FIC: The Two - [11/24] - R

[Andy Stoffel <see2go4me@xxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: The Two (11/24)
AUTHOR: -Andy- (see2go4me@xxxxxxxxx)
RATING: R (For future violence and adult situations) 
STATUS: A WiP.
DISCLAIMER: This is a derivative work. All characters belong to
Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox Television, and others. I don't
own any of this, just the plot and words gluing my story
together. 
SUMMARY: Buffy meets a different kind of Willow in an alternate
universe. (It really is gonna be a B/W folks. Getting there.)
SPOILERS: All seasons of BtVS. Let's pretend Season 5 of Angel
didn't happen.
DISTRIBUTION: buffywantswillow, ikoly, and my blog fanfic pages.
Anyone else, e-mail me please.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: 
[1] Reminder - I write slowly. And I'm busy this November. Don't
expect the next part until late December (if I don't get it done
by Halloween).
[2] Feedback welcome/desired. Especially the kind that helps me
write better. This is another long part. The next one is much
much shorter.
[3] This and the previous 10 parts can be found in the archives
for this list, on http://www.Ikoly.com, and my blog (along with
the
occasional spoilers for future parts).

- - -

Part XI Title: "Sister Mary Sunshine""

- - -


It was a peaceful, almost surreal dream.  She was sitting under
a large tree across from a school sharing a picnic lunch with
Willow. Several other people who felt familiar but she didn't
recognize were also there.  They were laughing about something,
just enjoying each other's company when the peaceful scene was
interrupted by a loud banging somewhere far away. She struggled
to stay asleep, to stay in this place, but failed. She could
feel herself being roughly pulled from the dream by the sound.  

Beth awoke with a gasp and struggled against her tightly wrapped
blankets, attempting to sit up. It was pitch black in her
bedroom. The noise that had yanked her unceremoniously from her
dream was becoming louder and more strident. She grabbed her
bathrobe from where she'd thrown it when she'd gone to bed and
stumbled out of her room.

Standing in the upper hallway she could tell the sound was
coming from the back of the house. Attempting to put on her robe
in the dark, Beth hurried down the stairs towards the kitchen.
Reaching the door she turned on the kitchen lights and looked
around. The sound was coming from someone banging on the outside
kitchen door. She could see a dim shape through the layers of
doors.

Opening the inner door, Beth found herself staring through the
screen into the face of a woman whose eyes radiated a confusing
combination of pain and coldness. Breaking away from the intense
gaze she looked down and noticed to her horror that this person
was carrying her unconscious sister. Gasping, and breathing in
sharply she became aware of the faint odor of ozone.

While she was standing there in shock the woman somehow kicked
open the screen door and barged into the kitchen, pushing past
her through the kitchen and into the living room, where she
deposited Dawn on the couch in an oddly gentle manner.

"What's going on?" Beth demanded after recovering from the shock
and following them. She suspiciously watched the woman examine
her sister.

"Don't really know." the woman answered gruffly in a soft voice.
"Found her like this out in the yard. She seems to be okay, just
unconscious. You should probably have her checked by a doctor
when she comes to." The woman stood up and stepped aside to
allow Beth access to her sister.

Beth looked at her sister, checking for broken bones, a bump on
the head, or other injuries that could explain her condition but
couldn't find anything obvious. Getting up from her  side, Beth
turned around  and found herself staring into the woman's face,
a face that was oddly familiar. "What's going on!" she asked
again, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

"I have to go."  the woman told her, "You need to call Willow
Rosenberg if you want an explanation.  She can tell you. It
isn't my place to interfere."

"Interfere with what?" Beth asked desperately in an attempt to
find out what had happened.

The woman, seemingly ignoring her question, headed to the front
door.  "If Willow needs me or has any questions she knows where
to find me."

"What do you mean, she knows where to find you?" Beth asked,
still confused.

Stopping in the doorway the woman simply repeated "Willow knows
where to find me." before she closed the door behind her, Beth
staring at her for a moment before heading to the phone.

----

The phone rang in short staccato bursts, stopping after a few
rings before resuming, waking her from a deep sleep. It was
obviously someone who wanted her and not her voicemail. Willow
groaned and briefly contemplated hexing whomever it was before
giving up and grabbing the phone off of her night-stand.

The flashing green caller id display told her it was Dawn's home
number. Looking over at her alarm clock in confusion she
wondered why Dawn wasn't calling her emergency number, the one
they'd set up months ago that caused every phone she owned,
including her cell phone, to ring with a special tone. If she
was calling this late it was almost a guarantee that it was some
kind of emergency. Muttering curses in three different
languages, Willow took a deep breath and picked up the handset
to answer the call.

"Dawn, this better be good!" Willow growled into the phone.

"Dawn? Why would she be calling you at this time of night?" 
Willow heard Dawn's sister asking in a tone of voice verging on
hysterical. Ignoring the question, Willow asked her own,
dreading the answer. 

"Beth? What's wrong? Did something happen to Dawn?"

"Yes! I don't know!" Beth shouted.

> From prior experience Willow could tell she was very close to a
meltdown and talked soothingly into the phone in an attempt to
calm her down. "Why don't you take a deep breath and tell me
what happened."

"Something happened to Dawn!" Beth shouted at her.

"What happened? Is she okay?" Willow asked as she quickly hunted
for something to wear. She knew she needed to get over to Dawn's
house as soon as possible but she needed to calm her sister down
now.

"That woman said she was just unconscious." 

"What woman?" Willow asked, trying to focus on the call while
dressing.

"The one who brought her home." Beth told her. "She seemed to
know you."

"What did she look like?" Willow asked as she pulled on her
shoes. When she didn't get an answer she repeated herself in a
louder voice - "What did she look like?"

"I don't know. I think she had blonde hair and she was my
height. She told me to call you and then she left."

"Okay. Keep an eye on your sister." Willow told her in the same
calm voice she'd been using earlier. "I'll be there in five
minutes."

"If you aren't I'm calling the hospital!" Beth told her. "She's
just lying there, Willow. It looks like she's asleep but she
won't wake up!" Willow could hear the panic starting to creep
back into her voice.

"Okay! I'm on my way." She turned off and put down the phone,
running over in her mind the few things she thought she might
need. From the little information Beth had given her she wasn't
real sure what to take other than her smaller emergency medical
kit. She also grabbed what Dawn had dubbed her emergency
witch-kit. Throwing a few stakes and a small knife into a
pocket, she locked up her apartment and headed outside to her
car.

As she climbed into her car she had the feeling that someone or
something was watching her. Looking around, she couldn't see
anything. The feeling disappeared as she started her car and she
dismissed it as paranoia caused by stress. Taking a deep breath,
Willow backed her car out of the Coven's garage and headed
across town to Dawn's house as quickly as she could without
attracting attention.

----

Hidden in the shadows of an old oak in the front, Buffy watched
Willow leave the Coven house. She knew she should have stayed
with Dawn until Willow arrived but meeting her sister had been
too much after finding Dawn like that and she'd chickened out.
Seeing someone who looked like an innocent version of herself
had shaken her more than she'd expected it would, especially
after spending the last month around Dawn and Willow .

She sighed and pulled herself together. She might not be ready
to talk with Dawn's sister but maybe she could catch Willow on
her way home afterward. Dawn had been stunned and knocked
unconscious by whatever had happened but she hadn't seemed to be
hurt otherwise. It wouldn't take Willow long to determine there
wasn't anything she could do until Dawn woke up.

----

Willow shifted nervously from foot to foot before ringing the
doorbell. This wasn't how she'd planned on telling Beth about
her sister's destiny. She'd thought maybe over dinner at some
neutral location some time in the future, not after she'd been
injured while out on patrol. But apparently Fate had other
plans.

"She's in the living room." Beth told her, gesturing her in.
Willow could tell from her nervous stance that she was just
barely holding herself together.

"Thanks." She told her, giving her a quick hug before hurrying
into the house. Stopping for a moment to look around she took a
deep calming breath. She needed to stay calm, for all of them.
Her slayer was lying on the couch, her boots and coat removed
and a pillow under her head. Unless this was something Buffy had
done, Beth had herself under better control than she'd thought.
Looking at the pile of items on the coffee table in front of the
couch, the stakes, bottle of holy water, a knife, all things
that must have come out of Dawn's pockets, the tools of the
slayer's trade, she decided it must have been Beth while she
waited for Willow to arrive. She shook her head and placed her
bag next to the couch.

Examining Dawn, Willow couldn't find anything visibly wrong with
her. There didn't seem to be any broken bones or other physical
injuries. She seemed to be more asleep than unconscious at this
point. Taking another deep breath, this time to center herself,
Willow examined her aura, looking for some clue to her
condition. Her aura seemed a bit fainter than normal, closer to
that of a normal person than a slayer, but other than that she
couldn't see anything wrong.

"Why don't we get her to bed and then we can talk." She gave
Beth her most encouraging smile.

"How? She's too big for even both of us to carry. I'm not sure
how that woman managed it. And she's unconscious." Beth
protested. "We'll drop her."

"She'll help us." Willow calmly explained. "She's not really
unconscious. It's more like a very deep sleep. We just need to
wake her up enough to help us get her to bed."

"Not unconscious?" Beth gave Willow a disbelieving look. "What
do you mean? She won't wake up! I tried!"

"She probably was unconscious when you tried to wake her
earlier, but now..." Willow hesitated. "We don't really want to
wake her up completely, just enough to get her to bed. And she's
probably going to sleep until noon, if not later." Willow turned
back to Dawn and bent down to talk quietly in one ear.

----

It was a harsh light. Moaning in protest, she tried to cover her
eyes. Her arms wouldn't respond. They were there, she could feel
them, but she didn't seem to have any control over them. Her
entire body seemed to be a heavy lump of unmovable something.
There but not. The only sensation seemed to be a heaviness. 

The light became much brighter and it was now accompanied by
sounds. At first a murmur. Steadily growing louder. Fighting the
panic brought on by the feeling of helplessness that engulfed
her, swallowing against the taste of vomit in the back of her
throat, she tried to make sense of the sounds. 

Blinking her eyes furiously against the light, she moaned
louder. Words in her head came out of her mouth as sounds with
no meaning.  She could hear a voice gently talking to her.
Telling her to do something. Telling her to sit up.

As if in a dream, she sat up, not really ware of where she was.
She could feel someone supporting her on either side and she
followed their pull, just barely standing under her own power.
The voice kept whispering in her ear, telling her when to move
her feet, when to lift her legs. This went on for a long time,
stopping only when she could feel herself being lowered onto
something soft. Exhausted by the movement, Dawn collapsed into a
deep sleep.

----

"Is there any chance we can discuss this tomorrow?" Willow asked
hopefully after they'd come back downstairs. "Dawn should
probably be a part of this."

Beth visibly hesitated before agreeing. "Okay. Why don't you
come over after dinner? And Willow?"

"Yes?" she answered.

"Can you at least give me a clue about what is going on? And who
that woman was?"

"As much as I would rather not..." Willow thought for a moment
before giving her a sad smile. "Have you ever really thought
about the real purpose of the Coven? Why it is in Sunnydale? And
what your family's past involvement with it has been?"

Giving the visibly startled blonde another quick hug, Willow
paused for a moment to say something she was sure she would
regret before letting herself out. "And that woman? I'm still
not sure who she really is. Goodnight Beth."

----

Walking out to her car, deep in thought, Willow was startled by
the woman leaning against it.

"You probably want to know what happened." Buffy stated.

Willow stared at the other woman in surprise. She hadn't
expected her to just appear like that. She'd thought she would
have to hunt for Buffy in the morning to find out her version of
what had happened during Dawn's patrol.

"What happened tonight? Or are you going to finally explain why
you've been following Dawn around for the past few weeks?"
Willow reached past her and unlocked her car, motioning her away
from the door so she could get in. Looking at the now silent
woman she decided it wasn't worth the effort this early in the
morning, especially after having already dealt, however briefly,
with Dawn's sister. "Never mind. If you want to talk you know
where I live."

"Willow..." Something in Buffy's tone stopped her. The faint
glow from the nearest street light was too dim to really make
out her expression but something about the way she was standing
told Willow
enough about Buffy's emotional state that she decided to change
her mind. "Why don't you come back to the house with me?" she
asked encouragingly.

"Okay." Buffy softly answered before moving to the other side of
the car. She waited until Willow was sitting behind the wheel
before climbing in herself. She was silent, staring straight
ahead, all the way to the house. 

Observing her carefully, Willow motioned towards the porch. "Why
don't I get us something to drink." she told her quietly. "We
can talk out here."

"Okay." Buffy answered again in the same tone of voice before
getting out of the car and following Willow to the house.

If it had been Beth, or even Dawn, that tone and posture would
have had her reaching for her supply of tissues in preparation
for a long emotional crying jag. This wasn't the first
indication Willow had had that Buffy was not as solidly grounded
as she appeared, but coming from this seemingly tough woman
Willow wasn't sure how to deal with her in this state.

Quickly putting together a tray of tea and assorted crackers in
the main kitchen, Willow hurried back out to the porch. She
didn't think that leaving Buffy alone for more than a few
minutes would be a good idea if she wanted her to open up.
Walking over to where she sat, leaning against the wall, Willow
handed her a steaming cup of tea. She then sat back in her
favorite chair and watched Buffy for a few minutes before saying
anything. "So... did you want to tell me what is going on?" she
asked in her most sympathetic voice, developed from years of
experience with Summers girls and emotional upheaval.

"Frankly? No I don't." Buffy took a sip from her cup before
continuing. "Tea cures anything, doesn't it." she said bitterly.

"No, it honestly doesn't." Willow corrected her. "But it helps."

"I really thought I could do it." she told her with a sigh.

"Do what?" Willow looked at her face over the top of her
steaming cup, wondering what she was missing.

"I have a sister." Buffy started as if talking about the
weather. "Just like Dawn, though she isn't a slayer. She was
always very enthusiastic about everything and everyone. I tried
to protect her from all of the bad things out there. I really
tried. But I couldn't save her from everything." She gave Willow
a sad look. "It just wasn't possible."

"What happened?" Willow asked gently.

"I had to go on a trip. She couldn't go with me, it was too
dangerous. A friend promised to keep her safe, to keep an eye on
her." She shook her head slightly. "Not that I had to ask, they
were very close." Willow noticed she was rubbing her arms as if
she was feeling a chill. "An old enemy came looking for me while
I was gone." She stared blankly into the distance. "When it
couldn't find me it took its' frustration out on my sister. I
came home as soon as I heard. She almost died. She hasn't spoken
since."

Willow stared at her in horror. She hadn't expected anything
like this. "What happened to the friend?"

"She killed it but she was badly hurt, worse than my sister. She
was in a coma for over a month." Buffy looked over at Willow.
"And it was my fault it happened."

"How? You weren't there."

"I should have known that something was going to happen. I
should have been there, protecting them both."

"It sounds like your friend tried."

"Yes. She did. She never really recovered and died a year later,
trying to prove to herself that she could still do her job,
still thinking I blamed her for what happened to my sister." She
took a shuddering breath. "But I couldn't. Even a slayer with
her experience gets beaten eventually. I don't think she ever
got over it. I know I haven't."

Willow hoped her surprise at this information didn't show. This
was the first time Buffy had told her anything about her past.
If she wasn't careful and reacted the wrong way she didn't think
Buffy would open up to her any further. "And you miss both of
them. Not just your sister." She observed in a soft voice.

"Yes. I didn't always get along very well with either of them
but I loved them both. My sister had such a gentleness about
her. She was curious about everything. She had a talent for
discovering things. Give her a musty old book and she was happy.
But the last time I saw her she just sat there, staring at
nothing, like she wasn't there anymore. She thought I was over
protective when I objected to her joining the family business.
Hunting demons isn't the safest profession, even for the
researchers like her."

"And my friend... she was a wild spirit. Almost a force of
nature. She left a very large hole in our world when she left
it."

Trying not to feel jealous about Buffy's feeling for this
friend, Willow took Buffy's free hand in her own and squeezed it
gently. "What was the problem tonight?"

"When I see Dawn I think of the two of them. I promised myself I
wouldn't let something like that happen again. That I wouldn't
leave someone unprotected if I could help it."

"Buffy, she's a slayer. You can't keep her away from danger."
Willow protested.

"I know." Buffy said. "But she isn't indestructible. Even
slayers can get hurt or die."

They sat there for a few more minutes before Buffy began telling
Willow what she'd seen earlier and what she thought had happened
to Dawn.

----

Dawn woke up to the chirp of her cell phone. Trying to
unsuccessfully remember how she'd gotten home after patrolling,
she lay there ignoring the sound. Several minutes after it
stopped she stiffly got out of bed and stumbled across the hall
into the bathroom in search of something to deaden the pain in
her head.

After swallowing enough pain killers to knock out a normal
person, Dawn stumbled back to her bedroom, collapsing on her bed
and noticed it was almost noon before falling back to sleep.

The smell of her favorite soup woke her not much later. Pushing
herself upright, Dawn leaned back against the headboard and
looked in the direction of the smell. On a small table next to
her bed sat a tray and in the middle of the tray sat a bowl of
soup. From the smell it couldn't be anything other than her
sister's favorite cure-all. She made it any time Dawn was under
the weather. Just the smell was normally enough to make her feel
better.

"Go ahead and eat." a voice said. Dawn turned her head to see
her sister leaning against her bedroom door, anxiously observing
her.

Sitting up and putting her feet on the floor, Dawn silently
reached for the soup spoon sitting next to the bowl. Dipping it
into the soup she raised a spoonful to her mouth, pausing
briefly to inhale the wonderful aroma. Once she'd savored the
first mouthful of rich, creamy soup, she quickly devoured the
rest.

Putting down her spoon with a contented sigh, Dawn jumped when
she heard her sister's amused laugh. She'd completely forgotten
she was there.

"If only you ate the rest of the food I cook like that..." Beth
commented, shaking her head.

"What happened?" Dawn asked. "I don't remember going to bed last
night." 

Her sister instantly sobered. "I don't know. Willow said she
would explain everything at dinner tonight. I know it has
something to do with whatever you are doing for the coven."

"What I'm doing?" Dawn looked at her in surprise.

"Dawn..." Beth shook her head. "I might have missed how deeply
you've become involved with the coven, but I do know what the
coven does."

"You do?" Dawn mumbled, look at the floor.

"Yes." her sister answered.

"How?" Dawn looked back up at her nervously.

"I'll explain after dinner. It can wait for now, Willow wanted
you to take it easy today." Beth walked over to her bed to
retrieve the tray and empty bowl. "I believe you had plans for
the afternoon?"

"Yes. I was meeting some friends at the beach."

"It's a nice day out. Why don't you give them a call?" Beth
suggested. "Just make sure you're back in time for dinner."

----

Dawn knew her sister wasn't what people called a gourmet cook
but in the time since their mother's death she'd put in a lot of
effort to learn to cook Dawn's favorite food. A Sunday dinner
with her sister, while not something to write songs about, was a
treat she wouldn't dare miss.

The wonderful smells that greeted her as she entered the kitchen
didn't completely calm her nervousness at the upcoming after
dinner meeting but it helped.

"Why don't you set the table?" Beth asked her before she had a
chance to peek into any of the pots on the stove. 

"How many places?" Dawn cautiously asked. Willow had been out
when she'd swung by the Coven House on her way to the beach. She
hadn't had a chance to find out anything other than what her
sister had told her about the upcoming meeting. For all she knew
half the coven was going to show up for dinner.

"Just the three of us." Beth told her, raising an eyebrow at the
question. "Where you expecting anyone else?"

"No... maybe..." Dawn mumbled. "Maybe she's bringing a date?"

"A date to a family meeting?" Beth gave her an astonished look.
"Is she seeing someone I don't know about?"

"Not that I know about... not yet anyway." Dawn grinned, glad
for the distraction. "But I'm working on it."

"Do I know this 'not yet' person?" Beth asked curiously.

"Who says there's an actual person?" Dawn asked innocently,
grabbing plates from the cupboard and
walking into the dining room.

"Dawn!" Beth said loudly from the kitchen.

"Okay! Okay!" Dawn said, going back into the kitchen for the
silverware. "There isn't really someone officially, but she's
been spending a lot of time with this person who works down at
the bookstore on Main Street." Dawn looked intently at her
sister. "Is it okay with you? I think they would be cute
together but if you want to get back together with Ms. Rosenberg
I'll stop trying to get them together."

"You know we're just good friends." Beth told her with a frown,
giving the pot she was standing over a quick stir. "I don't
think you should interfere in her personal life."

"That's what they said!" Dawn told her with a grin before
returning to the dining room.

"Maybe you should listen to them?" her sister told her sternly
from the other room. "Willow can take care of herself."

"Oh... okay." Disappointed at the lack of a real reaction from
her sister, Dawn decided to bring up another subject while she
was safely in the dining room. "What did you want to talk about
after dinner?"

"Your involvement with the coven, for a start." Dawn could hear
the concern in her sister's voice even from the other room. "And
I would like to know what happened last night."

"Well... you see..." Dawn didn't really know how to start a
conversation she'd been dreading for months.

"Dawn, why don't we wait until after dinner for this? I just
want to enjoy a nice meal with my sister and my best friend.
Then you and Willow will have plenty of time to explain what is
going on. Okay?"

"Okay." Dawn sighed in relief before she finished setting the
table.

----

Willow pushed her chair back from the table with a sigh. Dinner
had been a bit strained between the three of them, though not
unbearably so. They had talked civilly, none of them willing to
bring up the real reason she was there just yet.

"Dawn, why don't you clear off the table while I make us
coffee?" Beth asked her sister before turning to Willow. "Why
don't you go ahead into the living room? We'll both join you in
a minute."

"Let me help." Willow protested, standing up and making a slight
movement towards the kitchen. She was amazed that her slayer was
uncharacteristically following her sister's orders without
protesting.

"No. No need for that." Beth told her, placing her hands on
Willow's shoulders and turning her, gave her a push in the
direction of the living room. "We have it."

"Okay." a disappointed Willow responded. She was in no hurry to
begin the expected discussion of Dawn's coven activities. She'd
been playing it over and over in her head all day and couldn't
think of any way it could go well. Going into the living room
she picked the least confrontational spot to sit in that she
could find, at the far end of the couch. Several minutes later,
giving her a sympathetic look, Dawn sat down next to her,
curling her feet up under her.

Walking into the room right after her sister, Beth placed the
tray she'd been carrying between them on the coffee table.
Before taking her own seat, in what Willow had jokingly referred
to in the past as the matriarch's throne, she quietly offered
coffee to both of them. Willow could feel the tension in the
room increase as Beth sat there sipping her coffee, waiting for
one of them to say something.

When it was clear that neither one was willing to begin she
shook her head. "Neither of you like to do things the easy way,
do you." Before Willow could answer her, Beth continued.
"Willow, I believe you owe me an apology."

"Huh?" Dawn looked startled and stole a glance at her now
cringing Guide. "Apology for what?" she asked her sister.

"She promised me that the things you would be doing for the
coven wouldn't put you in any danger." She told her sister. "I
thought she was teaching you to be a Guide like her." She gave
Willow a stern glance.

"A Guide?" Dawn squeaked. "You know what the Coven does?"

"Yes, I have a very good idea what the Coven does. In one way or
another this family has supported the Slayer's covens for a long
time." Beth sighed and leaned back in her seat. "If Willow
hadn't involved you already you would have found out when you
were eighteen like I did." She sighed again. "It has been such a
long time since we'd had a Guide in the family, and we've had
more than our share of slayers in the family that it never
occurred to me that you might be one of the chosen. Or that the
things she had you doing aren't things Guides normally do."

"Chosen?" Willow sat up suddenly. "What do you mean by that?" 

Beth looked at her in confusion. "Isn't that how the coven
refers to slayers now? That's how they are referred to in the
personal journals of the last Summers to be a Guide."

"No... that's the first time I've heard that." Willow shook her
head as the feeling that this was somehow important quickly went
through her mind. "Can I see these journals?" she asked
excitedly.

"Willow! Let's not forget why we're here!" Beth reminded her
with a glare.

"Okay." Willow mumbled. "It can wait."

"Well?" Beth gave her a look Willow remembered well. The 'you
were wrong, just admit it so we can move on' look she'd gotten
so many times that year when they'd briefly been a couple.

"I'm sorry for not telling you your sister might become a
slayer." Willow grumbled ungraciously.

"And?" Beth prodded.

"And for letting her get hurt." Willow added.

"Guys! Slayer here. I can take care of myself!" Dawn whined,
causing Willow to cringe.

"Could have fooled me last night." Beth told her, raising her
voice.

"I don't remember anything bad happening last night!" Dawn
protested, her voice also getting louder. "What happened last
night that has you so freaked? I'll admit that getting up this
morning wasn't of the fun but I'm perfectly fine now."

Afraid things could get out of hand quickly, Willow attempted to
calm them down. "Beth? Dawn? It's okay." She said in the calming
tone she'd learned to use in such situations. "We're all here
now and everyone is okay." She managed to hide her own sigh of
relief as she watched the two sisters visibly take control of
their emotions and calm down.

"According to Buffy you were knocked unconscious by something
like lightening." Willow told her.

"She was there? Damned slayer stalker." Dawn grumbled. "I bet it
was her fault."

"Dawn!" Her sister spouted in protest. "Watch your language."

"Sorry." Dawn glared at Willow. "Sometimes she can be so
annoying. Following me around. Killing my vampires!"

"Is that the woman who brought you home last night?" Beth asked
her.

"You met her?" Noticing the quick change in Dawn's attitude
Willow groaned silently. "What did you think?" Dawn asked
excitedly. "Wouldn't she and Willow look cute together?"

"Dawn!" Willow objected. "What did I tell you?"

"I'm right." Dawn pouted, winking at her. "Just because you're
too chicken to say anything to her and she's in denial doesn't
mean I can't say anything to anyone else."

"I didn't really notice. She seemed in a big hurry to leave."
Beth looked back at Willow. "What does she have to do with Dawn
being a slayer?"

"She's kind of cool for a grownup." Dawn interjected. "When she
isn't stalking me or killing my vampires anyway." Dawn told her.
"She knows all these great moves!"

"She just showed up one day. She claims to come from a family of
demon hunters." Willow told Beth, hoping she wouldn't ask for
details she couldn't provide. "She has a sister Dawn's age and
seems a bit protective of her."

"She does?" Dawn asked in surprise. "When did she tell you
that?"

"Last night when she was telling me what happened to you."
Willow told her in a neutral voice. She didn't feel that Dawn or
Beth needed to know about Buffy's extreme reaction to Dawn
getting injured.

"Does this mean you're going to let me spar with her?" Dawn
asked excitedly, apparently forgetting completely about the
discussion she and Willow were supposed to be having with her
sister.

"I still haven't decided." Willow told her. "I need to know more
about her."

"I'll be dead before you let me." Dawn complained. " I think you
just don't want to share her! I knew you were jealous yesterday
when you saw all those guys around her at the park."

"Was not!" Willow protested, blushing when Beth raised an
eyebrow at her behavior.

"Were too!" Dawn turned to her sister. "You should have seen
them. Something was definitely going on between them."

"Jealous?" Beth asked Dawn with a curious note in her voice.

"Yup! Very." Dawn smirked, patting her annoyed Guide on the
knee.

----

Beth sighed, as she watched her sister and Willow.  It was clear
to her that they weren't going to get back to the discussion
about Dawn being a slayer any time soon. She was going to have
to tackle them both separately. She didn't like being kept in
the dark about her sister's life. It would have to stop. At
least they were on the same page now. She sighed again. And then
there was this mysterious Buffy person. She knew Willow was an
adult and should be able to take care of herself, but she knew
she would need to check her out for herself if she was going to
be involved with her best friend and her sister.

- - -

 TBC in "Season Opener"

- - -

Hope y'all liked this installment.

-Andy-

=====
-
- http://radio.weblogs.com/0104508/
-

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Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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