FIC: Right In Front of You Part 17

["Callistosdarkside" <callistosdarkside@xxxxxxxx>]

Woo hoo, number 17. I suggest reading this at the site, cuz I make use of
italics and smilies in this one.

http://www.geocities.com/callistosdarkside/RightInFrontOfYou.html

-CDS

. Title: Right In Front of You Part 17
. Author: Callisto's Dark Side
. Email: callistosdarkside@xxxxxxxx
. Feedback: The more I get, the faster I write.
. Distribution: Can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/callistosdarkside/RightInFrontOfYou.html (My Site),
http://www.geocities.com/last_days_of_pern, and
http://www.peccath.com/extraflamey/mainframe.htm
. Spoilers: All of Season 5, but events take place before some events in
Tough Love.
. Rating: R
. Pairing: W/T & B/W
. Disclaimer: All characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to the
almighty Joss Whedon and Company, and are only being borrowed for the fun
and enjoyment of us, the super fans.
. Summary: Willow/Tara fic in which the two love birds must manage to deal
with the consequences of a spell that threatens to tear them apart forever.


Chapter 17


"Five down, two to go," Buffy enthused as she ripped the horn from the dead
Cathra demon.

"Good," Willow averted her eyes, the massive amount of blood making her
nauseous.

"Yup, this is high quality demon horn," Buffy smiled as she lifted the
Cathra horn, proudly displaying her efforts.

"Hope so, now all we need is some virgin hair and the Eye of Venus."

"Speaking of which, have you figured out where we can find a virgin?" The
Slayer drawled.

"Nope, but I do have some leads on the Eye thingy."

"Cool, where to?"

"LA."

"As in La La Land?"

"Yup."

"Good. I've always wanted to go back there," Buffy said dryly.

******

"You guys are going where?" Anya screamed.

"LA," Buffy answered, backing up a step.

"When were you going to tell me this?"

"After we came back," Buffy joked.

"So, you get to see Xander and I don't? I don't think so, I'm going with
you."

"That's not such a good idea," Willow interjected.

"Why not? I haven't had sex in an eternity, unless you count Mr. Pointy,
but that's not the same."

"Mr. Pointy?" Buffy asked, horrified.

"Not your favourite stake, if that's what you're thinking?" Anya replied.

"Good, because that would be insanely disgusting and I'd have to burn it,
along with my hand." Buffy pulled 'her' Mr. Pointy from her back pocket and
stared at it

"Do whatever you want, but I'm closing Giles' little shop down and coming
with you guys."

"It'll be dangerous," Willow warned.

"So is staying here without you two for protection," Anya countered.

"Okay, just as long as you hook up with Xander and stay with him while we
find what we're looking for," Buffy replied.

"Deal," Anya smiled. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you, where do hide the
Vaseline in this house anyway?"

Two jaws hit the floor.

******

"Where's Anna?" Tara asked Dawn.

"I dunno, probably out bugging Glory, but check out what I got," Dawn
enthused.

"It's a book," Tara stated, taking it from Dawn's hands, "with no words,"
Tara added as she flipped the pages.

"I know, it's my new diary. I've been meaning to get one since I burned the
last."

"I heard."

"That's okay, I figure I got lots of new material considering we're in a
whole 'nother dimension and all."

"That's a good idea, maybe I should get one."

"If you want, I could get you a good deal?" Dawn offered.

"Really? How much did you pay?"

"Fifteen gorans."

"Isn't that everything Leanna gave you?"

"Yeah, but he wanted twenty, so I figure I did good."

"Oh."

"Speaking of Leanna, I thought she was with you."

"Was, but she wanted to barter for some of the herbs alone. She said that
the merchant that sells them is really fickle and doesn't like large crowds
in his tent."

"Two is a crowd?"

"Apparently."

"Then what's three?"

"A company," Tara laughed.

******

"What the." Glory turned around to see little Anna tugging at her dress.
"What do you want?"

The tiny blonde handed the Hell God a pearl necklace, identical to the one
around her own neck.

"Are these real?" Glory asked, letting the individual pearls slide through
her fingers.

"Mmm hmm," Anna nodded.

Glory looked down suspiciously at the young blonde, who apparently had
bought two necklaces.

"Is this for me?" Glory held the necklace to her chest.

"Yup, I want you to have it."

"Wow kid, maybe you're not all bad after all. At least you seem to be the
only one with taste around here," Glory said dryly as she placed the
necklace around her neck.

Anna's eyes lit up as the tall blonde accepted her gift.

"But don't think we're friends cuz of your little present here, it's gonna
take a lot more than that."

Anna frowned, her eyes downcast.

"But." Glory sighed, "If ya wanna be my number one minion." Glory trailed
off.

Anna raised her eyes excitedly.

"You gotta do what I say, kapeesh?"

Anna nodded her head.

******

"You're not bringing that in the car." Buffy glared at Anya.

"But." Anya held the little tub of Vaseline in her hands.

"But nothing." Buffy crossed her arms. "If you wanna do what I think
you're gonna do with it, then I'm sure they sell some in LA."

"Why can't I bring yours?" Anya frowned.

"Because," Buffy grabbed the tub away from Anya, "It's mine, meaning no
touch for you, just me."

"Fine, keep you're Vaseline to yourself, selfish," Anya said, jumping into
the driver's side seat and slamming the door.

Buffy walked back into the house to put away her Vaseline when Willow walked
out.

"Nice tub," Willow commented.

"Oh, it's not mine," Buffy lied, "I was just putting it away for Anya."

"Oh," Willow nodded. "Hey!" Willow's eyes travelled to Anya in the
driver's side seat, "I thought I called shotgun?"

"You did," Buffy rolled her eyes, "Why don't you go fight her for it?" The
Slayer giggled.

"I think I will," The redhead stated, stalking over to the driver's side
door and pulling it open.

"What do you think you're doing little girl?" Anya demanded, as Willow had
her hands around the neck of Anya's shirt.

"This." Willow tried pulling Anya out of the car, but the Ex-Demon
resisted, pulling Willow inside instead.

Buffy watched with amusement at the cat-fight in front of her, stepping
inside to drop off the Vaseline, and then locking the door, all the while
keeping her eyes on her friends to make sure they didn't go too far.

"Okay, break it up," Buffy sighed as she approached the car.

The two didn't listen and Anya managed to stick a foot against Willow's
abdomen and launch the redhead out of the car into Buffy's waiting arms.

"Woah there," Buffy said, steadying a distraught Willow and holding her back
at the same time.

"Let me go," Willow demanded, her hands reaching for Anya.

"You'll have time for that later, right now we got to get to LA."

"Fine," Willow struggled free of Buffy's hold, "but I get shotgun when we
come back."

"Definitely," Buffy agreed, not liking the prospect of spending the
roundtrip with Anya in the front seat.

******

"Are we there yet?" Anya whined.

"No, and we'll never get there if you keep asking," Buffy said dryly.

"What does that have to do with us getting there?" Anya questioned.

"Because," The Slayer exhaled, "you'll never get there which means there
can't possibly be a we, except of course for me and Willow."

"Is that a threat?"

"Yeah."

"I'm telling Xander you threatened me with bodily harm," Anya frowned.

"Oh will you shut up already?" Willow screamed from the back seat. "We're
not going to LA to see Xander, we're going to find the Eye of Venus so Buffy
and I can l find the ones we love, okay?"

Anya dropped her eyes and mumbled, "Sorry."

"Finally," Willow breathed, leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes.

******

"Buffy's coming? When?" Angel asked impatiently.

"I dunno, did I get a clock in my vision," Cordelia stated dryly.

"You have to have some idea, day, night?"

"Look brood boy, she was indoors at Wolfram and Hart."

"What? No windows?"

"Nope." Cordelia shook her head.

"Has to be the basement then."

"Very clever, maybe next you'll tell me clouds equal rain?"

"Sure," Angel shrugged it off.

"You know she's bringing her girlfriend too?"

"What?" Angel's head snapped up.

"Willow and Buffy, they're lesbians now."

"What're you talking about? Willow's dating Tara, and Buffy was dating
College Boy."

"Ohhhh. I just assumed that when Willow told me she was into girls, she'd
hooked up with Buffy."

"Why's that?"

"Because dumbass, haven't you seen them together?"

"Yeah, they're just good friends."

"Maybe in your secluded brain, but in my universe, holding hands, walking
arm-in-arm, and giggling like schoolgirls, isn't considered being just
friends."

"Well, as long as she's not with a guy," Angel shrugged.

"Figures," Cordelia rolled her eyes, "you're all the same."

******

"How much ya got, Kid?" Glory asked her minion in training.

"Fifty gorans," Anna beamed.

"Great, I should bring you out here more often. You're a magnet for
suckers," Glory said, grabbing the cup of money Anna had begged for. "Wanna
watch me buy my new dress?"

Anna nodded furiously.

******

Dear Diary, (Dawn started off)

Today, Tara and I went to the market along with Leanna, Anna, and Hell
Bitch. Leanna gave me fifteen bucks, well, gorans here, and I bought this
diary with it, so that's why I'm writing here.

Hell Bitch decided to turn poor Anna into her personal slave, forcing her to
beg for money just so she could buy a skanky black dress. Anna even bought
two pearl necklaces for ten bucks each, what a rip. I mean, it's not useful
like my diary.

Anyway, Tara wanted a diary too, but we decided to share after the jerk
raised his price, something about trying to make up for lost revenue. So
she's looking over my shoulder as I write, reading every word I put down.
Hmmm, maybe I should write something bad about her? Scratch that, never
anger a witch.

Buffy, I can't believe I'm writing this, but I actually want you to read my
diary when we find a way back, and that goes for you too, Willow. Tara's
gonna write you some love letters or something. She says she doesn't want
me to read them, but I will. Ouch, hand to back of head hurts.

Well, Tara's getting anxious, so I'll cut my first entry short.

Love you Buffy,

Ladies and Non-Gentlemen,

Here's Tara.


Dear Willow,

I love you and miss you always. Dawn and I are trying our best to find a
way back. Please forgive me for not using the reversal spell, because we
both know that would mean Glory would end up back in our dimension and I
can't let that happen.

Speaking of Glory, or Hell Bitch, as Dawn calls her, she's lost all her
powers in this dimension, can you believe it? It's a riot teasing her. I'm
thinking about making her my personal slave, what do ya think? Former Hell
God, slave to a wiccan? Nice ring to it, huh? Oh, Dawn likes that idea
too, so maybe, slave to wiccans. Yeah, Dawn threatened to hurt herself if I
didn't teach her, so I had no choice.

I would ask you how you're holding up, but I know you miss me as much as I
miss you, maybe more. At least I know I'm you're, I couldn't imagine what
it would feel like if you had been the one to disappear.

Every night, I kiss the picture in my locket, hoping I'll get to kiss the
real thing soon, but the merchant here won't have the spell books Leanna and
I ordered for some time, so we'll just have to sit tight until then.

Speaking of Leanna, she's an amazing story; ran away from home, raised an
orphaned girl at sixteen, not the girl of course, and managed to inherit a
house from a nice old lady. That's the short version, I'll tell you the
long one when I get back.

There are so many things I want to do when I get back home, like tell you I
love you, even though I'm sure you know that, I want to tell you again. Of
course I want to kiss you more passionately than I've ever kissed you
before, and then some.

I guess I should stop there; Dawn's blushing and I don't think Buffy would
want her to read this. :)

Love you always,

Tara.

To be continued.