Fic: Triune (25/?) 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 25, NC17. Again]

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

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

Part 25

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

Faith sat at a table overlooking the dance floor at The Room. 'I'm
actually impressed!' she thought. 'Not that I'd ever admit it to that
bitch.' she thought as she remembered Cordelia's claim that she knew
just where to go.

"It's hidden, there's not even a sign," she'd said. "Plus there's no
cover, and it's dark enough that no one'll notice you doing that thing
you do." her last comment had been directed at Xander, and he reacted
with some confusion.

"That thing I do?" Xander asked, clearly looking at Cordelia for an
explanation.

Cordy raised an eyebrow and quipped, "You know, that thing? That thing
where you flail around on the dance floor?"

Xander's eyes looked like they were going to bug out and his voice got
loud. "You mean dancing?" he demanded.

"Only you would call that 'dancing' Xander," Cordy said.

Everyone laughed over Xander's outraged, "Hey!"

So Faith held down the table while the others were out on the dance
floor. 'It's weird; use to be I'd be out on the floor, looking to
score. I dunno, I guess I'm just not up for 'use and discard' right
now. How screwed up is that? I get a free vacation from prison, and
you'd think I'd be out to sow a few wild oats.'

Faith looked out into the writhing mass of dancers, her enhanced vision
amping up the dim lighting like it was daylight as she looked for the
gang.

Cordy and Xander were dancing off to the right. 'He's not so bad as
Cordy made it out,' she thought as she watched them grind and twist.
'Musta' been practicing a lot since high school. I wonder if they
patched things up?' she asked herself as she saw Cordelia's hands
touching his chest and stomach. 'That looks like a lot more than
friends-touchin' to me!'

She looked over towards the bar, where Gunn was getting their third
round of drinks. She checked him out as he started back. 'not like he
can tell I'm checking him out, dark as it is in here. Another reason
being a Slayer fricken rocks!' she thought. 'Tall, moves like he can
handle himself. Must fight ok, if he's been taking on vamps all this
time with only Wussly and Queen C helping him and Angel.' 

She averted her gaze as he got close enough to see her. 'Can't say I'm
sad that Wes bowed out on account of being too British,' she mused. 'Of
course he came up with an excuse, but I'm not the only one who saw
through it,' she thought, remembering Gunn's smirk and "Sure Wes-
Somebody's gotta hold down the fort." 'As for Angel. not sure if I'm
glad he blew this off, or sad that he's not here.' she thought. 

Moving her eyes back to Gunn as he sat down, she smiled and thought,
'Course, it's not like I'm bein' entirely neglected here.'

"A shot of my friend Jack, and a beer chaser, as the lady ordered," he
said, setting down her drinks, as well as his own beer.

She picked up the shooter and gunned it down with a snap of her head.
'Burns so good!' she thought as she enjoyed the feel of the liquor
sliding down her throat. "Oh yeah!" she breathed.

Gunn shook his head and sipped his beer. "That crap'll kill ya'!" he
said with a grin.

"Not me, G, Slayers heal fast," she said with a smile and took a long
drink of her own beer. 'Damn if this doesn't taste good!' she thought.
'I wonder if it's cause I'm out, and I know I'm not gonna be able to
have it again, or if it's just cause 'beer is good'?'

"Yeah, I noticed," Gunn said, gesturing at her with his beer, his eyes
flicking down to the lower part of her face.

Faith's hand involuntarily moved up to touch her jaw where she'd been
hit earlier. 'Damn, B! That was a good one! It still aches a little!'

"The bruise is almost completely gone!" Gunn noticed, sounding
surprised. His raised eyebrow seemed to be begging her to explain.

"Yeah, well. If it'd been a human, or even a vamp; it'd be gone already.
But, B packs a pretty wicked punch," Faith explained.

Gunn raised his eyebrows and leaned forward over the table, "You two
fought?" he asked, his voice laced with surprise.

"Not so much." Faith started. 'I don't think I can talk about this,'
she thought as her stomach clenched with the memories of the intense
emotional outpouring she'd gone through a few hours earlier. "So, you-
hanging with Angel and the gang, what's up with that?" she asked. 

Gunn frowned at the sudden topic change.

'Come on, G- you look smart enough, take a hint!' Faith thought
intensely, almost as if she were trying to project her thoughts to him.

After an interminable pause, during which Faith felt the icy shiver of
adrenaline flow through her, Gunn's face cleared and he answered her
question. "Well, we met tryin' to take down the same nest of vamps.
Then, me and my boys tried to kill him."

Faith's brows rose in surprise. "Been there, done that. Obviously, it
didn't take."

Gunn chuckled, "yeah, well. we crossed paths a few more times, then we
worked together on a couple things, and then he offered me a job."

Faith felt her jaw drop a little. 'What the.?' she thought, now really
surprised. "You *work* for him?"

Gunn shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "The man wants to pay me to
do what I'd be doin' for free anyway? Why the hell not?"

"I." Faith blinked a couple times and closed her mouth. 'Yeah, why the
hell not?' she thought. She leaned back in her chair as well, thinking,
'This ain't so bad; hanging out and talking. never really done this
before.'

Gunn continued in the face of her silence. "I been on the streets,
protecting my turf and fightin' vamps, since I was like thirteen. I've
taken out more and bigger bads since hooking up with Angel, Cordy, and
Wes, than I ever did the whole time it was me and my gang."

Faith got a sly look on her face and said, "Fighting vamps since you
were thirteen, huh? You any good at it?"

Gunn expression turned incredulous as he raised his eyebrows and pursed
his lips slightly. "You kidding? I'm damn good," he stated confidently.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, and added, "But, I
ain't no Slayer."

"Oh yeah?" Faith asked, going from playful to surprised. "You've seen B
in action?" she asked. Surprise turned into resignation as she thought,
'Always back to B. story of my fricken life.'

"Just once. Last night," Gunn said.

'Mmm, something in the way you said that. like you're just itchin' to
tell a story,' Faith thought. Her gaze drifted out over the chaos on
the dance floor as she casually said, "Oh yeah?" 

"Hey, If I'm boring you, just tell me and I'll shut up," Gunn said with
a bit of bite in his tone.

Faith looked back at him as he slouched back in his chair, arms crossed
over his chest. 'Damn, not even a day out and I'm already making
friends.' she thought, chagrined. "Sorry, G. I kinda still got some
issues with B," she said apologetically.

Gunn's frown dissolved into a half smile. "Yeah, I get that, I think.
Kinda feel like the kid sister sometimes?" he asked.

'Christ, I never thought of it like that. Did I join the God damned
mayor 'cause of sibling fricken rivalry? How pathetic is that!?' Faith
wondered. "I guess. it's kinda complicated" she mumbled, staring down
at her beer morosely.

"Hey, no problem. We can talk about something else." Gunn said.

Faith looked up sharply and said, "No! I. I wanna know." she trailed
off. 'Crap! What the hell's my problem tonight?' she demanded
silently. She took in Gunn's startled look and wide eyes and sighed
heavily. Looking back down into her beer she said, "I told you it was
complicated."

"Ok." Gunn began. "Well, basically she was killing vamps, but she was
swinging this huge axe that even Angel hardly ever uses; and she was
choppin' vamps in half, like three at a time with one swing!"

"Three at a time?" Faith interjected. 'Damn, sounds like I missed a
serious party!' she thought enviously. 'I gotta get some stakin' in
before I go back in the can!' "How many vamps were there, and what were
you doin, if she was takin' all the action?" she sniped with a smirk.

Gunn smiled broadly and once again leaned in toward the dark-haired
Slayer. "Oh there was plenty to go around. Lemme tell it from the
start."

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

"See, I knew you'd have fun!" Willow spoke loudly over the funk blaring
out on the dance floor.

Tara smiled a big, goofy smile, not bothering to shout over the noisy
music. 'Goddess, I never thought this could be so much fun!' she
thought happily. 'I was afraid of looking dumb, I guess. I'm not much
of a dancer.' 

In the teeming throng of people on the floor, no one was paying any
attention to the two witches pressing tightly together and moving to the
music. 'They're all in their own little worlds, just like us!' she
thought as she reveled in her lover's touch. 'This is so. primal. So
erotic. Goddess I'm. I feel so hot and. Mmmm' her train of thought was
derailed by the redhead's kiss. 

Having seen many others engaged in extreme making out, both straight and
gay, Tara wasn't embarrassed. She ran her hands over her girlfriend's
back, under the little crop-top she was wearing and thought, 'I can't
believe we're doing this! There's just something so extra-naughty about
doing this in public. Goddess I'm so wet right now!' 

The two danced, staring into each other's eyes as their hands roamed and
their bodies swayed and undulated for several minutes when Tara saw a
sly smile come over Willow's face. At that moment she twitched as a
small pair of hands came around her from behind, stroking the exposed
flesh between her low-slung cargo pants and the tight black t-shirt
Willow had insisted she wear.

"Mmm, Buffy!" Tara said with a happy sigh, recognizing the touch of her
other girlfriend by their spellbond. She looked over her shoulder at
the Slayer's grinning face and saw something wild and passionate in her
eyes. 'What are you thinking, you vixen?' Tara wondered. She looked
back to her redheaded lover and saw a matching devilish look there. 'Uh
oh!' she thought. 

"What are you." Tara started to ask when she suddenly felt Buffy's hands
stroking her tummy lower and lower, moving down under the waistline of
her cargo pants, under her panties, and down to the wet heat between her
legs. 'Oh Goddess!' she thought, noticing Willow grin growing even
broader, until her teeth were bared and just the tip of her tongue was
peeking out between them. 

Tara's head whipped back and forth as she looked around in a panic.
"No, you can't! Someone could. I, uh. nuhhh." her voice degenerated
into a grunt as Buffy's fingers began to manipulate her swollen sex,
squeezing her clit between her outer lips and grinding it around in a
circular motion.

Willow's hands had moved under her shirt and pushed up her bra before
Tara even noticed. Feeling the redhead pinch and roll her nipples
grabbed her attention though. 'Oh I can't believe you guys are doing
this to me! This is so wrong! Its so. so. so good, oh goddess! Oh
Buffy! So good. your fingers inside me!' She whimpered loudly and
didn't even notice or care that it was drowned out by the pulsing music.

'Harder Willow! Hard. oh yes! Just like that! Oh baby, you know just
how to touch me!' she thought, nearly delirious from the onslaught by
her lovers. 'Oh I so hope there's no one looking at us right now, cause
I, I don't think I could stop right now!' she thought as her eyes
slipped shut and she began to grind herself against Buffy's hand,
completely wanton as the lust overcame any lingering sense of shame or
decorum.

Tara had no idea how much time was passing as she rode the wave of
ardent desire and pleasure her lovers plied her with. All she knew is
she was approaching a screaming release. "Oh I'm gonna. I'm gonna!" she
panted out harshly. Then she was vaguely aware of Willow's hand in her
hair and Willow's mouth on her own as she crested the wave. 'Buffy!
Buffy! Buffy!' she chanted over and over in her mind, unknowing as to
whether she was shouting it at the same time. When she became more
cognizant of Willow's kiss, she began to return it passionately. 'O
goddess that was so intense!' she thought giddily, riding the endorphin
rush that came with orgasm.

'You're not getting that all to yourself!' Tara mentally decreed when
she felt Buffy pulling her hand out from her pants. She spun around,
following the Slayer's fingers and sucked one into her mouth as Buffy
suckled the other. 'Mmm, I taste good on you, Slayer!' she thought.
Once Buffy's fingers were clean, Tara grabbed her by the hair and kissed
her for long moments, capturing the last of her own essence on the
shorter blonde's tongue.

"That was. Amazing!" Willow said from right behind Tara just as she
finished kissing Buffy.

Tara turned around, one hand still tangled in Buffy's hair, and gave the
redhead a short, deep kiss. "It was, love! But, now I'm all messy.
You want to watch me make your Mistress clean me up?" she said with a
devilish grin of her own.

Willow's eyes grew huge and fully dilated. She nodded eagerly and Tara
thought, 'I can't believe I'm even thinking of this! Suddenly I don't
give a darn what anyone else thinks! I'm gonna go molest my Slayer
while her pet watches!'

Taking Willow's hand in her left, she turned back to Buffy. She pulled
her hair, bringing her head close and growled out, "Alright Slayer,
you've got work to do!"

Tara pushed Buffy ahead of her towards the restrooms, dragging Willow in
her wake. 

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

"Damn." Faith breathed. 'Buffy's girls got themselves a wicked serious
power-boost since I went away!' she thought, amazed at Gunn's story. 

"Tell me about it!" Gunn said with a grin. "I gotta tell you, I'm glad
they're on our side. Even so, well. you know. I sure wouldn't want to
piss them off." He mumbled and turned away to look at the dance floor.

Faith just nodded slowly. Suddenly she felt a cold chill as she
remembered her conversation with Willow earlier, 'Jesus! She probably
wasn't fricken kidding. she really could 'erase me'.' 

"Holy crap!" Gunn mumbled suddenly.

She wouldn't have heard him over the music if not for her enhanced
hearing. Faith looked up at Gunn, asking, "What?" and noticed his
slack-jawed stare at the dance floor just below them.

"Tell me I'm not seein' what I think I'm seein'!" he said slowly.

'What's up with him?' Faith thought with a frown as she looked down to
what he was staring at. 'Oh God!' Faith's breath came out like she'd
been kicked in the stomach. 'Jesus, I fricken envy you!' she thought
bitterly, feeling an icy leaden ball of jealousy settle inside her. 

Down on the dance floor, Tara, Buffy and Willow were dancing. if you
could call it that.

Gunn's voice was thick with emotion as he quietly said, "I don't think
they meant it literally when they said dancing was just vertical sex."

'You lucky bitch!' Faith thought, feeling herself become intensely
aroused. 'I can't even stop staring at you! Damn that looks like it's
fricken intense!' she thought as she watched Tara twitching to a rhythm
that had nothing to do with the music.

She and Gunn stared in silence, their eyes locked on the passionate
scene below until the blond witch came, her scream smothered by the
redhead's mouth in a fiery kiss.

Faith heard Gunn grunt out loud as she watched Buffy pull her fingers
out of Tara's pants and bring them around to her mouth. She echoed that
grunt when Tara spun around and helped the blond Slayer lick them clean.
'So much for moving past the whole 'use and discard' attitude. I gotta
get laid or I'm gonna fricken pop!' 

Faith dragged her eyes from the triad below up to glance at Gunn, just
in time to see him lick his thick, sensuous lips. 'Damn, I haven't been
this juiced up since I popped Xander's cherry!' Faith thought as she
unconsciously squirmed in her chair. 'Wonder if he's up for it? Well,
only one way to find out!'

"Hey G."

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

'Is anyone in the world as blessed as I am?' Tara asked herself as she
strode up the steps from the dance floor to their table. She looked
back over her shoulder at Buffy and Willow as they followed her and her
smile of satisfaction only grew. 'Not one, but two lovers- each among
the most powerful women alive- both focused on my pleasure. Goddess! I
feel. giddy!' she giggled delightedly.

'Those girls in the bathroom!' her giggles increased as she remembered
the looks on their faces. 'They looked absolutely shocked! Well,
except for the one body-builder/tough chick looking girl- she looked
jealous,' Tara thought with a smug satisfaction that both surprised and
delighted her. 'I still can't believe I did that!'

'I am *so* going to have to reward my pets tonight,' she mused as they
approached the table where Cordelia and Xander were sitting, apparently
taking a break at last from the dancing.

"Xander, What happened to Gunn and Faith?" Willow asked as she and Buffy
sat, still holding hands.

"Yeah," Buffy added, "They hardly left the table since we got here; did
Faith finally get him out on the dance floor?"

Xander and Cordelia both laughed and Xander quipped, "they took off, but
I got the impression that they did have dancing in their plans."

'I love the way you wrinkle up your nose when you're confused, Will!'
Tara thought while looking at the redhead as she tried to puzzle out
what Xander was saying.

"Whaddya mean?" Willow asked in her innocent-little-girl voice.

'I think Faith took Gunn out for a test-drive, Will," Xander said,
bemused. "A mattress test drive?" he added with a waggle of his
eyebrows.

"Oh." Willow said. "Oh!" she added, eyes widening as she got the
implication. "Faith and Gunn?!" she squeaked

"How? When did that happen?" Buffy said, here eyes widening in an
unconscious echo of Willow.

Tara turned to look toward the dancers and glanced down through the
railing at the edge of the balcony area. 'Oh, goddess.' she thought.
'Could they have seen us?' she wondered, suddenly blushing as her
repressed embarrassment peaked out from hiding.

"Gee, I don't know what could have gotten to them." Cordy said
disingenuously, glancing back and forth between Buffy and the witches.
"Faith said something as she dragged poor Gunn off. What was it she
said, Xander?"

"Right," Xander said, failing miserably to keep the wicked grin off of
his face. "She did mention something about being all worked up. I don't
remember, did she say why, Cordy?"

"Something about being inspired I think. inspired by the floor-show?"
Cordelia asked cattily.

"Ladies!" Xander said, feigning concern, "You look all flushed. are you
ok?"

'Oops, busted!' Tara thought, feeling the flush rise in her face even
hotter. She looked at her lovers, who stared back with wide eyes. "You
know what? It was *so* worth it!" she said decisively.

It was Xander and Cordelia's turn to gawk.

Buffy and Willow, still blushing, nodded their heads after a moment. 

Willow smirked and said, "Oh yeah!" 

Buffy agreed, "Totally worth it." Then, as though it had just occurred
to her, she added, "You know, we're gonna be real busy tomorrow. maybe
we should call it a night."

'Oh you're not fooling anyone, Slayer' Tara thought happily. 'You just
wanna cum, and you know the sooner we get back to the hotel, the sooner
you're gonna get naked.' As she was about to say something out loud,
Cordy jumped up.

"You know, Buffy? You're absolutely right. Drive me home Xander?" she
asked, ignoring the girls and focusing on Xander with a raised eyebrow
and one hand on her hip.

Seeing the look on his face, Tara took pity on him. "Go ahead, Xander.
We'll just catch a cab."

To his credit, Xander hesitated, asking, "Are you sure? I could."

"She's sure," Cordelia said quickly as she grabbed his hand and pulled
him up from his chair.

"Ok, I guess I'll, uh, see you. later," he said as he gave in and
allowed himself to be dragged away.

"Looks like everyone's getting smoochies tonight!" Willow giggled
delightedly.

Tara laughed along until she noticed Buffy looking like she'd just
bitten into something sour. "Buffy? What's wrong?" she asked. 

Buffy looked up and met Tara's eyes with a look of loathing. "Ugh,
scary visual place!"

"What? Cordy and Xander?" Tara asked, confused. She thought, 'Not into
the boys much, personally, but Xander's a sweetie, and Cordelia's
certainly worth a look or two.'

Buffy shook her head and Willow piped up, "Faith and Gunn? Cause, I
kinda thought they'd be hot together!"

Tara looked at Willow with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Willow asked, defensively, "I was just saying."

"No!" Buffy interrupted. "Wesley and Angel!"

"Oh, Buffy!" Tara shivered in disgust.

"Ok, Ugghh!" Willow cried plaintively as she clapped her hands to her
face as if to block out the vision. "is it possible to wash your eyes
out from the inside?"

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

Dawn, Joyce and Giles were sitting down to eat in one of the buffet
areas at the Rio- chosen mostly for the fact that they had a free,
nightly, all-ages show called the Carnival in the Sky, which Joyce had
wanted to see. 'I just wanted to see a casino!' Dawn thought. 'Janice
is going to be *so* jealous when I tell her! It's amazing! All the
lights and noise and, and it's like nothing I've ever seen! Oh, maybe I
can sneak a quarter into a slot machine while mom and Giles are watching
the show,' she thought excitedly. 

Dawn suddenly scrunched her face up and twitched. 'God! What is that?'
she thought, hunching her shoulders and looking up at her mom and Giles.
'Giles must feel it too," she thought as she noticed him frowning and
his eyes darting about.

"Rupert? What is it?" Joyce asked, sounding concerned. 

"I'm not sure," he said, sounding distracted as he scanned the area.

Dawn also looked around their immediate surroundings as she said, "Is it
that creepy back-of-the-neck-tingle-thing? 'Cause I'm feeing it too." 

Giles voice was still somewhat distracted, and he continued to slowly
sweep his eyes across the area as he answered, "Yes, it's as though we
were being. watched."

Joyce set her silverware down on the plate just a little bit too hard;
making a somewhat loud clank that immediately drew Dawn's attention away
from the room. "Mom? What? Are you ok?" she asked. 'I can't tell if
she's pissed, or scared. Maybe both?' she thought as she examined her
mother's face.

"Joyce? What is it?" Giles asked, instantly solicitous and focusing on
his lover.

"I hate this, Rupert!" Joyce hissed out between visibly clenched teeth.
"I hate that we have to look over our shoulder, and be afraid to go out
in public!" Her lips quivered and her eyes were shiny as she continued,
"I hate that someone is trying to kill my baby, and I have to sit around
and- and wait while my other daughter tries to kill them first!"

Dawn's eyes widened at her mother's rant. 'Wow! Mom's not taking
things very well,' she thought. 'I guess I never really thought about it
from her side. I always wanted to be a part of the team. I want to be
able to help, to fight, to beat the bad guys. But she just wants us to
all be safe.'

Dawn turned her gaze away from where her sister's watcher was trying to
calm and console her mother and began to scan the room again. 'I kinda
feel sorry for her, I guess. But really, I kinda think she needs to get
over it, too. This is our life; it's weird and stuff, but it's way more
important and cool than other people's. Before Buffy was the Slayer,
she was a cheerleader; like there's a productive member of society!
Dad's more interested in getting into his secretary's panties than he is
in what happens to his family, and mom sells art to people with way too
much money and no taste. She does it to take care of us, and that's
obviously pretty important to me, anyway; but Buffy and Giles and the
Scooby gang- they save the world, like annually or something. And, in
between they save peoples lives and kill the demons and vampires who
think of us as, like walking happy meals or something! That's way more
important than being safe.' She shivered suddenly as a tendril of fear
ran down her spine, and thought, 'not that I'm really all that excited
about getting caught by Glory, or anything.'

"I don't see anyone really looking at us, Giles," Dawn said quietly.

"No, nor did I. It would be prudent, however, I think for us to, to
take precautions," he said quietly, nodding his head as though in
agreement with himself.

"Precautions?" Dawn asked. "Like what? Oh, are you carrying that gun
that guy tried to rob us with?"

"Dawn!" Joyce said; sounding scandalized.

"What? It would come in pretty handy if we're being followed, don'tcha
think?" Dawn said. 'Denial time has got to come to an end mom!' she
thought impatiently when Joyce glared at her.

"Unfortunately, it is in the car at the moment. I thought it prudent to
have it available, so I put it in the glove compartment, but I hadn't
thought we might need to have it with us here." Giles began to explain.

"Do you really think we're in that much danger right here?" Joyce asked
in a strangled whisper, her eyes darting back and forth as if looking
for the source of the perceived threat.

The look on Giles face made Dawn think that he was struggling between a
comfortable lie, and the less pleasant truth. 'I almost wish I could
believe the lie myself, but I don't think that's gonna help us, Giles,"
she thought

Giles face fell as he apparently decided on the uncomfortable honesty.
He took Joyce's hand between both of his own, and looked straight into
her eyes as he said, "I don't know, Joyce. It's only a feeling.
however, Dawn sensed it as well. I think the only sensible course of
action is to assume we are being watched, and, and act accordingly."

Dawn couldn't help but beam at the implied compliment. 'Yes! See, I
can be part of the gang!' she thought, feeling a warm flush of pride.
"So what do we do?" she asked, trying to sound confident and assured.

"We try to behave as normal. We'll act as though we didn't notice
anything and continue on with our evening. I imagine that, so long as
we are in the midst of the throng, we are relatively safe. I imagine
they may try to follow us to where we are staying, and that is the time
we will need to identify- and hopefully be able to lose them."

"Lose 'em? Shouldn't we try to trap 'em or something?" Dawn asked,
disappointed.

Giles frowned slightly, "Dawn, our first priority is the safety of your
mother and yourself."

"But." Dawn tried to interject.

"Dawn, I appreciate that you want to help. You must remember our
mission here, as it were, is to protect *you.* That was the entire
point of leaving Sunnydale."

'Darn logical watcher,' Dawn thought with a little pout. She slouched
back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, looking away from
Giles and her mom, thinking, 'For a minute there I actually forgot that
I'm the target here. I'm not a real person- I'm the damn Key. This
sucks!' 

"Dawn, sweetie." Joyce began.

Shaking her head, Dawn cut her mother off, saying, "He's right, mom."
She looked Giles in the eye and said, "You're right, I get it. I just."
She looked away again, shaking her head gently. "For a minute.
Nevermind." 

Dawn dropped her arms to her sides and sat back up straight. She looked
at her mom for a second, thinking, 'This is so hard for you, isn't it?
You're so worried about me being safe. The last thing you need is me
throwing some kind of tantrum.' She blinked away the moisture in her
eyes and focused back on Giles. "Ok, so how do we lose them?" 

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

Reginald 'no-you-may-not-call-me-Reggie!' Loxley could feel his heart
race as he threaded his way among the clamorous machines that dotted the
floor in this den of iniquity like stones in a graveyard. 'Nearly
detected, by God! Surely he must be a sorcerer to be so sensitive!" he
thought furiously as he made his way to his compatriots. 

"Were you able to confirm their identities?" his commander asked as he
approached.

"Yes milord. It is indeed the Watcher, along with the mother and the
younger sister. However, I was unable to approach closely enough to
overhear anything. As I neared, the Watcher somehow detected my
presence."

"Yes, we saw it from here, however, he seems to have settled. Perhaps
it was chance." the third man espoused.

"I do not think we can take the risk," said the commander. "Their lair
is strongly warded. The Watcher may be some sort of Mage. Or it may
indeed have been chance. Either way, we shall not allow them to escape
us."

Reginald felt his heart slow as he regained his composure. "If the girl
is indeed the one we seek, should we not simply act? What concern have
we with the Watcher or the mother?" he asked.

The commander shook his head in negation. "No, we were charged with
ascertaining the veracity of the information, as well as taking action,
should it prove genuine."

"You do not believe the information brought to us?" asked the third.

The commander's eyes never left the three diners as he answered. "Would
you have me simply accept the word of a traitor? I do not trust this.
person. I do not trust their motives for betraying the Slayer and her
kith," he said.

"Of certainty, retribution is a petty motive," Reginald said. "Yet it
is a strong one." His mid was rife with excitement as he thought, 'If
it should be true. in legends are such men remembered! I can only hope
the opportunity presents itself!'

The commander nodded, saying, "And thus, we are here, for it may indeed
be true."

The third man asked, "How then shall we proceed?"

The commander turned to look at his subordinates and said, "The mother
is the key to controlling the situation. With her at the point of a
dirk, the Watcher shall capitulate, and the girl will be obedient."

Reginald glanced at his compatriot and spoke. "And if it is true?" 

Turning back to watch the three in question the commander's voice was
quiet, but carried a sense of eager anticipation as he said, "If it
should be true. The Key is the link."

All three finished the mantra, ".The link must be severed. Such is the
will of God!"

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

end part 25







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