Thanks to some mutual, unspoken signal, Dawn and Jess went their separate ways soon after that.

Dawn was on her way back home when she wondered what she was doing.

She liked Jess. She'd liked him even before the surprising revelation that she iliked/i him. But he was hardly the most stable person in the world. He'd skipped town on Rory once, she knew.

Dawn had... problems with people leaving her. In Sunnydale, people left her with alarming frequency - which was probably why she had attached herself to Tara so firmly. Even when Tara and Willow had briefly broken up, Tara had still made time for her. That is, until Warren had killed her.

She suspected that the fear that people would leave her was the reason why, at eighteen, the closest thing Dawn had ever had to a relationship had been magically forced on her. She'd had a crush on Xander, which had started when he'd been dating Anya and therefore unavailable, so he couldn't leave her. The situation had been the same with Spike. Even during the brief period when Xander had been single, she hadn't made anything even resembling a move on him. Not just because she didn't want to be rebuffed (although there was certainly an element of that) but because, in Dawn's experience, relationships always, ialways/i ended. Even with stable nice guys, like Xander.

Jess, however, was not a stable nice guy. While he was nice, at least to her, the same couldn't be said for the way he treated everyone else. He was a lot like Spike, in that respect. And he certainly wasn't stable.

Dawn didn't want to start a relationship that was doomed to failure. She'd seen the aftermath of that, after Buffy and Angel had finally broken up. She'd seen it at least half a dozen times. In her world, things didn't last.

It has been said that it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Dawn didn't agree. She'd seen her friends picking up the pieces after their great love had fallen apart. She wasn't in love with Jess, for all that she'd enjoyed that completely unexpected kiss, but she didn't think that love could be worth the heartbreak that, in her experience, it always ended with.

Going by past experiences, it seemed incredibly unlikely that she and Jess would work out. It was better to keep Jess at arm's length, rather than bring him close and then watch him run for the hills.

Jess was surprised. He really, really hadn't expected to discover that he actually liked Dawn.

Jess, contrary to popular opinion, hadn't come back to Stars Hollow because of Rory. Had Rory been available, that would've been a bonus. No, Jess was in Stars Hollow because it was the only place in his life that he'd ever felt truly happy. New York, by and large, had been... well, it had been remarkably akin to hell.

He hadn't expected to find, within a week of coming back, to find someone he actually liked.

But then, Jess hadn't expected to like Rory, either. But he had, he had since he first saw her massive collection of books and he'd seen her face light up when she talked about them. Dawn was quite similar, in that respect.

Of course, with Rory, things had been complicated by the fact that she had been with Dean for most of the time that Jess had been in town. Even when they'd been a couple, they'd never quite spoken the same language. They'd had mastered the kissing aspect of their adolescent relationship, but when it came to talking about something more serious than literature, it had somehow never quite happened. They hadn't really understood each other.

He suspected that Dawn might. While, superficially, she was the same as Rory, she wasn't a girl who'd always gotten everything. She wasn't the darling princess of the town. She was just as flawed as he was. He didn't know whether mutual brokenness was a sound foundation for a relationship, but given that, other than Rory, pretty much every relationship he'd ever had pretty much consisted of one night stands, Jess thought it was a better foundation than any he'd had before.

Jess didn't know if this fledgling relationship, brought about by Xander and Luke's Shakespearean machinations would survive. But he knew that he wasn't going to be the one that crushed it. Not if he could help it. Not this time.

Xander was driving to Hartford when he realised what he might have inadvertently brought about.

While Xander preferred the idea of Jess and Dawn to Dawn persisting with her crush on him and Jess with his crush on Rory (his relationship was already strange enough not to need that added strain), that didn't mean that Xander liked the idea.

However, Xander knew full well that trying to warn Dawn to stay away from Jess, if there actually was any attraction between them at all, would be completely futile. She'd probably be even more likely to pursue it. Xander doubted that reverse psychology would work, either - even if, somehow, Xander could bring himself to endorse that relationship, Dawn would never believe Xander if he told her to go for it.

On the other hand, he did know someone who had gone through a relationship strikingly similar to how Xander suspected Jess and Dawn would end up.

So, while he was driving, Xander dug out his phone, hit a number on speed dial and then held it to his war with his shoulder. Let no one say that Xander wasn't a conscientious driver.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Buffy? How're things going?"

"Oh, hi, Xan. Listen, would you mind calling me back later? I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Apocalypse? It's a little early for one of those, isn't it?"

"Nah, nothing like that. But if you-"

"Who did Faith beat up this time?"

Buffy chuckled. "One of the new Slayers. She's some entitled posh girl, she said something and Faith broke her arm for it. I feel like a schoolteacher dealing with unruly teenagers."

"You should set Robin on them."

"Normally I would, but Robin's got a soft spot for Faith."

"Anyway, I don't want to drag you away, Headmistress, but I wanted to talk to you about Dawn."

"Oh, God. I thought there weren't any demons in your neck of the woods. Who kidnapped her this time?"

"No, no, it's nothing like that. It's, um, boy trouble, I guess."

"What? You've been there a week. What's she done now?"

"Well, it's kind of complicated. Do you have time?"

Buffy sighed. "No, I guess not. Give me the skinny later, alright? I'll be waiting with bated breath."

"Sure thing, boss. Go and give people detention."

"I would stick my tongue out at you, but that doesn't really work over the phone."

Xander laughed. "Talk to you later."

"Bye, Xan." Buffy hung up.

Given that there were already plenty of builders bustling around outside the Dragonfly, making plenty of noise, Xander decided it would be best if he set up there rather than in the residential area he lived in.

Some minutes later, Lorelai came out. "Which wood are you using?"

Xander stopped sawing and said "Number One."

"What? Is that some builder's jargon I don't know?"

Xander rummaged around for the picture that he'd bought in Hartford for just this eventuality. He held it up.

"And now, Number One. The larch. iThe/i larch. The ilarch/i."

Lorelai was torn between laughing and keeping at least a semi-professional persona. She compromised by laughing. She could be professional later. "Nice set up there, Monty. The picture really sold it."

Xander gave an elaborate bow. "Thank you."

"But seriously, what wood have you got?"

"Lorelai! That's rather a personal question." Xander said, waggling his eyebrows.

Lorelai smirked. "Nice to see you switch to something completely different. But as much as I'd like to match wits with you, I actually need to know."

"Look, by the time I'm done, you'll have doors that'll match your inn. If you want more technical details, I'll give them to you, but you'll probably forget them pretty much instantly."

"Fair enough." Lorelai said. She remembered when Sookie had waxed lyrical about her new oven and Lorelai had completely forgotten what she said even while she was still saying it. "Just have them done by Saturday."

"Aye aye, Cap'n." Xander said, saluting smartly.

Just as Lorelai was turning to leave, Xander asked "Can I ask you something?"

"In addition to the question you just asked? Sure."

"What was Jess like as a boyfriend?"

Lorelai took a step back, thrown by the question. "I don't know, I never dated him."

"Ha. It's just that I think he might be interested in Dawn, and I've known guys like him in the past. I just wanted to know what he was like."

"If Dawn likes him, you won't be able to convince her not to date him." Lorelai warned. "I've tried that."

"Maybe, but I should at least try."

Lorelai thought for a moment. "Well, I never liked Jess. I don't think anyone but Rory liked Jess, except possibly Luke. He was kind of a jerk to everyone else. But to Rory... he was different. He was nice. Sometimes. Other times, it was like some wall came down between them, and everything they said to each other was misunderstood or just bounced away and was ignored. Then there was the fact that he's colossally screwed up and pulls a lot of stupid stunts... yeah, he's not exactly ideal boyfriend material."

Xander looked thoughtful. "Thanks, Lor."

Lorelai smiled. "You're welcome. I hope it helps."

Meanwhile, Dawn went to Luke's. As she expected, Jess was there.

"Hey. Coffee?" Jess offered.

"This isn't going to work." Dawn blurted out.

"What won't? The coffee? No, you generally have to drink it before the caffeine kicks in."

"Not that. Us."

Jess blinked. "Wow. That was fast."

"Sorry."

"Can I ask why?"

Dawn looked at him, wondering why he was taking this so calmly. "You can, but the answer won't make much sense to you unless you live in my head."

"Alright then, let me take a guess. Someone hurt you before. Someone left you, and you were just getting over it when suddenly out the blue, there's me. And I am your stereotypical bad boy, so it's pretty much in my job description that any relationship with me will end badly. So, rather than risk it, you're breaking it off now to save yourself pain later. How close am I?"

"Um, startlingly close, actually." Dawn said, twirling her hair around her finger. "Since when did you start living in my head?"

"You might be Enigma Girl, but that story is hardly unusual. I've seen it before. Admittedly, it's generally my mom, and she generally says it immediately after the latest jerk leaves her and she forgets it all when the next one shows up." Jess replied, watching Dawn closely.

Dawn wasn't quite sure what to say. Eventually, she managed "But h-how did you know that I was like that?"

Jess smirked. "Because you like Austen."

"What?"

"You want some knight in shining armour, some perfect Mr Darcy to show up and sweep you off your feet so that you can live happily ever after. But it doesn't work like that. Attraction doesn't work like that, or love, or lust, or whatever you want to call it. It is messy and complicated. But if you find the right person, it will be as constant as the earth beneath your feet rather than the changing foliage above your head. It will not die when winter comes." Jess said, and took a deep breath. "I am not saying that I'm the right person. It came as some surprise to me that I even thought if you like that. But if there is a chance... why run before you know?"

Again, Dawn was rendered temporarily speechless. "Y-you stole most of that from Wuthering Heights."

Jess shrugged, smirking. "Doesn't make it untrue. Now you see why I'm a Brontë fan."

"Yeah." Dawn took a shaky breath. "You really feel like that? You believe what you said?"

"Yes. Dawn, I can't guarantee that this will work. But I'll give it a go. We might be terrible, and never work out. Or we might fit. So, will you take the chance?"

"Yes." Dawn said instantly. Then she blinked, surprised at her response. But she wasn't going to change her mind now. Jess might be considerably closer to Heathcliff than Darcy, but if she could have a tenth of the passion that was evident between Catherine and Heathcliff, it might be worth it. On the other hand, she and Jess might end up as tortured as Catherine and Heathcliff too, but... why not take the risk?

She might change her mind later. She might run for the hills. So might Jess. But, for now, they were both there and willing to give it a go. That was enough.