When Dawn and Jess had started watching Pride & Prejudice, it had been fairly early. When they'd come to end of the five hour adaptation, though, it was late.

To begin with, they'd talked through most of it, but as time wore on they just watched.

Jess wasn't actually sure when exactly Dawn had fallen asleep.

She hadn't fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder, or anything like that. That would be clichéd and sickeningly romantic. She was just curled into a tight ball at one end of the sofa.

Jess didn't know what to do. He briefly contemplated carrying her to her bedroom, but he didn't think he could lift her without waking her. Besides, carrying Dawn to her bedroom would be too much like what Jess would normally expect from someone inviting him in to their house at night. He very much doubted that that was Dawn's intention.

Alternatively, he could just leave. Jess was good at that. He didn't think Dawn would mind all that much. However, Jess didn't really want to do that. He was pretty comfortable sitting where he was. He was tired. Moving would be too much effort. Added to that was the fact that, as creepy as it sounded, Jess was actually enjoying watching Dawn sleep. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone. Or even to himself. But, when she was asleep, there wasn't that brittle, fragile look, as though she was just one step from breaking into a thousand pieces. She looked peaceful. Jess wondered if he looked like that himself, when he slept. He hoped so.

The third option was that he could just wake Dawn up. While it was fairly late, it wasn't yet so late that it could be called early. But Jess decided against that, too, for much the same reason that he decided against leaving.

Instead, Jess took a different path, and instead just decided to fall asleep where he sat. Jess couldn't be bothered to do anything else.

Jess was in the process of doing this when Dawn began to twitch, as cats do when they dream. She was frowning, her hands clenched as though she was making fists. Jess knew a nightmare when he saw one. He also knew that waking Dawn up wouldn't be a good idea, not if he didn't want to get punched by a not-quite-awake girl. He remembered the first night he'd stayed at Luke's. Luke had tried to wake him, and Jess had given him a bloody nose because of it.

If Dawn settled down and went back to sleep, he'd leave. He didn't think that Dawn, so desperate to maintain her enigmatic air of mystery, would want Jess to see her like this. He didn't think that she would want anyone to see her like this. But he also knew that Dawn was currently lying in a rather precarious position, so if she moved overmuch she might fall off the sofa and hurt herself. If that happened, Jess thought it would be better that he was around to help deal with whatever cuts or bruises that might lead to.

However, while Jess was thinking all of this, he failed to take into account the fact that there was a third option. Dawn might wake up. Which, indeed, she did.

She didn't sit bolt upright. She didn't scream. She wasn't even breathing heavily, although her eyes were wide and her pupils were extremely dilated.

"Are you alright?" Jess said, knowing that it was the only question he could ask, and knowing that it wasn't enough.

Dawn flinched - obviously, she'd forgotten that he was there. She sat up stiffly, looking at him. Her eyes were still wide, as though she was struggling to see absolutely everything. Eventually, when Jess had almost given up on getting a response, Dawn said "Yeah. I guess so."

Jess knew that Dawn would almost certainly rebuff him, but nevertheless he said "Do you want to talk about it? I know you might not want to, but... I'm hardly a stranger to nightmares myself."

Dawn stared at him. Jess wondered how awake she was. Suddenly, she blurted out "My sister died."

Jess felt a pit in his stomach. He knew that there'd been something, some trauma in Dawn's past. That was obvious to anyone who spent time with her. But that? Jess hadn't expected that. "Ah. I - I'm sorry." he said. He knew full well that that wasn't enough, but, really, there was nothing else that could be said in such circumstances.

Dawn gave a one-armed shrug, obviously trying to be nonchalant but not quite making it. "It's okay. She got better."

Jess cocked his head, not sure that he'd heard right. "She got better? From idying?/i"

Dawn nodded. "Uh huh. Once, when she was fifteen, she drowned. Got CPR, though, and she's fine. Even though she technically died. Then last year, she got shot by some misogynistic psychopath. She died again, but she got better then, too. She was only dead for a few seconds." Dawn said. Even in her sleepy state and recovering from her nightmare, Dawn knew that mentioning the time that Buffy had been dead for months wasn't the best of ideas. While Rory knew about all of that, that was no reason for her ex-boyfriend to find out about it too.

"Wow. I - wow."

"Yeah, you should've tried living it."

"You were right. Your past is way more interesting than mine."

"Told you. You owe me a dollar."

"I don't recall making it an actual bet."

"Come on, I just told you my sister died twice. That's worth a dollar."

"Stop taking advantage of me with your vulnerability and your sofa hair." Jess said, smirking as Dawn started to comb her fingers through her hair. Then he sobered, and asked "Why did you tell me, anyway? I thought you were supposed to be all enigmatic."

Dawn shrugged. "You asked. You took advantage of my vulnerability and the fact that I wasn't awake yet and my sofa hair."

"I can forget what you said, if you like. If it was just me... itaking advantage/i of you, then it doesn't count as you actually telling me. I'll happily let you return to being Enigma Girl, if you want."

Dawn looked at him thoughtfully. "Why? Why do you care about that? You were happily Sherlock-ing away earlier. What's with the change?"

Jess hesitated, not quite sure how to answer. "Because... I know what it's like. Not to lose a sister, even though she should probably call herself Lazarus, but to - I know what it's like. If you weren't really ready to talk about all of that, I'm happy to wait until you are. I know that, until you're ready, it's difficult to face that kind of thing."

Dawn had gotten over the Master drowning Buffy, and Warren shooting her. More or less. Compared to some of the other things they'd faced - compared to Buffy's real, longest death - those were nothing. But she couldn't talk to Jess about what had happened on the Tower. Not without explaining everything else as well. Besides, Dawn didn't think she was quite ready to face talking about that just yet. Not if she was still having nightmares about it.

"Those things... compared to some - compared to other stuff that I've been through, they're not really a big deal. I mean, Buffy didn't even tell me she'd drowned for years. I've moved past that, mostly." Dawn said slowly.

"Then why did you tell me that? Why did you tell me about your sister, rather than all that other stuff you've been through?"

"God, you should be a psychiatrist. Talk about an armour piercing question."

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want. Selective amnesia is still on the table."

"Because of the dream I was having. I dreamt... I dreamt my dad showed up and dragged Buffy to LA. We used to live there. He took her there, away from me-" her hands curled into fists. Except, Jess realised, they weren't fists. She was trying to hold onto her sister. "-but somewhere, at the back of my head, I know that having her live in LA, living away from me, is better, better than her being dead. In my dream, I don't remember that she's alive."

It was true. That had been the dream that Dawn had had. Only she hadn't admitted that it was Buffy's death for her, the one that lead to her being buried, that she remembered. The one where she hadn't thought that Buffy would come back.

"I'm no psychiatrist, armour piercing question aside, but I'd think that talking to someone about that might help. Someone who actually is a psychiatrist, rather than some guy who just happens to be in your living room."

Then, just like that, Dawn got it. She understood everything Xander had said, about liking Rory because she was sweet and innocent and, above all, inormal/i. Because, whatever had happened in Jess' past (and there was obviously something) he was, compared to her, normal. She understood why Xander and Rory worked, and why Buffy and Riley had happened (even though he'd turned out not to be normal after all). Because being with a normal person was calming, relaxing, and easy. She didn't have to work at it. She could talk to Jess about Austen or about Buffy's more normal deaths, and she didn't have to worry about anything. Being around Jess was simple, and uncomplicated. He was just the guy who happened to be in her living room. He wasn't a Scooby, or a psychiatrist, or even a guidance councillor who might turn out to be a vengeance demon. He had no expectations of her.

Dawn smiled, a simple, easy smile for what felt like since the first time since Sunnydale had collapsed. "No. You're exactly the person I should be talking to right now."

Jess smiled back, although he was bemused at the sudden mood change. He guessed that Dawn had had some kind of epiphany, but he had absolutely no idea what it might be. "Well, I'm glad that I can be a sympathetic ear for you."

"Thank you, Jess."

"Well." Jess said, a little sheepishly. "I guess I should go. Unless there's anything else that you want to tell the guy who just happens to be in your living room?"

"Nah. I'm good for now. Good night, Jess."

"Night, Dawn."

When Rory woke up in the morning, she felt fine. She didn't feel cold. Everything wasn't too bright, or too loud. She guessed that she must've fought off whatever bug she'd gotten.

That is, until she went downstairs to get herself some coffee, and found herself staring at her mother's neck as though it was the most interesting thing that she had ever seen.

Rory knew that there were people with fetishes for feet or other body parts (she even understood the foot fetish. Rory remembered one memorable biology lesson at Chilton when she'd been taught that the region of the brain that received sensation from the feet was adjacent to the region for... genitalia, and sometimes there was an overlap) but inecks?/i Lorelai's neck? Sure, being kissed on the neck was... really rather more than pleasant, but what exactly was so irresistible about Lorelai's neck?

Lorelai caught her looking, frowned and said "Is there something on my neck? I haven't had a hickey, I swear."

With great difficulty, Rory managed to wrench her gaze away from Lorelai's neck. "Mom, I really don't want to know whether you've got a hickey or not."

"I'd be wearing a scarf if I had. If I'm wearing a scarf in July-"

"Mom! Too much information! I don't want to know that!"

"Well, it's not like it's going to be long before Xander's giving you hickeys, not if those looks you were giving each other yesterday were anything to go by."

Rory didn't reply.

"What? Cat got your tongue?"

Rory shook her head. "No, I was just waiting for you to say that I should go slow, or better yet stay away from him."

"Well, the going slow thing goes without saying. But I thought I should give him the benefit of the doubt. He obviously cares about you, Rory."

"That's magnanimous of you."

"Oh, yeah, I've got magnanimity pouring out of me."

Rory changed the subject. "So, how long has you and Luke been going on? And speaking of Luke, how about we head over there for breakfast?"

"Sounds good."

As the pair walked to Luke's, Rory only half listened to Lorelai tell her about how she thought that Luke asking her to Liz's wedding had been a date, hence the dancing, but she wasn't entirely sure, because Luke hadn't been clear. The rest of Rory's attention was taken up with the necks walking by. There wasn't anything interesting about them, or even anything out of the ordinary about them. Rory just knew that they were there. It was distracting.

She walked into Luke's, noticed that Jess went still but didn't run away from her (she should've remembered that he would be here) and ordered coffee and a muffin while staring at Luke's neck.

"Coming right up. You alright there, Dracula?"

Oh.

At around the same time, there was a knock on Xander's door. Giles answered it.

It was Riley.

"Oh, hello there, Riley. Buffy contacted you?"

Riley nodded. "She did. I thought, seeing as how I was in New Haven anyway, I should come down and tell you that you can't have Rayne. He's too useful."

Giles shut the door behind him. He didn't know where Xander was, but he could be back at any moment. He didn't want Xander getting involved in this. It was none of his business. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?" Giles suggested.

"Sure. But you won't change my mind."

"Actually, the truth is I have no intention of recruiting Ethan. That was just something I told Buffy so that she would contact you. The real reason that I'm suddenly interested in all of this is because I... met Ethan the other day. Here, in Stars Hollow."

"Ah. I rather thought that you might have."

"He told you?" Giles asked surprised.

"No. But Ethan originally intended to spend some time here. When he suggested that we relocate to New Haven, and then Buffy told me you were here, I put two and two together."

"Ethan told me he'd reformed. I-I didn't believe him, I ran him out of town. But since then - I've been wondering if I was too hasty. After all, people can change. I changed. I thought I should give him the benefit of the doubt."

"He talks about you, you know. About all the things that you did, in the past." Riley commented.

"Hmm. They were fun, but I'm not going there again. I've been down that path, and I didn't like where it led. I just want to see whether Ethan has decided to go down mine."

"He has reformed. He's been on the straight and narrow for nearly two years now. Hasn't performed a single chaos spell."

Giles sighed and rubbed his face. "Ah."

"You should talk to him."

"What? I doubt he'll want to see me, after what I said."

"Giles. He'll want to see you. From what he's said - which isn't much, he's a pretty secretive guy - you're his best friend. I'm sure he'd be glad to see you."

Giles hesitated for a fraction of a second, then said "Could you tell me where he is?"