Faith and I were a family once.

I stare at Faith as she looks at Cordy's hand before doing it myself.

It's weird to think of her in that way. There's just something that is off about that. The idea of Faith and me and Dawn as a family gives me a strange feeling. I guess I had a thought or two about Dawn and Faith being in love and maybe being married and having Faith as a sister-in-law some day. But I never thought of it in any other way. And even then it was more of a passing thought then anything. Is that because of the way I thought or did this decision from this other me make me do it?

After taking a deep breath, I take Cordy's hand and so does Faith.

"How could you not tell me?"

The three of them look at me and I just really want to hurt them.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME?"

"Dawn?"

"You didn't think I was important enough? Is that it? I guess since I'm not real then I don't really matter do I?"

They get up to face me.

"Dawn, what are you talking about?"

I point the knife at Buffy.

"DON'T! Don't play stupid! You've been playing stupid all along, trying to make me think there was nothing going on. But there was something going on, and I knew there was something but you wouldn't tell me. You can't keep it from me anymore. None of you can, because I know now. I know the truth and you can't do anything about it. I know that I'm just a stupid key and my feelings don't really matter."

"That's not true."

"It is. It is true because if I was real then you would've told me the truth. You never would've lied to me."

Faith steps forward and I shove the knife at her, making her back off.

"Dawn, just put down the knife and we can talk about this."

I look down at the knife in my hand.

"Why? It's not like anything I do will ever matter."

I step forward and swing the knife, cutting the air.

"How do you even know I'm really holding it? Maybe you just think I am because it's what the monks want you to think. Did you think of that? I could do anything with this knife and it wouldn't really matter because nothing I do really matters."

Faith tries to come at me again and I swing at her.

"Dawn, calm down..."

I swipe at her again.

"SHUT UP! Just because you think you're my mother doesn't mean you can tell me what to do. I don't have a mother, I don't have ANYONE! I hate you!"

Buffy and Joyce stand next to her.

"I hate all of you!"

Things shift again.

"Dawn?"

"Come in Mom..."

She comes in with two other people and it's not like I have to guess who they are.

"Or is it Grandma?"

Then again...

"Maybe it's just Joyce."

"It's whatever you feel comfortable with as long as it doesn't involve swear words honey. How are you feeling?"

They pull up some chairs and sit down.

"Like I cut my wrists open with broken glass and nearly died, how about you?"

There's this awkward silence in the room and it makes me smile. Faith finally breaks the silence.

"Worried about you, mostly..."

I sit back in my hospital bed.

"I'm okay... I guess."

Buffy finally finds a reason to speak.

"Are you sure? You're feeling all right?"

"Well I'm alive, apparently."

"Yeah you are kid. Which is a good thing, isn't it?"

I don't say anything.

"Well I think it's a good thing, and your mom and Buffy think so too."

"Yes, we're very glad."

"We're SO glad you're all right. We were so scared you might not make it."

Yeah well they would be.

"Well I did, so stop worrying."

Again the room falls silent for a moment before Buffy speaks.

"Well, since you're feeling all right and you survived... what happened, we were wondering if there was anything you wanted to talk about."

"Not really..."

"There's nothing you want to talk about, or maybe ask us? Nothing you want to say?"

I just keep staring down at my wrists.

"Maybe..."

"Well whatever it is, we're not gonna push you into talking about anything. Take your time..."

I look right at Faith, interrupting.

"Do you love me?"

"What? Of course I do, I love you very much I..."

"Not just, I mean, all three of you... do you guys really love me? Even though I'm just a key?"

"Yes, we do Dawn."

"We love you a lot Dawnie, you're more than just a key to us. You're family."

"Yeah kid, you're our flesh and blood."

I hold up my wrist and shake it.

"I think that message got through."

Cordy pulls her hands away.

"Dawn's discovery of being The Key and your daughter pushed her to try and kill herself. But what Dawn didn't know in that reality was the power of her blood. How deeply it connected the three of you in a way that none of you really understood."

Cordy looks at me.

"The decision you made caused a gap in reality that couldn't be crossed alone. You might have been disconnected from Faith but not to Dawn."

She switches back and forth between us as she speaks.

"But when you both made the decision to give Dawn temporary slayer abilities in this reality, she became abridge between the two of you. When she laid her hands on the scythe and became a slayer, her abilities with her blood were activated, giving her the ability to alter reality even if she didn't know she was doing it. And as she came to believe that the two of you were together..."

"This thing the Powers did to us was opened up again."

Faith clues in.

"Which is why we got it on when we started talking about what we thought was just a random hook up."

That's nice.

"Aww, gee, thanks Faith."

She shrugs.

"Just being honest B."

"So, Dawn had no idea what she was doing."

"Not at first, no."

Not at first?

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Dawn eventually saw what she'd done."

Faith gets a confused look on her face.

"How?"

"The bridge she created wasn't limited to this reality. It went far beyond this one. Which is why she freaked out when she asked you to demonstrate why you slept together. When you started touching each other it opened up multiple realities at the same time. Gave her a glimpse of what she'd done to and how she'd connected you together."

Faith shifts uncomfortably.

"And she thought that the two of us were doomed from the start."

"Basically, yes. But again, it's more complicated than that."

I can't help but roll my eyes at that.

"Of course it is."

"When Dawn created the new reality with herself at the centre of it, she corrupted the bridge between you, and the connection she had to both of you. And when she started playing with some of the other people in her life, like Angel, Giles and Willow, she corrupted their destinies too. I've talked to most of them already and let them know what Dawn did to them. She's thrown the whole system off. It's created an imbalance in the fabric of reality."

Cordy turns her attention to Pike.

"Which is part of why he's in the trouble he's in. Even Wrath's reality has shifted. He wants to find a way out but unfortunately there isn't really one. The imbalance is going to continue to get worse until all of reality collapses."

Oh great...

"So... it's the apocalypse again."

"Only if we let it."

What?

Faith and I look at each other, confused.

"That's why I'm here. To give you an out and a chance to actually fix the problem."

"How?"

"By giving you the choice that you made before without knowing it. A chance to change things and maybe make things better."

Okay then...

"What's the choice?"

Cordy holds out her hands to both of us again.

Oh good... this will be fun.