Some time later, Dawn lay stretched out on her back on her bed and tried to process everything. Buffy still hadn't returned from her shopping expedition, and Dawn knew everything would have to be discussed again once she did, but for now, she was all hashed out.

She'd thought she'd escaped it, her whole more-than-human origin. It had been so long since she'd been anything more than boring old Dawn, human little sister of the Slayer. A Slayer, now, which made her even more ordinary. Her brief stint as a potential Slayer, initial knee-jerk reaction aside, had taught her that she liked it that way. She'd liked being ordinary. She'd liked knowing that her life wasn't scripted for her, the way Buffy's was. She'd liked knowing that she didn't have a destiny, that if she chose to join in Buffy's fight - which she was pretty sure she would have - it would be her choice.

Only now it wasn't. The Powers That Be had noticed that there was someone close to Angel (or Buffy, or Angel and Buffy) who wasn't quite human, and shoved visions in among all of the normal, human thoughts and plans in her head. And that was the good scenario - the other option was that she wasn't anything more than human after all, in which case the visions would eventually blow out the back of her head. She really could have done without that piece of imagery, thank you very much, Angel.

She had no choice now. Buffy could flip out all she wanted - and she would - but it would do no good. She'd been chosen for this, just the way Buffy had been chosen for her own destiny. And though neither one of them had wanted it, they'd both have to make the best of it.

Only she wasn't sure if she could. All sorts of stupid, mundane things kept flying through Dawn's brain...for instance, where would she live? She didn't think Buffy would like it if she lived with Angel, but how could she help him with her visions while living in Rome? He'd been very clear that the visions were sent to help him, specifically, and since the one she'd just had had been set here in L.A., that did make sense. It wouldn't make Buffy like it any better, though.

"Dawn?" Buffy stuck her head around Dawn's not-quite-closed door, then entered the room when Dawn didn't answer. "I'm so sorry, Dawn."

Dawn just stared at her. She wasn't flipping out. She walked over and sat down next to her on the bed.

"Faith said it looked really painful," she said.

"Faith said? What did Angel say?"
Buffy looked down at her hands, clasped in her lap.

"I wouldn't let him talk," she said. "I know it wasn't fair of me, but I...I really, really wanted you to have a normal life. And Angel's in the way of that."

Dawn shook her head. "The Powers That Be, not Angel."

"Yeah, but I can't yell at them," Buffy said.

"Sure you can," Dawn said. She sat up. "We can do it right now. If they're the Powers That Be, they can hear us anywhere, right?"

"Right," Buffy said, looking at her in amazement. Then, she threw her head back and glared at the ceiling. "Why?"
Dawn laughed, knelt up on the bed, and followed her lead. "Why me?" she shouted. "Haven't you done enough to the Summers sisters?"

"That's right," Buffy yelled. "Why us? What did we do to deserve this? How could you give a young girl this curse?"

"Two young girls," Dawn yelled.

"Three," came a voice from the doorway, and both of them turned to see Faith standing there.
"Couldn't help overhearin'," she said. "Is this a private bitch session, or can anyone join in?"

"We're yelling at the Powers That Be," Dawn said, and Buffy added, "Of course you can join in. All the other Slayers can just yell at me, but you're not my fault."

"Nah," Faith said, sauntering over towards Dawn's bed. "I'm Xander's fault."

"What?" Dawn said. She'd been with Buffy on letting Faith in, because she did have a legitimate complaint against the Powers That Be, just like they did, but blaming Xander was too much.

Buffy must have felt the same way. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Want to explain that?"

Faith just grinned at both of them. "Or I guess it still is your fault, B. You died, and the X-Man brought you back. So, it's your fault I'm here, but it's Xander's that you're still here, too."

"Oh," Buffy said, and thought about it. Then she laughed. "Well, I can't blame myself, and I don't want to blame Xander, so we're back to yelling at the Powers That Be."

"Suits," Faith said. She put her hands on her hips and glared at the ceiling. "Why me?" she yelled. "Couldn't you see what I am? Couldn't you see what would happen?"

Dawn and Buffy stared at her, but when she looked down at them, Buffy turned her face up to the ceiling.

"Why young girls?" she yelled. "Weren't you just asking for trouble? How many Kendras did you think you'd get? Most of us are just all normal and mistake-making and speech-making and friend pushing-awaying...and I'm a little lost here, but you know what I mean." She wasn't yelling anymore by the end of it, and her gaze had fallen to the bedspread, so she didn't see Giles appear in the doorway.

"I think you're being a little hard on yourself," he said.

"I don't," Buffy said. She shook her head. "This isn't about me, though. This is about Dawn somehow becoming a conduit for Angel's lame Powers That Be."

Dawn let out a surprised giggle. "Angel's lame, and his hair sticks straight up."

Giles gave her a confused look, but didn't comment. He crossed the room and sat down on the end of the bed.

"The Powers That Be are hardly Angel's," he said. "From what he's been telling me, they didn't give him any preferential treatment, even when he was their Champion. And when he became the head of Wolfram and Hart..."

"Well, they weren't the only ones who gave up on him then," Buffy said.

"Don't you dare feel guilty about that," Dawn said.

"I...I...don't know what I feel," Buffy said.

"We were right," Faith said. "The Slayer dream proves that, doesn't it? I mean, we didn't get it until he left Wolfram and Hart."

"That's true," Giles said. "However, it also appears that we were incorrect in assuming that because Angel took over Wolfram and Hart, it automatically meant he was evil."

Buffy groaned.

"Maybe I'm penance," Dawn said.

Buffy put her head in her hands, but Faith laughed.

"Taking a little too much on yourself, ain't ya?" she said.

"I concur," Giles said. "The universe would not be that cruel." He paused for a moment, then added, "I don't think. Besides, Angel thinks the Powers That Be chose you because you're not quite human."

Buffy looked like she was trying to hide in her hands.

"Will it be enough?" Dawn asked.

"We will, of course, be researching extensively," Giles said. "But I suspect that Angel is correct. Since you received the visions directly from the Powers That Be, it would make sense that they would have chosen carefully."

Buffy peeked through her fingers.

"Received them directly?" she asked.

"Ah," Giles said. He took off his glasses and began polishing them. "It appears that when Doyle, the half-demon who originally had the visions, was about to die, he passed them to Cordelia. He decided to do that, not the Powers That Be. Which ultimately led to a fallen Power using Cordelia to enter this dimension."

"Killin' Cordelia along the way," Faith said.

"Precisely," Giles said.

"But nothing bad happened when Doyle had the visions," Buffy said.

"Besides the head-explody pain," Dawn said.

"That's correct," Giles said.

"So, I won't pass off the visions," Dawn said. "Which means I don't get to die. Guess it's your job to make sure of that," she added, nudging her sister.

"Deal," Buffy said. "Still not liking your having to go through this, but I see how it's better than hellgods running around."

"Technically, Jasmine wasn't a hellgod," Giles said. He shrunk back at Buffy's glare. "Point taken."

"Y'know," Dawn said. "I'd really like to talk to Xander right now."

Buffy and Faith both looked at her.

"That was really random," Faith said.

"Not to mention, well, why?" Buffy said. "I mean, I miss him, too, but he...he can't know what you're going through. He...he got to choose."

"No, he didn't," Dawn said. She didn't even pretend to know what Buffy meant, but whatever it was, she was completely wrong.

"Yes, he did," Buffy said. "He could have blown me off, pretended he'd never heard of vampires or demons. Lots of people did. Do."

"Nah," Faith said. She beat out a strange rhythm on her thigh. "Not the X-man."
"Yeah," Dawn said. "He didn't have a choice, not once he knew. Not Xander. But that's not why...I just want to talk to him. He helped me when I thought I wasn't going to be normal and then I was, so I figure he can help me now that I thought I was, but I'm not."

"Should I be worried that I followed that?" Giles asked, then added, "Don't answer that. At any rate, you'll be able to speak with Xander quite soon. He's on his way."

"He is?" three voices asked.

"Indeed," Giles said. "He made his way to somewhere he could telephone, because the two Slayers he's working with had the same dream the rest of you had. Once he found out Angel and his people were all right, he wasn't going to come back, but when I told him about Dawn, he changed his mind."

Dawn grinned. "Angel gets a phone call, but I get a transcontinental flight?" she said. "Sweet."

"Please," Buffy said. "I'm shocked Angel even got the phone call. And speaking of souled vampires Xander's not too fond of, what did he say about Spike?"

Giles sighed. "He said he should have known the bastard wouldn't stay dead," he said, making Faith grin and Dawn and Buffy stare at him in amazement. "Which, to be honest, is about how I feel. Only I wouldn't use that word."

"Sure you wouldn't," Faith said.

"He wouldn't," Dawn said. She felt almost giddy, what with talking about Spike and knowing Xander was on the way. "He'd have called him a wanker."

Buffy let out a snort of laughter, then turned towards Dawn. "Why are you so happy, anyway?" she asked. "Last I checked, you'd barely talk to Spike."

"I know," Dawn said. "And I still think I was right. After what he did to you...I know he has a soul now," she added quickly, to prevent Buffy from saying it, "but I didn't see much remorse, and I never heard him apologize for what he'd done. I thought you deserved at least that much."

"What changed?" Faith asked, since Buffy had her head down, her hair covering her face.

"He died," Dawn said. "Again. More. You know what I mean. And I had a lot of time to think about it. He was sorry. He might not have said it, but he was. His actions said it, but I was too angry, and things were too hectic, for me to see. I knew after he died, when it was too late...only it wasn't."

"Yeah," Buffy said. She looked so forlorn that Dawn reached out ot her, but before her hand connected, Buffy shook her hair out of her face.

"Tonight's not about me," she said, somehow sounding unsure of herself and very firm at the same time. "It's about these stupid visions that Dawn's got. We don't want any more Glorys running around, that's for sure, so how do we make sure Dawn doesn't pass on the visions? Besides not letting her die, which goes without saying."

Giles had never put his glasses back on, and now he put two fingers to the bridge of his nose and pinched so hard his skin turned white. Then he mumbled something into his hand so quietly that Dawn couldn't make it out, but judging from the way Buffy was grinning, she knew she wasn't going to like it.

"What?"

Giles steeled himself, then looked her in the eyes. "Doyle passed the visions on to Cordelia by kissing her," he said.

"What?" Dawn shrieked. Buffy and Faith clapped their hands to their ears, but she didn't care. "I can't ever kiss anyone?"