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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks everyone for reviewing the last two chapters! I am hoping to post one more chapter this week, but I have a few papers to write for school over the next couple of weeks so it may be a little while before I post again.
Chapter 3

Buffy let out a sigh of relief when the last gift was purchased and she could finally head back home. Dawn had been chattering on excitedly the whole time about her new friend Spike and how excited she was about having him over. Buffy was happy that Dawn seemed to finally be excited about something since their mom, but she prayed that it wasn’t misplaced. Spike better get in touch with them or Dawn would be crushed.

“Can you stop squirming around please,” Buffy was in the midst of buckling Dawn into the backseat of the Jeep.

“No, I can do this myself!” Dawn grabbed the belt and clipped it firmly into place. “See I CAN do it!”

“Yes, I know you can, but I think you’ve had too much sugar today,” Buffy laughed at Dawn’s stubborn head shake.


~*~*~


Dawn had burst in through the front door when they arrived home on Revello Drive. She was babbling about wrapping Janice’s gift all by herself. Buffy knew that wouldn’t happen, not unless she was willing to sacrifice the whole roll of gift wrapping paper. But she could give it a shot.

“Alright Dawnie,” Buffy cut off her tirade about what colour she should be using and how many layers of wrapping paper she should use, “Let’s put away these groceries and then you and I will both sit down and wrap our presents. I’ll help you start, then you can do all the fun ribbons, ok?”

“Ok,” Dawn nodded and skipped into the kitchen, with Buffy following behind with grocery and shopping bags.


~*~*~


After having put away the food, Dawn and Buffy settled down at the dining room table with scissors, gift wrap, tape, and a heap of ribbons and bows. Dawn was currently staring longingly at the Barbie doll they had purchased for Janice, which caused Buffy to smirk, knowing she was picking up the same gift for Dawn the following afternoon.

“Dawnie, let me measure out the size of paper you need and cut it for you then we can start wrapping the doll,” Buffy reached across the table for the box and paper. Dawn sat on her chair swinging her legs and still watching the doll longingly.

“How does Santa know what to bring me?” Dawn watched Buffy carefully cutting the large piece of paper.

“Magic,” Buffy wiggled her fingers in front of her sister’s face.

“Magic? I don’t believe you,” Dawn giggled. “Maybe mommy tells him.”

“I’m sure she does sweetheart,” Buffy smiled, enjoying her sister’s innocence, who knew how long that would last. “Here, Dawnie. I’ve taped one end down now all you have to do is pull the paper around, tape it, and then do the ends.”

Dawn nodded and got to work. She was surprisingly dexterous for a five year old. Buffy busied herself wrapping the gifts she’d gotten for Willow and Xander while keeping an eye on Dawn’s progress. Her thoughts started drifting back to the previous Christmas when her mother had tried so hard to keep things normal for her girls after their father had passed away. It had been terrible. Buffy and her mom had cried on the floor by the tree half the night, eating the cookies Dawn had left out for Santa. But the morning after had been wonderful, Dawn’s simple joy at Christmas morning had reminded the two elder Summers women about childish pleasures and how simple life could be. How would this year be?

Dawn finished up her present, surprisingly well done for such a young girl and asked Buffy if she could watch TV while she made dinner.

“Sure you can,” Buffy smiled at her sister, “I’m sure there are some good Christmas shows on TV tonight.”

“Thanks!” Dawn headed off toward the TV room while Buffy set about cleaning up her mess.


~*~*~


The year her father died had changed everything for Buffy. One year shy of graduating high school and finally moving away from Sunnydale, she had been on top of the world. She was in line for junior prom queen, was dating the star quarterback Angel O’Connell who was senior, and she was on track to follow him to Brown the following year.

Then, within a month, she had lost her father, her superstar boyfriend told her he couldn’t date a head-case anymore, and she slipped into depression. It had been like being stuck in quicksand, slowly sucking her into a black void. When her mom’s headaches got steadily worse, she had to pick up the slack at the gallery and take care of Dawn, all while trying to navigate her seemingly empty life. Willow and Xander had been a blessing.

When all her ‘popular’ friends dropped her like last years fashion Willow and Xander had welcomed her with open arms. They had listened to her problems and been there every hospital visit. Willow had tutored her through the subjects she was nearly failing and finally gotten her GPA back on track. She still checked every paper before it needed to be handed in, to make sure she was still keeping up. Willow was her best friend.


~*~*~


Buffy had just finished preparing some macaroni and cheese for herself and Dawn when the little rascal herself came bouncing into the kitchen.

“Buffy, can I ask you something?” Dawn dutifully took her plate from Buffy and followed her into the TV room. They had made a habit of eating in front of the TV since their mother had gotten ill.

“Sure, what is it?” Buffy had the feeling that this was going to be an interesting one.

“You know how we still have the turkey from when before mommy had to go to the hospital. We were gonna make it real nice after she came home,” Dawn seated herself on the floor in front of the coffee table, eyes glued to the screen. Buffy knew something was up if she didn’t look her in the eyes.

“Yes Dawnie, we were going to have a special Thanksgiving after she came home from the hospital,” Buffy prompted.

“Yeah, an’ we still have it right?” She asked mouth full of macaroni.

“Yes we do, it’s in the freezer.”

“We have turkey at Christmas too don’t we?”

“Yes… Dawn, what is it you want to ask? You want me to make you turkey on Christmas.”

“Yes, but I want Spike to be here to eat it. And his daddy. Because they don’t have a mommy either,” Dawn kept her eyes stubbornly on the television.

“Oh Dawnie, I don’t know. I-I’m not very good with turkey,” Buffy stammered, alarmed by the thought, “and we don’t know if Spike can come.”

“We can call him,” Dawn turned her bright eyes on Buffy, “An’ I can help with the turkey!”

“I don’t have his number,” Buffy wasn’t sure how she felt about Dawn’s request. Sure, she liked Spike, he was hotness personified, but she still wasn’t sure she could even trust him to call.

“But he works at the mall, an’ tomorrow you’re shopping for my presents when I’m at Janice’s house so you can talk to him then,” Dawn commented. Buffy’s jaw fell open at her sister’s astute comment.

“I-I umm… No, no I’m not. What gave you that idea Dawn?” Dawn chose to respond by rolling her eyes.

“I’m not stupid,” she pouted. “’cuz I know you haven’t bought them yet cuz I haven’t found them in your hiding spot.”

Buffy had to laugh at that. Her sister was always uncannily insightful, and she was sure that she had been snooping around all corners of the house to see if she could find any presents.

“I found the ones mommy left for us,” Dawn said.

“What? Mom bought us presents? When she was sick?” Buffy was shocked.

“Yeah, they’re in her closet in a box,” Dawn continued to pick on the macaroni. “I found them last week when I was hiding from the monster under my bed.”

“The monster under your bed? What are you talking about?” Buffy hadn’t heard any of this from Dawn before, but it could explain why she was so tiered lately.

“I went to hide in mommy’s closet, because it still smells like her, an’ I found this big box with wrapped presents with our names on them,” Dawn seemed to want to let the matter of the monster drop, but did explain how she found the box.

“Oh Dawnie,” Buffy turned her around to face her, peering into her eyes, “why don’t you come to me when the monster is scaring you?”

“I don’t want to wake you an’ sometimes you’re crying an’ I know you don’t want me to know you’re crying so I go hide with mommy,” Dawn’s eyes filled with tears causing Buffy to immediately pull Dawn into her embrace.

“Sweetheart,” Buffy struggled to keep her own tears in check, “you should always come to me, always. I don’t care if I’m asleep or if I’m crying. I’m just missing mommy as much as you do so I’m a little sad sometimes, but I will always take care of any mean monsters under your bed.”

Dawn nodded against her sister’s chest, reveling in the embrace. They sat hugging in front of the television for a long time, moving onto the couch when their legs got stiff. Buffy was absentmindedly stroking Dawn’s silky hair, watching, but not seeing Rudolf sing when her sister spoke up again.

“But it’s good I found the presents right?”

Laughing Buffy replied, “It sure was. I’ll put them under the tree tomorrow, along with the ones I’m buying for you. How ‘bout we get in our jammies and brush our teeth and I’ll make us some coco with marshmallows, then we’ll both crawl into my bed and watch whatever movie you want. Sound good?”

“I can stay in your room tonight?” Dawn looked imploringly at her sister.

“Of course you can, you can even hug Mr. Gordo,” Buffy smiled at her as she immediately made for the stairs and her bedtime preparations.

After gathering the dishes and making sure everything was locked and all the lights were off, Buffy made the promised coco and headed up to join her sister. They snuggled down under the covers, enjoying the coco and watching TV.

Lying in bed a while later, Dawn snoring softly beside her, Buffy thought about everything that had happened in one short day. She’d lost her sister, met an amazing guy (who she still hoped would call her soon), found out her mother had left a parting gift, and realized her little sister was growing up but still afraid of monsters all in one short day. She wondered what tomorrow would bring.

She had just decided that nine o’clock was early enough for her to go to sleep as the phone rang shrilly beside her.

“Hello?”

A/N – Sorry for the sorta-cliffhanger. I promise to update soon though! And thanks for all of the wonderful reviews, certainly keeping my muse going full-time. Hope you liked it and please review!





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