DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon or whoever he sold the rights to owns the Buffyverse, Icha Icha is owned by Jiraiya who in turn is owned by Masashi Kishimoto, Christine belongs to Stephen King and me...I own nothing apparently or I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.
Icha Icha Sunnydale: Chapter Seven
Willow woke up when the sun hit her face, smiling widely as if some riddle had just been solved, and she didn't even realize there was a question in the first place. Oz was laying on the floor next to the couch, so she reached down and placed a hand on his cheek. "Oz..."
"Hmm?" He asked sleepily.
"Oz, why did you let me sleep..." Her eyes went wide as she realized what had happened, "Oh no! Oh no oh no oh no oh no! Oz why did you let me sleep?"
At her first exclamation he came fully awake and was sitting beside her. "What? When I came back it was only twenty minutes til our turn anyway so I let you stay asleep. In fact we've still got..." he glanced at his watch, "another ten minutes if you want to actually move to the bed for nap?"
"No...oh no oh no..."
"Will what's wrong? Xander was awake...was it some other guy?" His eyes hardened. "Because I can sort of handle Xander...sort of, but I can't do this forever babe."
She shook her head and blushed, "Another girl then?" Oz asked.
She nodded but didn't meet his eyes, he relaxed visibly, "Oh, okay then. No worries."
Willow looked at him in shock and horror...speechless.
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn had been awake for two hours...trying not to think too hard about her dream..and how she felt about it. Up until now it had only been Xander starring in her dreams if you didn't include her stint as Sin-derella. But now it was suddenly real, and scary, and she wasn't sure if she felt violated or..."No! No I feel violated, that was dirty and wrong and I would never do that in real life..."
She went back to her eighteenth century watchers diary, confused.
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xander yawned and stretched before digging back into his own tome across the room from Dawn. Since there had been no indication of Giles' inclusion up to this point it was decided he was safe to go to sleep. That left a rather ragged looking Buffy who could barely concentrate, Xander and Dawn on this shift. He had yet to find anything useful either and was about to throw in the towel and come up with some bullshit excuse about the bonds they had formed while fighting the darkness manifesting themselves as a metaphysical link between them. It sounded properly stuffy and supernatural, he might even convince Giles it was true.
Just then Dawn squealed and came running over to them, "I think I have it!"
Buffy was instantly on alert, being the Slayer did have some perks after all, "What is it?"
She began reading, "In Japan we have encountered a phenomenon which has been labeled the 'Spirit of IchaIcha' though whether it is demonic or spiritual in nature I have been unable to ascertain. Local legend tells of a force which will descend on a small number of key people, normally royalty of some sort, and cause them to have shared, sensual dreams."
"That sounds like a winner all right!' Xander crowed softly, "What else does it say? Does it tell how to get rid of it?"
"Not exactly...It says here, 'There appears to be no rhyme or reason for its coming, but it's going appears to be linked to the menstrual cycles of the females that are targeted, unlike most demons it appears this 'spirit' does not like to linger once blood is involved. Targeted females have to come together for a period long enough to align their menses in order to drive the demon away."
Xander made an 'ick' face and Dawn was blushing heavily by the time she finished the passage. "So then...you girls all have to get together and...you have to make it so that all at the same time you um..."
"Yes Xander, we have to figure out a way to get us all on our period at the same time." Buffy said with a roll of her eyes...before her eyes widened. "Oh shit..."
"Oooh Buffy! Should I tattletale to mom?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willow showed up not long after that, without Oz, getting a strange look from Buffy and Xander, though Dawn would not meet her eyes. That was fine because Willow was not exactly interacting with Dawn if at all possible. Giles had been woken not long after the discovery and filled in on the situation.
He was currently furiously polishing his glasses at a total loss for words, "That sounds like our problem...however I am not very well equipped...that is I..."
Buffy was getting rather irritable, having not slept in nearly 24 hours, "Oh honestly you men! It's a natural thing that ALL women go through and you act like its the most hideous thing you can imagine!"
Xander raised his hand, "Not to prove you right or anything but can I just say...ewwww. Also, I don't really fancy being anywhere near a house full of PMS'ing females if I can avoid it."
Dawn was the one to smack him in the back of the head before Buffy could reach him, "Thank you for saving me from your sister."
She grinned at him, "Any time you want me to beat you up in her stead just let me know."
"Good to know if I ever get into BDSM." Xander remarked with a matching grin, causing Dawn to blush furiously.
Giles cleared his throat, "Well then...I believe with the correct herbs we can convince all of your bodies to um...align in order to sort this thing out and get it moving to a new target..."
"You sure we can't kill it?" Buffy asked.
"Not that I can tell."
Buffy sighed and sat back into the couch cushions, "We have a problem with your plan though..."
"What would that be?" Giles asked.
Willow took over for her blushing friend, "Well see...Buffy hasn't had her period since she started slaying..."
"Oh dear! Why wasn't I made aware of this?"
"Because I don't exactly go around telling my father figure what my period schedule looks like! And honestly, it hasn't been an issue...kind of nice actually."
"I'll bet!" Dawn said unhappily.
"Bitch." Willow said before sticking her tongue out and getting the same in response from the Slayer.
"Oh dear..."
Willow perked up, "But I think it is probably job stress, or a lot of exercise that is the cause. Unless you know of this happening before?" She asked looking at Giles.
"Actually, all of our training as Watchers indicates that the Slayer can identify Vampires by...er..."
"Cramps." Buffy said, "And I did get that a little bit when I went up against the Master and his minions in LA. But since then I got nothing."
"So that's why you use fashion!" Willow exclaimed.
Buffy shrugged, "To tell the truth, I think visual cues work a lot better than painful bloaty crampiness any day."
Giles cleared his throat again, "Be that as it may, it seems that we are going to have to find a way to restart your menstrual cycle using herbs and relaxation techniques if you want to be rid of this IchaIcha any time soon."
"How's that going to work? I mean, I need to patrol and whatnot to keep the vamp population down over the summer right?"
She looked around the group, who were looking at each other, "RIGHT?"
"Buffy," Giles began, "I think in this instance, it would be best if you refrained from doing ANY of your normal routine. I believe possibly a day at the spa followed by some bed rest should help."
"WHAT? You can't be serious?" His gaze didn't waiver, "You ARE serious! No, I can't do that, I need to be out there killing stuff!"
"Buff, it IS summer and there is always a lull in activity during the summer. I think we can handle it." Xander commented.
"Yeah, and since you moved here there has never been a summer apocalypse, they always seem to pickup in the fall." Willow said, "We really need to get rid of this thing!"
Buffy turned to her in disbelief. "I thought you LIKED this thing!"
Willow blushed, "I did...but it's gone on long enough and we have to do something about it now."
Buffy huffed and crossed her arms, she sat there impetuously for a few moments looking from one to the other in the group before she finally sighed, "Can I at least get a massage out of the deal?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn caught Willow on her way out of Giles' place with a hand on her arm, "Um...Willow?"
The redhead fought to control her blush, unable to meet the other girls eyes as she whispered, "Yeah Dawnie?"
The younger girl was looking anywhere but at the target of her conversation, "So did you fall asleep early?"
"Uh...yeah..."
"So then you..." Willow nodded, "And I?" Another nod, "And we?"
"Together...yeah..."
Dawn let the silence fill the air for a few seconds as she struggled with what she should say next...finally deciding on the truth. "Wasn't it awesome?" She asked in a scared voice.
Willow blushed again and looked around to make sure it was only the two of them before pulling Dawn over to a bench, "Oh my God it was amazing! But I can't...I mean we can't! You're only 16!"
"I know that Willow...but...see the thing is I didn't read all of the journal in there.."
"What?"
"The rest of that journal entry..." She licked her lips, "IchaIcha it seems, can only affect at a subconscious level...those who are already sexually attracted to one another."
Willow looked gobsmacked, her mouth and eyes were wide open and rather than blush the color was draining from her face. "But that would mean that you..."
"Yeah..."
"And that I'm..."
"I didn't believe it either...but..." Dawn spread her hands wide as if to say 'there you go'.
Willow stood abruptly, "I have to go...I can't...we can't...I...I have to go."
Dawn stood as well and nibbled her lip with a worried look in her eyes, "Okay!" She danced to the side to see Willow better as she was leaving, "I'll talk to you later then?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willow did return later with the magical herbs and other ingredients she'd picked up from the magic shop in town. She was less jumpy but still actively avoiding Dawn much to the younger girls dismay. Meanwhile Xander had been working on readying some of the longer range fighting equipment Giles had on hand, which Buffy normally let alone. Buffy, still unhappy with the whole situation, was laying on the couch with her feet up, complaining about how she was not an invalid.
"Right then, looks like we have two crossbows, a few freshly whittled extra long stakes, what looks suspiciously like a poleaxe and freshly weaponized Holy Water." Xander said with a grin.
"Extra long stakes?" Dawn asked.
"Weaponized Holy Water?" Giles asked, intrigued.
He shrugged, "Well yeah, see the Buffster is great at up close and personal, none of us are; so I made these stakes more like half-sized spears. Hopefully that means we can stay out of arms reach and still make a kill. I oiled the crossbows and checked the strings to make sure they were good to go...speaking of which G-man," he turned to the older man, "Why is it all of your crossbows look medieval when there are much better ones on the market made with new age materials?"
"Er...yes well, Buffy never showed any interest in that area and the funding I had went to other weapons..."
"Well in any case, if the termites haven't gotten to them the crossbows should be fine."
"Xander?" Giles asked.
"Hmm?"
"The Holy Water?"
Xander looked excited, "Oh that, well see holy water is great and all, but not exactly the most offensive type of weapon...well I mean in terms of Offense, not in terms of making vampires cringe...anyway so I figured out a way to use twentieth century technology to make it more effective as a weapon."
Buffy growled from the couch, "Which is?"
"Supersoakers."
Dawn grinned, "Oooh cool! Can I have one?"
"Dawn I'm afraid this is no for a casual water fight and you shan't be patrolling in any case. However ingenious it sounds Xander I wonder what would happen when you run out of er...ammunition?"
Xander reached over the arm of the chair and pulled out a pistol sized Supersoaker and a one liter soda bottle. "See I thought of that, what do you do with a normal gun if you run out of ammo?"
He quickly unscrewed the stock bottle from the weapon, then unscrewed the cap from the soda bottle, before slamming it home and twisting it into place. "You reload. Granted, carrying around more than one refill would be rather burdensome, but if we use more than two liters apiece of Holy Water it was likely the wrong weapon to be using to begin with. I also figure there are enough churches around that if the situation got really bad we could resupply."
"That's it, I'm coming with you!" Buffy said making to get up before Willow put hands on her shoulders and shoved her back down onto the couch.
"No, we need this thing gone like yesterday!"
Buffy huffed and pouted, "I still don't understand why you have the sudden desire to get rid of it when just yesterday you were perfectly fine."
"She's right Buffy, we can't live like this." Dawn said quietly.
Buffy looked over at her sister, "You too? But I thought the only one you dreamed about was Xander and you had no problem with that!"
Xander raised his hand, "I'd just like to make note that I do have a problem with that."
"Yeah right, you know you like it." Dawn said sticking her tongue out at him. Xander turned away from the group to hide his smile.
"No, I can't be alright with that. Sorry Dawnie."
Buffy continued, "Anyways; so if its not Xander that's the problem then what..." She looked at upside down Willow standing over her blushing..and then back to her sister who was looking anywhere but at the redhead. Then her eyes went wide, "Willow!"
"What?" The girl asked defensively.
"You did didn't you! How could you do that to my little sister?"
Dawn stepped in, "It isn't her fault! Well not really. And it's like you can control who you're attracted to."
Willow quickly looked at Dawn in shock and betrayal, begging with her eyes not to explain further, unfortunately Buffy wouldn't leave it at that. "What do you mean attracted to? What does that have to do with anything, I mean it's not like I'm attracted to Oz or Xander." She laughed.
Dawn walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up the pertinent journal, opening it to the bookmark. "I didn't finish reading the entry yesterday."
"Why on earth not?" Giles asked.
"Well we got all the information we needed to stop it and it didn't seem like a big deal until...later."
"Dawn..." Buffy growled.
Dawn read the entry in its entirety before handing the journal to Giles. Buffy was in instant denial mode. "No! That isn't right! I mean if that's right then I really DO find Oz and Xander sexy on some level...and that makes me kinda sick I think..."
"Hey!" Xander complained.
"Sorry..." She said looking sheepish, "But then that means that Willow..."
"And Me..." Dawn said quietly.
"Oh...wow..." Buffy said quietly.
Xander swallowed, "Hey Buff...why was your mom in that Cinderella dream?"
"Excuse me?" Giles asked in shock.
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So..." Xander said to fill the awkward silence in the car as he and Willow moved on to the next graveyard on the list.
"So..?" She asked the passenger side window.
"So uh..." He wanted to ask about her dream with Dawn, but didn't want to sound like a complete ass, "Where's Oz been?"
"Oh...we had a fight..."
"Whoa really? I didn't think you two did that sort of thing!"
"What? Fight? Doesn't everyone fight?"
Xander shrugged, "I guess, I just thought...cuz you and Oz are both so laid back..."
"I am not laid back! You make it sound like I will just sit there and take whatever he decides to push on me!"
"Whoa whoa Will, chill. I didn't mean it like that, you're just ...well you're just Willow, and my Willow is pretty good at the not fighting thing. Unless its about a doll, cuz then you can sure hold a grudge...
"We were 4! Would you give up on that already?" She pleaded with him.
He pulled the car over and parked as they reached their next way point, he then turned toward her, "Alright Spill. We've been joking about that fight for 14 years and now it bothers you?"
Willow sniffed...and then dove into his shoulder where he suddenly found crying girl all over him and instinctively wrapped her in a hug. "Hey hey...its cool, we can forget all about it if you want, in fact. I never brought it up!"
"It's not you dummy, it's Oz... Ever since this dream thing started he's been all protective and clingy...and I was kinda finding it cute at first. You know...it was nice to feel wanted, like I only belonged to him."
"But?"
"But then that stupid Dawn dream screwed everything up...he was like, super jealous mode until I told him it was a girl, he didn't even ask who he just totally changed and said," She put on her best blank Oz-like face in a completely un-Oz-like surfer dude voice said, "Oh...cool."
"Not to sound like a male chauvinist pig or anything but...honestly? If it wasn't Dawn I might sorta think it was cool myself...if we were dating I mean. Hypothetically."
She smacked his shoulder, "Not helping...and thank you I think, I mean...I've been confused since I woke up and then Dawn said you had to already be attracted to the person...does this mean I'm gay?"
Xander shook his head, "Not if you are also having dreams about guys, then it means at worst..your Bisexual."
"That doesn't wig you out?"
"Nope no wiggins here, I like my Willow in any flavor."
Willow pulled back and looked at him for a second before surprising him with a kiss. He went with it for a second before his brain began screaming and he gently disengaged from her lips, instead pulling her back into the hug where he felt a little safer. "What was that?"
She was breathing hard...and trying not to try. "I don't know...Xander what if I made the wrong choice? I mean Cordelia left you after the fluke, and Oz took me back and you were left all alone..."
"I had Anya..."
"Anya doesn't count, I'm sorry but that was like mutual pity sex more than a relationship."
Xander winced, "Ouch with the harshness..."
"But its the truth. Why didn't I choose you? I wanted you for so long and then I had you and then I gave you up..."
"Hey hey hey," He pulled her away so he could look her in the eye, "I wanted Cordelia back too, I understand. But you can't do this to Oz again and expect him to take you back. I'm not going to lie...thanks to these dreams I am one hundred percent sure you are NOT just one of the guys any more. If you wanted me I'd be here for you, but I won't fluke around again with you. It would have to be real this time."
She nodded and wiped her face on her sleeve, "I do love you Xander."
"I'll always love you Will, now hows about we leave this conversation for later. We have some patrolling to do."
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the third graveyard their earlier conversation lay mostly forgotten, along with the kiss. They had successfully staked only a single fledgling, and that was because they'd done their 'obituary reconnaissance' and new where to point the crossbow before they ever popped out of the ground. Actually it was what they had come to deem the "summer lull" when supernatural activity, including vampires, were at the minimum for the year, so it really wasn't all that surprising.
On their way back to the car they overheard a conversation near one of the crypts however, a group of vampires and demons appeared to be arguing over territory or something, and some of the weapons they sported did not look inviting.
"Will I think this is out of our league, how about we just take notes and get back to the situation once Buffy is up and running again?'
Willow nodded, then her eyes went wide. He turned to look and found the group all looking in their direction. "Well shit...plan B, RUN!"
He grabbed her hand and headed for the gates of the graveyard pulling her along, they had two dozen baddies after them wielding extreme weaponry and Xander quickly figured there only hope was to get to the car and the the hell out of dodge.
As they passed through the gates they found the car sitting and waiting for them, "Hey that's not where I parked! She could have been towed!"
"Xander! Bigger problems!" Willow shouted as he opened the door for her.
"Don't I know it!" He ran to the other side and jumped into his seat before fumbling for the keys.
Before he could turn the key however, the key turned itself and the engine roared to life...just in time for a rather large metal spike to be shoved through the hood and down into the engine block instantly killing it. Xanders strangled cry was drowned out by Willow's scream as the front glass shattered and a demon reached in and pulled her out.
"WILLOW!" Xander screamed as he didn't wait to be pulled out, instead jumping through the windshield after her and bringing his hand ax to bare. He lopped off the offending arm that was dangling Willow in the air and the two of them quickly backed up against the cemetery wall with Xander holding the ax protectively in front of them. Willow was charging as much magic as she could into a concussive spell she'd recently picked up but hadn't tried yet.
The biggest demon stepped forward with a Vampire by its side, the latter spoke to them, "What do we have here? A couple of wanna-be Slayers?"
"You'll wanna be somewhere else if you come any closer!" Xander snarled at them...subconsciously lowering his stance into something that looked feral.
Another demon removed the spike from the cars engine and dragged it toward them with a wicked grin on it's face. "Anybody else Hungry?" it asked.
Just then the car roared back to life and the headlights came on at full brightness, the baddies turned to look. Holding hands, claws and other appendages up and squinting to see into the light, "What the..."
The car tore straight at them, taking three out and swinging around 180 degrees stopping with its tail-lights inches from Xander face. Willow screamed again, "ZOMBIE CAR!"
Paying no head to them the car took off once again, with the group chasing it before it flipped back around and ran two more of their number over. As the rest of the group fled the car gave chase, disappearing down the street with a roar of it's engines.
Xander looked at the bodies then back to Willow who was barely holding it together, "Whoa Wills! That was one hell of a spell, turning my car into a fighter like that! You saved us!"
"Wasn't me...zombie car..." She mumbled wide eyed and nearly incoherent.
"What? No, that is the spell you were chanting isn't it?
She shook her head then looked down at her palm where a ball of blue energy pulsed, she placed it against the rock wall and blew a six inch hole out by placing her palm flat against it. "Concussive spell..."
"Then how did my car..."
"Zombie Car...Xander there is something really wrong with that car!"
He still refused to believe it, "Nah..." he chuckled, "You know magic goes wonky around me, you probably cast the spell correctly and it just somehow enchanted the car. Now come on." He stood up and dusted himself off before offering her a hand. "Lets get some information from these guys, and then stake the vamps that got ran over to make sure they stay dead."
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joyce walked toward the front door when she heard it open and close, "Buffy? Dawn? Is that you?"
Dawn ran up the stairs without looking back and Buffy looked at her mother and felt like she was going to be sick. "If I'm going to be off my feet, I'm doing it in the living room where I can veg on TV. You talk to her Giles."
"What's this all about?" He began to look uncomfortable, "Rupert?"
"Could I perhaps get a drink?"
"Sure..." he led him to the kitchen and looked in the refrigerator, "Water, Tea, Milk...?"
"Something perhaps...a little stronger?"
Joyce knew there was something up now, but reached above the icebox and pulled a bottle of brandy from the cupboard. Giles raised an eyebrow as she sat it on the table and went back for glasses. "My husband always kept it in the house, and I guess I developed a taste for it..."
She sat the glasses on the table and he opened the bottle, pouring them each two fingers before downing half of his at once, then coughing slightly. She laughed quietly at his watery eyed look. "That's 125 proof, you sip it Rupert..."
He set the glass aside and leaned forward, "Have you had any interesting dreams lately?"
Her hackles immediately went up and she looked for an exit as her fight or flight instincts kicked in. "I...I don't know what you mean..."
"Perhaps a night or two spent with me...one in England and the other in New England?"
She sniffed, "You flatter yourself Rupert, I've already told you I'm simply not attracted to you that way no matter what that ridiculous candy made me do..."
He placed a hand on top of hers, "What about a strange Cinderella dream, involving both of your daughters as well as Willow, Oz and Xander?"
Joyce finished off the remainder of her glass and poured another two fingers, "Why do I get the idea I'm not the only one who had that dream?"
"Dawn and Buffy are a bit upset with you for entirely silly reasons, you see there is a spirit of some sort which appears to be affecting our dreams. In order for two people to share a dream there must be some level of sexual attraction already present between them..."
"Oh God...so they think..."
He nodded, "If the texts are correct, then that means you harbor at least a modicum of desire for Xander...fortunately you did not actually engage in any activity in the dream...at least as it was related to me."
Joyce downed another shot and coughed, "No..thank God... So you mean these dreams we've been having are real?"
"Indeed..." Giles took a sip of his glass.
"So the other three nights this week when you and I..."
Giles resisted the urge to remove his glasses, instead nodding, "Quite..."
"Oh God..."
Giles took her hand in his and smiled at her, "Just so you know...I am rather flattered that you DO think of me despite your protestations to the contrary...and if you would be open, I would like to take you to dinner some time when this is all over?"
Joyce collapsed in on herself for a moment before replying quietly, "What will the children think..."
Giles smiled and pulled her hand to his lips, "It is my sincere hope, that they will come to be happy we found each other."
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xander and Willow walked into the living room and casually fell into chairs opposite each other without saying anything. Buffy took a look at both of them and sighed, "Alright, what went wrong without me there?"
"What makes you think anything went wrong?" Willow forced out in a high pitched voice.
"Yeah Buff, its like you don't have any faith in us."
Willow nodded her agreement and sat up straighter, "I-I'll have you know that we killed four vampires and three demons tonight, and even found out their evil plans!"
"Evil plans?" Buffy asked.
Xander nodded, "Yup, apparently there is a secret black market underground kitten poker ring amongst Sunnydale's supernatural citizens. And also apparently we stumbled into a negotiation on hunting grounds."
"Kitten...Poker?"
Willow shivered, "Apparently...they...bet the kittens and then..." She sniffed and looked away.
"And then the winner gets to eat them." Xander finished.
"That's Horrible!" Buffy said quietly.
"And Xanders car is a zombie." Willow said sadly.
"Sorry to hear that Xa...What?" Buffy asked suddenly very confused.
Xander rolled his eyes, "My car is NOT a zombie, Willow screwed some spell up and sort of turned it into a killer version of Herbie."
"Herbie?" Buffy asked.
"The love bug." Xander and Willow said at the same time.
"Oh."
"So now my car is out chasing down the rest of those demons and vamps, and probably getting the tar beat out of it. Thanks a lot Will."
"My spell worked just fine! Your car is just a zombie that came back to life after that demon stabbed it through the heart!"
"Wait what?" Buffy asked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
A knock on the front door at around three AM nearly woke Buffy, who had finally fallen asleep. The others had all politely decided to stay awake for her sake. Willow opened the door and squeaked slightly when her boyfriend was revealed, standing in the yellow porch light. "Hey."
"Hey..." She breathed out sadly.
"So Xander's here huh?"
"What?" Willow asked at the unexpected turn in the conversation.
Oz turned to the side and pointed his thumb, "His car's out front so I assumed."
Xander was quickly in the door behind Willow, "My baby?" He darted past the couple and out to his car where he began going over the damage she'd taken with a fine eye. "Oh baby...what did you do to yourself?"
Oz turned back to Willow and raised an eyebrow, "I think Xander may have an unhealthy relationship with his car."
"Oz what are you doing here?" Willow asked.
He shrugged, "Band practice was over and it's not our turn to sleep yet so I figured I'd come join the research party...if that's okay?"
Willow waived him in and explained everything they had figured out thus far, tactfully ignoring that they had basically broken up over the fight earlier the day before.
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh man, that hole in your hood looks awful...and your windshield...how am I ever going to fix you up now?" Xander asked with a tear in his eye.
He sat in the drivers seat after brushing the glass aside, and popped the hood...before setting his forearms on the steering wheel and leaning forward to cry softly for his cars lost innocence. "I'm so sorry babe, ever since you met me its been one bad thing after another. I'm bad news, you'd be better off without me."
…...
Xander suddenly found himself in a slightly off color scene which he recognized as a memory, The car in front of him looked like she was fresh off the factory line, and then a group of guys began beating the crap out of her and apparently, her owner. The scene shifted to the boy...Arnie, he knew that somehow. Arnie was standing over her engine asking much like Xander had how he was gonna fix that...when the dent fixed itself.
"Show me." Arnie said with a smile, and suddenly the car seemed to begin morphing. Popping out dents, glass repairing itself, scratches healing over, until that factory fresh look appeared again.
"Whoa!" Xander breathed.
The scene fast forwarded to a junkyard where his baby was being lowered into the crusher. Xander tried to scream for his baby, but had to watch in horror as she was crushed into a small cube and set off to the side to be sold for scrap. His heart jumped a little when her grill unfolded itself.
One junkard after another and long trips on the back of flatbed trucks with other scrap metal cubes flew by until Xander recognized Rory paying the driver to unload the latest bits of scrap and car parts. Another fast forward showed Christine...where did that come from? Christine listening as Xander and Dawn searched for a car at Rory's. Through an extreme effort that left her only partially restored she unfolded herself enough to be recognized by Xander when he tripped over that well placed piece of scrap which had been compacted along with the car years earlier.
Xander was beginning to understand just how special his car was, when the scene shifted again to show Christine leaving 'Burn' and hunting down the gang that had stolen her from Xander...and running over the gang leader. Then her fixing herself in the 'Burn' parking lot before Xander came out and drove off.
Finally Xander came back to himself sitting behind the wheel, feeling a bit nauseous. "Christine huh? You and me need to have a talk about a few things if this is gonna work out." He said like a man talking down to his dog and shook his finger at the steering wheel. "Killing human's bad. Bad car!"
The subtle groan of the shocks told him the car was listening and...sulking?
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willow walked Oz out the door and turned around to head back inside, she was exhausted from the emotional drag of seeing her...ex? Were they really broken up over such a silly thing?
She wandered past the living room and up the stairs to Buffy's room. Oz had let her have their sleep spot on the schedule and said he could live with waiting til after she'd gotten her two hours before she could work him into a new one. She collapsed gratefully onto Buffy's bed and closed her eyes.
Forgetting that Buffy was asleep on the couch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy lay with her back against Willow's chest as the other girl held her in her bed. They were both wearing nightshirts and little else, but it wasn't really much past platonic. "Thank you for this Will, I needed to relax."
"I know, and that's why I'm here. You need to just lay down and let it all go for awhile." Willow whispered in her ear. "And...I would just like to point out for amnesty's sake, where my hand is currently resting."
Her hand was laying under Buffy's shirt, against her bare stomach, "Buffy smiled, it's okay Willow I trust you...it actually feels really nice."
Willow rubbed Buffy's tummy softly, "Well we can't get rid of this IchaIcha thing until your cycle starts, I just figured maybe I could work some magic on you..."
"Why Willow, are you proposing we play doctor?"
Both girls seemed not to notice the giggle that came from the corner.
"That's exactly what I'm proposing...but I have to warn you, when me and Xander were kids..."
Buffy smiled over her shoulder at the redhead, "You told him you wanted to play doctor, he was all for it, until you pulled out the stethoscope?"
Her hand stopped in its movement, "How did you know that?"
"Easy, it's just so...you." She smiled again. "Don't stop, that felt nice."
Willow grinned and sat up on her elbow so she was looking down at Buffy. She lowered her voice in a funny attempt to sound like a male doctor, "So Ms. Summers, I hear you are having some...womanly issues?"
Buffy nodded and acted shy and scared, "Oh doctor, I don't know whats wrong with me."
"Well then I guess we will just have to examine you to find out then won't we?"
Willow slowly moved the hand from Buffy's stomach up to the center of her chest...and glancing quickly at Buffy's face to see if she was going to stop her...slid her hand left to cup that breast. She then began making circular motions around the nipple..accidentally brushing her thumb over the nipple a few times.
Buffy moaned slightly but bit her lip and kept up the clueless and shy routine, "Doctor? What are you doing? That feels funny."
Doctor Willow smiled, "Oh dear, I am just checking for breast cancer...you see, if this was painful..." She kneaded the breast softly, making Buffy suck in a breath, "Then I might be worried...does that hurt?"
"Oh no doctor, that feels really nice..."
Willow sighed, "Oh...good then, that one seems to be cancer free. Time to check the other one."
She slid her hand to the other breast and kneaded it softly in the same way making Buffy roll her eyes back in her head, as Willow began brushing her thumb over and around the nipple until it was erect Buffy moaned and Willow stopped. "Was that painful Ms. Summers?"
Buffy shook her head but didn't respond verbally.
Willow bit her lip and slowly raised Buffy's night shirt up to her neckline, revealing an inch of skin at a time, each inch increasing Willows desire what seemed like tenfold. She then leaned down and captured the left nipple with her lips and suckled slightly
Buffy's hand came up to hold Willow's head in place before she remembered to play her part, "D...Doctor what are you doing now?"
Willow pulled away getting a disappointed sigh from the girl beneath her, "Well you see, the second test relies on a well developed sense of taste."
"Oh okay." Buffy said before guiding Willow back down to her other breast, the redhead tried not to grin on the way down."
As she was "tasting" the right nipple for cancer, her left hand was sliding down Buffy's stomach toward her panty line. Buffy sucked in a breath as the fingers passed her belly button and touched the top of the undergarment.
"What is this test for?" Buffy asked.
"Sexually transmitted diseases of course." Willow said with a mouth full of nipple.
Buffy liked the vibrations against her nipple, and let it be known with a soft moan. "And is there a taste test for that as well?"
"Do you want there to be?" Willow asked.
"Buffy?"
"Mmm, that sounds fine Doctor, do whatever you need..."
"BUFFY!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~IchaIcha~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What!" Buffy screamed as she woke up to find a glassy eyed Xander looking at her.
"Uh...Buff...you were...um..."
"I was WHAT Xander?" She growled at him, not yet realizing just why she was so irritated.
"You were um...moaning and stuff in your sleep and I know how you feel about being violated so I woke you up...I hope I didn't interrupt one you actually wanted to keep going?"
"In my sleep... OH GOD!" Buffy got up and ran for the bathroom where she promptly threw up.
Xander appeared behind her in the bathroom and pulled her hair back for her, "Wow, was it that bad? Was it Jonathan or Warren Mears? Any of that trio would turn my stomach too..."
Buffy spit to try and clean the taste of vomit out of her mouth, "Willow fell asleep."
Xander barely controlled his first instinct, which he was certain would lead to several Xander-shaped holes between the bathroom and the front lawn when Buffy punched him. Instead he said, "Oh gosh I'm so sorry, all of us decided to let you sleep, but Willow was drained after talking to Oz and I guess she went to grab her time slot..."
"Willow should get some sleep...uhg, but I wish someone had woken me up...that was..."
"Yeah?" Xander asked trying not to sound too hopeful.
Buffy finally caught the tone in his voice and narrowed her eyes at him, "Something you will never find out about from me, ever!"
Beta by Godogma
