Here and There: Chapter 5
by ang118
Chapter 5
Part 1: HERE
“What is that you’re wearing?” Buffy asked her sister.
Dawn smiled. “Do you like it? The other Dawn bought it for me.”
Buffy eyed her sister curiously. “And what dream world are you living in that made you think that I would let you wear that to school?”
Dawn cleared her throat. “Here.” She held out a small stack of pictures.
“What’s this?” Buffy asked, taking the pictures from her sister.
“Pictures of you when you were my age,” Dawn said. “And, if you will notice, the skirt I have on is way longer than any of the short skirts and dresses you wore,”
Xander smiled. “She’s got you there, Buff.”
Buffy shot him an angry look, then turned back to face her sister.
“Just get in the car,” she said.
Dawn smiled.
“So?” Xander asked later after they had dropped Dawn off.
“What?” Buffy asked.
“You look like you’re having serious thoughts. Wanna share?”
“I think Dawn and the other Dawn cooked that whole thing up yesterday. How much you wanna bet that the other Buffy just went through what I went through?”
“And?” Xander asked. “What’s your point?”
“Just that I think Dawn may be a bad influence on herself.”
Xander smiled.
***
“Angel Investigations,” Fred said. “We help the... Connor?”
“Yeah, is Angel there?”
“Are you still in Sunnydale?” Fred asked.
“No, I’m about twenty miles out of LA at a motel. Why?”
“Because Angel has been trying to reach you and Buffy for the past couple days, but every time he tries to call anywhere in Sunnydale he gets a busy signal or the phone just does nothing.”
“Huh,” Connor said. “Any idea what’s causing it?”
“It’s probably nothing.”
“Well, what did Angel want?”
“I think I’ll let him tell you. Hold on.”
She handed the phone to Angel.
“Connor?”
“Yeah. What’s going on?”
“I’ve been trying to reach you...”
“I know,” Connor said. “But what did you want?”
“We found Cordy.”
***
“I will always love you,” Tara said. “But...”
“What?” Willow asked.
“I... died.”
“What?” Willow asked. “No, you’re...”
“She’s not me.”
“I know,” Willow admitted. “But I need her to be.”
“No. You don’t. It’s time for you to move on.”
“I can’t. I still love you...”
Willow rolled over in bed and put her arm around the other Tara.
Startled, she opened her eyes, then smiled.
“You’re still here.”
Tara smiled back at her. “But I should probably get back. Before anyone starts to miss me.”
“I’ll miss you,” Willow told her.
“But you’ll come see me later.”
Willow nodded.
After Tara left, Willow closed her eyes again. She knew she had been dreaming, but she couldn’t remember what about.
She really hated when that happened.
***
“Well, it was an interesting first day of school,” Dawn said.
“Yeah,” Buffy admitted. “And I got a job.”
“I haven’t decided yet if I think it’s going to be cool that you’re gonna be a counselor at my school, or not.”
“The way I figure it, if I’m at the school all day then I can keep an eye on things.”
“Right, and when you go to school on the Hellmouth, it’s a good idea to have a slayer handy.”
“So, did you want to invite Connor over for dinner tonight?”
“Oh,” Dawn said. “He was actually supposed to leave this morning. But he’ll be back this weekend. We figured since I had school now, it would be a good idea if he didn’t hang around during the week.”
Buffy smiled.
“What?” Dawn asked.
“My baby sister is growing up ” the slayer said, throwing her arms around Dawn.
***
“I’m here,” Connor said. “Now, explain that to me again.”
“Buffy called me the other day with some crazy story about an alternate version of me on that last world they visited,” Angel began.
“I got that part,” Connor said.
“Anyway, seems this other Angel had a missing Cordy too.”
“Yes,” Connor said. “Dawn already filled me in on this part.”
“Ok, so I just used the spell that this other Angel used and found her on a higher plane.”
“But, how did you get her back?”
“Well, when I found her she was all peaceful and she seemed like she was home. But from what Buffy told me about the other Angel’s experience, I knew that wasn’t true. So I worked a little more mojo, with the help of Lorne and Wesley and...”
“I’m back,” Cordelia said from the top of the stairs.
***
“Since I’m all grown up now, can I go visit the other Dawn. Just for a little while?”
“It’s a school night,” Buffy told her.
“I know, but just for like an hour, or something. To compare notes about the first day of school, and stuff.”
Buffy smiled. “You just wanna find out if that whole skirt wearing thing worked this morning.”
“And your point is?” Dawn asked.
“Fine,” Buffy said. “But don’t make it a habit. And, be home by dinner time.”
“Will do,” Dawn said, standing up.
She knocked on Willow’s door for like five minutes, but the witch didn’t answer.
“Will?” Dawn asked, opening the door and peeking in.
But there was no sign of her.
‘That’s strange,’ Dawn thought, closing the door.
Part 2: THERE
“I should probably be getting back,” Willow said. “I’m sure Dawn is already home form school, and I wanna find out how her first day went.”
“Ok,” Tara said.
“But,” Willow said, “I will be back later.”
Tara smiled.
They kissed goodbye and Willow left.
Tara sat there for a few minutes contemplating whether or not to try to ‘persuade’ Willow to come back right away, but she decided against it.
The spells she was using already were draining her. She didn’t think it would be a good idea to add another right now.
She would wait.
Part 3: HERE
“Hey,” Willow said when she found Dawn in the livingroom watching tv. “How was your first day at Hellmouth High?”
Dawn told her about the zombie-like creatures, and the way Buffy handled them. Then she told her about Buffy’s new job.
“Wow, sounds like you had a very eventful day,” Willow observed.
“Yep. What did you do today?”
“Oh, I stopped by the Magic Box this morning for a little while. Then I came home, ate lunch, and took a nap.”
“Is that all?” Dawn asked.
“Yep. I just woke up a minute ago.”
“Do you feel up to taking me to see Dawn?”
“Did you ask Buffy?”
Part 4: THERE
“Okay,” Dawn said. “And we’re in a closet why?”
“I don’t know,” Willow lied. “Something must’ve gone wrong with the spell.”
“I thought those anchor thingies were foolproof.”
“You should know by now that nothing in magic is ever foolproof.”
“So, now what?”
“I’ll just recast the spell and hope we land at the Magic Box this time,” Willow said.
“Just hurry,” Dawn said. “We’re cutting into my ‘me’ time.”
Willow rolled her eyes and began preparing the spell.
“Hey,” Dawn said, bending down to pick up something. “Isn’t this one of those anchor thingies?”
Willow’s eyes widened. “Put that down,” she snapped.
Dawn dropped it back on the pile of clothes. “Sor-ry,” she said.
Willow sighed. “I’m the one that should be sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. It’s just not ever a good idea to pick up stuff in a strange... closet.”
“Right, ‘cause there’s no telling where the other people that touched it had their hands,” Dawn joked. “Relax, I’m over it. Can we go now?”
“Sure.” Willow smiled.
***
“Well?” Dawn asked.
The other Dawn giggled. “We look like twins.”
“No,” Dawn said. “We look like the same person. Let’s go mess with Willow and Tara ”
“Ok. Think they’ll be able to tell us apart?”
“Not a chance.”
***
“We should wait,” Tara said. “The Dawns are upstairs and you’re supossed to leave soon.”
“Alright,” Willow said. “But later...”
They shared a smile as the Dawns came bouncing down the stairs dressed in their identical short skirts and lacey tops.
“What’s going on with you two?” Tara asked.
“We wanted to see if you two could tell us apart,” one of the Dawns said.
“That’s easy,” Willow said, looking down at their bare feet. “Never mind.”
“What?” Tara asked.
“I was gonna compare their shoes, but I guess they’re too smart for us.”
“Oh,” Tara said.
“I can’t tell them apart,” Willow admitted.
“Me either,” Tara added.
The Dawns giggled.
A slow smile crossed Willow’s lips.
“What?” Tara asked.
“I know how to find out which one is my Dawn.”
The Dawns exchanged worried glances.
“If my Dawn doesn’t reveal herself right now I will convince Buffy to ground her this weekend so she won’t be able to see Connor.”
“So?” the other Dawn asked.
“Crap,” Dawn said.
Willow smiled.
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