Gonna Run To by Wesleysgirl

After Buffy's birthday fiasco -- the whole stuck-in-the-house, demon-in-a-sword fiasco -- Dawn got on a bus and went to L.A.

It wasn't an actual choice. Just, when she got to the bus station, that's where the next bus was going. She figured hanging around the bus station late at night was either an invitation to get raped or for Buffy to notice she was gone and show up in time to stop her. So she got on the first bus, put her bag down on the seat next to her, and hoped that the weirdos would stay away.

She fell asleep on the bus. It had been a stressful day, spent worrying about how she could leave without getting caught. Dawn had already decided that she'd do anything she had to to keep herself alive wherever she ended up.

The bus driver had to come back and wake her when they arrived in LA, and Dawn was groggy and confused for a few seconds, until she remembered where she was and why.

If no one in Sunnydale was going to love her, then Dawn would go out into the world until she found someone who would.

There was a funky smell in her hotel room and the stains on the carpet were really scary, but Dawn didn't have much money and this hotel was close to the bus station and cheap. She decided not to think about who had been in the room before her and what they'd been doing there.

Dawn slept fitfully, and thoroughly unrefreshed, got up the next morning and had the so-called 'continental breakfast' the hotel provided. Strong coffee (they were out of sugar), weak orange juice, and almost-stale pastries with thin frosting lines on them that looked and tasted just like wax.

After a breakfast like that,taking a walk seemed like a good idea. Buffy always said... nope, Dawn wasn't going to think about that. She was her own person now. No more having to do what Buffy told her to do.

Dawn hadn't gotten far -- she'd just seen what she told herself were really *interesting* alleyways, along with someone that might have been a bum -- or maybe dead -- when a limo pulled up next to her. She stopped, hesitated, and then started walking again.

The back window of the car rolled down as the car kept moving, crawling along next to her as Dawn kept walking. She was just about to turn around and run the other way when a woman's voice, kind of silky, called to her:

"Dawn..."

Okay, that was seriously weird. She stopped. So did the car.

Dawn leaned over slowly, just enough to see into the car. "Um...hey. Do I know you?"

"No," said the woman smoothly. "But I know you. Who you are. *What* you are."

"What are you - " Dawn started to say, and then stopped herself. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I'm sure you do." The woman's brown hair was perfectly coiffed, and Dawn would bet that the suit she was wearing came straight from the parts of Saks that Dawn knew were impossible to steal from. "Does the word 'key' ring a bell?"

Dawn, trapped, glanced to her left and right, but there was no one around.

"Don't worry. It's our little secret. Come on -- let's go for a ride."

Something about the woman's attitude made Dawn just curious enough to do one of the big no-nos, and get into a car with a stranger. She couldn't have told you why. Maybe her smile, which was pretty brilliant, or the way her voice was satin-smooth and teasing. Maybe something else.

"I'm Lilah," the woman said, holding out her hand like she expected Dawn to shake it.

Slightly dazed, Dawn did.

"So, I have to tell you I was pretty pleased when I heard that you were in L.A. I've been meaning to get my hands on you for a while." Dawn startled slightly and Lilah held her hands up, palms facing Dawn in an 'I surrender' pose. "Don't get excited. I just mean I've wanted to meet you for a while."

"How did you know who I was?"

"Well, you're the Key, right? The mystical being created from the blood of the Slayer? That's pretty important stuff. It means a lot of people are *very* interested in you, Dawn. People like my clients... people like me."

Dawn wasn't sure she even wanted to know, but since she'd been thinking it'd come to that sooner or later... "Clients?"

Lilah's laugh was rich and wicked, tickling the back of Dawn's neck. "I'm a lawyer. Some of the people I work for are extremely powerful and influential. I think they'd like to see you for themselves and find out what you can do."

"What... what I can do?" Geez, she sounded like a little kid.

Reaching out, Lilah ran her fingers over Dawn's hair before tucking a strand behind her ear carefully. "Well, we don't know, do we? What sort of power you have, what hidden talents might be locked up in that body of yours...you're a smart girl, Dawn. I think you get the idea."

Dawn swallowed heavily and nodded, then lifted her chin stubbornly. "So what do I get?"

"Oh, you *are* a smart girl," Lilah said with approval. "I can think of all kinds of things. Your own apartment, clothes, make-up. Someone to drive you around in a car like this one. Anything you could want."

"As long as I cooperate." Dawn wanted to make sure that she understood what she was getting herself into. "Which means what, exactly?"

Dawn almost jumped as she felt Lilah's hand on her thigh. She was glad that she was wearing jeans and not a skirt or shorts or something more revealing.

"It means," Lilah said, her hand giving a little squeeze, "that you do what I tell you, when I tell you."

"But what about - "

Lilah shook her head, smiling with what looked like genuine affection as her put the index finger of her other hand over Dawn's lips. "Don't worry, Dawn. I won't let anyone hurt you. I can take care of you."

Dawn, eyes wide, nodded. If Lilah cared enough to track her down in a grimy alleyway, maybe there was something to her promise.

"Good girl," Lilah murmured as her fingers traced their way up Dawn's thigh to the seam in her jeans, *pressing* between her legs.

Dawn whimpered softly at the sensation, and squirmed, but she wasn't trying to move away from Lilah's touch -- she was moving into it.

Lilah smiled. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine."

.End