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Gotta Know Tonight

By Rach

TITLE: Gotta Know Tonight
AUTHOR: Rach
DISCLAIMER: These characters belong to Joss, because he is all powerful and all knowing, and if I didn't put a disclaimer he'd probably come after me with some form of large, painful weapon and smite me down. So yeah, they're not mine.
PAIRINGS: Wes/Dawn
DISTRIBUTION: Satan's Toady, You Get Me & SU
SUMMARY: "Got a feeling I'm in over my head, can't wait until tomorrow."
TIMELINE: For the most part, about three years into the future. Flashbacks run up to mid-season one A:ts.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For Ambs - who else could a Wes/Dawn fic be for? - because she infected me with Weda Fever!
RATING: PG-13
FEEDBACK is something I thrive on!

Dawn looked at her watch, and debated whether or not she could make a dignified exit. Sighing, she decided she didn't really care what her date thought of her, as he was probably the most boring guy she'd ever met, and she had no plans to see him again. Ever. Maybe she should stop being so picky - she was nineteen, and she'd still never had a single serious boyfriend. Janice was married, for crying out loud.

"So then my dog, Lucky - that was my third Labrador - she had an ear infection when I was twelve. So we had to get the vet -"

"Dan!" she interrupted, and then caught herself and forced a smile. "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to go."

Dan frowned. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no, not at all, it's just …" she sighed again. "I have a headache."

"I'll drive you home." That was the last thing she needed, really, but she'd rather go home than wait for a cab or a bus.

Nodding, Dawn stood up. "I'll go pay."

"Oh, Dawn, let me do that."

Can this guy not take a hint? She groaned, and shook her head insistently. "You get the car. I'll get the check."

Breathing a sigh of relief once Dan was out of sight, she turned to the waitress who was waiting by the bar. "Can I pay for this here?" The girl nodded, and Dawn handed over her credit card. "Table ten."

Dawn looked around the restaurant while she waited. It was a nice place, with good food. Shame the date had been such a disaster. The waitress returned with Dawn's card and the receipt, which was dutifully signed. As she slotted the card back into her wallet, Dawn headed to the door to wait for Dan.

"Excuse me, miss, wait!" Dawn turned around to see a handsome man following her. Maybe this evening wasn't going to be such a disaster after all. She grinned as the man approached her. "You dropped this."

She blushed as he handed over her lipstick, and slipped it back into her purse. "Oh! Thank you! I must have -"

"Dawn?" Surprised at the interruption, she looked up at the guy. She'd recognise those eyes anywhere …

"Wesley?" She whispered. "Oh my God! How are you?!" Forgetting that she was in a swanky setting, she squealed girlishly and swept Wes up in a hug.

Laughing, Wes pulled away and placed a finger on her lips. Blushing, she smiled apologetically.

"Sorry!"

Wes shook his head, a broad grin on his face. "Would you join me for a drink?"

Dawn nodded. "I'd love to." Leaving a message for Dan with the nearest waitress, Dawn followed Wesley over to where he'd been sitting at the bar.

"What can I get you?"

****

The first time she'd seen him she'd been peeking out of her bedroom door. Buffy had instructed her not to come out until she was told, so she was very carefully leaning out of the door without stepping onto the landing.

Buffy was showing him to the bathroom - Dawn didn't understand why Buffy was so set against him. He was hot. Sure, Buffy was mad that Giles had been fired at all, but she didn't need to take it out on the cutie. He looked a little bewildered by it all.

He'd been a little disoriented when he left the bathroom, she remembered the look on his face when he didn't know which way to go as clear as if it were yesterday. She hadn't realized she'd been staring, until he turned towards her and smiled.

"Hi," he whispered. "I'm afraid I'm a little lost."

"Hi!" She squeaked. Giles usually just ignored her, or talked like she was seven, or something. She was twelve years old - that's practically a woman! "Uh, you need to … go … uh … that way." She blushed bright red at the fool she was making of herself, and flung her arm out in the general direction of the stairs.

"Thanks," he replied, before turning and heading back the other way. He jumped as a door slammed behind him, and turning around, Dawn's door was suddenly shut.

"Sweet girl," he muttered to himself.

****

"So, I'm just visiting my Dad, really," she finished. She took a sip of the wine in front of her, and made a mental note not to let Wes buy her any more. Her head was starting to spin a little - but she was really enjoying herself for the first time in a long time. She remembered a time when there's no way Wes would have bought alcohol for an underage girl, but the more she stared at him, the more she realized he'd changed a lot. He'd always been hot, but there was just something about him now … something attracting her to him like a magnet. She felt like she wanted to jump on him right there and then, and that was so totally not like her.

She was fairly certain she wasn't under any spells - other than the magical influence of alcohol - and this was a natural thing. Shaking herself from her thoughts, she looked up at Wes and grinned. "So how about you?"

****

Before long, Wes had started babysitting for Dawn on a regular basis. He still put in the same protestations that he always had - "I'm your Watcher, I should be patrolling with you," - but he'd stopped putting any effort into them. He knew he was just going through the motions. Part of it was that he knew Buffy would always win the argument; after all, it was all of her friends plus Giles, against just him. But it was becoming increasingly clear to him that he enjoyed spending the time with Dawn.

He could tell Buffy never noticed her. Not really. And while Dawn liked to play the "little sister who hates the eldest" role, he knew she didn't. Buffy was her idol, and if she'd just give Dawn some real attention …

"Peaceably?!" Dawn squealed, as Wes finished placing his letters down on the Scrabble board. "That is *so* not a word."

Wes smiled, and handed Dawn the dictionary by his feet. "I think you'll find you're wrong about that …"

He watched as she flicked to the right page, and trailed her finger down it.

"Pea … peace … peaceable …" She snapped the book shut. "I'll let you have it, but only because I like you."

Wes laughed as he noted down his score. "It was in there, wasn't it?"

Dawn bit her lip in defeat. "Yeah."

"Don't sulk, Dawnie, it doesn't suit you."

"I'm not sulking." Sticking her tongue out, she triumphantly added 'pedantic' to the board. "See?"

"Trying to make a point, are we?"

"Me?" She smiled, mock-innocently. "I'm just using the letters God gave me."

"Dawn, honey," he smiled sympathetically, and patted her on the shoulder. "It's a game of Scrabble, I highly doubt there's been a religious intervention."

****

Wes finally got his key into the lock, and the pair of them entered his apartment, giggling. He'd left his car at the restaurant, promising to pick it up in the morning, and called them a cab at Dawn's insistence. He'd been all for driving, until a slightly drunken Dawn ordered him to stand up and his legs had given way beneath him.

He'd sobered up considerably on the drive over, and as Dawn collapsed on his couch, he pulled a beer out of the refrigerator and waved it in her general direction.

"Beer?"

She nodded. "Please!" As she took the beer he offered her, she looked over at him. "So, are you seeing anyone?"

He snorted. "Yeah, I was at a bar, alone, on a Friday night and then I invited a beautiful girl back to my apartment because I'm in a serious relationship right now." Sitting down, he handed her a bottle opener. "How about you?"

It was Dawn's turn to snort. "I wish. I had a date earlier, but you saved me from that hell, so thank you! But apart from that, no, not …" she trailed off, suddenly realising what Wes had said. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"I … uh …" he avoided her gaze. "I've always thought so."

****

Dawn stood outside Wesley's door, knocking tentatively. At least, she hoped it was Wesley's door. Buffy spent so much time and effort not visiting Angel whenever they were in LA, that she barely even noticed what Dawn got up to. She'd decided that seeing as she'd spent around six months last year with Wes babysitting almost every night, she should make the effort to see the guy. Show him how much she'd grown up. Which had nothing to do with her having a huge crush on him. Nope, nothing at all.

It was almost a year since she'd last seen Wes, just before Buffy's graduation. In that time, she'd had one letter and two phonecalls, and she hadn't even had a current address until she built up the courage to call Cordelia.

Buffy would probably kill her when she realised she was gone. Dawn could almost hear her now. 'Dawn, you're fourteen' 'Dawn, you should have told me you were going out.' Dawn, do this. Dawn, don't do that.

She was so lost in her mental Buffy-rant - she'd have to remember to tell Buffy she'd already had the lecture - that she didn't notice when Wes opened the door.

"Dawn?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice. "Wes!" Good one, Dawnie. She'd been planning to lean against the doorframe when he opened the door, all cool and collected, like chicks in films always did. Instead she was staring off into space with some totally dorko expression on her face.

"What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd come visit … before we go any further, could you call Buffy and tell her I'm not dead?" Wes raised an eyebrow, and Dawn blushed. "I kinda didn't tell her I was coming over."

"Dawn!"

"What!" she exclaimed, defensively. "I meant to, but she was all weepy and big with the forbidden Angel love - in the sense of she wanted to go see him, not the sense where there was actual Angel lovin' goin' on, because, eew …"

"I understand, Dawn." He smiled, and laid a hand on the receiver. "Number?"

****

Dawn didn't remember how she'd ended up straddled across Wesley's knees, her arms around his neck and her lips in very, very close proximity with his. Not close enough for her, though.

"Dawn," Wesley breathed. "We shouldn't, you're too -"

"Too what?" she whispered back, planting a kiss on his lips. "Too young? Somehow the age difference doesn't seem so much of a big deal now I'm nineteen."

Wesley smiled, and returned the kiss. "You're right, of course. I just felt like I should at least protest a little …"

"Hard to get, huh?"

"Hard to get doesn't work when you're desperate to stick your tongue down the other person's throat, Dawn."

Taken aback for a second, Dawn regained her composure and grinned. "You know what I think? There's entirely too much talking in this conversation."

****

Wesley hung up, having assured Buffy that Dawn was in safe hands, and he'd return her personally before dark. "Can I get you a drink?" Wes headed towards the fridge and looked inside it as Dawn peeked over his shoulder.

"Beer looks good."

Wesley turned to face her. "Yes, of course. Giving beer to a fourteen year old was definitely on my list of things to do today." Pulling out a Pepsi, he handed it to her. "I might have changed, Dawn, but I'm not stupid."

Frowning, she took the Pepsi and opened it. "Worth a try, I guess!" She looked around the main part of Wesley's apartment. "So, you got anything to do?" She glanced at him hopefully. "Scrabble?"

"Afraid not."

"That's good for you, because I've been practising." She leaned towards him conspiratorially. "I have a weekly 'Kick Xander's Ass At Scrabble' thing going on. Not that kicking Xander's ass at Scrabble is hard … I need some real competition!"

Wesley laughed. "I miss playing with you, Dawn." His eyes widened. "Uh, that is … I miss playing *Scrabble* with you. Scrabble. You heard the 'Scrabble' in that sentence, didn't you?"

"We could just leave even more words out and you could say 'I miss you, Dawn.' Which I could then follow with 'I miss you, too, Wes.' If that works for you."

Wes smiled. "I … uh …"

"Okay, I'll start. I miss you, Wes."

"I miss you too, Dawnie."

****

Dawn collapsed breathlessly onto Wesley. "Wow," she breathed. "Just … wow." So glad I got away from Mr Puppy in my Pocket.

Wesley wrapped his arms tightly around Dawn, and chuckled. "I think I'm going to have to get my sofa steam-cleaned now, you know."

She whacked Wes on the arm. "Hey! We have what is quite possibly *the* most profound experience of my entire life, and all you can think about is your couch?"

"No, I can also focus quite strongly on the banging headache I've gotten from the amount of alcohol you made me drink tonight!"

"Me! It was *so* not my fault - you're the legal one, after all!"

"This is true."

Dawn dropped her head onto Wesley's chest, and listened to his breathing for a while. "Wes?" she murmured.

"Yes?"

"Do you think we should have … a conversation … about what happened here?"

"I think it's quite obvious what happened here, Dawn."

"No, stupid, I mean … there was sex. I know that, I'm not a complete idiot. There was good, excellent, amazing, and any other positive adjective you could care to fill in that gap sex. But was it alcohol-fuelled, good, excellent, amazing sex or was it something else?"

"That depends."

"On?"

"Whether you want it to be something else."

Dawn looked up at Wesley, a happy glint in her eye. "Would you like to take me out for dinner tomorrow night - oh, no, wait, make that tonight - and we can take it from there?"

He kissed the top of her head. "I'd like nothing more."

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