FIC: The Two - [6/?] - R

[Andy Stoffel <see2go4me@xxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: The Two (6/?)
AUTHOR: -Andy- (see2go4me@xxxxxxxxx)
RATING: R (For future violence and Adult situations) -(though
Parts 1 thru 6 just barely make it to a PG-13)
STATUS: A WiP.
DISCLAIMER: This is a derivative work. All characters belong to
Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox Television, and others. I don't
own any of this, just the words gluing my story together. I
would like to think the plot was original but I'm sure it isn't.
SUMMARY: Buffy meets a different kind of Willow in an alternate
universe. (It really is gonna be a B/W folks. Eventually. But
not right away.)
SPOILERS: All seasons of BtVS.
DISTRIBUTION: buffywantswillow, ikoly,  and my blog fanfic
pages. Anyone else, e-mail me please.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: 
[1] Reminder - I write slowly. The next installment of this fic
will probably be posted in early June.
[2] Feedback welcome/desired. Especially the kind that helps me
write better.

- - -

Part VI Title: " Singing the Blues at the Poetry Slam"

Buffy walked silently behind the two women, curiously observing
their interaction. They didn't seem to have the closeness of
lovers but there was something familiar about how they seemed to
complement each other. The way they brushed against each other
as they walked bothered her in some way she couldn't identify.

She knew she couldn't be jealous of their obvious relationship.
She didn't know either of them and had no reason to feel
anything like that. And she knew what jealousy was like, the
burning desperation of fearing you are losing someone to someone
else. It wasn't that. This was more of a feeling of missing
something she'd never really had. The ache of a might have been.

The two witches were definitely an important piece of the puzzle
she was putting together in her head. As she gathered
information about the things that were different between this
world and her own, Buffy hoped it would point her in the right
direction for a way home. At least that's what she told herself
as she watched them as she walked.

> From the slight mental buzz she was getting from their direction
she could sense that now that they were out in the open, they
were using some form of silent communication, possibly something
like telepathy. But even with her enhanced senses and the things
her Willow had taught her she didn't have any way of actually
understanding them. Telepathy was just not something she do
could herself. She could hear thoughts directed at her but
otherwise it was just so much background noise in her head.

As they walked she noticed Tara occasionally giving her a look
as if she had a question and then changing her mind. Giving into
her curiosity, she decided to find out what was going on.
"Tara?"

"Yes?"

Buffy continued, hoping she'd managed to say her name without
displaying her feelings. She'd forgotten how much losing her
Tara had hurt. The darkness she'd lived in since becoming a
slayer hadn't just affected her. Tara's death was another
failure in a long line of failures that haunted her dreams. "If
you have a question, go ahead and ask it. I might not give you
an answer but I certainly won't bite."

"H...h...how did you knnnow what I was doing?" she stammered
nervously. "Back at the coffee shop?" 

Not about to admit that she'd only guessed and her reasons for
the guess, Buffy fell back on her earlier comment "That would be
one of those questions I won't answer. I'm sure that wasn't your
real question. What did you really want to know?" She smiled
slightly in encouragement.

"Why is your aura so hard to see? It fades in and out, making it
difficult to focus on."

"Oh, that." What could she safely tell them? She didn't think
they were a danger to her but she wasn't quite ready to trust
them. Everyone had an agenda; she just wasn't sure what theirs
was yet. "It's a side effect of a meditation technique a friend
taught me. She noticed that when I did it my aura seemed to get
fainter." She shrugged. "We worked on it for a while and as long
as I meditate using her method my aura is almost invisible. It
also seems to make it harder for someone to read my mind." Buffy
raised her eyebrows pointedly at them as they casually walked
down the shaded sidewalk. "I can also tell if they are trying to
do it."

"Oh!" Tara blushed. "So that's how you knew what I was doing."

"Yes." she answered simply. She wasn't prepared to tell them how
weak this ability to shield her aura and mind really was. They
didn't need to know that a determined person could get past it.
It really only came in handy when she was hunting vampires and
minor demons anyway. 

"So... you can do magic?" Willow asked curiously.

"No. Not really. Just simple parlor tricks like that. Nothing
close to the things you can probably do. If I try anything
complicated things can get a bit wonky." She smiled at them. "So
I leave the real magic to the experts."

"Okay..." Willow answered as if she was ready to ask more about
it. Buffy noticed Tara shaking her head slightly as if to
restrain her. They both spent the rest of the walk to the house
deep in thought, seemingly unaware of how closely Buffy was
watching them.

- - -

Buffy stood on the sidewalk in front of the large house staring
up at it for a minute while the two witches waited patiently.
The house sat harmoniously among its neighbors. She was sure
that Giles or Xander could have told her in great detail what
kind of house it was but to her it was something else. It
reminded her of warm nights in small towns, time spent with
friends, and growing up. Nostalgia for things she'd never really
had.

The house had a wrap-around porch with clusters of inviting
chairs scattered along its length. From where she was standing
Buffy could also see at least one porch swing. She had to shake
her head to rid it of the image of spending romantic evenings
with someone gazing out at a moonlit neighborhood. That wasn't
ever going to be a part of her life. It was a fantasy she'd
given up long ago. She didn't have time for such thoughts.

The first step was a big one. Looking up at the two wiccans
standing on the porch, Buffy was very reluctant to join them.
She knew that her presence would change things for them. Not
immediately but eventually the darkness she felt would envelope
them. They were still innocent in so many ways. They fought evil
on a daily basis but they'd obviously never been tainted by it
like she'd been. But it was bound to happen. Just by her
presence their lives would become darker.

Buffy mounted the porch and followed them into the large foyer.
Looking around, Buffy could see a large stairway to the left
leading up to the next floor like something out of one of those
romantic novel her mother had been fond of, A long, wide hallway
ended in a doorway she suspected led outside. The house was as
welcoming on the inside as it had appeared to be from the
outside. The faint smell of incense and cedar tugged at her
nose. There were plants everywhere she looked; sitting on
windowsils and handing from the ceiling. There was no mistaking
that the occupants of this house gave nature a prominent place
in their home.

"There really isn't much to see." Willow began. "The training
rooms, kitchen, and library are on the ground floor. The first
floor is mainly meeting rooms and the rest of the house is split
into apartments. Why don't we start with the library?"

She directed Buffy to a large room near the end of the hall. The
room was lit by large windows along one wall. The other walls
were covered in bookshelves. In the center of the room were
several large tables with chairs pulled up to them. Scattered
about the room were other, more comfortable looking chairs.

"All of the books in this room are available for anyone to use.
We probably have the most in-depth private occult library in the
area." Casually leaning against one of the tables, Willow
continued, "If there's something you want to look up let us know
and we can help you."

"Thanks. I appreciate the offer." Buffy was amused at the
blatant attempt to find out what she was up to but managed to
keep a straight face. "You mentioned training rooms?"

"Yes. We have two. One is primarily for coven use and any
special classes we might have going on. The other is for general
use by the community. Anyone who needs to use it can reserve
it." She walked out of the library through another door down a
short hallway to another door, the other two women following
her.

They entered a smaller room. "This is where Dawn trains." She
pointed out a number of interesting features. Buffy noticed she
hadn't mentioned the mirrored wall they'd entered through.

"Does anyone else use it?" Buffy asked looking around the room.
It had everything she could imagine a small training room
having, though she assumed that any weapons were kept out of
public view. She could see where it could be useful to have a
mirrored wall though it wasn't something she'd often had in her
own training rooms.

"Yes. She uses it every day. There are several other coven
members who also use it occasionally. As you can see it isn't
very large. It starts to feel crowded if we have more than five
people in here at once. It works best for small groups. We use
the other training room for our weekly self-defense classes."

"Who teaches those?" she asked curiously.

"I do." Willow answered proudly. "The coven doesn't just help
the slayer. We believe in providing useful services to our
community. And that's part of it. You're welcome to join us."

"While I would appreciate using your facilities, I prefer a
little more privacy for that kind of thing." Buffy demurred.

"I'm sure we can accommodate you there." Willow looked at Tara
who nodded briefly. "If you wanted to we could let you use
Dawn's training room some time during the day when no one else
needs it."

"That would be great actually. I haven't had a chance to find a
local gym yet." Buffy wasn't really surprised at their offer
after the comments in the library. They obviously wanted to
learn more about her and seemed to plan on doing so by inviting
her to spend time at the coven's house.

"Great! Did you have any questions before we finish our tour?"
Willow asked.

"Yes, I was wondering what was behind that wall?" She pointed at
the mirrored wall. "There's obviously something between this
room and the library."

"Oh... that? We have several small observation rooms behind
there. The entrance is in the short hallway we walked through."
She reopened the door in the mirrored wall and walking over to a
panel in the center of the short passageway, pressed on
something Buffy couldn't see. A door opened onto a long skinny
room. "Parts of the wall in the training room are one way glass.
We've found it to be less distracting to anyone training to
observe them that way."

"So, do you watch just Dawn or do you watch anyone else using
the training room?" Buffy asked.

"Usually just Dawn. We can also tape any training sessions in
here." Willow answered. "We've found that being able to show
someone what they are doing wrong from a different perspective
can be very helpful."

"So if someone doesn't want to be observed? What stops you from
doing it?" Buffy asked, trying to surpress her long standing
paranoia towards groups with different goals than hers.

"Well, then we don't watch them." Willow seemed confused by the
question. "And the video cameras are in the training rooms so
you would know if someone was taping you."

"Okay." Buffy was amazed at Wollow's naivety but didn't pursue
the matter. "You mentioned something about the rest of the
tour?"

"Yes. There's plenty to see."

"Great. Why don't we wrap this up with a quick tour of
everything else. I'm sure you both have other things to do this
evening."

- - -

"What do you think?" Willow asked as they watched the short
blonde woman stride off.

"You know she has some sort of mental shield. I can see through
it occasionally but I didn't get a lot of solid information from
her. What I read were mostly her emotions as we talked." Tara
answered. "She's an interesting person." 

"Interesting? How so?" Willow perked up.

Tara grinned at her before answering. "You mean other than the
obvious, 'Willow Rosenberg couldn't keep her eyes off of her'
kind of interesting? Or the 'is she really as straight as she
thinks she is' kind of interesting?"

"Yes. Other than that." Willow blushed. "She's straight?" 

"And this matters why?" Tara laughed at her.

Willow blushed again but ignored her comment. "What did you
learn about her?"

"Well... she never actually lied to us but she wasn't always
sure if the things she was telling us about the hellmouth were
true."

"That's not lying?" Willow exclaimed.

"No... it was more like a lot of ifs and maybes." Tara shrugged.
"She wasn't trying to mislead us. She just doesn't believe she
can prove a lot of what she told us."

"So which things are true, beyond a doubt." she asked as she sat
in one of the wicker chairs on the porch and motioned Tara to
another. "And which aren't?"

"Her name really is Buffy Summers. And the things she said about
vampires following Dawn are true. And how many she's staked
herself since she came to Sunnydale." She looked puzzled for a
moment. "She was really surprised at the number of vampires Dawn
has staked so far."

"In a good way?"

"No. I got the impression that she was horrified at how few that
was. And she's worried about Dawn."

"So, what about her claim to be just passing through and not
wanting to help Dawn train?" Willow asked.

"Those are among the few real lies she told us."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think she really knows why she's here. Or at least why
she's in Sunnydale right now." She shook her head. "And she
might have said she doesn't want to help train Dawn but I think
she plans to eventually."

"Where is she from?" Willow asked hopefully.

"I couldn't tell. That's one of the things she was working real
hard to hide from us. But she really wants to go home." Tara
shook her head. "But for some reason she can't. I couldn't tell
why."

Willow filed that away for later. "How about people?" she asked.
"Did you get anything from her on anyone specific?"

"You know how much I dislike reading people's feelings." Tara
said and looked sadly at Willow who nodded. "Especially after
this."

"Why?"

"She's a very lonely person. I think she was broken and was
never really put back together again. She looks at everything
like she can't be a part of it and knows it." Tara shuddered.
"It actually hurt to try and read her."

"I'm sorry. I won't ask you to do it again." Willow reached over
and gave her a hug. "Is she someone we need to watch?"

"Not if you mean as a threat. When she thinks about Dawn it's
like she's thinking about a sister. And you remind her of a good
friend she used to have. Neither of you have anything to worry
about."

"Used to have?" Willow asked curiously.

"I wasn't able to get much more than that. When she looks at you
it's like she's seeing a former friend. And whatever broke them
up really hurt her."

"Did anyone else around here affect her?" She noticed Tara
shivering. "You don't have to answer that."

"No, it's okay. But I don't think I'll be spending a lot of time
around her if she's going to be here for long."

"Why?" Willow asked surprised.

"When she first saw me... it was like she was seeing someone she
loved who had died. And then something about that reminded her
about her mother dying." Tara shivered again. "It was like an
open wound. That shield thing she does couldn't prevent me from
feeling her pain. I'm not sure I can take being around those
kind of feelings on a regular basis."

"Okay." Willow gave her another hug. "As much as I appreciate
your help I won't keep you involved if it is going to hurt you."

"Thanks." Tara said gratefully. "You'll just have to call me if
anything interesting happens with her."

"How interesting?" Willow grinned at her.

Tara poked her friend. "You know what I mean Willow Rosenberg!" 

"Okay, okay!" Willow held up her hands in surrender. "Was there
anything else you noticed?"

"When we mentioned Dawn's sister she was very curious but
nervous. I don't think she wants to meet her."

"Huh. I wonder why." Willow said.

"It wasn't really clear. Sorry." Tara got up from her chair. "I
really need to get back. You know how to get ahold of me if you
need anything."

"Okay." She hugged her one last time. "Thanks for helping out
with this."

"Isn't that what friends are for?" Tara said before she walked
over to the garage next to the house and got into her car,
waving goodbye as she pulled out into the street and headed
home, leaving Willow sitting on the porch swing, deep in
thought.

- - -

Buffy spent the rest of her evening exploring the bars in and
around Sunnydale. She was surprised to find that there wasn't
one specifically run as a demon hangout. She was going to have
to revise her opinion about where Dawn was getting her fashion
tips. She did run into several harmless demons masquerading as
humans in a few of the bars but she didn't feel any need to
disturb them and they didn't seem to notice her presence.

There were several she took note of. There was the traditional
teenage dance club hangout. It wasn't quite the Bronze but it
had a similar atmosphere. She didn't think she would be hanging
out there unless she was forced to. And the name, "The Place",
seemed a bit pretentious.

Near the local college, USC Sunnydale - a less grandiose school
than the one she'd gone to, was a more sophisticated dance club.
She could actually imagine spending time there, though not
alone.

Of the remain half dozen or so bars in Sunnydale, the only one
she felt any attraction to was a place called "Tony's Blues
Pub." The name alone on the small nondescript sign almost sent
her heading towards the next bar down the street. But the music
leaking out into the street drew her in. The live music coming
from a middle aged woman singing on a small stage in one corner
of the bar was raw and sad, fitting her mood perfectly.

She wasn't able to stay for long, but she knew she'd be back.
There was something soothing about the place. But for now she
still had a slayer to follow and sleep to get if she wanted to
be in any shape for job hunting the next day.

- - -

She spent the next morning and afternoon scouring the town,
want-ads in hand, looking for some kind of job she could do that
would allow her enough freedom to keep an eye on the
inexperienced slayer and the coven. The job market in this
Sunnydale seemed fairly stable. There didn't seem to be many
jobs available except very late night waitressing shifts at
several all-night diners and several clerk shifts at an all
night convenience store. Things she could do but not quite what
she was looking for.

A little discouraged, Buffy decided to spend the next day
looking a little further away from Sunnydale in one of the other
nearby towns. She wasn't quite desperate enough yet to take one
of the employment options available in Sunnydale.

Passing it on her way back to her loft, ready to put the day
behind her and relax, Buffy noticed a small plaque in the window
of the bookshop she now lived above. In bold black letters it
announced "Part Time Help Wanted".

Buffy wandered into the store on a whim after seeing the sign.
She wasn't sure she really wanted to work around old books but
the idea of living so close to a job was tempting.

She'd only met Madeline, the bookshop owner, very briefly the
day before when she was shown the loft by the rental company.
She'd gotten the impression that she was old in a well
preserved, elegant way that had made the normally confident
Buffy feel awkward and out of place. Nothing had been said later
by the rental agent while she was reading over the lease when
she'd mentioned job hunting. She wasn't even sure Madeline had
really noticed her, so she wasn't quite sure what to make of the
sign appearing now. 

> From the size of her loft Buffy knew the shop couldn't be that
big. At least a third of it seemed to be hidden behind a doorway
covered with a beaded curtain. The rest of it seemed to be
packed with a large number of used paperbacks with one wall, to
the left of the currently unoccupied counter, full of much older
books. The titles seemed to be in a number of familiar looking
languages but nothing she'd ever read.

Curious, she reached for one that seemed to draw her attention.
Just as her hand touched its spine there was the faint, soft
sound of footsteps coming from somewhere behind her. Jerking
around, Buffy saw the shop owner emerging almost ghostlike from
the curtained back room.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a husky voice.

Buffy found herself looking into Madeline's grey eyes, unable to
look away. "Yes, you can actually. You have a help wanted sign
up and I was looking for a job." she answered hopefully.

"Do you know anything about books?"

"Other than reading them?" Buffy gave her a small smile. "Not a
lot."

"I see." she smiled but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Could you get that book for me?" she pointed at a large,
leather bound book just above eye level on the shelf Buffy had
been browsing.

"Sure." Buffy said. Her hand tingled slightly as she pulled it
off the shelf. 

Madeline took it from her, saying cryptically "They don't know
who you are do they?"

Buffy looked at her in surprise. "Excuse me?"

Madeline just ignored her as if she hadn't said anything.
"You'll do. It's only a part time job. I'm getting old and need
someone to watch the shop in the afternoon."

"Great!" Buffy was surprised at how easy it was. "When can I
start?"

"Why don't you take that sign out of the window. I'll show you
where everything is and we can take care the paperwork. Tomorrow
would be a great time to start." Madeline smiled at her again,
this time for real.

- - -

TBC in "The Red Headed Girl"

- - -

Hope y'all enjoyed this installment.

-Andy-

=====
-
- http://radio.weblogs.com/0104508/
-


	
		
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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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