Chapter 18: Wish

The next morning, the sisters awoke to the smell of French toast and bacon. They both looked over at the clock and saw it was nearly nine.

They got out of bed and padded out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. Clay stood at the stove, ramming a spatula under a mountain of bacon. He turned as they walked in. His eyes traveled over their pj's.

"What the hell is that?" he asked.

"Pajamas," Dawn said.

"You sleep in it?" Clay asked.

"Of course," Dawn snapped. "What you expect us to sleep in the nude all the time. You know maybe the other night was a mistake if you think I am always going to be in the buff."

Clay bit back a laugh. "It wasn't okay," he said. He put two pieces of French toast on each plate and was about to put a third when the sisters each grabbed their plates.

"That's good," Dawn and Buffy said.

"We mean, that's good for now," Buffy said. "Of course, we'll have more after we finish these."

"Is that all you two eat? I'm surprised either of you make it to work without fainting. You can't eat like that, darlings. Your metabolism needs—" Clay said as Dawn and Buffy pushed their chairs back and sat down. He stopped talking and dished out Dawn and Buffy's bacon, then fixed his own plate and sat down. "What time do you two start work?"

"We both called last night and I told my boss that I'd be there by ten-thirty," Dawn said.

"Mine said I could come in at the same time," Buffy said.

"We'd better move then. How long a walk is it? Thirty minutes?"

"I'll be at work in ten minutes," said Buffy. "It's just a short walk for me."

"I take the subway," Dawn said.

"Subway? You hate the subway. All those people stuffed in that tiny car, getting jostled around by strangers, and the smell—" Clay said.

"I've never hated the subway," Dawn said. "As for the smell I've gotten used to it."

Clay shook his head. "Why bother? It's an easy walk, over to Bloor and straight up."

"People don't walk to work," Dawn said. "Unless you're Buffy. Most people bicycle, they Rollerblade, they jog. We don't own a bike or blades and as Buffy would tell you jogging in a skirt, not easy."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "I remember that time after mom died and I needed to get a plumber to repair the pipes in the basement. I was at the bank trying to get a loan and this demon attacked. The skirt hampered my fighting ability."

"You wear skirts to work? You hate skirts," Clay said.

"I don't hate skirts," Dawn said. "I hate dresses, especially if I have to wear a corset." She shoved her plate aside and left the table.

Buffy sighed and shook her head. "Clay. You know the only reason Dawn doesn't teleport to work is the same reason we don't Change in public, it risks exposure. That aside though the subway is safer than walking any distance in a city the size of Toronto. I only walk to work for the singular reason that it is close, two blocks. Dawn's subway connection to get to her work is right in front of where I work."

Dawn and Buffy both tried to convince Clay that he could walk to Dawn's office and let her take the subway alone. He wouldn't have it. For the sake of their safety and in accordance with the express will of his leader, he and Dawn would walk Buffy to work and then he would suffer through the torture of the underground train.

Once Dawn was inside the building where she worked. Clay headed back to Buffy's restaurant and watched it for an hour. He then returned to Dawn's workplace and sat down on a bench.

"What's wrong?" Dawn asked as she came up behind him a half an hour later.

Clay turned and smiled. "Hey, darling. Good lunch?"

"What are you doing here?" Dawn asked.

"Guarding you, remember?" Clay said.

Dawn paused. "Please don't tell me you've been sitting here all morning."

"No I haven't. I spent an hour at Buffy's. Then came back here a half an hour before you came out for lunch," Clay said.

"You've been sitting here for a half an hour?" Dawn asked. "You can't just sit here."

"Why not?" Clay asked. "Oh, let me guess. Normal people don't sit on street benches. Don't worry, darling. If I see any cops, I'll switch to the bench across the road."

Dawn glanced toward the building, making sure no one she knew was coming out. "I don't work in my office all day, you know. I'm covering a rally at Queen's Park this afternoon."

"So I'll come along. At a safe distance, making sure you don't have to endure the horror of publicly associating with me."

"You mean you'll stalk me," Dawn said.

Clay grinned. "A skill that can always use improvement."

Dawn was the first to get off work that evening and Clay escorted her home. Then he returned to Buffy's work and waited for her shift to end. As she walked out she glared at him.

"So you're playing favorites?" Buffy asked. She had called Dawn at work during her lunch break. "According to Dawn you spent more time watching her than you did me. You made a big deal about watching us both and you spent more time with her."

Clay sighed. "Buffy you work in a high traffic job. A mutt would be hard pressed to attack you at the restaurant. Unlike Dawn who had to cover a Rally this afternoon. If a mutt were to go after her there she would be an easy target."

"What about the crowd?" Buffy asked as they walked down the street. "Someone would have seen something if a mutt attacked her there."

"Only if they were paying attention to her," Clay said. "But the mutts like LeBlanc and Brandon would not hesitate to kill her in front of witnesses, even if Daniel or Marsten objected. You know that, Buffy."

Buffy sighed and nodded. Clay was right she knew. Which meant she couldn't fault him for watching Dawn more. Still. "The same can be said for myself though."

"True," Clay said. "I had to make a judgment call. And despite no one talks about it. You are basically an Alpha. We could tell you were an Alpha before you were bitten. Now that you are a werewolf it is that much stronger. You could take on LeBlanc and probably Daniel and Marsten as well."

That night, Jeremy contacted Buffy and Dawn to see if they were okay. Although he'd forbidden phone calls, that didn't mean they were out of touch. Jeremy had told them that he had a way of contacting them through a sort of nighttime psychic connection when they were asleep.

Buffy woke to the smell of pancakes, she found her sister was already gone. "Hungry?" Clay asked, still facing the stove as she walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah," said Buffy as she sat next to Dawn, who was already halfway through her own breakfast. "You know it's weird. I'm used to the Slayer metabolism but the werewolf metabolism is just different. I wonder if my metabolism got ramped up like the rest of my abilities."

"It is a possibility," said Clay. "There is no way to know for sure. To our knowledge you are the first Slayer to become a werewolf." He pulled from the refrigerator a fancy glass bottle of maple syrup, the kind sold in tourist shops for the price of liquid gold.

"That's new," Buffy said, smiling over at Dawn. "When did you pick it up?"

"I—uh—didn't," Dawn said as she glanced at Clay.

"Grabbed it yesterday," he said.

"Okay," said Buffy. "Clay how did you pay for that?"

"Don't worry, Jeremy gave me some money before we left Stonehaven," he said.

"So what's up with the syrup anyways?" Dawn asked.

"I noticed when I made French toast yesterday that you two didn't have real syrup. I know how you complain about the fake stuff, Dawn, so I figured you were out and bought you some."

"And breakfast?" Dawn asked. "Not that I am complaining but you don't have to make breakfast every day."

"I'm concerned that both of you are not eating right and wanted to make sure you both got at least one decent meal."

Dawn agreed to meet Clay and Buffy, it was her day off, for lunch. Clay bought a picnic box from a nearby deli and they went to the university grounds to eat.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn was stretched out on the couch watching a movie when Clay and Buffy returned from patrol at around midnight. "Slow night?" she asked.

"Yeah," Buffy said as she stood behind the sofa, and watched the screen for a few minutes. "Horror? What's this one?"

"Evil Dead II." Dawn said, reaching for the remote.

Buffy laughed, "Really? I've actually lived that one."

"Really?" Clay asked as he looked at Buffy.

"Sunnydale High? Junior year of High School. Sadie Hawkins dance," Dawn said.

"Right," Buffy said as she looked at Clay. "We had malevolent spirit who was possessing teachers, students, janitors. Trying to get forgiveness for killing the love of his life, one of his teachers. The people he possessed would repeat the events of the night that he killed her and then shot himself. He possessed me at one point and was finally able to get the forgiveness he craved."

"Interesting," Clay said.

The next day was Saturday Buffy, Dawn and Clay went out for lunch. Sunday morning, Dawn and Clay did the boring weekly chores like cleaning, laundry, and grocery shopping. When they returned from getting groceries, there was a message from Buffy on the machine. She had asked to make sure Clay went by the restaurant that evening. She was going to be getting off late.

On Monday, Dawn, Buffy and Clay hiked to Chinatown for lunch. They spent the rest of the day slacking off, discovering unexplored neighborhoods, looping down residential streets, and then jogged along the beach before returning to the apartment with supplies for a steak dinner.

That evening Clay walked over to the calendar. "Let's see. Six days since you Changed, Dawn. Eight for me and Buffy. You both know what that means."

Time for a run.

It was midnight when they got to the ravine. They split up. Buffy and Dawn found a thicket and undressed and proceeded to Change. After their run, they Changed back and lay in a grassy clearing, resting and talking. Despite the chill in the air, none of them had dressed. The run had pumped their blood so hot they could probably lie in a snowdrift until sunrise and not notice. Dawn lay on her back, luxuriating in the sensation of the cool wind against her skin. Buffy lay on her side with her head on Dawn's shoulder.

"Got something for the both of you," Clay said as he reached behind him into the darkness, pulled two long wire rods from his discarded jacket and flourished them over his head.

Buffy and Dawn sat up. "You brought sparklers?" Dawn asked.

"This is a fireworks weekend up here, isn't it?" Clay asked. "Did you think I'd forget your sparklers?"

Buffy smiled at her sister. She knew how Dawn loved sparklers. "You know how to spoil her don't you, Clay?"

Clay laughed as he pulled a book of matches from his jacket and lit the first sparkler. Dawn scrambled to her feet and took it. Sparks of orange shot out in a star, sizzling and sputtering. Lifting it, Dawn drew an experimental line through the air. Too slow. She did it quicker and the image stayed for a few seconds, a line of fire in the darkness. She spun it in a circle, watching the sparks flash and spin. Buffy watched as Dawn wrote her name in the sky, the first D vanishing before she finished the A. Dawn tried it again, faster. This time her name hung there for an eye-blink.

"Almost done," Clay called out. "Throw it and make a wish."

"That's birthday candles," Dawn said. "Only you blow them out, you don't throw them."

"You threw them once," Buffy said. "Cake and all at me." She smiled at her sister. She then looked at Clay as she explained. "It was my tenth birthday. And Dawn threw this fit when she saw all the presents were for me. She wasn't big enough to actually throw the cake. She lifted it and flung it off the table."

"I was four, Buffy," Dawn said embarrassed. "I wasn't quite old enough to understand why you got all the presents and I didn't."

Buffy nodded as she looked at Dawn. "What you didn't know was mom and dad knew you would have a hard time of it. They had a present wrapped and waiting for you in your room. When you threw my cake off the table they decided not to give it to you till your birthday and took it out of your room."

Clay laughed. "Anyways, Dawn, you always throw the sparklers, so you might as well make a wish. A new werewolf superstition."

As Dawn drew her arm back, the sparkler winked out. Clay lit the other one and handed it to her. She lifted it over her head and spun a figure eight, then brought her arm down and twirled around so fast she nearly tripped over Clay. He laughed and put a hand on the back of her calf to steady her. When Dawn recovered, he didn't take his hand away. She looked down at both Clay and Buffy and smiled.

"I love, you," he said as Buffy and Dawn blinked. "Bad timing?" He took his hand off Dawn's leg. "Better?"

"I—" Dawn started, then stopped. Why was it so hard to say it back she wondered?

"I'm not trying to seduce you. The run, the sparklers, they're not leading up to anything. If I was it's likely Buffy would not have been here and she would have been in on it. Anyways the last few days, I've been trying to keep things easy for you both. No tricks. No pressure. I want you both to see things clearly. When you both do you'll both be able to make your choices. The right choices."

"Which would mean that Dawn would choose you. And I being her sister…." Buffy said.

Clay waved a hand at Dawn's sparkler. "Better hurry up. It's almost gone. That's the last one until next fireworks day."

Dawn looked down to see that the glow had almost reached the end of the sparkler. She looked up into the trees above, then pulled back her arm, and threw it high. The glowing ember shot into the sky, arced, and then came tumbling down, end over end like a falling star. She remembered the first time her mother had let her hold a sparkler. She had danced around yard like the sparkler was her fairy wand. She looked back up at the light, closed her eyes, and made her wish. A wish she knew would never come true.

A wish that Joyce Summers would not die from an aneurysm.