"So you're gonna celebrate the spectacular ass kicking we performed tonight by staring into your drink?"
Dawn looked up sharply, then gave her friend Emma small smile as she watched the girl slide into the booth across from her. Out of all the Slayers who had been Called that last day in Sunnydale, Emma Rawlings had been the one who had stood out from the crowd, the only one who had come even close to achieving the sort of status the Slayers before her had had. She'd also proven herself time and time again to be a true friend, something for which Dawn was grateful.
"Sorry," Dawn said to her. "I was off in my own little world."
Emma shook her head, her bright, multi-colored brushing in front of her face as she did. "Only you, Dawn, could drift off into your head in a place like this." Suddenly, Emma's mouth turned down. "You're okay, aren't you? I mean, that vamp smacked you pretty hard into the wall…"
"I'm fine," Dawn said. "I threw up a shield just before my skull connected. I didn't have time to make one that would protect me completely, but it kept me from getting my brains smashed out." She rubbed her head. "It's just a little sore. Although this…" She tapped the edge of her glass, her manicured nail clinking against it as she did. "This probably isn't going to help much."
"It'll help more tonight than it will tomorrow," Emma said with a smirk. "Do you want to get out of here?"
"Would you mind?"
"Nah. I should probably get out of here before K.C. tries to get me to join his Sunshine Band anyway," Emma replied, nodding her head in the direction of a man so fashionably challenged Dawn couldn't help but wince. "He's been hitting on me all night."
"Ew," Dawn said, her nose wrinkled. "Let's split then."
The night was cool but relatively dry for London, and the girls decided to walk the few blocks back to Slayer Central, neither of them worried about any sort of nasty they could run into between the club and home. After all, in their three years of friendship, they'd formed quite a team—and had yet to find something that they couldn't face.
They'd also learned each other well enough to know each other's moods as easily as their own, and Emma could tell that Dawn's spirits were not exactly high that night—nor had they been for most of the week. "Okay, I'm not up for a game of twenty questions, so just do me a favor and spill," Emma said, her hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket.
"There's not anything to spill," Dawn said. "At least I don't think there is. I don't know, maybe it's just post-finals let down or something."
"Post-finals let down?" Emma asked, one eyebrow quirking. "You've finished another year of school and managed to yet again score grades a nerd would envy. Where's the let down in that?"
Dawn shrugged. "I don't know…all that studying and now the year's just over?"
"Um, that doesn't usually lead to let down. That leads to celebrations and relief."
"You're right," Dawn said with a sigh. "I have no clue what's wrong with me. I was fine, and then the last couple of days, I've just felt off. Like…like something's coming."
"Good something or bad something?" Emma asked, her brow knitted.
"I don't even know that much," Dawn said. "I tried doing a reading for myself, but the cards were all over the place and didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense, so I guess I'm off there, too." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I had a dream the other night, though."
"Key dream?"
"I think. I'm not sure. It felt like one, but…it didn't really tell me much."
"You're always saying they're cryptic," Emma said. "What happened in this one?"
"I was back in my old apartment in Rome," Dawn replied. "Only it was empty. No furniture or anything. And I think I was…looking for something, but I don't know what. I don't even think I knew in the dream. But then all of the sudden I knew it was behind the door to my old bedroom, but when I opened it, there was nothing there."
"Just an empty room like the rest of the apartment?" Emma asked.
"No." Dawn shook her head. "Nothing as in nothing. Just…emptiness. Like I'd opened the door to a black hole."
"Anything else after that?"
"Nope. That was when I woke up. And I had that freaky post-Key dream feeling, so I guess that was what it was, but usually, I hear something in the dream. The Key will talk to me, or I'll talk to me, or something. But this one was silent." Dawn didn't say anything for a moment before she began to talk again. "I haven't even thought about that apartment in years. It never really felt like home, not like the house on Revello Drive back in Sunnydale or here. It felt more like…a train station."
"A train station?"
"Yeah. Like a stop on the way but not the destination. I always felt like Rome was just a stop between Sunnydale and wherever I would settle down next."
"So maybe that's what it meant in the dream," Emma suggested. "You said you felt like something's been off the past few days. Maybe the Key is trying to tell you that you're at about to make another transition, like when you came to London."
"Maybe," Dawn replied. "But what? I have no intention of leaving London, especially not now when I've got my life going right where I want it to be. And it's not like I have anything new and exciting lined up for my future."
Emma elbowed Dawn gently. "That's the fun part about the future, Dawnie—there's always something new and exciting, just from what it is. We never know what's ahead, so it's always an adventure."
Dawn eyed her friend. "Are you just in an incredibly optimistic mood or are you drunk?"
"I'm buzzed at best," Emma said with a roll of her eyes. "Don't let the fact I could probably be easily stored in someone's carry-on luggage fool you—I can hold my liquor with the best of 'em."
"Is that why I had to call Spike that one time and have him drag you out of that club, all thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes?" Dawn asked with a snort.
"I thought we agreed not to discuss that," Emma muttered. "Besides, I'd had waay more to drink that night than I did tonight."
Dawn shook her head slowly. "I'm still not sure how you managed to wrangle that whole bottle from the bartender."
"I have my ways," Emma said with a wide grin. After a beat, Emma sobered again. "But seriously, Dawn, maybe you should talk to someone who could do a better job at helping you figure things out, especially if there's been a dream involved. If there's one thing I've learned being a Slayer, it's that prophetic dreams should not be taken lightly."
Dawn knew Emma was right about that. "If it keeps going on, I will," she said. "It could just be that I'm having a down week, and I don't want to be the little girl who cried apocalypse."
"Does it feel apocalypse bad?" Emma asked.
"No," Dawn answered. She frowned, her brow knitting as she tried to focus on the strange feelings inside of her. "It feels like something more…personal."
Emma smirked. "Personal, huh? Maybe you're about to meet Mr. Right." She laughed.
"Oh shut up," Dawn replied. "You start going all Carrie Bradshaw on me, and I will have to kick your ass. I don't care if you have Slayer strength."
"Ugh. Don't even call me Carrie. Or any of them. Those women get on my nerves sooo bad."
Dawn giggled. "You mean you don't want a life that revolves around men and shoes?"
"Let me think…no. I'm happy enough with a good pair of boots and one man. Even if he does tend to spend most of his time in another dimension."
Dawn reached out and gave Emma's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Still no luck in convincing Aiden to relocate permanently?"
Emma shook her head. "Nope. Apparently being in a hell dimension is more appealing than being with me."
"I know the feeling," Dawn muttered. She kicked a small rock in her path. "Men suck."
"Big time," Emma agreed. "It's too bad I like them so much."
Dawn laughed at that. "I feel your pain. Sometimes I think life would be easier without them, but then I remember that they do have their…perks."
Emma's lips turned up in a sly smile. "And Aiden, he's rather, um…perky."
"Uh huh. I bet he is," Dawn replied with a teasing smirk.
"So I guess we're just doomed," Emma said with a heavy sigh. She reached her arm up to put it around Dawn's shoulders, despite the difference in their heights. "At least we have each other."
"Thank goodness for small mercies," Dawn replied with a chuckle.
Emma pulled her arm back. "So you'll let me know if you don't start feeling any better?" she asked.
"I will," Dawn said. "And if my dreams keep with the creepy and the cryptic, I'll go talk to Giles about them or something."
"Good. Don't make me have to worry about you."
"I'll do my best."
The two women grew silent again as they continued walking home.
*** *** ***
Dawn had tried to sleep when she'd gotten back to her flat, but after spending a while lying in the bed staring up at her ceiling, she'd given up. She'd contemplated waking Emma so she'd have someone to talk to, but decided she was probably better off alone. Instead, she stretched out on her couch and flipped through the television channels in search of something boring enough to put her to sleep.
She had no trouble finding boring television at that time of night, but none of it seemed to be doing the trick. Dawn rolled over on to her back and sighed as she gave up on finding any rest that night.
Suddenly, Dawn heard a sound outside her front door. She sat up and listened until she identified it as a child's laughter. Recently, her niece, Anne, had developed a habit of frequently "escaping" from her home in order to play a sort of hide-and-seek with her father—one that usually sent Spike into a mad panic as he searched the Slayer compound for his missing child.
Dawn opened her door, stopping short when she saw a little girl she didn't know. At least she thought she didn't know her. There was something strangely familiar about the child, the blue eyes staring up at her ones she was almost certain she'd seen before. Dawn knelt down to the child's level. "Are you lost, sweetie?"
The girl shook her head, her brown hair waving from side to side as she did.
"Are you sure? Where's your mommy?" Dawn asked.
The girl stared at Dawn, but said nothing. Something about the way the child was watching her unnerved her, as if she wasn't so much looking at her as through her. "Where's your home?" Dawn asked. "It's late. You should be in bed." Dawn paused for a moment as she tried to remember if she had seen this girl around before and if so, who her parents were. "What's your name?"
The little girl's answer was a whisper. "Summer."
"That's a pretty name," Dawn said. "It's close to mine. Well, my last name, anyway. That's Summers." Dawn stood. "Well, Summer, do you think you can show me where you're supposed to be?"
Summer nodded and reached her hand up towards Dawn. Dawn took it, a jolt going through her as she did. She couldn't shake the feeling that she should know this little girl, and Summer's hand felt oddly right in hers. She met the girl's eyes again, her mind whirling as she tried to place that particular shade of blue. "Show me, Summer," she said.
Summer began to walk, Dawn following her with the girl's hand still clasped in her own. They walked down the long corridor towards the main section of the building only to end up at a door Dawn didn't recognize. "Where does this lead?" Dawn asked aloud.
Summer said nothing, only pushed the door open, and Dawn shielded her eyes with her free hand from the burst of light that filled the hall. Soon, her eyes adjusted, and she looked out the door, gasping at the sight in front of her. It was a park, full of green trees and lush flowers. In the middle, she saw herself, pushing Summer on a swingset. A boy with a mop of brown curls on the top of his head with looked to be the same age as Summer ran around them, laughing.
From beside her, Dawn felt Summer tug on her hand. "Daddy will be home soon," the little girl said.
Dawn turned, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. "Your daddy? Where has he been?"
"Away," Summer answered. "You'll have to fight."
Dawn frowned. "Fight? I'll…I'll have to fight your daddy?"
Summer shook her head no. "You'll have to fight for this." She gestured her small hand to the scene outside the door.
Dawn knelt down and cupped Summer's face in her hands. She gasped as she took in the girl's features and tears welled in her eyes. "You're…you're mine."
"Remember to fight," Summer said softly.
Suddenly, Dawn was sitting up straight on her couch, gasping for air. Her heart pounded, and she forced herself to calm as she realized she'd never left her apartment. The television droned in her ear, and she lifted the remote control with a shaky hand to turn it off.
"And I guess that kills my hopes for this being just a bad week," Dawn muttered as she ran her fingers through her hair. There was no way she could write what had just happened to her off as merely a dream. It had been too vivid, too real. That little girl… Summer…
Now if only Dawn could figure out what it all meant.
*** *** ***