Week Four

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Supernatural or BtVS.
****

"This is your idea of a better solution for our problem?"
Buffy frowned at the hat in her hands. "Dawn, it was the best I could do. I've applied for jobs everywhere in town, and unless I want to work for Anya, this fast food job is the only job I could get."
"But his house is nice! And I already had the best room picked out for myself. I was even going to buy paint and redecorate it. What happened between the two of you?"
"It's-"
"Okay. If you tell me it's complicated, I'm going to shave your head while you sleep." Dawn scowled. "I'm not stupid. Just tell me what's wrong and maybe I can help."
"Somebody that's known Dean for a long time told me that he was just trying to keep the promise he made me, and I didn't think it was fair for me to expect him to do that."
"But you said before that you made an agreement with him and that he was going to take care of everything."
"It's not his responsibility. It's mine. I told him the deal was off."
"But he wanted to do it."
"It just isn't his place, Dawn."
"Yeah, well we won't have a place either, thanks to you." Dawn scowled and started walking toward the stairs. "And your hat is stupid!"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Tara will be here soon!" She yelled after her. "Do your homework!"


"I'll take ten Medleys to go."
Buffy glanced up from the cash register. "Dean, what are you doing here?"
"Getting something to eat. I was gonna wait until a different register opened up, but I guess I felt obligated to stand at the one that was already being used."
"Right." She mumbled. "Ten Medleys. How hungry are you, anyway?"
"Just doing my part."
"It's fast food. We don't work on commission here."
"Well, I-" He scowled and reached across the counter to take the hat off of her head. "I can't talk to you while you wear this damn thing. You look like a dumbass."
"What every girl wants to hear." Buffy sighed.
"Buffy, you have a line. Personal conversations will have to wait until you're either on your break or done for the night. Why aren't you wearing your hat?"
"I just need a second." Buffy replied, walking out from behind the counter. She and Dean walked outside to the parking lot.
"Are you seriously gonna let this guy order you around for crap pay?" Dean demanded.
"And my alternative is what, exactly? Making you stick to a relationship you don't want to be in?"
"That's bullshit."
"Missouri told me that I was wasting everyone's time and that you were too stubborn to back off once you said you were going to do something. I thought it would be best if I ended things so that you wouldn't have to be stuck with me."
"So you're happier here?"
Buffy frowned. "It doesn't matter."
Dean scowled at her, then grabbed her shoulders and pulled her toward him, kissing her roughly. He pulled away a moment later and let go of her. "I don't make promises unless I know I'm going to keep them, and I don't do a damn thing I don't want to do. I already told you that I don't care how you feel about me. That it wasn't important."
"But that's the problem. You think it's not a big deal, but it is. I can't be with somebody that doesn't..." She trailed off and folded her arms across her chest.
"Doesn't what? 'Cause as far as I can tell, there hasn't been anything wrong with the sex or the hunting. We're good at both of 'em. What else do you need?"
"It was just a bad idea."
"What else do you need?" Dean repeated. "I'm not leaving until you give me an answer. You can't be with somebody that doesn't what?"
"Fine. I can't be with somebody that doesn't have feelings for me. You're looking for something convenient, and that's fine for you. I thought it's what I wanted, or at least could handle, but I was wrong. I was letting you call the shots because I didn't want to. The last big decision I made was to sacrifice myself to save my sister."
"You think I don't care about you?"
"You're the one that kept saying that feelings didn't make a difference to you."
"Your feelings for me!" He exploded. "I've wanted you since I saw those tapes. And just so we're clear, the one I watched more than once wasn't the one you thought it was." He lowered his voice as he stared at her, a hurt expression on his face. "I love you." He laughed bitterly. "You know, I was waiting to say it 'cause I didn't want to scare you off and have you leave me."
Buffy blinked away her tears and walked back into the building.
Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then turned and walked back to his car.
The passenger side door opened as he was starting the ignition, and Buffy sat down beside him and pulled the door shut.
He sat there silently, not meeting her gaze.
"I had to get my coat."
Dean smiled.


He kissed her closed eyelids and wrapped an arm around her as they laid in bed together. "Wanna move your stuff in tomorrow?"
Buffy smiled sleepily. "Sure. Not like I have other plans. I was supposed to work tomorrow, but I quit." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "I know now that I misunderstood what Missouri was telling me. I thought she meant I was wasting your time by getting involved with you and not letting you have a chance to find the right person. I think she was trying to convince me that I needed to just say it and stop waiting for you to go first." She smiled slightly. "It looks like I messed up there, anyway. You still managed to open up before I could. I do love you. It was just a little overwhelming because the last guy I said that to didn't exactly believe me. I didn't want to risk being brushed aside like that again."
"You pissed me off." Dean admitted.
"I wasn't too happy with myself, either. And Dawn yelled at me. She'll forgive me when she finds out we made up. Giles called me earlier to let me know that I was right about the serum. How's Sam?"
"He's being his usual mopey self, so he'll be all right."
"I should probably call Tara and let her know that I won't be back home until tomorrow." She mused, getting up to retrieve her cell phone from her coat. When the answering machine message played, Buffy frowned at her phone and hung up. "I think something's wrong. There was no answer."
"They might be asleep."
She shook her head. "Dawn's a teenager. She couldn't ignore a ringing phone if she was in a coma. God. I really hope she's not in a coma." She started getting dressed. "I'm sorry, but I have to get over there and just make sure everything is okay."
Dean got up from the bed and did the same. "I'll drive you."


"Tara?" Buffy's eyes widened as she kneeled down beside the witch and checked for a pulse. "Please, please..." She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a pulse.
Tara groaned and opened her eyes. "Buffy? Oh no. Dawn! He took her. I couldn't do anything. I don't know what he used, but my magic wouldn't work. I tried to stop him anyway, but I'm not you."
"Who, Tara?"
"Riley." Tara tried to sit up.
"Don't." Buffy told her. "Just sit still. You could have a concussion or something." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed. "Xander? I need you and Anya to come over here. Now." Without waiting for a response, she hung up. "Did he say anything about where he might take her?"
"No. He just said he was going to do whatever it took to get you back."
"Yeah, 'cause kidnapping my sister is way better than flowers." Buffy retorted, getting to her feet. She turned to Dean. "I need you to check out the Initiative's lab. He could be there. As soon as Xander and Anya get here, I'll try a few other places I know Riley goes to." She thought quickly. "Find Spike. He's always been protective of Dawn. He'll help look for her."
As Dean left, Buffy dialed the phone number for the Sunnydale Police Department. For once, their dangerous situation could be solved by someone who didn't have a degree in demonology. "I'm so sorry this happened. I should have been here."
"You and Dean made up?" Tara asked. "That's good." Despite Buffy's warning, she sat up. "Dawn will be fine."
"Yeah." Buffy mumbled, wishing she believed that.


The next thirty minutes dragged by as Xander and Anya arrived and Tara gave her statement to the two police officers. As soon as the door closed behind the cops, Buffy grabbed her jacket. "Xander, let's go." She snapped, impatient to start looking for Dawn herself. "You guys stay here in case there are any calls."
"Where do you want to go first?" Xander asked.
"The Bronze. It's still closed down, right? He might be keeping her there." She glared at her cell phone. "Come on, Dean. Call me with good news."
"Um, Buffy?"
She glanced up, and thought for a second that her heart had stopped. Several police cars were parked outside the club, and another was just arriving, using its sirens and lights. When she recognized the officers as the ones that had just been speaking with Tara, she got out of the car and walked toward them, her body on autopilot. "What's going on?"
"Miss Summers, we believe that your sister might be here. There was a report of a disturbance in this area."
Buffy gulped. "You need this many guys to handle this?"
"Ma'am, you should go home and let us do our jobs. We'll keep you updated with anything we learn. We're just trying to determine the severity of the situation right now."
She stared at him blankly, not understanding what he was trying to say.
"We're not going anywhere." Dean spoke up from behind her. He put a hand on her shoulder. "He wasn't at that lab. Spike showed me a different way in, and there was nothing. I heard the sirens and followed those cops here."
"I should have stayed home. She didn't want me to go to work tonight."
"It's not like she planned for Riley to kidnap her."
"No." She started to fidget. "I can't just stand here. I have to do something."
"The back entrance." Xander spoke quietly. "Or the roof. We'll have to get past everybody first, though."
Buffy glanced at the alley separating The Bronze from another building, then up at the roof. "I think I know a way."


"As attention-seeking goes, you could have called or written me a letter." Buffy called from the second floor as she looked down at Riley. "Instead, you do this."
"It worked, didn't it?"
She somersaulted over the railing and landed on the pool table below. "You tell me. You got me here. Now what?" She glanced at Dawn, who was tied to one of the support beams near the couches at the other side of the room.
"Now you stop playing around and admit that you've been miserable without me." Riley told her.
"I don't know." Buffy said airily. "I'm pretty sure I've been enjoying myself."
"Yeah, I saw you around with him. But you and I both know that you're just kidding yourself. There's no way he could make you happy."
"Here's an idea. You let my sister walk out of here unharmed, and I won't break all of your fingers for what you did to her and Tara."
"I thought you didn't hurt people."
"You're not a person." Buffy retorted. "You're a monster. An innocent human being wouldn't kidnap my sister!"
"She can leave when you agree to be with me again."
Buffy sighed as she got closer to the stage, where Riley was sitting. "I hate when they make me do things the hard way." She ducked suddenly and yelled, "Now!"
There was a gunshot as Dean pulled the trigger from where he'd been hiding on the second floor, and Riley was hit by a round of rock salt. He fell backward, and Buffy ran to Dawn to untie her.
"We have to hurry up and get out of here." Buffy said quickly. "You go out through the front door. Tell them he turned his back and you got his gun away from him. Everything's going to be fine." She kissed Dawn's forehead and ran toward the stairs.


"So they arrested him, and the police said there probably wouldn't even need to be a trial." Dawn finished, a relieved smile on her face. She closed her suitcase. "At least we know we won't have to worry about him again. I never liked him, anyway. He always called me 'kid.' Stupid jerk."
Xander stopped in Dawn's bedroom doorway, a box in his hands. "We've got the last of what we can take, Buff."
"I guess we can sell the rest of it." Buffy mused. "Thanks, Xander."
"Hey, where there's a free toaster, that's where I'll be." He joked, carrying the box down the stairs.
"It's going to be weird not having Scooby meetings here." Tara frowned.
"We can still have them at the shop. Or Dean's house." Buffy assured her.
"Our house." Dawn grinned. "You probably ought to get used to that."
"I guess." Buffy smiled wistfully. "I never realized how much stuff we had here. I don't know. It seems wrong to get rid of things that belonged to Mom." She turned to face Tara. "Although, really, a lot of her stuff became your stuff. Yours and Willow's. I think she wanted it that way. Are you sure you can't take more things? Maybe do a spell to make your dorm room bigger to fit everything in it?"
Tara smiled. "Sweetie, it doesn't work that way."
"No." Dean agreed, leaning in the doorway. "But you could always move into a bigger room, and then you could keep whatever you wanted in there."
"It would solve the problem of having to share a dorm room with a complete stranger." Buffy added.
"And if you run out of space, there would be two other rooms you could fill with stuff." Dawn smiled. "Please?"
Tara pretended to look annoyed, but the charade didn't last as she started to laugh. "Okay."
Dawn hugged her, then picked up her suitcase. "So, when are you guys having your wedding?"
"I don't know." Buffy picked up one of the boxes and followed her down the stairs.
"You should probably pick a date soon, 'cause Anya and Xander don't have one either." Dawn insisted. "And since I'm helping, I want to wear something nice."
"Here we go." Buffy muttered.