Disclaimer: Nooooooooooo! I just had a horrible nightmare and then I woke up and found out it was real. It's. Not. Mine!

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Chapter 19

"Its fine, Willow…you're gonna be fine," Willow didn't even realize she was muttering to herself as she walked down the hallway to her office. "You just need some tea."

She'd been up all night, unable to sleep because the whole…kiss…geez, it was hard to even think it…was going around and around in her head. It was difficult for her to even associate those two words together, kiss and Buffy. Kiss Buffy, Willow started to hyperventilate again. Deliberately slowing down her breathing, she made a silent vow not to think about it for the rest of the day. She would focus only on her work. It would be as if it had never happened.

…

"She kissed me!" Willow found herself blurting out as Dawn walked into her office later that day, shutting the door behind her.

Willow's schedule was very weird. During part of the week she stayed up during the day and dealt with the "normal" world and taught a few of the basic magick courses. Then, for the rest of the week she was up at night and helping out teaching the advanced magick users and assisting with the Slayer related stuff. Though she was, of course, available for emergencies at all times.

Today's schedule was a rollover. Willow would work today, take a small nap, and be back at it tonight. Some of the other Watchers though her crazy but after so many years in Sunnydale doing patrol and then going to class, she was used to it. All of the old Sunnydale crew seemed to operate best on strange schedules, which was helpful in their business.

"Who kissed you?!" Dawn squealed, reminding Dawn of the teenage girl she'd once been. Dawn perched herself on one of the chairs ad leaned forward. She was always interested in gossip.

"Was it Maria, that Watcher I sent you from England? I told you she was totally hot!"

"No, no, no," Willow waved her off. She couldn't believe she'd opened her big mouth. Despite her vow, the scene had kept playing over again in her head. Dawn had turned into her de facto confidant in the past five years with Buffy gone and so, when the younger woman had walked in, she'd simply blurted out the news. Now she had to deal with the consequences.

"That is…uhmmm," Willow knew there was no way out. Dawn was like a pit bull when it came to things she wanted. There would be no escape. "Actually it was…uh…you know…," she gestured inanely and then managed to whisper, "Buffy?"

There was a moment's pause and then Dawn started laughing.

"I'm sorry…I thought for a minute there you said…Buffy…oh my god, you did!" Dawn blurted out as she took in the expression on Willow's face, that of barely hidden guilt. "When?!"

"Last night," Willow felt an odd sort of release as she poured out the story, "We were just walking back to our rooms…and…and we stopped at mine…and then…BAM…out of the blue, Buffy kissage."

"Well that's…," honestly Dawn didn't really know what to say to that.

Dawn was now really confused. She loved her sister, she really did. She didn't always like her, especially when she was being all overprotective, but she loved her. She had also come to realize that most of the problems that she had with Buffy had been of the normal sisterly type. They had just been exacerbated by the whole Hellmouth thing.

Time and distance had done amazing things for the situation. She could now look back and realize that both of them had done some really stupid things to each other. Buffy had overcompensated and tried to hard to be like a mother to Dawn when she'd been forced into the position of guardian. Dawn had acted out against Buffy and everyone else because she was angry at the world for her mother's death and the whole Glory thing and an had had an overall feeling of helplessness.

Dawn had realized over the years that feeling helpless was not something she liked. She'd grown up having powerful women role models and being constantly told that she couldn't do anything had been grating. Being in charge of the Political Branch of the Council and being able to go out and help had done wonders for her.

Being in charge had also helped her understand her sister a little more. Being the boss was hard. People were constantly coming to you for advice and help, even over stupid things. She was also now responsible for so many lives. Each decision she made could have drastic consequences. Dawn had come to have even more respect for her sister for having all that thrust upon her from a young age.

So though she'd loved Buffy she had come to realize why she'd felt she'd had to leave, she'd come to accept it. And when Dawn had heard Buffy was back she'd been ecstatic, sure that she and Buffy would get along great now that they'd both gotten their acts together.

But now she was feeling weird, because the Buffy she'd gotten back was not exactly the sister she'd remembered. At first she hadn't really noticed. Even after Willow's cryptic remarks she was sure that Buffy couldn't have changed that much. But as they'd talked and visited, she realized Willow was right.

During their conversations Buffy's attention would sort of wander off, like she was listening to something else no one could hear. Or, she would come out with these off the wall, completely correct observations. Like Dawn was explaining how they'd been having trouble with a Peruvian Slayer's family and Buffy had just spit out this advice, as if she knew the family or something. The crazy thing about it was the more Dawn thought about it, the more she thought the suggestion would work.

But as curious as she was and as much as she wanted to ask questions, Dawn didn't want to rock the boat. Her sister was home. She was whole and happy and not being all depressed and moping around or angry and yelling. Dawn just didn't want to mess that up. But with everything else and now this, Dawn thought it was time for a little talk between siblings.

"Why don't I talk to her?" She repeated her thought out loud to Willow.

"No!" Willow was frantic, waving her hands in the air. "I mean…what if she answers you?! Do you know how horrible that could be?!"

"I think you need to downgrade to decaf," Dawn eyed Willow, who was manically pouring herself more tea.

"I mean, how bad can it be? Either it was a real kiss, which we both know you want so don't give me those innocent eyes Willow Rosenberg, or it wasn't and you were having a hallucination brought on by to little sleep and to many mochas. Either way, you'll know."

"A…Alright," Willow slumped in her chair, knowing she couldn't stop Dawn, "But try and be a bit subtle. Maybe hint around a little or something. Don't just tell her that I blurted it out like a big dork. Maybe don't even mention the kiss at all, just ask about her feelings."

"Yeah, right!" Dawn snorted, "Then we'll join hands and sing Kumbaiya. In case you hadn't noticed, Summers women don't do subtle. If I try hinting around we'll be there for years. No," she slapped the arms of her chair with open palms and got up to walk out the door, "I'll just threaten her with a horrible death and demand to know what her intentions are. That should do it."

Willow was left there gaping, her mouth opening and closing like a fish's, as Dawn stormed out of the office, wondering what the hell had just happened.

…

Dawn found her sister sitting in the teacher's lounge, her eyes closed and holding a cup of coffee. There were two other Watchers working on lesson plans in the room as well and they both stood up respectfully as she entered. Buffy just opened her eyes slightly and smiled.

"Anne," Dawn addressed her, conscious of their audience, "do you have time to talk to me for a minute? I want to hear about some of the girls you're working with."

"Of course, Ms. Summers," Buffy said politely, though her eyes were twinkling.

The two walked out of the lounge and down the hallway, maintaining their composure in front of the passing students and teachers. When Dawn reached an open classroom, thankfully a shielded magick one, she politely ushered Buffy in ahead of her and closed the door behind her. As the door clicked shut, engaging the shielding on the room, she rounded on her sister.

"Alright, young lady," she put her hands on her hips and took an aggressive stance, "Just what is going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't give me that innocent look, Buffy. It didn't work on mom and it's not going to work on me. Now tell me what happened between you and Willow."

"No."

"No?" Dawn shook her head, "What do you mean, no?"

"I mean no, I'm not going to discuss it with you right now."

Dawn eyed Buffy. She'd gotten, over the years, used to judging how far she could push Buffy. When Buffy had come into the room she'd been open and willing to joke around. But the Buffy that faced her now was different. She wasn't angry, in fact she was still smiling, but her eyes were set and her tone was firm.

"Can I ask why?" Dawn had learned a few tricks of her own over the years. Maybe she could get some indirect information out of her.

"Because it's something I should discuss with her, first."

Crap, Dawn pouted internally, there wasn't really anything she could say to that.

"You're not going to hurt her, are you?" Dawn settled down a bit, at least Buffy was answering her seriously and not blowing her off. "She's been through a lot lately, Buffy. She and Kennedy had this knock down, drag out before Kennedy went pouting off back to South America."

"Why?" Buffy's blue eyes narrowed.

"You know how Kennedy never liked her magick? I think she just didn't like how Willow was more powerful than her," Dawn snarked, then got back on track, "But anyway, she went on this whole thing about how Willow was being selfish by wanting to leave to study. Then she chased after her to England when she left. After the blowout, at which I was unfortunately not present, she left and hasn't talked to Willow since."

"Willow hasn't even really dated since then, Buffy," Dawn told her sister, her face sober, "I don't want to see her go through something like that again."

Buffy nodded, acknowledging her concerns, then she said, "Thank you for looking after her, for looking after all of them, while I've been gone. I felt better, honestly, knowing you were with them."

"Well…I…," Buffy had never thanked her for anything like this before.

"You were always a strong person, Dawn, in some ways stronger than me. You adapted and thrived in some situations that would have driven other people crazy."

Dawn felt like there was a vice on her chest. All she'd wanted for so long was her sister's acknowledgement, her approval. Now she had it and she didn't know quite how to react. She was so used to fighting with Buffy. This was just strange.

"You don't have to worry though," Buffy went back to their original topic of conversation, like she hadn't just knocked Dawn's world off kilter, "I don't plan on hurting Willow. I have promises to keep."

……………………….

Author's Note:

TA DA! (pause, then crickets in the background) Oooookay then, I'll just go back to my desk then, shall I.

Hope you like the latest chapter in this little story and I eagerly await you're reviews, as always. I got a few people asking about the whole Dawn and Buffy talk and wondering if they'd missed it or something. You didn't miss it, 'cause I hadn't written it yet! But now I have, so here you go.

Dawn and Buffy's little heart to heart actually was inspired by my own relationship with my older sister. We're a few years apart and fought like cats and dogs when we were growing up. But the minute we weren't living together and I had grown up enough to stop acting like the bratty sister we got along great. She's now my best friend and someone I admire greatly. I saw a lot of myself in Dawn's character.

For those hoping for a little more action, hold your horses, it's coming up. I love writing action scenes actually, they're really fun. Also, omake next chapter. Now I bid you goodnight because I have to get up at an obscenely early time tomorrow.