Wolves, Slayers and Cages by Frau Hunter Ash

Disclaimer: The characters and show all belong to Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui, and God only knows who else. The X-files characters and show all belong to Chris Carter, Fox and possibly others. No copyright infringement was intended and suing me will not make you any money! The storyline, however, is the sole property of the author. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices.

Summary: Everyone tries to deal with Willow’s lycanthropy and things go into crisis when Willow disappears and it looks like the Initiative is involved.

Buffy frowned when she looked at the calendar on the wall as she toweled her hair dry. Two more days until the full moon, she realized. Two more days before the nightmare began.

The Slayer glanced over at the sleeping redhead and blonde in the bed and smiled slightly. Willow was on her back with Tara snuggled in her arms. Buffy's smile widened like it always did whenever she looked at either or both of them.

Buffy sat down on the edge of the bed and gently brushed a lock of red hair from Willow's forehead. She glanced down at the young woman's beautiful chest and lost her smile.

Willow's pajama top was slightly open and Buffy could see the healing wounds from the incision running down the witch's breastbone. The wound where the silver dagger had entered her chest, killing her.

The Slayer wished she could do more to ease those scars, wishing she could give Willow some of her Slayer healing powers and lessen those scars. Buffy knew that the young witch was self-conscious about them, no matter how much Tara and Buffy reassured Willow that she was still sexy as hell.

Buffy once again cursed the name of Daniel Oswald, known to the Scooby Gang better as Oz. She hoped whatever hell he had ended up in that he was paying over and over again for bringing her lover any kind of pain. Especially the pain of carrying his damned werewolf curse.

Buffy leaned over and lightly kissed Tara and then Willow before heading out the door.

Being Tuesday, she knew that Willow and Tara didn't have a class until 10 a.m. and was going to take the opportunity to sleep late. Buffy, restless with worrying about Willow and the upcoming full moon, decided to run over and see Giles.

For once, her mom had spent the night at home and not at Giles' place or he at the Summers home. Now that they had officially announced their engagement and set a tentative wedding date in January, the two older adults were much more open about their affection and the fact they were sharing the same bed almost every night.

As she trotted to school, Buffy reflected on how good the last three weeks felt as compared to October. Xander still had his security job, Anya was working at the Magic Box, Oz was dead, Riley had given up thinking any of them were now werewolves and she was caught up in her classes.

Despite fears, misgivings, and everyone thinking it wouldn't last more than a week; the three women were still feeling like they were in the early stages of new romance. <It was amazing>, Buffy thought; <she didn't feel jealous that Tara and Willow loved each other, she loved them both and knew they loved her as well.>

Giles had been fascinated by the developing relationship between the three but had been a stuttering mess when he tried to ask about the unique connection they had formed, especially during sex.

Willow and Tara had blushed a bright red and Buffy had resisted giggling hysterically when they tried to describe to him what they were talking about to the typically uptight Englishman.

<How could you adequately describe the mind, soul and body opening up to your lover to the point where you both felt what the other one was feeling?> They had a difficult time explaining that it wasn't like an out-of-body experience but maybe something like it.

Willow, not much for sexual descriptions anyway was only matched by Tara's stuttering and had tried to leave it to Buffy to explain things. <That hadn't gone well, either,> the Slayer laughed to herself.

Giles had finally given up with a toss of his hands and concentrated on other aspects of their connection to each other.

Willow hit upon the idea later of each of them typing into the computer their descriptions of what had happened during sex and she emailed it to Giles. Buffy and Tara had laughed but both agreed it was a wonderful idea.

It had taken a major effort though, not to fall on the floor with laughter when Giles thanked Willow for her email and described it as "helpful," while he cleaned his glasses.

Willow placed those writings under a password security file. When Tara and Buffy had asked the witch why, she offered them the scenario of Xander someday finding those descriptions and both of them promptly agreed security was needed.

Buffy hated the fact that in two nights she was going to have to lock part of her life away in a cell in a dusty old tomb. She and Tara were going to spend the night in the same tomb where Oz had once contained his beast only this time it was Willow they would be locking up for the night.

The Slayer tried to dismiss those thoughts from her mind. It was a crisp winter day and the break from Thanksgiving was over and she was feeling good about school, her growing relationship with Tara and Willow and her Mom wasn't considering her a lost cause. Things were looking up. Except for the full moon thing.

Willow woke up as Tara smacked the radio alarm clock's snooze bar. The blonde grumbled and turned back over to snuggle in Willow's good arm, lightly nuzzling her neck. Willow turned, being careful not to whack her witch lover with her cast, and threw a leg over Tara's and smiled as blue eyes met her green ones.

"Better, the hand isn't too bad," the witch smiled and wiggled one of her fingers to demonstrate. "The other…well, I've got two days before…well, I mean…before we have to…"

"Its okay, Willow," Tara said softly and began kissing Willow's lips to stop a trademark Willow babble.

"I'm scared, Tara," Willow admitted when they pulled back from the kiss to touch foreheads together, sharing space.

"You don't remember changing when you did the spell to take the lycanthropy from Buffy, you probably won't remember it this time either," Tara tried to reassure her girlfriend.

"I remember such incredible pain and then nothing," Willow remembered, her voiced thoughtful. "I'm worried about the two of you being there."

"I remember what it was like watching Oz change and watching Buffy beginning to turn after Oz' bite. I don't want either of you watching that," Willow frowned. "It hurts."

"Willow, Buffy and I are going to b-be there for you. End of d-discussion," Tara tried to smile and managed to get Willow to smile slightly. "We love you and you… you aren't going to go t-through this alone."

"Okay," Willow agreed, knowing she wasn't going to win this argument, they had gone over it enough in the last three weeks since she had taken the curse from Buffy onto herself.

"Have you heard from Mulder?" Tara asked as she sat up on the edge of the bed, slipping her feet into her house shoes. <Wooden floors were cool looking but they were cold in the winter>, she thought.

"Not in the last couple of days," Willow said as she sat up on the other side of the bed. "He's got his computer friends looking everywhere for any kind of a cure besides the ones that include the fat of unbaptised[1] babies."

"Total agreement!" Willow grinned. "He and I decided that was a little too much over the top, even to remove a curse."

Tara shivered and shook her head to dismiss the images trying to crowd her brain. She glanced over at Willow who was at the closet deciding on what to wear for a day at school.

The blonde witch was pleased with how well her girlfriend was looking. <After the attack, and her hand and heart recovering from the trauma they obtained, Willow was looking quite good,>, Tara thought. They were still being cautious with the heart recovery though; Willow tired easily and still couldn't do any kind of exertion or intense emotional distress without sending her heart racing into a danger zone.

The cast was the most irritating for the red-haired witch, however. To even take a shower required help at times. Willow had opted for a shorter hair cut since she was doing most of her personal hygiene with only one hand now and would be for awhile. Getting dressed could be a nightmare of buttons, zippers and shoe laces.

Willow thanked the Fates that they lived in Sunnydale, California and not somewhere up north or back east where multiple layers of clothing with zippers and thick shoes would be required.

Tara grinned and walked up behind Willow and wrapped her arms around her fellow witch as Willow leaned back into the embrace.

"She's feeling cooped up," Tara commented. "For some reason, nothing want to be slain the last few nights."

"I wonder if anything is up?" Willow frowned. Usually when the evil undead became scarce in Sunnydale, it meant something evil was planning something unpleasant.

"Giles hasn't heard anything and neither has Spike," Tara added, slipping past Willow to grab her own clothes.

One of the developments of the three weeks was the continued living arrangements of the three students and lovers.

Tara and Willow had moved into the Summers home with Buffy when Oz was stalking Willow and Buffy but after Oz' death, they had continued living with Buffy and her mom. No one suggested moving back to the dorms, including Buffy's mom.

Also unspoken was the sleeping arrangements, most of the time the three ended up in the same bed for the night and Joyce Summers never said anything about it.

They were still adjusting to the fact that Buffy's Mom and Giles seemed alright with their unusual relationship while they were still adjusting to it themselves.

Also unspoken was whoever was sleeping with whom each night. Some nights they all ended up in the same bed snuggling, other nights two of them would end up in bed together sexually.

Surprising to everyone was that no one got jealous of either of the other young women.

Willow smiled as she watched a sleepy Tara rummage through the closet and settle on what she wanted for the day.

Willow grinned and wrapped an arm around Tara's waist and kissed the other witch.

"Getting through Professor Walsh's class," Willow frowned. "Ever since Buffy turned her back on the Initiative, Professor Walsh has been really hard on the two of us."

"After that I've got another class and then lunch," Willow continued. "Then two more classes in the afternoon."

"Want to meet for lunch? Buffy said she'd be at the cafeteria during our lunch break," Tara suggested.

Tara leaned in for another long and lingering kiss. "Maybe I can help with the shower too?" she asked, her voice turning husky.

"Yes, I was hoping you'd suggest that," Willow said softly, her eyes beginning to darken with arousal.

Buffy resisted growling when she walked into the lecture hall and saw Riley talking with Professor Walsh. The Slayer stopped at the top of the stairs, watching them as they were having apparently a serious discussion.

"Hey, Red," the Slayer's mood was instantly lifted and she had to fight and restrain herself from wrapping her arms around the taller red-head. "You are adorable when you sleep," she whispered.

Buffy turned around and looked down to see Riley and Professor Walsh watching them.

"Yes, Tara too," Willow agreed and then leaned down to Buffy's ear with an evil grin. "I'd like to do you tonight, by the way," she whispered.

Buffy's eyes widened and she began to blush as Willow slipped by her, heading for their seats.

"Full moon," the Slayer muttered, remembering Willow's comment that Oz always got really 'frisky' before a full moon. Buffy grinned, that was one part of Willow being cursed as a werewolf that Buffy might actually like.

When she sat down next to the red-head Willow was already getting her books out of her backpack, in serious student mode and Riley was gone.

The Slayer thought class actually went well for once. Professor Walsh seemed to focus on someone else for the day. She grabbed up her books and started up the stairs.

"Could I see you for a minute, I have a question about one of your papers while you were gone," Professor Walsh, the lead psychological scientist for the Initiative Center and professor at Sunnydale University, asked.

"Sure," Willow said easily and looked over at Buffy. "I'll catch you and Tara at lunch, Buff."

Buffy hesitated, looking back at the Professor but Professor Walsh had turned her attention to something on her desk. The Slayer managed to smile at her friend.

"Okay, see you in a bit," Buffy muttered and headed for door with an uneasy feeling.

Willow, knowing Buffy's protective streak, smiled as she gathered up her books and shoved them in her backpack. She trotted down to the Professor's table and went around joining Professor Walsh hovering over the papers.

The hacker leaned over the table, recognizing one of her papers and wondering what could be wrong with it.

"Ow!" Willow stood upright, feeling at the back of her neck. She looked over at the Professor with a confused expression. The hacker was suddenly having trouble focusing.

A class later, Tara grinned when she caught sight of Buffy sitting at one of their regular tables. Buffy, feeling the energy shifting around her, looked up and smiled in response.

The witch finished paying for her meal and worked her way over to her girlfriend, hoping not to trip and make a fool out of herself. Tara knew she wasn't as clumsy as she used to be since meeting Willow and the gang and she definitely stuttered less around them. Out in public, Tara still felt inadequate and clumsy at times.

Buffy smiled, seeing the blonde witch with loving eyes and never seeing the clumsy, unattractive, shy geek Tara always feared everyone saw.

"She usually beats us here, maybe she's taking it easier walking across campus," Tara suggested.

Ever since plunging a silver dagger through her heart to stop Oz from claiming her as his wolf mate, Willow had been on a long road of recovery and that included taking it easier physically and especially no slaying with Buffy.

"Yeah, I hope she's taking it easy," Buffy agreed. "Last thing we need this week is her heart acting up. Giles is still worried about the change Thursday night and what it might do to her heart."

"Well, she made it through the change the first night when she grabbed the curse from you," Tara commented.

"Yeah, drugged out of her mind," Buffy mumbled and glanced at the clock on the wall with a frown. "Where the hell is she?"

"I don't know, I was getting 'spidey' vibes from Professor Walsh when she asked Willow to go over one of her papers after class," Buffy complained.

"I don't know, she didn't act strange or do anything weird, it just felt strange," Buffy tried to explain.

"Okay," Tara said softly and closed her eyes. Buffy felt her 'spidey' sense tingling, like something was lightly brushing a feather just above her skin. With a start, the Slayer realized that Tara was extending her magickal senses, trying to connect with Willow and touching her connection with the Slayer as well.

Tara opened her eyes with a frown. "Something's wrong, Buff, I can't sense her." The witch closed her eyes again and concentrated. Buffy's skin began to crawl and she could almost swear she could see a visible aura forming around Tara.

Tara opened her eyes and Buffy was instantly on alert at the fear in the witch's eyes.

Giles watched Buffy pacing across the living room floor while Tara nervously pulled at the hem of her t-shirt nervously.

"Yes, she said Willow answered her question and left the forum hall," Tara answered while Buffy just growled.

"No, her aura was all off s-somehow but she was so c-calm and cool," Tara stammered.

"Yes," Buffy said firmly. "The problem is I don't know how to get into that place since they've revoked my clearance."

"Why would they take her? You convinced Riley none of you were cursed," Joyce asked.

"Giles!" Buffy shouted, "What do we do? I'm not sure I can just rush in there, pound heads and get Willow out. As much as I'd really like to right now!"

"She must be drugged, if she was injured or unconscious, I think you'd be able to connect," Giles commented.

"Okay, she's drugged," Buffy snapped. "Someone has her, odds say it's the Initiative, what do we do?"

"I'll call him immediately," Giles reached for the phone as someone pounded on the door. "Tara, can you do the computer hacking thing and find the plans for that damned center?"

"What are you thinking, Giles?" Buffy asked as she opened the door for Xander and Anya. "Willow's missing; we think the Initiative has her."

"Well, you've described the only entrance as an elevator," Giles muttered as he searched for Fox Mulder's card. "There must be a service entrance to get all that equipment down there."

"Of course!" Buffy grinned. "I can't see them taking out the demons through the Frat House."

"Knowing Willow, she never trusted the Initiative and already has the plans on her computer," Xander suggested and Tara made a dash for the stairs.

"Joyce, you and Buffy sit down and draw out what Buffy remembers of the inside," Giles continued as he dialed the phone. "Anya, coffee and tea would be excellent. It may be a long day and night."

Buffy growled at that comment but sat down at the dining table while her mom grabbed paper, pencils and rulers.

"Yes, that's better, what's the problem, Giles? Does it have something to do with the flash I got across my computer that the Initiative has captured a 'hostile' female werewolf?" Mulder asked.

"What?" Giles stammered. Both Buffy and her mother gave up trying to work to listen.

"I've got friends who send me anything that might be interesting from the Initiative's computers," Mulder explained. "We have reservations on the next flight out into Los Angeles, we'll rent a car there and drive out as soon as possible. We should be there sometime in the middle of the night."

"I have a partner," Mulder explained. "Don't move against the Initiative until we get there."

"Yes, and I'm betting the first few days will be spent on lab testing," Mulder said calmly.

"Hurry, Agent Mulder," Giles urged. "I won't be able to hold Buffy and the gang back for long."

"I understand but know this, the Initiative is waiting for that according to one of their memos," Mulder warned. "If I know organizations like this, your kids will disappear."

Giles turned to explain as Tara and Xander dashed down the stairs to hear about the conversation.

Buffy growled at the instructions to wait but knew that Riley and the units would be on alert and expecting the Gang to mount a rescue attempt.

By nightfall, however, the Slayer was unable to be contained and grabbed her stakes.

"I'll be back, Giles," Buffy snapped as she slipped on her leather jacket. "I really…really need to slay something and heaven help the vampire that crosses my path tonight!"

Buffy leaned down over the back of the sofa and kissed Tara quickly. "I won't do anything stupid, I promise," she whispered.

Willow moaned and opened her eyes slowly. Her head hurt, her encased hand itched, something was stuck in her mouth and she couldn't move.

The witch glanced around quickly with her eyes and tried to slow her heart-rate down as it began to pound rapidly. Everywhere Willow looked was white, government white. She turned her head to look left and right and wasn't reassured any. Various machines were pulled up to the gurney she was strapped to as well as a medical table that had several trays covered with blue sterile paper. Leaning up as far as she could, Willow discovered that she was dressed in a horrible hospital gown and her limbs were held down with metal clamps. She couldn't tell what was in her mouth but it was keeping her from shouting out in fear and anger.

Willow whimpered around the gag and heard the machine tracking her heart increase to an alarming rate.

The witch wasn't really surprised when the door opened and both Riley and Professor Walsh walked into the room and shut the door behind them.

"Hello, Hostile 52," Professor Walsh said cheerfully and Willow's heart-rate increased.

Noticing the alarming rate of the beeps from one of the machines, Professor Walsh walked over to a medicine cabinet and unlocked it. After a moment of searching through the medicine bottles, she selected one and then rummaged in a drawer, pulling out a syringe. Willow tried to shake her head 'no' as the Professor wiped her arm with an alcohol pad and injected her with whatever the drug was.

"Don't fight it, the drug is just to help slow your heart rate down a little and keep your mind unfocused," Professor Walsh explained. "We can't have you dying of a heart attack this soon in the research."

"What are we going to do with her?" Riley asked, looking down at Willow like she wasn't even an interesting test subject in a science lab. <Which Willow figured she now was.>

"With her heart injured the way it is and that hand having to be rebuilt, we don't dare let her change Thursday night without sedating her," Walsh commented, frowning in thought. "The change just might kill her and she'd definitely injure that hand."

"She'd never make it through Shock Troop training either," Riley commented, looking at the printout of Willow's heart-rate.

"I agree," Walsh muttered. "You know, Hostile 52, we were lucky you tested positive for lycanthropy. If you hadn't we would had to have grabbed Buffy Summers next for testing."

"Probably a magical spell, that's why I insisted on gagging her," Walsh explained to both Riley and Willow. "This early in magic learning, she needs to vocalize for a spell to work. Can't speak, can't cast spells to get out of here."

"We'll handle that," Marsh assured him. "It really is a shame that she couldn't be recruited to work with us and only be locked away three nights out of the month. She is highly intelligent and a wiz at computers."

"Buffy already rejected us, no way Willow would work for us if her friends and lovers object," Riley commented bitterly.

"Too bad she went and got herself bitten," Walsh commented. "She probably would have been recruited by the FBI or CIA with those computer skills."

"Or Bill Gates," Riley muttered. "So, she can't be trained as a soldier or mindless assassin, though it would be interesting to watch her destroyed mentally."

"You're right though, we can't train her as a Shock Troop assassin with that heart condition."

Despite the fuzzy feeling of the narcotic hitting her system, Willow felt her heart rate jump once again at those words and Marsh frowned.

"Well, we have the Hostile that started this mess with her, why not let him finish and mate with her? We don't get many female werewolf hostiles," Riley suggested.

"After the usual battery of tests, we'll put them together and observe their interaction," Walsh decided. "The usual blood tests, x-rays, MRI, scans, complete work up on her."

"Leave it for now, we'll put her under this evening and take care of that," Walsh said and looked down into Willow's terror filled eyes. "I'm sorry this happened to you. I really liked you and had high hopes for you and your friends with our organization."

Willow tried to scream around the ball gag in her mouth and struggled against the straps as Walsh walked out the door and two men in lab coats entered but didn't even look at her.

"Full range of testing," Riley ordered and the two techs position themselves at either end of the gurney and unlocked the foot brake.

"Tara!" Joyce cried as the young witch dropped her glass of soda and grabbed for the kitchen counter. Buffy's mom rushed to grab Tara as her knees buckled. "Giles!"

The Watcher dashed into the kitchen from the living room and helped Joyce move a semi-aware Tara to a chair at the kitchen table. He squatted down in front of her as she shook her head and began to blink.

"It's Willow," she whispered, closing her eyes as tears began escaping. "She's terrified. She's so scared, Giles."

"No, she's drugged and can barely think, it's mostly images," Tara answered between sobs. "Machines, needles and white walls."

Xander leaned against a sturdy gravestone as Buffy sobbed in his arms. She had been working a lot of her frustration out on the local vampire population and had just finished killing two of them when the Slayer had dropped her stake, her eyes becoming unfocused. Xander had rushed forward in time to catch Buffy as she cried out for Willow.

From what he could gather from Buffy's gasping words, Willow was scared to death and Buffy could see some of it.

The young man angrily wiped at his own tears as he kept an eye out for vampires as the Slayer wept.

"Mulder, tell me again the story of why we're going to a small town here in California," Special Agent Dana Scully insisted. She was still on East coast time and was very grumpy at traveling in the middle of the night when Mulder was being even more vague than usual.

Fox Mulder started to answer when his cell phone rang, he took advantage of the situation to shrug and click on his phone.

"Mulder, we have the plans you wanted and we sent them to that email address," a familiar voice said. "We're also working on finding out what they have planned for the prisoner they're calling Hostile 52."

"No can do, your voice, prints and retina scan are all on record and on their hot list," Langley responded. "They know you might be coming, Scully too."

"Okay, I'll get back to you about possible identification and access codes," Mulder said and clicked off.

"Well, I told you about the college student I've been exchanging information with in California, right?"

"Yes, one of your many paranormal buddies," Scully nodded, looking out the window into the California darkness.

"Well, she's a witch, actually practicing magick type witch," he began. "She asked me for a really rare spell."

"Yeah, I found it too. I didn't know the exact details because no one I knew could translate it," Mulder continued. "About the time the Gunmen translated it with random programs, so did Willow. I found out that it was dangerous and was damned costly."

"What do you mean? And I'm supposed to believe that this college student, computer geek is performing spells like Merlin? She's not just one of those Wiccans dancing in the moonlight?"

"No, real magick and is apparently getting very good at it," Mulder grinned at Scully's usual skeptic comments. "The spell could cost the caster their soul and the spell is designed to transform the curse of lycanthropy from one person to the caster, willingly."

"Yup!" Mulder's voice wasn't as enthusiastic as Scully would have expected and she glanced over at her partner.

"You're telling me that she did the spell and is now cursed?" Scully asked softly, noting his frown.

"Yeah, I flew out here for several days when she didn't respond to my emails," Mulder said in a flat voice. "I was too late in stopping her. Willow took the curse from her girlfriend."

"That may be the problem," Mulder said cryptically. "Her friends and Willow have dealt with werewolf friends before and know how to take care of each other. She was stabbed through the heart and dealing with that injury and now the werewolf thing. They planned on sedating her this full moon to prevent the change from human to werewolf from injuring her heart again."

"Whoa! You expect me to believe some young college girl is going to change into a wolf in a few days?"

"I didn't see a werewolf on that Indian Reservation, Mulder," Scully countered. "I saw the body of a boy who was obviously demented. He tore his own father to pieces."

"I didn't see a wolf in the darkness," Scully repeated. "Maybe I can watch your friend change, even some testing?" she said hopefully.

"I promised never to reveal the existence of the weird things that happens here," Mulder muttered.

"I can't without endangering Willow and her friends to the damned secret organizations," Mulder complained. "The problem we're coming out to help with is that they may already have Willow."

Mulder launched into the long explanation of Slayers, vampires, werewolves and the Initiative. It took time but they had the time to spend talking as Mulder drove from Los Angeles to Sunnydale in the darkness.

"Langley," a voice responded. "Your Hostile 52 is scheduled for round the clock testing, sleep deprivation, something preventive, observation for a day with Hostile 49 and then transport of Hostile 52 and several others to a larger facility in Area 51."

"They reopened it to investigate the Hostiles they've captured. Once there, they plan on inseminating her and using her as a lab rat," Langley informed his FBI friend. "Mulder, these guys don't care about finding a cure for werewolves or vampires. I think their ultimate agenda is creating very scarey monster soldiers. If you know this girl, you'd better get her out of there fast. They don't care what mental state they leave their test subjects in."

"Thanks, Langley, that's the plan," Mulder said firmly as he clicked off. A glance over at Scully's face told Mulder that she had heard the conversation.

"Inseminate?" she whispered, her eyes wide in the light of the dashboard of the rental car.

"That's what he said. Turn her into a puppy mill for werewolves," Mulder said bitterly, trying not to choke as he thought of the last time he had seen Willow, looking very fragile in Buffy's arms, legs tossed across Tara's lap.

"Mulder, if even half of this is true, we have to stop them," Scully said firmly.

"I know, I was hoping that both sides could stay away from each other. Willow and her friends thought they had convinced the Initiative that none of them were infected," Mulder explained. "I guess the Initiative wasn't fooled or wasn't taking any chances."

Xander grabbed Buffy's arm when they both spotted Riley standing at the gate of the graveyard with his Initiative platoon.

Both Slayer and her best male friend noticed the soldiers had their fingers on the triggers of their stun guns and a couple of them were armed with shotguns as they approached.

"What do you want, Riley? I already cleared the graveyard for the night," Buffy asked.

"That's not for another two nights, come on by," Buffy quipped "I might need a snack."

"Nope," he grinned. "The only things we have are confirmed hostiles. You want to give me some of your blood and get me off your back?"

"Don't do it, Buffy," Xander growled, his hand tight on a stake. "Make him earn his brownie points."

"Who you calling a loser, you son of a bitch?" Xander growled and Buffy held out her arm to restrain her friend.

"I don't feel like beating them senseless tonight, Xander," Buffy growled. "Since you were looking for me, I assume you have a kit with you."

"I know," Buffy said softly and handed her friend the stake in her hand. "Not you, Riley, one of your other qualified goons and there'd better not be anything in that syringe," Buffy growled as she pulled off her jacket.

Riley smirked and pulled out a green medic kit and handed it to one of his platoon mates. The soldier started forward but stopped suddenly when Xander dropped the stakes and pulled out a Glock pistol and pointed it at the group.

"You!" he pointed the gun at the young black male with the kit. "Drop your weapons first."

The soldier slowly eased his rifle off his shoulder and handed it back to Riley and then handed over his pistol and held up his hands with the kit in one.

"Nice and slowly," Xander instructed as Buffy rolled up her sleeve. "I want prepackaged needles, alcohol pad and secure test tube."

Buffy raised her eyebrows in amusement and admiration. Xander was surprising her with his quick thinking and protective streak.

The Slayer submitted to having her blood drawn once the soldier showed them the needle was still in a sterile package and he had only one vial for the blood.

"Any bad affects and I'll take your balls off personally," Xander threatened as he picked up and handled the jacket to Buffy and Buffy picked up the stakes.

"Since she gave up her blood so quickly, I doubt we'll find anything," Riley commented with a frown.

"Kinda," Riley admitted. "Giles tried to talk me into being your friend last month. Tell him he was wrong and I still owe him for that stunt with the police."

"Stay out of my way, Riley," Buffy snapped. "If you hurt any of my friends, I'll take your head off, slowly."

"We only deal with Hostiles," Riley grinned as he handed the commando back his rifle and pistol. "See you around, Buff."

Buffy waited until the soldiers were out of sight and then spun on her heels and snapped a tree branch in half with an angry shout.

"You are so right and you were so cool!" Xander said admiringly. "Why did you give up your blood?"

"I didn't want you hurt; they would have fought for it. I'm no longer infected and this might throw them for a loop a little," Buffy explained. "Goddamn it! Willow!" she suddenly screamed and smacked her fist into a wooden fence, snapping the board.

"Come on, Buff," Xander said gently as dogs began barking up and down the alley they had reached. "Agent Mulder should be here soon, maybe he has some answers."

Willow had no idea how long she had been wheeled from one room to another but it felt like hours and she was exhausted. She also felt like a very large lab rat. The witch had no idea how many times blood had been drawn, how many x-rays had been taken or how many series of MRI scans she had been through. The only thing she was certain of, the techs had changed shifts which meant there was some kind of passage of time.

After awhile even the terror had worn down and Willow tried her best to sleep through most of the tests they were running. Since she couldn't talk or protest and she never had the chance or energy to fight back whenever they undid the steel restraints, she gave up fighting for the moment and tried to rest in order to save her energy.

"Is she sedated?" Marsh's voice reached her and Willow opened her eyes to glare at the scientist.

"No, Ma'am, just resting," a voice responded. "She fought back at first but not much. The Hostile is easy to handle with those drugs you gave her."

"We can't have her straining that heart too much," Marsh commented. "Give her the meds and we'll get this next procedure over."

Willow didn't look down at the needle and only winced slightly as it plunged into her skin. The witch felt something hitting her almost immediately as her eyes began to close on their own.

Mulder wasn't surprised to see a very tired Giles opening the door to Buffy's home.

"Thank God," Giles muttered and moved aside so the federal agents could enter. "Oh my!" the Englishman muttered when he saw Scully in the porchlight.

"Oh damn!" Mulder cursed. "I forgot, Giles and everyone, this is Agent Dana Scully, my partner. I forgot to mention she looks a lot like Willow."

"She's small build like you, same red hair, same style and green eyes," Mulder explained. "This is Joyce Summers, Xander Harris, Anya Smyth, and Rupert Giles, Willow's friends."

"I'm sorry we have to meet like this," Scully said easily as everyone nodded their hellos.

"We made them go upstairs and lie down," Joyce explained. "They're trying to comfort each other."

"Please sit down, agents," Giles offered as Xander and Anya cleared off the sofa, moving to an easy chair and Xander to the floor between Anya's legs. "Both Tara and Buffy got a psychic flash from Willow earlier. She's being held somewhere with lots of machines, white walls and she's terrified. Especially about the needles."

"Let me get us all some coffee," Joyce suggested. "Xander, you go call the girls down."

"Yes, mom," Xander said and bounded up the stairs to find Buffy and Tara already walking down the hall.

Again introductions were made and the two girls settled in next to the TV, Tara leaning on Buffy's shoulder, holding the Slayer's hand.

"I have a friend who has hacked into the Initiative computers. He found a report that they have identified Willow as Hostile 52 and they've scheduled a lot of tests for the next few days," Mulder began.

"He can't get either Scully or me clearance, I'm on their hot list," Mulder continued. "Buffy is on their enemy list and will disappear if she goes near the place."

"I think we've confused them by not attacking the place immediately," Buffy agreed.

"Probably," Mulder agreed. "Giles said that both of you got a psychic flash from Willow?"

"Yes, we both s-saw flashes from her and the overwhelming s-sense of fear from her," Tara answered.

"That's amazing," Mulder muttered. "Both of you? You always have this connection with her?"

Buffy and Tara glanced at each other and Tara nodded as she laid her head back on Buffy's shoulder.

"All three of us have a unique connection and can feel each other's feelings, especially if they're intense," Buffy explained.

"You'll find that Sunnydale isn't your typical All-American city," Xander grinned and wrapped his arms around his lover's legs. "Living here, you take love and happiness where and when you can get it."

"Okay, Mulder may be the total believer here but I'm afraid I'm more scientific," Scully complained.

"Be skeptical all you want," Giles growled. "I don't care if you believe that Willow will actually turn into a werewolf in less than 48 hours, or that Buffy goes out nightly slaying vampires. I do care if you can help us get Willow back. The Initiative believes that Willow is a werewolf and is holding her against her will."

"It gets worse, Giles," Mulder said softly. "My contact says that the scheduled plan for Willow is to be thrown in with another werewolf. They'll be observed tomorrow night and sedated for three nights of the full moon. The plan then is for them to be moved to another testing center."

"Out of the area," Mulder continued. "Then they plan to impregnate her from another werewolf until she either dies from over-breeding or they turn her into a research subject."

"Wills?" Buffy whispered as Tara's hand tightened on hers. Giles dropped his head into his hands as tears formed in his stanch English eyes.

"Willow?" he muttered. "No!" he suddenly shouted and jumped up to his feet and dashed out the door.

Buffy turned to wrap her arms around Tara. The Slayer's eyes were flashing angrily when she looked up over Tara's head at the two agents.

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