A/N thanks for the reviews, the last couple of chapters have come to me quickly. I hope you all like this turn to the story, feedback please.
Chapter Seventeen
Giles sat his teacup down with a thud in the kitchen. One week had past since the tragic events had unfolded and Buffy was still lying motionless in the living quarters of the gang. The funerals of the slayers and Tara's body had taken place with much heartache and Buffy never moved. His fear was that Dennis Kendall was right and Buffy's divided soul was sucked out with Tracy and the first slayer. "Penny for your thoughts." Xander Harris stated as he sat his empty plate down on the counter.
"I'm afraid that Buffy isn't coming back to us." Giles said bitterly as he looked the young man over. Xander looked well rested, unlike most other members of the gang. "If her soul is gone, we can't allow that body to just lie there as it is forever." Giles' lips quivered at his statement but he tried to display composure to the young man who stood before him.
Xander shuttered at the implications behind Giles' words. "Nobody wants to think about that right now Giles. Nobody wants to think about anything but sleeping with other people to get over their heartaches it seems." Xander hung his head in sadness as he spoke. He knew that he was lashing out at everyone to quill his hurt over Buffy but couldn't help it. He didn't know any other way of dealing with his anger over her possible fate.
"I'm not sleeping with anyone!" An angry Dawn shouted as she came into the room with her empty plate. "For your information Xander, you and Dani are going to two separate places to pick up three slayers. We have to get this place going again."
"Why isn't Faith going?" Xander quipped in an angered tone. "You want her here for yourself and are taking Willow's helper away! You're being selfish Dawn Summers!"
"You really don't know much do you Xander!" Dawn shrieked more than asked, as Faith stepped into the room with a couple of plates.
"What the hell is going on in here?" Faith asked in a shouting tone of voice.
"Xander is accusing us of sleeping together for comfort and me of taking Willow's bedfellow away so that you can stay here!" Dawn shouted more to the room then at Faith.
"I'm staying here to look after B you stupid idiot!" Faith barked at Xander as she turned towards him with fury in her eyes. "We can't have one of these younger slayers looking over B in case something other than that fucking sorceress is causing her predicament!"
"Do stop this madness right now!" Giles shouted and stood up. "Where is Willow, she is the one who is supposed to be handing us jobs! That is her job damn it!" Giles was losing his cool fast due to his hurt over Buffy's state. He hated not knowing how to fix a problem and hated that his slayer was facing that problem all alone.
"You assigned Amy to give us the jobs because Willow is a mess." Faith said with a smirk on her face. "You have some financial stuff to do and Robin is keeping up the training with the other slayers. See, we're all trying to get back to work. It's this sex crazed idiot that is in the way. Isn't Amy giving' ya any Xan-man?"
Xander glared at Faith and left the room followed by an exasperated Giles. "So, do you think Willow is sending Dani off to stop herself from getting feelings for her?" Dawn asked Faith in a curious manner.
"I'd say that's it but who knows." Faith replied and began to fill up the dishwasher. "Red is keeping to herself a lot lately; Dani and Ken are the only two who seem to be able to talk to her."
Dawn's face suddenly turned serious as she looked at Faith. "What if Buffy doesn't wake up Faith?" The girl's voice sounded so small and pained that Faith could hardly look at her.
"D," Faith turned from the dishwasher and pulled Dawn into a hug. "B will come back to you. She always manages to get out of the bad end of the deal, it's B." Faith wiped the tears from Dawn's eyes as she had done on a nightly basis for the last week. "She'll make it, we all will."
"I don't know what I would have done without you these last few days Faith." Dawn said and relaxed in the slayer's embrace.
"It's been rough on all of us but I'm here for ya D," Faith said and kissed the tip of her nose. "I'm real sorry about Sarah and all but you will be all right D. You're stronger then your sister in many ways."
Dawn looked at the floor and blushed slightly. "I wish I could believe that Faith." Her features changed from crimson to sad looking as she continued speaking. "Look, we never found out for sure but I'm guessing that you had a thing with Cordelia." Dawn looked for a sign t hat she was right but found none in Faith's eyes. "I don't know this for sure but you and Buffy have a strong bond and, well, I hope that I don't lose her again and that you don't lose two people that you care deeply for."
Faith showed no emotion to the younger Summers sister as she was never one for allowing herself to do that. "D, B and I are not romantically involved." As the two looked into each other's eyes, a shattering sound interrupted their moment. "It's Red." Faith said softly and headed for the stairs.
- - - - - -
Willow's week had not gone well to say the least. She had to sit and watch Buffy have no response to life, minus her shallow breathing, on a daily basis. She had to bury the body of her beloved Tara all over again, which was as painful as it was the first time she did it. She had to try to deal with the fact that everything was turned on its ear and nobody truly had the oomph to fix it. Finally, she was dealing with feelings that she did not want to deal with.
Dani truly was a rock during this time in Willow's life. She stood by her side at the funeral, hugged her and wiped her tears. She sat with Willow until she fell asleep during the nights and wiped more tears. She listened to Willow's fears of being alone and losing Buffy again constantly. She did all of this without trying to push Willow into a relationship of any kind. Willow knew that Dani liked her and she did have an attraction for the woman but something was in the way.
Late at night, when all the comforting was done, Willow would lie awake in her bed. She would miss Harmony's arms around her, her kisses and aggressive touches. She had even called her cell-phone a couple of times but never left a message. She knew that she needed desperately to talk to Buffy to get some help with getting the vampire out of her system. She knew that she could not talk to her best friend and that killed her inside. She and Buffy had always discussed their love life problems, among other things, and the inability to have some form of contact with her was ripping Willow apart. She feared that her days of confiding in her best friend were over. Her biggest fear was that Doctor Kendall's thought on Buffy's condition was the correct assessment. Willow had suffered so many blows over the last several days that she wished she could die and be free of her pain. The one thing that kept her twice from offing herself was the thought of Harmony's kisses and soothing words.
Willow had awakened in a bad state that morning. Her night was filled with bad dreams of Tara, Sarah and Buffy. She tossed and turned the whole night through and barely slept a wink. When she awoke, it was Kennedy rather than Dani in her room.
Willow was in no shape to fight with Kennedy and her emotions were to torn up to wait on a better talking companion. The slayer had got her coffee, toast and juice, ran her a hot tub of water to soak in and listened to her heartaches. She even went on a brief walk with Willow and displayed a very understanding side that Willow had not seen in the slayer in such a long time. Willow had found it odd that she could relax with Kennedy again but that was what happened as the day progressed.
After an afternoon nap, Kennedy and Willow talked some more. They briefly touched on their broken relationship and Willow's fear that Kennedy would lash out at her again. After Kennedy assured her that that would not happen and that she would not press Willow into making a decision, she went out to get some training time in. All was looking up in Kennedy's world, she would be in charge of the hellmouth while Dani was away and Willow was coming around to her side again.
- - - - - - -
Harmony Kendall stepped off an airplane around 02:00pm that day. She had gone to California right after she had watched Dani comforting Willow at Tara's second funeral. She had set plans in place to fix up the Hyperian hotel, which was now in her name. She had also moved the rest of Angel's finances into her own bank account and things were looking good for her future plans. One of the staples of her plans was to never return to the slayer Academy but that is exactly what she was doing.
In truth, the things that she had said to Willow in the throws of passion were true. Harmony wanted to be good more then ever now because of Willow. She wanted Willow to be her companion as they strolled along the California beaches, had late night dinners in their suite and made love throughout the remainder of the night. She knew that her plans weren't fully on the up and up, but nobody would be killed because of them. It was her inability to fully grasp things such as being good, fidelity, and love that made her hesitate on trying to fight harder for Willow.
She had vowed to not come back to this place when she left Willow's room that night and decided that her decision was the right one when she saw how well Dani was taking care of Willow. What changed her mind was the frequent hang up calls during the wee hours of the morning from Willow's cell-phone to hers. "Damn it!" Harmony cursed aloud as she walked the several blocks to the slayer school.
As she crept her way onto the grounds, she remembered that she had another matter to attend to before she went to see Willow. She looked around the graves until she came upon Sarah's. "This better be how I asked it to be dad." Harmony mumbled and lifted a flat plaque, which read about Sarah.
"Stupid Scoobies and their blinding grief," she mumbled as she moved down into the crypt. "Sarah?" She called as she unchained a small door.
The fledgling vampire had been given a good supply of blood but it was all gone and she was hungry. Also she could feel that her sire was near and that roused the predatory nature in the young vampire. "Sire," she said in a hoarse voice as Harmony handed her a mug of blood.
Harmony knew that she was bonded to Sarah because she had sired her. She also knew that there was one thing that made the bond stronger, a romp or two of the sexual nature. As she put her hands on Sarah's shoulders and began to rub them, her arousal grew fast. She knew, by the scent and energy in the air, that she had completed the task that she had hoped for, creating a vampire with slayer powers.
- - - - - -
Willow was sitting alone in her room trying to get a handle on her mixed up emotions, when the door opened. She looked up to see Harmony coming towards her. Part of her wanted to leap into the vampire's arms and make up for all the lost time. While another part of her wanted to find a way to be strong and cut ties from the creature that she knew was not good for her.
Harmony had almost done the deed with Sarah and her sexual desires were strong. During one of her conversations with Spike, he had told her that keeping a sired vampire hungry for sex with the sire was often times the best way to keep them in line. This is exactly what Harmony did, launched into a heavy make out fest with the fledgling vampire and then stopped. As she approached Willow, the notion that almost getting it on with one being and then going to another was wrong, never crossed her soulless mind. "Willow," the vampire said softly and pulled the visibly fragile redhead into her arms.