for the leak she had heard. The water appeared...funny. She stood up, carefully turning one of the water knobs. She jumped back when a small spray of brown water squirted out. Dawn and Connor, who had been watching from the doorway, turned to the realtor, eyebrows raised.
Buffy turned around. "Sorry lady. We want something much better than this. Nice try though, the sales pitch sounded very suave, even if I didn't understand a word of it." She looked at Dawn and Connor. "Come on. Let's get out of here." The three of them headed for the door, the woman shouting after them in Italian.
"Attesa! Ritornato prego! Posso offrirlo molto!" she cried desperately.
"Whatever," Buffy mumbled as they left the building.
> > > > > >
A few hours later the three of them sat on the curb outside the fourth and final apartment building. The last two apartments had been a bust as well. The second had been a nice space, but it was clear from the sights that they passed on the way that it was located in the bad part of town. And Dawn had sworn that she had heard something growling in the apartment next door. From there they had moved on to the third apartment. It had been perfect, absolutely gorgeous. There was a fireplace, a brand new shower, lots of windows. Buffy and Dawn had instantly fallen in love with it. Connor had excitedly asked the male realtor, who even spoke English, for a price. He had smiled and responded with a figure that had made all three of their jaws drop. The money that Angel had given them would barely cover the first months rent. They had left very disappointed.
"Looks like we might be in that hotel for longer than we'd thought," Buffy said sadly. This last apartment was only a few blocks from their current residence.
Connor looked at her. "Hey, we can't give up. We just haven't had our lucky break yet. Dawn, remember how many apartments we looked at in Sunnydale before we found the right one for me?"
She smiled, remembering that day distinctly. "Yes. At least none of these have still had crime scene tape up. But we lucked out. Remember, we stumbled upon that house by accident on the way home."
Connor nodded, remembering the good times he and Dawn had shared in that apartment. "I wonder how Mr. and Mrs. Brady are doing. They were nice people."
"They're probably just living a new life somewhere else, like most former residents of Sunnydale," Dawn said.
Buffy looked up. "Looks like the realtor's here. May as well get this over with." She stood up slowly.
This one was a short, plump woman with a kind face. "Ciao! Come fate?"
Dawn smiled. "Parlate Inglese?"
The woman smiled back. "Yes. Americans, I see. Welcome to our beautiful country. Shall we proceed?" she spoke slowly and with a thick accent, but they could still understand her.
She lead them inside the two story building, climbing an old-fashioned set of stairs to the second floor. "This is a lovely neighborhood. This apartment was just vacated a few days ago." She opened the door, allowing them to step inside. "It's a beautiful space. It's in need of a few improvements, I won't lie, but it really is charming."
They entered the living room, trying to remain optimistic. She was right, the place could use a good coat of paint and a lot more furniture, but it was a nice space. The living room took up most of the apartment, a couch and a matching chair being the only furnishings besides the wooden coffee table and empty entertainment set. On the opposite wall was a beautiful bay window that looked out over the street. Near the wall next to the door was a little kitchen nook, containing a nice counter and an old fashioned stove and sink. "It has a dishwasher too, and everything is perfectly functional," the woman said brightly. A ceiling fan hung over the living room.
The four of them entered the first bedroom off of the living room. It was small, with no windows and only a bed and dresser for furniture. But there was something about it that seemed almost cozy. There was a door connecting it to the second, identical bedroom. "There is a closet in the hall," the woman added. "And here is the bathroom, almost brand new." She opened the next door, revealing a nice, clean looking, even shiny bathroom, with a toilet, mirror, sink, and shower stall. Buffy immediately strode over to the sink and turned on the water. What came out was perfectly clear. She turned around to look at the others. "This is nice. We'd have a little work to do, but I like it. What do you guys think?"
Connor glanced at Dawn. "I agree. I think that with the right touches, it could be perfect. And we're already familiar with the neighborhood."
"Decorating could be fun," Dawn said, her excitement growing.
Buffy nodded, reentering the living room and taking one last look around. The realtor looked pleased. "I am glad you find it appropriate. I can make you a nice offer."
The three of them shared a smile. "Maybe today wasn't such a bust after all," Buffy said. "Now let's talk rent."
> > > > > > > > > >
Three days later
"Finally, no more trips to make," Connor said, panting as he set down the last of their suitcases inside the apartment. "Looks like you guys are making progress."
"You're just in time, we're almost ready to start painting," Dawn said, as she and Buffy draped plastic over the couch.
They had made a deal on the apartment, and were thrilled when the landlord informed them they could move in in just a few days. Yesterday they had gone out and picked out paint for the apartment and all the supplies they would need to do it themselves. Now today was the big day, and Connor had just spent most of the morning carting their suitcases from the hotel three blocks away to the new apartment, while Buffy and Dawn had cleaned and gotten the place ready for renovations.
"Thanks for doing that Connor," Buffy said genuinely. "As nice as it was, I'm kind of glad to be out of that hotel. It wasn't...homey."
"But this will be, when we're done at least," Dawn said, linking her arm in his and giving him a kiss. "We're going to start painting in here first."
Connor looked wary. "Did I mention that I've never painted anything before?"
"Nah, it's a piece of cake," Buffy said, pouring some of the pale peach paint they had decided on after an hour of debating into the pan. "With these rollers, it can't be that hard."
Dawn smiled. "This should be interesting. Buffy's never painted anything either."
Buffy looked offended. "Hey, If I can save the world from ultimate evil I think I can manage to paint a living room." She picked up a roller and covered it with paint from the pan. She stared at Dawn and Connor, who were just standing there. "Aren't you going to help?"
Dawn giggled. "Why don't you demonstrate first."
Buffy scowled. "Fine. Watch and learn." She lifted the roller, placed it on the wall, and moved it up and down. She smiled triumphantly at the peach area now on the wall, which had previously been plain white and chipped. "See?"
"Okay," Dawn said, picking up the second roller. "Doesn't look too hard." She started on another wall while Buffy continued where she had started. "Connor, come help me!"
He smiled, joining his girlfriend. He lifted the roller and carefully rolled it over the wall. This wasn't too bad. They worked for a while in silence, until Dawn gasped loudly. Connor turned around to see what was wrong to see her standing there, a large drop of peach paint right on top of her head. She stared up at Connor, who was on the small step stool in order to reach the top of the wall. "Connor! You just dripped paint on my head!"
He stared at her openmouthed. "I didn't! I've barely gotten paint anywhere."
Playfully angry, Dawn picked up her own roller and thrust it towards him, paint spraying all over the front of his T-shirt.
"Hey!" Connor said, in disbelief. "What was that for?"
"You got paint on my head!" Dawn said with a laugh.
Buffy turned around to look at them, amused. "Let's try to keep the paint on the walls, okay?"
Connor gave Dawn a warning look. "I was."
Dawn tried to hide a smile, going back to painting the wall. "Fine, fine. But if you get paint on me again, you will be sorry."
"I swear I didn't get paint on you!" Connor exclaimed.
"Whatever," Dawn said with a joking sigh. They all went on painting in silence for a few minutes...until chaos broke out.
Looking back none of them could really remember how it started, except that Dawn had somehow ended up with another drop of paint on her head. She had turned to Connor, an evil grin spreading across your face. "Oh, you're going to get it now!" With no warning she picked up the pan of paint and threw it on him. He stared down at himself, his entire body splashed with peach paint.
"Okay now that was uncalled for," Connor said.
"Yeah, come on Dawnie," Buffy said, trying to suppress a laugh at the sight of Angel's paint-covered son.
Dawn spun around flinging some paint at Buffy as well. She gasped. "Oh now you're gonna get it." Buffy picked a new paint brush off the floor and dipped it in the paint, swiping it at Dawn.
Dawn shrieked, picking up her roller and chasing Buffy around the room with it. She eventually caught her, putting a nice streak of paint all down her back. Dawn stopped to laugh and was shocked when she felt something cold on her neck. She turned around to see Connor grinning, his hands covered in paint. "Gotcha."
She ran back to the wall, picking up the paint brush Buffy had used against her and flung some in Connor's hair. By this point it was an all out paint war, with the three of them running around, splashing each other with paint, using anything that was handy as a "weapon."
Several minutes later they collapsed from laughter in the middle of the room. Thankfully they had covered everything with plastic before they had begun, because a lot of the paint had ended up not just on them, but everywhere in the room. The three of them were barely visible under all the paint. Buffy had gotten the least of it, with her slayer instincts helping to protect herself, but her T-shirt was pretty well covered and her jeans had caught some spatters as well. But for the most part, her hair and face were paint free. Which was more than could be said for Dawn. Her brown hair had paint smeared through it, and there were splotches on her face as well. Her clothes from head to toe were also soaked. Connor hadn't made out much better. His T-shirt looked like it was composed completely of peach paint, and he had some peach spots in his hair and on his jeans as well. "I can't believe we actually got into a paint fight," Buffy said, feeling very immature.
Dawn laughed. "But it was fun." She flicked a speck of paint from her fingers at Connor.
Connor looked down at himself. "We should change, look at the mess we made."
Dawn suddenly got an idea. "A shower might be in order." Her eyes met Connor's, and a silent message was exchanged between them.
Buffy stood up slowly, trying not to make the damage any worse. "Let me get a plastic bag to put our dirty clothes in, because the bathroom and bedrooms aren't covered."
Dawn and Connor stood up quickly. "Sure." They exchanged another sly smile.
Buffy turned around with a bag in her hands. "We can go change, but be careful-" before she could finish, Dawn had grabbed the bag out of her hands and she and Connor were dashing for the bathroom.
"Have to conserve water!" Dawn yelled happily, locking the door behind them.
Buffy stared at the closed door in shock. She had just been outsmarted by Connor and Dawn! She banged on the door. "You know I can break this down if I want."
"That might not be smart, we could already be naked," Dawn said innocently. "Chill out Buffy, we're just going to take a shower."
Buffy sighed. And to think that they hadn't even discussed the sleeping arrangements yet...
> > > > > >
Inside the bathroom, Dawn turned to Connor, smiling seductively. "I know it's not exactly our romantic evening, considering we are covered in paint and in a bathroom, but it can hold us over for a little while."
He grinned, reaching over to turn on the water. "This will do." The spray turned on, and he started to strip off his paint soaked clothes, tossing them into the bag with a plop. Dawn watched him with a smile before removing her own shirt and pants. She hesitated slightly before removing her underwear. Although they were no stranger to each other's bodies after their night together, she still felt slightly shy. "You're beautiful," he said, taking her hand and helping her into the shower, closing the sliding door behind them.
She immediately relaxed as the water flowed over them, washing the paint away along with her insecurities. She realized that they hadn't unpacked any of the shampoo yet. "Wanna wash my hair?" she asked, turning around.
He smiled, running his wet hands through her hair, watching the peach wash off. His hands eventually wandered down to her shoulders, massaging them gently. She smiled happily, completely relaxed. The hot shower quickly filled with steam, enveloping the young lovers. She turned around, her body pressed against his. She kissed him softly. "We should do this more often."
He laughed. "Definitely." She reached up to rinse some of the paint out of her boyfriend's hair.
"Can I tell you a secret?" Dawn asked softly, busily washing his hair. She moved so she was behind him.
"Sure," he said curiously.
She grinned. "I dripped the paint on my own head, and blamed you for it."
He turned to face her, openmouthed. "You started that whole fight on purpose!"
Dawn laughed. "Are you telling me you object?" she ran her hands down his back.
He smiled. "Definitely not. Come here," he said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her.
> > > > > >
Buffy was still standing there, furious that Dawn and Connor had pulled that on her when a knock at the door interrupted her. Not remembering her current appearance of the disarray of the room she ran to it and opened it. "Oh, hi Mr. Tanner," she said.
Their landlord peered in at her. He was an older man, about sixty, short with gray hair and glasses. They had met him two days ago when they had signed the lease. "Hello Miss Summers." He looked her up and down, before glancing into the apartment and recoiling in shock. "I just wanted to make sure you got settled all right...I did explain about the security deposit, correct?" he said worriedly.
Buffy smiled. "Don't worry, we'll clean it all up. We're just painting, remember, we discussed this."
He smiled warily. "Looks as if you got more paint on yourself than the walls."
She laughed slightly. "My sister kind of started a paint fight. But don't worry, you'll never know it happened."
He nodded. "Well I do like the color. I wanted to tell you that there is a working phone line, and a washer and drier in the basement."
She smiled. "Thank you. We'll let you know if we need anything."
He smiled. Mr. Tanner was also American. He had moved here from Maine ten years ago and bought the building. "Glad to hear it. Have fun," he said.
They exchanged goodbyes and Buffy closed the door. She looked down at herself, shaking her head. She heard giggles and splashing from the bathroom and winced.
She made her way over to the bay window, staring outside. She was starting to like the whole Italian atmosphere. So far everyone they had met had been very friendly, and the food was great.
She frowned as a distant, tinny noise reached her ears. Was that...she ran to her suitcase, rummaging around. There it was! She pulled out her cell phone, which she had almost forgotten she had. She froze slightly when she saw the name on the caller ID: Angel.
She answered the phone, swallowing. "Angel?"
"Buffy, hi," he said. "I'm sorry to be calling long distance, I just wanted to check in, see how you were. It's been almost a week."
She smiled a little. It was good to hear his voice. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I talked to Giles when we got in, I was going to wait until we got a phone before calling everyone."
"I just got anxious. So, you got a place?" he said.
"Yeah. It's a really nice apartment right in the city. We're painting today," she said, going back over to the window.
"That's great. Rome is a nice city. At least it was when I was there."
"Still is. We're having a good time so far."
"How are Dawn and Connor?"
Buffy thought of their current activity and sighed. "They're good. Dawn's catching on to Italian really fast. I guess it must be all the practice with demon languages."
"That's good. Are they..." there was a pause. "Do you think Connor wants to..."
"I'm sure he would, but they're kind of, um, otherwise engaged at the moment," Buffy said warily. "We sort of got into a little paint fight."
"A paint fight?" Buffy could almost hear him smirking.
"Dawn started it," she said. "But they're...washing off."
There was a brief silence. "Oh...okay." He spoke again a second later. "Is the money I gave you going to be enough? I know it's expensive, living and all..."
"It's plenty," Buffy said honestly. "We got a good deal on the apartment, and Connor and I are going to start looking for jobs. Doing what, we don't know. And we also need to get down to the real reason we came, to start finding the new slayers. But thank you, so much, we wouldn't have been able to start fresh like this without you."
"Anytime. You know I'd do anything for you," he said sincerely.
She smiled sadly. "I know."
"I...I miss you. I know, we had gotten used to being apart, but having you here...it was nice. Hard, but nice."
"Yes, it was," she whispered. She cleared her throat. "I should get going, we still have a lot of painting to do and then we need to go shopping, get some stuff to liven the place up a little. It was nice talking to you."
"You too. Call me if you need anything." There was a brief hesitation, as if he was debating over what to say. "Goodbye Buffy. Tell Dawn and Connor I said hi."
"I will. Bye Angel." She hung up the phone.
She slowly crossed the room to put the phone away again. She turned around, surveying the messy apartment. They definitely had a lot of work to do, and they hadn't exactly made their job any easier. But this is good, she told herself. It's...normal. She smiled. She couldn't remember the last time she had thought of her life as normal. Still smiling she picked up the paint roller and continued working on the wall.
> > > > > > >
PLEASE REVIEW! I would like job suggestions for Connor and Buffy, as well as any ideas of anything you would like to see. Also, I would love to get an email review from anyone reading this at BET or Unnatural.