CHAPTER 8: How Complicated?

Tara sighed and grinned to herself as she pulled into the driveway at home. Willow and Dawn were debating an inane topic - something to do with spells and smells. Tara turned the car off and noticed Buffy and Giles talking through the living room window. Or more appropriately: Buffy was pacing and flailing her arms, and Giles was polishing his glasses and staring at the floor.

"M-maybe we should go get ice cream," she said.

"But wolf's bane - what?"

"What's going on?"

All three girls watched as Giles said something - no one could really tell what - and then Buffy twisted, her arms going wide. She pointed at herself, at something the girls couldn't see, then at Giles himself.

"I wonder -"

Willow's statement was cut off by the sound of the back car door opening and closing. Willow and Tara got out of the car as quickly as possible, scrambling after Dawn.

"Dawn -"

"Don't go in -"

Dawn opened the door, running in just in time to hear Buffy finish yelling "- not like finding out she's adopted, Giles, this is a big deal!"

Pounding feet on the porch, along with Willow and Tara trying to grab Dawn, got the attention of the three inhabitants of the living room. Dawn was staring at the man who'd been following her, tied up in her living room, not sure what to make of anything. Her eyes lifted to Giles, who was putting his glasses back on.

He started to speak, but all that happened was the opening and closing of his mouth. He looked to Buffy, who was fidgeting and avoiding his gaze.

"Is anyone going to tell me why Creepy Hawaiian Shirt Guy is in our living room?" Dawn asked quietly, taking a few steps forward.

Buffy and Giles shifted on their feet, at odds about the situation and how to handle it. When the silence seemed to drag on too long, Creepy Hawaiian Shirt Guy, also known as Gregor, the monk, cleared his throat.

"Excuse me... Dawn," he said, his gaze flicking to Buffy then back again. "I am Gregor, servant to the Order of the Key." He coughed a little and winced, then sighed. "I'm told I... frightened you with my behavior. That... was not my intention."

Buffy rolled her eyes and Giles crossed his arms.

"What was your intention?" Dawn asked.

"To find out... if you wanted to remain... here. To remain... human."

"What?!" Dawn tried to step back but Willow and Tara were behind her. She looked from one to the other and then back to her sister. "Buffy?"

"He was going to give you the option to be just the key again... basically a floaty soul... somewhere other than here," Tara said, cupping Dawn's shoulder. Giles' eyes tightened a fraction, and he glanced at Gregor. The monk was shifting and wincing, glaring down at the ropes binding him.

"I don't wanna be the key. I just want to be Dawn!"

"That's your right to choose, Dawn," Willow said, also cupping the girl's shoulder.

"There's more," said Giles, drawing the girls' attention to him. Even Buffy's. Ah, so she was just trying to get out of telling the news.

"More?" Dawn crossed her arms, glaring at the monk. "How much more? Are you sending assassins? 'Cause Buffy won't let anything happen to me. She -"

"WE'RE YOUR PARENTS." Giles turned and stared at Buffy. She closed her mouth and blinked a little. She opened it again, glanced at Giles, and decided to try saying it again without so much... volume. "Giles and I... You're made out of us."

Willow, Tara and Dawn stared at Buffy. When the blonde offered nothing more than a shifting of her weight from one foot to the other, they all looked to Giles.

"Y-yes. According to Gregor -"

"We made you from... the most recent line of Watchers... and Slayers. Genetically, you are the Slayer's daughter." He sighed and looked up to Willow and Tara, who were eyeing him curiously. "Can one of you please untie me?"

Dawn stared at the man a moment, and without another word, ran around Tara, upstairs. Buffy winced when the teen's bedroom door slammed shut.

"Great. Just great," Buffy muttered. She glared at Gregor, who was getting help from Willow and Tara. "Thank you so much."

Buffy stormed up the stairs, everyone in the living room wincing when her bedroom door slammed quite a bit louder - Giles worried at the cracking sound that followed.