Seeing Red by Rainne

It was late morning in southern California on a certain warm late spring day which was much like any other of a thousand late spring days that a certain small town had seen. But this day was unlike many others because, on this particular day, at least one person over the age of six truly believed that despite the evil that crawls across the face of the planet, all was right with the world.

They shared a deep kiss and then a warm hug. Then a pair of blue eyes happened to glance out the window. "Xander!"

"I hope so," Tara said, turning to give her lover a wickedly sexy grin that thrilled Willow down to her toes. "That's the best part."

In the back yard, Buffy was forlornly poking at the tall monkey-grass with a long stick. She didn't realize she wasn't alone until Xander spoke. "Time for the spring poking already?"

She turned slowly, fidgeting with the stick. "Just making sure there are no more evil-trio cameras. Or, evil uno."

She didn't even crack a smile. "Warren." Then she sighed. "Jonathan and Andrew got clinked, but Warren pulled a Rocketman."

By unspoken agreement, they both moved to the nearby bench and sat, not speaking for a moment. Finally, Xander took the initiative. "How did we get here?" he asked.

"I thought I'd hit bottom, but..." he trailed off again, but then rallied and continued. "It hurt that you didn't trust me enough to tell me about Spike. It hurt."

He couldn't meet her eyes, and looked down at his hands for a moment. "Maybe you would have," he realized, "if I hadn't given you so many reasons to think I'd be an ass about it."

"Guess we've all done a lot of things lately we're not proud of." Her gaze followed his to a spot on the grass.

"Not so much," he retorted. They shared a tentative smile, and then he took a deep breath and continued in a voice choked with unshed tears. "I don't know what I'd do... without you and Will."

With tears standing in her eyes, she whispered, "Let's not find out." They hugged one another tightly. "I love you," she told him. "You know that, right?"

He nodded, and then he suddenly stiffened and began to stand as he saw Warren walking into the backyard with them. "Buffy!"

She jumped up and spun around, putting herself in front of Xander as Warren, gesturing wildly, began to yell. "You think you can just do that to me? You think I'd let you get away with that?" He laughed. "Think again." He raised a gun and fired two rounds directly at Buffy, paused, and then pulled off three more behind his back as he turned to flee.

Upstairs in the bedroom, Willow and Tara's banter continued gently, breaking off suddenly at the sound of gunfire in the back yard. The first two shots warned them that something was going on and Willow, acting on some instinct that she didn't even understand, launched herself at Tara, knocking the blonde to the floor just before another bullet shattered the window and buried itself in the wall across the room. There were two more tiny explosions of sound, then a sudden, deafening silence.

"Yes, really," Tara insisted, sitting up and pulling Willow tightly to her. "I was standing right in front of that window. If you hadn't knocked me down, I'd be dead right now."

"Oh, God," Willow breathed, holding Tara tightly. "Oh, God." They sat there for a long moment, rocking together silently, thanking whatever Powers were listening that they were both still alive. Then suddenly Willow gasped. "Buffy and Xander!"

They scrambled up off the floor and raced down the stairs and into the back yard, where they found Xander desperately trying to stem the flow of blood from Buffy's chest. "Oh, God," he was saying over and over. "Oh, God." He looked up and saw them standing there. "Call 911!" he exclaimed.

"Who did this?" Willow asked, stepping forward, a terrifying expression on her face.

"Warren – it was Warren – he had a gun – he said he wasn't going to let her get away with something. Call 911!"

Willow glanced over at Tara for one moment, eyes completely black. "He'll pay," she said again quietly. "He almost killed you. He shot Buffy. He will pay." Turning away then, Willow walked over and knelt beside Xander. She focused her will and slowly the bullet slid back out of the gaping wound in Buffy's chest. She reached out and took it in her hand, then focused on closing the wound itself. A brief half-moment later, the only evidence that anything untoward had happened was the small bloodstained hole in Buffy's shirt.

The Slayer opened her eyes and looked around at them. "What's going on? What happened? Where's Warren?"

"He's gone," Willow said, her voice deadly calm. "But don't worry. He won't get far."

Tara reached out a trembling hand to her lover. "Willow? Baby? It's okay. We'll get him."

Willow looked up at Tara and for just a moment, her eyes seemed to clear. She reached up, took Tara's hand, and kissed it gently. "I love you, Tara," she whispered. "I – I –" She gasped suddenly as the magicks she'd harnessed to heal Buffy suddenly surged without control through her body. "I can't –" And then her eyes were flooded in the pure obsidian that sent deep jolts of fear straight through Tara's heart. "I'm not gonna let him get away with this," she stated calmly in that dead voice. "He has to pay."

"Will!" Buffy exclaimed. "It's okay! I'm okay! We'll get him together! You don't have to do this!"

Willow turned her dead stare on Buffy, who flinched back. "Don't worry about it, Buff," she replied. "I got this one covered."

She stood then, turned, and marched out of the yard. She reached the street and glanced up and down it for a moment, thinking. Which way? Which way? "I need power," she murmured to herself, then turned and headed for the Magic Box.

Warren was still sitting in Willy's Alibi Room, loudly congratulating himself for the benefit of the demons around him, when the door exploded inward, admitting the harsh glare of the sunlight, and a small figure silhouetted in the light. "Come out," the figure said in a flat, cold voice, and Warren felt himself snatched up as though he were a marionette and puppet-walked out of the bar and into the bright, blinding daylight.

She gave him a moment to adjust his eyes to the light, and when he recognized her, he barked out a laugh. "Oh, you're the Slayer's little friend. Too bad she's dead. Must suck for you. This town's mine now –"

"Shut up," she said, and he found his lips stitched together firmly with stout twine.

"I can find her," Anya affirmed to Buffy. "Her thirst for vengeance is so strong that I'm surprised every vengeance demon on the planet isn't in Sunnydale right now."

He looked confused, and Tara gasped out an explanation. "She... she wants to do it herself." The blonde witch's face was tracked with tear marks, and new tears threatened to spill over.

"We have to stop her," Xander said firmly. "We can't let her do this. Anya, where is she?"

He stepped out from behind a tree and sank an axe blade into her back. She went down like a rock. He nodded to himself, satisfied, and set about trying to figure out how to unstitch his lips.

She stood back up, reached behind herself and snatched the tool out of her back. "Axe not gonna cut it," she quipped, deadpan, and slung it at him. He ducked barely in time and the handle struck his shoulder rather than the side of his head. Moaning in pain through his sealed lips, he turned and ran again, stumbling through the underbrush, nearly blinded by pain and fear.

"No body," Buffy reminded her. "Let's catch up to them. They'll be easy to follow," she added, gesturing at the wide swath through the underbrush which had been made by Warren's stumbling progress.

Xander gently took the axe away from Tara and they followed Buffy farther into the forest.

He was desperate. She had him tied now with vines, both arms stretched out as though he were being crucified. She was standing in front of him, that frighteningly empty expression on her face. She held up her hand and opened her fingers. There on her palm lay a bullet.

"So small," she murmured. "So small, to cause so much pain and anger." She took her hand away but the bullet remained, levitating before him, pointed at him, rotating slowly. It began to inch toward him, and then with a burning sensation, it began to gradually penetrate the skin of his chest. He began to scream as well as he could through his sealed mouth.

The sight that greeted them as they stumbled into the clearing was horrifying. Willow, black-haired, black-eyed and pale-skinned with the blue veins standing out prominently on her face, stood before bound and muffled Warren, slowly burying a bullet into his sternum. "It's not usually this slow, of course," Tara heard her saying. "But I wanted to make sure you felt it. Just like Buffy did. You tried to kill her. If I'd been a second slower, you'd have killed Tara. Now you have to pay."

The bullet, halfway into Warren's sternum, froze. Willow turned her dead eyes onto her lover. "Yes?"

Slowly, the four Scoobies approached the terrifying specter that had been their friend. "Will, don't do this," Buffy pleaded. "He's suffering. He's paying. It's time to stop."

"No. Not Willow." Xander countered. "The Willow that we love would never do this."

"Then maybe I'm not the Willow you love," she spat back at him. A sudden, fearsome smile lit her features. "Maybe you don't really love Willow. You sure don't act like it. My magic's good enough for Buffy and Xander as long as I'm helpful to the Scooby cause, but if I do something to be convenient or if a spell goes wrong, then suddenly Willow has a problem. Oh, Willow, maybe you need the twelve steps for magickaholics. And Anya doesn't want me around because she views me as a threat to her relationship with Xander. And Tara..." she trailed off, pinning Tara with her onyx eyes. "Love you so much, babe, but the minute things get tough, I'm gonna bail on you. You don't mind, do you? And then after you get yourself straightened back out again, with no help except for people yapping at you day and night, I'll come back into your life when I decide it's convenient for me. That's pretty much how it goes, isn't it, Tara? I love you more than life itself – love you enough to die or kill for you – and you bail on me the minute things get a little uncomfortable. What happened to being there for each other, sickness and health and better or worse and all that good stuff?"

Buffy, Xander and Anya simply stood, stunned, as the impact of Willow's words hit them full on. Fat tears were running down Tara's face. "No, baby, no, I just didn't know what to do... and I as afraid that being around me would make it worse for you..."

"Make it worse? And it never occurred to you that trying to go through withdrawals with no one around who cared might be kinda tough?" Willow scoffed. "You never thought that maybe knowing how badly I screwed up and knowing I needed help and then getting kicked to the curb might send me just a little over the edge?"

"You're sorry. How nice. Should I just be kissing you now?" Willow replied sarcastically.

She turned and eyeballed him. He felt a sudden trickle of fear run through him as he caught a glimpse of the suffering Warren behind her, still bound. She was staring at him. "You wanted to weigh in?"

"When we were fighting Glory, and Buffy was locked up inside her head, you got inside there and you looked around and you got her out. So get in my head. If you don't believe I love you, get in my head and look around. See the truth for yourself."

Her eyes narrowed as though suspecting a trap, but she locked eyes with him and suddenly they both froze as they entered trance together.

She looked around. She was in Xander's room. He was sitting on the end of the bed playing with a paddle-ball. "...sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one..." Then she realized that he was a child.

She looked down at herself and saw that she, too, was a child. She looked up at him again, and he glanced over at her. Never stopping his smooth motion with the paddle and ball, he dropped her a wink. "How doin', Will?"

She looked around at the room. It was just like she'd remembered. "What're we doing here?"

"Don't you remember?" he asked. She shook her head and he sighed impatiently. "This is the day I made it to fifty."

"I remember." And she did. He'd played with that paddle-ball for weeks before finally mastering it to the point that he made it to fifty bounces before he missed. And she'd been there when it happened. That was the day he kissed her and told her she was his girlfriend... a situation which had lasted for a week, until he stole her Barbie. "We're five."

"Yup. Thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five. Remember, Will? Thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three. Or is it all gone? Forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty, fifty-...aww. I still can't get to fifty-one. I never did, you know. I tried and tried until that rubber band broke, but I never got past fifty."

He slid off the bed, walked over to her, and kissed her gently on the lips. "You're still my girlfriend, Will. You know that?"

He hugged her. "It can be fixed. Between me and you, the bastard deserved everything you've done to him. But you have to stop, Will. You have to stop. Look," he became fierce then, holding her back from him by her shoulders and forcing eye contact. "I love you. Buffy loves you. And my God, Tara loves you more than I've ever seen anyone love anything in my life. She called me every day while she was away from you and asked me if I'd seen you and how you were doing. She missed you so much... but she thought she was doing the right thing. You need to try to forgive her for that."

Willow nodded, tears flowing down her face. He gathered her in his arms again, holding her tightly.

He gathered her into his arms and she sobbed as though her heart was broken, both of them falling to their knees there on the forest floor. Slowly, the color came back into her hair and eyes as she sobbed out her anger, fear, and pain. Buffy, seeing that Willow was – hopefully – back to normal, grabbed the axe and ran over to Warren. She used the axe to chop the vines holding him bound, and then helped him stagger over to Tara, who used two quick spells to remove and heal the bullet wound, and to unbind and heal his mouth.

As soon as he was able to speak, he started screaming about what he was going to do to them all so, for the sake of expediency, Buffy knocked him out. Then she retrieved a piece of the thick, ropy vine Willow had used and bound the evil nerd's hands behind his back. The Slayer then looked over at her friends. Tara had knelt down next to Willow and Xander, and was hugging them as well. Willow's hand was up and buried in the blonde hair, holding Tara's head close to hers. She stepped forward tentatively, and found Xander holding out a hand to her. She half-ran the last few steps and stumbled to the ground with her friends, thanking every Power in the universe that she was still alive to hold them all close.

"I love you, too, Buffy," Willow replied, her tears wetting the Slayer's shoulder. "I'm sorry I said those horrible things."

"But they were true," Buffy admitted, sitting back on her heels and looking into Willow's now-clear green eyes. "They were true. Everything that you said about me. But I'm going to change that. I'm going to be major support-o-girl from now on, you'll see, and I'll do everything I can to help you with this thing..."

"You won't need to," Anya spoke suddenly. The four on the ground looked up, startled. Anya had faded into the background of events so quickly that they had almost forgotten she was there.

"I said, you won't need to. Willow sucked up a power overload when she drained the texts at the shop, but she didn't stop there, did you, Willow?"

They looked at the redhead, who shook her head, ashamed. "No. I... I went to Rack's... and I drained him too."

"That's probably of the good," Buffy commented. "One less bad guy to have to worry about."

Buffy smiled sadly and pulled her friend to her in a tight hug. "I don't want to do this ever again," she whispered. "If you ever feel like I haven't done right by you, please, please tell me."

Willow nodded. "I will." Then she looked at Anya. "So what did my little power-suck have to do with my addiction? It's just like going on a bender, right?"

Anya shook her head. "Not at all. When you fill yourself with that kind of power, it becomes part of you. I can see it in you. It's as much a part of you as your hand or your nose. You'll never be able to not use it again."

"But now you're going to have to learn how to use it properly," Tara said flatly. "To use the magick without the black part."

Willow nodded and then sighed. "I guess you'll want me to leave you alone again," she began, but was interrupted.

"No." Tara slid a finger under Willow's chin and forced the downcast eyes to look up at her. "No. I'm not leaving you again. I'm going to be with you the whole time, and I'm going to help you learn whatever you need to learn. And I'm going to be with you every step of the way. You'll get so sick of me, you'll run away from home," she finished with a smile.

They hugged and then shared a tender kiss which was interrupted by a moan from Warren, who was beginning to come around. Willow looked over at him and a sort of tired expression crossed her face. "Oh, boy."

"Don't worry, Will," Buffy reassured her. "I'll handle him. In a jail cell separated from his friends he won't be any good for anything except a good, long sentence." She stood and nudged the evil nerd none too gently with her toe. "Wake up, Warren. It's time to go to jail."

He mumbled a curse, and Buffy hauled him to his feet. "I'll take care of this. Xander, you with?"

"You bet," he responded, standing and brushing pine needles off his knees. "You guys okay?" he asked Willow and Tara.

"Very much okay," Tara responded, her eyes never leaving Willow's. Their faces spoke volumes.

"Okay then. We're gone." He moved to the left of Warren and took his left arm. He and Buffy dragged Warren away.

Anya looked down at the two witches. "I guess I'm not needed here any more. And for what it's worth, Willow, I don't dislike you. It's true I was afraid that you might take Xander away, but I have never disliked you." Then she was gone.

Willow and Tara were alone finally, and Tara's eyes filled with tears again suddenly. "Willow... baby... I'm so sorry. I let you down in a big way. I... I wanna make that up to you, if you'll let me."

Willow leaned forward and captured Tara's lips with hers. "I forgive you," she whispered.

Tara's shaking hand found its way to the buttons of Willow's blouse as Willow's tongue gently brushed her bottom lip, seeking and being granted entrance into her warm mouth. Tara moaned into Willow's mouth as their tongues danced together, and she managed with trembling fingers to get Willow's blouse open, sliding her hand inside to cup the softness of Willow's breast.

Willow's back arched, pushing the fullness of her breast farther into Tara's hand even as her own hands sought out the tail of Tara's blue shirt to push it up and off. Then there were no words between them as they brought themselves back together at the most primal levels. Tara wasn't sure when she'd become completely naked, but she decided that it didn't really matter, since the grass under her back was soft and the Willow above her was also naked. She gasped as Willow's knee came up between her thighs to press against their juncture, sliding up as it became slick with the wetness of Tara's arousal. Willow lay herself down carefully along the length of her lover's body, stomachs touching, breasts pressed to breasts, lips meeting each to catch the gasps and moans of the other.

Tara lifted her own leg to come in contact with Willow's sex, her lips curving upwards in a sensual smile as Willow pressed downward in order to increase the pressure. Willow moaned low in her throat and leaned down, gently taking Tara's bottom lip between her teeth and sucking on it.

Tara gasped at the sensations that simple act shot through her body. She felt Willow's hands trail along her body, one hand finding a pebble-hard nipple which she proceeded to roll and pinch between her fingers as she slowly kissed her way down Tara's neck to lay her hot mouth on the other. And while she was still processing those sensations, Tara felt the fingers of Willow's other hand slide down her stomach and between her legs, sliding in the silky wetness over the bud of pleasure that they found there. Tara moaned her lover's name and was rewarded with the sensation of two fingers sliding into her while the soft pad of a thumb continued to stroke her button. The hot mouth licking and nibbling at her nipples combined with the sensations below to send Tara screaming over the edge and into deep, rippling ecstasy.

She lay there, getting her breath back, and suddenly flipped them over so that she was on top of Willow. The other witch's red hair fanned out across the grass beneath her and Tara lowered her lips to Willow's with jackhammer force. Their tongues met and danced fiercely as Tara took Willow's nipples between her fingers, pinching and twisting them to make her lover writhe and gasp beneath her. She moved herself to the side and down to the juncture between Willow's neck and shoulder, latching onto the pulse point there and sucking hard enough to leave a strawberry-colored mark on the pale flesh. When she was satisfied with the mark, she leaned up to Willow's ear. "You're mine," she growled, "and I'm never letting you go again."

Willow moaned her agreement to this sentiment as Tara began to kiss her way down her lover's body. She slid her body between Willow's legs, took Willow's hips in her hands, and lowered her mouth to Willow's heat. The redhead's back arched at the first touch and she cried out Tara's name. "That's right," Tara panted. "Say my name. Say it again. Know who this is. Know who owns you."

Tara smiled and slid two fingers into Willow's body while latching her mouth onto the core of Willow's pleasure. The redhead gasped once and then clutched at the ground underneath her, calling Tara's name as her orgasm thundered through her body.

Tara slid back up Willow's body and pulled Willow's head over to pillow on her shoulder. With a whispered word, she fetched a blanket from their bed at home. It appeared in the air above them and settled gently on top of them. And there, on the sun-dappled grass, two witches slept safely in one another's arms.

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Seeing Red

By Rainne

Copyright © 2003

Djgirl1978@bellsouth.net