"I thought that by going away from the scoobies I would be relieved of watcher detail" Dawn complained as she cracked open the worn book imaginatively titled The Demon Anthology. Connor smirked from his position sharpening weapons taking joy in her pain. Angel simply ignored her as he continued to stride around the small apartment. Gunn had been sent on donut patrol and was yet to return much to Dawn's chagrin.
"Is your default setting whiny baby?" Connor taunted, Dawn rolled her eyes
"Is yours pain in the ass?" She snapped back, Spike looked up from his seat on the tattered couch
"Do I have to send you and Angel Jr. to the corners or will you calm down, little bit?" Dawn chose to ignore Spike much as she had for the last week since finding out he was alive. Spike stared at her waiting for an answer, half knowing she wouldn't reply
"I still don't get the big deal, no matter how much info we have on the mating rituals of the large and smelly it all comes down to one thing, and it's usually sharp and pointy or Willow pulling out the mojo"
"Well that's bully for you but our Mojo Makers are, oh yeah, suffering from a mild case of deadness" Dawn replied to this by poking out her tongue to the back of Spike's head which Connor snickered at.
"Look its easy ok, I can do a little locator spell and send Angel to do his thing"
"You can do that?" Connor asked mildly intrigued but not wanting to show it, Dawn raised her eyebrow
"You can't?" Smiling to herself she placed her hand on the picture of the demon she was researching before muttering to herself in Latin, her eyes flashed back open her pupils now an unnatural lilac, pushing aside the books she scrambled for a pen before inking into the table an address. Her eyes closed and when she opened them she seemed normal, stretching her neck she read the address aloud
"St. Guinevere's Mission" Angel snapped to attention
"That's south of here, near one of the corporeal hot spots Lorne scouted for us when we went to Pylea, it's a gateway to the other worlds" Dawn looked skeptical
"How did you just happen to know all that?" She asked not sure she wanted to know the answer,
"Nun's are his thing pet"
"Were" Angel corrected as he pulled his favorite broad sword from the weapons cabinet, Dawn slammed the ancient tome shut and reached for her jacket
"You're not coming" Three voices told her instantly as she rolled her eyes
"What am I supposed to do stay here and bake cookies while you guys go out and get covered in demon guts? Damn I can't I got better things to do" Angel looked intrigued and glanced over at Connor who shrugged
"You don't have a date do you?" He asked cautiously, he still considered her to be the eleven year old he first met. Connor laughed aloud at the prospect
"That would require me to have a life or I can do like Buffy and date a demon, pass. I got a Latin translation and I was supposed to meet Kayleigh an hour ago to do it. So cya" She exited the apartment before they could block her exit, thinking back to the days of the scoobies she felt a sense of longing, at least they had Xander, Angel's group had a distinct lack of laughter and an overabundance of sarcasm.
The door slammed behind the girl and Connor sighed in relief, still unsure as to why she annoyed him as much as she did.
"Kayleigh is a slayer so Dawn will be okay" Connor answered before his dad had even asked the question. "I tracked her down before school started to co-ordinate sweeps of the surrounding areas; I was going to tell you but little miss attitude sort of got in the way", his gaze shifted over to Spike who was wearing his patented smirk and it was aimed directly at him "What?" He snapped, his patience for Spike being non-existent, even if he did have a soul he was still a bastard and proud of it.
"Just wondering when you finally get it on with the girl who will kill you first, Captain Forehead here or the big sister, my money's on the sis"
"Spike shut up, as a general rule when you have an opinion before you voice it remember that none of us care nor ever will" Angel looked at Spike as he replied with a quick upward flick of two fingers, "Real mature William", as the two continued to bicker neither of them noticed as Connor slipped stealthily from the apartment deep in thought.
Connor had never been in a relationship. Well at least not a real one, he wouldn't call his dalliance with an ultimate evil to bring forth itself whilst posing as Cordy a relationship nor the one he remembered as a result of magic. So really he knew nothing of romance. Sure he had seen the movies, read the books and all that stuff but seeing it and feeling it; two whole separate things. So when an idiot like Spike points out that he may like the girl he thought he despised he got a little angry. Stalking around the deserted cemetery he tossed a stake between his hands, thinking over his dilemma. She was annoying and bratty, a child he couldn't stand her. Maybe he liked her a little bit.
"Sorry I'm late I got stuck in demonic research mode, no one ever warns of the dangers of research; severe boredom and death by paper cuts" Dawn dumped her arm load of books next to Kayleigh who was trying to concentrate on her game of solitaire. Pushing the cards aside Kayleigh turned to Dawn
"And was he who shall not be named there?"
"Yep, he's everywhere I can't escape the guy which wouldn't be so bad if he had a personality which sadly he doesn't"
"If you spent half as much time on the translation as you do on hating the guy it could have been done now; twice" Dawn bit down on her lip
"Am I being repeat-o girl?" Kayleigh nodded "Great I'm turning into Buffy, which was so not part of the plan, it's just he drives me nuts!" She crashed her head to the table in exasperation as Kayleigh looked at her friend and snorted with laughter
"Drives you nuts, makes you hot it's a fine line you ask me"
"Yeah no way no how, I would rather date a demon"
"Well he is the offspring of the most vicious vampires ever doesn't that count?"
"Former most vicious, Angel's reformed, it comes with the soul having thing"
"I'm just saying you got an itch I'm sure he could scratch"
"Ew dirty mind much?" Dawn wrinkled her nose trying to summon the feeling of dread she thought would rise in her stomach but instead as she continued to tell her friend just how wrong she was she felt a curling in her stomach that had nothing to do with dread and everything to do with a crush.