FIC: Si Vis Amari part 1a/?

["Beckett, Kevin" <kevin.beckett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Si Vis Amari, Ama (If you want to be loved, love) Part 1/?
K. Beckett (c) 2001, with the exception of musical lyrics which are (c) 
the individual artists / labels.

Disclaimers etc:

Please see part 0 for all the disclaimers and stuff.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five 
acknowledged senses have been enclosed in <>.

mailto:kevin.beckett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Part I, Aquila non captat muscas (The eagle doesn't capture flies)

I want to lay down on your shoulder 
Just inside your arm 
I want to listen to your heart beat 
And your breathing on and on 
I want to lay down on your shoulder 
Surrender to your peace 
And go to sleep 

And when we've gone a million miles 
Made true our dreams with sweat and bone 
After we've built it up with our bare hands 
Made strong a place we can call home 

Sleep
Melissa Etheridge, Breakdown
(c) 1999, Melissa Etheridge

The city of Sunnydale California was wrapped in the blanket of darkness 
and smothered by a fall fog. There was hardly any wind and the 
temperature had not noticeably dropped from the unseasonably hot 
temperatures that had cooked everyone earlier in the day. It was the 
ebb of the night, just before three, and there was stillness 
throughout the city, not all of which could be explained by the hour, 
or by the weather.

Deep in the industrial section of the city the mists were, if 
possible, even heavier as they clung to the poorly lit streets and 
sidewalks. The streets and sidewalks were slick from the mist, and 
water ran from the facades of the old soot covered brick buildings 
that lined both sides of the streets to be collected in pools that had 
formed in the potholes of the streets and in the cracks in the 
sidewalks. The shops and small manufacturing ventures, which 
dominated this area, were all closed for the day, with thick steel 
bars and shutters blocking their windows and doors. The lighting was 
sparse, and originated from old, sodium based, streetlights, thus 
turning the mist into a deathly pale orange. The area was worse than 
poorly maintained, the city fathers having decided that spending money 
on more 'public' areas was a better, and more voter happy, use of tax 
dollars.

There was a thick oily, almost metallic, odour, which clung to the fog 
and was a constant reminder of the work done in the area during the 
sunlit, safe, part of the day. This smell had been mixed with the 
organic odour of uncollected garbage and other refuse, which had 
accumulated along the edge of the street and was heaped in the various 
side alleys that criss-crossed the entire area. The old twisted 
streets and alleys turned the area into a maze that few were able to 
navigate, at any time of the day, with safety.

In the middle of a small side street appeared two figures, their 
bodies disturbing the fog as they purposefully walked down the street, 
causing the mist to swirl up and briefly follow them before it 
reformed on road. The figures paused every so often to carefully peer 
down each alley and cross street, as if searching for someone or 
something, before continuing their late night stroll.

"Damn, this is spooky," said a young and incredibly muscular woman, 
to her taller, copper-haired, companion. The woman appeared to be 
barely into her twenties, and aside from her amazing physique her most 
visible feature was a shock of snow-white in her otherwise long dirty-
blond hair.

"You said it lover," replied the other, also very fit, young woman, 
as she wrinkled her pert nose in disgust at the odours assaulting it, 
"this is totally not natural weather."

"And for once, it's not our fault." Buffy paused, yawned, and 
stretched her arms over her head, causing her shirt to rise up and 
expose the tip of a red sword which appeared to be tattooed on her 
belly. 

"Yeah, but still it is a bit weird for southern California," Willow 
said, before adding, "how much longer love, it's late and we need to 
get home and see to the kids?"

"Not much," said the slayer checking her watch, "just a couple of 
streets to go, then we can head back."

"Good," said Willow.

"Hold on for a sec, will you Will," asked Buffy, her enhanced 
senses perceiving something in the surrounding area.

"Yes love," replied Willow, turning back to face her companion, 
"what is it Buff?"

"My demon triggers are tingling," replied the slayer, all attention 
now focused on the surrounding area as she attempted to discover, and 
define, the threat that she had perceived. "There be things out 
there; several things."

<What type of things,> asked Willow, as she focused her inner eyes, 
thereby adding all of her considerable paranormal abilities to the 
task of seeking non-human essences.

<Don't know,> replied Buffy, moving towards the edge of the sidewalk, 
<but better to have a building to one side of us, just in case.>

"Better safe than sorry," agreed Willow, as she too moved to stand 
next to the building. 

Both young women warily looked up and down the dimly lit street, 
looking for anyone, or anything, out of the ordinary. Neither woman 
was particularly worried, for they had faced armies of demons, but 
neither were they careless. They knew that one slip, one tiny mistake 
and that either one or both of them could be very dead.

Suddenly, both women turned and looked across the street at the 
entrance to a small, almost invisible, alley. Within moments three 
indistinct figures exited the passage and took up positions on either 
side of it, facing the young women. They paused, as if waiting for 
something, or someone, before beginning to leisurely cross the street. 
As they crossed they slowly moved apart, in an attempt to flank their 
intended prey.

<What do you think Red,> asked the slayer, moving to her right and 
towards the closet of her opponents.

<Definitely not human,> replied Willow, as she began to draw up from 
her reserves the energy she was about to employ in a spell, <do you 
want me to fry them, or what?>

<Not just yet,> replied Buffy, <let's see what we're dealing with 
first. After all, they may not be evil.>

<Ever the optimistic one, aren't you lover,> replied Willow, changing 
her intended spell to one suggested by the slayer. The archmage 
concentrated for a moment, stretched out her hands and then whispered, 
almost to herself, "Soilshey ny greiney!" As she finished the last 
word a basketball sized ball of blinding light appeared at her 
fingertips, dispelling the darkness from a huge area of the street.

Willow looked at the ball of deadly energy she had collected and then 
said, "daunsagh!" The effect was immediate. The ball sprung from 
her fingers up into the air and began to move back and forth, almost 
rhythmically, between the two young women.

"Nifty spell lover," said Buffy, appraising the source of 
illumination.

"Thanks," said Willow, "at least now we know one thing about our 
'friends' over there."

"And that is?"

"Well, they're not vamps. If they were, the light would have burned 
them to a crisp."

"Point," replied the slayer, turning her attention back to the 
three, now distinct figures, which had momentarily stopped their 
journey across the street. "Let's see what we do have then, shall 
we?"

Revealed by the bright ball of magic were three, definitely demon, 
beings. They were all the same type of creature, each sporting yellow 
skin, blue-green hair and jet black eyes. Their arms ended in claws, 
each with four pointed fingers. The sudden light had caused them to 
pause, shielding their eyes, halfway across the small street, no more 
than six meters from the young women.

"Well," drawled Buffy, "what do we have here then?"

"Looks like a trio of demon boys," replied Willow, "out on the town 
for a bit of relaxation."

The three demons were totally unprepared for these events. Until the 
street had been lit by the sudden ball of light they had planned to 
attack, and then feed on the two foolish humans who had wandered into 
their territory. The light, and the bantering tone of voice between 
the two women had caused them to pause in the execution of their 
initial plan; however, it was only a pause, and they soon decided that 
the two humans were still easy prey, magic powers notwithstanding.

The nominal leader of the group stepped forward and called out, 
"foolish humans! You will die for being in our territory, and your 
bones will make soup for our young!"

"That solves the naughty or nice question," said Buffy as she sprung 
into action.

Buffy jumped at the demon on her right, balled her hand into a fist, 
before delivering a vicious backhand to his head just as she landed 
just in front of him. As the demon staggered under Buffy's blow she 
proceeded to sweep his legs out from under him, causing him demon to 
drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Before the first demon had hit the ground Buffy had already turned 
towards the leader of the group.

"You're next, ugly," snarled Buffy as she leaped towards the 
startled demon.

The remaining two demons had been stunned by the speed and the 
ferocity of Buffy's attack; however, they recovered quickly and began 
to spar forcefully with the slayer. This strategy proved to be their 
undoing, since it left Willow with plenty of time to complete her next 
spell.

Concentrating for a moment Willow reached deep within the magical 
realm for the energy she needed. She paused, calmed herself and then 
yelled, "gleiy loshtee!" With the completion of her spell a bolt of 
flame sprung from the palms of her hands towards the nearest demon; as 
it hit him it burst into sticky entrails that clung to the demon as 
they then began to burn through his clothes, attacking his flesh. The 
demon dropped to the ground screaming, all thoughts of killing the 
humans gone, and began to roll around, trying to put out the flames; 
however, nothing the demon tried diminished the flames, they stuck to 
his body, as if they had been glued there.

The flaming demon provided enough of a distraction so that Buffy could 
finish off the third opponent. As he turned to look at his companion, 
who was attempting to stop the flames ravaging his body, Buffy 
delivered an upper-roundhouse kick to his head, snapping his neck, 
killing him before he hit the ground.

Buffy quickly turned back towards her first opponent, however, seeing 
how easily the two humans had dispatched his former companions the 
demon had already fled, to disappear back into the thick fog.

"Damn," said Buffy, "missed one."

"S'ok love," replied Willow, as she came up behind her lover and 
embraced her in an intense hug, "two out of three in less than five 
minutes is still pretty good, even for us."

"I know," replied Buffy, "but I hate leaving one behind. 
Especially one that will almost certainly blab to others that we are 
patrolling this part of town now."

"They would have figured it out eventually," said Willow, as she 
turned Buffy to face her, before reaching down and kissing her 
passionately.

After a few minutes they broke apart and Buffy whispered, "what was 
that for?"

<You know. After all our minds are one.>

<I know, and thank-you. Shall we head home? Slaying makes me 
'excited' too.>

"Let's," said Willow, "but first let me take care of the trash."

Willow concentrated, and then focused on the two demon bodies. As she 
released her focus the bodies immediately decomposed into their 
component elements, which were rapidly dispersed by what little wind 
there was and absorbed by the mists.

"Damn, witch girl," said Buffy appreciatively, "that still 
impresses the hell out of me."

The two women turned back the way they had come, and hand in hand 
began their walk home.

Deep in the shadows stood another, non-human, figure that had watched 
the preceding events with intense interest.

"So," she thought to herself, "the stories are true. The slayer 
has a powerful companion. And, what's more, that companion is also 
her soul mate. Interesting."

The demon turned away from the slayer and the archmage and with a 
swirl that could have been a cape, or could have been something else, 
began to move quickly in the opposite direction.

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Within the hour Buffy and Willow arrived back at the new home that 
they were sharing with their family in addition to a large number of 
their friends. They had both moved out of their dorm room during the 
previous winter; the strain of motherhood, on top of their duties as 
guardians over the hell-mouth, had caused the two of them to suspend 
their studies for the conceivable future.

Buffy, Willow, their daughters and their four companions had found, 
purchased and moved into a massive red bricked three story house which 
had been built in an elongated u shape on a east-west orientation. 
The house was close to both the centre of town, and to the suburb in 
which both Buffy and Willow had lived, and where their parents were 
still living. It was in an exclusive part of town, and several of the 
neighbours had asked unanswered questions as to exactly where the 
resources to purchases, renovate and maintain the house had come from.

The house was old, having been built at the turn of the century; 
however, it had been maintained in excellent condition. It comprised 
of over twenty rooms, more than enough for workrooms, bedrooms and 
nurseries. Thanks to the efforts of all of the new inhabitants, and 
their families, it had been decorated and renovated to meet the 
diverse needs of its new occupants. Buffy, Willow and their spouses 
Bridie and Aiofe, along with their four children and their ward 
Samantha, currently occupied the eastern wing of the house the house. 
The senior mages Amana and Grael had taken up residence in the other 
wing of the house; which was also the location of the new workrooms 
and an enormous library. The central portion of the house housed the 
'public' rooms, the living and dining rooms, the public study and a 
massive kitchen / family room / eating area where the extended family 
did most of their socializing. The house, with the constant craftwork 
and slayer business, was never completely quiet; however, it was set 
back far from the street, surrounded by a tall fence, backed by hedges 
and other old growth and so the neighbours, while curious about 
exactly what the new inhabitants were up to, were never disturbed, nor 
was their curiosity ever satisfied.

As they were walking up the old slate path to the house Buffy turned 
to Willow and said, "looks like there are still a few bodies up and 
about."

"They better not all be, Sam has school in the morning."

"I trust that Amana has made sure she was in bed at the proper 
time," said Buffy, "but I don't think that anyone else was."

"Their loss," said Willow, "I'm for the bath and bed as soon as 
possible, this heat and our little expedition has coated me in 
sweat."

"Ditto love," replied Buffy, "I only hope the kids cooperate."

Within the hour the two women were sharing a long relaxing soak in 
their massive bathtub, having fed and resettled their daughters.

"This was such a good idea," sighed Willow as she slipped into the 
steaming water.

"What," asked Buffy, "having a bath?"

"No, silly," replied Willow, "I meant renovating the house to 
include a proper bath."

The bath was more pool than a bathtub. It had been built in the old 
summer kitchen, which had been at the back of the house. The pool was 
a metre and a half deep with a surface area of over ten square meters. 
It had been tiled and had a ledge half way underwater that went around 
the perimeter, perfect for casual lounging. The bath was permanently 
filled with near scalding water that was constantly being refreshed 
and circulated.

The old kitchen had been further transformed to take advantage of the 
steam generated by the pool. Oak and maple panelling and benches had 
been installed along the walls, and there were several large storage 
cupboards for towels and other bath necessities.

Both women were relaxing in the pool, their heads cushioned on towels, 
and their legs floating out over the water. The hot water, combined 
with the hour was causing them to be both very relaxed and very 
lethargic.

"You know love," said Buffy, "I've been thinking."

"Dangerous," replied Willow, "I keep telling you that."

"I know, but."

"But what?"

"It's not the same anymore."

"What's not the same?"

"Life, slaying, you know - my reason for being."

"What do you mean," asked a suddenly concerned Willow, as she swung 
her legs back underneath her, and sat down.

"Oh, relax sweetie," said the slayer, "I'm not planning anything 
stupid. It's just that given all we went through things here have 
been quiet and..."

"And," prompted her lover.

"And, well boring."

"How can you say that," asked Willow, "don't you remember 
everything that's happened since we returned?"

Willow was referring to the roller coaster of events that had happened 
since she and Buffy had returned from their travels. It had been an 
eventful nine months.

It had begun with the numerous, seemingly endless, explanations the 
evening that they returned to family and friends. They had all wanted 
to know how Buffy and Willow could in the space of what looked like 
minutes have entered a dimensional portal alone, and returned with 
seven others, two of whom were badly injured. Not to mention that two 
of the people who returned with them were their daughters.

(Continued in part 1b)