Fic: RR&R Book IV (8c/?) NC17 see header for pairings

Chapter 8 concluded

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Buffy bounced on her toes eagerly awaiting her turn to welcome Willow back home after her short trip to Las Vegas. By the time Tara had finished kissing the redhead, her eyes were glassy and her mouth open and panting.

Buffy gave her almost three full seconds to recover.

“MMM, welcome home!” she hummed with pleasure after kissing her pet hello.

‘Much as I’d like to head straight for the bedroom, I wanna know what happened even more,’ she thought as she felt curiosity weighing against desire. She took Willow's hand and practically dragged her over to the couch and said, “Ok, so now tell us everything you couldn’t explain over the phone.”

Willow's smile fell away and her _expression_ crumpled into abject sorrow. She burst into tears and softly wailed, “Xander died!”

Tara gasped.

Buffy felt like she’d been kicked in the stomach. “Xander’s dead?” she whispered, stunned.

“Not any more,” Willow cried, visibly trying to reign herself in. “But he was.”

“Huh?” Buffy shuddered as a combination of relief and confusion swept through her.

“Maybe you should start from the beginning, sweetie,” Tara said gently, reaching out to put an arm around Willow at the same time Buffy took the redhead’s hands in her own.

Willow took a deep breath, and then another as she sniffled her tears back. Nodding her head, she said, “Right...from the start. Ok...I told you when I called about the whole ‘body on the floor, Xan and Dawn kissing while wrapped in green fire’ thing, right?”

Buffy nodded her head, while Tara answered, “Right.”

“Well then...you know, it won’t make much sense that way, so...ok, I’ll just tell you what happened from the start—sort of—before I got there, even though I didn’t get the whole story until this morning, really,” Willow said, starting over.

‘Like I wasn’t confused enough already,’ Buffy thought, shaking her head slightly. “I’m still stuck on Xander died, but he got better?” she blurted out.

“Right, that’s where I’ll start,” Willow said, taking a couple of deep breaths and visibly gathering her resolve. Dawnie and Xander were at the light show on Fremont street, when he noticed a SUV...Oh, hey! We should have them try and find the SUV, it’s probably parked close, oh, but maybe not at the hotel, cause that’d be not smart for the hit man-guy...but maybe it’ll get towed and then I can do a search online and find out who rented it, and,”

“Willow!” Tara interrupted as the redhead began to babble faster and faster.

“I...huh?” Willow blinked rapidly at the distraction.

“Why don’t you tell us what happened first, and then we can decide what we should do about it?” Tara suggested with a gentle smile.

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Willow said, looking apologetic. “Uh, where was I?”

“There was an SUV?” Buffy posited, bemused.

“Yes. Xander saw it, and he said he got a bad feeling, and then he saw the window come down and he grabbed Dawn and turned them around so he was between the truck and Dawn...and...and,” Willow's _expression_ again crumpled into sorrow and she sobbed aloud, “He had a machine gun, and Xander...he–”

“Shot Xander?” Tara asked, tears falling down her face as well.

‘Her hands are like ice,” Buffy thought, surprised. She looked down and was even more surprised to see that tears were falling from her own face onto her lap.

“Dawn tried CPR, but it didn’t work...she said there was so much blood, it was everywhere,” Willow cried.

“But...but...if CPR didn’t work?” Buffy whispered, her heart aching at the scene in her mind. ‘Oh my God—Xander died to save my sister!’ she realized with a tumultuous series of emotions pouring through her.

Willow pulled her hands from Buffy's and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She sniffled loudly and then continued, “Police came, and then the coroner...Oh goddess, poor Dawnie! She said she heard the sound of the zipper on the body bag in her head over and over. I can’t imagine...if I had to watch that I think I’d have lost it.”

Buffy felt a cold shiver run down her spine at the fear and pain in Willow's voice.

“They took her down to the police station and asked her a bunch of questions, and then one of the CSI ladies drove her back to the hotel, and went in with her to their room,” Willow went on. “When they got there, that bastard that shot Xander was there waiting.”

Buffy's eyes widened at the uncharacteristic cursing. ‘Not that I don’t agree–’

“He was going to sh-shoot Dawn...he’s so lucky she killed him!” Willow ended with a growl.

“Dawnie killed him?” Buffy asked, shocked despite the fact that Willow had implied as much during the phone call the previous day. “How?”

“You mentioned that he was burned?” Tara asked as though seeking verification.

“Right,” Willow affirmed. “She said she felt this overwhelming rage, not only that he’d shot Xander, but that he was so callous about it—though I suppose it’s not really that surprising; I mean you would have to be pretty callous about that sort of thing if you were gonna do that for a living.”

“She felt rage–” Tara prompted the redhead to get back on track.

“Oh, right,” Willow said sheepishly. “She somehow pushed that rage into the hit-man, turning it into magical fire that burned him up from the inside out. He looked fine except that his eyes and mouth were all burned out.”

“Yecch!” Buffy said with a full-body shiver.

“Wow,” Tara exclaimed. “I didn’t think she had developed quite that much power.”

“Well, she said it knocked her out—obviously it wasn’t something she did intentionally, it was all emotion, not much focus,” Willow opined.

“God, poor Dawnie,” Buffy whispered, feeling her gut tighten up at the thought of killing a human being. “Still; *totally* self defense—she didn’t get into trouble, did she? I mean you said there was a cop lady right there when it happened, right?”

“Yep,” Willow confirmed. “She was totally freaked out though, I mean, big time wigged about the magic thing.”

“When did the other police-type people show up?” Tara asked. “You said there were three of them.”

“And you said Xander was there,” Buffy added. “How did he get not-dead?”

“Right, ok,” Willow said with a nod. “While all this was going on, Xander apparently woke up, stuck in a morgue drawer, but all better and not at all dead any more.”

“Ok, am I the only one who’s *huh* at this point?” Buffy asked, bewildered. “Was he dead or not?”

“Was, then wasn’t,” Willow explained.

‘That clears things up—not at all,’ Buffy thought, very confused.

“Ok, I think I know the how, but I’ll get to that later,” Willow went on excitedly. “Anyway, he found his stuff, except his shirt—he took the coroner’s lab coat—and went out of the morgue and made his way back to the hotel.”

‘I can’t wait to hear the how!’ Buffy thought, shaking her head. ‘I hope she uses small words.’

“So, back to the hotel room. When Dawn woke up, there was dead-bastard, and freaked cop-lady. Dawn went into the bathroom, and cop-lady called two more crime scene police people to come. So, all three were there when Dawn came out of the bathroom, and of course wanting to know what happened. So, Dawn told them it was magic, and they didn’t believe her of course and they were arguing about it, and then Xander walked in.”

“Wow, I bet Dawn was shocked by that!” Tara said wonderingly.

“I think, once she made sure he wasn’t a vampire, she was way too busy trying to suck his tonsils out to be shocked,” Willow said with a smile.

“And then there was fire?” Buffy asked, the memory of Willow's phone call surfacing in her mind.

“Yep,” Willow affirmed. “So, then I called you guys, and then I put the police-types on the couch to keep them out of the way while I went over to Dawnie and Xander.”

“Who were on fire,” Buffy reiterated, having great difficulty understanding, let alone envisioning such a thing.

“Well, not *on* fire, but they were surrounded by green-flamey energy, It was so hot that when I reached through it to touch them—to, you know, snap 'em back to reality—I had to amp up my shield like way, way high! But it was weird, it was completely self-contained—like if you held your hand by it, you wouldn’t feel any heat, but if you touched it, you would lose your hand.”

“Dawn doesn’t have that kind of power,” Tara said disbelievingly.

“I know,” Willow agreed with a wild arm gesture. “I was totally shocked, but then when I touched their minds, I saw that it wasn’t just Dawn that was making like the surface of the sun—or *a* sun, 'cause, you know, *the* sun not being green...anyway—Xander was all with the green-flameyness too!”

“Wait, Xander does magic too?” Buffy blurted out. “What, am I the only one not riding the magic train all of a sudden? Is mom casting spells now too?”

Tara’s laugh caused the Slayer to blush. “Sorry, just ignore me,” she mumbled sheepishly. “I think my brain/mouth filter is broken or something.”

Tara pulled her into a consoling embrace even as she said, “Go on sweetie, what happened next?”

Willow gave Buffy a quick smile before continuing, “Once I got them to stop making out, they were able to absorb the energy back into themselves. So, then we talked about how to handle the whole ‘dead-body, police-people’ situation.”

“And the cops didn’t do anything, like try to arrest someone?” Buffy asked wonderingly. ‘It must just be me,’ she sulked. ‘The Sunnydale Police wanted to arrest me for Kendra and I wasn’t even there when she died!’

“They just sat there,” Willow answered.

“Really? Hmm,” Tara said, sounding suspicious.

‘She does have guilty face,’ Buffy thought, looking at Willow after Tara’s comment.

“I might have...persuaded...them to stay out of it–” Willow allowed sheepishly.

“Uh huh, I bet,” Tara said wryly.

“Anyway, Xander came up with the idea of getting rid of the body, you know, so the police people would just go away?” Willow went on.

“But...but–” Buffy sputtered. “Who does he think he is, Xander Corleone?”

Willow looked at her in silent surprise. Buffy turned to Tara and saw surprise on her face as well. “What? I watched The Godfather,” she said with a pout.

Willow and Tara both broke into giggles.

“Seriously though,” Buffy went on. “Isn’t getting rid of the body just going to make the police even more likely to come after them?”

“Not if we used magic, and did it right in front of them...I mean, they saw me teleport, and the fire thing. Cat’s pretty much out of the bag already.”

“With no body, there wouldn’t be anything to investigate,” Tara said with realization. “There wouldn’t be any evidence, and no one would believe them if they told the truth.”

“Plus, it’s not like Dawn did anything wrong, I mean, I know—human being, not demon, but it was totally self defense!” Willow exclaimed.

“Like when I killed that Taraken back in high-school,” Buffy mused. “I didn’t really even feel bad about that.”

“Yeah, not at all like when you thought you’d killed Ted—I mean, before we found out he was a robot...oh, and a serial killer,” Willow reflected.

“Oh yeah!” Buffy agreed whole-heartedly. “Majorly bummed-out Buffy time.”

“So you, what—teleported the body?” Tara prompted while giving Buffy another reassuring squeeze.

“No!” Willow said excitedly. “After I found out about Xander coming back to life, I got an idea what must have happened—but I wanted to test it, so I asked Dawn to use the fire-energy thing to vaporize the...uh, it.”

“How does that test–” Buffy began.

“She walked over to it and she couldn’t do it, she couldn’t call the energy,” Willow said with a look of exhilaration on her face.

“I don’t understand,” Buffy said with a frown.

“She wasn’t touching Xander anymore,” Willow said as though that explained everything.

“It’s not her, it’s them,” Tara said with astonishment. “But how?”

“Dawn’s not The Key anymore,” Willow said almost bouncing with excitement. “Well, she is, kinda—but it’s not just her, it’s them together! It explains the power that they have and it explains how Xander’s not dead anymore!”

“Huh?” Buffy asked, stupefied.

“Because the energy, The Key–” Tara audibly gulped before continuing in a soft, awe-filled voice. “The Key is eternal.”

“Again with the Huh?” Buffy reiterated.

“Yep. The next morning Dawnie told me she’d scratched him so hard that he bled, but there wasn’t even a mark on him just a minute later.”

“Why would she scratch...oh,” Tara trailed off, chagrinned.

“Hey,” Buffy interjected. “I believe there’s an unaddressed Huh on the table here! Also, eww on the scratching thing—so didn’t need to know that.”

“Oh, sorry,” Willow apologized. “What I’m saying is that the energy that makes up the Key is now in both Xander and Dawn, and since The Key is eternal, it always returns to its natural state—or in this case it returns them to their natural state. I had Dawn make a little cut on her palm, and it did this little green glow and just closed right up—barely any blood!”

“But that never happened before,” Buffy protested. “I’ve seen Dawnie hurt before and she was never all super-heally!”

“I think it’s because it’s in both of them,” Willow opined. “It’s like, the energy seeks balance between them, so if one is hurt, it repairs them until they’re both the same again.”

“So if they both got hurt, they’d stay hurt?” Buffy asked, feeling very confused.

“I think they’d heal like normal, but we’d have to do some experiments to see, like would it have to be the exact same injury to each, or just in the same area, or what?” Willow went on.

‘Uh oh, Willow the science geek makes a return,’ Buffy thought. ‘I feel sorry for Xan and Dawn!’

“How did this happen?” Tara wondered aloud.

“Actually, I think we figured that out too,” Willow answered. “Dawnie told me that when she and Xander first...uh–” she suddenly trailed off.

“First what?” Buffy asked. ‘What’s with the look?’ she wondered at the trepidation in Willow's _expression_.

“The first time they...uh...made love,” the redhead went on hesitantly.

Buffy grimaced slightly at the mental image, but refrained from comment. ‘I did ask,’ she thought.

“Dawn said right before...it...she felt focused...centered—like when we cast. Then she told me that she said that she wanted to share herself with Xander completely, everything she was, was his.”

“That’s so romantic,” Tara said with a sigh.

‘It really is...and I’ll never admit that out loud,’ Buffy thought with a tiny smirk.

“I think Dawn unwittingly cast a spell that made her literally share everything she was with him,” Willow added.

“Including The Key,” Tara stated.

“Yep,” Willow agreed.

“That’s...wow. Just wow,” Tara said, shaking her head.

“Oh, and I met the leader of the Coven that Giles knows,” Willow changed the subject with a smile.

“Really?” Tara responded.

“I guess there was a misunderstanding when she asked Dawn to cast something, and Dawn did that flame thing and Sarah—that’s the witch’s name—freaked out and thought Dawnie was doing sorcery.”

“Dawn would never!” Tara sputtered.

“I know!” Willow agreed. “But she knows better now, 'cause Giles chewed her out when she called him to complain about it.”

“I take it sorcery equals badness?” Buffy asked, bewildered by the turn in the conversation.

“Sorcery is demon magic, Buffy,” Tara explained.

“Yucky dark magic,” Willow added. “Definitely not of the good.”

“So, what was she like, and how did you end up meeting her?” Tara asked.

“She was kinda formal, but it’s probably 'cause she’s older...except she doesn’t look old at all—more like she’s in her late twenties or something,” Willow babbled. “But, she said she’d been casting for, like, over seventy years!”

“Was it a glamour?” Tara asked, sounding surprised.

“Nope, not that I could tell, anyway,” Willow answered.

“She must be very powerful,” Tara said softly. “My mama once told me that it was possible to develop such an intimate bond with the earth that you could stop, or even reverse the aging process—but she never managed it, and I’ve never met anyone else who could do it either...I thought maybe it was just a myth.”

“Well, she is the head of an old and powerful coven, from what Giles was saying,” Willow stated. “If anyone could do it, it’s probably her.”

‘I know that look,’ Buffy thought as she observed her pet trailing off in thought. ‘I bet Willow figures out how to do the same thing.’

“I would have liked to meet her,” Tara said wistfully.

“Oh, you can,” Willow said, leaving off her contemplation. “I told her we’d come see her and the coven in Las Vegas next week—I mean, I figured with the Watchers gone again, Faith should be able to handle patrols for a few days, right? We could all go!”

“Oh, we could see Huggy-bear’s house!” Tara said with a giggle.

“I dunno, Las Vegas hasn’t been very nice to our family,” Buffy said hesitantly. “Bad things keep happening there.”

“Mmm, liking witchy hugs!” Buffy hummed with pleasure as she was quickly wrapped up in both her lover’s arms.

“I think we’d be just as safe there as we are here—safer even,” Tara said after a moment’s contemplation. “Whoever is after Dawn doesn’t seem to be after us.”

“Plus, we can take precautions—like shielding and stuff,” Willow added. “No human—and not many demons—would have a chance at getting through before we could react. Oh, and we could go see some shows! With the amazing costumes, and the special effects, and–”

“You just want to see the topless show-girls,” Tara snarkily interrupted.

“And you wouldn’t?” Willow nearly purred.

‘I...I wouldn’t hate that,’ Buffy realized as she pictured it. “Ok, so we go visit the city of sin,” Buffy quickly stated before getting too lost in thoughts with which she wasn’t completely comfortable. “But, I want a swank hotel room...I’m so not sleeping in a nineteen seventies pimp-pad.”

“Aww,” Willow pouted.

“We can still go see it,” Buffy allowed. “I just don’t want to stay there. I want room service, and lounging by the pool and a massage at the spa, and more room service-” she trailed off dreamily, liking the idea more and more as she thought about it.

“Well, Xan and Dawnie’s room at the Monte Carlo was really nice, maybe we could stay there?” Willow asked, dropping the pout.

“With them?” Buffy said with a frown.

“No, silly,” Willow said with a giggle. “Not the same room, just the same hotel.”

“Oh, well that’s ok,” Buffy said, smiling again.

“So, are we going for a few days, or...longer?” Tara asked leadingly.

“You know, Faith might appreciate having a more challenging slaying environment for a week or two,” Willow said smoothly. “You know, work off some of that evil-watcher, lover’s betrayal drama?”

“Well...I dunno,” Buffy pondered. “I wouldn’t want to be gone *too* long–”

“Don’t worry, Slayer,” Tara said. “I’m sure we can go out on a couple nights and find a few vamps for you to play with—you know, just so you don’t get out of practice.”

“Ok!” Buffy chirruped happily. “I like vacations with my two witchy lovers.”

They all leaned back on the couch and enjoyed a comfortable silence—and some gentle petting—for a few minutes.

Buffy's mind wandered back to the discussion of the changes in her sister and best friend. ‘I can’t believe Xander actually died...and that he sacrificed himself for Dawnie like that. I’m gonna have to think of a way to thank him.’

She absently stroked Willow's thigh even as she curled up a bit more tightly into Tara’s arms. ‘I don’t know why I’m surprised though—that’s so totally like him, he puts all of us first before himself; especially Dawnie now. And, how weird is it that he came back from the dead like that...that him and Dawn both have the Key-thingy in them now.’

“The Key is eternal,” she said aloud, repeating Tara’s earlier comment. Looking up at her Mistress she added, “That’s like, forever—right?”

“Never ending,” Tara answered.

“Yep.” Willow agreed. “Forever and ever.”

“So, I guess that makes Xan and Dawn immortals, right?” Buffy said jokingly.

When Willow and Tara didn’t laugh along, her smile fell. “That was supposed to be funny, guys.”

“A joke, you know?”

“Come on now...Will...Tara?”

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