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Love, Keyness and Impending Marriage by Ariel Dawn
 
Hands in Bad Places
 
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Disclaimer: Happy Season seven, brought to you by Ariel Dawn....for the angsty, tortuous, and depressing version, watch Joss’ DVDs. Beta’d by the wonderful Blooytearsoflife.
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Chapter 9: Hands in Bad Places

Buffy grabbed the mail from the mailbox and headed into the house, her textbooks in hand.

Bill, junk, bill, Dawn’s copy of teen people, bill, Tara’s...oooh money! Buffy thought as she flipped through the mass of paper.

Buffy dropped the pile of envelopes on the stairs as she stood just inside her house. She grasped the envelope from the Council and tore into it excitedly as if she was opening a present.

The envelope contained not only her pay check, in pounds, but also a letter. Curious, Buffy set aside her check and unfolded the letter.

Dear Miss Summers,

Be advised that the current Slayer, Molly Wade will be travelling to Sunnydale for training on the first of next month, with her watcher. According to our agreement of last year you will be billeting the slayer until such time as you believe her to be trained to your satisfaction. Room and board will be included in your future compensations.

Sincerely,

Olive Webster,
Secretary to Quentin Travers.


“Spike!” Buffy shouted up the stairs.

“You screamed, pet?” he asked, appearing at the top of the stairs,

“We’ve got three weeks before Molly shows up.”

“About bloody time,” muttered Spike.
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Dawn watched with a frown as Buffy packed the Desoto.

“Do you realise that you’re leaving me in the house alone for the weekend with Andrew? The guy I’m supposed to have kids with? Are you sure you want to do this?” asked Dawn.

“Spike and I haven’t had a weekend to ourselves, ever. And really? It’s Andrew, Dawn. I think you are safe. Think of this as a test in responsibility. If you are alive, the house is standing and you haven‘t killed Andrew, then I declare you pass,” noted Buffy. “Anya will be around if you need a responsible adult, and Tara and Willow and Xander are just a phone call away if Anya doesn’t respond immediately.”

“I still think it’s unfair,” pouted Dawn as she leaned against the porch posts.

“And here I thought you were all grr about the over protectiveness?” replied Buffy, closing the trunk.

Dawn stuck her tongue out at her sister, upset at this thing called logic that she frequently used to thwart her.

Buffy stepped up to the porch and hugged Dawn tightly. “You’ll do fine. Don’t dimension hop unless you need to, ‘kay?”

Dawn nodded.

“Spike!” yelled Buffy into the house. “Time to go!”

“Don’t you think you should wait until a less flammable time of day?” asked Dawn.

“Nope,” said Buffy with a grin. “I want moonlight strolling along beaches with hand holding. I don’t want driving at night in a car that I can barely see out of in the day time.”

“Why don’t you take the Explorer then?” suggested Dawn. “It has the fun new glass. It’s not Spike’s fault that they have to custom make the windows for the Desoto.”

“You might need the Explorer,” noted Buffy.

Dawn’s eyes lit up. “Really? Do you mean it?”

“With a responsible driver, Willow, or Tara, or Xander, but yes. I mean it.”

Dawn hugged her sister with renewed affection.

“Spike!” yelled Dawn. “Get your undead ass down here! It’s time to go!” Dawn continued at the top of her lungs, giggling.
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Dawn walked down Sunnydale’s main drag swinging her purse. She was enjoying Andrew free time. She had told Willow and Tara that she had plans. Xander was doing work related stuff and Andrew had dedicated his day to reorganizing his dvd collection. She was as free as a bird. The sun was shining and all the spending money Buffy left for the weekend was tucked in her purse.

She had plans alright; she had plans for a new pair of jeans and that really cute shirt she had seen in a store window the day before.

Just getting out of Andrew’s space for a time was of the good. Dawn turned into the doorway of the store with the cute top she wanted and ran into, literally the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen.

“Wow,” she muttered, completely taken in by his drool worthyness.

“Hey, are you ok?” he asked, very courteously.

“Yes...” Dawn trailed off looking into his blue eyes.

“Do I know you from somewhere?” he asked with a frown as if trying to place her.

Dawn snapped out of her daze and smiled up at him, ready to get her flirt on. “I don’t think so. I wouldn’t have missed meeting you for a million dollars,” said Dawn batting her eyelashes. “Dawn Summers,” she introduced herself.

“Related to Buffy?” he asked.

Dawn’s smile fell. He knew Buffy, and therefore he wasn’t going to be interested.

“Ya,” she admitted, exhaling the air in her lungs with disappointment.

“I’m Graham,” he said, offering his hand and a smile.

Hesitantly, Dawn took his hand and shook it.

“I had no idea that little Dawnie Summers would grow up into such a beautiful woman,” he added sweetly.

Dawn blushed.

“So, you’re what? Sixteen now?” he asked.

With a nod of her head, Dawn’s brain wrapped around yet another thought that she didn’t want to think about. She was way too young for this guy.

“You’re probably ten years older than me,” she said, disappointment colouring her words again.

“Something like that. I’m a friend of Riley’s,” he added.

“Oh.”

“You out here alone?” Graham asked looking around the crowd of shoppers.

“Yep,” said Dawn trying to sound cheerful. “It’s a bright and sunny day. I’m safe from the vampires and demons while shopping on a Saturday afternoon, right? I mean, unless I missed something. Did I miss a memo?”

Graham laughed and shook his head. “No, there was no memo. I was just wondering if you were out here with your sister or your boyfriend or something.”

“Buffy went to some resort for the weekend, with her fiancé, and I don’t have a boyfriend. I’m thinking that that was way too much information to give to someone who once worked for a secret government agency that is possibly right now pumping me for information,” she rambled off, her eyes wide.

Graham put up his hands defensively. “No! Wouldn’t dream of it! I’ve heard tales of your screech.”

“Funny, very funny,” muttered Dawn.

Graham looked at his watch. “Look, I have to go. It was nice to meet you though,” he said pleasantly. “I’ll see you around?” he asked.

Dawn nodded her head with a smile. Returning her smile, Graham turned away and walked down the street and got into a black SUV type vehicle. Dawn stood there on the sidewalk for a few minutes longer, looking in his general direction.

Dreamy, she thought, before heading into the shop, knowing that she was going to buy so much more than that top and those pants today.
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Dawn wanted to know why he was in town, why he had stopped to talk to her. Did he like her? Was he just talking to her for info on Buffy? Maybe he was spying for Riley? As the ideas floated around her head, she missed the appearance of Willow and Tara walking into the store.

“Plans?” asked Willow.

“Shopping plans,” said Tara nodding, as if she understood.

“Shopping with emergency money plans,” added Willow.

“What? It’s an emergency! I need a new top!” protested Dawn.

“Andrew called us,” explained Tara. “He was worried about you. You didn’t tell him where you were going.”

“I don’t have to tell Andrew everything you know! He’s not my boyfriend.”

“True enough,” said Tara.

“And he does have a tendency to panic,” observed Willow. “So how’s Dawnie today?”

“Fine, just fine and dandy. And you! Out of the apartment and everything,” said Dawn.

Willow shrugged. “It’s a beautiful day, plus, the apartment smells like locator spell now.” At Dawn’s puzzled look, she shrugged. “Andrew was really worried.”
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“You called Willow and Tara on me???” screeched Dawn as she stormed down the basement stairs.

Andrew looked up from his video game system, surprising Dawn. Normally once he was playing, there was no trying to talk to him.

“Dawn! You left! I didn’t know where you went! I was so worried.” Andrew jumped up from his position on the floor and hugged his friend.

Dawn stood stiff as a post as Andrew draped himself all over her.

“Andrew?” Dawn asked, hoping that he would stop. “Andrew!” His hands had traveled to places Dawn wasn’t willing to explore at present, not with Andrew.

“But...”

“No!” she said backing up. “No, butt! Hands in bad places!”

“But I thought...” trailed off Andrew.

“Bad thoughts!” shouted Dawn. “Ugh!” Dawn rushed up the stairs and out of the house, feeling just a little bit dirty.

She didn’t know where she was going. The overwhelming theme in her thoughts were along the lines of: ‘get away from Andrew’ and ‘oh my god! I have to talk to Andrew.’

“Urg!” Dawn shouted out into the sky. “Andrew’s ruined my day!”
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Dawn opened her closet door and looked into her room . She had managed to avoid not going back to her house until late, eating supper at McDonalds and wasting time at the mall. Sadly not seeing another glimpse of Graham anywhere despite her effort of hitting every place she‘d thought he‘d be.

When it started to get dark though, even Dawn knew that she’d not be safe outside by herself. This was Sunnydale after all. So she dimension hopped home.

Andrew wasn’t in her room. Of the good. She carefully locked her bedroom door and got ready for bed.

“Dawn, are you home?” came Andrew’s voice from outside her room.

Dawn stopped and stood perfectly still, waiting for him to leave her alone.

“Dawn?”

Eventually he headed down the stairs and Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. She grabbed her pjs, toothbrush and some other essentials before opening her closet door and disappearing into another dimension.
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“I don’t understand!” shouted Dawn, throwing her hands up as she paced the length of Anya’s place. “I mean, Buffy said that I’m supposed to have a kid with this guy and I just feel like he’s wrong for me. I’m not in love with him, friends, that’s all I want.”

“Then you need to tell him that,” said Anya wisely.

“See you make sense, but then, umm, wouldn’t I have to be in the same room with him?” she asked.

“Or, also, there is that invention called the telephone...”

Dawn looked around Anya’s demon residence for the invention in question.

“Well, not here of course, but at home, in California.”

Dawn rolled her eyes and plopped down on the bed. “Can’t I just stay here for the night?”

“Night?” asked Anya. “It’s in the middle of the morning here.”

Dawn turned and looked around into the darkness of the one window that Anya had.

“How can you tell the difference?”

“No stars.”
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tbc...




 
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