Chapter 21

All Good Things…

Connor looked up, saw Angel and stopped him with a gesture of his hand, a sign that Connor knew it was time, and didn't want his father to come get him. He climbed off the ground bringing Dawn up with him.

"I still don't know how this is supposed to work. How I am just supposed to say good-bye and walk away from you? I still can't process it. I keep thinking I'll wake up and you'll be curled up beside me in bed, and we'll go have breakfast together like we do every morning after we make love."

He looked down as he said the last. Their lovemaking which had at one time been beautiful, and loving, and full of good, was now sullied in some way by the news they had received. He didn't want to think that what they had shared was wrong, not when it was the best thing that had ever happened to him. And it wasn't about it being the best sex he'd ever had, though it was. It was about their intimate emotional bond, not their physical union, but the emotional and mental one that was only heightened when they got as close as they could to one another physically. He knew he wouldn't be able to stay and not touch her. He wished he could promise himself that he could, but it would be a lie. To be close to her, but not allowed to take comfort in her arms, it would be an impossible endeavor.

But looking down into her face now, this knowledge didn't make it any easier to say good-bye.

Dawn placed her hand along the side of his face, forcing him to look at her.

"We didn't do anything wrong, except fall in love. And that's only wrong because of who we are, which isn't our fault."

"How did you know that's what I was thinking?"

"Because I know you." She smiled sweetly as she said this eliciting a small smile from him as well. "We have the power to change the circumstances we were born into; we can challenge fate, because I don't believe in fate."

This gained an even bigger smile from him as he pulled her into his arms. She melted into him, that's the only way she could describe it. Whenever he touched her, she felt it deep throughout her entire being. How was she going to survive without his touch?

"I love you so much, and I refuse to say good-bye to you."

"Then we won't. Because it's not goodbye," Dawn's voice had become hushed, almost as if sharing a secret meant for them alone.

Connor grabbed her fiercely, and kissed her with everything he had. She responded as she had that very first time he kissed her, hesitantly at first and then hungrily. He picked her up off the ground so that they were once again intimately aligned; he feared that it could be for the last time, and that forever after, this moment, this contact with her, would be their last. Everything screamed within him not to end the kiss, not to let her go, but he knew time would not stand still for them alone. So as he ended the kiss, he let her slide slowly down his body, every inch of her in contact with him. When her feet hit the earth, it solidified the reality that not saying the words didn't make it any less true, nor did it stop the inevitable from happening.

Dawn felt the heat they had just created begin to freeze as their bodies lost contact with one another. Would she forever feel this cold? Is this what would be left of her, this shell of ice waiting for his heat that may never return? She couldn't let him know of her thoughts, of her fears, she had to be strong, and she had to let him go.

Connor stepped back from Dawn, he reached to take her hand in his but she pulled back before he could touch her. She was right. If he had touched her just then, even in the simplest form of affection, he wouldn't have been able to do what he now must. He turned and walked toward the chopper, his father met him along the way and escorted him the remaining distance and helped pull him in. Connor looked at Dawn who now stood with Buffy's arm wrapped around her, and never broke eye contact. Even as the blades picked up debris that obscured his view of her at times, he knew exactly where she was and that her eyes were still locked with his.

Dawn watched as Angel pulled Connor into the helicopter. She caught his gaze, locking it with hers as the chopper started up. As the blades started moving they kicked up leaves and trash that had lain on the green, at times obscuring her view. But she locked her eyes to his, refusing to let go.

Neither shouted, nor waved, nor moved in any way. All that could be voiced had. And all that remained lay in their unyielding gaze.

The End

A/N - Some have asked if I plan to continue, and when I originally wrote this fic, it was really as a character study between the parallel lives of Buffy/Angel, Connor/Dawn - thus the description of the way they left one another etc. So I was leaving it as we were left at the end of Season 3 of Buffy. However, since that time, I have started a sequel do to the requests for one. I do however still stand behind my original ending. In it I found what I was looking for, I hope you did to. Thanks to all of my readers and reviewers with a special thanks to brencon who reviewed every chapter and a close second to BlackbAngle who also gave me great prolific support. Oh, and Adjovi, with your specific reviews, you rock too!