Mike looks at the emitter that Buffy has put in the company safe as it sits on the desk. Behind the desk Razial sits back and raps his fingers on the arm of the chair.
Mike looks up, "Any magic?"
Razial shakes his head, "No, I do not understand how this works."
Mike sighs, "Buffy does though. But she needed the original weapon to make this."
"And you just plug it into electricity, and it works?"
Mike nods, "I was there when she tested it with one of the transformers we use in the shop."
"Why did you need my advice?"
Mike smiles, "Because, Buffy could make us a lot of money."
Razial leans forward, "How?"
"We patent every single component that she makes herself, and then patent the finished product. All in her name. It will cost us around $3,000 to do it in the major countries around the world, and we can then cover the rest once we start selling them. If we ask nicely, and offer a modest 1% of each device we sell, I'm sure she'll let us have the exclusive licence to manufacture these devices. As it's completely mundane, we can even set up a factory somewhere like Mexico or the Philippines. Then for the next 25 years, we control the production of the device that will revolutionise manufacturing at least as much as the industrial revolution did."
Razial grunts, "Won't they just take this for themselves? Or make their own devices?"
Mike gives a predatory smile, "That's just it, they can't make this emitter without one of these emitters. I sent a letter to a professor at MIT asking if it was possible to put something inside a sapphire without drilling it. They sent back a rather rude letter back saying that it wasn't possible for this that or another reason. Scientists haven't even started to think about how this can be done. But here, we'll have actual proof that it can be done. Proof that anyone can make if they have one of Buffy's finished devices."
Razial nods, "Do it."
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Xander winces as Anya calls from the bedroom, "Xander Harris, you will undo this right now! I can't run the Magic Box like this!"
With a light snigger, he starts to get his bag together to leave for work. As he sits up, a demon appears out of midair wearing a black cloak, and a purple flower print top. His eyes are drawn up to her face, framed as it is by her curly hair, as she intones, "I have been called and vengeance shall I wreak! Cower, masculine one. Tremble as you face my wrath."
Xander leans back and calls back to the bedroom, "Anya, I'll undo it. But don't you think calling a vengeance demon is a bit much for a bit of fun?"
Anya storms into the living room, "A bit much! A bit mu…"
The demon turns to her, "I am here to rip this male into tiny pieces, how many do you wish him to be in."
Anya blinks a few times as the face looks so familiar, suddenly she exclaims, "Halfrek?"
Letting her voice drop back to more human tones, Halfrek sounds surprised, "Anyanka?"
"Halfrek! I expected you weeks ago!" Anya throws her arms in the air, and waddle dances towards her.
Halfrek embraces Anya in a hug, "Sorry, I had an urgent job at an orphanage in Russia. Now, about the male."
Anya laughs, "I didn't call you to smite him, I called you because I'm going to marry him."
"Oh, wonderful, you must tell me all about it."
Xander pushes himself off the couch, "Well, I guess that's my cue to head to work then."
Anya grabs his arm, "Oh no you don't mister. Not until you've undone what you did to my panties."
Xander mutters a couple of words before he leaves.
As the door closes, Halfrek settles down on a chair, "Really Anyanka, what do you see in him? He has those massive things on the side of his body."
Anya sits down with Halfrek with a lusty sigh, "Tentacles, definitely the tentacles. He's also funny, most of the time anyway. He runs his own company, what's not to like?"
Halfrek looks surprised, "Tentacles, really? Where does he hide them?"
Anya sighs dreamily, "That's just his human form. He's so much more now, even if his brother is a bad influence on him."
Halfrek shakes her head, "I'd never have guessed, he moves so naturally. He even reacted like a human when I arrived."
Anya smiles in remembrance, "It was amazing. There we were, in the Bronze. We've arrived just in time to see the big bad declare that Dawn didn't summon it, and then it vanishes. That's when Giles turned around and said, 'If it wasn't dawn, then it must have been one of us'. Then Xander puts his hand up and says in the corniest accent that you can imagine, "What? I didn't know it was going to be like this. I thought it was just going to be some singing and dancing, and give us a happy ending.'"
Halfrek nods, "I like his style, death and mayhem just to prove his love for you."
Anya nods enthusiastically, "Exactly, then Buffy, the Slayer, just appears on the stage with the demon, and stalks down the stairs staring daggers at Xander. Once she's finished making him feel so small, she hands him to the big bad, and tells him to take him to hell and turn him into a demon."
Halfrek nods, "Sounds like a woman after my own heart."
Anya's face falls, "Yeah, well, it's not all great, she's in love with a slut."
Halfrek's face falls, "You don't mean one of them?"
Anya nods, "Precisely, one of those 'can't keep a guy for more than 5 minutes' succubus."
"Oh, my, god. What are you going to do?"
Anya shakes her head, "Well, Spikes out. Not just for being a vampire. But there's a cute single guy on Xander's crew, and it's Buffy's birthday soon. So I was thinking I'd invite him along, and introduce them."
Halfrek shudders, "Eww, but I guess a human's better than one of those. Are you ever going to tell her about what they do?"
Anya shakes her head, "What do you think? She hurt the big bad badly, and at the moment I'm a friend. I'd really rather stay in the friendzone thank you very much. Thinking about it, as you're here now, I'll ask Willow if it would be ok to invite you round."
"Yes, yes, now what's this about a wedding?"
Anya squees, "Well, we haven't set a date yet, as Buffy pointed out that we don't exactly need to worry about human timescales here. At least not now anyway…"
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Willow looks stunned as Tara kisses her, "Tara, are you sure?"
Tara nods, "I am, and I've been talking to Buffy too. We're both worried that Amy will try something, so she's agreed that you can live at home with us. Even if we don't work out, we'll sort out the basement so that you have a comfortable bedroom."
Willow slumps back as her brain tries to process what she's just been told, her eyes darting around the park and the across the lake they're sitting beside.
"But we've barely seen each other." She eventually gets out, before covering her mouth, "I didn't mean it like that."
Tara smiles, "I know you didn't dork. I think it's because we've been busy growing up. We've all got jobs, I help to look after Dawn when I'm not working. And we've both got our own College work too."
Willow looks down, "I know, and I've been getting so caught up in magical research too. You know, the sort that works regardless of the caster. Not the sort that we practiced together. Did you know that most of those old spells are actually magical catalysts, and the real spell is imbued in the pages of the spell. That's why they seem to have such a large effect for so few words, and only a little magic from the caster."
Tara nods, "I guess that explains why Giles had a sign saying, 'Xander, don't speak Latin around the books!'"
Willow giggles, "You saw that? I thought it'd got taken down before you did."
Tara smiles, "Nope, it didn't. I miss this."
Willow frowns, "What, talking about magic?"
Tara laughs, "No silly, just being together and talking about anything that interests us. Vhesthine and Buffy have started doing it too, now Dawn's human again."
"What about Spike, I heard that Buffy was interested in him."
Tara smiles as she shakes her head, "No, it's more like one of those guys who try to chat us up at the Bronze, and won't believe that we're actually in a relationship. Especially if we made the mistake at looking at him ever."
Willow winces, "Oh, would this be a bad time to mention I told him about the birthday party?"
Tara shrugs, "They'll probably just treat him they way they normally do."
Willow looks confused, "What do you mean?"
"Happy meal on legs, doorstep deliver, takeaway, you know the sort of things that we've heard him saying about humans, ever since he got that chip in his head."
Willow smiles, "Speaking of, how's your job going?"
Tara's eyes go distant as she looks over the lake, "It's better now, despite my first night there. The new boss was very understanding when it took me a week to build up the courage to go back to work, after the police allowed them to reopen that is. The first couple of days, they sent Dawn to keep me company with $50 so that she always had a drink or something. I think Janice turned up too for a couple of hours."
Willow looks at Tara with a worried look, "What was so bad about your first shift? We've faced vampires and demons together, and they never affected you like that."
Tara looks at Willow with raw fear in her eyes, "I died Willow, I had my throat torn out, and I died. I managed to kill it, according to the police anyway. But I remember my vision going grey, and feeling so cold. I couldn't sleep alone for a week, and I'm still having nightmares about it." Slightly more abashed, she adds, "Um, and I might have developed a thing for wings…"
Willow leans in to hug Tara as she stares out over the water, "Why didn't you tell anyone?"
Tara swallows, "I did, I told Buffy and Vhesthine. Dawn knows too, as she's slept with me to keep the nightmares away."
Softly, Willow says, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Tara looks at her, "And say what? 'Oh, hey Willow, you remember the resurrection that we did, and when you thought I'd been hurt by the magical ghost thing. Well, I actually made a deal with an eldritch entity from beyond any of the known planes. Since then I've been dreaming of Buffy's home, and hey, I also can't die.'"
Willow looks hurt, "Well, no, not like that. But you could have said something."
Tara kisses Willow on the cheek and takes her hands, "Willow, you were struggling with overuse of magic. Then you were starting your apprenticeship, and struggling with not being able to use magic. Then we weren't together, and it's not something you really want to talk about. Does that make sense?"
"So, why did you talk with Buffy about it?"
Tara looks down at her hands, "Because she shared first. Do you have any idea how bad she had it there? Objectively, her life here is infinitely better than it was there. But, she's the still the same Buffy she was when she died here the first time. She was defending people no matter the cost to herself. But she didn't have friends, she was so lonely that she didn't know what lonely was." She laughs, and waves her hand to conjure a parasol to protect them from the sun, "It's funny how it's worked out isn't it. I've always cautioned restraint, and only using magic for learning or deliberate things. While you wanted to explore it and use it for everything. But, now I have to use it for everything, and you can't use it for much."
"Aren't you worried about becoming dependent on it, the way I did?"
Tara shakes her head, "Would you ask the spring on a mounting if it was worried about becoming dependent on water? I can't use magic anymore. This energy inside me, it's not magic. If you get too much in one place, it forms a tear into the void to dissipate away quicker. I can't summon anything anymore, I've tried. But I've seen Buffy resurrect a rabbit that had just had it's throat slit. But that only works if you get to them in seconds."
Willow closes her mouth with a snap, "Changing the subject. Does Buffy know about her birthday party?"
Tara forces a chuckle, "Honestly, I don't think she even understands why a birthday is even important."
"Oh, right."
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Janice looks up from her homework, "Can I go to the Bronze with Dawn later?"
Her mother looks up, "No, or have you forgotten Halloween already?"
"But Mum, that…"
"Don't talk back to me like that young lady. You almost got seriously hurt because you lied to me. If it wasn't for that nice Mr Giles I don't know what we'd have done. Maybe we'd have needed to bury one of our daughters, just because she couldn't listen to her mother. Now don't you have homework to finish if you want to spend the night there on Saturday for Buffy's birthday party?"
Janice looks back at her homework, "Yes mum."