For a while, the woods were almost perfectly silent, no more shoots being fired at them, and Alexia moving so quietly that not even Buffy and Pat, with their better-than-average hearing, could hear her; and then, just when they all started wondering how long exactly it had been and if perhaps, the shapeshifter had gotten lost, a loud growl broke the silence, followed by a pained scream and yet another shot.
"She got him", Buffy hissed, already coming to her feet, "quick, let's go help her before he hurts her!"
Nodding, even though she knew there wasn't much she'd be able to do if the guy was a regular human, Pat left the cover together with the Slayer, making sure Willow was staying behind them as she hurried into the direction of the snarl and the scream, the sounds of fighting which now came up making this much easier.
It didn't take long until they came upon the fight scene, Alexia still in wolf form, snarling and growling as she avoided the man's clumsy attacks; clearly, he had given up his sniper rifle in favour of the hunting knife he now was holding, the fact that he was bleeding from a rather large bite wound in his leg making fighting obviously quite hard for him.
"Drop the knife", Buffy snapped at him as soon as they were within earshot; he briefly glanced at them, then focused on the wolf in front of him again, swiping at her with his knife, Alexia easily avoiding the attack and snarling at him again; gritting her teeth as well, Pat clenched her fists, but didn't attack yet, not wanting to end up crippled by the blinding pain from the chip and leave a perfect opening for an attack.
"Drop the knife now", Buffy ordered again, clearly not willing to throw herself at him either, the knife looking just a tad too big and sharp for that, "you're outnumbered!"
"Wait", Willow mumbled behind her, her eyes narrowing as she focused, "maybe I can do something about that knife…"
She brought up her hands, focusing on the magic within her, then on the knife; and moments later, she could almost see the tendrils of power as they shot from her fingertips and towards the knife, wrapping around it, one small gesture being enough to jerk it out of the man's hand, a small surprised gasp coming from him as he lost his weapon.
The moment it was gone, he did make a dive for the discarded rifle after all, but never reached it; having realized what he was up to now, Buffy had thrown herself into his path and tackled him, throwing him down to the ground, her Slayer strength making it easy for her to pin him down despite the fact that he was much taller and bulkier than she was, his eyes widening when he had to realize that he couldn't break free of the hold she had on him.
"Stop struggling", she snapped at him, losing her patience with him quickly, "who sent you? Those creeps from the pope? Answer me!"
"You better do what she said", Pat added, taking the knife from Willow, "or I might get creative with that knife. Unlike Buffy, I have no problems with hurting humans."
To her relief, the guy obviously bought her bluff and had no idea about her current limitations; he gulped heavily, his gaze moving back and forth between her and the blonde before it finally focused on the Slayer and he gave the tiniest nod, just enough to be noticeable.
"Alright", Buffy gave back, while Pat handed the knife back to Willow, then moved to the rifle and picked it up, "here is how this will go down. We won't kill you, because we're not like you guys, but you will go back to those who hired you and tell them that, if they mess with anyone of us ever again, all bets are off. Come near any of us again, and we'll at first kill you, and then those who sent you, down to the last man."
She briefly glanced at Pat, just long enough to let her notice; and with a smirk that bordered on malicious, the demon took firm hold of the rifle's barrel – and then, with her muscles bulging visibly, she bent it into a perfect U, the screeching sound of the metal bending making Alexia whimper while Willow couldn't hold back a slight smile.
"You might be able to imagine now what she can do to your bones", Buffy smiled while the demon tossed the now useless rifle aside, "so keep I mind what I told you. Call your buddies off. Stay away from us."
"I will", he brought out, his voice trembling audibly, "but… the others won't… They'll never stop, until that child is dead."
"And we'll never stop protecting her", Pat told him, glaring at him with her eye briefly flashing up red and actually making him whimper, "tell them that, too. Tell them whoever they send will have to go through Buffy and through me first, and through our powerful allies. You think Alexia here is the only shapeshifter we have on our side? There's a whole Pack of them, and you don't wanna mess with them. Not to mention a whole coven of powerful witches, just waiting for our call."
Alexia let out an agreeing growl, and for a moment, the man looked as if he was about to wet his pants; before this could happen though, Buffy pulled back her fist and sent him off into dreamland with a well-aimed punch to his temple, his eyes rolling back into his head as he fell unconscious.
"Good one", Pat complimented her, "now let's get out of here. I've had enough of being in danger for today."
"Agreed", Willow nodded at once; and while they smiled at each other, Alexia hurriedly changed back to her human form, the four of them hurrying through the woods afterwards, eager to get back home and get some rest after all the excitement they had been through.
After they had made it safely back to the apartment and Alexia had headed off back to the Pack, now that the danger was more or less over and Willow had been found, the first thing the couple did was order food; and after that had been devoured, the witch moved to the bathroom, claiming that she wanted a nice and long hot tub before they'd go to bed.
"I'll be right there", Pat told her, with a strange glint in her eye that made the redhead slightly uneasy, even though she couldn't tell for sure why, "I have to make a phone call first."
"…alright", Willow agreed after a moment, giving her a critical look; then, she decided that the taller woman knew what she was doing and made her way to the bathroom, turning on the hot water there and making sure that it had a pleasant temperature before she added bubble bath, then undressed, asking herself how long it would take Pat to make that mysterious call as she slid into the hot water.
Thanks to the noise the running water was making, she couldn't hear what the demon was saying; whatever it was though, it didn't take too long to be said, since she joined her in the bathroom not even five minutes later, raising an eyebrow at the mountain of foam which had by now been generated in the tub.
"Aw", she then let out, already unbuttoning her shirt, "all that foam keeps me from getting a good look at you. Shame."
"As if you'd need the tub for that", Willow winked, "you know you can get a good look whenever you want. Also, you can join me and get a good feel, as well."
"Good point", the demon smirked, hurriedly taking off the rest of her clothes before she joined the witch in the tub; it took some shifting and careful movement, but finally, they both were comfortable, the redhead nestled into her partner's embrace, her back leaning against the taller woman's front.
"So", she mumbled once she had gotten comfortable, idly tracing invisible patterns on the black haired woman's leg and taking the chance giving by this to admire her engagement ring once more, "do I want to know whom you called and why?"
"Nothing all too bad", Pat reassured her, "I just called in an old favour and made sure that the creeps from the Vatican will stay away from the two of us in the future. And from our child."
"Alright", the redhead decided to accept that explanation, "as long as it means that these guys will stay away from us, I guess I can live with not knowing any more details. Just tell me it won't result in countless deaths…?"
"Don't worry, it won't", the demon gave back with a slight chuckle, "I just asked someone to deliver… a warning, of sorts. No worries, you won't read about the pope having been assassinated or something."
"Good", the witch replied with a slight giggle, "because we have a wedding to plan, and that would surely upset my planning abilities."
"And we don't want that", Pat chuckled, making Willow nod her agreement – before she turned slightly in the demon's embrace, just enough so she could kiss her tenderly, smiling up at her afterwards, the sparkle in her eyes almost automatically making the black haired woman smile back at her.
"I don't know about you", Willow told her, "but honestly, I want to have this wedding rather quickly… Preferably before I get all round. And with all that action in our lives, we better not waste too much time."
"Agreed", the demon gave back, to her relief and happiness, "we can get started tomorrow, if you like. There'll be quite a bit to do…"
"Indeed", the witch agreed, "and I agree with getting started tomorrow… But for now, let's just relax."
Nodding, the taller woman stole another kiss from her, then the redhead settled in her arms again more comfortably; and for a while, all stress and troubles fell off of them as they relaxed, both of them glad that once more, they had gotten out of the danger safely, with both them and their child unharmed and fine.