Author's Notes:

All hail Joss Whedon, the brilliant mind who came up with all this (except for K). Some feedback would be wonderfully appreciated and will make me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Break of Dawn

Willow and K came back to the hotel as the sun was setting, which just so happened to be when Spike left. Angel had informed K that he wanted to get out of the hotel as soon as the sunset.

"Damn, I wish I could catch up with him," K said.

The whole gang was hanging out in room 718. Buffy was curled up in a little ball in Angel's arms, and the rest of them were either sitting on the other bed or on the floor.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

Satsu got up and opened it.

"Hey, gang," Xander said.

"Oh, Xander! It's a good thing you're here," Buffy said, straightening up. "We're going into the second vamp nest tomorrow, and we could really use your help."

"Oooh! Vampires! Can I come?" Dawn asked.

Buffy's jaw dropped. "You brought Dawn?"

"She kind of brought herself," Xander explained. "I really couldn't say no to her."

"C'mon, Buffy, I could really help out with these vampires. You said you needed help, and it's not like I was doing anything, so why not?"

"This is insane. We only have two rooms in this hotel."

"Don't worry. Dawn and I got another room one floor up."

"You got another room? Well, then take one person with you. We've got nine people now, and three per room will be just perfect."

"So who's coming up with us?"

"I don't mind going up," K offered. She figured that with three people per room two of the couples would have to be broken up anyway, so she decided to offer.

"No!" Buffy said rather quickly. "I-I mean… Xander, Dawn, do you mind if I talk to you outside the room for a moment?"

Buffy stepped over the beds in the room just to avoid crossing K's path while she sat on the floor.

K frowned. "I-I thought it would be better if I were away from Buffy," she said quietly looking from Angel to Willow. "I don't get why she'd want me to stay closer to her."

"Buffy's just been acting a little strange lately," Willow said. "Don't worry about it."

Meanwhile, Buffy had walked out into the hallway with Xander and Dawn and closed the door behind her.

"Is there a problem letting K room with us?" Xander asked.

"Why? Do you like her? What do you think of her?" Buffy asked frantically.

"Calm down, Buffy," Xander said. "I don't hate her, I don't like her. I've never really talked to her. So I can't say anything."

"What about you, Dawn?" Buffy asked. "What do you think of her?"

"I don't know her," she answered. "What's gotten into you, Buffy?"

"It's not what's gotten into me, it's what's gotten into everyone else," she said, her tone now hushed. "I think K is some kind of brainwashing demon, and everyone she has touched either loves her or really likes her, and I don't know what her plan is exactly, but I don't want her to get very far with it."

"So what's your plan?" Xander asked. "You can't just randomly kill her."

"I'm doing some research on what type of demon she is as well as how to get her to reveal her true identity," Buffy explained. "But I'm just scared that someone will find out what I'm up to, or she'll see me and then do something horrible or something like that."

"Wouldn't it be better if she were out of the way, then?" Xander asked. "We'll keep her up in our room, and you can do whatever research you can. We'll make sure she doesn't touch us."

"And if she does touch one of us, we'll make sure she doesn't touch the other person," Dawn assured. "Let us help you out, Buffy."

"Fine," Buffy said reluctantly. "If you two can be safe with her up there, then I'm fine with that. Spike will be disappointed, though. She's got the strongest brainwashing on him."

Buffy opened the room and let Xander and Dawn back in.

"Okay," she said to everyone. "K, you can go to the other floor with Xander and Dawn. Willow, Kennedy, you decide which one of you goes into the other room with Satsu and Spike."

"Why can't it be you or Angel?" Kennedy asked.

Buffy ignored her. "K, do you want to get your stuff and head upstairs?"

"Um," K said, looking at an annoyed Kennedy. "Yeah, sure." She left the room.

"Wow, Buffy," Kennedy complained.

"It's okay, baby," Willow said, putting her hand on Kennedy's arm. "I'll go into the other room, I don't mind."

"No, I'll go," Kennedy said. "I'd rather be with Satsu and Spike than in here."

Willow kissed Kennedy on the cheek.

Kennedy got up and grabbed her things and dragged them into the other room as K was bringing her bag back with her.

"Well, I'm ready to go!" she perked up. "You can lead the way, Xander!"

Buffy nodded. "Take care."

Xander and Dawn led K to the floor upstairs, cautious to keep their distance until they finally arrived to room 820.

"I'll just be in the bathroom," K said, dropping her bag on the floor. She went in.

"How are we going to sleep?" Dawn asked Xander. "I mean, what if we're both asleep and she touches us and we don't even know it?"

"Don't worry about it," Xander said, kissing her forehead. "We've dealt with demons a ton of times. And almost all the time they were more powerful than K. Why don't you sleep, and I'll keep a look out?"

"You can't stay up all night, Xander," Dawn said. "You stay up for half the night, and then I'll stay up. And I call getting the first shift."

Xander smiled and pulled Dawn close to him. "Fine."

K came out of the bathroom and yawned.

"Hm. We should get to bed. We've got a big day of vampire slaying ahead of us!" K hopped into bed as Xander and Dawn went into the other bed.

Back in room 718, the rest of the gang was also getting ready for bed. Kennedy had moved into room 717 with Satsu, but Spike still wasn't back yet.

Just as Angel was telling Buffy, "Don't worry about him." The door had opened, and the bleach blond vampire strutted into the room.

"There you are," Buffy said. "We rearranged some sleeping arrangements."

Spike shrugged and shook his head. "Okay, then."

"You're still sleeping in the same room. Kennedy is going in with you and K has gone up one floor. She's staying with Xander and Dawn who arrived earlier and got another room."

Spike nodded slowly. "Right. So we're going to the second nest tomorrow?"

"Um. Y-yeah, we are."

"Got it. Goodnight, then." Spike left.

"Is the whole mind control thing temporary or something?" Buffy asked herself. She shrugged and decided to forget about it for now. She could do more research later.

Dawn was in Xander's arms. She could hear his heavy breathing by her ear as she remained awake. 'He's definitely asleep,' she thought.

"Xander? Dawn?" K said quietly, adjusting her position in bed so that she sat up more. "A-are you guys asleep?"

Dawn pulled herself out of Xander's grasp and sat up a little herself. "I'm still awake. Xander's completely gone."

"Dawn… why do you think Buffy hates me so much?" K asked.

"She hates you?" Dawn asked, pretending to be in shock. "I-I don't know."

"Willow told me today that she might be jealous of me," K said. "But that just doesn't make sense. I mean, who cares of both Spike and Satsu fell in love with me? Well, I do, obviously, but why does Buffy?"

"I'll tell you something about Buffy," Dawn said, straightening herself a little more. "When it comes to her love live, no one knows what's going on in her head. In fact, I don't even think she understands it. But she gets this desperate need for, like, everything. She just becomes this little attention whore or something. I don't know why, but it's like she needs everyone to love her at all times. She can't handle someone else getting the love."

"I didn't think Buffy was like that," K said.

"Well, I didn't think you were one to care what people like her thought of you."

"I'm usually not, but… something about Buffy not liking me is bothering me."

"Right. I get it. She's like your boss, and it's not good for your boss not to like you, because, well, then you're kind of screwed."

K nodded slowly, even though that wasn't exactly how she felt.

Before long, Dawn and K actually began to have a real conversation. Well, it was more like Dawn spoke a lot about Buffy and K mostly listened, occasionally chiming in when she felt it was necessary. If anything, Dawn seemed to be having a good time.

"Has Buffy ever actually had a conversation with you?" Dawn asked.

"Not really. I mean, not a real conversation like this one."

"She really should, then maybe she wouldn't hate you so much."

"So you don't hate me? I kinda got negative vibes when I first came up here."

"No, I don't hate you at all. And I don't know about negative, but it was mainly because I didn't know you and you're kind of different. But you're pretty cool. Buffy's just being a jealous attention whore. Don't worry about her."

K nodded. "Right. Well, I'm glad you don't hate me. We should really get some rest."