Jeff's Grace, Dawn's Past

Disclaimer : I do not own the Hardy Boys, Matt or Jeff, they belong to themselves and the WWE, any OC's are mine and only I can torment them

Chapter 6

The next morning Jeff awoke with a start. He glanced around his room and noted it was still indeed dark out; he glanced out his window between his blinds and noticed the very beginning of the light in the horizon. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead; he didn't know why he woke up with the intense feeling. It was as if something startled him out of his sleep. All he knew that it was intense, it made his stomach roll and his muscles tighten.

He sighed deep and as he did so he noticed his ribs protested weakly against the sudden use. He rubbed them slowly, trying to remember when they became tender. He shook his head and began to wander down to the kitchen for some juice to help calm him down.

He passed Matt's room, his door wide open and he was sprawled out across his bed snoring away. Jeff grinned and then passed Casey's door which was closed half way, she was snuggled down under her blankets breathing lightly. Jeff knew he had to watch his step on the floor. Casey's curse, she was a light sleeper, which Jeff didn't believe because she slept through both his and Matt's snoring. He continued his trip to the kitchen passing one more door that was closed.

'Dawn.'

His thoughts wandered to the strange new person that was thrust into their quiet semi-normal life. Her's was a story on its own. Huge pieces were missing that completed it, and he was a curious person by nature so he wanted to know. He finally made it to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and grabbed the pitcher of orange juice. He then wandered over to the cupboard and grabbed one of the Shrek glasses that he had collected and poured a glass full. He stood by the sink sipping his orange juice as he looked out the kitchen window.

He saw the horizon begin to glow bright reds, oranges and yellows. He could see the streaks of pink, blue and purples that thinly weaved in with the glow. He never saw a sunrise like this, so intense, so calm, so new. He was quickly snapped back to reality when he heard Casey's alarm clock blare on.

'Casey never gets up this early, why is she today?'

Jeff listened as he heard Casey stumble out of her room and down the hall a few feet to Dawn's room, softly knock and then go in. He turned back to the window and saw the sky had brightened even more. Then he heard Casey shuffling down the stairs, she had Dawn leaning on her and walking her towards the balcony doors to go outside. Casey was whispering to Dawn in Anishnabe. Jeff learned last night that it was a native language in Canada spoken by the Ojibwa, and Dawn was part native.

Casey glanced at Jeff and then to Dawn who was basically slumped against Casey and barely walking on her own. Dawn's head hung low, her arm bandaged tightly was starting to show some blood through it. Her heavy motocross boots scraped across the floor as she stumbled across the floor. Casey stopped for a moment and Dawn looked up to the balcony doors. Her eyes widened briefly, and let go of Casey, determined to make it out the doors on her own quickly. She made it to the patio doors before she clutched them tightly and slide them open harshly and set a heavy foot on to the deck.

"Jeff, can we use Mount Imagi?" Casey slowly turned to him and bit her bottom lip. "Dawn greets the sunrise every morning, it's in her culture, and it's the highest place around here that she can see the sunrise."

"Umm sure Casey, but can I watch….even from a distance?" Jeff questioned her softly.

"Sure, you gave her permission to meet the morning, you can watch, but don't interfere." Casey spoke and then quickly dodged out the patio doors as she noticed Dawn attempting the stairs to get to the ground. Jeff quickly followed, making sure he stayed back to give Dawn her distance.

Dawn stumbled down the stairs tightly clutching the railing and then her boots hit the soft earth. Her knees almost gave way but Casey grabbed her and held her up. Dawn brushed Casey's hands off of her and slowly walked towards the hill top in the middle of Jeff's motocross circuit. She stumbled a few times due to the weight of her boots, so by the time she got to the bottom of the hill she was on her hands and knees crawling up the hill.

Jeff watched her, almost rushing to her side to help her up, but stopped when she got back up and got her footing back. She was determined she was doing this on her own. Dawn finally made it to the top of the hill, while Casey and Jeff stood at the bottom in silence watching her.

Dawn stopped and searched her pockets for something and then looked to Casey who nodded and climbed up to her and handed her some items. Dawn smiled and nodded slightly as she invited Casey to kneel beside her.

Casey softly spoke to her in Anishnabe, "You should invite Jeff up, he did give us permission"

Dawn looked briefly over her shoulder to Jeff as he stood there, just watching them, she could tell he was curious.

"Fine, it's alright, but he doesn't speak." Dawn sighed softly.

Casey motioned Jeff to join them, he climbed up the hill and kneeled down beside Casey and watched.

Casey handed Dawn a braided bunch of grass and a silver Zippo lighter. Casey whispered to Jeff that it was Sweet Grass she was going to burn. He watched as Dawn lit it and then let it burn for a few seconds and blew it out. She then held it in front of her and began to wave the smoke over her. Casey leaned slightly to Jeff and whispered again that it was called smudging.

Dawn began to whisper hoarsely a native morning prayer as the sun began to peak over the horizon. Jeff watched the sun rise up; never in his life could he remember a sun rise like this. It was awe inspiring and powerful to him. Dawn handed the sweet grass to Casey which she did the same as Dawn doubled over, holding her arm against her ribs. Once Casey was done she handed it to Jeff. Jeff smelt the sweet grass, he thought it would be smoky and irritating but in reality it wasn't, it was a sweet smoke, he made a note to find some of this later on.

Jeff handed the sweet grass braid back to Casey as Dawn brought herself up on her knees and stretched out her arms to the sun which was half way up by now. She began in a soft chant, which sounded welcoming and joyous. Casey joined in half way through as Jeff watched and listened. The sun started to clear the horizon as Dawn stood up unsteadily and her song became louder, and more of a warrior chant. Casey whispered quickly to Jeff that Dawn was giving thanks for the new day and now she was asking the earth to give her strength for she was its warrior.

Dawn finished her chant and threw her arms up as the sun steadily climbed into the sky. Jeff looked towards her and he was shocked, Dawn's arm was bleeding badly again, she was breathing heavily and covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Dawn let her arms fall to her side and her head slump forward as she turned slowly around to stumble down the hill.

Half way down she began to slip and in an instant, Jeff had her, holding her up. She slumped against him and fell to her knees. Casey came up beside him and took one of Dawns' arms and slung it around her neck.

"This took too much out of her, she's exhausted. Jeff you should be honored, she's only let only a handful of people greet the sun with her." Casey gave a small smile to Jeff as he realized what this meant.

Later on that day Jeff and Matt returned back to Jeff's place after a meeting in Raleigh. Jeff pulled the car up to his place and killed the engine. A small grimace came across his features as he tried to sort out who Dawn was. She was more mysterious as he was, and that gave him a feeling of unease. Matt sensing his unease sighed softly.

"Jeff, she'll tell us when she's ready, and that's a big if. It what Casey has told me is true, she's a very private person."

"You're right Matt," Jeff sighed deep again and rubbed his ribs, they weren't as sore as before but still a tad tender. He opened his door and was assaulted by the most colourful language being yelled at the top of a girls' lungs. Matt gave him a look and said, "That ain't Casey." He chuckled.

Matt and Jeff walked behind Jeff's house and found Casey sitting on a tool box with a grin on her face, and Dawn waving a rather large wrench at her bike.

"Fuck with me will ya you stupid piece of shit! Fucking work! Dammit! Moondog stop laughing at me and get off that fucking toolbox before you hurt your fucking girlie body!" Dawn screamed both at her bike and Casey. Casey gave a small giggle as she hopped off the large red stand up tool box and jogged over to the brothers giving them each a kiss on the cheek.

Casey turned towards the direction of Dawn while standing between the boys and smirked, "She's been at this since shortly after you left for Raleigh." She chuckled as she waved her hand back and forth towards Dawn; Jeff gave her a questioning look. "Oh the bike works, just not up to her highness's standards." Casey gave a short chuckle and then dodged a flying bolt that was aimed at her.

"Fuck off Moondog! If I wanted the running commentary I would have fucking asked for it!" Dawn growled out.

Dawn whirled back around to her bike and grimaced. With the wrench still in her hand she wiped her forehead, grimacing at the weather and how hot it was getting. She stood studying the bike as she put her hands on her hips, all the while nibbling on her bottom lip, mentally running through the parts and what she could have missed. She sighed deep as she heard Casey and the boys talking about the meeting they attended and finally she growled in frustration.

Dawn began to unzip her coveralls; she let them slide off of her shoulders. She heard the conversation drift off as the others walked into the house as she continued to let the coveralls slide down exposing the black cut off tank top she was wearing. She then grabbed the sleeves and tied them around her waist as she shuffled her heavy boots in the sandy soil of the property.

Suddenly an idea came into her head, she hunkered down and ran her fingers through the soil and watched it slip through them, like sand on the beach. She looked at the soil again and then to her bike, while absently scratching her left bicep that was covered in a simple black ink tattoo. A small grin came across her face and she squatted down beside her bike and began her cursing as she tried to get at the air filter on her bike.

She was wrenching at the nuts on the bike's motor when in one small motion, sent her back and arm into spasms of pain. She winced but kept working determined to get the bike working and back on the road, she knew she couldn't stay in one place for long before they tracked her down. Suddenly she was lost in thought, thoughts of ways how to keep ahead of them, she was just 'released' and she wasn't going back.

Jeff's voice snapped her back to reality when he quietly approached her from behind and spoke. "Here I brought you some iced tea, it's getting hot out, and I thought you could use a break." He spoke quietly as he offered her the bottle of green iced tea. Dawn nodded slightly and took the bottle and glanced around the yard.

'What the?'

"Mon ami, what is that huge tinfoil thingy by your house and why does it have a garden hose attached to it?...please don't tell me the water comes shooting out of its nose." She chuckled. She walked over to the tool chest as she heard Jeff chuckle slightly, she popped in the Triple X soundtrack CD of his and clicked play. She whirled around and looked at Jeff for an answer. He had this trouble maker look on his face as he strode over to Dawn and gently took her hand. She followed him as the first song came on to play Lick by Joi. Jeff guided her under the belly of the horse and then turned on the faucet that fed the hose. He grinned as he backed her up with this look. It un nerved her, she'd only seen that look once before with Travis and that was just before he attempted to kiss her.

Dawn backed up until she felt the legs of the horse on either side of her, and then Jeff stood there and grinned while looking up. Dawn being Dawn, gave him a curious look before looking up and was startled as the water started to pour down on her.

'His fucking horse thingy is peeing on me?!'

Dawn stood there getting drenched in the cool water, it felt good on her hot skin and relaxed her pain spasms, forgetting that Jeff was less than a foot away from her she started to dance with the song, and it wasn't a fast dance. She rotated her hips as she threw her head back, letting the water sluice down her neck and over her tank top, soaking it, making it cling like a second skin. She closed her eyes as she ran her finger through her hair, flipping it around to soak it. She was so caught up in the song and in the moment that she tensed for a second at the feel of pair of hands sliding over her exposed hips, and around to her stomach. She fell back into a strong pair of arms and a muscled chest. She felt them start to grind their hips with her, she then snapped back to reality and realized it was Jeff dancing with her; she closed her eyes and twirled around, slid her hands up Jeff's chest and linked her fingers around behind his neck. Dawn then maneuvered one of Jeff's legs between hers and then slowly began to gyrate her hips as she slid up and down on his thigh.

A soft moan escaped his lips and he tilted his head back into the falling water, he could feel her nails bite into the soft skin of his neck as she slide her hands from his neck down his chest and down around his ribs. He almost lost it when he felt her lips pressed against the newly made scratch marks on his neck. He slide his hands up her thighs up to her sides resting on her ribs, he was about to say something to her when a car horn blared through their escape from reality. Dawn was snapped back as well, and her mood flipped in a split second. She grabbed the younger Hardy's hair and yanked it down the eye level with her.

"And that mon ami, is the only thing you will ever feel sexually from me." Dawn growled out.

Dawn let go of his hair and stood up, walked over to the faucet and turned it off. She glanced at Jeff and walked back over to her bike.

Jeff growled as he looked over at the offending car and none other than the Prince of Punk stepped out grinning at Jeff.

"Dude what was with the soft porn show man, that girl has game, she free?" Shannon Moore spoke while watching Dawn hunker down to work on her bike again while listening to her cd. Jeff snorted before saying anything. "I donno man, never asked her, but she's complicated I'll tell ya that much." Jeff nodded his head in the direction of the house as Shannon followed him inside.