The Summers Home.

Walking back into the house, Dawn closed the back door behind her and then brushed her fingers on the surface of the kitchen island as she walked past. She then left the kitchen and entered the dining room while the scent of vanilla continued to waft through the room. She looked at the candle on the far table and knew it was coming from there. She took in the scent which was far better than taking in the odour of blood on the battlefield. Dawn then walked past the dining table, and into the foyer while still in the same clothes she was wearing for the past several hours.

Dawn had no idea if any of her old clothes would fit since she was a little taller than when she was a teenager, and she looked down at herself before mentally telling herself she was more developed than she was back then. Sighing, the older Dawn then looking into the living room to check in on Giles who was still snoring. A smile on her face, Dawn opened the front door slowly and walked out onto the porch to see her old neighbourhood once again.

And it was full of people. It was full of life as the leaves on the trees rustled in the gentle breeze while people were waking up. There were some cars that were being driven back down the driveways and onto the main street. While there were other houses where the lights were just starting to come on, and she could see the silhouettes of people moving about behind curtains.

Dawn looked around while leaning on the railing and wondered where her gun was hidden. Actually, it wasn't technically her gun, it was really Riley's nine-millimeter. He gave it to Dawn as a gift so that she could defend herself. 'Buffy's probably keeping it in the basement.' Dawn shook her head and turned around upon hearing gentle footsteps coming down the stairs. She heard a whispered voice calling her name upon stopping at the foyer before the door opened.

And Tara's head peeked out at her.

And Dawn's memory immediately flashed back to the day she found the body of her own Tara lying on the carpet in a pool of blood.

Dawn was then brought out of her memory by Tara's voice, "Hi, Dawnie," Tara said as she opened the door and stepped out onto the porch while a robe wrapped around her body. Tara closed the door behind her while Dawn shifted her gaze away and remembered the very first kiss she shared with Willow. Dawn closed her eyes while Tara asked if the former was alright, her voice tinged with concern.

"Yeah," Dawn nodded her head while telling herself that she was going to have to sacrifice any life she could have with the Willow of this reality by preventing Tara's death at the hands of the Trio. Dawn looked at Tara and smiled before taking a few steps forward and hugging Tara tight. While thinking about Willow bringing her back from a near-catatonic state following Buffy's violent death, Dawn whispered into Tara's ear, "I love you, Tara."

As for Tara, she held to Dawn tight, surprised at how sad the older Dawn seemed to be; along with a sense of relief that was coming off her. The blonde witch wondered about the mixture of emotions but, for now, she held on tight to Dawn. It would be a few seconds later that the older Dawn pulled back and reached down to hold Tara's hand before whispering that she was going to protect her.

"Dawnie?" asked Tara as she looked at the seriousness in Dawn's eye.

Dawn knew that what she had to tell Tara would change the future. She knew that being in the past already changed the future, but preventing Tara's death would prevent Willow from going down into depths of despair. Dawn knew by changing certain events, Willow would never become the person Andrew referred to as Dark Willow. However, Dawn was also aware that not being Dark Willow would mean that her former lover never gained a proper respect of her powers. The older Dawn knew that she would have to push events in another way, but either way, she would lose Willow to Tara. And the older Dawn loved both of them with all her heart.

But it was a sacrifice worth making.

'I have my memories of you, Willow,' thought Dawn to herself remembering embracing Willow who brought her out of the catatonic state following Buffy's gruesome death. 'I love you in my memories, I love you in my heart.'

"If you had a chance to change the future, would you?" asked the older Dawn as she looked at Tara, "if you knew what was about to happen, if you knew that if you didn't prevent what could happen in the natural course of events then the world would end, would you still change it?"

"I…."

"I would," Dawn said as Tara narrowed her eyes in confusion. Dawn stared at the confusion on Tara's face and still continued, "I would sacrifice everything to prevent that future from happening Tara. I would sacrifice the people I loved in my future to prevent that… that hell from happening."

"Dawnie," Tara held on to Dawn's shoulders, "what happened?"

"We lost so many things, Tara," said Dawn shaking her head before looking away, "so many people… lost. But.. but it's better if everyone hears it at once." She then looked back at Tara's face, "but I will protect you. I promise. I'll make sure you, Buffy, my younger self, Willow, and everyone else is safe and.. and you don't go through the same hell I did."

"Didn't you coming back in time already change things?" asked Tara gently as Dawn looked away. Dawn knew that Tara was right; coming back to the past and preventing Buffy's death could have very well changed the future. But Dawn also knew that she couldn't take that chance. She remembered how she felt when Tara died… when she found Tara's body in the latter's room. Dawn remembered sitting close to the dead body so that she wasn't alone… and she remembered Willow's reaction.

"I can't take the chance, Tara," Dawn whispered looking back at her.

"Dawnie," whispered Tara as she placed a hand on her cheeks, "we're safe, and…"

"Can.. can you make me some of your pancakes?" asked the older Dawn as Tara tilted her head and knitted her eyebrows at the change of subject, "I… the last thing I ate were Army rations that Riley gave us before we left Los Angeles for Sunnydale. And those tasted horrible. I.. I'd like your funny shaped pancakes."

"Su.. sure," Tara said before a smile formed on her face while stroking the side of the older Dawn's face, "how about you take some of my clothes since, well, I don't know if your old clothes with still fit you. Willow should be still asleep and… well, she's a deep sleeper and…"

"Maybe you could get me something to wear while I start off the batter?" asked the older Dawn. Tara then nodded her head before she and Dawn headed back into the house. They walked in, and then closed the door behind them before Tara walked up the stairs while Dawn headed for the kitchen via the central hallway next to the stairs. The older Dawn heard Tara's footsteps from upstairs as she entered her and Willow's room while Dawn entered the kitchen. She couldn't help but think, with a little bit of resentment despite what she thought to herself earlier, 'Willow's almost impossible to wake up unless you… well… I know her secret, Tara. And I'll keep that with me.'

And almost immediately Dawn felt bad for being resentful of Tara. She then shook her head while telling herself that Tara probably knew that Willow was ticklish behind her knees. Dawn then started taking out and preparing the ingredients as she remembered helping Kennedy and Violet make breakfast for the Potential Slayers when they were in Scotland- the headquarters of Buffy's Slayer Army. Dawn wondered about Faith and the fact that if she changed the future, then the dark-haired Slayer would remain in prison for the rest of her life.

'What happened with that thing called the Beast is what made Wesley free Faith,' thought Dawn to herself, 'will that still happen? Let's see now, the year is… oh, ok, 2001 so Conner's not born yet. But Darla should be out there somewhere if I remember what Buffy told me. Conner is the Key to jasmine… so… yeah, find Darla, who should be human, then kill her so that Conner is never born, and then find Cordelia. If she's killed then she's not the vessel for Jasmine, then… well, then the world is safe from another crazy wannabe god.' Dawn then shook her head while mentally asking herself if she was willing to do everything she was thinking.

'Yeah.' she thought to herself while, at the same time, berating herself. She placed her hands on the island in front of her which all the ingredients were laid out and stared at the box of flour, 'listen to yourself. These are your friends, and… and you're thinking about killing them as if they don't matter, and…'

'They don't matter,' another part of Dawn told herself, 'I'm talking about preventing one apocalypse after another. I'm talking about preventing the end of the world, about not sending L.A to hell, the First being prevented from manifesting, and then there's Twilight. If I can somehow get rid of Angel, then… then no Twilight. So I have to do whatever I can to prevent that future.'

Dawn then sighed before shaking her head and looking away, 'and then there's Spike. Buffy loved him back in my future, but… but he'll rape her. He'll hurt her and… and that'll hurt me. Something has to be done, something. Something.' Sighing once again, Dawn then looked at the ingredients again and reached for the eggs.

While Dawn was breaking the eggs, she thought about Amy and the trouble she had cost everyone. Dawn knew that in the past, in this time period, Amy was just a rat. A literal rat. 'She would be so easy to kill. Snap her neck and that's it. Ummm.. maybe there's a place that sells rats? I'll replace her with that rat?' Dawn chuckled at herself before she looked down at the eggs and sighed.

She put Amy the rat in her mental list of potential dangers. She then added Darla, Cordelia, Conner, and Angel into her mental list. Hearing footsteps coming down the stairs, Dawn formed a smile as she looked up at Tara walking back into the kitchen with a set of clothes.

"It's not much, but…"

"Thanks," Dawn replied. Tara handed the older Dawn some new clothes, who looked down and stared at the blue blouse in her hands. Dawn's eyes were wide open, her breathing shallow, before she looked back up when a concerned sounding Tara asked if everything was alright. Dawn stared at her, not knowing how to tell the blonde witch that the blouse in her hand would be the same blouse that Tara would be shot in a little than a year away.

"Dawnie?" asked Tara knitting her eyebrows as she sensed sorrow coming off the older Dawn, "I can get.. get you something else, and…"

"This.. this is fine," lied Dawn as she stepped back, unsure if she should just take up Tara's offer. Dawn abruptly turn and started to walk away while Tara looked on before stopping after she had walked around the island and they were facing each other. Dawn looked up at Tara and her heart broke; seeing her again made the former Key look back down at the blue blouse and shake her head.

"Dawnie?" asked Tara.

'I can't take the blouse... I…' thought Dawn to herself before she looked away from the blouse and then looked back at Tara once again, 'I can't tell her, I can't tell her what happens to her. If.. if I do, then she'll stop me from doing what I need to do. Buffy will stop me, Giles will stop me. I don't know about Xander or Anya, but I know that my younger self would want me to stop Warren at any cost. When she knows the truth, she'll want me to stop him at any cost.'

Dawn looked back down at the blouse and then thought to herself that she had to take the blouse or else Tara would get suspicious.

"Thanks, Tara," Dawn said, "I'll change and then wake the others up. We.. we need to talk. All of us."

The older Dawn could feel Tara's staring at her in confusion as she walked away through another hallway, and then to the stairs. She walked up to the second floor while wiping tears that gathered in her eyes as she walked up the stairs to the second floor. She turned and headed for the restroom while she stared at the blue blouse in her arms as memories of Tara lying in a pool blood rushed into her mind. A chill went up Dawn's spine as she remembered rushing to Tara's dead body, kneeling next to it, and then placing her hands on Tara's cold shoulder.

Dawn opened the restroom door as she remembered shaking Tara, begging her to wake up, but there was no response. It was then that Dawn remembered stumbling back and sitting in the corner of the room across from Tara's body. She then made a conscious decision to stay with the body.

She didn't want Tara to be alone.

Back in the present day, Dawn placed her hands along the edge of the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. Her good eye was already red with welled up tears. She looked away, pushed herself off the sink, and took off the patch that covered her left eye. She pulled the mirror in front of her and gained access to the medicine cabinet where she placed the patch. After closing it once again, Dawn stared at herself in the mirror and watched as he hair hung in front of her scarred, and closed, eyelid to barely cover it. She then took in a deep breath and shook her head.

Slowly taking off her sleeveless shirt, Dawn then stared at the scar on her cheek and then turned to stare at the faint traces of scars on her back from the whipping. She then stepped into the shower and closed the curtain before turning on the tap. Dawn felt the water streaming along her body after the stream from the shower hit her skin, the warm water causing goosebumps to erupt as she wiped her face and then ran her hand through her wet hair.

Dawn then took the rose scented body-wash into her hands and then started to soap herself. She took in the scent of the rose essence and smiled. It definitely beat the odour of blood that had been wafting in the air back in her future.

While the older Dawn was talking a shower, back in her room, Buffy was awake and holding onto her younger sister.

Many questions raced through her mind, especially what happened to the older Dawn, 'and how old is she? What changed in the future to get her so… so…' Buffy tried to think of a word as she lay on her side while holding on to the younger Dawn, 'so hard. Is that the right thing?' It would be a few minutes later that she smelled the coffee from the kitchen. Buffy kissed the forehead of her younger sister and then slowly got onto her back before twisting her body and laying her feet off the edge of the bed.

Taking another breath, she finally took in the fact that Glory was dead. Giles told her the previous night that Ben had suffered more injuries than any of them were aware, and he died. To Buffy, the threat of Glory coming after Dawn again was gone for good.

Buffy turned her head and stared at the still sleeping Dawn before getting off the bed, and then stretching her arms over her body while yawning. Buffy then straightened out her shirt before opening the door to her room and walking out into the hallway. She then stared at the restroom door and heard the shower turn off before walking past it and then down the stairs to the living room. The Slayer saw that the couch was empty and that Giles was still asleep.

The Slayer walked towards Giles and then poked his shoulder with her finger. The older man then stirred while mumbling at no one on particular to leave him alone. Buffy chuckled before she looked at the empty couch and remembered the older Dawn sleeping there. She then shook her head and walked to the kitchen where she heard Tara humming.

"Hey," Buffy said after walking into the kitchen while Tara cracked some eggs. "You're going to wake everyone up."

"Dawn's up... I mean the older Dawn," Tara said with a small smile on her face, "she asked if I could make some pancakes."

"You talked to her?" asked Buffy as she sat on a stool and folded her arms on the surface of the island in front of her. Tara nodded her head as Buffy looked at the entrance to the kitchen and then asked Tara if she believed Dawn, "what feeling did you get?"

"A lot of pain, Buffy," Tara said gently as she whisked the batter, "sorrow mixed with anger, but mostly sorrow. I mean if we're all dead from whatever happened then… well, I guess that…"

It was then that the two of them heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Buffy and Tara looked at each other, the former able to tell that Tara had a lot to say about the older Dawn. Buffy turned her head as the older Dawn walked in with a skirt that ended between her ankle and knees, and a blue blouse.

"Thanks, Tara," the older Dawn said before she turned to Buffy, and then walked towards her.

"Hey," Buffy whispered getting off the stool as she stared at the scar and the patch while reaching out for her younger sister, "you alright?"

"With you guys here?" asked Dawn as she took another step forward and held Buffy's hand, "yeah, I'm going to be alright. But… but we need to talk Buffy. All of us need to talk."

TBC.