Dawn dug her hands in the soil in the plot she was tending in the community garden enjoying the feel of the soft dirt. The old woman sitting on the colorful bench painted by the neighborhood children watched her with an approving look on her wizened face.

"You're enjoying working here, in our garden aren't you, Little Dawn." She said matter of factly, it was simply an observation, a means of starting a conversation with the young girl that reminded her of her granddaughters.

"Yeah, I am." Dawn agreed. "Which is surprising, I'm very much a city girl. I was born in Los Angeles, after all." Not exactly, but it wasn't like she could actually tell the old grandmother that. "Like Cordelia, I'm very much at home in a shopping mall or on a beach. Sand, not soil. But something about this is soothing, I guess."

"It connects you to the Earth. It teaches you to take care of the world and the people in it. It's both a metaphor and literal. Literally, you ensure the soil, the Earth, is healthy because everything else comes from that. What grows in the soil can't be truly healthy if the soil isn't. You're growing food that helps feed your neighbors, especially those of us who have trouble caring for ourselves, the young and the old."

"Jesse and you."

"Perfect examples." The old grandmother agreed. "Jesse's half way though teething and fruit and vegetables are easy to eat and most taste good. I'm half way through loosing mine and the same goes for me. And carrots, like you're working on there, are among my favorite vegetables and have been all my life."

"Normally I'd have my head stuck in a book, reading, studying, learning. And don't get me wrong, I love it, there's always something new to learn. But that feeds my mind, this feeds my soul. And I think my soul was rather neglected for a long time. Undernourished. At least since my mom died, I once called her our rock and she was. Fierce and determined and strong and full of love."

"That's a good way to remember her, to think of her. Remember the good times, the good things and the pain lessens. My parents are long dead, as is my husband, the only man I ever loved. Our children and grandchildren are building their lives and visit often, they know my time is nearing."

"Not yet." Dawn begged, she wasn't ready to lose anyone else and in the last eleven months, she'd come to love the old grandmother as though she was her own, she'd never had one and this one gave her love to all the neighborhood children, including the now sixteen year old Dawn.

"Not yet, Little Dawn." She promised. "But my old bones are tired and I miss my Harold, when the time comes I won't fight it. You have time to prepare."

"Okay." Dawn felt a single tear slip down her cheek and focused on her task.

"How's your sister doing?" The old grandmother changed the subject, after giving Dawn a moment to collect herself.

"Better, I was able to talk to her on the phone. She can talk to me but I have to talk to her interpretor who translates for her using Tactile Sign Language. It's slow going and she's going to be there for a long time, she has to have other therapy too, the psychological kind. She's had problems with depression and suicidal feelings for a long time, but she's fighting them. We won't give up on her."

"And your other sister, the one in the Army?"

"Faith loves it, I think like Xander, it's a place where she fits in. The team she's part of is doing good work. She can't tell me all that much, but she just finished up an assignment and will be coming for a visit. It'll be the first. It might be a little bit awkward."

"Why would it be awkward?"

"Xander and Cordelia are married and very happy, but they broke up for about six months in Senior year and Xander and Faith had a thing."

"Gossipy litte girl, tell me everything!" The old grandmother ordered with a giggle.

"When they first met her she told a naked alligator wrestling story and Xander was a seventeen almost eighteen year old boy, with more hormones than brains and he couldn't help but drool, which annoyed Cordelia."

"Naked alligator wrestling?! The girl did that on purpose, she knew full well what a story like that would do to a boy! Of course, I could tell about the time I climbed a street light pole to prove I could, while wearing a dress."

Dawn giggled. "Was your Harold there?"

"He was one of the boys present." The old grandmother giggled back. "Of course, it wasn't that revealing, I had it tucked between my legs, but still, scandalous."

"I don't think she actually wrestled an alligator naked, they're so scaly it would have to hurt. That doesn't mean she didn't actually wrestle the alligator, just with more clothes on."

"Exactly, like me tucking my dress between my legs, scandalous, but not that scandalous. She sounds fun, I look forward to meeting her."

"I look more like Faith than I do Buffy. Buffy's short with dyed blond hair and green eyes and Faith and I are both tall, with dark eyes. She got her GED when she joined the Army, she had some problems of her own and needed time to get better, she didn't graduate as a result, but she's smart, so it wasn't hard. I miss them both. Xander says maybe this summer, after my classes let out, we can go visit Buffy as a family. Something to look forward to."

"It's good to have things to look forward, helps keep your soul nourished." The old grandmother murmured in agreement before excusing herself and heading home, not long after, Dawn cleaned her self up and headed back to the apartment that had become her home in the last year.