Chapter 29: Diamonds and Diplomas

June 18th, 2004

Connor paused outside the door of Buffy and Dawn's apartment. He felt oddly nauseous, as if there were a bunch of Irish dancers bouncing around in his stomach. He reached into his pocket and removed the small ring box, briefly flicking it open and gazing at the engagement ring he'd purchased nearly two months ago.

After his original plan to propose had gone horribly wrong, he hadn't put much thought into a new one. With Faith's death and Dawn's recovery, he knew that the timing was off. But now, a month and a half after their trip to New York for Faith's burial, things finally seemed to be settling down. A couple weeks ago, Connor had been surprised to arrive at their apartment and find a cardboard box containing Faith's belongings, which Buffy had finally brought herself to gather, sitting by the doorway. It was still there because no one really knew what to do with it; donating her few possessions did not seem appropriate, and throwing them away would be even worse. But it was a step in the right direction because at least her things were no longer strewn about the living room as if she might walk in the door at any moment and proclaim that the whole thing was an elaborate hoax.

What had finally pushed him to reconsider the ring that had been waiting patiently in his underwear drawer was the fact that Dawn's high school graduation was only a week away. He had decided that after the ceremony might be a good time to pop the question. He knew, however, that there was one critical step in this process that he had been planning to bypass before.

Connor knocked on the door before he could lose his nerve, returning the ring to his pocket. Buffy answered after about thirty seconds, looking at him in surprise. He noticed the increasingly dark circles under her eyes and how her clothes seemed a little baggier than usual, and felt a pang of worry. Although she went about her work at the cafe and her slaying as if nothing had changed, Connor had noticed a decline in Buffy's overall well-being since Faith's death, although he suspected that the slip had actually started earlier. He could tell that Dawn was seeing it too, although they never spoke of it.

"Oh, hi Connor. Um, Dawn's at school," Buffy said, looking confused.

"I know. I actually wanted to talk to you." He paused awkwardly. "Can I..?"

"Of course," Buffy said, swinging the door open. Connor entered and paused awkwardly at the kitchen counter. Buffy closed the door and turned to look at him expectantly. "What's up?" she asked cordially.

Connor inhaled. "Okay. Wow, I don't really know where to start." He looked at her. "Maybe you should sit down."

Buffy straightened a little, suddenly looking wary. "What's this about? Is something wrong with you and Dawn?"

"No, no, nothing like that. This is a good thing...well, hopefully," he said, chuckling nervously. He stared at his hands for a moment. "Look, Buffy...I hope you know how much I love your sister."

She nodded slowly, her expression offering no hints as to if she sensed where this was going. "I know. I think you've more than proven that."

He nodded enthusiastically. "Ever since I met Dawn...I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her."

"Oh, God," Buffy said with a sigh. She quickly moved herself to one of the stools, taking Connor's advice.

He looked at her nervously. "Buffy, I'm going to ask Dawn to marry me. And I was hoping that you would give us your, uh, blessing." The temperature in the room seemed to increase ten degrees.

Buffy was silent for a moment. "But you said you're going to ask her to marry you. No matter what I say."

Connor frowned, suddenly regretting his choice of words. "Well, um, that's not really what I meant..."

"Yes it is. But I appreciate you asking anyway," she said, her expression unreadable.

He raised an eyebrow. "So...do you?"

Buffy ran a hand through her hair, and in that moment she looked older than she ever had. "Look...I know what it feels like to be in love. And I also know what it feels like to have your heart broken to the point where you don't think it can ever be put back together again." She paused. "Do you realize how lucky you are? That you can be with her, with nothing standing in your way?"

Connor considered that. "Yes. I'm thankful for that every day. But I don't think we've exactly had it easy-"

"Yes, you have," Buffy gently corrected him. "Sure, you've had setbacks. But they weren't deal-breakers." She didn't need to say more, he knew exactly what she was talking about. "You're lucky. And you might not appreciate it now, but I hope that you realize someday." Connor just nodded, unsure of what to say.

Buffy sighed. "She's only seventeen."

"Eighteen in less than three weeks," he corrected her quietly.

Buffy gave him a look. "Still."

"Buffy...I promise you, that I'll take care of her. I'll do whatever I have to do to give her the life she deserves. And if I ever hurt her...I give you permission to hurt me," Connor said. Buffy raised an eyebrow, and he could tell that she was working very hard to hide a smile. "But you won't need to," he added hastily, cringing inwardly at the many ways in which the tiny blonde could probably kick his ass in a fight.

"All I want is for her to be happy. And I know that you make her happy. So...yes. You have my blessing," Buffy said. Connor was surprised to notice tears in her eyes.

His shoulders slumped in relief. "Thank you. Thank you so much." They hesitated awkwardly.

"Oh, what the hell," Buffy muttered, rising from her stool to give her future brother-in-law a hug. She laughed as they embraced, trying to wipe her eyes inconspicuously as they pulled apart. "You'd better have gotten her a nice ring," she half-joked.

Connor pulled out the box and flipped it open, allowing her to judge for herself. "I actually bought it a couple months ago," he admitted, deciding to leave out the part about his original proposal plans.

Buffy studied the modest yet striking pear-shaped diamond. "She'll love it," she declared. "When are you going to do it?"

"I was thinking after her graduation," Connor said.

Buffy nodded. "That's a good idea." She shook her head. "Wow. I mean, I kind of figured this would happen someday...but here we are."

"Here we are," Connor repeated.

One week later
June 25th, 2004

"We did it!" Amelia squealed, running to Dawn. The two girls threw their arms around each other and hugged jubilantly.

The graduation ceremony had just ended. After sitting through an hour of speeches, Buffy, Connor, Gina, and James had proudly watched as Dawn received her diploma.

"Connor, will you take a picture of us?" Amelia asked, handing him a digital camera.

"Sure," Connor said. Dawn and Amelia posed as he clicked the button. "Perfect," he said, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. He watched while Dawn received hugs from Gina and James, and he barely noticed when Buffy came up behind him.

"Are you still planning to do it?" Buffy asked quietly.

Connor nodded. "Yup. Just waiting for the right moment."

Buffy put a hand on his shoulder. "Well, good luck. Not that you'll need it." She paused a moment, tilting her head to the side as she watched her sister, clad in her royal blue graduation robe, chat animatedly with her friends. "I'm so proud of her."

"So am I. It was a nice ceremony...at least it sounded nice from what I could understand," Connor commented.

"Hey, at my graduation our keynote speaker turned into a giant snake and I had to blow up the school to destroy it. Anything else is an upgrade," Buffy said wryly.

Dawn suddenly turned, and grinned when she spotted Connor. As she started heading over Buffy squeezed his shoulder. "I think this is your moment." Before he could say anything she had quietly extracted herself to go talk to Gina.

Dawn wrapped her arms around Connor's neck and they kissed. "Congratulations," he said with a smile.

"Thank you. I have to admit, it felt pretty good to walk across that stage. After everything that happened last year, I wasn't sure if I would ever finish high school."

"Well, you did." He took her hand and started to gently lead her away from the crowd of proud families.

"Where are we going?" Dawn asked, confused.

"Not far." He stopped when they reached a large tree, far enough away from the excitement but close enough that he could still see Buffy pretending not to be watching them. He took both of Dawn's hands in his own. "I have something to say."

"Okay. Should I be worried?" Dawn said, half-joking.

"No. At least...I hope not." He took a deep breath. "I've been trying to come up with the right thing to say all week to make this perfect, but the only thing I realized was that there was nothing I could say that would be...worthy. So I'm just going to say this." She stared into his eyes inquisitively, not sure where this was going. "Dawn...I love you. I know you know that, but I'm not sure you'll ever know how much. All of this...I can't say it's a normal life, because it will never be normal, but it's sure as hell a lot closer than I ever thought I'd get. And all I want is to be able to spend every day, normal or not, with you."

Dawn put a hand to her mouth in shock as Connor got down on one knee, reaching into his pocket for the ring box. "Oh my God," she said.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time, but now...here we are. Dawn Summers...will you marry me?" He opened the ring box.

Dawn stood stock still for about five seconds before she nodded fervently. "Yes. Yes!" He realized that she was crying, despite the mile-wide smile on her face. She held out her hand and he placed the ring on it: it was a perfect fit.

He stood up and embraced her as they kissed. She shrieked as he picked her up and spun her around, wiping away the tears on her cheeks. "Oh my God, it's perfect. It's beautiful." He put her down and Dawn admired her ring, holding it up to the sunlight. "I love you so much." They hugged again, laughing with joy.

Unable to hold herself back any longer, Buffy approached them, with Amelia, Gina, and James trailing behind. "She said yes!" Connor said loudly, grinning so wide that his face hurt. Amelia's mouth was hanging open in shock, Gina was clutching her heart and appeared to have tears in her eyes, and James was grinning at Connor in approval. Buffy ran straight to her sister and enveloped her in a hug, whispering her congratulations. Dawn held up the ring and her girlfriends surrounded her to see.

"Well look at that. Why didn't you tell me you were planning this?" James asked Connor.

Connor shrugged sheepishly. "I thought you might tell Gina, and she probably wouldn't be able to contain herself. Sorry."

"Nah, it's okay. I'll forgive you, as long as you make me the best man at the wedding."

Connor smiled. "Well I don't know when that will be...Dawn might want to wait before we actually get married. But when the day comes, you're it."

James suddenly looked worried. "Gina looks awfully happy...I hope this doesn't put any ideas in her head. I mean, I'm crazy about her, I just don't know if we're ready for that."

Connor laughed. "All in due time. Believe me, it's taken a lot for Dawn and I to get here."

As James wandered back over to Gina, Connor thought about how he'd confided in Faith back when he'd initially planned the proposal. It all seemed like so long ago. "Thanks, Faith," he whispered. He felt like wherever she was, she was happy for them.

"I just can't stop staring at it!" Dawn said giddily, admiring her ring.

After a celebratory post-graduation and proposal dinner, Dawn had convinced Buffy to let her spend the night at Connor's apartment. Now, after an enthusiastic and lengthy celebration of their own, Dawn was lying on her back, clinging the sheet to her bare chest and holding her left hand in the air as Connor lied beside her, watching.

"I'm so glad you like it."

"How did you know my ring size?" Dawn asked.

"Faith helped me out with that. She took one of your other rings from your room and I brought it to the store," Connor said quietly.

Dawn nodded, bringing her hand down. "Just how long have you been planning this?"

Connor sighed. "Well I was originally going to propose the night...the night that everything happened." Sad realization dawned on her face. "But then afterwards, with everything...I decided to wait. Until today."

"I had no idea," she said.

"Really? You didn't suspect at all?"

She smiled sheepishly. "Well, I thought...hoped, that someday. But I had no idea when."

Connor propped himself up to a sitting position. "You're sure...it's not too soon, right? Because I know that you're- that we're young, but I just didn't see the point in waiting any longer."

Dawn sat up on her knees. "Connor, can't you tell how happy I am? Today has been one of the best days of my entire life. I am, so, SO happy that you didn't wait."

Connor reached out and put an arm around her, pulling her to lean against his chest. "Good. I'm happy I didn't either. And you know, we can get married whenever you want. I would happily marry you tomorrow, but if you want to wait, I understand."

Dawn was silent for a moment. "You know, whenever I thought about my dream wedding when I was a little girl, I always imagined all the frills possible, you know? The massively poofy white dress, a small army of bridesmaids, hundreds of pink roses, a horse-drawn carriage bringing me to the chapel..." They both laughed.

"Well I'm sure that could be arranged. I'll need to take on some extra shifts if we're going to pay for all of it," Connor joked. "But I want you to have your dream wedding. We'll make it happen."

"But see, that's just it. That's what I wanted then. I had no idea what I was talking about. It was all just a fantasy. But then I met you. And I fell in love, and it wasn't a fantasy anymore, it was real. And now that we have this, I don't want any of that anymore. I don't need dozens of roses or a designer dress or hundreds of guests. All I need is us, and the people we love, and that will be my real dream wedding."

Touched, he kissed her head. "Then that's what we'll have."

Dawn sat up and turned to face him. "We can keep it small. I already asked Amelia and Gina to be my bridesmaids. Hopefully we can have Willow and Xander and Giles and everyone from LA there, and it can be small and perfect."

"Where do you want to do it?" Connor asked.

"I don't know. I was thinking about that. I mean, a Rome wedding could be really beautiful. But something about it feels kind of off."

"I know what you mean. It's nice here, but it's not our real home," Connor agreed.

"Exactly. So I was thinking maybe LA. Buffy said that we can go visit everyone this summer, so maybe we can do it then."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Connor said. "Or, we could always elope. Go get married right now."

Dawn looked a little taken aback. "Well, I don't know...not about the right now part, but eloping isn't very glamorous. Besides, Buffy would kill me if she wasn't there."

"What happened to the whole speech about not needing a frilly wedding?" he teased.

"Well...just a couple of frills would be nice. You know, maybe not a really poofy dress, but something-" her voice broke off into giggles as he climbed on top of her, showering her with kisses.

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long. Only two more chapters to go! As always, thank you to everyone who follows this story, and please take a few minutes to review! It is much appreciated.