A/N: I know, this was a VERY late update. But I do have a reason for it. 1) school's ending soon so I have Finals shudders and I need to study for them and 2) my personal life through me a curve ball two weeks ago and I haven't been able to do much in the way of writing since then. So here's chapter thirty one and I can promise that since school's ending chapter thirty two will be out quicker!
Chapter Thirty One- Buffy the Woman"Alright, Spyke, you got it?" Buffy asked a day later. Spyke, the dark skinned mutant, nodded.
When Buffy had first seen Spyke, and learned of what his mutant ability was, she had immediately started to train with him. After all, in battle he would be useful. He was a never ending supply of stakes. She had wished she had learned of his powers earlier, like when she had gone on the rescue mission to Bayville High. That would've been nice.
"GO!" Buffy boomed and Spyke shot out his deadly spikes. Buffy leaped into the air and caught the spike the mutant shot out. Then she rushed towards her friendly foe. Spyke, doing as Buffy ordered, shot out more spikes in order to try to stop her. Leaping once more into the air, she dodged them with blinding motion. She crouched to the ground like a cat and twisted her body. Then she sprung off her feet and flipped over Spyke, landing behind him. Just as Spyke wheeled around, Buffy kicked him hard in the stomach and had him sprawling onto the floor. She lunged forward and straddled him, pressed her weapon against his neck.
"You're going to have to try harder." Buffy said and she helped the young man to his feet, "I want you to run ten laps around the room, got it? Tomorrow we're going to use the machines to help you train so I want you go to bed early."
"Aw man!" Spyke, better known as Evan, said exasperated, "I'm never going to get this cuts and bruises healed! I'm going to be aching until I'm dead!" With that he turned and started to lap.
Buffy couldn't help but smile at him. Then she winced and rubbed her aching arm muscles. She could understand Evan's complaints. She too felt like her body would never heal, but she didn't let herself rest. She didn't let herself relax because every night the dreams of death and destruction got stronger, altering her that they were getting closer and closer to the coming war. Every morning when she awoke with her heart pounding and her body sweating, she felt the urge to train. She didn't want to eat, didn't want to anything but train her body and she forced everyone else to do the same. She couldn't stand the thought of losing any of her friends.
Buffy turned her head and looked over at the New Slayers, as they had come to be called. Charlotte, easily the strongest, seemed to have taken it upon herself to train Dana. Poor Dana didn't stand a chance. Buffy watched with slight amusement as Dana screamed and tried to dodge Charlotte's attacks.
"Stop that!" Dana cried in horror.
Charlotte smirked and bashed her fist against the side of Dana's head, "Do you think that your enemies are going to stop when you ask them, too? You have to fight back, Dana! If you don't then you won't survive the war!"
Dana raised her hands and managed to block Charlotte's blow to her face, but at the same time Charlotte swung her legs and tripped the young woman. Dana let out with an 'oaf' and raised her hands in defeat.
"You win! You win!" She shouted.
Farther off, Andrew stood with his camera pushed against his eyes. He tapped them all with a large smile on his face. Buffy wasn't sure whether to be amused with Andrew enthusiasm or annoyed by it. She supposed she had to admire his dedication to the cause. Ever since he had arrived he had spent his entire day in the Danger Room, bringing food and water to the girls and boys who needed it. He was loyal to be sure.
The other New Slayers, Ana, Hannah, Bridget, Nicola and May, were training with the respected half-demons Shibita had assigned to them. Buffy had to admit, Shibita did give a lot of help. Her followers proved to be equal matches for all the mutants and definitely helped improve their skills.
Buffy had even fought Shibita a few times. The half-demon was very powerful with her sword. For a moment or two Buffy had thought she was going to be beaten, but Buffy managed to see an opening every time she fought Shibita and exploited it. She was very sure that that frustrated Shibita to no end.
Now that leader of the half-demons was walking over to her. Shibita's face was set in a scowl, as it usually was these past few days. Buffy somehow suspected that the half-demon leader sensed the war closing in on them. There had been so little Tora-Kone activity lately… Jake had to be planning something.
"You push yourself too hard." Shibita said, "Even that horrid dead creature you call Eve says so."
Shibita and Eve had not gotten off to a good start. Shibita, having demon blood, was able to see ghosts. Eve hated everything demon and had immediately insulted Shibita by saying all demons, full blood and half alike, deserved to die. Shibita had then commented on how Eve was lucky she was already dead or Buffy would have one less Slayer. Eve hadn't taken that too well and now every time the two were in the same room… well, you get the picture.
Buffy shook her head at Shibita and said grimly, "You know as well as I do that the walls are going to collapse on this city soon. I need to be in top physical peek… these girls need to be at the physical prime… how can we do that if we don't train ourselves hard? And you know that I won't ask my girls to do anything I won't."
Shibita sighed and looked out at Dana and Charlotte, "Did you tell them," she asked softly, "that most of them will probably die? Dana has the greatest risk, but all of them are greenhorns. None of them have been thrown into a fight of this grandeur."
"I know, but I think they know, too." Buffy smiled ruefully, "You have to give us humans a little credit, Shibita, we have a unique ability to know when we step into something over our heads… but we don't back down. We never back down."
"My people, my father's people," Shibita said, clarifying that it was from her father that she got her demonic blood, "would call that ability of the humans foolhardy when they themselves wished it could be seen in their men. I was lucky enough to have a mortal mother and was gifted with the same ability to stay and fight. That is why I am here. You know I could be elsewhere. My father is a very powerful demon in our world and he could protect me from Furia and Jake, but my people would die. I wanted to fight with them, for them. That is not foolhardy."
Buffy tapped her finger against her lips and the smile widened slightly, "Maybe it is a little, but at the same time it is brave. I can tell you've willingly made this sacrifice to be with you people. It isn't something many would do."
"I will leave you now as I see that you would like your alone time." Shibita said and turned, but as she did so she called over her shoulder, "Oh and Buffy I saw your man Colossus wondering the halls. I think he was looking for you. Perhaps he can help you with the stress you are under, hmm?"
Buffy stared at the young half-demon in shock and surprise. Now what did she mean by that? But then she got it, got what Shibita had meant, and felt the heat rise in her chest.
Great, Buffy thought, thanks to Shibita I'm never going to get the picture of me and Colossus out of my mind. But truth was she really didn't want the picture from her mind. She had come to like Colossus over the past three weeks. He was smart and cunning and an excellent fighter and well, he didn't ask you questions you didn't want to answer. He didn't demand them, either, but he offered his help. Buffy liked that and sometimes she needed that comfort without strings. She felt like he was the only one who could give it to her.
Not to mention that kiss. Buffy groaned softly. When she hadn't been in her coma-like sleeps or training, her mind had been filled with the kiss she had shared with the mutant. It had been… different from any kiss she had ever had. Different from the ones with Angel, the ones with Riley and the ones with Spike. It was more… powerful, she supposed and at the same time more giving. He had kissed her back without expecting anything in return. It was weird and she liked it.
Definitely something to think about it.
As she knew he would, Colossus found her later that night. When the other had gone to bed, exhausted from Buffy and her constant pushing. Rogue was the last one to go, still energized from her four day catnap and yearning to learn how to control her powers better. Thanks to Shibita with her vast knowledge of using non-magick powers and Willow knowing how to use a spell to its full potential Rogue was now a very formable fighting force. The young woman wanted to stay awake, wanted to train more, but had finally been taken away by Gambit who was just as exhausted as everyone else.
"Chere, even you need rest." Gambit had proclaimed with an easy smile as he kissed Rogue soundly on the lips. Rogue's protests to stay up and train died down as Gambit lead her from the room, hand on the small of her back.
Buffy couldn't help but be happy that Rogue and Gambit seemed to have stop beating around the bush and finally got together. Now all she had to do was wait for Ori and Pyro and Lance and Kitty…
The Slayer shook her head. She didn't have time to deal with silly lovers' quarrels though they seemed to litter the house of Xavier. You couldn't go anywhere without feeling the heat and passion. There was Rogue and Gambit, Jean and Scott, Ori and Pyro, Tabitha and Xander, Kitty and Lance especially, and even Sidney and her ghost-boy Jack gave off heat. Buffy supposed she and Colossus had the same heat when they were together, after all she felt it, but she wondered if anyone noticed.
That was how Colossus found her. Sitting against the metal wall of the Danger Room and staring off into the void, her brows drawing together with her thoughts. The punch of lust in his stomach was surprisingly welcomed. He hadn't realized it until now, but he didn't mind being attracted to the Slayer. In fact, he rather liked it. Though she wasn't the first women Colossus had been attracted to, it was the strongest.
Buffy, as if sensing Colossus's presence, tilted her head to one side and said in an odd voice, "Yes, Colossus? What can I do you for?"
How should I go about this? Colossus wondered. It was an awkward thing. His instincts told him to go up to her and say: 'Faith told me that you were under a lot of stress and that us having sex would help relieve your burden. So how about it?' But he knew enough about women to know that it didn't work like that. He had to go about this in a certain suave way or risk losing valuable body parts to an angry Slayer.
"Faith told me you seemed to be under a lot of stress lately. That something was bothering you…" Colossus began, not quite sure how to continue. How did you tell a woman you wanted to have sex with her?
Buffy watched him with calm eyes. Cat eyes, he thought and suddenly had the urge to squirm, but calling upon his skills at being an emotionless blob he stood perfectly still. After all, he couldn't let her know he was scared out of his mind.
"Did she now?" Buffy murmured, no emotion in her voice.
"Yes and she… she told me… or gave me a… um…. 'suggestion'… as to how to relieve you of the stress you seem to be under." Colossus said, taking a tentative step forward. Buffy still eyed him calmly though a small smile crept up on her lips. Does she know? Does she know? he asked himself in almost a panic.
"And what did she suggest?" Buffy asked, flickering her gaze away from his.
"That we should… um… that is… what I mean…" Just say it!, "Shesaidyou neededtohavesexandsinceyoulikemeIshouldbetheoneyou… um… doitwithyou." Colossus said in one deep breath and it took Buffy a moment or two to get what he had said.
When Buffy figured out what Colossus had spat out, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that he didn't come on his accord. She feared that the only reason he standing before her, offering to share her bed, was because Faith had suggested it. What happens if he doesn't really like me? Buffy wondered.
The Slayer stepped towards the mutant and Colossus almost stepped back, but he firmly held his ground. Something glinted in the Slayer's eyes that made him uncomfortable. But he still didn't run away, as any normal person would've. He wasn't a normal person. He was sure that if Buffy decided to attack him he could hold her off until help arrived. If worse came to worse, that is.
"So what you're saying," Buffy began slowly, circling Colossus like a lioness hunting her prey, "is that you think we should have sex because I seem to be under a lot of stress and Faith thinks it'll help relax me?"
How should I answer that? What if it's a trick question? What if we're just playing a horrid game of cat and mouse? Colossus wondered and then decided to go with his instincts, "Yes?" he asked wearily, ready to leap to his defense.
He now understood what emotion he saw in Buffy's eyes now. Anger and maybe… disappointment? Buffy didn't get close enough so he could truly see, but he still followed her with his eyes, afraid she'd attack from behind.
"So," Buffy said still in that slow drawl that almost had Colossus climbing up the walls, "because Faith suggested sex might relax me you're willing to put yourself in the frontline? Why? Why would you do that?"
"You are the leader and you mustn't be crushed by stress and let your heavy burdens get to you. You have to be strong… and I…" Maybe admitting some of his feelings wouldn't hurt, "and I like you so I worry about you."
"You like Faith?" Buffy asked in a harsh voice.
"What!? Yes!" Colossus said in disbelief. He didn't see where this was going. Couldn't Buffy just say yes or no? He hoped she'd say yes because his loins and mind was screaming out for her and the thought of her saying no made him very upset, but her cat-and-mouse game was even worse.
"What happens if Faith had the stress problems?" Buffy demanded, her eyes narrowing, "Would you offer to hop into her bed to help her get rid of her stress? Would you!?"
Colossus looked at her in shock. Did she really think that the only reason why he wanted to sleep with her was because she was having 'stress problems'? She didn't notice his attraction to her? How could she not?
"No, I wouldn't sleep with Faith."
"Oh? And why not?"
"I don't like her like I like you." Colossus said, "Buffy, what I feel for you is very different from what I feel for Faith. This is more then helping you relieve your stress. I want this. I've wanted this for a long time… I really, really like you."
Now Buffy was smiling and moving towards him in slow strides, "That's good because I really, really like you, Colossus and if you're suggesting this 'let's sleep together thing' not just because Faith said it would help then I'm all up for it!"
"You are?"
To answer him, Buffy burst into a run and jumped into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and cupped his face. She then kissed him.
The passion and heat flare between their molding lips. She sighed against his firm yet gentle mouth. Her lips parted for his invading tongue and he allowed her to do the same. Heat coiled in her stomach as his hands gripped her shoulder blades and used them to press her against him better. She titled her and tried to get used to being above him. It was an odd sensation, kissing Colossus from above for she had never been taller then him, but at the same time it felt wonderful.
Colossus wasn't sure how the kiss happened, but he never wanted it to stop. It felt wonderful, just holding Buffy. Her lips were sweet, like the rarest candy and he wanted to devour her in one gulp. What held him back was that he knew waiting would make everything all the more potent. He was but moments away from taking her right there on the floor of the Danger Room. He hands kneaded her back muscles and the moan she pressed against his mouth made him shiver.
Finally, the need for air couldn't be ignored. Buffy pulled her head away from Colossus's, drew in deep breathes and looked back at him. For a moment, silence lapsed between them. Then Colossus smiled slowly and began to carry her out of the room. Buffy, for the first time, melding into his arms.
It was an odd, sensation she decided, to finally feel like a real woman. All her life Buffy had described herself as a Slayer, sister, mother, fighter, student, girl, lover but she had never felt like a woman. But now, in Colossus arms, she was finally Buffy the Woman. She wasn't the Slayer, the mother, the sister, the girl she wasn't just Buffy. And looking into Colossus eyes she didn't know what to do about it. No one had made her feel like a woman before and what did it mean that Colossus could? She didn't know and like Scarlet O'Hara she decided to think about everything in the morning.
For now she was content to press her lips against the big lug of a mutant and taste his sweet mouth as he carried to her room.
The darkness was the first thing to awaken the Slayer. Not a nightmare, not a scream, not sweat. Sweet, wonderful, warm… eerie darkness. An oxymoron? A smile curved her lips and she burrowed into the warmth of the strong body next to her.
Buffy the Woman's eyes slowly opened.
The first thing she become aware of was the heavy body pressed against her. Colossus. Half of his buff body pressed hers into the bed. His one leg was tangled with her own and an arm was thrown possessively over her breasts. His head was buried in the blonde hair thrown about the pillow. Buffy couldn't help but smile happily.
Then she realized that she hadn't dreamt that night. No dream of a horrible future had haunted her subconscious and had forced her to awaken from a peaceful sleep. No, she had slept like a baby… when she did go to sleep which had been pretty close to morning.
Buffy rolled over to look at Colossus. Yet again she was taken back by how innocent he looked in sleep. His chest rising and falling evenly, his lips barely parted, his eyes lidded. It put a smile on her face to see that some people still had innocent, even if only whilst they slept.
She tempted to kiss those lidded eyes and rouse him for another romp in the bed, but she decided she wanted to look at him sleep for a little while. It was odd, for the longest time she couldn't remembered wanting to watch someone sleep. Not with Angel, not with Riley and not with Spike. Not with any of the boys in-between the major three. What did that mean?
What it meant was something Buffy didn't want to go into right now. She had a war to fight, kids to keep alive and an evil jackass to kill. She didn't have to contemplate the new feelings growing within her, but in minutes that followed she did.
Love…
It wasn't something she had thought about lately. Love was what she had had Angel, uncontainable love. Maybe a little foolish as well. What she was feeling for Colossus was different somehow, stronger. She could very well love him, could be willing to be in love with him but these were things meant to be thought over at another time. When the world was in less danger—because it would never be fully out of it— she'd allow herself to think about what she felt for Colossus but for now she was content with what they had.
Faith was right, Buffy decided, sex was a good way to relieve stress. Or maybe Colossus just had the ability to do that to her. Whatever it was, she felt completely reenergized. She was primed and ready to take on evil Jake and his master.
Colossus stirred next to her and smiled down into her face, "Hey." he said softly and Buffy smiled up at him.
"Hey yourself." Buffy stretched against him and played with a dark strand of his hair, "Last night was pretty… well, wow."
"I agree." Colossus mumbled and pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. Buffy's hand tightened in his hair and she said something incoherent.
"You put for another round?" She asked and smiled at him lazily, "We have some time before we have to get training and I want to outdo you."
"You can try." Colossus said, "But it won't work. I have very strong stamina."
Buffy looked him over and muttered, "I can see that," and dived for him.
Later, they decided it was a tie.
A/N: awww, Buffy and Colossus do it! coughs sorry, that was kinda crude wasn't it? Anywho, again sorry for the lack of updated-ness! Things will go faster as we get closer to the summer break! But like I said Finals are coming up and I need to reorganize my life after the curve ball so be patient with this humble authoress as she scrambles around, k?
Hellmouth2: I'm glad you thought the last chapter was wroth the wait and I hope this one was, too! Thanks!
BD Kitten: I cannot stress enough how happy it makes me that people really enjoy my stories. That's why we write them, no? So people can enjoy them. It's not fun writing when people don't like the story!
Serapis: yes, please stick around for more 'cause there's only going to be a few more chapters of 'after-school-special-hookups' before the war and action picks up! Then it'll be fun, including Faith in a cat-fight with… I'm not telling!
Booster1: I personally thought the whole Rogue losing her powers thing was overrated but to make Rogue loose her power in a unique and creative way would take a whole story and I don't have time! Oh, and thanks for your offer to Beta. Whenever you're ready, e-mail me and I'll send the chapters over (my e-mail address is in my bio!).
wllw979: I updated! I updated! Despite what some people say about this story I love writing this story and I will continue to write this story as long as some one out there enjoys it!
Chapter Thirty Two: Next up on the list of 'people to hookup' is Ori and Pyro! They're fiery and rocky relationship comes to a head, but Ori's got some issues and secrets that Pyro has to know about first.
"Beam me up, Scottie! Haha, very funny… now beam up my clothes…"
-Lizzy Rebel