Fic: Triune (21/?) B/W/T NC-17

["TheBear" <thebear@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Triune

Author: The Bear!

Spoilers: up through season 5

Pairing: Buffy/Willow/Tara (Some of the other Scoobies might get a
little some-some as well)

Summary: Ends the Triad Trilogy- Sequel to the Please Trilogy. The new
Triad deals with an angry Hellgod and new relationships are on the
horizon

Warnings: NC17 Ahoy! I Love BDSM. I Love chains and whips. I love
Sex! If any of these gives you the wiggins, then so will this story.
(Part 21 is pretty much PG-13 Well. probably more R-ish is guess.
References to adult themes and all]

Disclaimer: If I owned 'em, they'd have to show it on the Ecstasy
Network.

========== BtVS ==========

Part 21

========== BtVS ==========

Tara sat sideways in the front passenger's seat of Giles BMW, leaning
back against the door so she could kinda keep an eye on Faith. She
remembered Faith's glowing smile as she walked out of the gates of the
prison. "Why do they make them walk out that big gate?" Tara wondered
incongruously. "Wouldn't it make more sense to let her come into the
lobby and meet us there?" she remembered asking the prison guard when he
told her she could pick up 'the parolee' outside the main prison gates.
"Not a very nice man." She thought. "No point in correcting him."

"You'll be back soon enough." 

She and Xander had been sitting in the car for about half an hour
waiting for the gates to open. "And when she finally comes out that.
*Jerk*... has the. the." she couldn't come up with a suitable epithet.
". to say that, and then it's like he wiped away her smile with that one
comment. He just assumes that Faith wouldn't survive in the real
world." Tara tried to put aside her annoyance, "I guess they probably
see a lot of prisoners who don't make it through their parole. It's not
like he knew she was pardoned. Still, it looked like she took it hard."

"People can be so frustrating," Tara thought. "Sometimes I just want to
shake them, or drag them out to a graveyard at night and show them just
what the 'real world' really is! If that guard ever had to face a
vampire he'd wish he wasn't so mean to Faith. Of course he'd probably
just deny what he saw." Tara shook her head, "I don't know why I even
get mad about it. They'll never change. The world will never
understand what people like us go through just to keep things so they
can be blind and happy. The only time they'll ever believe is if we
fail."

They'd been on the road for about fifteen minutes and Faith still hadn't
said a word. More and more Tara sensed an air of melancholy verging on
depression coming from the dark haired Slayer; until she felt compelled
to say something. "That guard was just being a jerk, Faith."

Faith turned away from where she was staring out the window and
responded, "Yeah. I know. It's just. you know. Got stuff on my mind."

"Not very convincing," Tara thought. "Slumped shoulders and bowed head.
she looks like she's got something heavy pushing her down."

Xander looked at Faith in the rearview mirror and said, "Stuff, huh?
Well, I don't know about you ladies, but I find it easier to think about
'Stuff' on a full stomach." 

Tara looked over at him and couldn't help but smile at such typical
Xander commentary. "I think that's your answer to most things, isn't
it? Everything goes better with food?"

Faith's stomach took that opportunity to add its two cents with a loud
growl.

"See? Faith agrees!" Xander said to Tara, gesturing as though he were
proving a point of contention. "Everything does go better with food!"

"Now that he mentions it, I am kind of hungry," Tara realized.
"Besides, it might break the mood a little." She looked at the Faith
and said, "We can stop somewhere. Xander and I haven't eaten since this
morning either." 

"Yeah, sure," Faith said. "Be nice to get some real food for a change."

"Prison cuisine, not quite up to the fine fast-food standards we know
and love?" Xander asked with a laugh.

Tara noticed Faith's face darken for a moment at Xander's joke, but she
quickly smiled and said, "Yeah, it's pretty crappy."

"Something's definitely bothering her," Tara thought. "She seems. It's
like she's not happy enough to be out of prison? That doesn't make
sense."

Xander said, "Well, seeing as we're still in Chino, we might want to get
a few more miles down the road before we stop for food."

Tara turned back to look at Xander, temporarily thrown off of her train
of thought. "Huh? Chino's a bad place for food?" she asked.

It was Faith who answered, "Yeah; stockyards. When the wind's blowin'
right, the whole fricken pod reeks like cow-ass."

Both Xander and Tara cracked up at that. "Goddess, she looks like a
completely different person when she smiles! It doesn't seem to last
very long, though." Tara thought as she observed faith's smile fall away
once again. "So how do I find out what's wrong, without her getting all
defensive on us?"

The three lapsed into silence for a little while after laughing at
Faith's joke.

"How about good ol' Mickey D's?" Xander asked when they approached
another exit a few minutes later.

Tara looked at the approaching turnoff to see a familiar sight. "Good
old golden arches, sticking way up on the top of a really tall pole. I
wonder if other countries have one chain of restaurants that you find at
every exit, on every highway?" she mused. Reading the exit sign, she
asked, "Chino Hills? I thought Chino was where the cows were."

"Right," Xander began to explain. "Chino Hills is like Chino- except
with no cows. at least none of the 'walking around, smelling bad' kind.
They do, however, have the 'ground up and fried, on a bun with lettuce
and pickles' kind, which just happens to be my cow of choice."

Tara smiled and nodded in agreement, "Yes, much easier to eat that way."

Suddenly, Xander's back stiffened, his eyes grew huge and his jaw sort
of dropped. Tara asked, "What? Is something wrong? Did you see
something?" She began to look around for anything that might have
spooked him.

"No, no. Nothing, I- I just had this really weird thought." Xander
trailed off, his focus apparently inward.

Faith beat Tara to the punch, asking, "Ok, so you gonna tell us, or
what?" 

Xander blushed, "Uh, yeah it's kinda stupid. I just thought, you know
Dead-boy drinks cow blood. and so I thought, you know, what if he turned
a cow?"

Tara stared at Xander for a second, and then flicked a glance toward the
back seat to see the dark-haired Slayer's stunned and amused expression.

Faith quipped, "Vamp Cows?" in a disbelieving voice.

Tara suddenly had a weird thought of her own, "Vampire cattle. Mmm,
Buffy in chaps, roping vampire cattle. She could rassle them, and then
stake 'em."

Tara blushed rather strongly when she noticed Faith staring at her with
a raised eyebrow.

"Vampire Cows turn you on?" Faith asked with a smirk on her face.

Tara looked back and forth for a moment between Faith's smirk and
Xander's sidelong glance and stammered, "Of course not! I- I was
thinking of Buffy in chaps."

By this time Xander was pulling in to the parking lot of the McDonalds.
He parked the car and turned to face Tara with his own smirk firmly in
place, and asked, "And would that be with or without jeans under those
chaps?"

"Goddess, I can actually feel myself blushing!" Tara thought,
momentarily chagrined. She made herself straighten her back and lift
her chin as she answered, "That is for me to know and for you to stop
picturing in your head, Mr. Harris!" She looked over at Faith, who was
staring at her with her mouth kinda hanging open. "Oh my." She thought.
"This is gonna be a long conversation, I can tell."

========== BtVS ==========

"Hey everyone! We're back!" Buffy said with a giggle as she and Willow
entered the Hyperion Lobby. After dragging her eyes away from her pet
and noticing empty room she asked. "Hey. Where is everybody?" 

Cordy's voice came from the office with a muffled shout, "We're in
here!"

Buffy turned to her pet and looked her up and down yet again, thinking,
"My God! Mmmm, mmm, good!" She watched the redhead blush under her
gaze, again, and said, "Pet, I *so* love you in red and black!" 

Willow's smile was already huge and it didn't diminish at all as she
responded, "Thank you Mistress!"

Buffy licked her lips and breathily said, "Come on, I wanna show you off
a little before I take you upstairs and teach you a lesson for being
such a tease this morning!"

Willow visibly shuddered as she said, "Oh, yes, please! Thank you
Mistress!"

"God, I'm half tempted to put the leash on you!" Buffy thought. "Just
that thought makes me feel so naughty and hot. I don't think I'm quite
ready to show off *that* much though." Instead Buffy grabbed her pet's
hand and led her down the steps.

In the office, Wesley was sitting at his desk, leaned back slightly in
his chair but maintaining his customarily stiff posture even in repose.
Cordelia was slouched down in a chair facing the desk, feet crossed and
legs stretched out in front of her. Gunn was leaning against the wall
by Cordelia, and looking at Wesley with a grin on his face.

"So, how was the. sho- sho." Gunn trailed off as he turned to face the
two.

Buffy giggled at the stunned look on Gunn's face. Her glance shot over
to Wesley when he abruptly sat forward, the backrest of his chair
thumping upright as it chased his retreating torso.

Cordelia's expression combined shock and admiration. She blinked a
couple of times and then said, "Willow! I'm. impressed. That outfit's
pretty much in style and. can you actually walk in those pants?"

"Black leather pants and red satin crop-top are *definitely* a hit!"
Buffy thought, as though marking off items on a mental checklist. 

Buffy stepped close to her pet and encircled her waist with one arm;
making sure to stroke the pale, smooth skin exposed between the leather
waistband and the hem of the top. "God, I love the feel of your hot
skin under my hand; I just adore the way you shiver at my touch!" Buffy
thought as she slid her hand around. "Doesn't she look absolutely
yummy?" she asked, nearly gushing in her jollity.

Wesley unconsciously nodded and licked his lips, while Gunn softly
grunted out, "Damn straight!" both men responding despite the rhetorical
nature of the question.

"That's right, Boys!" Buffy thought gleefully. "She's hot, and she's
all mine!"

Cordelia rolled her eyes and said, "Ok, I could have lived without that
visual, thank you very much. Wesley, quit nodding your head, before it
falls off."

Gunn laughed, drawing Cordelia's glance," And Gunn. please, the open
mouthed drool thing? So very *not* attractive."

Seeing Gunn hastily wipe at his mouth, apparently looking for the
non-existent drool, made Buffy laugh out loud. "Maybe I'm enjoying this
too much." She thought. "Nah! But I'd better get Will upstairs pretty
soon, or we'll end up giving them a real show."

Willow whispered in Buffy's ear, "Did Tara call, Mistress?"

"Duh!" Buffy chastised herself. "I guess I was avoiding thinking about
Faith; I should have asked that first thing." Out loud she asked, "So,
did Tara check in at all? Are they coming back yet?"

Wesley looked like he was happy to have another subject to address. He
quickly said, "Yes. Yes, indeed. Xander called and told me that they
had handled Faith's paperwork with the warden and were waiting for her
to be processed out. That was roughly an hour ago, so suspect that they
are en route as we speak."

"They're probably gonna wanna stop and eat on the way. If she's been in
for a year or so, she's gonna want some real food," Gunn said.

All eyes turned to the tall man and Cordelia said, "You think so? Done
a little time yourself, have you Gunn?"

"Yeah, ok, and on that note." Buffy said as Gunn glowered at Cordelia.
"We're gonna go upstairs." She turned and looked at her pet's smiling
face and added, "We'll be back before they get here. probably."

"Are you under a curse, or a spell or something?" Cordelia asked.

"Huh?" Buffy said as she looked back at the former prom queen.

"Is it some kinda Slayer thing? You guys are like bunny rabbits or
something," Cordelia added.

"Hmm, is she disgusted, or jealous," Buffy wondered. "And do I really
care in the slightest, either way?" Looking back to her pet, Buffy
thought, "Uh, I'm gonna go with 'no' on that." She didn't bother to
look back at Cordy when she replied. "Unh uh. no fur."

Hearing Gunn's sharp intake of air, Buffy thought, "Oops. Gunn got it,
anyway." Before anyone else could comment, she said, "We'll be back,"
and steered Willow out of the office and toward the stairs.

She laughed when she heard Cordy's 'Eww, TMI,' followed by Wesley's
confused, 'What?' 

Her pet echoed her laughter as they ran up the stairs.

========== BtVS ==========

"Ok, Blondie. I gotta hear about this," Faith said, perking up with
interest.

Tara breathed out a resigned sigh. "I don't think she's gonna let this
drop; she looks way too interested," she thought. "Of course, I almost
don't even mind. Buffy and Willow are mine, and I don't care if the
whole world knows! How did I ever get to the point that I was
comfortable talking about sex?" she asked herself. "Well, not so much
comfortable, more like. I don't know. Goddess, a year and a half ago
I'd never even *had* sex, and now I'm almost as bad as. well, no, I'll
never be as bad as Anya."

"Come on, share, share- that's fair." Faith said, interrupting Tara's
introspection. "You got the hots for B, huh? What's Red think of
that?"

Xander suddenly began coughing and nearly choking.

Tara looked away from Faith's almost catty smirk, and took in Xander's
rather painful-looking attempt to not laugh. "You think this is funny,
don't you?" Tara said, responding to his hysterics. 

Xander took deep slow breaths, apparently trying to calm himself.
"Funny? Me? No, of course not, what could be funny about that?"

"Oh yes, that was very convincing," Tara said, rolling her eyes.
Turning to Faith, she said, "How about we get some food before having
any conversations about my love life."

Xander nearly leapt away from the car and began walking swiftly toward
the restaurant. "Food; excellent idea, Tara, let's get some food," he
said.

Tara smirked at Xander's hasty retreat, but refrained from comment for
the moment. "I'll tease him later," she thought. She followed him
toward the building, leaving Faith to either tag along or be left
behind.

Faith hastened to catch up, saying, "Uh huh, don't think I'm dropping
this, Blondie. I smell a juicy story, and I want details!"

========== BtVS ==========

The three were sitting at a picnic table outside the McDonalds, on the
side facing the street. Faith was straddling the bench seat on one
side, her body turned with her right elbow resting on the table. Xander
sat directly across the table from her and Tara sat on his right. It
was early enough that traffic was pretty light and only a few cars
passed by at a time. There weren't any people walking by, the few other
diners were all inside the fast-food restaurant, only the three Scoobies
braving the smoggy air.

Faith ate her burger in four big bites, relishing the taste. "Pretty
sad," she said out of the blue.

"What's sad?" Tara asked, pausing just before she took another bite of
her own burger.

"I was just thinking how great this tastes. and it's just a fricken
fast-food burger," Faith said, feeling dumb for even bringing it up.

Xander didn't bother pausing in his consumption, speaking with his mouth
full he said, "Faith, this is McDonalds. There is no bad here." 

Faith turned her head to look at Xander. "Damn he's not even kidding,"
she thought, unable to help smiling just a little at the seriousness in
his expression. 

Changing the subject, Faith asked, "So, what's new in SunnyD besides the
latest big bad? Buffy still knockin' boots with the clean marine?" In
her thoughts she added, "Or, did I screw that up for her too?"
remembering her time in Buffy's body.

"He left; went back to the military, down in Central America somewhere,
I think." Xander said.

Faith stared down at the table. "Damn, I'm so freakin sorry, B. I
really effed up your life, didn't I?" she thought morosely.

"You shouldn't blame yourself, Faith. They got past the body switching
episode after a little while," Tara said. "He left for completely
different reasons, and it was several months after what happened between
you two."

Tara's words snapped her out of her self-pity in an instant. "What, are
you some kind of mind reader or something? How did you know." she
trailed off when she realized what she'd just said. She crossed her
arms in an unconscious effort to protect herself as her mind spun,
"Damn! If she was just guessing, she knows now! Crap, crap, crap! I
gotta change the subject quick!"

"Whatever. Anyway, what about you Xan-man? I remember seeing you with
some blond chickadee at Giles place when I was playing dress-up last
year," Faith said, trying to ignore her slip.

"Faith, come on. Tara's right." Xander said earnestly. "Riley leaving
had nothing to do with you."

"Yeah?" Faith asked, her voice betraying her incredulity. "I wish I
could believe that," she thought sadly. "Maybe so, but it just means
I've got a million things to be sorry for instead of a million and one,"
she said, her head turned away, facing the street again as she hugged
her arms tightly to her body.

"Even so, Buffy can be pretty forgiving, if you'll let her," Xander
said. "I know it's not the same, but I've done things to hurt Buffy
lots of times. Trust me; once you both get past being mad and
defensive, she wants to forgive, to make it better."

"You maybe," Faith thought. "But you're her friend." Turning her head
back just enough to see him peripherally, Faith whispered, "I wanna
believe you. I really do. I- I've just pissed away so many chances,
you know?" She had to blink back tears, thinking "I cry enough in
prison. I'm not gonna be a fricken waterworks out here too."

Visibly pulling herself together and scrubbing away the almost tears,
Faith said, "So you and that blond girl still together?" Her brow
crinkled as she tried to recall the name she'd heard while impersonating
Buffy. "Annie or something, right?" she asked. Mentally she was
begging, "Please just drop it!"

Whether he'd heard her unspoken plea or not, Xander allowed the subject
to be changed. "Anya. We were together for almost a year."

"Were?" Faith asked aloud. Silently she said, "Thanks Xan-man. Gonna
be hard enough to deal with B without airing it all out now."

Xander sighed heavily. "Yeah, we broke up just last week," he said.

"I wonder, did'ja cheat on her too?" Faith thought right away. And
following that, she immediately chastised herself. "Way to make friends
and influence people, Faith! Oh, well. At least I didn't say it out
loud." She looked closely at Xander for a moment. "No tears for Annie,
huh?" she said, commenting on the fact that he didn't look like he was
upset at all "No offense, Xan, but you don't look like you're all that
sad about it."

"Anya, and no, I'm not that upset about it. We were together for the
wrong reasons," Xander said. His voice wasn't bright and chipper or
anything, but he sounded ok about it.

"So, you and Red broke up too?" Faith asked, turning her attention back
to the blond girl.

"Goddess, no!" Tara said emphatically, shaking her head and looking like
she was surprised at the question even. "We're great, better than great
really!"

"She must be pretty damn good if your smile's anything to go by," Faith
thought. After a second she frowned as she suddenly remembered the
reason they were even having this conversation. "Ok, if you and red are
all shooting fireworks, then what's the deal with you havin' the hots
for B? Does your girl know about this little fantasy?"

"Oh yes. Willow knows all about it," Tara said, the look on her face
one of desire.

"You got it bad, huh? And Red's ok with that?" Faith asked. "I can
tell you've got something big to drop on me, Blondie. Gonna make me
work for it?" she wondered. She voiced her next thought, "Lemme guess,
you dress red up and play Slayer vs. the Vampire."

Tara laughed in genuine humor at that. Then she dropped a bombshell,
"Actually, we like to let Buffy play the part of the Slayer, but we have
done something like that."

Xander had been mid drink, and began to choke again, almost as bad as
before. His face radiated lust at the same time he blushed furiously in
embarrassment.

"What the.?" Faith's stunned brain registered Tara's words imperfectly,
as though she wasn't sure she'd really heard them. She gave her head a
little shake and actually went as far as sticking her finger in her ear
and rotating it as though she were cleaning it out. "You wanna run that
one by me again, Blondie?"

The grin on Tara's face changed from a great big one that she wore while
laughing, to a smaller, more relaxed smile. She said, "Faith. Buffy and
Willow and I are together."

Faith was shaking her head again, but slower this time. "No way! No
Freakin Way!" she thought, stunned by Tara's words. Faith could feel
pressure in her hands and looked down to see that she was clenching them
tightly, to the point of knuckles popping and fingernails penetrating
her skin. "I can't even." Her mind drew a blank in mid thought as she
tried to process. 

After the silence had lasted for several heartbeats, Faith spoke again.
Her voice was quiet, but intense as she said, "You, and Red. And B?" 

Tara nodded, the happy smile unchanged on her face as she munched on a
fry.

Now a torrent of thought replaced the stunned silence. Her eyes darted
up to Xander briefly before focusing back on Tara. "And she doesn't
even look smug! I'd be so damned smug, hell I'd probably tattoo it on
my arm for the whole world to see!" she thought. "Christ, I don't think
I'd even believe her, 'cept I can see it in Xan-man's eyes; lust, and
pain. I probably got the same look in mine." Faith looked away from
the smiling witch and stared out at the street.

"Jeeze I envy you," Faith's whispered voice was edging on bitter. 

Hearing Tara's gasp, Faith thought, "Crap; I didn't mean to say that."
When she turned back to Tara the look on her face had changed. "Oh
yeah, she heard that. Narrowed eyes, tight lips. She looks, well, not
so much pissed as. I don't know, like she's gonna let me have it with
both barrels?"

"Faith," Tara began, only to be cut off immediately.

"Look," Faith interjected. "Don't worry about it, ok? I ain't no
poacher."

"I'm not worried, Faith," Tara said evenly, the smile back on her face,
though smaller than before.

Faith shut up and looked at the blond closely. "No, you don't look
worried," Faith thought. "I wonder how come? I could snap you like a
twig; you have to know that, Right? I'm a freakin Slayer, just like B."
She said, "Why the hell not?" Her eyes flicked over to Xander again and
saw something she couldn't immediately place. "Like you know something
I don't." she thought.

"I know my girlfriends," Tara said serenely. "And, I know me," she
added, her voice a little harder.

Faith felt the intrinsic challenge in that statement and was puzzled.
"I shouldn't even be pushing this, it's not like I have any right," she
thought. "Still." she maintained a very even and unthreatening voice,
allowing her confusion to come forth as she said, "That kinda sounded
like a threat." She looked back at Xander and tried to figure out the
look she was seeing.

"It really wasn't," Tara said. Then she stood up, smiling pleasantly,
and started to clean up the remains of her lunch. She asked, "Are we
ready to get back on the road?"

"Yeah, sure," Faith said. "I know that look," she thought, coming to a
conclusion about the expression she saw on Xander's face. "That was a
'you really don't wanna screw around with her' look," she realized. "So
how come it was pointed at me instead of Blondie?"

========== BtVS ==========

end part 21



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