Chapter 2 – Old Friends

 

A figure stood in the doorway a swath e of red and black, Xander eyed the floor where a pair of black Doc’s stood firmly planted.  He frowned, boots like that had not been made for over twenty years, clothing had long ago been reduced to essential ‘serviceable’ items only.   

Shifting his eyes upward he took note of the blood red leather pants that clung to the firm thighs of the wearer, still upwards his gaze shifted, to the simple black cotton T-shirt that moulded itself to firm planes of the body beneath.  Finally his eyes shifted to the face that had haunted his dreams, and nightmares, over the past forty years.  Blue eyes stared at him from behind impossibly long lashes as a smirk curled at the lips of the figure before them. 

“Dawn?” Xander choked out the word as he also took note of the dark brown hair that hung like a cloak to her waist.  The girl who stood before him exuded an air of power and vitality that seemed to fill the room before her. 

“Xander,” Dawn replied quirking one eyebrow in his direction. 

“Eloquent as ever, whelp,” Spike came into view moving to stand behind Dawn, his hands resting gently on her shoulders.  

Giles and Willow stared at the pair in shock, tears filled the old man’s eyes as he realised that she either still cared enough to be with him in his final hours, or hated him enough to be there to see his end. 

“Gee don’t all talk at once,” Dawn wandered into the room, Spike close at her back, “It’s quiet as a tomb in here.” 

Willow frowned at her words ‘she’s right it is quiet’ she gasped, “Why is it so quiet?” Willow turned to Xander, “Why aren’t there any alarms going off?  I mean even if Dawn isn’t a vamp.” Willow gave the leather clad pair a worried look, “Which I seriously doubt, seeing as she’s still all with the youthful looking, we know that Spike definitely is.  So why aren’t the demon-alarms screaming the place down?” 

“That would be because they don’t sense us Red,” Spike ambled over to the window, leaning haphazardly against the glass, confident that the dark skies would remain that way. 

“We’re cloaked Willow,” Dawn explained, sitting on the end of the bed and reaching forward to clasp Giles’s hand softly, “we have something that needs to be discussed and we can’t have annoying alarms disturbing us.”  She turned quickly grabbing Xander’s arm as he plunged the stake that he always carried downwards.  “I’m not a vampire Xander, so other then making a bloody mess that thing won’t do anything.” 

“You say you’re not a vampire Dawn, but how do you explain how you look?” Giles waved his hand in her general direction. 

Dawn sat back, sending Spike a look that Giles couldn’t decipher.  A silent message seemed to pass between the pair before Spike gave her a small nod, as though giving permission for Dawn to begin her story. 

“It’s kind of a long story so please don’t interrupt, I’ll answer all your questions at the end.”  She gave them each a pointed look. 

“Ok I’m going to start from the beginning.”  Taking a deep breath she began, “after Buffy died I blamed myself, I figured that if it wasn’t for me Buffy would still be alive.  I was grieving and alone and I guess questioning who—what—I really was.” She closed her eyes as she remembered back to the pain that had been her almost constant companion, “I asked Spike to help me find out about the keyness inside me. Was it still there? What was it? What did it do?  You know the usual stuff.” 

Dawn gave him a soft smile, “Strange the things you find when you go soul searching.  I think it was in Tibet where we came across this monk who told us about a place where we might be able to find answers.”  Dawn gave a little giggle, “He was fascinated by Spike, made him change into game face all the time.  It was about the time that the world was starting to go… well to hell really.” 

Dawn turned to grasp Giles’s hand, “I did miss you all… but I needed to know.  I hope you understand.”  She flicked a glance towards Spike’s back as he turned to stare out the window, “We ended up in some caves in Africa where we were told a demon lived that could grant… I don’t know what to call them… not wishes, deepest desires I suppose.”  Dawn shrugged her shoulders lightly, “There were trials of course, tests to prove that we were worthy, but in the end we both were given what we wanted.” 

Willow frowned at the thought of what the pairs deepest desires could be, she watched curiously as Dawn stood and began to pace around the small room, reminiscent of Spike’s own hyperactive gait.  Spike, however, stood motionless at the window, a stillness about him that Willow had never imagined existed. 

“When the trials were over we were led deeper into the caves and taken to the place that has been our home ever since.” Dawn frowned as she searched for the words to describe their home.  “I suppose you would call it a place out of time… it exists between dimensions.” 

“Oh,” Willow’s face became animated, “That’s why you haven’t changed!  Time just kinda stopped for you.” 

Dawn nodded, “Well yes and no actually.  Time passed at the same rate I suppose, I just didn’t age along with it.  I even did things that I suppose normal people would do… got married… had a baby.”   

“You have a child?” Giles stared at the young woman before him, trying to reconcile his image of a naïve teen with that of a confident caring parent. 

Dawns eyes grew moist, “I did have a child. Yes.” she allowed herself to draw comfort from Spike as he moved to wrap his arms around her, “She was killed by the government when she was two, as was my husband.” She drew a steadying breath, “When I discovered I was pregnant we moved out of the caves, we weren’t sure how the time anomaly would affect the baby and I didn’t want to take any chances.” She wrapped her arms across Spike’s, “I never should have…” Dawn broke off as Spike began to whisper soothing noises into her hair. 

“I’m sorry Dawn,” Xander took a moment to share in her grief and at the loss of his own love at the hands of the government. 

“Thank you Xander,” Dawn acknowledged him with a soft smile, “After Derrick and Alice were killed, Spike and I returned to live permanently in the caves and to continue our research.” Dawn lay her head back against Spike’s shoulder her eyes unfocused as she let her memories take her back.  “Finally we discovered how to control the key inside me.” Dawn locked eyes with Giles, “I know how to channel the energy now, how to close the portal that Glory opened without Buffy having to give her life to do it.” 

Giles felt a sharp pain lance through his body at the thought that Buffy’s death would most likely have been unnecessary if he’d had just a little longer to research.  “I don’t see how this helps us now Dawn.”  His mind raced at the possible implications of her disclosure. 

“It helps us because I can bring Buffy back.” Dawn surged forward out of Spike’s embrace and faced them all determinedly, “My deepest desire was to learn what I could do and get Buffy back, and that’s just what I’m going to do.” 

“But Dawnie to bring Buffy back to this,” Willow waved her hand at the window, “It wouldn’t be right.” 

Dawn smiled, “Oh I’m not resurrecting Buffy, I’m going back and I’m going to stop her from dying in the first place.” 

“How?” Giles mind raced as he tried to make sense of what she was saying. 

“The Powers that Be will let me use the power of the key once to turn back time.” Dawn moved forward to sit beside Giles once more.  “I’m going to take the world back to before Buffy dies, and I’m going to close the portal before she has to jump.” 

“Dawn the consequences for such a huge temporal shift could be catastrophic.” Giles let his mind run through the possibilities while his heart filled with joy at the prospect that the world they now lived in could be changed for the better. 

“I know Giles.”  Dawn held her hand out to Spike, drawing him down to sit beside her “Spike and I discovered all this a long time ago, however The Powers insisted that we track all possible outcomes of the change.  That’s what we’ve been doing for the past thirty years, making sure our actions do not tip the scales too much.” 

Dawn could see the questions in their eyes, “Basically going back we are interfering with the natural progression of time; however there is a point where the timeline diverges to encompass all possible future outcomes.  When the world reached this point in the past it followed one path, all we have to do is make sure we follow to this same point and then we are permitted to take a different path.” 

“But wouldn’t that mean that we’d end up doing the same things that we’ve already done and we’ll just end up here all over again?” Xander could feel hope welling up inside him, looking at the others he saw the same thing reflected on each of their faces. 

“And what’s the price of such a change?” Giles asked quietly. 

Dawn turned from one to the other, “We won’t follow the same path because when we return to the past Spike and I will retain all of our memories of this time, it will be our job to make sure certain things happen.”  Dawn ran a hand softly across the still-silent vampire’s face, “We also both have our own sacrifice to make, we know what they are and we both accept them willingly.”  

Spike glanced towards the door, “Almost time luv.” 

Dawn stood and walked to the end of the bed, “You guys won’t remember anything when we go back, but please understand… I’ll do my best to keep the ones you love from harm.” 

Spike moved behind her, drawing a small dagger out from beneath the sleeve of his duster, “You ready pet?”  Dawn nodded and held out her hand. 

Spike covered it with his own before plunging the sharp blade through their flesh. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Dawn stared around her, the metal tower shaking beneath her feet, the wind whipping at her hair; she turns tearful eyes towards her sister standing before her, “Buffy, No!” 

“Dawnie I have to,” Buffy turned to pull away, glancing down at Dawn’s hand as she clung on tightly. 

“No!” Dawn began to pull her forward, “I know how to stop it.” Dawn bent down to scoop up a stray piece of metal, grabbing Buffy’s hand and pulling it sharply across it. 

“Dawn?” Buffy frowned as Dawn sliced her own hand . 

“Just trust me ok?” Dawn grabbed Buffy’s hand, holding it out above the portal, “Your blood, my blood, Summers blood,” Dawn yelled loudly against the screaming wind as two small droplets of blood fell towards the expanding portal, “Close!” 

The wind dropped as the portal seemed to fold in on itself, the wind dying away as the pair stood at the top of the shaking tower, “Ok lets get out of her before this thing goes.” Buffy pulled Dawn towards the makeshift stairs, “But once we’re home you’ll be making with the splainy, miss.” 

Spike stood beneath the tower, watching intently as his girls made their way slowly down, he rubbed his chest absently as he felt the loss of the soul that had been his constant comfort and torment for the past thirty-plus years.  He had won his soul in the dark caves of Africa to be worthy of his dead love, now all he had to do was go back and win it again in order to prevent her death once more.