A/N: Sorry for the long disappearance but life just sorta got in the way…anyway, here's a little longer part as a result ;)

Chapter 3:

July, Cleveland, Dawn's apartment, early morning

The ringing phone woke a sleeping Dawn up, and she blindly reached for the phone on the nightstand next to the bed, picking it up to get the noise so stop.

"'ello." She mumbled, still keeping her eyes closed.

"Err, is this Dawn Summers?" An unknown voice asked on the other end.

"Yeah…"

Slowly Dawn managed to pull away from the beckoning sleep and fiddled with the lamp, cursing quietly to herself before she finally managed to turn it on and then look at the clock. 7 AM. She groaned. She hated mornings.

"…Who is this?" She asked, her brows furrowing in thought as she tried to place the voice.

"My…my name is Elliot Stabler." The man finally said after clearing his throat slightly.

"Oh."

"You eh…you sent me a letter a while back…"

"Yeah, I remember." Dawn replied softly. "So you got it then, I wasn't sure."

"Why wouldn't I have gotten it?"

"Let's just say I wouldn't have been surprised if you never received it." Then Dawn cursed again, mentally, she really had a big mouth. "I take it your call means you won't be letting this go."

"Miss Summers, I…"

"Call me Dawn." She interrupted, smiling slightly, he sounded like a nice man. "I have a tendency to think I'm in trouble whenever someone calls me Miss Summers."

"You get into a lot of trouble?" The man, Elliot, suddenly asked.

"No more than usual."

An uncomfortable silence erupted between them and for a moment Dawn didn't know what to say. She had known this call probably would come, yet she hadn't been prepared at all for it. This man had been Buffy's biological father, was with all probability her father as well. Even if he might never learn that fact. And he was a cop.

"So you're a cop…"

"Yeah.., how'd you know that?" She could hear the weariness in his voice.

"When my friends and I were trying to find you we managed to find out you were working as a cop."

"I…I work in the special victims unit." He said after a moment.

"What does that mean?"

"My unit handles special cases."

"Like racial or sexual crimes?"

"Yeah. I guess you could say that." For a moment he was quiet but then he spoke again. "I'd…I'd really like to know more about my…daughter." His voice was soft, almost sad.

And when Dawn heard the words she wanted to cry, for just one moment she wished that her life had been different and that Buffy was still alive. She knew her sister was happy now, at peace, but it didn't lessen the pain that still cut through her at moments like this one.

"I…I have some time off in a few days Mr. Stabler, if you want I could come to New York." Dawn said, her voice wavering slightly as she nervously waited for his response.

"Yeah…I'd like that." He said, his voice filled with relief. "And call me Elliot Dawn, only people I don't like call me Mr. Stabler." She could hear the smile in his voice.

"Sure…"

TBC…