The Dawn Chronicles
by tenshinrtaiga
Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, Angel or Supernatural.
Pairing/Characters: Dawn Summers, Connor Angel-Reilly, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester. Mild Dean/Dawn.
Warnings: Spoilers for Buffy S7, Angel S5 and Supernatural S1.
Summary: When Buffy dies and Dawn inherits her sister's Slayer powers, Dawn doesn't know what to do. She only knows one thing: she can't stay at the International Watchers Council anymore. An unlikely friend in the shape of Angel's son Connor comes to the rescue, training her and teaching her how to handle her powers and just when she thinks she has everything under control, a new Slayer is murdered. Now Dawn's left trying to figure out what happened and how exactly the Winchester boys fit in.

"So, you're saying Jessica was this… Slayer," Sam repeated slowly. After realizing that Sam and Dean weren't the bad guy, Dawn and Connor had let them up. Sam had been desperate for answers and Dawn had been desperate for coffee. These two needs led them to the nearest Starbucks where the four took up a corner and began talking.

At first, Sam and Dean had been confused and when Dawn tried to reassure them that the supernatural was real, it was Dawn and Connor's turn to be confused when the brothers assured her that they knew that. They just didn't know that vampires still roamed around or that they were created by ancient demons. To say it was an interesting conversation was putting it mildly.

November 19, 2005

"This is ridiculous!" Dawn muttered as she shifted uncomfortably in her clothes. "Why am I always the distraction?"

The Winchesters said nothing, focusing solely on their target; a building across the street. Connor, however, was used to the chit-chat and answered, "Because you look better than us in a mini skirt."

The brunette scoffed. "That's debatable," she retorted causing all three guys to look at her strangely. "I'm not saying its not true, I'm just saying that its debatable. I, personally, would need to see you guys in a mini skirt to make that decision," she teased before getting serious. "Okay, explain this to me again?"

"We already went over the plan," Dean replied. It was bad enough that they had tag-alongs while hunting, but they had a habit of never listening and always screwing up the plan. And yet, despite that, they always managed to get the job done. He vaguely wondered if luck was one of their superpowers.

After having finished their discussion that day at Jessica's funeral, the two brothers had been shocked when the next day, prior to taking off, they found Connor and Dawn waiting for them at the Impala. Apparently, the two had come to the decision the night before that anything dangerous enough to take out a Slayer, even an untrained one, was something that needed to be further looked into. Especially since the boys had little to no information on the thing themselves. Sam and Dean had tried to argue, but the other two had remained stubborn. Now the four of them were on the road, going where John Winchester's messages led them, hoping to meet up with the only man who knew about the thing that killed Jess.

"You go and distract the guard while Sam, Connor and I sneak in. You'll meet us around back where we'll have opened the back door for you. You and Connor will head to the coroner's office to take a look at the autopsy notes while Sam and I check out the dead body to see if there's anything that they missed," Dean explained again.

"There might be a problem with that plan," Connor put in, eyes glued to the building that they would be breaking into.

"What?" Dean growled in annoyance, turning to look at the shorter blond. Connor nodded his head toward the building prompting Dean to look as well. There, walking around the building on patrol was a guard, just as expected. What was not expected was the fact that the guard was clearly female.

"Huh," Dawn smiled, clapping her hand hard on Dean's shoulder. "Looks like it's someone else's turn to be the distraction," she said with a smirk. Her smirk grew wider when the guard turned around to reveal an older woman who, to put it politely, had not aged well.

"Aw, man," Dean whined.

Sam's lips trembled in an effort not to smile or laugh. "It's okay, Dean. We can come up with another way in," he offered insincerely.

Dawn and Connor looked at him like he was crazy. "Don't be stupid," she said dismissively before lightly shoving Dean forward. The only problem was that a light shove for her sent Dean flying harshly, almost hitting the ground if he hadn't recovered his balance in time. He turned to shoot her a glare over his shoulder, but Dawn just shrugged dismissively. "Dean-o can take one for the team," she finished telling Sam.

Dean blinked at hearing his father's nickname for him come out of Dawn's mouth but thought nothing of it. If there was one thing he'd learned while living with Dawn these last few weeks, it was that she could and would nickname everything and everyone if she could get away with it. With a low growl, he marched forward, crossing the street. They may be chuckling at him now, but if he backed out of distracting the old lady, he'd never hear the end of it.

Sam picked the lock while Dawn and Connor watched in amusement as Dean flirted with the guard. A choked laugh came out of all three when the woman laid one on a totally shocked Dean who had been caught by complete surprise. Dawn's lips twitched as they fought between the need to laugh hysterically and the need to be quiet so that the guard wouldn't see them.

"That reminds me," she said, clapping a strong hand on Connor's shoulder as they watched in amusement as Dean tried to pry the lady off of him. "Happy birthday, dude."

December 28, 2005

"Argh!" Dawn screeched as she slammed a book shut and threw herself back on the bed. She flung her arm across her head and buried her face in the crook, trying to ignore the world.

"You okay over there, Princess?" Dean smirked from behind a cup of coffee as he sat next to Sam and Connor at the small table inside the motel room. In the months since they'd begun working together, they'd all finally managed to reach a good groove and surprisingly enough Dean and Dawn were the one who got along the most, probably because they were a lot alike. Teasing, sarcastic, jokers…

Dawn said nothing, merely lifting her left hand enough to give him the finger. "You've been spending too much time with Spike," Connor noted with disinterest. Dawn hadn't actually seen the vampire in years – since Sunnydale – but she still talked to him often and had just spoken with the Brit the other day on Christmas. It had been a nice surprise to receive his phone call and Dawn was touched that he had thought of her. Spike had even spoken to Connor for a while, having taken a liking to the boy. Dawn suspected he thought of Connor like family, not that the vampire would admit it since doing so would also mean admitting he still thought of Angel as family too.

"Have not," she grumbled half-heartedly before giving a weary sigh.

Connor became genuinely worried. Dawn was generally a pretty happy girl. The only time she was depressed like this was when she thought of her sister. "Are you upset because January's coming up?" he asked carefully as he moved to sit next to her on the bed. Ignoring the curious looks he received from the Winchester brothers at his words, he plowed ahead. "We could take a break for a while, if you want. Stop hunting," Connor offered as he reached down and raked his fingers comfortingly through her hair. He had learned a while ago that Buffy had used to do that for Dawn all the time and that it was the only thing that helped calm the girl down when she got upset.

This time Sam and Dean choked in surprise at what the blond boy was offering but neither Dawn nor Connor were paying attention to them. "No, it's not… that," Dawn replied, removing her arm from her face and moving onto her side to curl her body toward Connor. "I can't find any information on Jessica's killer." Sam drew a sharp breath and it was silent in the room as they all processed her words. Dawn sat up and leaned against the headboard as she continued on. "I've checked every book I have; books of shadows, grimoires, demon texts, hell, I've even taken to combing the internet!" she cried out slightly hysterically, throwing her hands up in frustration. "I've checked every source you, me and Spike have. Spike's even been making inquiries using Angelus' name and the Order of Aurelius and you know how much he hates doing that, but still nothing."

Sam stood up, his teeth grit angrily. He had known that Dawn had been searching – he had been too – but he hadn't realized how many sources she had been looking into and for all of them to have come up dry? "So, what?" he asked. "What does this mean?"

Dawn sighed wearily once more before turning her head to look at Connor who was also looking at her in the same searching manner that the Winchesters were. "There are only two places I haven't looked that I can think of," she admitted softly to the blond boy next to her. "The Diaries and the Prophecy Room."

Connor sucked in a deep breath of surprise as his eyebrow rose. "The diaries?" Dean asked in confusion. "What, like some whiny little twelve year old girl is gonna know what killed Sammy's girlfriend?"

Dawn rolled her eyes, though there was a reluctant grin on her face. "Well, you aren't far off. They do act like whiny twelve year old girls." She turned to look at Connor out of the side of her eye, but he was still too surprised by her earlier revelation to find her funny. "The Watcher Diaries are the Watcher records of every Slayer and the battles they fought. Every demon, ghost, vampire gets documented for future generations. The Prophecy Room is where all of the books of future events are kept. Almost all major battles and enemies are foretold by seers and recorded for future interpretation."

"Alright, so where are these things?" Sam asked, focused on finding more information.

The brunette girl sighed. This was the hard part. "All diaries and prophecies are property belonging to the International Watchers Council."

"Well, where are these guys?" Dean asked. "Watchers are the guys that take care of Slayers right? You're a Slayer so you should know where they are. Come to think of it, why don't you have a Watcher?"

"The official Headquarters for the IWC is in London," Dawn replied, ignoring his question about her lack of Watcher. "The unofficial headquarters are in Cardiff, Wales and Cleveland, Ohio."

"Cardiff and Cleveland?" Sam asked, slightly incredulous. Neither city seemed like it would be the epicenter for an international league of good guys.

"The Slayer School is located just outside Cardiff," Dawn explained. "And Cleveland is currently home to the largest Hellmouth in the world." Seeing their confused looks, she clarified, "Devil's Gate," knowing that was the hunter term for a Hellmouth.

"Alright, so let's head to Cleveland," Sam said, already beginning to pack up his things, Dean doing the same right beside him.

"Are you sure you should be doing this right now?" Connor finally spoke, a worried furrow in his brow reminiscent of his father. "Your birthday's coming up soon." And so is Buffy's, he added silently, knowing she understood what he was really asking. Sam and Dean both stopped what they were doing to look at the other two oddly.

"It's coming on two years," Dawn answered, proving that she did know what Connor was really talking about. "I need to go home someday," she said with a tumultuous smile.

Dean stepped forward, looking at the two in confusion. "Okay, what are we missing here?" he asked seriously.

The brunette girl looked up at him with sad eyes. "I ran away from the IWC," she admitted. "It's a long story and to be honest, not one I'm ready to talk about." She stood up and began packing her own things. "Let's go."

December 29, 2005

The four looked up at a tall red brick office building. The only indication that they were in the right spot was the small frosted glass sign mounted to the front reading IWC. It was vague enough that no one would wander in, but specific enough for those who knew what they were looking for.

"It's not too late," Connor muttered lowly. "If you want to stay behind, I can go up."

Dawn shook her head. While it's true that being Angel's son would let him in, it would still be better if she was there with him. Besides, it was time to stop running from her sister's ghost. She had been gone for a year and a half. It was time Dawn came home.

With that in mind, she took her first steps forward, pushing through the door and entering the pleasantly warm lobby. The four of them made their way to the sole occupant, a young woman in jeans and a tee behind the front desk who was skimming through a text book. "Welcome to the IWC," the girl said plainly once she realized she wasn't alone. "Can I help you?" she asked in boredom. It was clear that she didn't think they belonged here, probably because people always called ahead when they went to visit the IWC.

"Yeah, I need to talk to Faith," Dawn said clearly.

The girl blinked in surprise as she clearly reevaluated them. She picked up the phone and dialed an extension. "Faith? You have four visitors at the front desk," she said into the receiver before looking back up at Dawn. "Name?" she asked.

"Dawn Summers," the brunette girl replied.

The receptionist choked in shock. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," she squealed, dropping the phone in excitement. "You're her! You're Buffy's sister! The sister Slayer!" Dawn blinked in surprise, as did her companions. She knew Buffy was a legend, but apparently she'd grown in fame after her death and Dawn along with her. The girl continued on, "The warrior of light, the Key, the-"

"Okay!" Dawn interrupted, raising a hand to silence the girl. "Let me guess, you were trained by Andrew?"

The girl's eyes widened. "How did you know?" she asked in awe.

Dawn smirked in amusement. "Lucky guess."

"D," a familiar voice said behind Dawn. She turned to look, unsurprised to find Faith standing at the elevator, arms crossed over her chest. The way the Slayer had said her name… Dawn had never heard Faith sound that cold. Faith hadn't sounded disappointed or disapproving, in fact it was the complete lack on inflection that scared Dawn because Faith always had an opinion on something, always had something to say.

"Faith," Dawn greeted back wary of the girl's reaction.

The two stared at each other for a long minute before some sort of internal dam burst within the two of them and suddenly they were a tangle of limbs as they hugged and talked, both of them so loud that they couldn't hear the other, but neither cared and if there were a few tears here and there, well, no one was dumb enough to mention it.

"Why do I get the feeling we didn't get the whole story?" Dean asked his brother before they both turned to face Connor with a raised brow. Connor just shrugged in response, causing the two to glare lightly. It was times like this that made it easy to see that two were brothers.

Finally the two girls pulled away from each other, melancholy smiles on their faces. "It's damn good to see you, girl," Faith greeted, this time with warmth in her voice.

"You too," Dawn smiled back.