Triad Trilogy- Book3: Triune

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“Ok...What just happened?” Cordelia said once she’d regained the ability to speak. She looked at Xander and saw the he appeared to be just as dumfounded as she was. She looked at Buffy who was on her knees, holding a big-ass paddle and staring at it. “Uh, Buffy? You wanna tell us what the heck’s going on here? And why are you holding that?”

It was Willow who answered. “She won’t answer you, Cordelia. She can’t.”

Willow set the box down and took a seat on the couch next to her kneeling Mistress. Her own emotions were running high as several feelings flowed through her; she was so proud of Lady Tara’s amazing strength and control, taking on a master vampire like that. She was proud of Buffy too, it was a testament to the Slayer’s devotion to Tara that she would submit herself to being taken to task so publicly. Willow hoped that she would have a chance to show Mistress Buffy her own devotion like that sometime. It was one of the reasons she liked to be publicly dominated- it showed the world that she belonged to the Slayer.

She was also incredibly turned on by her Mistress’ public submission to the blond witch- she couldn’t decide which she wanted more right now; to ravish Tara, or be ravished by Buffy. “Both!” she decided.

“You wanna elaborate on that, Red?” Gunn asked, equally curious. It was funny to see Angel and Wes freaking out about the three girls, but he was less than comfortable with this girl tossing the big guy on his butt like that. “Not real happy about Angel vamping out like that, either,” he thought.

Wesley was still stammering both mentally and verbally. “Oh, My! Is she...Will he...they won’t hurt...Oh, My!”

Xander had to chuckle at Wesley. It reminded him of his senior year in High School. “At least he dumped the suit and tie,” he thought. Turning his attention back to his best friends, Xander couldn’t help feeling confused and a little aroused. He knew that the girls had this Dominance and submission thing going, but he thought it was more of a game. Even after seeing Willow’s collar and talking to her about it, he didn’t really understand. He could picture Buffy playing at the slave roll- God knows he’d had dozens of fantasies about it- but he would never in a million years believed this if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. “Heck, I’m still not sure I believe it,” he thought.

“I don’t know what’s going on with Angel,” Willow said. “But, whatever it is, he’s about to find out that Buffy belongs to Tara- and she doesn’t share.”

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As Tara closed the door behind her, she suddenly felt bewildered. “Ok, now what do I do?” she thought. She couldn’t bring herself to hurt a helpless being, even if he was a jerk. She walked over and stood next to the ensorcelled vampire, watching his silent struggle as he tried to free himself from his magical bonds.

Tara kneeled next to the struggling vampire and looked deep into his eyes, trying to see if there was anything there she could work with, or if he had given in to his resident demon. Sadly, after several minutes of examination, all she could see was the demon. Apparently, the jealousy that was infecting his soul made it to weak to restrain the darkness within. The demon in him was too territorial to deal with rationally of course, but she still felt uncomfortable with the idea of inflicting pain on him while he was helpless like this.

Finally, she decided on a course of action that would address the need to control the monster, while not making her behave like someone she didn’t want to be.

“Angel, you need to understand something. Buffy belongs to me now. You abandoned her years ago. You gave up any right to claim her when you left...but somehow you just can’t let go, can you?” Tara turned her back to him and sat down on the floor, her legs crossed in front of her. She began to cast a spell, chanting softly in an eldritch language with which even Angel was unfamiliar.

After a moment, Angelus felt his bonds begin to weaken. He redoubled his efforts to get free and attack the witch that had humiliated him. Angel’s soul would have stopped short of actually hurting the girl, but was so filled with jealousy that it didn’t have the strength to hold back the demon.

Tara began to speak again, having completed her spell. She said, “I hope you can listen to reason, but either way, understand this; Buffy is mine alone, and nothing you can do will change that.” She would rather that Angel gracefully accept the way things were now, accept that Buffy was happy and leave well enough alone. Her problem was that she didn’t believe that he would choose to do so, yet she couldn’t bring herself to hurt him while he was bound. Tara’s solution was simple. She cast a spell that would inflict on him pain beyond belief; but which only activated if he sought to do her harm. Then she released him.

Angel barely heard a word as he felt the bonds weaken more and more, until finally they snapped and he was free. Immediately he leapt at the blond, meaning to drain her life away in a frenzy of blood.

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Giles shook his head as he heard the statement over the phone. “Yes, you’ve made that clear several times now, Quinton.” He hated dealing with Quinton Travers, ever since the Cruciamentum bollocks several years ago, his distaste for the senior watcher had been rather acute. “However,” as he told himself for the hundredth time since calling the previous day, “We need the humorless old bastard’s connections if we’re going to get Faith out of prison,” he thought with no small displeasure.

“She cannot be trusted, Rupert,” Travers said even though he knew it was a futile attempt. “She will turn on the others, and then where will we be?”

Allowing his frustration to get the better of him for a moment, Giles snapped, “Well, I expect *you’ll* be in London, safe and sound as you always are, Quinton!” He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath to calm himself. Cutting off Quinton’s reply, he asked, “Look, were you able to do it or not?”

He wasn’t happy about it, but there was no helping it. He had no better idea to offer, so he would have to acquiesce to this mad scheme. Trying to maintain some semblance of superiority, Travers haughtily spoke, “Of course we were able to do it; the feasibility of your request was never in question, only its wisdom.”

Giles grip on the phone was turning his fingers white. It took all his discipline to speak in a calm voice as he tersely asked, “When and how?”

“The documents will be delivered to the Hyperion within the hour.” Travers said in his lemony voice. “Then it’s a matter of just going and collecting the package.”

“The ‘Package’!” Giles thought acrimoniously, “Bloody insensitive prick!” Curtly he said, “Thank you for your help, Quinton,” and then hung up the phone before he gave in to the desire to vent his aggravation at the man.

“Rupert?” Joyce asked in concern as she looked at her lover’s clenched fist and teeth.

Giles took another deep breath and deliberately relaxed his clenched muscles. “Forgive me Joyce,” he said softly. “He does manage to ‘push my buttons’, as you Americans would say, doesn’t he?

Giles gave the teen a wan smile and said, “Yes, thank you for the lesson in teenage American idiom, Dawn.”

“You’re welcome!” she said, her voice loosing none of its brightness. “Ha!” she thought, mentally sticking her tongue out at him. “You didn’t think I knew what idiom meant!”

Joyce diverted Giles attention from her daughter. “Rupert, is it...will they be…” She wanted to ask if they were going to be safe with Faith, but that was a stupid question- they were going to fight a god- safe was the furthest thing from what they were going to be.

Giles knew her nervousness was from the impending meeting with the Slayer-gone-bad, hopefully now reformed. “I’ve been keeping a distant eye on Faith, and Angel has visited her several times. We both feel that her repentance is genuine,” he said, hoping that Joyce would feel reassured. “And, we must remember that she did turn herself in when she could easily have absconded.”

Ever helpful, Dawn added, “Plus, if she tries anything? Willow and Tara’ll totally kick her ass.”

Again, Dawn took no notice of the Brit’s sarcasm, saying happily, “You’re welcome Giles!”

Joyce had to chuckle at that, causing Giles to offer the young girl a more sincere thank you in his thoughts.

“Well, perhaps you should set up for our conference call?” he suggested. “They should be trying to contact us in the next half hour or so…”

“I hope things with Angel went smoothly,” Joyce worried aloud as her lover sat next to her and she leaned into him.

Mostly focused on the pleasant feel of his new love relaxing against his chest, Giles reassured her, “I’m sure they were able to reach an accommodation. After all, Angel is a reasonable chap, usually…”

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Everyone’s attention snapped towards the office as a loud shout was cut off almost as quickly as it started and there was a bright flash of light that they only caught peripherally. Wesley and Gunn took a couple of steps towards the office and then stopped, unsure of what they should do.

“Oh, God! What is she doing to him?” Cordelia asked in a voice laden with both fear and confusion.

Xander too was confused and a little bit freaked out by this turn of events. He had known Tara for a year, and for all but the last month or so his image of the girl was one of a sweet, shy, almost timid girl who couldn’t hurt a fly. Even though he knew she’d changed, that she was Buffy’s Mistress and a pretty bad-ass witch; this was the first time he’d seen her really do anything. He sat down with an explosive exhalation, followed by a little smirk as he thought, “Anything involving dead-boy getting his ass kicked can’t be all bad!”

Gunn turned to Wesley with an extremely startled look on his face, his eyes almost bugging out comically. “You hope *she’s* ok?”

The former watcher glanced over at his friend and co-worker and explained, “Yes, well...he did seem rather out-of-control…”

Gunn chuckled and said, “Man, I don’t think she’s the one we gotta worry about getting hurt.” He turned back towards Willow and Buffy and asked, “You sure she won’t kill him?”

Willow saw that there was real concern underlying Gunn’s humor. “I am,” she reassured him, her expression and tone conveying her comfortable certainty.

Gunn scrutinized her face, looking for any sign that she might be worried herself. All he saw was a confidence that she knew her girlfriend well enough to really be sure. He nodded once and took a seat saying, “Ok then.”

Now it was his turn to received disbelieving looks from both Wesley and Cordelia. Predictably, it was Cordy who found her voice first. “‘Ok then’?! Whaddya mean ‘Ok then’?!”

Gunn leaned back, putting his hands behind his head and stretching out his feet. “Anyone who poaches on someone else’s girl is just begging for an ass-whupin. So long as she don’t kill him, I figure he’s got it coming.

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Tara watched as the arcs of power ran over his body, causing his paralyzed muscles to twitch as they passed, making him look almost like he was having a seizure. The only thing keeping him from screaming in agony, she knew, was the fact that his diaphragm wasn’t working any more than any other muscle in his body right now. Knowing that he could see her still, she managed to keep her face utterly impassive, though inside she almost felt sorry for him. “He did bring it on himself, though,” she reminded herself.

“Did you notice her eyes, Angel?” she asked. “She’s happy. For the first time since I’ve met her, she’s actually happy. Did you ever see that look in her eyes before? I doubt it.” Tara stood up and began to pace next to the vampire as she spoke. “She told me about her time with you, Angel. How she loved you, even though she knew it was wrong.” She shook her head sadly, saying, “You were wrong to ever encourage her, you know. It was doomed to end badly from the start- a vampire and a vampire Slayer?”

Tara stopped pacing and stared down at his face. “Willow told me how it really was. How Buffy was miserable from the start. You made her love you, then you turned evil and made her kill you.” She crouched down till her hair was almost brushing his face while she continued to chastise him, “Then you came back from hell and made her love you all over again, even though you knew it was the worst thing you could have done! Your selfishness brought her nothing but pain and misery until you finally decided to leave her. Of course, you waited until just before the prom so it would be that much more painful, so she couldn’t even have the illusion of happiness.”

Angel was suffering agony like he hadn’t known since his two centuries in hell. Worse even than that, because the physical torment was almost overwhelmed by the agony the witch’s words were burning into his soul.

“Even then, you couldn’t stay away,” Tara said, continuing her speech. “You popped up just often enough to remind her of the pain, tearing open the wounds that had been healing and then leaving again, never letting her completely recover from you.”

The demon Angelus was cowering in terror from this fearsome witch. Never in his quarter-millennia of existence- including the time Angel was in hell- had Angelus endured pain like this. Had he been able, he’d have driven a stake through his own heart in order to escape this suffering. The soul of Angel, on the other hand, almost welcomed it. He deserved to be punished for his actions and for his jealousy, and consequently he was grateful for this torture.

“Buffy belongs to me. I make her happy; I meet her needs and satisfy her desires- something you could never do.” Tara waved her hand over the vampire and spoke the phrase that suspended the spell. “Now then, can you acknowledge my dominance and behave yourself, or do you need some more...convincing?”

As the pain left his body, his soul caused his body to weep in sorrow for the pain he had caused Buffy as a result of his selfishness and jealousy. He really did love her and want the best for her, he was just too weak to keep himself from giving in to his desire to be with her. He was, therefore, truly grateful for Tara’s punishment, because it would give him the strength to do the right thing, which was to leave Buffy the hell alone.

The demon in him just latched on to the command- after all, fear and pain were the only things a demon respected.

She had been referring to him acknowledging her dominance of Buffy, which is why she was surprised by his response.

Angel ignored his muscles’ scream of protest as he rolled over onto his knees and bowed before her till his forehead was resting on the carpet. “I will behave,” he croaked. “Anything you command...Mistress.”

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There was a hush over the room as the door to the office opened up and Tara walked out. Everyone but Willow and Buffy felt the urge to jump up and run to the door- they all wanted to see what condition Angel was in, though they had different reasons why. The A.I. gang were concerned- even Gunn, who thought the guy probably got what he deserved, was a little worried. Xander, of course, was leaning more toward wanting to see a beaten and bruised vamp huddled on the floor. “Who says I’ve got dead-boy issues?” he thought ruefully as he restrained himself.

Tara did her best to ignore the others, and her whirling emotions from what had just happened. She focused on Buffy and how to handle her pet’s transgression. As she approached, she noticed the look of love and pride in Willow’s eyes and gave the redhead a warm smile. Deciding that wasn’t enough, she bent over and gave her lovely girl a sweet kiss.

“I’m so proud of you, Tara!” Willow whispered with deep emotion as she looked into her lover’s eyes following the kiss.

Tara had to struggle to maintain her composure as the love and joy in her threatened to spill over into tears. “Love you Willow!” she whispered back. Standing straight again, Tara said “Why don’t you set up for the call with Giles?” Looking back down at her kneeling pet she added, “We’ll be back in a little while.”

Willow nodded, somewhat disappointed that she wasn’t invited to come along, but she realized that it wouldn’t really be appropriate to witness Mistress Buffy’s punishment. This wasn’t play time, it was more serious than that, and they needed the privacy to put this issue behind them. She didn’t begrudge them that, knowing that if she were to screw up as bad as Buffy did; she wouldn’t really want Tara watching her punishment either.

“Ok, I’ll get it set up,” Willow said as she jumped up and started to rummage in her bag for everything she needed.

Tara nodded absently and focused her attention on Buffy. “Get up, pet,” she said- her voice neither angry, nor happy, but clearly commanding.

“Yes Mistress,” Buffy said quietly as she rose to her feet with lithe grace, maintaining her submissive posture and her hold on the paddle.

Again Buffy gave her quiet reply, “Yes Mistress.” Her body was trembling and silent tears ran down her face as she contemplated her punishment. It wasn’t fear of the punishment that had her quietly weeping, but rather the sorrow that filled her heart because she had let down her Mistress. She was angry with herself for her behavior, and for not even thinking of anyone but herself and Angel when they started arguing. It didn’t even occur to her that she was falling into old patterns with the souled vamp, and she didn’t consider how it could hurt Mistress Tara.

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Wesley was the first to break after Tara and Buffy disappeared up the stairs. He jumped up and headed toward the office saying, “Well, I for one…”

He only made it two steps before Angel walked out of the office, looking none the worse for wear.

“Angel! Uh, are you…” Wesley began, startled to see him, not certain what he expected to find in the first place.

Gunn relaxed back into the couch. Though he had more self control than Wesley, apparently, he had been hard pressed to restrain his curiosity, and was about to follow the former watcher to the office. “You don’t look too beat up,” he said with a smile.

Before anyone else could comment, Angel spoke up. “I’d like to apologize to everyone for my behavior. It was unacceptable, and I’m sorry you all had to see it.” It was a good thing that he couldn’t blush, because the climbing eyebrows on everyone’s face but Willow’s were embarrassing him fiercely. He continued, “I’d like to just forget it ever happened and move on.”

Surprisingly, it was Willow who was the first to agree to that. “Ok,” she said in her chirpy/happy voice. “I’m gonna set up the laptop so we can video conference with Giles in about twenty minutes. Where should I hook in?”

Incredulous expressions and stupefied looks were traded amongst the other four as Angel was quick to assist Willow. “There’s a broad-something hookup in Wes’s office,” he offered helpfully.

“Broadband?” Willow asked happily. Turning to Wesley for confirmation she asked, “DSL, Cable, or Satellite?”

Wesley was still trying to coordinate his body’s intention to stride quickly into the office, with his brain’s instructions to sit back down. As a result, his voice drivers- never the best in the first place- were unable to get enough processing time to function adequately. “Um, ah...that is to say…”

Cordelia jumped in, annoyed with Wesley’s stuttering. “It’s Verizon DSL.” Getting up and herding Willow into the office, she continued, “We just got it, and boy was it a bitch to set up. Wasn’t easy squeezing the money out of a certain tight-fisted vampire, either, let me tell you.”

Willow laughed as she and Cordelia went about hooking her laptop into the Ethernet gateway. “And you spend how much time surfing the net now that you have it?” she asked the brunette.

“Oh my God! You wouldn’t believe how fast you can download a high-res scan of Brad Pitt with this thing,” Cordelia’s voice trailed off as she and Willow started chatting back and forth like the High School buddies they never really were.

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Tara took the paddle from Buffy when they got to the room. She noticed, but refrained from commenting on Buffy’s tears; keeping an even voice as she commanded her pet to strip and get up on the bed.

“Kneel facing the headboard, pet. Now lay your face down on the bed and put your hands behind your back.”

Buffy complied, gripping her left wrist in her right hand in order to hold the awkward position.

“Keep your knees together, pet,” Tara instructed. “I’m not interested in what’s between your legs right now.”

“This is about punishment, pet; not sex.” Tara explained. “This isn’t foreplay, and you won’t be allowed to cum at all. Neither will you be allowed to service me; is that clear pet?”

“Yes Mistress,” Buffy said, not quite able to restrain the sob this time. That she wouldn’t be allowed to cum was no less than what she deserved, but not to be allowed to service Mistress Tara was a greater punishment, and it illustrated how badly she had messed up- that Mistress would forgo her own pleasure to make the point.

“And, I’m not going to restrain you, pet, but I expect you to maintain this position until I tell you otherwise, do you understand?” Tara asked.

“Yes Mistress, I won’t break position until you allow it,” Buffy said, vowing to herself that she would hold this pose even if it took a hundred lashes for her punishment to be complete.

“I’m so sorry Mistress!” Buffy almost wailed, having been given leave say it at last. “Please, I’ll do anything to make it up to you Mistress!”

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By the time she finished, Tara had broken a sweat. It was only twenty five swats, but she had put everything she had in to each one. Buffy’s tearful ‘thank you Mistress’ after each one tugged at her heart. She knew Buffy hadn’t meant to do what she did, but the girl had to learn that she was Tara’s alone.

That might seem like a terribly possessive thing on her part, but it was for Buffy’s good as much as anything. Her residual feelings of obligation to Angel had brought her nothing but pain for years. This ‘clipping of the strings’ was what her pet needed in order to finally realize that Angel didn’t have even the slightest claim to any part of Buffy Summers.

In addition, Tara knew that Buffy wouldn’t be able to forgive herself for her actions unless she was well and truly punished. Now Tara would be able to say, ‘I forgive you’ and Buffy would believe it. They could put this behind them and move on now- working with Angel and his crew without the angst and tension that would have otherwise infected the Slayer.

Tara climbed up onto the bed and sat up against the headboard after setting the paddle aside. She looked at her trembling pet with both happiness and sorrow in her heart. She was proud of her pet for keeping her position, despite the awkwardness of it. She felt her pet’s pain; not just the physical pain which would be gone within the hour, but the emotional pain that she knew Buffy was feeling for her failure and for her Mistress’ displeasure. Tara could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she watched her pet’s body quiver as she attempted to contain her sobs. She held out her arms as if to a child and gently said, “Come here, pet.”

Buffy slowly dropped her arms to her sides, ignoring the ache in her shoulders, and rose to her hands and knees. She kept her eyes down as she crawled up the bed and into her Mistress’ arms. Once there, wrapped in the arms of her lover and Mistress, Buffy buried her face in Tara’s neck and gave in to the sobs that she’d been holding back. “Mistre- e- esssss!” she cried out haltingly. “I’m so so- o- ryyyy!”

Tara was glad Buffy wasn’t looking her in the face at that moment, because her own composure fractured upon hearing the profundity of her pet’s anguish. Her lower lip quivered uncontrollably and tears began to roll down her face as she stroked her pet’s hair and back, avoiding the hot red flesh of her bottom. “Shh, it’s over now pet,” she whispered over and over, calming the girl down.

After several minutes, Buffy’s sobs had subsided and Tara said, “Look at me pet.”

Buffy pushed away, embarrassed to see the huge wet spot on Tara’s shirt from her tears. She forced herself to meet her Mistress’ gaze, grateful to see no anger there.

Tara looked at her pet’s tearstained face and eyes- red and puffy from crying- and was struck by the thought that she was beautiful even like this. She cupped her pet’s cheek and wiped at the tears with her thumb. “Pet, I’m so proud of you!”

Buffy was expecting anything but that. She didn’t give in to the impulse to question her Mistress, but her confusion was clearly written on her face.

Tara smiled at Buffy’s perplexed look. “You made a mistake, pet. I know you realize that,” she explained.

Tara continued, “But, you took your punishment wonderfully. And, I don’t think you’ll make that mistake again.”

Buffy couldn’t restrain herself and blurted out, “Never Mistress!” shaking her head at the thought.

“So, it’s over then, pet; we can put that behind us now.” Then she looked Buffy deep in her eyes, slowly and deliberately saying, “I forgive you.”

Buffy’s mouth twitched, gradually changing from her sad frown to a broad smile as she looked back into her Mistress’ eyes and saw the sincerity and deep emotion there. “I love you Mistress!” she whispered. “I love you so much!”

Tara pulled her pet in for a gentle, loving kiss and then whispered, “I love you too, pet. With all my heart!” Pushing her away slightly she spoke up, “Now, go wash your face while I change into something less damp.”

Though she knew Tara was only teasing her, Buffy was instantly solicitous, “I’m sorry about that Mistress.” She scooted back and assumed her position; kneeling, eyes down, hands behind her back. “May your pet be allowed to make amends for staining you shirt, Mistress?” she said.

Tara froze for a moment, surprised by her pet’s behavior only long enough to realize what her motivation was. She had thought for an instant that Buffy didn’t understand that she was only teasing- that maybe her pet was overreacting and questioning all of her actions now. It didn’t take long to realize, however, that the minx had understood her just fine...this was a thinly veiled attempt at seduction.

Buffy waited patiently, telling herself to accept whatever Mistress said and not read anything into it if she said no.

A slow smile stole across Tara’s features and she knew she was lost. “How anyone could look at what I’m looking at and not give in…” she thought, in what was a rather pathetic attempt at rationalization. “What did you have in mind, pet” she asked in a sultry voice.

Buffy felt a shiver of desire run through her body at Mistress’ tone. “Well,” she began- her own voice as seductive as she could make it, “First, I should get you out of those damp clothes…”

“Mmhmm…” Tara hummed as she felt her own arousal stealing across her skin and through her flesh.

Emboldened by Tara’s approval, Buffy broke position and reached out to begin unbuttoning Tara’s shirt. “Well, then I should find any damp areas and...clean them up…” she whispered.

“Oh, yessss.” Tara hissed as Buffy’s hands moved across her skin, opening her shirt up and sliding it down off her shoulders. “Such a good pet…”

Having removed her shirt, Buffy could see the barest hint of wetness on Mistress’ neck and down over her breastbone where the tears had soaked through her shirt. She carefully laved the skin in that area with her tongue, tasting the salt of her own tears mixed with the dried sweat on Tara’s skin. The smell of her Mistress’ skin was intoxicating- her workout from wielding the paddle had caused her scent to blossom.

Tara hummed her approval as she felt her pet’s careful tongue against her skin. She shuddered when she felt a gentle stream of breath blowing against the area right after.

Buffy’s warm cheek against the air-cooled skin caused Tara to virtually purr with pleasure.

While she was rubbing her face against her Mistress, Buffy reached around and opened her bra. When she pulled away she brought the bra with her, freeing her Mistress’ full breasts from their fabric confinement. She looked at them while she set the bra aside and then looked up into her Mistress’ eyes, saying, “They don’t look wet, but I’d better check…”

Tara hummed even louder as her pet began to gently stroke and fondle her breasts, covering every inch of their soft skin with fingers and palms, squeezing only gently.

Buffy rubbed her face all over Tara’s generous bosom, plucking lightly at the stiff nipples with just her lips as she passed by, eliciting the barest whimper from her Mistress. “Nope, all dry.” Buffy said with an impish smile.

Tara felt the moisture inside her begin to bubble over and run out into her panties as her pet stroked the soft flesh of her belly with her cheeks, nose and lips, keeping up the pretense of looking for any areas that might have gotten wet.

Even through the denim, Buffy could smell her Mistress’ arousal when she reached to unbutton her jeans. She pulled both the pants and panties off at once, and then pushed apart her Mistress’ legs, moving her body between them. She took one look at the damp curls and saturated lips of her Mistress’ beautiful pussy and said, “Oh! Mistress, you’re all wet and sticky down here.” She looked up to meet the blond witch’s gaze and softly asked, “Did I do all this?”

Buffy played at chagrin, and said, “Well then, I’d better get to work cleaning this up!” With that, she began to suckle and lick her Mistress pussy, beginning with the outer lips, cleaning up any trace of the witch’s savory juices before moving inward.

Tara began to writhe and moan as her pet drove her insane. She especially loved the way Buffy would delve her tongue between the inner and outer lips, pressing and tracing that crease, then sucking the labia into her mouth and pulling it away from her body. Buffy seemed to have developed a love for playing with her Mistress pussy, not bothering to rush her towards orgasm, but just exploring every nook and cranny with her dexterous lips and tongue.

Buffy was content to play until she heard her Mistress growl, “Now pet!” She then began to focus her attention on Mistress’ clit, circling and pressing against it, then sucking it into her mouth and stroking it with her tongue. It didn’t take much of this before her Mistress was arching up off the bed and crying out her release.

Tara shuddered through the aftershocks of a lovely orgasm, hearing her pet noisily sucking up every drop of her passion. Where once she would have been embarrassed by that, she took great delight in it now. She grabbed her pet by the hair and pulled her up for a deep, ardent kiss- loving the taste of herself in her pet’s mouth.

By the time her Mistress had finished plundering her mouth, Buffy found herself on her back, with Mistress laid fully upon her. She looked up into those deep blue eyes and quietly said, “All dry now, Mistress!”

Tara broke into laughter and rolled off her pet and onto her back. “Goddess; what you do to me, Buffy!” She ran her hands through her hair and said, “Ok, lets get cleaned up and go back downstairs. It’s probably about time for Giles call.”

Buffy chuckled herself. Though she was buzzing with arousal, she didn’t say anything about it, knowing that Tara wasn’t going to allow her to scratch that itch anytime soon. It was part of her atonement, and she was ok with that, but she knew it meant she was going to be somewhat distracted for a while.

As they walked to the bathroom hand in hand, Buffy tentatively asked, “Tara?”

Tara laughed, saying, “Well...you’re going to have a hard time believing this, but…”

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Gray. Everything she saw was the same fricken gray. The walls, the sheets on her bed, the clothes on her back...gray, gray, gray. Even the food was gray. And the other women...Inmates, guards, it didn’t matter, they were all gray too.

She knew she deserved to be where she was. She’d hurt people- killed people even. She’d betrayed the only people who had ever cared even a little bit for her. That was what hurt the worst, the looks in their eyes when they found out...She pretended it didn’t matter, that she was better than them all, when it was really the opposite. She got mad at them for looking down on her, for treating her like crap, when the truth was that they were right; they were better than her. They sacrificed themselves to do what was right, even when it cost them big time, while she…

No, she definitely deserved to be where she was. It had taken her a long time to realize it- even after she’d turned herself in, even after they locked her up...it still took months before she really admitted that she was wrong- that it was all her own fault. That every slight, every wrong she had held against the others in her life- whether they were legit or not- none of it excused what she’d done. Blaming everyone else for the bad things in her life had given her an excuse to live recklessly- she was a danger junkie because death didn’t scare her, death didn’t matter because no one mattered, least of all herself.

There were days...days when the gray got to her and she had a hard time not falling into old habits. Days like today when she was tempted to give in to the anger and lash out- when she wanted to blame everyone but herself...but it wasn’t true. She guessed it was a sign of how far she’d come that she couldn’t lie even to herself anymore, not even for a moment. The only problem with that was that, if she couldn’t blame others, if she had to accept responsibility for all the horrible things she’d done…

Days like today, she wanted to blame someone, wanted to hate someone- and since she had only herself to blame…

Sometimes she constructed elaborate fantasies; how she’d get out and make it up to everybody...and they’d take her back and she’d be part of the team, fighting the good fight...She pretended that maybe she wouldn’t have to be alone, that she could reach out and they’d reach back and for once in her life people would care about her- really care about how she felt, and what she did, and...and she’d matter.

Hindsight really was twenty-twenty, ‘cause she could see now how she could have had that...right up to the fricken moment she walked into the mayor’s office...Buffy came to the docks to bring her back because she did care about Faith’s life, because she did...yeah, and things were stressed between them and the trust was damaged and stuff, but it could have worked.

She could look back now and it was all so clear. The fantasy she’d give anything to have happen was almost a reality once- till she’d pissed it all away. And so now she was stuck in a gray fricken box with bars on the front; like an animal on display.

“Too damn bad I couldn’t see it then.” She whispered aloud as hot tears rolled down her face.

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“So let me see if I’m understanding this,” Cordelia said into the resounding silence that greeted Giles explanation of the plan. “First, were gonna go get Ms. Psycho Slayer out of prison- and hope she doesn’t decide to kill us all. Then, we’re gonna troop up to Sunny D, where the witches and slayers get all spelled up and Buffy fights a Hellgod, while the rest of us get to guard the magic girls from attacking demons.”

Through the amazing advances in digital technology, they were all able to clearly hear the exasperation in Giles voice, as well as see it on the screen as he answered, “Yes, that’s it precisely, Cordelia.”

“And during all this you’ll be...elsewhere…” Cordy added with unconcealed sarcasm.

Buffy was quick to defend her Watcher. “I asked him to go; he’s protecting The Key. If we fail, keeping The Key out of Glory’s hands is the only way to save the world from a one-way ticket on the roller-coaster to hell!”

“How, exactly do you propose we get Faith out of prison?” Wesley asked. “Surely you don’t intend to have her escape…”

“No, of course not,” Giles said. “Her release documents are being messengered to you right now.”

Wesley nodded his head as if he had solved a puzzle. He said, “The council...Of course.” He followed up with, “Do you have a plan as to when and where this battle should take place?”

Buffy answered that one, “As for the when, I think it should be as soon as possible.”

Giles agreed, saying, “Yes, better to surprise her I think, rather than wait for her to take the initiative.”

All four Scoobies nodded and Buffy said, “Oh, yeah. We know where she’s at- and I don’t think she has a clue that we know.”

Wesley struck a pose, left hand holding right elbow, right hand rubbing his chin as though stroking a non-existent beard. “Some sort of underground cavern? Maybe an abandoned factory?” he opined, trying to sound knowledgeable.

Her voice flat, belying a twinkle of amusement in her eye, Buffy said, “Luxury high-rise apartment building.”

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They spent about an hour going over possible plans- not that there was a lot to plan; basically Buffy was gonna get juiced up with the enjoining spell and go kick Glory’s ass. The only questions were, where to set up the spell, and how to isolate Glory from her minions so Buffy could concentrate on the Hellgod.

Buffy figured a direct challenge to Glory would play into her ego, and incite a one-on-one fight. Willow and Tara thought it was likely that glory would feel the spell and probably send her minions after them anyway. Willow had used her computer to discover that most of the apartments in that building were empty, so they’d have their pick of locations to set up.

“I guess Hellgods make for bad neighbors,” Xander joked, trying not to dwell on his ‘job’ in all of this.

“Rather,” Wesley said. “Perhaps we should set up in the apartment across the hall- that way if she does not send her minions we will be in close enough proximity to engage them directly.”

Everyone stared at him for a moment, causing him to blush. “That’s a good idea.” Buffy said with a note of surprise.

Gunn added, “Me and Angel could back up Buffy, then fall back, sucker them into the other apartment, where Wes, Cordy and Xan can ambush ‘em!”

Xander tapped soldier memories as he said, “That’s a good plan, but we need more intel- a layout of the apartments, a headcount on the targets...We’re not talkin’ vamps here, any special weapons needed to take these guys out?”

Giles answered that question, “From my examinations of the ‘specimens’ Willow and Tara provided us with, they seem vulnerable to any standard weapons- they are essentially mortal creatures...What are you thinking Xander?”

The A.I. team was looking at Xander with surprise while the Scoobies were more accustomed to Xander’s magical military experience.

“Well,” Xander said, feeling warm and fuzzy from the looks of pride on his friends’ faces- and at the same time feeling a heavy weight in his gut from the knowledge that using these memories and skills came with a heavy price. He’d have nightmares again tonight, as he did whenever he spent any time focusing on soldier-boy’s memories. He mentally shook it off- it would be worth it if he could keep his friends safe. “What I’m thinking is, Willow, Tara, and Faith are going to be totally vulnerable- and if we stick to hand weapons, there’s a chance the bad guys could overwhelm us with numbers and get to the girls.”

“We’ll need to see the layout, but what I’m thinking is...we set up down the hall a ways, put the magic circle in a room that has one defensible entrance and Angel and Gunn can fall back to that when they draw the targets into the trap- Gunn goes in the room with the girls and has a SMG waiting for him- I’m thinking MP5 or Uzi; Angel goes outside the door with another SMG. We’ll make a kinda fire-sack- Wes and Cordy will set up at fixed points with overlapping fields of fire on the entry room- they’ll take out the bulk of them with a couple of SAWs- something with a lot of capacity so they can just hose ‘em down. I’ll set up in the opposite direction down the hall, and move into position once Angel and Gunn Draw them away- I’ll mop up any that don’t make it into the fire-sack or fall back once the bullet’s fly, plus I’ll be able to hit any stragglers that might stay with Glory.

Xander continued- not noticing the dropped jaws. “We’ll need a plan for deployment if the targets don’t fall for the bait...probably Angel and me, so we don’t leave the girls uncovered. We’ll need hands-free radios to coordinate communication, some range time once we get the guns to familiarize everybody, and a rehearsal or two…” He paused to think of what else they’d need.

Xander’s attention was fractured as he tried to listen to five different questions at once, and finally he stood up and shouted, “Shut Up!” surprising everyone once again. “Ok, one at a time- Cordy.”

Xander said, “I know that, Cordelia. What I’m thinking won’t require a lot of skill- you and Wes will be set up with machine guns on bipods- you’ll each have a defined field of fire, and all you’ll have to do is squeeze the trigger and sweep the gun back and forth in that defined arc of movement. No skill involved, and we’ll get some range time in to get you used to the gun. Angel and Gunn will actually have to aim, but it won’t be any more difficult than shooting a crossbow, and I know you guys have done that before.

“I know how to shoot.” Gunn said, not elaborating on how he might have come across that skill.

Angel opened his mouth to respond, but glanced up briefly at Tara and quickly shut it. Looking back down at the floor, he quietly said, “I’ve fired a gun, but it’s been a while.”

Xander smirked when Angel didn’t rise to the ‘dead-boy’ bait. “Oh yeah, Tara whipped you good!” he thought. Out loud he said, “Like riding a bike- you’ll pick it up quick.”

The thought of guns made Willow nervous, but not as nervous as the thought of sitting there unable to move while a hoard of demons rushed five defender armed only with swords and axes, so she didn’t say anything.

Buffy spoke up, “Gotta say, I’m not too thrilled with the idea of guns, but it would be stupid not to use every advantage we can get.”

Giles spoke up in agreement. “I agree, absolutely; however, where will you get all of this military hardware?”

It was Gunn who answered that, “I know some people. Two days, if we can pony up the money…”

Wesley said, “Perhaps the council could be persuaded to offer some assistance…”

Giles took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Another call to Quinton...oh, joy.”

“We have, what, two weeks till the deadline for the ceremony?” Xander asked.

“A week from next Saturday, at approximately two o’clock in the morning.” Giles answered.

“A couple days to get the hardware, a day on the range and then another to rehearse...we could hit her this Friday night- a week early, so she might not be too panicked yet about where you and The Key took off to, Buff.”

“Friday’s fine,” Buffy nodded in agreement. “I just want it over. I want the rest of my family home,” she said while giving Tara and Willow a squeeze. “I want to go back to patrolling and slaying nice, simple, non-apocalypse-causing vampires.”

Tara was the only one that noticed Angel averting his eyes when Buffy said that. She felt a little sorry for him; the Angelus stuff wasn’t his fault. What happened today, on the other hand- that was totally his fault and she didn’t feel the slightest bit remorseful for her response.

“Well, it would appear that I have another phone call to make. Wesley, do you have an account where the council could wire the money?”

“Yes, well I’ll have them contact you directly.” Giles said- already not looking forward to another call to Travers.

“I expect that there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but it isn’t as though they have another choice...or a better plan.”

“No I suppose not,” Wesley said, musing on the reactions he imagined Travers and his ilk would have.

“I’m gonna go see some people, find out what it’s gonna cost ya,” Gunn said as he headed out the door.

“Who’s going to go get Faith?” Willow softly inquired. She wasn’t all that eager to see the brunette Slayer, but at least this time she could handle herself if Faith wasn’t all the way ‘rehabilitated’. She marveled once again at how far she’d come in just over a year’s time. The last time she’d seen Faith, she’d been scared to death- knowing Faith could kill her without the slightest chance Willow could fight back. Now, Willow could take the Slayer out five ways to Sunday and not even break a sweat.

Tara spoke up, “If Xander doesn’t mind driving...I thought he and I could get her.” She knew Buffy wasn’t eager to see Faith, and after being dominated so strongly this morning, she might need a little time with her own pet to get her in the right frame of mind.

At Buffy’s confused frown, Tara said, “I thought you and Willow could go do that shopping you’ve been talking about…” Buffy was always saying she needed to get some sexier clothes for her pet- fuzzy sweaters and overalls just didn’t do justice to today’s Willow Rosenberg.

Buffy’s face split into a smile at the mental image of taking her pet shopping. She looked at her Mistress with gratitude in her eyes and whispered in her ear, “Thank you, Tara.”

Tara smirked, “He can buy his own clothes.” At Cordelia’s glare, she said, “You can always go with us to get Faith…”

Cordelia stood up and said, “How about not?” She walked toward the office. “I’ll stay here in case a ‘paying’ client calls…” she snarked.

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She woke up screaming. Not a terribly unusual occurrence, unfortunately. Common enough that the guards didn’t bother anything more than a half-assed glance in that direction, and a muttered, ‘damn freak!’

Cell neighbors yelled for her to shut up at various volumes, and in various languages- and the irony struck her- as it did every time- that they made far more noise in their response than she ever did in the first place.

An observer might be surprised that her cellmate’s only response was a muted grumble and then rolling over and trying to get back to sleep. The first time it had happened, she’d kicked the mattress from below and gotten up to give the little white girl a piece of her mind. Her wrist still ached when the weather changed from where they had to pin the bone-fragments back together.

What had scared her even more was, when they’d let Faith out of solitary two weeks later, the way she’d offered an embarrassed apology, like it had been a casual mistake...That assured Faith the quietest, most sedate cellmate in the whole pod- probably the whole damn prison.

As Faith’s breathing evened out, and she realized where she was, she felt relieved for a moment- just another damn nightmare. Another moment and her relief turned to quiet sobs as she shook off the nightmare, and returned to a hellish reality. A minute later and she angrily forced the tears away, refusing to give in- again- to the misery of this fricken place. She’d indulged enough last night; if she allowed herself to wallow in self pity for two or more days in a row, she spiraled out of control and usually ended up having to sit in the prison shrink’s office and listen to that bitch lecture about self-actualization and crap like that for hours on end.

“Damn if that wasn’t a freaky dream!” she thought, remembering clearly the sights and sounds of her nightmare. Usually her nightmares were either reliving stuff she did while working for the wannabe-demon Mayor of SunnyD, or accidentally killing Allan Finch, the deputy mayor- which had led to her spiral into evil in the first place, or...worst of all; her fight with Buffy- the look of horror and betrayal on the blonde’s face as she realized what Faith had made her do...the dawning betrayal Faith felt in her gut- along with the kiss of the razor sharp steel- when she realized the Mayor had set her up for this...that one was the worst dream. She felt so stupid when she realized only in the end that Wilkins had left her alone and unprotected, knowing Buffy would come for her...knowing the poison he’d given her to use on Angel had a cure- the blood of a Slayer. All of it carefully choreographed to result in a situation where Buffy would both want, and need to kill Faith.

But this dream was entirely new. She was in some big, swanky, living room, and she was fighting this other girl that was dressed and made up like a hooker, and there were all these creepy, thin-haired, big headed, scabby looking demons running around. Freaky enough, but the worst part was, she couldn’t move- that is, her body was moving; kicking, punching, jumping around- but she wasn’t controlling it. It was like someone else was driving, and she was just along for the ride. And that scared the crap out of her- the thought of losing control was one of her worst fears, and this was more than just losing it- freaking out and doing stuff she would regret later, this was the literal, real thing.

Faith shivered involuntarily and tried to put the images out of her head. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything else on which to focus her attention. She wanted to go splash cold water on her face, but that would mean looking in the mirror. She could never keep her eyes on the sink, they always slipped up to see her reflection...and usually that was a bad thing.

After a minute of looking longingly at the sink and the cool water she knew was just waiting for her there, she whispered, “Screw it!” and angrily jumped down off of the bunk. Her teeth were clenched, as were her fists. It was like she was tensed for a fight. She deliberately looked in the mirror, first thing- as though to prove to herself that she was strong, she wasn’t afraid.

As always, as soon as she caught sight of her own eyes in the mirror, she stopped- frozen. Those eyes always looked back at her with such sorrow and hurt and a sense of betrayal that made sick to her stomach. Faith reacted as though the reflection was a completely different person- not her own reflection at all. After a minute of staring, she whispered tightly, “I am not evil!”

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“So, Which way do I go, oh navigator?” Xander asked as they pulled away from the curb.

“Well, the printout says we need to get to the 110, and then go south to the 10,” Tara answered, reading the driving directions that Willow pulled off of Mapquest.com.

“Ok, so you want to stop and get some drive-thru before we hit the highway?” Xander asked, as his belly grumbled.

“Oh, she made breakfast, but that was, like, two hours ago!” Xander said. He blushed as he remembered what she’d had for breakfast.

Tara caught the blush and imagined what might have happened this morning to help Xander work up an appetite. She was happy for him, and he seemed much more relaxed today than he had for the last few. “Ah, the joys of regular sex,” she thought- amused by it because she’d never known what she was missing before she and Willow had taken their relationship to the physical level. She imagined Xander was discovering- much to his displeasure- the withdrawal symptoms of going cold-turkey. She teased him, “Worked up quite an appetite, huh?”

Xander blushed a little, but teased right back, “Look who’s talking! I bet your arm is tired after swinging that paddle.”

Tara blushed hotly at that. It wasn’t like she thought they wouldn’t know or anything, but still; the Mistress Tara persona she was living lately hadn’t entirely wiped out her core of shyness.

Xander noticed the blush and duck, and it reminded him of the ‘old Tara’ as he thought of her. He said, “Sorry, didn’t mean to embarrass you, but you went pretty public with the whole Dom/sub thing there.

Tara forced her head back up, though she couldn’t make the blush go away so easily. “Uh, it wasn’t really planned…”

“Hey,” Xander reassured her, “Nobody has to explain ‘Angel Issues’ to me.”

“Yeah, you know. Back in the day when I...y’know had...feelings for Buffy…” Xander suddenly wished he hadn’t brought up the subject. “Well, it was pretty easy not to like Angel just for that. Plus, I always thought he was bad for her, not just cause I was jealous.” Xander pulled off the road and into a jack-in-the-box, hoping Tara would drop the subject.

Ignoring the question, Xander said, “What do you want?” indicating the menu.

“Whatever, breakfast sandwich and an orange juice is fine...You sure you aren’t still lusting after Buffy?” she asked, not dropping the subject.

“I...uh…” Xander sputtered. He pulled up to the order window and slowly placed his order, hoping to delay this conversation.

As soon as Xander had finished placing his order, Tara continued, enjoying herself greatly. “I’ve seen you look at her, Xander. You sure there’s nothing there? What about Willow?”

“Uh...Willow?” Xander stuttered, afraid at this point to even make eye contact with the witch.

“Oh yeah, she told me how she got you all worked up the other night at the Bronze…” Tara continued.

Xander gulped loudly, visions of being dropped on his head coming to mind. “Well, you’re all pretty lust-worthy,” he said, quickly adding, “But, there’s no pining away, or anything like that going on. And, even if there was, there wouldn’t be after seeing you bitch-slap Angel this morning...which, I have to say, was pretty sweet!”

Tara took pity on the poor boy, and dropped the subject. For now. “Yeah, well. I think he learned his lesson.”

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Buffy was already trying to figure out how she was going to pay her mom back for some of this stuff. She had her credit card that was supposed to be for emergencies...how do you explain to your mother that $175 leather pants *were* an emergency? “I can see it now...‘No, mom, they weren’t for me...I just saw how sexy Willow’s butt looked in them, and I couldn’t say no!’ Yeah that’d go over well!” she thought.

Willow looked over her shoulder in the mirror at her Mistress, having twice now asked how these looked, and gotten no response. A sly smile played across her face when she saw the slightly glazed look on the blonde’s face. She got an idea and said, “Oh, lemme try it with this.” She dashed back into the dressing room, shucked her t-shirt and bra and slipped on a satin crop top with spaghetti straps. It was blood red, and was just long enough that she could raise her arms above her head without exposing herself, but stopped several inches above the low-rise black leather pants. The thin calfskin of the pants hugged her ass and thighs like a glove, before dropping into a slightly flared cuff. Not bell bottoms, but still kinda retro. She could get some strappy black shoes with chunky heels and light up the Bronze.

Buffy’s mouth went dry when Willow came back out with that little red top on, still sporting the ass-enhancing leather pants. “Oh God!” she thought as she noticed Willow’s nipples poking through the thin top.

Willow did a little spin in front of her Mistress and asked, “What about this outfit?” She turned her back to the lightly panting blond and began to dance seductively, swaying her hips and gradually lowering herself into a crouch. “It would be great for a night at the Bronze!” she offered, keeping her voice light, as though she had no idea what effect she was having on her lover.

Buffy watched as the leather pulled taught across her pet’s backside when she lowered herself. As the material pulled down, she could see the waistband of Willow’s thong peeking out. “Who do you think you’re fooling pet?” she thought at Willow’s ‘innocent’ tone. “Come here pet,” she croaked out. She had to clear her throat and lick her lips to get some moisture back before continuing. “Over my lap…”

“Yes Mistress,” Willow whispered with a shiver. She laid over Buffy’s lap, drawing her legs up so that the pants were tight across her bum, relishing what was about to happen, and blissfully unconcerned if there was anyone around.

Buffy was a little less blasé about witnesses, but it was midmorning on a weekday, and they had the store nearly to themselves. They were in the fitting area, and no one else was immediately about. Buffy stroked her pet’s ass, loving the feel of the soft leather. She reigned down two quick blows, one on each cheek, amazed at how similar the sound was to spanking bare skin. “That’s for teasing me so blatantly, pet,” Buffy said sternly, having to work at keeping the lust out of her voice. “And, there’ll be more where that came from when we get back to the hotel!”

After being released from Buffy’s lap, Willow dropped to her knees before her Mistress, and said, “I apologize, Mistress. Would you allow your pet to make it up to you, Mistress?” she didn’t even bother trying to hide the seductive tone in her voice this time.

Three stores, three outfits, three spankings. Buffy hadn’t given in to her pet’s attempts at seduction in the first two, but her resolve had weakened as they went.

In the first store, it was a simple outfit- tight blue jeans that went to just below Willow’s navel, along with a red, short sleeved top that hugged her upper body snuggly, had a wide scoop neck and the hem stopped just above her navel. Along with the water-bra they’d picked out, it made her pet look very appealing, yet wouldn’t have been inappropriate in any casual setting. Nevertheless, the sight of enhanced cleavage, along with her adorable little bellybutton peaking out was very arousing. Especially when Willow had begun caressing her breasts, commenting on how wonderfully the bra fit her, and how amazingly realistic it felt. She invited her Mistress to feel it- ‘just to see how real it felt.’ That had resulted in the first couple of swats for being a tease.

The second store netted an outfit that was a little dressier, and yet Willow had managed to turn it into another temptation. Red skirt that went to mid thigh- not quite a mini, but close- and a black turtleneck that was very stretchy and clingy. Something that could be worn to a more upscale setting, though not overly dressy; but what made it ultra sexy was the boots. Knee-high, black leather, with four inch stiletto heels. Willow would walk towards and then away from her Mistress, her hips swaying widely as she said, “These make me walk funny. Mistress, does it seem like these make my hips swing a lot when I walk?” Then she bent over and ran her hands up and down the leather encasing her calves, saying, “Do they make my legs look alright?” inviting her Mistress to look up the length of her thighs, up to where the skirt pulled up nearly, but just shy of her sweet little fanny. Of course, that made Buffy flip the skirt up over her pet’s back and issue a couple more swats and again admonish her to behave. When they’d walked out of the dressing room, the male salesman was clearly sporting wood under his loose trousers. Buffy’d blushed, Willow just giggled.

And now, here she was, sitting in a fitting room with her gorgeous, sexy pet kneeling before her and asking to make amends. Her first thought was, “I am so gonna whip your ass,” but when her second thought filtered through, she knew she was lost. “Oh my God! I can’t believe I’m about to have sex in a dressing room!”

Willow knew from her Mistress’ hesitation that she was gonna get to do what she’d been wanting to do since their first dressing room of the day. She carefully schooled her features so as not to break into a huge grin. She knew she was gonna *so* get spanked for being such a tease when they got back to the Hyperion, but she thought it was well worth it. “Please, Mistress?” she asked in her best pouty voice as she put her hands on Mistress’ knees. When no command to stop was forthcoming, those hands slid up silky thighs and under her Mistress skirt.

Buffy stifled a groan and said, “Oh, very well, pet,” not fooling anyone. At this point, if Willow had backed off, Buffy would have had a fist full of red hair and been pushing her pet’s head right were it was going of its own volition right now.

Buffy thrashed her head about, biting her hand to try and keep quiet, with not the best success, as her pet laved her pussy like a cat cleaning its paws.

Willow smiled against her Mistress’ pussy as she heard the aborted cries and muffled groans. She rapidly pumped three fingers inside her lover while sucking and licking her engorged clit.

Buffy came with a high-pitched, muted squeal, her thighs vibrating and squeezing her pet’s head. When she finally relaxed, she reached under her skirt, pulled her pet out by her hair and kissed her mightily. She quickly cleaned off her pet’s lips and chin, and then grabbed her wrist and brought the sticky fingers up to her mouth to clean them off as well. “That outfit’s a keeper,” she said at last, once she found her voice again.

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The security officer looked up from the console to his store manager. “I- I...W- what the hell do we do about that?” he asked, bewildered and painfully aroused by what he’d just seen in the fitting room camera.

“You say the blonde was *spanking* the redhead when you called me?” The store manager asked as he reached over to the VCR and popped out the tape.

“Had her over her knee and everything!” the security officer said, his voice cracking.

“I’ll handle it,” the manager said shortly. “Just leave it to me,” he added as he turned and walked out of the surveillance room.

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Buffy laid the outfit on the counter to make the purchase, when a short, overweight man came from the back room and excused the register clerk.

Buffy frowned and looked at the man’s name tag, noting the ‘store manager’ title. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

The man smiled warmly at her, saying, “No, no. Not at all, Ms…” He paused to look at the credit card Buffy had presented along with the outfit, “…Summers.”

He finished ringing up the sale, put the clothes and receipt in the bag and handed it to Willow, who had stepped up to prevent her Mistress from having to carry anything.

The store manager then handed Buffy a slip of paper and said, “That is a 50% off coupon, good on your next visit, Ms. Summers. You and your girlfriend please feel free to come again very soon, Ok?”

Buffy offered a bemused ‘Thank you’ and walked away holding Willow’s hand.

The store manager overheard the redhead ask, ‘How did he know I was your girlfriend?’ as the two walked away. He chuckled and went back into his office, taking the video tape and putting it into his briefcase.

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“So...Cordelia, huh…” Tara said after she and Xander had finished their breakfast. There was just something in her that couldn’t stop teasing him this morning, she thought when she saw him blush.

Tara smiled, knowing he’d react like that. “Well, I’ve never met her- just heard lots and lots of stories from Willow and Buffy...Willow mostly.”

“Oh! I, uh...I thought you, um...I mean…” he was embarrassed now that he’d so misinterpreted what she was asking. “This is still Tara we’re talking about,” he thought. “She wouldn’t…”

“You thought I was asking about how good she is in bed?” Tara said with a grin.

Xander blushed even harder as he tried to figure out what the hell to say to that. “NO, I...well…”

Tara said, “I’ll have to admit, I’m curious about that, too...you had a pretty huge grin on your face this morning. So did she, so you must have done ok.” Tara had to struggle not to laugh. “Eyes on the road, Xander!” she said as he turned to her with a wide-eyed stare. “You wouldn’t want to wreck Giles car! I don’t think he’d ever forgive you.”

Finally the expression on his face was too much, and Tara burst out laughing. “Oh Xander! You should see the look on your face!”

Xander shook his head, well and truly gotten. “What is it with the three of you lately? You all seem determined to drive me insane!” he lamented.

Tara said, “Well, it’s just so much fun!” as she continued to laugh. Seeing his little-boy pout, she said, “Come on, you’re the only guy in our little group. We have to pick on you.”

“I don’t think I could ask Giles about his sex-life. He might explode,” she said while thinking that he might actually have a sex life now.

“He’d have to have one first,” Xander quipped, unaware of Tara’s line of thought.

Tara smiled at him knowingly, but changed the subject before he could ask her about it. “So, are you and Cordelia thinking about getting together?”

Xander’s smile was warm, with just a touch of sadness. “No, I think we’re just gonna stay friends- hopefully better friends than we have been recently...or pretty much ever actually.”

“About us not getting together? No, not really. We have different lives. I just get that little ‘what if’ bug now and then.” He mused silently for a moment before continuing. “I don’t think either of us really had our lives together back then...though I do regret the way it ended, I don’t think our relationship was gonna work out at that point.”

“And now?” Tara asked, genuinely curious. She had to admit that she found herself more and more thinking about Dawn and Xander, but could he really wait a year or more to get back into a serious relationship?

“Now...she’s different, I’m different- both in a good way I think...but she has a life there in LA, and I wouldn’t ask her to leave it,” he said.

“What? Leave Sunnydale?” At her nod, he quickly said, “Not gonna happen. I can’t leave...not as long as…” he trailed off.

Tara smiled, “Not as long as Buffy’s alive?” She and Willow had talked about Xander’s devotion to the Slayer, accepting it even if they were unable to quantify it.

“It’s not what you think,” Xander was quick to explain. “It’s just...I know there’s a chance she could...you know, any fight could be the...And, if something happened, and I wasn’t there...at least *trying* to stop it...I couldn’t live with that…” He took a deep breath, blinking back the sudden tears in his eyes. “As long as there’s a chance I can help…” he trailed off again, not sure how to convey this feeling. He had to be there because he had to. There was no other way; he had to help, even if he wondered sometimes whether his help was really needed.

Recognizing Xander’s insecurity- having felt it herself constantly- up until recently anyway- Tara reassured him, “You do, Xander. You may not be the front line fighter, but you’re always there, and you help. Plus you help in other ways- research, planning and strategy...that thing today was great, it might make all the difference! Plus, you saved Buffy’s life lots of times.” Tara put her hand on his arm and said, “We don’t say it enough, I know. But, we’re all glad you’re there. Dawn and Joyce too.”

Xander laughed as she added, “Even Giles, but I don’t think he’d admit it.”

“I have to say, I’m pretty happy to have you with us too, Tara.” Xander said sincerely. “You’ve been great for Willow and Buffy. I don’t think either of them has ever been as happy as they are with you.”

Tara blushed, mostly because she was surprised to hear Xander say that, in those words. “I think it’s even more the other way. They’ve helped me be, like a whole different person than I used to be- much improved version of Tara from what I was.”

Xander couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Yeah, you’re not quite the shy little girl you were when Willow brought you to your first Scooby meeting.”

It seemed like a lifetime ago, even though it was only a matter of months. “I think *that* Tara would spontaneously combust if she met me,” she mused. “I didn’t even know it was possible to be like this...this strong and this happy and this alive!” she shook her head and said, “so much different than what I grew up with.”

Xander nodded, sympathizing. “Yeah, your family didn’t seem all that...supportive…” At Tara’s snort of laughter, he added, “I have to admit that I kinda wished your dad had tried something with Buffy...or that your brother had tried his luck…” Xander muttered under his breath bitterly, “Assholes!”

Tara looked at him for a moment, took in the clenched teeth and the look of suppressed rage on his face, and concluded, “You too, huh?”

Xander shot a glance at her, expecting pity- which was why he never ever discussed his life growing up with anyone- not even Willow, though she had guessed on more than one occasion from his bruises what was going on. Instead he just saw understanding. He nodded his head, still reticent to speak about it.

Tara fully understood not wanting to talk about the misery of growing up with abuse, and let it drop.

“You know, Faith had it really bad growing up,” Xander said, surprisingly not dropping the subject, though not discussing his own experience either. “I mean, I don’t know everything, but I know it was bad enough to drive her out onto the streets when she was just a kid...She never talked about it either, but I think there was...more than just beatings.”

Tara shuddered. That was one thing she was thankful for. They had beaten her without a thought, but they never raped her. “How sad is it that I’m thankful that they just beat the crap out of me?” she said softly.

They finished the drive in relative silence, broken only by giving directions, as they reflected on their own pasts, and what horrors must have been experienced by someone who had it worse than them.

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

‘One of *those* days,’ was the thought that ran through the minds of the inmates of Q-Pod at the California Institute for Women. ‘The Freak,’ was how she was known in quiet whispers behind her back- usually after the speaker had glanced around to see if she was in earshot. To her face it was always a very polite ‘Faith,’ on those rare occasions when the brunette spoke to anyone at all. The women who routinely hit the weights, or worked out at the speed bag or the heavy bag had become accustomed to seeing this once or twice a week- ‘The Freak’ was in a mood, and was taking it out on the heavy bag. Most of the women were just glad they weren’t the object of the girl’s ire. A few, those with some skills of their own, just sat back and marveled at the power and fury this little white girl could unleash.

Twice, the warden had threatened not to replace the bag after one of Faith’s little ‘tantrums’ as he called them, but the officers in the pod had banded together to convince him otherwise. “Better to replace the bag every week, than to pay the medical care for the inmate or inmates she’d take it out on,” they had argued, convincingly.

Faith had been in only a single fight, not counting the time she broke her cellmate’s wrist, in her eighteen months as a guest of the state. But the memory and stories of that fight were enough to keep almost all of the other inmates from bothering her, and those new to the pod, the ones that came thinking they were the baddest bitch on the block were cautioned to wait and watch the little girl ‘working out’ before challenging her. So far, none had felt all that desperate to pick a fight after seeing ‘The Freak’ working out her frustrations. It was pretty clear that any one of her punches or kicks would be lethal to anyone on the receiving end.

At first, Faith had tried to hide her strength from the others, but after that one fight...well there just wasn’t much point.

Lupe Martinez had been the bad bitch on campus for five years. She was almost six feet tall and a good two hundred fifty pounds. She’d have made most male inmates cringe. She kept four other bad-ass girls around her all the time as her ‘posse,’ and everyone knew she ran the pod. Faith couldn’t have cared less about the politics of prison- she had no intentions of making relationships with anyone here- friendly or otherwise. She was focused inward too much to worry about anyone else. That made everyone think she was easy meat, after all, she hardly said ‘boo’ to anyone; she always had her head down, and she cried a lot. The only reason she lasted a the first month was because Lupe was in solitary, and everyone knew she got first crack at the fresh meat. The thing with her cellmate was blown-off as a lucky shot, and Faith’s cellmate wasn’t known as much of a tough girl anyway.

Lupe had been convicted of something as pedestrian as holding up a liquor store. However, since she’d been incarcerated, she’d earned herself a life sentence by killing two other women. Why? Because they cut in front of her in the chow-line. That’s when she got transferred to Q-Pod, level III containment. What did she learn from that lesson? Now she always made sure she had an alibi, and no witnesses beyond her posse when she killed.

Faith hadn’t yet begun her habit of beating the hell out of the heavy bag a couple times a week in order to bleed off some of her stress, and as a result, she was pretty high strung. Not two hours after Lupe got out of solitary, she’d showered and been brought up to speed on the newest resident of Q-Pod, a sweet looking little white girl that sounded like a fine snack for a horny chickà fresh from a month’s solitude.

She and her posse had cornered Faith in the library where the only witness was a corrections officer that Lupe had already bought off by having one of her posse suck his dick on a daily basis. In return for that, she got the freedom to do pretty much anything she wanted. Plus, he liked to watch Lupe force the other girls, so he made sure to take the library watch whenever he could.

He’d lost his job over this incident- the warden didn’t buy his story that he didn’t have time to call for backup before the fight was over. No one believed someone could do that much damage, that fast. Especially to five women, all of whom were bigger than her. He swore up and down that the whole thing was over in five seconds.

Faith hadn’t even been reading, just sitting, back against the wall, head down and eyes closed, thinking about Buffy, and her last encounter with the girl, when Faith’d come to LA to kill Angel, and instead he wound up saving her. Buffy had wanted to kill her, and she would have let it happen. At that point- a month into her 8 year prison sentence- she still wished Buffy had killed her. When she looked up, sensing that someone was there, she saw four girls she recognized from the pod, and one huge girl she’d never seen before. They were spread in a kind of half circle before her.

“You were right! This is one sweet-looking little bitch!” Lupe said to her posse. “Hey little bitch,” she said, focusing now on Faith. “You know how to suck pussy?”

Faith was shocked- not by the crudity, but shocked that someone would interrupt her- for thirty days, no one had said a single word to her, outside of the guards. She had been as isolated in genpop as she had been in solitary; and now this. She looked briefly at the one guard in the room and saw his cruel smirk- no help there.

At Faith’s silence, Lupe continued, “No? Well you gonna learn fast!” She looked back to her posse and said, “Grab this little bitch.”

Faith might have been a little rusty, but she was used to vamps that move like lightning. Before these five could do more than blink an eye, Faith was leaping up in the air, her feet lashing out toward the two on either side of her. Given that they weren’t as close as Faith had expected- again, she was planning on vamp-speed- they got away with broken noses and concussions. Had they been closer to Faith, the damage would have been far worse.

The two immediately flanking Lupe had enough time to step forward and throw a punch, not that they actually connected. Faith grabbed the wrist of the one on the right, pulling the fist towards her while twisting the arm so that the girl was pushed down- her arm coming up and over her own shoulder. This caused Faith to bend down, dodging the other girl’s punch and at the same time lashing out with her foot. The kick landed on her knee; utterly destroying the joint and causing her to crumple to the floor like a damp rag. Faith then finished her movement of the first girl’s arm, up and back over her head, while twisting forward so that the shoulder separated and the ligaments were shredded. Her ear piercing shriek could be heard throughout the pod.

Lupe was so shocked that she hadn’t even moved. Faith didn’t wait for her to do so, but leapt in a spin kick that smashed the girl’s face, pushing her head back so violently that it crunched two vertebrae in her neck. The doctors later agreed that it was a miracle that the girl lived at all, though she would spend the rest of her life as a quadriplegic. After about five reconstructive surgeries to rebuild her face, she almost looked like a human again.

The two with broken noses both came back ok, though they both would prefer to take a broken-glass enema rather than go within ten feet of Faith.

The girl with the dislocated shoulder also returned, though it took a month of recovery in the hospital wing and she never regained more than about twenty percent use of her right arm.

The girl with the knee was even less fortunate. She had a brace and a cane and still could barely walk again.

Since then, she’d been left alone. Even guards mostly stayed the hell away from her. She could have had her run of the pod, if she’d cared to- she didn’t. She preferred to spend her time doing her work detail and trying not to think.

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

The guard waited until The Freak had finished demolishing another heavy bag before trying to get her attention. He had been friends with the guard that got fired over the fight between the freak and Lupe, and even he hadn’t believed his friend’s story about the fight. But, standing here watching that little bitch tear the leather with the force of her blows...“Maybe the guy wasn’t lying after all,” he thought.

When he saw her wind down he called out, “Hey Faith. You got some visitors.”

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Tara sat calmly on the uncomfortable bench in the visitor’s waiting room. The same couldn’t be said for Xander, who was pacing back and forth, lost in thought. After a couple minutes, Tara got bored with watching him. Trying to sense his emotions through their light bond only netted confusion. Xander seemed to be transitioning through fear, desire, anxiety, excitement, sorrow, and hopefulness with a chaotic ferocity.

“Xander…” she started to ask, but he wasn’t paying attention. “Xander!” she tried again with no response. Finally she reached out and grabbed his hand as he passed.

Startled out of his fugue state, he asked, “Hmm? What?” as he stood in place and focused on the blonde witch at last.

Tara patted the bench next to her and said, “Sit. Tell me what’s wrong.” The look of compassion on her face belied the commanding nature of the words.

Still getting the strong feelings of confusion both through their spell-link, and from his easily readable face, Tara gently asked, “Nervous?”

In lieu of pacing, Xander’s nervous energy translated into his legs bouncing up and down as he tapped his sneaker-clad heels on the floor. “I dunno. I...I haven’t actually talked to Faith...not since she tried to kill me.”

Tara remained silent. She had heard some of the events surrounding Faith’s time with and against the Scoobies, but not from Xander’s viewpoint. She didn’t want to interrupt him from getting this off his chest, so she just gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and waited for him to speak.

The silence worked- it was more uncomfortable for Xander to bear the quiet than it was for him to fill it with his thoughts. “I...we...I liked Faith. I guess I thought of us as friends. Then we…” he looked up at Tara, partially expecting the same disapproval he would imagine on Willow’s face. Seeing nothing but compassion, he looked once again at his lap and continued, “We hooked up that night...and after that she kinda avoided me. I...it hadn’t been that long since I screwed up with Cordelia, and then...well it didn’t help my confidence very much.” He smiled self-deprecatingly at that. “So, then when I went to talk to her after the...accident; and she was trying to lay it on Buffy, and everyone was mad at her, and I just figured she was scared and screwed up, you know? So I went to talk to her and she nearly choked me to death. Then I couldn’t really talk to her much after that...then it turned out she’d gone to work for the mayor...and then she almost killed Willow...and then she was in that coma for a year and all I could think was…”

After a moment, Tara gave his hand another squeeze of reassurance and said, “All you could think was…”

“I should have said something different...I thought maybe we had at least some kind of connection cause of...you know. Buffy tried to tell me that wouldn’t matter, but I guess I thought it was, I dunno...like she was maybe just pissed about the blame thing.” Xander looked into Tara’s eyes and she saw the burgeoning tears as he continued with a cracked voice, “I wanted her to know that it could still be ok. Yeah, she screwed up and...but so what? We all messed things up before. She…”

Tara watched Xander suddenly look away and she could feel that he was sympathizing with her feelings when he continued.

“She felt cut off, like she wasn’t really part of us, I think. Like we were shutting her out and turning our backs on her...And I wanted to make her understand that it wasn’t like that...she didn’t know that we could fight like that, be mad at each other and still be ok in the end. She’d never had it like that, I think. Everything was about rejection, and she didn’t understand that anger wasn’t the same as rejection.” Now a tear did come spilling down his cheek as he said, “But, I screwed up. I didn’t say it right and she…” he unconsciously rubbed his throat with his free hand.

Xander took a deep breath and visibly calmed himself. “Then she was in the coma for like a year, and when she did wake up...I remember me and Giles...hunting her...and I wondered if I could pull the trigger if we found her, or if she’d kill us. I remember telling Giles how messed up it was…” he shook his head. “I never saw her again, or at least not in her own body. I never called or wrote or visited once she was in jail. I guess I didn’t know what to say,” he finished with his eyes back in his lap.

“You blame yourself for Faith going bad?” Tara asked, knowing it was true, but still a little surprised.

Xander just kept looking in his lap, not wanting the pity or sympathy he expected to come next.

Xander’s head shot up, a frown on his face to go with the surprise in his eyes.

Tara’s smile was neither accusing, nor filled with pity. She could understand his feelings- she had felt the same way about things in her past...the guilt she felt when she would see her dad beat her mom, and she wasn’t able to do anything to stop it. It wasn’t rational, but that didn’t make it any less real to her at the time. “Xander, trying to help someone...trying and failing...that isn’t the same as causing their problems. You can look back now and see everything you ever did that you might wish you could do differently, but in the end, it’s still up to her how she turns out.”

Xander shook his head, clearly wanting to argue, but again Tara cut him off. “Did you ever feel left out? Like maybe Buffy and Willow were pushing you away?”

Xander’s ducked head was all the affirmation she needed. “And did you maybe do something stupid as a result?”

Xander could think of several instances that fit with what Tara was saying, and nodded his head sadly.

“Well, that must have been Buffy and Willow’s fault, right? After all, they didn’t stop you…” Tara said.

“I see where you’re going with this…” Xander said in annoyance. “And, ok, you have a point. But I still think I could have made a difference if I had done something differently.”

“The same way Buffy beats herself up every time she can’t save someone from vampires. The same way she blames herself for every person Angelus hurt or killed. It’s because you both want to help people and you take it personally when you can’t,” Tara said with another squeeze of Xander’s hand.

Being compared with Buffy made it hard for Xander to dispute what she was saying. Especially when she was right in the first place.

“We can’t change the past, Xander,” Tara said. “No matter how much we might wish we could.”

Xander could tell that she was referring to herself at least as much as she was to him.

“All we can do is move forward. From what Buffy told me about the last time she saw Faith, she really was sorry for what she did.” Tara sounded truly hopeful as she said, “Maybe this was what she needed to get her life together. Sometimes we need a hard lesson to learn something important about ourselves.”

Another rueful chuckle from Xander, “Yeah, I don’t guess it gets much harder than prison.”

Xander was calmer, though still feeling several conflicting emotions. Mainly he was worried about how Faith would react to seeing them- and the big question, “Will she help?” he wondered

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Willow walked silently, hand in hand with her Mistress, her lover, in many ways her very life; Buffy Summers. “I wonder why she wanted to come here,” the redhead mused as they strolled through the southern end of LA National Cemetery. It was unlike any cemetery Willow had been in before- which was saying something for a Scooby-gang member; veteran of many a graveyard patrol in her time.

This cemetery didn’t have any headstones that stuck up- they were all flush with the ground. No mausoleums, except the one big one, just a big flat lawn studded with little flat markers. Willow looked at her girlfriend, trying to figure out what might be on her mind, but Buffy’s face was blank, her focus apparently inward.

Buffy led them over to a tree and sat down. Willow set their bags down and kneeled in front of the Slayer. “Mistress?” she asked, “Is something wrong?” she asked, concerned by Buffy’s melancholy. She’d seemed so happy not long ago when they were shopping. Then on the bus ride back toward the Hyperion, they had been on Wilshire Avenue and Buffy had decided they should get off and go for a walk when the bus stopped at the cemetery. Since then the Slayer hadn’t said a word, just walked around lost in thought.

Buffy smiled at her pet. She put her less pleasant thoughts aside for a moment and basked in the warmth of Willow thoughts. “Hmmm, just thinking pet. I wonder how it’s going with Tara and Xander right now.”

Ah. “That certainly explains things,” Willow thought. She’d been avoiding thinking about Faith all morning, not wanting to spoil her and Buffy’s shopping trip. Out loud she just said, “Oh.”

Buffy held out her arms, wanting to hold her lover. “Com’ere pet,” she said quietly.

Willow turned and sat down between Buffy’s spread thighs, leaning back against the lovely blond. She felt the warm comfort of her Mistress’ embrace warring with the cool chill that accompanied the conversation she anticipated.

Sure enough, Buffy said, “What do you think about us bringing Faith into this?”

Willow squirmed mentally; physically she stiffened a little, despite her best effort not to. “I, uh, well...Giles says we need her...so I guess we must need her.” Her arms came up over Buffy’s, hugging herself. “…and I trust Giles, Mistress.” She finished with a whisper.

“But you don’t trust Faith.” Buffy said- definitely a statement, not a question.

Willow shook her head slightly. “No, Mistress. I...I worry that she might try to hurt you,” her hidden fear slipped out.

Buffy tried to joke away the tension. “What? You don’t think I could take her?” she asked with a smile.

However, Willow’s fears were not so easily assuaged. “What if she does something behind your back? What…” Willow’s breath hitched as she imagined the worst, “what if you drop your guard, and she…”

“Shh, pet” Buffy whispered in her ear and then kissed her neck while hugging her tightly. “We’ll be careful.”

They sat in silence for several minutes, enjoying the comfort of each other’s touch.

Eventually Buffy broke the silence, saying, “I never told you what happened when I came to LA after her…”

Willow shook her head slightly, curious about this story. She remembered Giles telling Buffy that Faith had tried to kill Angel- again- and Buffy immediately taking off to LA. All the Slayer had said when she came back was that Angel was safe, and Faith was in jail. At the time Willow had been thrilled to hear it.

“I went into Angel’s place and found him holding her in his arms. Her hands were all bloody- I guess they had just fought some monster,” Buffy said, remembering the events and her feelings. “I was so furious! I wanted to hurt her so bad...I remember her cringing, like she was afraid of me. I was yelling at Angel, and she started to say she was sorry. I don’t even know what she was sorry for, but I told her if she apologized to me I would beat her to death…” Buffy remembered the loathing and disgust that had filled her stomach like a ball of ice. “You should have seen her, Will. She just stood there looking so pathetic. She told me to go ahead and do it...I don’t think it was a challenge. I think she really wanted me to kill her.”

Willow felt a chill at her Mistress’ words, almost as if she anticipated Buffy’s next utterance.

Buffy’s voice was barely a whisper as she admitted, “I almost think I would have, if Angel hadn’t stepped in-between us.”

Willow hugged Buffy’s arms around her, remaining silent but trying to reassure her Mistress at the same time.

“I hated her so much, Will,” Buffy admitted. “She made me a victim...took away my control…” Buffy remembered Faith on the roof, screaming about control…

["You’re all about control. You have no idea what it’s like on the other side! Where nothing’s in control, nothing makes sense! There is just pain and hate and nothing you do means anything. You can’t even…"]

“Then there was a big fight...The watcher’s council sent another team to try and kill Faith,” Buffy said.

Willow tensed. Even though it was in the past, she remembered when the council had sent a team after Faith the first time and had almost killed Buffy instead. Of course, Buffy was in Faith’s body at the time due to the mayor’s little ‘parting gift’ to the dark haired Slayer, so it wasn’t entirely the watcher team’s fault...but still!

Buffy continued, “In the fight, Faith disappeared, and then the cops came and arrested Angel for hiding her.” Buffy shook her head slightly, remembering how she had chewed on Angel, “When we got to the police station...I’ll never forget it. Faith was there. She confessed...she confessed to everything, including stuff we didn’t even know about. I couldn’t believe it. Heck, I still have a hard time believing it.”

Silence again reigned for a minute or two while Buffy remembered and thought, and Willow tried to work up the courage to ask her next question.

“Mistress, were you and Faith…” Willow began, fighting past the enormous lump in her throat and feeling her heart race, “Before she went evil...were you ever...together?” her voice was almost a squeak.

Buffy heard Willow’s heart speed up as she asked that question. Now her own was matching it. “Together how?” she asked, automatically wanting to avoid or deny.

Buffy took a deep breath. “Remember, this is the new you- no more hiding things!” she scolded herself. “Sorry, pet. I know what you meant.” Still it was hard to talk about, and she needed a couple more calming breaths before she could answer the question.

“We never had sex,” Buffy said- getting the easy part out of the way. “But...we did...stuff. A couple times after major fights we...made out.” Another deep breath and she added, “And there was some...touching. I know she wanted sex...but I always chickened out- told her I couldn’t do that behind Angel’s back…”

“Did you love her?” Willow asked, relieved a little at the no-sex, but more concerned about emotions than physical.

“Even if I did, it wouldn’t change anything now, Will,” Buffy tried to reassure her lover. “I think I was too scared to fall in love with Faith. She was too wild, and I was confused with the whole Angel thing, and then there were the feelings I had for you that I was denying big time...and I think a lot of the me and Faith thing was kinda cause...you know, another Slayer...someone who really knew what it was like.” Buffy again hugged her girlfriend tightly and kissed her neck. “I know I hurt you back then, Will. I...I never told you how sorry I was for that.”

Willow angrily scrubbed away the lone tear that had escaped her eye; pissed off at herself for letting it get to her all this time later...for giving Faith power over her for something that was over years ago. “I was so jealous of Faith,” she quietly admitted. “It was stupid and selfish of me, especially after the whole fluke thing; I mean, I just get Oz back and here I am jealous of Faith ‘cause I was so afraid you’d fall in love with her…”

“Believe me, Will; you didn’t have a lock on the selfish gig- I was pretty amazingly self-absorbed back then. And, it didn’t help that I was ignoring you and Xander and doing the whole ‘want, take, have’ thing with Faith.” Buffy began to move her hands over Willow’s torso. Nuzzling the redhead’s ear with her lips and nose, Buffy whispered, “It wouldn’t matter if she was completely rehabilitated and a candidate for sainthood, I love you and Tara, and nothing is going to change that.”

Willow melted against her Mistress, so loving her touch and her words; Mistress knew how to make her feel better! “Thank you Mistress. I’m sorry, it’s just me, being silly about stuff,” she softly said.

“No, pet! If you feel it, it’s not silly or stupid. Don’t ever believe you’ve got to ignore what you feel.” Buffy’s hands grew bolder, feeling up her pet’s breasts through the fabric of her shirt with one hand and the other toying with the redhead’s waistband.

Willow whimpered quietly at the feel of her Mistress touching her like this. “I love you, Mistress!” she moaned with quiet passion.

Buffy furtively glanced around them, and seeing no one within a hundred yards, she unbuttoned her pet’s pants.

Feeling her pants open up as Buffy unbuttoned them and ran the zipper down, Willow’s breathing sped up. “Oh, goddess! Right here? Outside in the middle of the day where anyone could see us?!” she became extremely excited at the thought.

Buffy nibbled on her pet’s earlobe for a moment and she left off fondling the girl’s breasts just long enough so she could go under her shirt, push up her bra and directly touch without barrier. Her other hand, having opened up the way, now tunneled under Willow’s panties and cupped her hot sex. “Oh, pet,” she moaned. “You’re so wet already!”

“Always wet for you, Mistress!” she gasped out when she felt Buffy pinching a nipple and stroking her pussy. Willow mewled at the feel of her Mistress sliding two fingers into her slick opening; she was trying to keep somewhat quiet given the public setting.

Buffy began pinching her pet’s nipples hard, squeezing and releasing in perfect rhythm with her fingers pumping in and out of the witch’s wet pussy.

Willow gasped with each pinch until she was panting like a thirsty dog on a hot July day.

Buffy grazed her pet’s neck with her teeth and felt the fingers she had buried inside the witch get squeezed hard. She recognized the signs of her lover’s impending orgasm- though she knew it would never happen without her express permission. She didn’t even ask- it was just a certainty. “You are mine!” she growled in Willow’s ear. “I will never let you go, and nothing will ever take you away from me, do you understand!?” she demanded.

“Oh, goddess yes, Mistress! I’m yours forever!” she wailed; her struggle to keep quiet lost in the overwhelming passion of the moment.

Buffy smiled and bit down on the taught flesh of Willow’s neck, just above her collar; sucking hard and leaving a dark, strong mark on her pet. “Cum, pet!” she growled in the girl’s ear, giving her nipple a long, hard pinch and grinding her thumb against Willow’s engorged clit.

Willow keened loudly while beautiful waves of pleasure rippled through her, as though her body was a still pool into which a large rock was thrown.

While Willow lay spent against her, Buffy continued to whisper words of love and affirmation, “I adore you pet! You are my heart, and I love you with everything that I am.”

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Faith blinked her eyes a couple times, coming back to reality and seeing the remains of another punching bag. She always pretended it was a vamp that just wouldn’t go down. She’d beat on it and kick it and basically just tear into it until either she was too tired to go on, or the bastard went down.

Just then she noticed someone was calling her name- which was unusual enough that it didn’t really register with her the first couple times he yelled. She frowned when she realized what he was saying. “Visitor? I don’t get visitors…” she thought. Angel had come a couple times, and he wrote her once in a while, just to let her know that she wasn’t forgotten. But it was still morning, wasn’t it? “Hey, what time is it?” she asked the guard as she walked through the weight-lifting area, ignoring the other inmates just as they pretended to ignore her.

“It’s almost noon,” the guard said, not caring why she asked. He just wanted to deliver her to where she was supposed to go, and hopefully not have to interact with her again.

“What the hell do you care? Damned freak,” he thought, annoyed. “No, sun’s out,” he answered tersely.

“Ok, so probably not Angel…” she thought. She didn’t know anyone outside of Angel; and of course the Scooby gang- but it never occurred to her even for a moment that it might be one of them. Even her Buffy-reconciliation fantasies never had them coming to her- it was always her getting out and going to them. She didn’t really want to be seen living in a cage. It was different with Angel- kindred spirit, tortured soul and all that.

Faith frowned when the guard walked past the door to the visit area. Suddenly suspicious, she stopped walking and said, “Hey! Where ya goin?” Pointing to the door, she said, “Last time I checked, it was in here.”

The guard turned around and had to restrain himself from snapping at her. Normally he didn’t take any crap whatsoever from inmates, but this time his self-preservation instincts kept him in check. He didn’t figure a wooden baton would be much use against someone who shredded punching bags for fun. “Not the booths. They told me to take you to one of the interview rooms.”

Those rooms were for inmates meeting with their attorneys. Faith’s attorney was a public defender whose sole job had been to stand up and plead guilty on her behalf. What kind of lawyer do you need when you already confessed to the crime?

Faith stared hard at the prison guard, but didn’t get any kind of vibe off the guy. He seemed bored and annoyed, not nervous or hyped up like he was taking her to get a beating. Nevertheless, her hackles were raised and she went forward warily. “Yeah, ok. Whatever.” She mumbled. Instinctively, Faith checked her back and set up a plan in her mind to deal with an ambush. Her eyes locked on the base of the guard’s neck, knowing without even thinking, that her fist would be smashing against that spot at the first sign of trouble. Better to eliminate him from consideration before dealing with any other attackers. She moved forward as she followed him, closing the gap between them until she was in striking range.

The guard felt a shiver go up his spine as they resumed walking. “Goddamn freak!” He thought.

Down at the end of the corridor, the guard stopped and unlocked a door on the right-hand side. He pulled it open and gestured for Faith to go in.

Faith approached the door cautiously, her eyes sweeping every square inch of the room as it became visible. When she got close to the door she saw a vaguely familiar blond girl sitting at the table. She frowned, trying to place her. Any thought of the blond flew out of her head when she got all the way to the door and saw the room’s other occupant. She froze in the doorway, feeling like she’d been gut-punched.

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Cordelia had been unable to sit still for any length of time after the gang from Sunnydale left. She fluttered about from this to that, unable to focus on anything for very long. Normally when things were slow, and the phones were stubbornly silent, she would do her nails, or read Cosmo or Vogue. However, today neither of those could hold her attention either.

Finally, when she heard Wesley hang up from the one phone call they’d received this morning, she couldn’t stand the tense boredom any longer. She went into his office and plopped down in one of the chairs.

Wesley raised his eyebrows at the young woman, waiting for her to say something. When she didn’t, he bemusedly said, “What can I help you with, Cordelia?”

“I hate this,” she stated emphatically. “It isn’t bothering you?” she asked, clearly in disbelief.

“No, I was talking about the golden globe nominations...Of course I mean Faith!” Cordelia said sarcastically.

“Yes, well...it’s true that our last encounter with Faith didn’t go particularly smoothly…” Wesley said, his British firmly in place.

Cordelia goggled at the former watcher, “Hello?! Understatement much? Wesley, she tortured you!”

“I haven’t forgotten; you may be certain of that!” he snapped. Taking a deep breath, he visibly calmed himself. “Rest assured, Cordelia; I remember quite well what happened to us both…” he broke eye contact and stared at the wall for a moment while he collected himself. “I had bloody nightmares for months after that horrible ordeal” Wesley remembered. “Honestly, I believe Angel was doing the right thing in trying to help Faith...but at the time I would have joyfully watched her being put down like a rabid dog!” he thought.

Cordelia was attacking Wesley only as a reaction to her own troubled feelings, not because she was mad at him. Wesley knew that intellectually, but it was difficult not to snap back at the tactless seer. He just stared at her for several moments, unable to think of anything to say to resolve this.

Fortunately, Cordelia also knew why she was behaving the way she was, and Wesley’s silence gave her brain enough time to catch up with her mouth. She visibly deflated, sinking back into the chair and blushing at her behavior. “Sorry Wesley. I’m just…” she gestured helplessly, unable to easily sum up her feelings.

Wesley also relaxed slightly, leaning back in his chair and saying, “Quite alright, Cordelia. This is a stressful situation, what with the situation in Sunnydale and the return of Faith, and all the rest. We’re all uneasy.”

“Oh,” she said. “I thought you meant the whole Buffy lesbian-sex-and-bondage thing.”

Wesley blushed hotly. He would have never brought it up, of course, but that too was somewhat disquieting to him. It was extremely difficult not to be aroused by such thoughts. “Y- yes, well…” he stuttered uncomfortably.

“Did you really pass out when you saw them kissing last night?” she asked, taking refuge from Faith-related thoughts by teasing Wesley.

“Dammit Gunn!” Cordy exclaimed. “It’s bad enough when Angel sneaks around, now you’ve got to do it too?”

Gunn laughed. “Aw, you’re just pissed cause I interrupted you teasing English there.”

“Alright, smarty-pants; enlighten me- what is it with the whole lesbian fascination?”

Gunn smiled and said, “If one beautiful woman is good, two are better. And the more you add, the better it gets! It’s pretty simple,” he said as though it were obvious.

Seeking to divert the conversation away from sex, Wesley asked Gunn, “Were you able to get a hold of your contact for the firearms?”

Gunn said, “Hey man, it’s not like there’s a catalog to shop from. She’s gotta make some calls; find out what she can get her hands on quick. I told her we gotta have it by tomorrow night, so you know it’s gonna cost us extra.”

“I see,” Wesley said. “Do you have any idea of price range at all? I need to arrange for funds as soon as possible, what with the time zone difference between us and the council…”

“Hey, you want it fast and clean, expect them to mark it up. It’ll cost her extra, which means she’s gonna charge us extra,” Gunn explained. “Plus she knows we don’t have time to shop around, so that bumps the up price even more.”

“Is there no one else you can go to?” Wesley asked, still choking with sticker-shock.

Gunn spoke slowly, “If you want a gun, you can get one anywhere- but it’ll be hotter than hell; stolen at least, and probably used in some crime you don’t want any part of. Even then, it’s gonna be a handgun or a shotgun. The stuff on Xan-man’s list is military grade. You don’t get that on a street corner. Plus, we’re talking full auto rock and roll- not some garage-rigged semi-auto. All that adds up, man. We’ll pay 20K and say thank you very much.”

“Yes, well…” Wesley said, while thinking “No need to be patronizing about it.” With a sigh he said, “I suppose I have a phone call to make,” clearly displaying a complete lack of enthusiasm.

Gunn jumped up and sat on the counter and said, “So, what’s the 411 on this other Slayer? I got the impression that no-one’s real eager to see her.”

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Faith blinked once and turned her attention to the blond. “Uh, you wanna tell me what the hell’s going on?”

Tara smiled at the irony. “Sure,” she said. “Why don’t you come in and sit down and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Faith locked down the roiling emotions playing in her stomach and affected as best she could her usual cool attitude. “Sure,” she said evenly as she walked in. She jumped a little when the door closed behind her with the guard still outside. “You sure you feel safe in here alone with me?” she asked with just a little bitterness showing. She was ok as long as she focused on the blond. Every time her eyes wandered over to Xander, she felt the emotion straining to burst out of her.

Xander didn’t know what he expected to see. She seemed pretty much like the old Faith, except with the edge kinda taken off. He might have believed she was really that uncaring, except he’d seen her eyes when she first saw him. He imagined that her seeing any of the Scooby gang came as quite a shock, but the emotion he had seen flare up- brief as it was- told the true tale.

“You might not remember me,” Tara began. “You weren’t quite yourself when we met.”

Faith said, “Yeah, ok. So how’s about you tell me why you guys are here. Old home week?”

Tara could tell that Faith’s attitude was a thin mask at best. “She can’t even look at Xander,” she thought to herself sadly. “Ok, right to the point. We need your help.”

Faith laughed, but there was no humor in it. This was like a twisted version of her fantasies, and she just *knew* it was going to end up turning into a nightmare. She wasn’t altogether convinced that this wasn’t really just a dream as it was. She felt tempted to pinch herself. “Yeah, that’s funny. What’s the punchline? In case you didn’t notice- I’m in prison. Unless you’re gonna bring the vamps to me, I’m not much use for slaying.”

“It’s a lot bigger than a few vamps. Big enough that the council was willing to pull some strings…”

“No way. Last time I checked, the council was trying to kill me, not bust me out of jail.” Faith couldn’t let herself believe this. It had to be a trick.

Faith was ready to attack again, but when she looked at Xander, her mouth snapped shut.

Tara briefly outlined what they were up against, and what their plan was to fight it.

“So, you want to use me in some spell to make a Super-Buffy and beat this hell-bitch back into her shell…” she suddenly flashed to her weird nightmare. “Does she look like some trailer-park tramp with curly brown hair and too much space between her eyes?” she asked seemingly out of the blue.

The shocked looks on Tara’s and Xander’s faces were enough to tell her she was right. “Dammit! I didn’t want to be right, not about that!” she thought angrily.

Faith almost asked what was in it for her. “God, I can be such a bitch!” she thought. Here was a golden opportunity to try and make a start at making amends, and she could only think of herself. “Ok.” She said with a sigh.

Faith suddenly seized on another opportunity- after all it was a small thing and she could actually apologize for this without feeling like complete crap. “Hey, Tara, I’m...uh…” Ok, so not as easy as you’d think.

“Uh, I’m sorry about what I said to you at the Bronze…” Faith muttered, eyes down.

Tara’s smile lit up the dank and dingy room. “It’s ok, Faith. We were both different people then.”

Just that little forgiveness felt better that Faith had ever imagined it could. If nothing else, that alone made this spell thing worth it. Oh yeah, plus the whole saving the world thing. “That has to clear a couple of bad karma points, doesn’t it?” she thought.

“Ok, so how does this work? When do I get out of here, and how do I get to SunnyD?” Faith asked.

“Today?” Faith asked, sudden excitement slipping through the chinks in her armor.

Tara nodded her head, “Of course. I just have to go talk to the warden, and give him the paperwork…”

“Five whole days?” Faith thought in wonder. She never thought she’d see the outside of these walls again, let alone five days of freedom.

Xander and Tara both thought the smile lighting up Faith’s face made her look beautiful. They smiled back and Tara said, “Well, why don’t I go see the warden, and you two can catch up. I imagine it may be a little while.”

She hoped Xander could break through that mask Faith was wearing. She could imagine the guilt and fear hidden behind it, and it would be better if Faith could start letting it go before she saw the rest of the Scooby gang, otherwise she might just build it up even thicker.

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Xander and Faith sat without saying a word for almost five minutes after Tara left. Neither one was sure what to say, how to break the silence.

Faith’s enthusiasm had quickly dimmed- yes it would be good to be out, and everything, but she was afraid it would be just that much worse when she had to come back. Plus, how was she going to be able to make amends to everyone in just five days- especially if they were busy getting ready for this big fight. All her fears and insecurities were running through her mind again. “Crap, I can’t even say I’m sorry to Xander! How am I gonna face B?

Finally Xander built up the courage to speak. “I’m sorry Faith,” he whispered. Even after his talk with Tara, even after acknowledging that she was right- that Faith made her own choices, Xander still felt guilty for that one conversation gone horribly wrong.

“What are you sorry for?” Faith asked, surprised. She was really trying not to be defensive- desperately wanting to not be defensive, but failing.

The funny thing was, Xander fully expected to get blasted for what he was about to say. After his conversation with Tara, he realized that Faith might actually take offense- that he was trying to take responsibility for her actions, like she couldn’t make her own decisions. Even though he knew that, he still felt it eating a hole in his gut, and he knew it would never go away until he apologized. She didn’t have to forgive him, he just needed her to know that he knew he screwed up and was sorry for it.

Faith felt the prickly sensation at the backs of her eyes that usually preceded tears.

“I went there to try and tell you that…” he took a deep breath, not wanting to cry, “I wanted you to know that it was ok to screw up. I mean, we all screwed up big time before, me, Willow, Buffy...all of us did stuff that was really stupid before and we got through it.” He lifted his head to meet her eyes as he continued, “I dunno, I guess I thought that...maybe you didn’t know that. Maybe you thought we would all, like, hate you or something. Like it couldn’t be fixed...Anyway, I wanted to tell you that, but I messed it up and it all came out wrong and everything…”<