Pointedly one year later, at 10 o'clock in the morning, Dawn stood on Paul's doorstep, twice as thrilled as she should have been.

He slammed the door in her face.

Yet, persistent as she was, naturally, she immediately tried it again. This time it was Reggie who opened. Somewhere behind him in the shadows, she could make out Paul rubbing the back of his head and muttering something what sounded like satanic curses.

"Oh, hey, Dawn! It's you," Reggie greeted friendly, nonchalantly ignoring Paul's angry snarls of "Make her leave, make her leave!" "What a pleasant surprise! Do come in."

She did, happily so, beaming all over the face.

"So," Reggie said, with an all knowing smile. "Why this sudden visit?"

Dawn squirmed uncomfortably in her seat on the couch and avoided to look at him.

Paul was not joining them, for he had (after she'd been let in) quickly withdrawn to his room and justified this by explaining to them that they were too pathetic to be around.

"Oh, you know," she laughed and hoped it wasn't as sheepish as it felt. "I just needed a change of scenery."

"Bored at home?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, then, why don't you go out and let Paul show you around?"

Neither Dawn nor Paul were particularly frond of this proposal. Paul especially wasn't and obviously deemed it necessary to throw a temper tantrum. He still ended up going, because said brother had kicked him out—without any keys—and threatened to make him sleep outside.

It wasn't really a surprise that he had to, anyway. (As punishment for being generally unpleasant.)

Dawn stayed at the brothers' house for two whole weeks, having more fun than she had in months. At the beginning of the second week, Paul, as well, astoundingly began to act like he didn't completely loathe her like burning or the time he spent with her, which she thought must testify to something. And it made her believe in returning (even though he permanently insisted she should just go home).

Short explanation: As the 'pointedly one year later' already implied, Dawn has now stopped travelling with Ash & co. She is at home and incredibly bored and, due to several circumstances that will be revealed in the next chapters, can't go too far away. And she's (still) too scared of journeying without company. Hope that helped.