What If?

Joyce bites her lip as she watches Rupert finish tying and gagging the two men from the Watcher's Council while Faith paces back and forth full of energy. Turning her gaze towards her daughter and Tara, Joyce shakes her head as they continue to hold each other, occasionally gently kissing each other.

"What are we gonna do?" Faith finally growls as she looks at the two comatose council goons before sliding her gaze over the other people in the apartment.

"We're wanting to wait and see how many more of the goon squad shows up." Buffy shrugs as she glances over at the two guys tied up. "Or maybe they wake and we'll get the information we need from them, then gather the other idiots and place a little…" Buffy looks at Tara and a completely mischievous grin crosses her face. "A little person to person phone call?"

"That could be arranged." Tara's lip quirks up, the laughter obvious in her eyes. "Us there, or him here?"

Buffy tilts her head considering for a moment. "I'm not in the mood to go to England."

"Here it is." Tara leans in and kisses Buffy softly. "I'd like to get this taken care of, Sarim. Then spend some serious time reacquainting myself with you." Tara runs a hand gently down Buffy's cheek, before stroking her thumb over the slayer's bottom lip, smiling softly at her lover.

"If you want, we could go gather them up?" Buffy questions, her eyes twinkling at the thought.

Tara glances towards Faith who's literally bouncing around the apartment before turning her gaze back towards Buffy. Silently she looks in her lover's eyes for a few short moments before smiling softly and kissing Buffy before releasing her completely.

"Faith? Feel like going out and seeing about gathering a few more of these guys?" Buffy tilts her head towards the Council goons as she watches the dark-haired slayer.

"Anything is better than sitting here waiting." Faith admits looking at the blonde slayer.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Giles shakes his head looking at the group of women.

"We've got to do something. And the sooner we get this over and done with the better I'll feel." Buffy explains quietly. "Faith, can you drive?"

"I ain't got a license, but I know how to drive." Faith looks at Buffy questioningly.

"We'll need some way to transport them here. I think it would be kind of obvious if we walk down the road with a guy thrown over our shoulders." Buffy smirks at the thought.

"You can take care of that so that no one will see them, Sarim." Tara whispers softly.

"Yeah, but it won't be as much fun as tossing them tied up in the back of the vehicle." Buffy admits, chuckling as she looks at Tara, before sighing quietly at the raised eyebrow. "Okay, okay. Take away all my fun. Simple glamour, save the big mojo for when you bring Travers here, right?"

"That would be perfect, sweetie. Maybe your mother and I can go to the store and pick up something to fix for you two to snack on when you get back?" Tara offers, a small smile playing around her mouth.

"Hot wings with bleu cheese dressing?" Faith eagerly butts in, grinning from ear to ear.

"Someone's been talking about me, I see." Tara raises an eyebrow at Buffy.

"Only good things, honest." Buffy chuckles and kisses Tara quickly. "We're gonna go out and pick up the nearest ones and bring them back."

"Be careful." Tara whispers watching as Buffy winks at her before heading towards the door with Faith following quickly behind. "Ladies, it's getting late, you might want to think about taking a couple stakes with you."

Buffy sends her senses out, seeing if there is anything demon wise they need to worry about. Getting a couple pings other than the major one from the school, Buffy growls quietly. "Giles, a couple stakes and knives, please?"

"Are you ladies quite sure…" Giles starts then stops when Buffy and Faith both glare at him, he throws his hands up in disgust. "If they end up hurting you, I don't want to hear it!"

"They won't." Tara shakes her head quickly. "We're all protected. They won't be able to hurt any of us. Giles, do you mind staying here and babysitting those two, while Joyce and I make a run to the store?"

Joyce chuckles and just shakes her head at the group. "Are we planning on staying here tonight? If we're planning on this taking a while, we'd be more comfortable at my house. And if the main reason we were coming here, was because you thought they'd be more likely to be staking his apartment out, it's kind of a moot point with those two going out to gather them up like bad kids." Joyce motions to Buffy and Faith as they tuck away weapons.

"What do you think, Kalina?" Buffy questions softly as she walks up to Tara, brushing her fingertips over her cheek. "Should we move this to the house?"

"It would be more comfortable for everyone involved." Tara admits as she presses into the soft caress, her eyes searching the hazel eyes of her lover. "Especially since this will probably take the rest of tonight and at least part of tomorrow."

"Can you miss your classes tomorrow?" Buffy questions softly watching her lover intently.

"I'm sure there won't be a problem with my teachers." Tara allows a small smile to cross her face. "Thanks for worrying about it."

"I know you've got a full load of classes. I don't want to do anything that might jeopardize your grades." Buffy admits softly, searching her lover's beautiful blue eyes while running her hand over Tara's hip, unconsciously pulling her lover closer to her body.

"I don't think my grades will hurt too much from missing one days worth of classes. Then we have the weekend to try and tie up any loose ends." Tara smirks as Buffy finishes closing the small distance between them, burying her face in her neck and nipping at her mark.

"Damn, B! Can't you get away from her for a little while? I'm jonesing for some action, here. You shoulda never fixed me up if you ain't gonna let me kick some ass." Faith growls, bouncing up and down before striding through the living room.

"Go." Tara murmurs softly, chuckling as Buffy whimpers.

"Tonight, and maybe this whole weekend, understand?" Buffy whispers as she places a kiss on the ear she's whispering in.

"Understood." Tara smiles at her lover as Buffy winks and spins around on her heel heading out the door. Tara chuckles, knowing Buffy won't stop, or she'd be tempted to come back again.

"'Bout fuckin' time." Faith growls, following Buffy out of the watcher's apartment.

"Damn." Giles mutters as he looks at the closed door that the two slayers had disappeared through.

"What's wrong, Mr. Giles?" Tara glances towards the watcher after the door shuts.

"I should have had them go ahead and put these two imbeciles in the back of the Jeep while they were still here." Giles grumbles, shaking his head.

"I'll take care of them. Go ahead and get yourself a little overnight bag, so we can head home." Tara chuckles as Giles looks at her questioningly. "Should I put them in the back of your vehicle, while Joyce and I stop quickly at the store?"

Giles blinks in confusion for a minute. "How???" Shaking his head he throws his hands up in the air. "Never mind. If you can get them in the car, that would be wonderful. I'll meet you at Joyce's." Giles smiles briefly at Joyce before heading up the stairs.

Tara chuckles and glances towards Joyce, smirking briefly as she notices the woman's eyes following Giles up the stairs. "He's actually a very nice looking older man, isn't he?" Tara questions with a raised eyebrow.

Joyce blushes lightly and slides her eyes towards Tara. "Did Buffy ever mention the band candy incident?" Joyce questions softly, blushing even darker.

"Hmmm. I don't think so." Tara laughs quietly as she curiously watches Joyce sigh heavily and blow a breath of air up into her hair. "But I'm thinking I would like to hear about it."

"Yeah, but Buffy may not want to be reminded of it." Joyce mumbles.

Tara laughs patting Joyce gently on the shoulder. "We'll have to have a discussion without Buffy, then."

"Right, like she'll leave you alone long enough for me to tell you THAT story." Joyce smirks at the young witch.

"Well, we do have the trip to the grocery store, the store and the trip back home." Tara walks over to the two men, whispering softly as she touches each man on the shoulder.

Joyce watches as the two men disappear, shaking her head in disbelief. "Did you magic them out to the vehicle?"

"Nope. You're going to help me." Tara looks up grinning. "I just put a glamour on them, to make them look invisible, and lightened their body weight. So you can grab one and lift him to carry him out to Mr. Giles' car."

"What if I accidentally drop him?" Joyce questions as she hesitantly reaches, chuckling as she pokes the guy in the shoulder. Grasping him, she experimentally lifts him, surprised at how light he is.

Tara looks up smirking. "Oops?"

"The Council must have really done a number on you two." Joyce whispers as they take the two men out to Giles's car.

"That would be one way to put it." Tara murmurs, sighing heavily, her eyes dark with remembered past pain. "I would really rather not talk about that, right now." Tara swallows as they put the two goons in Giles' car. "I think I would rather hear about the band candy incident."

Joyce nods her head in understanding as they climb in the Jeep. "Well, it's going to actually be two stories…" Joyce grins as she explains about the be spelled candy, and what happened between her and Rupert, chuckling as Tara busts out laughing. "Oh, oh!! Wait, that's not the best part…" Explaining the rest of how Buffy got the 'aspect of the demon' and how she found out about them. "On the hood of the police car… twice?"

"Oh, Goddess!!" Tara laughs hysterically as she can practically hear Buffy saying it. "That had to be priceless!"

"Not at the time." Joyce laughs with Tara, shaking her head. "It was extremely embarrassing!" Joyce admits, chuckling as they pull into a parking spot at the grocery store. The two women walk in companionably, planning on stocking the house with as much groceries as they can, laughing the entire time.

Buffy slows down as she walks downtown, her eyes lighting on a store that's open late.

"Yo, B! What'cha lookin' at? I thought you were wanting to get the duds back to the house." Faith grunts before dropping the two Watcher Council guys on the ground and stretching her back, before looking towards where Buffy's eyes were caught. "Damn, B! Got some kink in ya'?"

"Sarim does." Buffy whispers softly as she drops the three she's been carrying before crossing the street to look in the windows. Sighing quietly, Buffy looks in the windows for a few minutes before turning crossing the street again to pick up the idiots, kicking them in the ribs before picking them up and throwing them over her shoulders.

Faith smirks at Buffy's actions, being able to see the men, after Buffy did something when she bitched about grabbing one in the nuts by accident. Buffy had shrugged and whacked all of them in the balls before stating something in a foreign tongue and waving her hand around them. "Anymore demons around?" Faith looks around antsy, still jonesing for some more action.

"No. Just down at the Initiative's place. They've been capturing them and doing experiments on them, is all we can figure out. Maybe after we get the Council taken care of, we can figure out what to do about those idiots." Buffy comments as she looks around, sighing. "I want Tara." Buffy finally admits as she strides towards home.

Faith follows silently behind Buffy for a few blocks, before hesitantly questioning her fellow slayer. "What happened to her, B?"

Buffy shakes her head as she slows down, for Faith to walk beside her. "She hasn't told me much, Faith. I just know that her family abused her, her father got her with a beer bottle bad enough that she has a scar from it on her side. It had punctured her lung, even." Buffy growls angrily at the thought of Tara's family. "Her mom was the only thing that I think kept her sane. After she died, I have a feeling things got worse for Tara, but she hasn't really gone into much detail about it. She's slowly loosening up more."

Faith nods her head softly as they continue to walk. "I didn't have much of a home life growing up, either. Hell, sometimes I think I would have rather had the abuse than to be fuckin' ignored like I wasn't there and left to fend for myself." Faith finally admits softly.

"Tara was thinking you might have been abused." Buffy tilts her head to see more of the slayer's face.

"Nah, at least not until I ran away." Faith shifts the one goon that was starting to slide. "I got in the wrong crowd and they fucked me up pretty bad." Faith shrugs, taking a deep breath. "Ma didn't even act like I existed. She'd get drunk and pass out in front of the TV from the time I could remember. Sometimes there would be sandwich fixin's in the house, but not that often. More than not, I went hungry."

Buffy slows down and turns to face the dark-haired slayer fully. "Why didn't you ever open up to us, when you first came here?" Buffy questions softly, sincerely curious as to why Faith never talked like this before.

"'Cause I decided I wouldn't get hurt, if I didn't feel nothin'." Faith growls angrily as she thinks back to that time. "I tried to play it all off like a big fuckin' game. Big Bad Assed Slayer." Faith snarls her nose up at the thought of how she acted.

Buffy drops the Council goons as she reaches out to turn Faith's head towards her. "I'm sorry I never really reached out to you then, Faith. It might have taken time, but things could have been different if I had." Buffy admits softly, the sadness obvious in her eyes.

"It ain't like I gave ya' much of a choice." Faith inhales deeply, trying to get control of her anger as she sees the sincerity in Buffy's eyes. "Come on, I got some powerful hungries goin' on. Hope your girl made wings." Faith allows a crooked smile to cross her face.

"Knowing Tara, I'm sure she did." Buffy nods, before slinging the goons carelessly over her shoulders.

"Damn, B! They're gonna be a hurtin' when they come to." Faith smirks as she and Buffy head quickly towards Revello Drive.

"Good! They ought to be thankful I don't cut their fuckin' dicks off and shove them down there throats." Buffy growls at the men. "I can't believe they pulled fucking guns on us!"

"I didn't realize T-Bear's spell even kept the bullets from hurting us." Faith whispers, still remembering the shock and surprise as before she'd realized it, she'd had a gun pointed at her and bullets whizzing to come to a dead standstill a foot from her to drop harmlessly to the ground. Shivering at the thought, Faith pales at how close she'd come to dying.

"She was serious, when she said no harm would come to any of us." Buffy shrugs unworriedly at the thought. "I trust her completely."

Faith nods silently as they finally turn down Buffy's street. "There anymore of these idiots?"

"I don't know." Buffy admits hoarsely, frowning heavily. "Maybe Kalina and I can do a quick run around town, or maybe she can do a spell that will bring whoever's left here, to the house."

"Were any of these the one you saw at the hospital?" Faith follow's Buffy up the stairs to her house.

"Extra bruised boy." Buffy smirks as she hits one of the goons hard on the ass. "One of them you're carrying looks familiar, so it might have been another one from the hospital. I'm not real sure." Buffy shrugs as she opens the door inhaling deeply as the smell of spicy hot wings permeates the air. Dropping the guys she's carrying, Buffy heads straight to the kitchen.

Faith raises an eyebrow before shrugging her shoulders and drops the ones she's carrying on top of Buffy's before shutting the door and following her sister slayer into the kitchen, smirking as she sees Buffy already having Tara pinned against the back door. Turning her gaze towards Giles and Joyce, she smirks knowingly at the two. "Those two are gonna keep us up all night, ya' know that don't ya?"

Joyce rolls her eyes, laughing. "No, Tara already promised me we wouldn't hear a peep from their room. We just have to worry about hearing them while they're in other parts of the house!" Joyce grumbles loudly as she hears a loud moan come from one of the women.

"Sorry, mom." Buffy pants heavily after finally releasing Tara from a hungry, searching kiss.

"No you're not." Tara whispers, grinning at her lover before dragging her hands up from Buffy's ass to stroke softly over her back.

"Okay, no I'm not." Buffy winks at Tara before slowly pulling her hands out from under Tara's shirt, tweaking her nipples first. "Not much longer." Buffy growls and leans in to nip playfully at Tara's bottom lip.

"After dinner and a late night snack." Tara smacks Buffy firmly on the butt as she turns back towards the kitchen. "The wings will be done here in a few minutes. We also have fixings for submarine sandwiches, if anyone would like some."

"How many wings you got cookin'?" Faith plops down on one of the stools, her eyes looking questioningly at the blonde witch.

"A few." Tara grins when Joyce starts to choke on her laughter.

"Ummm. Did you ladies have any luck?" Giles questions hoarsely as he cleans his glasses.

"Yeah, they're in a pile in the living room." Faith grins at the watcher. "Where's the other two?"

"Down in the basement." Tara answers as she walks towards the living room, waving away the spell to look at the unconscious men. "Honey?" Tara sing songs softly, laughing as Buffy trots in quickly. "The merchandise seems to be a little bruised."

"Some of them tried to shoot us." Buffy shrugs looking down at them as she taps a couple in the ribs with her foot. "They didn't exactly make me happy."

Tara snarls her nose at the men. "Toss them down the stairs with the other two." Tara shakes her head and walks back to the kitchen, past a stunned and pale Giles.

"Surely they didn't." Giles whispers watching as Buffy easily lifts two in her hands, heading back towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, they did, tweed." Faith snarls as she picks up a couple, following Buffy.

"Don't throw them down the stairs!" Giles watches horrified as Buffy prepares to do just that.

Buffy turns towards him with a raised eyebrow before tossing them down the stairs, having seen that Tara had already placed a magical spell for them to land relatively gently down in the basement.

Faith chortles as she quickly follows suit, tossing one after the other down the stairs, watching curiously as they floated down and out of sight. "Ah, hell!! That ain't no fun." Faith grumbles before plopping back down on a stool, staring at Tara.

"Sorry." Tara grins and shrugs. "I already placed a spell around the house to protect us. I also took care of it so that when those idiots came to, they will only be able to do the basic things to take care of themselves. If we're feeling generous, we might feed them. But I honestly look for this to be over with tomorrow."

"Can you do something to make sure there aren't anymore of them here in Sunnydale?" Buffy questions as she tosses the last one down the stairs, shutting the door as she leans against it, smiling as she watches Tara start pulling the wings out of the oven.

"There's one more." Tara tilts her head, smirking. "He'll be here in a little while."

"Good." Buffy nods her head and sits down by Faith, pulling one of the hot pans in front of her. "Did you make some extra sauce?"

"Of course." Tara chuckles and pulls a big jar of sauce out of the refrigerator. "This is the special stuff." Tara winks at Buffy. "I did a little something to make it cook in record time."

Buffy licks her lips as she watches Tara pour some in a bowl and set it down in front of her. Dunking one of the wings in the sauce and quickly eating the dripping wing, Buffy whimpers and gathers all the sauce off her lips. "You're gonna have to keep this sauce on hand all the time." Buffy looks up, tears from the spiciness of the sauce making her eyes glassy.

Tara chuckles at Buffy before she watches as Faith looks at Buffy before hesitantly dipping a small part of her wing in the sauce before eating it. "Shit, B!" Faith groans loudly, tears coming to her eyes, also. "Give me more of that." Faith grunts as she tries to take the bowl away from Buffy.

"Get your fucking own!" Buffy growls and smacks Faith's hand, pulling the bowl over to the other side of her.

"Children." Tara shakes her head before placing another bowl in front of Faith, as she watches Buffy smirk and pour her sauce over her tray of wings.

"Dare I even try one?" Giles questions as he watches the two slayers eat the wings while wiping the tears from their faces.

"Here, you might want to try one of these." Tara pushes one of the batches of wings that she did that weren't near as hot, as she hadn't soaked them in the sauce, just dipped them in quickly. "These should just have a good flavor with a little bit of a kick. Nothing like those other wings are."

"They're quite good, Rupert. Try one." Joyce grins encouragingly at the watcher, as she and Tara had already eaten some earlier, when Joyce had begged to try some of the non-nuclear wings.

"Hey! I thought these were for us." Buffy grumbles watching as Giles starts to eat a wing.

"I made enough to tide you two over." Tara pinches Buffy on the side as she walks over to stand behind her lover as she eats. "Plus there's more in the refrigerator that I already baked, they'll just need to be re-heated." Tara murmurs as she nibbles on Buffy's ear.

"Forget food." Buffy growls as she tosses down her wing, quickly wiping her hands before picking Tara up and running out of the kitchen, leaving three people staring after her in surprise.

"She didn't do what I think she just did?" Joyce blinks as literally, one second the two women were there, the next second gone.

"Uh, yep. More for me." Faith shrugs her shoulders as she goes back to eating the wings, smirking at the thought.

"Dear, Lord!" Giles mumbles as he slowly blinks at the empty spot the two women had been.

"You ought to try living here, before Tara did the silence spell on Buffy's room." Joyce grumbles, blushing lightly.

Giles blushes even darker as his and Joyce's eyes lock on each other for a moment, as they both remember their own past deeds.

Faith grunts, trying not to laugh at the obvious desire on both of their faces, tilting her head down as she finishes her wings and pulls Buffy's pan towards her to work through hers.

"Sarim, you need to clean yourself, my love." Tara murmurs as Buffy growls before heading back out of her room, still carrying Tara.

"Want you, Kalina." Buffy nuzzles Tara neck as she kicks the door shut behind them.

"And you will have me, but not with that hot sauce on your fingers!" Tara chuckles quietly as she watches the realization cross Buffy's face.

"Probably wouldn't be good for certain areas, huh?" Buffy gently sets Tara down on her feet, kissing her quickly. "Help me?" Buffy wiggles her eyebrows as she strips her clothes off.

"Not this time." Tara whispers, stroking a finger down Buffy's cheek. "We'll probably end up breaking something, either in the bathroom, or some part of us, if we stay in here."

Buffy pouts as she walks backwards, turning the water on to the shower. "What are you going to do while I'm cleaning myself?"

"I'm going to be ready and waiting for you in the bedroom." Tara smiles as Buffy's eyes glow with desire, and a rumble works its way out of her lover's chest. "Make sure you clean yourself well."

Buffy grunts as she watches Tara ease out of the bathroom before jumping in the shower to clean herself thoroughly, paying special attention to her hands to make sure there isn't a chance of the nuclear hot sauce getting in delicate areas.

Tara chuckles softly as she shuts the door to the bedroom, slowly stripping her clothes off before stroking a finger over Mr. Gordo's ear and whispering. "Silence out, hear within." Walking over to the bed, she folds the covers down and turns on the small lamp by the bed before walking over to turn the bright overhead light off. Plumping the pillows, Tara eases down on the bed on her side and props her head up to watch the door, waiting for her lover.

"What the hell did they do?" Giles stares at one of the men, that looks vaguely familiar, walks in and goes straight to the basement. Shaking his head at whatever Tara or Buffy had done, he rubs a hand over the back of his neck.

Faith snorts and moans quietly as she finishes the wings. "I think I ate too much."

Joyce raises an eyebrow and laughs quietly at the miserable looking slayer. "Maybe you should have stopped after the first three or four dozen?"

Faith grunts and rubs her stomach, pouting. "I need to crash."

Joyce raises her eyes towards Rupert who's just rolling his eyes. "I have an air mattress set up in the spare bedroom upstairs, and then there's the couch."

"Go ahead and take the bedroom, Tweed. I'll crash on the couch." Faith moans as she slowly makes her way out to the living room.

"How come I feel like I'm bloody well out in right field?" Giles finally plops down on one of the stools and drops his head on his hand.

Joyce walks around and gently grasps his shoulder. "The kids are growing up, Rupert and ready to be on their own. That's basically what you're feeling. Kind of makes you feel old and useless."

"You feel that way, too?" Giles questions softly turning to look over his shoulder at Joyce. Seeing her nod and smile, Giles smiles back shyly before turning his head back. "You know that it's only a matter of time before Buffy and Tara probably move out to find a place of their own."

"I know." Joyce murmurs quietly, unconsciously reaching up to play her fingers over the watchers hair.

Giles closes his eyes at the soft touch, feeling his heart speed up. "Can I ask you something, my dear?" Giles questions softly.

"Of course." Joyce sighs quietly as she eases back from the watcher and walks around the counter to sit down across from him, watching him curiously.

Giles blushes lightly and looks down. "Do you ever think…" Giles trails off as he blushes even darker.

Joyce bites her lip as she realizes what he's thinking about. "About the band candy incident and what happened?"

Giles slowly raises his eyes and nods his head. "I've wanted to say something for a while, but…" He shrugs and looks back down in embarrassment. "I was sort of afraid that it might have just been the candy."

Joyce smiles softly and reaches across the island and rests her hand on top of Giles', watching as he slowly raises his eyes to look at her. "It wasn't, Rupert."

Giles allows a small smile to cross his face, as his eyes light up. "I dare say, we have some talking to do."

"Yes, we do. And maybe going out to dinner?" Joyce hints without any subtlety.

"Definitely dinner." Giles lifts Joyce's hand and presses a soft kiss on her knuckles. "I'm not telling Buffy. I'd rather her not decide to tear me apart."

"I'll have Tara tell her." Joyce smiles and winks at Giles, laughing as he blushes darkly before laughing, also.

Buffy opens the door, smiling softly at the sight of her lover curled up on her side waiting patiently for her. Shutting the door, Buffy drops the towel, tossing it unerringly towards the hamper as she prowls up to the bed, easing a knee on it, smiling as Tara eases onto her back. "I love you." Buffy whispers softly as she hovers partially over Tara, kissing her gently.

"I love you, too, my warrior. My Sarim." Tara murmurs after Buffy releases her lips in the heart stopping, gentle kiss. Running her fingers through the slightly damp hair, to caress down and over her lovers strong back, enjoying the feel of the muscles flexing with the slightest movements. Tara smiles at the loud rumbles coming from her lover, and moans softly as Buffy places loving kisses down her neck.

"Do you remember everything, my Kalina?" Buffy questions in between gentle kisses across Tara's shoulder, her tongue gently dipping in the indention.

"Yes, my love." Tara's hands reach down to grasp the slayer's butt cheeks, digging her short blunt nails in deeply.

"OH, GOD!" Buffy presses her hips down into Tara at the feelings rising within her, as she arches her upper body up, shaking slightly.

"Don't be afraid, Buffy. Ask for what you want, I am Kalina and Kalina is me. Her loving memories of us being together far outweighs those things that happened to me." Tara explains softly as she lifts her head up to hungrily latch onto one of Buffy's breasts.

Buffy pants heavily as she presses her body even more firmly into Tara's, moaning as Tara shifts her legs a little further apart, allowing her to drop her lower body between them. "I wanted to go slow, tonight." Buffy whimpers as she feels one of Tara's hands slide around between their bodies, her fingers stroking knowingly through her wetness.

Tara releases the flesh in her mouth, to look into Buffy's beautiful eyes. "Do you still want to go slow?" Tara's fingers stroke through Buffy's wetness to tease her lover's swollen clit. As Buffy whimpers and her head shakes, Tara separates both of their lips, as she continues to stroke softly over Buffy's clit with her fingers while rubbing her thumb over her own enlarged muscle. "Do you know what I want, my love?"

Buffy growls quietly, nodding her head quickly as she eases her body down the short distance between them, moaning as their swollen clits come into contact with each other as Tara's fingers wiggle out from between their bodies. Dropping her head, Buffy takes a couple deep breaths before slowly rocking their bodies against each other, teasing, light rubbing as their essences mingle slowly together.

Tara moans loudly as Buffy presses her body more firmly against hers, picking up the rocking motion. Wrapping a leg around the slayer's leg, Tara opens herself more, pressing up firmly into her lover's body, feeling their juices literally sliding down over her body, and between her butt cheeks. Digging both hands firmly into Buffy's ass, Tara urges her lover into a faster motion as she feels the climax slowly working through her.

"So close, so close." Buffy murmurs, the sweat literally making her body shine in the soft light of the room.

"Harder, Sarim!" Tara orders loudly as her body bucks up firmly into Buffy's.

Buffy grunts as she presses in harder and rocks faster against Tara, feeling her lover getting ready to tip over the edge, allowing herself to be right there with her. "Now, love!" Buffy practically howls as she feels the climax rip through her body, as Tara screams loudly at the same time.

Tara wraps her other leg around her lover, continuing to rock against Buffy as she feels the liquid literally dripping from her body, from their combined climax. "Love you." Tara pants heavily as they continue to rock against each other.

"So much." Buffy drops her head down to bury it in Tara's neck as she continues the rocking motion, feeling another orgasm building. Turning her head, Buffy laps hungrily at the sweaty goodness, that is her lover. "So much." Buffy whispers again, grinding her hips down and around against Tara's, grunting at the pleasure coursing through her.

"Yesssss." Tara moans as she counter grinds against her lover. Pressing up into her lover's body, while rotating her hips in a small circle, Tara feels the orgasm start to work through her body. "Almost, Sarim! Almost!" Tara cries out as she feels the hard throbbing of her clit.

"Yes, yes, yes." Buffy starts a mantra feeling the twitching of Tara's clit against her own aching, swollen muscle, grinding down hard and pinning Tara's body, Buffy tilts her head back, screaming Tara's name with her release.

Tara quickly follow's Buffy, crying out her name a few short seconds later. Groaning quietly as they both collapse on the bed, Buffy panting heavily into her neck, as her legs literally flop to either side of her lover as her body twitches with aftershocks. Tara can't help but smile as she continues to feel the rumbling purrs working through her lover's body, that never stopped.

"Can't move." Buffy mumbles into Tara's neck after few long minutes, her body still quivering with the pleasure easing through her.

"S'okay." Tara mumbles, her eyes closed as her hands stroke gently up and down her lovers back. Tara tilts her head against Buffy's as she wraps her arms around her lover, hugging her tightly.

Buffy smiles into Tara's neck as they lay there for a while, slowly getting control of their breathing and their bodies. "So, you used Mr. Gordo as the focus, huh?" Buffy finally questions, grinning as her lover giggles.

"I thought it was fitting." Tara shrugs, as she smiles softly, her eyes trailing over towards where the stuffed pig was sitting on the dresser. "Hmmmm. I'll give you forever to stop that." Tara murmurs as Buffy starts to kiss and lick her neck.

"Okay." Buffy murmurs into her lover's neck as she laps more strongly over her lover's body, slowly working her way down to her lover's breasts, not leaving a single millimeter of skin untouched before teasingly circling one of her lover's nipples for long moments before finally giving in to Tara's quiet pleading, to suckle strongly on the hard flesh. Hearing the low whimpers coming from her lover, Buffy moans quietly before finally releasing the flesh to work her way over to the other nipple, sucking and stroking her tongue over it, not teasing it like she'd done the other one. "Taste good." Buffy mumbles against the flesh in her mouth, before gently scraping her teeth over the hard nipple.

"GODDESS!" Tara arches up, crying out at the pleasure. "Buffy, please!" She cries softly as Buffy just drags her tongue under her breasts, working so agonizingly slowly down her body.

"Hands." Buffy warns softly as Tara's hands dig in her shoulders, trying to urge her to move quicker.

Tara grunts, before whimpering. "Please, Sarim! Enough with the torture!" Tara's body arches and bucks, trying to urge her lover to move quicker down her body. Moaning in agony as Buffy seems to move slower.

"My turn for what I want." Buffy growls softly as she strokes her tongue strongly over her lover's abdomen, ever so slowly working her way downwards.

"Oh, Goddess!" Tara moans loudly as Buffy takes her sweet time working her way down her body. Bucking her hips as she feels her lover's tongue stroke teasingly over the dip in her hip. Grabbing onto the headboard with both hands, Tara bucks uncontrollably as Buffy's strong, warm tongue strokes over her outer lips.

"Taste soooo good." Buffy murmurs, licking her lips as she drags her tongue over Tara's outer lips, smiling at the whimpers coming from her lover. "Us together is unlike anything ever before. Ambrosia doesn't taste this good." Buffy continues softly before dipping her tongue teasingly between her lover's lips. Buffy chuckles quietly as she hears Tara literally growl. "Teased long enough." Buffy murmurs as she slides her hands under her lover's butt cheeks, lifting her slightly, while spreading Tara's legs further apart, opening her lover to her greedy eyes, mouth and tongue. Buffy dives in, trying to engulf her lover completely with her mouth, as the loud rumbling purrs work out of her body, vibrating directly into Tara.

"SWEET, GODDESS!" Tara screams out as she climaxes from the vibrations of her lover against her apex. Bucking uncontrollably as Buffy starts to lick up her slit, dragging her tongue roughly over her aching, swollen clit time after time.

Lapping quickly and hungrily as she brings her lover to another climax, Buffy grins as she laps up her sweet reward, dipping her tongue playfully within her lover to gather more of her lover's juices. Easing her mouth away from her lover's entrance, Buffy listens intently to her lover's heavy, harsh breathing, and the almost continuous whimpering coming from her. Gently sliding three fingers into Tara's core, Buffy curls her middle finger and strokes continuously over Tara's pleasure spot, holding onto her with her other arm to keep from getting dislodged as she hears the low keening noise start from deep in her lover's chest as her inner muscles clench uncontrollably against her fingers. Dipping her head down, Buffy drags her tongue firmly over her lover's rosebud, moaning with her own desire as Tara arches up, clamping down hard on her fingers as she explodes.

When Tara literally drops back down to the bed, her body giving a little twitch and shudder, Buffy lifts her head up to look at her passed out lover. "Ooops." Buffy mumbles softly before gently easing her fingers from within her lover to wiggle her body more comfortably against the bed as she enjoys the fruits of her labor.

Buffy finishes moving the furniture around in the living room, until there's just the chair sitting in the middle of the room, with all the other furniture moved to other parts of the house, or against the walls. "Kalina! Anything else?" Buffy calls loudly for her lover.

Tara walks from the kitchen with a plate filled with a humongous omelet for her lover, handing it to her with a quick kiss. Looking around the room she shakes her head. "I think the idiots will all be able to fit on the floor okay. Joyce, Mr. Giles and Faith can sit on the couch and see and hear everything that happens. I think it's perfect."

Buffy moans as Tara strokes a hand down her side and around her ass while she's talking, knowing that her lover isn't even aware of her teasing caresses. Shoving a huge bite of the omelet in her mouth, Buffy chews and tries to think of other things, but glimpses of their early morning romp flashes behind her eyes. Smiling at the remembrance of being woken up to an earth shattering climax, before Tara got serious. Buffy shifts her body slightly, placing the fork on the plate as she pulls down at the crotch of her jeans to try and get some relief for her achy, sensitive clit.

"I figure after everyone's eaten, we can get this show on the road." Tara clasps one of Buffy's butt cheeks in her hand, squeezing firmly. "Why don't you finish that in the dining room, I have a big glass of milk on the table waiting for you."

Buffy grunts around another mouthful of food, walking slightly bow legged to try and keep her jeans from rubbing against her. Buffy blushes lightly as Faith smirks at her knowingly from the table as she works her way through a huge stack of pancakes, with half of an omelet on another plate.

"Here's another platter of sausage and bacon." Joyce comes from the kitchen followed closely by Giles.

Buffy narrows her gaze on her mother and watcher as they come out of the kitchen. Noticing their slightly disheveled appearance, she starts to inhale deeply before Tara places a calming hand on her shoulder and leans in against her.

"Easy, love. They deserve happiness and their own privacy, if they so choose." Tara whispers ever so softly against Buffy's ear before placing a soft kiss on the tender skin behind it. "Your mother told me about the band candy incident, and the fact that she actually does like Mr. Giles. And from the looks of things, I would say it's mutual."

Buffy grunts quietly, nodding her head as she shoves more food in her mouth, her eyes still staying narrowed as she glances from one end of the table to the other.

Tara sits down beside Buffy and reaches out to the platter grabbing a piece of bacon and munching on it as she looks at her lover. Running her free hand gently over Buffy's thigh to try and calm her lover.

"What exactly do you two have planned?" Giles finally questions as he blushes lightly at the look he's getting from Buffy.

Buffy growls quietly, snarling her lip up on one side. "Travers' head on a platter would be good."

"Now, love." Tara murmurs and squeezes Buffy's thigh firmly. "We're going to have a little discussion with Mr. Travers and see if we can't come to an agreement."

Giles shakes his head. "He isn't going to be very agreeable. He doesn't like to get his hands dirty."

"No, he'd rather fuckin' send his goon squad out to take us out of the equation." Faith snarls as she finishes her breakfast, dropping the fork on top of the plate as she stares at Giles. "That ain't gonna work. Something is gonna have to be done about him and the council."

"Let's see what happens." Tara grins wickedly as her eyes twinkle merrily. "I have a feeling that after today, we won't have much trouble from that end. As a matter of fact, I have a feeling that they might actually be helpful."

Giles raises an eyebrow at the young witch. "Why exactly did you re-arrange the living room, and what do you have planned, young woman?"

"Wait and see." Buffy growls as she finishes eating her breakfast before reaching for her milk to finish it off. Sliding the phone down the table towards Giles, Buffy grins wickedly. "When we're ready, we want you to call Travers and keep him on the phone. Tara will take it from there."

Tara holds the other cordless extension in her hand. "We'll see what he thinks about Sunnydale and the good ol' US of A when we're done with him!!"

Faith grins wickedly as she looks from Buffy to Tara and back. "I think I might like this."

"Dear, Lord." Giles mutters as he pinches the bridge of his nose after whipping off his glasses. "I have a feeling I'm going to become grayer than I already am before this day is out."

Joyce chuckles quietly as she refrains from making any comments. Standing she starts to gather the empty dishes and platters, smiling in thanks as the rest of the group helps carry everything in the kitchen.

Giles slowly punches in the number for the direct line in to Quentin Travers, watching as Faith bounces on the balls of her feet, Joyce sits calmly on the couch beside him, Tara and Buffy stand close to the chair, looking at each other and grinning. Praying that the two women know what they're doing, but also knowing that something has to be done before the Council kills someone.

"Travers!" Quentin barks into the phone, his eyes flashing with anger when none of his people from Sunnydale had checked in that morning as they should have.

"Lovely day, isn't it old man?" Giles nods towards Tara, watching her click the extension on, smiling.

"What do you want?" Travers growls in the phone, his eyes narrowing as he slams his cup of tea down on his desk, his eyes flashing from one person to the other in his office.

"Well, it would seem there was a bit of a problem here last night. I was wondering if you know anything about someone shooting at my slayer?" Giles questions, the tone of his words sending shivers down everyone's spine.

Tara raises an eyebrow in surprise at the ex-Watcher, before turning her gaze questioningly on her lover. When Buffy silently sends her the message that he was something of a bad ass in his younger days, Tara nods her head in acceptance as she closes her eyes, focusing in on Travers as the two men continue to banter angrily back and forth. "You are mine." Tara whispers softly, teleporting the Head of the Watcher's Council into the chair between her and Buffy.

"What the bloody hell???" Travers yells trying to stand up, finding himself unable to move his body, just able to move his head, as he stares in stunned surprise as he finds himself staring into pale blue eyes. "Who the hell are you, young woman?"

"Your worst nightmare." Tara narrows her gaze on him as she reaches out and grabs him by an ear, yanking on it hard. "You had someone shoot at my lover, and I don't like that. Not one bit!"

Travers narrows his gaze on the woman before slowly taking in the rest of his surroundings, as he realizes that he's in Sunnydale, of all places, he pales as he takes in the sight of Giles standing there off to the side with his arms crossed, Buffy coming to stand besides the woman with the blue eyes shooting sparks at him, Faith, the slayer that should, by all rights, be dead and Mrs. Summers. "How the hell did you guys bring me here?"

"That would be my doing." Tara smirks as she looks towards Buffy. Waving her hand, the rest of the men from the Watcher's Council come into the living room and sit down quietly, almost like people in a trance.

"I won't stand for this!! Release me and my people now!" Travers yells at the top of his lungs.

"Sorry, old chap. But you don't have a choice in the matter." Giles sits back down beside Joyce and leans back, deciding that with that simple show of power, Tara could, and probably would do whatever is necessary to take care of everyone. "Your show, ladies."

Tara nods her head and looks at her lover, silently questioning her if she wants to take over.

Buffy winks and crosses her arms to stare down at the head of the Watcher's Council, her eyes narrowed on the head of the Council. "You will leave Sunnydale to us. There will be no sending anyone from the Watcher's Council here to check on us, spy on us or try and hurt or kill us." When Travers starts to sputter, Buffy waves her hand at him. "Silence!" She growls angrily watching him snap his mouth shut. "You will pay Giles for all the time he has been here, continuing to do his job without you assholes looking over his shoulder. You will send Faith and I a monthly stipend to help offset the costs of food, clothes, weapons, living expenses and other items that we will need." Buffy turns to look at Faith with a raised eyebrow. "How does $5,000 a month each sound?"

Faith smirks and nods her head as she stops to watch the proceedings. "That'll be good."

"Fine, $5,000 apiece each month. Subject to change for more, if we deem we need more." Buffy raises an eyebrow at Travers. "You will have all records and charges dropped against Faith. We are going to give her the help, care and family that she needs. Giles will contact you with our bank accounts, and we want to be paid retroactive for the time we've been slayers."

"WE WILL NOT!" Travers yell, the veins in his forehead popping out as his face turns red with anger.

"I think you will." Tara steps up beside her lover, her eyes turning a pale blue. "Buffy and I know what the Council has done in the past. We can take care of ourselves. We are giving you this chance to continue being a part of the fight against evil here in Sunnydale. If you choose to continue in the way that you have, we will have no other choice but to keep you and any of your…" Tara turns to look at the rest of the goons that the Council had sent to Sunnydale. "Employees, from stepping foot in Sunnydale." Tara turns to gaze at Giles. "Who does the Council deal with in one of the Covens that can explain to this pompous ass that we can and will take care of ourselves if they want to be a problem?"

Giles tilts his head and smiles wickedly. "Alanna is the head of the Coven in Devon. The Council always goes through her for anything they need."

"Would you mind contacting her, asking her if she would mind talking with us?" Tara questions softly.

"It would be my pleasure." Giles smiles and picks up the phone, walking towards the kitchen to call the Coven.

"You can't do this!!" Travers sputters, before his eyes go wide at the sight before him.

Buffy growls angrily, invading the man's personal space, she snarls her lip and her eyes turn a brilliant orange. "We have, we will and we can!" Buffy's voice sounds like a lion's roar as she looks at Travers. Snarling her nose in disgust at the smell of body fluids now coming from the man, she jumps back away from him.

"I think you scared him." Tara comments with a slight raise of her eyebrow, a small smile crossing her face as she hears both Faith and Joyce snort back laughter in response to her comment.

"I am not cleaning that up." Joyce points at the puddle that's now on the floor, before her eyes take in Giles coming to the living room with the phone in his hand.

"Ummm… Tara, can you…" He waves the phone at Tara, smiling as she nods and accepts it.

"Are you prepared?" Tara questions softly into the phone, smiling at the answer.

"Bloody hell, yes!" Alanna chuckles as she winks at a couple of her Coven members, the group having been put on alert when Quentin had disappeared from his office in the middle of a discussion with a couple other Council members.

"Oh, now that was faster and smoother than I expected." Alanna blinks as she stares into the pale blue eyes looking at her, the woman blushing lightly. Tilting her head, Alanna frowns as she looks at the woman, feeling the intense power and goodness coming from her, her eyes slowly take in the rest of the group, finally coming to rest on Buffy. Inhaling deeply as she finally understands, she nods her head towards Buffy and back at Tara. "Sarim and Kalina. It was foretold that you two would be back together again."

Travers' eyes grow wide in realization and he whimpers loudly, trying to move, unable to with whatever they had done to him. "Bloody, hell!" He growls as he continues to fight internally.

"Now you understand." Alanna smiles knowingly at the Head of the Council. Finally relaxing as the pompous ass realizes what has happened, what he and the previous members of the Council had tried to keep from ever happening again. "You have no control over her, Quentin. Your best bet is to do what they say, or leave them alone. The two are as one, once more. They will not be denied this time. If you value your life, and your Council, it would be best for all concerned that you do not fight them. Support them as the Council should have supported all the previous Slayer's."

Travers lowers his head silently, in submission. Knowing that the two women could, and would fight and defeat anyone he could possibly send to them, and without the help of the Coven, they wouldn't even be able to fight them magically.

"You have our support, in whatever way you two may need it. It will be a long and hard battle that you two have ahead of you." Alanna smiles softly, clasping Tara's shoulder gently. "When things have settled down, I would like for you to come visit with the Coven for a while. There is much to discuss and for us to learn from each other."

"What do you mean?" Buffy finally questions looking at the older woman.

"What was stopped before, by the Council taking your lives was the fact that you two together could eventually wipe out demon kind. It is a long, hard road that you two will have. But with help of loved ones and people willing to help you, it will be made easier. Now that we know that you have found each other again, we will research everything we have to help you…" Alanna raises an eyebrow at Travers. "Won't we, Quentin?"

Travers takes a deep breath, slowly raising his eyes and nodding his head. "Yes."

Tara raises an eyebrow questioningly at the Head of the Coven. "Can I release him and the rest of the group without them deciding to try and do harm to us?" Tara stresses the word try.

"Everything will be as it should." Travers sighs deeply as he looks at his men sitting on the floor. "No longer shall we fight against the Slayer's, we will support them to our fullest abilities."

Tara looks intently into her lover's eyes, silently questioning whether or not Buffy believes his words. When Buffy slowly nods her head, Tara smiles softly. Hearing her unspoken lover's words whispering in her head to leave the protective spells around them, to be on the safe side. Tara tilts her head and watches the men for a few minutes before finally releasing them from her spell.

"Consider yourself lucky, Quentin. These two together could have had you in so many pieces that no one would have been able to identify the remains, if they wanted." Alanna explains quietly as she stares at the man.

"I know. I've read what she did after her lover was killed." Quentin stands, looking down in embarrassment at his wet pants.

Tara grumbles quietly and magically cleans up the head of the Council, for their own benefit, not for the Head of the Council's benefit.

"Thank you." Buffy mumbles as she comes up beside her lover wrapping her arms around her waist. "The smell was about ready to drive me insane."

Tara leans against Buffy, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in tighter. "Now, do we need to discuss what needs to be done, before sending you two back?"

"I'll take care of everything." Travers shakes his head looking at his group of men. "Go ahead and pack, you'll be coming back home."

The men all nod and silently leave the house, two of them yelping loudly as Faith kicks them in the ass on their way by her. "Sorry. Still a bit pissed about the fact they tried to shoot us." Faith shrugs when everyone looks at her.

Alanna sighs heavily looking at Travers, who has the good grace to blush and look embarrassed. "There will be no more of that happening from now on. Will there?" She narrows her gaze on Travers and when he shakes his head, she smiles quickly.

"As soon as you send me your bank account numbers, I'll be sure to transfer the money to them." Travers rubs a hand over the back of his neck as he looks at the small group of people. "Rupert, do you have the same account?"

"Yes, I do." Giles nods his head at Quentin.

"I'll have the money due you transferred to you by Monday. As for Miss Lehane, it will take a bit longer to have her record cleared, so you may wish to lay low until it's done." Quentin takes a deep breath as he turns his eyes on Buffy. "You have always been a thorn in the side of the Watcher's Council. Now I know and understand why. Have Rupert send us your bank account information once you get it set up." Quentin's eyes turn to look at the witch. "Miss…" Quentin frowns, as he realizes he doesn't know the young woman's name.

"Tara Maclay." Buffy supplies quietly as she looks at her lover. "Formerly Kalina Bogenette of France. My other half."

Quentin nods his head in understanding. "Miss Maclay, I wish you to know that things will be different from now on."

"Yes, they will." Tara raises an eyebrow at the man, letting him know with a look that she will personally make sure that things will run smoother than they have in the past.

"Time to get rid of them?" Faith growls as she waves her hand at the Head of the Watcher's Council. "I ain't ever gonna trust 'em, so it's best they just leave me alone."

"Having someone try to kill you three or four times will do that to a person, won't it Travers?" Buffy raises an eyebrow at the older man.

"Yes, well…" Quentin swallows hard at the looks he's receiving from everyone in the room. "All I can say, is that it won't happen again. My word on it."

"Is it okay, if I send him back with you?" Tara questions softly. "Two for one deal, just less hassle sending you two back at the same time to the same place."

"That's fine. We'll have someone either drive him back to the Council, or he can have someone come to get him." Alanna smiles and nods her head at the young woman. "Be sure to keep in touch. I have a feeling we have a lot to talk about, young one."

Tara blushes and nods her head. "I will, Mistress. It was a pleasure to meet you."

"Well, let's go. I was just about ready to eat when all this happened." Alanna winks at Tara and Buffy.

Tara whispers softly, and the two disappear, leaving the house with just the five of them standing there silently.

"Well, that went smoother than I expected." Giles plops down on the end of the couch, groaning quietly. "Dear ladies, I dare say that you probably have the Council scared shitless."

"Or at least scared the piss out of 'em." Faith snorts as she bounces on her feet. "Damn, I'm gonna have to stay here until they figure out how to clear me." Faith bitches as she finally plops down on the floor, staring down at her hands in silent contemplation.

"No, you don't." Tara shakes her head smiling. "You still have my glamour charm, Faith. You can use that if you want to go out without being worried someone will recognize you."

"Damn, I forgot about that. Thanks, Blondie!" Faith grins happily at the witch as she watches Tara turns and tuck her head against Buffy's shoulder. "You two must be bad asses, huh?"

"Only when it comes to protecting our loved ones." Buffy wraps her arms around Tara pulling her tighter against her body. "And, of course, to the evil that walks the earth." Buffy winks at Faith.

"That's your specialty, not mine." Tara mumbles into her lover's neck. "I just wanted to grow old with either a cat or a dog, teaching English and painting on the weekends, remember?"

Buffy snorts and hugs Tara. "Yeah, I remember something about that. Being a Spinster Witch, so much for that foolishness." Buffy looks at the group for a moment, smiling. "I want to talk with Tara about something, we'll be back in a few minutes."

"Yeah, right." Faith smirks as she plops backwards on the floor staring up at the ceiling. "Few minutes, my ass."

"We're just going to talk!" Buffy growls as she urges Tara towards the kitchen and out the back door.

"Please tell me they aren't going to do strange and weird things outside, now." Giles whimpers rubbing his eyes wearily.

"Maybe some heavy making out, but they probably will keep the majority of their clothes on." Joyce chuckles as Giles turns to look at her with a wide-eyed look. Shrugging, Joyce just grins.

"Do you two mind if I change and go for a run, or something'?" Faith questions as she bounces up off the floor. "I'm busting at the seams here, and I need to get rid of this energy."

"Just be careful." Giles looks at the young woman seriously. "If you're going to be more than a couple hours, call."

Faith nods her head in understanding, a huge grin crossing her face as she takes the stairs four at a time to grab a change of clothes.

"I guess I could give her some spending cash, that way if she gets hungry or thirsty, she has some money on her." Giles mutters quietly as he stands and pulls out his billfold, grabbing a couple $20's for the young slayer.

Joyce smiles softly at the watcher as Faith comes pounding back down the stairs, pulling on the necklace to transform herself. Watching as Rupert hands her the money and the shock and surprise on her face as she slowly tucks it away.

"Thanks G-man." Faith swallows hard and tucks the money in her pocket. "I'm gonna do my damndest not to fuck up this time." Faith whispers before heading out the front door.

"I know, my dear." Giles rubs a hand down the side of his face as he stands there, feeling at a loss. "But it wasn't all your fault, it's something we all have to work through."

Joyce stands and walks over to Rupert. "It's going to be different this time, Rupert. I think Tara will kick both their asses if they start acting like they did before." Joyce chuckles softly as she rests her hand on his arm. "Those two being powerful and strong doesn't scare Tara at all."

"No, I dare say, it doesn't." Giles smiles gently at Joyce as he reaches up to tuck a hair gently behind her ear. "That young woman is very powerful, actually both her and Buffy together can probably take on anything anyone wants to throw at them. Alanna has the sight, and she knows what they are capable of. She trusts them to do what's right. As do I." Giles admits softly.

"Buffy has grown up a lot over the last six months. Even more, now that she has Tara. Even though those two spend more time playing tonsil hockey than I thought would be possible." Joyce grumbles before smirking.

"I dare say that isn't all they're playing." Giles mumbles before blushing darkly as Joyce laughs heartily at him. "I didn't mean to say that out loud."

"But you did." Joyce hugs him quickly. "Tara makes Buffy completely happy. She hasn't been happy for the longest time, Rupert. I'd give up everything just to see her smile like she does now."

"But you don't have to." Giles murmurs quietly, wrapping his arms gently around Joyce, pulling her back against him. "Would you like to go to dinner tonight, Ms. Summers?"

Joyce sighs softly and rests her head against his shoulder, letting her arms sneak up around his neck. "I would love to go to dinner, Mr. Giles."

"Then it's a date." Giles smiles as he closes his eyes and holds Joyce tenderly, feeling a happiness inside, that he hasn't felt himself, in a very long time.

Chapter 37

"What did you want to discuss, love?" Tara murmurs quietly as she hugs Buffy to her gently as they stop on the back porch.

"I want to discuss what I'm going to do with the money that I have coming to me from the Watcher's Council." Buffy admits softly, placing a quick kiss on Tara's lips.

"It's your money to do what you want with." Tara looks at Buffy, blinking her eyes in confusion as to why Buffy's wanting to discuss this with her.

"No." Buffy shakes her head as she reaches up to brush her thumb gently over Tara's cheek. "It's our money, Tara. What is mine, is yours. By my figuring, it should be somewhere around the $150,000 range. I was wanting to give my mom a good chunk of it to help pay the house off. I don't know how much she owes, but…" Buffy trails off shrugging her shoulder.

"I think that's a wonderful idea." Tara smiles lovingly at Buffy. "Do what you wish with it, Sarim. You have earned it, time and time again."

Buffy grumbles quietly before placing a firm kiss on Tara's lips. "Fine. Maybe after things settle down. Possibly after Christmas, we can go look for a house, what do you think?"

Tara blinks in surprise at her lover, stunned. "You want to buy a house?"

"I want us to buy a house. Something with room for me to make a work-out room. A nice, open airy room with lots of windows to get sunlight in for you a room to paint in, then whatever else you want." Buffy shrugs smiling as tears of happiness come to Tara's eyes.

"You do realize that Mr. Giles and your mother are probably going to be dating and possibly getting serious, don't you?" Tara wiggles her eyebrows as Buffy growls and rolls her eyes.

"I don't even want to think about that!" Buffy sighs heavily before slowly nodding her head. "I know, don't know how happy I am about it, but I know."

"Truthfully, Buffy. Would you be happy with your mother dating anyone?" Tara questions knowingly, with a lift of her eyebrow.

Buffy scrunches her nose up in disgust at the thought of her mother dating. When Tara laughs at her, Buffy growls and lifts her in her arms to hug her tightly. "Okay, I get your point. Just have to deal with it." Buffy tilts her head as she listens as Faith leaves the house. "Hmmm. Faith just left to get rid of some pent up energy. Ooooh… Mom and Giles are planning on going out to dinner tonight. Uggghhh." Buffy lowers Tara back to the ground and buries her face in her neck. "Disgusting."

"Oh, sweetie!" Tara chuckles and hugs Buffy tightly. "Just look at it this way, it gives us something to pick on them about, instead of your mother always picking on us."

Buffy nods her head against Tara's neck slowly. "Yeah, but it's still disgusting! Just the thought of mom and Giles." Buffy shivers and whimpers loudly.

Tara groans at her lover's antics before shifting her upper body away from Buffy and lifting her head to look in her lover's mischief filled eyes. "I bet you're just wanting something to take your mind off those bad, nasty thoughts, aren't you?"

Buffy's eyebrows disappear under her hair and she grins. "Got something to take my mind off those thoughts?"

"I'm sure I can think of something." Tara murmurs quietly before kissing Buffy softly, the two women brushing their lips against each other continuously for a few long moments before Tara groans and slowly deepens the kiss.

Buffy pants heavily after they finally break the kiss, getting some much needed oxygen into their starved bodies. "That worked." Buffy blinks trying to clear the haze from her eyes, before grinning happily at her lover.

"You're easily distracted." Tara murmurs, chuckling softly. "Let's go in, sweetie. Figure out what we're going to do the rest of this weekend."

"I know what I want to do." Buffy growls playfully as she grabs Tara's butt as her lover walks ahead of her into the house.

Tara squeaks and jumps slightly. "We can't do that all weekend!" Tara tries to smack at her lover's playful hands as they sneak in and caress different body parts.

"Who says we can't?" Buffy laughs as she finally pulls her hands away from Tara as they start to walk into the living room.

"Dear, Lord." Giles mumbles under his breath at the two women as he rubs the back of his neck, trying to ignore Joyce giggling beside him.

"If you two ever do get a place of your own, we're not going to come and visit for at least a month!" Joyce jokes with the two young women.

"Try years." Buffy growls playfully, scooping Tara up in her arms before easing down in the chair with her lover in her lap.

"Planning on keeping me barefoot and pregnant in front of the stove?" Tara jokes, her eyes twinkling as she looks into Buffy's glowing eyes.

"Nope." Buffy shakes her head, nipping gently on Tara's bottom lip. "Maybe in the bed, but you don't have to be in front of the stove all the time. But someone would have to cook, wouldn't they?" Buffy questions, tilting her head as she thinks about it. "We can order out, no problem." Buffy grins and winks at Tara. Leaning in, Buffy whispers softly in her ear. "I don't think I have the right equipment to make you pregnant, but we can practice and try anytime and as often as you want!"

Tara blushes and smacks Buffy on the shoulder. "Behave!" Tara grumbles loudly before leaning into Buffy's ear. "Want to practice now?" Tara laughs as Buffy's body tenses almost immediately. "Easy, sweetie. Talk to your mom before she blows a gasket." Tara nods her head towards Joyce who's blushing at the two women.

"No fun." Buffy grumbles as she holds Tara to her. "Mom, can we talk for a few minutes?" Buffy finally asks quietly, looking intently at her mother.

Joyce raises an eyebrow in question at her daughter. "Yes, we can."

Buffy brushes her lips softly over Tara's cheek before standing up and letting her lover sit in the chair. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"I love you, Sarim." Tara murmurs softly as she watches Buffy start to follow her mother towards the kitchen.

"As I do you, Kalina." Buffy smiles and winks at Tara before disappearing into the kitchen after her mother.

Joyce turns and looks at her daughter silently, wondering what she wants to discuss.

"Okay, first off… can I just say, EWW?" Buffy wrinkles her nose up in disgust. "You and Giles just is not right!!" Buffy watches as her mom blushes and looks down. Sighing quietly, Buffy continues. "But I guess out of everyone, it kind of makes sense."

Joyce looks up in surprise at her daughter. "Buffy, are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah. Like Tara just told me, I wouldn't be happy with you dating anyone, so better the devil we know, right?" Buffy shrugs as she sits down and looks at her mother. "Mom, I know you've been struggling to make ends meet, especially with me going to college. I was wondering how much you owed on the house, that way I could pay it off for you, or at least give you a nice chunk to make things easier on you, when we get the money from the Council."

Joyce stares in stunned surprise at her daughter. "Buffy, you don't have to…"

Buffy holds her hand up to halt her mom. "I know I don't have to, mom. I want to do this. I eventually would like to get a place for Tara and I, that way you and Giles can have freedom also. When Faith gets back I'll see if she wants to move in with us, or maybe get someplace close by. It isn't like this will happen next week, but I'm hoping after the first of the year that maybe we can look for somewhere to live. I'm going to be real particular about the house Tara and I move into. I've already got an idea of what I want, and I'm not going to settle for anything less. I just have this funny feeling I'm going to have to have a house built for what I want." Buffy admits quietly.

"What exactly are you not willing to give on?" Joyce questions curiously.

"I want a huge work out room for myself, and a big open area that gets a lot of light for Tara to paint in." Buffy smiles as she thinks about it. "If it had a finished attic that we could maybe do some kind of glass panes for a roof, that would be great. Maybe Tara can do a magical reinforcement on it, or something to keep from anything breaking them. Or we could spend out the money for bullet proof glass, that'd work!"

Joyce slowly shakes her head at her daughter's ramblings. "What about the bedroom, kitchen, living room…" Joyce chuckles as Buffy shrugs her shoulders.

"Don't care. Except the bedroom. Want a huge bedroom with a gigantic bed." Buffy's eyes light up at the thought, a completely wicked grin crossing her face imagining all the fun they could have on a huge bed.

"I don't think I want to know what's going through your mind." Joyce grumbles as she slowly stands. "Honey, don't worry about paying for my house. Use the money you'll get to go towards a house for you two. Plus there's always Rupert, if we take this further. I would say that he would be likely to move in here, instead of us staying in his apartment." Joyce wiggles her eyebrows as Buffy moans and drops her head to bang it on the counter.

"Don't want details, mom!" Buffy grumbles loudly.

"Good. Keep yours to yourself, also!" Joyce jokes as she walks out of the kitchen.

"There is something just so wrong about this." Buffy growls quietly before she stands up to start looking in the refrigerator, her growling stomach starting to get the best of her.

"What did you do with Buffy?" Tara questions as Joyce comes to sit back down besides Giles.

"My rotten daughter is still in the kitchen, probably trying to find something to feed that monster she has in her stomach." Joyce grumbles before she starts to chuckle. "Make her keep the money, Tara. I'll be fine without it, and the rate she's going she's going to need every bit of it as a down payment for your guys' house."

"Goddess, what is she planning now?" Tara rolls her eyes as she thinks about what Buffy may have decided on.

"Just a huge room for her to have as a work-out room, which I think a full basement would be the best thing for that. Plus something about a furnished attic with bullet proof glass all around for it to get the best light? I won't mention the huge bed she's planning on buying, either." Joyce chuckles as Tara blushes and shakes her head.

"I don't know about her. Before we know it she'll insist on buying something that's ten times bigger than anything we will need." Tara grumbles as she stands to see what Buffy's up to.

Giles listens and watches as Tara leaves the living room. Turning his gaze on an obviously contemplative Joyce, he reaches over to pat her knee gently. "My dear, if you need help with the bills I would be more than willing to help you. I have money saved away, plus what the Council will be sending me as back pay. What money I would have spent on Buffy to take care of her, I used to upgrade our books and weapons to make things easier."

"Thank you, Rupert. But I'm fine. Just a little thin with the house expenditures, college and of course food." Joyce lips quirk at the last. "But I've been making due."

Giles sighs quietly and turns to face Joyce more fully, grasping one of her hands in both of his. "My dear, I must insist. If Buffy had been found when she was younger, instead of falling through the cracks, her watcher would have paid for all her food, clothes and everything out of the money that he was given. It is something that I would have been more than willing to do, but I couldn't offer it to you, because you didn't know about her calling."

Joyce sighs softly and shakes her head. "How about we see how things go, then we can bring up this conversation again at a later date?"

"If I agree with that, would you be willing to take money to help feed Buffy and Faith?" Giles offers, hoping to at least take care of the food bill. "I know you probably will be spending two or three hundred dollars a week on food with everyone that eats here, if not more."

Joyce silently nods her head in agreement. "That is one of my biggest expenditures, and with Buffy and Faith now eating here, it would be a great help."

"Will you let me give you the money each week cover the food for everyone?" Giles questions, reaching up to brush a fingertip over Joyce's cheek. "Please, Joyce."

Joyce closes her eyes and slowly nods her head. "I'll accept it, but only if you promise to come over for dinner at least a couple times a week."

"I think that could be arranged." Giles smiles, finally allowing himself to relax. "As is the thought of maybe taking you out a couple times a week to give you a break, also."

"Thank you, Rupert." Joyce smiles, watching as Giles slowly leans in to press a soft kiss against her lips. Blinking as he eases back, Joyce grins and winks at the watcher. "I believe you deserve something more than that." Joyce cups Giles' cheeks with her hands and kisses the watcher deeply, smiling into the kiss as she hears him groan loudly.

Tara smiles softly as she watches Buffy sorting through the containers in the refrigerator. "Bottom Tupperware container, love." Tara suggests softly watching as Buffy pulls the container out.

"YES!" Buffy yells as she grabs the wings. "How do I need to reheat these?" Buffy turns her gaze back on Tara, her eyes slowly raking across Tara's body.

"You can throw them in the microwave, but they would be better in the oven." Tara explains quietly.

"Oven then." Buffy tilts her head and watches as Tara grabs a large pan out of the cabinet and places aluminum foil on it, spraying it down with cooking spray before taking the wings from her. Watching her lover pre-heat the oven before placing the wings on the pan, Buffy eases her body against Tara's back, placing soft kisses on her neck. "I love you." Buffy whispers, grasping Tara's waist gently.

Tara hums quietly, closing her eyes at the lips gently caressing over her neck. "I love you, too." Tara finally whispers, opening her eyes to finish preparing her lover's wings to be re-heated. Moaning as Buffy's hands gently stroke over her hips and around to caress her stomach. "Ease back, love." Tara shifts with Buffy so she can place the wings in the oven for them to warm up.

"Can I play while we wait for the wings to heat up?" Buffy huskily whispers into Tara's ear as she trails her fingertips over Tara's stomach, wiggling them between her jeans and shirt, dipping her fingers teasingly just inside her waist band.

"Play, but try and behave to a certain degree, sweetie. We aren't here by ourselves." Tara explains unnecessarily.

"I know." Buffy grumbles quietly. Easing her hand up to brush Tara's hair over the front of her shoulder so she has better access to the back of her neck, Buffy nips playfully as she let's her fingers tease lightly over Tara's body. "I love the way you feel, the way you taste, the way you kiss, the way you touch me, even the way you do your homework. You're one brilliant and beautiful woman." Buffy whispers softly. "I guess I could say that I love everything about you."

Tara groans quietly as Buffy wiggles her fingers under her shirt to stroke the underside of her breasts while pressing firmly into her back. Closing her eyes in pleasure as Buffy continues to kiss and stroke her body softly.

"What would you like to do tonight?" Buffy questions between soft kisses across Tara's neck and shoulders.

"What do you want to do?" Tara inhales deeply as Buffy wraps both arms strongly around her waist and feels like she's trying to crawl inside her body.

"Be with you." Buffy presses her cheek against Tara's shoulder, holding her lover against her tightly. "In any way you want, as long as I'm near you, I'm happy." Buffy admits quietly.

Tara eases Buffy's hands far enough away so she can turn around, wrapping her arms around her lover. "I love you, sweetie." Tara murmurs as she kisses her softly before resting her head against Buffy's.

"I love you, too, Tara." Buffy holds Tara gently, stroking her hands lovingly over her back.

"Would you like a salad or something else to go with the wings?" Tara smiles as she feels Buffy shake her head in response. "After you eat, can we lie down and take a nap?" Tara whispers, feeling the late night and the busy, draining morning slowly catching up to her

"Of course." Buffy eases back, smiling at Tara as she strokes a thumb over her cheek. "You're going to eat something first, though, right?"

Tara nods her head, smiling. "I'll fix myself a salad and sub sandwich while your wings finish heating."

"I'll help." Buffy brushes her lips softly over Tara's, closing her eyes in pleasure as Tara holds her in the kiss for a few moments. Slowly breaking the kiss and licking her lips, Buffy growls quietly. "God, you taste good."

Tara chuckles softly and shakes her head. "Nope, that's you." Tara pulls her in for a quick kiss before turning to open the refrigerator, pulling the ingredients out.

Faith sighs quietly as she finally heads back towards Revello Drive. Doing some serious soul searching while she walked around Sunnydale, she thought about what she'd seen that morning. Now that she had time to think about what Tara and Buffy had done, and the conversation that had taken place, she felt a tingle of fear sweep through her at what the two women could do. After thinking along those lines for a while, she had slowly calmed down and the fear had disappeared as she knew… and maybe, more importantly, understood that they would never hurt her as long as she didn't do something to hurt the people they loved.

Faith thought long and hard about when she came to Sunnydale, the steps she made and finally allowed herself to be completely honest, seeing where they all made mistakes and how with a few simple things it could have been avoided. But for once in her life, she didn't dwell on the mistakes, she just thought about them, acknowledged them and moved on, knowing it would be detrimental to her health, and her burgeoning friendship with the group now, if she dwelled on them.

Replaying what had been said to her while in the coma, Faith tucks her hands deep in her pockets and hunches her shoulders as she replays the almost broken sound of Buffy's voice as she had begged her to come back, that she missed her sister slayer. That more than anything rolled around inside Faith's mind. Having a family, having a sister, touching some deep part of her she never realized was missing something.

Growling quietly as she thinks about the pain and terror that Tara had obviously grown up with, Faith finally allows her thoughts to rest on the blonde Wicca. Knowing that if it wasn't for her, she would still be in a coma and would probably have never known that the conversations Buffy, Joyce and Xander had had with her were real. Feeling a protectiveness for the blonde that she'd never felt before, Faith decides then and there that nothing, NOTHING would hurt the woman again, as long as she was alive. She needed, and most importantly, wanted her friendship.

Not knowing how this part of her life will play out, Faith smirks as she realizes she doesn't really care how it falls. She just wants to work on being friends with this group of people the best way possible, and let it go where it will.

Thinking once again about the montage of feelings, and pictures of what had happened previously, Faith shivers uncontrollably as what Sarim had done when the Watcher's Council had killed her lover, Kalina, rolls around in her head. The way the Slayer had literally went tearing through the Council ripping the people apart that were in charge, along with the people that had hunted her, and killed Kalina. Knowing the other slayer had actually went insane when Kalina had been killed makes Faith wonder what would happen if something should happen to Tara. The thought settling in her mind that she would die for this group of people. Not to make up for what she had done in the past, but because she finally realizes that's what she wants to do.

Stopping to look up at the front of Buffy's house, Faith allows a small smile to cross her face. "This is home." Faith whispers before trotting up to the front door to enter the one place she feels comfortable at.

"Relax, Tare." Xander mumbles as he eats a cookie, watching as the blonde Wicca paces back and forth in the living room chewing on the side of her thumb.

"Can't." Tara glances quickly over at the young man, smiling softly at him before continuing to pace. Thinking about how all of them had grown closer in the past weeks. How Faith and Xander had settled down, and were able to joke with each other after the initial worry and badness between them. How Faith had become like a sister to both her and Buffy, with Xander being the big brother of the group.

"Damn, T-bear! You're gonna wear a fuckin' hole in the carpet or in your thumb one. Chill already." Faith growls as she comes down the stairs and plops in the chair with her leg hanging over one side, a smirk on her face as she watches the woman. "Red'll be cool."

Tara looks worriedly at the dark-haired slayer and slowly shakes her head. "We don't know that for certain. She may freak, or think I'm an interloper trying to take her friends away. She could have a problem with Buffy and a woman…" Tara waves her hands around, the worry obvious on her face as she runs a lightly shaking hand through her hair.

Faith groans before throwing her head back and howling loudly, shocking and surprising both Xander and Tara. Looking back at Tara, Faith chuckles and wiggles her eyebrows. "Took your mind off it, didn't it?" Faith ducks as Tara swings half-heartedly at her head.

"Bitch." Tara grumbles, finally smiling fully. "Put your ass back in a coma." Tara threatens with narrowed eyes.

"Nah. You won't do that. You like me pickin' on B too much for that." Faith smirks at Tara.

"I like the funny colors she turns when you flirt with her." Tara laughs, her eyes twinkling. "Of course, you might be more careful flirting with me, I think she was about ready to go off on you the other night." Tara warns half seriously.

"She's cool. We discussed and drew some lines on it, so we're okay now." Faith admits quietly, smiling at Tara.

Tara nods and smiles before easing down besides Xander and bumping shoulders with him. "How's the new supervisor doing?"

Xander blushes lightly and shrugs. "Slowly getting into the groove. It's been a learning experience, but I'm enjoying it. The guys are settling down now, not pulling so many jokes on me." Xander grins quickly.

"That's good. I thought Buffy was going to go down to the construction site and kick there butts when she heard about them locking you in the port-a-let." Tara grins crookedly at the young man.

Faith chuckles wickedly. "She didn't get a chance to." Faith's eyes widen as Xander and Tara both look at her. "Oops."

"So it was you that dumped all their tools together in that mud pit!" Xander starts laughing and shaking his head. "Those guys looked like Mud Monsters when they finally got all the tools out of there."

Faith rolls her eyes and laughs. "It was better'n what B was plannin' on doin'. I think she was threatening them all wedgies or somethin'."

"And a slayer wedgie is not a thing to take lightly." Tara squirms around as she narrows her gaze on Faith.

"It was an accident!" Faith shrinks down in the chair. "I didn't realize I'd grabbed hold of your underwear."

"Uh, huh." Tara raises an eyebrow at the slayer, smirking as Faith blushes lightly. "That curtailed the roughhousing for a while."

"But I bet B kissed and made it better!" Faith looks up grinning wickedly at the witch.

Tara blushes and picks up a pillow on the end of the couch to throw it at the slayer. "That is none of your business!" Tara wiggles a finger at the slayer. "Transport your ass to Greenland. I heard that its roughly about 50 below right now."

"Ah, you wouldn't do that to me. Ya' love me to much." Faith chuckles and jumps up to run into the kitchen before Tara can throw something else at her.

"Why the hell do I put up with her?" Tara grumbles, a huge smile crossing her face.

Xander shakes his head, watching the play between the two women. Thinking how much Faith had loosened up and seemed more like a kid now. An extremely strong, dangerous kid, but a kid nonetheless. "Because she's like a sister to you. Actually you're like family to each other."

"So are you, Xander." Tara pats him gently on the arm. "You're the brother I wished I'd had." Tara admits smiling softly at the kind hearted young man.

Xander hangs his head in embarrassment, but a huge smile crosses his face at the sincerity in Tara's voice. "Thanks, Tare."

"Just calling it like I see it, Xan." Tara runs her hand up and messes up his hair, chuckling. "You have the phone, Faith?" Tara calls out to the slayer as she hears the phone ring.

"Got it!" Faith yells back, picking up the phone and setting down one of the sandwiches Tara had made earlier. "Yo! Summers' residence." Faith answers the phone.

"Glad you didn't leave it at just the yo." Buffy chuckles into the phone leaning against the outside of the airport. "Just calling to let you know that Willow's flight's been delayed. Looks like it's going to be another half hour, give or take before it lands."

"Fuckin' great. That'll give time for your girl to get all wound up again." Faith grumbles, rolling her eyes.

"Damn. Is she still worried about Willow?" Buffy frowns as she kicks at the sidewalk.

"Yeah. She was wearin' a groove in the carpet in the living room. Plus she might be missing a hunk out of her thumb from where she was gnawin' on it." Faith explains quietly. "We finally got her calmed down, but I have a feelin' she'll get wound back up here soon, B."

"Do your best to keep her relaxed. Maybe run upstairs and get her painting clothes and throw them at her. Painting always distracts her." Buffy suggests softly.

"I might do that. But then she'll probably be worried about meetin' Red while she's all painty and shit." Faith frowns at the thought.

"I like her when she's all painty. She's sexy like that." Buffy growls lowly at the thought of Tara with her paint smears and her hair flying everywhere. Having watched her do one of her 'artistic' pieces, Buffy had literally pounced on her girlfriend with the garage door open and everything. Luckily the only one to have come by was Faith, and she had actually been kind enough to close the door and stay away for a while. Not that she didn't pick on them mercilessly for days afterwards.

"Yeah, I know ya' do, B!" Faith chuckles wickedly. "Maybe I'll get her sidetracked with framing up the rest of those paintin's down in the basement. Now that she picked up the rest of the supplies yesterday."

"That'll work. Thanks, Faith, for watching out for her." Buffy whispers into the phone.

"No prob, B." Faith answers quietly before hanging up the phone.

Willow shifts her laptop bag over her shoulder into a more comfortable spot and starts looking around for Buffy. Chuckling as she sees Buffy barreling towards her, dodging people, Willow winces waiting for the collision.

"I'm not going to run you over!" Buffy chuckles and picks Willow up hugging her gently while spinning her around. "Looking good, Wills." Buffy sets the redhead down, looking her up and down, noticing the casual wear. The tight jeans with the t-shirt and the leather jacket. "Turned into a hot mamma while you were in New York, huh?" Buffy questions, tugging on the edge of the leather jacket, grinning hugely.

Willow laughs and shakes her head. "No, no hot mamma. Goddess, it's good to see you!" Willow hugs Buffy again. "Let's get down to grab my bag, I only have the one. So, what's been going on, besides the discussion we had last week? And is Faith still behaving?" Willow questions seriously, still slightly uneasy about Faith being out of the coma, even with her supposedly having turned over a new leaf.

"She's been great, Wills. Trust me in this. She's still a smart ass but she likes to joke and pick on us. She's more open than she was when she came here before. She was so afraid of getting hurt is why she acted like she did." Buffy explains quietly as they make their way to the baggage claim.

"Where's your mom at?" Willow questions, looking around for Joyce. "You didn't drive, did you?" Willow's eyes open wide as she looks at Buffy.

Buffy pouts and looks at Willow. "What's wrong with my driving?" Buffy starts to laugh as Willow rolls her eyes. "Okay, okay. We won't go there. She's out in the parking lot probably playing kissy-face."

Willow stops dead in her tracks and turns to look at Buffy with a shocked expression on her face. "Kissy-face?" Willow squeaks.

"Oops. Uh, yeah. Her and Giles are dating." Buffy grumbles and rolls her eyes. "They suck face more than I do!" Buffy blushes darkly as Willow's eyes get huge. "Umm. Really a lot to discuss here, and that's why Mom and Giles are waiting out in the vehicle. I didn't want to tell you on the phone, so I was waiting for you to be here in person." Buffy shifts on her feet as she looks at Willow.

"Angel?" Willow questions worriedly.

"No, absolutely not. NO Angel anywhere." Buffy states vehemently. "Never going that route again. Let's get your bag, then go to the Starbucks over there and get a mocha so we can talk for a few minutes, okay?"

Willow watches Buffy curiously as she thinks about how quickly and strongly Buffy had shot down her thoughts that it was Angel. Shrugging her shoulders at her friend, they finish walking the short distance to the baggage claim area, waiting for the airport crew to unload the baggage.

"So, what about you, Will? Anybody new in your life?" Buffy questions curiously, raising an eyebrow in surprise as Willow blushes darkly.

"Not so much new…" Willow trails off, embarrassed.

"Who is it?" Buffy questions, blinking at her friend, surprised at the obvious embarrassment crossing her face.

"Probably best to wait until mocha's." Willow whispers softly, not knowing how to tell Buffy about her new relationship, almost wishing Amy was here with her, instead of in Texas spending the Christmas break with her father.

"Did you and Oz get back together?" Buffy looks at Willow, not knowing why that would make Willow embarrassed, but not knowing who else it might be.

"No, no Oz." Willow sighs in relief as the luggage finally starts making it's way around the conveyors.

"Bet I got you beat." Buffy wiggles her eyebrows, grinning hugely at her best friend.

"Doubt that." Willow breathes almost silently, plucking nervously at the edge of her jacket.

"Why do you doubt it?" Buffy blinks tilting her head. "You'll never guess in a million years, so I don't think you can beat me."

Willow looks up in surprise at Buffy, knowing she has good hearing, but with the noise of the crowd and the fact that she had practically just breathed the words, not saying them, she's in shock. Blinking she turns her gaze back to the luggage, reaching down to grab her small bag, smiling as Buffy quickly takes it from her to carry. "Thanks, Buffy."

"No problem. I'd offer to carry your other bag, but I don't want to be beat for accidentally hurting your laptop." Buffy smirks at Willow as they head towards the coffee shop.

Willow shakes her head at her grinning friend. "You seem awfully happy."

"More than I ever thought possible." Buffy admits smiling. "Here, let me go get the mocha's… you do want a mocha, right?"

Willow laughs and nods her head. "Of course! I haven't changed that much."

"Just had to make sure. I'll be back in a flash." Buffy sets Willow's bag down at the empty table before weaving her way quickly through the tables to get there drinks.

Willow slowly sits down, shaking her head in surprise at her best friend. "I don't think I've ever seen you this happy. Whoever he is, he's obviously taking good care of you." Willow chuckles and pulls a napkin from the dispenser and wipes the table as she waits for Buffy to come back.

Buffy groans quietly as she hears Willow's comments. "Not a he, Wills." Buffy whispers as she waits for the mochas to be made, thankful that there wasn't that big a line, since most people seemed to want to get home for the holidays, instead of hanging out at the airport. Accepting the drinks, Buffy makes her way back to Willow, smiling at her friend. She could see the changes in the redhead. Willow seemed more relaxed and poised than she was when she left. More in touch with herself, instead of being the nervous spaz she'd been in high school.

"Thanks." Willow accepts the mocha from Buffy and pulls the lid off to blow on the hot drink, sipping it cautiously.

"Mmmm. Good." Buffy moans after taking a sip of hers, smiling at Willow. Knowing she probably should be nervous, but somehow just thinking about Tara calms her… and makes her want to run home and be with her lover. Sighing quietly at her meanderings, Buffy finally chuckles and tilts her head at Willow. "Do you want to go first, or me?"

Willow stops with the cup halfway to her mouth again, before setting it back down. "You first, please." Willow begs softly, trying to get the butterflies in her stomach to calm down.

"Hmmm. I don't know how I should say this, to tell you the truth." Buffy admits softly, running a finger around the table while looking at Willow. "I met someone, obviously." Buffy rolls her eyes and chuckles. "And this person is literally my other half, Willow. I'm complete now. My slayer half and my half have integrated completely because of this person." Buffy whispers softly after looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to them.

"What?" Willow squeaks in surprise. "But… I didn't think that was possible." Willow whispers quietly.

"Very possible. It's only happened once before." Buffy growls deeply as the thought of that time angers her, as usual, unaware of her eyes starting to glow a bright, hot copper.

"Shit!" Willow backs away from Buffy looking in her eyes. "Buffy?" Willow questions worriedly.

Buffy shakes her head and tries to calm down. "Sorry. My eyes changed, didn't they?" Buffy looks apologetically at the redhead. "When I'm angry… or…" Buffy blushes lightly looking down.

"Or?" Willow urges, curious.

"Or when I'm around Tara." Buffy admits quietly, her eyes opening wide as she realized she'd said Tara's name, without telling Willow it was a woman.

"Tara?" Willow looks confused at Buffy. "Who's Tara?"

Buffy slowly raises her eyes to Willow. "My other half, my lover, my soul mate." Buffy whispers quietly.

Willow stares in stunned surprise at Buffy for a few minutes, before she starts laughing hysterically. Sliding down partway in the chair, Willow feels a ten-ton weight lifting from her shoulders and she wipes at the tears running down her face in between her laughing fits.

Buffy frowns at her best friend, wondering if she had finally been able to send her over the edge into looney land. "Willow?" Buffy finally questions after a few minutes of the redhead laughing and wiping away the tears.

Willow waves her hand at Buffy and reaches for a napkin, gently patting the tears still streaming from her eyes. "You… gay?" Willow starts laughing again.

"Yes, I guess you could say that." Buffy blinks, starting to get upset. "Is it that unbelievable?" Buffy growls quietly, her eyebrows drawing together.

Willow's eyes widen as she sees Buffy getting upset and waves her hand at her, as she tries to get control of her emotions. "No! No, Buffy! My girlfriend would be so pissed at me, if I had a problem with you dating and being in love with a woman!" Willow explains quickly.

Buffy slowly unclenches her hand and tilts her head at Willow. "You…" Blinking a couple times, a quiet chuckle escapes her lips as she slowly relaxes. "Your laughter is because you were going to tell me you're seeing a woman and didn't know how to break it to me, then I…" Buffy sighs quietly and shakes her head in disbelief. "We are a pair, aren't we?"

Willow laughs and nods her head. "Poor Xander's head is going to explode!"

"It about already has, numerous times with me and Tara." Buffy grins wickedly at Willow. "She's great, Wills. There's so much I have to tell you…" Buffy shakes her head as she thinks about everything that the redhead had missed. "But first things, first. Who is your mystery woman?"

Willow purses her lips, her eyes flashing merrily. "Amy." Willow's lips turn up into a wicked grin as Buffy's eyes widen in surprise.

"Rat, Amy?" Buffy slaps her hand down gently on the table, starting to laugh. "When did you change her back?"

"Beginning of the school year. It took a while for her to be comfortable around people again. She's sworn off magic completely, and honestly after I did that spell, and discussing things with her, I decided to not do any more magic, either." Willow explains quietly. "So, hopefully you won't need my help with anything." Willow look worriedly at the slayer.

"That's fine, Wills. Tara's actually a very powerful witch. And believe it or not, I have access to her power. I've only used it a few times, right after the last wall was unlocked between us, but it's there if I should need it." Buffy explains quietly. Seeing the confused look on Willow's face, Buffy sighs softly. "Very serious, very long discussion. But first things first. Tara's staying in the room with me. You can bunk down in Faith's room, she offered up her bed and said she'd either sleep on the floor, of if you had a problem with her being in the room, she'd crash on the couch. So you can think about where you'd like to sleep."

"Faith's offered to give up her bed for me?" Willow blinks in surprise at Buffy.

"Yes, she did. She's changed, not a lot, but she has changed, Willow. She's sorrier than you can ever know for what she did. We've all talked and straightened things out. I honestly believe we all were at fault with what happened back then, but you need to talk to her about whatever hang-ups you might have." Buffy explains quietly. "Please try and give her a chance, Wills. She's still a pain in the ass, but she's trying and she's actually chilled out somewhat. Tara's the reason she's out of the coma. She went into her psyche and talked with her, trying to calm her and mend her broken soul. Faith met her more than halfway, finally and was wanting to get better." Buffy shrugs, smiling softly. "Tara said it wouldn't work, unless Faith really wanted to get better."

Willow nods her head in understanding. "Tara must be a very powerful witch. Doing that is very draining and taxing on the body, to visit inside another person's psyche like that."

"I know. That caused a bit of an argument between us, among a few other things." Buffy rolls her eyes. "Damn woman usually wins the arguments or gets her way, though. It's starting to piss me off." Buffy jokes and winks at Willow.

"So, how's your mom about your new relationship?" Willow smirks at Buffy as she slowly eases back in the chair, relaxing even more as she sips on her mocha.

"Actually, she's been wonderful and very understanding. I played the pronoun game with her when I first talked about Tara." Buffy looks up, a goofy grin on her face as she thinks back to that time. "I kept going on and on about Tara's eyes. Of course I didn't say her name…" Buffy shrugs. "I think it took a couple days before I noticed anything else but her eyes." Buffy blushes lightly. "But when I did… hubba hubba." Buffy wiggles her eyes and grins lasciviously.

"TMI!" Willow yells and tosses a napkin at the slayer, laughing at her best friend.

"Oh, that isn't TMI… When my mom and I were teasing her about the sheets… Now if I told you about that, that may be TMI!" Buffy jokes and wiggles her eyebrows.

"Sheets?" Willow furrows her brows at Buffy.

Buffy leans forward and whispers quietly. "She was a virgin." Buffy leans back and laughs wickedly as Willow blushes furiously. "She isn't anymore!" Buffy sing songs, laughing even more as Willow drops her head down to the table.

"You're doing this just to pick on me. There is no way your mother would pick on someone about something like that." Willow mutters loudly, unaware that Giles and Joyce had walked up behind her, seeing if they were ready to leave yet, and to see how things were going.

"Of course I would. You'll see why when you see Tara. It's fun picking on her." Joyce winks at Buffy. "Though she isn't as easily embarrassed as she was."

"Joyce!" Willow jumps up and spins around, hugging Joyce tightly, while looking at Giles, blinking in surprise at the casually dressed watcher. Seeing the white polo shirt tucked neatly into a pair of black Levi's with a black leather jacket over his shoulder. "Giles?" Willow squeaks in surprise.

"Hello, my dear." Giles smiles and laughs quietly as Willow quickly hugs him after Joyce lets her go.

"I assume everything went okay?" Joyce raises an eyebrow at Buffy.

"Yep. Went great. Willow has some of her own news to break to everyone, though." Buffy chuckles as Willow groans quietly. "You can wait 'til we get to the house, if you want to tell everyone at once." Buffy offers magnanimously.

"Why me?" Willow rolls her eyes, but doesn't feel the nervousness or the trepidation that she'd felt earlier. Knowing that if everyone had accepted Buffy's relationship, it shouldn't be any problem for them with hers.

"Come on, let's go. Wanna see Kalina." Buffy grumbles as she grabs up Willow's luggage.

"Who's Kalina? I thought her name was Tara?" Willow follows behind Buffy after grabbing her laptop.

"I'm assuming you weren't able to explain everything." Giles raises an eyebrow at Buffy, not that either of the young women had really explained to him what happened, but at his repeated requests, Travers had finally sent him a copy of what had happened at that time. Shivering uncontrollably as he thought about what the Council had tried to do to the slayer, what they had done to Kalina and what Sarim had done to the men she'd went after, he feels his stomach get queasy just thinking about it. Feeling Joyce place a hand on his arm and gently squeeze, he smiles sadly at her. Slowly shaking off the thoughts running through his head, he turns back to Buffy.

"Kalina is Tara." Buffy explains to Willow before turning to Giles and shaking her head briefly. "I just told her that she was my other half, my lover and my soul mate, that I had access to her abilities, but I didn't go into much detail, since that'll take a couple hours probably."

"Quite right. Well, the sooner we get out of here, the sooner you'll be with Tara. And the sooner Willow will be able to hear all the details." Giles smiles and unlocks the hatch, so Willow and Buffy can place Willow's belongings in the back. Before they all climbed in to head back to the Summers' residence.

"I've been working in the coal mines, all the live long daaaayyyy." Faith sings raucously, grinning as Tara throws her hammer at her. Catching it, Faith waves it at the woman. "Throwing things around can be dangerous to my health!" Faith growls menacingly at the Wicca.

"Oh, get a grip." Tara mumbles as she finishes framing another painting. "Damn slayer reflexes isn't going to let that get anywhere near you!"

"Hey! Why didn't your guard stop it?" Faith questions curiously, just realizing that the hammer had made it within the area from where anything that would harm her normally wouldn't make it.

"Because I put it on you. Anything I send towards you, won't be affected by the guard." Tara explains, looking up and grinning wickedly. "You need to remember that!" Tara snorts at the look of surprise and wariness that crosses Faith's face.

"You're an evil Wicca." Faith growls, her eyes narrowing on the woman. "I'm going to tell Buffy on you!"

Tara laughs and shakes her head. "Like she would believe you. She thinks I'm all sweet and innocent."

Faith grins wickedly as she hears Buffy coming in the house, knowing the slayer with her extremely amped abilities could hear everything they were saying. "So, you're not all sweet and innocent, huh?"

"No, I'm very, very wicked." Tara reaches over and pinches Faith on the cheek and wiggles it. "And I know she's here, so stop trying to get me in trouble!"

"Damn!" Faith grumbles and rubs her face from where Tara had pinched it. "You ain't no fun at all."

"Yeah, she is." Buffy laughs as she hops down the stairs, landing at the bottom to look at Tara and Faith. "What were you doing to Faith?"

"She threw a hammer at me!" Faith waves the hammer around. "Damn thing would have hit me if I hadn't caught it!"

"Ooops. We never told her about the fact you could sneak things past the shield, huh?" Buffy grins and wraps her arms around Tara's waist, kissing her firmly. "She's cool, babe." Buffy whispers and rubs her nose against Tara's, having seen the slight worry in her lover's eyes. Smiling as Tara relaxes in her arms. "Come on up and meet her. You coming, Faith?"

Faith looks up and slowly nods her head. "I guess. How did she seem?" Faith questions, her own worry showing in her words.

"You two will need to talk and hash out things, pretty much like we all did, but I'm sure giving time that everything will be okay." Buffy explains quietly as the three women walk up the stairs.

Faith inhales and slowly nods her head. "'Kay. More than I ever expected, anyways."

"It's okay, sweetie." Tara murmurs, reaching back to squeeze Faith's hand gently.

Faith grins quickly at the blonde as they head towards the living room where they hear Xander and Willow talking excitedly.

Tara hesitantly follows Buffy, smiling as Buffy starts to send naughty thoughts towards her. Smacking her lover lightly on the ass, Tara mumbles softly. "Behave."

Buffy looks over her shoulder and wiggles her eyebrows, before seeing Faith rolling her eyes behind Tara.

Faith rolls her eyes and shakes her head at the two women, having finally, sort of, gotten used to their half conversations. It never failed that they would start or finish a conversation in their heads, which at times was a good thing, but most often as not, it was irritating as hell. Slowly walking into the living room, Faith eases over to the mantle, leaning against it as Buffy introduces Tara to Willow.

"Tara, love. I would like you to meet my best friend, girl-type friend…" Buffy narrows her gaze on Xander as she saw him about ready to say something when she said best friend. "Willow. Willow, this is Tara." Buffy smiles almost shyly as she wraps her arm firmly around Tara, easing her closer to Willow who's standing now, holding her hand out towards Tara.

Tara blushes and smiles shyly as she reaches out to shake hands with the pretty redhead. "H-hello." Tara murmurs softly, before rolling her eyes as Buffy grumbles in her head. "Yes, Sarim. I know, but it's still nerve racking."

Willow looks confusedly at the blonde, her eyes turning to a darkly blushing Buffy. "Am I missing something again?"

Buffy nods her head quickly. "I'm Sarim." Buffy grins, before grunting and rubbing her stomach as Tara smacks her. "Not nice." Buffy pouts, her eyes sparkling as she looks at her lover. "I'll expect you to make it up to me later."

"Dear, Lord. Here we go again." Giles mutters as he strides out of the living room to make some tea, while being followed by a laughing Joyce.

"Are they trying to tell us something?" Buffy blinks and looks innocently at Tara.

Tara shakes her head and rolls her eyes at Buffy. "As if you didn't know." Turning back to Willow, Tara smiles apologetically. "I'm sorry. There's obviously a lot we need to explain to you. Would you rather have the discussion now, or relax? You can get settled upstairs, maybe take a shower if you wish?" Tara offers softly, smiling as Willow relaxes and laughs.

"I'll take up your stuff, Red." Faith offers quietly, leaning down to gently pick up the small piece of luggage and the backpack, that knowing the redhead, holds her laptop. Quickly striding up the stairs, leaving a surprised Willow watching Faith.

"She's different than she was before, Wills. She still gets a little testy and she still likes to make her innuendos, smart-assed comments and other things, but she's not as angry as she was." Xander tries to explain to Willow, seeing the look on his best friends face. "Nobody expects you to be best buds, but maybe you can give her a chance to at least talk about things…" Xander suggests softly, trailing off.

Willow turns her gaze to Xander, seeing the sincerity in his eyes. Smiling quickly, Willow reaches up and hugs him tightly. "I've missed you, Xan!"

Xander grins hugely and wraps her up in his arms, hugging her back. "I've missed you, too, Lil Willow Tree." Xander sighs happily.

Buffy shifts behind Tara and wraps her arms around her waist, hooking her chin over her shoulder. "So, what's it going to be, Wills? Talk, freshen up, grab something to eat, or something else first?"

Willow smacks Xander on the shoulder as he lifts her up and swings her around. "Put me down!"

"Nope. Not gonna. Don't hafta." Xander chuckles, then groans as he feels himself leaving the ground. "STOP IT, YOU TWO!"

Buffy and Tara looks at each other, smirking before letting him back down on the ground. "Just thought you'd like to know what it feels like." Buffy shrugs, grinning.

Willow turns to look at Buffy and Tara after Xander releases her. "Can we maybe discuss whatever's going on with you two? Then I'll unpack and maybe freshen up."

"Whatever you want. Would you rather tell everyone your news first, or wait?" Buffy questions softly hugging Tara gently, her fingers stroking softly over her lover's stomach, smiling as Tara's hands rub back and forth over her forearms.

Willow sighs softly and looks at Xander. "Well, how long of a discussion is this going to be?"

Tara chuckles softly when she hears Buffy groan deeply and drop her head onto her shoulder. "It could be a very short discussion. If you didn't explain everything, sweetie."

"Yeah, but she'll ask for explanations and details." Buffy whimpers behind her. "Go ahead and give her the short breakdown. See what happens."

Tara raises an eyebrow as she considers her lover, looking at Xander who's grinning and turns her gaze towards the stairs, watching as Faith plops down on the steps with a raised eyebrow.

Willow looks at all of them. "Okay, shoot. Try the short version."

"Buffy and I are reincarnations of a previous slayer and witch, respectively. The Watcher's Council at that time tried to kill Sarim, but I protected her. I didn't think they would come after me, even when Sarim begged me to protect myself." Tara shivers uncontrollably.

Buffy hugs Tara tightly, taking over for her lover. "They killed Kalina. No, not killed… tortured and finally killed her. I went insane and declared war on the Council, until they were able to finally kill me."

Willow falls hard onto the couch staring at the two women.

"Needless to say, we know everything that happened in that previous life. We also know that the Council had been trying to make sure that it never happened again. They failed. Needless to say, Tara talked with Faith a few times, then Faith woke up from the coma. We snuck her out of the hospital and took out the men the Council had sent to take care of us. They won't be bothering us anymore, and as of four days ago, Faith is a free woman. No murder wrap hanging over her head." Buffy looks over at Faith, smiling at the embarrassed slayer.

"Still got a lot of shit to make up for." Faith admits softly. "Just hope I get the chance to make a difference."

Tara smiles as Buffy releases her and walks over to Faith.

"Faith, you do make a difference. Every night you go out there and help protect humankind from the vampires and demons that roam the earth. We'll do the best that we can. That's all we can do, okay?" Buffy looks intently at Faith, smiling as the other slayer slowly relaxes and nods her head.

"Thanks, B." Faith whispers, her eyes serious.

"Welcome." Buffy pats Faith knee gently. "We need to go out tonight, I've been feeling some serious movement down there at the Initiatives place. I want to see if we can find out how to get in there and get a lay of the land, as it were." Buffy admits, frowning heavily.

"Initiative?" Willow questions, looking at the rest of the group.

Tara sighs softly as she sits down in the chair. "As far as we can tell, it's a military group that's underground on the campus. They've been capturing demons and experimenting on them." Tara smiles and grasps Buffy's hand as she comes to stand by the chair. Tugging her around, she wraps her arms around Buffy's waist as Buffy settles gently on her lap.

Willow raises an eyebrow and starts to grin. "Do you need my hacking skills?"

Buffy's eyes light up and she starts to grin. "Do we ever! Think you can do it?"

"Won't know until I try." Willow shrugs her shoulders, her eyes twinkling merrily. "If someone can give me all the information you have, I'll do a search then go from there afterwards."

Faith raises her hand. "I can get with Red on what we know." Faith turns her gaze on Willow and shrugs. "It ain't a lot, but maybe it'll give you a clue as where to look."

Willow nods her head in agreement. "That'll work. What are the plans for the rest of the day?"

"FOOD!" Buffy yells, smirking as Tara pinches her side. "Do it again, I like that shit."

"Glutton." Tara nips playfully at Buffy's neck. "I want you two to be careful. Don't try to sneak in, or anything. Just scope it out, okay?"

"Party pooper." Buffy grumbles, before slowly nodding her head. "We'll be careful. You'll kick our asses if we aren't. Plus we're still protected."

"Yes, you are. But there's no sense in taking any chances." Tara reaches up to tug firmly on a lock of hair. "Or you'll be hurting for more than one reason." Tara threatens softly.

Buffy whimpers quietly and nods her head. "Hearing you loud and clear."

"Thought you would." Tara chuckles. "So, is Joyce and Mr. Giles in the kitchen getting all hot and heavy?" Tara gets a dig in at her lover.

"I've been doing my damnedest to ignore what's going on in the kitchen, I don't need you making me focus in on it!" Buffy growls turning around and straddling Tara's legs. "Not nice!" Buffy captures Tara's face in between her two hands. "Gonna have to take my mind off it, now!"

Willow blinks in surprise as she watches Buffy practically attack Tara's lips. Her eyes wide she looks at Xander who's smirking at the two women and Faith who's rolling her eyes and leaning back on the stairs. "Do they do this often?"

Faith chuckles wickedly. "I'm surprised they lasted this long. Those two are horn dogs. Worse than I ever thought of being!" Faith grunts as Buffy nails her with a small pillow in the face, without even looking her way. "Ain't fuckin' fair! Just tellin' the truth!" Faith tosses the pillow back, shaking her head as Buffy catches it, not breaking the kiss.

"Breathe!" Xander chuckles wickedly. "Breathing is good!"

Buffy growls as she finally breaks away from Tara, smirking as she looks down into the Wicca's dark eyes. "Love you." Buffy murmurs quietly.

"I love you, too." Tara smiles up into Buffy's glowing eyes. Reaching up and running a hand softly down her cheek. "Company, sweetie."

"I know." Buffy nods, sighing quietly as she shifts back around easing down on Tara's lap again.

"Did you children decide on a plan of action yet?" Giles comes in, his hair slightly mussed.

Xander chuckles and flops back against the couch, laughing harder as he hears the loud whimper coming from Buffy.

"Why me?" Buffy questions rhetorically, dropping her head into her hands after turning to look at Giles. "Wills is going to do her computer magic, while Faith and I go scout out the area."

"Joyce has two large roasts in the oven for dinner tonight, along with all kinds of vegetables, bread and the works." Giles offers.

"Is that what took you two over an hour to do?" Buffy questions, her eyebrows raised as she shifts back around looking at her watcher.

"Rotten." Tara growls quietly, smacking Buffy on the shoulder.

Giles blushes and looks down as he feels Joyce walk up behind him.

Joyce narrows her gaze on her daughter. "Stop picking on him. He still isn't used to it and thinks you're serious." Joyce rubs her hand over Giles' back and smiles as she feels him relax.

Buffy pouts and turns back around, grumbling loudly. "Can't have no fun. Try to get in some quality teasing, and can't. Always interrupting it, or keeping me from it."

"Are you still talking about picking there at the end of that, sweetie?" Tara laughingly asks her lover.

"Maybe." Buffy shifts to sit sideways in Tara's lap, pouting adorably. Sticking her bottom lip out as far as she can and wiggling it at Tara.

"Definitely rotten." Tara grins crookedly at Buffy.

Willow watches her best friend and girlfriend, surprised at the way everyone reacted about their relationship. And the way they acted towards each other, completely at ease with each other. Watching as Tara reaches out and nips Buffy's bottom lip, Willow feels a pang of longing. "Joyce, can I use your phone?"

"Why certainly, my dear. You don't have to ask!" Joyce smiles at Willow as the young woman practically runs by her into the kitchen. "I wonder what that's all about?"

Buffy groans quietly as Tara finishes nibbling across her bottom lip. "Ummm. Think she's having serious withdrawals." Buffy admits quietly. "I think we're making it worse." Buffy admits, smiling sadly at Tara.

"Maybe we should chill a bit?" Tara suggests, seeing the silent agreement in Buffy's eyes. "We'll just sneak upstairs later." Tara wiggles her eyebrows as she leans forward and kisses Buffy softly.

"Better believe it." Buffy nods in agreement, before shifting down a little more comfortably against Tara, swinging her legs over the arm of the chair and burying her face in Tara's neck, her hand playing with her lover's top. "Are we going to open presents tonight, or actually wait for tomorrow?" Buffy finally questions the room at large.

"You know the drill, honey!" Joyce shakes her head as Buffy whimpers and pouts. "One gift tonight, the rest tomorrow. We have Charlie Brown Christmas loaded in the DVD player, along with a stack of other Christmas Movies and cartoons to watch!"

Tara chuckles quietly as Xander jumps up to grab the remote control. "Excited, Xander?"

"Wait until you see him doing the Snoopy dance." Buffy snuggles more firmly against Tara, placing a firm kiss against her neck, growling quietly at the fading mark. "Have to work on that later." Buffy flicks out her tongue across the mark, smiling as she hears the low groan and the instant smell of arousal coming from her lover.

"Brat." Tara digs her fingers firmly into Buffy's side, knowing what her lover is up to. "Behave, or you won't get your Christmas present."

Buffy whimpers quietly and relaxes against Tara. "I'll behave. What did you get me?"

Tara laughs quietly and shakes her head. "You have to behave to get it."

"Not nice." Buffy grumbles.

"I'm very nice. Or do you want to argue that point?" Tara whispers softly, more breathing the words in her lover's ear, smirking as Buffy shivers in reaction.

"No, no. You're extremely nice, beautiful, sweet, kind and all kinds of other wonderful things." Buffy exhales quickly as she feels Tara capture her earlobe between her teeth, nibbling.

"You'll see it later, sweetie." Tara murmurs softly as she releases the ear, her eyes shifting as Willow comes back into the living room, smiling and blushing lightly.

"Sorry." Willow shifts embarrassed for a moment, before sighing quietly when she looks at Buffy who just has her eyebrow raised at her. "Okay. Just to let everyone know, I've been in a relationship, not long after the beginning of the school year."

Xander blinks and looks at Willow. "Who's the lucky guy?" When Willow blushes even darker, and he hears the snort come from Buffy, he closes his eyes and whimpers loudly. "Okay, it's official. I'm just so much dead meat. Who's the lucky girl?" Xander changes his word, slowly opening his eyes to look at Willow, smiling softly at his friend.

Willow shifts from one foot to the other, seeing the curiosity, but not seeing any censure from the people she considers her family. "Amy Madison." Willow admits quietly.

Tara looks questioning at a hugely grinning Buffy.

"Wait… I'm assuming she isn't a rat anymore, right?" Xander blinks and raises a hand to try and ward off Willow's smack, grunting when she whacks him upside the head instead.

"That's just plain gross, Xander!!" Willow starts poking him in his ticklish ribs, smirking the whole time. "No, she isn't a rat. I was able to change her back!"

"UNCLE!" Xander finally yells after he fell to the floor, trying to crawl away from Willow while she continued to poke and tickle him.

"Xan, you starting to feel like you're in the minority around here? I sure as hell am feeling left out." Faith grumbles loudly, smirking as she leans back on the steps, crossing her legs as she finally says something, after having watched the group, enjoying the interaction and camaraderie.

"If that's an offer Faith, I'm there. But I thought you didn't ever hit anything twice!" Xander jokes, smirking at the slayer, grunting as Willow smacks him on the stomach.

"That's not nice!" Willow admonishes him seriously.

"Nah, he's cool, Red. He was just jokin'." Faith shrugs, laughing quietly. "We got our problems ironed out not long after I came outta the coma."

Willow looks at Faith, slowly nodding her head in acknowledgement. "Maybe we can get a chance to talk before I leave back to New York."

"I'd like that." Faith admits softly, slowly standing and walking into the kitchen. "I'm gonna get a soda. Anybody else want one?"

Tara urges Buffy off her lap, as pretty much everyone wanted drinks as they started to settle down to watch movies. "I'm going to help her get the drinks, sweetie."

"I love you." Buffy brushes her thumb over Tara's neck, smiling as Tara kisses her quickly before striding towards the kitchen. "Are you two planning on watching from down there?" Buffy questions, smiling as Willow and Xander jostle each other on the floor.

"Yep." Xander smirks over his shoulder looking at Buffy.

"Honey, go get them pillows and a couple blankets to be more comfortable." Joyce orders softly.

"Yes, mom." Buffy hops up and runs up the stairs.

"Are you okay?" Tara questions softly as she helps the slayer fill the glasses with ice and soda.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Faith looks up surprised at the witch.

"You seemed to be pulling away." Tara explains, stopping to look at Faith. "You're part of this family, Faith. Please don't distance yourself." Tara reaches out and clasps her forearm gently.

Faith drops her head, sighing quietly. "Why do ya' always gotta do that?"

"Sorry." Tara pulls her hand away as she pours more soda in the glasses.

"Nah. I didn't mean it like that." Faith shakes her head. "You just always see inside me and don't let me even start to pull away."

"You don't need to, Faith. We love you and consider you family. It's not just you anymore, you have all of us to talk to and be friends with. If you have any worries or problems, Faith, please talk with one of us." Tara sets down the soda can, looking at Faith.

"It's just that sometimes it's hard." Faith admits quietly. "I've been on my own and doing things myself for so long, that occasionally I find myself pulling back."

"I know, Faith. I know." Tara sighs softly as Faith's shoulder droop some. Walking around the island, Tara hesitantly places an arm around the slayer's shoulders, knowing that sometimes the slayer still gets a little off centered with the physical touches. When Faith just eases against her, tilting her head against her head, Tara hugs her with her one arm. "It isn't going to be an easy process, sweetie. And it isn't going to happen overnight. Just remember you have us to talk to, okay?"

"'Kay." Faith takes a deep breath, allowing some of the unconscious tension that she'd had building up, release. "Sorry for upsetting ya'." Faith whispers quietly.

"You didn't upset me, Faith. I'm just worried about you." Tara reaches up and rubs her hand gently over the slayer's head. "Come on, lets get these drinks out there. Do you think they'll want some popcorn to go along with it?"

"Of course." Faith chuckles. "That was kinda a stupid question."

"Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" Tara laughs and winks at Faith as she digs in the cabinet to pull out a couple bags of popcorn, throwing one in the microwave.

Faith smirks and shakes her head. "Thanks, Tare." Faith smiles genuinely at the Wicca before heading out of the kitchen with a couple glasses in her hands.

"You're welcome, Faith." Tara answers the slayer softly, knowing she would hear her response.

Buffy eases into the kitchen after Faith leaves, smiling as Tara pulls out the bag of popcorn, placing another one in. "Things okay?"

"I think so." Tara smiles softly at her lover. "I think she may just be a little more worried, and thinking about past deeds with Willow being here." Tara explains quietly.

"Probably." Buffy agrees, before wrapping Tara up in her arms. "She's hashed out everything with all of us, so she feels like she's on a more even footing with us. But she hasn't had a chance to talk to Willow yet."

"Maybe the sooner those two talk, the better off they'll be?" Tara suggests quietly before placing a soft kiss on Buffy's forehead.

"I'll go talk with Willow, see if I can't get her and Faith together to talk here soon." Buffy growls playfully while stroking her hands up and down Tara's back. "Let me get the rest of the drinks out there."

"And I'll finish with the popcorn." Tara smirks and smacks Buffy on the ass as her lover turns to grab the glasses.

"Keep that up and we'll be going upstairs instead of spending time down here with the family." Buffy wiggles her eyebrows at Tara as she starts to head towards the living room.

"Save that for later, sweetie." Tara laughs quietly as she hears Buffy whimper loudly.

Chapter 40

Tara smiles softly as Buffy kisses her before heading out the door to do a quick patrol with Faith, and check out the campus to try and find out some information on the Initiative.

"Is it okay if I go ahead and fix the last couple pies?" Tara questions softly, looking at Joyce, smiling as she looks up from where she's curled up against Giles' side.

"Let me help." Joyce starts to stand, stopping when Tara shakes her head.

"It's okay, Joyce. Let me do this. Between the oven being filled with a couple hams tomorrow…" Tara giggles as Joyce rolls her eyes.

"I think I need to buy another stove. With Buffy and Faith here, both of them will wipe out a ham themselves." Joyce grumbles, making the rest of the group laugh as they remember how the two slayers had demolished one roast by themselves that night.

"Are you staying tonight, Xander?" Joyce questions softly, looking down at the young man watching the Christmas movie on the television, occasionally bouncing his shoulder into Willow's.

"If you don't mind? I'll curl up here on the floor." Xander pats the floor, smiling up at Joyce.

"You can use the couch, Xander! You don't have to sleep on the floor." Joyce shakes her head, laughing at Xander.

"Thanks." Xander groans as Willow smacks him on the head.

"I'm going to get some more popcorn and sodas." Willow uses Xander's back to help her up, making sure to press down on her best friend.

Xander grunts. "Mean, mean person. I've been used and abused with this group, and you come home and do the same thing." Xander pouts, looking up at his best friend before rolling quickly away as she gets a wicked look on her face. Xander starts laughing as Willow pounces on him, tickling him mercilessly.

"Do you think they'll ever grow up?" Giles questions Joyce softly, watching the two teens.

"I hope not." Joyce whispers, laughing quietly as Xander finally calls uncle.

Willow rubs Xander's head, laughing as she hops up and walks into the kitchen, smiling as she watches Tara gathering the ingredients. "Do you need any help?" Willow offers softly.

Tara looks over her shoulder, smiling at the redhead. "No, thank you. I pretty much have it under control." Tara shrugs, chuckling softly. "We've already baked four pies, but with this crew…"

"They can definitely eat." Willow nods her head in agreement as she opens the refrigerator, groaning at the sight of the packed appliance.

Tara chuckles as she looks at Willow. "We bought another refrigerator that they put down in the basement. I think the next investment is going to be a huge freezer just for meat."

Willow laughs quietly and shuts the door. "I guess if Joyce doesn't want to go to the grocery store every day, that is pretty much a given, huh?"

"Pretty much." Tara nods her agreement as she mixes together the ingredients for the crust, watching as Willow grabs down more popcorn, throwing a bag in the microwave. "Xander and Buffy's missed having you around." Tara offers softly. "They're always mentioning you."

Willow blushes lightly and looks down. "I miss them, too. We've been through a lot."

Tara smiles, before chuckling quietly. "I'm still hearing some of the stories, probably will be for years."

"Probably." Willow sits down, laughing quietly. "I want to thank you for your help with Faith. I think it hit Buffy pretty hard when that went down with her."

Tara frowns before sighing quietly. "It was tearing her apart. I did it to try and help Faith, but I was really hoping to help Buffy come to terms with what happened. The guilt she felt for stabbing Faith…" Tara shakes her head. Turning back to the pie dishes, she splits the dough between them, leaving a portion for the top, before starting to gently press it out with her fingertips. "How did your talk with Faith go?" Tara questions, before turning her gaze to Willow. "I'm s-sorry. That's not any of my b-business." Tara frowns heavily, dropping her eyes back to what she was doing.

"No, no." Willow shakes her head, smiling softly. "It's okay. You're family now, even if it does seem a little strange seeing Buffy like that. She was never like that with…" Willow trails off, blushing darkly.

"You can say his name, Willow. I won't get upset." Tara looks up, a crooked smile crossing her face. "Buffy loved Angel, but like we have discussed, her slayer half would never have accepted him. We talk about the things that have happened quite frequently, actually." Tara blushes lightly as she looks up at Willow. "Usually late at night."

Willow laughs, shaking her head. "Why do I find that hard to believe?"

Tara shrugs her shoulders, blushing even darker. "Well, we do…sometimes." Tara grins crookedly at the redhead.

"You've been good for her." Willow admits, watching the blonde as she trims the excess dough from around the edges of the pie pan. "I don't ever remember seeing her this happy."

Tara nods her head, her eyes serious as they land on Willow. "I think her calling was starting to take its toll on her. You can only have so much death and violence in your life before it eats away at you, before it makes you wonder how much good you're actually doing. She needed something to help her get back to herself." Tara grins crookedly. "Still kind of hard to believe it's me."

"Why would that be hard to believe?" Willow questions quietly, her brows furrowed as she watches Tara.

Tara shrugs and blushes as she turns the oven on to preheat before cheating and getting the pie filling out, her and Joyce discussing that for the peach and cherry pies, that they'd use the filling. "I actually didn't ever think I'd find someone, truthfully. As I told Buffy, I planned on living out my days teaching English, painting on the weekends and have either a dog or a cat for company."

"You paint?" Willow perks up, her eyes widening. "This hasn't come up before."

Tara blushes and nods her head. "The painting above the mantle is one of mine." Tara admits softly, before continuing in even softer tones. "I did a painting for Joyce for Christmas, plus wrapped another one that seemed to interest her when we were going through them." Tara shrugs, smiling self consciously. "Joyce is planning on having a showing with my work in a couple months. She said something about it would be better to wait until Spring, plus that gives us time for me to finish framing the rest of the paintings."

Willow blinks in surprise as she thinks about the painting above the mantle, remembered that it was new and noticed that it was a beautiful landscape with the mountains, but not having really looked at it closely. "You must be really good, for Joyce to want to have you in her gallery."

Tara bites her lip and shakes her head. "I think I'm okay, but everyone keeps telling me that I'm really good."

Willow's lip quirks up as she sees the innate shyness and lack of conceit the woman has, wondering how much she has changed in the last month or so, remembering Buffy mentioning something about Tara having been extremely shy and uninitiated in the world when she met her. Seeing a little of that showing through now. "Joyce doesn't say something that isn't true. So you must be an extraordinary artist."

Embarrassed, Tara drops her head and places the crusts in the oven with the pie weights in them to bake for a few minutes before opening the cans. "Buffy, Faith and Xander are insisting on all of us going to the Bronze while you're here. I think they plan on us going there two nights from now. Buffy's tried to talk me into going before now, but I've been able to sidetrack her." Tara sighs softly, still feeling uncomfortable about going, especially since she can't dance.

"You haven't been to the Bronze, yet?" Willow blinks in surprise. "That's kind of like 'the' place to be."

Tara bites her lip and shakes her head. "If Buffy hasn't already explained, I will. I pretty much went to classes and studied. I didn't do much of anything else before she came into my life."

"No dating?" Willow blinks in surprise, remembering Buffy saying something about Tara being a year older than them. "You're nineteen, right?"

Tara nods her head quickly, the embarrassment obvious on her face.

"Hey! I thought we were going to have popcorn and sodas!" Xander rolls in, looking from a surprised looking Willow to an embarrassed Tara. "Okay, what am I interrupting?"

"My explaining about my lack of interaction with people." Tara looks up, slowly grinning at Xander as he makes a face at her after her words.

"Yeah, and look at you now! You're a teasing, picking machine!" Xander wraps an arm around her shoulder, squeezing her gently. "This woman has been the cause of many of my bruises and headaches, Wills. Don't let her fool you. Once she relaxes, she has a wicked sense of humor and she LOVES getting me in trouble." Xander grunts and rubs his ribs after Tara elbows him.

Willow laughs quietly, shaking her head. "I think you can get into trouble all on your own, without any help, Xan."

"I can, but a lot of time she instigates it on purpose." Xander whines, plopping down at the island, grinning at his best friend. "Buffy's threatened, seriously, mind you!! To literally beat me to a pulp. It's not my fault that they're always making out and I happen to see them!"

"You're not the only one." Tara blushes and rolls her eyes. "We didn't hear the end of it for days when Faith caught us."

Xander's eyes light up and he starts grinning hugely. "I heard a little bit about that. Something about the garage becoming a playroom and Faith having to close the door?"

Tara throws a towel at Xander. "It wasn't my fault! I was painting and Buffy went nuts for some reason."

Xander laughs loudly as he looks at Tara, seeing the slight confusion in her eyes with her comment. "You still haven't a clue, do you?"

"What?" Tara questions softly before turning back towards the stove to pull the crusts out to let them cool before finishing the pies.

Xander looks back at Willow and shakes his head, smiling sadly at the redhead. "She doesn't realize how beautiful she is." He whispers softly, seeing the surprise in Willow's eyes as she glances back at Tara. "I think Buffy has this thing about you and paint." Xander speaks up, so Tara can hear him.

Tara blushes as she thinks about one of the presents she has tucked away in their closet for Buffy. With the slayer picking on her and teasing her so often about body paints, she'd used some of her saved money to buy some, along with the other items that she had decided on for the slayer, with a little help from Joyce. Chuckling to herself as she remembered their trip to the mall.

Tara blinks as she comes back, looking at Xander and Willow, looking at her expectantly. Blushing darkly, she whispers. "Sorry, what did you s-say?"

Xander laughs quietly. "Buffy moment. No, we were just wondering what all we were having for Christmas Dinner tomorrow."

"Oh, sorry. Two hams, a meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, steamed carrots, stuffing, corn on the cob, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, waldorf salad, potato salad, assorted pies…" Tara trails off shrugging her shoulders. "Probably a few other things that I forgot."

Willow groans and wraps her hands around her stomach. "I can feel my aching, full stomach already! We'll all be crashed around the house, snoozing soon after eating all that." Willow jokes, her eyes twinkling as she looks from her best friend, to a woman she hopes to become friends with.

"Wait until you taste her sweet potato casserole." Xander licks his lips and moans loudly. "That is if you can get any before Buffy scarfs it all up."

"I'm making a huge batch of it, just to be on the safe side." Tara swats him softly on the back before turning and emptying the filling in the pie shells. Rolling out the tops, she gently places them over the filled pies, pinching it gently against the edges before carefully trimming the excess away, finally placing them back in the oven and setting the timer. Looking at the clock, Tara bites her lip, wondering how much longer Buffy and Faith might be before they get back, knowing that Buffy had felt a couple demons, which shouldn't take too long for the two slayers to take care of. But with them wanting to scope out possibilities of how to get in the Initiatives stronghold, knowing it might take a little while. Sitting down besides Willow, Tara grins crookedly at Xander. "So, I've heard about your little love spell where everyone wanted you, but nobody went into any details about your other 'demon' attractions. Start to spill."

Xander whimpers and drops his head on the island. "No. Don't wanna. Ask Willow about Malcolm instead! Oh! Oh!! No, tell her about Vamp you." Xander lifts his head grinning at his best friend. "Come on Wills!! Tell her. Willow and leather…Yummm." His eyes glaze over as he thinks back to that time.

Willow blushes and rolls her eyes while reaching across to smack him. "Stop that!"

Xander shrugs his shoulders, grinning hugely. "Well, think about it! I have since you mentioned you and Amy! I vaguely remember you saying something along the lines of…'And I think I'm kinda gay.' there somewhere."

Willow laughs and slowly nods her head. "But that was extremely weird being hit on by myself."

Tara looks from one to the other, with a raised eyebrow and a slow smirk on her face. "I have so got to hear this one."

Willow rolls her eyes before finally starting. "Well, it was like this…"

Buffy growls quietly as she and Faith look around the campus. "It feels like there's literally hundreds of demons here, doesn't it?"

"I've never felt such a concentration before." Faith agrees quietly as she looks intently at the ground, seeing a slight disturbance. "B?"

Buffy trots over to Faith kneeling with her on the ground. Both women working their fingers along the disturbance. "I feel it, let's try lifting it gently. I don't want to rip it off, if it's locked." Buffy admits quietly.

"Gotcha." Faith agrees, the two women grasping the cover, surprised when it doesn't give any resistance. Seeing the well oiled hinges and the shiny metal under the grass, Faith raises an eyebrow. "I think we hit the jackpot."

"Looks that way." Buffy stares intently down into the dark hole. "Damn, if I go down there Tara will kick my ass for taking chances."

"But it wasn't locked or latched. Maybe if we just check it out a little ways? See if it's actually part of the Initiative, or just another access to the sewers." Faith suggests, frowning slightly.

"We know this isn't an access to the sewers." Buffy looks up shaking her head at Faith. "It's too well kept, plus it being hidden is pretty much a give-away." Seeing Faith sigh and nod her head in agreement, Buffy pats her on the shoulder. "We'll just look, we won't go far. But if I get in trouble, I'm blaming you." Buffy smirks at Faith.

"Great. Just what I need, blondie ready to kick my ass." Faith grumbles, slowly following Buffy into the hole. "Like I don't get into enough trouble on my own."

Buffy chuckles quietly. "You like being in trouble." Buffy whispers softly, waiting for her eyes to adjust, not using her slayer sight, since Faith had made the comment when they were in the tunnels that her eyes glowing orange were pretty much a dead giveaway one night when they were out on patrol. Finally able to make out some of the tunnels, Buffy questions Faith softly. "Your eyes adjusted yet?"

"Yeah, things are sorta coming in now. Still fuckin' dark down here." Faith admits, pulling a knife from her holder as they slowly creep forward, searching out the area.

"Hold up." Buffy places a hand on Faith's shoulder as they get ready to turn a corner. Barely peaking around, Buffy's eyes search out the area, frowning when she sees a pale flashing light down at the end of the corridor. Zooming in as much as possible, Buffy growls quietly and backs up. "There's cameras in this section, Faith. I don't know if they caught me or not, but I'd say we should get out of here."

"Let's go." Faith trots quickly back the way they came, grunting as Buffy literally tosses her up out of the hole before jumping out behind her. "Could have warned me you were going to do that."

"Sorry." Buffy puts the camouflaged cover back over the hole, tapping Faith on the shoulder before they jog quickly away. "Hold up. Can you climb a tree?"

"Who needs to climb?" Faith growls, jumping up to the lowest branch before scampering up a little further into the tree, watching as Buffy quickly follows her. "What's the plan?"

Buffy shifts around until she can see the area they had come from, watching to see if anybody follows them. "I want to watch and see if they send someone after us."

Faith straddles the branch and leans her back against the tree trunk as she looks at Buffy. "So, what'd ya' get Tare for Christmas?" Faith finally questions after a few minutes, grinning.

Buffy chuckles, glancing at Faith. "Well, the items that will be able to be opened in front of everyone are some clothes, paint supplies and a few other things." Buffy unconsciously wraps her fingers around a small box in her pocket. "Then there are a few things that are presents for her, but kind of actually for me." Buffy admits, blushing lightly.

Faith grins wickedly at the blonde slayer. "You snuck out and visited that shop, didn't ya'?" Faith laughs as Buffy quickly nods her head, blushing even more.

"I picked up a couple things." Buffy whispers quietly, her eyes searching out the campus. "Nothing extreme, just a few things to try. We've discussed it, and I know that she's okay with it, but I don't want to push too much, you know?"

"Yeah. Tell ya' the truth, I wonder if it might be somethin' to do with us being slayers." Faith admits seriously. "I've always kind of enjoyed a certain amount of roughness."

Buffy looks at Faith surprised that the woman is bringing this up. "It may be. With our calling, violence is kind of second nature to us. Or maybe we feel that we need to be 'punished' for not being able to protect or save everyone." Buffy admits quietly, watching Faith. "I know the guilt sometimes bogs me down, and even though I discuss it with Tara, it's still there."

Faith slowly nods her head. "Yeah. That's kinda how I feel about it. Sometimes I just feel like I need a good ass kicking. I'd ask you to do it, but I figure Tare would go ballistic on both our asses if I come in looking like I'd been put through the wringer." Faith admits quietly.

"Maybe I could talk to her about us sparring together." Buffy offers softly. "If I explain to her that we both need to get out some of our frustrations, she might not get so upset." Buffy runs a hand through her hair as she turns her gaze back out on the quad, watching as a group of five men come across the campus, laughing and joking a little too loud. Tilting her head, Buffy watches them intently as the men joke and push each other around, but at the same time she notices they seem to be paying a lot of attention to the campus around them.

"Got the feeling that's a ruse?" Faith nods her head towards the group. "Feels like a set-up to me."

"Yes, it does." Buffy leans forward a little more, recognizing one of the men. "That's Riley, one of my TA's." Buffy shakes her head as she looks over the other men, noticing a few look familiar, but not being able to place them at that moment. "Well, I'd say that answers one of the questions Tara and I had batted back and forth to each other."

"What's that?" Faith whispers as she watches the men finally head away from them.

"Come on, we'll talk on the way back to the house." Buffy drops down from the limb to the ground, watching as Faith climbs down partway before dropping the rest of the way. The two women quickly striding away from the college. "We discussed there was a good chance that either the people working for the Initiative were acting like students, or even possibly professors, or other things here at the college. Seeing Riley just now, confirmed that thought. Also makes me wonder a little more seriously about our Psych Professor, Maggie Walsh." Buffy admits softly as she thinks about it. "I never did like her. Makes me curious if there was more of a reason why I didn't like her than just being rubbed the wrong way."

"Good possibility." Faith agrees quietly. "I don't like 'em experimenting on the demons. If the demons are bad, they need to be killed. Do they even leave the non-violent demons alone, or are they capturing them, also?" Faith questions softly.

"They're capturing all of them." Buffy admits, frowning heavily. "A lot of the demons that were non-violent packed up and headed out of town once they got wind of what was going on. As for the other demons, what few have come into town, we've taken care of before they've had the chance to get them. If they're experimenting on them, that's equal to torture, and we are going to need to put them out of their misery." Buffy looks over at Faith.

"Yeah. And we can't just let them go, to give them a fightin' chance." Faith thinks, running a hand through her hair. "We're probably gonna have to take them out down there. What about the humans?"

"I don't know." Buffy shoves her hands in her pockets and hunches her shoulders. "This is shit we're going to need to talk to with everyone, get their input and ideas. But the sooner we take care of it, the better I'll feel. I think they're just asking for trouble to have that many demons in that concentrated of a place."

"Yeah, what would happen if their power went out, or some shit like that? You know as strong as some of the demons are, they gotta have some kind of electric barrier around them." Faith offers up the thought.

"Jesus…if that went out, it'd be a massacre --- for the humans." Buffy shakes her head, her eyes opening wide at the thought. "We're definitely going to have to figure out something quick."

"Should we wait and have this discussion after Christmas?" Faith hesitantly questions, her eyes turned to look at Buffy as the two slayers come to a stop on Buffy's street, unconsciously having decided to finish this conversation here, before going any further.

"I don't know." Buffy shakes her head. "In a way, I think we should get this taken care of fast…but in another way I want everyone to have a good Christmas without worrying about this shit. I don't think Tara's had very many good Christmas' the last few years." Buffy admits softly.

"Your call, B." Faith shakes her head, looking at the slayer. "I'll go with ya' either way you decide."

"Thanks, Faith." Buffy smiles distractedly at the slayer. "Damn. I want to wait, but Tara will know something's up. Even before we connected on a more deep level, she always knew if something was bothering me." Buffy growls quietly, looking up at the night sky. "Fuck it, we'll tell them, then go from there. All of us can decide whether to have a non-demony day tomorrow, or hash things out between eating, opening presents and other stuff."

"Then that's what we'll do." Faith chuckles quietly, smacking Buffy gently on the back. "Come on, let's go in. You know your girl is probably worrying about ya' by now."

Buffy laughs quietly. "Not just me, Faith. You know she worries about you, too."

"Yeah." Faith blushes and looks down. "You're one lucky lady, B. I hope I find somebody that loves me half as much as she does you."

"There's someone out there, somewhere, Faith. But I can honestly tell you, I wasn't looking for her when she showed up. And I definitely wasn't looking for a woman…I still can't believe that we had never run into each other before that time." Buffy shakes her head in disbelief.

"Fate." Faith whispers softly, looking at Buffy as Buffy snaps her head to look towards her. "Maybe you weren't ready for it. You had the whole Angel thing going on, we were fighting…" Faith shrugs as she sighs, looking around. "Her being added into the mix might have fucked everything up, B. You may have had to come to the understanding that Fang wasn't really what you needed. Would ya' have even looked at her twice when he was around?" Faith questions softly.

Buffy frowns heavily as she thinks about it. "I never really even considered being with a woman much before her, Faith. And if I had run into her then…" Buffy shakes her head. "I don't know."

"Talking with Tare has made me think about these type things." Faith admits quietly. "She honestly believes that Fate has a lot to do with what happens. That Fate didn't want you two to notice each other until you did. Everything since then was guided by the hand of Fate. But she also insists that we all still make our own decisions. Fate just offers up the chances, and hopes that they're acted upon. Kinda like me." Faith sighs heavily. "What woulda happened if Tara hadn't been around? If I woke up from a coma, I probably never would have believed what I remembered. I would have thought it was a dream."

"A lot of things could be different, but they aren't." Buffy wraps her arm around Faith's shoulder, squeezing her gently. "No sense in thinking about that, Faith. We're here together, a family. That's what's actually happening. No sense in worrying about what could have happened, we've all got enough guilt to work through with what we DID do, we don't need to add what we could have done."

Faith chuckles quietly. "You have a point, B. Come on, I know you're wantin' to see Tare. And I could use a little something to snack on, if they'll let me eat anything." Faith jokes.

"You know Tara makes a couple sub sandwiches and puts them in the refrigerator for us to munch on at any given time, just to keep us from going hungry until the meals are cooked." Buffy smacks Faith gently on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I know. Damn, did you eat one of those that she fixed with the hot banana peppers on it? That sucker was good." Faith grins, her eyes lighting up.

"I didn't have one of them." Buffy frowns. "I wonder if there are any more left?"

"I'm sure there are. She put the sandwiches down in the refrigerator in the basement. We'll look when we get in there." Faith smirks as Buffy starts to pick up her pace towards the house.

Continued…

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