Title: Dawn of the Son

Author: Spichik453

Chapter 10

Knowing that her housemates were all asleep, Dawn tiptoed into her room. "So Dawn does live here." Elizabeth said, standing in her doorway.

"Hey." Dawn turned around to face her housemate. "Sorry about the other day and needing you to cover for me."

Elizabeth smiled. "No worries. You now owe me." Dawn smiled and turned around to shower. "What have you been up to?"

"Family is in town."

"Your sister? Buffy? How is she?"

"Good."

Dawn stood there, trapped between her bedroom and the hallway. She wanted to get back to the apartment the Scoobies were at. Jake would be back from patrolling with the other watchers and slayers, and Dawn wanted to know what the prognosis was. Instead, her roommate was trying to engage her in a conversation that she would rather not have. Dawn gave a half smile. "I better, um, move laundry." Elizabeth attempted to try to get out of the conversation, sensing the awkwardness that Dawn was showing.

Dawn nodded. Elizabeth walked past Dawn. She got to the top of the stairs before Dawn stopped her. "Hey, Elizabeth, when was the last BBQ we had?"

After thinking Elizabeth answered, "Two days ago. Hey that's pretty good! They were getting more frequent. You think this psycho is done?"

"Yeah, maybe."

It was Dawn's turn to leave the hallway when Elizabeth stopped her. She put down the basket of laundry and called out Dawn's name. She then walked up to Dawn. "So a bunch of us saw you leave yesterday with that patient." She teased, hoping to get some information out of her. "You know, the cute one."

Dawn turned a little red. "It's nothing. He just needed to find, um this place? And I knew where it was so he followed me in his car."

"You're doing the walk of shame." Elizabeth pressed, noting that Dawn was coming into the house in the same clothes that she went out in the night before.

Dawn's eyes grew at the suggestion Elizabeth was making. "I stayed at my sisters!!" Her voice got louder than she had intended it to.

Elizabeth took a step back. And Dawn instantly recognized the meaning behind that. The arms length she kept everyone at made her housemates unsure of how Dawn would react. "Sorry." Elizabeth was quick to apologize. "I didn't mean. I was just trying to make light. Since this crazy psycho killer hit the streets, we're always at work, and you're off with your sister and your Cleveland friends, and I just haven't seen you."

"I know. And I also know I'm covering for you this evening."

"Good, I have a date."

It was Dawn's turn to have the sly smile. "With who?"

Elizabeth said nothing. She simply smiled, walked back to her basket of laundry and walked down the stairs, a little bounce in her step as she thought about her date that evening. Dawn took it as her cue to go back to shower. With the possibility of the apocalypse on her mind, Dawn walked into the hospital. While everything was the same, it felt insignificant. Her regular work routine set in, and Dawn began to do her rounds.

Several times during her shift, she was standing at the nurse's station, and found herself lost in thought. The translation of the text was never far from her mind. When the earth shakes and the son of the earth meets the daughter of the earth, the mouth will take up new residence to restore balance. She knew that the text would be transparent if they ever figured out what it meant. When the earth shakes is an earthquake, and mouth, must mean an entry, a portal, a

"Hi." A deep voice pulled Dawn out of her thoughts, and for the briefest of moments to the chart she was working on. But then Dawn remembered that it was a man who spoke to her. She turned around to find Jake standing there, blood dripping down his forehead.

Dawn only smiled. "Where are the others?" She asked as she led him to a bed.

"They went back to the apartment. I told them I knew the layout of this hospital and knew a cute doctor there that would stitch up my head no questions asked." He smiled at her as she prepared the suture kit.

"How did it go?" Dawn asked. Jake winced as she began to clean the wound.

Jake smiled, his enthusiasm for a fight showing clearly. "I got a few. I also made contact with another stone, and this one was carrying a sword. Swords are new. I've never seen vamps with swords before."

"Yeah, they're the worst."

"And that Giles is a tightwad." Dawn laughed. "You have a nice laugh." Jake said looking up at Dawn. She merely blushed.

"Jake, you've got to stop risking it so much. You're going to get yourself killed before we figure out what you are."

"What I am?"

"Yes."

"So that's what's going on? You're trying to figure out what I am? You mean if I am human or not?"

Dawn shook her head. "There is no doubt that you're human, you just don't fit the pattern."

"There's a pattern? I mean I guess? I figure I fit the pattern pretty good. I was out with those girls last night, and man, they could fight! I think I am as strong as they are but they are precise, they know what they're doing as if it was their job."

Dawn sighed, put down her needle and looked at Jake in his eyes. "It is their job. To them, this is serious. They get hurt, and they don't go to a hospital unless it is a last resort."

"Oh. But what if I like going to the hospital?"

"Then you're the only one." Dawn's words were short, which Jake noticed. She put the last stitch in his forehead, and looked at him. "Pick up your instructions from the nurse's station on your way out."

"They the same as before?" Dawn nodded. "Then I know what to do."

"Just check out at the nurse's station. Doctor's orders. And do it for me."

"I will see you back at the apartment then? The one that is too full?"

Dawn nodded, and began cleaning up the mess. Jake quietly left, and Dawn went about finishing up her shift. But her head still was not in the work she was doing. The translation, Jake, Buffy, it all crowded her head. As the sun was setting the next day, Dawn exited the hospital. She drove straight for the apartment. As she got there, the slayers, all of them, were gearing up to go patrolling.

"You're going too Buffy?" Dawn said as she saw her sister grab a jacket.

Buffy nodded. "I am going to show them some new stuff. Willow, Xander and Giles are still going to be here. And Jake was coming back after his work shift."

"Oh. Hey, what do you think about Jake?"

Buffy shrugged. "I still haven't met him. If he were a girl, I would say he's a slayer. Hey, maybe he's a transvestite."

Dawn laughed. "Unlikely. It wasn't on his chart."

Buffy eyed Dawn suspiciously. "Reading up on him, have we?"

"Oh not you too. Elizabeth yesterday."

"Maybe there's something there to tease you about. It's my right as your older sister." A horn sounded from outside. "I have to go."

"Be safe."

"You'll be there to patch me up." Buffy said with a smile.

"Someone has to." Buffy smiled and left to join the other slayers already in the car. Leaving Dawn to find Willow and Xander watching TV with ancient texts surrounding them. Giles sat at the table, perfectly still. A large book opened in front of him. Dawn could see his eyes were closed. Which immediately explained Giles' motionless posture and his head so close to the writing. "Are we done with the translation?" She asked noting the inattentiveness to the books.

"Yes. Once we figured out that a Hellmouth was coming to Seattle, it was pretty easy to figure the rest out." Xander said, not really paying attention to who he was talking to. As soon as he was done, he looked up. "Hi Dawn."

"Hellmouth?"

"Buffy asked us not to tell you." Willow said, with a sheepish grin.

"You don't think I can handle the truth? I lived in Sunnydale just like you did. I was there for the First. I was the key. You don't think I can handle a Hellmouth in my city?"

"With your doctoring and all..." Xander began.

"You didn't think I would come back to rejoin the Scoobies, did you?" Both Willow and Xander remained quiet. "I am doing the whole doctor thing so that I could come back to the Scoobies as more than Buffy's little sister who needs protecting. To be more than the girl with the translations. I am here because my hospital has the best trauma center in the country and when you guys are battling your next demon and you need someone good at trauma medicine, I am going to be useful for something more than a translation or to keep Buffy sane."

"Dawn, it wasn't that." Xander said.

"Buffy was just trying to keep me safe? Isn't she tired of that yet? Because I know I am."

Willow and Xander sighed. "We still don't know who the daughter and the son of the earth are." Willow offered. "Translation girl?"

It was Dawn's turn to sigh. There was no winning this battle. Sometimes the Scoobies couldn't see past the fact that she was now more than she used to be. She sat down with a book and began to find out who the daughter and the son of the earth were.