FIC: A Firm Foundation (7b of ?)

[Red Willow <st8sboroblues@xxxxxxxxx>]

Title: A Firm Foundation
Author: Red Willow
Archive: www.papa-bear.com/RW/
Email: st8sboroblues@xxxxxxxxx
Disclaimer:  All BTVS characters or reference to belong to Joss Wedon, Mutant Enemy, and all them
other peeps. i'm just using them to make my own fun.  Non-canon characters such as Casey, Claire,
Shelley, Andi, Markus (and co), as well as story ideas belong to me and are simply a product of my
warped brain.  Girl/Girl action. You no like, you no read! 
Pairing: B/W mainly. 
Rating: NC-17 overall.
Summary: Sequal to Filling in the Gaps. Takes place not much later - give or take a week. Buffy
and Willow find out about 'the disc', smut, drama... all the good stuff. 
Author's note: Thanks to Mudrat for the beta. And thanks to everyone else for being so gosh-darn
patient. ;)

***

Willow was obviously confused and I was definitely not helping to clear things up. 

"You guys look like someone died." She said, lighthearted. 

After a moment she paled and the smile was gone. 

"Oh God! Who died?" 

"Wha-? Oh! No... Willow." I shook my head and put my hand on her arm. "No one, baby. No deaths."  

I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile before turning to face the others. 

However, I couldn't help but add, "At least, not yet." 

"O-okay, what's up?" Willow said in an annoyed tone. "You've just scared me half to death and
you're still not telling me what's going on... a-and I want to know!" She put her hands on her
hips, resting her weight on one leg. 

I knew something had to be done and quickly. Willow was not going to be happy. In fact, I was
willing to bet money I didn't have that she was going to fly off the handle. I wanted to be in
total control of the situation. 

"Will," I started, keeping my eyes on Tara. "There's something you have to know." 

"Yeah, I got that, Buff. So what's the what?" 

"Tara has something to tell you, don't you Tara?" 

Tara looked like she had been caught in the headlights of a speeding truck.  

"I-I-I... W-w-well, there's a-a um... a d-d-d..." She shook her head, unable to form the words. 

She was terrified. 

"Tara?" Willow stepped to her and put her hand on Tara's arm. "Tara, what is it?" she asked in the
most gentle of voices. 

"I-I d-didn't mean... I... w-w-we w-were wrong..." 

I couldn't stand this. The longer it took for Tara to tell Willow, the worse it was going to be. I
held up the discs that I'd been holding on to. 

"Will, you might want to have a look at this." I told her. 

"W-w-what?!" Tara looked at me, her eyes big, blue, panicky orbs. "No... Buffy..."

Willow looked back and forth from Tara and to the discs in my hand. 

"What are they?" She asked, cautiously. 

"They're of us." I told her simply. This couldn't go on any longer. 

"Us?" she asked, confused. 

She reached for the discs and I felt a terrible drop in my stomach. 

"Wait!" Tara cried out, reaching for Will's arm. "Don't." 

I glared at her. Either she told Willow exactly what was on those discs or Willow was going to see
for herself, just like I did. 

"Th-they're of you... both of you... together." 

Willow gave me a questioning look. "Again, I ask... us?"

I nodded. 

Tara wiped the tears from her eyes. 

"Willow," she started, "A-at the party... you w-were..." She paused and took a deep breath. "You
were... r-recorded."

Willow paled worse than I thought possible. 

"What do you mean, recorded?" 

Willow and Tara were solely focused on each other. Casey and Claire were trying their hardest to
disappear back into the wall behind them. I watched Tara and Willow, suddenly feeling nauseous. 

Tara took another deep breath, letting it out slowly, calming herself. 

"A-Andi and Shell... the apartment we were at... their guest bedroom is... rigged... w-with
recording equipment." 

Willow was silent, absorbing what Tara was telling her. 

"W-when you and Buffy w-went in there... to..." She trailed off, glancing at me. 

Willow looked my way again, asking "A-and those?" 

"Of us." I told her quietly. 

"Us." She stated again, her voice eerily calm. 

Tara croaked out an almost inaudible "Y-yes."

"I see." Willow said. 

After a moment of complete silence in which I wasn't sure if my heart was going to start beating
again, Willow turned fully to face me. She didn't say anything, though, and I was a bit worried. I
decided it was time I did some explaining as well. Tara only seemed willing to offer as little
information as possible, and I knew there was never going to be any help from her friends.

"Will," I started, "Tara had them put it on this disc... see, and um... she came over earlier to
give it to us."  

Willow continued to just look at me. I wasn't sure if any of this was actually registering or not.


"A-and um... but see, she lost it... I mean... at first, right Tara?"  

Tara nodded but didn't say anything. Great help she was. 

"Right... and when I went looking for them... well, I saw it... I mean, I found them and then I
saw it... us... and I made them give it to me... a-and a copy. There was a copy." I held up both
discs. "But I got them."

"Let me get this straight." Willow said, backing up so that she had space to move around in. It
was coming, the little red fury my girlfriend had inside. I could feel it. "Tara's friends
recorded us in the spare bedroom at that party we went to."

"Yeah." I nodded.

"A-and Tara was... what, bringing us a copy for fun?"

"N-no!" Tara cried, "I-I didn't think it was right... I-I w-wanted you to see... to know..."

"A-and then you lost the copy you were bringing us?" 

"I-it... umm... yes..." 

"But you found it?" Willow was turning, unable to look at any of us. 

"Yes!" Tara was nodding her head emphatically.

"And the people who had it?"

No one said anything.

"They watched it." She deduced for herself, "And made a copy." 

"Will..." I tried, but she cut me off.

"A-and you... Buffy... you saw it?" 

"Yeah... through a window... they... were watching it and I went in there and got both copies and
so... you know..." I trailed off. 

I felt like the bad guy. I hadn't done anything wrong. Tara and her friends were the culprits and
yet there I was, feeling like I was responsible.

"Buffy," Willow's voice was so calm it was scaring me. "How do you know there wasn't another
copy?" 

I hadn't thought of that. 

"How do you know the file isn't still on someone's hard drive?" Her voice was starting to rise,
her anger finally showing through. "How do you know we're not all over the fucking internet?!" She
screamed suddenly.

I really hadn't thought of that.  

Tara started, "W-willow, I'm sure-" 

"You're sure what?!" Willow cried, turning on her heels to face Tara. "I can't believe this!" She
shouted, throwing her arms in the air. 

Then back to me, "And you did nothing?! You just took the discs and brought them back with you?"

"I didn't think..."

"No, of course you didn't!" She shouted. 

I was angry. She was making me into the bad guy and not saying anything to Tara or her friends.
And why had I let those other two off so easily?

"W-willow," Tara started, coming toward her. "I-it's not her fault..." 

Willow turned suddenly, bringing her hand up. I wasn't fast enough and before I could stop her, we
heard a resounding 'smack' as her hand met Tara's face. 

It was like we were all just stuck there, unable to process what had just happened. Tara's face
was frozen in shock. Willow's face was mixture of both anger and surprise. 

All of a sudden Casey pushed Willow away from Tara, shouting "Lay off! It wasn't her fault
either!"

And we all know no one touches my Willow. 

I dropped the discs to the floor and jumped in, grabbing Casey by the arms, holding her back from
Willow. She struggled out of my grip and fell into a fighting stance. 

"Don't even think about it." I said calmly. "You are so not one of my favorite people right now
and you really don't want to piss me off." 

"Whatever." Casey rolled her eyes. "I'm not afraid of you." 


"You haven't seen me angry yet." I told her. "And I'm thinking you really don't want to.  I can do
a lot more damage than you can imagine. Tara knows." I nodded in her direction; she knew what I
was capable of. "Don't make me prove it to you." 

Without heeding my warning, she lunged forward, putting her weight into what would have been a
solid punch if I hadn't blocked her and knocked her backward. I took another step toward her. 

"You really don't want this." I told her.

"Casey!" Claire shouted, "Don't!" 

But Casey didn't listen and she lunged for me again, only this time I caught her up in my arms,
securing hers behind her back, my forearm against the back of her neck. 

She tried struggling from my grip, but I held her tight. "Hey! Get off!" She spat through gritted
teeth. 

"Buffy!" Tara and Claire both shouted. 

Willow put her hand on my shoulder, a recognized sign for me to let up. 

"Everyone's okay here, right?" she asked with a somewhat trembly voice. 

"Right." Tara agreed. "Casey... just calm down. Buffy... please." 

I let her go. She stumbled a few feet, but didn't fall.  Turning, she glared at me. I glared right
back, facing off with her. I was prepared to fight if it was really what she wanted. 

"Casey, baby..." Claire pleaded, "We're in the wrong here... remember?" 

Willow squeezed my shoulder, "Come on Buff... leave it alone for now." 

We both backed off, keeping our distance. We kept on looking at each other though, and I wondered
if she was still trying to size me up, still trying to see if she could get one up on me.  

No one said anything for a few moments. The tension in the room felt like a rubber band being
pulled taut, about to snap. 

Willow was the one to speak first, her voice calm again. 

"I guess you guys should leave. Tara, I'm sorry... about the..."

Tara nodded that she understood. "It's okay, Will..." She told her softly before adding, "I guess
we're even." 

"Even?" Willow asked, confused. 

"Now we've both done really shitty things to each other." 

That hurt, even me. 

Willow croaked out a simple, "Oh." 

"We'll find out if there's any more copies." Claire said softly. "We're really sorry. About
everything."

Casey glared. I glared back. 

The three of them stepped to the door, Casey in the lead. Tara was about to exit when Willow
stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder. The blonde turned back, questioning Willow with her
eyes. 

"You know... once you have Scooby status..."

"Yeah?" Tara asked, cocking her head.

"W-well... it's just that... it's hard to lose." She gave her a crooked smile before stepping
back. 

Tara didn't say anything, only returned her own crooked smile and nodded slightly. She turned and
then they were gone into the night, disappearing behind the closed door. 

I wrapped my arms around Willow and we stayed like that for a few moments, quiet. 

"I'm sorry." I told her. 

I guess she was right, I could have done better. 

"I want to see it." She said, softly. 

My breath hitched. 

"Will... I don't think..."

"No. I want to see it Buffy." She turned in my arms, looking at me. "They had no right."

"I know, baby."

"But... now that we have it... I want to see." 

"Okay." I nodded. 

We bent, each picking up a disc. We made our way into the living room and I really wished we
hadn't given Dawn our other TV. 

"Do you think Dawn heard any of that?" I asked, realizing my sister was home and that she
generally shows up for any kind of drama. 

"She probably has her head phones on." Willow offered.

"Headphones?" I asked, "Why headphones?" 

Willow gave me a look. 

"She... can hear things... she says she'd... um... rather not." 

"She...?" 

Willow wiggled her eyebrows and I know exactly what she meant. 

"Oh. Right..." 

She hit the eject button on the DVD player and popped the disc out of the slim, clear case that
held it. 

"Ooh, pretty purple." She noted amused. 

After turning the TV on and pressing play, Willow sat down next to me on the couch.

I kept my ears trained on the stairs so that I would know if Dawn was headed down. 

"I'm not sure I want to see this." Willow said suddenly. 

The video popped on, showing the room. 

"Then let's not watch it." I picked up the remote. 

"No. I do... want to watch it. I just... I'm not sure what I'm expecting." 

I hit the 'pause' button and turned toward her. 

"It's us, Will. Everything we did in that room... that's what we'll see." 

"I-I know that... I mean... I-I don't know how I'm going to react. I'm not sure if I'm going to be
angry... er... o-or... what."

"Are you sure you want to see?" 

She nodded before asking, "How much did you see?" 

"Not a lot." I admitted. "Enough to know that it was us. Enough to go through a whole slew of
reactions."

"You weren't just angry?" She asked. "I thought you would have stormed in there and gone all
slayery." 

"I wanted to." I told her. "But... honestly?"

She nodded, urging me to go on.

"I wasn't as angry as I thought I'd be. Still not. A-and... watching it... seeing it... it
kinda... made me... y'know..."

"Kinda made you what?" 

"It kind of turned me on, Will." 

Her surprise was plain to see and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to feel bad or laugh. I
suppressed the giggles and went on. 

"It's us. And... we're hot." I explained. "And..." I could feel the blush racing across my cheeks.
"They were watching it... the boys that had found the disc... they were watching it and... the
idea of them..."

"The idea of someone else watching us turned you on?" She asked for clarification. 

"Yes." I said simply, slumping my shoulders. 

I thought she was going to think I was a freak. I thought she was going to be disgusted. I really
thought she was going to go off on me again. 

Instead she started to laugh. She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and kissed me on the cheek. 

"You're adorable." She told me. 

"I... I am?" I asked, incredulously. 

"Baby... we do it in public all the time." She pointed out. "I know how much the idea of someone
seeing us turns you on. That's not new news." 

"I... oh." I pouted. 

She knew me better than I did.

"A-and you should know by now... that I feel the same way."

I looked at her, surprised.

"You do?" 

She gave me a lopsided grin.

"Of course, silly! I would never ever have let you ravish me all over Sunnydale if I didn't!" 

"Oh. Yeah... that does make sense." I giggled, leaning into her. 

After a moment I said, "We should be a lot angrier... shouldn't we?" 

"Yeah..." She nodded. 

We didn't say anything else. I hit 'play' on the remote and watched as we entered the room,
kissing and groping, our clothes flying everywhere. Willow leaned into me, allowing me to wrap my
arm around her shoulder and we willed ourselves to watch the entire video. 


tbc...

=====
"Everyone's gettin' spanked but me."  - Willow

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Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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