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ladydameon: of course it's sweet and sappy. I have to make up for the extreme angst to come... But you didn't hear that from me.
WOO - Update!
Chapter 5 'Oh yeah. There's a Connection'
“So, shouldn’t Dawnie be home by now,” Willow asks, becoming worried as she glances at the clock.
Tara looks over at the clock and says, “It’s only 12:03, baby. I don’t think we should start getting worried if she’s just a few minutes late. Besides -.” Tara is cut off by Buffy walking into their bedroom, a sword hung over her shoulder, yelling, “Okay, I’m going to look for Dawn.”
Tara clears her throat, “As I was just telling Willow, Dawn is only a few minutes late, Buffy. Besides, she’s outside on the porch.”
Willow’s brow wrinkles in confusion, “How do you know?” Tara shrugs, “I can feel her presence. Just like I can feel yours and Buffy’s. Also, I can feel Dawn’s friend’s aura. They’re just outside the door. No worries.”
“Since when can you feel auras,” Buffy asks interested.
“Oh, I’ve always been able to see and feel other people’s auras. It was how I knew Faith was in your body that one time, Buffy.” Tara explains softly to the Slayer. Willow frowns, “But you’ve never been able to sense them like this.” Tara nods, “I know. It’s like every one of my powers has expanded in the last few days. Empathy is one of the new ones I seem to be developing.”
Buffy shrugs, “As long as Dawn is all right… Do you think I should go get her?”
Tara shakes her head, “I think you should let Dawn be. You wouldn’t like it if she interrupted one of your dates.”
Buffy drops her sword, “Whoa. Date?! Hold on! Dawn’s too young to be dating! Is she on a date? I’ll kill him!” Buffy runs out of the bedroom, charging the steps.
Tara freezes her with a hand motion, “Buffy WAIT!” Buffy doesn’t move, she can’t move. Quickly, Tara releases her magickal hold on Buffy and the Slayer falls crashing to the ground. “First of all, Dawn isn’t on a date to my knowledge. Second of all, Dawn is 18 years old. Which is plenty old enough to date.”
Buffy groans, “You froze me! With magick!”
Tara frowns, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even know that I could.”
Buffy shrugs, climbing to her feet, “I guess you got your point across. And you stopped me from being rash.” Willow grins, “Whoa. You got some cool powers when the Goddess gave you that whammy.” Tara laughs, “Yes, I did.”
Just then, the front door opens and Dawn slips quietly inside, Anna following her. The shy blonde is lightly holding onto Dawn’s hand as the two girls silently make their way to the kitchen, never looking up the stairs to see all three women staring at them in quiet awe.
“Who was that?” Willow asks, obviously struck by the beauty of the blonde. “Her name is Anna. She is Dawn’s friend,” Tara supplies for her lover.
“Were they holding hands?” Buffy whispers loudly, a little taken aback.
Tara slowly nods, “Th-that’s what it looked like to me.”
“Hmm… interesting,” Willow comments mischievously.
***************
“Would you like a soda,” Dawn asks Anna as they sit down at the island.
Anna shakes her head, “No thank you,” she politely declines the offer. “I’m not a big fan of caffeine.”
Dawn’s jaw drops open, “What? I can’t function without my daily caffeine bursts! Coffee, soda, chocolate, you name it – I have to have it!”
Anna laughs, “I understand. There was a time when I was addicted to coffee, but when it started to interfere with my healing, I stopped drinkin’ it.”
Dawn nods, “Tell me more about that. How you fight and stuff.”
Anna shrugs, “Oh, it’s pretty borin’ really. Nothin’ much to tell anyway.”
Dawn juts her lower lip out, using her pout-y face to try and con Anna into revealing her secrets. “How about I tell you over dinner tomorrow,” Anna suggests, coyly. Dawn smiles, “All right, you’ve got yourself a date, Anna.”
“Perfect,” Anna breathes happily, “Why don’t I pick you up here around 7? Is that good for you?”
Dawn nods, “Seven sounds wonderful!” Little do the two girls know Willow and Buffy are standing outside the kitchen door, listening to the conversation. Tara looks at them in disapproval before calling out, “Munchkin? Are you in the kitchen?”
Startled by Tara’s voice, Dawn jumps before yelling, “Yes! My friend Anna came to get a drink.” Tara shakes her head at Willow and Buffy before saying, “Good night! I’ll see you in the morning!”
Dawn leans over to watch Tara climb the stairs and sees a glimpse of her sister. She sighs and yells, “Could you take Willow and Buffy upstairs with you? ‘Cause they aren’t very good at spying!”
Buffy indignantly calls out, “Am too! And it’s not spying if it’s in your own house, Dawn!” Willow swats at her, “Buffy! You just gave us away!” Tara laughs, “I can’t do anything about ‘em, Dawnie!”
Dawn rolls her eyes and asks Anna, “Would you mind meeting my family?” When Anna shakes her head she says, “Buffy, Willow? C’mere.” Both women file sheepishly into the kitchen, “Hey,” Willow says, blushing softly.
“Wil, Buffy, this is my friend Anna. Anna, this is Tara’s fiancée, Willow and this is my sister Buffy.” Dawn says, pointing to each person as she introduces them. “It’s a pleasure to meet y’all,” Anna says politely.
“Te-he!” Willow exclaims. “Where are your from,” She asks, recovering from her near giggle fest. Buffy nods, “Yeah, and where did you meet my sister?”
Anna smiles gently, “I just moved here from Austin, Texas. Before that I lived in London, England for five years. I met Dawn-.” Dawn cuts in, “Don’t you think it’s a little rude to badger my guest with questions the first time you meet them? Especially, this late at night?”
Buffy smiles patronizingly, “Only when they bring my baby sister home after her curfew.”
Dawn sighs, “I was six minutes late, Buff. Have a cow. Jeez!” Buffy rolls her eyes, “And it’s not like I asked for a birth certificate of something, Dawn.”
Willow grins, “Hey, Anna. How do you like Sunnydale so far?”
Anna smiles at Willow and says, “It’s treated me well, so far. Alice Belladonna said it would be a hoot to live here after my training, and she certainly was right.” Willow’s grin grows into a real smile, “Alice Belladonna? You know Alice Belladonna?”
Anna shrugs, “Yes, ma’am.” Willow sputters, “How?” Anna frowns, “She’s a close friend of my mother’s.” Willow steps closer, “Really? Who is your mother?” Anna gulps, “Um, she’s really well known on the Wiccan circuit, but she goes by many different names.”
Willow nods, “So, are you a witch?” Anna shakes her head, “No! I, um, don’t have that type of power.” Willow smiles, “I understand. What type do you have? I can feel some coming off you.” Anna shrugs, explaining a little to Willow about what she can do.
Buffy frowns, looking at Dawn she whispers, “Do you know what they are saying?” Dawn nods, “Yeah. They’re talking witch stuff.”
After a few minutes, Anna looks at the clock and says, “I hate to leave just when I was gettin’ to know every one, but I’ve got a lot of stuff to take care of. I should be headin’ back to the apartments.” Dawn gratefully nods, “I’ll walk you out.”
Buffy grabs Dawn’s arm, “Um, I’m leaving to go patrolling. Since I didn’t go earlier because I was worried about you.” Dawn nods, “All right. Just be careful.”
Buffy leave through the kitchen door and Dawn walks Anna to the front. “I’m really sorry about Willow,” she tells the blonde softly.
Anna shrugs, “Don’t worry about it. It’s all right. I’ll, um, pick you up around 7 tomorrow. For dinner.”
Dawn smiles, “That sounds great, Anna.”
Anna reaches out and takes Dawn’s hand, brings it to her mouth and kisses it gently. “Sweet dreams, Dawn.” With that, she is out the door and down the street before Dawn can think of a reply. She watches the blonde go, wishing with all her heart that she didn’t have to.
After she can no longer see Anna, Dawn rushes up the stairs and into Tara’s bedroom. She jumps on the bed and screams, “Wake up Glenda! I have to talk to you!”
Tara sits up, “I’m awake, Dawnie! What’s the matter?”
Dawn smiles, “Oh, my, gosh! Tonight was so frickin awesome! I just cannot believe how awesome it was!” She jumps up and down on the bed and Tara rolls her eyes. “I take it the date went well.”
Dawn sighs, “Well, it wasn’t a date, Tara. But we have one set up for tomorrow!”
Tara’s eyes twinkle, “That is wonderful, baby girl! Tell me about her!” By this time, Tara is sitting up with her back propped up against the headboard, her full attention devoted to Dawn and her excitement.
“Oh, she’s amazing! She has the most intense green eyes EVER!”
Tara grins and teases, “You’re more like me than I thought! I have a thing for green eyes, too!”
Dawn laughs and continues, “She’s also got the sexiest accent! It’s all southern. She even says y’all! How cute is that?! Oh, she can dance really well, too. And she’s frickin HOT! And she has a crush on me! She even said so!”
Tara grins, “She sounds amazing, Dawnie!”
Willow walks into the room and upon seeing Dawn and Tara talking says, “Oh, I’ll go be somewhere that is not here. ‘Cause you guys never want anyone else around. So, I’ll go away before you tell me to!”
Dawn sees the near panic on Tara’s face and calls out, “Willow! Wait! I want you to hear this, too!” Shocked, Willow appears back at the doorway and asks, “Really?” When Dawn nods, she comes back in and settles down on the bed.
“As I was saying,” Dawn continues, “Anna is so amazing! And she’s really sweet too! She kissed my hand when she left, Tara! It was so romantic!”
Willow’s jaw drops, “Wait a minute… You’re.. With the… Girls? Why didn’t I know that… I mean.. This does mean that… Boys? Oh…” Tara laughs at Willow’s babble and Dawn replies, “Yes. I am. No boys. I’m all about the girl on girl action.”
Willow’s eyes grow six sizes, ‘Action? You?! NO! You are not allowed action! EVER!”
Once again Tara laughs and places a calming hand on Willow, “Honey, you were as young as Dawn when you started having sex.” Willow nods, “I know! That’s why this is a bad thing!”
Dawn frowns, “Jeez, Wil. And you wonder why I don’t like talking to you and Buffy? At least Tara treats me like I’m 18 – not five!” Willow frowns, “Sorry, Dawnie… It’s just – you’re my baby!”
Dawn nods, “It’s okay.”
Willow smiles, “I want to hear all about this girl. What do you think of her? ‘Cause I like her! She’s very knowledgeable in Wicca. She seems very nice. Soft-spoken, well mannered. A lot like Tara actually.”
Dawn grins, “I really like her. She’s sweet, and nice. I could talk to her for hours about anything it seems. We have a date tomorrow!”
Willow smiles, “A date? Good for you Dawn! She’s HOT!”
Tara swats playfully at her love and says, “I’m sitting right here!”
Willow grins, “What? I didn’t say anything!”
Dawn laughs, “Well, I’m going to go to bed guys! Thanks for listening!”
Willow nods, “Any time!”
Tara hugs Dawn close, “She’s a good girl. I want to meet her properly before you go out tomorrow, though.” Dawn nods, “Yes, ma’am. You got it! You’ll love her, I promise!” Dawn rushes out of the room and into the bathroom before any one can respond.
“So, Dawnie is…” Willow asks quietly.
Tara nods, “For some time now.”
Willow grunts, “Oh. I see. Well…”
Tara kisses her sound on the lips, “I’m sleepy, baby. Sweet dreams.”
Willow nods, “Good night!” She snuggles up to her Tara and they fall asleep.
***************
“Damn demons,” Buffy mutters as she swings her sword around to chop into the nearest slime demon. Its green goo sprays every where as the blade slices through his slime covering and penetrates to the solid center. “EW!” She screams as some of it lands in her mouth. Spitting she yells, “You will pay for that, squishy!” Squishy’s head goes flying. Suddenly, three more demons appear, surrounding her and attacking. Buffy is a blur of hacking and slicing with her broadsword, but she just can’t seem to fight all three at once.
“Hey UGLY,” A voice yells off to the right of her, and being busy, Buffy simply cannot spare the time to look and see who it is. All she knows is that she is only fighting two monsters now.
Anna takes the intricately carved battle-ax she received as a gift from her foster father Quentin Travers and begins attacking the gooey demon that she called away from Buffy. Using every bit of training and experience she has, Anna deftly kills the demon in three swoops. Seeing that Buffy is still fighting with her two, Anna moves to help her.
“Thwack!” Another head goes flying as Anna chops it off with her ax. And “Slish!” Buffy stabs the thing with her sword and it falls to the ground. Anna steps forward, to announce her presence, but Buffy mistakes her as another demon and swings with all of her might at the girl.
Dodging swiftly, Anna tries to move out of the way. She just isn’t fast enough. Buffy realizes at the last second that this girl is human and not a foe. She tries to stop the blade, but can’t. The sword clips Anna’s arm and the girl grunts loudly.
“Oh, GOD!” Buffy yells. “I am so sorry! Are you all right?”
Anna nods, gritting her teeth through the pain, “Yeah. I’m fine. It’s not like I haven’t been stabbed before.” She shakes her head, “Well, this night was more trouble than it was worth. Usually, the demons are the ones fightin’ me. I never thought I’d have to worry about a Slayer out to get me.” She walks off, holding her cut arm tightly, blood oozing out between her finger to stain her shirt and skirt.
Buffy moves with her, “I am so sorry! Here, let me look at it!” she grabs Anna’s arm. “Okay, what part of, ‘I’m fine’ did you not get,” Anna snaps. Buffy shrugs, “The part where I stabbed you.” Anna sighs, “Look, I just want to get home.”
Buffy sighs, “No, you look. I’m feeling guilty because I stabbed you. You are going to come back to my house and I’ll get you cleaned up. You can go home in the morning.” She finally looks at the girl. “Holy shit! You’re Dawn’s friend! Damn it! She’s going to kill me when she finds out I stabbed her friend!”
Smirking, Anna thinks, ‘You don’t know the half of it!’
Buffy frowns, “Please?”
Slowly, Anna nods, “All right. If it’ll clear your conscious.”
***************
“So, how did you happen to be in the cemetery with a battle ax? Especially a mystical one like this?” Buffy asks as they walk back to the Summers house.
“Same reason as you I suppose.” Anna answers through gritted teeth. Buffy once again tries to look at the cut on her arm. “Damn,” Buffy mutters.
“Yeah,” Anna replies, “It’s pretty deep.” She yelps as Buffy begins to poke at it. “Hey?! Were you raised in a barn? Don’t poke at my wound!”
Buffy laughs, “You say the oddest things.”
Scoffing, Anna looks away. Buffy leads her up the porch steps, “Try and be quiet, I think everyone is asleep.” Anna nods and they enter the house as quiet as can be. Buffy takes her to the kitchen and says, “You stay here. I’ll go get us some rags.” A few seconds later Buffy returns with wash cloths and pulls the huge first aid kit out from under the sink.
“I should really get this goo off of me before I bandage this wound. I don’t want anything trapped in there when it heals.”
Buffy nods, “All right. You want to shower?” Anna nods gratefully, “That would be wonderful!” Buffy grins and shows her the way to the bathroom. Anna says, “I’ll be quick.”
*************
“Hey, you were quick.” Buffy exclaims as Anna returns from the shower less than five minutes later. She looks at the blonde and says, “I see my pajamas fit you.”
Anna smiles, “Thank you for letting me borrow them.” Buffy shrugs, “It’s the least I can do, after all, I did stab you.” Anna nods, “You’re right. You did stab me!”
Just then they hear a voice from the kitchen door, “You stabbed her, Buffy?” Both blonde women turn to see Tara standing in the doorway.
“I didn’t mean to!” Buffy says loudly.
“Goddess, Buffy!” Tara exclaims.
“It was an accident!” Buffy defends herself.
“Honest, ma’am,” Anna quietly tells Tara. They hear the sound of feet coming down the stairs and Dawn appears in the doorway, “What is all the locomotion?” Tara looks at Dawn, “Commotion, locomotion is like a train. And your sister stabbed Anna.”
“WHAT?!” Dawn screams, looking at Buffy in a rage.
“It was a complete a-accident,” Anna stutters out slightly, trying to calm Dawn before she goes off on Buffy. Dawn’s rage disappears as she wanders over to Anna.
“Goddess, Buff! Did you stick the whole sword in her?” Tara asks as she examines the deep wound in the girl’s arm.
“Guys, I’m covered in gunk. I’m tired, sore and extremely cranky. Why don’t you let us finish cleaning up and we’ll talk about this in the morning.” Buffy says, her patience’s wearing thin.
“How about, you go shower, Tara and I will bandage up Anna and we’ll see you in the morning. From what I can tell, you weren’t randomly stabbed by another person,” Dawn says to her sister icily.
Buffy nods, “That’s also a plan.” She disappears, stomping up the stairs.
“Hey,” Dawn whispers softly to Anna. Tara smiles and says, “I’m going to go get some gauze.”
“Hey,” Anna replies. “Does your sister always attack people who save her from slime monsters?”
Dawn nods, “Pretty much. I’m so sorry.”
Anna shrugs, “It isn’t by far the worst wound I ever had. It’ll be gone soon.” Dawn scoffs, “This sucker is huge!” Anna frowns, “At least it was my arm and not my stomach.”
Tara returns to the kitchen carrying a slightly smaller first aid kit. She opens it and asks, “Do you mind if I treat it?”
Anna smiles, “Thank you.”
Tara nods, putting a salve on the wound and wrapping the gauze around it. She places tape to keep the gauze in place and says, “Good as new. Buffy must have hit you really hard for the sword to make that kind of damage. You might have torn some muscles. It would make me feel better if you would let me take you to the hospital in the morning, Anna.”
Anna nods, “If you feel it is still necessary in the morning, I’ll go with you. No fightin’ or anything.” She smiles and Tara says, “I’m going back to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day if I only get a few hours of sleep.” She leaves the girls alone in the kitchen.
On her way out, she passes by Buffy who says, “Dawn, will you make out the couch for Anna?”
Dawn clears her throat and says, “I think she’ll just stay in my room.”
Tara looks quickly at Dawn, disapproval in her eyes, “Are you sure that’s a good idea-.” She starts to ask, but Buffy says, “Hey, that’s easier. See you in the morning.”
Anna’s green eyes are wide as Dawn grins at her. “I, uh, I.. Um.. Uh.. Okay.” She says, nervously.
“Dawn,” Tara says in her mother voice.
“Night Glenda,” Dawn says, whisking pat her, taking Anna upstairs to her room.
“DAWN ELIZABETH!” Tara exclaims, stopping Dawn in her tracks. Dawn smiles at Anna and says, “Go on in, I will be right there.”
Dawn slowly walks back down the stairs, looking innocently at Tara, “Yes?” Tara clears her throat, “I think you shouldn’t sleep with Anna.”
Shocked, Dawn exclaims, “WHAT! There is no way I am going to sleep with her! We haven’t even gone on a date!”
Tara shakes her head, “I meant you shouldn’t sleep in the same bed as her.”
Dawn sighs, “Tara, stop worrying. Nothing is going to happen! You have my word.”
Tara bites her lower lip, “All right.” Dawn grins, “Good night!”
Tara sighs, “Sleep tight, kid.”
****************
Dawn walks into her room and sees a very nervous Anna sitting on the edge of her bed. “Um, it’s a queen sized bed. You can have more of it.”
Anna blushes, “I, uh… I was waiting for you to come back.”
Dawn smiles, “Here I am! Which side of the bed do you want?”
Anna again blushes, “Um… Whatever side you don’t want.”
Dawn nods, “All right!” She pulls the covers down and says, “I’ll take the side closest to the door.”
She lies down and pats the spot next to her. Anna carefully climbs into the bed. “I’ve, uh… I’ve never shared a bed with someone. Especially not someone I like,” Anna confesses quickly.
Dawn nods, “I’ve never shared a bed with someone I liked either.”
Anna sighs, “I guess that makes this a little better.”
Dawn nods. She reaches over and turns the light out.
After a few minutes, she takes Anna’s hand in hers. Anna smiles, deciding that she wants to snuggle. She carefully takes her injured arm and places it over Dawn’s mid-section. “Is this all right,” she asks hurriedly, not wanting to break any rules.
“Oh, this is very all right!” They snuggle for a moment before Dawn asks, “How many girls have you dated?”
Anna sighs, “Counting you?” When Dawn nods, Anna replies, “One.”
Dawn looks at her, “What?!”
Anna bites her lower lip, “I’ve never dated someone before. Training took up all of my time, and I never found any one that I liked enough to try.”
Dawn smiles, “But you like me enough to try?”
Anna slowly nods, “Yeah. I do.”
Dawn smiles bigger and hums softly to herself. “Yay!” She exclaims softly.
“Dawn,” Anna asks softly.
Dawn looks at her, “Yes?”
Anna places her lips gently to Dawn’s, a very soft, very sweet kiss taking place.
“Wow,” Dawn whispers as Anna pulls away.
“Wow?” Anna asks nervously.
“That was by far the best first kiss I have ever had in my life,” Dawn explains, diving in for another.
***************
“Who was here?” Willow asks Tara as she crawls back into bed.
“Oh, Buffy just stabbed Dawn’s girlfriend.” Tara replies, playfully.
“WHAT?!” Willow says loudly.
Tara laughs, “Buffy accidentally stabbed Anna when she was fighting monsters. I helped patch her up.”
Willow frowns, “Where did she go?”
Tara sighs, “She’s staying in Dawn’s room.”
Willow’s eyes grow huge, “She who with the what and the huh?”
Tara nods, “Yep.”
“Who the hell does that blonde think she is? Seducing my Dawnie like she is?! I’m about to go and give her a good talking to!” Willow says angrily.
“Um maybe we should direct that anger at Dawnie. She was the one dragging poor Anna upstairs. Also, she swore up and down that nothing would happen. I have to trust her,” Tara tells Willow softly.
Willow grumbles slightly, “I don’t know…”
Tara kisses her neck, stopping the flow of words, “Get some sleep, lover. We have a lot to do tomorrow. Dress shopping!” Willow nods, “Okay, baby.” The lovers fall asleep tangled together.
***************
More soon
Jessica