A/N : Thanx to Freezyboncoolipants, Spuffyfan4eva, Celestia Nailo, Demonica Mills, spuffy4eva, Moluvsnumber17, sheilamarie, PltnmDancer, Lindsay, BJCKidsX4, SpikeAngel-Lover, for all the reviews. As always you guys rock, but I think I need to clear up a couple of things; yes, Anya died saving Becky, and I'm sorry if some of you didn't like that, also it is true that I've moved away from canon to a certain degree, but the whole universe is altered and the more time moves on the further away it gets from the original canon, thats just how it is. Hoping that all that made sense, so here's the next chapter...
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 12
Buffy groaned as she rolled over in bed and shut off the alarm clock that had disturbed her sleep. It was pretty late last night when the extended Scooby Gang had realised they should probably all get some sleep. A huge battle was ahead and everyone needed to be involved in one way or another. In order to be useful to the cause everyone needed their shut-eye, although sleep came less easily to some than others.
"Mornin', pet" Spike smiled as the Slayer stirred next to him, "You sleep okay?" he checked.
"Did you sleep at all?" she replied in kind, causing him to look away, "Spike, honey, you have to get some rest" she told him, "I need you if I'm gonna win this fight"
"I know, baby" he sighed, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close, "I just hate that I have to watch you lot go off, weapons in hand, leaving me behind"
"You make it sound like we're never coming back" she frowned, "You have a little more faith in me and Becky than that, right?"
"It's not a question of faith" he shook his head, "the belief kind or the Slayer" he added with a smirk, "It's just something I'm gonna have to get over I s'pose"
"So long as you don't ever get over me" she smiled, "then everything's fine"
"Slayer, there is no chance of that" he grinned back at her, suddenly flipping her on her back and kissing her deeply, "You think we got time before all hell breaks loose?" he asked, one eyebrow raised and a suggestive smirk on his lips. Buffy opened her mouth to answer but the words never made it out before a scream was heard in the hall.
"I guess not" the blonde Slayer sighed as her lover rolled off her and let her get out of bed.
Mandy had woken up and decided that bolting across the landing was a fun new game. No doubt her parents were also awake by now and Becky too. The house would be buzzing in a matter of minutes and that meant sex would have to wait.
"Back to the battle plans then" Spike rolled his eyes as he too got out of bed and pulled on some clothes. Buffy forced down a smile as she walked over and put her arms around him, kissing him sweetly on the lips.
"I promise, when all this is over, we'll find time for each other again" she assured him. He nodded, appreciating the sentiment, but his heart ached to think that there may not be a time when all this was over. One or both of them might not come through, or the world might just end and take all of them with it.
"Yo, B!" Faith's voice came loud and clear though the door before she gave up yelling and just barged in, "You two lovebirds want breakfast?" she checked, "Angel's kinda taken over your kitchen"
"Oh joy" Spike said sarcastically as he adjusted his T-shirt and followed the two Slayers out of the bedroom, "Peaches in charge of the food, y'know that's not gonna end well"
Becky emerged from her room as the three adults came out onto the landing and Mandy rocketed past. The younger Slayer grabbed her as she came by, picking her up with ease.
"So it was you making all that noise?" she mock-scolded the little girl, "And here was me thinking we hand kangaroos tap-dancing in the house"
That made Mandy giggle as the group went downstairs to get some food. There was no way to know what the rest of the day held, or the rest of the week for that matter. Better to eat, drink and be merry whilst they had the chance.
-
It was an hour later when the gang met the rest of the crew at the Magic Box for more research and planning. Giles looked like he'd barely slept and Joyce was already fussing around him as he desperately muddled his way through long-winded foreign text on age-old scrolls, as Willow sat at the other table still tapping away on her laptop. Tara assissted her lover, whilst Xander, Cordy, and Josh were back on the books, though things were starting to look a little bleak in that department as the pile of useless texts steadily grew and the small group of semi-useful writings did not seem to increase in size at all.
"I am fairly certain the demon will arrive tomorrow" Giles admitted as he went into conference mode with the key players in the fight, "That should be good news, knowing when to expect a battle, but as yet we have no idea how to fight against what is coming apart from general attack with sharp weapons" he sighed, rubbing his tired eyes.
"If we can't kill this thing straight off..." Faith considered, "so long as we keep it away from the hellmouth, things are cool, right?"
"Not really" Angel told her with a shake of his head, "It wants the hellmouth open, you're right, but the destruction it would cause just getting to it..."
"It could kill hundreds" Spike filled in, "and we can't risk that"
"Indeed" Giles nodded, "but I am at a loss as to know where to go from here"
"Aha!" Willow's joyful cry from behind the computer screen caught everyone's attention, "Giles, you were right about spells being no good against the Joh'ran" the red-head told him, "but there's still something we can do, something that doesn't rely on the fighty skilled people"
"I-It's a ritual" Tara helped to explain, "The one that was used before, to freeze the demon in time" she smiled a little at the triumph of finally finding something useful after so many long hours of research.
"When you say frozen...?" said Cordy with a frown. She wanted to make sure she understood exactly what was going on and with these spells and rituals it was often difficult to seperate the literal from the metaphoric.
"You mean like ice?" Josh asked, but Willow shook her head.
"No, sweetie, not frozen that way" she told him, and everyone else, "It's kinda like a stasis field 'cept time doesn't literally stop within the force-field it kinda slows it down..." she struggled to explain, the translation before her was not great but she did her best anyway "'and for every moment passed within the world the being shall spend an eternity'" she read allowed.
"So we live for one second, demon-guy's getting a year?" Xander attempted to translate into terms everyone would understand.
"M-more than that" Tara corrected him, "Probably more like a decade, maybe two"
"So once demon-boy's slowed down it's easily slain, right?" Spike looked to the witches for a response and then breifly at Giles who moved to see what the women were reading. He nodded along with them as he scanned the information, assuming the vampire's theory to be correct.
"But that doesn't make sense" Buffy frowned, shaking her head, "If the demon was held in time like this before, why didn't the people that did it kill it while they had the chance?"
"Does it matter?" Angel asked her "So long as we kill it now, what went before shouldn't be an issue"
"Maybe they didn't have the power" Faith chipped in, "or maybe they thought freezing the thing was enough" she shrugged, Buffy still didn't look happy.
"B, I'm with Angel on this" her sister Slayer continued, "What does is matter so long as the thing ends up dead this go-round?"
Buffy nodded, agreeing that her friends were right. What happened before was less than important. What mattered most was preparing for the demon's imminent arrival tomorrow. They needed battle plans and they needed them now if they were going to save the world again.
"Okay, Giles" she turned to her Watcher, "I need some idea what this demon looks like so I know what I'm dealing with, also any clues about how it might be coming to town, exactly where and when it'll arrive, that'd be a bonus too" the Slayer told him, going into total Commander-General mode.
"Xander, Cordy, Josh, you guys stay at it with the books. Anything that might be potentially useful with regards to killing or even hurting this thing. Wills, Tara, stick with the computer, get as much information on that ritual as you can. I'm gonna need you two tomorrow"
"Point me in a direction, B" Faith told the blonde, "Gettin' restless here"
"Faith, us fighters are hitting the training room. If we're gonna do this we need to be co-ordinated and working as one machine"
"Sounds like a plan" Angel agreed.
"What about me, pet?" Spike asked her, looking pained, "Want me to play baby-sitter is that it?" he asked, glancing at Mandy who was under the table colouring pictures.
"Of course not" she said firmly, "I want you with us. You can help us train, devise some strategy" she told him, putting a hand to his face as her voice turned soft, "I can't do this without you"
"Wherever you want me, luv" he promised her, "I'm there"
She smiled slightly, glad to hear it.
Faith had a quick word with Joyce asking her to keep an eye on Mandy before the three Slayers plus Angel and Spike headed into the back room. Before the day was out they needed to be working as one well-oiled machine of they were going to take down the Joh'ran Katama tomorrow.
In the main part of the shop, Willow and Tara sat at the computer, trying to translate the text they'd found as well as accessing all available links from the website, desperate to find more information that'd help their friends.
Mandy came bouncing out from under the table and over to the two witches, whilst Joyce who should have been watching her got side-tracked helping Giles.
"Hey Aunt Willow, hey Aunt Tara" the little girl grinned and the red-head smiled as she leant over to talk to her.
"Hey sweetie, what've you been doing?" she asked and the six year old handed Willow a drawing.
"It's my Mommy and Daddy" she said proudly and Tara smiled when she caught sight of the strange figures on the page that really looked nothing much like Angel and Faith, but just two random stick people.
"It's a very pretty picture, Mandy" she said anyway, making her grin even more widely.
"Mommy's slaying a vampire, and Daddy is helping" she explained, waving her hand towards the picture.
Willow suddenly had an idea and she held the paper out so both her girlfriend and her 'niece' could see it. She whispered a few words and waved her hand over the drawing, making the little girl gasp with surprise as the picture she'd made of her parents came to life, like a wobbly cartoon. Faith did indeed stake the vampire with Angel's help and it was a pleasure for Willow to see how happy she'd made the little girl. A moment later she stopped the 'animation' and handed the paper back to Mandy. The little girl immediately tried to copy what Willow had done but of course nothing happened.
"It doesn't work when I do it" she complained.
"It only works once on each picture" Willow told her, knowing it was a slight lie, but not a really bad one, she just needed Mandy to leave her and Tara alone for a while so they could continue their research, "If you go draw some more we'll see if we can make them move too" she promised.
"But we need lots of pictures" Tara added, understanding what he girlfriend was trying to do.
"Thankyou Aunt Willow, thankyou Aunt Tara" she grinned widely, briefly hugging the Wiccas legs before running off.
"She's such a sweetie" the red-head sighed, before turning back to the computer screen.
A few years ago her lover would've felt terribly guilty in this kind of situation but as things stood now she knew that would be ridiculous...
-
The ringing of the phone interrupted the couples romantic moment of the couch and Willow reached across to pick up the phone, making Tara pout at the loss of her lovers' touch.
"Oh hi, Will, it's Buffy" said the voice on the other end of the line, "I know it's majorly short notice but I need a big favour" the Slayer said urgently as Willow pushed herself up straight on the couch.
"Is everything okay, Buffy?" she checked, getting increasingly worried by now.
"It's just, there's this demon" the blonde explained, "turns out it rises tonight, Giles just called from his vacation to tell me"
After a short joke about the ex-Watcher not even being able to forget the Hellmouth when away with Joyce, Buffy got to the point and asked Willow if she and Tara could come over to Revello Drive and sit with Becky.
In the background, protests could be heard from the twelve year old who swore black and blue she was quite old enough to patrol with her parents. The next voice heard was Spike's as he told her in no uncertain times that patrolling was just one of many things that she was not old enough to do yet, followed by many curse words related to certain TV shows the girl watched and magazines she read.
"Of course we'll come over" Willow promised her friend, and Buffy was terribly grateful to the witches.
"We're not having our night in, are we?" Tara said sadly as her partner hung up the phone.
"Sorry sweetie" the red-head said as she kissed her girlfriend one more time, before they both got up from the couch and got ready to go out.
Less than a half hour later they were sitting on their friends couch instead of their own, Becky in the chair opposite watching the end of her favourite teen show. Buffy and Spike were picking up their weapons and discussing battle plans, as their daughter made it clear the TV was so much more interesting than them right now. She was just mad at them because they wouldn't take her with them, and they all knew she'd be over it by morning.
Spike called her name but she continued to ignore him so he strode over and stood between her and the television to get her attention.
"Listen to me, Bit" he ordered, "You give your Aunt Wiccas here any bother and they'll be some serious trouble when me and your Mum get home, clear?" he checked.
"Yes" Becky answered grumpily, "Can I watch my show now?"
Spike moved away from the TV and rolled his eyes as he walked towards the front door with Buffy.
"Hey" their daughter turned to call after them, and when they both looked back she was smiling slightly, "Don't get killed" she told them.
Willow had an 'aaww' moment at that, snuggling up to Tara.
Five minutes later when her TV show ended Becky said goodnight and went up to bed, leaving the witches to their own devices. They soon got back to what they'd started at home, only to interrupted when the littlest Summers crept down the stairs to fetch a glass of water. Immediately the grown-ups made it look like they'd been having a conversation, and not kissing or anything at all. Secretly the young blonde on the stairs smirked to herself and shook her head. Did they really think she was so stupid she didn't know what they did when she wasn't around?
"She's such a sweetheart" Willow commented when Becky was gone and Tara nodded.
"She is" she agreed, wondering where this conversation was going.
"And y'know Josh is just adorable, I love to sit for him too" the red-head continued, making her girlfriend frown. Their romantic moment seemed to have been forgotten for now.
"Sometimes I think I'd have liked to have been a Mommy" were the next words to reach her ears and she sat up sharply at that. Willow suddenly realised what she'd said and how it might have sounded to her girl.
"Oh sweetie, you know I didn't mean..." she began, emotion taking her words away.
"Y-you wish you'd ch-chosen a guy, instead of m-me?" she stammered through her sentence, something she only ever did when she was nervous or upset these days.
"No baby, never" Willow was quick to tell her, pulling her into a hug, "You mean everything to me, how could you think that?"
"Because you just said it, Will" Tara said a little more harshly than she meant to. She knew perhaps she was over-reacting but Willow meant so much to her. She never could quite understand how someone like her had ever manage to secure the affection of someone so great as Will. Now she wondered if she'd been right all along, that maybe she wasn't deserving enough to keep such a woman to herself, that maybe Willow would find someone she loved more, someone male.
"Tara, sweetie" her girlfriend started to cry as she made her turn to face her, "I never want to be with anyone but you, and...and yes, I'd love to have been a mother but not with some guy" she shook her head, making more tears fall from her eyes, "I just wish the world worked a different way, I wish...I wish we could have our own children, yours and mine" she explained, making Tara start to cry too as Willow took her face in her hands, "I wish it could happen because...because our babies would be beautiful" she finished, as both of them cried and held each other.
A moment later when they pulled apart Tara was smiling sadly.
"I-I'm sorry I doubted you" she apologised and Willow shook her head.
"It doesn't matter" she assured her, "None of it does, so long as you love me"
-
"...what do you think?" Willow was asking as Tara came out of her memory-induced haze.
"Sorry" she blinked a few times and came back to the present "I must've zoned out"
"You okay sweetie?" Willow checked, a little worried about her girl, "What were you thinking about?"
Tara smiled, putting a hand over hers.
"It doesn't matter" she said softly "As long as you love me"
To Be Continued...
A/N2 : I decided this story needed a bit more Willow and Tara stuff since I already did a lot of Spuffy and the whole Cordelia/Xander/Anya thing. More Spuffy still to come obviously, since thats the main point of the fic, and possibly some more about Faith and Angel. Anyway, reviews are always very much of the good - thankyou.