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1. Buffy leans over the bassinet, her hair falling into Dawn's face.
"I'm your sister. Your big sister." Her voice is about an octave higher than normal, which means it's close to dog whistle range. She pokes a little at the baby, watching raptly as Dawn fusses. "Do you love your sister? I'm Buffy, your sister and I love you," she singsongs.
Dawn's becoming a little bit agitated at this point. She bats her hands ineffectually and Buffy leans in even further. "What's the matter, Dawnie? Do you need to be picked up? You want me to pick you up?"
Buffy lifts her up. She's a bit heavier than she anticipated but the real issue is Dawn is much floppier than Buffy would have guessed. Her baby dolls tend to stay in one place. Dawn, however, is rather squirmy and even worse her head keeps lolling around. Buffy tries to shift her, but within seconds Dawn is screaming.
Joyce dashes in, yelling at Buffy even as she takes Dawn into her arms. "Buffy, what are you doing? Don't ever pick up Dawn like that." She begins to coo to Dawn; rocking her gently and almost instantly Dawn quiets down.
Buffy glares angrily. She was only trying to help. She stomps off, but not before sticking her tongue out at her sister.
2. Buffy trudged up the stairs to her bedroom. Her life was quickly falling apart. She had been booted from the cheer squad today. Not that she was surprised. She'd missed every practice for the past two and half weeks. And she saw Tyler giving Mindy the eye earlier. He'd be dumping her soon, she was sure. She walked into her bedroom, glad there was one place she could escape to, when she stiffened.
Dawn was sitting on her bed cross-legged, her diary open on Dawn's lap. "What are you doing?" Buffy intended to sound angry and enraged; instead it came out as a tired whine.
"You let Tyler get to second base? Eww, skanky." Dawn flipped her hair back and flipped a few more pages. "Does mom know you failed your algebra test last Friday?"
"Get out of my room. That's private."
Dawn ignored her sister and continued to read. "What's all the stuff about you going out and killing vampires? Are you mental?"
"Of course not. I'm kidding."
Dawn looked at her sister a bit uneasily. "You write about it every day. How you sneak out at night and you've got these superpowers and you have to protect everyone."
"I'm trying to write a book, a kid's book. So now you know. Happy?"
"Like anyone would want to read something you've written."
"Thank you for your opinion. Now get out of here." She reached over and grabber her diary out of Dawn's hands.
Dawn slowly strolled out of Buffy's room, turning around at the last second. "You are a total loser."
Buffy flopped onto her bed, staring at the ceiling. The sad thing was, she was pretty sure Dawn was right.
3. Buffy scooted closer to Angel on the couch, giving him what she hoped was a seductive smile. Since Halloween, the two of them had begun to grow a lot closer. She knew that Angel still felt this relationship wasn't in her best interests, but he also was no longer fighting their obvious attraction. They had the house to themselves since her mom was doing inventory at the gallery and Buffy planned to take full advantage of that. She was just about to make her move, when the front door started to open. They jumped apart as if they were both magnetic north poles and therefore compelled to repulse.
Dawn stomped into the living room, dragging her shoulder pack by one handle. "Who's he?"
"Why aren't you at Janet's?"
Dawn gave an elegant shrug. "They're having pot roast for dinner and I hate pot roast." She stared at Angel. "Who's he?" she repeated.
"My history tutor."
Dawn narrowed her eyes for a second, making it perfectly clear how much she believed that statement. "Dawn Summers," she stated, sticking her hand into Angel's face.
"Angel," he said, shaking her hand.
"What kind of weirdo name is that?"
"Dawn," Buffy hissed.
"It's a nickname." Angel was clearly flustered.
"And your real name is?" Dawn asked while giving him a pointed look.
"Liam."
Buffy whirled around to glare at him. "I didn't know that. You never told me that."
"You never asked?" Angel was looking more and more uncomfortable.
Dawn plopped down on one of the chairs and picked up the remote.
"Aren't you going up to your room?"
"A show I like is coming on."
Buffy's scowl had caused many a vampire to flee for their undead lives. Dawn didn't even seem to notice. Angel however did, and half stumbled off the couch, his usual grace deserting him. "You're going to do fine on your history test. I'll see you soon." He fled.
"Dawn, I'm going to hurt you."
Dawn looked at her sister with feigned innocence. "I think that new blue sweater would look really good on me."
Buffy's face registered shock. "That's my sweater. You're not wearing it."
Dawn smiled sweetly. "I'm sure mom would be interested to know how close you and your tutor seem to be getting."
Buffy wondered if her mother would notice if Dawn suddenly disappeared from the Earth.
4. "That was Ick on the phone?"
"His name is Rick, Dawn." Buffy slowly enunciated his name, even though she was aware that Dawn was just being difficult. "I don't why you don't like him. He's a nice, normal guy."
"You mean boring."
"Dawn." Buffy stretched out her sister's name in an obvious warning.
"Ok, Ok. You going to spend Christmas day with him?"
"Yes. He asked me to meet his family and I'm going to go. We'll spend Christmas Eve together. And I'll be back that night. I like him, Dawn. And we've been dating for five months."
"Do you love him?"
"I don't know. He's the kind of guy everyone says is perfect for me."
Dawn sighed. "I just think there's someone out there who could make you happier."
Buffy smiled at her sister. "No one out there is good enough for me. Are you going to be here when I come back from patrol?"
"No, off to hit the library. What kind of professor assigns a paper over Christmas break?"
----
Buffy headed over to the local cemetery. There had been a rash of disappearances and deaths and she was fairly certain a nest was operating out of the graveyard.
Five minutes after she arrived, her suspicions were confirmed. She went to work, steadily whittling their numbers down. It was almost like popping balloons; stake to the heart, the vampire would explode. She turned to take down the last two when they dusted in front of her, revealing another attacker. Her mouth opened, closed and opened again. For once, Buffy Anne Summers was speechless.
Finally she crossed her arms over her chest. "How nice of you to drop in and let me know you're alive. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Angel had his hands shoved into his coat pockets, head bowed down. He was the very picture of guilt. "Dawn said ---".
"Dawn!" Buffy interrupted with an angry shout. "I thought you were dead for two and a half years, and Dawn knew all along?"
"No, no!" If Buffy hadn't been so angry, she might have found Angel's panicked expression funny. "After the L.A. mess, there were forces after me and people I cared about. We had to go to ground."
"And?"
Angel sighed. "Two months ago, we were able to turn things around. The threat is no longer a factor."
"That doesn't explain why Dawn knew you were all right."
"I called your house two months ago."
"Angel, do me a favor and try to speak more than one sentence at a time. I can feel my shoes going out of style."
He scowled, but finally started to talk. "When I called, Dawn picked up the phone. She told me you were involved with that Mick guy."
"Rick, his name is Rick."
Angel shrugged. "I didn't want to complicate your life. Dawn said things were going well for you and I didn't want to mess that up."
"You haven't changed a bit," she said exasperated.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Angel, I'm almost twenty-six years old. Don't you think I'm old enough to decide if I want you in my life or not?"
"Do you?" His question was quiet and heartfelt.
Buffy looked away, suddenly uncomfortable.
Angel took a step toward her, his voice suddenly animated. "See the problem is I know how I want you in my life. I see you and I want to put my arms around you. I hear your voice and I want to kiss you. And that's not ---"
Buffy, in the meantime, was looking at his face. A look of resolve settled over her features and before she could let herself think about it, threw her arms around his neck. "Do you mean holding me something like this?" She stood on tiptoe and pulling his head down, pressed her lips to his. It deepened between them until she pulled away. "And would the kiss have been something like that?" she whispered.
"Something," he murmured, gazing into her eyes.
"How did you even know to be here? You said you were planning to be all avoidy."
"Dawn said that you were going to be in a dangerous battle tonight and that you were going to need help. She gave me this address."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Well, that wasn't even close to the truth. She can be so annoying. Think I should buy her an extra Christmas gift?"
-----
Back at the library, Dawn groaned as she took yet another book off the large stack next to her. She wondered if Willow would mind turning her professor into a toadstool. Checking her cell phone for the time, she flipped it open and punched in a phone number.
"Hello Dick. Oh sorry, Rick." She listened to the other end for just a moment, before obviously interrupting. "Listen, Buffy's not going to be able to make it Christmas day. No, not an emergency or anything. I just sort of pushed her toward happiness that's all." Dawn got a wicked gleam in her eye as she continued to talk. "Not perfect happiness, mind you, but I think you have to be pretty naïve for that, don't you? Still, I think she's going to be happier than she's been in a long while."
"I guess what I'm trying to say is, you probably won't be hearing from her again. Like ever."
Dawn hung up the phone. It was really tough work being a great little sister. At least Dawn was pretty sure that this was a much better Christmas present than the scarf she was originally planning on.