FF: The Spiral Cage 4/?

[Carol.Clarke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Title: The Spiral Cage
Part Four: Breathing Lessons
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss Whedon owns Buffy and Chris Carter owns the
X-Files. 
Rating: NC -17 
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. 
Thanks: I can't believe I forgot this: THANKS TO CHERYL HILL!

The Spiral Cage
Breathing Lessons

It was a little past 4 a.m. Connor and Scully had toured several blood clubs
and demon hangouts and gotten nothing in the way of information on there
murdering Krastien Vampire. Scully had gotten an eye opening education. It
was clear Vampirism had a connection with sex, and not just S & M hard core
sex, she had seen tender loving moments, as well, between vampires and
victims. Those moments more then the whips and chains had bother her. And
they also made her think of Joyce. She was absolutely in love with Joyce
Summers and remembering her lover she smiled as Liam held the door to the
small diner open for her.

The allnight diner was small, and mostly done in 1950's style. Scully
doubted it had been remodeled since the 1950's anyway. They made their way
to the back of the diner to one of the back booths where a waitress was
pouring coffee for another custom. As they rounded the corner Liam stopped
and looked at the young girl in the booth eating a large breakfast of
pancakes and eggs. 

"Tara?" Liam said in a cheerful tone Scully had never heard him use before.

"Angel!" The 23-year-old answered with a huge smile. "Sit down, it's been a
few weeks." The girl then grabbed her dishes and sledded them and herself
over to make room for Liam to sit down beside her. Liam smiling sat down in
the booth next to her, waving Scully to take a sit on the other side of the
booth. 

"Tara I would like you to meet my new partner, Dana Scully." Liam said with
a hand guesture in way of introduction. "Dana this is an old friend of mine
Tara McClain." 

"Nice to meet you." Scully replied as she eyed the girl carefully. It wasn't
always easy to tell vampires on sight.

Tara looked at the red head and began to stutter a little, "I I I amm m
nnnot a," taking a breath she finished, "I am witch, not a vamp."

"Tara is a friend of Oz." Liam replied as the waitress filled his and Dana's
coffee cup.

After the waitress had taken their orders and left, Dana asked, "Who is Oz?"

"Oh, I haven't mentioned Oz yet?" Liam said as if something had dawned on
him. 

"The ever homophobic police." Tara muttered taking another bite of her food.


"Oz is my.... a a , Oz and I are sort of, I mean..." Liam muttered looking
at his coffee.

"Boyfriend, lover, life partner, fuck toy, God Angel you're over two hundred
years old, it's not that hard." Tara said in a sharp tone.

"I am so glad you stopped dating Lihah Morgan. She clearly had an effect on
you." Liam replied before drinking some of his coffee. 
"I stutter less because of Lilah, but your right, I am glad the bitch is out
of my life." Tara replied before looking at Dana. "Daniel, I mean Oz, he
hates to be called Daniel. Oz and I grew up together, we have know each
other all our lives. Oz and Angel have been together for about 5 years.
You'll never get any details out of Mr. Broody." Tara said with a smile
looking Dana over. 

"I see you and I are going to need to have more girl talks about 'Angel.' He
doesn't exactly talk about himself often." Dana replied with a smile that
made Liam nervous.

"Great!" Liam muttered, but he was smiling just a little. 

"So tell me about yourself, Dana?" Tara asked.

"I just got married, her name is Joyce. I have a daughter who is a few
months short of 17. I have two stepdaughters, one is almost 18, and the
other is 15. And Liam and I have been partners for about 7 months. And this
is the first personal thing I have every found out about him." Dana
answered.

"She is a pathologist." Liam added.

"A doctor, now that is impressive." Tara replied.

"Tara is a professional healer, mostly she works the demon population, but
she is very good." Liam said. He knew Tara didn't have great self-esteem so
he always tried to give her a small boost when he could. "Actually Tara you
might be able to help us, we are looking for a Krastien Vampire. He would be
about 25, dark hair, more anal the most of them." Liam asked.

"The murder. Heard about that. Word on the street is there is a reward for
him dead or alive. He broke the masquerade so the Clan chiefs are putting up
the reward. They want him off the streets of LA ASAP. My guess is, if he is
hiding, he is either with his own people or, he is not 'In the Life' " Tara
answered.

"In the Life, you don't mean that in a gay lifestyle kind of way do you?"
Dana asked trying to put together Tara's words; it was more then just
listening between the age gap. And she had recently heard the term 'in the
Life' somewhere, somewhere close to home, but she couldn't remember where
exactly or rather who she had heard use it.

"It's code for in the demon world. If it's over heard humans don't give it a
lot of thought. There are a lot of codes, most of them aren't deep." Liam
explained. 

"So I just spent the night club hoping for nothing?" Dana concluded sadly.

"My best guess is, he is not doing time 'in the life.' He is hiding out in
the human world. Maybe has a regular job. Krastien's are daywalkers, and
normally live around humans anyway. It's not a stretch. The great houses
really want him off the street before LAPD, or the FBI, the human kind, get
this guy." Tara said gazing off to the side holding her crystal necklace as
she spoke. Dana could see the small crystal was glowing in her hands as she
spoke. 

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

Liam had quickly changed the subject while at the same time he took the
crystal necklace out of Tara's hand and quietly slipped it back inside her
shirt. He had turned the conversation back to Oz. Scully had been interested
to learn that Liam's boyfriend was a 25 year old shapeshifting werewolf, who
played lead guitar in a band with his best friend Devin. The most
interesting thing to Dana was that Liam kept the conversation light and
mostly about his personal life. It was clear he didn't want Tara drifting
into 'the life,' in her conversation. 

After they finished eating, Liam dropped Tara off at a run down apartment
two blocks away. Dana had been careful not to say much and to let Liam drive
the conversation. Liam was not a big talker so it was amazing to watch. Once
Tara was safely inside Liam started the engine and said, "So what do you
want to know, Dana?" 

"That speech in the restaurant, about were the Kristien is hiding, you took
it as gospel?" Dana asked carefully.

"Tara is a very powerful witch, not some, wannabe Wicca, or new age dabbler.
She comes from one of the strongest lines of witches in the world. Her
mother was a great healer. Amazing woman. Tara has her gift. But Tara is not
a seer; she is an intuitive witch. There are many kinds of witches, just
like there are dozens of sub-species of vampire. Bottom line is, her hunches
are normally closer to the truth then some people's truths. Only once she
has dipped into that power, you can push her too far and she burns out. You
saw how bright her cystral was glowing. And she was working all night. I
couldn't let her... I have seen Tara pushed to far, takes her weeks to
recover." Liam said sadly. It was clear he really cared about the girl.

"So you really do care about her?" Dana asked slowly.

"She is Oz's best friends. Yeah I care. She just got out of this really
abusive relationship." Liam added the last part suddenly. He wasn't sure
were he was going with this line of thought, but his fangs were poking into
her lower lip and he could feel his own anger flow over him.

"Oz and Tara were on the street, mostly on there own when they were teens.
Oz's parents had both skipped a line in the wolfman curse, so when Oz turned
out to be a wolf they didn't know how to deal. Tara's mom died when she was
about 14, and her father, went off on a hating magic phase, and knocking
Tara around. He knocked her mom around all the time. Anyway she and Oz just
up and moved to LA. They had contacts in the life, cousins, relatives that
got them jobs. Anyway when Tara was about 15, hell she might have been 14,
she ended up with this lawyer from Wolfram and Hart. Lihah Morgan, a real
piece of work. She got Tara really in the life, paid for her training as a
healer, and knocked her around worse then her old man ever did. It's because
of Lilah; Tara does the work she does."

"Tara was out working tonight, you could tell by the way she was eating.
Building back her energy. The thing is, some of her clients aren't the good
guys. Most are the counsels choice not hers. That or Wolfram and Hart's
clients, which is even worse then the counsels. Tara's life will never be
totally her own." Liam said with such venom it made Dana squirm in her sit.
She could see his full vampire game face on as he spoke. 

"I hate Lilah Morgan." Liam stated before silence fell across the car. He
had slipped back to his human face.

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

Buffy had managed to get a few hours of sleep when she got home. She
actually didn't need a great deal of sleep anymore, a few hours at a time
here and there and she was ok. She had gotten in the shower first. She had 2
sister instead of one now, so being the first in the shower was an important
part of the day. 

After showering she used the towel to clean part of the mirror's fog away so
she could try and get a good look at her back and bottom. With the glamour
spell it was easier to see in a foggy mirror. Her upper back was healing
nicely, just a few faded bruise here and there, but her bottom was not as
lucky. She could still see the welts across her butt cheeks. They didn't
look fresh but they were a day or two from healing. Staring at herself in
the mirror she missed the sound of Willow opening the bathroom door. 

Willow opened the bathroom door, walked in, shut it quietly, and
hyperventilated looking at her stepsister's bruised body.
"YourhurtanditonewellsexSandMwhathappened?" Willow got out between her first
breath.

Buffy quickly slipped on her bathrobe and said, "Breath Will, just relax and
breath."

Willow tried to calm herself, and focused on her breathing. She never
thought she would be getting breathing lessons this way from her stepsister.
After a minute her breathing was normal and she asked, "Buffy that...."
Willow pointed out Buffy's bathrobe covered bottom. "S & M?" 

"I fell on a board with a nail." Buffy answered sarcastically. 

"Maybe the first five times, but the other ten was just for fun right?"
Willow replied still staring at Buffy's bottom. She could feel its heat
through the robe. One of the down sides to being a witch. 

"Willow it's none of your business ok, my body, my life. And stop using your
witch stuff. It's unnerving, ok." Buffy replied trying to turn her body out
of Willow's probing senses. 

"It's consensual, you like that, no one is making you do it right." Willow
asked seriously. 

"What do you think." Buffy said rudely trying to push past Willow. Willow
grabbed Buffy and pushed her back against the counter.

"I think I am someone who cares about you, and wants to know everything is
ok. I am not your enemy Buffy. Ok I am not your friend either, but I do
care, so stop being such a bitch. Beside my guess is your more of a sub? So
just tell me the truth." Willow said still pinning Buffy against the
counter.

"What, you read a book on it?" Buffy asked but didn't attempt to move.

"Actually I read several book on it, my favorite was Macho Sluts. Mom still
doesn't know I have her copy. I could lend it to you. Buffy just tell me
your ok, that's all I want." Willow said the last part sincerely.

"I'm ok, please just let it drop." Buffy asked this time trying to pull
away.

"Ok but sore?" Willow asked still not letting her stepsister move.

"Very sore, but it was worth it. OK now let me go." Buffy said this time
wiggling out of Willow's hold. 

"With who, Pike or Cordelia? I don't see Pike as the spank it man. Cordelia
I could believe if she wasn't the closet queen. So who were you playing
with?" Willow asked this time she used her magic to lock the bathroom door
and seal it. She knew Buffy could actually see her magic and would know what
she had done.

"You are not going to let this be are you. Buffy said stomping over and
sitting down on the bathtub edge. Then remembering what part of her body was
sore she quietly stood up. 

"No. Just tell me. Consisted it a safety thing." Willow stated giving Buffy
her full resolve face. 

"You don't know her, Jenna well and Tara." Buffy smiled when she said Tara's
name. Even Willow picked up on crush going on there. 

Willow unsealed the door and said, "See that wasn't hard at all." The
redhead knew she had pushed Buffy as far as she could at the time. Later she
would find out about Jenna and Tara. 


"Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments is
for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential
and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or
distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please
contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original
message."