Dawn hadn't had anymore experiences with the Key, but she could still feel it within her, the power it gave her still humming beneath the surface. She knew soon she'd have to face it, to discover what it truly meant for her now that she was one with this part of herself, but she also knew now was not the time.
She hadn't gone back to school either, nor did she plan to. She wasn't sure she much liked the idea of being a high school drop-out, but at the same time, the idea of going and sitting in a classroom with a bunch of other teenagers now seemed sort of ridiculous. It just…didn't feel like where she belonged, not with the ancient power that coursed through her now.
She wondered if she could do some sort of long-distance GED program…
Dawn had come to love the mornings. She tended to wake before Andrew, and she loved to watch him while he slept. He looked so sweet and boyish like this, his worries seeming to disappear in his sleep. His curly hair was unruly against his forehead, and she pushed it back, her hand trembling at just the brush of his warm skin against her.
As he started to awaken, Andrew nuzzled closer to Dawn, instinctively searching for the warmth of her body. His cock pressed between her thighs and Dawn smiled slowly, thinking about one of the other reasons why she loved the morning—he always woke up wanting her, and she swore that had to be the best way to start the day. Those Folgers people had it way wrong, no matter how perky everyone in the commercials looked.
"Mmm…Dawnie," he murmured sleepily, his head rubbing against the crook of her neck. Dawn threaded her fingers through his hair, and she gasped when he started to kiss and nibble her soft skin, the sensations bringing a flood of moisture between her legs.
Dawn rubbed against him, moaning with both pleasure and frustration at the friction that was both wonderful and not quite enough. Andrew moved his mouth from her neck to her ear, and he nipped at the lobe before he whispered in a husky voice, "Get a condom, baby."
She shivered as she moved as little as she could from his embrace and still be able to reach the condoms on the bedside table. She ripped the packet open with her teeth then twisted in his arms so she was facing him. She didn't hesitate as she took his cock into her hands and gave it few quick, firm tugs that made Andrew hiss in pleasure. She rolled the condom onto him then, and as she did, she quivered with the anticipation of being filled by him again.
Andrew ran his mouth along her jaw. "How do you want to do this?"
"I want you on top," Dawn said. She tugged on him so they could roll over, allowing herself to be pinned beneath him. She had yet to find a position she didn't like, but she was somewhat partial to this one, despite its reputation for being the least creative. She felt closest to him like this, when his body was pressing fully into hers, seeming to surround her.
He surged inside of her with one hard thrust and Dawn gasped, pleasure already soaring through her. But he stayed where he was, unmoving, and Dawn turned her head to meet his eyes. The look she saw there was intense, his dark blue eyes dark with passion and trained intently on her. Andrew rested his weight on one hand and cupped her cheek with the other, his fingers rubbing against her soft skin.
"You're beautiful," he said, his words choked with emotions. "All of you…I…" His eyes closed and he shuddered. Her internal muscles fluttered lightly, making it impossible for him to ignore how intimately they were joined.
Dawn reached up and took the hand pressed against her cheek and slid her fingers between his. Slowly, she brought their interlocked hands across her body and pressed them against her chest, over her heart. "This is yours," she said. "No one else can touch me here."
Andrew had ceased arguing against what she was telling him. He wanted it so much, wanted to really get to keep this—keep her—forever. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was something other than worthless, like he could really mean something to someone—and to someone as wonderful as Dawn at that. It terrified him how deeply he'd fallen, knowing that losing her now would be his undoing, but he couldn't help it. The haven she offered him in her arms was too good for him to keep from sinking in to.
Desire swelled inside of him, and Andrew had to move, had to start the steady rhythm that would bring them both to completion. He moved their joined hands up to the pillow, but didn't let go, and Dawn clung to him, her knuckles white.
Dawn gasped and writhed beneath him, Andrew's thrusts hitting the spot inside of her where she needed his touch the most. Her breathing hitched as he brought her towards her peak, and her legs moved up to wrap tightly around his waist. She could feel her orgasm approaching, coiling tightly inside of her until it exploded, bursts of pleasure firing in her body and making her buck wildly beneath him, his name falling from her lips over and over again.
As she came down from her high, Dawn looked up at Andrew still moving above her, his own release just out of reach. His eyes were closed tight, his jaw tense, his head turned slightly to the side. Dawn wanted to help him over the edge, wanted to give him the sort of pleasure he'd given her. She brought her hips up higher, forced him in deeper, and Andrew groaned, his thrusts growing more erratic.
Dawn moved her hands from his arms to his hair and threaded her fingers through his curls, knowing from experience that he like that. Sure enough, he moved into the touch, panting. She pulled his head down to hers, knowing what she needed to do to send him over the edge. Gently, she kissed his cheek and jaw before she whisptered to him softly.
"I love you…"
Andrew gasped and shuddered above her, his hips spasming twice before he pushed them against her and held, his body trembling with pleasure. She used the hold she had on him with her legs to roll them over as he collapsed, and gathered him against her breast.
Reluctantly, Andrew let himself slip from her body, but stayed in her embrace. "I love you, too," he murmured against her skin when he found his voice again.
Dawn kissed the top of his head and pulled him closer. She loved the mornings…
*** *** ***
Andrew sat on the couch, nervously fiddling with his hands as he waited for Dawn to finish her phone conversation with Buffy. Even since he'd started sleeping with Dawn, thoughts of Buffy coming back to Rome filled him with definite dread, the ways that Slayer could make him hurt for touching her little sister cycling through his head.
"She'll be back tomorrow," Dawn announced as soon as she closed her cell phone. "And she says she's got some major stuff to discuss with me."
"What sort of stuff?" Andrew asked with a small frown.
"I don't know. She said we'll talk when she gets here. Sounded big, though. And she sounded different, too," Dawn replied.
"Different how?"
"I don't know…happier, maybe? I was like I could hear her smiling. It was kinda weird, especially considering how down she's been for like years."
Andrew stared back down at his hands as an idea of what could make Buffy happy came to mind. "Maybe she found something good out in L.A."
"Maybe. I just hope she's not back with Angel, 'cause I sooo don't want to have to live with him. Or have to suffer through their whole eternal-angsty-love thing. That got annoying to watch after a while," Dawn commented. She sighed. "I guess we're going to have to go back to real life now, huh?"
Andrew looked back up at her. "What do you mean?"
"Somehow I doubt Buffy's going to let you keep sharing a bed with me, even if she doesn't get majorly weird about our relationship," Dawn said.
Andrew swallowed, knowing Dawn was right. He'd already gotten so used to the feel of her body curled up against his as he slept—how was he going to sleep alone now? He'd thought about Buffy coming back plenty of times since she'd left, but before it had always been more abstract, something to make him sweat but not really think about the full impact it would have. But now she was really on her way to Rome, and as of tomorrow, this little world he'd built with Dawn was going to change completely.
It had become so natural for him to take her hand, or brush her hair back from her face. Would he have to keep from touching her with the Slayer on watch? Even if Buffy was aware of their relationship, how would she react to seeing signs of it, even the little ones?
Andrew didn't want to have to pull back from Dawn. He knew it was probably selfish of him, but he wanted everything, wanted a real, adult relationship, not stolen touches when her surrogate parent wasn't looking. He'd been able to deal with that in the beginning, but now that he and Dawn had shared so much more, he didn't want to go back.
"Let's get our own place."
Dawn coughed. "What?"
Andrew almost backtracked, fearing that he'd just scared her off, but he decided to have a backbone for once in his life and say what he meant. "Let's get our own place. Just you and me. I can more than afford it with that the Council pays me, and really, staying here was supposed to be temporary anyway. So let's move in together. And we can live anywhere you want. You want to leave Italy, just say the word and we're gone."
Dawn was silent for a moment, her brow furrowed as if she were thinking, before she smiled. "Yeah, okay. Let's move in together. But give me a little time to decide where, all right?"
"Sure," Andrew replied before his own smile spread across his face and he felt his hope that he could really have this rise a little more.
Dawn slid over on the couch and rested her head against his shoulder. "This'll be really nice," she said as she took his hand in his. "We'll be all in love and insanely happy."
Andrew chuckled. "You're rather optimistic," he said, kissing the top of her head.
"Well, it's not like I think it's going to be one long frolic through the daisies, but I think we'll be happy together." Dawn looked up at him and frowned a little. "Don't you?"
He placed his hand against her cheek. "Dawn, nothing in this world makes me happier than you do."
"Not even Star Wars?"
A thoughtful look crossed his face. "Hmm… Let me think about that one, okay?"
"Hey!" Dawn exclaimed, lightly smacking his chest.
"All right, you make me happier than Star Wars," Andrew said with a laugh. "Even when you're beating me up."
Dawn tried to pout, though her mouth was curving up in a smile. "I better."
"You do," Andrew assured her as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me." Silently, he added to himself, Better than I deserve.
"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, too," Dawn said softly. "You make me feel something that I've always been reaching for, but could never seem to grasp on to before. I feel…right with you."
Andrew said nothing in response, only tightened his arms around her.
*** *** ***
"Dawnie? Dawn, are you home?"
Dawn smoothed down her hair as she heard her sister come into the apartment and hoped how she'd spent the past week wasn't obvious from her outside appearance. She and Andrew had rushed around that morning, trying to dispose of any signs of the change in their relationship, in agreement that it was better if they told Buffy directly than she found out some other way.
With a deep breath, Dawn stepped into the foyer, ready to great her sister. "Hey, Buffy, how was…"
Dawn stopped short and gasped as she saw who else had come in through the door. She tried to speak, but couldn't, her mouth simply opening and closing like a fish.
He cleared his throat and gave Dawn a small nod of his head.
"Hey, bit."
*** *** ***