FF:The Spiral Cage 17/?

[Carol.Clarke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Title: The Spiral Cage
Part Seventeen: Ordinary Day
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
Ordinary Day

Buffy nervously shifted several shopping bags around in her hands. She was
fighting a huge urge to flee the mall. A kind of primitive instinct had just
clicked into her body and mind. The vision of her spiral cage flashed
strongly inside her brain making her feel like a caged animal again. She
focused her mind on the fire at the bottom of the cage, the place she could
not step through in her vision. Slowly she calmed herself, she understood it
wasn't time for her to step through the fire.

"Are you ok?" Cordelia asked her lover. 

"Fine, just had a vision of how much it would cost me to mate with you."
Buffy jokingly said stepping out of her role, as she held up the expensive
bags of clothes and shoes Cordelia had already bought that day. 

"You really don't have to worry. I am going to be yet another 'Chase seer'
for Wolfram and Hart. Just like my father and grandfather. And my mother and
her mother. At least the job pays well. Ok, the stock tips that being a seer
gets you, doesn't hurt." Cordelia said as she handed over yet another
package for Buffy to carry. 

Cordelia liked to role-play with Buffy this way. It wasn't enough to play
'Mistress and Slave' at the clubs, Cordelia like to play the roles in other
public places. Shopping was her favorite game, making Buffy tag along behind
her, carry her bags, and lick her pussy in the dressing rooms. In short mall
role-playing was Cordelia's favorite game. 

"Let's take a break and get a coke." Cordelia wisely said. She sensed Buffy
mentally exiting their game; Buffy normally played the game very well. 

A few minutes later they were both sharing an order of fries and drinking
cokes. They both ate quietly for several minutes before Cordelia asked,
"Want to tell me what happened?"

"I just got a feeling, a vampire feeling that something was wrong. Sorry I
stopped the game, I know how much you like to play." Buffy said sadly
looking at the ground sheepishly.

"I know how much you like my pussy during the game. Buffy, it's ok; we
really can go shopping without playing. I like your company. With everyone
else I have to hide behind the masquerade. I've known I was going to be a
seer all my life. And since both my parents, hell, my whole family are
seers; I know what that means. With you I can be myself without apologizing.
And if you promise never to tell her, I like Tara too. If she wasn't yours,
well yours and Willows, I would go after her myself." Cordelia said smiling
up at Buffy. 

"Willow and Tara, not really sure what to do about that. I love them both. I
don't mind sharing Tara with Willow. Only my alpha vampire side has issues
about it." Buffy admitted for the first time.

"Naturally, you want to claim Willow too. She is excellent mate material.
She is both beautiful and powerful. And you're right, you have that whole
alpha-pride vampire-thing going on, Ms. Possessive. Only you can't fight
her, and without fighting her you can't claim her." Cordelia said slowly
thinking over the problem.

"Why can't I fight her?" Buffy said letting her eye change to their feral
cat like appearance, just for a second, to Cordelia's amusement.

"Because you love your family. You can't fight Dawn either. Oh you can
argue, but you can't have a full out vampire fight with her. You're still
half-human. And you can't fight Willow because you know she would win. You
could win using dirty tactics. But you would never do that. You have honor
and so does Willow. So I think what you have done is good. You have learned
to share." Cordelia said with a smile. 

"So which dressing rooms have we not been kicked out of yet?" Buffy asked
with a suggestive leer changing her whole body language and letting her lust
raise to the surface.

"Oh I still know a few. Now carry my things, I have an itch to scratch."
Cordelia said with a smile. 

The woman at the table next to the two young women laughed to herself. "Oh I
must have those two as play things." Glory said to herself, watching the
lovers leave the food court.


&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

"You called your him Ira, not your father?" Dana asked Willow as they drove
to the library in alarm. 

"You must have known at some point that Ira wasn't my father. You're a
doctor, our blood types are a dead give away." Willow said politely as she
looked out the window. She was growing more and more disconnected from the
family with each passing day. Dana was worried sick. 

"Ira was the only man I ever slept with, I never really thought about the
blood tests. And it doesn't matter. Ira is your father. He loves you." Dana
said as she drove her Saturn down the road. 

"You were really in denial for a while weren't you?" Willow replied
sarcastically. 

Dana slammed on the brakes of the car and pulled over to the side of the
road. Once saving on the curb of the street she turned off the engine. 

"Willow, Ira was it! I promise you. I never slept with another man. And you
are really my daughter. God knows you are stubborn enough." Dana said
carefully.

"Have you read the story of Merlin?" Willow asked looking out the passenger
side window and away from her mother. Dana didn't need to look to know her
eyes had turned lavender again. At least they weren't glowing like they did
when she was fully using her magic. This was more subtle, you had to look to
see the difference. If Willow's normal eyes weren't such a stunning green;
you would hardly notice the change. 

"I know the parts you're thinking of, how Merlin changed Urthur to look
like... I forget his name, the husband of Arthur's mother." Dana said
quietly. A glamour spell was not that hard for a professional witch to do,
it was a plausible answer and it fit some of Ira's confusion about their one
and only jump in the hay. 

"That wasn't the part I was thinking of. I was thinking about Merlin's
mother. She wasn't human and that was why he was a strong mage. She was a
goddess according to the legend. It's the best known of a set of stories
called the Merlin Clause. It a series of myths about famous mages,
half-human half something else, goddesses, angels, aliens, you name it. The
mothers are glamour impregnated like the Urthur story. Human males tricked
into mating. Some of the early succubus stories fall into this book." Willow
explained carefully still looking away from her mother. "They even talk
about the Nephaim." 

"Willow that's a nice story, but it's a little over the top. Don't take this
the wrong way but I think your power is giving you delusions of grandeur."
Dana said still looking at her daughter. 

"You terrified I might be right? There is a part of you that believes. Just
like part of you doesn't want to tell me you were stoned out of your mind
when you and Ira had sex. I can see into your mind, I sometimes read your
mind without trying. Each day I grow that much stronger. I am getting ready
for a battle. Something evil is coming. A battle Buffy can't fight. It's not
an accident you and Joyce married. We were always meant to be a family. I
have to finish my transformation soon. The fight is so near us, the grass
sings to me of my coming battle." Willow said turning around and facing her
mother. She still looked like Willow but something had changed in her.
Something so deep inside Dana was shocked, her first reaction was to pull
away. 

"I can help you, if you let me." Dana said as a single tear fell down her
cheek, after forcing herself to just stay in the car next to her daughter. 

"Good, run another blood test. I need to find out who I am. And mom, I will
always love you. I may not turn out to be the person you wanted, but I will
always love you." Willow said putting her arms around her mother and hugging
her. Only when Willow's arms were around her, did Dana's heart rate begin to
slow down to normal.

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

Joyce straightened up a few things around the house. Dana had taken Willow
to the Library to study. It was just her and Dawn and Xander in the house
now. Dawn had taken Xander to her room after breakfast. Joyce wished she
didn't know what they were doing. 

It was hard to be around her children knowing they were sexual. But she also
understood it; Dawn needed Xander just as Buffy needed Tara. They needed it
like they needed drinking water. Dawn was really in flex. Besides the
dream-walking at night, her body raged with adrenaline and hormones. It was
nothing for her to be draped in sweat, running a fever, and so horny she was
nearly insane. Besides allowing her to couple with Xander, she and Dana had
bought her several vibrators. Anything too ease her pain. And she was in
pain at times. The transformation to slayer was a hard one. Hard on the body
and mind. And there was no guarantee she would emerge as a slayer. All of
her suffering could be for nothing. Joyce had watched one of her aunt's die
because her body did not complete the transformation. Because she wasn't
chosen. 

"Harder, Xander! Harder! I need you." Dawn screamed out so loud it echoed
all over the house. 

"I should be happy only one of them is a screamer." Joyce muttered to
herself as she began to vacuum.
She was happy that, as she worked, the machine drowned out the noise of her
youngest child. 

The doorbell rang taking Joyce away from her thoughts. She answered the door
expecting Melissa to be there but instead there was a nun. 

"Hello?" Joyce asked looking over the classically dressed nun in a penguin
suit. 

"Is Alexander Harris here?" The woman asked peeking in the door past Joyce.

"Yes, but he is busy right now, may I help you?" Joyce asked.

"Busy?" The woman asked pushing past Joyce and entering the house without an
invitation. 

"Yes, now how can I help you?" Joyce asked turning away from the door and
facing the nun who was looking around her living room. Joyce couldn't
believe how rude the woman was.

"Oh GOD, YES! FUCK ME XANDER!" Dawn screamed from her room upstairs.

The nun just smiled and took a seat on the couch. "I see what you mean by he
is busy. And you allow this kind of behavior in your house."

"Well it's not a school night." Joyce said sarcastically taking a seat
opposite the woman.

"Well that's something." The nun smiled wickedly. 

"Who are you?" Joyce asked out of the blue.

"I am Sister Sarah Michelle. I look out for Alexander when I can. I went to
his parent's house this morning. I was going to take Alexander to the
convent for a few days, while his parents..." 

"Sober up. Yes my wife and I have meet them several times. They don't seem
to care where Xander spends his time." Joyce said honestly.

"You have a wife?" the sister asked with a look only a nun can give.

"Yes, it's been legal now in the states for about 15 years." Joyce said
defensively as many memories of her own catholic schoolgirl days ran through
her mind. 

"How long have you been married?" The nun asked.

"About 9 months." Joyce admitted. 

"I see. What do you and your wife do for a living?" The nun asked like she
was starting the Spanish Inquisition 

"I run an art gallery in West Hollywood. Dana, my wife, is an FBI
pathologist." Joyce said slowly wondering why she was answering this woman's
question. 

"FBI pathologist?" The nun stated in a disbelieving tone.

Just then the door burst open and Melissa Scully walked in the house. "Who's
up for, yet another sky clad, fun filled Wiccian festival?"

"So you are Witches as well?" The nun asked Joyce, as she looked Melissa
over like she was the anti-Christ made whole. "So are you going to introduce
me to your wife?"

"Sister, this is my sister-in-law, Melissa Scully." Joyce said before
crossing her legs on the couch. Joyce hadn't felt this frustrated sense she
was caught making out with Amy Krutz in the back of the church when she was
sixteen.

"So where is Willow?" Melissa said a little disappointedly walking into the
house and closing the front door. 

"Dana went to drop Willow off at the library. The plan was for you and I to
pick Willow up on our way to the festival. You know how Willow is about
homework. Only Dana hasn't come home yet. To be honest I am getting a little
worried about her." Joyce said to her sister-in-law. 

"Have you tried her cell phone?" Melissa asked. 

"Not yet." Joyce said getting up and going to the phone. Joyce dialed the
number and waited a second. She could hear the phone ringing in Dana's
pocket as she opened the front door.

Dana answered the phone as she shut the door. "Scully."

"I was worried about you." Joyce said into the phone before she hung up. The
two women kissed a few seconds later. Joyce wrapped her arms around Dana and
pulled her close.

"I take it that's the wife?" Sister Sarah Michelle whispered to Melissa.

"That's my sister. Yes, that's the wife, so who exactly are you?" Melissa
asked sensing the strangeness of the nun. 

"Sorry I am so late. Willow and I ended up having a long heart to heart
talk. I am really worried about her. She is just getting more and more
disconnected from people. I know it's a teenage thing too, but I am just
really worried." Dana said still clinging to Joyce in a tight embrace. 

"Oh GOD! YES! YES! YES! Oh YES!" Dawn screamed before she climaxed. Even
downstairs everyone could feel the magical release of sexual energy. 

"So Dawn isn't ready to go yet, I take it." Dana said with a smile before
she noticed the nun on the couch.

"She and Xander both need to clean up first. Melissa, are you in a hurry?
Can we give Willow an hour at the Library before we go?" Joyce asked
Melissa. 

"That's fine by me, I haven't talked to Dana in weeks." Melissa said getting
comfortable on the couch next to the nun. 

Dana took a seat on the matching love seat and padded a spot for Joyce to
sit next to her. "I talked to mom yesterday." 

"I talked to Charlie yesterday. He is planning to come to LA with his bunch
in April. He wants to take the kids to Disneyland." Melissa said with a
smile.

"Yeah mom mentioned that. So he is going to stay with you?" Dana asked
completely in the moment of family politics. 

"Actually he and Jill don't know if either of us have enough room. I thought
we could spit the kids up. Maybe Charlie and Jill could stay with you and I
could take the kids. Either way some of the kids will have to sleep on the
floor." Melissa suggested. 

"Can you handle the 4 boys? We can move some of the girls together for a few
days and give them a bed room. We can figure something out for little
Catherine, and Rachel." Dana said factually. "I'll call Charlie tonight and
talk to him about it. I can't wait to see them." Dana said smiling; she and
Melissa worked well together when it came to family. 

"Ok, now don't take this the wrong way but who are you again?" Melissa asked
turning to the nun beside her. Melissa's small amount of witchcraft ability
was on overtime. She was getting some wild feeling from the nun. 

"I am Sister Sarah Michelle, I am a friend of Alexander, I came by to check
on him." The sister stated. "So you are an FBI agent?" The sister said
turning back to Dana. 

"Yes, I am a pathologist with the FBI." Dana said looking the woman up and
down. Dana felt something odd about the women. Just a strange feeling, not
evil exactly. 

"So you're a medical doctor?" the woman asked.

"Yes, I got my degree from John Hopkins University." Dana replied
uncomfortably, she felt like she was being interrogated. She and Joyce both
squirmed uncomfortably on the love seat. 

"And you and your wife allow Xander to have sex in your home? You condone
it?" The nun asked pulling herself up to her full height. All three women
felt a surge of fear and at the same time the inability to do anything
about. They were all three trapped by the old woman. They had to stay there
and answer her question. 

"We don't condone it, we just..." Dana started to say. 

"And you practice witchcraft in your home?" The nun jumped in with, before
Dana could finish. Dana, who was angry as hell at being treated like a two
year old could only bow her head in submission.

"Wicca is a legitimate religion just like Catholicism." Melissa spoke up.
She was actively using her magic to fight off the nun. 

The front door opened and Tara walked in the room. The room had gone silent
when she entered but she could feel the hostile air of the room. Tara could
also feel the old woman's magic. The nun was using magic to attack the woman
in the room. Tara decided not to strike out at first but to assess the
problem. 

"I finished up early, I was hoping to go with Willow and Melissa." Tara
admitted as she entered the living room. She was still on guard. The magic
was meant to control the people in the room. 

"To this witch thing?" The nun spat out. 

"<zectric maters la more trace>" Tara stated in an ancient Caird magic
language, breaking any control the witch was trying to gain over her. 

The nun spat at the ground and crossed herself before pulling out a cross,
almost like a 1930's vampire-picture stereotype. Tara walked forward; also
spitting on the ground then she carefully and slowly placed her hand on the
cross. When she had a complete grip on it, she removed the cross from the
nun's hands. She looked it over and tossed it to Dana, never taking her eyes
off the nun. 

"Pass it around, she needs to see you all touch the cross to make sure you
aren't demons." Tara explained still eyeing the old woman.

"<Nat Kut nes pai do raaaaves xensum.> Tara said to the old woman, breaking
up more of the nun's spell.

"Yes, I know the old ways. Just like I can see demon blood in your veins,
witch." The Nun said rudely, as she watched her cross being handed first to
Joyce then to Melissa.

"Do you see me denying it? And if you start quoting the whole 'though
shouldn't suffer a witch to live', you might really see my demon side. Now,
old woman, what do you want!" Tara said pointedly.

"Alexander, it's worse then I thought, I should have tried to removing him
from his parents. Now he has fallen in with Witches and Demons," The Nun
cried out.

"And lesbians. Don't forget Lesbians." Dawn said from the top of the stairs.


"Where is Alexander, witch?" the nun asked as she ran to the bottom of the
stairs trying to decide weather to run up them to look for the boy. 

"He's in my parents bedroom taking a shower. I just heard the tail end of
your conversation, Sister Sarah Michelle. And for the record I am not a
witch." Dawn said taking the steps two at a time. She walked past the nun
and hopped in a chair in the living room. "Cross please," Dawn held out her
hands to Melissa to pass her the cross.

"You know her?" Dana asked her stepdaughter, Dana felt the control the nun
had over her slowly leaving her system.

"She is this nun that watches over Xander. She got him the scholarship to
New Pope. She keeps his parents in line, you know what his parents are
like." Dawn explained. She was still flushed from her hormones. She was
actually in heat, her slayer blood forever altering her body so she could be
a slayer. 

"You're in bad shape." Tara whispered as she moved over to Dawn and got a
look at her.

"I'm fine." Dawn said turning the cross around in her hands. 

"I can't... Your body has to adjust on it's own. I can get you some jasmine
tea, it might help." Tara said gently running her hands down Dawn's cheek. 

"No thanks, mostly I want to go practice. I need to blow off steam." Dawn
said looking at Dana.

"Sure, we can leave when Xander is ready." Dana said gently. Dana could see
the state Dawn was in, much like Buffy was in when they were on their
Honeymoon. Almost like a drug withdrawal. 

"What's wrong with the girl." The nun asked worried, turning way from the
stairs and returning to the living room.

"She is becoming one of your gods chosen." Joyce said bitterly watching her
daughter. Joyce was still under the nun's magic. She had to tell the truth.


"Old woman, you still have some sight, look at her, you will know the truth.
<norg maaya sortic>" Tara replied still standing next to Dawn.

"She is becoming a Slayer. In this house!" The nun asked shocked as she
looked at the girl using her inner sight. 

"Why not in this house. Slayers partnered with Witches for centuries, until
the Catholic Church interfered. How many people died that might have been
saved had the church not interfered? And the counsel is not much better.
Just as you see the sin of demon blood in my very human veins. I see your
house painted on your head. You were once one of us. Which tribe do you call
home?" Tara asked bitterly to the old woman. 

"Which do you call home demon spawn?" The nun asked before spitting at the
floor again to ward off evil.

"I am Shrukeritc and Blasque, and I have Morrossic blood as well. I also
have Sirric Mage, and Praisonal Seer demon blood. Maybe more. My people were
healers and seers of the tribe, much was done to keep our powers." Tara said
standing up tall and announcing her bloodlines. 

"I am Sorgric, we were healers and seers too. What have you done to my
Alexander?" The nun accused pointing a finger at Tara. 

"Nothing, he services the pre-slayer. He is not forced, and I believe he
finds it pleasant and rewarding. They are far too young for life mating. And
he is well fed, and cared for, things he does not receive at his home." Tara
stated. 

"Just like a witch, stating half truths." The nun spat back making a
protection gesture with her hand as she spoke. Tara noted with irony that
the gesture was a gypsy one, and not a Christian one. 

"Look in my eyes, do you see any lies. The boy is watched over and even
loved. Now why are you here? To test our faith in trickery?" Tara stated
between clenched teeth. She had been holding back, trying to find a peaceful
solution. She knew the nun's type well. Witches who had left the old ways
for the Christian. The church used them as monitors to the masquerade. 

"Who is the vampire. The one who comes at night for him?" The woman asked
angrily trying to us the full strength of her magic on Tara.

Tara was on her in a second, her eyes glowing, she pinned the nun to floor
she had tossed her on. "LEAVE MY MATE ALONE! SHE ONLY PROTECTS THE BOY!"
Tara screamed as she slammed the woman's whole body to the floor. Dana came
over and carefully pulled Tara off the old woman. Melissa and Joyce
carefully helped the woman back onto the couch. 

"She only protects him. Do you know how many bruises I have healed on the
boy in the last month? She brings him here to protect him. His father's
behavior has gotten much worse since he lost his job. He grows more violent
each day. Xander is not safe in his home." Tara said in a more reasonable
tone but Dana still held on to her. Dana had never seen Tara do anything
aggressive before. 

"I know at times it has been bad. I did not realize it had gotten worse. I
will have to have him removed from his home again quickly." The nun said
mostly to herself.

"He can stay here. We can put a bed in the basement for him. Maybe make a
room for him downstairs." Dawn said as she watched the events unfold. Dawn
had thought about reacting when Tara had attracted the old woman. But Dawn
had not felt any danger; Tara seemed to know what needed to be done. 

"He is welcome here." Joyce stated.

"I have a place for Alexander, he often has to leave his home and come stay
with us." The nun stated.

"This vampire, has no hold on him, I have your word?" the nun asked Tara.

"My mate has hold on only one person, me. Her goal is to protect the boy."
Tara said, before making a strange gesture. A gypsy promise to the old
woman. 

"Why? Why does she protect the boy?" The nun asked.

"Because he is family. Dawn's family. She protects the boy because he is her
sister's lover. It's that simple." Tara explained then spit on the ground
again. 

"I see. I too protect the boy. Tell your mate this." The nun said standing
up and taking the cross out of Dawns hands. And with that she left the
house.

Everyone in the room was still looking at the closed door when Xander ran
down the stairs freshly showered. "So what's up?" He asked confused by
everyone's strange behavior. 


Carol Clarke

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