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It wasn’t often that Dawn heeded Buffy’s advice, no questions asked. In fact, she oftentimes asked all the questions, whined a bit about having to do whatever it was that they had to do, and then thought of a few more questions to ask. Eventually, she almost always gave in. It was very rare that she went against the grain when it all was said and done. Her sister had gotten them through a lot. And Dawn was absolutely sure that she would get them through even more, if more came their way.

If you get lost, find a landmark and sit in one place, her sister had said. It’s easier to be found if you sit in one place, supposedly. So then why was her sister always on the move? That made no sense.

Berkeley wasn’t one of the places where she’d ever expected to take a wrong path. She loved the school. She loved the atmosphere. She loved the normalcy of it. Never mind that she had been headed to her least favorite class, Algebra II, when she had become lost. The door that she had thought led to her classroom had instead led her to what could only be described as a hotel. She’d wandered the halls for almost an hour, looking for the right door or a way out. Her efforts were fruitless.

So this was how she ended up in the lobby, sitting in the middle of the floor and holding her cell phone up to try to get a reception to call Buffy or Xander. No reception. Her nose wrinkled and she looked positively unhappy as she muttered to herself. “America’s most dependable 3G network, you are not. And I’m not sure how good I’ll be at the sitting and waiting to be found thing.”

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Dawn finally pulls back, hands on Buffy's shoulders, and looks into her eyes. She stares. And stares some more. "You're serious. You haven't taken any crazy pills lately, have you?"

"Nope. No crazy pills." She sighs. "Sorry. Yes. Serious. I haven't actually tried to go through any of the doors yet. I've been looking for you."

She gets a stern look. "No stepping through doors without me. Leave the door open, come find me."

"So if it brings people from all over everywhere, it could bring just anyone here." Which could be both good and bad. They could get Giles. They could get Glory.

Buffy's brain went there too. The Summers girls are a lot alike, really. She nods. "Yeah." She doesn't want to think about Glory arriving here. Nope. Not going to do it. Instead she'll weave it into a warning for Dawn.

"So far, everyone I've met has been okay, but be on your toes."

"I always thought that was a really weird phrase, be on your toes. I mean aren't we always on our toes if we're standing? Especially in heels." Not that she wears heels very often, only if she's going on a date or something. But still, the question stands.

But she doesn't entirely divert from the topic at hand. "Can we get outside of the hotel?"

"I think it's more of tiptoe thing," Buffy responds, brow furrowing a bit in thought.

Oh. Well she had hoped that it would. Eventually she shakes her head. "Nope. There's a lot of space...literally."

"So we're stuck in creepy hotel with doors that go to places unknown." She nods, quiet for a moment as she absorbs that. "Us involved in the wacky and weird. Must be Friday."

Dawn's comment makes a smile tug at the corners of her lips. She nods and takes a deep breath. "

"It's almost home-y in the way that it's familiar. Not in the way that this resembles home in any other way except for...that way."

There were a lot of words that were the same in that sentence.

"You're all okay having though? No...weirdness or invisible injuries?" She's going to look her sister over again.

"Is Xander here?" Because that's the million dollar question. Dawn has moved around so much that people are what make home now; Buffy, Xander and Willow. If she has her people, then she's okay.

Buffy gave Dawn a sad smile and shook her head. "I haven't seen him, or anyone else. Just you and me, Kid."

She frantically searched for something good to point out. "We have a pool and there was a cute boy in it when I first saw it. It's possible there's always a cute boy in it."

"Cute boys? As in your kind of cute boy or my kind of cute boy or just a cute boy in general?" Sufficiently distracted, Buffy. Good job.

Buffy purses her lips, pondering that a moment. "Should I be offended that I've got a kind of cute boy that's different from your kind of cute boy 'cause I could point out that your first kiss was a vampire. You know, if I was a sister that was less awesome than I actually am."

Oh good and hopefully this distracts her further.

"Ohmigosh like you're one to talk about the vampire kissage. I didn't even know he was a vampire until after the fact." Her nose wrinkles remembering her first kiss and how slobbery and awkward it had been. "Plus ew with the awkward. I sucked at kissing then. Now I'm way awesome at it. Better than you, I bet."

Buffy gasps at the accustation. "Please! I was taught to kiss by over 400 combined years of kissing experience. I don't think you kiss better than me."

It's a ridiculous thing to be arguing over and that's perfect for helping them both deal with this situation.

"Kissing a 400 year old vampire probably tastes like kissing moth balls." She argues / teases back. "Or knitting yarn."

"There was definitely no knitting or moth balls involved," Buffy teases as well, making it sound as naughty as possible. "However, there was plenty of kissing going on."

"Ew... did his fangs ever cut your lip? Cause I've always wondered that about the kissing of vampires when they're all grr argh." Because the vampire she had kissed hadn't morphed yet. With hers there had just been a lot of slobber. And then she'd had to kill him before he turned her. It had been kind of traumatic.

Buffy gives her a 'what' sort of look. "No. I mean...okay yes. Once, but there was--" she stops herself short of telling her baby sister that the cutting bit had been a little ~~a lot~~ intentional. "You learn to be careful. Besides, most of the time there was no vamp face."

"I'm tempted to find a vampire and kiss them just to try it out." She adds thoughtfully. "I'll call it research. The tricky part is finding a vampire who isn't hungry and who you haven't kissed yet."

"No!" The protest is out of her mouth before she ever even really processes all of Dawn's words. "And hey! I haven't kissed all the vampires and you don't need to kiss any of them!"

"Fiiiine. I won't go seeing vampires out. But love is love, Buffy. If I happen to get my kiss on with a vampire, you can't say anything about it cause pot kettle black." Now she's just teasing, egging Buffy on because she can.

"I have no problem being pot and kettle when it's keeping you from being vampire bait," Buffy retorts.