Perfect: Eleven months
by slayerfest
Eight months later


“It is with great enthusiasm and honour that I present this year’s graduating valedictorian—Dawn Summers!”

“What!” Buffy shrieked. Several heads turned and she shortly glowed a bright crimson. Her kid sister strode proudly onto the stage in her navy robe and mortarboard and placed a piece of paper neatly onto the podium. She sighed deeply and began her speech.

Buffy turned to Willow. “Did you know about this?” she whispered.

Willow grinned. “We all knew. She wanted to surprise you, Buffy.”

Buffy shut up and listened to her sister speak. She spoke with grace about Sunnydale, Buffy, and how she never thought she’d get to be valedictorian. By the end of it Buffy had tears rolling down her cheeks and found herself tightly holding Xander’s hand without realizing it.

At the end of the graduating ceremony, Dawn came over to greet Buffy, who was still crying. They hugged for a while, and then Dawn turned to hug Giles, who was smiling warmly. “Thanks for coming down just for this, Giles. I appreciate it.”

“Oh, not at all. I wanted to come, anyway; I have to talk to your sister about something.”

Dawn grinned. “Always the same. Will you be staying for a while?”

He shook his head. “I have some business to take care of in New York before the wedding next week. I plan to leave right away, actually, so I’d better give this to you now, he said, smiling widely and pulling a small box out of his jacket pocket. She took it and examined it from many angles.

“Would it be safe to shake?”

“Wouldn’t you prefer to open it?” he asked, fully grinning now.

She smiled as she peeked inside the box, and promptly shut it again, a look of utmost shock on her face. “No… way.”

“I daresay you deserve it, Miss Valedictorian. Go on, it’s over there,” he said, pointing.

Dawn remained perfectly silent as she hopped around in a full circle and threw her arms around Giles’ neck. “Thank you so much,” she whispered into the musty smell of his coat. Then she turned around and trotted toward a group of her friends, gabbing excitedly about something. The five of them proceeded to run into the parking lot.

“Geez, Giles, what’d you get her? I’ve never seen her excited to the point where she doesn’t make noise anymore,” Xander said.

“Just a small automobile.”

Buffy gaped. “A car? You bought my sister a car?” she looked out to where Dawn was extracting the keys from the box and using them on a sweet little car that Buffy had never seen before. She frowned. “That’s a car?”

Giles grinned. “Certainly, yes. Quite popular in Britain, with all the traffic and what have you. Seats two. I picked pale pink because I thought it fit Dawn’s personality.”

Buffy frowned further. “Why didn’t I ever get a car?”

The former-Watcher grinned. “Your graduation was busy enough as it was. I thought the thrill of getting a car you couldn’t drive in the first place might kill you.”

Buffy’s eyes flashed with sarcasm, but she smiled genuinely. “Ha, ha.”

Buffy and Giles resigned to watching Dawn pull out of the parking spot and drive around the lot a few times, taking one of her friends at a time for a ride. Xander, Kennedy and Willow did likewise. After a while Giles jolted a bit and brought himself back to reality. “Besides,” he started, “I wanted to have her distracted while I speak with you lot.”

Buffy blinked hard. “This doesn’t sound good.”

“No, actually, it really is. Well, perhaps not from your perspective. I’m quite excited about the whole thing. It’s concerning my business in New York,” he said, gradually bringing his voice down to a whisper. The other four leaned forward so they could hear him. “I’m opening the council this Saturday.”

“What!” Buffy proclaimed for the second time in an hour. Once again, several heads turned. She blushed again, though to a lesser extent, and leaned back into the huddle. People passing started to wonder what on earth these people were doing.

“Yes, it’s far ahead of schedule. I’ve tried to contact Wesley in L. A., but he seems a slight busy at the moment as he hasn’t returned my calls. I’ve convinced Wood to train as Watcher after the wedding and honeymoon, which, I might add, couldn’t have been placed at a more convenient time. Now I only have to pay for one trip to New York. I’m in enough debt as it is,” he mumbled.

“Which explains why you bought my sister a car,” Buffy returned sarcastically.

“I thought she’d need it when she moves to New York this week,” Giles added emphatically.

Buffy’s eyes widened. She hadn’t thought about Dawn actually going away to be a Watcher. Dawn had really wanted to for the past year; spoke about little else and often asked Giles what was entailed to train to be one. She kept her studies up; her transcript had fallen into the great, gaping hole that was Sunnydale, so Buffy taught her what she remembered of grade eleven and they pretended that Dawn was a senior. She was the right age, and nobody asked any questions. Now she’d pulled off valedictorian, as though trying to prove that she had what it took to look after a Slayer. Buffy started crying again. “Oh… this is too much,” she whispered amongst the tears.

Xander let her rest her head on his shoulder and Giles smiled appreciatively. “She’s certainly proven herself as able, Buffy.”

“I know, but… she’s like my own, you know? If mom was here, she’d be the one crying at the aspect of her little girl going away so soon, but for most of Dawn’s real existence, I’ve been her mom.”

“She’ll be fine, Buff,” Xander reassured.

Buffy smiled up at him. “It’s not her I’m worried about.”

Giles checked his watch. “You haven’t told Dawn that you’ve spoken to me about her actually becoming a Watcher, have you?”

Buffy shook her head and wiped the tears from her face. “No. She thinks that she’s going to University next year, and that we’d discuss her Watcherdom. I suppose you want me to tell her that she’s not coming back to Cleveland after the wedding next week?”

Giles nodded. “I think that’s who she’s like to hear it from.”

Buffy nodded. “Okay, fine. I can see I’m outnumbered here,” she tried to joke. “I’ll do it tonight near the end of the party Dawn forced me to throw.”

“We’ll be there too, Buff. If you get too choked up, we’ll save you,” Willow said, smiling and taking Kennedy’s hand.

Buffy nodded again and sighed. “All right. I can do this.” She stood up straight as Dawn left her friends and trotted back toward Giles. She hugged him again.

“I love her so much, Giles. I named her Twig.”

Giles frowned. “Twig?”

Dawn grinned. “Yeah. I don’t know why. She just… is Twig.”

Giles shrugged. “I’ll just pretend I understood that logic.” He checked his watch again. “Well, I’m sorry, all, but I must be off.”

“Aw, so soon? Can’t you just come to the party?” asked Dawn.

Giles chuckled. “I appreciate the invitation, but I’d easily be the eldest there by a thirty-year margin. I would… ‘crash the party’, so to speak.” He grinned and put a hand on Buffy’s shoulder. “Congratulations again, Dawn. I’ll see you lot next week at the wedding.” He frowned. “I wonder what kind of dress Fai… Rae will be wearing. She doesn’t seem the traditional type.” She shook his head, smiled, and wandered over to his car.

Dawn watched him leave and then hopped around. “Can I take Twig and go shopping with Becka before the party?” she asked, taking off her grad uniform and appearing much more like a seventeen-year-old should in a short skirt and tank top.

Buffy nodded. “Sure. Take your time; Xander and I will take care of setting up.” Xander nodded, too.

Dawn grinned. “Thanks, Buff.” She paused and hugged her sister. “For everything.” Then she hopped away to greet Becka by her tiny pink car. Buffy felt her eyes threaten to water again and she repressed the tears.

Willow grinned. “Well, Kennedy and I are going to go and start with the lengthy food-making process. We’ll swing by at six and help you start to set up.”

Buffy nodded slowly. “Thanks, guys. You’re all amazing, as always.”

“No problem, Buff. Whatever you need,” Willow said, and hugged Buffy before putting her arm around Kennedy. The couple walked to their car talking adamantly about whether chocolate brownies tasted better with cocoa or chocolate powder.

Buffy frowned. “Does chocolate powder even exist?”

Xander grinned. “I don’t know. Maybe they’re using it for code for what makes ‘special brownies’ so special.”

“Xander!” Buffy proclaimed, and hit him playfully, careful to do it as lightly as possible to soften the blow so as not to send him flying backwards. He was still forced to step behind him to keep his balance.

He smiled. “How’s your self-training going?”

They turned and walked slowly into the parking lot before she responded. “Pretty well. I feel stronger, and the vamps fly further. It’s easier for me, but I just can’t wait until that freaking Hellmouth spits out something exciting and new that I’m not ready to face.”

Xander clucked his tongue. “Buffy, don’t talk like that. You are ready. If some neat little Hellbeast came to visit tomorrow, we’d bury it the next day. Be it today, a month from now or five years from now, we’ll be ready for it. Nothing’s changed, except that there are more Slayers now. If something comes up that you honestly can’t fight, we’ll recruit. No problem.”

Buffy grinned. “Damn, Xander. This is the second time in a year that you’ve brought me out of a funk.”

“Yeah, well, I owe you,” he said, blushing slightly and looking at the ground.

Buffy laughed. “Well, I’d better get started. So much decorating, so little time,” she sighed. “I’ll see you soon.”

Xander nodded and watched as she turned to walk the short distance home. He stared for a second and then made a decision. He jogged to catch up with her. “Buffy,” he said quietly when he was close enough.

She turned and was shortly taken up into a short kiss. Xander pulled away slowly and looked at her. The expression on her face spelled out what he was already expecting. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, caressing her cheek lightly and turning away.

He was shortly spun around and ambushed with another kiss from the Slayer. He answered deeply and after a few seconds she pulled away. “You’re not very good at reading people, Xander Harris,” she whispered.

He pulled her in and kissed her again, this time letting it last for longer. “I think I’m getting a pretty good idea of what this means, though,” he said, searching her eyes. He found what he needed and picked Buffy up, kissing her as they made their way slowly to Buffy’s house.

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