Passion - Scene including Dawn


By: Highlander II

Category: Fic Challenge
Archive: Please ask.
Spoilers: Passion
Rating: PG-13: language
Summary: Fic challenge response. What would that scene between Joyce and Angelus have been like if Dawn had been there too?
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Joss Whedon and are property of Kuzui/Kuzui Entertainment, Mutant Enemy Productions, WB, UPN, FOX etc. etc.
Feedback: Highlander II






"So, Mom, what's for dinner?" Dawn asked as she flipped through her 'teen magazine full of photos of the coolest and hottest people in movies and TV.

"I don't know, Sweetie. What would you like?" Joyce kept her eyes mostly focused on the road, but made a passing glance at her youngest daughter as she checked the sideview mirror.

"Hmm," Dawn thought, putting a finger to her mouth.

"No pizza," Joyce vetoed before Dawn could suggest.

Dawn's shoulders slouched and she dropped her hand to her lap, pouting. "Well, we got stuff at the store for mini-pizzas…" she prompted.

"Those are for this weekend." Joyce glanced at Dawn. "Is that all you ever want to eat?"

Dawn bared her teeth in a giant, over-exaggerated smile. Joyce could only shake her head. She steered the Jeep into the driveway and caught sight of a dark-haired figure approaching on her side of the car - a man.

"Dawn, take this bag and go inside." She handed one of the grocery bags to her daughter before stepping from the car herself.

"Mrs. Summers," Angelus began, earnestly, "I need to talk to you."

"You're Angel," Joyce commented, nonchalant.

Angelus pushed the car door closed, but kept near. "Did Buffy tell you about us?" he asked, a little hurried as he noticed Joyce trying to move around him. He saw Dawn moving around the front of the Jeep, but let her go, keeping an eye on her as she moved.

Joyce gripped the bag of groceries and started for the porch. "She told me she wants you to leave her alone."

"I - I can't. I can't do that."

She looked him point-blank in the face and said, "You're scaring her."

Dawn stopped at the base of the porch steps and watched the interlude between Buffy's weird tutor-boyfriend and her mother.

"You have to help me," Angelus' voice was full of pleading. Joyce walked away. "Joyce…" he followed her, "I need, I need to be with her. Y- you can convince her. You have to convince her."

Psycho stalker obsessive boyfriend guy much? Dawn thought, frowning at the persistent man bothering her mother. "Why don't you just leave her alone?" Dawn screeched from her position by the stairs.

Angelus turned a feral grin on her, ready to leap at her and rip her throat out. "Well, aren't you a pretty little thing?"

Dawn recoiled an moved up a couple stairs.

"Look," Joyce snapped at him as he put himself between her and the porch, "I'm telling you to leave her alone."

He was pleading again: "You have to talk to her for me, Joyce. Tell her I need her."

Joyce moved around Angelus, heading for the porch again. She shifted her grocery bag and fished in her purse for her keys. "Please, look, I - I just wanna get inside, okay?" The grocery bag tumbled to the ground while she was trying to get away from Angelus and locate her keys. Fruit and items scattered everywhere. She sighed slightly and Angelus knelt to retrieve the oranges that had rolled across the lawn.

He looked up at her as he was putting the oranges back into the bag. "You don't understand, Joyce. I'll die without Buffy. She'll die without me."

That was lame. Every boyfriend who couldn't take a break-up uses that line! Dawn huffed and snarled at the back of Angelus' head.

Joyce stared him down - mother protecting her child - children, her youngest was still standing on the steps. Her recently located keys jangled in her clenched fist and she snarled at Angelus, "Are you threatening her?"

"Please. Why is she doing this to me?"

Dawn spoke up again, in defense of her sister, "Maybe because you're a sick-o and she doesn't love you!"

"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" Angelus snarled at Dawn again. I like her.

"Dawn, get on the porch," Joyce ordered. Dawn huffed and pouted and stomped onto the porch. Joyce turned back to Angelus. "I'm calling the police now." She left her grocery bag on the ground and climbed the porch steps to the door. Fumbling, she tried to find the right key and get it into the lock as Angelus made his way onto the porch and pressed close again. Dawn made a squeaking noise and pressed her back against the exterior wall of the house.

"I haven't been able to sleep since the night we made love," he said, his voice near panting. A wicked smile broke the line of his mouth at her look of surprise; it widened when he realized Dawn had heard too and he looked to see her mouth hanging open in shock. He turned back to Joyce and hid his smile. "I need her. I know you understand."

Joyce opened the door and snapped back at him as she reached to shove Dawn inside, "Just leave us alone."

Angelus' hand darted out faster than she could see and grabbed Dawn's arm. The girl let out a high-pitched shriek and threw the grocery bag to the floor, then kicked at her attacker's shins with her boot-covered feet. Joyce, while she was trying to turn to face-off against Angelus in another display of motherly protection, knocked him in the jaw with her head. His grip on Dawn was lost and the two ladies rushed into the house.

Angelus howled and tried to follow, but found himself repelled by the mystical threshold barrier over the front door. He snarled in at Buffy and Willow as they came down the stairs, Willow reciting part of a Latin incantation from a book in her hands.

Buffy stepped up to the door, safely ensconced behind the barrier and showed no fear as she snapped, "Sorry, Angel. Changed the locks," and slammed the door in his face. She heard him growl and pound on the door before he finally left the porch. She turned to her mother and sister. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"We're fine," Joyce replied, hugging Dawn to her side. "What is wrong with him?"

"He's… he's…" Buffy hedged.

"Psycho?" Dawn supplied.

"That about covers it. Look, I'm gonna make sure the rest of the windows and doors are locked. Stay here in the living room until I get back, okay?"

Joyce nodded and led Dawn to the couch. "Are you all right, honey?" she asked.

"He hurt my arm," Dawn replied, holding out her left arm, tugging the sleeve up to reveal dark red finger marks on her forearm. She looked up at her mother, tears welled in her eyes, but not falling. She was trying to be strong, prove she could handle things like Buffy could.

"Oh, honey. I'm so sorry." Joyce leaned in and kissed the girl's temple.

"It's not your fault, Mom." She glared up at her sister as she entered the room with Willow. "It's Buffy's."

"What? How is this my fault?" Buffy snapped.

"He was your psycho boyfriend."

Buffy sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "He wasn't psycho before."

"How do you know?"

"Girls," Joyce interrupted the verbal sibling rivalry. "Dawn, why don't we have Willow take you into the kitchen to get some ice for your arm? I need to talk to Buffy for a minute."

Buffy sighed again, flung her arms out and let them slap against the sides of her legs, then turned to climb the stairs to her room. Dawn rose from the couch, cradling her marked arm and walked to the kitchen with Willow. "I'll take care of her, Mrs. Summers," Willow called over her shoulder.

"Thanks, Willow," Joyce returned on her way to the stairs. She took a deep breath and slowly climbed the stairs and made her way to Buffy's room.

End