Baseball (Dawn Does All the Bases)

Part 7: Rain Delay

Kevin walked Dawn home after dinner. The evening had gotten cool, and she hadn’t worn her jacket the day before so he loaned her one of his sweat shirts. They could see that there weren’t any lights on when they got to her house, and the door was locked. Dawn let them in.

“Anybody home?” she called as she entered the foyer.

There wasn’t any answer. She smiled and turned to Kevin. “Looks like we’ve got some privacy again.” She put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

They went into the living room. Dawn checked the shelf over the desk where they usually left notes for each other when they had to go out, but there was nothing there. There was one message waiting on the answering machine. It was the one Dawn had left earlier to tell Buffy she was having dinner at Kevin’s. Dawn shrugged. It wasn’t unusual for Buffy to have to run off in a hurry and not leave a note. A quick look around also showed that the weapons chest was open. Buffy’s favourite axe, a sword, and a crossbow where missing, so Dawn knew that wherever she was, Buffy probably had some of the Scoobies along.

Dawn turned back to Kevin. “Do you have to get home soon?”

Kevin put his hands around her waist. “Not for a couple of hours.”

Dawn snuggled up closer. “So, any ideas on how you want to spend that couple of hours?”

“One or two.” said Kevin.

Dawn could feel the bulge growing in his pants. “Ooo, feels like it’s working again.” She kissed him. Their lips parted and their tongues met.

Dawn pulled away again after a long deep kiss. “I don’t know when Buffy’s getting home. Let’s not waste any time. Come on.” She lead Kevin toward the stairs. She grabbed her bag from where she’d dropped it by the door.

Dawn took Kevin into her room. “Get undressed, and in bed.” she told him. “I’ll be right back.” She took her bag with her into the bathroom.

Dawn quickly pulled off her clothes, and dug into her bag for the sheer black babydoll and matching thong she’d gotten herself. She put them on, and made a quick check of her look in the mirror. She gave her hair a quick brush, and smiled. She returned to her room.

Kevin was in her bed waiting when Dawn got back. He was lying on his side, propped up on his elbow and resting his head on his hand with the sheet up over his hip. She entered her room, and leaned against the frame of the door into Buffy’s. “So, what do you think?”

Kevin’s eyes lit up as they drank her in. “I think you are beautiful.” He threw the sheet aside and got out of her bed. Dawn smiled when she saw he was fully erect and already wearing a condom as he came across the room to her.

Kevin put his arms around Dawn and kissed her. He tightened his hold on her and lifted her off the floor. She wrapped her legs around him as he carried her back across the room. He climbed into her bed on his knees and gently lowered her down onto her back. He looked at her lying back on her bed, with her hips between his knees. “You are so beautiful.”

Dawn used her legs to pull herself up against him. Kevin leaned down and kissed her. She kept her legs wrapped around Kevin’s waist as he ran his hands over her negligé. She could feel his penis against the thin fabric of her thong. She slid her hand between them to pull it aside to admit him.

Kevin slid into her. They made love slowly. Dawn felt Kevin’s body moving against her through the sheer fabric. Their passion built gradually. Kevin kissed her, and ran his hands over her breasts. He lifted himself up a bit so he could watch her face as he felt her approaching the threshold of her orgasm. He came as she did.

Kevin lowered himself back down onto Dawn and kissed her deeply. He lay there inside her until his softening cock forced him to withdraw. He stayed on top of her, supporting himself on his arms, with her arms and legs wrapped around hildquldquo;I love being with you like this.”

“I love having you with me like this.” said Dawn. She kissed him again.

Dawn rolled Kevin over onto his back and slid herself down to remove the condom and clean him off. Then she slid herself back up along him, and laid her head on his chest, with his chin against the top of her head. She sighed with contentment, and closed her eyes.

Dawn lay there enjoying the warmth of Kevin’s body. One of his hands gently stroked her hair while the other caressed her side and back. She felt his cock hardening under her stomach and smiled. She started thinking about how they should make use of it this time. She slid herself a little farther up and kissed him.

The front door of the house banged open, and Dawn heard the clatter of weapons being dropped onto the floor. She heard Willow’s muffled voice. “Careful! Let’s get her onto the sofa.”

Dawn bolted upright. “Something’s wrong!” She jumped out of bed and grabbed her kimono out of her closet. She was out the door before she had it on.

Dawn tied the sash as she came down the stairs. She could see Xander carrying Buffy toward the sofa. He laid her down on it as she entered the living room. “What happened? Is she okay? *Buffy?*”

Buffy’s eyes fluttered open. “I’m okay, Dawnie.” She tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace of pain.

“I still think we should have taken you to the hospital.” said Xander.

“No!” said Buffy. “I’ll be okay in the morning. Half the things they’d do would just slow down my healing, and then they’d want to study me when they saw how fast I got better in spite of what they did to me.”

“You just hate the place.” said Dawn.

“That is also true.” said Buffy. Dawn couldn’t blame her. She had come to share her sister’s aversion to hospitals during their mother’s illness.

“Is she okay?” asked Kevin.

Dawn looked around. Kevin had taken the time to put on his pants and shirt, but his feet were bare, and his shirt wasn’t tucked in. She saw Xander frown as he looked back and forth between her and Kevin.

“Oh, hi Kevin.” said Buffy. “I’m fine.” She tried to sit up, but she hissed in pain, and fell back onto the cushions.

Dawn took the time to really look Buffy over. She had a massive bruise on the left side of her cheek, and a cut on her forehead. Her knuckles were bloody, and there were more scrapes and bruises on her arms. Her shirt looked like it had been slashed by something sharp, and the blood stains on it showed that whatever it was hadn’t missed her flesh. She glanced at Xander and Willow, and saw that they weren’t unscathed either, but neither of them had anything like the sort of injuries Buffy had. “What happened?”

“We ran into a pack of about a dozen vamps.” said Xander. “We got what sounded like a really good tip on what was going on, but it turned out to be a setup. They were expecting us, and we walked into an ambush.”

Dawn noticed that a couple of their regular support people were missing. “Anyone else hurt? Anya, Spike?”

“Nope.” said Xander. “They weren’t along for this one. For a couple of minutes I was actually wishing Spike *was* with us.”

“Never thought I’d hear you say that.” said Buffy. She held up a hand. “Someone help me up. I want to go to bed.”

“Maybe you should sleep down here tonight.” said Willow. “The less we move you the better.”

“I want to sleep in my bed.” said Buffy. “If you guys don’t want to help me, I’ll crawl there myself.” She grimaced in pain and wrapped one arm around her ribs as she pushed herself up with the other.

Dawn rushed forward to help her sister. “Okay, we’ll get you up to your bed!” She looked up at Xander and Kevin. “You guys can carry her.”

Kevin and Xander moved in on opposite sides of Buffy and she put her arms around their shoulders. They lifted her up off the sofa, and carried her toward the stairs. Willow went ahead pen pen doors, turn on lights, and turn down Buffy’s bed before they got there, while Dawn went to the kitchen for the first aid kit.

Dawn caught up with Kevin, Xander and Buffy at the top of the stairs. She took the opportunity to have a look at Buffy’s back. It seemed to be unmarked, no tears in her shirt, no blood seeping through the cloth.

Willow directed Xander and Kevin to sit Buffy down on the edge of her bed, and then she took over supporting her. Dawn sent Kevin to the bathroom to get the wash basin from under the sink, and Willow sent Xander to her room to get her supply of herbs and things.

Willow continued to support Buffy while Dawn used the scissors from the first aid kit to cut off her shirt. The shirt was a write off anyway, and Dawn figured this way would be a lot easier on Buffy. One of the slashes that had cut through Buffy’s shirt had shredded her bra too, so it came away with the shirt. Dawn gave Buffy a quick visual inspection. Her back just had a couple of bruises so she nodded for Willow to help Buffy lay back.

Willow pulled off Buffy’s boots, and went to work on her pants while Dawn got the disinfectant and other supplies out of the first aid kit.

Kevin came back carrying the basin of hot water, and wash cloths. He saw Buffy was lying half naked on the bed, and quickly averted his eyes. His one glimpse had knotted his stomach. Normally he knew that he’d like seeing Buffy topless, he’d even had one or two fantasies about it, but the red slashes across her chest and stomach revolted him. “Um, where do you want this?” he asked.

Dawn looked around, and saw that Kevin’s gaze had fixed on the wall to the right of Buffy’s bed. It almost made her smile. “Oh, here.” She cleared a spot on Buffy’s bedside table.

Kevin put the basin down in the space Dawn had made, and handed her the wash cloth. “Okay, I’ll be right outside if you need anything else.” He quickly turned away.

This time Dawn did smile. “Thank you.” she said.

Kevin passed Xander on his way out. Xander put Willow’s herbs and things down on the end of the bed, being just as careful as Kevin had been to not look at Buffy.

“Thanks Xander.” said Willow. “Could you put on the tea kettle please? I’m going to need some boiling water.”

“I’m on it.” Xander left again quickly.

Dawn went to work cleaning Buffy’s wounds. They weren’t as bad as she had initially feared, they were mostly superficial cuts that Dawn knew from experience Buffy would heal quickly. Most of Buffy’s pain was coming from a couple of cracked ribs, and they’d heal too. There was one deep slash across her stomach that concerned her.

“This is nothing.” said Buffy. “You should see the other guy.”

“Don’t tell me.” said Dawn. “Not a mark on him.”

“I suppose, technically you could say that,” said Buffy, “since he’s nothing but dust now.” She tried to chuckle, but that only made her wince in pain.

Xander came back up from downstairs and found Kevin sitting on the floor in the hall, leaning against the wall.

“Are you guys sure we shouldn’t just take her to the hospital?” asked Kevin. “Those cuts look bad.”

Xander was momentarily annoyed, wondering if Kevin had taken the opportunity to ogle Buffy, but he suppressed the thought. He could see the kid looked worried. “Oh, she’ll be fine. Buffy’s been hurt lots worse, and Willow and Dawn have had lots of practice patching her up again. This time tomorrow you’ll hardly be able to notice she’s been in a fight.” He sat down beside Kevin to wait.

After a while Willow called Xander back in. She handed him a small packet of crushed herbs, wrapped in gauze, and told him to take it to make tea with the water he’d boiled. Xander was familiar with the concoction, he’d been forced to drink it a time or two himself. It was guaranteed to knock him out for about twelve hours of solid sleep, but he also knew that it rarely put Buffy our mor more than four. He was fairly sure that the FDA would ban the stuff if they knew about it. It worked too well. On the minus side it tasted horrid, so there was no chance of anyone ever actually taking it just to cure a slight case of insomnia.

Dawn called for Kevin to bring her some towels. He went into the bathroom to get them, and returned to Buffy’s room through the connecting door. He kept his eyes down on the floor as he moved toward her bed.

“It’s safe to look.” said Buffy. The sound of her voice made his eyes glance up toward her in simple reflex, and he was relieved to see that this time Dawn had pulled the sheet up across her chest. He felt himself blushing anyway. He could still see the top of a cut that he knew ran from her shoulder down across one of her breasts. Dawn was applying some liquid bandage to the cut on Buffy’s forehead. Buffy’s eyes moved from Kevin to her sister and she smiled. “He’s a gentleman too. You should definitely keep him.”

“I intend to.” said Dawn.

Kevin put the towels down beside the wash basin. He saw that the water in it was pink with blood. “You want clean water?” he asked.

“Yes, please.” said Dawn.

Kevin took the basin back to the bathroom. He dumped the blood stained water out into the sink, rinsed it, and refilled it with hot water. He also got another clean washcloth out of the cupboard to take back with it. Xander was just returning with a steaming cup of tea when he got back.

Willow took the cup from Xander. She held it in her hands, closed her eyes, and muttered a brief incantation over it. The liquid in the cup burned with a blue flame for a moment. Xander reflected that that was another reason why the FDA didn’t have to worry about this stuff. Without a powerful witch to activate it, it was just bad tasting tea.

Dawn helped Buffy sit up, while Willow brought the cup to her lips.

“Oh, you are not going to make me drink that stuff!” said Buffy.

“You need to sleep to get better.” said Willow. “I know it tastes awful, but it will help you heal.”

“Alright.” Buffy held her nose, and drank the liquid. Dawn was a little surprised. Buffy usually put up more of a fight before she capitulated and took that draught. She must be hurting worse than she was letting on.

Buffy felt the foul tasting liquid burn its way down her throat. She really did hate the stuff, but she also craved the relief it would give her. She felt its warmth start to spread outward from her stomach, numbing away her aches and pains. She was unconscious before Dawn had lowered her back onto her pillow.

Willow and Dawn shooed Xander and Kevin back out of Buffy’s room, and they used the fresh water that Kevin had brought to clean Buffy from head to toe. Then they covered her with blankets, and went out into the hall where the boys were waiting for them.

“Will she be okay?” asked Kevin.

“She’ll be fine.” said Willow. “She just needs rest.”

“And you need to get home.” said Dawn.

Kevin looked at his wrist, but his watch wasn’t on it.

“It’s almost ten.” said Dawn.

“I can stay if you need me.” said Kevin.

“We can handle it from here.” said Willow. “Thanks for your help though.”

“Anytime you need me.” said Kevin.

Kevin and Dawn went back into her room so he could get his socks, shoes, and watch. Then she escorted him down to the door. Willow and Xander were waiting there, and Xander had his jacket on.

Kevin got his jacket, and then he kissed Dawn goodnight. He was careful about what he did with his hands while he did it, he could feel Xander’s eyes burning into his back.

“See you in the morning?” he asked after Dawn had released him.

“Um…call first.” said Dawn. “I’m not sure if I’ll be going to school tomorrow.”

“Alright. I’ll call.” said Kevin. “Goodnight.” He waved to Willow, and he and Xander left.

---

Buffy awoke with a gnawing hunger in her stomach. She reached across to her bedside table for one of the Boost Bars that she knew would be there. Her Slayer healing always left her ravenous, and she needed something with lots of calories. Xander had very briefly tried to go into business as a distributer for Boost Bars a couple of years ago, and discovered that no one wanted to buy the awful tasting things. Buffy had wound up taking nearly his entire supply, at only slightly over the wholesale pricer thr those times when she needed calories, and didn’t much care what they tasted like. Her friends knew to leave a few on her bedside table when they put her to bed hurt. Fortunately they had a shelf life measured in decades.

Buffy ate three of the bars, and washed them down with the glass of water that had also been left there for her. She heard something move on the other side of her bed.

Buffy rolled over and saw Dawn was curled up in the chair beside her bed. She was shiftinoundound uncomfortably.

“Dawn?” she asked.

Dawn started awake and looked around. “What? Huh?”

“I’m okay Dawn.” said Buffy. “You don’t need to be here.”

“I want to be here.” said Dawn. “I couldn’t sleep in my bed.”

“Then come here and warm me up.” said Buffy. That was another side effect of her healing. No matter how many blankets were piled on top of her it left her feeling cold.

Dawn uncurled herself from the chair, and stood up. Buffy watched her stretch out the kinks that sleeping in it had given her, and then she slipped out of her kimono, and climbed into bed beside her sister.

Buffy’s eyebrows had gone up when she saw the sheer black negligé that Dawn was wearing under the kimono, but she knew that the darkness hid her expression from her sister. “So that’s what came in that Victoria’s Secret box for you on Friday. Did Kevin like it?”

“Yeah, he did.” Dawn slid herself up beside Buffy. She knew she wanted to feel her warmth.

Buffy rolled over on her side, and felt Dawn spoon herself around her back. Dawn put her arm around Buffy’s waist, being careful to avoid the bandage over her stomach. The gash was still hurting. The little bit of moving around she had done had aggravated the pain. Buffy felt that she needed a distraction. “Tell me about your weekend.” she told Dawn. “I want to hear *everything.*”

“Everything?” asked Dawn.

“All the sexy details.” said Buffy.

“Oh Buffy, it was wonderful.” said Dawn. “I lost count of the number of times we made love. The first time we didn’t even get our clothes off…”

Buffy coaxed the whole day and night out of Dawn, and had her started into the next morning. She had just told Buffy about their breakfast in bed.

“And then what?” asked Buffy. She could feel Dawn hesitating. “What?”

“Buffy, have you ever done anything…kinky?” asked Dawn.

“With Spike, *everything* was kinky.” Buffy laughed, and it hurt her ribs. She could feel that Dawn really didn’t appreciate the levity. “Yeah, I’ve done kinky. Kinky is fun too, as long as everyone is consenting, and no one gets hurt.” She felt Dawn relaxing a bit. Buffy knew that Dawn wanted to say something, but was still nervous about confiding in her. She decided to confide a little in Dawn. “Spike liked handcuffs. He’d cuff me to his bed and then he’d do whatever he felt like to me, until I was crying for him to stop.”

“Kevin…I had him tie me up.” said Dawn.

Buffy rolled over so she could look at her sister. “It was your idea?” Dawn nodded. “And you liked it?” asked Buffy. Dawn nodded again.

Buffy reached up, and pulled Dawn’s head toward her. She kissed her forehead. “Then it’s okay.” Buffy looked at her sister for a bit. “You have to be careful with that sort of thing though. It’s easy for one of you to go too far.”

“Oh we were.” Dawn giggled. “Kevin used *bow* knots, and he made me get myself loose once before he actually *did*thinthing with me, and we had a safe word, and he stopped when I used it.”

Dawn felt Buffy stiffen. “You had to *use* your safe word?”

“He wasn’t *hurting* me.” said Dawn. “He was tickling me so much I couldn’t breathe, but as soon as I said ‘Boojum’ he stopped, and started to untie me.”

Dawn felt Buffy relax. “What’s ‘Boojum’?” she asked.

“A type of Snark.” said Dawn.

“Is that some sort of demon?” asked Buffy.

“Only if you’re a baker.” said Dawn.

“Huh?”

“/The Hunting of the Snark/ by Lewis Carroll.” said Dawn. “It’s a poem… One that I can’t remember ever having read, but I’ve got the whole damn thing in my head, along with /Jabberwocky/, and rest of /Through the Looking Glass/. I haven’t read it either, but it’s there. If I ever meet the monk responsible for those bits of my memory, I’m going to brain him!”

“You don’t like Lewis Carroll?” asked Buffy.

“I do!” said Dawn. “They didn’t give me hardly anything of /Alice in Wonderland/. Just some vague memories of the Disney version. I read it last year and I loved it! But when I tried to read /Through the Looking Glass/, nothing! I already knew it! There were no surprises. It was like I’d read it before. Worse, because I’ve got the whole thing in my memory, word for word. But I still can’t *remember* having read it. I can’t remember the delight of discovering it for the first time.”

“Ah.” said Buffy. She rolled back over so Dawn could snuggle up against her back a. Sh. She didn’t really understand how Dawn must feel. She *couldn’t* understand how that must feel. She knew that some of her memories were a little jumbled where Dawn was concerned, but they didn’t have that wholesale ‘everything’s made up’ feel to them. She knew that most of what she remembered had really happened.

Dawn knew that her memories were something that Buffy couldn’t really understand, but she knew that Buffy could understand that her memories sometimes confused her, and she knew that Buffy understood how confusion could feel.

After Dawn had had a chance to begin to understand her nature she’d spent some time with Giles, trying to map out just what memories she had. She’d learned that she had pretty much every textbook for every grade from kindergarten through eight memorised, as well as an impressive library of children’s literature. At least the monks hadn’t limited themselves to classics theShe She had the first Harry Potter book in her head. (It was the English version though. She’d been surprised to learn when the movie came out that most Americans thought it was a Sorcerer’s Stone, not Philosopher’s Stone.)

Her memory also turned out to have some glaring holes in it. It seemed that none of the monks had ever watched any TV, or gone to many movies. Except for a few Disney films, Dawn could hardly remember seeing anything before she was fourteen, coulcould she remember any TV shows. This had lead to some wonderful surprises, such as when Xander had introduced her to Monty Python last summer.

Dawn had begun to suspect that her straight ‘A’ average had more to do with the monks manufactured history for her than with any real intelligence on her part, especially when her grades had taken a nose dive after grade eight. Everyone had tried to tell her it wasn’t true, but she’d figured that they were all victims of altered memories too. But once things settled down a bit, and she started to pull her life back together again after the trauma of her mother’s death, and Glory, and Buffy dying and being resurrected, and the rest of it, her grades had started to come back up again, and they were now near where they had been. Not quite where they’d been, but she was putting more time into helping Buffy now, with the research and things, and she knew that Buffy really appatedated how good she was at that. Among other things the monks had given her a real talent for deciphering arcane languages…

Dawn felt a slight twinge of guilt. Since she had started seeing Kevin, she had hardly done *any* researching for Buffy, and now Buffy had gotten herself hurt because of some bad information. She’d have to reshuffle her priorities a bit…put helping Buffy up above doing school work…maybe she could get Kevin involved with the demonology side of things…

---

The phone beside Buffy’s bed started to ring. Dawn picked it up. “Hello?” There was no one on the other end. The phone kept ringing. Dawn joggled the hook a few times. She was a little surprised that the phone had one. She thought that they’d gotten rid of the last old fashioned phone like that years ago. “Hello?” The phone kept ringing. Dawn banged the receiver against the phone. The metal clapper vibd bad back and forth between the two bells on the back of it. “*Hello!*” she yelled into the mouthpiece. It rang again. Dawn picked up the phone and smashed it down onto the floor. The rotary dial rolled off under Buffy’s dresser. The phone rang again. She grabbed the wire, and yanked it out of the wall. The phone rang. “Hello!” screamed Dawn.

The phone rang again. The sound of the metal clapper against steel bells was replaced by an electronic warble, and Dawn slowly became aware that she was still lying in bed, snuggled up against Buffy’s back. The warble was coming through the open door to her room. She glanced at the time on Buffy’s clock and saw it was ten to eight. She carefully got out of bed to keep from disturbing Buffy, and then ran to her room.

She pulled her cell phone out of her purse. “Hello?”

“Hi Sleepyhead.” said Kevin. “Did I wake you?”

“Um…no.” said Dawn.

“Liar.” said Kevin. “Your phone rang for five minutes.”

“Alright, you woke me up.” said Dawn. “Feel better now?”

“Nope.” said Kevin. “I guess you won’t be going to school today.”

“Um, not this morning anyway.” said Dawn. “Maybe this afternoon.”

“Okay.” said Kevin. “I’ll see you then?”

“Wait!” said Dawn. “Could you stop by on your way? I’ve got that English paper for Mrs. Kriggle to hand in in second period.”

“Sure.” said Kevin. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Love you.”

Dawn smiled. “Love you too.” She kissed her phone. “See you.”

Dawn put her phone down. She considered greeting Kevin at the door in just her negligé, but there was usually lots of other traffic on the street at that time, so she went back into Buffy’s room for her kimono. She went downstairs and started making breakfast. She knew that Buffy would be wanting something more satisfying than Boost Bars when she woke up.

Kevin rang the doorbell shortly after eight o’clock. Dawn ran to answer it. When she opened the door she saw that Kevin was once again holding a bouquet of flowers. “Oh, they’re lovely!” Dawn took them and put them to her nose to smell. “Thank you!”

“Actually, those are a ‘get well’ bouquet for Buffy.” said Kevin. “How is she?”

“That’s so sweet!” said Dawn. “She’s sleeping, but she’s feeling a lot better. I’ll tell her these are from you as soon as she wakes up. Come on.” She lead Kevin back into the kitchen. She gave him back the flowers while she got a vase out of the cupboard for them.

Kevin looked around the kitchen. “Looks like you’re getting ready to feed an army.”

“No. Just Buffy.” said Dawn. “She’s going to be famished when she wakes up. Healing that much takes a lot out of her.” Dawn had the fixings ready for scrambled eggs, pancakes, and toast.

“Um…I’ve got to be going if I’m not going to be late.” said Kevin. “Your paper?”

“It’s by the door.” Dawn took him baut tut to the foyer, and picked up the paper off the table by the door.

Kevin took the paper, and slid it into his backpack. “I’ll see that Kriggle gets it.”

“Thank you.” said Dawn. She put her arms around Kevin and kissed him.

Kevin kissed her back. His hands started to slip inside her kimono.

Dawn pulled back a bit. “You don’t want to be late. We’ll have to pick this up later.”

Kevin touched his finger to her lips. “I’ll just have to mark my place. See you this afternoon?”

“Hope so.”d Dad Dawn. “If I don’t make it to school, stop by on your way home.”

“I’ll do that.” said Kevin.

Dawn gave him another kiss, and then patted his ass as he went out the door. “Bye.”

Dawn watched Kevin go, and then she went back to the kitchen to get Buffy’s flowers. She carried them up to her room. Buffy was sitting up in her bed, and devouring another Boost Bar.

“I’ll have a real breakfast ready for you in a few minutes.” said Dawn. “In the mean time, *these* are for you, from Kevin.”

Buffy looked at her clock. “Shouldn’t you be on your way to school?”

“I’ll go this afternoon.” said Dawn. “After I finish taking care of you.”

“If I was feeling up to it, I’d throw yot tht the door.” said Buffy.

“If you were feeling up to it, you wouldn’t have to.” said Dawn. “No arguing. I’m taking the morning off to look after you.”

Dawn went back downstairs to finish making Buffy’s breakfast, and then she loaded it all onto a tray and carried it back up to her room. She sat on the side of Buffy’s bed while Buffy stuffed an incredible amount of food into herself. Dawn grazed a bit for herself off the edges of Buffy’s plate.

Willow came in as Buffy was finishing her breakfast. After checking on the status of her patient she sent Dawn off to go get some more sleep in her own bed. She promised to take care of the breakfast cleanup.

---

Buffy woke Dawn up at eleven. Buffy was dressed in her pajamas, and was moving around, but Dawn could see that she was still feeling some pain from the wound across her stomach. Dawn made Buffy go back to bed, and she took the time to inspect the wound, and change the dressing on it. She could see that Buffy had already healed quite a bit.

Buffy was feeling well enough to carry out her threat to throw Dawn out the front door, so Dawn took her morning shower, and left for school. She told Buffy that she’d get lunch when she got there.

---

Dawn found Kevin in the cafeteria with Dave and Janice. She filled up a tray with food, and joined them at their table. Kevin smiled when he saw that she was wearing his sweat shirt.

“You should have had lunch at home, so you wouldn’t have to eat this crap.” said Janice.

“But then I wouldn’t have the pleasure of your company.” Dawn gave Kevin a quick kiss, which told them whose company she was thinking of. “So, anything exciting happen this morning?”

“Not really.” said Janice. “Kirsty’s back, and taking control again. She’s launched a major offve ave against anyone who looks like they took advantage of her absence to move themselves up the social ladder. How’s Buffy?”

“She’s a lot better.” said Dawn. She gave Kevin another kiss. “And she thanks you for the flowers.”

Kevin could almost read the question in Dawn’s mind about what he’d told Janice and Dave. “I’m glad she’s feelietteetter.” he said. “That looked like it might be a real nasty bout of flu.”

“Looks like it’s just going to be a twenty-four hour thing.” said Dawn. “She was feeling well enough to throw me out of the house, so here I am.”

Dawn got caught up on the school gossip (and learned that she and Kevin had somehow become one of the hot topics) while they finished their lunches. She was both pleased and annoyed by that.

Lunch was almost over when Dawn saw Kirsty and her posse enter the cafeteria. Kirsty’s eyes scanned the room, and they came to rest on the group around Dawn’s table. She started across the room toward them.

Dawn felt herself cringing. “Kirsty alert.” she quietly told the others. She could see that Kirsty and Nancy both had on scarves to cover their necks.

Kirsty came up to their table. Dawn noticed that she didn’t seem to be trying to be as intimidating as she usually was. “Hi. I, um, understand that you’re the oneo pho phoned 911 when those punks jumped me and Nancy. I just wanted to say thank you.”

“Oh, hey, no problem.” said Dawn. “We couldn’t let Nancy bleed to death.”

Kirsty’s eyes flashed, and Dawn realized that she had just made a tactical error. Kirsty wasn’t one to forget a slight, no matter how small, and there would be a retaliation later for her comment. But for now Kirsty was working on projecting a beneficent image, so she just smiled insincerely. “Thank you anyway.” She turned and headed away.

Nancy hung back a bit. “Thank you too. I know you did more than call 911. You chased those…guys away. Thanks a lot.” She turned and followed after Kirsty before she could notice that Nancy had stayed behind.

Dave watched them go. “So, do you think aliens somehow replaced Kirsty with her not-evil clone?” he asked the others. He had missed the look Kirsty had given Dawn.

“I think it’s just residual effects of the blood loss.” said Kevin. “She’ll be her nasty self again in no time.”

“Are you guys coming to the Bronze tonight?” asked Janice. “No one’s seen you there in over a week.”

Dawn and Kevin exchanged a smile. “I don’t know.” said Dawn.

“See, this is how those rumours get started.” said Dave. “You two are joined at the hip whenever anyone sees you together, no one has seen either of you at the Bronze lately, and word has it that a pineapple and anchovy pizza was delivered to Kevin’s house on Saturday night. Every time I try to get this guy to talk he just looks like the cat who ate the canary.”

“Maybe we should go to the Bronze tonight, if it’ll help quell the rumours.” said Kevin.

“I think it’s too late for that.” said Janice. “Kevin isn’t the only one looking like she ate a canary. So are the rumours true?”

“Yes.” said Dawn. “I did have pizza at Kevin’s on Saturday night.”

“You know that’s not what I meant!” said Janice.

“That’s all I’m going to say here.” said Dawn. She glanced around. There were several groups of students sitting at nearby tables close enough to overhear. The class bell rang. “Anyway, it’s time to get to Chemistry.”

---

Dawn managed to avoid Dave and Janice through the rest of the day. That ended when she and Kevin were walking home together.

“Hey, Summers!” called out Janice from behind them.

Dawn looked around and saw Janice and Dave coming up quickly toward them. “Tell ’em?” she asked Kevin quietly.

“Tell ’em.” said Kevin.

Janice and Dave jogged up to them. “You guys have been avoiding us.” said Janice.

“Yeah, we have.” said Kevin.

“I think that means that you’ve got something you don’t want to tell us.” said Dave.

“No.” said Dawn. “We just don’t want to tell the whole school.” She slipped her arm around Kevin’s waist, and they started walking again. “We’re sleeping together.”

“Not actually getting much sleeping done.” said Kevin. Dawn whacked him.

“You dog!” said Dave.

“Hong ong have you been hiding this from me?” asked Janice.

“We haven’t been hiding it.” said Dawn. “We just don’t advertize.”

“How long?”

“First time was last Sunday.”

“And just about every day since.” said Kevin.

“And Saturday?” asked Dave.

“I spent the whole night with him.” said Dawn. “It was wonderful!”

They reached the intersection where Dave and Janice would branch off toward her house. “So are we going to see you guys at the Bronze tonight, or are you going to sneak off to make wild passionate love with each other again?” asked Janice.

Dawn thought about that for a second. “Yes!” she said. She started to pull Kevin away toward her home. “See you about eightish!” she called back to Janice and Dave.

“What about Buffy?” asked Kevin when they were out of Janice and Dave’s earshot.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to make quiet romantic love instead of wild passionate love.” said Dawn.

Kevin tightened his arm around her waist. “I like that too.”

---

Dawn called out for Buffy as they came in the door. She heard her reply come from upstairs. Dawn started up the stairs with Kevin behind her. “Are you decent?”

“I think I’m pretty good.” said Buffy.

Dawn slowed down as she went around the corner on the landing. “I mean is it safe for Kevin to come up?”

Buffy laughed. “Yes, I’m decent.”

Dawn proceeded up the last few stairs, and she and Kevin went through the door into Buffy’s room. Buffy was sitting in her chair with a book, and the radio playing softly. She was wearing a robe and pajamas. Kevin was amazed that the bruises and cut were gone from her face. “How are you feeling?” asked Dawn.

“I’m getting tired of people asking me how I’m feeling.” said Buffy. “Hi Kevin. Thanks for the flowers.”

“You’re welcome.” said Kevin.

Dawn knelt down in front of Buffy and started to undo the robe. “Let me see.”

“Maybe I should wait outside.” said Kevin.

“No, you can stay.” said Buffy. “We aren’t going to be uncovering any naughty bits. You don’t have to do this.” she added to Dawn. “Willow just gave me an inspection an hour ago.”

“Shut up, and let me look.” said Dawn. She undid a couple of buttons and opened the bottom of Buffy’s pajama top. She saw that the bandage was gone.

Kevin was amazed by what he saw. Where there had been a bloody gash just the night before there was now just a pink line. “That’s incredible!”

“Why thank you kind sir.” said Buffy with a southern belle accent. “My abdomen doesn’t usually receive such gallant compliments.”

Kevin blushed. “I didn’t— I mean—”

“We know what you meant.” said Dawn. She looked up at her sister. “I’m surprised that you healed this fast too.”

“Willow taught me some of her tummy healing meditation techniques, back after Gnarl tried to eat her.” said Buffy. “They helped.”

Dawn felt around the wound with her fingers, which elicited a slight wince from Buffy. Her stomach was still tender. Dawn shifted herself a bit to block off Kevin’s view with her body, and opened Buffy’s top the rest of the way to check on Buffy’s other cuts. Buffy was amused by the way Kevin suddenly found the pictures above Buffy’s desk so fascinating as soon as he realized what Dawn was doing.

Buffy’s other cuts passed Dawn’s inspection too. There was hardly any sign of them left. She closed up Buffy’s top again, and her robe.

“It’s safe to look again.” said Buffy.

“Oh.” Kevin looked back toward her and blushed. “Um…you really do have a very nice looking abdomen.”

“Why thank you kind sir.” said Buffy. She picked up some headphones off the table beside her radio, and plugged them into it. She turned up the volume a little. “Now why don’t you two let me get back to my book.” She put the headphones on.

Dawn waved bye to her sister, and pulled Kevin through the door into her room. She closed the door and turned to Kevin. “Now where were we? I seem to recall being interrupted in the middle of something last night.” She put her hands around Kevin’s waist and sidled up against him.

Kevin glanced at the door to Buffy’s room. “Are you sure?”

“Buffy knows all about us.” said Dawn. “You don’t think she put those headphones on so she could hear the music better do you?”

“No.” Kevin smiled sheepishly.

“If you’re not comfortable, we can just kiss and cuddle.” Dawn smiled at him. “We do that even when she’s in the same room now.”

“Okay. Kissing and cuddling.” said Kevin. He put his finger against her lips. “I seem to recall I was right here when I had to leave this morning.” His lips met hers, and his hands went back to the exact spots they’d been when he had to leave for school.

Dawn kicked off her shoes and pulled Kevin back toward her bed, while their tongues wrestled in their mouths. Kevin kicked off his shoes too before he let Dawn pull him down into her bed.

They lay together in Dawn’s bed, kissing and holding each other. Dawn felt Kevin’s hand move up under her shirt, and smiled. He didn’t do that in front of Buffy…at least not when he knew she was there…there was hope he’d go farther.

Dawn pulled Kevin’s shirt out of his pants and ran her hands along the skin of his back. One of his hands cupped her breast through her bra, while the other went around behind her back to release it. They started to unbutton each other’s shirts at the same time. They pulled them open and pressed their skin together.

Dawn pressed her hips forward against he bulge in Kevin’s pants, and slid herself up and down against it. He responded by bringing his hand down to her belt buckle and starting to pull at it. Dawn went to work undoing his pants.

Kevin’s hand slid between her legs. Dawn moaned softly as she pressed herself onto his fingers. “Oh, yeah!” she whispered as they thrust into her. Her hand wrapped around his cock. They lay together in her bed, kissing and stroking each other slowly.

---

Buffy turned up the volume on her radio a little more.

---

Kevin pulled his fingers out of Dawn. “Condoms?” he asked. They weren’t in their usual place on her bedside table.

“Oh, I put them in the drawer.” said Dawn.

Kevin sat up and opened the drawer in the bedside table. Dawn took the opportunity to pull her pants the rest of the way off. She decided to leave the panties for Kevin. She noticed that Kevin was just looking in the drawer, and she remembered what else was in there. “See something interesting?” she asked.

Kevin pulled out her dildo. “Interesting colour.” He turned it around in his hands. “You, um, get much use out of it?”

“Haven’t touched it in over a week.” said Dawn. She sat up behind him, reached around his waist and grabbed his cock again. “This one feels *so* much better.”

“Umm, that feels good too.” said Kevin. He put the dildo down on the table, and reached into the drawer for a condom and lube. Dawn continued to slowly stroke him as he put it on.

Dawn pulled Kevin’s shirt off his shoulders, and tossed it onto the floor while he shed his pants. urneurned around and kissed her while he pulled off her shirt and bra.

Dawn lay back on her bed and lifted her hips up a bit so Kevin could slide her panties down off them. She lifted her legs into the air as he slowly pulled her panties along them. She kept her legs up, and spread them apart.

Kevin started at Dawn’s knee, and kissed and licked his way down her thigh to her vulva. He licked the sensitive skin at the base of her thighs, and kissed her labia. He ran his tongue up along her slit, and flicked it at her clitoris.

---

Buffy put down her book. The trashy bodice ripper with Fabio on the cover wasn’t a good choice for distracting her from the sounds coming from Dawn’s room. Dawn’s and Kevin’s sighs and moans were just adding sound effects to the hero’s seduction of the heroine. The music from the radio wasn’t helping much either. Buffy sighed, and turned off the radio. She took off her headphones, took her book, and went downstairs.

---

Kevin slowly licked his way up along Dawn’s belly. He played with her navel for a moment before continuing on up to her breasts. He alternated between her nipples first teasing one, and then the other with his lips and tongue. He tried nibbling gently on one and was rewarded by a soft moan of pleasure from Dawn. He moved on up, licking her chest and her throat. He nibbled on her ear as he slowly slid into her.

Dawn brought her legs up, and wrapped them around him. She started to rock her hips.

“Wait.” whispered Kevin. “I just want to feel you around me.” He adjusted his position a bit so that he was taking most of his weight on his arms, and he kissed her.

The lay together, not moving except for the slight motion from their breathing for a long time, enjoying the feel of themselves against and around each other. Dawn could feel Kevin’s pulse inside her.

Eventually Kevin started to move. He pulled himself nearly all the way out of her with exquisite slowness, and very slowly pushed himself back in. He repeated the motion, a little faster each time.

Kevin pulled himself back a bit so he could see Dawn’s face. “Dawn. I’ve got another fantasy.”

She smiled up at him. “What is it?”

“I want to paint you.”

Dawn was a little disappointed. He’d drawn her lots. “Sure you can paint my picture.”

Kevin smiled as he kept moving slowly in and out of her. “No. I want to paint *you.*” He ran his hand over her breast. “Maybe do a finger painting.”

“Oh.” said Dawn. “Oh!” She thought about the possibilities. “That *would* be fun! When?”

“I’m not sure.” said Kevin. “I’ll have to look into what sort of paint to use…probably want something water based so we can clean you off after…have to be something that won’t damage your skin.”

“Give me the word, and I’m there.” said Dawn. “Now, though…” She started to pull at Kevin with her thighs. “Enough of this slow and gentle…I want hard and fast.”

“Yes, ma’am.” said Kevin. He started to thrust into her faster.

“Oh yes!” whispered Dawn. “Harder! *Faster!*”

Kevin started pounding against Dawn as hard and as fast as he could. His balls slapped against her ass on every thrust. In spite of his best efforts Dawn kept urging him to go faster.

Dawn pressed her mouth against Kevin’s shoulder to muffle her scream as she came. He groaned, and she felt his cum shooting into her. He thrust a few more times, trying to drive himself even deeper into her before they both lay still, gasping for air.

Dawn breathed deep, considering the implications of the new sensation she had just felt. She tightened her hold with her arms and legs around Kevin slightly. “Um…Kevin…I distinctly remember that we put a condom on you.”

“Yeah? We did…” Kevin suddenly tried to pull away, but she held him. “Oh god! I think it broke!”

Dawn continued to hold him. “Stay. The damage is done. There’s no reason for you to pull away now.”

Kevin lifted himself up a bit so he could look in her eyes. “Are you sure?”

“It’s okay.” said Dawn. “I’m on the pill too. We’re doubly protected…”

Kevin saw her expression change. “What?”

“I was so worried about Buffy last night, I forgot to take it.”

This time Kevin pulled away so fast Dawn wasn’t able to hold him. “Oh, god!”

“Relax.” Dawn smiled up at him. “My doctor told me missing one pill isn’t a problem…but I’m supposed to take it as soon as I remember, so could you let me up please?”

“Oh, sure.” Kevin rolled away, and Dawn got out of her bed. She went to the closet for her kimono, and left for the bathroom. She noticed a slight tickle in her vagina as she walked down the hall. She wondered if it was from Kevin’s semen.

Dawn’s backpack was still where she had left it on the bathroom floor the night before, along with the clothes she had left there. She dug into it for the toiletry kit that had her pill pack in it. She was reminded of something else as she took her pill.

She gathered up her pack and her clothes, and returned to her room. Kevin was sitting on the edge of her bed, and looking a little bemused. “What’s up?” she asked.

Kevin held up the remains of the condom. “It’s not all here.”

“Oh.” said Dawn. “*That’s* what that tickling is.” She lay down on her bed, and spread her legs. “You better get the rest of it out.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Kevin moved between her legs and carefully inserted his fingers. Dawn squirmed around them. “Um…you should keep still if you want me to do this.”

“Spoilsport!” said Dawn.

Kevin felt around inside Dawn with his fingers. He could feel the piece of latex with his finger tips, but it was too slippery to get a grip on it easily. It didn’t help that Dawn still had a tendency to squirm as he tried to push farther in. He eventually managed to snag it, and pulled it out. He matched it up with the piece he had to make sure that all of it was accounted for.

Kevin lay down next to Dawn and kissed her. He started to undo the sash of her kimono.

Dawn remembered what her pill had reminded her of. “Kevin, I think there’s something we have to talk about.”

Kevin pulled away a bit. “You have serious face.”

“No…not serious…just something that we should talk about before it happens.”

“What’s that?”

“My period should be starting in a few days.”

“Oh.” said Kevin. That was something he had never given much thought to. Outside of Health classes he had pretty much not thought about it at all. “Does that mean you won’t want to— ’Cause that’s totally cool.”

“No!” said Dawn. “I will want to!” She grinned at him. “I actually get hornier during my period…and I hear that having sex can reduce cramping.”

“I find that hard to imagine…the hornier bit.” said Kevin.

“It’s true.” said Dawn. “It’s just…we’ll have to make accommodations…if you want to while I’m bleeding…I’ll understand if you don’t.”

“Oh, I will.” said Kevin. “What sort of accommodations?”

“Well, first of all, there’ll be my tampon. It has to come out first…Much easier than getting that bit of condom. The tampon has a string.”

“Okay, I think I can handle that.”

Dawn smiled. “After that, things are going to be…messy.”

“Hmm…maybe more bathtub time.” said Kevin.

“That’ll work.” said Dawn. “Or the shower. The main thing was I wanted to make sure you didn’t panic, if, you know, you start to notice some blood.”

Kevin kissed her. “Thanks for the heads up.” He started to slowly tug at the sash of her kimono. “Right now though, I’m thinking of stress testing another condom.”

Dawn smiled as Kevin slowly unwrapped her. “Not so much of a stress test this time.” She pulled him on top of her.

Their condom survived. Dawn lay snuggling with Kevin when they were finished.

“So, Dave and Janice are going to be wanting to hear *all* the details.” said Kevin. “How much do we tell ’em?”

“We tell ’em that the details are none of their business.” said Dawn. “But, um, I was keeping Buffy company last night, and she needed something to distract her from the pain, so I told her just about everything.”

“Everything?” asked Kevin.

“Well, I didn’t mention the ice cubes, but yeah, pretty much everything else.” said Dawn. “Janice and Dave don’t get to hear anywhere near that much detail, okay? Generalities about what we’ve done, no specifics. No need to tell them about kinky bondage fun.”

Kevin reached for the sash from her kimono. “Mmm…bondage fun.”

Dawn smiled and kissed him. “Not now. If we’re going to be meeting up with Dave and Janice, I need to get a start on my homework.”

Kevin sat up. “Me too.” He reached for his pants. “If we’re going to get any of it done, I think I should go home now. See you at eight?”

Dawn pulled on her kimono to escort Kevin down to the door. She noticed that Buffy had moved herself to the living room sofa, and Willow had come home and was starting to get dinner ready in the kitchen. She kissed Kevin goodbye at the door, and went back up to her room to get started on her homework.

---

Dawn and Kevin arrived at the Bronze at about 8:30. For once Dave and Janice had arrived first, and were waiting at a table for them. They held off answering any of their questions until after they had gotten their drinks.

“Quit stalling!” said Janice. “How was it?”

Dawn looked around to make sure no one was close, and leaned forward so she could talk quietly enough for the music to keep anyone at the neighbouring tables from overhearing. “It was wonderful! Kevin was sweet, and gentle…” She saw he was starting to blush. “…and not gentle when I wanted him to be not gentle. It was great!”

“You dog!” said Dave.

“Dave, you need to work on expanding your vocabulary.” said Kevin.

Dawn and Kevin spent the next fifteen minutes of whispered conversation telling Dave and Janice the bare outline of what they’d been doing for the past couple of weeks. When Dawn felt like she’d told them enough, she invited Kevin to come and dance with her.

---

Later in the evening Dawn found herself alone with Janice at the table, while Kevin and Dave were off playing pool together. “So, how about you and Dave?” she asked. “What have you been up to?”

“Um, we’re kinda holding somewhere in front of the shortstop.” said Janice. “I’ve humped him a couple of times, but nothing more than that.”

Dawn smiled. “Humping can be fun.”

“Well, he enjoyed it anyway.” said Janice.

“You didn’t?”

“Seemed like a lot of work for not much reward.” said Janice.

“Isn’t like that with Kevin.” Dawn looked around to make sure no one was close. She leaned across the table. “First time we humped, I came *twice!*” she whispered.

“No way!” said Janice.

“Way!” Dawn stopped and thought for a bit. Janice didn’t have an older sister to get advice from, just younger ones. “Um, Janice, when you were doing for Dave, what was he doing for you?”

It was Janice’s turn to lean closer. “Um, he was squeezing my tits. It was kinda hurting.”

“You have to teach him how to do it right.” said Dawn. “You know how you like to touch yourself when you masturbate, right?” She could see Janice blushi&ldq“You have to teach him to touch you the same way.” Dawn took a sip from her drink. “My advice: back him off a bit. Back to second. Teach him to do that right. Oh, and before you go on toward third again, tongues and nipples are a great combination.”

Kevin and Dave came back to the table. “What are you guys getting so serious about?” asked Dave.

Dawn smiled. “Stuff.”

“Come on.” Kevin held out his hand to Dawn. “Let’s dance.”
vin vin held Dawn as they slowly danced together. “So what were you guys really talking about?” asked Kevin.

“Girl stuff.” said Dawn. “How about you and Dave?”

“Guy stuff.” said Kevin. They slowly danced together in silence for a while.

“I wonder if your guy stuff has to do with our girl stuff.” said Dawn eventually.

“Wouldn’t surprise me.” said Kevin.

Dawn continued to hold Kevin and move slowly with him until the song ended. When they returned to their table they found that Dave and Janice had their jackets on. “We’re going back to Dave’s.” said Janice. “See you tomorrow.”

“Good luck.” said Dawn and Kevin together. They gave each other a look. They sat back down at the table after Janice and Dave had gone.

“Okay, one thing.” said Dawn. “I gotta know if we’re working together, or at cross purposes here. What did you tell Dave?”

“I told him he should be paying more attention to what makes Janice happy.”

Dawn smiled. “Good. I told her she has to let Dave know what she likes. This just might work out.” She drained her drink. “So, the night is still young: your place or mine?”