A/n: Sorry for the sudden lack of updates, you guys. I won't have internet access at my place till next week, so I'm doing this from my friend's dorm room.
Chapter 12(The Author decides random facts make better chapter titles, and Joyce uses a cup of butter and two cups of sugar in her brownies)
It's funny how recent events can change one's perception of things. Vampires, once beings that existed only in campy horror movies and chilling tales, suddenly become a part of everyday life. A Slayer's job, once so clear, could suddenly blur when meeting some of the cruelest humans and the sweetest demons. A young man, viewed as a big brother and a protector and friend, suddenly reduced to a whimpering child.
"DISPELL," Willow intoned, the green mist dissipating slightly. The redhead dove down to kneel next to her oldest, dearest friend, gripping his hand tightly.
"No-! Dad, I won't do it again!" His eyes were wide, staring at something that wasn't quite there. Xander's abdomen clenched, as if he were being struck in the stomach repeatedly. In his mind, Buffy realized with horror, he probably was. Swallowing, she crouched down and wrapped her arms around the young man's shoulders, rubbing his back and soothing him.
"He's not here. It's not real," Willow cooed. And, if she had her way, it would never be real again. It was a touching sight, had it not been for the situation. The three main Scoobies, holding eachother up and providing comfort.
Soon enough, the young man began to calm down. Faith momentarily ceased her nervous prowling to toss him her bandanna to wipe the sweat off his brow, and she stalked into the kitchen. Giles turned and caught Tara's eye. Perhaps it was magical Watcher telepathy, or perhaps they just picked up on these things.
Fact was, Tara was a powerful witch. The wards she had put up in her home, no evil spirit should have gotten in at all, and any corporeal evil would've triggered a warning. This could mean any number of things.
The first being, whatever this was, it wasn't necessarily evil. The things it did could be considered evil, and evil may have brought it into their world, but evil was not in its intent. If it was, it would never have gotten into the house.
"What's the weakest dimensional wall here?" Tara asked.
Buffy pulled Xander up to a sitting position, letting him lean on her. "The Hellmouth? Duh?"
Giles shook his head. "The Hellmouth merely allows for the creation of such portals, Buffy. If you were looking for a ready crack in the wall to banish a demon, the best place would be-"
"Kingman's Bluff," Anya said, vworping into the room unnoticed. "I'm familiar with it. The earthquake wasn't my usual gig, but D'Hoffryn and Proserpexa never did get along."
Tara's eyes bugged. "S-seriously? Are my spells not working anymore? W-what the heck?"
Anya glanced at Xander. "Wow, he's a mess," she sat down on the coffee table across from him. "Wanna tell me how you felt, boyo?"
The two girl Scoobies seemed to bristle and Giles stepped forward. "Leave him be."
"The sooner he can tell me what's gone on in his head, the sooner we can figure this out, get rid of it, and Hallie can stop her bitching."
"Ungh…" Xander's head lolled as he tried to look the demon in the eye.
"Oh my," Anyanka said. "He's gone non-verbal. Is this from the demon, or was he always retarded?" Surprisingly, it was Tara who reached out smacked the demon, flecks of blue sparking between her fingers as she tried to whap Anyanka.
The demon turned around, looking very ready to eviscerate someone.
Tara glared back.
Anya's eyes narrowed.
Tara's brow quirked.
Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, the demon turned back to the three on the couch. "Witches," she huffed.
"It's cool guys," Faith sauntered in from the kitchen, carrying a plate of Joyce's brownies. "I got this." She sat them down on Buffy's lap, and in a surprisingly gentle voice, "Xan-man? Here, Mrs. S's brownies always make me feel better."
"Faith," Buffy's voice cracked. It was odd, seeing the other Slayer be this gentle. How bad was this situation that it drove Faith of all people to serving brownies? The younger Slayer cared for others, that was obvious. But her caring was the 'beat up the bullies for you' kind, and this seemed…wrong, somehow.
Faith spared her a 'not now' glance, and broke out into a huge grin when Xander reached out and grabbed a brownie. "There we go!" Buffy shifted so that he was a little more upright, and Tara scooted closer, hovering over Willow's shoulder and ready to make sure he didn't collapse again.
His eyes opened blearily, and he opened his mouth to take a bite.
SMOOSH
Motor functions were apparently not all there yet, as the brownie missed his mouth completely and hit his chin instead. The young man pouted. "This is the exact opposite of what I wanted it to do," he whined.
All it once the tension in the room seemed to vanish. Buffy was the first to snort, and her snort triggered Faith's laughter. Willow turned to Tara, still hovering over her shoulder. "See this?" she asked, tears still shining in her eyes though her smile took up most of her face. "This is the wacky, demon-slaying family you bought into. Be prepared for much crying and laughing."
Tara smiled warmly, and rested her chin atop Willow's head. "I think I could get used to this."
Anya stared at the laughing, crying, smiling girls draped over couch with Xander. "I don't get it," she turned to Giles. "Is this some sort of harem situation?"
"Oh dear lord…"
"But didn't they say to stay at my house?" Dawn stumbled to keep up with the Slayer making her way up the driveway. She had longer legs, but Artie was faster.
"And we will," she blew her brown hair out of her eyes and shoved her hands into her pockets. "I just left some important stuff at home, that's all."
If her posture wasn't a big enough hint that she was lying, then her petulant tone was. Sure she'd never admit she was upset at being left out, but surely she'd get a chance to listen in.
"What stuff?"
"Just..stuff. Woah, nelly!"
She sidestepped the oncoming rush of armed teenagers and old guy quickly enough, though she did jump a little in surprise. Buffy skidded to a halt and patted her sister on the head.
"Bye Dawn, gonna go vanquish evil, tell mom I might be home late, love you, bye!"
Tara pivoted on her heel to look at Artie sternly. She opened her mouth to ask why she wasn't where she was supposed to be, but was cut off. "We'll go back to Dawn's house after I get my stuff."
Tara stood there dumbly for a moment as everyone else was piling into Giles' car, until she remembered something else. "Why's there so much prune juice in our fridge?"
Art blushed. "That'd be from Dev."
The Watcher cocked her head. "Your little cousin who likes talking about g-guts and camp? She sent you all that prune juice?"
"Eyup."
"Dare I ask why?"
"The letter says I have to send it to some lady in Texas. Dunno. Don't talk to my cousins much." She paused. "At all. Ever. Gotta indulge the relatives somehow."
"Who's paying for the shippi-"
"Tara, c'mere! You can sit with me!"
Artie and Dawn stood and watched, with no little awe, as the redheaded blur known as an utterly smitten Willow Rosenberg dragged the other witch by the arm into the never ending abyss that was Giles' vehicle.
Dawn watched as the car puttered down the road in a cartoonish manner. "You gonna go get your stuff now?"
Artie pouted, lack of information and lack of involvement getting to her. "Nope."
Within Giles' clown car, it was actually quite a bit roomy. Except 'Actually' was 'Oh, goddamn' and 'Quite a bit roomy' was a downright lie.
Buffy and Faith had scrambled a bit for the front seat, and the blond Slayer had won the highly sought after spot in mere seconds. Willow and Xander were more resigned to their fates and trudged to the backseat and only shoved a little over who the poor bastard in the middle would be. Faith, having forfeited shotgun, immediately began scrabbling for one of the coveted window seats and tried to crawl over the witch and her friend.
All this happened in the 37 seconds it took to ask Art about the contents of the fridge.
And that's how Tara ended up being the poor bastard in the middle, squeezed between Faith and Xander, rolled down windows doing nothing to compensate for the California heat and the broken AC. Lack of seating had placed Willow in her lap, which, the young Watcher decided, was both a blessing and a curse.
Willow's scent was something that haunted her dreams. Well, daydreams at least. Tara couldn't really remember most of the dreams she had at night, but found that her waking thoughts were quite often about Willow. Watcher she may be, but she was also a teenaged girl.
Under normal conditions, Willow smelled like skin. Well, clean, warm skin, but skin nonetheless. She supposed of she had as good of a nose as a Slayer's she's be able to pick up on all sorts of little nuances, but alas. Then there was that faint, sweet musk that sometimes wafted from her, a scent that Tara had only just barely begun to take note of today and made her mouth water. There was also that ozone scent that seemed to cling to all witches, and the scent of her hair, which of all ridiculous things reminded Tara of strawberry flavored, zero calorie PowerAde that her Sentinel friends seemed so fond of.
…but she kept her hands firmly at her sides, so it wasn't creepy at all.
"Tara?"
"Yeeesss?" she leaned back a little warily. 'Oh god, she can hear my creepy thoughts!'
"Can you hold on to me?" Willow gestured. "Kinda don't have a seatbelt, y'know?"
"O-okay," she swallowed. "S-sure." She gingerly placed her hands on the redhead's waist. Why was she so nervous? She had spent a considerable amount of time with the girl's tongue in her mouth not 15 minutes before, hadn't she?
'Well, she wasn't sitting on your lap then, was she Tara?'
Another five minutes of driving, and she felt her nervousness seem to fade enough that she was able to relax in her seat, Willow leaning back against her comfortably.
'Gee, this isn't so bad OH MY GOD-!'
Giles had veered off road and started down a wooded path, the car's already crappy suspension taking a beating on the bumpy road.
A bumpy road that caused Willow to bounce in Tara's embrace.
The movement caused the redhead's hips to roll back, grinding a lapful of pert, 17-year old ass into a very horrified and all too thrilled Tara. The sandy-haired witch almost choked on her own tongue, and by the sudden intake of breath she heard, Willow had felt it too.
Beside her, she heard Faith chuckle.
This was going to be a long drive.