Spoilers: Season 7 Buffy, up to (And maybe including, haven't decided yet) Infinite Crisis in DC, and mid-to late ninties issues of various X-Men, X-Force, that sort of thing. I'm sorry, but current Marvel really sucks.
Rating: T/pg-13 (for the moment)
Pairings: Dawn/Bart Allen (Kid Flash), mentions of Robin/Batgirl, Wondegirl/Superboy, maybe Connor(Angel's son)/Greta or Connor/Cissie
Summary: During the fight against the First, Dawn falls through a potal which sends her to an alternate dimension. Unable to return home, Dawn makes a new life for herself, only there's a couple problems: her new boyfriend is anything but normal, and how exactly is she related to the Summers family anyway?
Chapter 12
Dawn walked into the apartment, a frown marring her face. Mrs. Bernstein followed close behind.
"At least the Mansons agreed not to file charges against that boyfriend of yours in exchange for you not getting a restraining order against that horrid boy."
"Yeah," said Dawn.
"What's wrong, honey?" asked Mrs. Bernstein.
"It's just that if Jeff hadn't, well, you know, Bart never would have asked me to be his girlfriend," explained Dawn. "Well, he might have... ok, he probably would have asked me to be his girlfriend, but not so soon. It just annoys me that I'm Bart's girlfriend right now only because he didn't want some other man near his woman and felt the need to lay claim to me. On an unconscious level at least."
"Dawn, that boy likes you. A lot," said Mrs. Bernstein. "The thing is, men are afraid of anything remotely resembling commitment in any way shape or form. Sure it took the idea that another man would hurt you or take you away from him to make Bart realize how important you are to him, but all that did was save you and him a lot of angst and dancing around the subject."
"I guess you're right," said Dawn, feeling slightly better. "Oh goddess. What am I going to wear to the party?"
"Party?" asked Mrs. Bernstein. "I thought Bart wasn't allowed to go to the Formal."
"He's not," said Dawn. "He invited me to the Holiday party he and his friends are going to. Apparently there are going to be about a hundred people there. It's a black tie event. Dinner, dancing, that sort of thing."
"You'll need an evening gown..."
Dawn's eye's lit up. Apparently her monk implanted memories were good for something. "Do you have a sewing machine? And is there a fabric store nearby? I already have a pattern in mind."
Bart really wasn't bothered by the whole Champion thing. In the thirtieth Century, Champions were pretty well known and accepted by the Superhero community. Admittedly, the public had no idea they existed most of the time, but that was to be expected. Champions really didn't like to have a lot of attention.
Yeah, there was the whole killing thing. But he had worked with people who had occasionally killed before. He had no desire to kill, however he understood why killing was needed sometimes.
He looked down at Dawn, who was snuggled against him. She had drifted off watching a movie with him. She had decided to be with him rather than go to the Winter Formal.
The Bernsteins had to go on some sort of business trip. Matthew and Dawn were staying with Bart and the Garricks for the weekend. He was pretty sure that the Bernsteins had only left Dawn and Matthew here because Jay used to work with the police. Matthew had been put to bed about two or three hours earlier.
He was rather happy with Dawn. She was perfectly fine with him having to run off to rescue people. She didn't care that he spent most of his weekends with his teammates. Then again, she was usually making sure that her visions didn't come true when she wasn't with him.
Dating somebody in the same line of work... sort of, had some real advantages.
Dawn chopped the vegetables quickly, she was helping Joan Garrick cook. There was some sort of family get together in a couple hours. Bart's grandmother, his cousin Wally and family, and some person called Jesse were coming by. Dawn couldn't help but worry.
Meeting Bart's family was a very big thing. She was pretty sure that if she and Matthew hadn't been staying for the weekend to begin with, that she wouldn't have been invited.
Bart looked up as Wally, Linda and the twins came into the living room. He and Wally hadn't really spoken since the whole incident with Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang.
"Hi Wally," said Bart.
"Hi, Bart," said Wally. "We need to talk about-"
"Dawn's in the kitchen helping Aunt Joan make dinner," said Bart, unwilling to reveal Dawn's powers to his cousin.
"Who's Dawn?" asked Linda.
"My girlfriend," said Bart. "She's here for the weekend."
"Girlfriend? Since when do you have a girlfriend?" Wally seemed surprised that Bart could actually find a girl, let along keep her long enough for her to fall under the category of girlfriend.
Bart would have said something, but at that moment Dawn walked out of the kitchen. In her arms was a tray with a pitcher of ice tea and several cups.
He was surprised at how demure her clothing was. She wore an ankle length wool skirt, a sweater and soft leather boots. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a braid.
"Oh, um... hello," said Dawn. "Ice tea, anyone?"
Dawn sat as close to Bart as possible without sitting in his lap. Wally frightened her. She couldn't explain it, but she knew that Wally was suspicious of her.
Something inside Dawn knew that this was not a battle worth fighting. Knew that it would be better to remain as close to Bart, the one person who would deflect Wally's questions, as possible.
Linda seemed really nice and the twins were adorable, Matthew was playing with them. Jesse was, really busy was the only word to describe her. She was constantly on the cell phone. Bart's Grandmother, Iris was... well Iris hadn't really spoken much more than to greet people. She seemed to be waiting to see what would happen.
"So, Dawn," said Iris. "How did you and Bart meet?"
"He's my math tutor," explained Dawn.
"Mmm," said Iris. "So, what do you plan to do after high school?"
Dawn bit her lip. "I just sent in my application to University of Kansas, Keystone City. I plan to double major in Anthropology and Linguistics. They have really good departments there. After that I guess I'll get my masters."
"Really? Why anthropology?"
"I've always been interested in learning about other cultures."
"I don't see why you have a problem with Dawn," Iris said to Wally. Dawn and Bart were in the kitchen doing... well Wally was pretty sure they were making out.
"Whatever that girl is, she's not a normal human," said Wally.
"No, she's not," said Jay. "However Bart vouched for her. He promised to take her out himself if she turned out to be evil. And anyway Dawn is really a very nice girl."
"Anthropology?"
Dawn looked up from where she was slicing up the brownies she had made. She looked away.
"Every once in a while, there are tales of Anthropologists who don't come back. Anthropologists who become so enamored with the culture they were studying that they never come back," Dawn paused. "Before I became human, I had been in so many different places, different dimensions. Chances are that I will never return to my people. At least not of my own free will."