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 Post subject: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 9:25 am 
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5. Willowhand
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Hey Kittens - This is the first time I've ever posted a new topic in DCP. I really miss fic challenges. They were fun and interesting. They were great to read. As always, this is an open call for creativity. Post to this topic with questions, comments and fic of any length.

The Challenge

Write a fic (any season of BtVS, any AU, any situation) which incorporates all of these elements:

1. Tara is drenched by a water gun

2. Willow falls into a body of water (pools count)

3. A BtVS cast member of your choice goes sailing down Main Street

4. A hydrant is opened, releasing water

5. Willow and Tara swim through a library

6. Buffy saves the day without any help

7. Willow gets all the credit for saving the day

8. Various uses for a shower head are discussed

9. The name of your favorite summer vacation spot is mentioned

and . . .

10. Willow and Tara kiss


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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:11 pm 
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21. Geek Infested Roots
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Location: Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada
I've been working on a fic for this for the past couple of days, and it's almost done. But I did want to ask one question before I can post it.

notl33t wrote:
3. A BtVS cast member of your choice goes sailing down Main Street

5. Willow and Tara swim through a library


Do these have to be literal? Or can they be metaphorical?

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The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith


Last edited by SithLordWiccan on Mon Jul 16, 2012 8:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:49 am 
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5. Willowhand
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Yup, all requirements can be written up metaphorically. I think it's more creative and fun to read if you can take them to be metaphorical, rather than interpreting the requirements literally.

Thanks for the questions, SithLordWiccan.


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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:53 am 
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21. Geek Infested Roots
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Location: Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada
notl33t wrote:
Yup, all requirements can be written up metaphorically. I think it's more creative and fun to read if you can take them to be metaphorical, rather than interpreting the requirements literally.


In that case, all I gotta do is get beta comments back, work on it, send it back for Beta Round Two, and then I can post it!

Thanks a bunch, dude!

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Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith


Last edited by SithLordWiccan on Mon Jul 16, 2012 8:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 1:02 pm 
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21. Geek Infested Roots
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Location: Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada
All righty, folks. Here it is. :)

**

• Title: Slippery When Wet
• Author: SithLordWiccan (Alex)
• Email address: decepticons_4_ever@hotmail.com
• Feedback: It’s always nice to know people like the crap I write. It helps convince me that I’m not as bad a writer as I think I am.
• Distribution: Mystic Muse, Through The Looking-glass, The Kitten Board, Extra Flamey.
• Rating: NC-17
• Pairings: Willow/Tara, Buffy/Faith, Xander/Anya.
• Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. No money is being made off of this.
• Summary: Summer Time has arrived. And Willow, Tara and the gang get wet and wild.
• Note: This fic was written in response to notl33t’s fic challenge on the Kitten Board, which required the fics to have the following somewhere within the story: Tara drenched by a water gun, Willow falling into a body of water, a “Buffy” cast member going sailing down Main Street, a hydrant being opened and releasing water, Willow and Tara swimming through a library, Buffy saving the day without any help, Willow getting all the credit for saving the day, a discussion involving the various uses for a shower head, the addition of the name of a favorite summer vacation spot and Willow and Tara kissage. Special Thanks to notl33t for giving me something else to worry about besides schoolwork and dealing with my other fics (not trying to say that I didn’t enjoy writing this, because I did), and to Little Jea (kindagay) for the very helpful beta comments and corrections.

**

Buffy stepped through the mesh screen door and closed it behind her, walking across the backyard towards the pool. She was clad in a very modestly cut white bikini and had a wrap tied around her waist, in every way the perfect model of a blonde beach bunny. Lowering the sunglasses she wore over the bridge of her nose, Buffy caught sight of the other people sitting around the pool. Smiling, she walked over to her friends, all of whom had come over to her house today to celebrate the beginning of summer.

One of them, a stunning brunette with full pouty lips and wearing a black bikini that did little to hide her impressive cleavage, got up from where she was sitting as Buffy approached the group. Moving to wrap her arms around the blonde’s waist, the brunette delivered a passionate kiss that Buffy eagerly and hungrily returned.

“Hey!”

The pair turned towards the source of the shouted cry, which had come from the redhead sitting down near the edge of the pool, with her feet immersed in the water and the fingers of her left hand intertwined with those of the blonde sitting beside her. The redhead wore a one piece swimsuit the same color as her hair while the blonde wore a crushed power blue tankini. The blonde, like the redhead, had her legs in the pool, but she gently kicked them every so often, sending small ripples towards the other side. Both wore bucket hats in order to keep the sun out of their eyes, though they could not mask the smiles they had on their faces.

“Public display of affection!” the redhead said with a smirk on her face. “Though I gotta admit that it’s kind of a turn on to see you two sucking face.” Her fingers gently pressed against the back of the blonde’s palm, showing the love she felt of her in a less overt manner than the other couple had done.

“Yeah. Hot, but definitely taboo,” the blonde added. Despite their attitude, both of them were nothing but happy for their friends’ antics, knowing that it was much better than having the two of them walk around trying to deny what was pretty much obvious to everyone else.

“Like you’re one to talk, Red,” the brunette replied with a smile.

“Yeah, Will,” Buffy added. “You and Tara go at it more often than bunnies in heat.”

“Don’t mention bunnies, Buffy!”

Everyone turned to look as two others entered the backyard through the gate. One was a dark haired young man carrying a cooler and wearing a tank top and bathing suit, his companion a blonde woman wearing a green bikini who was, at this very moment, looking positively disheveled.

“You know how I feel about bunnies, Buffy. All twitchy and furry and hoppy. And you never know what evil they’ll be up to next. Xander, tell Buffy to apologize to me.”

Putting the cooler down, Xander turned to wrap an arm around his wife’s waist. “Come on, Ahn. You know Buffy’s only kidding.”

“But you don’t make jokes about bunnies, Xander,” Anya insisted. “Jokes are supposed to be made about something funny, like when someone slips on a banana peel or gets hit in the face with a pie or…”

“Excuse me, Anya” Faith interjected as she stretched her arms behind her back, the act causing the brunette’s chest to become more prominently displayed to everyone, though Buffy was the only one taking particular attention to the sight. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I came here to have a little summer fun, not to listen to an argument.”

Xander moved to open the cooler, taking out a beer from among the cans contained within and tossing it to the Faith, who caught it with one hand. “If it’s fun you want, Faith, then fun you shall have.”

Flashing a smile, Faith opened the can and took a swig of its contents. As she did, a small trickle ran from the corner of her mouth, slid down her face, and fell from her chin into the crack between her breasts. Buffy, who was still staring at the brunette’s chest, watched the entire sequence of events with genuine interest and a clouded look in her eyes.

As she finished her drink, Faith looked over and saw Buffy staring at her. “Hey, B,” she said, gesturing to her barely covered breasts with her free hand. “Like what you see?”

The blonde turned away and blushed at the question, Xander trying desperately to maintain a straight face at what was going on. Ever since learning that all of his best friends weren’t, as Faith so eloquently put it, driving stick anymore, it was all that he could do not to make jokes at the sight of either Willow or Buffy making rather obvious sexual innuendos to their respective partners. The only thing that kept him in check was his wife, who turned to look at him now, saw the goofy stare on his face, and smacked him in the head.

“Ow! Damaging a vital part of my body here, Ahn!”

“Not the one I’m really interested in, Xander.”

Xander was about to retort when Buffy’s voice broke through the commotion. “Come on, guys. We’ve done enough arguing over the past few months. Today’s the first day of summer. We should be enjoying the time we have together, not arguing like we’re back in grade school.”

Stepping over, Willow nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I mean, we’ve spent so much time at college, at our jobs and doing other things that we hardly ever get to see one another anymore. I mean, for all we know, today’s the last day that we’ll all be able to get together. So I say that we stop the fussing and the feuding and just enjoy the sun, the surf and everything else this day has to offer.”

Faith put her arm on Willow’s shoulders, flashing the redhead a winning smile. “Couldn’t have said it better myself, Red.”

“Hey!” Buffy retorted, giving her girlfriend a look of mixed confusion and hurt, having thought her words alone would have been enough to save the day and impress Faith. “What about me? Don’t you think that my inspirational speech was good enough?”

Turning to look at her life partner, Faith flashed a smile. “Yeah, B, it was. But I kinda figured that you deserved a special gift for your inspirational words. Then again, if you want Red to get into a three way with us, then I’m …”

“Never mind,” Buffy interrupted, blushing fiercely once again as she turned to look at Tara, who surprisingly didn’t appear at all concerned about the idea of Willow being taken from her. She obviously knew that Faith was just kidding around, something that was very much in her nature to do, so she didn’t need to worry.

In fact, they were all good at having fun, ever since high school. Buffy, Willow and Xander had been best friends ever since Grade Nine, and when Faith, Anya and Tara had arrived at their school in their senior year, they had readily accepted them and had managed, despite some hang ups, to stay together ever since.

But lately, things had been getting difficult. Even though they still hung out a lot, there was never a day that they could say was one that was entirely special for them all. So when Buffy and Willow decided to plan a day where they could all get together, have a burger or two, swim around and generally relax, they all knew how important it was, so nobody bothered to argue or say that they had other plans.

Faith slapped her hands together. “Great. Now fire up that barbeque, Xander. I wanna get me a big hunk of meat.”

“I thought you didn’t swing that way,” Buffy giggled, suddenly yelping when Faith turned around and swatted her lightly on the arm.

**

It had been about an hour later, and the group had split apart to do their own things, knowing that they were all together and were enjoying each other’s company. Buffy was swimming in the pool while Willow and Tara were lying on a large towel nearby, soaking up the sun. Xander was busy tending to the grill as Anya and Faith sat near him, munching on their food.

“So you’ve never used it for that sort of thing?” Anya asked, poking through the Cesar salad on her plate.

“Not really,” Faith said, putting the medium rare burger she was eating down on her plate. “Though I gotta say, it doesn’t really surprise me that people would do that sort of thing. Whatever’s the best way to get you off, I guess.”

Anya nodded, picking up several leaves of her salad and putting them into her mouth. Swallowing, she continued, “And it’s especially good if you can get one that detaches.”

“One that…detaches?”

“Oh, yeah,” Anya nodded absently, waving her fork around. “You can just detach it from the wall, stick it right in your love button and just let go. And the best part about that is that it means you don’t have to be a contortionist or break anything in order to give yourself lots of orgasms.”

Faith, who had gone back to eating her burger, nearly choked at hearing Anya’s words. Not because of what she said, far from it. When it came to bumping uglies in the sack, the brunette held no shame about her exploits. But at least she could claim to have some tact in how she voiced them. Anya, however, often made her look like a Catholic nun by comparison.

“Excuse me?” she choked out, reaching for her drink to try and clear her air passage.

Anya looked at Faith. “You know, you stick the shower head down there and let the water stream hit you when you least expect it. I’ve done it before, and let me tell you, it get’s me off quicker than Xander does.”

Looking up from the grill, Xander shot Anya a look. “Ahn, you remember what we’ve talked about before? We don’t talk about that sort of thing in front of others, especially my friends.”

“What?” Anya asked innocently. “You don’t want me to them how quickly you can get me hot and wet and screaming your name out loud?”

Xander paused, a goofy smile forming on his face after a few moments contemplation. It certainly wasn’t what he was expecting to hear, and he was rather proud that his wife would talk about him in a manner such as that. After all, there weren’t many guys that he knew who could get their girlfriends all hot and bothered that quickly. “Oh. Well, you can talk about that, Ahn. You can tell that to whoever you want.” Helping himself to a burger, he looked at his wife one last time before moving off to join Willow and Tara at the pool.

As soon as he was out of hearing range, Faith whispered in Anya’s ear. Turning to the brunette, Anya held her thumb and forefinger mere centimeters apart. At that, Faith started laughing. A moment later, Anya joined in, though she didn’t understand why.

After all, didn’t they say that it wasn’t the size that mattered, but how you used it?

**

“So have you thought about where you’re going to take your honeymoon?”

Sitting down beside Willow, Xander looked over at his redheaded friend, who was staring into the sky, a task better aided by the fact that she had slipped on a pair of sunglasses. Xander was glad that Willow had found someone special in her life. After all, they had spent the better part of their adolescence believing that they were meant to be together, so it was somewhat comforting to know that the redhead had found a soulmate in Tara, as he had found one in Anya. Until recently, however, Willow and Tara couldn’t get married. But when same sex marriage had become legal three months ago, Willow proposed to Tara. And after a three year courtship, they had finally had their wedding two weeks ago. They both had made a lot of choices, both while dating and preparing for their wedding. But the one they couldn’t seem to agree on was where to have their honeymoon.

“Willow wants to go to Florida,” Tara replied. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go that far, though.”

“But baby,” Willow said, trying desperately to not sound like she was whining. “I’ve always wanted to go to Disney World, but my parents could never afford it. Now that we’re pulling in a combined $25 000 a year, I think we can afford to take a week and go to Florida.”

“Why not go to Disneyland, Will?” Xander asked, helping himself to a handful of grapes from a nearby tray.

“It’s just not the same, Xand,” Willow said, turning over onto her stomach and sliding down the straps of her swimsuit. “Tara, could you?”

“Sure,” Tara said, reaching over to take the suntan lotion from where it rested. “But Willow, before I do, I want to ask you if we could just go to Disneyland. I mean, it’s closer and we won’t have to travel far. And you know how much I…I hate to travel. Ever since…”

Turning her head around to look at her wife, Willow realized how insensitive she was being. Tara had not made it a secret that her family had been killed in a plane crash when she was younger and that she had been raised in Sunnydale by an adopted family. She had been afraid to travel on planes ever since, and this had made having to live through the experience of 9/11 particularly hard for her, made all the worse by the fact that she and Willow had been scheduled to go to Canada that day on a business trip. Ever since then, Tara couldn’t even think about boarding a plane without breaking out in a fit of uncontrollable shaking and a cold sweat.

Getting up, her hand moving to cover her small breasts for Xander’s benefit, Willow moved to run her free hand through Tara’s honey blonde hair. “I’m sorry, baby. I should have been thinking of you and what you wanted. I’ll tell you what, you choose where to go, and I’ll say yes. Wherever you want to go, I’ll say yes. If you want to go to Disneyland, we’re there. If you want to go to Santa Monica, we’re there. If you want to go downtown…”

She paused, and smiled as Tara did likewise.

“OK, maybe not downtown.”

Lying down on her chest again, Willow settled herself into a comfortable position as Tara began to apply suntan lotion to her exposed back. Xander watched the sight for a few moments before moving off. Continuing to apply the suntan lotion to Willow’s back, Tara paid him no mind. But her attention was quickly diverted as she felt a stream of water hit the side of her face. Turning around, she saw Xander pointing a water gun directly at her. Pulling the trigger again, a stream of water erupted from the barrel, impacting directly into her eyes.

“Xander!” Tara fumed, wiping away the intrusion that obscured her vision. “That’s totally immature!”

“I know, but it was fun,” Xander replied with a smile, then ran to the opposite side of the yard just in time to miss the bottle of suntan lotion that Tara had picked up and thrown in his direction.

**

Faith slid into the pool, watching as Xander and Anya moved through the gate to join Willow and Tara on the street and walk away. The brunette neither knew nor cared what the four were up to. All that mattered to her was that with them gone, she was free to sneak up on Buffy without anyone alerting her.

Standing waist deep in the cold water, Faith adjusted her top as the water lowered her body temperature, causing her to shiver slightly. As she watched Buffy approach her, however, the brunette wasn’t sure whether the cold she felt was because of the water, or the sight of her wet love.

Rising to the surface, Buffy arched her back impressively, sending her hair flipping over her head and spraying the immediate area with water. Faith smiled at the sight, feeling wetness in her lower body that had nothing to do with the fact that it was currently immersed in water. Watching the water drip from Buffy’s hair and nose, along with seeing the blonde’s wet body turned Faith on immediately.

Looking at Faith standing in front of her filled Buffy with a sense of excitement and lust, and she struck a provocative pose that showcased her wet body in a very sensual manner, much like Faith had done before. “Like what you see, Faith?”

Faith swam over before Buffy had finished asking the question, enveloping the blonde in a passionate hug and planting her lips on the blonde’s, kissing her intensely. Buffy kissed back, tongue darting into the wet confines of Faith’s mouth as her hands moved to unite the brunette’s bikini top and toss it aside, exposing her breasts, nipples already fully erect due to her aroused state, to the world.

“Shit, B,” Faith chuckled. “You like to move fast.”

“What can I say, Faith?” Buffy replied, delivering another quick kiss to her girlfriend. “You’ve taught me a lot about letting go of my inhibitions. “

Taking that as an invitation, Faith’s hands moved to the knot keeping Buffy’s bikini top on, her nimble fingers working to untie it. Finally loosening the knot, Faith let the cloth drop from the blonde’s chest and onto the water, watching as the breeze caused it to float away. The brunette’s gaze quickly turned from the cloth to the sight of Buffy’s small but undeniably perfect globes, nipples sticking out as great as her own were. Moving to take one of Buffy’s erect peaks into her mouth, Faith played her tongue across the pebbly skin of the blonde’s areola and bit down on the nipple, eliciting a moan of pleasure from her lover.

“You love this, don’t ya, B?” she asked as she moved to suck Buffy’s other nipple for a moment before moving up to the blonde’s pulse point and beginning to suckle away at it, knowing full well that Buffy enjoyed the idea of making love in water. They had, after all, done it so many times before, not only here, but at public swimming pools after hours and on the beach in the middle of the night. It was such a turn on for them to be doing it in a public place, the fact that they were doing it outdoors where anyone, especially their best friends, could walk in and find them at any moment only served to drive them even madder with desire.

Buffy, unable to form words due to the incredible sensations playing out across her nervous system, let out a moan of indescribable pleasure in answer to Faith’s question. Like Faith, she too felt the arousal begin to build in her nether region, and knew that it would soon move from her body to join the water around her. The blonde let out a slight giggle suddenly as she felt Faith’s tongue graze her neck. “Oh, Faith,” she moaned.

“That’s right, B,” the brunette snickered, cupping Buffy’s ass in her hands and pulling the blonde’s body closer to her own. “I’m your mermaid. I’m your underwater fantasy goddess. And I’m gonna make you come so hard, you’re knees are gonna give out and make you sink to the bottom of this pool.”

Looking into Faith’s chocolate eyes, Buffy smiled and feigned a look of shock and horror. ‘”But I might drown.”

Returning the smile, Faith planted a kiss on Buffy’s lips. “Don’t worry, B. I know CPR.”

The pair began to kiss once more, their hands beginning to roam across each other’s bodies. Faith brushed her fingers over Buffy’s taut stomach as the blonde moved to cup the brunette’s breasts, eliciting a moan of delight from her. The pair continued to caress their fingers against one another and kiss for several minutes more before Faith, deciding that the time for games was over, took a deep breath and dove underwater, blinking her eyes as the chlorinated water hit them and clouded her vision.

Undeterred, she quickly moved to unite the knots keeping Buffy’s bikini bottom in place. Finally accomplishing this, Faith tossed the clothing away, her eyes focusing on Buffy neatly trimmed sex, clitoris fully exposed and the lips blossoming like flower petals. The brunette let some bubbles pass through her lips as she felt her smile widen at the sight of Buffy’s homemade dew, with the removal of the bikini bottom, leaking out of her slit.

Diving back to the surface, Faith took a breath of fresh air and shook her head, water droplets dripping from her hair with the action. Faith rubbed her thumb and forefinger in her eyes in order to clear her vision, growing momentarily alarmed when her vision cleared and she discovered that Buffy was no longer standing in front of her.

Her panic soon transformed to surprise as she felt a swat to her rear. Looking down, Faith could see Buffy blowing bubbles up to the surface, working to untie the knots keeping her thong in place. The brunette could only watch as Buffy worked the knots undone and tossed the thong away, exposing Faith’s sex to the water. Instead of getting back to the surface, however, Buffy moved to stare directly into Faith’s love canal, tongue slipping through her clamped lips as she took in the sight.

Taking Faith’s hips into her hands in order to steady herself, Buffy blew out a breath, sending a series of bubbles directly onto Faith’s exposed clit. The brunette twitched and moaned with pleasure at that. Despite the fact that she was underwater and couldn’t hear what she was doing, Buffy knew how much this was making Faith happy and bringing her to the height of sexual ecstasy.

Despite what was going on, Faith was starting to grow concerned for Buffy’s well being. She had been underwater for over a minute and a half, and was no doubt running low on air at this very moment. As she looked down and moved her hands to remind her of that, Faith watched in surprise as the blonde brought the tip of her nose to Faith’s slit, sticking her tongue out and bringing it across the brunette’s folds.

Faith gripped Buffy’s shoulders, partly out of reflex to the sensations working their way across her body, but mostly to let Buffy know once again that she might want to rise to the surface. But Buffy didn’t. If anything, she continued her feast on Faith’s sex, not letting up for a moment the exploration her tongue was playing across the brunette’s lower lips, teasing her clit every so often.

Despite the incredible sensations this was bringing her, Faith was beginning to get worried. She shouldn’t be feeling this way, not with the possibility of Buffy drowning in the act of doing it to her

A few moments later, Faith’s dug her nails into Buffy’s skin, this time grunting as she came hard. Twitching uncontrollably, she discharged the collection of arousal that had been building directly into the blonde’s mouth, closing her eyes and biting her lip in order to fight down the urge to yell at the top of her lungs. Faith opened her eyes as she heard a splash, seeing Buffy above water and gasping for air in an attempt to try and get oxygen into her aching lungs.

Once she could breathe normally, she turned to look at Faith, finding the brunette smiling at her, a smile that slipped from her face as her knees buckled and she fell into the water. Buffy quickly moved to help Faith get to her feet.

“Wow,” Faith said between gasps, shaking her head.

“Wow indeed.” A grin formed on Buffy’s face. “Was it good for you?”

Faith was about to reply when a sudden noise erupted from outside. Moving to get back into their discarded swimsuits, she and Buffy got out of the pool and headed out onto the street, seeing Anya, Xander, Willow and Tara standing around a fire hydrant, which had somehow become opened and was even now leaking its contents out onto the street.

“What the hell happened?” Buffy asked incredulously.

Tara jerked a thumb at Xander. “Xander decided that, since you two were so busy in the pool, we should find an alternate water source to cool off in, seeing as how the four of us had just come back from a trip to the corner store and worked up quite a sweat.”

Buffy and Faith’s glances turned to the sidewalk, upon which rested a collection of grocery bags containing pop and chips. Buffy wondered for a moment why they had gone to get more food. Didn’t they have enough already?

That question was soon replaced by a more important one. “Wait a minute? How do you know what Faith and I were up to?”

Anya scoffed. “Please, Buffy. Everyone knows that you and Faith would give each other orgasms in a second if you knew nobody was around to watch. Though, for all we know, you’d get it on in a crowded room just as easily if you though that you could get away with it. And even if you knew you couldn’t, you’d still do it because everyone knows that making out in a crowded place is such a turn on. I couldn’t begin to tell you how many times me and Xander have…”

“Then don’t,” Xander interrupted.

The group laughed before Willow pointed at the hydrant. “Guess you’d better put that back together, Xand. Now that Buffy and Faith are done, I think the pool’s become free again.”

Willow, Tara and the others moved to collect the groceries as Xander moved to pick up a wrench lying near them and began to work closing the fire hydrant.

Faith took a look at the tool. “I was wondering how you got that opened, Xander. Where did you get the wrench?”

Tara shrugged. “He snuck into the next door neighbors’ yard and swiped it from their toolbox. He figured that they wouldn’t mind, seeing as how they weren’t home.”

Buffy tilted her head and looked back at Xander, struggling to put the fire hydrant back together. She let out a quiet chuckle. “Hey, Xander, I guess it’s true what they say. It’s better to get it off than to put it on.”

Xander remained composed as Buffy and the others walked back into the blonde’s yard, laughing at the joke they had just made at the expense of their friend. Inwardly, however, he wasn’t really laughing at the situation.

”Sometimes, being a guy among a group of women isn’t a good idea.”

**

“So where’s Cordelia?” Faith asked, sitting down on the lawn chair and helping herself to a handful of potato chips. “Wasn’t she going to be here today, too?”

“Yeah, she told me that she was coming,” Buffy answered, taking a bite out of the hot dog she held in her hands. “But then I got a call last night from her, and she told me that she was going to go sailing down Main Street today instead.

Faith’s expression turned curious. “Sailing down Main Street?”

Buffy nodded. “Apparently, all the stores are having a two for one sale on all their merchandise today. And you know Cordy. The minute she finds out about a sale, there’s nothing more important to her.”

Faith finished the last of the chips she had taken and got to her feet, moving behind the chair that Buffy was sitting on. After wiping her hands with a napkin, she placed them on the shoulders of her lover and began to gently massage them. “Glad she went, because if she didn’t, she would have stayed here when the others had left. And that means we never would have been able to…Well, you know.”

Buffy set her hot dog down on the plate and put the dish on the table beside her, allowing herself to fully relax as Faith began to knead the flesh of her upper back, straightening out the kinks that real life had worked into her.

Pausing for a moment, Faith asked, “I gotta ask you a question, B.”

Turning to look into the eyes of her love, Buffy said, “Yeah?”

“You sure you’re a dyke? Cause the way you were working that hot dog…”

Squealing, Buffy leapt to her feet and reached for one of the many inflatable pool toys strewn about the yard. Picking it up, she threw it at Faith, who ducked the projectile coming towards her. Looking up, she smiled and moved at a half run to Buffy, who turned around and began to run in the opposite direction, shrieking all the while.

**

Inside the house, Willow and Tara tuned and looked out the window, seeing Faith chasing Buffy around the yard. After a moment, however, the chase quickly became a grope fest as Faith’s grabbed Buffy’s arm and spun her around, pressing her lips against the blonde’s as their hands moved to caress and explore the territory that they knew so well.

“Do you ever miss it?” Tara asked.

Willow looked up from the computer monitor she was staring at into her blonde Goddess eyes, seeing the crystal blue in them twinkling in the faded light of the room.

“Miss what, Baby?”

Tara gestured outside. Willow turned her head and craned her neck to watch Buffy and Faith in the midst of yet another make out session. “Making love like they do, as if you hadn’t a care in the world and didn’t care who knew?”

Swiveling around, Willow got up out of the chair and enveloped Tara in a kiss, parting the blonde’s lips with her tongue and exploring the moistness of her luscious mouth. Hands drifting to Tara’s waist, Willow stuck her thumbs under the waistband of Tara’s bikini bottom.

”It’s a good thing that Xander’s still out there trying to get that fire hydrant back together,” Willow thought, feeling Tara’s hand’s on her own petite waist. ”I’m not sure if we’d be able to get away with what we’re doing if he was here.”

Suddenly the touch was gone, and Willow was left to whimper as if she was still two years old. ”Tara!”

“I know, baby, I know,” Tara soothed, running her fingers through Willow’s hair and massaging her scalp gently. “I know how much you want to have Tara kisses, but I think I have a better idea.”

Willow looked up at Tara, only to find her love looking out the door. She turned to look at what Tara was staring at, and found that the blonde was staring out at the pool.

“You…you can’t be serious, Tara. In the pool?”

“Why not? If Buffy and Faith can do it there, so can we.”

“But...But I’m not sure it would be safe. I mean, I can swim, but I don’t think I can swim good enough to…well, you know. I’d feel more comfortable if someone flooded the library and we went swimming there. At least there we’d be around things that could calm me down. Not to say that you don’t calm me down, Tara. You do. Just not when we…And besides…this is Buffy’s house. What if we…what if we get caught? What if the neighbors see us? What if Buffy and Faith see us?”

Tara’s smile turned positively lecherous, her sapphire blue eyes darkening ever so slightly. “Then we’ll put on a show for them. After all, sex is fun in and of itself, but if you have an audience, it just becomes more fun. After all, if someone watches, doesn’t that mean you have to work harder to perform?”

Willow thought about Tara’s question for a moment, and realized that there was some truth in what the blonde was saying. Besides, she herself had been wondering if their sex life had gotten stale, and what better way to reinvigorate it than by making love in the weightless environment afforded by a pool where anyone could watch them?

Looking into Tara’s eyes, Willow smiled and kissed her full on the lips once more.

“OK, Tara. We can wait till later. And if anyone wants to watch, we’ll give them one hell of a show.”

“That’s my Willow,” Tara purred, kissing the redhead’s pulse point before taking Willow’s hand into her own. “Now I say we leave everyone outside to their own activities and take a swim in that new library Buffy’s mom has.”

Willow followed behind Tara, thankful once again that Joyce, as a professor at the nearby university, had a fully functional library stocked with all the latest books in the house. It certainly afforded a great deal of opportunities to read new and interesting books.

And plenty of hiding spaces to cuddle and snuggle in.

**

Later in the afternoon, Buffy, Willow and Tara were in the pool as Tara and Anya sat on lawn chairs working on their tans. Xander, with little else to do, alternated between cleaning the grill and helping himself to the last few potato chips. All of their heads turned as they heard the gate creak open, a small figure with straight brown hair wearing short shorts and a tank top walking through, a backpack on her shoulders.

“Hey, Dawnie!” Willow shouted. “Tough day at school?”

Dropping her backpack by the gate, Dawn walked over to the pool. “Yeah. Math was the hardest, though. The teacher assigned three chapters to work for class on Monday. Sometimes I wonder if it would be easier to learn if we sing about it.”

“Did you need any help, Dawn?” Willow asked, a look on her face that most of the others around her interpreted as overly happy. Tara, however, saw it for what it really was: the redhead’s attempt to get out of their earlier arrangement.

She made this known to Willow. “Um…sorry, Dawn. Willow can’t help you out. We need to go do…something later.”

The teenager’s face dropped noticeably, doing so even further when she saw the lack of munchies remaining on the tables. “Guys, what happened to all the food? Didn’t you save me any?”

“Ah!” Xander clapped his hands and walked inside the house, stepping out a few moments later with a paper plate containing a burger and some potato chips in one hand and a can of Coke in the other.

Giggling, Dawn took the food and set it down on the table, giving Xander a hug. “Thanks, Xander! You’re always looking out for me.”

“Not a problem, SuperDawnie,” Xander chuckled.

Letting go, Dawn walked inside the house. “I’ll be back. I just got to change into some more comfortable clothes.”

**

With the addition of Dawn, who had come out of the house several minutes later dressed in a one piece blue swimsuit, the rest of the day proceeded rather well, though the young brunette seemed to have somehow encourage Xander’s over excitable urge to spray others with water, as she had appropriated his water gun and every so often gave each of them a face or lap full of water. The only ones to escape her antics were Faith, whom Dawn had been deathly afraid of ever since an incident last Halloween when the brunette had played a rather nasty prank that had nearly gone too far (and for which Faith had apologized at least twice a week ever since) and Tara, who, after giving Dawn a warning glance as she crept up to her, had told the young brunette that she was in no mood for it.

Eventually, however, the day began to wind down. Xander and Anya had been the first to leave, the pair needing to get to sleep early in order to wake up at the crack of dawn the next day in order to get to their respective jobs. The look the pair had exchanged, however, told everyone, even Dawn, that there wasn’t much chance of either of them actually getting any sleep that night. Dawn had gone to her room to start on some homework a half hour later, Buffy and Faith retreating into the house some time after.

That left Willow and Tara alone. Both of them sat beside the pool, but while Willow sat cross legged, the blonde’s legs were immersed in the pools water. Tara slowly looked around the immediate area, then gave Willow her full attention.

Willow looked over and saw Tara staring at her, a look that belonged more on a runway fashion models than it did her blonde lover. She felt uncomfortable at seeing Tara look at her in this manner, but she couldn’t deny how arousing it was making her feel. “Tara?”

Tara’s grin widened even further, batting her eyelashes in a sexually provocative manner. As she did, she raised one of her legs out from the pool and brought it towards Willow, tilting her ankle in order to showcase her wet foot, the angle of which caused water to drip from her toes.

Tara pointed at the foot, waggling her toes in an exaggerated fashion as she brought her gaze to rest on Willow.

“Suck them.”

Willow's cheeks turned a dark red, her nether region suddenly growing as wet as the sexy foot displayed in front of her. It was such a turn on for them to do what they were about to do, but the redhead wasn’t sure what excited her more: the fact that anyone, especially Buffy, Faith or Dawn, could catch them at any moment, or that Take Charge Tara had appeared and didn’t seem to care in the slightest about the possibility of that occurring.

Moving closer to Tara’s outstretched foot, Willow enveloped the blonde’s big toe in her mouth, sucking at it as easily as she sucked on a popsicle. Arching her back as Willow slowly moved to envelop her other toes, Tara let out a deep throaty groan of pleasure, letting the redhead know how much she was enjoying the feel of her lips against her skin. Her forehead crinkled in surprise, however, as she felt those very same lips leave her toes. Looking up, she saw Willow standing up, a look of intense fear on her face.

“Willow?” Tara asked, more annoyed than curious.

“Tara…we can’t do this. Buffy…Dawn….The neighbors…They might see…”

Getting to her feet, Tara moved over to Willow, her blue eyes piercing the redhead’s soul immediately and letting her know without argument just who was in charge in the current situation. Willow’s heart thumped against her chest, feelings of panic and arousal mixing together in her soul as if it had just become a giant blender. Take Charge Tara was certainly a turn on, she knew. But in this context…

Slowly backing away, Willow began to stutter, a near perfect recreation to how Tara acted when she was nervous. “Tara…I’m sorry…I just can’t…I can’t…” The redhead’s words were cut off suddenly as she took a step back only to find empty air greeting her. Too late to correct her balance, Willow let out a yelp and fell into the pool.

Tara immediately dropped her dominant persona and rushed to the pool’s edge, looking into the water below. She was immediately glad that they had decided to sit near the deep end of the pool, but that didn’t make her feel any better about what had just happened. In fact, it made her more nervous. Willow had said that she wasn’t much of a good swimmer, and Tara was afraid that the redhead would let panic overcome her and cause her to drown while she did nothing but watch.

So it came as a great surprise when Willow broke through the surface of the water and got out of the pool, water droplets dripping from her wet tresses and arms. Tara had only a moment to take in this sight before she felt the redhead’s arms around her waist. Tara could only yell as Willow forcefully moved her to the side, disrupting their equilibration and sending them both falling into the pool.

Tara felt the rush of chlorinated water enter her nose and invade her mouth and eyes. She quickly began kicking her feet desperately, trying to get back to the surface. As soon as she did, Tara closed her eyes and swam to the side, arm outstretched and reaching for the side. Once she found it, she grabbed onto it with one hand while raising her other hand to wipe away the water from her eyes, spluttering as she tried to force the water that had entered her lungs out of her system.

When she had cleared her eyes sufficiently, Tara turned to look at Willow, finding the redhead approaching her from below. She paused, wondering what the redhead was up to. She quickly got her answer as she felt Willow reach out with her hands to tug away at the knots holding her bikini bottom to her ass.

”What the hell’s going on here?” Tara wondered. ”One minute, Willow’s saying she can’t swim and is afraid of making out where anyone can find us, and the next she’s become an Olympic competitive swimmer and taking the initiative? What kind of backwards dopplegangland universe did I fall into?”

As this thought left her brain, Willow surfaced beside Tara, who wasn’t exactly surprised to find the redhead holding her bikini bottom. Casually throwing it away, Willow gave Tara a look that told the blonde that the game had definitely changed, and she was the one who was now in control.

“Willow, what…?” Tara began to ask, only to have the redhead place a finger on her lips, which then pointed to the water below.

“I took yours. Now help me take mine.”

Confusion spread across Tara’s face before she realized what it was Willow wanted her to do. Taking a deep breath, and flashing the briefest of smiles, she submerged her head and made her way down until Willow’s cloth covered nethers lay directly in her field of vision, clouded as it was by the chlorinated water. Tara looked up and saw Willow move the straps of her swimsuit down her arms and bring it down over her breasts. As the redhead brought it over her belly button, Tara moved to take it into her hands and began working it the rest of the way down Willow’s body, something that was taking her considerable time in light of the fact that she had her eyes focused on Willow's sex the entire time, the lips of which were engorged and all but begging the blonde to lap away at them.

The need for oxygen quickly became more important, however, and Tara worked Willow’s swimsuit the rest of the way down her legs and resurfaced, gasping for air as she broke through the water. Turning to look at Willow, Tara wasn’t surprised to find a smile on the redhead’s lips as she moved to give the blonde a kiss and began to gently guide them towards the shallow end of the pool.

During a break in which the pair tried to catch their collective breath, Tara said, “But Willow…I thought…I thought you said…”

“I know,” Willow replied. “But…you’re right. Our sex life has been getting rather…bland lately. And I spent a lot of time online researching new and exciting ways in which to make love. And while I was doing that, I stumbled across a website devoted to…underwater sex.”

Tara’s eyebrows arched. “Underwater sex? You mean, there are people out there who…” She was genuinely surprised to hear about this. It didn’t occur to her when she wanted to make love to Willow in the pool that there were others who found that arousing. OK, Buffy and Faith did it, but like Anya said, they would do it anywhere.

It didn’t really surprise Tara as much as she realized, though. What had been surprising was how much Willow’s attitude had changed in the space of mere seconds. Putting that aside for a moment, she asked, “So…you did some research?”

“Yeah,” Willow sheepishly grinned. “And I found it…interesting. And to be honest, I always found it kind of…erotic. You know, making love in water. Especially in a situation like this, when you’re dependant on your lover in order to make sure that you don’t…you know, die or anything. You kinda need to have a trusting relationship in order to do something like that, right?”

The redhead looked into her love’s eyes, seeing a growing understanding in the blue crystal of her irises. Knowing that Tara understood what she was saying, Willow asked the question she had wanted to ask since the others had left. The one she had been afraid to ask out of fear of getting caught. And she asked it to the one person who made her worries and concerns evaporate as if they had been water itself, put to a boil by the heat of the blonde’s soul and piercing gaze that promise so much and asked for little, if anything, in return.

“Tara…can we make love…here? Now? Underwater?”

Tara felt the liquid heat of her arousal collecting at her center and slowly leak out of her. The blonde still didn’t quite understand how Willow’s inhibitions had disappeared and how her attitude had changed, but if this was the result, she wasn’t terribly concerned how it happened, just glad that it did.

Moving to envelop the redhead in another hug, Tara moved her hands and untied Willow’s top, tossing it in the general direction of her bottoms. Willow likewise lowered the straps of Tara’s tankini top and tossed it away. Once their chests were free of their sopping wet clothing, Tara moved to deliver a kiss to Willow’s right breast, moving down with every subsequent kiss until she reached the redhead’s erect nipple. Taking it into her mouth, she causally played her tongue across it, biting down on it gently every once and a while. Each time she did so, a squeal came from Willow, though Tara wasn’t sure whether or not it was out of pleasure or pain.

Taking the moans as a sign, Tara moved to Willow’s left breast, first peppering it with kisses, then moving to take the nipple into her mouth and doing to it what she had done to the redhead’s other peak. Tara then felt something press against her neck, slowly and agonizingly grazing its way over her pulse point. Casting one eye upward, she saw Willow’s head buried in her neck, her tongue obviously the one responsible for what her neck was currently feeling. This only caused the blonde’s tongue to wag faster, bringing the nipple in her mouth further into its ultimate state of erectness.

The two broke apart shortly after this and began to circle one another, as if each was a shark in pursuit of prey. After doing this for a few moments, and giving not only themselves but whoever may be watching a good shot of their bare asses, Willow and Tara dove under the surface of the water, kicking with their powerful legs to reach the pool’s floor.

Maneuvering to get into the sixty nine position, Tara blew a cloud of bubbles directly into Willow’s sex as she felt the redhead’s tongue and fingers begin to explore her own folds. Wasting no time, Tara began her casual exploration of Willow’s inner channel. It soon became obvious to both of them that it was quite difficult for them to accomplish what they were doing, given the fact that they were immersed in water that found its way into their lungs every time they opened their mouths, but both fought to try and hold back their gag reflexes, intent on giving their partner pleasure no matter what they had to suffer through.

Tara felt Willow’s fingers play across her ass then, and burped out a great deal of her air when she felt the redhead stick a finger into her rectum. Caught off guard for a moment and twitching out of reflex, Tara quickly relaxed and even allowed herself to enjoy what was going on as Willow maneuvered her digit around inside the enclosed space. Moving to insert a finger of her own into Willow’s rear, Tara heard a waterlogged yelp as her finger found and worked its way inside the redhead’s ass.

”So this is what it’s like to make out underwater?” Tara thought, as she continued to feel Willow-tongue on her sex and Willow-fingers in her rear. ”No wonder Faith and Buffy get it on in here so many times. If this is what it feels like to make love in this environment, it’s a wonder why they never come…ah…AH!...AH!!!!!”

So intent were Tara’s thoughts on things other than what was going on around her that she didn’t notice the building pressure in her legs until it became almost unbearable for her and she felt herself pass over it. Moaning in ecstasy, Tara felt her entire body shake as her orgasm ripped through her, more powerful than any she had ever experienced before.

Continuing to casually explore Willow’s folds, Tara could feel the redhead’s fingers clench on her skin, indicating that she was close to coming as well. Knowing this, the blonde continued to explore Willow’s glorious sex at a quicker pace despite the beginnings of a tightening chest from lack of oxygen telling her that she and Willow should rise to the surface.

Tara ignored her feelings, wanting to bring Willow to a climax as powerful as the one the redhead had just given her. It did not take long to accomplish this, as she heard an unmistakable Willow moan as her tongue played across the redhead’s clit, sending the redhead’s little body into a series of spasms. At the same time, Tara felt herself rise to the height of pleasure, a second orgasm, more powerful than the last, crashing through her.

The two let go of one another and floated away, physically exhausted from the act of their lovemaking. They too quickly became aware of the fact that they desperately needed air, and moved to the surface.

Breaking through the water, Willow and Tara gasped for air and looked around, a shocked look forming on their faces as they saw Faith and Buffy lying down on a pair of towels nearby, fingers inserted into their centers and rapidly stroking them. All they could do was stand in shock at the sight of their friends naked in front of them, obviously masturbating to what they had just done.

Willow watched as Buffy and Faith brought themselves to orgasm, knowing that she should be feeling incredibly embarrassed about what she was doing. Not only was she watching her best friend and her lover masturbate, but she knew that it had to have been seeing her underwater and making love to Tara that had made them decide to do it. It was everything that she had feared would happen: getting caught making love to Tara in a public place, getting caught naked in a public place.

She should be ashamed. She should be afraid. But she wasn’t. In fact, it gave her a sense of pervasive pleasure to know that she could make other people besides Tara happy, if only through a sense of voyeurism. And voyeurism was something that Buffy and Faith obviously knew a lot about. Willow couldn’t help but think about what other situations the pair had done this to.

Breaking the rather uncomfortable silence that had been building between them, Willow gave the pair a sexy smile on her face as she asked, “Enjoy the show?”

That was all it took to bring a round of laughter from Buffy and Faith. Tara joined in soon after, and Willow, not wanting to be left out, found herself laughing as well. It was good to know that the four of them could do what they had done without feeling either ashamed or afraid. It would make the next time she made love to Tara underwater all the more pleasurable, after all. Knowing that Buffy and Faith not only were watching, but pleasuring themselves to what they were doing made Willow feel less afraid.

And if they wanted to join in as well, then Willow would let them. But there wouldn’t be any swapping of partners or three of them making out while the fourth fingered herself to orgasm. Buffy would have Faith, and she would have Tara. It was she that allowed Willow to break free of her inhibitions and her shame, and it was something that the redhead would spend the rest of her life thanking her for.

And Willow knew that, because of this, the phrase “’tis better to give than receive” would take on a whole new meaning for her.

[center]The End[/center]

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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 8:11 pm 
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7. Teeny Tinkerbell Light
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You rose to the challenge quite well. Speaking of rising...

Damn. And me with no cold shower handy. (It gets hot here during the day -- even the cold water is at best tepid).

Sooo hot. Loved the slight competition between W/T & B/F. (I even kinda thought "Foursome!" but that might be too squicky for some here).

Good job!

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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:06 am 
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i loved it! good job!

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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:07 am 
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Alex, you already know how much I liked this story of yours :D But, I thought I'd hop in & let you know again, this was a very good, very hot fic & I thoroughly enjoyed it. :clap :D

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Jeanne

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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 9:19 am 
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Alex great story and I so loved it, now I think i need a cold shower after reading it. :blush

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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:10 am 
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Sith: Woo, aqua and happy exhibitionism, the girls are definitely having fun. I liked the sense of the group having drifted somewhat, and making a concerted effort to take time to hang out together, that was a nice sentiment. And all the wetness, and lazing around in bikinis, on top of the obvious hotness... yeah :drool

Coincidentally, the fic I'm about to present also features W&T making out in full view of anyone who cares to look, although... it's not quite the same, so you're all forgiven if you don't find it quite as hot...

Title: Willzilla vs Mecha-Warren
Author: Chris Cook
Email: alia@netspace.net.au
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Once again the legendary Willzilla (now with her girlfriend Queen Tarah) rises to lay waste to Tokyo. But this time, a far greater danger lies in wait.
Copyright: Based on characters from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, and concepts from the Godzilla series, created by Toho Film Company. All original material is copyright 2006 Chris Cook.

This is a sequel to Willzilla vs Queen Tarah, part of the Futurtara: Anthology of Interest I segment of WTTV.

I take no responsibility for the ridiculousness of this story. You all read the title, you should know what to expect.

(And just to clarify the holiday destination thing, I like holidaying in Italy when it's summer at home. I don't like the heat much. Plus it's cheaper outside tourist season, so yay.)

Thanks (and possibly blame) to notl33t for providing the challenge that inspired this.

[center]Image[/center]
[center]WILLZILLA
vs
MECHA-WARREN!
[/center]

All was peaceful in Tokyo Bay, as a flotilla of barges laden with explosives bobbed in the shallow waves, all prepared to celebrate the anniversary of the discovery of TNT with an elaborate demonstration. The emcee of the ceremony gazed out over the barges, lined up in formation, and then the massive crowds who had gathered on the waterfront. A strange wave passed through the fleet, as if emanating from something gigantic moving underwater.

"Why do I feel apprehensive?" the emcee muttered over his shoulder, not noticing that his deputy, and the crowd, had already begun heading for the hills.

The explosion was so large that they heard it in Italy.

[center]Image[/center]
The hastily-constructed new headquarters of the Willzilla And Queen Tarah Combat Task Force was abuzz with activity as scenes of Tokyo's latest misfortune played on the ubiquitous giant video screens. The Task Force's new leader, a weaselly man named Warren-san, grinned conspiratorially, then put on a concerned face as his deputies turned to him for advice.

"We have only one option!" he shouted above the broadcast noise of property destruction. "We must create a monster capable of defeating Willzilla and Queen Tarah!"

"Uh, what?" Buffy-san asked. "Creating monsters is what got us into this situation."

"You don't have any authority here," Warren-san spat petulantly. "Your failure with Queen Tarah disqualifies you from commanding the Task Force ever again."

"That was Drusilla-san," Buffy-san complained. "And-"

"Silence!" Warren-san demanded.

"But mighty Warren-san," deputy Andrew-san meekly asked, "how will we avoid the possibility of a new monster going rogue just as Queen Tarah did?"

"Buffy-san's mistake-" Warren-san began.

"Dru-san's mistake," Buffy-san interrupted.

"-was in having no way to control the monster she created," Warren-san continued, ignoring the blonde. "We will not create a monster whose motivations we have no control over. We will turn someone of proven loyalty into a giant monster."

"But who would be willing to undergo such a transformation?" Andrew-san asked pointlessly.

"Aw geez," Buffy-san groaned.

"Me, of course," Warren-san smiled. "I will undergo atomic nanite DNA rescrambling in combination with our new ZZT-0P hydro-mecha technology."

"Wait," Buffy-san protested, "what on god's earth makes you think that scrambling your DNA and sticking a shower nozzle up your-"

"Silence!"

"-will make you a match for those monsters?"

"Hydro-mecha technology will guarantee my success!" Warren-san gloated. "Willzilla and Queen Tarah spend their time in between rampages submerged - therefore, they cannot rampage in the presence of water."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Silence!"

"Xander," Buffy-san said quietly to her token American sidekick, as Warren-san disappeared into the DNA laboratory, "I don't like this."

"Warren-san is definitely up to something," Xander agreed.

"C'mon, let's snoop," Buffy-san decided.

[center]Image[/center]
In the laboratory, oblivious to Buffy-san and Xander peering through the keyhole in the main door, Warren-san laughed maniacally and explained his evil scheme to himself for no good reason, while waving around the nozzle of the hydro-mecha gizmo.

"At last, I knew the TNT anniversary celebrations would be irresistible, and draw Willzilla and Queen Tarah out! And now their rampage has given me the excuse to use the Task Force's technology to turn myself into a being of godlike power, who shall rule all of Japan!"

"That was succinct," Buffy-san noted quietly.

"I'd like to shove that shower head down his throat," Xander growled.

"Close to what I was thinking," Buffy-san nodded. "Not quite, but close." The pair ducked out of sight as Andrew-san bustled in.

"Heroic Warren-san, the rescrambler is prepared," he said, bowing obsequiously.

"Excellent," Warren-san gloated. "Let us proceed!"

[center]Image[/center]
Willzilla and Queen Tarah, who had been entertaining themselves playing volleyball with Volkswagons, regarded the sudden destruction of the Task Force headquarters with an uneasy sense of déjà vu. However, unlike the previous such blast which had given rise to Queen Tarah herself, this time when the smoke cleared it was to reveal the imposing, armoured form of a half-human half-plumbing creature: Mecha-Warren.

Queen Tarah, possibly remembering the time she had been three small animals in Drusilla-san's lab and Warren had made unkind comments about their edibility, mimed rolling up her sleeves and stomped towards the mecha-monster, while Willzilla looked on proudly as Tarah's three sets of eyes let loose lightning bolts that tore through the once-again-evacuated Tokyo suburbs.

Mecha-Warren saw Tarah approaching, and looked down at the tiny form of Andrew-san, somewhat the worse for wear after having had the building explode around him.

"Plug me in," Mecha-Warren hissed. Andrew-san scrambled through the wreckage, picked up the end of the water hose trailing from Mecha-Warren like a tail, and hastily screwed it to a fire hydrant, opening the flow so that water filled Mecha-Warren's hydro-mecha body with energy.

Willzilla watched in dismay as Queen Tarah's advance was halted by a massive blast from Mecha-Warren's inbuilt water cannons. Giving voice to a monstrous bellow that would in all likelihood translate to "Nobody messes with my girl!" she too advanced, only to find her radiation breath ineffective against Mecha-Warren's hydro-shielding, and herself similarly blasted onto her back by a jet of high-pressure water.

Mecha-Warren cackled diabolically and turned his water jets on the remains of the city where the two monsters had fallen, quickly flooding the area and sending the pair tumbling along the deluged streets.

Buffy-san watched from the relatively safe vantage point of a Task Force helicopter, which Xander was struggling to steer.

"We have to do something!" she shouted. "They can't fight Mecha-Warren! Queen Tarah's being forced down Main Street away from him, and-" there was an emphatic splash from the region of the docks "-and Willzilla's been pushed back into the bay!"

"Fine," Xander complained, "but what are we going to do? We can't fight a giant monster, and I can barely keep us in the air!"

"I thought you said you could fly?"

"My exact words were 'how hard can it be'," Xander reminded her. "Then you ordered me to take off, and... well, here we are." He wrenched the control stick to one side, narrowly missing a building. Buffy-san lurched to one side, and caught sight of the trailing water hose being unwound behind Mecha-Warren as he advanced after Queen Tarah.

"Xander, put us down!" she ordered.

"When you say 'put us down', is a survivable crash okay?"

"Forget it," Buffy-san sighed, strapping on a parachute. "Just... hang around, I'll take care of it."

[center]Image[/center]
Willzilla clawed her way back out of Tokyo Bay just in time to see Queen Tarah, propelled by the blast of a hydro-jet, tumbling through the financial district and somersaulting inelegantly into Tokyo University, where she lay exhausted amid the ruins of the science faculty. The giant reptile picked up a warehouse and threw it at Mecha-Warren by way of distraction, then waded through the flooded city to Queen Tarah.

"Rrrrrraaaarrrrgghh?" she asked, concerned.

"Eeeeeaaaahhhh!" Tarah complained, nuzzling Willzilla with two her heads, while the third glared at Mecha-Warren in the distance. Willzilla gave Tarah's middle head a quick kiss on her scaly cheek, then glanced over her shoulder at the mechanical monster, which had shaken off the ruins of the warehouse and was advancing again.

"Rrraaaarrrgghh," she promised darkly, helping Queen Tarah to her feet, the two of them swimming into the side of the university library, and out the other, bringing it down in the process, before Mecha-Warren could aim his water cannons at them again.

[center]Image[/center]
"Andrew-san!" Buffy-san yelled, clambering over the wreckage of the headquarters.

"Buffy-san," Andrew-san said, suddenly looking even more worried. "Hi... uh, glad to see you survived the explosion... I mean, of course you did, you've got experience with exploding headquarters... not that I blamed you for the last one! I mean, I backed Warren-san's move to Task Force leader, I know, but I still believe in you-"

"Save it," Buffy-san snapped, belting Andrew-san over the head with a plank of wood. She looked up at the distant mecha-monster, then deliberately turned the hydrant's flow off.

[center]Image[/center]
"Ggggrrrrrrrhh!" Mecha-Warren howled, seeing Willzilla and Tarah scurrying through the city ahead of him. He aimed all his available weapons at them, and was visibly surprised when nothing happened.

"Gggrrh?" he wondered, looking behind himself. His giant, beady eyes fixed on Buffy-san, standing by the hydrant, who gave him a one-fingered salute and ran away into the wreckage. Muttering furiously, he turned and started back towards his source of power.

[center]Image[/center]
Willzilla noticed Mecha-Warren's sudden retreat, and motioned to Queen Tarah to wait a moment. Tarah gave her monster girlfriend three kisses on her atomic dorsal spines for luck, and watched anxiously as the giant reptile stomped back towards their newfound arch-enemy.

[center]Image[/center]
Mecha-Warren looked over his chrome-plated shoulder to see Willzilla advancing on him, and hurried his pace. Reaching the hydrant, and finding Buffy-san nowhere in sight, he hastily tossed the unconscious Andrew-san out of the way and turned the water back on. Turning triumphantly on Willzilla, he was infuriated to find his hydro-weapons still unable to fire.

With a nervous glance at Willzilla, who was deliberately wrenching Tokyo Stadium from the ground and hefting it speculatively onto her shoulder, Mecha-Warren turned the water flow on his hydrant even higher, past the emergency danger level. Still his cannons refused to fire. He even stared down the barrel of one of them in confusion, but the gods of comedy weren't feeling quite that cruel, and nothing happened.

"Hey Warren-san!" he heard, just as Willzilla took sight on him and drew back the stadium to throw discus-style. The mechanical monster peered down among the ruins, to see Buffy-san some distance away, holding his water hose, with a kink in it. Between her and the hydrant, the hose was bulging alarmingly with a massive amount of water under pressure.

"Gruh-oh," Mecha-Warren said, as Buffy-san straightened the kink in his hose. The huge volume of water roared along the conduit, and the giant hydro-monster had just time for one extremely uncomfortable-looking final grimace before he exploded in a gush of water that flooded half the city. A split-second later, Tokyo Stadium landed where he had been, destroying all evidence that he had ever existed. Aside from the flooded city.

"Rrrrraaaarrhhh!" Willzilla roared in triumph, not having noticed that her target had detonated before her throw had landed. Queen Tarah emerged from the ruined city behind her, surveying the scene of the battle, and embraced Willzilla tenderly, nuzzling behind her tiny pointed ear, at the side of her neck, and... lower down... simultaneously. Various lucky citizens who had survived the rampage crawled out of hiding, and some even ventured a tentative round of applause for the giant reptile, who blushed atomic-red from the attention.

"Uh, hello?" Buffy-san said, to no-one in particular. "Girl who actually defeated the bad guy here. Anyone notice that?"

She looked back at the two giant monsters, who were now ignoring the crowd and getting down to celebrating their victory in earnest, in rather graphic style. Buffy-san heaved a weary sigh.

"I hate my job," she muttered, kicking a piece of debris away and wandering back into the ruins of the headquarters.

[center]THE END[/center]
[center]Image[/center]

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Through the Looking-glass - Every world needs a Willow and Tara.


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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:00 pm 
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21. Geek Infested Roots
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Chris, I don't know how you do it, but you managed to top yourself once again. This fic is seriously :lol funny, and I would dare claim that it's better than mine.

And honestly, I never thought I would get used to seeing Willzilla and Queen Tarah...well, you know. But I can say that I certainly feel less ooky about seeing them...well, you know.

Good job. :applause

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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 12:26 pm 
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I can definitely hear the words (welll Warren's moreso than Buffy's) in badly dubbed Engl;ish in my head.

And the first story, well I once had ANya (with help from Cordelia) pop Xander for very vaguely similar reasons so it's always fun to see again. I was sort of hoping Jesse and Ampata might have been invited.... (I know, I know, weird 'ship)

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Kim: (breaks off the kissing) I l... (Sue stops her with a hand)
Sue: We don't talk about things like that right after, you know that, no saying those things in The Moment.
Kim: (moves the hand aside) Screw The Moment. I *love* you.


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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 1:27 pm 
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CaptMurdock: Thanks for your comments. I'm particularly tickled about the "shower" comment, because I'm not much of a writer when it comes to smut (though "Under the Sea" and my short fics seem to prove otherwise, don't they?). And yeah, it was kinda fun to add the competition between W/T and B/F (I've only recently gotten into B/F slash, so that was my first attempt writing it. Will I do it again? Only time will tell.)

Vale: Thanks. :)

Jea: Thanks for everything, Jea. You helped a bunch in getting this posted, and I don't think I'll ever be able to say how much that means to me.

Rachel: Thanks.

Chris: Yeah, our girls did have a lot of fun in what happened. I really wanted to give this fic a plot, even though it's bare bones as hell, so that's where the whole "group-drifting-apart-and-making-an-effort-to-get-together" came from. And I'm glad you enjoyed the wetness and the hotness.

DaddyCatALSO: Heya. I didn't really want to stray far from the established characters, so that's why I didn't really add anyone except for the core cast. Thanks for reading.

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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 7:06 pm 
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Location: In the clouds
slippery when wet...
Mmmmmmmmmmm...
oh.my.goddess. underwatery goodness.
And i also love the B/F

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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:56 pm 
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2. Floating Rose
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Title: The Woman of Steel Bars

Rating: PG

Setting: UBER. The New Adventures of Lois and Clark, a rewrite of episode nine.

Cast: Willow Rosenberg = Lois Lane
Tara Maclay aka Superwoman/Ti-Fara (means Beauty or Glory) = Clark Kent aka Superman /Kal-El
Xander Harris = Jimmy Olsen
Rupert Giles = Perry White or “Chief” (editor of the Daily Planet)
Anya = Kat
Daniel Osborn = Lex Luthor (sorry about this one, I like Oz but he fit the role)

Disclaimers: This is a profit free venture that borrows heavily from both BtVS and NAoLaC. No infringement intended.

Feedback: please please please

Distribution: of course, just let me know.

Notes: Okay, so I’m a bad, bad person. I totally should be writing the next chapter of Breaking Tradition. *shrugs* I saw someone had posted on the challenge thread when I finally got back to the board, and I started thinking about the challenge, and if you give a mouse a cookie…. But come on, can anyone really expect me to resist the idea of Tara in a superwoman costume? So yes, despite the fact that it is now well into winter and months after the challenge was made, I went ahead and wrote a response. Enjoy.



The Woman of Steel Bars


“Oh my god, what’s with this heat?” Willow asked, fanning herself with futilely with her hand as she and Tara left the air conditioning and stepped onto the scorching, yet still bustling, streets of Metropolis. The star reporter of the Daily Planet ran a hand through her limp red her, hoping it didn’t look too bad. “Its 95 degrees in November.” she muttered disgustedly. “If the weatherman had predicted this he would have been laughed off TV.” Willow’s forehead crinkled adorably. “Well, not that he could hear the laughter through the screen or anything but you get my point.”

“It was 95 yesterday,” Tara said with her usual good humor, trying to stifle a grin at Willow’s mini babble. Willow had found Tara’s even temper annoying at first, well she had pretended to find it annoying at first, but the farm girl had grown on her. Willow had made her reputation as ‘the best investigative journalist in the business’ somewhat ruthlessly, and had resented being paired to, in her mind, a barely qualified rooky; no matter how attractive. Gradually, Willow had come to respect Tara’s skill and realized that their partnership did not diminish her in any way. Eventually, she had even begun to relish being teamed with Tara and the companionship the blond provided. Tara, for her part, had worked tireless to overcome Willow’s competitive nature. When she was being truthful with herself, Tara recognized that she had crushed on this intense woman from the moment they met and felt connected with her, despite Willow’s initial antagonism. “Today its 96,” Tara continued as they passed an opportunistic vendor selling fans. “With a hundred percent humidity.”

Willow stopped walking as they reached the curb. “I can’t work like this, I can’t think like this; my brain is melting, any second, sploosh! it will come dribbling out of my ears,” she griped. “God I hope the press conference is air conditioned.”

Tara gave her a sympathetic smile, grateful she wasn’t affected by the heat.

“Hey, Taxi!!” Willow called, raising her hand as she noticed the yellow vehicle in the corner of her peripheral vision.

The taxi rolled to stop a few feet in front of them, its hood steaming. A short pudgy man climbed out of the driver’s seat and lifted the hood, hissing at the hot metal. “God damn!” he muttered. “Sorry Lady, in heat like this….” He spread his hands helplessly.

Willow huffed in annoyance. “Come on, we’re walking,” she grumbled, setting off at a brisker pace than the heat warranted.

Tara eyed the steaming engine, noting the cabbie was leaning in the cab rummaging for something in the dash board. Nobody else seemed to be paying any attention to her and she didn’t want to leave to poor man stranded on the roasting streets while he waited for a tow truck. She leaned lower over the engine and carefully exhaled, a few small ice crystals formed on the metal has her breath touched it, but they melted immediately.

“Hey,” She called to the cabbie. “Uh, I think it’s cooled down.”

The cabbie waddled around the raised hood and peered at the chilled metal. “Well, whatta y’know,” he remarked, puzzled.

Willow, who had continued on ahead, looked around for Tara as she noticed her partner, in the business sense of the word, wasn’t behind her. “Tara?” she called.

“Cab’s cooled down,” Tara said by way of explanation, jogging over.

“Greats, lets…”

“I wouldn’t risk it,” Tara said, touching the sleeve of her impulsive friend.

Willow sighed and nodded, reluctantly continuing down the hot sidewalk. “You’re probably right.” She glanced over at Tara. “Hey, what planet are you from? You were running and you’re not even sweating.”

Tara ducked her head, hiding a grin behind her honey blond hair. “Environment control,” she said straight faced.

“Ah, mind over matter?” Willow asked, nodding.

“Something like that.”

“Oh,” Willow said, glancing at a group of seven to ten year olds struggling to open a fire hydrant, they’re frustrated cries having captured her attention. “Poor kids.” She skirted them with a sympathetic glance.

Tara smiled as she too dodged one of the kids, letting Willow move ahead a little. The last thing she wanted was to drench the red-head; being inappropriately dressed for things made Willow uncomfortable, even if an impromptu shower would cool her off. “Look an elephant!” Tara said to the children, pointing down the street, her eyes wide.

“Where?!” the kids coursed, looking at where she was pointing.

As they were distracted Tara’s other hand blurred, quickly unscrewing the cap and she stepped away as the water burst into the air.

Delighted cries followed her and Willow down the street.


………………………………………………………………………………………..


The press conference was not air conditioned. Willow and Tara, along with two dozen other representatives from various newspapers and TV studios stood in the sweltering room, trying to fight off headaches in the din of questions.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Ladies and Gentlemen, please!” The mayor entreated, raising his hands for silence; the microphone insuring his voice carried over the crowd. “The last thing we need right now is panic. Yes, Mister Andrews, channel six.”

“Mister Mayor,” Mister Andrews called. “Is it true that if the temperature reached 100 and everyone keeps driving their cars we will all die of carbon monoxide poisoning?”

“Of course not!” the Mayor said quickly to forestall the other questions on the lips of every reporter. “We are all perfectly safe. It’s just,” he said with a placating smile. “Hot out.”

“And getting hotter,” Someone shouted from the back of the room.

“And the heat goes on,” The mayor joked. “Next! Yes, Miss Rosenberg, Daily Planet.”

“What about the brown outs?” Willow asked, raising her voice. “There doesn’t seem to be enough power to run the air conditioners, let alone the traffic lights. What is the city going to do about this problem?”

“There’s no need to worry about the power supply,” the Mayor said, waving his hands. Tara shook her head at his incompetence. “The situation is perfectly under con-”

At that moment the lights ironically chose to go out, the few fans in the room spinning to a stop. Willows lips twisted, pleased to have caught the man out.

The lights quickly returned as a man in a white suit, somehow looking good instead of tacky, stepped up from the cluster of sycophants behind the podium and took the Mayor’s place in front of the mike. “Ladies and Gentlemen, if I may, the Mayor has asked me here to assure you that the Oz-core Nuclear Plant is 100 percent ready to meet your electric needs.”

“Isn’t the environmental protection committee withholding final approval on the plant pending the results of its safety inspections?” Tara interjected, glowering at the man. As Superwoman, she knew that the pleasant ‘Good Samaritan’ front Mr. Osborn presented was just that, a front.

“Not anymore,” Mr. Osborn replied with a self satisfied smile. “I have the report right here,” he said taking a stack of papers from the aid standing behind him and holding it up. “And I’m pleased to announce we passed with flying colors. Metropolis needs power, I have it to give.”

Tara grinded her teeth together as most of the people in the room, Willow included, clapped. While Daniel Osborn certainly had power to give, the only power this new scheme of his was intended to create would be more power for himself, and that could only be bad, for both Superwoman and Metropolis.

“Ah Mister Mayor,” Willow asked, hoping to diffuse the tension as well as get answers. She didn’t know what Maclay’s problem was with Daniel, but no good would come of her deliberately provoking him. Especially when Willow hope to be the first reporter to gain an exclusive interview with the powerful multi-billionaire. “Another power source is helpful,” she said, her words a respectful nod to Daniel. “But it doesn’t solve the problem. Where is the heat coming from?”

A short blond woman took Osborn’s place at the mike. “We’ve been studying all meteorological data,” she explained. “The jet stream, the ozone layer, and even sun spots, but all patterns have remained consistently normal.”

“Why only Metropolis?” Willow asked excitedly, her mind nosily churning over the problem. “Its only 12 degrees in New York, there’s eight inches of snow in Chicago, and we are having a run on sun block.”

The woman opened her mouth to respond and then shut it again, looking helpless.

“Excuse me, Elizabeth,” a short balding man in a worn suit stepped up beside her. “Pardon me. Um, we, uh,” he swallowed nervously. “We have a theory.”

“It’s merely speculation at this point Dr. Snyder,” Dr. Elizabeth Summers said, attempting to cut him off.

“What theory?!” Willow shouted her curiosity and reporting instincts demanding answers.

“It has not been proven and I don’t…” Dr. Summers started, hoping to forestall this line of questioning.

“The public has a right to know what is causing these extreme conditions,” Willow interjected; sure this would be something big.

“Um, not what,” Dr. Snyder stammered. “Who.”

“It’s merely a hypothesis and one I disagree with!” Dr. Summers said angrily.

“Who?!” Willow demanded, playing right into Osborn’s hands. The billionaire smiled briefly at his plan having gone so well. “Dr. Snyder, on behave of the citizens of metropolis I demanded to know who that person is!”

Dr. Snyder glanced briefly at Osborn. Taking a deep breath he spoke into the mike. “Superwoman.”

Confused muttering broke out as Willow and Tara looked at each other horrified, albeit for slightly different reasons.


………………………………………………………………………



Willow, Xander, and Gunn stood chatting on the floor of the Daily Planet, near Willow and Tara’s desks.

“Wow, Superwoman affecting our weather,” Gunn said shaking his head, the latest issue resting in his hands. “It’s intriguing, I’ll say that.”

“Women are intriguing, this is libel,” Xander retorted.

“Its slander,” Willow said, taking the paper, obviously upset and feeling vaguely guilty that it was her line of questioning that had resulted in this prosecution of perhaps the best person Willow knew; a woman who had saved her life, a woman who….

“The gossip business has heat stroke,” Anya complained as she walked over to join the trio, interrupting Willow’s train of thought. While even Willow and Xander were dressed minimally for the heat, the Planet’s gossip columnist was, or perhaps wasn’t would be a better way to put it Willow grumbled to herself, wearing nothing but a skimpy red bikini, more suited to a day on the beach than one in the office. “My sun tan, however, had never been healthier.”

“On the other hand, the heat wave does have its upside,” Xander said to himself, staring at her.

Willow made a face. “Chill Xander,” she chided.

“A cold shower ought to do it,” Xander joked.

“Not if you have a detachable shower head,” Anya teased, overhearing. “Massaging jets….” She trailed off, smile mischievously at the young photographer’s blush.

“What’s a detach-…” Gunn started to question when wolf whistles interrupted the conversation as the various reporters parted to let the Giles through.

“Oh bloody... What’s the matter, never seen a pair of shorts before?” Giles rolled his eyes, making his way over to the staring quartet. He was wearing a golfing tee shirt and a moderately long pair of beige shorts. Willow hadn’t ever seen their boss so causally dressed in all her years at The Planet; normally it was tweed suits year round. “This is not a day on the beach at Topsail Island, lets keep at it,” he admonished. “What have we got?” he asked his star reporter, reaching Willow at last.

“Some half-baked theory,” Willow said dismissively.

“Well half-baked is better than raw. If you would be so kind as to, ah, fill me in.” Rosenberg was the best reporter Giles had, but when it came to Superwoman Willow had an uncharacteristic blind-spot.

Gunn unfolded a white piece of paper he had tucked under his arm. “This is a temperature chart of the city,” He explained, pointing to a jagged line running diagonally across the page. “As you can see, each temperature spike corresponds to a super activity by Superwoman.”

“Coincidence,” Willow dismissed.

“Maybe,” Anya retorted. “But most physicists think she’s solar powered; like some sort of freakish…”

“Jenkins!” Willow spat, cutting off whatever mean spirited thing the columnist was about to say.

Tara looked over at them from her desk, guiltily fidgeting with a folder. Her super hearing allowed her to hear every word they said.

“Lots of things are solar powered,” the redhead continued. “Why blame Superwoman?”

“Nobody knows how strong her powers are,” Tara said, finally walking over. “Or how much energy it takes to recharge her. Superwomen could be drawing the sun’s heat and not even know it,” she continued, voicing her own doubts.

“But she’s been here for months,” Giles said. “Why would Metropolis start heating up now?”

“Well it was summer and it was hot, now its winter and it’s still hot,” Xander said slowly, as if he was explaining Schrödinger’s wave equations.

“Whose side are you on?” Willow snapped.

“Well, Willow, you have to admit, it could be possible,” Anya said, mostly to annoy the red-head.

“You becoming a nun is more likely.”

“I understand how you feel, Willow,” Tara interjected. “We all like Superwoman, but you have to keep an open mind about this. I’m sure if Superwoman was causing the heat wave she’d want to know about it.”

“Alright,” Giles said, cutting off the argument. “We’ll make sure to refer to it as just a theory. Now, how is this for the afternoon edition: ‘Super Feat equals Super Heat’?”

“Fine, but I refuse to accept that Superwoman is responsible for this,” Willow huffed. “Come on Tara, lets…. Tara?” The redhead looked around the newsroom, but couldn’t find a hint of blond hair. “Now where’d she run off to?”


…………………………………………………………………………


“Shocking, isn’t it?” Osborn asked, holding up the newspaper. He was reclining in a bathtub, ice cubes floating across the surface. Bold letters reading ‘Super Feat = Super Heat’ took up most of the above the fold space, although a grainy picture of four construction workers emerging from a smoky, collapsing, building featured prominently below the fold, accompanied by the headline ‘Superwomen Saves Four From Electric Fire.’

Noting Osborn’s smug smile, Ethan felt it was safe to ignore the question. “From the utilities commission Sir,” He said, holding out a form.

“Ah yes.” Osborn stepped out of the icy bath, tugging on a black rob over his swimwear. He scanned the page thoughtfully. “Amazing, my nuclear planet has been approved with only a month of testing. Politicians can be so reasonable in a crisis.”

“Might it be a good time to power it up then Sir?” Ethan asked mildly, not really bothered by Osborn’s need to gloat in private.

Osborn smiled as if Ethan were a child that had said something rather stupid but incredibly cute. “No not yet, Ethan; any good chef will tell you that all stews must…”

He paused, their eyes meeting as they said together: “Simmer.”

“In fact,” Osborn continued. “I’m feeling a bit chilly, let’s turn it up a few degrees.”

“Warmer, Sir?” Ethan asked. The city was already at an uncomfortably hot temperature, even for the middle of summer, which it was not.

“Well, yeah,” Osborn gestured with his free hand at the paper. “Superwoman was kind enough to use her powers again today and the newspaper cooperated by printing our theory, so now it’s up to us to provide the proof.”


……………………………………………………………………………


A crowd of reporters, included Tara and Willow, with Xander along as camera man, flooded out of the court house. A well dress woman tried to push through them, addressing the various microphone pointed at her. “…As prosecuting attorney for Metropolis I will be seeking an injunction, ordering Superwoman to immediately cease and desist in the usage of her super powers. I have sipenad her to appear before the court tomorrow morning to show cause as to why she should not be so enjoined.” She paused and turned to face the nearest mike fully. “And I’m making this public appeal, asking her to submit to the laws of our community.”

“What if she doesn’t?” the reporter asked.

“I hope,” the prosecutor said as she shoved through the remainder of the crowd. “That we won’t be forced to use any extreme measures.”

The crowd of reporters trailed after her.

“What are you going to do, drop a nuke on her?” one asked incredulously.

Willow, Tara, and Xander remained on the steps, having gotten more than enough information for a story. No new news would be found by trailing after that pack.

Willow glared after them. “Am I the only sane person in this whole city?” she asked rhetorically. “We have to do something.”

“Willow,” Xander said, equally disgusted. “Professional scientists haven’t been able to figure this out, what are we going to do?” He asked helplessly.

“They’ve been comparing events, dates” Willow said, her eyes bright as she thought about the problem. “We are going to study Superwoman. Xander, I want to look at the locations of these heat spikes.”

“Got it,” Xander said, catching on her enthusiasm even though he knew it was a long shot. The thing about Willow was that her long shots paid off more often than not.

As Xander headed off to get the film somewhere cooler before in spoiled, Willow turned to Tara, surprised to see that her partner was staring off into space.

“Tara, are you okay?” she asked, concerned. She laid a hand on Tara’s arm.

The blond shook her head. “It can’t be true, it just can’t,” she murmured gesturing after the crowd.

Willow nodded. Of course it wasn’t true; she was surprised it took Tara so long to realize it. Still concerned she scrutinized her partner. “Tara maybe you should sit down; it looks like the heat finally got to you.”

“What?” Tara asked, meeting Willow’s eyes for the first time.

“You’re sweating,” Willow pointed out.

With an almost perplexed expression, Tara raised a hand to her damp forehead.

Willow rolled her eyes. “Come on,” she said, grabbing Tara’s hand and pulling her into the next door library. “I need to get out of this heat before we walk back to the Planet. We can check the recorded temperatures from here as well as she can from our desks.”

“Okay,” Tara said, letting herself be lead. The library was only marginally cooler than the outdoors and, with the humidity, it still felt like they were swimming. The amount of moisture in the air made her feel like she should be using gills to breath.

Willow headed happily through the stacks of books, towards the computers, while Tara grabbed some hard texts that seemed to be related and brought them back over to Willow. The two settled down companionably to research although both had trouble concentrating.


…………………………………………………………………………………


Superwoman felt very awkward sitting in her red and blue outfit behind the defendant’s desk. She couldn’t imagine she would have ever felt comfortable in this position, but to do so in the costume was …strange. The court room was packed with people, various officials and numerous reporters. She, herself, should have been one of them, but Tara had called in claiming the bus had overheated and she would be very late to work. Giles sat in her chair beside Willow, but they were located directly behind her, so Superwoman couldn’t see them.

The judge, a heavy set older woman with micro-braids pulled back into a neat pony tail, entered from a side door and walked briskly to her stand. “This Hearing will be in order,” she commanded as she sat, cutting through the chatter.

Everyone in the room rose briefly to their feet, some of them still whispering excitedly.

“This is a court room,” the judge said sternly. “Not a circus tent. And this,” she continued holding up a polished wood gavel. “Is a gavel. And when I pound it,” she hit the desk, making a loud rapping sound. “Is the international symbol for you all to shut up.” She hit the desk again. “Got it?”

With the room finally quite she addressed the heroine. “Good afternoon Miss Superwoman.”

“Uh, just Superwoman,” Tara said, standing respectfully, hands clasped behind her back.

“That’s your full name?” the judge asked dubiously.

“It’s what people call me,” Tara said awkwardly. She smiled slightly at the stern woman.

The judge seemed to mentally shrug. “Fine,” she said. “Make it one word,” she told the recorder as an aside. “Now,” she turned back to Superwoman. “I understand that you’ve refused council?”

“I’d like to speak for myself, your honor,” Tara said, trying to portray confidence.

The woman’s face finally softened slightly. “Superwoman I have to tell you right up front, I’m a big fan of yours. A lot of the lowlifes you catch end up here.”

Willow and Giles shared a smile at the judge’s words.

“What you are doing in my court room,” the judge continued as Superwoman finally started to relax slightly. “Is unfortunate. And between you and me…”

“Objection,” The prosecutor called, rising to her feet.

The judge looked at the woman exasperatedly. “You can’t object, Patricia, this isn’t a trial,” She chided.

The DA grimaced as she retook her seat.

“Superwoman,” the judge asked. “Do you know why this district attorney dragged you in here?”

“The theory is that my powers are causing this peculiar heat wave,” Superwoman said plainly, the doubt on her face evident.

“Well, what do you think?” the judge demanded kindly.

“I don’t think it’s true, but if Metropolis is worried about me using my powers I’d like to put the fears to rest.” Tara sighed as she finished, resigned to what she knew would happen when she entered this courtroom.

“Alright,” the judge sighed. “I’m going to grant this injunction pending further scientific study. Superwoman, you are hereby order to cease and desist all super activity until further notified.” She fixed the heroine with a pointed stare. “Do you wish to contest?”

Superwoman shook her head.

“Alright people,” the judge said with a half smile. “We’ve got a deal.” She banged the gavel a final time and whispers broke from the gathered throng.

Reporters immediately mobbed Superwoman as she made her way to the doors, but Tara pushed though them effortlessly. She breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped out into the hallway, glad to be free of the crush of people. There was a reason Superwoman always hovered at least eight feet in the air when she had to stay to talk to an official afterwards. Moving quickly, but still at human speeds, Tara started down the corridor before the crowd of reporters could follow her, stepping past the few enterprising police officers who had found excuses to be in the hallway at this particular moment in time. Superwoman supposed she would have to catch a cab to her ‘friend’ Tara’s apartment where Superwoman was going to be staying for a few days until this ban was lifted. The increased association between her mundane and alter egos troubled Tara, but nothing could be done about it. Tara was so caught up in her thoughts she didn’t notice that the prisoner being escorted between two officers had managed to get off the cuffs they hadn’t locked in their haste to see Superwoman. Her blue eyes widened in horror as she watched the scruffy man slam the smaller of the two cops into the wall and rip his gun free of its holster. Superwoman moved half a step in their direction before she realized there was no way to stop this prisoner from shooting the cop if she moved at human speeds. Hands tense at her side Superwoman stood powerless to help, her brilliant red cape limp.

“Alright,” the man was saying as he grasped the gun in both hands, finger twitching on the trigger. “We’re gonna walk out of here nice and easy. Nobody moves, nobody gets hurt.”

Superwoman’s eyes darted to the other cops and back to the face of the frighten cop as the media crowed behind her in the doorway. In a heart beat she had crossed the space between them and crushed the gun. Her hand closed around the prisoner’s upper arm in a steely grip as the police officers rushed over to them.

Willow, watching from the door, felt her heart constrict as she watched the selfless superhero’s shoulders deflate as she turned to face them with a helpless expression.

Two officers apologetically stepped up to Superwoman. “I’m afraid you are under arrest,” one said, almost disbelievingly, mechanically reciting Superwoman’s basic rights. Tara was only thankful that the media was unable to follow her as they led her unresistingly away to a small room, a double row of filing cabinets running down the center.

“Over here,” the police officer attempted to keep her tone business like as she gestured to the end of the filing cabinets. “Spread them.”

Superwoman turned her blond head to regard the officer in disbelief.

“Ah, if that’s okay with you,” the woman quickly amended, eying the skin tight red and blue outfit. Although, there might be enough space under the short red skirt to conceal a weapon of some kind; had Superwoman herself not been a weapon. A very, very small weapon.

Grinding her teeth at the indignity, Tara shifted her feet slightly and placed her hands on the tops of the filing cabinets as required. Although it was childish, she used a little more strength than was necessary and made an ‘oops’ grimace as the entire row toppled over like dominos.

“Sorry,” she apologized to the wide eyed officers, who knew exactly how extremely heavy just one off those overfilled filing cabinets was, and were mentally calculating how to get out of having to help lift them back into place.

“Alright,” the disgruntled woman said, gingerly leading Tara to the ink pads. “We’ll start over here instead.”

She guided Superwoman’s thumb to the ink, making sure it was coated before laying a sheet of paper on the small table.

“Press firmly,” she told the heroine.

Tara looked at her in disbelief. ‘Alright, you asked for it’ her expression said as Superwoman pressed her thumb firmly against the paper, punching through the metal table. Tara supposed it wouldn’t hurt for people to get the idea that she was unable to limit her super strength, thus making the idea that she could pass as human seem more unlikely. Breaking a larger hole, she drew her hand back, looking appropriately abashed.

“Lets move on,” the officer said with a brittle smile, rapidly becoming disenchanted the idea of being in charge of the destructive super powered woman.

She led Tara to the next room to get her mug shot taken. The first three were done without a hitch, but Superwoman found she could not escape without having several group shots taken with the police officers.

“I get a phone call, right?” Superwoman asked as they were finally ready to take her to a cell.

“Yes,” the woman said. She gestured to a phone on the other side of the room rather than bothering to lead Superwoman to the phone generally used by prisoners.

Tara glanced meaningfully at the woman as she picked up the receiver.

“Oh! Of course,” the woman said, stepping back a few feet to give Superwoman the illusion of privacy.

Tara sighed mentally as she dialed the familiar number.

“Hello?” Giles asked, snatching the phone off his over crowed office desk at the Planet.

“Uh, hi Chief,” Tara started, uncertain how to explain without making the eavesdroppers aware of her dual identities.

“Tara, is that you?” Giles asked, cutting her off.

“Yes sir, it is,” Tara said, relieved.

“Where are you?” he asked, eager to have the other half of his best reporting team on the job. Especially when Willow’s judgment was impaired and a story this big was involved.

“I’m, uh, down at the police station,” Tara said, sounding slightly sheepish.

“Good, good!” Giles said, recalling again how wonderful a reporter Tara was. “Now I want a first hand account of Superwoman’s arrest,” he instructed. “Don’t leave that building until she goes back to court.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem Chief,” Tara replied, her voice heavy with irony.

“Great,” Giles said, hanging up.

Tara looked at the phone in her hand and around at the Police waiting to escort her to her cell. “No problem at all,” she muttered.


…………………………………………………………………….


“Chief we need to do something,” Willow insisted as they walked into the court room the next morning for Superwoman’s appeal.

“Willow,” Giles respond tightly. “Our job here is to be objective.”

Willow made a face at him as she took her seat, reluctantly turning her attention to the front of the room as the judge from that morning entered.

“Alright people, sit down,” the woman said, pulling out a yellow slip of paper. “Charge here is contempt of court.” She raised her eyes to look at Superwoman, again seated in the defendant’s chair. “How do you plead?”

“Not guilty,” Tara said softly. “The court is not something I’m contemptuous of.” She added, tired and slightly cranky from having to have spent the last twelve hours in a small cell pretending to ignore the wolf whistles and malicious comments from prisoners she had helped lock away and fed up with the whole mess. “I have vowed to fight for truth and justice and to protect the innocent.”

“So noted,” the Judge said, equally tired. “I’m entertaining bail requests.”

“I’d like to be released on my own liability,” Tara requested.

“Objection,” Patricia called, rising to her feet. Her elbow knocked her coffee off the edge of the table, and Tara hopped out of the way without thinking about it, hovering for a moment. “She’s an obvious flight risk,” the prosecutor punned pointedly.

The judge rubbed her temples. “What am I supposed to do with her?” she asked.

“Um, Your Honor,” Giles called, rather impulsively, climbing to his feet. “I’m Rupert Giles, editor of the Daily Planet. We have been covering Superwoman ever since she arrived in Metropolis and she has always conducted herself with absolute integrity, decency, and honesty.” Superwoman turned to face the man she knew so well as Tara but had never before met as Superwoman, with surprised gratitude. “I am personally willing to vouch for her character,” Giles finished.

“Sold,” the judge said, banging her gavel.

“Pardon?” Giles asked.

“Superwoman is now the responsibility of the Daily Planet. We’ll try it for a few days and see how it goes,” she ordered. “And you,” she turned to fix the heroine with a glare. “Absolutely no superpowers at all. Is that understood?”

Tara nodded gratefully.

“Way to be objective, Chief,” Willow said, fighting a grin as she stood.


…………………………………………………………………


Willow pushed open the door to Giles’ office and handed him several sheets of paper, glancing at Superwoman out of the corner of her eye. “I hate to interrupt,” she apologized. “But I need you to take a look at my copy.”

Tara, breathed a sigh of relief, having been suffering through an awkward conversation with the man she couldn’t help but think of as her boss, despite the uniform she wore.

“What’s this,” Giles asked, taking the pages and riffling through them.

“It’s my take on the story,” Willow said in a slightly hurt tone.

“Willow,” he said, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on the corner of his shirt. “I can’t run a fluff piece like this, even if it is about you,” he said, gesturing at Superwoman. “No offence taken, I trust?”

Mutely Tara shook her head.

“Run it on the Op-Ed page,” Willow offered.

“I need something for the front page,” Giles replied.

Willow opened her mouth to argue, but Giles held up a hand. “Hold that thought,” he requested. “Superwoman,” he asked, turning to Tara. “Do you have a place to stay tonight?”

“She can stay with me,” Willow offered quickly.

Tara looked at her somewhat longingly. “Tara already offered to let me stay with her,” Superwoman apologized, hoping Willow wouldn’t hold it against her mild mannered partner, but knowing this was the only way she’d get any freedom.

“Good, that’s perfect,” Giles said. “Where is Tara, anyway?”

“She called in the jail piece,” Willow offered. “I think she’s on her way home. You want a lift?” She asked the gorgeous caped woman.

“Thank you,” Tara accepted, willing herself not to blush.

“Uh, Willow,” Giles reminded her. “I still need a piece for the front page.”

Willow looked back and forth between the two of them, her eyes pleading.

“I can stay until you’re done,” Tara offered. “If you don’t mind me hanging around.”

“Really?” Willow asked hopefully.

“Sure,” Tara said, nodding.

“Great!” Willow’s eyes suddenly lit up as she looked at Superwoman. “Hey! Can I ask you some questions. I’d love to get your reaction to all this, your thoughts, your views; it could give the piece just the angle it needs.”

“Uh, sure,” Tara offered, knowing she would have to think fast to avoid saying too much to the quick witted woman, but unable to refuse. Willow was right, a personal interview with Superwoman would give her piece the edge it needed, provided she followed Giles advice as well and cut out some of the fluffier bits.

Willow’s grin made Tara smile in return. “Fantastic!” the red head exclaimed ushering Tara across the newsroom to her desk. “I have some questions I’ve been dying to ask you. I can’t believe how every one is just all over you like this, after all you’ve done for us. It’s beyond ungrateful, I mean…” Willow babbled, not really watching where she was going. Her hip hit the edge of Tara’s desk and Tara stepped in front of her, catching Willow’s arm to prevent the reporter from falling.

Xander watched to red-head progress across the news room, her body shielding the superheroine from view. Sweat dripped from his dark brown hair as he crouched behind the desk, his grip tightening around the super soaker 1400TX’s trigger. Anya had brought in the gun in earlier as a joke and Xander couldn’t resist the idea of soaking his workaholic friend.

“Hey Willow!” Xander cried, jumping to his feet and opening fire.

Willow’s eyes widened as the jet of water came towards were she had been before Superwoman had moved to catch her fall; right at the red ‘S’ on Superwoman’s chest.

“Xander, No!” Willow shouted, holding out a hand to forestall him way too late.

Everyone in the newsroom paused to stare dumfounded as a drenched superhero wiped the water out of her blue eyes.


…………………………………………………………………


“Look, Mr. Osborn,” Dr Snyder said, trailing behind the powerful man as they walked down a sterile hall in the underground facilities of Oz-corps labs. “We are risking environmental disaster if we continue.”

“Huh,” Osborn said reflectively.

Certain he was being ignored, Dr. Snyder dodged in front of Osborn to face the man. “What if they should discover us?” The ferrety man demanded. “You have got to stop this.”

Daniel stopped walking. “Is that an order?” he asked, his voice dangerously mild.

Dr. Snyder’s eyes widened and he stepped back hastily. “No! No, of course not,” he laughed nervously. “W-what would make you say a thing like that? I merely meant I was a bit concerned, that’s all.”

“Well that’s perfectly understandable,” Osborn said in a falsely amiable tone. “But I should think the five million dollars you’ve been paid would buy a little peace of mind.” Watching Dr. Snyder splutter to come up with something to say, Osborn smirked. “However,” he continued. “I think the citizens of metropolis could use a little break, especially since our friend in the cape has been MIA all day.”

Dr. Snyder watched mutely as Osborn opened a silver brief case and punched his code into the concealed remote control.

Mustering his courage, Dr. Snyder tried one last time. “Um,” he began nervously, mopping at his forehead with a white handkerchief. “You said you were only going to use this for a few days.”

“Yeah, well when I find something I enjoy, I stick with it.”

“When do you think you will stop enjoying it?”

“Well that,” Osborn looked up from the remote to met the man’s gaze squarely. “Depends on Superwoman.”

A phone ringing interrupted them. “Excuse me,” Osborn said to Dr. Snyder, pulling a slime grey cell phone from his pocket. “Yes?” He said into the phone. “The ten thirty five?” He paused, listening to the reply. “On schedule?” Another pause. “Very good, thank you Ethan.”

“Ten thirty five?” Dr. Snyder asked as Osborn hung up.

“Yes, I’m afraid there’s going to be another little mishap,” Osborn said smoothly, enjoying the other man’s wince. “If Superwoman intervenes the temperature will go up; so doctor, why so gloomy? It proves your theory connecting Superwoman with the heat, after all.”


…………………………………………………………………..


“I am sooooo sorry,” Willow apologized again as they pulled into Tara’s apartment’s parking lot.

“Its okay Will,’” Superwoman reassured, using the shortened version of Willow’s name without thinking about it. When Willow blushed, the blond backpedaled quickly, hoping that if she continued talking Willow wouldn’t comment on it. “It was just water. Besides even if it had been a real gun I would have been fine.”

“Were you ever afraid?” Willow asked, thinking about how Superwoman had just watched the water hit her, rather than use her powers. The fact that it was a water gun aside, the red head wondered if, even knowing she was invulnerable to most things, she would have had the courage to just let herself get shot.

Tara blinked. The first time she had ever been shot, she had frozen in surprise, too scared to even think. Tara remembered just looking down at were the wound should have been and running the fingers of her left hand over her smooth, unmarred skin through the bullet hole in her top. The mugger, Warren, had turned and ran while she stood frozen in her shock, almost getting away. She could still remember the coldness of his eyes before he pulled the trigger. That had been the incident that had caused Tara to create Superwoman, the reason why she put on the red and blue costume.

“I don’t fear guns,” Superwoman said finally, deciding to go with a half truth. “But sometimes, when you see the hatred in a person’s eyes as they pull the trigger; that inhumanity… that frightens me.”

Willow touched Superwoman’s shoulder gently, causing the blond to meet her eyes. “We should,” Willow licked her suddenly dry lips. “We should go inside. Get you some dry clothes.”

Willow’s words served to break the paralysis their shared gaze had induced and Tara looked down at her wet costume, surprised that she had forgotten all about it. “Oh, right,” she said faintly as they climbed out of Willow’s jeep.

Willow lead the way up the stairs to Tara’s apartment, but Superwoman caught her hand before Willow could knock.

“She might be sleeping; she looked tired,” she explained. Making a show of feeling around under the mat for her spare key, Superwoman quietly unlocked the door.

“Key under the rug?” Willow chastised under her breath, even though she thought her partner couldn’t hear her. “This isn’t Smallville Tara.”

“I’m going to go see if Tara has any clothes I can change into,” Superwoman said as soon as they entered, excusing herself. She almost offered Willow a drink before remembering that this wasn’t exactly her apartment, per se.

Shutting her bedroom door safely behind her, Tara hurriedly changed into normal clothes and pulled her still damp hair back into a ponytail. Checking her appearance in the dresser mirror, Tara glanced at the reflection of the door to her adjoining bathroom and smiled.

Left alone, Willow shifted uncomfortably as she heard the shower cut on. Although she considered herself friends with Tara, she hadn’t been inside the other woman’s apartment before and standing in her friend’s empty living room made her feel awkward. The glint of metal on the bookshelf drew Willows attention to a silver framed picture. Tara, only a few years younger than the woman Willow knew, held the reins of a chestnut horse. A thin, balding man rested a hand on her shoulder, both of them grinning at the person who had taken he picture.

“My Dad,” Tara said softly as she entered the room and moved to stand behind Willow.

“Ahh! God, Tara, don’t go sneaking up on people like that.” Willow took a deep breath. “When was this taken?” She asked.

“My 19th birthday, five years ago,” Tara smiled as she took the photograph from Willow and set it gently back on the shelf. “My mom insisted on taking pictures at every one of my birthdays. They’d bought Witch for me; one of our neighbors had owned her and had been letting me ride her.”

Willow touched Tara’s arm as she saw a wisp of nostalgia wash across the blonde’s face. “It must have been hard to come here, being so far away from them.”

“A bit, but I still visit fairly often.” Tara smiled. “Superwoman decided to take a shower,” She said, changing the subject. “I don’t blame her, I still feel kind of grimy from being down at the prison all night.”

Willow tensed protectively. “I can’t believe they did that to her, she saved that man’s life! You should have seen her face, Tara, after she rescued him; she looked so helpless. And now she’s being punished for it. It just isn’t fair, it wasn’t like she could just stand there and do nothing; she’s too noble for that.”

Tara blushed, and turned away to hide it. “Can I get you something to drink?” she asked, stepping across the edge of the rug which divided her dinning area/ kitchen from the living room of her tiny apartment.

“What?” Willow asked, momentarily derailed. “Oh, yes please. Orange juice if you have it, if not water is fine too; I mean, with this heat and all that’s probably the healthiest thing to be drinking.”

Pouring the requested orange juice into a glass, Tara grinned at Willow’s monolog. Glass in hand, Tara flicked the radio on as she passed it to provide background to their conversation. “Here you go,” she said, handing Willow the glass.

“Thanks,” Willow said, taking a sip. Her eyes widened. “Wow, this is really good, almost like fresh squeezed. Where do you get it?”

“Um,” Tara stalled. Obviously she couldn’t say that it actually was fresh and she had flown to Israel to get it. “Just a little health food store I like.”

“Oh,” Willow accepted, taking another sip. Silently, they looked shyly at one another. “Should really get back,” Willow said at last. “I have to finish a story for Giles, he’s not to happy with me taking off like this, but Superwoman was drenched.” She paused, a thought occurring to her. “Do you think she would mind if I quoted some of what she said earlier?”

“Um, I can go check with her if you like?” Tara offered.

“Okay, but don’t peek,” Willow said admonishingly, thinking of the beautiful woman in Tara’s shower. “If anyone gets to see Superwoman naked, it’s going to be me.”

“Willow!” Tara’s face turned bright red.

“I was just teasing,” Willow said, blushing herself as she realized how extremely inappropriate her comment was. “I know you wouldn’t. You’re probably the only lesbian on the planet who doesn’t want to get into her pants. And you’re too honorable anyway.”

Tara just blushed harder and backed into her bedroom. She quickly shut off the shower and changed into her costume, taking a moment to dampen her hair in the sink. I’m never going to get dry at this rate, she thought wryly. Heading back out to Willow, she resolutely trying not to think about what the red-head had unwittingly said. It was just so hard, sometimes, knowing that the fantastically beautiful woman was infatuated with her persona while she refused to consider Tara as anything more than a friend. Taking a deep breath, Superwoman stepped into the living room and cleared her throat.

Willow turned and smiled widely, even though Superwoman, in Tara’s opinion, looked like a drowned cat. Unable to help herself, the blond smiled in return. “Tara said you wanted to ask me if you could use a quote?” she prompted.

Desperately trying to keep herself from checking out the superheroine, Willow nodded. “Yeah, what you said about Warren, and the first time you were shot? It was really powerful, I think…” Willow paused and both women turned their attention to the radio whose weather debate had just been interrupted.

“-ring you this bulletin.” The speaker’s voice said calmly. “We have a run away express train on the green line.” Willow walked over to the radio and turned the volume up. “It just barreled past hogsriver station, heading south at over 75 mile per hour. It should reach the main metropolis terminal in eight minutes. That area is being evacuated but there are over three hundred people at risk on the train itself.”

“I have to go,” Willow said apologetically.

“So do I,” Superwoman said forcefully, heading towards the window.

“Wait! You can’t go stop a train! You gave your word.”

“I have to Will’,” Superwoman turned and met the concerned green eyes. “You know I have to.” A sad half smile formed on her lips.

Willow nodded resignedly, her voice deepened with renewed respect. “Tara and I will meet you there.”

“Uh,” Tara looked over Willow’s shoulder and let out a breath of air as the red-head headed for her bedroom, blowing the open window shut. “I think she’s already on her way,” Superwoman called.

“Great,” the Willow said, looking exasperated as she retraced her steps, heading for the door. “You call this loyalty? What kind of partner are you Tara?”

As the door shut behind Willow, Tara quickly reopened the window and took off, heading for the train.


…………………………………………………………………………..


The next afternoon, Willow sat sprawled at her desk, trying to convince herself that it wasn’t really 110 degrees. Whatever meditation technique Tara used wasn’t working for her, Willow decided.

“Willow!” Xander interrupted, hurrying over. “I asked Dr. Summers about your idea, since she didn’t believe Superwoman was responsible either. Turns out she was a step ahead of you, she sent me this.” Xander held up a map of metropolis with red and blue concentrations of color. “The dates match, but the really hot spots,” he indicated the red. “Aren’t anywhere near the super activity.”

Giles poked his head out of his office, looking around of some one. “Chief,” Willow called, spotting him. “I have some new information on Superwoman.”

“That’s great Willow,” Giles said earnestly. “But I need you to get down to the courthouse right a way; Superwoman is about to turn herself in.”

“On it!” Willow shouted as she practically flew out of the news room.

The entire drive over to the courthouse, Willow nervously tapped at the steering wheel. She knew that Superwoman couldn’t actually be made to do anything, but she worried about what the selfless heroine would voluntarily concede to. Parking her car, Willow had to physically shove her way through protestors shouting ‘superwoman must go’ brandishing signs. She wasn’t as gentle as she could have been, and ended up knocking at least one person to the ground. She was only three rows of people away when superwoman arrived.

The heroine looked calm and unruffled in the face of the crowd, but a solemnity hung around her that caused the chanting to die instantly. “When I first came to Metropolis,” Superwoman began. “I said I came to help. I still feel this way, and so I have agreed to go, leaving metropolis by noon tomorrow. I believe this is the best way to put all your fears to rest.” Her eyes sought out Willow’s dismayed face in the crowd. “But I will miss everyone,” she said softly, feeling her throat constrict. “Thank you.”

Superwoman kept her head raised as she began to make her way through the crowd. Somehow her feet brought her in front of Willow.

“You can’t leave,” The red-head said desperately, tears welling in her green eyes.

“I have no choice,” Tara whispered.

“But they can’t be right,” Willow implored, knowing she couldn’t stop the woman from leaving. Overcome by emotion, Willow leaped forward and kissed Superwoman passionately, without grace or skill, bruising their lips together. “Go,” she whispered, breaking the kiss. “Go!” she said louder, when the blond didn’t move. Tears in her eyes, Superwoman forced her feet to move forward. “I’ll find a way to prove you innocent,” Willow vowed after her, under her breath. “I will get you back.”


…………………………………………………………………


Xander approached Willow cautiously at her desk. “Hey Willow, I, uh,” he stopped when he saw the tears on her face. Touching her shoulder gently he said, “Never mind, it’s not important.”

“It’s okay Xander,” Willow said thickly. “What is it?”

“Dr. Summers said she was looking into something and wanted to let you know she might be calling you later.”

“Okay,” Willow said listlessly. Awkwardly Xander pulled up a rolling chair to sit beside her, inviting confidence. “Do you think we should just give up?” she asked turning her head to face him.

“What? No way,” Xander said, shaking his head.

Willow smiled faintly. “Me neither,” she replied, smiling wanly. She could always count on Xander to back her up.

The two sat in companionable silence. “Did you see this,” Xander asked finally, handing her the afternoon edition. “I guess Tara made it to the courthouse after all.”

Willow took the paper from him, hearing Willows voice in her head as she read the article. Her eyes watered as she reached the closing lines. ‘…the crowd reacted with surprise and relief. Superwoman knew it was over. They say the Woman of Steel is invulnerable, but watching her face at that moment, I don’t think it is true; in many ways, she is as human and as vulnerable as the rest of us.’


……………………………………………………………….


Tara entered her apartment with a sigh, her heart feeling like lead in her chest. She couldn’t believe she was leaving, she had worked so hard for this, and now…. Tara paused, finally noticing the two intruders.

“Don’t be mad,” Martha Maclay said, stepping towards her daughter. “We had to come.”

“Mad?” Tara laughed painfully as she rushed forward to hug her parents. “I’ve never been happier to see any two people in my life!”

“Oh sweet heart,” her mother murmured into her hair. “Come on, sit down.”

Tara sunk onto the couch with her parents on either side of her, and letting all her masks drop, finally being both Tara and Superwoman.

“You don’t have to go,” Jonathan Maclay said, putting his hand over hers.

“What choice do I have?” she asked raggedly.

Her dad grimaced. “I just don’t get it,” he said finally. “You’ve been using your powers for years in Smallville and nothing happened. Why would they make metropolis hot?”

Tara shrugged. “That was just everyday stuff, Dad,” she hypothesized. “Since I’ve been in Metropolis I’ve been doing some pretty big things.”

“But do you believe it?” her mother cut in. “Do you honestly,” she said tapping Tara’s sternum, over her heart. “Truly believe you are causing this heat wave?”

“I,” Tara’s eyes darted to the side. “I don’t know. Everyone else seems to think so,” she finished dejectedly.

“Tara, it doesn’t matter what ‘everyone else’ thinks,” Jonathan reminded her. “This was your dream, working at a big newspaper, helping people… Maybe,” he paused. “Maybe you should consider that it’s only Superwoman who has to leave.”

“Dad, I can’t!” Tara cried, finally breaking down and letting the tears she had been holding back run down her face. “I can’t walk past people who are hurting, knowing I could help them and having to stop myself. I-I-I,” Tara paused for breath as her childhood stutter re-emerged. “I’ve m-made up my mind.”

“Shh, honey,” he wrapped her in a warm hug. “We thought you might feel that way so we fixed up your room, but we had to try.”

Tara’s arms tighten around him, then she pulled back. “No, I can’t go home either.”

“What do you mean, Tara?” he asked.

“What if they’re right and I am causing this heat? I could be putting you and Mom in danger.”

“Absolutely not,” Jonathan said, meeting his wife’s worried gaze over their daughter’s head. “You may very well think you can just go lock yourself in some fortress of solitude somewhere up in the artic to avoid hurting anyone, but that is taking the coward’s way out. Your mother and I may not be able to convince you to stay here if you want to leave, but we are not going to let you go isolate yourself like that.”

“Dad,” Tara implored.

“No,” Martha cut her off. “Your father is right. You aren’t dangerous and you are our daughter, you’re coming home with your family.”


………………………………………………………………………………


Willows head was pillowed on her desk when Tara entered the news room. She paused to look at her partner, blinking furiously. She had already packed her apartment; this was the only thing left. Tara took a moment to make sure she had herself under control then reached out; softly rubbing Willow’s shoulder to wake her.

“Tara?” Willow said sleepily, raising her head. “I must have fallen asleep.”

“It’s late,” Tara said, trying to think of a way to tell her best friend and unrequited love she was leaving, for the second time that day. “You should go home.”

“Can’t,” Willow responded, shuffling thought the papers she had been napping on. “There isn’t time. Here,” she gather a bundle and thrust it at Tara. “You can take these over to your desk and st-” she fell silent as she finally saw the bare desk, with the lone cardboard box perched solemnly on top. “No,” she whispered. “Tara, what is this?” Willow demanded.

“I, I’m leaving Metropolis,” Tara said hoarsely.

“No! You can’t! I need you! We have to get superwoman back,” Willow broke off at the look of resolve on Tara’s face. “Please, Tara,” she implored.

“I,” Tara shifted uncomfortably and tears welled up again. “I’ve made my decision Willow; I just, I just w-wanted to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye?” Willow shook her head. “We’re partners.”

“You don’t need a partner,” Tara shook her head ruefully. “You never did.”

“But, but I was starting to like having one,” Willow whispered. Seeing Tara’s resolve hadn’t wavered, Willow grasped at straws. “You can’t just quit, you haven’t filled notice!”

Gravely, Tara pulled a white envelope out of her suit pocket. “I was hoping you could give it to Giles for me?” Tara asked.

Hand trembling, Willow took the envelope. “I won’t believe it,” she said fiercely. “I’m not going to give up on either of you.”

Tara leaned closer to Willow and gently brushed their lips together in a tear-salty kiss. Straightening, Tara took in the curve of Willow’s face, trying to memorize this final sight, before walking over to her desk and gathering up the box. Willow’s eyes followed Tara until the elevator doors had close behind her, the white envelope crumpled in Willow’s fist.


…………………………………………………………………………


Giles opened the door of his office for Willow, following the drawn reporter out into the newsroom. “Are you alright Willow?” he asked.

Willow nodded. “Fine, Giles,” she said hollowly.

“Willow,” Giles called, as she began to move away. “Tara was one of the best reporters I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, but remember so are you. And if anybody can find a way to save Superwoman, you can.”

“Yes sir,” she said, her despondent countenance unwavering.

“Alright then,” he said, watching her worriedly as she walked away.

Xander caught up with Willow just as she reached her desk. “Will’ if there’s anything I can do…” he began.

“Just buzz me if Dr. Summer calls,” Willow snapped, her expression softening immediately as she saw the hurt look on his face. “Sorry, Xan’, I just….” She looked down.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he reassured, patting her shoulder as he moved away.

Willow fiddled with her pen, watching Xander leave, delaying. Finally she looked across at Tara’s empty desk. Looking at the empty space the blond used to occupy caused a wave of hopelessness to wash over Willow. Caught up in her misery, she didn’t even hear Anya’s approach.

“Hi Willow,” the bottled blond said as she moved passed the red-head’s desk.

“Okay stop it!” Willow snapped, jumping to her feet.

“Stop what?” Anya asked, taking a small step back. “I just said ‘hi’.”

“Yes! That’s it exactly! Just ‘hi,’ no little dig, no taunting; everyone is treating me like I’m made out of glass. So what if Tara is gone? I am a heck of a reporter! I don’t need a partner! Everyone needs to stop acting as if I had just lost my best friend or something.”

“But you did,” Anya pointed out. “Showing sympathy is a sign of my friendship. As is offering to talk, which I am.”

“Why would I talk to you?” Willow snarled.

“Because while I don’t date women, I do know a lot about losing someone you care about because they do something stupid and heartless.”

Deflating, Willow slumped back into her chair. “First Superwoman and now Tara. And I don’t know which I will miss more!”

Anya watched Willow with slitted eyes. “I know what will cheer you up,” she singsonged, leaning forward.

Willow jump back, revulsion wrinkling her face.

“Chocolate!” Anya finished with false innocence. “It’s a fail safe cheer-upper.”

“Willow!” Xander called, rushing over.

Swallowing a retort, Willow swiveled to face him, her eyes questioning.

Xander pointed to a short blond exiting the elevator on to the newsroom floor.

“I said buzz Xander,” Willow chastised, moving hurriedly to greet the woman. She reached out and shook the blonde’s hand firmly. “Dr. Summers? Willow Rosenberg. I hope you’re her with good news?”

“It might be,” Dr. Summers said. “I think you should come with me, I have something to show you.”

“Of course,” Willow said eagerly, grabbing her briefcase and practically dragging Dr. Summers to the elevators.


……………………………………………………………………………..


Willow walked behind Dr. Summers though the underground tunnel. It was even hotter down here then it had been on the street above. “Where are we?” she asked her companion.

“The entrance to Metropolis’ aquifers; it’s basically an underground system of rivers and lakes. The temperature under the aquifer is supposed to be constantly 46 degrees even in the middle of summer.”

“But it feels like we’re in a sauna.”

“That’s the problem.” Dr. Summers said, turning to heave open a door in the wall on their right. “Here we can look down directly into the main body of the aquifer.”

A blast of steam accompanied to open door, when it cleared Willow looked down the see an entire lake of bubbling water. “It’s boiling!” she exclaimed, shocked. Water only boiled at 100 degrees Celsius, or 2120F. “Is this what’s causing the heat wave?”

“It looks like. The geological pattern of the aquifer is identical to the heat distribution maps I showed you.”

“But what is causing the aquifers to boil then?” Willow asked, reining in her excitement as much as possible.

“My best guess?” Dr. Summers pulled out an identical map to the one she had sent Willow. She followed their position in the aquifer up a few inches, her finger landing on the Oz-core nuclear plant. “The Oz-core planet has sprung a major leak.”

“A leak?” Willow echoed.

Dr. Summers nodded. “But that’s not the worst,” she said, making sure she had Willows full attention. “They plan on turning it up to full power tomorrow, and if that happens, we could be looking at a meltdown. You have to get Superwoman back, Ms. Rosenberg.”


……………………………………………………………………


Jonathan Maclay frowned as he entered the living room and took in the sight of his only child slumped on the couch. “I don’t see why you’re torturing yourself by watching this.” He said, disapprovingly, leaning over to pick up the remote.

“No, Dad!” Tara exclaimed.

“Leave her be,” Martha called from the kitchen.

Jonathan sighed, watching his little girl’s attention return the man who was slandering her on TV, live from the streets of Metropolis.

He and Tara both straightened as a red-head shoved the reporter out of the way and grabbed the microphone.

“Willow!” Tara exclaimed in recognition, afraid her former partner had finally lost it.

“No keep rolling!” Willow said from the screen, as the reporter she had displaced objected that they were live. “Superwoman, if you can hear this, come back. We found the real source of the heat, you’re not causing it and you never were. But there is an emergency and we need you. Meet me at Oz-core nuclear plant and I’ll explain everything. And Superwoman? Hurry.” Willow handed the reporter back his microphone and dashed off screen as quickly as she had appeared.

“I have to go!” Tara exclaimed standing up and rushing off at super speed.

Jonathan smiled in the wake of his child. “That’s more like it,” he said to the now empty room.

“What’s that, dear?” Martha called.

“Tara’s headed back to Metropolis; there’s been some sort of emergency,” Jonathan told his wife.

“Oh,” she said, poking her head into the living room. “What about the heat?”

“Turns out they found the real source of the problem and want her back.” Jonathan chuckled.

“Oh good, I hated seeing her sit around here looking so miserable.”

“Me too, Martha,” Jonathan said, pulling her into a hug. “Me too.”


……………………………………………………………………………..


Tara barely had time to savor seeing the streets of Metropolis as she shot towards the power plant, sailing over Main Street and the Planet at supersonic speeds. She landed next to Willow, who was pacing fretfully outside Osborn’s plant.

“Oh Superwoman!” Willow pulled her into a brief hug. “I’m so glad you’re back! There is no time to explain; the plant has a leak and they are about to start it up!”

“Come on!” Tara said, grabbing Willow’s hand. Together the raced up the steps to the control room which was filled with various city officials for Osborn’s big unveiling. The crowd had just burst into applause for Osborn as they entered.

“Stop!” Superwoman called, the crowd parting for her.

Osborn frowned. He had won, Superwoman had gone! So why was she here, now, thwarting his plans again? “I’m afraid stopping is out of the question,” he said sharply, nodding to the leaver he had just pulled.

“There is a leak in the reactor core,” Willow said, causing the people around her to gasp. “That’s what is causing the heat, not Superwoman. If you go through with this we will have a nuclear melt down.”

“There is no leak!” Osborn tried to say, but the people weren’t listening to him anymore as a light came on to indicate the plant was up and running.

Franticly Superwoman took off down the stairs and entered the core of the reactor, ignoring the nuclear radioactivity warning signs. The control rods where already raised halfway out of the uranium container. Looking at them, Superwoman made a split second decision and leaped forward to physically force the gigantic rods back down, breaking the machinery trying to raise them, and stop the reaction.

Hours later, after Superwoman was pronounced non-reactive and she and Willow had answered as many questions as they could for the local authorities, Superwoman found her

_________________
~Selena~
"Hear that baby? You're my always."


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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 4:23 am 
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18. Breast Gal
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Posts: 2704
Topics: 4
Location: Sydney, Australia
Argh! Right when Willow and Tara/Superwoman were about to have their reunion moment, the dreaded character count strikes. I'm on the edge of my seat here, please post the conclusion soon :pray

In any case, I've really enjoyed reading this - I forgot almost at once that it was a challenge fic, and just read it for its own merits (it only occurred to me later that the hydrant fulfilled one of the requirements). I've always thought Amber would make a wonderful Superwoman, thinking about how different she looks comparing, say, her performance as Tara in her early episodes to some of the more kick-ass confident publicity photos there are of her - like Reeve and Brandon Routh, she could really sell the idea that no-one would notice these two people have the same face. Without glasses, too (though she'd look hot with glasses anyway ;-) ). I particularly enjoyed Tara's private thoughts regarding Superwoman, the reasons behind what she was doing and how Oz's scheme was affecting her, that's something you don't really get in TV or movies - it really reinforced what Tara herself wrote, about Superwoman being as vulnerable as anyone else.

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Chris Cook
Through the Looking-glass - Every world needs a Willow and Tara.


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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 2:05 pm 
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2. Floating Rose
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Joined: Tue May 24, 2005 6:33 pm
Posts: 48
Ah, sorry everyone, for some reason I didn't notice the post cut off. Here is the conclusion.
.........................................................................................................

Tara barely had time to savor seeing the streets of Metropolis as she shot towards the power plant, sailing over Main Street and the Planet at supersonic speeds. She landed next to Willow, who was pacing fretfully outside Osborn’s plant.

“Oh Superwoman!” Willow pulled her into a brief hug. “I’m so glad you’re back! There is no time to explain; the plant has a leak and they are about to start it up!”

“Come on!” Tara said, grabbing Willow’s hand. Together the raced up the steps to the control room which was filled with various city officials for Osborn’s big unveiling. The crowd had just burst into applause for Osborn as they entered.

“Stop!” Superwoman called, the crowd parting for her.

Osborn frowned. He had won, Superwoman had gone! So why was she here, now, thwarting his plans again? “I’m afraid stopping is out of the question,” he said sharply, nodding to the leaver he had just pulled.

“There is a leak in the reactor core,” Willow said, causing the people around her to gasp. “That’s what is causing the heat, not Superwoman. If you go through with this we will have a nuclear melt down.”

“There is no leak!” Osborn tried to say, but the people weren’t listening to him anymore as a light came on to indicate the plant was up and running.

Franticly Superwoman took off down the stairs and entered the core of the reactor, ignoring the nuclear radioactivity warning signs. The control rods where already raised halfway out of the uranium container. Looking at them, Superwoman made a split second decision and leaped forward to physically force the gigantic rods back down, breaking the machinery trying to raise them, and stop the reaction.

Hours later, after Superwoman was pronounced non-reactive and she and Willow had answered as many questions as they could for the local authorities, Superwoman found herself alone in the parking lot with the reporter.

Internally debating what to say, Superwoman finally decided on a simple thank you.

“Its just good to have you back,” Willow replied. “Although... do you think I could trouble you for a lift back to my apartment?” She eyed the empty space where Dr. Summers car had been parked. “My ride appears to have taken off.”

“No problem,” Superwoman said, scooping Willow up into her arms, ignoring her body’s involuntary hum of pleasure at holding this woman so close. She rose slowly into the air, letting Willow’s ears adjust gently to the change in pressure.

Willow looked down at the city in delight, content to quietly enjoy the ride. She had been in Superwoman’s arms like this once before, when she had thrown herself out of a window in order to get an interview with the mysterious woman, and again she marveled at how absolutely safe she felt within their embrace.

They flew lower and Superwoman chuckled throatily in her ear. “I believe I owe you this,” she said, and let go before Willow knew what was happening. The reporter had time to let out a brief shriek before hitting the water of the bay below her. Automatically, she took a deep breath and held it as the water closed over her head.

When Willow breeched the surface, she spluttered indignantly at the smirking heroine.

“Remind me again why I went to such effort to get you back?” she asked as Superwoman reached down and lifted the wet woman back into her arms.

Another burst of laughter was her only answer.


………………………………………………………………………………………………


Daniel Osborn’s voice was deceptively calm. “The plant is a total loss,” he told Ethan. “And the city wants me to pay damages for a leak I had completely under my control, until Superwoman decided to save the day. Not only,” he growled. “Did she completely destroy my plant, but the radioactivity didn’t even affect her. So what was it you wanted to bring to my attention?”

“I have the report from the air conditioning division,” Ethan said, unruffled by the rare display of temper. “I though you would be pleased to know that they had a 200 percent growth in profits over the last three weeks.”

Osborn sat back in his chair with a thin smile. "Ah," he said softly. "The silver lining."

…………………………………………………………………………..


Willow stood next to Giles in front of the wide glass windows that lined the west side of the newsroom sipping a mug of hot chocolate as they watched the snow fall.

“Snow on the ground, Superwoman in the skies,” Giles sighed. “All seems to be well in with world, does it not?”

“Not all,” Willow replied softly, looking over her shoulder at Tara’s empty desk.

“Your right,” he agreed, following her gaze. “Not everything.”

A sudden disruption of chatter around the elevators drew their attention to a very familiar blonde figure.

“Everything!” Giles re-revised, heading over, Willow only half a step behind him.

“Maclay,” he greeted as Tara regarded him nervously.

“Mr. Giles, I….”

“Here,” he cut her off, handing her a crumpled but unopened white envelope.

She took it gingerly. “You didn’t read it?” she asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

“I, ah, didn’t believe I needed to. Now, I believe Willow could use some help with the aquifer piece, so I’ll leave you two to work on it.” He clapped her shoulder and strode away.

“Hi Willow,” Tara said, facing the red-head at last.

“Hi Tara.”

They stood awkwardly in front of each other.

“You really did it,” Tara said at last. “You saved Superwoman.”

Willow shrugged.

“I’m sor-” Tara started, the red-head’s hostility making her feel like she was back at the beginning of their relationship.

“Hey,” Willow interrupted, realizing Tara had mistaken her shock for anger. She smiled gently. “Its good to have you back.”

“Really?”

“Really. Come on,” she led Tara over to her desk, brushing past their discomfort by plunging back into work. “Tell me what you think of the piece so far.”

Tara smiled and leaned forward to read over Willow’s shoulder.

“You misspelled aquifer,” she said at last.

“Hey!” Willow huffed. Then she grinned mischievously. “Be careful, Tara. You can be replaced you know.”

Tara raised an eyebrow.

“I was already looking for a replacement,” Willow kidded. They shared a warm look, before Tara dropped her eyes back to the screen and began working in earnest.


THE END

_________________
~Selena~
"Hear that baby? You're my always."


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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 8:43 pm 
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3. Flaming O
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Joined: Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:46 pm
Posts: 62
i totally loved the superwoman fic, and want to read more!

it would be great if it was a series and we could actually get to read when willow get's a brain wave and realizes who tara really is. i guess that would take some of the tongue and cheek out of this fic, but it would be fun all the same!

great job.


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 Post subject: Re: FIC Challenge: Water, water everywhere.
PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 1:04 pm 
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1. Blessed Wannabe
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Joined: Fri Oct 13, 2006 11:48 am
Posts: 17
Location: Sweden
ooh Selena Taiki you have done it again!
I loved this story and I agree with theblew about a serie :sigh

but otherwise, great job!

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Willow: "And we're what?, surprised by this?"


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