The Hart of L.A.

Dawn was sitting at Wesley’s again, why the scoobies had another meeting. She should be in the meeting herself, but she had gotten bored, and decided to wait in the living room. She got to thinking about what Lorne had told her the night she’d sung for him. She didn’t know if she believed him. He’d told her that her life with Connor was going to be very important to the world. In her mind, she wasn’t that special, so why would the world need her help? Let alone with a complete stranger. She’d convinced herself that seeing Andrew didn’t bother her, but it did in a bad way. He still refused to talk to her, and she wasn’t sure why. It was probably because of what that guy had said. She’d liked Andrew since they’d held him hostage in her house. Well, not at first, but they’d got to talking, and he’d grown on her. She hadn’t even gotten to develop a relationship when the fates decided she still wasn’t ready. Buffy and her had been talking about where she’d go to college. She still had a year to go, but she wanted to go to NYU. It was so far away true, but no one knew who she was there. She could start out fresh, without being called Buffy’s little sister. She was sitting in the living room running these thoughts in her head, when Connor came in the room.

" Hey Dawn, how’s it going? How come you’re not in the other room with the others?" She looked up at him, and sighed.

" I got bored, and didn’t want to bother anyone. I was just out here thinking, and I’m sure they don’t miss me in there." He grinned and sat down on the table across from her.

" Well, I missed you. Which is why I’m out here talking to you, in case you didn’t get that." Dawn smiled.

" I don’t know why you like me, honestly I’m a big dork, and no one hangs out with me." This statement made Connor chuckle at her.

" You’re not a dork. If anything you’re the most normal person there is. You don’t have any special powers, and you’re not a demon. I would be happy with that fact." Dawn glared at him.

" Oh yeah, I’m so happy that I’m the only one in the group that has absolutely nothing to add. Xander had no powers, but he’s their friend, and he knows how to fight." Connor sighed and stood up.

" It really does beat having this strength you don’t know how to control, and being half Vampire. Sure I can walk in the sun and I don’t have fangs, but I still have part of them in me. I hate it. I don’t hate my father anymore, because I realize he couldn’t help the fact that I was taken, but... I still hate that I’m different." Dawn stared at him, not really knowing what to say. Finally, she got angry and stood up.

" Don’t you get it? You’re not different! We hang out in this amazing group that saves the world whenever bad stuff happens. The regular people don’t see them, so they never get what’s owed to them. My sister has died for me, and still she’d had to work the crappiest of jobs just so she could support me. I’m the one who’s different, not you. You’re part of the group who saves the world, and what am I? I do research, when they really don’t need my help. I don’t know why you’re so upset with yourself, because you can actually do something to help them. All I do is make them worry about me. ‘Uh oh Dawn is in trouble again, have to save her again.’ So, please don’t talk to me about being different. Now if you don’t mind, I think I’ll join that meeting after all." With that said she marched past Connor to go into the other room, leaving him staring after her in silent awe.

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Giles and the others were in the kitchen talking about the dreams that the girls had told them about. He’d been stumped at first, but it would appear t hat he’d figured out what the problem was.

" It would seem that the Senior partners have given this regular Jackoral Demon extra power. They’re trying very hard to remove us from the picture. What they had tried to do was kill you in your sleep, but all it did was hurt you in your sleep. So, we have to locate this Demon and Destroy it. It would appear that the Senior partners have put all of themselves into this Demon, meaning...if we can kill it, we can finally destroy the senior partners. It sounds good in theory, to finally be rid of the senior partners, but something else will probably take it’s place. The thing we have to worry about right now, is trying to kill this Demon, before it finds a way to kill us. Any questions?" Buffy was standing next to Angel with her arms crossed.

" I know how to kill it. It won’t be easy, because it seemed as if my dream went on forever, but how do we find it?" This caused Willow to speak up then.

" I could do a locator spell on it. All I’d need is to go into Faith’s or Talia’s mind, and find the dream they had. In doing this, I could filter the essence of the Demon to find it." This left everyone with a worried expression on their face, which caused Willow to giggle.

" Oh come on, it’s not like I haven’t done the mind walk before. I don’t want to go into Buffy’s mind, because she killed it, which means the essence isn’t strong enough in her dream. I think I’d prefer to go into Talia’s if that’s okay. It seemed to have the most impact, with the two people in her dream." Giles was nodding.

" Alright, we’ll do that tonight. Go ahead and get the stuff you’ll need to prepare, and we’ll take a break. I’m going to have a talk with Talia."

Talia looked up at Giles when he said this. She was currently still enveloped in Xander’s arms. She couldn’t shake the feeling of seeing him dead on the ground. She had her head rested on his shoulder when Giles came up to them.

" I know you don’t want to relive that horrible dream of yours, but it’s the only way of finding the Demon." Talia shivered in Xander’s arms.

" I understand why you have to do that, I just can’t promise to keep my cool while she’s doing it." Giles smiled gently at her, and placed his hand on her shoulder.

" No one is expecting you to, Talia. We understand how traumatic it was for you, but we’ll all be here with you, including Xander." She nodded and leaned back against Xander.

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Buffy looked over at Angel, who was currently talking to Wesley. She couldn’t help but get chills whenever she looked at him. She hadn’t told them about his death in her dream. She didn’t want to seem silly, but after hearing about Talia’s dream, it didn’t seem so silly. She wanted to share, but why should she? They’d just pat her on the back, and tell her it was okay, that it was just a dream. As if reading her thoughts, Lorne walked up to her.

" It’s okay to be scared, sweetie. I’m literally shaking in my boots from you gals’s stories. I have no desire to see this thing, but from what I understand the type of thing Willow is going to do, we’ll all see her dream." Buffy smiled at him.

" I’m sure that will be awful for Xander. I don’t think I could stand to see him die myself." Lorne smiled at her.

" I’ll bet that’s true. It probably doesn’t help matters when you saw Angel die in yours?" She looked at him, shocked that he knew.

" I thought you could only read people when they sang." He nodded at her.

" That’s the case most of the time, but honey pie, you’re emotions are singing to me. It’s okay, you know. I won’t tell anyone, because it’s not my place. Anything I read off of someone, I only tell them. Well, unless Angel is demanding to know. I keep people’s secrets, because it’s not my place to tell about they’re lives. It’s in they’re own hands."

After he said this to her, he turned around and walked away, leaving Buffy staring after him.