A/N: Yep, another update! Thank you all for reviewing!

Chapter 10:

New York, 16th precinct, same day.

Dawn had always known life was hard. That it was cruel and ugly and dark. She hadn't been blind to the darkness her sister fought so hard against. But nor had she been blind to the other side of life. The happiness. The love. The laughter. Not that had been the kind of life she expected to have. After all, she wasn't one of the normal ones. The ones with a 9 to 5 kind of job. The ones with family, with boyfriends and girlfriends.

She wasn't even "born" in the way others were.

Perhaps that was why she wasn't surprised that life once again had managed to turn against her. And perhaps that was why she knew she'd survive it.

What she hadn't expected, however, was the blinding pain at the thought of never seeing her father again. Her real father. Dawn had thought she was prepared for it. Only it turned out she wasn't. And as she watched her father's face from across the room, it took all the control she had to not run to him and jump into his arms and ask him to protect her. To make the nightmare go away.

Dawn stayed strong though. And she took a deep breath and started to walk towards him, forgetful of Faith by her side or the stares they received by the room's other occupants.

"Hey Elliot."

"Dawn." His voice was calm, but the questions were clear in his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

She wanted to smile then. Smile at the way he spoke, the way he looked. In that moment she could see Buffy in him.

"I wanted to say goodbye."

"What's going on?"

She looked away at the question, unable to meet his gaze. And then she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she realized that Faith was there and she wasn't alone and she could do this. She was strong.

"There's a problem at work, and they need me back sooner than expected. You know how it is."

"That's a load of crap." He stated quietly. "Tell me the truth."

"It is the truth." She retorted, forcing herself to look at him and not flinch. "My job's important to me Elliot, and it was surprising that I could stay even this long."

"You've only been here for a few days!"

"And my job is very demanding." She exclaimed. "Why do you think I understood when you had to cut our time short? My job's the same."

"And what is your job?" Elliot asked abruptly. "Because now that I think about it you never told me."

The question hung in the air as they stared at each other. Dawn was well aware of Faith tensing beside her, but the slayer remained quiet by her side.

"Look, I didn't come here to argue." Dawn finally said. "I just wanted to let you know that I was leaving. That's all."

"So that's it? You write me a letter telling me about a daughter I never knew about, you come to visit and then you just walk away? You figure your duty's done now that you've gone and screwed up my life?"

The anger in his voice made her tense even more. But as she looked at him, she could see the sadness in his eyes and something inside shattered.

"I'm sorry."

And with those words she turned and walked away. She didn't look back, nor did she react to Elliot calling her name. Instead she just walked. She forced herself to breath and not cry.

"You did the right thing D." Faith said as they left the room behind them and walked towards the elevators. "He's better off not knowing."

"Explain that to Elliot."

TBC…