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Book: Two Title: Restorations Chapter One Pairings: KW/KL, W/B, J/G, G/X, J/G/X Crossover: ER, BtVS, XtWP Spoilers: ER: Season 7 & Rumors of 8, BtVS: Season 6, XtWP Season 5 and TLFENH Beta Reader: Scotty Welles Summary: A set of events starts a tidal wave that is unstoppable. Disclaimer: Warner Bros owns ER, Universal own XtWP, and Paramount now owns BtVS otherwise known as the show formally known as WB. <><><><><><><> The silence was tangible enough to touch inside the cozy apartment that had become a second home to the Scoobies. The people she considered closer to her family then anyone else she'd ever met were seated, in various stages of shock. Even Spike, with all his infinite sarcasm, couldn't think of any remark to crack. She shuddered slightly in her seat next to her ex-girlfriend. Since the Binding, her darker emotions had decided to come out and play. Seeds of ideas, thoughts, and emotions of her more vicious side were sprouting into blossom, making it harder to be the sweet innocent girl she had been. "So, are you two, like, 'orgasm buddies' now?" Willow narrowed her eyes at the former Vengeance Demon, only a slight blush gracing her features as she remembered the kiss they'd shared a few days ago. Before, she would've blushed and stammered her way through some sort of babble, but at that moment, a little voice was whispering happily in her mind about all the delicious things she could do. "None of your biz," she replied levelly. "Anyway, don't you have anything better to do? Like, say, have sex with Xander?" She frowned at the disbelieving looks everyone was giving her, glaring as Buffy reached over to check her pulse. "What...?" she said. "Uh, Wills, are you feeling okay?" Xander asked. "You're starting to sound like..." Her face darkened dangerously, causing him to trail off. "Like what?" "If you ask me, you're turning into your 'vamp' self," another of her friends suggested. Buffy stiffened and glared at Anya. Promptly, the ex-demon's self-preservation instincts kicked in and her mouth snapped shut. "She's fine, just tired," Buffy stated. "We've both had a difficult trip. Right, Wills?" "Actually..." Giles cut in, waiting until everyone was focused on him. He opened the book that he'd spent the last ten minutes rummaging around for. "...because of the Binding, Willow now helps control your darker side, just as you now share her lighter side. As such, she is now having to...uh...deal with her own...darkness." Willow closed her eyes, fighting the idea of telling him exactly what she thought of his ideas. The urge to just let loose was steadily becoming harder to control, and her friends weren't helping her any. "Willow?" She leaned into her ex-lover and whispered softly. "I...need to leave." Buffy clenched her fists as Tara helped her to stand, "Wills, let me..." <><><><><><><> "...help you?" Joxer ignored his friend's pleas and continued to charge out of the obnoxiously loud tavern. He just couldn't deal with any of this right now. All he wanted to do was put his hand through a tree or two, and that feeling disgusted him more than Jace's taste in clothes. "Joxer..." No, he wasn't going to stop. Nope, nah uh, no way. If he stopped, he'd get lectured by Gabrielle about letting his 'family' help him, but they couldn't. Not really. He hadn't been properly trained by a Watcher, and that training was incredibly important for a Guardian. It was what he needed to learn to ground himself, to fight, and work with the two Slayers he traveled with. Instead, Xena had gotten her own Watcher, the God of War himself. For years, she learned to become one of the best and most feared warriors in the world. Under his instruction, she had learned every inch of the darkness inside herself, reveled in it, and to control it. She, in turn, taught Gabrielle, who was now as revered as Xena, but him? No. He was still a klutz who now had a whole new side to his personality, with no way out. He froze as he felt the familiar tug on the Bond, and sighed at the dark warrior who had followed him despite his wishes. "I thought I told you..." "I can teach you," she interrupted him, her voice low but firm. He stared hard at her, using the Bond to search through her mind for her intentions. A calm thread of hope caught his attention, telling him what he was looking for. Maybe things... <><><><><><><> ....weren't so bad after all. She stood back, watching Malucci working on the five-year-old boy. He'd long forgotten to crack jokes and brag, his attention focused only on saving him. His hands moved with a confident knowledge that clearly surprised Abby, who was putting in an IV. Even Luka simply stepped back, letting him take control over the trauma. The bleached blond man deftly gave out orders, and then moved on to the next wound. He was in the 'zone', and she felt a swell of pride that the young man had come far enough to accomplish that level of expertise. She nodded her approval to Luka, who'd spotted her outside the trauma room doors, and walked back towards the admittance desk. Mentally, she made a note to have lunch with Malucci and have a little talk with him. While she didn't condone giving much praise to other doctors, she felt that this time it was in order. "He seems to be improving," said the tall man, falling into stride beside her. She smiled slightly at Luka, not giving him enough cracks in her mask to read her. "Maybe." He smiled wryly. "Don't give me that. You saw how he was back there." "Just because he managed to pull his head out of his ass this one time, doesn't make him a doctor." Luka chuckled lightly at her neutral description. "He's not that bad." At her pointed look he added, "Then again...Look, Kerry, I'm just saying that a little push in the right direction might do the boy some good." She smirked at the chart in her hand. "I'm already planning to have a talk with our good doctor. I don't guarantee that he'll be coming out alive..." "And people say I have a dark sense of humor." "You should see her when she's not working," said Kerry's favorite voice in the world, beside them. She turned to her fast-approaching lover and let her eyes lustfully skim over the enticing body she personally knew was under that black pants suit. She sent several mental images to her lover, simpering when she felt Kim's breathing speed up. A bead of sweat slid down the side of Kim's face, splashing to the floor, unnoticed by everyone except her. "Kerry..." Kim's voice threatened to lose control and make an embarrassing public display. "Oh, before I forget," Kerry goaded her, still completely composed, "I found your beeper in my office. If you want I can...go get it?" Kim sucked in a sharp breath, and grabbed her hand, dragging her away from a highly amused Luka. She reached down and pinched her lover, causing her to... <><><><><><><> ....let out a high pitched yelp. Willow shook her head at Xander's antics. All she had wanted to do was get home and hide until she could get some type of discipline over herself. Instead, she had found herself on the receiving end of Giles volunteering to train her. Talk about your guilt complex. The ex-Watcher had immediately apologized for not having trained her properly to begin with, and then proceeded to mumble about the Council getting what they deserved. "Oww!" she exclaimed as another blow landed. This crash course approach to training may have been unavoidable, but it was exhausting as hell. "How many times must I tell you to concentrate?" She sighed and stood back up, wearily eyeing her best friend. Then shot a look at Giles as he opened his mouth to say something to her. Wisely, he simply gestured for them to continue. Concentrating on the Bond, she followed it back to Buffy, using it, making it part of herself. Willow put her hands up, meeting Buffy's roundhouse punch before she'd started it, using the forward momentum of her friend to turn and flip her over her back. Feeling out her next move, she flew forward, grabbing Buffy from behind as the blonde girl flipped onto her feet, and swept those feet out from underneath her. She was starting to really like the image of Buffy on her back. 'Oh, bad. Bad, bad, Willow. Although...' The moment's distraction, tempting though it was, proved disastrous. "Oof...!!" The floor seemed to leap up and smack the breath out of her, and once more she found herself staring up at the ceiling. "Down doesn't mean out, Wills," Buffy taunted her easily, spinning lightly to her feet. "Remember that." The grin on her friend's face blurred into sharp focus, creating a churning within her blood. Closing her eyes, she felt the shift in her body as her Demon form came forward. If she wanted a fight... <><><><><><><> ....then she was going to get a fight she wouldn't soon forget. Surging forward, they charged each other in a flurry of motions. Arms flew out, blocked, flipped, and drove. Legs slung out in close quarters, searching for an opening...any opening just as long as they made contact. All strength bared, they lost themselves in the heat of battle. With ease, he caught a stray arm, and flipped Xena. Her legs easily came down under her, allowing her to use their momentum to drive him towards a nearby tree. Running with her, he continued to run up the tree and flip over his friend. Coming down behind her, he barely ducked as her elbow came around. Rolling back from her, he slammed into a nearby boulder and yelped. Growling softly, he glared up at the woman now straddling his thighs, her face inches from his, both of them boiling with intense passion. Her lips brushed his, still caught up in the shared Bond. In a sudden surge of energy... <><><><><><><> ....she lobbed them over so that she was now on top of the Slayer. Blue eyes locked with hers, losing themselves in each other until the outside world completely faded away. She growled softly, pressing their lips together. "Kerry, can I talk to...Oh my!" She froze at the clipped English accent. Kim simply glanced over from her position under her, and smiled. "Elizabeth," Kerry got out. "I didn't realize you were back yet." The surgeon cleared her throat awkwardly. "Yes...well...I, uh...I'm not..." Kim sighed and glanced over at Mark's wife, anything but pleased at the interruption. Elizabeth turned, averting her eyes modestly. "Good afternoon, Dr. Legaspi. I'm...sorry to interrupt, but, ah, I just wanted to talk to Kerry. If it's convenient...?" Kerry could hear the unspoken importance. All she wanted to do was to get back to her lover, but from the way the surgeon was still hovering nearby, she seriously doubted that that would be happening anytime soon. True love or no, Slayer or no, she still had a hospital to run. "Let me get some clothes on," she said with as much dignity as the situation allowed. "Thank you. I'll...I'll just wait for you at Magoo's." She pulled away... <><><><><><><> ....and blanched. 'OhmygoddessohmygoddessIdiditagainShemusthatemewhatamIgoingtodo?' She began to back away, her entire body shaking from...what? Pent up energy? Desire? Oh goddess... Buffy was her best friend, her bosom companion. Speaking of bosoms... No, bad! She...she was the closest friend she'd ever had, next to Xander. Even Xander wasn't as close to her as he had been, not since that fatal kiss. She slammed into the door, turning she sprinted through the apartment and out into the street, ignoring Buffy's voice calling for her to wait. She couldn't face her friend after that loss of control. She needed to get home, fast. "Oh goddess..." <><><><><><><> "...what do I do now?" he wondered aloud All he could do was stare at the dozing form of Xena. They'd been so caught up that they hadn't even realized anything other than the blood pounding through their Bond. Now...now, he'd destroyed any relationship he could've had with Gabrielle. "Accept it and move on," the blonde woman's calm voice replied. He raised his eyes to see his love standing a few feet away, but no anger was visible on her face. "Gabby...I..." "Don't." She paced forward, her eyes coming to rest on Xena. "I could feel the Bond between us strengthen when you two..." She chuckled lightly at the look of fear on his face. "I was worried about how this Bond would work between the three of us." "Just as long as I'm not the one that has to explain our relationship to Eve," the taller woman mumbled, as though in her sleep. He chuckled at the still dozing form that had just spoken; that was one conversation he was utterly going to miss. <><><><><><><> " I signed the release waiver, so feel free to put things in my slot anytime." - Charles Angels. Odo: Madam Ambassodor, I'm not like you. Every sixteen hours I revert to a liqiud. Lwaxana Troi: I can swim. - DS9: The Forsaken. Aeris Jade Orion list mommy: erslash@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx erslash-adult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx AIM: Aeris Jade ICQ: 51496263 AT&T/Pow-Wow: Jade Pow-Wow Community: Orion Web Site: http://members.fortunecity.com/aerissword/Index.html |