Patterns of Conversation
By Vanilla Tiger
AN: more preslash than slash, in that you could almost read it as gen. Spoilers
through S7. Thanks to Ambrosia for the beta.
Feedback to fitchers_bird@yahoo.co.uk
There were four of them, pretty much useless to the cause, and Dawn, just like anyone who'd ever been to junior high, could easily figure out that they'd soon split into pairs.
She'd assumed that it would be Dawn and Xander, and Anya and Andrew. The two that had known each other the longest, and the two newest recruits to the Scooby Gang. It seemed natural.
That, however, didn't take into account the fact that Xander and Anya were still working out their not-quite relationship. Which made it Dawn and Andrew, and Xander and Anya.
Dawn didn't mind talking to Andrew, although she didn't always know what he was going on about. He was sweet and funny, and actually interested in what Dawn thought. It was just that when she really didn't know what he was going on about Andrew had developed a habit of calling Xander for help. Then the two of them would forget that they'd been talking to her and just talk to each other. So then it was Dawn and Anya, and Xander and Andrew.
Dawn liked Anya. She wished that she had realised that earlier. At first they had just spent their time mocking everyone that wasn't them, everyone that they weren't with, but that soon got old. Then they actually began to talk to each other. Their conversation were often strange and silly, but it made sense to them. Besides it was the only real chance Dawn got to laugh in that increasingly cramped house where everyone was waiting for death.
At once newly human and millennia old, Dawn and Anya had a lot in common. It didn't take much effort for Dawn to understand Anya's unique perspective on the world. She couldn't understand why Anya took Xander back though.
Dawn still didn't quite get love.
With that step, things had gone back to Dawn and Andrew, and Xander and Anya. For a while they stayed that way, even if every so often Dawn and Anya shared a look that remembered.
Nothing shows exactly how useless you are like being sent away from battle. As events heated up it was back to Dawn and Xander, and Anya and Andrew. Whatever the others thought of them, none of the group were ready to sit out just yet, especially not Dawn.
She regretted that she wasn't there to take part in the wheelchair fight, but surely it would be Dawn and Anya, and Xander and Andrew soon enough. All of them together again.
At the final battle though, nothing had changed. Any concerns about the others were driven out by the desperate need to survive. After that, there was no room in Dawn's head for anyone but Buffy.
That's why it took awhile for Dawn to realise that Anya never made it out. Her eyes searched the bus restlessly, positive that she just missed her, that it's all some silly mistake. But it wasn't.
No-one had realised just how close the two of them had got, and Dawn couldn't bring herself to speak of it. Anyway everyone was so busy. There were new Slayers to be found, and old evil still to be vanquished. Yet one group still set itself aside, or rather had no special powers to set them apart. There was three of them now: Xander and Andrew, and Dawn, alone.