Fic: Triune (28/?) 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 28 is maybe rated R. There's some innuendo and references to
smutty acts, but mostly it's tame)

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

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

Part 28

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

"I'll tell you nothing!" the knight commander gritted out through his
teeth.

Giles didn't react to the knight's protest, he merely continued walking
around the bound form, chanting and waving the smoldering sage. 'Focus
on the spell, Rupert,' he thought. 'Think about what happened later.'

Upon finding that the knight commander survived Giles chop to the neck,
He had loaded him in the back of the jeep and directed Joyce to quickly
drive them back to Ethan's apartment. He spent the drive holding a
shaking Dawn tightly to him and whispering comforting nonsense in an
attempt to mollify the distraught girl. 

He'd avoided Joyce's gaze in the rearview mirror, having no reassurances
to offer her, none that would have been true in any case.

Finishing his chant, Giles crouched down in front of the subject of the
spell and said, "Now then, let's you and I have a little chat."

"Cursed wizard, your spells shall have no effect on me! God shall
protect me from your dark magics!" the knight commander sneered.

'Bloody drama queen.' Giles thought of the knight's declarations.
"Surely God has no love lost for those who would murder children in cold
blood." he started. 'I hope this spell bloody well works!' he thought,
feeling a sense of tightness behind his eyes from the unfamiliar
exercise of magic.

"The Key is the Link. The Link must be severed. Such is the will of
God!" the knight said with a tone of fanatical certainty in his voice.

Giles steeled himself against the wash of panic that swept through his
stomach and bowels at that declaration. 'How the bloody hell do they
know?!' the thought furiously.

"What is the Key? And how does murdering an innocent girl have any
effect on it?" Giles asked, fishing for any info he could get. 

"You seek to deceive me?" the knight asked, his whole demeanor clearly
displaying his incredulousness. "We know the monks sent the Key to the
Slayer to protect it from the beast, but she will fail. The Key *must*
be destroyed! It is the only way to stop the beast!"

'Do they know, or merely suspect?' he wondered. "And again I ask, what
does any of that have to do with the girl you wanted to murder? If the
Slayer has this Key you're looking for, why go after her sister? Surely
you don't believe that she would entrust something so important to a
teenage girl?" Giles asked. 

The knight's voice was not so filled with certainty as he answered, "We
believe the girl *is* the Key."

'Damnation! How?!' Giles raged. Forcing a chuckle out, he filled his
tone with incredulity as he asked, "Good Lord man! Why on earth would
you believe that? I've known Dawn since she was ten, and I can assure
you that she is quite human."

Giles saw the knight's face change, and for a moment he looked confused
and unsure. "No. the monks. yes, we were told. the memories were
implanted." the knight mumbled to himself. Suddenly his countenance
changed again, suspicion writ large upon it as he met Giles gaze.

"The monks implanted those memories, but you knew that already! You
seek to dupe me, but we were prepared for such lies. I have heard the
entire story, and I know you are fully aware of the Key and how she came
to assume human form!"

"Someone told you Dawn was the Key and sent you here after her?" Giles
asked, trying to maintain his act and gain that last crucial bit of
information. 'Come on you bloody wanker, just one more answer!'

"No, wizard, I'll answer no more of your questions! I told you God
would protect me from your filthy magics!" the knight crowed, not
realizing how much he had already given away.

"Stupid Git!" Giles seethed under his breath as he walked away from the
knight. 

'Doesn't make any bloody sense! No one knows where we are.' he mused
while closing and locking the door to the room where he was storing the
knight. 'And, the only ones who know about the Key, were the monks, and
ourselves, at least so far as we know.' He was still shaking his head
in confusion as he returned to the living room. 

As soon as he entered the room, Joyce jumped up from where she was
sitting on the edge of the couch and quickly moved to him, wrapping her
arms around him and hugging him tightly.

Giles held her to his chest for a moment, then whispered, "How is Dawn?"


Joyce moved back enough to look up at his face and he could see the
overwhelming concern in her eyes as she answered, "Asleep. Poor thing,
she was exhausted." 

"Yes, well this incident has been extremely traumatic for her, no
doubt." Giles said, understanding her concern for the teenaged girl. He
walked with Joyce over to the couch and looked down at the girl in
question with an expression of almost paternal pride. His felt a warmth
flow through him as he thought, 'You surpassed my wildest imagination,
child; I'm so proud of you. I know Buffy will be as well.'

"Do you remember parent/teacher night at Sunnydale High, oh about three
years ago?" Joyce asked in a soft voice.

Giles thought for a moment and then smiled as he answered, "The night
Spike led the attack on the high school."

Joyce nodded her head. "That was before I knew anything about vampires
or slayers or any of that. I- I was terrified, and Buffy took charge
and saved the day. or the night I guess," she said with a brief chuckle.

Giles tightened his one-armed embrace on his lover, not commenting but
waiting for her to continue.

"I was so proud of her; so proud that my daughter could handle herself
in a crisis like that." she trailed off.

'I believe Buffy would say, "I hear a big 'but' coming." at this point,'
Giles thought. 'She presents such a strong image for her daughters
despite the fact that she is terrified of the dangers Buffy, and now
Dawn, must face.'

"But a big part of me wanted nothing more than to wrap her in my arms
and hide her from ever having to face danger again for the rest of her
life." Joyce finished her thought.

"You're their mother, Joyce. I wouldn't expect anything less of you."
He paused for a moment as he experienced the competing emotions of pride
and fear flow through him, as they did every time he sent his Slayer out
into the night. "Did you know that for the first three years of our
working together I made Buffy report in after every single patrol?"

"Really?" Joyce asked, looking up at him.

Giles felt her head move against his chest and turned his gaze from the
youngest Summers to the elder, seeing surprise in her expression. "I
still would to this day; however, when she went to university she
explained to me in no uncertain terms that she was an adult now, quite
capable of handling herself on patrol and no longer needed to check in
with me nightly."

Joyce smiled and snorted ruefully, "That definitely sounds like my
daughter."

Giles nodded thoughtfully and once again looked down at the sleeping
girl for a moment before continuing. "Buffy is the most successful
Slayer in all of recorded history, and I still worry every single night.
I don't imagine that that will ever change." 

Shaking his head slightly, he changed the subject. "We will help Dawn
deal with the ramifications of tonight's events, and we can take some
solace in the fact that she is obviously more capable than any of us had
ever thought."

Feeling his lover's embrace tighten around his ribcage, he looked back
to her and saw the unshed tears in her eyes.

"I love you!" Joyce said with quiet passion.

'Thank God!' Giles thought ardently, admitting for the first time even
to himself, 'I worried that this night might have ruined us.' He turned
to face her directly and cupped her cheek, saying, "I love you, Joyce
Summers!"

With that he leaned forward and kissed his lover, letting his actions
convey the passion his words often lacked.

"Hey, if you two are gonna make out, could you, like, get a room or
something?" Dawn's groggy voice sounded out, startling both of them.

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

"No Gun! You've got to let Deadboy take up the rear!" Xander's voice
rang out as Gunn and Angel came barreling through the doors into the
makeshift training area they'd set up. "If worst comes to worst, or
someone makes a mistake, he can take a bullet and keep fighting- you
can't!" the only remaining male member of the Scooby gang loudly
explained.

Tara MacLay was sitting with her girlfriends off to the side of the
large room, watching the others practice for their upcoming
confrontation with Glory. Xander was guiding Gunn, Angel, Cordelia, and
Wesley through their 'assignments'. Faith was pacing back and forth
near the triad, apparently too filled with nervous energy to sit.

'We should be nervous too, I guess,' Tara mused as she watched Faith
pacing. 'We are going up against a god, after all.' She looked down at
Willow, who was leaning up against her, and Buffy who was lying with her
head in Willow's lap; she smiled broadly at the way the redheaded witch
was unconsciously stroking the blond Slayer's hair.

'How could I possibly be worried? I've got the two most powerful, not
to mention beautiful, women on the planet snuggled up right here with
me!' Tara thought. 'Goddess, I love you two so much, sometimes I think
my heart isn't big enough to hold it all.'

Faith interrupted Tara's reflection, halting her pacing next to the
triad and saying, "Hey, B; you wanna patrol or something? I'm gettin'
kinda antsy just sittin' around here."

Tara smiled as Buffy looked up to her, as if asking permission with her
raised eyebrows and hopeful smile. 'Goodness, I forgot that Faith and
Buffy didn't do any patrolling last night. They're both probably a
little eager to slay. especially Faith!' She looked up at the
dark-haired Slayer, noting her slight frown as she looked from Buffy up
to herself.

'You're wondering why Buffy's looking to me, aren't you?' Tara thought
with a smirk. "Why don't you head up front, Faith. Buffy will join you
in a minute, ok?"

Faith looked back down to Buffy, and then up to Tara again, her frown
growing more pronounced. After a second, she shrugged and said, "Yeah,
whatever," and then stalked off out of the room.

After watching her leave the room, Tara turned her attention back to her
own Slayer, saying, "Well, I think Faith's gonna want to ask you a lot
of questions, Buffy."

"Oh, joy!" Buffy grumbled sarcastically.

Tara grinned, "I think, secretly, you've been looking forward to
patrolling with her ever since Giles brought it up that we'd need her
help."

"That's not." Buffy began, automatically denying the allegation, but her
voice died off as Tara raised a single eyebrow and gave her a 'Don't
even try to lie to me' look. 

Buffy's eyes flicked briefly toward Willow's before moving back to
Tara's as she admitted, "Well, maybe a little." She averted her gaze
and whispered, "Are you mad at me?"

Tara felt a little lump in her throat from the emotion rising in her
heart. "Oh, sweetie, how could I possibly be mad at you?"

"It's just. slaying with another Slayer, it's. I don't know how to
explain it," she explained somewhat sheepishly.

Willow interjected, "I think we get it, Buff. It's like you said. when
Tara and I do magic. Even before we were doing. other stuff. casting
together was just so."

Tara nodded in agreement, understanding what Willow was saying. "It was
indescribably wonderful. I think if we had been separated for a long
time we'd both be really anxious to cast together again, even if we
weren't in a relationship. At least I know I would be." She explained.

"Oh me too, totally!" Willow quickly added. She leaned her head back,
making eye contact with Tara as she said, "Even without smoochies, I
couldn't stand to be away from you for long!"

"Of course, I can't really imagine not having smoochies." Tara said with
a sexy smirk on her face.

Buffy rolled up on to her knees and then popped up to her feet. "You
two save some of those smoochies for me when I get back."

Tara said, "Oh, there'll be plenty of that and more for my hungry and
horny Slayer when she gets back, just don't be out all night!" She
fixed a hungry look of her own on the blond as she said it.

Willow said, "Just make sure the other Slayer knows your hungries and
hornies are already spoken for!"

"Don't worry pet," Buffy said with a feral smile. "Only you two can
satisfy this Slayer!" With that she kneeled down and kissed Willow for
several moments.

"I love watching you two almost as much as I love participating!' Tara
thought happily as her lovers kissed hungrily. Her own heart rate sped
up slightly as she anticipated her turn next.

Buffy didn't disappoint. 'Oh Buffy! I can still taste Willow's
lip-gloss on your lips!' Tara thought as her tongue passed the Slayer's
lips. The realization was accompanied by a warm, gooey sensation in her
stomach. 

When Buffy broke the kiss, Tara had to blink her eyes several times
before she could focus on her smiling pet.

"Mmm, I love witchy kisses!" Buffy said in a dreamy voice. "Don't
worry; I'll be back before you know it!"

"Oh, Buffy!" Tara said as Buffy turned to leave. 'Goodness, what an
airhead I am, I almost completely forgot why I wanted to talk to her!'
she thought.

"Yeah?" Buffy asked, her head turned, but her body looking like she was
still trying to head out the door.

"About Faith." Tara began. "I want you to talk to her. I'm not sure
exactly how to say this; but she, I don't know, didn't seem happy enough
when we got her out of prison the other day."

Buffy turned back around and kneeled down in front of the two witches.
"Whaddya mean?"

"Well, there was the whole drama of seeing the Scoobies again, but even
with that she seemed, well, kinda depressed." 

Buffy just frowned and tilted her head, clearly not understanding.

'Grrr, I'm saying this all wrong!' Tara grumbled mentally. She took a
deep breath and huffed it out quickly, "Ok, it's like this. She was in
prison for, what? A year and a half?"

"Yeah, about that long." Buffy said

"Well, I just thought. wouldn't you be happy if you got out of prison
after a year and a half? I guess I just thought she should be more
excited about it, that's all," Tara said.

Buffy's brow scrunched together as she appeared to consider it. After a
moment she said, "Well; Faith was never really all hiding her feelings
girl."

"No Faith was definitely all about the revealing. mostly of her boobs."
Willow groused somewhat cattily.

"Willow!" Tara exclaimed, somewhat surprised.

"Jeeze, Will. Kiss your mama with that mouth?" Buffy teased.

Willow laughed lightly, "No, just my girlfriends! But, I kiss them
everywhere!"

Buffy's eyes widened in surprise, but she quickly responded, "Well, I'm
gonna go slay some evil, then I'm gonna come back and let you show me
just what you're talking about!" She stood up and looked down at Tara,
adding, "I'll see if I can figure out Faith's deal, 'k?"

'Mmm, Willow-mouth. kissing. everywhere!' Tara smiled at the mental
image. "Ok, Have fun Buffy," she said, her voice sounding a little
distracted as she thought, 'I think I'm going to have to have some
witchy smoochies very soon!'

"Uh huh. Just save me some of that redhead for when I get back!" Buffy
said in mock-stern voice.

Tara felt her skin flush. 'Busted!' she thought not unhappily. "Don't
worry Slayer, I'll be sure to have something for you when you get back!"

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

'Damn, I guess we know who wears the pant in that family!' Faith thought
as she paced the lobby waiting for her sister Slayer to catch up.
'Jeeze B, Blondie's got you wrapped around her little finger. never
thought I'd see that happen. sure as hell never thought it'd be another
girl that did it!'

Faith stopped pacing as her focus turned inward. 'Kinda always wished
I.' Suddenly she started pacing again, her heels stomping and her steps
rapid as she thought, 'No! No freaking way am I goin' there! I pissed
away any chance of that a long time ago and I ain't gonna let it play
with my head!'

"Come on B, I need to stake some vamps pretty soon here, or I'm gonna
pop!" she growled impatiently.

After a few minutes Faith heard the sound of a door opening and closing
down the hall from the stairs. "'Bout fricken time B," she mumbled.
'S'matter, B? Had to get a little 'unh!' to tide you over?' she thought
with a grin. 

'Oh I am gonna ride you about this.' she thought with a wicked smile.

"Ok you wanna tell me what that was all about?" Faith asked as soon as
Buffy finally entered the hotel lobby. "You gotta have Blondie's
permission to go patrol?

Buffy blushed at the question, surprising Faith.

'What the.?' Faith shook her head, a little taken aback. "Are you
kidding me? Blondie has to ok it for you to go on patrol?" Faith asked
with her mouth stretched into a truly predatory smile.

Buffy blushed even harder, but made no effort to deny Faith's words.
"Look, you wanna go kill some vampires, or discuss my love life?" the
blond Slayer asked at last.

'Oh baby! I smell blood in the water!' Faith thought, almost giddy with
anticipation now. She walked over to the blond and put her arm around
her shoulders, leading her to the door as she said in a conciliatory
voice, "Come on B. No reason we can't do both!"

Faith laughed at Buffy's groan of disinclination.

"Don't worry B, we'll start off slow. Tell me everything that happened
while I was. sleeping."

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

As they jumped the fence into the Rosedale Cemetery, Faith's emotions
were in turmoil. 'Damn, B. Didn't pull any punches there.' she thought
as she tried to process the two and a half years of Scooby history that
Buffy had just dumped on her.

They walked in silence for a minute until Faith said, "I'm sorry I
missed all that."

Buffy turned and stared at her, eyebrow's raised.

Faith felt her face get hot, and she ducked her head sheepishly and
added, "The parts where I wasn't there making things worse, I mean."

Buffy kept up her uncomfortable stare for several moments before
answering. "Yeah, well. I missed you Faith. I- I wish things had gone
differently in that alley that night."

Faith didn't need to ask to what the Slayer was referring. "Yeah. I've
dreamed about that night pretty much every night since."

"Forget about it, Faith. You can't fix anything in the past, just
concentrate on what you can do now." Buffy said. "You wanna do some
good now? I think you're about to have a chance." she added looking
back over Faith's shoulder.

Faith shot a look behind her, and sure enough there were five
gang-banger looking guys strolling towards the slayers. 'A little pale
for black guys.' she thought. "Kinda gives a whole new meaning to
Bloodsucker." she said quietly to Buffy.

"Huh?" Buffy asked, clearly baffled by Faith's observation.

"Bloods-suckers!" Faith chuckled, waving her hand to indicate the vamp's
blue gang-colors. When Buffy didn't respond, Faith turned to her and
said, "You really do live a sheltered life, B."

The vamps stopped a couple meters from the slayers, standing in a
shallow 'V' formation.

Faith smirked at the look of outrage on Buffy's face, but before the
blond Slayer could comment, the apparent leader of the vamp-bangers
spoke up.

"You bitches lost or som'in?"

Faith said, "If this is the best public education can do, I'm glad I
dropped out!"

Buffy looked to be fighting a grin of her own as she answered,
"Seriously Faith, do you really believe these guys went to high school?"

The vampire that had spoken looked confused for a moment, then he looked
angry. "Hey bitch, I'm talkin' to you!"

Faith continued her banter with Buffy, saying, "Well they sure as hell
didn't go to charm school."

The lead vamp morphed into game face and shouted, "I'm gonna tear out
your heart!"

Buffy Rolled her eyes and said, "Jeeze, it's like they've got some kind
of 'pathetic, cheesy threats' handbook or something! Come on, this is
LA, you'd think they'd turn a few writers, or something, and get some
better material."

Faith interjected, "That's enough foreplay for me, B. I've been looking
forward to this for, like, eighteen long-ass months!"

With that Faith snapped forward into a full-speed sprint, lashing out
with a straight jab right into the lead vampire's face. There was no
art to it whatsoever, but it was done with such surprise and ferocity
that the vamp didn't have time to react.

The loud, wet, crunching noise carried in the night air, sounding like a
dozen eggs being smashed simultaneously as the lead vamp hit the ground
like a sledge- the entire facial bone structure of his skull shattered
beyond repair.

Since she was turned half way to her left from the punch, she drew her
arm back to the right, striking that vampire with a backfist,
dislocating his jaw and sending him to the turf with a groan of pain.
At the same time, her left foot struck the number two vamp in the side
of his knee, destroying the joint and knocking him over.

All this happened so fast that the two remaining vampires were standing
still, apparently shocked by what had just happened.

"You left a seven-ten split, Faith!" Buffy said with a laugh.

Faith looked over her shoulder, noticing that Buffy hadn't joined her.
"Hey B, you wanna get in on this or what?" she asked, her face glowing
with a feral smile.

"Nah, you go ahead Faith. Consider it my gift to you," the blond Slayer
replied.

Faith felt a warmth wash through her momentarily. 'She really means
that!' she thought. In all seriousness she answered, "Hey, thanks B!
That's real thoughtful of you!"

Buffy looked down at the ground with a sheepish smile and kicked at the
grass a little bit, saying, "I figured you'd enjoy a little scuffle
after being away from the game for so long."

By this point the remaining upright vampires regained enough of their
limited senses to charge the dark haired Slayer.

Faith dropped to the ground in a squat, and pushed back, rolling over in
a backwards summersault and ending up straddling the lead vamp. 

With a comical-sounding 'Thunk' the two that were charging Faith
collided head on in the space she'd just vacated.

Faith whipped a stake out of her belt and dusted the one she was
straddling. She thought, 'I'm gonna have to be nice to B for this.'
She rolled over to the one with the destroyed leg and quipped,
"What's'mater baby? Do I make you all weak in the knees?" She staked
him before he could answer. '.but not before I get the low down on this
triad thing!' she continued her thought.

Spinning on her back and flipping to her feet, Faith snap-kicked the
number three vamp, shattering his dislocated jaw and sending him back to
the ground after he had barely made it to his feet.

She ducked a clumsy haymaker from one of the two noggin-knockers and
punched him in the chest with her stake. She spun and paid the same
favor to the other before he could even throw a punch.

"Minions are like popcorn shrimp," she opined.

"How do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"They go down fast and easy." she trailed off long enough to bend over
and stake the last remaining vampire, '.and when you're done you wish
there were more!' she finished with a laugh!

Walking over and putting her arm in Buffy's, leading them off down the
path, Faith said, "Ok, so now tell me how it is that you have to ask
permission to go slaying?"

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

"Oh Dawn, honey! Are you ok?" Joyce asked, falling to her knees beside
the couch and reaching out to touch her just waking daughter, brushing a
lock of hair from her face and generally exuding a level of maternal
concern that bordered on panic.

"Sure, I'm fine, mom. Just a little tired, you know?" Dawn said
reassuringly. "I just needed a little sleep."

Dropping her eyes to her lap, she thought, 'yeah, that and a great big
rewind button so I could start the day over.' 

"Oh honey, I was so worried. what with everything that happened." Joyce
continued worriedly.

'Oh God!' Dawn thought as the mental picture assaulted her again. She
felt cold fear flush through her body at the images. 'Their heads! They
just. just. it was like the end of a Gallagher show,' she thought as
bone, brain and blood sprayed across the screen in her own little mental
motion picture.

"It's all kinda a blur, Mom. I mean, I know what happened, but it's
like the whole thing is some kind of fuzzy. I don't know. It's all real
vague, you know?" Dawn said, lying through her teeth. 'God, I can't let
mom know, she's already totally freaked out!' she thought. 'Not every
day your daughter blows two guy's heads off right in front of you, I
guess.'

She had to clamp down on the laughter that tried to bubble up out of her
at that thought.

"Dawn, can I. are you hungry, or thirsty? I could make a sandwich, or-
or some tea? Something warm?" Joyce rambled, clearly upset herself and
scrambling for something she could do.

'Oh God, no food.' Dawn thought, feeling nauseous at the idea of eating
anything at the moment. 

She looked into her mother's eyes and saw the emotions there. 'Poor
mom.' she thought. "Tea," she said softly.

Joyce jumped on the opportunity. "Tea, yes tea it is! I- I'll make us a
pot!" 

Dawn watched her mother as she moved to get up, but then suddenly found
herself enveloped in a tight hug. She heard her mom whispering quietly,
but intensely, "Thank God you're ok! Thank God!" 

She patted her mom on the back and lied, "I'm ok, Mom. Really, not a
scratch."

Joyce got up and turned away, walking quickly to the kitchen.

Dawn sat up and crossed her arms under her chest, hugging herself
tightly. 'Not gonna cry, not gonna cry!' she thought to herself angrily
for a minute before she could look up at Giles without bursting into
tears.

Looking up at his face she saw something in his eyes, but wasn't sure
what it was. 'I never could read Giles. except when he looks at Willow
and Tara,' she thought with an internal smirk. 'which is the same way
he looks at mom now. which is kinda 'eww' now that I think about it.'

Dawn dropped her eyes to the floor and suddenly noticed little speckles
on Giles' shoes. 'Eww! gross!' she thought when she figured out what it
was. "Sorry about that." she said softly, the words popping out before
she could censor herself.

"Sorry for what, Dawn?" Giles asked, equally softly- his voice low and
even, thought displaying a slight surprise at her comment.

"Your shoes," she explained, waving one hand toward the footwear in
question. "You know, the whole. 'puking' thing," she clarified, feeling
embarrassed both at having been seen in such a state, and now for
bringing it up. She continued the verbal hemorrhaging, "And, thanks
too. you know, for holding my hair and stuff."

'Oh God, please shut up! Mouth, stop moving!' she raged silently.
'Great and now I can feel myself blushing like some little kid or
something! Good one Dawn!' Her mouth continued to spew forth nonsense,
seemingly out of her control entirely, "Cause, you know that's a whole
'above and beyond the call' kinda thing, really."

"Dawn," Giles interrupted, sitting down next to her on the couch, but at
an angle so he was looking at her more straight on.

"Uh, yeah?" she asked, her babble-train derailed. 

"Dawn, look at me." He instructed gently.

Her eyes seemed to be glued to the floor and it took actual effort to
drag them up to meet the Watcher's. "Um, what?"

"You remember everything quite clearly, don't you?" he asked in a quiet
tone which yet brooked no dispute.

"I." Dawn trailed off, unable for some reason to lie. She felt again
the cold wash of emotion flow through her at his question, and when she
closed her eyes, she again saw the images. 'Jeeze, it's like fricken
Imax theater or something!' she incongruously thought as the mental
replay went by in slow motion, showing every last detail in
supersaturated color and high contrast.

"Please, don't tell mom?" she begged. She opened her eyes and met his,
feeling the tears in her own. "Please? Giles, she'll freak. she's
already freaking out." 

Hastily wiping away her tears, Dawn plastered a fake happy look on her
face and said, "Really, I'm ok. See? It's going to be fine." 

Dawn jumped slightly when Giles grabbed her hands and held them in his
own.

"Listen very carefully Dawn. You can get through this, and you will be
ok, but only if you are absolutely honest with both yourself and with
me."

'God, no please you can't! She'll. she'll lose it!' Dawn thought. She
inhaled sharply to protest, but he cut her off.

"I will make sure your mother isn't overwhelmed with the details, Dawn.
However, you must agree to discuss this with me." 

He leaned in until his face was about a foot from hers, and she could
see both strong emotion and resolve in his eyes.

"Dawn, I know from personal experience what you are going through right
now. You're seeing it all over again, every time you close your eyes;
adrenaline is coursing through your body like a bucket of cold water
poured down your back, but from the inside."

Dawn's eyes went wide. 'Holy crap!' she thought as he described almost
exactly what she was feeling and experiencing. He squeezed her hands
hard, almost enough to hurt, as he continued.

"Living in denial; avoiding the pain of dealing with this experience.
well that is what led Faith to her dark path. I trust that you are
smart enough to learn from her mistakes," he said.

Dawn shook her head quickly, "No way Giles! No way am I gonna turn out
like Faith!" she hissed angrily.

"Not if you'll let me help you."

'If he knows what I'm feeling.' Dawn thought, part of her desperate to
reach out for help, though mostly she wanted to crawl into a hole and
pretend it never happened.

"I. ok," she said with a whisper, dropping her eyes to her lap.

She could hear his sigh, and he let go her hands before he spoke.
"Dawn, the first thing to remember is this: You saved my life. You
saved your mother's life. And, you saved your own life as well. They
would certainly have killed us all."

She flinched a little as he reached to her face and tilted her chin up
till her eyes met his own.

Giles smiled warmly and said, "Dawn, I am so proud of you! It was a
terrible thing that you had to do it, but it made all the difference.
These were not innocents, Dawn. They would have taken our lives without
a thought if you hadn't saved the day."

"I.. I did kinda rescue you guys didn't I?" she asked tentatively. A
slight warmth flushed in her, pushing back a little of the cold as she
looked at his face.

"You certainly did, honey!" Joyce said as she set the tea set down on
the coffee table.

'Hey, she's smiling!' Dawn thought, relieved not to see that
'scared-mom' look on her face. She looked back at Giles and nodded
slightly before accepting the tea her mom was handing to her. 'Ok
watcher-man you win. I'll play along so long as we can keep mom happy
and get these damn pictures out of my head!' she thought, slightly
hopeful instead of paralyzed by the horror that had infected her since
the second body had hit the pavement.

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

'No. Freaking. Way!' Faith shouted in her mind.

Faith and Buffy hadn't made it twenty yards from the scene of Faith's
first post-prison slayage when her mind and body came to an abrupt halt.
She wanted to know what the story was between Buffy and her lovers- why
she had to ask permission to go out on patrol. "Uhh." she said
helplessly.

Buffy stopped after a couple steps, apparently just then noticing
Faith's predicament. She turned back to the brunette Slayer and Faith
could see the embarrassed blush on her face fading rapidly. Soon there
was a naughty smile gracing the blond Slayer's face.

'Oh God!' Faith thought as Buffy reached out and traced down her cheek
with a single finger.

"What's'matter, Faith?" Buffy said, sounding like a little girl as her
voice became high and breathy. "Does the thought of me all naked. and
chained up. with Mistress Tara whipping my smooth, round butt with a
riding crop. tears running down my face as I scream in pleasure and
pain. does that make your mind go all wonky?"

Faith shivered in lust at the mental image Buffy was painting for her.
'Oh my God!' was all her brain could muster in response.

"Or." Buffy continued, drawing her hand back and rubbing her stomach in
a slow, deliberate circle as she whispered, "Is it the thought of me,
cuffing my naked little pet Willow all spread-eagled to the bedposts.
and then straddling her face, grinding myself into her hot little mouth.
riding that long, strong tongue- until I'm screaming my brains out.
Maybe that's got you all worked up?"

"Holy Christ, B!" Faith's voice squeaked out.

For several moments Faith stood there slack-jawed and completely
brain-shocked while she watched Buffy's hand moving on her belly. 

She finally snapped out of it when Buffy said, "Faith, you're drooling
Faith."

The taller Slayer immediately snapped her mouth shut, embarrassed to
find that Buffy hadn't been kidding. 'If this is how I made Spike feel
at the bronze last year. Jeeze, I almost feel sorry for the guy!'

Taking a step forward, Faith became immediately aware of another
embarrassing wetness. 'Crap, these panties are ruined for sure!' she
thought with a grimace. 

Suddenly Buffy started cackling at the top of her lungs. "Oh my God!
You should have. you should've seen your face Faith!" she cried out
between peals of laughter.

'Jeeze I can't even be pissed, she got me too fricken good!' she thought
ruefully. "I can't believe I heard those words come out of the mouth of
little miss goody-two-shoes Buffy Summers!" she complained
half-heartedly as she began to walk down the path once again.

Still wiping tears out of her eyes, Buffy said, "Yeah, well, I'm not
quite as uptight as I used to be."

"That ain't no fricken lie!" Faith said vehemently. Her body was still
buzzing with a combination of amazed shock, and unresolved sexual
tension.

"Hey, you wanted to know! If you weren't ready for the answer, you
shouldn't have asked the question." Buffy said with just a hint of smug
superiority in her voice.

Shaking her head, Faith thought, 'Still trying to wrap my mind around
the concept. B is playing BDSM games with her girlfriends. B! Ms.
Follow the rules, good girl B!' Her emotions were churning between
lust, surprise, envy, desire, embarrassment, and confusion as she
continued to muse on the subject, 'Not only is she doin' all that.
jeeze, I never ever figured I'd hear stuff like that come out of her
mouth even if it was true. I don't know which is freaking me out more!'

"I just figured you were pussy-whipped," Faith muttered, bemused. "I
didn't think it was literally!"

Buffy just laughed again at that.

After walking in silence for a few more minutes Buffy spoke again, her
voice sounding somewhat tentative as she asked, "Faith? Can I ask you a
question; a- a personal question?"

'Share, share; that's fair I guess.' Faith thought. "What, you wanna
know if I was playing queen of the prison cotillion or something?" she
asked sarcastically.

Buffy rolled her eyes, "No- thank you, but no. No prison sex stories
for me."

"Sure, B Shoot," Faith said, thinking 'How bad could it be?'

"Are you feeling ok, Faith?" Buffy blurted out rapidly.

Taken aback slightly, Faith frowned and slowly answered, "Uh, sure B.
Five by five." After another moment she added, "That's the personal
question you wanted to ask?" 'Ok, my mind must still be mush from the B
in bondage thing, cause I don't get that at all.' she thought.

"Um, well. Tara said that. when they got you out of jail you were.
well, kinda depressed." Buffy mumbled, apparently as uncomfortable with
discussing Faith's feelings as Faith was herself.

"Yeah, well. prison's not a very happy place B." Faith said, somewhat
annoyed. 'Last thing I want to think about right now is that fricken
place!' she thought, feeling the cold knot in her gut that still hadn't
completely undone since leaving the California Institute for Women.

"Sure, I- I didn't think it would be. it's just."

"Spit it out B!" Faith snapped, the annoyance growing.

Buffy looked down, mumbling, "You know what? Forget it Faith. I'm sorry
I brought it up."

Faith stopped walking and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. 'You
know, I need to learn to stop being such a bitch, at least
accidentally,' she thought.

"No, B. I'm the one whose sorry." She opened her eyes and sought out
her sister Slayer's gaze. "It's just. I really don't like thinking of
that place. But, you wanna know something, you go ahead and ask.
That's, like, the least thing I owe you."

"Then why were you depressed *after* they got you out? I figured you'd
be all with the Woo Hoo! I know every time I've ever been locked up
somewhere, I was always really, really happy to get out, you know?"
Buffy began verbally hemorrhaging at the mouth.

"Ok, I get it B. Yeah, I was pretty excited to get out. and, you know,
to get the chance to apologize to you guys and maybe even get a shot at
clearing up a couple karma points for helping you guys take out the hell
bitch and all." she trailed off, thinking, 'Christ, I didn't want to
think about this any sooner than absolutely necessary!'

"Then what happened, Faith?" Buffy asked softly, stepping close to her
younger counterpart.

Faith dropped her eyes and whispered, "It just makes it that much harder
when I gotta go back." She turned around, not wanting to see the pity
on Buffy's face.

"Why?" she heard Buffy's confused squeak.

"Why?! Whaddya mean, why? It's like a taste of freedom and something
good and then I'm gonna have to give it up all over again! I mean, you
know, the first time, I didn't know what I was getting into. Easy
enough to turn myself in, I was feeling all guilty and stuff, and I
figured, 'Jail. how bad could it be? I'm the Slayer and all, no one's
gonna get in my face.' but it ain't the threat of being jumped that
makes prison so fricken horrible, B. It's like this big rock tied to my
chest, crushing me down when I'm in there. you can't possibly imagine
it, how bad it is B."

"But." Buffy started to speak.

Faith cut her off, spinning around and looking straight in her eyes. "I
don't know if I can do it, B," she whispered, feeling all the horror and
pain and fear come rising up inside her. 'Christ, I feel like pukeing!'
she thought. 

Buffy grabbed Faith's shoulders and gave her a little shake. "Faith!"

Faith's eyes wandered back to Buffy's face, and she again interrupted,
whispering intensely, "I don't know if I can make myself walk through
those fricken gates! I don't."

"Faith!" Buffy shouted, again shaking the stricken Slayer. "You don't
have to go back!"

"I don't know." Faith was still muttering, her mind and emotions
battling as she argued in her head, 'Can't be a fugitive, I'll never
atone if I. What did she say?'

"Faith, you don't have to go back to prison!" Buffy repeated herself
loudly.

"I. Huh?" Faith was too confused to really grasp the concept. 'How.
why?'

"Giles told us, he said the only way to get you out was, I guess the
watcher's council had something on Davis, something about electricity
and kickbacks. I didn't really pay attention. but they got the Governor.
Faith are you listening?"

'Jeeze, I thought the Buffy in bondage thing was hard to understand,'
Faith thought incongruously as she tried to pull herself together.
Blinking her eyes a couple times and shaking her head to try and clear
it, Faith refocused her attention on Buffy's face. "What. what are you
sayin' B?" she asked in a breathless whisper.

Buffy's face split into a huge grin as she said, "Faith, you were
pardoned. You're free!"

Faith did something she hadn't done since becoming the Slayer. 

She fainted.

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

end part 28



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