Coulda. Woulda. Shoulda - Chapter 176 - 01/27/14 - COMPLETE

[Katharyn]

Thank you very much for your passion and support (more of the passion this time, I see!) LOL

First of all, I should say that I won't be spoiling things (much) in this so some direct questions won't be answered so directly. I may hint...

Kajun - Who is Eddie? Good question. Eddie is a victim. Eddie is a victim of circumstance. Eddie is a victim of Tara and Willow. When he turned up, he fully expected to be dating the star of the show (there's a word for people who do that!) and now... he's just the boyfriend of an also-ran.

He's nice. He's quiet. He's just... there. I do try to include him - and others - to remind you they are there, but there's a nother way of telling this story that puts him and Buffy firmly at the center. Or Xander and Anya. Just, I won't be telling it. It's long enough! You don't want me darting off to do everyone else's perspective!

GIles leaving... Clearly not going to respond here. Other than to note that this was a canon paralleling scene. That's where it came from.

And yes, I shamelessly used that to show Tara's deeper integration into the gang

One direct question I will kind of answer - the term 'butt monkey' does come up. Though, slightly different.

Thanks!

Azirahael - Hey! I can't answer that!! Though it will all become clear (fairly) soon...

And I very much agree with your logic on replaceability... (which is not a word, but I made it into one!)

And yes, I can tell!

Thanks so much for caring!

Katharyn

[Katharyn]

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter Seventy-Five
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: More events occurring at the time – in canon – of Buffy vs. Dracula.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: More Buffy vs. Dracula. I just remembered that I did an extensive piece in Sidestep about this episode and had a lot of fun with it. But any readers of that will likely be much more familiar with it than I am due to my poor memory and time that has passed. If I end up repeating myself, or having the same kind of fun then explain it away as a parallel universe kind of thing… Some things are just always meant to happen.
Talking of which, remember the rules. If it comes from outside Sunnydale then – even with the changes to the timeline – it still pretty much happens.
Now, why are we going so slow about getting this story going? Well, this is one of those episodes/series of chapters that really does set up so much of the season, so I’m not going to skimp on the opportunity it provides and the almost pure fun you can have with this one. The set up here pretty much has to justify the next 70+ chapters, especially if you remember the very end of the episode.
Talking of ends – of the chapter in this case – the timing of their plan may seem silly (it is) but that’s reflected in canon I think and there had to be time for Buffy to get bit…
Finally… About Anya… Okay, so – in canon – it was originally suggested that Anya was so impressed with Xander because he was pretty much her first. Then we find out about the supernatural boyfriends. More than one or two even that happen to turn up in canon! So… I have to clear that up in this part. Amusingly, I hope. I like to think that – maybe – Vengeance Demon was really just a job to her and that, off duty, she had a life. A strange life, but a life all the same. With boyfriends.
And oh yes, there’s a reason I bring Joyce into things at this point…
Thanks to: Chickens. Because you can’t go wrong with eggs. Or is that eggs, because you can’t go wrong with chickens?



“You’re doing all the right things,” Willow promised.

“Well, thank you, Willow,” Buffy’s Mom said. “You can have a sundae.”

Tara watched as eagerly - almost kid-like - Willow reached for the sundaes they’d been preparing as a foursome. She and Willow, Buffy and her Mom.

Okay, so she needed to deal with Willow being on on a sugar-rush, but they weren’t about to head to bed now were they? Nope, there was patrolling to be done and Mrs Summers had offered ice-cream before they even went out. Somehow, she felt like she’d been missing out being as – usually – when she patrolled all she had was a juice box to take out with her. Or a thermal mug of coffee on a cold night.

This though? Better.

“Did – do you always do this?” she asked.

“First time,” Buffy and Willow both said around their spoons.

“It’s the first patrol I’ve seen you off on patrol, Tara,” Mrs Summers said. “So I thought we’d make it a celebration. We don’t have enough of those.”

Willow and Buffy’s faces suggested that they agreed, but for sugary reasons.

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

“Much as I appreciate your manners – especially compared to my daughter and her other friends - it’s Joyce, I insist.”

Tara smiled, knowing very well that she’d never get around to remembering to do that. It just wouldn’t be right. Maybe she could get away from ‘Ma’am’ though.

“So…” Joyce sidled her way into a change of topic. “How’s it going for you two?”

“Good,” Tara said, knowing that some people didn’t know what to say or what to ask. It was easy, really, you just asked the same questions as you would of anyone else in a relationship. Or maybe Mrs Summers didn’t expect to get an answer because of her daughter’s very… unfortunate relationship disaster. Pre-Eddie. That was possible too. “Really good.”

“Really, really good,” Willow amended, taking her hand as she upped the stakes.

“It’s nice to see you so happy, Willow. Seems like everyone’s getting on well right now. Even people you wouldn’t expect.”

Ah. That.

“Faith’s trying, Ma – Mrs Summers. She is trying,” she said.

“We even thought we’d found her a girlfriend, but then she went home from the beach with a guy so… we’re not sure about that. But we’re pretty sure no crimes were committed,” Willow added.

Buffy’s Mom looked a little uncertain though, looking to her daughter.

“It’s true Mom. The only reason I haven’t kicked her ass into a jail cell is because she really is trying,” Buffy added, licking her spoon.

“I didn’t mean her, and I’m sure you’ll do what’s best, dear,” Mrs Summers said.

“I – I always try,” Tara said. Somehow everyone seemed to imagine that she knew what was best, that she’d somehow just, miraculously do it. Right now it felt like that would be more by good like if she did manage to.

“Which is all anyone can ask, but I actually meant my daughter and Eddie.”

You could just about see Buffy melting into the floor faster than her icecream.

“Oh.” She didn’t make it into a question, didn’t offer any encouragement, but didn’t ignore the point either. It’d just be rude to ignore what Mrs Summers had said. Especially after sundae. So ‘oh’ seemed like a reasonable, non-committal reaction. Neither one thing nor the other.

“That was my reaction too, but I think he’s a really nice boy. Don’t you think he’s a nice boy?”

“Umm – yes?” she replied, glancing at Buffy who was giving her a look. But she didn’t know what the look meant, not for sure.

“Buffy seems to think that her Mom’s approval is actually a negative,” Mrs Summers explained. “Don’t you think your Mom would’ve approved of Willow, Tara?”

Tara smiled, this was an easy one. She knew the answer. “One hundred percent for certain, definite approval.”

“And wouldn’t you have thought that was a good thing, to have that?”

“My – I guess my perspective might be a little different,” she said. After all, what would she give just to see her Mom again? Hold her? Anything. Let her meet - Then she looked at Willow.

I’d give nearly anything. Nearly.

“I know I wanted my parents to love Tara,” Willow said, not helping her best friend out at all. “And they do – kind of more than me… but hey, result!”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Joyce said, “but do you see? It’s just you, Buffy.”

“Thanks a bunch, both of you,” Buffy complained.

“He’s a nice boy,” Mrs Summers said. “I don’t know what you’re worried about me saying that?”

“Are you kidding? It’s a horrible thing to say. That he’s ‘nice.’”

“Well, I’m sorry,” Buffy’s Mom replied, clearly frustrated. “You’ll just have to excuse me for preferring someone nice and normal over your usual taste in boyfriends – excuse me for using that word.” She added that last part for their benefit and Tara wasn’t really clear if it was the ‘boyfriend’ or the ‘normal’ part.

Since boys weren’t on her radar and she still considered herself perfectly ‘normal’ thank you very much, she just brushed it off. Society was built around boys and girls getting together, you couldn’t expect every word from everyone’s mouth to avoid any hint of suggesting that. As a girl with a slight stammer, she was well aware that if you did, you’d never get to say anything.

Not in full sentences anyway.

“Usual?!” Buffy objected. “There was only ever Angel!”

“One hundred percent vampire,” Mrs Summer said. “Buffy, I’m not going to pretend I’m not happier that you’re dating someone… human. Let’s use that word, human.”

“So you wouldn’t mind if I was dating… I don’t know, Tara?” Buffy challenged.

“I’d mind,” Willow interjected.

And I’m not quite human, am I?

“Of course not,” Mrs Summers said. “If you were happy, then no. I absolutely wouldn’t mind.”

“Doesn’t sound like it,” Buffy said, even though it kind of did.

“It’d be a surprise,” her Mom conceded. “But… once I got past that, I’d be happy you were happy with a nice girl. If it was Tara, she’d be ‘nice’ too.”

“There it is again… ‘nice’.”

“It’s not going to be Tara,” Willow pointed out. “She’s spoken for. But she is nice.”

Everyone just ignored Willow’s point, everyone but her. She was happy being spoken for. Happier than she could’ve imagined. But there were four people here and three of them were having two different conversations.

“I know that, Willow. It was just an example, but you - ” Mrs Summers shfted her attention to her daughter, “you say it like it’s a bad thing.”

“At least if you hated him I could rebel about it,” Buffy complained.

“I think you used all the rebellion you’d banked with Angel, dear. Anyone I have to lock my door and wield crosses against pretty much exhausts your allowance, I promise you. Nice is a good thing. Take it as a compliment.”

Buffy sighed, ate some more ice-cream and that seemed to help. “Could you just try not to call Eddie ‘nice’?”

“Okay then, I’ll never call him nice again. At least not unless you break up with him, then I’ll need to rub it in your face that you let a – a boy like that get away. Besides, one day he’ll probably have done quite well for himself. It’s the quiet ones that surprise you. I should’ve realised that before I started dating your father. He wasn’t quiet at all. Of course he wasn’t a vampire, either.”

“Thanks, Mom, I needed to hear that.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. Mothers prerogative. Single mother’s special prerogative. I get to be this way, at least until you get married, have kids of your own and then I’ll change my mind and take their side against you.”

“Great… I think you just laid out the next thirty years of my life.”

“And you going back to school is laying out mine, young lady. I hardly saw you last year, except when you’d had your body stolen by Faith. She came around for dinner more than you did.”

“Mom!”

“Okay, so, if I’m a little clingy when I’m facing the empty nest then… live with it. Call it part of growing up.”

Buffy relented. “Okay, okay, you made your point. I’ll come over more.”

“And you’ll bring Eddie.”

“Yes.”

“You all come over more,” Mrs Summers insisted, to spoon-in-mouth nods.

Tara smiled. She was both enjoying the ice-cream but also the sheer domestication of a normal family. Sure, it had pressures that other families didn’t, but life in the home seemed kind of simpler here than it had been back in Montana.

She’d never wondered about the love her family, but she’d not felt like she was part of a relationship like this for… for a long time.

And that was… Just to be around it was… nice.

-------------------------------

“Nice.”

The three of them rounded the Erdinger family plot. It was a spot, Willow knew, where plenty of things had happened over the years but it was all quiet tonight. Everything seemed quiet. She supposed it could be that Faith had already done a run through this cemetery rather than one of the many others in Sunnydale.

Didn’t matter really though, patrolling with Tara and Buffy was pretty much a social occasion anyway. It’d help them walk off the calories from those sundaes too. She had a hot girl to keep happy after all and she couldn’t just let herself go. Not until someone legalised getting a ring on her finger, at which points all bets were off in the ‘letting herself go’ department. She was even starting to question the wisdom of giving away wedding cake. Seemed like you should just eat it yourselves.

Buffy was still less than happy.

“Nice…”

“Buffy, just leave it. It’s your Mom. Moms do that, we all know it.” Willow didn’t apologise for including her girl in that. They’d talked about this before, but Tara had made it plain that, yes, once it might’ve upset her but time had passed. There were better – or worse – things that tweaked her inadvertent memories of what nearly everybody their age still had and so talked about.

A whiff of perfume. The sound of a flute. The taste of a real, homemade oatmeal and raisin cookie. Those were the things Tara treasured, the things that sent her to that place where her Mom still lived and could sometimes bring a tear to her eyes. Mentioning the word didn’t do that.

“It’s true,” Tara said. “Mom’s do that from the minute they start cleaning your face.”

“I guess,” Buffy sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t have kept the truth from her so long.”

What was that? Something about secrets? “Secrets aren’t good,” Willow agreed. “Even though, sometimes, people have really good reasons for keeping them from someone else – even friends or someone they love.” Okay… maybe that had just gotten a little too on the nose. “I imagine.”

Yay me. Good recovery.

Buffy didn’t look like she’d noticed, being caught up in her own thoughts but Tara… she had an entirely different reaction. She knows. She knows I have a secret. Look at her face…

What Tara knew was her every vulnerability, every way to get it out of her. Pleasure, humorous discomfort, guilt, more pleasure. Lots more pleasure. All of these were valid interrogation tactics and ones that Tara could deploy at any moment.

Well, not at any moment, after all – with Buffy here – Tara was hardly likely to go for some of the more intimate pleasures as her method but…

The simple fact that she knew Tara might not even go there, might not even ask, made her feel even more guilty about having her secret. The whole Giles situation…

I’m the worst person in the world to have a secret! It’s not even holding my tongue I’ve got to worry about. It’s what Tara’s tongue can do…

Not just her tongue. If she decides to get it out of me… I can’t hope to resist. Even if it might be fun to try.

“You had your reasons for keeping it from her and that’s important to remember,” she added, determined to steer this back to Buffy keeping secrets rather than anyone else. Namely her.

Buffy had her own methods of extracting the truth. Less sophisticated – and intimate – than Tara’s would be, but just as effective and based on years of knowing her. Giles should’ve just left her in ignorance. Now she was going to give it away… What if Buffy looked at her while she was doing her guilt face? That’d be a disaster.

And Buffy wouldn’t hold back from asking.

“I guess,” Buffy agreed. “But… I tried to do it differently this time. Introduced Eddie and everything - ”

“She likes Eddie,” Tara reminded her. “She thinks he’s nice.”

It was tough to know what else to say about Eddie though. He was quiet, definitely not your jock type or very sporty at all. He wasn’t a big personality, but he wasn’t introverted either. It’d be tough to describe him as a hottie and Buffy wouldn’t have been very happy if Joyce had said that about him either. So… ‘nice’. And that was no bad thing; personally Willow thought ‘nice’ was exactly what Buffy needed after Angel and the mini-disaster that was Parker.

There were still rumours circulating about that, after the lies she’d told to get revenge on him. Some people refused to believe she was a lesbian because they’d heard those rumours first. Then –often - they refused to believe that being a lesbian wasn’t something to do with Parker.

If I’d known then what I know now, I’d never have said it…

“I swear, people need to stop saying my boyfriend is ‘nice.’ Starting with you two.”

“Now you’re just - ” Willow never got to finish that thought though.

Stepping out in front of them – or perhaps just appearing since it was that fast – was what was undeniably a vampire. And a vampire with pretty hair, it had to be said. He looked like he conditioned regularly and didn’t sleep in the ground but… also one of those vampires who’d either died at a fancy-dress ball or had one of those ego things going on where he imagined himself to be the prince of darkness.

At least his cape wasn’t sparkly though, that’d just been embarrassing when those wannabes had tried to get themselves turned and one of them had dressed up like a cruise ship barman doing an impersonation of Liberace.

“Slayer,” the vampire said and then inclined his head to each of them too. “It’s fitting that you travel with two acolytes, three is indeed a powerful number.”

“I’ve heard it a lot, but I’m not sure what an acolyte is,” Buffy said. “So while I’m pretty sure that my friends aren’t that, I’m going to check. Are you acolytes?”

Buffy looked to them, obviously struggling with her quipiness when her next victim was using unfamiliar words instead of threatening to rip her throat out.

Nope, there really was no question he was a vampire, but his accent was foreign and not the kind of foreign that involved adding lots of ‘V’ to every word.

It seemed to amuse him slightly that Buffy had to ask what an acolyte was too.

“We’re not, but we could totally be acolytes, if you need acolytes, we can be that,” Willow said after Tara had shaken her head to deny their actual status.

Both of them had shifted back slightly while Buffy had stepped up to take the lead, putting herself between them and the vampire. Willow knew from experience that It’d just be embarrassing to be taken hostage. It just slowed everything down, you got nearly always got bruises and usually her hair and clothes got mussed. Better to just stay out of the way and just let Buffy slay him.

Tara’s delicate touch against the back of her hand was reassuring, not that she really needed reassurance, but it was always nice to have.

“Well, I guess I don’t need acolytes,” Buffy said. “But we’ve not been introduced. You seem to know who I am, or am I just going to call you ‘Slayee’?”

“I have travelled the world to find you,” he said, making it sounds mysterious and exciting, she had to admit.

“Been right here the whole time,” Buffy said. “Never left, so… you been cycling or something? Taken your time?”

“You went – you did go to Eddie’s, in the summer,” Tara pointed out.

“That’s right, my not-acolyte is right, I did leave for a couple of weeks so… what, you swung by my boyfriend’s town? Had to follow me back here?”

“No… you speak… oddly.”

“Says the man with the European accent and a fancy Halloween tailor.”

“You do not realise whom you address.”

“No, I don’t know whom I address and if I wasn’t in a chatty mood then you’d already be blowing back to whence you came on the breeze.”

“From whence you came,” Willow corrected. “It’s usually ‘from’.”

“Will! I’m engaging with the enemy, trading verbal jibes before I stab him in the heart. I don’t need my grammar correcting right now.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay… your right, no reason this can’t be edumacational. Let me try that again, Slayee, you’ll be blowing back from whence you came – Will, are you sure about that? ‘From’ doesn’t seem quite… Ah, screw it.” Buffy pulled out Mister Pointy. “We’re done here.”

“Aren’t you even curious what brings me here,” the vampire said, not moving in the face of the threat. “Whom you address with your strangeness?”

Buffy sighed. “I do want to get home tonight, I want to wash my hair so can we make this fast?”

“I am the Prince of Wallacia, the Dragon, Vlad Tepes.”

Perhaps being slightly better read than Buffy – not a judgement, more a comment on her interests and available time – Willow was much warier after the mention of Wallacia. From that reference she knew what he was about to say and that didn’t mean that she instantly believed it, but… what if? Of all the legends they came across and found some truth to… why not this one?

“Drawing a blank, you’re not in my address book.”

“Perhaps you know me better as Dracula?” he asked.

Buffy took a beat. And another. “Get out!”

-------------------------

“And you believed him?” Giles asked, looking at all three of them.

“The guy had something about him,” Buffy said. Tara noticed that she took Eddie’s hand at the moment.

“Tara?”

“Umm, yes?” she answered.

“What did you think?”

A little unsure why she was being picked on, she hesitated. “Me?”

“Your instincts have proven reliable in the past, though he’s certainly a vampire, did you believe he was who he says he was?” Giles asked.

What did he know about her instincts? Or where they might’ve been coming from?

Before she could answer though, Anya asked her own question. Letting her off the hook. “Long hair, glorious hair you wanted to have fall around your face?”

“Umm, yeah,” Tara said. “Except for wanting it to fall around my face.”

“Big thing for threes?” Xander’s girlfriend followed up.

“He did mention the power of three,” Willow agreed. “Do you know him?”

Anya blushed furiously and then giggled. It was one of the few times she’d actually seen their ex-demon friend looking embarrassed. “He probably wouldn’t remember me now, I was just a silly young thing, only seven hundred or so.”

“Umm, can we go back to this threesome thing?” Xander asked, distinctly unimpressed.

“Oh no,” Anya said. “Not threesomes.”

“Good, I thought maybe that was what you were implying, that you’d had a threesome with Dracula. Stupid right? Stupid language. Not that I was jealous or suspecting anything or – I’m just glad we cleared that up.” He took a drink of his coke to mask his discomfort.

“No,” Anya repeated. “He likes three girls. Three plus one is four. Did you know that a foursome is technically considered a group? I had no idea until I was reading on the internet the other day. I’d enjoyed group sex and didn’t even know it!”

Tara only marginally avoided the splatter from Xander’s coke as he coughed with his mouth half full of it and then had to apologise and start to clean up.

Anya wasn’t done though. “They have definitions for everything these days! And all just a click away. Did you also know that there are groups that offer -”

“That’s quite enough of that,” Giles said.

She, Willow and Buffy shared a look and then shook their heads as they counted to three. Three girls. No. No. No. No. No. Not thinking about it, not going there and not exploring that thought at all. Collective agreement would avoid the prurient speculation of others. Buffy squeezed up closer to Eddie, pulling his hand into her lap. Reassurance. She’d have done the same with Willow but they were physically too far apart and it’d look really obvious and needy. Worried, even.

It was a different definition of ‘acolyte’ though.

“Of course he couldn’t feed on me,” Anya continued, undeterred even as she handed over a tissue for her boyfriend to clean his splutter up with. “By then I was a vengeance demon.”

“I thought – I thought you didn’t… do that sort of thing when you were a demon?” Xander asked.

“Sex?”

“Well, duh, yeah?”

“Oh no! Did you really think that? No, I said I didn’t fall in love,” she said. “But you’re not going to confuse love and sex are you? Do you know how much revenge is based around sex? Where do you think all the poxes come from?”

“I definitely don’t want to know.”

“Makes you glad to be a lesbian,” Willow said under her breath and then, louder, “gladder. Even gladder.”

Not that someone like Anya couldn’t have come up with revenge for women who were scorned by other women. Creativity wasn’t gender based and she imagined that was the key qualification for her former job. And a mean streak a mile wide.

“So, wait – you were having sex with - ” Xander was running the math through his head. Three girls. One Dracula. What did that suggest?

“Excuse me!” Giles interrupted. “If we could get back to the point? Are we saying we’re quite convinced that this is, in fact, Dracula?”

“The hair fits,” Willow said. “It really did look very silky. Do you think we could not slay him for just long enough to find out what he does with it and what conditioner he uses?”

“Sweetie,” Tara said. “I’m not sure we’ll want to know.”

“Oh. Ohh. Yeah… you might be right. Besides, I know that I wouldn’t stop to give away my beauty secrets if I was about to be slayed. Slain? Should that be slain?” Willow asked.

“I don’t think ‘slayed’ is a word,” Anya offered.

“Sure it is,” Buffy said. “I slayed him or – in this case – I should’ve.”

“Please?” Giles requested one more time only to be interrupted again by the door opening.

“Don’t worry, I’m here,” Faith said, walking in the door. “So why am I here?”

“You’re late, Faith,” Buffy said.

“And you’re supposed to be patrolling tonight, B. And when the hell did I start answering to you?” Then she turned to them, her smile a complete contrast to the supposed irrittation she’d shown to Buffy. “How ya doing, fressers?”

Tara nodded, doing just fine aware Buffy had a retort all lined up which she really wanted to get out there. And it was true, sometimes Faith shouldn’t get to have the last word.

Especially when it was ‘fressers.’

“You – Hey, look at me for a minute - You started answering to someone when Dracula rolled into town,” Buffy said, “looking for Slayers.”

“Technically - ” Willow subsided when Buffy shot her a look. Gave up on the point she’d been about to make.

“Drac, huh? So we killing him then?” Faith asked, showing no sign of the doubt everyone else was expressing. She just took it as read he really was a thing and really was here.

“You believe - ” This time no one needed to look at Willow to silence her, she did it to herself. “Of course you do.”

“Killing him is the general idea, up for it?” Buffy asked.

“You know me, doesn’t matter what ‘it’ is, I’m always up for it,” Faith’s response was without a touch of awareness of the meaning others would ascribe to it, but she did know. She just didn’t care and slipped into the spot next to Eddie on the couch, leaving him in a Slayer sandwich. “Hey, what’s up, boy-toy?”

Tara winced, not a great place to be…

“Let’s get out there then,” Buffy said, perhaps more to get her boyfriend out of that space than due to the actual heroics that were required.

“Cool your jets, B. I just arrived, and I haven’t caught up with your boyfriend yet.”

Feeling like she had to intervene before something fractured within the group – all too easy when the tensions were right there at the surface – Tara just kept her voice low and shook her head. “Faith. Please.”

Honestly, she didn’t think it was Faith – not especially. She was just being who she usually could be. Contrary. Bitchy and super-aware of what everyone was sensitive to.

The difference was that Buffy was… on edge. Was it Dracula? Was it something between her and Eddie? Why – after some good times even just in the last day – was she so… easy for Faith to get to?

But rather than play to that irritation even more, Faith just rolled her eyes. Relented and just sat there playing the ‘slut bomb’. “Okay, okay… let’s get to it. Famous vampires to kill. How you want to do this?”

Tara, once again, found that certain eyes were looking her way, expecting her to come up with something. Faith, obviously, but Willow too. Buffy and Xander were looking to Giles for suggestions, but the man himself – the trained Watcher and let’s not be forgetting that training – was also looking to her, as if he hoped she’d come up with something.

Kind of weird. He didn’t look to be out of ideas just… more like a teacher, or something? And if they were expecting something from her then maybe she needed more information.

“He’s dangerous, right?” she asked. “More dangerous. I mean – we hear he’s got these powers…?”

“Oh yes,” Anya enthused. “He can change into things and dominate the mind… all those things you’ve heard of. Once he was a wolf and he - ”

“No!” Everyone spoke up at once. They didn’t want to know what the wolf had done. It wasn’t a lack of interest; on the contrary it was a very definite choice not to find out.

Anya looked stung by the reaction but somehow strangely eager as well. “Well, you did ask. But let’s get out there, shall we?”

In the face of that – and the others - her decision was an easy one. “No, if he’s dangerous then no one goes hunting without a Slayer.” That was what they got if they looked at her to figure out what they should be doing.

“A wise decision,” Giles said. “But the sun’s not long from coming up and all of us must be tired. So… may I suggest we pick this up at sunset tomorrow?”

She saw one slight problem with that though. “I don’t know, seems like most people – in the movies and all – who hunted Dracula tried to do it in the sunlight?”

“He’ll have a house, or a mansion somewhere,” Giles said. “It really won’t matter in that regard; he won’t have a coffin we can just throw open and poof.”

“He does like big houses,” Anya said. “Or castles. With towers and you know what they say about big towers being a compensation for – ”

“No!”

Anya frowned. “Okay. Well, for him. It’s really not. He also likes big beds. Beds big enough for four. Look for a bed like that and you’ve got your man. I’ll definitely help, my diary is entirely free.” She beamed. A little too excited.

“Tonight then,” Tara agreed after silently checking with Willow. “Two groups.”

********************

[Azirahael]

Awesome!

I just love when Anya gives people the wiggins by threatening to talk
If she starts to tell you the story with the three hellhounds and the butterscotch pudding, then you're in trouble.

And who knew Southern California was so prudish?

Some folks just seem ill equipped to deal with things out of the ordinary.

You'd think someone who like getting it on with dead people would be a little more inured to other people's um, preferences/experiences.
Buffy just doesn't deal with things outside her comfort zone well. and her comfort zone seems to be quite small.


But it was a heart-warming scene with Mrs Summers, even if it was brain freezing.
If Dawn had been there, I'm confident that she would have eaten it fast enough to get brain freeze

And hey, Dracula! apparently he's full of surprises, the naughty man

Looking forward to more.

[Katharyn]

I like 'awesome'. That's good

The Anya things started as a joke but then - when I thought about it - there were two reasons for doing it beyond humour. The first is that I didn't want to actually say some of the things that she would in this fic. It's a whole tone thing. Faith swears and there's some playful language, but Anya would be... well, blunter than I want other characters to be. The second reason is that - actually - I didn't KNOW what to say some times. It's like Faith's greetings or how to resolve an action scene and save the day, it has to be different every time. It has to be better every time. It's easier not to say it

To be fair to Buffy, it's not just her. None of them really want to hear it!

And yeah, you have to figure sex comes quite high up Drac's list of priorities.

Thank you

Katharyn

[Kajun]

Katharyn, Joyce should have pulled some reverse psychology on Buffy and claimed she didn’t like Eddie. What is the attraction to “bad boys” anyway? I never really got that. So Mrs. Summers already knows W/T are a couple, is happy for them and wouldn’t mind if her daughter dated Tara. I loved Willow’s reply that SHE would mind. LOL Red’s not alone there.

As usual, Anya cracks me up. She’s smitten with the Dark Prince! LOL Xander would be happy to volunteer for Peeping Tom duty to locate Dracula’s giant bed. Unfortunately for him, there are two slayers with spidey senses plus the Goddess of the Hunt so once again Anya is the only one in need of his “services”. LOL

Most of the group is looking to Tara as the strategist. Making important decisions isn’t something a sidekick or outsider does. She shouldn’t have any doubts.. she is, well and truly, one of the Scoobies!

I’m wondering if Dracula will be completely confused when he discovers there are two Slayers, if he doesn’t already know that is. Going poof only to reappear seconds later might not be as fun for him if both girls, still in competition mode, are simultaneously working to put him down. What a prize slaying THE Vampire would be, eh?

[Katharyn]

Kajun - I suppose Joyce could've done that, but 'not liking Angel' didn't work out too well and she never saw a boyfriend of Buffy's that wasn't evil or dead or something! Also, reverse psychology - when you don't have the perspective to show it from - is hard to write! You'd be wondering if that was what she was doing unless I had her say so...

Easy to write is my motto. Long is fine. But easy to write - which the girls always are.

Joyce knowing about T&W is all a part of that thing that they couldn't and wouldn't have kept a secret that long from people in their lives. It's why they were out to the Rosenberg's much sooner (because I added a chapter) than I originally intended. This is MONTHS along and Buffy's not as self-absorbed as she used to be in canon. Would Joyce really never have asked about her friends and what was new with them? Would Buffy really never have said, 'well Willow's a lesbian'? Just seems improbable

To be fair to Anya, she's smitten with Xander. She just knows that the Dark Prince was around when there was really, really good sex (from her demonic point of view.) I think - as a human - she'd 'feel' in that scenario in a way that she wouldn't have as a demon but she's still figuring this stuff out. Plus, yes, I'm making just about everyone gay, bi or flexible. Joyce is next... She's got this thing for Faith (kidding!)

Xander? Though he's intrigued by the notion of what his girlfriend had done, I think the more he thinks about that the more insecure he will be. He's not really looking to be a peeping Tom. Certainly not on Anya.

You're right about Tara, but it's clearly reading a little different than I meant it. Certainly HALF of the wider group looks to her by default (the crowned A team), plus Willow of course, plus Giles when he's on his 'I'm leaving' thing and then that only leaves Anya (who doesn't much care), Xander (bit part player) and Buffy who sees some common sense. You're right about how integrated she is, definitely. But part of her own doubts about that (apart from her 'demon' heritage) are because its not really based on anything (from Tara's PoV)

I think I said it before (if I didn't you will see it in notes on later parts) but my one regret, the one thing I never did that I intended to, was to make Anya assert herself as Tara's best friend. Tara might not have wanted it, but I really did see the potential of an inverted Penny/Amy friendship from Big Bang Theory. I think there's enough canon there to back it up too. Could have been really funny. But then Faith stuck around a little longer and the story was long enough so... nah.

As for Drac... coming right up.

Thanks!

And because the two of you are the most regular sources of my feedback fix and already did so (plus it suits my purpose to shift a day this week ) Part 76 is coming right up...

Katharyn

[Katharyn]

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter Seventy-Six
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: More during the episode Buffy vs. Dracula. The unexplainable time has passed…
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: So here we are in the midst of scenes kind of lifted from the show and reshaped to fit this reality and its events. I’ve already explained the rules, that the way I look at all this stuff is whether the content of the episode is an outside influence on the characters that will happen regardless of what I’ve changed in the story. So obviously – for example - Spike is dead, so you can figure that anything to do with him is out, but Dracula coming to Sunnydale has been unaffected by anything that’s been changed. Thus I have to (at least I feel I have to) address it and we have ‘an episode’ just in a new way.
Then some other elements – W/T getting together in S4 for example – I linger over from the missing scenes side of things. You can probably see where that sort of element goes in S5.
So the point is that we’re limited to T/W perspectives in the story and things happen that they just don’t see. Which is why, instead of being out hunting in two groups, we open with the revelation that Buffy has been bitten. So that’s just a little on how I choose what to write in this series. Oh, but if it bores me… it just never happens. Or at least I don’t linger on it.
This part pretty much sticks with Willow’s PoV rather than alternating back and forth because the next will need to stick with Tara as they go in different directions.
And finally… I should note that the ripples of what changed in Sunnydale the previous year are still spreading…
Thanks to: You, the readers once again. As I write this – redrafting nearly 50 chapters ahead of where posting is up to – we’re still getting new people coming on board and feeding back. That’s really nice to see but so long as someone is paying attention and willing to say so then I get my sugar and will keep putting this out there.



“You let him bite you?!” Willow asked, absolutely shocked. Not even the Master had managed that and as far as she knew only Angel had ever bitten her friend and that had been…. Well, that had been something different going on. What boys and girls sometimes did, but with sharper teeth.

At least that was what she chose to believe.

“He was right there, in my room, I couldn’t… I just couldn’t,” Buffy said. “I couldn’t keep him out, I had to ask him in and once he was there…”

Gathering together again for tonight’s hunt hadn’t gone as expected. Why they’d waited for nightfall was a mystery no one could explain except it ‘felt’ right. But then, usually there wasn’t a question of the vampire turning the tables and coming after them. Not this way.

Certainly not when the sun was up.

And even if they did, letting him bite you? Wanting him to? Buffy definitely sounded like she’d wanted him to.

That was shiny and new in an all dark way.

Apart from having a little nap – to get ahead of the predicted sleep deprivation - she and Tara had done their best during the day. Not just to clear the decks of the other things they needed to get done so they could devote themselves to the hunt for tonight and maybe tomorrow. But also looking around the houses they suspected could house a new Master Vampire.

She’d even hacked a few realtors, tried to find the new leases issued in the last few days, and the obvious pseudonyms or unusual sounding names amongst them.

Bupkiss on that. And bupkiss on walking around trying to spot anything under the – supposed – safety of the sun.

‘Supposed’ because… it was freaking Dracula.

Could you believe everything you saw in the movies? Probably not, if you went by TV, she and Tara would never have met and if they had one of them would’ve probably been all dark and Goth with a secret yearning for making babies, soon to disappear after the network sweeps.

But if TV was unbelievable, so was reality. The fact that Buffy had let a vampire – Dracula no less – bite her. During the day. Kudos, at least for it being that most infamous of vampires. That should – if nothing else – get Anya pissed.

There was a term for that though and it rhymed with ‘bar-trucker.’

“But you let him bite you?” Willow repeated as she had a twinge of guilt for even thinking that way. There were extenuating circumstances, right? Or Buffy would say it was a joke... except she was covering up her neck because of the angry red wounds… Since when did you need a scarf here in September?

“I just said that, Will.”

“So the rules of hospitality mean that once a vampire’s in your room you have to offer him a drink?” Basically, she was pissed now that it was definitely, definitely, said-it-twice true. This was… No.

Buffy didn’t get bitten.

Because if Buffy could get bitten, then what chance did the rest of them have?

“Will…”

“No, not this time, Buffy. You don’t get to warn me off from prying into your moment of weakness. You don’t. Everyone’s going to back me up here. You let a vampire bite you. You know how intimate that is. You were there in your nightdress – you don’t even usually wear a nightdress! You’re a t-girl – no - that’s not what I meant – I mean she likes t-shirts at night, but suddenly you’re in a nightdress and probably swooning and everything. You might as well have just boinked him – you gave up just about everything else that mattered.”

It occurred to her then that no one was saying anything and that all the others were looking to the door.

“Oh,” she said. “Hi Eddie.”

“Willow. Everyone.”

“You… um… heard all that right?”

Eddie ignored her and headed straight for Buffy where they spoke in low tones which everyone tried to pretend that they couldn’t pick up on… Willow turned her mind to defences from Dracula and wondered about one possibility. Since there was all this sexual level of intimacy to what he was trying to do, biting them that way - ‘just a taste’ - then…

This could be a very good time to be a 100% confirmed lesbian. You know, for other reasons than the obvious.

Maybe it didn’t work like that, but there couldn’t be any downside to it… And it’d give her confidence no one bit Tara could have.

Not that she wanted to test her theory out and ooh look Buffy and Eddie were done and… he wasn’t happy. That was okay, she wouldn’t have thought Tara would’ve been very happy if she’d been the bitten one either.

Especially if she’d walked in on someone telling her it was just like sex… Bad timing. Just… Sunnydale luck.

Somehow… she could never see Tara allowing herself to be bit though. Just wouldn’t happen, one way or another Tara wouldn’t let it happen.

“Let’s find this Dracula dude,” Eddie said. “And stick him.” And maybe that was the most determined she’d ever heard him. A steely edge. Or at least one of hard bronze.

She took a visual straw poll at that moment too. Giles was just disappointed in Buffy, but he’d said his part. It didn’t seem like the moment to tell him that this was exactly why Buffy still needed him. Someone had to be disappointed in her, keep her on her toes.

Xander was shocked more at Eddie’s manning-up while Anya seemed… curiously excited by it. Like she was looking at him in a new way while still clinging to Giles. Or maybe it was still the Dracula thing. “I’ll come!” she said.

“Umm…”

Tara was concerned, supportive (and beautiful of course.)

Faith was bored and looking at her nails at that moment. She just wanted to kill things, but at Eddie’s instruction, she pulled a stake out of her coat and tossed it over to him. “Hey, here you go, Tiger. You’ll need - ”

The sharpened piece of wood hit the floor after an undignified bit of juggling with it as Eddie tried to catch it but didn’t quite manage.

“That,” Faith completed, bemoaning his lack of coordination in just a word.

“Umm, thanks,” he said, bending to pick it up before saluting her with it.

“No problem, this should be fun…”

“Don’t worry,” Anya assured him. “We’ll come and help, we can go and help right?”

Xander shouldn’t have been buying it. It was obvious to Willow that his girlfriend was just trying to get out and see her ex – what…? What did you call the relationship when you were just a silly seven hundred years old and took part – it seemed – in a foursome?

But curiously Xander was… not looking that bothered. In fact, every time she looked away, it seemed like he was distracted by other things and this time she caught him - Was he eating crackers he didn’t want to share? Something crunchy anyway.

“Yes,” Xander said, finally. “We should all go.”

“No way,” Eddie said. “Not Buffy.”

“I beg your pardon?” Buffy demanded. “Did I just hear what I thought I just heard. You are trying to keep me from doing what I have to here?”

“Letting Dracula in and letting him bite you?” Eddie demanded. All of a sudden he’d gone from boy who was astonished, disbelieving and delighted to be getting – well, everything – with a girl like Buffy, to one who felt like he had the right to say something.

Big changes were afoot in that relationship.

And he wasn’t done either. “That’s what you have to do here? I heard you all talking, what you let him do. What Willow said that was like. And he obviously has some sort of interest in you because he came looking. He has some sort of power over you - ”

“But - ”

“No,” Eddie said. “I’m putting my foot down.” Belatedly he stamped his sneakered foot, which made more of a squeak on the linoleum floor rather than a firm stamp. “I let this – all this stuff that you do – go without comment. I see the good you’re all doing so I ignore the fact it’s obviously impossible, that you’re all fricking crazy and that my girlfriend has a schedule that makes bats look sociable and – and - like daytime party animals. I let all that go…

“But not this. This is not cool.” The last part though, it came out as more of a whine than in the spirit of his words up to then. In fact this might’ve been more words than Willow had ever heard him string together at one time. “No one should be biting Buffy but me.”

A long beat. Then another.

Obviously Anya was the one to break the silence and stop the glaring. “We’ve also enjoyed biting and rough sex.” More beats passed as Anya stood there looking at her and Tara. “What? And you haven’t?”

“What I said came out wrong,” he admitted a moment later when he realised how one twisted mind had interpreted it. “But Buffy’s staying behind. And someone needs to watch out for her, make sure she doesn’t get… bitten again.”

-----------------------

“Okay?” Tara asked her as they made their way to the Summers house. Eddie’s point of view – backed up by Giles – was seeing a change to their original plans.

One that you wouldn’t have thought would be a good idea.

Buffy was potentially under the influence of Dracula and even the girl herself – though she was angry about the decision – understood why everyone else might have concerns about that.

The fact that Eddie intended to go along on the hunt - despite no training, skills or special abilities – had sobered his girlfriend enough for her to acquiesce to a plan where she had to stay behind. Otherwise, it probably wouldn’t have happened.

Unfortunately Eddie was also right in that it meant that Buffy needed someone to watch her and that was messing with the rest of the plan too. What was left of it anyway.

Tara… wasn’t happy. Half her firepower had just vanished.

Though Faith might be the best choice in terms of keeping Drac away from Buffy, the incendiary nature of putting them in a room together for an extended period and having Faith babysit Buffy while she was angry at missing out was… no. Also, more importantly, they needed Faith out there hunting and slaying the Drac in question.

Because who else was going to do it?

So who did that leave? The sidekicks. Xander and Anya would also stay with Buffy – because even if it remained unsaid, no one was sure that Anya wasn’t still under his influence, after all she couldn’t; stop raving about him. Not even with the tension that should’ve been making Xander feel.

Except he wasn’t jealous…

Xander was behaving a little weird, even by his own unique standards. So those were the two who were staying behind and it made sense that they needed to split the witchiness up. It made sense, but she didn’t pretend to like it.

Not the way the split of responsibilities had gone and not the fact they were splitting at all.

She did better with Tara and vice versa. But, as Tara had pointed out, Faith did better with her along too. And since there was only the one Slayer on the hunt…

Tara had this nasty habit of turning logic against her. Perfect logic, obviously... Because perfect was just what Tara did. It was starting to get… mildly irritating when it was turned against her. Usually logic was her friend and Tara wasn’t one of nature’s logicians but… still she managed it on an increasingly regular basis.

Circumstances, she was sure.

“Still not liking the arrangements,” she said.

“Tell me the better way?” Tara asked. And there was the thing, because Tara wanted to be told there was a better way. She didn’t like the way that Giles had abrogated his responsibility and let her make the decisions on this.

And I’m the only one who knew why he’d even do that.

“What about; we let Faith go hunt down his vampire ass, slay him while we go home and snuggle?” Willow tried.

Tara smiled. “That does sound good. It sounds very good.”

“But not much as far as plans go…” she admitted.

“You know I don’t want to leave you behind but… this isn’t so much splitting our forces as well, keeping the ones who are… acting strange in one place,” Tara said. “Someone needs to keep an eye on all of them and who am I supposed to trust more than you?”

Yeah… Anya was still hung up on whatever had happened with Dracula centuries ago, Xander was eating… something. And Buffy had given up her neck to the vampire.

Someone did need to watch them all.

“You know, I was just thinking,” Willow said as they walked, “how you keep using logic to get around what I want.”

“Was that logic?” Tara asked, not exactly denying it. Hmm, was this the Willow-management tool Tara had settled on? That there’d be one was inevitable, but she’d just assumed it was as much sex as she could ever want.

Clearly she’d miscalculated. The sex must just be for its own sake.

And because she’s just that into me. And who wouldn’t be?

“No, that’s what I realised. You use my feelings too. My feelings for you. You – almost shamelessly actually – use our love to get me to do the right thing. Personally, I don’t think that should be allowed. It’s… it’s like cheating.”

“You could always do the same to me,” Tara promised, linking arms with her.

“If you ever find yourself on the wrong side of the right thing, you just watch me do that!”

“I will,” Tara said. “Then you can have your revenge. You can use that I’m absolutely crazy about you to get me to do something deeply sensible that I really don’t want to.”

“I’ll look forwards to it,” she grinned. “You really think this Dracula’s all that?”

“Anya says so.”

“I’ve been trying to blot that out,” Willow said.

“No, not that. I mean, what he’s capable of. He obviously has powers and…” she shrugged. “I don’t know. But he bit Buffy and no one else ever did, so… we have to take him seriously, right?”

“Can we hurry?” Eddie asked, a little testily before he realised that maybe he was offending people capable of doing much more damage than he was. “Sorry.”

“Almost there,” Willow pointed out. “Joyce will be glad to see you.” She linked her other arm with Buffy’s boyfriend.

“You think?” he asked.

“She likes you, she approves of the match.”

“Yeah, you almost sounded like Mister Giles then.”

“Thanks, I think. She thinks you’re good for Buffy. She thinks that you’re ‘nice’.”

Eddie beamed, totally the opposite reaction to his girlfriend. He seemed to think that being ‘nice’ was a very good thing – as Joyce had intended it. But it was something she thought maybe he needed to hear right now. Calm him down.

Having Eddie rush into Dracula’s lair – wherever that was – wasn’t likely to go in any sense ‘well.’ The unexpected gung-ho-ness worried her, as did his lack of superpowers or even just plain experience. “That’s good. Thanks.”

“My pleasure. You know though, Tara really needs you to cool your jets.”

Eddie looked around her to Tara on her other arm. “I’m – I’m just – just – I’m hopping mad.”

Who said ‘hopping mad’ about this kind of thing? No one since the fifties, she was willing to bet.

“But that’s the problem,” she explained. “It’s great you care and it’s great you want to step up and help – we always need more of us sidekicks. But this is a vampire that might be more than a thousand years old. He has all sorts of powers and he – well, we know what he did to Buffy already.

“So… he’s not likely to be worried about you and if you go in there spoiling his day – or night – you’re just going to get his attention and that would be what experience has shown us we need to call a ‘bad thing.’”

“A thousand years old?”

“Could be. More than. From what Anya said…”

Tara nodded her agreement.

“I guess,” Eddie said as they came to the back door to the Summers house, “that I could, what did you call it?”

“Cool your jets?”

“That,” he said. “I could do that. I just never had jets before. I’ve been jetless up to now.”

“We get it,” Tara said. “I’d never felt like I feel about Willow either. I get it. But… Buffy’s not going to thank you if you get yourself killed or worse.”

“Worse than killed?” Eddie asked.

“You don’t want to know, trust us. But we don’t talk about this here – it bothers Joyce. So…”

It looked like it might be bothering Eddie too, but he dropped the conversation as requested.

“Goodness! Everyone’s here?” Joyce asked as they went inside. By the time everyone was into the kitchen there wasn’t a lot of room left for greetings, but everyone just about managed to acknowledge Buffy’s Mom. Even Faith… in a roundabout kind of way.

“Most of them aren’t stopping, Mom,” Buffy explained.

“But you are?”

“I’m staying in tonight.” Buffy’s spin was pretty impressive. She turned something she hated into a win with Joyce who didn’t ever like her being out patrolling and hunting anyway, even now she knew how important it was.

“So Faith’s going instead?” Joyce asked.

Looking a little sheepish, actually, Faith just nodded, so Willow filled it in for her. “Faith and Tara, Giles and Eddie.”

“Eddie’s a vampire hunter now too? Did you get superpowers too? That seems to happen a lot.”

“No, Ma’am. It’s just a one-time deal,” he said. “Something I have to sort out.”

“And the rest of you are staying? I’ll put another pot of coffee on.”

“Another?” Buffy asked.

“Oh, yes. I’ve just had some. Your friend, the tall, pale young man with the lovely hair…”

A few looks were shared while Joyce continued recounting her coffee making. “Mom, did he – do anything?”

“No, he sat right there and just drank his coffee.”

Willow could see Buffy checking her Mom’s neck, her wrists, all of which were clear of bites. There were other spots, apparently ideal for biting, but none them wanted to think about how additionally intimate those were. And there she was, thinking about the inside of thighs… Tara thighs, of course purely as an example. Unblemished. Smooth… thighs. Wrapped around her -

“You know, I did wonder – being so pale – if he could be a vampire, but he could come in – which you told me was a sure sign he wasn’t a vampire - and he had lovely manners and he was eating my cookies so… Just goes to show that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Is there something wrong?”

“Umm… no?” Tara suggested to the others. After all, he hadn’t – apparently – hurt Joyce, even though he could’ve. He hadn’t even taken her hostage.

“Good,” Joyce said when no one spoke up to contradict Tara. “Such a nice young man. Which makes two of them, I suppose. Just when – Sometimes you give up on men altogether,” she said, strenuously avoiding looking in Giles’ direction. “But then you girls know all about that.”

Willow waited, but Tara didn’t correct her on that either. While she could see why Joyce might think that about her, that wasn’t Tara’s thing at all. Her girl hadn’t given up on men, not in the slightest. She was just into girls, always had been. And that was a programme Willow had well and truly gotten with. There were probably some people out there who thought they did – or should – hate men. That sounded like a lot of effort for something that actually wasn’t on her radar anymore.

“Anyway, is there a problem with that?”

“If… if he comes back, don’t let him in. Just please call me, okay, Mom?”

“What is it?”

“Nothing – I just – I want to speak to him.”

It was one thing, Willow supposed, to know there were vampires and demons while your daughter was the Slayer who was supposed to put them down. It was another thing entirely to find out that you’d just had coffee with Dracula. Oh and that the reason that he could come into your house was because that same Slayer daughter had invited him and let him bite her the previous night.

So… the spirit of supernatural openness with Joyce was apparently in abeyance.

Joyce’s easy agreement signalled the end of that disquieting incident and the preparations for the next phase. Faith was already packing her axe and probably a number of stakes, but the rest of the hunting group was sparsely equipped. Not everyone had armouries in their house like Buffy and Giles.

And as people prepared – including those of them who were staying behind where easy access to weapons had suddenly become more important – Willow drifted back to her girl. It was like gravity just pulled her in. A star as bright and brilliant as Tara had to have a lot of attraction. “Sure I can’t persuade you to let me come?”

“I know you certainly could,” Tara replied, kissing her as they gently embraced, Tara’s hands at the small of her back and hers cupping her girl’s ass instead. “But I don’t think you should.”

“No, and my methods of persuasion aren’t really suitable for a house full of people either.”

“Good point, since you’re grabbing ass. Oh, did you put some food down for Miss Kitty?” Tara asked suddenly.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it covered.”

“What would I do without you?” Tara asked.

“Worse,” Willow grinned. “That’s the simple answer anyway.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“I don’t doubt you, either,” she said. “Be careful?”

“I will, but you too, right? Just because you’re staying here… you need to keep an eye out. You need to keep an eye on everyone else too – especially if he turns up here again.”

“I’ll use both eyes,” Willow said. “Because depth perception is my friend.”

“And don’t be afraid to use a spell if you have to,” Tara told her. “I know this is Buffy’s house but – if she’s not able to do her Slayer thing, then you might have to - ”

“I know,” Willow said gently. “So stop worrying about me.”

“I can’t,” Tara said. “But… I can stop bothering you about it.”

Smiling, she agreed. “Do that then. Oh, and remember… don’t forget to ask Faith.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Ask her.”

Enquiring minds and all that. Enquiring, loved-up, minds.


******************

[Azirahael]

Dibs!

Sensible comments to follow tomorrow, when i can brain.

Early night for me, see ya!

R

[Azirahael]

OK, so I'm assuming Willow wants Tara to ask Faith about what happened with tattoo girl? (who's name i totally forgot and can't be arsed looking up)

Willow is definitely recruiting.
I'm convinced she wants that toaster oven.

also I'm interested to see what happens when Drac's powers of seduction go up against Tara's powers of lesbianism.
There's a series, I'm sure you've read, where they have lesbian super powers.
Hell, all the Scoobies have gay super powers.

Um, anyway, I'm interested to see where you put Tara on the Kinsey scale.
Worse, Drac is kinda girly, so who knows...

Also i have this paranoid feeling you wrote that earlier piece about Faith and her preferences to me.
It seems I've over-invested in Buffy/Faith. sigh.

Anyway, I'm def looking forward to our gang colliding with Dracula.
should be interesting.
how is he gonna react to Faith? and vice versa?
Anya?
Giles? actually, that could be really revealing.

Um, anyway, hungry for more. Omnomnomnom.

R

[Katharyn]

Hee, I had to chuckle at your feedback Azirahael. I was having a crappy day and this brightened it up

The tattoo girl is Paige. And yes, she is curious (about what happened) - especially when Faith seems to get on the gay horse and then gets off it and straddles something else instead. Does not compute for Willow

Bear in mind that Paige was a late addition to the story, so she's not fully integrated as a plot point and so I may not remember to include her all the way (also, you can be pretty sure she's not a big bad or on the death list!)

Is Willow recruiting? I am sure she would, all in - so to speak - but... I get the idea (and I didn't write this yet!) that she'd rather be in a club that Faith wasn't!! Cos, also, who wants to worry about a slut bomb who is friends with your hot girlfriend and into girls? Not a question of doubting Tara, but she'd have plenty of doubt about Faith! She wants to know because she thought she might have set it up, but then - if Faith was - yeah, Willow would start to worry...

I may have to work in the toaster oven somewhere, though usually I have to admit that the toaster oven is awarded - *cough* for sleeping with girls and recruiting them... Isn't it? Was I watching a different competition?

It is true to say that being a lesbian will have an effect on Dracs powers... well done

I wasn't actually aware of that story, but I read far too little *cry* It's not yours is it??! Then I would have to feel even worse!

Tara... Kinsey Scale. Being a Brit and pretty self assured about my sexuality from an early age (and having parents who full supported that) I never worried about scores. I suppose Willow might. But with the power of google and wikipedia... Tara is a a Big Old 6 (there's a BBT joke there...) She just is for me. She knows what she likes, she never felt any different. It's girls. I refuse to enter into the Willow debate on that... But Tara is a 6. (Faith's a 2 for me in this version based more on the fact of availability and quantity!)

Not withstanding how girly Drac is or how nice his hair is...

Faith/Buffy… Sorry! Just not where we’re going. Don’t hate me or leave me!

And yes, we’ll have fun with the gang in the castle…

Thank you every so much for the ongoing support and the way you write it.

Katharyn

[Azirahael]

Nope, not my story:
http://uberwillowtara.com/fruitcake02.htm

Have a read, it's silly, silly fun.

R

P.S: in case you some how didn't know, it's a website entirely filled with Willow and Tara stories, some of which are kinda legendary.

P.P.S: What does BBT mean? google was no help at all...

[Katharyn]

Thankyou.

BBT = Big Bang Theory

Tell me it airs in NZ?

Katharyn

[Azirahael]

Um, yup.

Never watch it though. Why watch your own life on TV?

Less sex in mine, sadly.

R

[Katharyn]

Colour me intrigued (not about the sex comment!)

You're a big brain then? Obviously you have good taste since you're here and all...

And early seasons of that show had almost no sex at all!

It's fun...

Katharyn

[Azirahael]

Yeah, i'm a big brain.

And my particular talent is being adaptable.

and, yes between me, my flatmates, and my friends, we encompass everything seen on the show:
obscure literary references, movie stuff, roleplaying games and computers.

I don't know enough about the show to say who is most like who on the show, but from the bits i've seen, we got it all.

Sadly i don't see my friends anymore.
I became a Kitten. It woke my soul, brought me to life and showed me endless love.
And sadly they didn't get it and didn't want to know.

It was a lot like coming out and being rejected.
The gayness they knew about and didn't care.
But the sudden interest in romance, love and (it's Buffy) moral questions repulsed them.
So i just walked away.
It seems i prefer loneliness to disgust.

And yes, i'm the early season :(

See ya Soon!

Def looking forward to the next update!

Drac Vs. Tara.

Go Team Lesbian!

R

[Katharyn]

I think the greatest talent of a big brain must be retaining information... something I am very jealous of these days! I can't even remember my own stories.

I find it tricky to say much to the rest of your post that fits the environment but equally I'm not going to let it pass without comment because this is important stuff. So I will message you instead.

Drac vs. Tara and the team(s) Not just Tara... She's a team player

Is Ethan on Team Lesbian? Hmm, there's a literal version of that question I don't want to know the answer to.

More tomorrow I think!

Katharyn

[Katharyn]

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter Seventy-Seven
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: Continuing with the revised version of Buffy vs. Dracula.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: So this episode is just ripe for humour and I’ve tried to take that in both new and familiar directions (certainly familiar to those who read Sidestep’s version of this which this may resemble – I don’t remember!!). Whether it works or not… who can say until you readers get your hands on it?!
Musical credit to: As I sometimes do, rather than thanks which get repetitive in 150+ parts, today I’ll credit the music I was writing to… Jump by House of Pain… Okay, there’s a single dodgy lyric in there but as an upbeat, exercise inspiring beat and one to write this kind of part to? Wonderful. Immediately before this fic, I actually wrote a story named ‘House of Pain’ about a lesbian gym instructor falling for the hotel receptionist where the gym is based… Surprisingly there was very little pain!




“I didn’t know that Sunnydale had so many McMansions,” Tara said. “Do you think we can rule them out?”

“I’m sorry, McMansions?” Giles was confused by the term.

“Big houses that are all the same, all in a row. Kind of like getting burgers at McDonalds.” Eddie’s explanation was as good as hers would’ve been.

“Oh, very good,” Giles said. “Yes, I see it now. Well, the rental listing that Willow’s pulled up does have some in this neighbourhood. Is there any reason to believe that perhaps he has enough taste to resist the lure of the generic?”

He looked around and no one seemed to have much to offer by way of reasoning, particularly Faith. “I’m like one of those missiles,” the Slayer said, shrugging. “Just point me where you want me, fire and forget. Until you do… Meh.”

No help from that quarter then.

“You met him,” Giles suggested to her.

And that was supposed to give her some special insight?

“Like everyone else there, I pretty much j-just noticed he had shiny hair,” Tara said, wishing now that she’d asked him about his taste in architecture rather than wondering about his products.

“Really, T?”

“Uhuh.”

“So even lesbians like nice hair on a guy?”

Tara shook her head. “Actually, we – me and Willow – we were both wondering about his conditioner.”

“Actually,” Eddie said, “you really only need conditioner because your shampoo destroys the natural sheen of your hair and – well, maybe in his case, you don’t want to know,” Eddie said.

“That’s what we thought. And – there was some ‘holy cow, it’s Dracula’ too. Yes, there was definitely some of that going on.”

“I would imagine,” Giles said as they walked. “It’s something of a classic isn’t it? One of those things that really stands out in this job.” He sounded like he was actually very happy to have had this chance to confront one of the classic monsters. They’d run up against a modern day Frankenstein last year and it was obvious who’d been playing the Wolfman. The swim team had been the Creature from the Black Lagoon. So… from some people’s point of view this was last of the classics.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Eddie said, turning to Giles, “what does this pay anyway? Your job I mean?”

“Well, nothing at the moment. But even when they were paying not really enough to keep me without another one,” Giles admitted. “Economy class travel, no expenses but there was a modest stipend for purchase of a suitable library. The Council is very keen on books.”

“That’s what Willow’s been scanning with you?” Tara asked. She’d not spent a lot of time looking at his personal library. The books there… some of them scared her. Not because of their contents, but more their history. Somehow, amongst them, she felt the lingering darkness that had consumed many of the writers.

She’d wondered, sometimes, whether it was calling to her as she got older too… Whether the books – or that darkness – knew about her?

And now she wondered whether the scanned version would be less intimidating than all that bound leather? It seemed… soulless somehow. Even though – once – a demon had been scanned into a computer.

Maybe soulless scanning could be an improvement in this case.

“Yes. Why? Did Willow say something about that?”

“No – I mean, only that she was helping you with the indexes. I didn’t really understand all of it once she got past that part.”

“Metadata,” Eddie said wisely.

Of course, he knew a lot more about the things that interested Willow than she did. At least in the area of technology. She nodded.

“So… Faith.”

“So… Tara?”

“Umm.”

“Oh, come on, you’ve been trying to ask me something since we set off and I know Red put you up to it. Just spit it out.”

“Okay, if you’re going to force me,” she said. “We – we were just wondering about… well, about you and Paige?”

“Paige? And me?”

“You seemed to be getting on okay, yesterday on the beach,” she said. Willow had spotted it, keeping an eye on them since she felt she was like a matchmaker for those two.

And now, being Willow, she wanted to know she’d done well. Or not.

“We had some laughs,” Faith said.

“And?”

“And what?”

“Are you going to see her?” she asked. “You know, again?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Faith laughed, smiling.

“Usually, you can’t help but tell me – but, what gives? That guy was all over you later and you were letting him.”

“We’re both adults,” Faith said.

“What does that mean?”

Faith actually thought about it for a minute. “She knows what sort of girl I am, I know what kind of girl she is. We just left it at that.”

“But what does that mean?” she pressed. She couldn’t go back to Willow with a riddle.

“That we’re both probably going to be fucking other people - ”

“Hold on,” Tara said, looking up.

“But if we meet up - ” Faith stopped, realising she was looking up into the moonlight, reflecting off some clouds and illuminating…

“Umm,” Tara said. “Did anyone - ?” Had she just missed it?

“Pardon?” Giles asked, he hadn’t noticed.

“Did – did anyone notice that Sunnydale had a castle before, on top of the hill?” Right there…

“I didn’t even notice the hill until now,” Eddie replied, confirming her worst fears.

They looked at each other and the Slayer took one more look and then moved off in that direction with the rest of them following.

Yeah… that was the kind of place that was just begging for a lightning storm to make it even more shocking. Maybe some concealing mists or low clouds.

And what sort of vampire could move an entire castle and the hill it stood on?

-----------------------

“What sort of vampire drinks coffee anyway?” Willow asked, trying to keep spirits up. She’d been going for bunker mentality, since they were holding up in the basement but somehow… it just wasn’t working out.

Everyone seemed oddly distracted. And so she was oddly distracted by their odd distractions. It was a whole chain of odd distractions.

Oh, and Tara was out hunting down fricking Dracula. That was kind of an odd entry in anyone’s diary.

Anya… well, she was pissed at not being out there where she’d be able to find the vampire that had made such an impression on her hundreds of years ago. How good did sex have to be to inspire that kind of loyalty?

Probably about as she and Tara had on an average night together. Yeah, that made her smile.

Anyway, for some reason Xander wasn’t pissed about his girlfriend’s behaviour, though he had every right to be given how Anya was raving. No, he was distracted with something else and… she wasn’t sure but he seemed like he was trying to a Mr Miyagi on any passing bug, but without the benefits of chopsticks. Just using his fingers… gross or what?

Buffy… well, Buffy wasn’t happy about being left behind. Even though she had agreed to it in the end, at Eddie’s insistence or she’d have been out there. But on the other hand there was something just a little… off about her too. About the only person who was behaving as she’d be expected to was Joyce.

And so… she wasn’t exactly happy, even if she knew why it had to be this way.

Basically, she didn’t like the fact Tara was out there without her, but seeing the state of her friends, she was prepared to concede that maybe it had been the right decision. If Buffy was out of sorts then someone had to look out for them. Even if it was just a question of deciding when they might have to run away. The thing she could offer was some magic to help with that.

She had mixed feelings on the whole bunker mentality thing though. The last bunker they’d all been in had been awash with blood and demon goop… but the last time she’d actually hunkered down herself… well, a laundry room had been involved and it had just been her and Tara. Look where that had led.

Yeah, just look, she’s my girlfriend, she loves me and she’s out hunting Dracula while I stay here with the stay behinds?

“Oh, he always had refined tastes,” Anya said, happily reminiscing.

No one had asked for the details of what had gone on with her, Dracula or the other two ‘people’ involved, but Anya didn’t seem worried by the lack of detail – for once. She was in a happy place, apart from looking to see if she could re-enact it. Or at least see if it had been memorable for him too.

That kind of memory, she could do without.

“Coffee? They can’t even stomach food or drink and he sat and had a leisurely cup of coffee? I could understand it if he came in and drank Joyce’s blood – sorry Buffy - ”

“Hmm?” Buffy asked, clearly still distracted.

“He likes to eat too,” Anya said dreamily, though it was entirely possible she wasn’t even going for a double entendre and, instead, was just sticking with the one – less obvious - meaning.

“Eat? Eat? There’s something to eat?” Xander asked, eyes darting around the place as if after a fly. Up into the corners of the room.

“Not right now, no…” Willow said.

“I think he’ll remember me, don’t you?” Anya asked. “I’m memorable, I stick in the mind.”

“You do, Anya,” Willow agreed. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget you.”

“Thank you! And we haven’t even been to bed together.”

“Thank God for small mercies…” She wasn’t quite sure anymore just what it was that Anya hadn’t experienced while she was a vengeance demon that Xander offered to her, but it wasn’t that. More likely some sort of emotional connection. Or an appreciation of what it offered to another person.

Or, as they’d discovered, ‘people’ – firmly in the plural.

Or demons…technically.

Down that mental path lay nothing but misfortune and anguish. But she had to admit to a certain curiosity, like when you drove past a car wreck and just had to slow down and see what was happening…

Xander’s head jerked around, looking at the storeroom door. “Did you check the window was closed and locked?” he asked.

No way was someone like that coming through the tiny storeroom window. Right? “I – no – I mean, last time he came right to the door and walked in – I don’t think – you think you heard something?”

“Something,” he confirmed.

Willow swallowed; Buffy… wasn’t quite with it. “Gonna take a look for us, Buff?”

Her friend just shook her head, slowly.

“You’ve got my back though?” Buffy’s answer was a nod this time. It was going to have to be good enough.

Okay… if danger actually threatened then she was sure Buffy would just snap right out of whatever was going on with her. It had happened before. Maybe something about the bite…maybe it’d taken some of her fight away? Or at least her suspicions? Made her malleable? Like a vampire bat could feed on a cow for hours because it – chemically – lulled it into not feeling the wound.

“I’m coming with you,” Xander said.

“Good.” Okay, it was a slightly weird Xander, but some help was better than none. Though, if he’d heard Dracula banging around in there – and she hadn’t noticed anything – then she was banking on her girl loving ways to defend her from his magnetic charm. She just hoped that being a lesbionic late starter wouldn’t count against her in that respect.

They flung the door open and… nothing. The window looked to be closed too.

He didn’t get to be the invisible man too, did he?

“You sure you heard something?” Willow asked, just as the door closed behind her, plunging the storeroom into semi-darkness. “Xander!” She only started banging on the door when she realised that he’d locked it. With her inside.

In a pause for breath, accusing him of all sorts of things this was worse than, she heard first a yelp from the other side of the door. Was that Anya?

“Xander?”

“Now I will take you to the Master,” he intoned and she wondered – just for a moment – whether he’d been talking to her?

No… he meant Buffy. And their friend was going with him of her own will, even if it wasn’t ‘free.’

“A minion! You’re a fricking minion!” she called after him. But he probably knew that already.

---------------------

“Okay…” Tara said. “This isn’t really how I wanted things to go.”

“I know,” Giles said. “You don’t need me to tell you that Buffy’s not going to be happy that you left Eddie with Faith. Again.”

Tara sighed. It was the third time he’d mentioned it and… well, Buffy wasn’t here, was she? “Alone again. The last time wasn’t anything to do with me and – Look, I didn’t know – didn’t know what else to do. Faith can look after him better than we can and we did need to split up – didn’t we?”

“The property is much too expansive for us to have investigated it as a collective.”

“That’s a ‘yes’ right?”

“Yes,” he said more simply.

“So… should I have made a different split?” she asked.

“I suppose not,” he commented. “Your judgment has always proven quite sound and you make those decisions more quickly than most people would expect.”

“Thanks – I think - ” It felt weird to be complimented for those kinds of qualities, even if she was getting used to hearing Willow reflect on her sexiness.

“It was a compliment, but one that wasn’t put as well as it could be,” he said. “Is there anything that you can do about the darkness?”

The problem they had wasn’t the dark, so much. It was that they’d just fallen into a big pit.

What should’ve been a stairway – hadn’t been.

After all people had stairs on the other side of doors, not big pits. And it was pitch black. Luckily she’d fallen on top of… well, him. If magic could’ve done something about her fall then she’d had less time to snatch at it than she had for a hand hold. Besides, it hadn’t been that far a fall.

Far enough getting out of here was going to be tough and far enough he’d hurt himself.

“Maybe,” she said, thinking about it. “You don’t have a match though?”

“Not a smoker, not anymore anyway. Though I suppose it would make sense to add a lighter, or perhaps a torch, to our standard kits?”

“We’re used to being outside,” she said, not having considered it either. There was the thing, they rarely hunted inside and when there were tunnels, somehow there was usually an unexplained light source.

In here though there were no windows, no lights whatsoever now that the door they’d come through had just slowly closed. But there were spells… The thing was spells usually came from the old times, before electric lights and involved fire or heat or something.

She didn’t want to set fire to anything. There could be anything down here with them. Like highly flammable things. No, it was just light that she wanted. “Are you – I… I kind of feel like we’re being watched,” she said.

“I hadn’t noticed,” he decided. “But your instincts have proven as sound as your judgement.”

“Thanks,” Tara said, realising that it wasn’t just right now. Giles was being very nice to her at the moment. It wasn’t that he ever hadn’t been, but this last couple of days, he’d been complimenting her for the oddest things. Things that the woman who loved her wouldn’t even mention.

Before she could ask him about that though, she remembered the spell she’d been looking for. The wisp she conjured cast a good amount of light as well as being able to lead them out of here, just in case they were caught in a stone labyrinth or something. If castles could just appear out of nowhere then couldn’t they have labyrinths? Or really complex corridors…?

Murmuring to herself, she summoned the sprite to her offering her favour in return for its guidance.

Eyes closed, she could still sense the brightening of the space that they were trapped in, but the sprite would find its way out and guide them. Though a spirit of woodland, it was said that nothing man made had trapped the Tinkerbelle light either.

But she really did feel like she was being watched. Which probably made sense of Giles’ next words.

“Umm…” he said. “Hello, ladies.”

Tara opened her eyes to find three, female, vampires right there… close enough to just reach out and… touch.

--------------------

“Willow?” Joyce asked.

“Umm… hi.”

“What… exactly, did you do to my door?”

“Umm… yeah… the door. Well – something happened. Xander locked me in here and took Buffy – well, he took Buffy to see Dra – He took her to see a vampire. He took Buffy to see a vampire.”

“But my door?” Joyce asked, pointing at the wreckage of the frame and the singed edges of the door itself. It was all there, it was just… all over there. In pieces… More fragments, really.

“I had to get after them?” She didn’t want to worry Joyce, after all. And they were avoiding the D word around her.

“I heard you shouting.”

“Sorry to disturb you.”

“But not for my door? Couldn’t you have given me like a minute to get down here before you…? What did you do anyway?”

That would technically be a limited duration, explosive fireball. “Yes, I’m sorry for the door too – Mrs Summers, I really need to get after Buffy and Xander. They – they might need my help.”

“Is Buffy in trouble?” Joyce asked, probably picking up on her concern.

“Trouble? With a vampire? No. No. Nooo. No. Not at all. No. After all, she’s the Slayer. What trouble could she have – but… No. I need to go. Now. Sorry… I’ll come back and help you clear up though.” She was already edging around Joyce, making for the steps that’d take back up into the house.

Trouble?

No… Xander was a minion of hell. Buffy was well on her way to being a bride of Dracula and as buxom, pale and edible as Willow remembered them being from the movies, she wasn’t going to be feeling great about herself if Buffy took to big, revealingly cut dresses and probably an unnatural passion for seducing virginal girls into so-called ‘lesbian’ blood parties…

Besides, Buffy didn’t really have the height or the boobs for it. And she didn’t look good in black or plain white…

--------------------

“Hands!” Tara chided and pushed them away. “Hands off!”

What was it with these vampire chicks? They were trying to be all over them, but not to actually bite them.

Their charms weren’t just in their low cut dresses. In fact they were barely in their low cut dresses at all.

And if she’d noticed as much then there was no pretending that Giles hadn’t become utterly fascinated with that factoid – and them in general.

“That means you too!” she said to Giles, stopping him reaching for them.

“Let me go,” he said weakly. “I’ll sacrifice myself so that you can go on… It’s the least I can do. You’re the strong one. The one that will lead the way.”

“I’m not leaving you here.”

“I really don’t mind,” he said. “They’re… lovely.”

Whether he meant the collective boobs – which, she would have to admit were pretty impressive by any standards – or the vampires themselves wasn’t obvious, but she could take a pretty good guess. And these ‘girls’ wanted to be objectified. They were letting it all hang out for that exact reason.

“Back off, lady!” Tara snapped when one of them made as if to get fresh with her but snatched its own hand away.

“Love!” the vampire spat. “She loves… It burns in her. She cannot be touched.”

“Go! Leave him with us,” said the second.

And the third… “We’ll take care of him. He’ll be safe with us.”

“See?” Giles asked. “They promise. Buffy – I mean – Faith, she’ll need you. She needs you now, Tara, and only one of us can escape. I know that.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Oh… I expect it’s just one of us. That’s usually the way things work. I’ve had a good life. I don’t mind staying. You should go on.”

“See,” the vampire hissed. “Leave us… We won’t bite.”

“We promisssse.”

Right, she was going to leave him here? “B-back off,” she threatened again. “Or I’m going to get old school on your skanky asses.” That was right, wasn’t it? She’d been listening to Faith and Buffy, working on her threats… Sounded like it might be a good one.

Whatever ‘old school’ actually meant. Especially to vampires likely to be centuries old.

“Oh… I don’t think their bottoms are skanky,” Giles said. “They really look rather… pert. But if they need to be checked for skankiness then I really don’t mind taking a look for them.”

The way that they’d swarmed over him in the immediate aftermath of her summoning the sprite, he was already in clothing disarray and she’d had to ask him three times to do his pants up. Luckily nothing had come out of them first but not for want of trying on the vampires part. Just when they’d been planning to get to biting him – and where – was something else she was keen not to have to think about.

“Mister Giles, please snap out of it. We’re in t-trouble here.”

“Already? Then I’m going to be spanked?”

Obviously she wasn’t going to get any help from that quarter. She did, briefly, consider screaming for Faith but it was just as likely she’d either set these vampires off or attract a whole lot more – if there were more in the castle. Right now though… she had to think about what she was going to do. She had one stake and not a lot of room to use it. Three vampires, old ones given how fast and strong they’d proven to be. That was what Buffy said anyway. Fast and strong equalled old and well-fed.

These were well-fed, which absolutely meant they were going to bite eventually, even if they seemed more interested in carnal activities right now.

“No,” she said firmly and heard him sigh.

“You…” She hesitated to use the word but took a breath and just went with it. “You bitches back off. I’ve warned you once, I’m not going to repeat myself.”

No Sir, I’m not going to repeat myself.

“Dinner,” one said, making a decision.

“Before the…”

“Entertainment.”

Before she could even think about pulling out the stake one of the vampires was on top of her, no longer focused on the carnal and very definitely on biting her, sucking her dry. Even if the love in her did ‘burn.’

She heard Giles protesting, albeit weakly, which meant he wasn’t entirely out of it. But… not much help coming from that direction. It explained how Buffy had let herself get bitten too.

And then there was more light, as if… someone had opened a door above them – the door they’d come through. Struggling with the vampire she didn’t have the perspective to see what was happening, but all of a sudden she wasn’t supporting – or fighting – the weight of a vampire any more. Instead she was sucking on ashes… as in ewww… She had too much of a guess at where those skanks had been to be happy about that and it made her cough, spit.

Willow would – one day – make a joke about her eating another woman… Knowing that didn’t stop her spitting.

Spluttering, she looked over at the remaining vampires that were swarming Giles. They spun back on her, hissing at the destruction of their third, but didn’t leave their ministrations of the Englishman.

“Does not - ” the blonde said.

“Matter,” the other completed.

“The Master has already found her replacement.”

Buffy? Talk about a fate worse than death. Or simple undeath. Soulless spawn of hell was one thing – Tara had been contemplating that for some time – but soulless minion of another soulless spawn of hell, living in a dark hole and being a skank?

She could almost feel sorry for them.

Almost.

Once upon a time though, they’d been good girls. Someone’s daughters. Somehow these vampires had been transformed into skanks as well as demons.

“What ho!” Ethan called from above. He had a cross bow and she realised that he must’ve shot that, downwards, into the back of the vampire. Right into its heart. While she was… right underneath it.

Yikes.

Still, there were no extra holes in her, so call it a win.

“Do you have – something?” she asked him. “I don’t know – umm – a cross?”

“Not really a believer,” he said. “I can shoot them. Give me a moment to cock this thing again and I’ll be right with you. It’s a bugger to lever back though.”

“You might hit him!” Tara objected.

“I didn’t hit you.”

“You don’t much like him.”

“Good point,” Ethan conceded. “I… Oh, I have some holy water.”

“Throw it down!” Tara asked. “Please.”

And into her hand dropped the smallest, measliest vial of holy water that you could imagine. “What am I supposed to do with this!?” she asked, not wanting to sound ungrateful but… the question stood.

“I can’t shoot them?” he asked. The vampires were ignoring him entirely, even after what he’d done, and there were some appreciative groans coming from Mister Giles that she didn’t want to hear grow any more ardent.

“No!”

“Then you might want to see if you can get him to drink it,” Ethan said. “Hear that old man?”

The groan that emerged then was a little more focused, almost an answer.

“Drink it? What will that do?” she asked, but when she saw Giles’ hand stretched out towards her she decided that she had to take Ethan at his word. Even in his stupor Mister Giles seemed to understand.

“It’ll keep him safe,” Ethan called.

Like her first reaction, what else was she going to do with it?

She leaned forwards and put the vial in his hand, trying to snatch her arm back only to find a vampires hands grasping her arm, claw-like nails digging in but fortunately the owner wasn’t trying to pull her in, no, the vampire was being territorial and trying to rip her away.

Tara shook her arm as she withdrew it and was pleased to see that Giles found a way to get the vial to his mouth and unplug it with his teeth, drinking it down in one…

The attitude of the vampires shifted almost immediately. A sigh of disappointment. Groans, even though they kept at him.

“Come on,” Ethan called.

“What about Giles?” She wasn’t about to just leave him here. Buffy would never forgive her. She’d never forgive herself for what would surely happen.

“Take my hand,” Ethan insisted. Even though she had little reason to believe he could pull her up, he seemed to manage it anyway when she jumped up and she stood at the top as he shook his own arm, perhaps he’d pushed – or pulled – too hard and hurt himself.

“We can’t leave him down there,” Tara insisted, looking away as she realised that Giles had already lost his pants.

“We have to. You’re light, but we’d never be able to pull him up and you’ll never get him away from them anyway. Not now. They’ll tear him in half first. Unless you do want me to shoot them?” He was hefting a crossbow that looked much too large for him.

“You could’ve killed me,” she said. Willow wouldn’t have been happy at all about that.

“But I didn’t.”

Yes, he had a point there.

“What – what will the water do?” she asked, turning her attention back to a man who was in danger but didn’t seem to care.

“It’ll keep him safe, they can’t bite him and won’t even try, not with that in his system… So… Well, he’ll be safe enough for a while, which is what matters. Might even do him some good. The Brides of Dracula have other needs than simple blood. I’m surprised they aren’t making your day too.”

Tara shook her head, resolutely no. “No. That wouldn’t ever have happened, no matter who I was in love with. I mean, did you see their nails?” Just to think about it made her wince.

*******************

[Azirahael]

Dibs!

Actual, sensible response to follow.

When i get out of bed

R

[Edit]

Ok, so i thought about what you said, and decided that i owed you more than the usual 'it was nice, i liked it' feedback i normally do on my break at work.

So i really thought about this:

Stuff i liked:

The Mc-Mansion thing. It brings up a good point about the oddness that is Sunnydale.
Along with the castle appearing out of nowhere. Is that a Glamour? a transported castle, or one that's always been there, but no one hangs out in that part of town?

I also thought the fire&forget thing summed Faith up nicely, but she can be so much more, and i think she's selling herself short. But hey, tara got her to come a long way in a pretty short time already, so we can't expect miracles.

And i thought the thing with Drac's hair and Buffy's apprehension about him, given that she has a tendency to fall under the sway of vampires (Master/Angel/Angelus/Drac) to be a very real note.

And i note you are making full use of Anya's 1100 years hanging out with demons to full effect. They alway seemed to ignore it in canon, presumably to shoehorn Spike in. I mean, you need someone with the knowledge from the other side of the tracks, and to point out when people are acting like idiots.
But we already had Anya!
And she's hilarious!
/Rant.

Also lampshading an unexplained light source was nice

*Cough* Giles *cough* pert bottoms *cough*
Awesome!

Also spanking.
There's going to be red faces later.

Nails!
ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
So true.

Things i thought were a bit off:

Willow calling Xander a 'fricking' minion. Totally Willow to call him on it, i think it would be a bit more 'Willow' to use a different word. Possibly something Willow-esque like frilly or fuzzy. not sure, just that 'fricking' seems wrong somehow.

There you go, put some real thought in this time.

Please sir, can i have some more?

[DaddyCatALSO]

Could totally go crazy with the details here. I do sort of like how you repalced Anya with Willow and the Ahrris's basement wiht Joyce's. Just enjoying this a fun ep. indded!

[Katharyn]

Azirahael - I always deserve your best

Stuff you didn't like first (since I tend to ramble on likes...) - 'Fricking' - I can see why you'd say that, but it's definitely a scooby word. Just maybe not THAT scooby. I was probably aiming for showing how stressed out she was by what was happening, but I do take the point

So stuff you liked...

I don't pretend to know what Drac is really capable of when it comes to McMansions. I do like to think of it as sort of roleplaying game thing. Years ago I had a brief dalliance with an RPG and it had something like 'Perks' and 'Problems' for characters. Like you could have money, but you might also have a fear of hamsters. I tend to look at Drac as having lots of the perks (without needing to know how that worked) and a few of the problems. Saves me explaining!

Fire & forget Faith... Well, yes. You make a good point. In terms of writing - for me at least - I feel I have to earn character change. You can turn someone around - to an extent - fairly quickly (i.e. Faith) but you're not going to change her that fast. That will take time. Mainly because it's not something I plan. I didn't sit down and say 'this is Faith's arc', she needs to go from A to B. No, what happens for her - and Tara earlier - was I just gradually write stuff. Sometimes she makes progress, other times she slips back. I think that's realistic enough, but over time it takes her somewhere... You guys seem to like it when it's Faith/Tara but if Buffy slips back... LOL

Anya is a very underused resource in canon. I won't always use her that way, but she's much, much funnier when you admit what she was doing all that time than when you ignore it. And yes, you're right, that was largely - in canon - for the Spike fans. Spuffers as I like to call them. Well, since I killed him early (and repeatedly) I am guessing I don't need to play to that demographic. Yes, I loathe Spuffy as the symptom of everything that went wrong with the show.

With Giles, he's been around a lot of pertness for a long time in a father-figure role! Figures he should get some age appropriate (they're centuries older than him) chance to play!

But the nails... oh, the nails. All these 'lesbian' vampires... Keep a close eye on them. Just how many have appropriate nails? I mean, some of them look like talons... I don't care if you can heal immediately, you're just not going to have a good time...

You don't get more for calling me 'Sir' but... oh, wait, you will in a few minutes...

Thanks!

Daddcatalso - Howdy! Feel free to go crazy! I'd even forgotten it was - originally - the Harris basement, LOL. However - like my character PoV rationalisation, the locations need the same thing. We'll be coming back to Joyce's more over S5 Delighted to hear you're enjoy it Thanks

More in a minute or so...

Katharyn

[Katharyn]

So, I was preparing a chapter in 'The Real Me' for future posting and ran into a teensy problem. I'd already killed one of the characters (back at the start) I had written the draft to include... LOL I wonder how I will get around that? *Get new memory*

Enjoy 78 for now...

Katharyn

---------------------

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter Seventy-Eight
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: Buffy vs. Dracula. Still… But we’re having fun, right?
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: It’s an interesting process writing within an episode structure. On the bright side, you always know where you’re going so you’re never really struggling for story pacing or for what happens next. On the other hand you’re dealing with readers who know the story inside out already and so they’re here expecting something at least a little different – but still within the familiar.
Obviously you guys are here for T/W – which is the same reason I’m writing them - so equally obviously a lot of things become part of their experience that wouldn’t have been in canon and this can make them look somewhat over-important at any given point. Sure, in the friendship, romance and overtly ‘Tara/Willow’ parts you want them front and centre, but in these chapters located within episodes, it’s more about ‘but what were they doing right then?’ or, as in this story, ‘if things were a little different.’
What I am very deliberately doing is not making them TOO central to the events of every episode. Sure, Tara is being ‘offered’ a role that she’s probably not happy with but will do because she’s a good person. However things do happen around them but without them, which – in a TV episode can happen more easily. There you cut back and forth. Here we cut between Tara and Willow, neither of whom is with Faith right now. What’s happening to her? We’ll find out later (or when you ask me in feedback if I forget to explain!)
Also I’m not over-powering the girls. Sure, they can do magic but this isn’t Sidestep (and I am not dissing my own fic when I make these comparisons. I love Sidestep and feel they earned every bit of power they had there.) But in this fic, Tara’s strength – particularly – is that people want to help her. That’s what she’s good at. People listen to her, even though she might doubt they would. And she makes good, common sense decisions. In essence she’s the great enabler rather than a power in her own right. That’s how things get done here. I don’t pull magic out often and rarely as a way of getting myself out of a hole. We see that again this time.
A couple of tributes in this part, Star Wars and HIMYM again… And now I need to shut up. My notes are way too long… I might have to put them at the end or you’ll all leave the story and go do something more interesting than listen to me ramble!
Thanks to: Anyone who actually/still reads the notes… Weirdoes.




Willow’s pursuit of Buffy and Xander hadn’t gone what you’d call ‘spectacularly well’.

From the very outset that had been… less than optimal. First of all she’d lost them (thanks to being locked in a basement cupboard) and by the time she’d noticed the big castle on the hill – what, did you have to be looking for it to actually see it or something? - enough time had passed that they must’ve had a big lead on her.

Except… she couldn’t see minion-Xander, or Buffy, would be running. It was a warm night, they’d get there and be all sweaty and what sort of present would that be for the Master? Didn’t minions do the zombie walk?

If so, why couldn’t she catch up?

Of course, catching up meant that she got all sweaty and after pushing through three sets of brambles and two other bushes, she knew that she must look like she’d gone ten rounds with… well, maybe with Tara… al fresco. Not that she’d know what that was like.

Yet.

At least not away from a beach where she wouldn’t have picked up leaves but rather sand… Sand in all the wrong places. And an understanding of the importance of big picnic rugs.

It was more likely she was going to learn a very different lesson here, tonight.

Pushing the big, double doors open no horror awaited her. No monsters. No enthralled minions. No Master vampire. Just… a lot of candles and torches and things that made flammable things go ‘whoosh’ which wasn’t typical of your usually vampire lair for obvious reasons.

Now… where was Tara?

------------------------------

“It’s a classic,” Ethan said.

“That’s what Giles said,” Tara told him. Sometimes these little connections came out.

“Well, he would. I’m surprised you didn’t ask for my help.”

“At the time it seemed like more than a vampire,” she said. “But I’m glad you’re here.” Really, very glad. It sucked that they couldn’t have gotten Giles out of the skank pit, but Faith and Eddie might easily have run into more of the vampire women and… she wasn’t so sure that the Slayer could resist based on what had – apparently – kept them from corrupting her. Love? No, Faith didn’t have a lot of that.

Eddie, maybe he’d be okay, but he wasn’t going to be much use in a fight either.

Maybe even less use than she was when things turned to physical combat. She’d have said less than Ethan, but he’d just demonstrated either unexpected aptitude or uncanny luck with a crossbow and she couldn’t bring herself to regret it in any way.

Best not to question how close I came to being skewered by a crossbow bolt though.

“Well, for the record,” he said, “I’m available for any or all of the classic monsters, Greek gods – of course – various apocali and anything that puts me next to the delectable Miss Lehane.

Tara sighed, well used to his barely veiled innuendo by now. Fortunately he made rare reference to her and usually in the context of her and Willow together.

In this case, he was talking about Faith and… she realised that she didn’t quite understand where he stood with the Slayer. Apart from as close to her as possible.

Or possibly far enough away for the best view.

Faith didn’t help things either, playing her own games with him – never mind the fact she’d spent most of yesterday with assorted guys and one girl down the beach. That was just who she was though. Either Faith or Ethan - or both of them - could finally initiate something that could lead to… Eww. She tried not to judge, she really did try, but it’d be like Buffy taking up with Giles.

Worse than that, actually. But at least without the ickiness of the parental figure… Faith certainly didn’t look at Ethan like a father figure.

Not even a never-been-seen Uncle.

No, it was a different sort of tension between them. Kindred spirits who really, really shouldn’t be anywhere close to each other.

“Fair enough,” she said. “Thanks, though. Thanks for the help back there.”

He nodded, accepting it gracefully and without fanfare. Very British. “Have you seen Diana recently?” he asked.

“Not for a few weeks,” Tara said. “I thought, maybe, she’d left town for a while.” It wouldn’t have been the first time and she never even wanted someone to pop in to feed the dogs (who probably took care of themselves – look out squirrels and coyotes.) No, Diana usually just turned up again. “You think she’ll be back for the start of the semester?”

“I don’t think she keeps college hours,” Ethan said, only a little sarcastic.

“I know, but I thought maybe she’d come back to Wicca group. There could be more people joining and then she’ll have more believers – if they really believe in her, like those who finished out last year.”

“Good point,” Ethan said. “That could be telling in what’s coming.”

Tara stopped in the corridor they’d been walking down. The way he’d said that, rather than the words, suggested that what was coming was coming… soon. “What do you mean?”

“She didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Wherever she is, she’s trying to stop Glorificus.”

Glorificus. Whatever that was… the only reason they even knew the name, was because in a shared dream Willow had written it on her back, serving as the scribe for what Hades – yes, that Hades - had told Ethan, Buffy and the other in the Underworld. In another, different, dream that happened at the same time.

Oh, and Miss Kitty had dreamed she was the size of a tiger.

Didn’t sound very factual when you thought about it that way, but they all believed in it implicitly. It was just one of those things you knew once you were aware of it.

The experience had been very… convincing.

All that had been in doubt had been the when. Gods, they worked on different timescales to everyone else.

But now he was saying the answer to ‘when’ could be ‘now’, or at least ‘soon.’

Something that could rip the world apart, the whole of reality. Leaving not even the underworld or the old gods intact. Nothing…

“I guess,” Tara said slowly, “that we’d be better worrying about Dracula, like here and now, than what’s going on out there with Diana.”

“I don’t know,” Ethan replied, “I find that I can worry about more than one thing at once. Can’t you?”

Now that he mentioned it…

-------------------------

“You made me eat spiders!”

That was Xander. Obviously it was Xander because who else said something like that? Definitely Xander and… he sounded better. Not many minions went around expressing an opinion like that.

More than that, it gave her a direction to go in. Was he still with Buffy? And where was Tara?

Willow rushed onwards, pushing at the doors and snatching up a big flaming torch as soon as she went through them.

Like the villagers storming the castle, she thought… Except there’s just me. Less a storm and… not even a light shower really.

But this was totally a castle.

-------------------------

“Okay,” Faith said. “To be clear, anyone without a vagina is staying right here.”

“Absolutely,” Ethan said. “I always pay attention when you talk about vaginas.”

“What?” Eddie apparently disagreed.

Tara wouldn’t have put it that way herself, but once she and Ethan had run into the pair of them and told them what had happened to Giles – and it seemed that Eddie had fallen foul of a couple of hell-hounds that didn’t sound as friendly as Diana’s dogs and had to be rescued – Faith had decided to lay down the law.

No, she definitely wouldn’t have put it that way - especially as she still wasn’t sure that Faith would have any more resistance to the Brides than Giles had but… hey, she was back to being with a Slayer and this was a relatively secure room. Nice door that could be barred, really sturdy and, from Ethan’s point of view, it looked like the sort of library that he could find plenty of trouble in too.

Though what had she really expected in Dracula’s library in his mysterious castle? Chick-lit?

Though the potential discoveries probably weren’t his only reason for wanting to stay here.

“No time to argue,” Tara said. “Please, Eddie, stay here. Ethan, watch him.”

“Like he was my own boy,” the older man replied. Of course, he’d admitted many times to the likelihood of a few children here and there and that he had absolutely no paternal interest in them.

“I mean it,” Tara said.

“Hmm, are you so firm with that girl of yours?”

She thought for a minute about not answering him, but instead threw him a reply as she and Faith left the room, convinced they knew where Dracula would be. Not just him but probably Buffy too.

The Buffy sense was nothing mysterious. She just knew somehow that Willow was here – close by and not in distress - and she’d have only come if Buffy had ‘escaped’ and led her here. And Buffy would be with Dracula so… everyone would be together.

Not in distress, yet…

So her answer, since Willow hadn’t managed to do what she wanted… “Only when I have to be. Lock the door.”

“And hope they don’t have blasters,” Faith quipped.

“That’s not very reassuring.”

---------------------------

“Willow?”

Across from her, entering from the opposite side of the room was Tara. Tara and Faith, to be more accurate. But Tara mostly, even if she wasn’t in the lead.

Question answered as to where her girl was then. Safe and sound, but she didn’t have a flaming torch, which – Willow thought – should’ve been a theme. No one else had bothered though. Only one villager storming the castle then. The rest are just taking an evening stroll.

“Hey, baby,” she called and realised that her grin was probably as big and silly as Tara’s. No judgement then. So I’m glad my woman is safe and sound and happy to see me. So sue me.

Okay, so instead of keeping Buffy and Xander safe she’d been locked in a closet and then followed the other two up here. And come into the house, found Dracula – not exactly keeping them safe again – and now she and Tara (and Faith) had caught up at just the same moment. While Buffy was facing up to Dracula and Xander was… retching in the corner.

That’d be something to do with the spiders, she hoped. Better to get them up and out. Yeah… better out than in – no matter what Anya might usually have said to that.

Which just left the question of where Eddie and Giles were?

“Have you seen the boys?”

Tara had an expression, one that she was reading as part amusement and part concern but none of it really ‘worried’. That had to be good? Right?

“They’re fine,” Faith answered instead of her girl. “More than fine, if you’re Giles.” The Slayer stepped up into the room, moved up alongside Buffy and gave her chest a significant look. “Nice dress, B.”

“Shut up.”

“No, I like it… very ye olde and… buxom wench. Did I say that right? I mean Buxom wench, right?”

Tara, Willow noticed, was forced to nod. It was pretty much beyond argument. Buxom wench was definitely the look Buffy had adopted since arriving at the castle.

As in ‘gosh, look at those.’

As in, ‘really, Mister Vampire, you’d like me to change into a dress that makes me look like the medieval equivalent of… well, Faith? Certainly, please, help me with the lacing.’

“What is this?” Dracula asked dismissively of all the new arrivals, but mostly from his attention - Faith.

That didn’t sit well with the (fully-dressed) Slayer. By her own standards, Faith was looking downright modest.

Or maybe that was just the comparison with full-cleavage-Buffy? Yeah, it was probably that.

“Hey, just because I’m not in my nightdress,” Faith chided. “Don’t hold it against me. Actually, don’t hold anything against me. Unlike B here, necrophilia has never been my thing.”

“That’s a big word for you, F,” Buffy almost shouted, rounding on her.

“I pick up a few things,” Faith replied.

“Oh, I bet you do.”

“Look, B, if you really want to, I’m ready to throw down - but I’m really not your problem right now. Don’t be mad at me. I didn’t brainwash you, bite you and dress you up like a Victorian porn star. He’s your problem.”

“What are you?” Dracula asked, addressing Faith directly.

“Oh, I’m the Slayer. Lucky me. Not so lucky for you.”

“This - ”

“She’s the ex-Slayer. Old model. She died and I took over. Then she came back… must be why she’s drawn to dead guys. Except, no, you were already boinking Angel before that, weren’t you?”

“No!”

“What’s that thing G says? ‘Not for want of trying’?”

Willow nodded, that was what Giles said.

“Two?” Dracula seemed completely taken aback. “There’s never…” His eyes narrowed, perhaps expecting a trick of some kind. “Ah, this makes things simpler. Now there is no need for you to resist, for you to fear. You are mine, this we both know.” He stretched his hand out to Buffy again. “With your replacement already called, there will be no guilt in giving in to your desires… Your duty belongs to her already.”

She worried then that her friend was wavering, drawn in just the way that he described. What gave him that power? Was it his hair? Because it certainly was very shiny and – just from a product curiosity point of view – she’d have loved to see how soft it was and to ask how he got it that way.

Of course she’d have to be afraid it was something like drinking the blood of virgins or something she couldn’t replicate. Not so easy as going down the store, she was willing to bet.

They wouldn’t even have had a Walmart back in the day.

Faith’s kick, snapping out at his hand before he could even snatch it away, interrupted the moment though, snapping both her and Buffy out of their reverie. Damn… seduced by shiny hair? What was up with that?

At least she didn’t want to be ravaged and drained by the big old vampire. On the scale these things were measured on, investigating his hair care routine and asking for beauty tips ranked right about a one. Less than a one.

Buffy, on the other hand, had looked like she was up at an eight or a nine and about to ask where the bedroom that fitted with the dress was.

Right up until Faith broke his spell over her and that slow, knowing grin spread over Buffy’s face.

“Can’t cope with both of us can you?” she taunted him.

“I only need one Slayer to join my brides, as ever it has been.”

He collected Slayers? As his brides? Ouch… And she could see that it meant something to Tara. And brides… plural? He really was just as kinky as Anya had suggested? Oh… that reminded her, she may have left Anya in the closet – so to speak. Hopefully Joyce would’ve gotten her out of that… maybe?

Something to worry about later though. Not that they’d ever hear the end of it

“Sorry,” Faith said. “I’m not interested in joining your harem and if I was into that sort of thing, I’d be down the Playboy mansion. They seem like they have a fun time, even with an old guy. As for her, she’s too boring. Believe me. She likes more meat in her salad too.”

It may not have been the wisest course to fully attract his attention but when he did turn on her, Faith wasn’t giving him the chance to focus and do his mind control thing either. “I always wanted to slay a movie star,” Faith enthused as she attacked him. “I thought it’d be someone like Ben Affleck, but… you’ll do. Come on, B!”

Buffy glanced back at her and she thought she saw her friend rolling her eyes, which was the mildest that reaction Faith usually managed to provoke. On the other hand keeping him off balance would probably be the best course rather than letting him take them one by one.

With both Slayers engaged in fighting with him – no waiting – she could appreciate the obvious age of the vampire. He was fast, devilishly fast. When he did manage to hit one of the whirling Slayers, it wasn’t that hard – not a pile driver like Adam had managed – but strong enough to slow them down, or in Buffy’s case wind her while he turned his attention to Faith for a few moments.

“Come on, B,” Faith called out. “Stop worrying about your pretty dress and hit him.”

Buffy’s growl of frustration was just as likely to be with Faith’s taunt as it was with the vampire that had been trying to make her his bride. Half the time Buffy was having to hold or hitch something up, down, keep it in place or pull it away from her. She was basically fighting with one hand tied behind her back. Or clasped to her chest as the case may be.

From a pragmatic point of view though, Willow could appreciate Faith’s tactic in getting her counterpart wound up but Buffy did have to worry about the nightdress or she was very definitely going to fall out of it.

On the other hand, if she was in Dracula’s power then a little wardrobe malfunction would be the least of her problems. It seemed important though, while Faith – she guessed – would’ve damned the costume consequences and fought naked if it helped.

Buffy had some pride.

She could also appreciate Tara coming to her side, pecking her on her cheek. “What do you think? Flaming torch?”

“Well, I figured if I’m going to be a flaming queer…” It was a limp joke, but Tara smiled anyway and they went back to watching the developing fight, looking for an opportunity to do… what? In the old days she’d mostly just had to keep herself out of the way when Buffy was smacking down a big bad. Mostly she’d been left behind altogether.

Now though, especially with Tara at her side, she was looking for an opportunity or something to do that would help. They both were. But as they’d both reminded anyone who’d listen, they didn’t do too well with the fighting thing. In fact they didn’t actually look like they were fighting at all… not next to Buffy or Faith.

No, their contribution was going to be a magical one or a timely – “Look out - !” she called as Dracula’s expensive leather shoe threatened to impact the back of Faith’s head after she’d been smacked down.

Unfortunately it was Buffy who paid attention and the kick still landed.

“- Faith,” she finished.

Didn’t matter though, because Faith clutched at Drac’s leg and spun herself around. It swept him from his feet and pulled him to the ground in one move that didn’t end there. Faith continued to roll, one arm firmly around his leg and her bodyweight pressuring the knee joint as she pulled his foot in an unnatural direction.

“Urrrgh!” Willow shuddered as the crack rang out and her own joints ached in sympathy - even with a Master vampire. There were things even a demon inhabited body that had once been human was not supposed to be able to do.

Unbelievably Dracula still tried to get to his feet after the injury, not even crying out in pain. But when he did get himself upright, levering himself upwards on the mantelpiece by the fire, the leg was just hanging down uselessly. He couldn’t put weight on it without it collapsing out from under him.

He was a vampire though. He’d heal and he’d heal fast, but not fast enough to get out of this fight now that his mobility had been massively decreased.

And his threat. “He’s beaten,” she said to Tara.

“No,” Tara countered, more cautious perhaps. Wary of the wounded animal. This might be a vampire that fancied itself more fancy-schmancy, but at the core it was a demon and most of those were little more than animals when you got down to it.

Like a lot of people, actually.

It struck Willow that, fast as he was; he’d only been fighting the Slayers for a few seconds. Maybe thirty of them and much less than a minute. Normal vampires, ten second max. Master vampires, that went on longer, but this one… wasn’t a fighter. He was fast, he was strong, but he was relatively unskilled and not even that vicious.

Seemed like he’d rather be charming or dominating than fighting them and then he wasn’t even doing that, Buffy plunged a stake into his chest while he tried to fend off Faith and hold onto the mantle at the same time.

Poof.

“Great!” Willow said, rushing over to Buffy. “Love your dress, by the way. Are you going to keep it this time?”

It was, in this company, a private thing between them. Once upon a time a bigger, badder, Master vampire had said that to Buffy and she’d been wearing something kind of similar. Just with less… ‘gosh.’

“Willow!” Tara’s cry was one of alarm and she did the only thing she could in the circumstances – not knowing what was going on – and dove to the floor and rolled. And from there she could see a vampire – that same vampire. The one who’d just gone ‘whoosh’ and ‘poof’ in front of them.

He was reforming…

After years of watching vampires go ‘poof’ and collapse into dust, seeing one go in the opposite direction was a bit of a revelation. Interesting too, but the interest was definitely short lived.

“Oh, this so isn’t fair!” Realising that she still had the torch in her hand and, not wanting to set fire to herself - which would be bad – she threw it in his direction and was immediately impressed with the results. The metal part of the torch went right through his re-solidifying body.

But when the sputtering flame reached him though… “Whoosh!” It was like igniting a tower of nitrogen filled bubbles, which was something she’d done once before the school had burned down in an entirely unrelated event that she’d only been more peripherally involved with.

Principal Snyder hadn’t been happy with her, but her grade point average had been all that was holding the school up in the performance tables.

And Snyder was dead. So who was holding bubble fun against her now? Only Tara… in the bath. Sans nitrogen.

Or clothes.

“Cool…” she murmured while Tara helped her up and she happened to get an eyeful of her girlfriend.

“You okay?” Tara asked, then to the Slayers, “he can reform.”

“We noticed,” Faith said. “Neat trick.”

“He might do it again,” Buffy pointed out and the pair of them spread out, making up a little distance. “Damn it.” She hitched her dress up again.

“I’m good,” Willow said, letting Tara brush her down. “Hey, baby, I slayed Dracula.”

Her girlfriend smiled. “Yes, you did. That’s worth mentioning.”

“Who to?”

“I don’t know… someone who’s interested.”

“We killed Frank and Drac now,” she said.

“And you dumped the wolfman.”

“Hmm, that may be a unique collection,” Willow said as Dracula went whoosh again, this time at the point of Faith’s stake.

“This guy just doesn’t quit.”

-----------------------------

Tara found she was peculiarly happy about how Eddie and Buffy embraced once they judged it was safe enough to bring the others in. He liked her dress too, though he couldn’t get his eyes off what it did to his girlfriend’s chest.

It was healthy.

Ethan was also just fine, still clutching his crossbow and – apparently – he’d once been the treasurer of the Cambridge crossbow society. They had societies for everything in England. Must be all the history they had. Who’d remember without societies?

And that left Xander and Giles… neither of whom was very happy, but for very different reasons.

“I’m sick of it!” Xander complained.

“Oh, calm down,” Faith said, still on guard for any more attempts to resurrect from the master of the house. And Xander’s master, as the brunette Slayer had pointed out more than a few times already. Sometimes with less than coded references to being the gimp from that movie with all the bad language and a hot Uma.

Xander wasn’t about to be mollified though. “No. No! I’m not going to calm down. I’m just sick of it… I’m sick of being the weak minded fool that gets taken over and possessed. Sick of being the comic relief. The guy who eats spiders… I swear, there’s a leg stuck in my throat and it just won’t come loose. I’m sick of being the gimp! I’m sick of being everyone’s BUTT MONKEY!”

“But you do weak-minded fool so well,” Ethan said, provoking Xander into making a move on him until he tapped the still cocked crossbow that was only vaguely pointed in the younger man’s direction. Mostly down at his groin.

“Point that somewhere else,” Tara told him, pleased that he complied without question. Xander had still been stopped in his tracks though.

“Look at it this way, Igor. At least you weren’t making time with the Dracubabes,” Ethan said. Mister Giles looked humiliated and embarrassed. He also looked dishevelled and was missing some items of clothing. Odd ones, which you wouldn’t have thought would come off without removing other ones first… Almost as if he’d gotten dressed in a hurry.

In the dark.

“At least… at least you say? Sorry, but I was eating spiders. I have spider in my throat. Him – he was rolling around with two hot vampires that didn’t even bite him. Thank you, but I know who had the better end of the deal!”

“Anya might not have seen it that way,” Tara said and – because Faith was across the room and Buffy and Eddie were taking a moment together – she called on the elements and set fire to the column of dust that was resolving itself into a Dracula shape. “We’re still right here,” she said to the resultant fireball. “Sorry, I was saying about Anya.”

“I just - ” Xander broke off. “Next time, let him reform. I want a piece of him. I’m owed a piece of him if I don’t even get to go with the hot vamps.”

“It’s not – it’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Mister Giles said and Tara thought maybe she understood, after all what would you do with two of everything – four of some things? He sounded drained, and yet… definitely unbitten.

Holy water really did the trick then.

“I think,” Xander said. “I’d like to be the judge of that. Next time… we’re swapping. Right?”

“Absolutely.”

“What? Really?” Suddenly he looked like he had doubts.

*********************

[Azirahael]

Teh Dibz!

More later after thorough digestion and actual work

R

Review type Thingy:

Ok, for quotes, it's Faith's day:

“To be clear, anyone without a vagina is staying right here.”

Good job no-one else was around when i was reading this, they'd have looked at me like i'd gone mad.

Also:

“And hope they don’t have blasters,”

Starwars quote?


and Giles drained?
My word.

Also i have to say that Ethan and Giles together are kinda fun.
Like Buffy and Faith, but with less stabbing.
Please no stabbing. I'll cry.
I get a little teary when they say mean things to each other

I like that you pointed out: Faith's THE Slayer. Buffy's the back up, the spare. For all that the Scoobs tend to think otherwise.

And damn, seduced by the power of shiny hair? that's rough.

And i like that everyone gets a go a slaying Dracula. makes it more of a team thing.

And what's with the tower of nitrogen? nitrogen doesn't burn. famed for not doing so. is it a thing? methane/propane bubbles maybe?
Dishwash and propane is fun.

Sorry Xan, if you don't want to be the weak-minded fool, harden up!
No one can give you more willpower, you have to earn it.

Anyway, a nice chapter.
And i think it shows that there are two teams in Sunnydale, and i get the feeling that they are getting on better now that they've figured it out.

Looking forward to more

R

[Katharyn]

Hey Azirahael - Dibzing again when it's me and thee

I have to admit, I have a feeling I used the vagina line once before during the showdown with Adam. I am probably wrong though since I was working in so many different parts of the story. But year, Faith has a way with words

And absolutely, it was a Star Wars quote.

As for Giles being drained, just because they couldn't BITE him didn't mean that they can't get other things from him...

You're right, Ethan and Giles are fun, but that comes from the show. Strangers in a strange land... They share so much, and now they're - kind of - on the same side. Also, as Brits, I can write them more convincingly in terms of language than anyone else in the stsory

You do sound kind of invested in Buffy/Faith LOL... Okay, I promise, they won't stab each other. Oh, wait, what's your definition of stabbing? No, I'm teasing...

And hell yeah, Faith is the Slayer. Buffy's just someone who isn't dead yet. Kind of like a vampire!

Okay, okay, science nerd... Tower of bubbles. Something in. Once again, I can blame the characters ignorance not mine!! Anyway, I saw it on mythbusters so - at the time - this was years earlier

Thanks so much for your continued support. The next part will be posted in the next couple of hours.

K

[Katharyn]

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter Seventy-Nine
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: The final part that mirrors Buffy vs. Dracula. An epilogue to the action if you like… and the start of something else.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: This wasn’t the perfect split mark between 78/79 but 78 would’ve been far too long otherwise so this seemed the best place to end the last part and start this one.
Also, I should say that the final scene of the canon episode marks a huge, massive shift in the BTVS mythology and the set up for the whole rest of the season. I can’t ignore that and so this part has a dramatic purpose all of its own even though it’s relatively short.
You all know what’s coming. But my thoughts on Dawn (apart from her T/W relationship) are well known though and I wonder how this will strike you all? I mean, we have to live with this for the rest of the story – more than 75 parts – but it’s really just another ripple…
Thanks to: See the end of the part…




“So Faith said ‘Everyone without a vagina stays here.’” Tara was smiling as she recalled the story for them.

“Again?”

“Well, it was a good line the first time,” Tara pointed out.

“And what did you say?” Willow asked. It was one of those things that you just didn’t think someone was going to come out with. Maybe ever… Had anyone – in history – put those words together in that order before? Maybe, but she was pretty sure no Slayer would’ve said it, and that was exclusive enough.

For sure Buffy wouldn’t have. But Faith had used it twice now, once with Dracula and once with Adam. Seemed like the quip lost something when it was repeated.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Tara admitted as they walked back towards home.

“In my defence,” Faith said. “Ethan doesn’t often show a lot of balls, he could’ve really come with. He was supposed to.”

“I can’t believe you just said that. We should tell him.”

“I’ve said it to his face so… whatever.”

Ethan and Giles had already peeled off, overcoming their enmity in the shared need for a drink. Somehow Tara had ended up carrying Ethan’s crossbow, but Faith had taken it off her ‘before she hurt herself or mistakenly killed a Slayer.’

Except in her version the language had been… fruitier and involved more ‘f’s.

Buffy and Eddie… Well, they’d left too. Somehow Willow didn’t think that boy was going to be walking straight in the morning, not with the look Buffy had in her eyes, but they’d gone back to her dorm.

Xander had caught himself still reacting hungrily to spiders and so had freaked out, leaving just the three of them making their way back to the Summers house. Willow just hoped that Joyce had actually found Anya and let her out. In his urge to run away, Xander seemed to have forgotten about his girlfriend. Maybe he’d be excused, as a spider eating minion?

Maybe not.

“Hey…” Faith said, slowing as they passed a cemetery. “I’ll catch you up.”

Willow peered at the spot Faith was looking at. “Vamps?”

“Looks like.”

“Don’t they know we just killed Dracula? A lot?”

“The fun never stops around here,” Faith said.

“Don’t you want some company?” Tara was the one to ask the question, but she’d absolutely have offered too.

“I’ll catch you up,” Faith said, like it was nothing.

“Yeah… okay,” Tara said. “Be careful.”

“Always.” With that Faith dashed off into the cemetery and Willow just hoped that she checked that her targets really were vampires before using the crossbow she’d inherited from Ethan. It’d be harder to tell from the sorts of distances a Slayer could pick the heart shots off from.

“I think,” Willow said as she watched Faith go – Slayer energy reserves seemingly inextinguishable – “that she just doesn’t want to face Buffy’s Mom.”

“Maybe, or maybe she wants to swing by a bar on the way home. You know what she always says…”

“I wish I thought she’d just be having a drink, even if she is underage. But it wouldn’t just be alcohol that passed her lips, would it?”

“Best not to get into it,” Tara advised and she knew her girlfriend was wise. “You might be right. Maybe she just doesn’t want to face Mrs Summers.”

“That might even be worse. But… are we going to face Joyce for her?”

“We’ll probably have taken the edge off,” Tara admitted. “We are late.”

“Not technically late,” she pointed out. “I mean, we never said what time we’d be back. But it is still pretty late.”

“She won’t blame us,” Tara promised.

“She never blames us,” she had to agree, smiling. “That’s part of being Joyce. Look – while we have some time to ourselves, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Uh-oh. This sounds… ominous.”

“No. Not ‘ominous’, not really. In fact, some people might think of it as flattering.”

“Flattering and ominous?” Tara said, “I’ve never seen those two go together before.”

“Well… okay, here goes. There’s something I haven’t told you because I was sworn to secrecy but after tonight – I think you need to know and I know you can keep it to yourself. You’ve done your kegels, my tight-lipped girl. What? Not anatomically accurate, but – just a joke. But look, Giles is… he’s thinking of leaving. In fact, he pretty much said that he is leaving. That’s why he’s scanning his library, so we can still have access to it when he takes all the books – the paper books - away.”

Tara didn’t say anything, didn’t – obviously – react, but that was a reaction in its own right when you thought about it. Then she stopped. Just stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “Sorry, love, I – I’m not getting where this is flattering.”

“Well…” Willow had been thinking about this – around movie-star big-badness – ever since Giles had told her. Thinking of how to tell her girl the how and the why… Even if she was supposed to be keeping it a secret. But… it was Tara. Tara needed to know and she’d keep his confidence too so it didn’t really count as a broken promise.

Right?

“Well?”

“Well… he thinks you’ve got all the skills to do what he does?”

“What?!”

“I agree with him, kind of. You do – you know all this important stuff, but you also do really, really well with people. No one else could’ve turned Faith around, everyone realises that, no matter what they think about Faith.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you, doofus. Don’t underestimate it Tara. That’s why no one believed it when you lumped yourself in with the sidekicks. I’m a sidekick, I’m Buffy’s sidekick and I’m your sidekick cos… you know, I like to be beside you. On top of you. Under you too, I can be an underkick. But definitely beside you and – from time to time – I do kick.”

“Like a mule when you’re dreaming,” Tara teased.

“Don’t change the subject,” she said. Especially don’t change the subject in a way that embarrassed her. To be put on a pedestal by her woman was alluring and then to be reminded there were some things that she did which were… less than perfection, well it was as maddening as it was obvious.

“Okay… So what do you think about that?”

“I… I don’t want him to go, obviously, but I don’t think I have any right to make him stay. He’s given enough and he’s probably right. Maybe Buffy doesn’t need him as much as she did.”

“And what does Buffy think?” Tara asked.

“She doesn’t know. Yet. I… I hope she’ll let him go have a life. And I hope she persuades him to have a life here instead. Even if he quits being a Watcher, then it’d be good to have him around here anyway, wouldn’t it? What do you think though?”

“I… You don’t want to know what I think,” Tara said.

“Yes! I do! I always want to know what you think! I want to know what you think when you’re tasting my cooking and I want to know what you think when we’re clothes shopping and I want to know what you think now, Tara.”

“I don’t think it’s fair.”

The way Tara said the five words that she absolutely hadn’t expected probably showed that her girl hadn’t meant to say them either. “Oh,” was about all she could think of to say. Too much or denials of her ability or something sure. But ‘fair’? That wasn’t something Tara talked about much.

“I – You know I want to help, you do know that, right?”

“Everyone knows that, no one could expect any more of you,” Willow said.

“But obviously they do! I don’t mind – no, I want to help. I want to help keep people safe. I want to keep you and Buffy and Faith and everyone safe. I want all that – if that means getting Faith and Ethan to work with the rest of you, with Diana, then definitely. And I want to help save the world – if that Glorificus thing is real but… I can’t be what he is, baby.”

“You just need to be you; no one expects any more than that.”

“I would – I do,” Tara bit back. “That’s what you’re not seeing, Willow.”

“Oh.” She waited, wanting Tara to elaborate, even though she had a flavour of where this was going. And the flavour of guilt was bitter in her mouth too. After all, hadn’t she mentally all but thrown Tara into Giles’ role without even asking her about it? Unpaid too! Just because she knew her girl could do it she’d not stopped to think and ask before letting Giles off the hook.

Would it be right to guilt him into staying? No. But wasn’t that what she’d started to do to Tara? Guilt her into being what Giles imagined she could be – and probably brilliantly because – well - Tara?

“If I do this… I’ll give it everything. You know that, if you think about it. Even though I’ve not been trained. But it could hurt my work at college, it could hurt us and… with people relying on me, including you, what am I supposed to do then? How long am I supposed to be what a Slayer – or a couple of Slayers - needs? Until… well, you know what can happen to them. Do I get to stop then? I probably wouldn’t let myself either. What about getting a job? Having a career? Us moving somewhere we can both get jobs and - ”

“Umm.” She didn’t want to interrupt, but she was taken aback for a moment. Tara was thinking about living with her? In something bigger than a dorm room or at her parents… Even in the midst of this conversation that was a big ‘Yes!’ moment.

Not like they weren’t already doing it but… somehow it felt like what she was talking about was different. And not just for a summer either.

“And, even if all that’s – even if it’s the right decision, even if I was willing to give myself to that then… what if I’m not always… able to do that?”

“You’re not ready for the old folks home yet,” she said and then bit her tongue, yeah… way to go. She’d just condemned her girlfriend to a lifetime of it… Damn. Quips could get you into trouble. Buffy had warned her, but she hadn’t listened.

Tara didn’t take her to task for it though, she knew the spirit in which she’d uttered the words. Instead she found herself being pulled closer to Tara. “What if I have to stop? Am I letting everyone down then? I am, right?”

“But if he goes anyway…?” she asked. She didn’t want any of those things to happen. But they didn’t need a proper Watcher. They just needed someone… well, grown up. And Tara felt like the most grown up person she knew in some ways – though deliciously girlish in others. That was the thing, Tara understood where the borderline lay.

“I can’t be what he is…” Tara said. “I can try, I will if I have to. I’ll work with Faith and Ethan and everyone else, to do the right thing. But I can’t be the one who’s responsible for everyone. For everything… I can’t promise to be that. My shoulders aren’t that broad.”

“You know who has broad shoulders?” Willow asked.

“Giles?”

“Giles. What if… I think maybe we need to show him he is needed here.”

“He won’t be feeling good,” Tara commented. “Not after tonight. He’ll think he - ”

Yes, she’d thinking about this one. Their friend deserved some help against the inevitable reminders. “He kept the Brides of Dracula off us, one man versus three ex-Slayers turned vampires. A heroic defence, keeping them from… umm…”

“Molesting,” Tara suggested.

“Good word, accurate and yet… with an air of sinister. Keeping them from molesting, the rest of us.”

“Not sure he’s going to see it that way,” Tara said.

“But I think, if Buffy and Faith speak up… maybe he can see that – if they’re working together – there’s a role for a Watcher and there’s a role for someone else – like you – in keeping everything harmonious? How would that be?”

Maybe some more time to himself, a new mission – if the Slayers agreed – and someone to share the load would keep Giles here because she didn’t want to be without him and more than that… Tara was right. She wasn’t being selfish; she was being very unselfish in a different way. She was making sure the right person was there… and that was Giles.

But if he needed help, Tara could be that help? Should be?

Tara nodded, seeming happy with that. “I’m sorry I can’t be what he wants me to be.”

“No,” Willow said firmly. “You’re already what I want. You don’t get to be what he wants too. Maybe… you could speak to Faith? Get her to play nice with Buffy once I speak to her?”

“I can do that,” Tara said as they turned into the Summer’s driveway.

“I heard my name,” Faith said.

The crossbow, Willow noticed, no longer had a bolt strung and ready to fire. Hopefully whatever she’d shot had been dusted and wasn’t lying around in the cemetery, no matter how fitting the place for body disposal.

Though how Faith had finished up and gotten here ahead of them? Well, yeah, they’d been walking pretty slowly. Enjoying the night air and each other.

“We need to talk,” Tara said.

“I’m all ears,” Faith said, though in that top it wasn’t exactly true. She’d ditched the jacket, slinging it over her shoulder which usually meant that she was planning on ditching them and heading somewhere to pick up her post-slay bed-buddy*.

* Bed (and talk) optional.

Unlike Xander and Anya you didn’t get to hear about her escapades all that much – maybe Tara did – but you somehow just knew. It was the slut-bomb effect. Being utterly obvious. Like, if you looked in an illustrated dictionary. If you looked up ‘sexuality’ there was Faith staring back at you from one of the meanings.

“Not now,” Tara clarified.

“And we’re not doing this for you either,” Willow added. “You’re coming in.” Just because they were here and Faith was feeling that post-slay itch didn’t change what she should be doing.

“Oh, come on… you blew a door off.”

“Okay, that’s true. And I’ll admit to it, but no way this is down to us.”

“But somehow it’s my fault?” Faith asked. “Master vampire, slayed. Several times. Cut me some slack.”

“Faith, it’s just part of life,” Tara said. “You have to deal with things, and people, that you don’t want to.”

The Slayer sighed. “It’s not that I don’t want to – wait, it is… You know what she thinks of me.” She gestured up at the house as if Joyce and the house were one.

“It’s getting better,” Willow said. “I think it really is. I mean, you two had a rough re-introduction, kind of a disaster actually.”

“So play nice,” Tara instructed firmly.

She knew very well that Tara was the fount of all knowledge when it came to dealing with Mom’s. She just knew how it was done.

“Best behaviour,” Faith said, pretending that she knew how the Girl Guides salute went. If Faith had ever been part of that organisation, they’d long since stricken her name from the books and ritually burned it. What she might have gotten up to…

And how many Scouts would she have corrupted?

They went inside and Willow’s first instinct was to check the closet where Anya had been locked up when Buffy had been ‘kidnapped’ by her minionised boyfriend. Yes, they were pretending Buffy hadn’t gone willingly. But no sign… thank God. She’d gotten out of there.

By the time she got back upstairs from the basement, Faith and Tara had snuck their way into the living room where Joyce was laid out on the sofa. Faith, particularly, was making every effort not to wake her up but Tara’s skirt brushed the remote, which fell from the table into an empty nacho bowl with a clatter.

“Way to go, Dumbo,” Faith rolled her eyes.

“Sorry,” Tara said as Joyce came awake with a start.

“Oh! Tara… Oh, everyone all right? Is Buffy with you?”

“She’s with Eddie,” she supplied as diplomatically as she could. “And everyone’s fine.”

“Oh, hi, Willow. I must’ve… I dropped off. I was trying to stay up till you got home but… Hello, Faith.” The temperature in the room might’ve dropped a little as Joyce laid eyes on the Slayer who’d stolen her daughter’s body not all that long ago.

Quite a while, she supposed, but it wasn’t the kind of thing you forgot.

“Mrs Summers. I – I – Sorry we’re late.”

“That’s okay, dear. I know you’ll have come straight here, Tara and Willow’s influence no doubt,” Joyce said.

Both of them tried to show that wasn’t the case, but Faith let down her own case. “Yeah… that’d be right. You know what they’re like. Really… straight.”

“I know what you’re like too,” Joyce said, but her words weighed lighter than they might’ve a few months ago when Willow had seriously be worried that Joyce might test the rogue Slayer’s not considerable patience to a dangerous point. “Fortunately, she hasn’t gotten your bad habits.”

“Want me to go up?” Willow asked. Tara looked beat and Faith disinclined.

“Sure. Whatever.”

Willow took the familiar route up the stairs, going past Buffy’s bedroom. Joyce’s was on the opposite side. And next to that, the guest room. She knocked on the door.

“Tara?” the young female voice from inside asked.

“Willow,” she corrected as she opened the door.

“Only you guys ever knock.” The girl had changed into her night shirt, just in case they hadn’t made it back tonight, but she was still wearing her jeans under there and she’d obviously been at the makeshift desk/dresser with her books.

“We were raised the right way,” Willow said. “Ira Rosenberg’s daughter learned to knock when she just burst in on her Mom and Dad for the first and only time. How’s it going, Hope?”

“Good, I’ve been reading about Julia, you know, Octavian’s step-daughter?”

“They teach you about that at school?” she didn’t remember anything so fruity on the curriculum. But Hope was attending the Sunnydale school that they hadn’t blown up…

“No! Of course not, but it’s really fascinating history and you told me I should read around what they want me to learn, right?” Hope grinned and it was kind of infectious.

“You know, you’re a huge disappointment to your sister,” Willow said, grinning with real delight. The more the two of them were different, the better this kid’s chances were going to be. “She’s downstairs. Get your books together, we’re heading home.”

Hope sighed and did as she was told. She was a neater, younger, version of her sister and on the cusp of becoming the woman that Faith only wished she could be.

“Has Faith got herself a guy tonight?” the girl asked.

“Uh-uh,” she shook her head, knowing it wasn’t what the girl wanted to hear.

“Damn,” Hope said quietly. “Why didn’t you let her? She’ll be in a mood tomorrow.”

“These things are sent to try us,” Willow said, gently guiding Faith’s sister from the room and down the stairs.





Thanks to: I delayed this from the beginning because… hey, it’s a surprise! So thanks to anyone who honestly saw this coming… several months in advance of posting this, I’m curious what the speculation about Dawn will have been by the time we get here. I think someone will have speculated… (Assuming there’s anyone still here!?)

*******************

[faolan228]

asdfghjkll;

I finally caught up to EVERYTHING today, and we finally get to the point where you make my brain dribble out of my nose. I'd been long since speculating about the Key, but I most certainly wasn't expecting a not-Dawn. That never even crossed my mind. You've proven yet again to be queen of the plot twists that make me shriek. I look forward to more.

[Azirahael]

Ah, right.

Hope is Dawn's replacement, because (i got this right, you'll note) Faith is the Slayer and Buffy is the spare.

Nice intro.
I was wondering if i'd missed a chapter there for a moment (always an issue with serial-published works)

And yay for talking out of having Giles leave.
and ooh, that conversation with Giles is gonna be awkward.

And good point, it is kinda unfair of Giles to dump all his Giles-duties on Tara, just because he could.

I'm gonna have to go back and read from the start again, so i get a better sense of continuity.

Neat chapter

Looking forward (as always) to the next bit!

R

[Katharyn]

Heya Faolan - Welcome back and well done for catching up with this. It posts pretty fast and I realised a while back that could be a bit of a barrier to people if they got behind. So glad you invested extra time to get back up to date, it's really appreciated

Key speculation wasn't as great as I thought actually. A few people wondered about Dawn earlier, but I was anticipating 'dead pool' speculation when I did the first draft. Everyone knows I hate the character (if not some of the relationships she had). But it was a big thing for me and not something I had planned from the start. It all came out of keeping Faith around. THEN I could do something about Dawn... otherwise I'd have had to have her in here I think.

My twists make you shriek? Is that a good thing? Thanks so much once again. Lovely to have you back posting.

Azirahael - Well... okay, I am not sure what I give away in future parts (or notes for them) but you're half way there on Hope. Yes, Faith is the Slayer so... that works. Actually - in my mind - (because Faith existed in canon as 'the Slayer' too) it was more about the fact that Faith had been turned around and was actually acting like her that made the monks do it that way. So... I credit Tara

Giles doesn't know he can't leave yet, but of course everything has just changed. At some point during BvD (in canon too) a change occurs that brings Dawn/Hope into the picture. I am not going to get into how I feel that happened here (because it's in the story later) but part of why he doesn't go - for me - is that lots of things change. Another stone was thrown into the rippling pond. It was just I didn't throw it this time.

In 'The Real Me' we'll get much more on Hope and who she is, see some of the relationships to the others she has. That may make things clearer.

In that sense though, continuity is busted. Just like the show, that rock landed and messed up everything. Even if they figure out everything later... it's all changed. Right now. So - intentionally - things don't flow from what they were at the start of BvD.

Read it all again? Eeep. Brave of you!

Thank you!

Katharyn

[Katharyn]

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter Eighty
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: A chapter alongside the canon episode ‘The Real Me.’ There will be a couple more.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence. For this and the next two parts only, it also signifies a written journal entry.
Notes: As I write these first draft notes, I firmly intend this next part (and the two that follow it) to include a different perspective to the rest of the story – or to include that perspective in the same way as Dawn’s PoV was put into ‘The Real Me’ through her diary. Obviously I’ve made a big change to the canon here, introducing a substitute for the annoying Dawn. Hopefully we can keep what was good about her for T/W fans and lose the shrill, whining, stupid, selfish decisions and yet still keep a teenager and other relationships firmly in place. Adding a new character, effectively changing reality, has consequences from a story point of view and, somehow, it’s absolutely necessary to get that new character integrated and turned into a known quantity so that the story can continue. So the aim here is much the same as in the canon, to establish a history for a character that the others remember, but we’ve not seen in the story so far.
Where did this come from? I was dreading what to do with Dawn or having to write her, but once the decision was made to reintegrate Faith under Tara’s watchful eye, the option to have Faith have the sister became too intriguing and a real chance to break from canon while still keeping the elements that keep it parallel to the fifth season arc. I get to be more creative in a season where, otherwise, a lot more episodes would find their way in because of the Glory arc and limit my freedom.
Oh, yes, there is a point in this chapter that deliberately contradicts what was said in the last chapter… why? Because the introduction of Hope has made things a little different to how they were during BvD’s earlier scenes.
This is ‘The Real Me’ and the first section is from Tara’s PoV and then the second is all Hope’s… so let’s go.
Thanks to: The readers of Sidestep who liked Jenny and Rupert’s kid, ‘Faith’ (named after the Slayer). The grown up version of that Faith has been something of the model for Hope, now the ‘real’ Faith’s sister. Not the same by any means, but… a model.




“Pliny the Elder?”

“There was more than one Pliny?” Tara asked, only keeping half an eye on what was going on down on the practice floor.

“Umm, yeah. That’s why they called them ‘the elder’ and ‘the younger’.”

Truth be told, Tara was feeling out of her depth in all sorts of ways. She could’ve done with Willow being here, to try and keep this whip-smart, well-read girl’s feet firmly on the ground. And Hope was pretty grounded, really.

She didn’t have any of the arrogance that you expected from someone who knew that there was a good chance they were the smartest person in the room – Mister Giles not excluded. She understood though, that she still had a lot to learn and that her booksmarts were all potential.

Unlike Willow, Hope didn’t quite manage to be a nerd though, least not as she related her days at school. Despite her bookish ways, she somehow didn’t belong with the nerds. Nor did she make it into the ‘pretty girls’ society even though she was just that. One day, Tara was sure; she was going to grow up beyond ‘pretty’ to be a true, beautiful woman. The evidence was already there to point towards it.

She was Faith’s sister all right and not many people would kick her out of bed either. More likely her little sister, fifteen years old, would turn out to be a more restrained beauty than Faith’s sensual wildness gave her. But she had the face, the hair – often tied back quite severely – and the not yet quite final forms of some of the other features that lots of boys were going to be looking at even while they castigated her for knowing so much more than they did.

Hope wasn’t ever going to be ‘popular’ because her concerns were at a much higher intellectual level than those girls hung out at. Likely she’d be a little lonely through High School, but once she got to college… she was going to do great. Especially if she kept on developing into a young woman like her sister.

“I think I should probably pay attention, just for a minute,” she said, looking at the practice floor where Mister Giles was referring the latest Faith/Buffy grudge match. Reminding Buffy – incessantly – about her mind control, buxom wench dress and time with Dracula wasn’t Faith’s finest hour and she’d gotten her reaction.

But here was another purpose that Hope served. She bridged the gap between the two Slayers and their ‘camps’, much as she did. Joyce was one of her main babysitters (though you couldn’t really say that a fifteen year old who loved nothing more than reading and writing needed such a thing) and everyone, including Buffy, loved her being around.

Buffy much preferred her to her sister – that much was obvious. She’d looked out for her while Faith was in her coma. One that Buffy had – sort of – put her in.

Willow… well, who else was Willow going to talk to about all the things she knew?

Well, everyone loved it except her big sister. Faith had said it more than once and everyone had asked the question. Look at them and you’d never believe they were anything except sisters, but watch them, get to know them and… Faith’s question was perfectly valid. How had Hope sprung from the same mother and father as Faith? Their personalities – if not their looks - were just alien to each other.

And the answer – which she’d never admit to Faith – might’ve been that the younger girl had grown up with the example of the older one to look at and rebelled against it.

While still adoring her big sister. Absolutely adoring her. It had to be adoration to show that much patience.

Faith had always been, according to Hope, the wild one. Put her in any company you liked, there was never anyone more willing to push the boundaries, take things further and to shatter – not just ignore – the rules. She could imagine it quite easily, just from knowing Faith here in Sunnydale for the little while that she had.

Hope was different and their relationship was… complicated. In fact it’d defied description when she and Willow talked about it. Adoration was at the root, but mixed with a healthy dose of cynicism and the rest… the rest she couldn’t decide on.

“Okay,” Hope said, content to turn back to her books while Tara looked on and watched the sparring Slayers. Faith dealing violence wasn’t anything that the younger Lehane was any stranger to.

This wasn’t just about fighting practice – though that was one idea behind the now regular sessions put in place since all of them had convinced Giles to stay if things could be a little different to how they had been before. Hope, of course, had been the deciding factor. They actually thought he might have left if it hadn’t been for a girl he’d grown fond of while her big sister was… indisposed.

So now, sure Faith and Buffy were sharing tips, tactics and form but they were doing it by beating on each other. There was no one here who could really improve their fighting, except each other. Neither she nor Giles had actually said it – and neither Slayer was admitting it – but these sparring sessions were mostly there for the two of them to work off the lingering tension from everything that had gone before (and new tensions when they wound each other up) without everything turning into a disaster or someone getting seriously hurt.

Blame went both ways. Buffy was fully capable of taking her bat home, abandoning Faith and then expecting perfection from her. While Faith was… Faith.

Faith was Faith. You can take that to the bank. It was one of Hope’s sayings and everyone knew it was true.

Faith was certainly the one who was more capable of a screw up, but also the one who was better able to innovate, step outside what she already knew and try different things.

Oh, yes, she and Willow knew all about trying ‘different things’. If they were still up they got to hear about it whenever Faith finally got home. Only the lucky entrance of Hope into the room would usually get them out of it. That they weren’t really interested in hearing about Faith and her varied conquests wasn’t the point. They were her friends, her housemates – at least for a little while longer – and therefore they got to hear it all.

And Faith did love to shock. Tara didn’t doubt that she’d done everything she said she had, Faith had little need to lie about it. But she had often wondered whether part of the reason she did it was because then everyone else would be shocked when she brought it up later. Didn’t seem like a great way to live, but she and Hope were the only ones who could get that through to her even a little bit.

Always pushing for a reaction, that was Faith all over. Unlike Anya who was just plain unaware – even after all this time – that no one wanted to know.

That quest for a reaction was where Hope was so very different to her sister… But though she obviously didn’t get to hear some of the more… salubrious tales, there was no doubting that Hope knew what her sister was like, even judged her for it.

How could she avoid it? Sure, Hope had her home and then places she could stay over at a few other houses and rooms when her sister was out all night, but Hope knew Faith better than anyone.

But there was more than a simple sibling affection between them – at least from Hope’s end. There was some unspoken debt the younger girl was constantly acknowledging in her patience with Faith. It coloured everything she thought about her sister from dealing with her imperfections to the adulation that was very, very real.

And very realistic, actually. Hope loved Faith warts and all. The first one to admit the warts…

Tara hadn’t pushed about what that debt might be but she had her suspicions and even if Faith wasn’t always pleased to have her sister around, here she was anyway. She’d never abandoned Hope, the way she could easily have done. Lots of people would probably have expected her to.

Faith hadn’t done that and she could be ferocious in defence of her right to be the only person who got to bully her sister. No one at the (new) High School had tried to bully Hope after the first time and now, a few years later, she even had some good friends who weren’t intimidated by Faith’s existence.

So, okay, their living arrangements had meant that things were a little cramped at casa Rosenberg, but Faith and Hope would be moving into their own place – the one bought outright for Faith by the Mayor – in the next week or so, when she and Willow back out into dorms and the Rosenbergs were back in town after their trips away for the summer.

It was that, complex, situation that just about summed the two up, Tara thought, as she watched Faith get dumped by Buffy. Beside her, Hope sighed, knowing full well that her sister never, ever stopped a sparring session when she looked like she’d lost.

She always had to come out on top and get the last blow in. Make her opponent give up too, a role Buffy had silently agreed to more than once.

Despite the tight quarters and lack of privacy at the Rosenberg house, Tara knew – because Hope had told her – that the girl didn’t really want to move in with her sister without anyone else there. It was like she thought she’d have to be Faith’s sole keeper or something like that.

On the other hand, when offered a lifeline – Faith was perfectly okay with Hope going to stay somewhere else – the fifteen year old wouldn’t even consider it. Yeah, she’s her sister’s keeper alright.

She might not like it, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Faith had helped her sister in the past - maybe even saved her life – but neither of them was talking about it. And now… now Hope was doing the best she could. It hadn’t been enough when Faith had gone working for the Mayor, but the girl had been a year younger than and hadn’t been through the period her sister had been in a coma for months, during which time she’d gained herself a much wider family and revelled in that.

Untainted by being Faith’s sister and – instead – her own person.

The Scoobies had all had a hand in looking after the girl while Faith had been out of it. Hadn’t been her fault, after all. She was one of the first people who’d come to know about she and Willow too, once they’d found each other.

“Oh, finally,” Hope said. Tara had missed the move in question, but Faith was straddling Buffy, a rubber ‘knife’ in her hand doubling as a stake and there was no denying the how comically – and sexually charged – the imagery was. If you knew how to look at things like that.

Fortunately Hope didn’t seem to yet so… Yeah.

Walking down to her sister, Hope handed over both girls towels and Faith took hers gratefully, wiping her face down as she got, catlike, to her feet again and tossed the rubber knife over into the box of training tools that Giles liked to keep them in. Faith hadn’t missed the symbolism then, naming it the ‘toy box’ and giving Willow such a significant look that the two of them had been discussing whether they should actually tell anyone else how dirty it could all seem to be from the outside…

Heaving breasts, sweaty girls, tight clothes, catfights and rubber ‘toys’. Somehow this circumstance had been mockingly blamed – by Faith who probably knew exactly what it looked like – on the ‘lesbian influence’.

Tara had thought of ripostes, but telling her that she and Willow were usually naked and didn’t own any rubber ‘toys’ hadn’t seemed like ‘need to know’ information. And Faith very much didn’t need to know.

And – hey – what about Faith and Paige? What about that then? Maybe she didn’t want to think about that… or what they’d get up to.

“Can we go now?” Hope asked her sister.

“Remind me?” Faith asked.

“We need to go get books – you are going back to school aren’t you?”

“I’ve changed my mind, Hopeless, don’t remind me.”

“No, it’s going to be cool. Having my big sister there. If anyone picks on me, you can slay them for me.”

“Aww, you’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Faith said, finally offering a grudging hand to Buffy who accepted it just as grudgingly.

“Well, okay,” Hope said. “I don’t think you can actually ‘slay’ them but…I know you’ve got my back.”

Faith wrapped her arm around Hope’s shoulders, hugging her tightly. The younger girl was already about an inch or two taller and might yet gain a few more so it was a strange sight. “Got your back, got your front. I’ve got you all over. You know that.”

Hope’s smile was so genuine; Tara didn’t have to wonder for a second what the most basic emotion between them was. It was love. All the rest was just other… stuff. No matter how complicated it got. No matter what had happened.

-------------------------

It bugs me, you know?

She doesn’t, not Faith, but it does. It’s not something anyone here understands, what it’s like to be her sister.

Faith Lehane’s sister. The first time I was introduced to the teacher at school, it was as ‘Faith Lehane’s sister.’ That’s who I’ve always been and it’s cool, I guess, in some ways.

Maybe not so cool in others.

Faith does her best and all but she’s just not… If Tara was my sister, or Willow or even Buffy, I think any of them would be more like a Mom. You know, if we’d had to move away and things happened like they did. Faith isn’t like that though; she doesn’t want to be anything but my sister.

I heard Willow saying that Faith doesn’t know how to be anything but my sister and I think maybe she’s half right. Everyone thinks Faith doesn’t care – or at least not enough – but I know she does. Better than anyone. It’s everyone else who doesn’t know because – there are some things you don’t write down. You just don’t. Someone used to read my diary, no matter where I hid it, and – no, you don’t write down stuff you can’t bear to have read.

It’s just that sometimes, I feel like the big sister. And like I have a couple of other sisters, in Tara and Willow, they’re pretty cool too. Willow’s pretty much everything I want to be. She’s smart and she reads, she’s better with a computer than I am, but she says that I’ll always have more up top than her, and she’s right!

Maybe, when I’m older, I’ll meet someone like Tara too. I don’t want to be like Tara, I just hope I can like… live up to her. Even Faith feels that way, even if she never admits it. Tara’s the one who’s looked at my report card at the end of last semester. Tara was the one who hugged me and bought me that cute sweater, for doing really well. And Tara was the one who told me I had to do more work in science, because you can’t just learn what you’re interested in. Like a B+ isn’t enough! But she means well.

Faith… Faith just told me what happened to her last report card. That’s something else I don’t really want to write down.

But where was I going with this? Oh yeah, as usual, I end up writing about Faith… I don’t mean to, I wanted to do this and write about my day and what happened and aside from Buffy and Faith beating on each other – again – not much did. Faith didn’t replace the milk she’d finished and I got all in her face about that. Then we fought and she called me a dried up prude and I called her a clever woman.

Most people, everyone in fact, would take that as a compliment, but I’d been reading about Rome – ancient Rome – and the last thing you wanted to be called if you were a young woman was ‘clever’. Not such a great insult really… Not today.

I know that some people call her a ‘slut’, they don’t do it around me, but it’s not something they hide very well. That’s when I get really angry. Faith doesn’t care what they call her and I sometimes wonder what would happen if I called her that… but I never will. If I did… I think she’d hit me. It might be the only thing that’d make her.

And she’d be right to. That’d be like, totally out of order. So she likes to date guys and plenty of times that… well, it goes further. But – is she really getting any more than Tara and Willow? I should know… I live with them and even if they’re trying to be quiet, sometimes things are too quiet and then there’s like this yelp or something and we look at each other and both of us grin.

Not for long though, it won’t be long now till we move out and into that apartment Faith’s got. She did some bad things to get it, no one will tell me how bad, but bad… She’s lucky they’re giving her another chance, I guess, but I don’t know how I feel about living just with her.

It’s been a long time since it was just me and her.

-------------------

Back now, so that was morning but… now I’m sat outside this store where there’s a dead body. For once no one thinks Faith did it, so that’s progress, I guess. But she’s been with me all morning and why do even I feel like I need to know that stuff, just in case someone says something?

Sucks to be my sister… at least until everyone really trusts her.

We had to walk to the store, which is okay, I guess, but it was a hot day and the heat here is different to back home. I still don’t do that great when it gets really hot. Not when it’s too dry… but I guess everyone else complained about the humidity back home. I always liked it though – it’s one of the few things I miss.

Mr Giles didn’t even stop for us! I don’t think he wanted finger-marks on his new sports car. Since he decided he was staying he’s been ‘putting down roots.’ That’s what Buffy’s Mom called it anyway.

I think that she and Mister Giles would be a great couple, but when I told her that, she just went kind of quiet – a bit like what she did when I said that I wished I could do the things Tara and Willow do. That time she thought I meant being a lesbian, but I don’t know what it was this time. Maybe they’d already hooked up and it went badly and gross because – you know - old…

We were nearly there though, so I forgive him for not stopping to give us a ride and we arrived at the same time as Tara and Willow. Witches are cool, okay? That’s just it. They tried to teach me a couple of things, but I have like zero magical ability. I’d never be anything but a ritualist. I’m not really sure what that is, but I think it means that they think they can stop showing me stuff. If I can’t do it, I can’t do it.

Still don’t know about being a lesbian though… Boys are kind of dumb, but they do make me feel funny. Girls are hot and cool at the same time, but… I never really felt that way about another girl. Everyone’s talking about Faith’s being into girls though and they reckon its genetic right? It has to be for you to be born that way so maybe I will be too?

Anyway, when we got to the store, it was supposed to be for everyone to browse and find some stuff out. Tara wanted to look into spells, Mister Giles was looking for stuff about Slayers – big surprise – but he can’t actually think Faith’s going to read it. Can he? Even if Mister Giles does get a discount, because of that secret society he’s part of, he can’t think it’s really going to be something my sister will do?

Watchers… I still think that sounds creepy. I mean, old guys, ‘watching’ teenage girls? Definitely creepy, I remember when that younger Watcher came looking for Faith. She nearly killed him when he was sitting in his car watching us but, I guess that wasn’t his fault. Stuff happening…

People think they have to protect me. Other people I mean, Faith doesn’t. She’d have let me stay in the store once they found the body. My sister knows I can handle it… the others don’t. The others send me away; treat me like a kid and so I’m sitting on the curb outside the store, wondering when someone will actually call the police. This place… This town, it has its own rules.

Me and Faith, we were always afraid of the sirens, the police or whatever. Afraid of being found. Afraid of being taken back. We’d be lying there, trying to sleep in some scuzzy motel- when she’d stolen the money for one - and when we heard a siren, I’d feel her tense up. And when it passed by, heading somewhere else, that was the only time she’d actually hold me without me asking for it. Something about that relief loosened her up, after what had happened it’s not much of a surprise, I guess.

Here though… the police are like, optional. Crime capital of the world if you look at the statistics. Willow started to show me, until Tara said maybe that wasn’t the best idea. But then I looked it up for myself. I’m not dumb, I can see what’s going on. Here… the police are definitely optional.

If a person, I mean a person person, a normal person dies and it looks like nothing supernatural was involved then sure, the police get called right away. But no matter who finds the body, if it looks suspiciously like something that needs to be stabbed with a pointy stick, that doesn’t ever happen.

So anyway, then when I was outside and some guy came up to me! That wasn’t cool. That made me wish there was a cop right there, even after everything else. A cop might’ve scared him off when he grabbed me, started shouting at me and shaking me. He was like crazy or something and… he was scary. Crazy people, they can do anything because they just don’t have a reason to care.

He was shouting something about me not belonging here and stuff like that and – for a moment – I wondered whether he knew about us? Could anyone know though? Wasn’t it buried in the police reports by now? It’d been three years, almost to the day, but… They say your heart skips when you’re scared, I think mine did. I think it stopped. I tried to make out what he was saying, to find out if he knew or he was just crazy and I was trying to get him off me of course but in the end Tara ran him off.

Well, she came out, shouted at him and he left anyway.

Tara… my hero. If she’s what a lesbian is, who wouldn’t want to be one?

She came out originally trying to make me feel better about not being in the store, where stuff was happening. I wonder, sometimes, if she does know. I know Faith hasn’t told her and I guess I never will, but… I think she’d be the kind of person we could trust with knowing. Maybe the only one. She’d keep it secret, even from Willow. She’d keep us safe if she could. But… I think if she knew she’d have said something by now, told me we could talk about it if I wanted to.

But if I talked about it, Faith would kill me. Literally like kill me. We swore we’d never tell, we swore and I’m not going to break that swear. Not for anything.

So I told Tara I was okay, that she should be in there, being a Scooby and things. But she stayed anyway, which was nice. Willow will tell her everything, obviously, but she said her job was really just to round up Faith when she was needed and being as she was already there, job done. That made us laugh, mostly because I know it’s not true and it just seemed funny even though sad stuff was happening.

I beat her at thumb-wrestling, best of five, so that was cool too.

*********************

[DaddyCatALSO]

I initally misread what Hope wrote about Tara as "who wouldn't want one" instead of "want to be one," which is a set-up for a joke which i don't want to even think about touching.

Not the first fic I've seen with "Dawn" as Faith's sister (one was set in the Asylumverse, of all things) and yeah, no way would the "those monks made her out of me" work in this story since in this AU Buffy is a natural blond, *weg.

More to the point, you blended into this if anything even more smoothly than the show did. And you're avoiding writing Hope as a ten-year-old even though she's 14 which the show fell into. Yay.

[Azirahael]

Hope is so Cute!

And she's a smartie-pants, which i like.

And it's weird, given how different? maybe? she is from Dawn, but i read her AS Dawn.
Just one with a different past.

Uh, which is odd, given how little canon gave us OF Dawn, other than her tendency to attract kidnappers in the mythical later seasons.

About the past, i'm figuring Faith stepped in and saved from a terrible, and probably family-related fate.

Yeah, it doesn't matter how insanely evil you make someone, somewhere in the real world, someone does it.
On a daily basis.

Sigh.

Anyway, i LOVE this new development!

Go you!

I eagerly anticipate the next installment, and the next revelation

See you soon!

R