Dawn's Magical Mishaps

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie :)

AN: Takes place about three months after "Willow's Child". This story will have a bit more focus on the other characters, but don't worry, there's still plenty of fluffy Sophie cuteness!

"Damn it, Dawn!" Buffy yelled in annoyance, throwing down her axe after she had hacked the final demon to pieces. "I told you to just wait for Willow or Tara to do the spell!" The youngest Summers had been learning magic to try and make herself more useful to her fellow Scoobies, but, to put it bluntly, she sucked. Her latest mishap had involved a locater spell having the opposite effect and allowing the demons they'd been hunting to locate them.

"Yeah, Dawnie" said Willow as she and Faith helped Tara, who'd been thrown into a door during the battle, to her feet. "You really should have waited for us."

"Sorry" said Dawn, "I was just trying to help."

"Yeah, go easy on her, it's her first try" said Connor. Angel had sent him to stay with Buffy a few weeks ago, an arrangement that suited both father and son, as Angel knew his son was safe from the continuing threat of Wolfram & Heart's assassins, while Connor could continue fighting in the frontline of the battle against evil.

"But she made demons attack the house!" Buffy yelled. "What if Sophie was awake? Do you have any idea how scared she would have been?"

"Speaking of Sophie" said Tara, rubbing her aching back, "I should go check on her, then I think I'll go to bed." She turned to Willow, planting a small kiss on her lips. "Night, baby."

"Goodnight, shouldn't be too far behind you" Willow called after her. Then, Buffy was about to unleash another verbal assault on Dawn and Connor when Faith stepped in, trying to calm her girlfriend down.

"Easy there B, I think it's about time we hit the sack too. We'll talk about this in the morning, there's nothin' we can really do about it tonight anyway."

"I guess you're right" Buffy sighed, before turning back to Dawn, and gesturing at the piles of dismembered demons. "But you'll have to clean this up, and since you and Connor are acting so buddy-buddy, he's going to help you." The two slayers headed upstairs, hand in hand, while Dawn and Connor groaned at the size of the mess.

"I'll help you" Willow sighed.

"Really? Why?" Dawn asked, a little surprised.

"Well, I'm not saying I agree with what you did, Dawnie" said Willow, "But it's not like I've never screwed up with magic before, because as you know, I have, majorly. It'd be a little hypocritical for me to take the moral highground on this one."

About two hours later, the mess had been cleaned up, so Willow headed up to bed. Peeking into her bedroom to find Tara absent, she frowned, before hearing some faint sobs coming from Sophie's room across the hall. She looked in to find Tara clutching Sophie tightly to her chest, the little girl's face stained with tears.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked, stepping further into the room. "Did she hear the demons?"

"No," Tara began, "I was having a nightmare, and..."

"Mama Tara's d-daddy was h-hurting her!" Sophie sobbed.

"Oh" said Willow settling down beside them, and laying her head on Tara's shoulder.

"Sometimes I wish she didn't do this sharing dreams thing" said Tara. "I mean, her knowing about some of the things my dad did is bad enough... What if she sees something worse?"

"She already has" Willow whispered. Tara gave her a confused look, and Willow hesitated for just a moment before explaining. "Sophie saw you die once, Tara. I don't think it can get much worse than that."