FF::RoL II:: Revelations and Realizations (12c/?)

[keeper444@xxxxxxxxx]

Here's part c of chapter 12, I kind of oops-ed and mis lettered so there
may be a part e to this as well I'm not sure. K?

Like I've said before without further ado yadda, yadda, yadda.<g> 

I hope you're enjoying the ride.
Later
Alex
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Full disclaimers can be found with part 1 at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/buffywantswillow/message/8661 
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Revelations and Realizations (12b/?)
by: Alex P.
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Besides the soft constant whiring and beeping the room was absolutely
silent, so everyoe heard Faith's first words in over four years.

"Cordy?" Faith croaked, her throat dry and her voice raspy from 
disuse "Is it really you? It wasn't just a dream? Please tell me it 
wasn't a dream."

"Hush now little love." Cordelia whispered softly trying to quickly 
reassure her frightened young lover. "Of course it wasn't a dream, 
I'm right here for as long as you'll have me, my beautiful lover. If 
this is a dream then we are sharing it and I wont ever wake up, so I 
will always be here with you. 
Now my precious Slayer kiss me. 
You haven't kissed me since we left the Astral Plane, and that is
waaaaaay 
to long to keep me waiting for your luscious lips."

Cordelia placed her lips on Faith's warm soft lips that were eagerly 
awaiting the contact. What began as a simple chaste kiss confirming 
their bond, swiftly escalated into a mind numbing soul searing kiss as 
the Goddess' healing gift spread from Cordelia to Faith, reversing 
all the damage done by the young Slayer's original injuries that had 
put her in the hospital and the peripheral damage from four years of 
complete immobility.

As Faith continued to remain in direct contact with her lover and 
saviour she could feel the power of the Goddess' blessing on their 
union, and as her strength returned the dark eyed Slayer took a more 
active role in the embrace, her arms freed themselves from the IVs 
and attached wires, the resulting wounds sealed without spilling more 
than a drop of Faith's blood thanks to the Goddess blessing. 

With her arms free she was able to wrap them around her new lover. 
Holding the mate of her soul as if afraid that if she didn't hold on 
the woman in her arms would disappear and turn out to be just another 
cruel hallucination.

Their kiss and embrace becoming more ardent as they became so engrossed
in 
each other and the heat of their desire combined with the warmth of 
the Goddess' healing gift. They were happily giving themselves over 
to the ever-increasing inferno.

Their interest in each other was interrupted by the loud clearing of 
a man's throat. Embarrassed Cordelia realized they weren't' alone.

"Ah...Faith...honey there's someone here." the brunette whispered 
into Faith's lips "I ah forgot I mean in the heat er ah the well? I 
was kinda preoccupied, and kissing you for real, I mean wow, talk 
about distracting? I think if the world had blown up I wouldn't have 
noticed."

In order to stop her lover from apparently channelling Willow in full 
babble mode, Faith gently placed her fingers to Cordelias' hot, wet 
and slightly swollen lips, and spoke to her softly the love fairly 
oozing from each word and phrase.

"Hush now sweetheart," Faith said quietly her voice still a
hoarse croaking noise, from it's long hiatus, "You're beginning to sound
like Red. I think you'd better handle these people, they seem to be
friends but I 
don't remember either of them."

Cordelia straightened up, and gave Jeffery a hard look. Somehow she 
knew that he was part of the danger that she had sensed was aimed at 
her soulmate and the reason the Goddess had felt it necessary to rush 
her back into this realm to protect her destined mate.

With that thought something rose up in Cordelia that she had never 
felt before. It was beyond anger, even beyond any rage she'd ever 
felt. 

It was like a separate writhing white-hot living flame. It seemed to 
be rising from the true and soul-deep love she had for Faith. It was 
an all-consuming drive to protect her beloved mate far beyond and 
above the protectiveness she'd felt earlier when confronting Jeffery. 

This was something that went beyond mere protection, Cordelia was 
surprised at her own level of determination, at that moment she knew 
in the very core of her being that she would do anything to protect 
the woman lying in the bed beside her, even to the point of murder 
and right now all this protective instinct was focused on the 
smallish man on the other side of the bed.

Jeffery took a step back as her burning eyes focused on him. The 
fierce rage hit him like a living entity, without a word he knew the 
meaning of the sudden change in the formally innocuous young woman. 
Instead of speaking the former monk reached into his pocket and 
slowly took out a second syringe this one filled with a powerful 
sedative and not the demonic poison like the first one. 

He emptied the contents onto the floor then threw the offending 
device to the floor where the glass syringe shattered loudly on the 
hard linoleum covered concrete floor.

"I meant you no harm Cordelia" he said trying not to further 
antagonise the dangerously enraged woman, "I wasn't going to harm 
your mate either."

He heard an almost feral growl coming from the woman; her eyes never 
wavered from him, as if judging the truth in his statement. Jeffery 
had seen that look before but never in a human, it was the growl and 
the almost glowing intensity in her eyes, he realized that made him 
think of his time in India.
***********************
Some hunters had cornered a wounded wolf, but before they could 
finish him it off, another wolf attacked them. She'd taken down three 
of the five hunters by the time Jeffery and his small party arrived 
on the scene. When he was taken to the site of the stand off he saw 
the huge powerful she-wolf standing over the wounded wolf growling 
softly with the glowing promise of death in her yellow eyes.

When Jeffery's lead hunter saw her and the way she was staring at 
them unwavering and completely without fear, he ordered the rest of 
the hunters to back away and leave her to care for her mate. Later 
when they had camped for the night Jeffery pulled the lead hunter off 
to one side and asked why he would back away from a wounded animal, 
and not putting it out of it's suffering. 

The hunter looked at the then monk and shook his head not believing 
the young man's ignorance. 

"I left him because by tonight his mate 
has healed him totally and they now hunt together as it was ordained 
to be," the hunter explained to his poor primitive and ignorant young 
man, "If I had allowed the male to be killed his mate would have 
hunted the entire party down and killed us all one by one."

"But how?" Jeffery inquired, this was why he was travelling, to 
gather the secrets of other cultures and gain an understanding of 
their ways. "Where would a simple wolf get that kind of power and 
strength? I mean yes she was huge but to have the knowledge and power 
to hunt down all of us and kill us. There is no way an ignorant 
animal could to such a thing."

"Ah you have much to learn of our ways and the ways of our Gods I think
young 
man." the hunter answered calmly, after all didn't Shiva herself 
tutor the young and ignorant "Did you not notice anything different 
about those two? The minute the female arrived on the scene the 
male's strength began to return to him. Then once she could stop 
moving and was standing over him, and they were touching. If you had 
looked closely young sahib the male's wounds were healing before our 
very eyes."

"But how...er...I mean what?" a young impetuous Jeffery blurted out, 
his curiosity peeked.

"I will gladly tell you young sahib if you will display some 
patience." the older man laughed, he always enjoyed teaching others 
of the history and ways of his disappearing culture, especially to 
eager young men who would willingly sit and listen for hours and 
asking questions always anxious to learn more, just like the young 
white sahib sitting at his feet now.

"That was no ordinary pair of wolves my young friend." the hunter 
continued, "It was clear by the look in her eyes and the ferocity of 
her attack. Those two were a rare and beautiful thing, they were 
soulmates. Their spirits wander the cosmos going from incarnation to 
incarnation, always seeking and often finding the one that carries 
the other half of their soul. They are very special beings and it is 
a thing of rare beauty and wonder when they get together. 
We call 
them the children of Lakshmi, and the Goddess will do whatever is 
necessary to protect them. Even to the point of allowing and aiding 
that female to stalk us and kill us, even if we killed the female 
Lakshmi would have brought her back to let her come after us as a lesson
to all others to 
leave her chosen ones be. 
Those two were wolves in this incarnation, but believe me I have seen
many human soulmates and the sweet Goddess 
is twice as protective of them."
*****************
It was the exact same look in Cordelia's eyes as he had seen all 
those years ago in India. Seeing it reminded him of the lead hunters 
words of warning and the ramifications chilled him to the bone. 

In his heart he knew that if he had harmed Faith in any way he would 
have been dead soon after. Those mind exploding thoughts were 
interrupted when Cordelia spoke.

"I want you to hear me Jeffery Fallon" she said her voice low and 
clear, and the promise of death was very clear without her speaking 
but she did. "If you try in any way to harm my soulmate again I will 
kill you with my bare hands. You may relay that message to the rest 
of them if you wish. Faith and I are mated and if they try to hurt 
her they will have to deal with me, with the blessings of our 
Goddess."

The former monk nodded his understanding to the very intense and 
dangerous looking young woman on the other side of the bed. 

Also from his studies in India he'd seen and read many accounts of 
the dark vengeful side of the Goddess Lakshmi and he wasn't at all 
eager to face that for Giles or anyone else, well except for Cheryl.  

At the mental mention of her name Jeffery was about to wonder where 
she was when she came up from behind and gently took Jeffery's hand. 
He glanced back and was caught by her beautiful eyes. A tight but 
wonderful feeling started in his chest and spread throughout his 
body, he looked to Cheryl and could see she felt it too.

<>Hummmm<> Jeffery thought with a sly smile <>maybe Cordelia and her 
Faith aren't the only ones in line to receive the Goddess' 
blessings.<>

Cordelia looked back over at the two doctors who seemed lost in each 
other for a moment but the memory of Jeffery's involvement in the 
plot to murder her soulmate in her sleep clouded any vision she had 
of the former monk. In her suspicions she looked over at the female 
doctor and sized her up.

There was an aura around the woman that radiated trust and concern 
Remembering who this woman was and that Buffy and her mother trusted 
her implicitly she decided that if Joyce and Buffy trusted her to be 
Willow's physician then Cordelia figured she would entrust her 
soulmates care to her as well, despite her dubious connection with
Jeffery.

"Cordelia, I know this won't mean much to you but," Dr. Fallon spoke 
determined to let this protective tigress of a woman, know of his true 
intentions. "I want you to know that I had discussed this action with 
Dr. O'Bryan and had thought better of it and we were just returning 
here to see that no one else had decided to move against her. 
I swear to you that I meant your mate no harm. 
That second syringe was a 
sedative in case Mr. Giles was here. I am worried about his aberrant 
behaviour and I suspect he has fallen under the influence of some 
outside force. Please believe me that Dr. O'Bryan had nothing but the 
best of intentions for your Faith"

Cheryl looked over at the smallish man, she had come to know and 
trust, and was surprised at his behaviour, it was as if he still 
feared the young woman and was afraid also for her well being that it 
was possible that the young woman was capable of following through 
with her threats.  

This caused her to view the protective woman in a new light.

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END 12c
TBC
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Ther it is for now part d will be here shortly. I really do hope y'all
are enjoying this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
~AP~