Repercussions, Reactions and Retaliation (5/?) W/B/T NC17

Title: Repercussions, Reactions and Retaliation

Author: The Bear!

Spoilers: None really, this is in the Triadverse AU and follows The Please Trilogy and The Triad Trilogy

Pairing: Willow/Buffy/Tara primarily, but other Scoobies are hooked up as well.

Summary: With Glory defeated, things should quiet down for a while... shouldn’t they?

Warnings: NC17 over all (Part 5 is PG13ish)

Author’s Note: Well, this one came a little quicker- cross your fingers!

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

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

Chapter 5

“You guys need to come ho... er, back to Sunnydale,” Buffy said, sounding decisive. “We can deal with all this better when we’re all together.”

‘My take-charge Slayer,’ Tara thought with a smile. ‘You’ve definitely gotten good at hiding your uncertainty... but I can see it in your eyes. You just need Mom and ‘Dad’ home.’

“I would agree, however, I am concerned about traveling with the possibility of another assassin lurking about.” Giles said. “We are quite safe here...”

“Safe!” Buffy protested. “You just said you got attacked twice!”

“We were only in danger when we went out,” Giles explained in a calm, reassuring voice. “This building is protected by a very powerful spell- in fact the latest attempt was made while I was going out to the car for something, but still within the perimeter of the spell. The assassin utilized a sniper position on the building across the street, and the bullets were stopped seemingly in mid-air.”

“How?” Willow interjected. “I mean, no offense Giles, but I didn’t think your spell-casting was that strong...”

“Quite right, Willow. This spell was cast many years ago, when I was at the peak of my powers, and I was one of three sorcerers involved in the incantation,” Giles said.

“Really?” Willow asked excitedly. “What kind of incantation did you use? Was it from Tollar’s grimoire? There’s some pretty cool defensive spells for multiple casters...”

“Will!” Buffy interrupted, eyebrow’s raised in amusement.

“What?” Willow asked, clearly distracted by the talk of magic. “Oh, right. Sorry. I guess we can talk about that later, after all the ‘people trying to kill us’ issues are resolved.”

“You’re so adorable,” Buffy whispered, leaning in to kiss her embarrassed girlfriend.

‘You’re both adorable,’ Tara thought with a smile. ‘And, speaking of adorable,’ she thought as she turned back to the computer, ‘if I’m not mistaken, that’s Giles arm wrapped around a certain Summers lady in a more than just friendly manner.’

Tara had been noticing both the physical contact between the Watcher and her lover’s mother, and Dawn’s looks of humor and pleasure at the contact. ‘Me thinks someone’s bed is not so lonely any longer... Now, we just need to get Xander interested in our little Dawnie, and there will be a full family of happy Summers ladies.’

“Yes, well... we still have the issue to address. We three are quite safe from anything less than a third circle demon, a hi-level mage, or a small nuclear weapon; however, we cannot remain here indefinitely,” Giles said.

“Plus there’s the whole, ‘watchers comin’ to get Faith’ thing,” Buffy added.

“Yeah, not real wild about that,” Faith muttered, still apparently having difficulty looking at the computer screen.

‘I know I’d be scared of how Giles and Mom would feel too,’ Tara thought sympathetically. ‘I’ll never forget how terrified I felt right after I cast that stupid blind-to-demons spell...’

“What do you think, Xander?” Dawn asked. “You haven’t said anything...”

‘I think I’ve seen that look on Buffy and Willow before...’ Tara thought at the look of adoration on Dawn’s face. ‘Dawnie, you’ve got it bad!’

Xander smiled wanly, looking around to see everyone looking at him questioningly. “Well, I think we should have some of us go to you guys, act as lookouts and do a chase-car kind of thing... that way if someone is watching and waiting, we can flush them with Ms. Summers’ jeep, and where they’ll just be expecting you three, we can catch them in a pincers and take them out.”

“We should all go!” Buffy said.

“I’m not sure it would be a good idea to leave the Hellmouth unprotected any longer... you were, after all, away for nearly a week already,” Giles said.

Xander nodded, adding, “I think it makes sense for Faith to go...”

Faith’s head jerked at that, and the look on her face was momentarily one of fear, before she schooled her features once again to present her mask of bored indifference. ‘Not so tough after all. I wonder if she’ll ever feel comfortable enough with us to drop it for longer than a moment...’

“...after all, the council team is coming here to try and take Faith, why give them a chance to get lucky...” he said to Buffy. He turned to the screen and added, “Plus it would be good to have a Slayer around if someone makes a play for you guys.”

“Sound reasoning,” Giles said sounding just a little pleased and surprised.

‘Yes, Giles,’ Tara thought. ‘You don’t have to make all the decisions any more, we’re all capable of thinking on our feet now and then, though Xander is definitely showing a lot of strategic thinking lately... Hmm, speaking of strategizing...’

“Xander should also go, I think,” Tara spoke up. “If the person coming after you is using a gun, Faith may not be able to get close enough to stop them in time.” Turning to Xander, she added, “And maybe you could use those soldier memories to, ah, you know... anticipate ambushes...”

Xander pursed his lips as though pondering the idea, then nodded his head.

Tara glanced at the screen to see Dawn smiling madly. ‘You owe me one, Dawnie!’ she thought with a smile of her own.

“I think we should see if Gunn is available,” Xander stated in the calm, even tone Tara had come to think of as ‘Commander Xander’

‘Not that I’d ever tell him that, his head would swell like a balloon. Maybe Dawnie will call him Commander Xander... ohh Tara, you’re a naughty girl!’

“...As a Slayer, Faith is more than capable of handling most any supernatural threat,” Xander continued. “But if we end up going up against a skilled sniper, it would be better to have a couple shooters of our own...”

Giles interjected, “Despite my national origin, I happen to be a fair hand with both rifle and pistol.”

Xander nodded, but apparently disagreed with the implied offer, “Giles, you’re the target. The bad guy will be looking for you- it’s our job to be looking for him or her, and stop them before you even get involved.”

‘He wants to argue,’ Tara though, seeing the look on Giles face. ‘But it makes sense...’

After a moment, Giles nodded his head. “Yes, that too appears to be sound reasoning...” Giles admitted grudgingly.

“We can pack up some weapons here, we still have the stuff from last night... we’ll want to fly though, driving will take too much time, so getting it there might be a problem,” Xander said, apparently still trying to think it through.

“Oh, Tara and I could cast a glamour,” Willow said, excitedly.

“What do you mean?” Buffy asked. She was pouting a little, apparently at the idea of being the only one not able to help.

“What’s a glamour?” Faith asked at the same time.

“It’s a spell that hides or changes the appearance of things,” Tara explained.

“You think it’ll work on the metal detectors?” Xander asked, a hopeful look on his face.

“Sure!” Willow said confidently. “Light is just EM radiation within a certain range of wavelengths, Magnetometers broadcast a different frequency of EM Radiation across the space you walk through, and then receive it on the other side, measuring any changes that would indicate the presence of metal. X-ray machines do the same thing with another wavelength all together. We can tailor a glamour that will make your guns and ammo invisible to those wavelengths! It’s easy!”

‘Only you sweetie!’ Tara thought, repressing a laugh. She turned to look at Giles, as the only other magically knowledgeable person in the group, and had to actually cover her mouth.

“I... Good Lord!” Giles said in a strangled voice. He looked flushed and his jaw sagged open. “Have you... are you mad?” he stammered.

“Hey, what do you mean by that?” Buffy demanded, obviously offended on behalf of her lover.

“I...” Giles started, still flustered. He took a deep breath, visibly calming himself before continuing. “Buffy, the magic Willow it talking about is both highly advanced, and amazingly difficult. The kind of power required...”

‘Oh Giles, you have no idea what kind of power our little red witch has at her command...’ Tara thought, feeling mostly proud of her lover, but also feeling a shiver of fear. ‘Buffy and I will have to work hard to make sure she always rules the magic, and doesn’t let it rule her...’

“Xander, do you still have that pistol?” Willow asked, sounding almost condescendingly confident.

Xander looked less sure, glancing at both Buffy and Tara before shrugging and saying, “Um, sure Will.” He reached behind his back and withdrew a black pistol. He dropped the clip into his left hand and then racked the slide, catching the ejected round and setting it all down on the table in front of Willow.

“Willow, we don’t really have time...” Giles began, his voice hesitant.

Willow waved her hand one time over the pile of steel and plastic, muttering, “Onde lasciate dell'esposizione chiara con non diminuito”

“Holy Crap!” Xander exclaimed as the pistol and ammo seemed to waver as though looking through rippling water for half a second, and then was just gone.

“Good Lord!” Giles breathed out harshly. He leaned forward until his head filled the screen, apparently trying to get a closer look at his own screen.

“That’s wicked cool Red,” Faith said, sounding surprised and impressed. “definitely come in handy.”

“H-how do you feel Willow?” Giles asked quietly.

“You mean, did that drain me?” Willow asked with a smug grin.

Giles nodded his head silently.

“Not even a little bit.”

“Incredible...” Giles whispered. “Tara, could you have cast that?”

Tara nodded her head.

“Really?” Giles said, not doubtfully, but in amazement. “How...”

“Giles, maybe we should concentrate on other things right now?” Buffy said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m always up for a round of ‘how incredibly amazing are my girlfriends,’ but maybe we can wait till you guys get back here?”

Ignoring the conversation, Xander was instead handling the invisible gun in his hands with a look of amazement on his face. “How long will it last?” he asked almost reverently.

“Oh, it’s permanent, or at least it is until someone undoes the spell...” Willow said nonchalantly. “I changed the molecular refractivity of the materials so that it’ll pass any EM wavelengths from about ten thousand angstroms down to around a hundred angstroms or so...”

“Uh, English Will?” Xander interrupted.

“Oh, um... that’s down in the microwaves, to infrared light, up through visible, ultraviolet and X-rays,” Willow explained to Xander.

“We most definitely need to discuss this newfound ability when I get back,” Giles said, shaking his head in wonder.

Willow turned back to the computer screen and chirped, “Sure Giles.”

Tara just nodded her head again. ‘He is in for some surprises,’ she thought. ‘Not that he could actually change anything at this point...’

“So,” Xander said, shaking off his amazement, at least for the moment. “Will and Tara will stealth our weapons, I’ll call Gunn and see if he can come out to play, and then we can arrange the plane ride. I guess the main question is, where in the world are you, and how soon can we get there?”

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

“Rupert, why were you so upset with Willow?” Joyce asked after the conference had ended. “Did she do something wrong?”

Giles stood up and began to clean his glasses. “Wrong? No, not wrong... it simply shouldn’t be possible. I knew she had great potential, but as recently as last year, she was operating on a very low novice level, and now... It just shouldn’t be possible.”

“Is she dangerous?” Joyce whispered, fear discernable in her voice.

“Come on Mom! It’s Willow, she’s not dangerous!” Dawn protested. “She’s... she’s Willow!”

Giles slid his glasses back into place and said, “Of course she’s dangerous, Dawn. So is Tara, so are Buffy and Faith. Faith especially has demonstrated how dangerous great power can be if used irresponsibly. Even Xander is dangerous with a gun in his hands, as he’s clearly shown in these past few days.”

“But... but...” Dawn sputtered. “They wouldn’t hurt... I mean, ok, Faith did, but she’s not like that anymore...”

Giles smiled, though his attempt at looking reassuring was compromised by the subject matter. “Dawn, the question is not whether or not they, or any of us really, are dangerous... you have demonstrated that you can be dangerous yourself, when necessary,” he said with a smile that was warm, and almost... pleased. “The question is, are Willow and Tara a danger to us, and I do not believe that they are.”

“Then why...” Dawn started, frustrated.

“That having been said, I think it would be folly not to consider the ramifications inherent in such power being in any one person’s hands. We must do all that we are able to help Willow and Tara make certain that they exercise the proper care and caution, that is all that I am suggesting.

“Of course, we’ll all be there to help in any way we can,” Joyce said reassuringly. “Right Dawn?”

“Of course,” Dawn said, smiling brightly.

To herself, Dawn added, ‘I think Giles is just realizing that he shouldn’t have kept blowing Willow off when she wanted magic lessons all through high school. Now he’ll have to take lessons from her.’

Changing the subject, Dawn said, “We’ve got, like, four or five hours till they get here, right? I think I’ll go try to catch up on some of the sleep I missed last night.”

Joyce latched onto that plan, saying, “That’s probably a good idea honey.” Turning to Giles, she gently placed her hand on his forearm and said, “We could probably use a nap too... after all it’s been a very stressful day already.”

Giles looked confused for a moment, then his face cleared and he quickly agreed. “Yes, wouldn’t do to be less than fully alert and aware this evening.

‘Right,’ Dawn thought with a smirk. ‘As if I couldn’t figure out what you’re gonna do...’

Dawn shook her head as her mom and the watcher went off to their bedroom hand in hand. ‘Seriously though, I can’t believe Giles ever thought he could keep Willow from learning magic just cause he was afraid of it; I love you Giles, but sometimes you can be pretty stupid.’

The youngest Summers walked into her bedroom and went right for her suitcase. “Ok, I’ve got about four hours to get ready before Xander gets here,” Dawn said to herself. “That might be just enough...”

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

“So, can I ask you guys something?” Xander said as Willow and Tara finished the last gun.

‘You know, Giles has a point,’ Tara thought as she instinctively began drawing power from the area around her to replenish the magic she’d spent. Not that she needed a lot; being coupled with Willow when casting always meant lots of power to draw on. ‘Not only did those spells normally use a lot of power, the intricacy and specificity of what Willow was doing to the material required a lot of complex calculation... yet Willow did it just like that. And, I could see it, watching her made it so easy...’ she shook her head slightly in wonder, musing, ‘I could never have even imagined something like that on my own...’

“Sure Xan, what’s up?” Willow asked.

Xander looked like he was having difficulty figuring out what to say. “Well... look, it’s all magic to me; floating a pencil, turning guns invisible, frying Hellgods with electricity... I don’t know one from the other. So, I don’t get why Giles was all freaked out.” He got a serious look on his face as he glanced back and forth between the two witches before continuing, “I do know that Giles doesn’t freak out for nothing... I mean, despite the whole British-drama-queen thing, he’s usually only scared like this for a good reason...”

“There’s nothing to be scared of Xander, it’s not like we use our magic for bad things...” Willow said. A look of real concern came over her face as she asked, “You’re not scared of *us* are you?”

‘That’s a terrible thought!’ Tara suddenly worried. ‘The Scoobies should never feel afraid of Willow and me!’

Xander smiled warmly, “Course not Will, if I was gonna be scared of your magic, it would have been when you turned me into a demon magnet, turned Giles blind, and made Spike and Buffy...”

Willow held up her hands and said, “No! Don’t even say it! I never want to think of that again!”

Xander laughed, “Yeah, I can see that... but that’s kinda the point too, I mean, a year ago you weren’t quite the magic whiz, and now you’re like this super witch...”

“That was before Tara,” Willow said adoringly, looking toward her lover with shining eyes.

‘Oh, baby you say the sweetest things,’ Tara thought happily.

“It wasn’t me, sweetie. It was us,” Tara said, cupping Willow’s cheek and smiling lovingly at her redheaded girlfriend. “Actually, it was the three of us.”

“What do you mean?” Xander asked, sounding honestly curious.

Tara moved her hand down Willow’s face, around her neck and down her back, pulling the unresisting girl tightly against her. She kept her eyes focused on her lover even as she answered Xander’s question. “Both of us seemed to get stronger when we started practicing together, plus we became better at control too, focusing magic to make it do what we wanted.”

“Yeah,” Willow agreed, nodding her head, but keeping eye contact with the taller witch. “I had real problems with focus before we started casting together.”

“When we became a triad with Buffy, it seems like everything magnified a hundred times. I never thought I’d be as powerful as mom, my birth mom, I mean...”

“And now you are?” Xander asked.

Tara shook her head, still gazing into Willow’s amazing hazel eyes. “No. I’ve become much more powerful than that... the spell we just cast on your guns was way beyond anything I’ve even heard of before. It’s almost like a new kind of magic entirely...”

“Like a combination of magic and particle physics...” Willow said.

‘Mmm, only you could make ‘particle physics’ sound sexy,’ Tara thought.

“Huh, cool!” Xander said simply.

Tara couldn’t help but shoot a quick glance at the male Scooby. ‘Most would freak out, or look at us like we were the freaks, he just smiles and says ‘cool’. We’re definitely going to have to work on getting you and Dawnie together,’ Tara thought, feeling a strong sense of platonic love for Xander.

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

“Damn, B Your girls there got Jeeves wicked freaked...” Faith said, breaking the silence after the two witches left with Xander to enchant his firearms.

Buffy smiled, saying, “I think he’ll be ok... He just didn’t know how powerful they’ve gotten.” Her pride in her girlfriends was evident in her voice as she added, “I don’t think even they really knew how powerful they were until we took on that vampire seminar in LA.”

‘My lovers... They’re so strong!’ Buffy thought. ‘It’s unbelievable having them on my side, let alone in my bed. God, I get all tingly just thinking about it!’

“Yeah, I heard about that...” Faith said. “Pretty fricken amazing...”

“They are amazing,” Buffy agreed wholeheartedly. She smiled warmly at Faith, her face lit up as she waxed rhapsodic on her favorite subject. “I never thought I could be so in love with anyone, let alone two women. I mean, sure, I loved Angel, but what I felt for him doesn’t even compare... Willow and Tara... they’re my everything!”

Faith’s reaction wasn’t what Buffy had expected. ‘Huh, I wonder what’s wrong?’ she thought as she saw a dark look cross Faith’s features. ‘She must be worried about those guys from the council... I thought those idiots would have figured it out after the first two times!’

“Don’t worry Faith, we won’t let those jerks from the council get their hands on you!” Buffy said reassuringly.

Faith stared at Buffy silently for several seconds before dropping her gaze to the table and mumbling, “I know...”

“Faith? What’s wrong?” Buffy asked, concerned at her sister-Slayer’s dark mood. “Faith, I promise you, we’ll protect you from them...”

“Why?” Faith asked, interrupting Buffy’s reassurance.

‘Huh?’ Buffy was taken aback.

“Why? What do you mean ‘why’?” Buffy asked, confused.

Faith gestured towards where the witches and Xander had gone, saying, “B, you got this great thing going for you, why should you risk that on me? I’m the one that screwed up. I’m the one that tried to kill all you guys, worked for the big bad, tried to kill Angel- twice...” She shook her head slowly, a look of anger and loathing on her face as she said, “I was in prison cause I deserved it. As much as I hated being there, as much as I’d never want to go back... I was there cause it’s where I’m supposed to be.”

“Faith! No, you... we couldn’t have stopped Glory without you!” Buffy protested.

“Yeah, and so the watchers got me out,” Faith said flatly. “But Glory’s done. It’s over, I did what they needed, and now they’re through with me. Why should you stop them?”

‘Does she think we don’t want her around?’ Buffy wondered, feeling hurt. ‘Doesn’t she trust us?’

Feeling the urge to scream, Buffy stopped and took a deep, calming breath before explaining, “Faith... look, I know I didn’t do a very good job of making you feel welcome when you first came out to Sunnydale... I had a lot of issues, and honestly? I felt a little threatened when you showed up at first...”

Faith looked surprised.

“We had a lot of bad stuff happen that year, and neither of us did a very good job of talking about feelings and stuff, and I hated that. I hated that you and I became enemies...” Buffy had to pause and take another deep breath just to keep from crying. “Look, you’re a part of us. You’re a Scooby, and the only one who can ever make you not be a Scooby is you. And Scoobies stick up for each other, ok? No one, I don’t care if they’re on the council, or what; no one gets to take you away from us! And we’re all gonna fight to keep that from happening. Just like you and Xander are gonna fight to bring the rest of us back home, and you’re not gonna let the knights of whatever- if there’s any left- or some assassin that someone hired for whatever reason... you won’t let them stop you. ‘Cause it’s what we do. We fight evil together, and no one gets to stop us!”

By the time Buffy had finished her rant, Faith was staring at her, wide-eyed with shock.

“Did that make any sense?” Buffy asked, calmer again.

“Perfect sense,” Willow’s voice rang out as she and Tara and Xander re-entered the dining room. “Faith, we may not always be perfect, or even get along great. Lot’s of times there’s stuff we have to work through, but that doesn’t mean we don’t stick together.”

“Especially when someone on the outside tries to mess with one of us!” Xander interjected. “We stand up for each other... always.”

“That’s what makes us a family,” Tara said, a warm smile gracing her luscious lips. “More so than any of the so-called families we might have come from.”

“Yeah, and that’s putting it mildly. I don’t think any of us had much to start with...” Xander said.

Faith by this point had a genuine smile on her face, one of the few any of the other Scoobies had been graced with from the normally dark Slayer. Her smile turned sly, though surprisingly not bitter as she said, “‘Cept B. Hers was pretty much perfect.”

‘What?!’ Buffy shouted to herself. ‘I mean, ok I didn’t get beat or anything, but come on!’

“Yeah, cause when dad abandoned us to go screw his secretary on the other side of the world, right at the same time I got called, lost my first watcher, all my old friends and then burned down my High School... that was good times,” Buffy said sardonically.

“Yeah, but at least your mom is great...” Faith said.

Everyone else but Buffy nodded their heads in agreement.

“Oh, we’ve had our moments,” Buffy said. “Boy oh boy, have we had our moments... But, I have to admit that it’s been more good than bad, and things lately are great. It even seems like Dawn is finally past that bratty stage...”

“Yeah, and years sooner than her sister managed...” Xander quipped.

“Hey!” Buffy said as everyone else laughed. “I wasn’t *that* bad...” she pouted.

‘Ok, crisis averted,’ Buffy thought as she observed Faith’s good humor. ‘I guess it’s worth being the butt of the joke for that...’

After the chuckles died down, Faith again spoke up, “You know, speaking of parents and stuff, specifically father figures...”

A sudden tension came over the room as Faith continued, “I noticed on that call... looked to me like Jeeves’ had arm wrapped around a certain Slayer’s mom...”

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

TheBear!

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