Chapter 4: Explanation
September 13, 1997 - Saturday
"Hi Willow!" Dawn smiled and greeted everyone. "Good morning, Giles. Chloe! Did you bring your stuff? We can move it into your room tonight. Get you all situated!"
"Yes. In fact, we, uh, or rather Willow decided that what is really needed to happen was an unpacking party at your house." Chloe pulled her suitcase to the counter top. "So, we're going to postpone the physical evaluation until later."
"Wow. So, I drove all the way here just to go back home?" Dawn shook her head at the situation.
"Well, we tried calling, but you had apparently already left." Willow began. "And nobody here has the number to your mobile phone."
"I wasn't even aware that you had a mobile phone." Chloe said. She looked at Giles, who shook his head. "Aren't those expensive?"
"Frighteningly, but my attorneys insist. I was sure I gave you the number." At the various blank looks and shaken heads, Dawn nodded as she remembered she had only given it to Xander due to what had happened last night. "Okay then." She took a slip of scrap paper from behind the library counter and wrote her cell phone's number down three times. She tore the paper into strips and handed one to each person. "There. Let me know if you lose it before you have a chance to write it down." Giles and Chloe immediately wrote the number down. Willow shoved the strip of paper in a pocket.
"Before we head over, I have something to mention so it doesn't surprise you," said Dawn. "Xander appeared on my doorstep last night. Apparently, his parents beat him."
Willow sighed as everyone looked at her. "It's a semi-regular occurrence when their drunk."
"You might want to contact the police then," said Dawn looking at Willow. "Speak to Detectives Stabler and Benson who are handling Xander's case. Especially if you know of other instances where they did that."
"Okay," agreed Willow.
"Anyways," Dawn continued, "I called 911 and my attorney, who are offering him legal advice and could possibly represent him if he chooses to go the emancipation route. He's got a couple bruises on his arms and a black eye."
"You are a good person," said Chloe.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
They unpacked first the living room which included quite a bit science fiction books and movies that went on the shelves. On the walls were placed some science fiction movie poster.
Chloe was putting up the posters when she noticed the pictures already hanging on the wall. "Your parents and sister?" she asked.
"Yes," said Dawn. "I need to find where I put the rest of them. I should have one with me, Celia and Buffy, somewhere I think."
They moved on to the kitchen and unpacked it following with all the upstairs rooms. When they had finished unpacking, Dawn ordered take-out from the Golden Duck Chinese Takeout, which remarkably delivered after dark, unlike nearly every take-out joint and pizza place in Sunnydale.
Willow and Giles had left around six, intent on stopping by Buffy's house and explaining why she hadn't stopped by for dinner.
"I am going to wait till tomorrow," said Chloe, "for the big explanation. But Mr. Giles said you had a secret. As your Watcher…"
"I'm from the future," said Dawn.
"Oh," said Chloe. "So, the so-called dream yesterday…"
"Not a dream, future knowledge," answered Dawn. "You didn't know so I had to do some quick thinking."
"Thank you for telling me," said Chloe. "I won't tell the Council. I've seen enough science fiction movies to know that would not be good."
"Thank you," said Dawn as they finished the dishes.
"May I ask," said Chloe. "Are you going to be dating?"
"Not unless you get Faith here," said Dawn. "And before you ask. No that is not why I am trying to get her here. There is a vampire that goes after her Watcher, she watches him as he tortures Diana. By that time Faith is called as a Slayer. But if I can prevent Kendra's death by having her not come to Sunnydale. Then she won't die and Faith won't be called. But if Faith isn't a Slayer…"
"Then she could die," said Chloe who nodded in understanding.
September 14, 1997 - Sunday
When Joyce, Buffy and Marie arrived at Dawn's house for the big explanation. Dawn had pulled the three of them into the kitchen. "Mom," she started. "I need you to go to the doctor for those headaches,"
"What?" said Buffy confused on why Dawn wanted their mother checked out for headaches.
"Bad?" Joyce asked.
Dawn nodded. "Cancer. A brain tumor. Then you sort of had a weird night where you started babbling. Took you to the doctor and found out you had this tumor in her brain. It was pretty big by then."
"Did… Did it kill her?" asked Buffy afraid to know the answer.
"Um, officially it was complications of surgery. An aneurysm." Dawn sighed. "One of those weird things that happen when they poke around in your brain. But yeah."
"How, um. I mean, how long does mom..." wondered Marie.
"Years, Marie. A little over four years," said Dawn. "Long enough to get this taken care of now and it not be a problem later."
Joyce nodded as she hugged Dawn. "I'll make an appointment."
"Thanks," said Dawn. "I don't think I could stand losing you a second time. I was depressed afterward. It still hurts, but having you alive is a good thing."
"I'm sorry, my little pum'kin belly," said Joyce as she pulled Dawn into an embrace.
"Hey," said Marie. "That's my nickname."
"Technically it belongs to both of you, doesn't it," Buffy said.
"Guess so," said Marie.
"So, anything I should be expecting other than a brain tumor?" Joyce asked.
"I'm gay," said Dawn.
"You mean I like girls in the future?" asked Marie.
"You may not be me, Marie," said Dawn. "You could like boys in the future. Only time will tell, but you could be, yes."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Dawn leaned on the wall, in the hall between the kitchen and living room gathering her nerve.
"Hey, whatcha doin' stranger?"
Dawn looked up to see Buffy approaching from the downstairs bathroom. "Just building my resolve," she admitted. "So how has Marie been?"
"Better," said Buffy. "She's slowly forgetting what she saw in her dreams. But it seems to have made an impact on her none the less. She said she knows she can't help right now, but she has said when she gets older, she wants to."
"When she gets older you should let her," said Dawn. "Maybe she can even make up for me being a brat when I was her."
Buffy hooked one of Dawn's arms with her own and dragged the taller girl into the living room. The assembled group all looked up when they came in. "Hey, everybody! Look what I found in the hall!"
Dawn freed herself from Buffy's grasp and hugged her sister. "Time for explanations. As you all know I'm from the future. Eleven years in fact. Chloe, I think you can see for yourself that I am indeed from the future. Just by looking at me and Marie."
Chloe nodded. "Yes, I can see it now that you two are in the same room. I also see why you were so adamant about doing the exact same thing Buffy did in regards to Willow and Xander. Why you dislike the Crucimentum. Something happened in the future you came from that caused that dislike of Watchers."
"Yes," said Dawn.
"Can I ask how did you come back," said Willow. "Do you have a time machine or was it a one-time thing? Why did you come back? Are you here to put right what once when wrong, or to save someone, or did you do it to change history? I guess that's all changing history, but you know what I mean. Why did you come back? And really, you're only from eight years in the future? How did we get time travel technology in only eight years?"
"No time machine, one-time thing, for vengeance, yes really, yes, and it was magic." Dawn replied. "I made a deal with a vengeance demon and made a wish, and abracadabra, here I am."
Giles removed his glasses and began to polish them.
"When you say vengeance…" said Xander.
"They are a group of vastly powerful entities who travel the earth, delivering vengeance on wrong-doers and miscreants through the power of a wish. Usually these wishes are subverted in such a way so as to fulfill it in the worst possible fashion while sticking to the exact wording of the wish," Giles explained.
Xander took a deep breath and released it slowly. "So, if Dawn risked that sort of thing to come back here, I'm thinking something terrible happened. She's back here doing a Sam Beckett to stop it."
"Okay," Dawn sighed. "Just, let me get through this first and I'll answer questions. Get something to write stuff down with, so you don't forget anything. It's bad, and I don't want to do this multiple times. That's why I waited till Buffy was here." She shook her head, then added, "If I knew I was going to do this I'd have gotten my Gray's Sports Almanac."
"You've got a book that tells facts about the future?" Trust Willow to get the reference immediately.
"Hidden in my bedroom upstairs, yeah." Dawn chuckled. "It's got lists of upcoming problems, companies to invest in, sporting event results, election results, even what looks like diagrams of a couple of things I could patent if I needed cash."
"You were smart enough to ask for such a thing in your wish, I take it?" Chloe asked.
"We worked on the wish for like, eighteen hours. We wanted to make it tamper proof."
"We?" Willow asked. "Who's we?"
"You and I wrote it together, Willow," said Dawn. "After I escaped from my imprisonment."
"Imprisonment?" asked Chloe.
"I was held captive for five years," admitted Dawn.
"You told mom, Marie and I, you had been a Slayer for five years," Buffy said confused.
"I was called just before I was captured. They wanted to make sure no other Slayer would ever be called again."
"They who?" asked Giles.
"The First Evil, it's legion of Bringers and Turok-Han," said Dawn as Giles and Chloe looked at each other their eyes wide. "Like I said, just let me get through this once."
Dawn gathered herself. "So, about six years before I came back, Buffy, Giles, Xander, and a couple of other guys led a team of Potentials into the Hellmouth to stop the First from opening it and releasing an army of super-vampires, the Turok-Han, on the world. Willow and I stayed topside, guarding the retreat in case we needed to get out of there quick. But it didn't matter. Only two people got out alive, not including myself and Willow. Willow, you and I, knew something had gone wrong when we saw Buffy and Faith, who was a Slayer called after Kendra, running just in front of a horde of the Turok-Han. It was with immediate realization that everyone else was dead."
Dawn took a deep breath as she continued. "Buffy, Faith, Willow and I got on a school bus and got the heck out of there. Eventually Faith and I were separated from Buffy and Willow. Faith protected me and with her dying breath made me a Slayer. Then the First's Bringers captured me. Took me to a makeshift prison. Where I was held, fed, clothed. I was there for a couple months before I saw you Giles, you had been turned. I expect you had used your knowledge of both me and Slayers in general that had made it so my cell was escape proof all so another Slayer couldn't be called till their takeover was complete. A week before I came back. Another girl, her name was August. She said she was a Slayer. I was confused on how that was possible. She then said that Willow had used old magics to call her as a Slayer. Long story short, August died in that cell the very same day she arrived."
"You two fought," Chloe said. She looked at Giles. "That's the trauma. Dawn killed her."
"In self-defense, but you're right," said Dawn with a sigh. "She and I fought; I knew my plan was to come back change everything. But she thought only of the here and now. And with both of us there that meant one of us would have to die so another Slayer could be called. While she was still alive, she explained that every single Hellmouth in the world was open. And that the First controlled at least thirty miles around each one and the radius around each was getting bigger by the day. The human race would never have rebounded even if we had an army of Slayers at that point. So, while I was imprisoned, I had this idea involving getting the Lord of the vengeance demons to give me a wish. And I used it. And here I am."
"You came back to save the world. That's very noble." Giles said.
"No. You don't understand, I didn't come back to save the world. I came back to save my family." Dawn wiped at her tears again. "You guys. All of you. The Scoobies. Even the ones you guys don't know about yet. I came back to make sure you didn't die and leave me alone again. It's not noble, it's selfish."
"I have to agree with Giles," said Chloe. "It was very noble."
"Willow, I take it you were taking notes?" asked Giles.
"Yeah, Giles. I got it. I wrote down some questions, if nobody minds?"
"I'd hazard to guess that we probably all have questions for Dawn."
"Dawn, do you need some water or something?" offered Joyce who had stood and was moving toward the kitchen.
"Thanks, mom," said Dawn. "Maybe drinks for everyone. I have some juice, diet coke and bottled water."
"Can... can I ask you some questions?" Willow picked up her pad as Joyce took everyone's drink orders and went to the kitchen.
Dawn nodded. "Sure. I know you have a lot of questions." She coughed into a fist. "I think, um, I mean... there's going to be some things I don't want to tell you. And there's some things I think you're going to want to ask about that you don't want to know about."
"Oh, okay. I guess that's fine." Willow looked to everyone else, who all nodded
"Why wouldn't you want to tell us everything?" Xander asked.
"The butterfly effect," Willow answered for Dawn. "Small changes over time mean big changes. So, you up for some questions?"
"Yeah," Dawn said as Joyce returned with a Diet Coke for her and the others drinks as well. She took a sip.
"Cool." Willow looked around. "Anyone want to start?"
"Yes." Giles stood and paced before sitting back down. "What can you tell us about immediate upcoming threats? Enemies we should be aware of. Things like that?"
"Well, I don't actually know very much about what's going on right now. I mean, when all this was going on the first time, I was largely kept out by both Buffy and mom, when she originally found out. I knew vampires of course existed since I saw my first one two months ago from your perspective. I remember that night pretty vividly."
Marie stood, tears rolling down her cheeks as she remembered that night. She walked over to Dawn and hugged her older self.
"I'm, sorry, Marie, that you had to see that," Dawn whispered into Marie's ear as she returned the embrace.
Marie nodded as she wiped her eyes. She took Dawn's hand and moved next to her older self. On the other side of Dawn, Buffy took the soda from Dawn and put it down then she took Dawn's other hand.
Dawn smiled at them for the comfort. "Then there was the Whirlwind. You know, the entire Line of Aurelius thing. I think those guys were the Big Bads right around now."
"The Whirlwind?" Xander asked. "Like a tornado?"
"The Whirlwind were four vampires: Darla, Angelus, Drusilla the Mad, and William the Bloody." Chloe said. "They were all from a line of vampires known as the Line of Aurelius. For close to three hundred years they caused such destruction and mayhem across the face of Europe that they were called the Whirlwind."
"Darla was dusted earlier this year," said Buffy.
"Angelus?" said Xander as he looked straight at Buffy.
"Angel," said Buffy with a sigh. "He loses his soul, doesn't he?"
"Yes," Dawn said. "A few months from now. There was a clause in his curse. This is something you and I need to talk about in private. It's not something I think you want mom to hear."
"Oh," Buffy as she looked toward her mother. She realized what Dawn was saying, that she had sex with Angel and something bad had happened as a result.
"Were there any other immediate threats?" Giles asked.
"Uh, yeah. A couple. Um, the Mayor of Sunnydale is an evil demon-worshiping immortal sorcerer who intends on turning himself into the living embodiment of an Old One and eating everyone in town as a sacrifice to himself. There's a mad scientist under UC Sunnydale making a Frankenstein demon out of spare parts, and a Hellgod is going to show up and want to kill me, I mean Marie.
"That's the second death isn't it?" asked Buffy. "The one where I told you to be brave, to live, for me."
"Yes," said Dawn. "Those are the immediate problems."
"Could you say all of that again, but perhaps slower this time? You say the current Mayor of Sunnydale..." Giles began.
"... is an immortal sorcerer who wants to sacrifice everyone at the High School and turn into a giant snake demon, yeah. From what we could figure out he's been planning this for a while, like a century or something. And when the stars are right, he'll turn into this eighty-foot-long snake demon and eat everybody."
"When the stars are right?" Giles asked. "You wouldn't happen to know..."
"The day of our senior year graduation, at the end of our Senior year here."
"Two years." Xander muttered. "So, we have some time?"
"It's not as immediate as I meant, true, but that's no reason to wait around wasting time." Giles tapped a finger on the library counter. "We'll have to look into what he's doing, find out how to put a stop to it. It'll take some time, but I doubt it will take two years."
"He's one I am not sure we can change. He was supposed to be unkillable up till the actual day," said Dawn. "But knowing all of this we can prepare well in advance. Probably just go gown the same route we did last time. Blow up the school after he transforms."
"We will make sure though," said Chloe. "If there is another way before your graduation day. Then we definitely should take the chance and take him out. I'm guessing that a bunch of people died, the first time through?"
Dawn nodded.
"And I guess some of the people who died were people we knew?" asked Buffy.
"Yeah. A few of them." Dawn grinned. "I remember Willow told me about how you guys were surprised to find out that most of the school figured things out, that because of you, Buffy, your senior class – our senior class, now, 'cause here I am – had the lowest death rate in decades. So, when the time came to face off against Mayor Wilkins, a bunch of them volunteered to help. And almost everybody who was killed were volunteers who picked up a weapon and fought. Larry Blaisdell, Harmony Kendall, Aura White, Natalie Sherman."
"Wait... Larry and Harmony and Aura fought? Wow." Xander shook his head. "Larry's like the biggest bully in the school. I can't imagine him helping anybody but his jock buddies."
"Believe it. You spoke at his funeral. Mom made us go to the public funeral for the victims of the 'gas leak'. That was the cover story. Anyway, Xander talked about how big-hearted and brave he was. It was cool."
"Did he, uh, did he join us?"
"You mean did he become a Scooby? Nope. And while it would be tempting to recruit him and others. It would be better not to; the less people know I am from the future the better. That said there are a couple people that I do intend to bring in that were part of the gang at one time or another."
"Oh yeah? Like who?" Willow asked.
"Cordelia," Dawn almost laughed at the look that appeared on Willow and Xander's faces. "No, seriously. She joined us our senior year. Daniel Osborne, he joins us this year. Ms. Calendar, she's techno-pagan and familiar with magic."
"Wow, okay." Buffy shrugged. "So how do we go about recruiting people into the club?"
"Cordy will be tough," said Xander. "And I don't know who that Daniel guy is."
"Oh, and this is really, really important. We must be on the lookout for Tara Maclay when she gets to Sunnydale. We must! Not only is she a valuable member of the team in the future, but she's important to all of us here. Trust me, she becomes like the soul of the team, like family. I don't the exact time she arrives, I do know that we meet her our freshman year of college." Dawn couldn't help it. She caught Willow's eye and said, "You're really going to like her, Willow."
Willow gasped and blushed, catching Dawn's meaning. "I thought you weren't going to tell anything about..."
"No. This is an exception. Because Tara is exceptional."
"Is she?" Willow said.
"She is," Dawn reluctantly admitted. "We can prevent it though by my teaching you, remember?"
Willow nodded as she smiled.
"So, Dawn, anything else?" asked Chloe.
"Well," Dawn thought about it. "I remember on Halloween everybody turns into their costumes – I dressed up as Tinkerbell the first time around and spent the entire time buzzing around Mom's head."
Joyce laughed at the image.
Dawn scrunched her nose up, thinking. "Some guy named Ethan Rayne that used to be one of Giles friends shows up and causes trouble a couple of times. And vampires attack parent-teacher night! I remember being there for that one. Mom couldn't find a sitter. Oh! And Ted! We've got to find Ted and shut him down! We can probably find him and stop him from ever being a problem in the next couple of days."
"Who's Ted?" Xander took gave her shoulder a squeeze and continued his back rub.
"Serial killer robot," said Dawn looking straight at Joyce. "He decided you would make the perfect wife and drugged us all with cookies. The weird thing was that until Buffy killed him and told us all he was a robot; I sort of liked him. He was nice. Homicidal, but nice."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Giles checked the time. Boston was three hours ahead, so it was only 2:30 pm in Boston. He dialed the number given to him by the Council in England. It was picked up on the first ring.
"Yo." The voice was young, and female.
"Ur... Hello?"
"Yeah, who's this?" Very confident of herself. Almost cocky.
"My name is Rupert Giles. I am trying to reach Diana Dormer. Is this... is this Faith?"
Giles could almost feel the cockiness being replaced by caution. "Yeah... Who are you again? Are you with the school? You don't need to talk to her about me, do you? It's been like, weeks since I did nothing I swear, and Jimmy Watts is lying if he says I started it..." The girl's earnestness was refreshing, especially considering what she was talking about.
"No, nothing like that. My name is Rupert Giles. I'm a Watcher, and I'm calling from Sunnydale, California. I have some important business to discuss with Diana Dormer, and if you are Faith Lehane, then yes, it's about you. But I promise, you're not in any trouble. Is she in?"
"Sunnydale? The Hellmouth? Oh! You're the Watcher Guy for the current Slayer. Whassername! Buffy! Yeah, I'm Faith. You want to talk to Lady Di about me? I hope its good news. I mean... sure, no prob, Watcher-Man. Just one sec, okay?"
Giles heard the girl put the phone down. In the distance, she could hear her yell, "Hey, Diana! There's this guy named Jeeves on the phone! He's calling from the Hellmouth!" Giles took a moment to curse the American public education system and rowdy tomboys. Though now that he thought about it, he was likely to get the same sort of guff from his own Slayer. He'd no sooner finished this thought, when an older voice, a woman's voice, picked up the line.
"This is Diana Dormer; may I help you?"
"Doctor Dormer, this is Rupert Giles. I'm the Field Watcher for the Slayer Buffy Summers here in Sunnydale."
"Rupert Giles? Yes, I believe we met while you were still in the academy. You attended one of my lectures. How have you been, young man?"
"Fairly well, actually. The reason I am calling is because you and your charge were the featured player in a prophetic dream experienced by Slayer Dawn Summers..."
"I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with a past Slayer named Dawn Summers. Could you remind me?"
"Oh, she isn't a past Slayer. She's... ah, I suppose you could say she's the most recently called Slayer. She's been attending her Calling for a few days now."
"Oh." There was a moment of deep silence. "Doctor Giles... I'm sorry to hear about your own – and you're still working in the field after your Slayer's death? You must be a strong man indeed. I wish I had your dedication. My condolences regarding the death of your Slayer."
"Er, well, thank you for the sentiment, but it's quite unnecessary. You see, Buffy Summers is still alive. The Slayer Line has twinned itself. There are now three Slayers."
"Three... how is that possible?"
"From what I understand when my Slayer died briefly before being revived by a friend of hers, the next Slayer was called. That Slayer according to the reports I've seen is in Jamaica and still alive. Dawn Summers is actually a fluke calling. You see she is the cousin of my Slayer."
"So, you are now supervising two Slayers, then?" Giles could hear the clear curiosity in her voice.
"Oh, no. Slayer Dawn Summers Is being supervised by Chloe Payne. Ms. Payne had to return to England for a week, so I'm filling in, as it were."
"Ah, I see. Well, that is interesting. Very interesting. I'd love to talk to you again some time about how the Slayer line could have twinned itself. But I assume you called on other business?"
"Oh yes. Sorry, we did get a little sidetracked, didn't we? I'm sure that you're aware that each Slayer shares in the usual raft of talents and abilities to differing measures; some are more physically strong, while others are more agile, other have sharper senses and so on. Among Dawn's talents are prophetic dreams; she seems to get them semiregularly, and they are unusually clear for such things compared to those demonstrated by past Slayers."
"Well, that could become very useful." There were a few moments of silence. "Should I take it that's the reason you are calling? She experienced a dream that somehow involved me or my Potential?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact. Multiple times over the last several days, she has had a dream that focused on a young, dark-haired girl with – and these are Miss Summers' words – "smoky eyes and a 'tude", and her Watcher. According to our best analysis of the images that appeared to Dawn in her sleep, the dreams are a warning that you and your Potential will be targeted for a most gruesome death as sacrifices in some diabolic scheme pursued by the master vampire Kakistos. Dawn's Watcher and I have gone over the dreams she's described several times, and we both concur with the probable message behind them."
"I see. Perhaps, then, Faith and I should relocate." Giles heard the other woman sigh. "It a beautiful time to visit England."
"Actually, Dawn's dreams indicated that your safest move is to relocate here, so that your Potential is covered by the two Slayers and their team."
"Did you just say team? To what team are you referring? I wasn't aware that it was Council policy for the Slayer to be a part of a team."
"Ah, well... there are two students here who have sworn to assist the two Slayers with logistics and research. Naturally, they don't get involved in field operations. And since there are two Slayers now, they naturally would form a team."
"And you allow this?"
"Dr. Dormer, neither I nor Ms. Payne had much of a choice. These students were presented to me by my Slayer Buffy Summers in a fait accompli. Slayer Buffy Summers originally was dead set against them helping her, but she relented when they persisted in wanting to help rescue a friend who was captured and later revealed to have been turned as bait for my Slayer. Since neither she or I couldn't keep the students from getting involved, I decided we might as well keep a watch on them and channel their efforts to something useful rather than just stand by and watch them get killed."
"I suppose that is the more sensible approach, but it still feels odd. It flaunts tradition."
"I certainly agree. But the truth is, Slayer Dawn Summers asked some pointed questions and pointed certain things out, and made me wonder just how valuable certain traditions really were."
"Oh? Such as?"
"For one thing, she pointed out that those Slayers who survived the longest were the ones who had, for lack of a better word, a team helping her out."
"Did they really? I wasn't aware of that. I may have to research it."
"Yes, well, I assume that if anyone at Council Headquarters discovered that our traditions were actually increasing the mortality of the Slayers instead of decreasing it..." Giles trailed off as a traitorous thought entered his mind. What if the traditions were, in fact, designed to kill off Slayers before they got too old, too skilled, and too independent to be controlled easily by the Council? The Cruciamentum, administered at age 18, one of the most common ages of majority in the world, when the Slayer could legally walk away from their legal guardians, who were almost always Watchers, after telling them to go to Hell. It was a dangerous thought, but it was a thought for another time.
He cleared his throat. "In any event, as I said Slayer Dawn Summers suggested that it would be safer for you to move here and become integrated with the team. According to her, Kakistos will apparently follow you wherever you went otherwise to hide from him. She also pointed out that if you were here, Kakistos would have to fight off two Slayers in order to get to you. I concur. He is powerful, but he's not that powerful."
"I see."
The line was quiet for a long while.
"Doctor Dormer, are you still there?"
"Oh, yes, I apologize. I was... ah... thinking. I'm going to talk to my Potential. She's a good girl, and smarter than she likes to show, but willful and independent."
"Yes, I see." And Giles did see. "She sounded like a very vibrant young woman."
"Doctor Giles, I will call you back, probably this evening, after I get a chance to consult the Council and talk to my Potential."
"Certainly. I look forward to hearing from you."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
It amazed Dawn that she could walk Chloe all the way up to the gate until she suddenly realized why that was: the September 11th attacks hadn't happened yet. The tenor of the nation hadn't become so bad that every single human being who dared want to get onto an airplane was considered a mad bomber. When Dawn made the realization, she actually considered telling someone... but who could she tell outside of the government or the military? And if she told the government or the military, the first thing they'd do is wonder just how she got the information. That way led to prison cells and intense interrogations.
"What has you so glum? Missing me already?" Chloe had caught Dawn's expression.
"No," said Dawn. She looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Just future information. A couple years from now. There will be a terrorist attack on September 11th, 2001. Four planes will be hijacked and will be crashed at four different locations on the east coast. The two with the most causalities are the ones that hit the World Trade Center. After that airport security was enhanced like you wouldn't believe. If this was after that. I wouldn't be able to walk you to the gate."
"I see the dilemma," admitted Chloe. "You can't tell anyone about something like that because they might think you are involved in it in some way. But you have a desire to protect them at the same time. We will change everything that we can change and even make it better. We know there will be some things like this terrorist attack that can't be changed though."
"Chloe," said Dawn as Chloe stopped and looked at her. "Thank you. It's nice to have someone to talk to. I love, Buffy, I always will. But we didn't have the best of relationships when I was younger. I was kind of a brat back then. I hope Marie won't turn out to be like me. But what I'm saying…"
"In just a few short days you look to me like your sister looks to Mr. Giles," said Chloe with understanding. "But you need more than a mentor. You need someone to confide in. If you had, you would not have had to carry the burden that you took a human life for as long as you have. I can't be your mother, because of your emancipation, nor would I really want to since I am only a few years older than you. But I think if you are willing, I could be your sister in all but name."
"I'd like that," said Dawn.
"And the first thing we will be talking about is the trauma, the captivity, and August," said Chloe.
"Okay," agreed Dawn. "Chloe would you check discretely and see if the Council has a potential named August. She would be three maybe four years old now."
Chloe nodded in understanding. "You want to make sure she has a happy life?"
"I do," said Dawn. "She deserves one after the rotten one she had the first time. Call me, okay? When you get to London?" Dawn gave Chloe another hug. "Maybe once or twice during the week, and before you leave? I have to know when to come pick you up, after all."
"I will. While I'm gone, I want you to make sure your homework is taken care of, and keep the house clean. I would say try and get to know Buffy, but you know her better than anyone," Chloe said.
"I do, don't I," said Dawn.