Go To Prologue Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Epilogue
Repercussions Reactions and Retaliation
Book II
========== BtVS ==========
“Ok, all the words are starting to blur together...” Xander announced tiredly, closing the tome he’d been reading from and setting it aside. “I’m wiped.”
The whole Scooby Gang, including the two parental figures, and the newest junior member, were sitting in Giles’ living room researching, as they had been for several hours now.
“I take it you haven’t been able to find anything helpful?” Giles asked, looking up from his own book, just a little bleary-eyed himself.
“Actually, I did,” Xander replied offhand.
Everyone’s eyes moved quickly to the young man as he stood. “Yeah, I found out all about it, there was a whole chapter on how to gain absolute power through repetitious three-way girl-lovin’. I was just keeping it to myself because I felt it would be more dramatic if I waited until we’d spent a few more days wading through the book dust before I said anything.”
All the girls smiled, even Joyce, though she turned away so Giles wouldn’t see it if he looked.
“Yes, well... it’s unfortunate that the exhaustion hasn’t spread so far as to render your sense of humor dormant,” Giles said with resigned annoyance.
“Oh, that’ll be the last thing that goes...” Willow snarked, causing more smiles and a few chuckles.
“You know it,” Xander agreed, stretching and yawning mightily. He smiled when he ended the stretch and noticed Buffy, Willow, Faith and Joyce all with answering yawns on their faces. Tara was grinning at him with a raised eyebrow.
‘I wish I knew why she kept doing that!’ Xander thought. ‘It’s like she knows something I don’t... I don’t know if I’m in trouble, or what!’
He glanced toward his ‘roommate’ as he asked, “Ready to go Dawn?”
As soon as his eye’s met her face and saw her staring intently back at him, he dropped his gaze to the floor, avoiding her eyes. ‘I’m like some kind of freak or something... ‘ he thought, feeling the now customary desire and guilt that rose up inside him whenever looking at the youngest Summers.
“Yeah, I’m tired too,” Dawn said, her tone of voice substantiating her words.
“Ok, then we’re gonna take off,” Xander said, heading towards the door.
“Hey, you two!” Buffy spoke up.
Xander felt a dart of panic and adrenaline at Buffy’s interjection. ‘It’s like I keep expecting her to smack the crap out of me!’ he thought with annoyance at his body’s response. ‘I haven’t done anything!’
‘Unless you count incessantly ogling and fantasizing about her little sister...’ his conscience reminded him, making him cringe.
“You guys are coming over tomorrow for dinner, right?” Buffy asked expectantly.
“Dinner?” Xander asked.
“I... I didn’t get around to mentioning it to him yet,” Dawn explained in the face of her sister’s directed glance.
“How come?” Willow asked, sounding surprised. “I thought you went right over to Xander’s after our ‘lesson’ this afternoon...”
“I did, he didn’t get back from work until it was time to come over here,” Dawn explained with just a hint of defensiveness in her voice.
“Long day at work, Xander?” Buffy asked casually.
Again Xander cringed in guilt. ‘No, I just couldn’t trust myself to be alone in my apartment with your little sister for two hours without doing something stupid.’
“It’s, ah... it’s been a long week...” he mumbled, unwilling to discuss his job at the moment.
“Exactly!” Buffy said, blithely unaware of Xander’s emotional state. “A surreally normal week of school and work after the battle to save the world from utter destruction.”
“And subsequent weekend of kidnapping and attempted assassinations,” Willow added.
“Right,” Buffy agreed. “I think that deserves a celebratory dinner and night at the Bronze, don’t you guys?”
“Food and dancing; good with me!” Faith spoke up.
“Yeah, I could go for that,” Xander said, putting a smile on his face.
“How about you guys?” Buffy asked, turning toward her mom and Giles.
“Certainly we would love to come for dinner,” Giles said, looking at Joyce for confirmation.
“Of course,” Joyce said with a smile. “I’m not sure about the Bronze, but dinner sounds lovely.”
“Ok then, everybody’s in. We’ll eat around six, but feel free to show up anytime after five or so...” Buffy said.
“We get a free show if we’re there before that?” Faith asked with a smirk.
“And on that note!” Xander said loudly, interrupting any response from the blonde Slayer. “Casa del Tara, after five, before six. We’ll be there.” Looking over toward the dark Slayer, he added, “You need a ride, Faith?”
‘Doh!’ as soon as he said it Xander winced at his stupidity.
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Faith said in a voice that promised filthy, obscene, wonderful things for the recipient, if only they’d give in.
“Faith? Can Dawn and I take you home... and leave you there... by yourself?” Xander asked, pretending he hadn’t been dumb enough to ask that question in a way that left such an obvious opening.
Faith laughed while Dawn shot her a glare before rolling her eyes. “Nah, I’m too antsy to get any sleep right now. I think I’m gonna go see if I can find something to kill. Thanks though,” she said, brushing past him and opening the door. “See you guys tomorrow,” she called back over her shoulder to the room as she exited.
Various calls of “Goodnight Faith,” echoed out from the other Scoobies.
‘I’m glad she’s getting along with everyone so well,’ Xander thought hopefully. ‘I just hope it lasts... I vividly remember how painful a crush on Buffy can be...’
He returned his focus to the present as Dawn stopped before him.
“You ready?” she asked, looking up at him through her lashes.
‘Oh dear God, yes!’ Xander’s libido shouted out in his head.
“Yeah,” Xander nodded, forcing a smile at the same time he tried to ignore the painful stiffening in the leg of his jeans. “Ok, night everyone,” he said, his eyes traveling the group.
‘Why do I feel like everyone in the room is staring at my crotch?’ he asked himself as he turned and walked out the door, following Dawn and trying with little success to stop himself from watching her hips sway.
“So, how are the magic lessons going Dawn?” he asked as they headed for the car, hoping to distract himself enough to walk comfortably.
‘This is why I can’t tuck my shirts in anymore... I’m a walking hard-on,’ he lamented.
========== BtVS ==========
========== BtVS ==========
“Rupert, is all this research really necessary?” Joyce asked tentatively. “I don’t mean to question you...”
Giles took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes for a moment. “You needn’t fear questioning me Joyce,” he said gently. “Though, I do appreciate you waiting until ‘the children’ have gone...”
Buffy, Willow, and Tara had left not long after Faith, Xander and Dawn’s departure, leaving the apartment comparatively quiet and empty.
‘Not so empty as it once was...’ he thought happily as he looked at his lover.
She was blushing, as she tended to do anytime he described the Scooby Gang as ‘the children’.
“I suppose I am... waiting for the other shoe to drop, as they say,” Giles said, trying to sum up his rather nebulous feelings on the matter.
Joyce walked over to him and sat down in his lap, bringing a smile to his face as it ever did. “Something has happened to increase the already present abilities and powers in these girls... something so very extraordinary... I fear there may be an unknown cost down the road, as it were.”
“And you’d like to know what it is, so you can be ready for it,” Joyce said, staring intently into his eyes.
“Yes,” he answered succinctly.
Her smile once again melted Giles heart. “You tease me, calling them ‘the children’ as though I were their mother, but you love them like a father just as much as I could ever be their mother...” she accused him gently, and not for the first time.
“I...” he started to protest, as he always did, that he was Buffy’s watcher, and it was his job.
‘Oh bugger it, I’m not fooling anyone, certainly not her...’ he decided.
“Yes,” he admitted with a chagrined smile.
“Ah ha!” Joyce crowed, grinning delightedly. “I knew it, you’re just an old softie at heart!” She snuggled up against his chest with a happy chuckle.
Giles laughed as well, the feel of his lover’s lithe frame in his arms filling him with nothing but joy.
“Are they really so much different?” she asked softly. “I mean, the thing at the docks was pretty amazing, but...”
“It is rarely the showy magic that takes the real power...” Giles explained. “The building was a simple corrugated metal structure, and while extremely impressive, it is nothing compared to what she did to the firearms.”
“Really?” Joyce asked with surprise. “I guess I really don’t understand magic... I mean, turning something invisible seems like it would be almost a parlor-trick...”
“A glamour to make them appear invisible is the equivalent of a parlor-trick... such as the glamour that made us seem to switch places with Gunn and Faith, though even that was extraordinary in it’s tactile component.” Giles said.
“You mean the way you felt like you were wearing different clothes, and your body seemed different shaped?” she asked.
“Exactly,” he agreed. “Normally a glamour is a visual effect only. Touching someone, or something, under a glamour gives it away, sometimes even disrupting the spell altogether... however, the effect Willow rendered on the firearms was entirely different.”
“Mmhm? How?” she softly asked.
“Willow... changed... the very structure of the materials that made up the firearm. Not a temporary effect, a permanent alteration of the very nature of the metal and plastic that formed the weapon... and without compromising the utility...” Giles said in wonder. “The steel, brass, and lead in each gun actually passes light. It is as invisible to light as the clearest glass, yet it remains strong and durable in a way that glass could never match... It is essentially an entirely new material. Willow created materials that previously, at least to my knowledge, did not exist in this world before last week.”
“So... you’re saying that’s not a normal, or even a powerful normal spell?” Joyce asked, sounding still confused, but making an effort to understand.
“That, is an understatement of epic proportions,” Giles said, his voice filled with awe. “Not only did she manage that, that... well, frankly, that *impossible* task, she did it with absolutely no preparation, no incantation...”
“But I heard her say something,” Joyce interrupted.
Giles barked out a short laugh. “Willow seems to have a sense of showmanship, a... flair for the dramatic, if you will...”
“What do you mean?” Joyce asked.
“Willow said, “Onde lasciate dell'esposizione chiara con non diminuito” which is extremely poor Italian translation meaning ‘let exposed waves clear undiminished’ or some such nonsense.” Giles explained.
“I don’t understand...” Joyce said quizzically.
“It means nothing. It was just for show. Clearly she could have said anything she liked- or nothing at all. The magic came from an exercise of will... she simply *made* it happen...” he said wondrously.
“And that’s not normal?”
“An incantation is used by a practitioner of magic for two primary reasons; in order to focus their will and attention, and to invoke certain powers related to a desired effect. It can also be a ritual summoning of an intelligent power, either demonic or benign,” Giles began, settling into lecture-mode. “Some very powerful practitioners, primarily those who are the so-called ‘born witches’- practitioners who were born with magical powers and abilities- can cast simply by exercising their will.”
“I’m not sure I follow,” Joyce admitted.
“Think of picking up something, a stick on the ground for example... you simply will your arm to move, your hand to grasp. You do not need to tell them what to do, they are inherently attuned to your mind’s desire,” he said as an analogy. “Magic is generally more like training a puppy to fetch the stick, you command, and cajole and hope for the best. If one is very good, very focused and willing to invest the time, one can train the puppy to do many things, and do them well. However, there is always an element of uncertainty. Is the puppy tired? Hungry? Simply unwilling to perform today? All of these are metaphors for possibilities when using magic.”
“But Willow and Tara’s puppy is different?” Joyce said.
“Hmm, What would be an analogy for what they do?” Giles wondered aloud. “Do you recall that ridiculous film wherein the US President was replaced with a body-double by his chief of staff?”
“I’m not sure...” Joyce began.
“There was a scene where he was visiting a manufacturing plant of some sort, and was controlling an enormous set of robotic arms...”
“I once caught a fish *this big!*” Joyce suddenly said, holding her arms out wide.
“Yes, exactly!” Giles said with a laugh.
“It was called “Dave.” I’m surprised that you would have watched a movie like that...” Joyce said, sounding surprised.
“Yes, well...” Giles said, sounding embarrassed. “I had a great deal of free time on my hands between the time we destroyed the high school, and the time I acquired the Magic Box...”
“Anyway...” Joyce prompted with a snicker that boded much teasing in Giles future.
“Right, yes... In any case, the large robotic arms are the simile for what Tara and Willow do, save for the fact that in Willow’s case especially, the arms would be many, many times larger.”
“Really?” Joyce said, sounding somewhat awed now that he had provided a frame of reference with which she could work.
“I do not think it is an overstatement to say that Willow Rosenberg is quite likely the most powerful human being on the face of this earth,” Giles said seriously.
“I can’t wrap my mind around that Rupert,” Joyce said, sounding a bit frustrated. “I hear the words, but they don’t mean anything. What does that mean for us? or for her?”
“Very good questions,” Giles said resignedly. “Unfortunately, we don’t have any of the answers... and thus the research.”
“Isn’t that a good thing, having the most powerful human on the face of the earth on our side?” Joyce asked after a moment.
Giles sighed. “That is also a very good question to which I don’t have a good answer,” he admitted. “Certainly, it is quite handy when it comes to everyday slaying. Also, her newfound power reduces the likelihood of any successful attempt to open the Hellmouth.”
“That sounds pretty good to me, Rupert.” Joyce cajoled.
“Yes, it does,” he admitted. “My concern is that, as a powerful force for good, she, and perforce we, may become the target of those who are a powerful force for evil.”
He felt a slight shiver from his lover and decided, ‘More than enough for one night.’
He began to move his fingers in slow circles where they lay about her waist. He nuzzled her hair and allowed his warm breath to blow across her ear as he softly spoke. “Let us change the subject, shall we? There are other topics I would rather we explore this night...”
“Why, Mr. Giles,” Joyce said coyly. “Are you trying to seduce me?”
“Hmm, if you must ask, then clearly I am not doing it properly...” he said in a low, gravelly voice as his hands grew more adventurous.
“N-no!” Joyce gasped as Giles let his thumb graze the underside of her breast. “No, this feels pretty proper to me...”
Giles smiled with pleasure at the hitch in her breath. ‘I am constantly amazed that my touch so affects you...’
“Mmm, why don’t we go upstairs and see just where all this propriety can take us,” Joyce said in a drawn out groan.
Demonstrating that he still held the vigor of youth, Giles stood, sweeping her into his arms. As he headed for the stairs, he said, “Yes, I think we should definitely do some exploratory research on that subject.”
“Long, deep, hard research,” she agreed in a husky whisper before using her mouth to treat his ear with some entirely non-verbal communication.
========== BtVS ==========
“So, how are the magic lessons going?” Buffy asked, her tone betraying the fact that she wasn’t totally on board with the idea of teaching her little sister the magic arts.
Tara smiled as she looked out the windshield of ‘their’ van. ‘It’s only fair that we kept it; after all the council won’t be needing it anymore,’ she thought with a smile. She was riding shotgun while Willow drove. Buffy sat between the two witches, snuggling against Tara, while occasionally reaching over to touch and stroke Willow.
“Well, we aren’t actually doing any magic yet,” Tara explained to her lover and pet. “We’re starting with the basics; meditation, focusing, that sort of thing.”
“The boring parts...” Willow muttered.
Tara smiled at that. ‘My fiery witch, so impatient sometimes...’ Tara thought tolerantly. ‘She does apply herself though.’
Buffy leaned away from Tara and moved more firmly against the redhead, saying, “Pet, I want you to know that I appreciate you taking the time and helping Tara teach Dawn. If she’s going to learn magic, I want to be sure she gets the best training possible, with all the fundamentals and stuff...”
‘And that’s why she applies herself so diligently...’ Tara thought gleefully. ‘Mmm, I can feel her melt all the way over here!’
“O-of course Mistress,” Willow said in a low, but intense, voice. “You know I’d do *anything* for you, Mistress!”
“I do know that, pet,” Buffy said in a joyful voice. “Even if it means the boring basics of witchcraft 101.”
“It’s not that bad,” Willow admitted, slightly sheepish. She perked right up as she continued, “Plus, it’s important stuff, even more important with what we’re gonna teach her...”
“Whaddya mean?” Buffy questioned hesitantly. “What are you going to teach her...?”
Tara took over the explanation at that point. “Whatever is happening to us it not only made us more powerful, but Willow managed to make a kind of leap into an entirely new kind of magic...” she said, her voice filled with the wonder and awe she had been feeling all week since Willow first demonstrated this new magic.
“Not me- we,” Willow said self-effacingly. “You were right there with me, baby!”
“Yes, I was able to see and understand what you did, but the initial leap was all you Willow,” Tara corrected. “Don’t be afraid to take credit; I would never have imagined it in a million years if you hadn’t done it first!”
Willow blushed and ducked her head slightly, though she didn’t lose sight of the fact that she was driving.
“How is it so different?” Buffy asked. “I mean, it’s all just magic to me...”
“I guess the effect isn’t really that different in a lot of ways...” Tara began, trying to work out the best way to explain it to someone unfamiliar with magic. “Take a basic spell that most witches learn really early; ice into fire. Basically, the spell you cast calls for the element of fire to move into the space currently occupied by the element of water. You’re using ritual language and actions to ask one element to supplant another. The amount of power you put into the spell dictates how much of the ice changes into fire.”
“But that’s not how this new magic works?” Buffy asked, clearly struggling to follow along.
“We no longer need a spell... we’re not invoking elements any more,” Tara answered. “Now we can look at the ice, see the... shape, I guess. And then we can change that shape, just by willing it to be so...” Seeing the look of incomprehension on her lover’s face, she shrugged and said, “It’s hard to explain. I guess the most important difference between this and witchcraft is that there aren’t any spells, no invoking of spirits or elements. You just make things happen by... willing them to happen.”
Willow interjected, “It’s a lot more precise than witchcraft. There’s a much higher degree of control, and it lets you put the power to use more efficiently.”
Buffy shrugged. “Ok, if you guys say so,” she said, apparently giving up on understanding and settling for acceptance. “And this is what you’re going to teach Dawn?”
“Yep!” Willow answered succinctly.
“But, if there aren’t any spells or stuff, how will you teach her?” Buffy asked.
‘And once again my Slayer demonstrates that ignorance is not the same as stupidity,’ Tara thought with a sense of pride.
“Very perceptive, my love,” Tara said, stroking her hand along Buffy’s thigh. “Unlike witchcraft, this is going to be a magical discipline that can only be taught by someone who knows it.”
“You won’t be able to pick up a book and figure it out on your own, like I did,” Willow added.
“It’s almost more like teaching someone a physical skill... like when you teach someone a tennis swing by holding their hand and moving them through the motion so they understand it by doing it,” Tara explained.
Buffy snuggled even more tightly against the taller blonde at Tara’s touch on her thigh. “Mmm, and how will you ‘show’ her?” she asked.
“Well, once we teach her to center herself and focus her inner eye, we think we can link with her, and then it’s just a matter of doing something- through her,” Tara answered, her own voice low as she was affected by her lover’s touch.
“Mmm, so you’re gonna hold her brain and move it through the motion so she understands by doing it?” Buffy almost crooned, turning an allegorical question into a sexy groan.
‘So, so, so very sexy my Slayer is!’ Tara thought joyfully.
“Mmhm, just like that,” the blonde witch crooned back before allowing herself to be distracted entirely.
========== BtVS ==========
“No! Oh God, No!” Xander Harris shouted, struggling under his bedcovers before sitting bolt upright with a loud gasp.
He frantically looked around the darkened room for a moment, as though searching for an attacker. “Oh God... nightmare, just a nightmare...” he muttered, panting heavily.
“Well, there’s another night pissed away... What’s that, seven in a row? I’ll never get back to sleep now.” he groused as he dragged himself out of the bed. “Of course, it’s not like I’m gonna be late for anything if I oversleep...” His voice was rife with bitterness.
His body exhausted as though he had just finished running a race, Xander slowly wandered across the room, stopping to grab a t-shirt and throw it on to accompany his boxer shorts. He quietly opened his bedroom door and wandered out into the living room.
He briefly pondered getting something to eat, but- surprisingly for him- he didn’t feel hungry at all. He ended up sitting on his couch, staring at the black screen of his television and feeling sorry for himself.
‘I can’t keep going like this... it’s killing me!’ he thought miserably. His eyes started to tear up and he leaned forward so his elbows were on his knees and his face in his hands as he softly wept. ‘It hurts so bad! And I can’t even wish I hadn’t done it, cause I had to do it... I couldn’t take the chance, couldn’t let Glory kill Dawn!’
He sat there in quiet misery for several minutes before he felt a warm hand gently land on his shoulder.
“Xander?” Dawn’s sleepy voice and soft touch startled him and he jerked sideways, away from her.
“Are you ok Xander?” she asked, her voice laced with deep concern.
Xander stiffly stood up, facing away from her while he scrubbed the tears from his face. “Yeah, I’m fine Dawn, just couldn’t sleep, that’s all. I’m sorry I woke you up,” he said, forcing a cheerful tone to his voice.
“Please don’t do that...” she said in a small, hurt voice, sending a bolt of guilt through his heart.
“Do what?” he asked, though he had a pretty good idea what she was talking about.
“Xander, you’ve been avoiding me all week...” she started.
“Avoiding you?” He interrupted. “Dawn, I take you to school every morning, I see you at the magic box after school every day... you’re living in my apartment! How can you say I’m avoiding you?” his voice raised as he spoke.
“I... I...” Dawn’s voice was breaking and it drove a dagger of guilt and self-loathing into Xander’s chest.
“Look at you; you can’t even stand to look at me!” she cried softly.
The agony in Dawn’s voice was like a sucker-punch to Xander’s gut.
Xander was immediately on his knees before the crestfallen brunette, babbling out an apology. “Oh Dawnie! I’m sorry, it isn’t you, you didn’t do anything...” Her hands were wringing together in her lap, and he grabbed hold of them, gently prying them apart and holding them in his own. “Dawn, it has nothing to do with you. I’ve been having some trouble sleeping... and it’s been affecting my work... I...” He paused and took a deep breath and exhaled in a forceful sigh before continuing, “I lost my job today Dawn. That’s why I’m not in the best mood... but that’s no excuse for me to be...”
Dawn’s eyes were downcast, but she interrupted him, quietly asking, “It’s the nightmares isn’t it... That’s why you can’t sleep, and...” she dragged her tearful eyes up to meet his as she went on, “That’s why you got fired... It’s my fault!”
‘God I’m such a jerk!’ Xander raged at himself. ‘I can’t keep my hormones in check around her, and now she thinks I’m avoiding her... which I kinda was, but not for the reasons she thinks!’
“No! Dawn, no it’s totally not...” he began, trying to console her.
Her next comment stopped him like a splash of ice cold water running down his spine.
“It’s cause of what you had to do for me, to protect me!” she cried.
Squeezing her hands and giving them a shake, Xander tentatively asked, “What are you talking about Dawn?”
In his mind his thoughts were spinning around at a hundred miles per hour, ‘She can’t know, she can’t know, oh God! Please don’t let her know what I did!’
“I... I know what you...” Dawn began with a loud gulp. “What you did t-to protect me...”
‘No, no, no, no, no, nonononononono!’ Xander’s mind started chanting in fear. His body began buzzing in a distant kind of way, and it felt like he was becoming disconnected from it.
Dawn’s next sentence, despite being softly whispered, sounded to him like the loud crashing of cymbals... with his head between them.
“I know what happened with Glory... and Ben.”
Xander’s whole body went cold. His hands were numb as he jerked them away from hers. He could hear her crying out to him, but it was as though from a great distance, barely registering at all. Mostly, all he could hear was a dull roar of white noise in his head, canceling out his thoughts.
It was an even tossup which came as the bigger surprise- that he was throwing up, or that he’d made it to the bathroom in time to throw up in the toilet. Either way, he didn’t remember getting himself there.
Eventually he ran out of anything to bring up, and the heaves finally subsided. ‘She knows... she knows... How can she stay in this apartment? How can she force herself to get in the car every morning and sit next to me knowing what I did, what I am...?’
Woodenly, Xander turned on the tap and rinsed out his mouth. He spent a minute or two splashing cold water on his face until he once again felt something approximating human. All the while a question kept floating around in his head, ‘How can she stand to even be around me...?’
When he walked out of the bathroom the first thing he saw was Dawn standing just down the hall. She was dressed in a long t-shirt that he suspected had come from his dresser at some point in the week.
“Are you angry with me?” Dawn asked in a small voice.
Xander had to choke back a sob at the guilt in her voice. “How...?” he started to ask aloud what he’d been asking himself in the bathroom. However, the lump that rose in his throat cut off the rest of the question.
Dawn kept her eyes down as she said, “I, I was worried about you... I couldn’t sleep, and I heard Giles when you connected online, so I went out to hear cause I needed to know, I couldn’t wait to hear if everyone was ok...” Lifting her face to meet Xander’s gaze, she continued, “I swear I wasn’t trying to be sneaky or anything, Xander! I, I just wanted to know you guys were ok... and then you started talking and I just froze... and then when you were done, I was so...” She dropped her head once again, blushing furiously as she admitted, “I ran into my room and put my pillow over my head and bawled like a little baby. At first, I was so mad at Giles for making you do that. But really, I was mad at myself cause I know you did it for me... you had to do something so horrible just to protect me, and I could hear in your voice that it was hurting you so much!”
Xander shook his head, ignoring for the moment her incomprehensible guilt in favor of his own. “How can you stand to be around me? How can you even look at me?”
Dawn had tears streaming down her face, and she sniffled loudly. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her torso as if she were trying to hold herself together. “Do you... do you w-want me to l... leave?” she asked in an anguished whisper.
‘What?’ Xander thought, baffled by the question.
Dawn once again sniffled back her tears. Xander could see the effort it cost her to speak clearly as she said, “I u-understand if you can’t be around me right now... I, I’ll leave in the morning... as s-soon as I can get someone to pick me up...” Her lower lip began to quiver as she continued, “Just... please, Xander... please don’t ha... hate me. I don’t think I could bear it...” her voice trailed off in a whisper.
‘What the hell is going on here?’ Xander wondered. His mind was spinning in confusion and it was causing him to feel frustrated and angry.
“I don’t...” he began loudly. “I... What?! You’re talking, but... I don’t... It’s like, you’re speaking in a language... and I...” He shook his head in bewildered anger, and then pressed his palms to his temples as though trying to keep his brains from splitting his head open. “You’re talking, and... whatever language it is, I don’t speak that language!”
He was breathing in heavy pants now and feeling a little dizzy. His hand shot out to the wall to support himself as he tried to figure out what was going on. “You think I’m mad at you? And I want you to leave? And I hate you?! Dawn! *I* killed a man! I drove a knife through his chest so hard that it chipped the floor on the other side! I watched his life drain away right before my eyes!”
Dawn nodded miserably, tears once again pouring down her face as she sobbed, “Because of me!”
Xander’s eyes bugged out and his jaw practically hit the floor as he got it. ‘Oh God! She thinks... Oh God!’ the realization was a wrenching sensation in his chest.
Trying to swallow past a lump the size of his fist, Xander gasped, “You think I blame you?”
Dawn’s anguished wail was absolutely heartbreaking, “Don’t you?”
An overwhelming wave of bitter shame crashed down on Xander and he gaped like a fish out of water for several seconds.
‘I am the world’s biggest jackass,’ Xander thought in a moment of clarity.
“No,” he whispered. Shaking his head he said it louder, “No! Oh Dawnie, no!”
“You don’t?” she said disbelievingly. “But, how? You did it because of me...”
She appeared so fragile in that moment that Xander was overcome, shedding his reticence and ignoring his lust, he stepped over and wrapped her up in his arms, kissing her forehead for long moments as he tried to pour out reassurance to her.
“Dawn, I’m so sorry, I’m so damn sorry...” he whispered to her, keeping her tight against his chest. “I didn’t realize you knew, that you were blaming yourself... please believe me, it was not your fault!”
Dawn grabbed tightly to him and began to bawl openly against him, her body shaking as the emotions poured out.
Xander too wept strongly. ‘I was so afraid you’d freak out... why aren’t you? You should be freaking out... I killed a man!’ he vacillated back and forth between relief, worry and self-recrimination.
When Dawn’s shuddering sobs had quieted somewhat, Xander led her over to the couch and sat down facing her. “Dawnie, look at me,” he asked softly. “I’m not mad at you, and I don’t blame you for what I did, ok?” he held her gaze questioningly until she nodded in agreement.
“Ok Xander,” Dawn quietly ceded.
“Ok then,” Xander said.
Neither spoke immediately, both seemingly lost in thought.
After a bit, Dawn broke the silence. “Xander? If you don’t blame me... and you’re not mad at me... Why have you been avoiding me?” she asked in a still fragile voice.
‘Oh boy,’ Xander thought nervously. ‘This is a subject I really don’t want to visit right now... I mean, you’re sitting there, no makeup, your eyes and nose red from crying... and you look so damn beautiful! I don’t know what it is... I’m a glutton for punishment, that’s what it is! If your sister got one whiff of the way I’ve been thinking about you lately... I’d have the whole power-trio over here taking turns to see which one could eviscerate me the most messily...’
“Xander?” Dawn again asked, tilting her head with a confused expression.
Squeezing his eyes closed, Xander berated himself, ‘That’s perfect... even now, I sit here and stare at you like some kind of freak!’
“Dawn, I...” he began, unsure of what to say. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, as much to stall as because he needed to center himself. “You shouldn’t even want to be near me right now. You have no idea... Dawn I killed a man!” he hissed, opening his eyes and staring into hers. “Not a vampire, not a demon... a human being!” Looking down in his lap again, he muttered, “I’m a monster, you should be running far and fast to get away from me...”
“Are you kidding me?” Dawn replied.
‘Huh?’ Xander’s brain asked, surprised by the exasperation in her voice.
“What I should be doing is throwing myself to my knees in front of you and thanking you with all my heart like I wanted to do since the moment I heard what you did!”
Xander goggled at the girl in front of him. “Uhh... what?!?”
“In fact...” Dawn muttered, scrambling to the floor and doing just that; kneeling before him.
‘Oh my God!’ Xander screamed silently. ‘Giles and Angel naked. Giles and Angel and Wesley in a threeway gangbang. With the mayor. And the master!’ Xander desperately tried to think of something to keep himself from tenting his boxer shorts like the circus was in town.
“Thank you Xander!” Dawn said intently. “Do you have any idea how terrified I was of Glory? I had nightmares of her taking me and hanging me by my feet and slitting my throat open over some kind of magic pot... cauldron... thingie...”
‘That worked!’ Xander thought. Dawn’s description of Glory sacrificing her was all it took for his libido to turn off like a light switch.
“Whatever,” Dawn muttered with a quick shake of her head. “The point is this,” she went on, looking into Xander’s eyes as though searching his very soul. “You did something really hard, something that’s tearing you up inside, and you did it to save my life.”
Xander felt his eyes welling up with fresh tears at the look of deep gratitude in her eyes.
“You’re not a monster, you’re a hero. You’re *my* hero!” she said emphatically.
‘I wonder if this is how Buffy felt when I told her that same thing?’ Xander thought as his insides melted and he felt a sense of pride unlike anything he’d ever felt before.
“Dawn, I...” Xander’s hand moved toward her face as if to cup her cheek- almost of it’s own volition.
When he realized what he was doing, he changed the gesture, using his thumb to wipe away the tears on one cheek and then retracting his hand before he gave in to the more intimate gesture.
His voice was a whisper as the heartfelt emotion constricted his throat. “That’s the most amazing thing anyone has ever said to me in my life!”
Dawn got up from the floor, moving back up to the couch. His eyes followed every move as she sat right next to him and tucked her legs underneath her. She had a sad look on her face suddenly and she reached out to put her hand on his chest over his heart. “I wish I could reach inside and take away all the hurting, all the pain...” she whispered regretfully.
Though his inclination was to reassure her, he was too tired and hurting to come up with anything. He covered her hand with his own for a moment as he closed his eyes and whispered, “Me too.”
========== BtVS ==========
‘Man, I’m tired... I need, like, a week’s worth of sleep,’ Xander thought. His body felt achy and fatigued and restless. ‘It’s no use though... if I go back to bed I’ll just either stare at the ceiling for hours, or I’ll fall asleep and let dead Ben chase me around some more... and then wake up and stare at the ceiling for hours.’
He opened his eyes and glanced at Dawn, who- after their emotional breakdown together a few minutes ago- seemed content to sit quietly next to him and stare at the wall.
‘Hmm, she looks tired too,’ he thought as his eyes roamed her features. ‘Tired... and gorgeous, and sexy, and... but we’re not gonna go there right now, remember Xander? There will be no admiring of Dawn’s bedroom eyes or her pouty lips, or...’
He squeezed his eyes shut before they got to the weather report. ‘You’re a bad, bad man Xander Harris!’ he kicked himself mentally.
Forcing his mind back onto a less dangerous track, Xander decided, ‘Just because I’m captain insomniac, that doesn’t mean she should suffer.’
“Dawn, you should go back to bed and get some sleep,” Xander recommended softly. “Don’t let me blow your whole night...”
“I can’t sleep.” Dawn explained with tired resignation in her voice. “I was just laying there staring at the ceiling when I heard you wake up...”
“Oh...” Xander responded. “That sucks.”
“Yep,” Dawn answered succinctly. After a brief pause, she unfolded herself and got up from the couch. “I’m gonna get a soda, you want anything?”
‘Besides you?’ Xander’s brain immediately responded.
“Um...” he stalled while he yanked the reigns on his libido yet again. “We got any real Pepsi in the fridge?”
Dawn smiled happily for some reason that Xander couldn’t fathom. “Dunno,” she said, maintaining the silly grin. “If we don’t, you want one of mine?”
“Ack, Diet Pepsi? Seriously, I don’t see how you can stomach that stuff,” Xander said with an answering grin of his own.
His grin fell away as Dawn drew her hands across her torso, pulling the oversized shirt snugly against her. “Stomach,” she said, tapping her fingers against her flat tummy. “That’s exactly why I can...” she explained before letting go the material and bouncing off to the kitchen.
‘Weather report says there’s a slight chill in the air,’ Xander’s mind reported happily.
“I’m a bad, bad man...” Xander whispered to himself reproachfully.
“Y’want ice?” Dawn called out from the kitchen.
“Nah, real man drinks from a can...” Xander said with false braggadocio.
A minute later Dawn returned and handed Xander a can of Pepsi, saying, “You’re in luck, the real deal- in a can, for He-Man Xan.”
Xander laughed lightly at Dawn’s teasing.
“And the lite version, in a glass with ice for the more refined, lady of the house,” she said as she sat.
Xander couldn’t help checking the weather again as Dawn leaned back and took a long drink of her beverage. “Lean forward a second,” he said when she moved the glass away from her mouth.
She looked quizzically at him, but did as bid.
Xander pulled the flannel throw off of the back of the sofa and spread it out so it covered both of their lower bodies.
When he looked back up at her face and saw the question there, he mumbled, “Uh, you looked cold...”
‘Doh! Idiot!’ he gave himself a mental smack, wishing he could retract his statement the moment it left his lips.
Dawn frowned and glanced down at her lap, then immediately replaced the frown with a knowing grin.
‘I dunno Xander, could you be a bigger dork tonight? God I walked right in to that one!’ Xander lamented as he felt his face burn with embarrassment. ‘Yep, there’s no digging my way out of that one...’
Fortunately, he had matured enough at this point in his life to realize the only course of action, ‘I’m just gonna shut up right there and quit while I’m ahead. Anything else will just get me in more trouble...’
To Xander’s great relief, Dawn didn’t make a point of it. She said, “Oh, thanks,” with a blush of her own despite her grin, and then dropped the subject.
“So...” Xander began after a minute. “I know why I can’t sleep, why can’t you sleep?”
Dawn stalled, taking another long drink of her soda.
‘So, I’m not only a jackass, I’m insensitive too...’ Xander thought guiltily when he saw the pensive look on her face. ‘She’s obviously having issues with this whole experience too, but I’ve been so wrapped up in my own ‘issues’ that I’ve totally missed it.’
“Nightmares?” he asked softly.
Dawn nodded her head very slightly, obviously reticent about speaking on the subject.
Xander shifted slightly so that he was facing her without having to crane his neck sideways. He tentatively put one hand on her knee- over the blanket- trying to be reassuring without any impropriety.
“Dawn, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s ok. But, if you do... I want you to know that I’m here for you; any time, day or night,” he offered sincerely.
Dawn smiled slightly at that, but almost immediately the pensive look returned. “I...” she paused, then licked her lips and tried again. “I want to tell you... I wanted to tell you since you came and got me...” she said, her voice sounding nervous.
“But?” Xander asked gently.
“It’s bad...” she whispered.
When she remained silent for a moment, Xander gently prodded, “If you wanted to tell me, why didn’t you?”
She took a deep breath and exhaled tremblingly. “I didn’t want you to... to look at me... differently.”
“Differently?” Xander repeated questioningly.
‘Oh God, did she get... was she... raped?’ Xander felt icy panic flow down his spine at the thought.
“Dawnie,” Xander choked out, struggling not to sob. “Whatever you tell me... it’s not going to change the way I look at you. I promise!”
Dawn nodded hesitantly and set her drink on the side table. She sat rather stiffly upright and wrapped her arms tightly around her torso before beginning to speak.
“We were walking back from the casino where we had dinner to where we parked. About the time we had finished eating, both me and Giles felt this... I dunno... we thought someone was watching us. Anyway, it didn’t go away until we were almost back at the parking lot... and then all of a sudden these guys were there, grabbing all of us.”
Xander was almost shivering with fear and anger at the thought of someone touching Dawn. ‘Oh God, oh God, oh God, please don’t let her have been raped!’ he chanted over and over.
“Giles hit the guy that grabbed me, and shouted at me to run... so I ran into the parking lot and hid...” her voice betrayed her discomfort as she told the story. “I was so scared, I don’t even remember anything until I stopped running...” she whispered with what sounded like shame in her voice. “I remember I was breathing so hard, and my heart was beating so fast, and I thought I was going to throw up or something,” she admitted. “I tried to listen to hear if any of them were chasing me, but all I could hear was my breathing and heart...”
‘I know just what you mean!’ Xander thought as his own heart was pounding in his chest.
“At first, they tried to trick me,” Dawn went on, visibly becoming lost in the retelling of the story. “I was like, ‘yeah, right! How stupid do you think I am?’” She shook her head at her attacker’s stupidity. Her face returned fear rather than disbelief as she went on, “Then they started to shout out what they were going to do if I didn’t come out... I had this picture in my head of Mom and Giles...” She choked back a sob before continuing in a high, reedy voice, “...lying on the sidewalk with their throat’s cut...”
She clenched her eye’s shut, squeezing out a single tear that slowly traveled down her cheek.
Watching the single tear fall as if in slow motion, Xander’s guts were twisting with fear and worry of his own. The picture in his head was even worse than Giles and Joyce dead on the ground. It was an effort to restrain himself from speaking. ‘Anticipation’s killing me here Dawn!’ he thought.
“I found a spot where I could see that all three of them were still at the entrance of the parking lot. Mom was being held by one guy, and Giles had one holding him from behind like mom, and the other was holding his dagger against his throat... Giles looked so angry! His hands were all clenching into fists over and over... I could tell he wanted to tear them apart with his bare hands. The one holding mom had to be the one that had grabbed me in the first place, cause his face was all bloody.”
“That’s when I saw the tattoo on their foreheads... I recognized it from what Buffy described. Somehow I knew they were there for me even before that... but when I saw they were those knights of whatever... It really sank in that they were there to kill me... it’s like their whole purpose in life to destroy The Key, which just happens to be me.” She blinked her eyes and met Xander’s gaze for the first time since beginning the story, saying, “Do you remember the first time someone wanted to kill you? I mean, you specifically. They wanted you dead, and they were ready to do it?” She didn’t wait for an answer, but continued, “That was my first time...”
‘Preying mantis lady...’ Xander remembered. ‘That was my first time, I think. First time someone wanted to kill me specifically... and I somehow for that one moment I just knew I was dead; no one was gonna save me...’ the sense of emptiness and desolation he’d felt in that moment came back for a second. ‘That’s what Dawnie must have felt right then...’
She dropped her eyes again as she resumed the story, “I remembered that Giles had that gun in the glove box in Mom’s jeep... he said so at dinner, and I just then remembered it,” she said in a voice that clearly indicated her discomfort with the tale she was telling. “So I was all freaking out, trying to remember where we parked... When I finally found it I opened the door, and they saw the light go on. The lead guy was screaming ‘Get Her!’ and I almost lost it... I grabbed the pistol and ran.” Her breathing had increased, no doubt she was remembering and re-experiencing the fear of that moment.
“They threatened to kill Giles if I didn’t come out, and I didn’t know what to do next, so I thought, ‘What would Buffy do?’ I figured out where I was again, and I sneaked over to where they were holding Giles and Mom... I wondered if I could really do it, if I could pull the trigger...” She gave a humorless chuckle and said, “I thought, ‘Just like playing Quake with Xander...’ then the one guy told the one with the knife to kill Giles and I... it was like I just... I felt cold, like I didn’t really feel anything...”
Dawn sniffled back her tears and lifted her chin a bit, though her eyes didn’t make it up as far as Xander’s face. “I stood up and... and it was just like the game... point and click and his head just went pifft! He fell so slowly... and I didn’t feel anything,” she whispered, shaking her head as if in wonder. “Mom screamed and pointed and when I turned around there was another one like right there charging at me. Same thing, point and click and pifft! and nothing... I didn’t feel anything at all.”
Xander cringed at the sound of quiet horror in her voice.
“I just stood there... I don’t know how long. Then Giles was there, telling me to look at him, and he said ‘it’s over’...” Her lips quivered and she visibly swallowed before continuing. “That’s when I felt... everything.”
“Oh Dawnie,” Xander breathed out a shuddering breath.
‘It’s bad, but it’s not as bad as I was afraid it was going to be...’ Xander thought, relieved and saddened all at once.
“I killed those men Xander... I shot them in the head and killed them,” Dawn said
“Dawnie, yes you shot them, yes they are dead, but it was to save Giles and your Mom’s life!” Xander reminded her. “Why would you be afraid that I’d look at you any differently for that?”
“But...” Dawn had an expression on her face that was at once both worried and confused as she looked up to meet his eyes. “But that’s what you did... You killed Ben to save my life... a-and you called yourself a monster!” she cried in a quiet, anguished voice.
“Oh Dawn...” Xander said sadly. Unable to formulate an adequate response, he pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.
He rubbed up and down her back soothingly as she cried. It wasn’t the wrenching sobs of earlier, but she was obviously upset nonetheless. “Dawnie... I don’t think you’re a monster. Not at all! I guess I just... I just feel so damn guilty, you know?”
Dawn nodded her head against his chest and said, “It hurts.”
“Exactly. It hurts, I feel bad, I think I’m a bad person... but I guess I can’t keep thinking that, cause I don’t think you’re a bad person...” he softly explained. “In fact, I think you’re amazing! What you did... most people would have been so terrified that they would have just kept running...”
‘I probably would have just attacked them... probably ended up throwing my life away for nothing,’ Xander thought, growing more and more amazed and beguiled by the slender girl in his arms as he considered what she’d done.
“I couldn’t let them hurt Mom or Giles...” Dawn said emphatically.
His voice filled with wonder, Xander praised her, “Dawn, you... you showed situational awareness, tactical planning, proper execution and a hell of a lot of guts! I am seriously impressed!”
“I threw up on Giles shoes,” Dawn whispered, sounding embarrassed.
Xander couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Well, you saved his life, I’m sure he forgave you for the shoes...” Even she got a chuckle from that.
Dawn’s arms tightened around him as she said, “Thank you Xander.” Her grip loosened, but didn’t fall away entirely as she added, “It still hurts though.”
Leaning back in the couch with Dawn still snuggled close, Xander nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah...” he replied, his whisper laden with intense emotion. “It still hurts.”
========== BtVS ==========
========== BtVS ==========
‘Mmm, this is nice,’ Buffy thought as she languidly kissed her pet.
Long moments later she ended the kiss, only to trail her lips across the velvet skin of Willow’s cheek and over to her delicate ear. She gently nibbled and sucked on the redhead’s earlobe for a second, generating a high pitched sigh that sent a bolt of pleasure straight to Buffy’s already damp center.
“We don’t do this enough, Willow,” Buffy whispered before moving her lips down to the sensitive spot below her lover’s ear.
“W- oh! We do this all the t-time,” Willow disagreed as her hands clutched at Buffy’s back.
Buffy smiled against the smooth, sweet skin of her girlfriend’s neck, then scraped her teeth along it, making Willow shiver and moan slightly. “No, I mean this, just making out on the couch...”
She punctuated her sentence by sliding one hand down to squeeze the redhead’s butt through her skirt.
“Unh! Tha- at’s cause you’re always so... Ooh! ...impatient,” Willow answered in-between the grunts, sighs and cries her lover was eliciting from her.
“True, but can you blame me?” Buffy asked as her other hand traveled over the redhead’s blouse to cup and gently fondle her breast. “You know I just can’t help myself, you’re too yummy!” she growled just before she started nipping and sucking on the pale column of Willow’s throat.
“Mmm!” Willow hummed in obvious pleasure as Buffy marked her flesh above and below her collar. “If Tara hadn’t said otherwise, I’m pretty sure I’d be naked right now... probably with a certain Slayer’s legs wrapped around my head!” Willow said with a delighted laugh.
Buffy pulled away and put on her most innocent face. “Is that so wrong?” she asked in her ‘naughty little girl’ voice as Tara had labeled it.
Her lids slipped halfway over her eyes as Willow slid her fingers up through Buffy’s blonde tresses.
“Oh my goodness no!” the redhead answered intently. “It’s so, so right!”
Buffy’s eyes slipped shut as she met her redheaded lover halfway for another deep, sweet kiss. ‘Gosh I hope Tara doesn’t take too long getting whatever it is ready, if I can’t get this girl naked soon, I may explode!’ she thought in delighted frustration.
========== BtVS ==========
‘*This* is going to be so much fun!’ Tara thought as she looked at the scene she’d created.
The luxurious bedroom glowed in the warm light of over a hundred candles. Blood red velvet covered the canopy over the king-sized bed, and a rich gold and red striped duvet covered the mattress. The head of the bed was piled with red and gold pillows, and she’d replaced their usual sheets with four-hundred thread-count Egyptian cotton.
‘So expensive, but so worth it!’ Tara thought warmly, remembering the silky smooth texture of the sheets against her cheek when she’d purchased them. ‘Goddess, when I felt that, all I could think about was how good they’d feel against my skin as I laid naked on them, wrapped in the arms of my Slayer and her pet...’
‘That’s for later though,’ she thought with a smile and a stirring of warmth and wetness at her center. Turning to the setup she’d constructed across the open space at the foot of the bed, she felt that wetness begin to seep out of her, coating the tender flesh of her sex.
“Thank you Willow!” she whispered in sigh as she looked upon what she had wrought. ‘Who needs a hammer and drill when you can just ask the wood to merge itself?’ she wondered as she took in the imposing sight of the Saint Andrew’s Cross she’d created from two enormous beams. Where the beams would normally be joined with a half-lap joint at their crossing, these looked more like the individual wood fibers had been woven together, as though two trees had impossibly grown through one another. Even the metal eyebolts at the bases and apexes of the X-shape seemed to merge seamlessly into the wood, as though by nature’s own design. For color, she had magically evoked the pigmentation in the wood, staining it a dark chestnut black, almost dark enough to hide the wood’s grain from sight entirely.
“It looks like it was created by Gaia herself,” Tara whispered almost reverently. “Goddess, this magic is beyond amazing!”
The cross was mounted on a stone pillar that the blonde witch had coaxed into growing from the stone floor, merged into the foundation of the building. The meeting point between the pillar and the cross was on a pivot so that the cross could be tilted and locked into place in three positions, fully upright at ninety degrees to the floor, tilted at forty-five degrees, or flat out like a table about three feet off the ground- perfect for play.
‘Of course, it would take someone with Buffy’s strength to lift it back upright once it’s laid down,’ Tara thought, remembering the magical effort it took to move the massive form. She ran her hand over the smooth surface, taking in the wonderful texture and grain of the wood.
The only other piece of furniture near the cross was a simple wooden chair, placed about six feet away, facing the cross.
“Oh goddess! This is so exciting!” Tara breathed out as images of the events she had planned for this night played out in her mind. She looked at the array of toys laid out on a separate piece of black velvet across the foot of the bed; items of polished black leather, gleaming chrome, crystal clear Pyrex, and a special treat in a steel bowl, covered for now by one end of the blood-red towel on which it sat. The condensation on the sides of the steel necessitated the towel, as well as hinting at the contents of the bowl.
The last thing she checked was herself in the full length mirror near the dressing area. “Buffy and Willow are going to absolutely melt when they see this,” she whispered proudly. A black, custom fit corset girded her torso, squeezing her into a modern version of the Victorian hourglass shape. Instead of built-in cups to support her large breasts, the corset flared slightly in the front, and rose high enough that her breasts were pushed up and in, leaving the entire top halves presented as a pillow of creamy white flesh threatening to spill out of the funnel of black leather. The barest slip of silk covered her already-wet and swollen vulva- leaving almost nothing to the imagination.
‘Not the most comfortable thing I’ve ever worn, but as long as I don’t have to bend over very far, I’ll be ok,’ she thought humorously. ‘So worth it though; with this thing I’ve got a sexy shape that puts me right up in my girls’ class!’
The only other thing she was wearing was a pair of knee-high boots, also in black leather of course, with 6 inch spiked heels that clicked on the stone floor as she walked. ‘Of course I had to resort to magic just to walk in these things, but there’s no way I could wear flats with this outfit!’ She grabbed a red silk robe and put it on, covering her from neck to toe, thinking, ‘I can’t wait to see their faces when I uncover!’
Tara licked her lips and whispered, “Ok, it’s playtime!” and turned to walk out the door.
========== BtVS ==========
“Mmm, you two look *so* good together!” Tara said loudly, alerting her lover’s to her presence.
Buffy was lying on top of Willow, both still dressed, stretched out on the couch. The Slayer’s hands were buried in her pet’s hair, while the redheaded witch was kneading Buffy’s ass over her jeans. At the sound of her voice, they hastily broke off their mutual oral exploration and quickly sat up.
‘You two look like you just got caught making out by your parents!’ Tara thought with a delighted laugh at the expressions on her lover’s faces.
“Um, sorry. Didn’t hear you coming...” Buffy muttered, eyes down as if she half expected a scolding. Willow just sat quietly with her eyes down.
“What did I tell you to do when I left, Slayer?” Tara asked in a gentle, but definitely ‘Mistress’ voice.
“You said to play with my pet till you got back, and to keep hands outside of clothes, Mistress,” Buffy replied without hesitation.
Tara walked over to stand in front of her still sitting pet and cupped Buffy’s cheek as she quietly asked, “And did you do that, my sweet Slayer?”
“Ooohhh... yes Mistress!” the Slayer said with a visible shiver as she leaned into Tara’s touch.
Tara’s voice was dripping with arousal as she commented, “I can’t tell you how much I love seeing you two like this, hair all mussed from needy touches, lips kiss-slicked and swollen, skin flushed with lust... You’re so beautiful together!” She reached out to caress Willow’s face as she was Buffy’s, adding, “I could watch the two of you for hours!”
Buffy boldly reached over and caressed Willow’s breast through her blouse, speaking in a seductive voice, “Is there anything... special... you’d like to see?”
‘Oh, tempting...’ Tara thought, dropping her hands back to her sides. ‘but not this night!’
“As much a I would no doubt enjoy seeing you two perform together, I have other plans, my Slayer,” she said with a wicked grin.
“Yes Mistress.” Buffy said, dropping her hand from her pet’s chest.
“Buffy, I want to ask something of you... I would like for you to relinquish your pet to my control for this night...” Tara began.
“Of course my Mistress,” Buffy quickly answered. “All that I have, all that I am is yours to command my Mistress!”
Tara’s heart warmed at her pet’s declaration. “I know that, Slayer. However, this is one thing I will always ask, not command, of you.”
Buffy tilted her head and had a confused look on her face.
“Willow belongs to you alone, Buffy. If I take her back as I please, then she isn’t really yours...” the blonde witch explained.
“And I will always say yes, my Mistress,” Buffy said with conviction in her voice and adulation in her eyes.
Tara couldn’t help but well up with joyful tears at that. She looked at both of her lovers and saw equal devotion in Willow’s expression. “There are moments even still when I cannot believe how incredibly blessed I am to have the two of you in my life!” she whispered intensely. “I love the two of you more than life itself!”
Before tears began flowing, Tara shook her head and made an effort to be Mistress Tara. “So then my Slayer, you agree to relinquish your pet to me tonight?”
“Yes my Mistress. For tonight, my pet is yours,” Buffy said formally.
Tara turned her attention to her redheaded lover. “Look at me, pet,” she instructed.
Willow looked up, meeting the blonde’s eyes.
“Who do you belong to?” Tara asked quietly, but firmly.
“Tonight I belong to you Lady Tara.” Willow answered softly. Her face betrayed the lust and anticipation that her voice had not.
“Then assume the position, pet,” Tara said, pleased. “You too, Slayer!” she snapped, enjoying the rush of power that came from dominating the two most powerful women in the world.
Despite the head start Willow had, Buffy managed to put her newfound speed to use and ended up naked on her knees before Willow even had her bra off.
Despite being a distant second, Willow managed to assume the position with remarkable alacrity herself. ‘Mmm, someone’s very eager... some-two really!’ Tara thought happily as her pets obeyed her command with enthusiasm.
“Last week we promised you a surprise, pet,” Tara began. “Unfortunately other events interfered, and we never got around to it. I intended to make up for that tonight.”
Tara smiled in delighted anticipation as neither girl broke position in the slightest. ‘Oh, my girls! I can feel how excited you are, but you’re being so still... I’m so proud of you... you’re such good pets!’
Slayer, you stay for the moment. Pet, stand up and follow me,” Tara instructed, turning and walking back to the master bedroom without bothering to watch for compliance.
The moment that Tara entered the door and stepped aside to allow Willow entrance, she heard the redhead gasp and then moan softly. “Do you like what you see, pet?” Tara asked softly, a thrill of warmth in her belly at the redhead’s reaction.
“Lady Tara...” Willow breathed, clearly overwhelmed. “I... it’s absolutely amazing!”
“Step up onto the cross, pet,” Tara softly instructed, her heart beating fast with expectation.
“Oh, yes, Lady Tara!” Willow cried, jumping into place, holding her wrists up to be cuffed into place.
Tara hesitated for a moment, taking in the image before her. ‘So, so beautiful...’ she thought with a tender ache in her heart.
Moving forward to attach the restraints, Tara said, “For tonight, you may call me Milady for short if Lady Tara becomes too cumbersome during our play...”
“Yes, Milady Tara,” Willow replied. “Thank you, Milady.”
Tara stepped back and once again took a moment to stare at her redheaded lover. “Mmm, Mmm, Mmm!” she hummed in delight. Walking over to the foot of the bed and picked up the flog. She turned quickly, spinning the lower part of her robe around her legs.
‘Mmm, silk, leather, and willowskin... I love them all!’ she thought salaciously.
“Pet you look so sexy... all that pale white skin against the black wood...” Tara said, trailing the leather thongs of the flog over the length of Willow’s torso. “I love your stomach... it’s going to look so good with red stripes across it,” she crooned in a low, rumbly voice.
“Ohhh,” Willow groaned quietly.
“You like that idea, pet?” Tara asked with a knowing smile.
“Yes Milady, so, so much!” Willow cried softly.
“Mmm, later pet... I have other things in mind for you first... and your Mistress!” Tara said, her voice full of wicked promise. “I’m going to bend your Mistress over that chair and whip her ass until it’s bright red... would you like to watch that?”
“ooohh goddess! Yes Milady!” Willow groaned.
“Then I’m going to take her with a strap-on until she begs me to let her cum... I won’t though, I won’t let her...” Tara taunted. “Then I’m going to put her in that chair and strap her hands and legs to the sides and let her watch while I go to work on you.”
“Mmph!” Willow bit back her whine as her face twisted with lust and need.
“Oh Willow my sweet little pet, I have so many things I’m going to do to you...” Tara promised lustily. “I’m going to make you scream and cry in pleasure and pain before I’m done with you!”
“Yes Milady!” Willow panted. “Oh goddess yes please!”
“I want you to know that I’ve shielded this room against any magic entering, or exiting... so I don’t want you holding back, do you understand? When I finally let you cum, I expect the whole room to shake with you!” Tara explained in no uncertain terms.
Willow’s eyes widened in surprise, and she whispered, “Y-yes Milady...”
“Such a good pet,” Tara said. “Now, as beautiful as you look just chained up like that... I think a few accessories are in order.”
Tara stroked the handle of the flog along the column of the redhead’s throat, down between her small but well shaped breasts, across her navel and to her smooth-shaven sex. “Pet, I need you to hold this for me for a minute, ok?”
“Um... oh!” Willow’s momentary confusion cleared right up as Tara slid the pommel of the flog inside her slippery pussy. “Y-yes Milady!” she gasped.
“Don’t drop it pet,” Tara admonished as she walked away to get the ‘accessories’ for the redheaded witch.
“No Milady!” Willow assured the blonde, her voice breathy and sounding desperate.
‘Now, lets see...’ Tara thought, perusing her toy box. ‘Nipple clamps, definitely... something light, though. She’ll be wearing them for a long time.’ She picked out a pair with adjustable tension, and wide, flat, rubber tipped jaws. ‘Mmm, these’ll feel like nothing at first... but by the time I’m ready to take them off she’ll have a hard time paying attention to anything else,’ she thought happily.
‘Of course, I can’t have her getting too distracted, so...’ Seeing a toy that Willow had just recently acquired on the net, Tara thought, “Oh that’s perfect. I’ve been wanting to try that during a play-session... of course I’ve been thinking of trying this during a research session too, but that’s for another time.’
Tara took the twin pronged, remote controlled vibrator, and the clamps, and returned to her bound lover. “Lookie what Lady Tara found, pet!” she said, holding up the chrome vibrator. “Just think, I’ll be able to drive you mad without even having to touch you!”
Willow’s whine was almost frantic.
“Oh, I can see by the look on your face that you like that idea, don’t you pet?” Tara asked seductively, pressing and twisting the flog’s handle to punctuate her question.
Willow’s head nodded frenetically and her voice was nearly unintelligible, “Uhn, yess Milady!”
Tara pulled the flog out of her pet and smiled at the sight of the secretions coating the handle almost all the way to the hilt. “Oh you got the handle all sloppy! Now I can’t use this, it’ll slip right out of my hand...” Looking up at Willow’s face she modulated her voice into pure innocence, asking, “We wouldn’t want that, now would we?”
Shaking her head vigorously, Willow agreed, “No, Milady!”
“Whatever shall we do?” Tara asked rhetorically.
Willow’s mouth fell open and her tongue reached out towards the flog as if it had a will of it’s own.
“Do you think you could clean this for me, pet?” Tara asked, enjoying her naughty/innocent act for the moment.
Willow again nodded, apparently beyond speech at this point.
‘Poor pet, you are definitely in for a long night, but I know you’ll enjoy it!’ Tara thought as she held the whip up to the redhead’s mouth. ‘Goddess! You’re not the only one who’s going to be mad with lust before this night’s out!’ she thought as she watched Willow feverishly lick and suck her own sweet syrup off of the leather.
She took advantage of Willow’s distraction and slipped the first clamp on one of the redhead’s turgid nipples. The bound witch’s answering gasp shot straight to Tara’s own soaked center. By the time she had the other clamp in place, Willow had finished her task.
“All done?” Tara asked.
“Yes Milady!” Willow panted.
“Very good,” Tara said, examining the handle and finding it to her satisfaction. “Now lets get this in place, and I’ll go get your Mistress,” she added, rubbing the surface of the rear-plug through the copious lubricant between Willow’s legs. The plug was flared out from a narrow base so that it would stay put inside her pet, while the vaginal prong was a smooth cylinder with a curved tip to stimulate the g-spot region.
She smiled at the ease with which both prongs slid into her obviously eager pet. “I suppose I should test the remote,” she muttered, looking down at the keychain-like device. It had two sliding buttons, one marked ‘F’ and the other ‘B’. She slid the ‘F’ button up roughly a fourth of its available distance and was rewarded with a grunt and soft moan from her shackled lover.
“Well, the front works,” she said, turning it off and doing the same to the rear. A gasp this time demonstrated that the toy operated as advertised. Turning it off as well, Tara said, “Good. Now, let’s get started!”
She walked out of the room and went into the great room. “Slayer, you’re just as I left you.” Tara reached out with the handle of her flog and put it under Buffy’s chin, tipping her face up.
‘You know, seeing that kind of adoration in your eyes is completely addictive,’ Tara thought warmly.
“Such a good pet! Now, stand up and come along,” she said, eagerly anticipating her pet’s response to the room’s changes and additions.
There was a definite strut to Tara’s walk as she led her pet to the bedroom. ‘Even the binding feeling from this corset doesn’t seem that bad,’ she thought as her excitement kept increasing. ‘I love, love, love being Mistress Tara! Not even casting feels as good as this does...’
As expected, a gasp escaped Buffy’s lips the moment Tara entered the room and stepped aside. “Do you like what you see, my Slayer?” she asked saucily.
“Oh... God yes, Mistress!” Buffy gasped, dropping to her knees at the sight before her.
“Glad to hear it pet,” Tara said as she draped the leather strips of the flog over Buffy’s back. The Slayer’s skin twitched in a shiver and Goosebumps rose up as Tara tickled her with the same instrument she’d soon be using to stripe that tawny flesh.
Tara dropped the handle of the flog, leaving it draped over the Slayer’s shoulder as she walked out into the middle of the open space between her lovers. “Look at me my pets,” she instructed. When their attention was on her, she made a show of untying the sash and shrugging her robe off.
‘Stereo lust!’ Tara thought with a giggle at the resulting twin gasps and moans from her lovers.
“Now then, stand up Slayer. I want you to stand behind that chair,” Tara instructed, gesturing toward the wooden chair that faced the bound redhead.
“Yes Mistress,” Buffy said, bouncing to her feet and hastening to obey.
Tara sauntered over to her Slayer and wrapped a fistful of hair in her hand, tugging her head up. “Look at your pet, Slayer. Isn’t she just the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, all trussed up like that?” Tara growled in Buffy’s ear.
“Oh God yes! She’s so beautiful Mistress!” Buffy panted.
“I’m going to do wonderful things to your pet, but first I’m going to get her in the proper frame of mind. Do you know how I’m going to do that?” Tara asked, her voice dripping with honey sweetness.
“Nuh... no Mistress,” Buffy grunted as Tara used her free hand to scratch her nails across the Slayer’s tight tummy.
“Hmm, you don’t know?” Tara whispered in her pet’s ear, continuing to play her nails over her lover’s smooth flesh. “no idea whatsoever?”
“M-mis... Mistress... right now I c-can’t th- th- think at all...” Buffy gasped and stuttered.
‘Goddess, I feel as though I’m on fire with desire!’ Tara thought. ‘Something... something...’ a feeling nagged at the edge of Tara’s consciousness for a moment, but it flitted away before she could grasp it. The flesh in her hands overwhelmed her senses once again and she quickly forgot about anything else.
“Shall I tell you how, my sweet, sweet Slayer...?” Tara crooned, her nails running down almost to the seam of wet flesh at the apex of the petite blonde’s thighs before scratching back up again.
“Pl-please... if it pl-pleases you, Mistress,” Buffy hissed.
“It does, my Slayer,” Tara breathed. “Look at the lust and desire on your pet’s face up there,” she tipped Buffy’s face up to see what she was indicating. “That pleases me very, very much. And to drive her even more insane with lust I’m going to let her watch while I turn your smooth, delectable flesh red with the lash and then I take you from behind until you beg me to let you cum.”
‘Oh goddess that’s music to my ears!’ Tara thought as Buffy let loose a loud and desperate whine. She ground her teeth, feeling a hunger inside unlike anything she could remember.
Tara grabbed the flog and pushed Buffy’s head forward, bending her over the back of the chair until she was up on her tip-toes, with the back of the chair pressed into her waist. Tara willed the shackles at the foot of the chair to close about the Slayer’s ankles, and the shackles at the front of the seat to secure themselves around her wrists.
Stepping back, the blonde witch breathed, “Absolutely beautiful,” she breathed. Buffy’s ass was pointed up in the air, and her legs were showing their muscular glory as she strained up on her toes. “Isn’t she beautiful pet?” she asked the red witch on the cross.
“Oh yes, Milady!” Willow cried softly.
Tara brought the flog down on Buffy’s upturned ass with a resounding smack.
“Ahh! God yes Mistress!” Buffy cried out as Tara began laying strike after strike on her pet’s ass and thighs.
Buffy’s skin began to glow ruddy red all over from the top of the cleft of her cheeks, down to the backs of her knees and every strike, every cry was a wave of pleasure through Tara’s body. ‘Yes, yes, yes! Goddess, so good!’ she thought as her body began to quiver. Finally she cast aside the whip and strode to the bed, quickly fitting the strap-on harness to her waist and crotch.
As she turned back towards her well-whipped Slayer, she noted Willow’s wide-eyed, panting countenance. “Oh, I almost forgot,” she said with a leering smile. She took the remote control she’d clipped to her corset and began manipulating the buttons so that first one probe vibrated at full speed, then the other.
Willow began crying incoherently and writhing on the cross like she was dancing in her restraints. “Delicious!” Tara sighed.
She alternated the vibrators several times, and then dropped them down to the lowest setting above off. ‘Absolutely delicious!’ she again thought as Willow was reduced to the barest quiver and a low, continuous groan.
Tara clipped the remote to her bodice once again and immediately strode over to Buffy. Only the height of her heels allowed her to be in line to penetrate her Slayer, bent as she was over the back of the wooden chair. Grabbing the girl’s hips, Tara slowly slid the false phallus deep down into her pet’s sloppy sex.
“Ahh, do you like that, Slayer?” Tara asked as she began deliberately moving back and forth within Buffy’s wet sex. “I picked one of the Pyrex toys, pet. Doesn’t it feel delicious? So hard, so much harder than any man could ever be...” she crooned as she slowly withdrew, and then snapped her hips forward, slamming deep into her pet and slapping loudly against the hot red skin of her ass.
“Please, Mistress, please,” Buffy cried over and over as Tara took her, utterly possessed her.
“Goddess, I almost wish I could feel how hard you must be squeezing against it...” Tara mumbled, feeling the resistance of Buffy’s tight channel as she stroked in and out. “You’re so unbelievable! So sexy, so hot!” she cried as she sped her tempo. Over and over for long minutes she pounded into her pet, enjoying the power of the position, as well as the delicious way the base of the glass dildo smashed repeatedly against her clit.
‘Oh goddess!’ Tara thought in amazement as a nimbus of crackling energy began to surround the two blondes. Before another thought could cross her mind, Tara found herself shuddering as a strong and unexpected orgasm exploded through her.
“Oh Slayer!” Tara shouted, collapsing over her bound pet.
========== BtVS ==========
“Please Mistress, Please!” Buffy’s soft, crying chant brought Tara back to an awareness of her surroundings.
‘Oh, poor pet, I’m probably crushing her!’ Tara thought as she realized she was draped over her bound Slayer. She straightened up and immediately released her pet’s bonds.
“Stand up Slayer,” Tara gently instructed.
Buffy slowly pushed herself upright, her body visibly shaking with her suppressed orgasm.
“Look at me, Slayer,” Tara said as she turned the helpless girl around to face her.
Buffy’s eyes were dilated and unfocused. Her lips continued to call out a whispered mantra, pleading for release.
“Shh, shh. Be still my Slayer,” Tara said, tracing her fingers along her lover’s trembling lips. “I know you need to cum, but you can’t. Not yet.”
A high pitched whine came from the frustrated Slayer, and a tear started from one golden brown eye.
“Remember, Slayer. Tonight isn’t about you. Tonight is about rewarding your pet...” Tara said, both explaining and testing for understanding.
“F... for W-Willow...” Buffy whispered.
“That’s right. You get to cum when I let Willow cum, do you understand Slayer?” Tara asked, using one thumb to wipe away the lone tear from Buffy’s cheek.
Buffy’s eyes grew focused once again and she nodded slowly. “Yes, Mistress. I u-understand, Mistress,” she softly answered.
“Good,” Tara said. She punctuated it with a deep, hard kiss, leaving them both panting when she ended it. “Now, since you’ve been such a good pet, I’m going to let you come watch me play with your pet. Would you like that Slayer?”
“Oh, yes, please Mistress?” Buffy replied with a little bit of a bounce returning to her stance.
Tara smiled happily at the excitement in Buffy’s voice. “Of course, Slayer. However, I don’t want you touching yourself... shall I cuff you, or can you control yourself?”
“I... I...” Buffy started, then trailed off, her face falling.
“Cuffed it is,” Tara said with a warm smile. She grabbed a set from the foot of the bed and returned quickly to her pet, stepping behind her. “Don’t be ashamed Slayer... I take it as a compliment... I got you so worked up that you can’t restrain yourself even though you want to, to please me,” she reassured Buffy as she secured her hands behind her back.
Turning her pet to face her, Tara pulled her close and brushed her lips in a barest kiss before whispering in her ear, “Besides, I like you in restraints...” Then she nipped the earlobe before her, eliciting the surprised and lusty gasp that she so loved to hear.
“Ok Slayer, stand over here and watch...” Tara said, moving Buffy into place while using a bit of power to lower the Saint Andrew’s Cross down to the horizontal position.
“Look at your pet, Slayer. She’s so hot and ready...” Tara whispered, turning her attention to the still writhing and whining redhead. “Goddess, she’s flushed and panting and...” she reached down and cupped her hand over the gently vibrating toy Willow was filled with and then pulled her hand away, adding, “So very wet!”
Tara showed her dripping fingers to her own pet, garnering an openmouthed sigh of desire from the naked blonde.
“I bet she tastes a sweet as ever,” Tara taunted her pet, bringing the willowsyrup covered fingers to her lips and loudly slurping them clean. “Mmm! Oh yes, she tastes like candy, she’s so sweet!”
Looking at Willow’s face Tara asked, “Are you ready to play, pet?”
“Yugh! Yes, M-Milady!” Willow grunted out.
“First things first,” Tara muttered, turning off the vibrator and slowly withdrawing it from her pet. “Goodness, it’s a good thing this is waterproof, pet. It’s completely drenched!” she observed, amazed at what Willow’s body could do sexually.
“S-s-sorry Milady,” Willow stuttered, her voice as drenched with lust as her body.
“No, pet, I’m just amazed!” Tara corrected as she set the toy aside on a towel for later cleaning. “You and your Mistress both just overflow with such yummy juices, I love it!” She picked up a length of black velvet and turned back to the cross and her two lovers. “Lift your head, pet,” she instructed, tying off the blindfold just above Willow’s ear so she wouldn’t have to rest her head on the knot.
Tara once again picked up the flog and began to trail the tails across Willow’s flushed skin. “Goddess I love your skin, pet!” she said in a low, passionate voice. She dragged the flog up and flicked the tails at the clamps on Willow’s nipples, eliciting a groan from the prone redhead.
‘Mmm, just wait till I take those off... I’m going to do wonderful things to those little buds...’ she thought with anticipation. ‘But not until I bring a little more color to this lovely white skin!’
Tara brought the whip down across Willow’s tummy, just below her navel. ‘Oh, music to my ears!’ she thought at the redhead’s startled gasp and shuddering exhale.
‘I love this so much!’ she cried silently, bringing the whip down again and again, striping Willow’s body from breast to knee. Her own breathing was deep and fast, and sweat was dripping from her brow. She looked up at her blonde pet and saw her own response echoed. ‘Goddess, she’s lost in the feeling too!’ she realized, her head and body buzzing with pleasure.
“Slayer... why don’t you... put that... tongue to work!” Tara panted, referencing Buffy’s open mouth and salivating tongue. “You’re pet is soaked... clean her up!” she instructed, gesturing toward the redhead’s dripping center.
“Oh God yes, Mistress!” Buffy cried, nearly sprinting around to latch her mouth on to Willow’s pussy.
‘Such a noisy girl,’ Tara thought as Buffy loudly sucked on Willow’s wet sex. ‘Not that her pet is any quieter!’
Willow was whining loudly and pulling at her restraints, clearly frustrated and desperate to cum. No words were formed by her twitching lips, only incoherent cries and grunts as her Mistress ate her out.
“So amazing!” Tara sighed. She quickly grabbed the two items she had decided to ‘surprise’ Willow with last week, but hadn’t actually gotten around to using until now. She first freed Willow’s nipples from the clamps, causing the girl to flinch and cry out as the return of blood-flow to the stiff flesh burned her with a moment of pleasurable agony.
Before the intensity of the sensation could diminish completely, Tara dragged an ice-cube up along the underside of one pale breast, slowly bringing it to the tip, where she circled the areola for a moment and then the nipple itself.
“OOOhhhhhhummmm!” Willow’s gasp turned into a loud hum of pleasure.
A loud hum from further south on the redhead’s body caused Tara to look at her Slayer, who was wide-eyed and staring at the witch’s handiwork, while still licking and sucking her pet.
“That’s just the first half of the surprise,” Tara whispered, knowing Buffy’s preternatural hearing would pick it up. “Watch this!”
Tara followed the path she’d set with the ice, but this time the material was molten wax, poured from a thick, white candle she’d taken from one side.
“Delicious!” Tara exhaled when Willow yipped loudly at the unexpected sensation. “Absolutely delicious!”
She began randomly moving all over Willow’s body from the neck down, alternating between hot wax and cold ice, switching the order now and then to keep the quivering redhead guessing at what sensation she might feel next.
By the time Tara’d finished her ‘surprise’, Willow was grunting, moaning and crying out loud with not even a token effort at restraint. She tugged at her restraints and undulated her body wildly as Buffy continued her oral assault in counterpoint to Tara’s sweet torture.
For herself, Tara was as aroused as she had ever been. She was lightheaded and panting hard as she blew out the candle and set it aside. ‘Fire and ice, definitely a new favorite!’ she thought as she watched and listened to Willow’s continued and fervent reaction. ‘Oh she wants to cum so bad!’ she thought, feeling as well as seeing her pet’s overwhelming need.
Her eyes locked the redhead’s mouth, Tara was overcome with the urge to kiss her passionate and desperate cries away. ‘Oh... oh! Like ambrosia must be...’ her mind spun as she feasted on her lover’s mouth. ‘I feel... I feel like I’m on fire!’ she realized. ‘energy pouring into me... burning down my throat... filling me so good! Like I’m drinking Willow’s power!’
The realization forced her to pull away. “Oh goddess!” she whispered. “Slayer, stop!” she commanded her blonde lover.
Buffy pulled back, but reluctance was written clearly on her expression as she acknowledged the instruction, “Yes, Mistress.”
“How do you feel, Slayer?” Tara questioned.
“I feel... I feel...” she began, panting deeply. “I’m on fire! It’s... oh it’s so good Mistress!” she gushed.
Tara immediately turned her attention back to the undulating redhead. She put one hand on her red-striped, wax-splattered belly and the other on one flushed cheek, stilling the girl’s quaking. “Pet?” she asked tentatively.
“Muh! Milady!?” Willow grunted, her chest heaving like a bellows despite Tara’s calming touch.
“I...” whatever question she might have asked died on her lips as she was completely filled with the realization of what Willow needed before any thought of discussion might arise. “Cum pet,” she instructed simply.
Willow’s body arched like a bow, and then collapsed back onto the cross with a loud grunt.
Tara’s brow furrowed at the seemingly anticlimactic response.
“Wha...” she started to ask when suddenly all the candles in the room went dark. An afterimage of the light being literally sucked from the candles and into Willow’s still form flashed in Tara’s consciousness for a bare moment before it was erased by a pulse of pure white.
The very air in the room seemed to ignite and Tara’s body was wracked with wave after wave of pleasure so intense that she screamed her lungs empty and collapsed on the floor unconscious.
========== BtVS ==========
*knock knock knock*
Dawn stood nervously, shifting her feet as she waited for her mother to answer the door.
The porthole in Giles door opened to reveal her mother’s eyes looking out with suspicion.
“Dawn!” she said, startled, and then immediately unlocked and opened the door.
“Hi mom,” Dawn said with a halfhearted smile.
“Sorry about that, honey. I wasn’t expecting anyone...” Joyce said as she stood back and gestured for Dawn to enter. “Is something wrong? Where’s Xander?”
Dawn smiled, thinking ‘Even with all the weirdness in my life, I can count on mom being ‘mom’!’
“No, nothing’s wrong really. Xander dropped me off...” Dawn explained as she walked in.
“Well, have a seat. Rupert needed to go in to the shop this morning and I was just about to have some coffee...”
“Coffee’d be great,” Dawn interjected.
Joyce wandered into the kitchen, her voice light as she said, “I think he’s getting me hooked on tea, but I still prefer a cup of coffee in the morning.”
‘Well, I can guess what they did after we left last night,’ Dawn thought with some amusement at her mother’s glowing smile and bouncy step.
“Cream and sugar?” Joyce asked.
“Just a couple scoops of sugar,” Dawn answered.
A moment later Joyce came back into the living room with two cups on saucers. “I didn’t know you were a coffee drinker, Dawn,” she said as she handed over one cup and sat down facing Dawn on the couch.
Dawn smiled slightly. “Well, you know. Teenagers can’t have alcohol, so coffee makes them feel more adult than just soda and stuff...”
Joyce raised an eyebrow when Dawn spoke of teenagers in the third person, but didn’t comment on it. Instead she frowned slightly and said, “You look tired honey, are you sleeping alright?”
Dawn sighed, thinking, ‘I shouldn’t have lied about it in the first place, but she was just so freaked out...’
“Honestly, mom? Not so much. I’ve been having nightmares about that night...” Dawn admitted, knowing her mom would understand which night she was talking about.
“Oh, Dawn! How come you never said anything?” Joyce asked, sounding distressed and reaching over to touch her daughter’s arm.
“I’m sorry mom, I... I was afraid you’d freak out,” Dawn explained.
“Dawn, I...” Joyce started, her voice a mixture of apology and denial.
Dawn interrupted, “Mom, it was a seriously stressful situation, and you really didn’t need to deal with that too. There’s nothing you could have done anyway except hold me and tell me how much you love me... and you were already doing that.”
“I... I just wish you would have told me...” Joyce said sadly.
‘You know it’s true, though. That’s why you aren’t arguing against my reasons,” Dawn thought.
“I’m telling you now, mom,” Dawn said softly. “Cause, now we’re not in the middle of getting shot at, and not knowing if Buffy and everybody are ok, or if Glory or the Knights are still out there... all that stuff that was just too much all by itself, let alone with my nightmares added to the mix.”
“I’m just... I wish I could have been there for you...” Joyce said.
“Cause that’s a mom’s job?” Dawn asked, getting the impression that that was her mom’s reasoning. At her mother’s nod, Dawn answered, “You were. I knew you were there for me, just like I knew once the craziness was over, I’d be able to talk to you about it and you wouldn’t freak.”
“And when did you become so wise?” Joyce asked, only half in jest.
“I dunno,” Dawn answered. “It must be from you, though; ‘cause I sure didn’t get it from Buffy!”
“Dawn!” Joyce protested. Her laugh and smile told the real story though.
Dawn took a sip of her coffee, delaying the subject she had really come to talk about.
“The nightmares...” Joyce began, clearly uncomfortable with the thought. “Are they bad?”
“Yes and no...” Dawn said, unable to quantify the dreams to someone who hadn’t experienced them.
‘Xander understood exactly,’ she thought, remembering their emotional episode the night before.
“Actually, the stuff Tara and Willow are teaching me is helping a lot,” she offered, wanting her mom not to worry.
“Do they know...?” Joyce started to ask.
“No. No, I can’t tell them yet... maybe ever,” Dawn said; her gaze falling for the first time since the conversation began.
“Why not?” Joyce asked, puzzled, but not challenging.
“I can’t tell Willow or Tara something and ask them to keep it from Buffy. Maybe Tara could keep a secret if she really believed it was, like, totally crucial... but it’d be really hard for her; and there’s no way Willow could keep a secret from Buffy... and I don’t want them...” she broke off, embarrassed by her rambling reasoning. “I just don’t want them to look at me... different. Especially Buffy...”
“Buffy wouldn’t...” Joyce began.
“I see her sometimes...” Dawn softly interrupted. “Looking at Faith with that look... Like she did back when that whole thing with the deputy mayor happened, only I didn’t understand why back then...”
“What look honey?” Joyce softly prompted when Dawn had fallen silent.
Dawn set her coffee down on the side table and crossed her arms around herself as she explained, “I know she’s forgiven her and everything... but sometimes I see her look at Faith and it’s like I can read her mind.” Dawn felt a tiny chill shiver her flesh as she whispered, “just for that one second, she thinks; ‘Murderer!’ and then it’s gone, and I can tell that she even feels bad that she thought it... but still it was there.”
Dawn looked up into her mother’s eyes and wasn’t surprised to see a tear forming there. “I don’t think I could stand it...” her voice cracked and she took a shuddering breath as the emotion overwhelmed her momentarily. “...seeing that look in her eyes... when she’s looking at me. I just don’t think I could take it.”
Dawn felt the tears fall as her mother pulled her into a warm embrace.
“Oh Honey!” her mom cried as she held her tight.
‘I love you mommy!’ Dawn thought fiercely as she clutched her mother tightly.
A minute or two later, they let each other go and sat back.
‘Nothing like a good cry to make you feel wiped out,’ Dawn thought as she looked at her mother and saw her own torpor reflected.
Wiping her eyes, Joyce stood up and said, “Well, I could use a little more caffeine to go with my gut-wrenching emotion, how about you?”
“Um, yeah,” Dawn hesitantly agreed. “I think we’re gonna need it.”
“Why?” Joyce asked guardedly as she went into the kitchen to refill their cups.
“Well... that was kinda just the warm-up...” Dawn said anxiously.
‘Ah, there it is,’ she thought sarcastically as her heart started to pound and her hands grew chilled. ‘I wondered where all that fear and adrenaline was hiding...’
“Uh oh, that doesn’t bode well,” Joyce said apprehensively as she returned with the refills and sat down once more. “There’s more?”
“Um, not *more* so much as something else, something different,” Dawn said.
Joyce’s eyes narrowed, but she refrained from comment as she sipped her steaming beverage.
“I’m thinking it’s going to be a strange conversation, and I’m really hoping you won’t freak out too much...” Dawn started meandering towards the topic she wanted to raise.
“Dawn, whatever it is, just tell me,” Joyce said with a look of resistance forming already. “I don’t think I can take any ‘beating around the bush’ right now!”
‘Yep, this is definitely not gonna start off well,’ Dawn thought. ‘Pretty much what I expected.’
Dawn took a drink of her coffee and then set it aside. She sat up straight, clasped her hands in front of her and took a deep breath in through her nose, letting it out slowly through her mouth as Tara had taught her to do when focusing on, and maintaining her center.
“Mom, what would you think, of Xander and I being... together?” she asked calmly and evenly.
Joyce set her own cup aside and clasped her hands much as Dawn had. Her tone wasn’t so calm and even though as she asked, “What do you mean, ‘together’?”
Taking in the narrowed eyes, the gritted teeth behind frowning lips and the overall tension her mother was exuding, Dawn said, “Um, well, pretty much exactly like you’re thinking...”
There was a momentary pause, then her mother began speaking; softly at first, “I’m going to kill him. Then Rupert’s going to kill him some more, and if there’s anything left, Buffy’s definitely going to kill it!” Her volume raised dramatically as she continued, “how could he?! We trusted him with your life! We trusted... How could he do this? You’re only fifteen years old! How could he take advantage of you like that!? That son of a...”
“Stop!” Dawn shouted.
‘Ok she’s pissed, but no calling Xander names allowed!’ she thought angrily.
“Do you really think that little of him?” Dawn asked calmly- refocusing herself and not letting any anger show. “Xander hasn’t done anything.”
‘That took the wind out of her sails,’ Dawn thought as her mom deflated mid-rant.
“But... you said...” Joyce stammered.
“I asked you what you would think of us being together. I didn’t say we had been.” Dawn clarified.
“You’re too young!” Joyce immediately said.
Dawn smiled. “Ok, that was a given,” she said with amusement.
Joyce had the grace to blush slightly, but seemed unwilling to cede the point. “Honey, you’re only fifteen and Xander’s...” she paused and crinkled her brow in thought. “He’s twenty?”
“He’s nineteen. I’ll turn sixteen before he’ll turn twenty.” Dawn explained. She was still practicing her deep breathing and focus as she spoke. “Or, you can look at it another way; I’m not even one yet... a year ago there was no Dawn Summers.”
Joyce winced at that.
“Actually though, I’ve been around for thousands and thousands of years, just not in human form,” Dawn went on relentlessly. “Sometimes I feel like a little kid... other times I feel really old. Mostly though, I feel like I’m a young adult.”
“Dawn, I...” Joyce broke of, clearly unsure of how to respond to what her daughter was saying.
“How old were you when you started seeing boys, mom?” Dawn asked, careful to maintain a respectful tone, and not sound accusatory. “I remember our conversation a few weeks ago when we were talking about loneliness... I said I thought about sex all the time and asked you if you were any different when you were my age.”
Joyce blushed.
“You didn’t come right out and say it, but I got the definite feeling that you were doing a lot more than just thinking about it at my age.”
“It should be illegal for daughters to be that observant,” Joyce muttered.
“I know in your eyes I’m your baby, and it’s hard for you to think of me differently...” Dawn said sympathetically.
“Dawn, you’re asking me to give you permission to have sex with someone four years older than you!” Joyce said in a strangled voice.
“Not really,” Dawn countered, again maintaining a calm and even tone. “I’m telling you that I want a relationship with Xander, and I’m acknowledging that you have the power to make that impossible. Xander would never agree to be with me if you were against it.” She snorted slightly and rolled her eyes as she added, “Buffy’s going to be an even harder sell.”
Joyce shook her head, looking confused. “Wait a minute, you’re not... you haven’t talked to Xander about this yet?”
“Of course not,” Dawn said with a laugh. “He’s the last person I’ll talk to!”
“I... wha-huh?” Joyce stammered in confusion.
‘Priceless!’ Dawn laughed out loud at the look on her mom’s face.
“Mom, I warned you that this would be a strange conversation,” Dawn said with an understanding smile. “Xander and I haven’t discussed anything about a relationship, because I know his answer is going to be either, ‘Your mom would kill me!’ or ‘Buffy’d kill me!’. It might start off with the age thing, but it’ll definitely end up with the whole ‘being killed’ thing.”
“Dawn, honey? How can you be sure Xander even... I can’t believe I’m even asking this!” she said suddenly.
“I’ve seen him look at me,” Dawn said simply, utterly confident in what she was saying.
“How does he look at you?” Joyce asked, her voice once again taking on some hostility.
“It’s no secret that I’ve had a crush on Xander for, like, ever,” Dawn began, explaining in her own fashion. “I’ve spent many, many hours watching him, and I remember the way he used to look at Buffy, back when he was so head over heels for her... back when she broke his heart.”
“Yes, well your sister wasn’t necessarily the brightest candle on the cake back then...” Joyce muttered. Immediately her eyes widened in shock.
At her mother’s sudden look of horror, Dawn laughed out loud again. “Didn’t realize you were saying that out loud?” she asked. “Don’t worry mom, your secret’s safe with me.”
Joyce glared at her youngest daughter and mock-growled, “I can actually *feel* the gray hairs sprouting as we speak, you understand...”
“Sorry.” Dawn said unrepentant. “Watch Xander tonight at dinner. Watch him look at me when no one else is paying attention. You’ll see the look I’ve been waiting for, like, all my life.”
“Like he used to look at your sister...” Joyce said.
Dawn nodded. “Of course, about a second later you’ll see him realize what he’s doing and he’ll start kicking himself... That’s when he’ll look for you or Buffy to see if you noticed what he was doing,” she said with a sympathetic smile.
“Honey, I’m still not comfortable with this...” Joyce said.
‘At least she’s saying it like she’s almost sorry that she feels that way,’ Dawn thought. ‘I wasn’t sure this conversation would go anywhere near this well...’
“You never answered my question, mom,” Dawn said. “How old were you?”
Joyce gaped wordlessly for a moment before finally saying, “I’m really, really uncomfortable with this conversation, Dawn.” She sounded extremely reluctant.
Dawn chuckled and said, “Believe me, this isn’t my idea of the perfect Saturday morning either. I was planning on making Xander take me shopping so I could tease him with sexy clothes and get him all worked up, but here I am.”
‘Oops, I may have broken her...’ she thought with a huge smile as her mother’s eyes bugged out and she gasped loudly.
“Of course, that was just my real-world plan. My fantasy plan was more along the lines of us staying in bed all morning having hours and hours of hot, sweaty sex...”
Joyce’s hands were trembling as she fumbled for her coffee and she immediately drank it down in one long gulp.
Dawn suppressed the side-splitting laughter that threatened to burst forth upon her mother’s stunned expression. ‘She might just kill me if I laughed right now,’ she thought.
“Are... are you trying to kill me?” Joyce asked shakily.
Dawn reached out and held her mother’s still shaking hands in her own. “I’m really not, mom. What I am trying to do is tell you that... I’m your daughter, and I love you very much, but I’m not your baby girl anymore- not withstanding whether or not I ever really was.”
“Dawn...” Joyce whispered, clearly having no idea how to respond to that.
“These are my thoughts and feelings, this is what I’m experiencing in my life right now. I’ve seen what hiding stuff does, and I don’t want us to be like what you and Buffy were during all the denial years,” Dawn said earnestly.
Joyce’s expression melted at that point. “Oh honey, I don’t want that either. That was... terrible.”
“Worse than this?” Dawn asked humorously.
“Even worse than this...” Joyce answered with a look of humor bordering on manic. “But not by much!”
Dawn laughed, recognizing that she was mostly teasing.
‘I think mom needs a break for a second,’ Dawn thought. She took that moment to stand up, asking, “More coffee?”
Joyce glanced at the clock on the wall and said, “Unfortunately, it’s too early for wine, so I guess coffee will have to do.”
‘Ouch, she wasn’t kidding,’ Dawn realized as she walked into the kitchen to refill the cups. ‘Still, I could only wish the conversation with Buffy will go this well.’
Stirring the sugar into her cup, Dawn thought, ‘I wonder how hard it’ll be to convince Xander? I wonder if I’ll be able to be this brave when it’s him instead of mom or Buffy...’
When she sat down and handed a cup to her mother, Dawn asked, “Were you in love?”
“In love?” Joyce asked, tilting her head questioningly.
“Your first time?” Dawn clarified.
“Ahh,” Joyce said.
She took a moment to blow on her coffee and then take a couple sips before answering. “I was thirteen. I thought I was in love, I suppose...”
‘Thirteen!’ Dawn thought, outraged. ‘I didn’t even like boys- except for Xander of course- and mom was doing the nasty in junior high?’
Joyce closed her eyes and leaned back against the arm of the couch as she reminisced. “Tony Stewart. He was fifteen, and I was so thrilled that he would spend time with me... He was so handsome...”
“Was he nice?” Dawn asked when her mother trailed off.
“He was a jerk,” Joyce answered decisively.
Dawn blinked in surprise at the vitriol in her mother’s voice.
“Of course, I didn’t know it until it was too late,” Joyce continued in a calmer tone.
“Did you regret doing it?” Dawn asked, genuinely curious.
“I regretted it when he dumped me a week later...” Joyce said sadly. “Honestly though, it wasn’t bad... I’d heard horror stories from other girls. He at l