FIC: The Last Gift

Title: The Last Gift
Author: Pat Kelly
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Dawn has questions, and ends up getting more answers than she had expected.
Spoilers: Season 5.
Disclaimer: All hail Joss and his army of Mutant Enemies. I don't own BTVS. I make no money. Long live UPN! Burn the WB!
Note: For now this is a one-off, as I'm not sure where it would go, but it could continue. I just had to write this, because I've been thinking about Season 6, and see this happening in one way or another. Hopeyou enjoy. :-)

THE LAST GIFT

Dawn crept to the top of the stairs, and moved down step or two so she could peek into the living room. He was on the couch, and looked asleep. Good, that's what she wanted. He had probably been reading one of his "classics" again. She liked Giles, but he picked the most boring, oldest stuff to read. The court had given him temporary custody in accordance with the wishes in her mother's will, until they could get a hold of her father and see what he wanted to do.

Because Buffy...she couldn't be her guardian anymore.

Giles had packed up some clothes and things, and moved into her house; she hadn't wanted to leave. Willow and Tara had been house sitting his place for the summer so it wouldn't go unattended. She was grateful to him; he had bent over backwards to try and make her comfortable with everything. They all had. But her sister and mother were gone. You could only reach a certain point of comfortable-ness in a situation like this, and it had been reached awhile ago.

What if her father decided to take her away? She didn't want to go. Then she couldn't do what her sister had asked of her. She couldn't take care of them.

The young brunette quietly descended the rest of the stairs, and scampered to the basement, listening to make sure Giles wasn't waking up. Wow, she just remembered that it was August now. Three months had passed since her sister's death. Her sister sacrificing herself so she could live. She wasn't supposed to exist, and Buffy loved her enough to give up her own life. She wasn't worthy. All the times she said and thought she hated her, fought with her...had shetold her that she loved her too? She couldn't remember.

But she did. Very much. She missed her too.

She figured the gang had to hate her, but they told her they didn't. Dawn wasn't sure. They were all taking it upon themselves to patrol, but it had been quiet. That was another thing. It was in the back of their minds, but they refused to acknowledge it. One way or the other, there would be a new slayer. Faith was in jail, though, and not well liked by anyone. It was back in the Council's hands; they would make the decisions. Nobody liked that idea, least of all Giles. He couldn't imagine being someone else's watcher, or having his fate controlled by people he despised; he had told her as much.

Everyone was dealing in the best way they knew how. Denial and irrational hopes of bringing Buffy back from the dead had disappeared, and there was acceptance. Xander and Anya could concentrate on their engagement, Willow and Tara on their spells, and Giles on being a parental figure to Dawn. Though what could she concentrate on?

She was at that stage of grieving where she could function in the world, and let herself mourn in private. What she needed now however, what she could focuson, were getting answers. Things didn't make sense, and she wasn't satisfied with just saying, "Move on." There were explanations that had to be discovered, and until they were, she wouldn't ever be able to fully get closure. Closure that she had wanted since she found out she was the Key.

The biggest question - she was the Key, and as far as she knew, the only one, so how was Buffy able to close the portal? Opening it was her job, closing it should have been her job as well, and her job alone. The next question - since Glory/Ben was dead, and the portal gone, did that mean she was still the Key? Or was she normal? As the Key, she had carried out her purpose, so mystically, wasn't she useless?

That was a *real* self-esteem booster.

Anyway, that's what she'd been trying to figure out for the past few weeks. She had gone with Giles once to his place, and while hewas grabbing books or something, she had seen the box that Spike said he and Xander had taken from that Doc guy, sitting out. It had papers inside that contained instructions on how the Key worked and how it was supposed to open and close the portal. She snatched the papers out of the box, folded them, and stuffed them in her pocket.

The thought that the papers were ancient and could've turned to dust because she didn't handle them carefully, never occurred to her. Luckily, they hadn't, and she hid them in the basement. She had come down here night after night, and read through them. Maybe she was just dumb, but nothing had jumped out at her. Buffy said she had figured it out before she jumped, couldn't she have let her in on the secret? Even better, she could've decided not to die.

Dawn closed her eyes for a second. Other than closure, she knew there was another reason. There was something the answer was goingto reveal besides what happened with the portal. She could feel it, and it was important. Turning on a small lamp, she started to read. Minutes became an hour, than two, and she hadn't gone past square one. What was she missing?

"Hello?" Giles called.

***

The girl sighed. He must've gotten up and seen that the basement was unusually bright. Why didn't she shut the door?

"Stupid." She muttered, and then answered him. "It's just me."

"Dawn?" He began coming down. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah…fine." Okay, that was a lie.

"Then what are you doing up this…?" He saw the papers, and frowned slightly.

"How could Buffy do it?" Direct and to the point.

She should've asked him earlier, but he would've told her to let it go. If he told her that now, she'd simply get stubborn until he folded.

"How could she do what?" He questioned back at her.

She stared at him. He obviously wanted to avoid this. "Giles."

He knelt down with a sigh. "I've been wondering that myself lately. But anything you may discover won't change -"

"I need to know. Can you help me? Please?" She didn't want to plead, but she would.

"From what Buffy said," She smiled as the watcher grabbed a paper she had set aside and scanned it, "the monks who made it their duty to protect the Key…" He trailed off, not wanting to sound insensitive.

"It's okay. You mean me. I've like, done the acceptance thing."

"No, I mean the energy that you carry within you. They created you, gave you a form, a personality, memories…but the blood that's flowing inside of you, that gives you life, that came directly from Buffy."

"Summers' blood. She told me."

"This is only a theory, but I believe it's not simply the family bloodline. The monks specifically wanted your sister to watch over you, not your…mother," Dawn looked down, "so they looked to her as a blueprint. You have Buffy's blood. Meaning her blood type, her DNA..."

"I don't know my blood type."

"We can check with your doctor in the morning. I know what hers is, or was..." He cleared his throat. "But then we'll both have at least some proof to begin to support what I'm saying."

"If it helps,you sound smart. And Buffy always said you were right about this kinda stuff."

"Thank you." He smiled. "Though obviously there are enough genetic differences to distinguish you physically. Why they decided to go to that level of detail, I have no idea. It certainly would have been easier to leave you identical."

"Well, remember how we all reacted to Spike's robot?" She smirked.

"True." That had been disconcerting, and he hadn't even been there from the start. He and Buffy had gone to the desert. "However, if you had been twins, we wouldn't have thought it to be out of the ordinary."

"Oh yeah." The monks had popped her in like she'd been there forever. "Willow and Tara would probably love to get their hands on the spell they used."

All he could picture were horribly mutated people walking around. Then again, he could be underestimating the witches' abilities. Willow had definitely developed talents far beyond anything he'd ever seen.

"Perhaps they just wanted you to be unique." Giles offered as an explanation.

"Maybe. But…what's your point?"

"You aren't the Key. You are…a vessel for it. From these notes, we know itcan be transformed into anything. Given that, I've come to the conclusion that theKey is technically, your blood. Buffy's blood. Your life force, and hers. Which would explain why bleeding you opened the portal -"

"And why we both could close it." How simple was that? "So she jumped, and saved me andthe world." She said softly.

"Yes. I doubt a few drops of blood would've sealed it. It had become too large." He smiled sadly, but also proudly. "You mustn't blame yourself. Even if you tried to fight her, she would've stopped you. She loved you very much, and wanted you to live."

"To do what? Be a regular girl and go to school? This year was crazier, scarierand cooler than like, my whole life combined. For one, this was the only year that wasn't fake, that's a plus, and I know from my made up memories that I was hardly ever in on the Scooby Gang when I was younger. I wish they were still here," She paused, swallowing the lump in her throat, "but I, you know, changed. Now I have to go back to being dull? What am I, anyway?" Her vision had gotten blurry.

He gripped her arms gently, and looked her in the eye, smiling.

"You're Dawn Summers. You permanently became our reality three months ago, and will continue to be. All I've read suggests that the Key was meant to open and close that particular gateway, at that moment in time. It did, and seeing as you survived afterwards and didn't…vanish, I'd imagine your blood is just…blood. Whatever power it held, is most likely dormant. You *are* real, and for all intents and purposes, have been for a long time."

***

On the one hand, she was happy and relieved, but on the other, the fact that she was normal was disappointing.That should've been a good thing; she wouldn't be in demand by evil gods anymore. She wasn't special anymore, either.

But before Dawn could allow the watcher's words to really sink in, she felt something.

She couldn't describe it or where it was; something just...didn't feel right. She started looking around, and that's when she heard a noise. Like a clanging,but it wasn't anywhere nearby. She didn't know how she knew, but she did.

Giles had noticed that she had spaced. "What's the matter?"

"Outside. There's something...outside." She told him, already making her way upstairs.

He tried to get more out of her and told her that he would go look, but she paid no attention to him. He had no choice but to follow and make sure she didn't get hurt. She led them through the kitchen, to the foyer, and she walked out the front door. What was she doing? It was almost as if something in her head was giving her directions. It was weird.

She went down the walkway, one cautious step after another. Reaching the sidewalk and the mailbox, a few feet to her left she saw their trashcan. Its lid was off and in the street. The clanging, that was the clanging. Giles went to pick up the lid, while she moved over to the trashcan and peered inside.

Her heart racing, the brunette screeched asa raccoon jumped out, angry that his meal had been interrupted. It skittered off into the darkness, but she was officially wigged. A raccoon? She came out here because she heard a raccoon? What if it had bitten her and given her rabies? Gross.

"Giles, what's going on? I heard it hit the ground." She pointed at the lid he was holding. "How did I hear that? And the raccoon was so...eew!"

At that moment, he had another theory. And it worried him.

***

-- It was home here. It was peacefuland safe. Finally. She was with the others. The others like her who had been made to serve the same cause, who had died for it. They understood, and they welcomed her. Some were scared of her though; some hadn't lasted very long. But if this was her reward, she'd gladly accept it. She saw her again. The one who had died for her. It was nice to see her happy; she wasn't in pain.

Itmade her feel so good to be here. So content.

Her guide had explained it all. She had misjudged her before. Anything she wanted was available to her. Anything to make her more comfortable. This place could change to fit her needs, but now only a warming light surrounded her. She had an eternity to enjoy, after all. And knowing she had earned this, that she had saved those she left behind...she could truly rest now. Maybe they would let her see...

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" A voice asked her. --

Dawn woke up with a start. She didn't move a muscle, just glanced around her room with wide eyes. It was morning, and today was different. Like last night, she could just feel it. She hadn't ever had a dream like that. What was it? Things were getting strange, that was all she knew for sure.

Very, very strange.

***

"I saw all these faces...and it was bright. I watched a video on supernovas once to get extra credit for science class, and that's what it was like. Supernova bright. I think...I think I was seeing what Buffy was seeing." Dawn told Giles that afternoon in the Magic Box.

She had been going over the dream in her mind all day, and she just couldn't shake the thought that she was looking through her sister's eyes. Wherever she was. That meant she was connected to her somehow, and logically, it made sense. If she had Buffy's blood, then...butnow Willow, Tara, and Anya were staring at her and frowning. They just thought she wasn't over what happened. Well, they were wrong.

Though a part of her had gotten hope again; that maybe they could get her back. But she couldn't do that to herself. Didn't she remember when she tried to do that with her mother?

"That's...uh, very interesting, but I wouldn't trytoo hard to find a deeper meaning -" Giles was being evasive.

"Didyou call the doctor?" She interrupted him.

"Yes. They're the same.O. Which makes you a universal donor." His tone wasn't a happy one.

"Like Buffy." He nodded, and she studied him. "There's more, right?"

He did his best not to look startled. He couldn't avoid this. He had to see.

"Come with me for a second. Anya, watch the store."

Dawn followed the watcher into the training room, andso had the witches. They were all confused. She stood on the mat, while he reached into the trunk that was in a corner in the back of the room. He pulled out a blindfold.

"Giles?" Willow asked.

He focused on Dawn. "I'm going to put this on you, and when I do, I don't want you to move. Stay right there. Do you understand?"

"Um...uh huh." She didn't have any reason not to trust him. Or...she didn't think she did.

He came up to her and tied the cloth around her head. It was secure. She couldn't see a thing. "Is it too tight?

"No, it's okay."

"Good. Now, I want you to be completely silent and completely still. Just listen."

She heard his shoes squeak. He was walking away from her. It sounded like he was back at the trunk again, and now he was...not moving. What was she supposed to listen for? It was getting stranger again. What was he doing? She could hear Willow and Tara breathing, she could hear the ring ofthe bell that was on the door to the front entrance of the shop, and she could hear...the whoosh of an object coming at her head.

Instinctively, her arm reached out, and a moment later she was holding something in her hand. She slipped the blindfold off. It was a baseball. She had a baseball, and she didn't even see it coming.

*You have to take care of them now. You have to be strong*.

Oh no.

"You...you threw a baseball at me. My hand hurts...cause you threw a baseball at me."

"And you caught it."

"And...and I caught it." She repeated to herself.

"The timing is right...they usually beginto surface..." He spoke to himself.

"What timing? What surfaces?"She knew; she just wanted someone else to say it first.

"It would appear that," Giles came close to her again, "while the Key's power may be dormant, you seem to have inherited another one to take its place. From your sister." He paused. "The monks made it possible for you to share your powerwith her, but I don't think they anticipated that she would share her power with you."

"She's a slayer?" Willow asked with surprise. "But...she's young and...little and... Dawnie."

"Buffy was young too, Willow, when her abilities revealed themselves. The age Dawn is now, in fact. As were all the slayers before her, though many, but not all, were discovered and trained for years before then."

'I'm a slayer. I've wantedto beat up vampires and save people ever since I found out what Buffy did after school. And she gave this to me? Wow.

'Did she want to? I guess it doesn't matter, but this is definitely like, the coolest gift ever. I'm *really* scared, but...geez, how am I gonna do this? Relax, Dawn. You don't know, but you will.

'Yeah, I'll do what I hafta do, and I'll get as good as Buffy. I'll be responsible and I'll make her proud of me. I won't let anything happen to the gang.'

"Now what?" Tara wondered.

He sighed. "I suppose the first step would be to contact the Council. I can guarantee that they weren't expecting this. None of us were. Hopefully I can get them to assign me as Dawn's watcher."

"You wanna be my watcher?" Dawn asked aloud. "But what if I let you down? I'm not Buffy." Her confidence had been quickly sucked out of her.

"Of course I do. I wouldn't want to train anyone else. You...you're just as much a daughter to me as she was; I care for you, Dawn. My family is here," The witches smiled at him, "and if I didn't guide you, I'd think Buffy would...be rather upset with me."

The brunette laughed softly. "Yeah, I bet she would be."

"I won't lie to you. She was the best slayer I've had the pleasure of knowing and working with, but she didn't start out being the best. It took years of hard work and learning from...mistakes. You have to be willing to invest a lot of your time. To make sacrifices."

"You're not alone. We'll help you." Willow said, smiling and coming to stand behind her.

"With whatever you need." Tara added.

That was good to know.

"If I'm scaring you, I apologize, but I want youto realize what lies ahead. I'd love to say that you could choose not to accept this, and that the responsibility could be placed on someone else's shoulders -"