Epilogue

"OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR!"

The banging was almost as loud in his head as it was outside, he knew that third purple nurple wasn't a great idea.

"Make it stop!"

"I'm trying." Connor muttered staggering to the door in just his boxers. "Yeah?"

"That's how you greet your girlfriend who you drunk dialled not once, not twice but seven times last night?" Dawn yelled making sure to lean in and cause maximum damage.

It worked, Connor winced and recoiled back to his bed.

"Sorry?"

"Oh no you're not, at least not yet." Dawn chuckled her mouth pulling up into a smirk. "But you will be."

"Why do I not like the sound of that?" Sam asked from beneath his pillow.

"Well it seems my dimwitted and obviously hungover boyfriend forgot that my sister and her friends flew in last night for our graduation." Dawn explained sweetly. "I was still at Angel's when the first call came in."

"Hey Junior, get your ass up!" Gunn called from the door. "Boss's orders, you've got a training session with him and Buffy."

"You're enjoying this." Connor groaned at a beaming Dawn.

"I've already got popcorn waiting for me at the apartment." Dawn laughed.

"Did Sunnydale remember to tell you Andrew and Xander got in this morning?" Gunn added. "Buffy mentioned how much you enjoyed that latest Star Trek movie and he's already started making up boards to demonstrate to you why the original is superior."

"He was up to his twelfth board when we left." Dawn grinned plopping a kiss on his cheek and leading him out the door linking their arms in case he made a quick escape. "BYE SAM!"

"Why isn't he being punished?" Connor sulked.

"He didn't blow off a night of research to go and get tanked with his friends." Dawn answered. "I wasn't going to rat you out but you just had to drink and dial!"

"And who says Sam's getting off easy?" Gunn teased. "Kayleigh's on her way to tear him a new one; I think she's going to do that thing Faith suggested."

Connor winced, he didn't even know the specifics and he was scared.

"Did she and Robin get in okay?" He yawned.

"Oh yeah, they were just in time for drunk dial number three." Dawn informed him smirking. "Faith actually wrote down all the ways she is going to tease you for this."

"Why didn't you turn your phone off?"

"I did, that's when the drunk voice-mails began." She laughed again, usually he loved that sound but he'd never been this hungover before.

"This is going to suck."

CD BA CD BA

He was pretty sure the bones in his legs were splintering into thousands of shards, his head had obviously decided to quadruple in size and his eyes felt too heavy for his face.

"Come on Connor, you can do better than that!" Dawn taunted her boyfriend from the floor, she was facing Faith the two throwing popcorn in each other's mouth. Angel and Buffy had been running him hard, he'd almost taking a throwing star in the face but had managed to dodge at the last second, his stomach was rumbling but the bacon, eggs and other greasy food Willow had made just made him want to vomit.

"I thought you were meant to be the Destroyer." Faith smirked joining in. "I've saved the world with bigger hangovers!"

Connor grunted as he hit the mat, Buffy had side swiped him easily; it was tempting to just tap out.

"I think he's had enough, what do you think?" Angel asked throwing an arm around Buffy.

"He just got his butt handed to him by his father and a six month pregnant girl." She replied resting her hands on her bump. "I guess we can call it a day."

Connor managed a thumbs up in their decision remaining face down on the mat fighting the waves of nausea, the room kept spinning which didn't help.

"Cheer up chump." Faith told him sauntering out the door. "B can tell you all about how beer is bad!"

"I think he's on board that train now." Buffy replied laughing at the greenish tinge on his face.

"I'm never drinking again." Connor promised, of course this was muffled since he was still face planted on the mat.

"I saw beer bad Buffy, I know better than to get drunk." Dawn said proudly. "I just had no idea my boyfriend was such a lightweight. Hey Faith, what's in that miracle hangover cure of yours?"

"Just egg, orange juice, milk, bacon grease, some v energy juice and a shot of vampire blood." She replied snickering at Connor's face. "Joke, I'd never drink milk dude."

"Do you need me to hold your hair back baby?" Dawn called after Connor laughing at the speed he used to get to the bathroom.

"Andrew! Connor wanted you to explain why Stargate the TV show was better than the movie." Gunn yelled leaning against the bathroom wall and snickering at the boy hunched over the toilet bowl.

"I hate you." He groaned flopping on the floor. "One night won't kill you Connor, come on man you need to celebrate! I'm going to kill Sam."

"Like Sam was the one who poured tequila down your throat and dialled your phone for you so that you would embarrass yourself." Dawn snorted pushing Andrew towards the kitchen and away from her boyfriend. "You realise that Faith is giving Buffy and Angel ideas about ways to torture you for this right?"

"You're not helping."

"Wasn't meant to." She teased flopping down next to him and rubbing his forehead. "You were the one who blew off research and got tanked. Faith just suggested Buffy hold your hand during her delivery, she bet Gunn $50 Buffy would break it within the first hour."

"She can break a car door off of its hinge and she thinks I'll last an hour before my bones break? No wonder Gunn took the bet." Connor replied pulling himself up. "So how much more of this am I going to have to take?"

"Well graduation isn't until two." Dawn mused. "So I'm guessing around two."

"Faith wont try to make me trip when I accept my diploma?"

"That must be what those mirrors were for." She mumbled. "You're too smart to fall for that baby."

"Have Buffy frisk her just in case." Connor begged.

"I'm sure Robin wont let her do anything too bad." Dawn reasoned. "He has a soothing effect on her."

Connor heaved into the toilet again fairly certain that he was at least finished with throwing up.

"You need to shower and brush your teeth and maybe then you can greet me properly and apologise to those of us who were stuck with hormonal Buffy, protective Daddy Angel and the ever amusing duo of Spike and Illyria last night."

"I'm sorry and I love you?" Connor tried accepting the towel Dawn offered her.

"Gunn and Willow were stuck here too. Lucky for them Oz showed up with some big emergency that he needed Will for and Gunn offered/begged to let him help."

"Oz is here?" Connor perked up slightly, he should have noticed that.

"Not yet, I'm pretty sure he's still sleeping but I'm sure he'll be over soon. Should I be worried about this boy crush you have on him?"

"It's a not a boy crush." He grumbled flicking on the shower. "I just think he's cool, he lived in Tibet and he plays guitar and he's got that cool werewolf mojo thing."

"Your the son of two vampires, you regularly hang out with the most powerful wicca in the world, the longest living slayer ever, a should be dead demon king and two vampires with souls who collectively have kicked more ass than has ever been kicked before and Oz is cool?"

"He gets me." Connor shrugged.

"Boys." Dawn rolled her eyes, she smirked mischievously as her boyfriend stepped into the shower, naturally as possible she walked to the door and leaned to the right hitting the flush on the toilet.

"DAWN!"

"Love you too baby." She called over her shoulder before shutting the door behind her.

CD BA CD BA

Xander would later deny that he 'wept like Angelus at the ballet' as Spike had put it but video evidence would show the truth. Spike with his shiny special ring he'd gotten from an 'old friend' allowed him in the sun while Angel and his all important Shanshu had allowed him to be in the sun for the better part of seven months, he even had a tan. It looked wrong. Faith had won the pot on how quickly the bunnies would get with the doing it and multiply, Dawn had hoped they would hold off for at least a year but Faith had called one month and happily collected everyone's money. Giles gave her the keys to his mid-life crisis mobile as her graduation gift which of course pleased neither Buffy nor Angel. She wasn't that bad a driver.

"So I didn't trip" Connor declared throwing an arm around his girlfriend, thankfully Willow's magical hangover cure, literal magic, had worked wonders.

"Buffy confiscated all mirrors and other treats from Faith and Xander, something about wanting at least one family event to be drama free and normal."

"Well you weren't eaten by a giant snake so our graduation was still more interesting." Oz deadpanned shaking Connor's hand and hugging Dawn.

"I think I'm okay with that." Dawn decided waving her diploma happily, as much as had had loved school she was even happier to be done with it and out in the real world.

"I had ten bucks that Ethan was going to show up and ruin it." Faith sulked handing over a crumpled bill to Xander.

"He's in a mystical jail cell in another dimension." Dawn reminded her. "That Groosalugg has him locked down tight, he's not coming back."

"Still." Faith pouted. "This is so boring, I can't believe not a single demon tried to ruin this. The miracle children's big graduation? You'd think they'd at least send some canon fodder."

"Only you would be upset that our day was not interrupted by blood and gore." Robin said with a smile, for some reason he loved that.

"I for one am happy to be demon free on a Tuesday." Buffy said looking pointedly at her sister. "Auntie Dawn loves getting in trouble on Tuesdays."

"Like it's my fault that Tuesday = kidnap the slayer's sister day to demons." Dawn replied.

"To be fair you did invite Harmony in that one time." Xander reminded her earning a Summers level glare. "I'll be over here."

"Congrats Dawnie, I'm so proud of you!" Willow gushed. "Are you excited about opening a new watcher's branch here?"

"Yep." Dawn smirked. "And I already made my first hires."

"Did you ask Spike if he'd mind being the punching bag for the newbies?" Xander snickered.

"Nope but Connor agreed to be their weapons and fighting instructor, Kayleigh will be head slayer in charge and Sam is going to head up demon research."

"Sounds like you just hired all of your friends."

"Pretty much."

Angel hugged his sister-in-law, the warmness of his body still a shock, his other arm wrapped around Connor to the point of choking, Buffy was trying to ease his grip.

"Just think in eighteen years you guys will be at your kid's high school graduation." Dawn teased while Connor tried to catch his breath.

"You're trying to make me feel old!" Buffy accused her younger sister fresh tears sparkling in her eyes.

"Oh yay weepy Buffy." Connor whispered to his girlfriend, in point five of a second she'd be back to excited Buffy.

"I can't believe little Dawnie graduated college."

"Well apart from Connor, Robin and Giles here I'm the only one here who has." She pointed out with a smirk. "Why am I hanging out with a bunch of dropouts?"

"Just lucky I guess." Xander said cheerfully. "So I call shotgun on the new Dawn-mobile."

"I think someone beat you to it." Connor remarked nodding towards the ugly demon sitting in the bright red car. Faith, Gunn and Robin immediately adopted a fighting stance, Dawn meanwhile pushed past them and threw herself at the demon.

"Clem! Have you lost weight?"

Faith reacted first slouching back to her normal posture while Robin and Gunn still stayed on guard, what was it with Summers girls and demons?

"Well Faith you wanted a demon." Connor remarked clapping a hand on her shoulder. Faith shrugged, maybe she should have stipulated that she wanted an evil demon not one who was now brandishing a blue tiffany's box to Dawn. At least it was interesting, she wondered how a demon that looked like a hairless monkey with hundred extra pounds of skin got served at the swanky store. Dinner that night was sure going to be interesting.