fandomhigh | Library [01/30]

Sam frowned softly and came around from behind the desk to put his hands on Dawn's shoulders. "Hey, listen to me. Everything's going to be all right, I promise. You're safe."

"He won't come after me," Dawn said, absurdly confident for no apparent reason, except maybe her knowledge that if he'd needed the Key for something, she'd be dead already. "Or at least not more than everyone else. This is nothing new to me, Sam. It's just...sad."

"He's a demon, Dawn," Sam said, like that made all the sense in the world. "This is what demons do, they turn evil and start hurting people, and then they get taken care of."

"But he was fighting it, Sam," Dawn said earnestly. "If he's gone so bad that he's attacking people? Attacking Angel, who along with being the king of hairgel is also a really, really tough vampire in a fight? He's gone. But it didn't have to be this way."

"You're right, it didn't. He could have fought harder, and then maybe none of this would have happened."

"But...the e-mail...it said he's being possessed or been taken over by something. Can we even do an exorcism on a demon? I'm not sure..." She rubbed the space between her eyebrows. "I really thought love would be enough for him." Like it had been for Spike.

"I wish love was enough," Sam said quietly, thinking. "If we did an exorcism on Bel...there isn't a way to separate bad demon energy from questionably moral demon energy, as far as I know. I heard people saying he'd lost his powers, and if that's true, then maybe it could work, but...first he has to be found."

"There's a spell," Dawn whispered, "a curse. That can resoul a vampire. Maybe if there's a way to adapt it somehow...and I don't know how to find him. But if there's somewhere we need to get to that maybe we otherwise couldn't..."

She trailed off, looking at her forearm, and the light scars from where she'd cut herself to find Dean. She couldn't do that again--without a directional, or a blood link to Bel, she'd just rip open the fabric between dimensions. "I don't know how to help, and I don't know if I want to."

"You don't have to help," Sam said seriously, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "You can try to figure out how that curse might be helpful, or you can do some other kind of research, but you don't have to help. I'm not even sure if I want to help," he admitted.

Dawn hugged him back, laying her head on his chest. "Why not? I know why I don't want to--I'd feel like I was killing my friend."

And that would be Sam suddenly feeling a little guilty. "For me...as much as I argue against the hunting lifestyle, it still seems a bit wrong to be in the business of helping a demon."

She sighed. "No, I get that, Sam. I do. If I hadn't been me-sat by a vampire and another demon of unspecified lineage, I'd probably feel the same way you do."

Sam smiled gently as he held Dawn a little closer. "Have I mentioned that I think Buffy is crazy for not, you know, sticking to human sitters?"

She took a deep breath and released it. "I had a Hell God trying to kill me, Sam. Human sitters couldn't protect me as well as they could."

"I guess," Sam said solemnly. "And I can understand why you can see the potential for demons to be good. I thought I could too, by giving Bel the benefit of the doubt. But now I'm not so sure."

"Are...are you going to take him on?" Dawn asked, looking anywhere but at Sam's face. "Because I know you and Dean are experienced, but this might be more than you're ready for. I don't want you to get hurt. Or worse."

"If we have to take him on, then we will. But I don't think we'll do it alone," Sam said. "Dad will help, I'm sure, and maybe Wyatt and Chris, since this whole thing affects their family. No matter what, I'll be fine."

Dawn wished she was as confident as Sam was about this. "Do you really think we're going to have to kill him?" She asked, not even realizing she'd included herself.

Sam wasn't sure if he liked hearing her include herself, if only because he was nervous at the idea of Dawn being around if trouble happened. "You know me - killing is absolutely the last resort as far as I'm concerned."

Which wasn't a no. "Do we have other ideas? I assume you've pulled all the good books already?"

"I haven't pulled all of them, but I've gotten a good start," he said, gesturing to a stack of books on one of the tables. "I don't have a good alternate idea yet."

"Anything on bindings?" Dawn asked, grabbing a piece of paper and pencil from off the desk and making some notes. "And I'll see if there's anything on exorcising demons from, er, demons while I'm over there."

"I think there are some books on bindings. If there aren't, I can go grab them," Sam offered, watching Dawn for a few moments before smiling softly. "I really enjoy watching you get into Serious Research Girl mode."

Dawn looked up from her notes. "Huh? I mean...huh?" She blinked. "Serious Research Girl mode should probably have glasses, but I figure those come later. Also, why?" She twisted her hair up into a bun and secured it with the pencil she'd been writing with.

"Uh, because it's hot?" Sam replied. "Smart girls are hot. Smart girls who like researching to try to help their friends are even hotter."

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