Title: Webs: Origins - Part 4
Author: Wesley (With input and insight from Stone Cold)
Rating: WARNING PG-13/R (For Violence and Adult Language)
Feedback: For the love of God YES!!!! I need Feedback, its my motivation!!! Plus kudos give me a happy :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Jack-Diddly
Notes: I wanted to bring together my two favorite
worlds, Buffy and Spider-Man, so here we go. Italics indicate thought, where
as * text* indicates a flashback. This Story line is set in Season 4/5.

*********************************************************
As long as there
have been demons, there has been the Slayer. One girl in the entire world, a
Chosen one, born with the strength and skill to hunt vampires and other
creatures of the dark. When one Slayer dies, the next is called.
*********************************************************

Part 4: Spinning Tales

[-In the Baskin Robins across from the alley.-]

The sweet scent of thirty one flavors mingled with the sounds of the hustle and bustle of children and parents alike that filled the shop. A pair of eyes beneath the brim of a black snap-brim fedora watched as Xander Harris scurried away from the alley. He watched him hurriedly enter the Sunnydale Bugle as he licked at his pistachio single scoop cone. A small smile tugged at the sides of his lips when he saw the young girl come out talking frantically into a cell phone.

"Heh, I'll be damned. He did it." Whistler mused while munching his cone.

[-Back at Sunnydale Hospital-]

"Anyone else think Xander's been gone... uh... a bit long?" Giles questioned.

"Ah he probably locked his keys in his car or something." Riley stated.

"Riley!" Buffy scolded.

"What? I can't help it if the guy is a clumsy goof." Riley said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Xander is NOT a clumsy goof... all the time!"

"Come on Buffy, don't get me wrong, I like the guy. He's funny and everything but..." Riley began.

"But what?!" Buffy exclaimed.

"Well, he's kind of a... well... ."

"A what?"

"... hindrance? I don't know Buff, his hearts in the right place, he just doesn't seem to follow through." Riley tried to convey.

"How can you say that. He's Xander! He's been here since the beginning!" Buffy spouted.

"Exactly Buff. He's been here since you've been slaying, and I respect that somehow he's managed to survive all you've come across. What I am trying to say is that I appreciate that he's your friend, but he's still only human. One day his luck is going to run out." Riley declared a bit tactlessly.

"How did we get here?!" Buffy asked exasperated. "One minute we're talking about Xander being clumsy and now you're belittling everything he's done for us!" Buffy asked vehemently.

"You keep defending him, when you yourself try to keep him out of slaying activity. One minute your telling him he needs to stay behind and then the next your talking about him like he's your personal hero! I just don't get it Buffy!" He fumed with an unrealized jealousy.

Buffy's eyes narrowed at her uncouth boyfriend. "And that's not the only thing you WON'T be getting tonight."

"Buffy! Riley!" Giles interrupted. "I don't believe this is either the time nor the place for such uh... b-bickering." Giles' comments were met with confused and angry glares from both Riley and Buffy respectively.

Giles tilted his eyes down and plucked his glasses from his nose. The looks from both the young people made him feel uncomfortable in his skin. Buffy's glare left him with a sense that the father-like status Travers had brought to light had been surpassed by her blossoming adulthood. All he felt was a tired old man left in its place. His spectacles had become sad pieces of shiny glass in his nervous fingers. * I suppose ever bird must leave the nest... and all that rubbish *.

The sound of Riley's pager erupted from his belt and broke the tension in the waiting room. With a shrug and a distasteful look on his face he went in search of a pay phone. Buffy simply stared after him, wondering how he could say such things about Xander. Though in the back of her mind, she heard Riley's voice whispering that he was right about how she had been treating Xander. * Now is not the time to think about it * she told herself.

Buffy's eyes caught Xander coming through the hospital's sliding doors, trying to juggle two cases of Mountain Dew and three pizza boxes. With a smile she loped over to him and took the pizzas from him.

"Thanks!" Xander smiled.

"No prob Xand-man, but what took so long?" Buffy inquired.

His mind flashed back to the incident in the alley, still not sure if it all really happened. "Erm ... locked my keys in the car. Yeah you knows those keys... slippery rascals they are." Xander lied. "Where's Riley?... and Tara?" he questioned, a nervous smile betrayed him.

Buffy looked at Xander with sad eyes as she spoke. "Riley's beeper went off so he went to check in." Buffy nodded her head toward Willow's room, "Tara is in with Willow and her parents right now."

Buffy noted something amiss in Xander. Something in his voice danced on the edge of shock when he spoke, but that wasn't all. The way he carried himself, something was just different. Something Buffy couldn't put her finger on like a word poised at the tip of her tongue. The way he acted threw her off too. She had expected some quirky smart-ass remark about Riley and his beeper or innuendo toward Willow and Tara. * Maybe he's just tired, it has been a rough day for him. *

Xander simply smiled and nodded at Buffy's blindness. He thought it odd that the others hadn't picked up on the way Tara and Willow would look at each other. At first it had perturbed him to no end to see his best friend make "googly" eyes at another girl. * Despite all my fantasies. * he thought with a quirk of his eyebrows.

[-Inside Willow's room-]

Tara sat watching Willow's still form that gazed wordlessly out the window. Her parents had arrived almost an hour ago and were getting coffee at the moment. * They love her love a lot. I can see it in them. I know how they feel * She smiled at the gentle beauty of the woman before her. She admired the strands of red silk that framed her alabaster face and the delicate eyelids that hid the usually bright green eyes behind their long lashes. She laid there like a fallen angel, deep in
slumber.

A few tears glistened in Tara's eyes as she laid her hand upon that of the beauty before her. Her fingers entangled with the slender digits of Willow's hand and Tara's eyes studied the sleek tendons and relaxed joints, admiring every bit of her. Tara's other hand reached up to tuck a few wisps of satin behind Willow's ears. Her lithe fingers touched the red
head's forehead and grasped her hand firmly. A quick look around and careful listening told Tara that no one was close to coming in. Closing her eyes, the blonde girl started chanting in a low voice, a bright blue-tinged light flowed from the hand upon Willow's forehead. The flowing light's intensity pulsed in tune with Willow's heartbeat, then it was extinguished like a dying star; exploding into a supernova. As the last of the brilliant light flooded through the room Willow's eyes fluttered.

"Hey Wills..." Tara sniffed through gleaming tear rimmed eyes.

"Hey..." Willow weakly whispered.

Willow's droopy eyes met with Tara's as she forced a small smile. "Nice spell there, kinda flashy though."

Tara laughed slightly and kissed the back of Willow's hand. "Hehe, Y-Yeah, you wouldn't think a simple focus spell would be so.... well, bright." Tara smiled gingerly at the red head. "It should h-help keep you alert. Maybe even get you out of here sooner. They were gonna keep you in here until t-t-tomorrow."

Willow used as much strength as she could muster to bring Tara's hand to her face. "Is Xander out there?"

A slight frown threatened Tara's lips as she looked at Willow. The hacker noticed the forlorn expression that graced Tara's sweet face and kissed the other girls hand with a soft smile. "He was the one that was there when I was hurt, I wanna make sure he knows I'm okay." Willow said with a smiling pout, easing Tara's tension. Willow couldn't help but find the scant flickers of jealousy in those blue eyes flattering.

Tara leaned down and kissed Willow's nose softly. "He went to go get pizza for everyone. I'll go see if he's back." Then the blonde moved out the door to check and see if Xander had returned.

[-Outside in the waiting room-]

She found Xander in the waiting room talking to Buffy, still holding a case of Mountain Dew. Tara heard him say something about locking his keys in his car and regarded him with a lighthearted smile. She didn't know Xander very well, Willow had only introduced Tara to her "group" a couple of weeks ago, but she liked his goofy nature and kind heartedness. She found it odd though that those that were his "friends" kind of brushed him to the side most of the time. * Such good intentions, not really fair that he doesn't get something "special" to help him in the fight against evil. *

"Xander?" She asked.

"Tara, hey... what's up?" Xander asked.

"Um... Wills came around, she wants to see you." She returned with a sad smile.

"OH!" Xander sprinted past the blonde and toward the waiting room doors. Buffy and Tara both watched him with small smiles on their faces. * Xand-man to the rescue. * Buffy jokingly thought.

His feet pounded the tiles as heavily as they had at the auditorium, his sneakers screeched to a halt outside of his friends room as he fingered the door's lever. Xander didn't even notice that his breathing hadn't at all been affected by his sprint. Xander peeked his head into Willow's room to see the redheaded Wicca lying there idly with her hands crossed over her stomach.

"Hey Wills, how ya feeling." Xander started.

"Xander!" Willow looked up brightly.

Xander made his way over to Willow's bedside, giving his friend a gentle
hug. "Next time you ask me to meet you for lunch, hold the explosions
okay?" He asked, with a smile.

"Not a problem Xand." Willow smiled.

Xander took one of her hands in his as he sat beside her. "As much time as we spend here you would think we would all have reserved rooms. I can't say much for the room service though," he stated, nodding over toward a tray of food the nurse had left. He was glad to see the laughing smile that touched Willow's lips. "I'm glad you're all right Wills, I don't know what I would have done..."

"Don't worry Xander, Tara used a healing touch spell. I should be up and Slayerette ready in a couple of days." she smiled.

Xander squeezed her had a little more firmly. "One Wiccany bad-ass hacker back on the streets." Xander's eyes turned a bit more serious as he looked at his friend. "Don't push it though Will, I was really worried when I saw you... get hurt."

Willow looked at him with a warm expression. "At least I wasn't a late night snack for some icky demon."

Xander chuckled a bit while looking at Willow. * Or a mid-day victim of some greasy scum sucking thug * Xander thought. It had been the first time he had really thought at about what had happened early. Like a torrent the memories flooded back into his mind. Memories of how things seemed to slow to a crawl, the way he had jumped and pounced around the alley like a leopard. More so the thought of being frozen twenty feet in the air, caught against the wall like a fly in a web. The thoughts invaded Xander's sanity, he needed to talk to someone, someone who would understand.

"Willow I want to talk to you about something..." Xander started to tell her about his run in with Marcus and Zoey, but then he noticed how glassy Willow's eyes had become. He could see she was using the last of her strength to stay awake.

"What?" Willow asked in a whispery voice.

"Er... uh," Xander backpedaled over his words, realizing Willow was to weak to dump his problems on her. Not wanting to look like an idiot, he said the first thing that came to mind. "That Tara is nice..." * DOAH. Smooth Harris, real smooth. *

"Yeah..." Willow said. Xander didn't miss the dreamy look that filled her eyes.

"She really likes you..." Xander started again. Willow's eyes widened a bit and her mouth had formed a slight "O". Xander simply smiled at her shocked expression.

"She uh, I mean how... how'd you know?" Willow asked breathlessly.

"She looks at you like you used to look at me." Xander said simply.

Willow smiled lightly, a bit of hurt tinged her eyes. The memory of the indiscretion they once shared still bit at her sometimes. But moving past the hurt was a specialty in the Scooby gang. Willow clapped her other hand over Xander's and looked him in the eyes. "Umm... are you... er okay with that?"

"Well, it was weird when I first noticed it, but Willow happiness is a top priority of mine."

"I just don't want you all to think of me as "the gay friend", I mean I don't think I am gay but I really like Tara, she gives me the fuzzies when we're together. But its so strange, after all that happened with my vampy self I guess I shouldn't be surprised but I really like guys, guys are good, but Tara is just... hmmmm.. Tara and..." Willow was interrupted by Xander's finger on her lips.

"Shhhhh, Yes Tara good, guys good, Tara not guy. I got it. Rest now, we'll talk later." Xander said. As he smiled down at her a soft knock came at the door. Xander saw Tara's head through the window in the door and waved her in. The blonde girl entered and stood next to Xander.

"How's it going?" She asked nervously.

"Everything is fine." Willow smiled.

Xander regarded Tara with a nod and turned to leave stopping only to spare a glance over his shoulder to see Willow and Tara sharing a soft kiss.

* Mmmmmm, fantasy fodder..... oooooooo weird scary visual place *

The blonde slayer sat scrutinizing the pineapple topped pizza as the fury burned inside her. She hadn't even noticed the other blonde girl pacing impatiently around the room. Her pearly white teeth ripped through the cheese laden treat with ferocity as her left hand clutched the arm of her chair in a death grip as her thoughts returned to Riley. * How could he be such a jerk. How could Riley say that about Xander ... I mean Xander is well.... Xander! * She didn't even notice the banging of the ER doors or the fact that Tara's spot had been replaced by the man in her thoughts.

"Um Buffy, if that chair hasn't talked by now, I don't think its gonna..." Xander said with a smile. He noticed the quizzical look on Buffy's face and nodded to the mangled mess of metal twisted tightly in her left hand. Buffy ripped the chair arm from the body in surprise when she realized it was twisted unsightly around her silky fingers. "...and I'm pretty sure I had nothing to do with it!" Xander finished. Buffy giggled in the cute way that always made Xander's heart skip a beat.

"Buffy I really need to..."

"Damn it!" Buffy broke away from Xander's attention as she plucked a vibrating device from the back of her belt. The numbers "911" flashed back at her rhythmically, Riley's emergency page. Much to Xander's dismay she leaped from her position and sprinted for the payphone * This had better be good! * she thought bitterly.

"... talk to you." Xander finished in a whisper. He watched dumbfounded as she moved through the waiting room doors and down the hall to the pay phones. * She just... just... totally blew me off! Hold on there Harris, she moved in a hurry, maybe something is up. * He cautiously followed Buffy down the hall just in time to see her pound the receiver back into place and to notice the familiar buzz growing in the back of his head.

***

When she had reached her target Buffy quickly punched in the numbers for the Initiative cell phone Riley always carried with him.

"Agent Finn." Riley's voice boomed in the "professional" way it always did when he switched into Initiative overdrive.

"What's up Riley?" Buffy questioned while trying to mask the venom of her voice.

"It's Adam..." Riley stated. All of Buffy's previous ferocity toward him washed away at the mention of the Franksteinian monster's name. "He's extended an... um... invitation. Meet me at the promenade in twenty minutes and I'll give you all the details."

"I'm on my way." Buffy acknowledged as she slammed the receiver home. She turned on heel ready to make a hurried exit when she spotted Xander about ten feet away coming toward her.

"Something up Buff?" Xander questioned.

"I don't know yet, I gotta meet Riley in twenty for more info." She stated.

"Oh well, we Mighty Slayerettes shall be at thy beck and call m'lady." Xander said with mock chivalry. Buffy's stone expression didn't budge one bit which filled Xander with a sense of dread. "Um maybe we should..." He started.

"Look Xander I don't have the time right now. Just stay here and out of trouble and I'll call Giles when I know more." Buffy announced as she made for the door, not noticing the small drip of red sweat that slid from the black haired boy's clenched fist.

Xander had to take a few deep breathes to clear his head. * She did it again. Just totally blew past me with out even a second thought. Something is obviously going on and from this mini-migraine in the back of my head, I'm thinking its something big. But it looks like Superman's off to fight the battle yet again, and Jimmy Olsen is left holding the camera. * Xander's eyes drifted down to the Minolta camera around his neck as he noted the irony of the situation.

The overwhelming fury that coursed through Xander's veins threatened to consume his very being. He cast a glance around the room which revealed a fire escape that tunneled its way toward the sky, peaking at the hospital's roof. With new found speed his legs carried him toward the blue sky, pounding each step with the rhythm of his racing heart. The fresh scent of California air filled his nostrils when he burst onto the roof. He didn't stop until he had reached the edge of the roof and leaped upon it basking in the sun's warmth. The boy had expected his heart to be pounding his heated blood through his body and deep breaths to be pulling fresh air into his burning lungs. Yet, his body was as if he had taken a leisurely stroll.

The only thing that broke his reprieve was the sound of clapping. "Nice kid... real nice." The man from under the fedora said.