Chapter 9
"Angel?"
"Yes?"
"Is Giles coming over today?"
"You woke me up for that? After he clearly told you he wasn't?" Angel asked tiredly. He'd only gotten to bed an hour ago.
Buffy pouted. "I'm sorry for waking you up," she said in a small voice. He sighed and sat up in his bed before gently pulling her to his chest. Like Giles, he never could resist her pout.
"It's all right."
"If it makes you feel better, I didn't have nightmare." He smiled and tried not to laugh. He knew she hadn't had a nightmare. She'd fallen asleep next to him after they'd stayed up past dawn talking.
"BUFFY!" rang though the mansion, making both Slayer and vampire jump. Th shrill voice echoed eerily.
"BUFFY, I KNOW YOU'RE HERE, AND I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! COME OUT HERE AND TALK TO ME!"
"Damn it Dawn," Buffy groaned. "How did she find out?"
"I've no idea," Angel said. She sighed and got off the bed. He followed her as she left the room, wrapped in his spare robe.
"Dawn, not so freggin' loud," she commanded as they entered the sitting room to find her sister.
"You-you-you kept it from me! You didn't tell me! WHY?!"
"Sit down!" Buffy snapped. Dawn did as she was told. "Now, how did you find out?"
"I heard Willow, Tara and Giles talking about it with Xander."
"When?"
"Half an hour ago."
"And you had to ditch school to come yell at me?" Buffy hissed.
"You-I trusted him! All you told me was to stay away from Spike after he arrived-" she gestures to Angel. "-and gave me not details! I think I had the right to know you were raped!"
"I didn't want you to get hurt Dawn!" the Slayer cried. "You don't get it! Everyone's first instinct, even yours, is to go after him! What do you think would have happened if you did?!"
"I wouldn't," Dawn sad in a small voice that none of them believe.
"You would have," Angel said. "If Spike-William-can hurt Buffy, the Slayer, what do you think he would do to you, a normal girl? If you didn't die, you'd wish you had once he was finished."
"You should have told me." Buffy stood and waked over to her sister. After sitting on the couch, he wrapped her arms around the brunette.
"I know Dawn. But it was for your own good. Forgive me?"
"Yeah." The sisters stayed in their hug for a while, into even noticing when Angel went into another room to call Giles and tell him what happened.
AN: Sorry for the wait. Hope this made up for it. On aff.n, (when this story was posted there–I took it off and put the link to this site), I received reviews saying to just tell Dawn and stop shielding her. Well, no she knows!