WWDD: S2E14 “INNOCENCE”

Dawn wasn’t sure what she expected, but it wasn’t this. Cynthia—the quiet girl from homeroom. The witch from Halloween. Confusion, anger, and embarrassment crash together as Cynthia blurts out an explanation with all the breathless panic of an overwhelmed fifth grader. She just moved to Sunnydale. Weird things keep happening—girls vanishing into thin air, nightmares coming true, a high school with a terrifying mortality rate (though, lower than average this year). She’s been scared. She saw Dawn fight and protect people on Halloween. She saw Dawn drop the journal on the porch. She panicked and took it. She knew it was wrong, but she needed to know she wasn’t crazy.

Dawn feels relieved… and furious. Someone read her journal. Her private thoughts! It wasn’t okay. She tells Cynthia she can’t just read her journal and expect it to be fine just because she was scared. She storms off the playground, too angry to hear her out.

At home, Buffy isn’t there—she’s staying at Willow’s. In the morning, Buffy rushes in, shaken, asking if Angel came by and fretfully asks Dawn to tell him she’s looking for him if he does. That night, Buffy comes home late and goes straight to her room, door slamming shut. Dawn hears her sobbing. She sits outside Buffy’s door organizing her Trapper Keeper until she’s too tired to stay awake, leaving a pile of stuffed animals on guard before heading to bed.

After Buffy storms out for school the next morning, Dawn announces to Joyce that she’s baking Buffy a birthday cake. Joyce quietly plans backup cupcakes. When Buffy comes home dejected and exhausted, Dawn decides two different box-cake mixes are better than one and dumps them both into a single bowl before realizing they’re out of eggs (see: Bad Eggs). She shrugs and bakes it anyway. In the final shot, Dawn loads plates of lumpy, variety-flavored birthday cake in the kitchen while Joyce sets out cupcakes for herself and Buffy, who wait on the couch for Dawn to celebrate Buffy’s 17th birthday.