AN: Sorry its been a while, I was hit with writers block hard on this one. But it's done, so yay! Hope you all like it.

Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite

It was another contemplative evening at the Summers-Rosenberg-Maclay household. Dawn and Tara were quietly watching old taped cartoon's and not really paying attention and Willow was skimming her psychology notes or the five hundredth time, not actually noting anything. Like many nights after the tower, no one knew what to say.

So when Xander burst in grinning and holding tickets, they were all a little shocked.

"Hey Xand" Willow said neutrally, eyeing his tickets suspiciously. "What's the occasion?" Anya, who had followed in shortly after Xander's energetic entrance, answered.

"He thinks you are all depressed and we should go out, so he's making us all go to the circus" she said plainly. "Hello, by the way"

"My girlfriend everyone." Xander said, grinning "That's the most tact she's ever shown" He wrapped an arm around her to show he was teasing and she grinned indulgently.

"Circus?" Willow asked, whilst Dawn and Tara had leapt to their feet and seemed a little happier.

"Circus?" they both exclaimed, grinning first at Xander, then at each other.

"I love the circus!" Dawn cried whilst Tara calmed herself.

"I used to like going to the circus when I was a kid" she said, regaining her composure with surprising ease. "I suppose we could go" she said, giving a nervous giggle.

"Dawn-patrol?" he said, turning to Dawn.

"Sure" she said, grinning happily and not even trying to contain her enthusiasm. Xander grinned, equally enthusiastic, back.

"Willow?" he said, turning his puppy dog eyes on her. Facing the combined onslaught of Xander and Dawn's hopeful grins and Tara's silent begging, she relented.

"OK, but there better not be any horses" she said.

"There aren't" Xander replied, nodding.

"Or ponies" Willow continued.

"None at all. No animals of any kind" he nodded. She smiled.

"I suppose it can't be that bad then"

A surprising amount of people had turned up to the circus, held in a field slightly outside of Sunnydale. It wasn't due to start for a while, so a lot of the crowd were milling around near the entrance. The gang joined in with the general atmosphere, keeping closely knitted together, but examining the large tent with some level of awe. The two couples had paired off, Willow holding Tara's hand and Xander with his arm wrapped around Anya, with Dawn in the middle. She mostly remained quit, occasionally dipping in to one of the conversations happening. Whilst she had been very excited at first, now she seemed a little guilty for being excited. So it left her looking troubled.

Dawn watched the people milling around with a small, bitter grin. She'd been excited, for a while. Probably one of the happiest moments she'd had since the tower. For a single second she'd been allowed to forget the fact that Buffy was gone. Her mother was gone, her sister was gone, her father had left her.

A single moment of childish glee, something that seemed so alien.

As if they were sensing her inner turmoil (Something she wouldn't put past Tara), Willow had slipped around to her other side and they had each taken one of her hands.

"It isn't an insult to her memory to feel happiness on occasion you know" Tara said from her right, smiling at her.

"In fact, that can extend to not being depressed most of the time" Willow added.

"We know it hurts" Tara continued, like this whole thing was carefully rehearsed.

"A lot. We know" Willow said.

"And you don't want to forget. More importantly, you can't forget" Tara picked up, squeezing her hand tighter.

"But you can strike a balance between remembering her and living" Willow finished, giving her hand a comforting squeeze as well.

There was a moment of silence whilst Dawn looked, misty eyed, into the distance, away from the tent and in to the trees. She felt almost overwhelmed for a second, and nearly let a tear fall. Instead she managed to retain her strength.

"Did Tara write all of that?" she quipped instead. Willow spluttered, but Tara smiled at her.

"Willow spell checked" she false whispered. Willow continued to splutter but Dawn smiled.

"I'm sure it helped a lot" Dawn fired back, a grin forming.

"Totally. Thank you honey" she said innocently to Willow, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek. Willow glared in the 'Can't stay mad at you for long' way and formed a grin.

"Want food?" she asked the pair.

"Popcorn sound good?" Tara asked. Dawn nodded.

"So, that's a large popcorn for us..." Willow said. She looked for Xander and Anya and soon saw the pair kissing passionately nearby. "Hey, split it up. You two want any food?"

Xander and Anya pulled away from each other, both looking disgruntled. They moved so they were closer to the trio of girls.

"A hotdog doesn't sound out of place right now" Xander said with a nervous grin at the trio. Anya smiled at them all.

"I want a large, American burger. With tomato sauce. And cheese" she said, still smiling her large smile at them.

"So a cheeseburger honey?" Xander asked, dreading the answer.

"It has its own name?" Anya replied, shocked.

"...Yes" Xander said comfortingly. As Willow headed off to collect the food Dawn sidled closer to Xander.

"Is Giles coming?" she asked him. He turned and looked at her, pained.

"I asked, but you know he doesn't leave his apartment much for anything other than slaying and the shop" Xander replied, encircling her with his non-Anya filled arm.

"Yeah, it was a long shot" she admitted quietly. "But at least I have you guys... and Anya, I suppose" she joked, grinning. Anya looked mortally offended, but Xander kissed her on the head and whispered something to pacify her.

"That does sound interesting" Anya purred to him. Dawn turned and she and Tara shared a tongue out over the top look of disgust.

"Do we want to know?" Tara whispered to her. Dawn just shook her head in response.

"It's a secret I'd prefer they took to the grave"

They were wandering in the vague direction of Xander's car, tens of other people wandering nearby, carrying voices in the dark. There were people all around, but Dawn felt like they were alone in the night. It was a feeling of odd contentment. She'd always known the Scoobies all considered each other family. Some of them viewed the Scoobies as more family than their own flesh and blood. But she had never really felt part of it. She'd known Buffy considered her a sister no matter what, and that the Scoobies considered her a friend. But as they bantered easily, joking, smiling and forgetting their woes, she felt a part of them.

Review please?