Pike had always liked Dawn. It was the curiosity that did it, truthfully. Most kids, when they saw a guy like him, some older guy on a motorcycle with a thing for leather and rebellion, shied away. Especially if they thought their older sibling would be upset. But Dawn had immediately walked right up to him and started questioning him. He'd answered all of her questions, lying only about the ones that would reveal the whole vampire and Slayer thing. While he never patronized her, she was still a little girl. She didn't need to know about any of that yet.
He also knew, even back then, what had been going on in the Summers household. He'd been through it himself, although his parents had never been people he particularly wanted to be around to begin with. He knew what it was like, and he knew that Buffy wasn't the only one hurting. He was just thankful Dawn had never asked him the question that Buffy had: What was it like watching his parents divorce. He hadn't had a good answer for the elder Summers sister, and knew he wouldn't have had a better one for Dawn.
That was a long time ago, though. Before Vegas, before the lonely life in LA and on the road, before Hell... Sometimes he desperately wanted to go back to those times, other times he was ashamed to even think he deserved times like those.
It was why, for a second, his entire body tensed under the hug. He wasn't used to it, and certainly didn't deserve it, and no matter how hard he tried or how many years there were between HelLA and now sudden physical contact still reminded him of the more violent and painful kind he'd experienced at the hands of the Lord of Compton's torturers. For a second he wasn't sure how to respond. Then he reminded himself that this was Dawn, and she didn't want to hurt him, that he was safe.
He made a noise that sounded a little like a tea kettle letting off steam, and his body relaxed. His arms came up and around her, and he let his head fall slightly, letting his chin gently rest atop the shorter girl's head. Something blossomed in him that he hadn't felt since HelLA, or even before then if he was honest: Happiness. He was happy to see her.
"Missed you too, Dawn," he told her, his voice uncharacteristically soft.