FF: The Spiral Cage 2/?

[Carol.Clarke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Title: The Spiral Cage
Part Two: Honeymooning with the kids
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss Weldon owns Buffy and Chris Carter owns the
X-Files. 
Rating: NC -17 (Part two is PG)
Pairing: Joyce/Dana the rest wait and see
Note: This story is in an alternate universe. It does not follow cannon
story lines. The people are different in places because they have lived
different lives. Dana Scully is a lot happier in this world. Dawn was there
from the beginning. And Buffy isn't the Buffy you know. Also there are many
kinds of vampires and demons, mixing them from the X-file world and BTVS,
and other myths. 

The Spiral Cage
Honeymooning With the Kids

The first few days of their vacation / parents honeymoon was spent in Las
Vegas. They were staying at the Fitzgerald on Freemont Street. It was a nice
enough Hotel, and there was always something going on in town. If nothing
else they could watch the 4 different electronic shows that were the main
stay of the covered downtown mall at night. 

Buffy had felt ok during the day. The caged animal feeling was still there
but not as bad as it was at night. They had taken the tram to the strip
during the day, and gone to the Coke and M & M museums. Then they had toured
the different hotels, and finally the wax museum. They had ridden a few
roller coasters, and had the Star Trek experience. Dawn and Willow were
still talking about the Romlun Ale, which was nothing more than root beer in
a glass bottle, with a Romlun label. 

Dana and Joyce had tried the Klingon Ale, which was actually a dark beer.
Her mother had let Buffy have a small sip. She had watched Dana as she tried
the beer carefully. She had a vision of Dana whipping out her gun and
arresting her. It was actually a running theme in many of her nightmares.
One of many. Her nightmares were getting to the point where she slept only a
few hours at a time. Leaving her on edge, and nervous, she felt like she was
a caged animal in a never-ending spiral cage that swirled down into the
bottom of hell. 

After they had eaten diner, they had gone to see the water show at the
Bellagio, then walked down to the Mirage for the volcano eruption, and
finally to Treasure Island for the Pirate Show. The walking and the action
had helped to put Buffy at ease as the sun set across the desert and tall
buildings that made up Las Vegas. After the Pirate Show Joyce and Dana had
gone inside to gamble a little.

That's when the first bit of weirdness happened. Buffy was watching her
mother and Dana at the Roulette wheel from across the room where the under
21 crowd was allowed to drink cokes and watch. She was fighting very hard to
not let her eyes change. After the sun set her eyes would dilate, sometimes
they would look more like cat eyes than human but when they turned she could
see better at night than during the day. 

Buffy was sulking, and sipping her coke as her mother and stepmother bet on
the table when she felt a stir beside her. At first it was just a small
stir, then she let her eyes shift just a little, just enough to follow the
magic. Someone was helping Dana cheat at Roulette. Someone was using magic
to nudge the ball to a number or colour her mother or Dana had bet on. She
could see the flow of magic across the room. She could watch it push the
little ball as it rolled on the wheel. Turning her head she followed the
magic back to its owner. 

"Willow stop, they have monitors here. They know." Buffy said quickly,
looking around the room trying to spot the monitors that she knew were there
in the room. No one had told her about them, she just knew. She had felt
them around the city. Had seen them in her nightmares and visions. 

"What?" Willow had said quickly but she had jumped and turned red when she
answered. It was clear she knew she was guilty of something. 

"Any town that makes its money on gambling is going to have magic monitors,"
Buffy explained letting her eyes change back, as she felt for her
sunglasses. She wore them now day or night. It was the only protection she
had against her ever-changing eyes. 

"How did you know it was.... you could tell?" Willow whispered in total
surprise.

"What are you two talking about?" Dawn said turning back around to her
sister and step sister. 

"You and your Aunt Melissa are both witches, and your mom doesn't know
anything about it. I'm really good with the not knowing. So let's just leave
it at that," Buffy said cryptically before she got up and headed out the
door to look at the pirate ships again. 

"What the hell was that all about?" Dawn asked.

"I don't know, but you sister is...." Willow stopped to think before she
finished her sentence, "going to need our help sooner or later. Sooner I
think."

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)))))

It was well after midnight in a town that never sleeps. Buffy had actually
slept for a few hours. She had needed the sleep, but her body would not let
her sleep more than a few hours. Her sister and Willow were curled up
together in one of the twin hotel beds. The honeymoon couple was in the
connecting room. She had slipped into the bathroom and dressed silently
before she made it to the front door. She checked her pocket to make sure
she had the motel key card then she slipped out of the room. 

"Going somewhere?" Dana asked standing outside the door in the hall. The red
haired FBI agent was carrying a freshly filled ice bucket. 

"For a walk, I am surprise you're still up," Buffy answered carefully
smiling, but she was also checking her sunglasses as she answered. Her eyes
were almost glowing, and if she had been outside she would have been ready
to see in the dark. 

"You should be in bed." Dana said as she watched Buffy carefully.

"I was, I woke up. I am just going for a quick walk." Buffy tried to
explain. 

Dana looked up and down the hall, then said, "Fine, but first we are going
to have a talk." Dana put the bucket down outside her room and grabbed
Buffy by the arm. There was no question in the blond's mind that her
stepmother was in law enforcement. Dana dragged Buffy up the hall and into
the elevator. 

In the next few minutes Buffy found herself sitting across from Dana in the
back of the restaurant on the second floor stirring an unwanted cup of
decaffeinated coffee. 

"Take off your glasses," Dana ordered before taking a sip of her coffee.

"I don't want to," Buffy answered then took a sip of her coffee. She didn't
like it, so she put it back down on the table. 

"I don't remember giving you a choice. Take off your glasses." Dana said
evenly putting her own coffee down and looking right at Buffy.

"Fine, but I am not on drugs if that's what you think," Buffy actually would
have preferred to be on drugs at that moment. She had to concentrate very
hard to get her eyes to dilate back to human. Once the sun went down they
automatically shifted on their own and it was getting harder to make them
behave under her control. Feeling them shift she slipped off her glasses and
stared back at Dana.

Dana reached over and places a gentle hand on Buffy's head and stared into
her eyes with a clinical glance.

"They look clear now." Dana answered then added; "Buffy there is something
wrong. And as a doctor, well you are acting like someone going through
withdrawal. You're nervous and hyper. It's very clear something is bothering
you and while I understand you're not happy about me marring your mother, I
really don't think that's what it is." 

"It's not you, so don't worry about it. You're better than most of the dykes
mom dated." Buffy said rudely while putting her glasses back on. 

"Teen defense games are not going to change my mind, something is wrong. Now
you can tell me what it is and I can help you. Or you can not tell me, and
when we get back you are going to get a full medical exam and a drug
screening." Dana said evenly still staring at Buffy.

"Even if I told you, and there is nothing to tell, you would still make me
have a drug screening when we get back so what is the point." Buffy said,
defeated. 

"If you were in my place what would you do?" Dana asked.

"Oh reverse psychology, good." Buffy replied with a smile. 

"It's still a valid question, what would you do, given your behavior?" Dana
asked again then patiently waited for an answer. She had questioned hardened
serial killers in her day; a drug addict stepdaughter really wasn't going to
throw her. 

"I would do the screening I guess. But it will be clean," Buffy said out
loud, then to herself added I hope. She wasn't using drugs, but she no
longer thought she was completely human. When you can stand in front of a
mirror and watch your eyes glow in the dark. And wolves come to talk to you,
you like walking in cemeteries and the undead give you addresses to the
local dominatrix's house, you begin to realize you're kind of different.

"I am glad it will be clean." Dana replied. "Buffy I want to get along with
you. I love your mother, and I want us to be a family." 

"Even if I am a junkie?" Buffy asked half jokingly. 

"If you had a drug problem, then we as a family will deal with it. Lots of
people have drug problems. It's not the end of the world. And from your
behavior, I think it's more like, maybe withdrawal than using right now. But
that is just a guess. It could be a lot of things, like being upset over
your mother getting married. A reaction to a new toothpaste. Frankly Buffy
the facts are not in yet." Dana said smiling as she brushed Buffy's hair
out of her eyes. 

"Toothpaste" Buffy answered then asked, "May I please go for a walk, I'll be
careful and I won't leave the area, just out front where there are lots of
people. Just for a little while." Buffy was actually begging, she needed to
move, to run. The caged animal inside her was boiling over.

"Ok, but just a short walk, and when you get back you knock on our door to
let us know you're back." Dana replied. 

Buffy didn't even look back; she shot out of the booth and practically ran
for the door.

Dana just sat in the booth and finished her coffee. As she took the last
drop and placed her cup back, she thought, 'Please let it just be a drug
problem,' Having once worked on the X-Files, she had an idea of many of the
other possible reasons for her step daughters behavior. None of them were
good.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Outside and freed from her stepmother, Buffy began to run. She ran as fast
as she could away from the crowds, then and only then did she let her mind
begin the hunt. 




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