The Two
by acs
Sister Mary Sunshine
[reviews]
TITLE: The Two (11/24)
AUTHOR: -Andy- (see2go4me@yahoo.com)
RATING: R (For future violence and Adult situations) - (though Parts 1 thru 12 just barely make it to a PG-13)
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 words and plot.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
[1] Feedback welcome/desired. Especially the kind that helps me write better.
[2] [Revised: 11-Dec-2005][Minor rev. 25-Jan-2006]
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Chapter XI: "Sister Mary Sunshine "
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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 she didn't recognize but whom felt very familiar 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 peaceful place, but failed. She could feel herself being roughly pulled from the dream by the loud sound.
Beth awoke with a gasp. Struggling against the blankets tightly wrapped around her body, she attempted to sit up. When she managed to free herself she noticed that 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 seemed to be coming from someone banging on the outside kitchen door. She could just barely 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 quickly examined her sister, checking for broken bones, a bump on the head, or any other injuries that could explain her condition but she couldn't find anything obvious. Getting up from her side, Beth turned around and found herself staring into the woman's pale 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 and disappeared into the night. Beth stared after her for only 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 grabbing the phone off of her night-stand with a few choice words uttered at the unknown caller.
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 said, almost shouting.
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 climbed out of bed and 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." Beth said.
"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. Dawn was very rarely hurt while patrolling and 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 the attention of the police who patrolled Sunnydale so early in the morning. She didn't have time to explain her hurry.
--- --- ---
Hidden in the shadow of an old oak in the front yard, 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, younger 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.
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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 said, 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 everywhere.
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 aware 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.
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"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 slim 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 seen that Buffy was not as solidly grounded as she appeared, but coming from this seemingly tough woman Willow wasn't sure of the best way 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 younger 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." Willow shivered at the expression in her eyes.
"Yes. She did." Buffy said, looking away. "She never completely recovered. She 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 drove everyone crazy but she left a very large hole in our world when she left it."
Trying not to feel jealous about Buffy's obvious feelings for this friend, Willow took Buffy's free hand in her own and squeezed it gently. "What was the problem tonight?" she prompted.
"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.
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Dawn woke up to the chirp of her cell phone. Trying unsuccessfully to 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. She noticed through the painful throbbing in her head that 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.
Dawn winked at her sister. "If everything else you cooked tasted that good..." Beth just shook her head and smiled but didn't answer.
"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 foods. 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 the 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 really 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 had 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.
--- --- ---
Continued in " Season Opener"
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