imroman@pol.com.pe

Chapter 1

Buffy opened the door to find her best friend standing in the middle of their room, arms crossed, facing her with a look of righteous indignation on her face that made her appear just too cute for words. The Slayer facial muscles were torn between showing the contrite face appropriate for the occasion or the grin that was threathening to appear at the sight her friend presented.

She opted for contriteness, and Willow found herself struggling to keep the facade up after seeing her friend make such an adorable pout. The hacker couldn't help but let a hint of a smile show a little bit. "You know you're almost two hours late, don't you?"

"I'm sorry Will, but see...there was this huge, like 7 feet tall...uhm... three headed, goo covered demon that came out of nowhere and wouldn't let me get out of the library and..."

"Uh, huh."

"Okay, so it only had one head...but the goo made him all slippery and it took me a long time to kill it and then I had to dump the body and then clean the mess and change my clothes and.."

Willow closed the distance that separated them and placed her hand on Buffy's forearm to make her stop her ranting. "It's okay, Buffy. It's not a big deal. The being late I mean. I was just a little worried." She looked down, little lines appearing on her forehead. "It's a little hard for me when you are late from patrol, now more so, with the whole Adam thing and all."

Buffy placed her hand under the hacker's chin and lifted it upwards so that she could look her in the eyes. "I know and I'm sorry. I know I promised to be here by midnight and I seem to be backing off on my promises of lately. I know you and the rest of the gang worry about me an awful lot." The slayer answered and give the hand that was on her arm a little squeeze to reasure her friend. "Why don't we start Studyfest 2000 now that I'm here?. I may be able to stare down a Fearal demon but just the word *midterm* makes me shiver." This with an overacted trembling and a much lighter tone, obviously trying to improve the hacker's mood.

Which seemed to work, she noticed, as Willow smiled and eagerly went to her desk to collect the material she had prepared specifically for this event. The Slayer couldn't help but groan a little at the amount of notes and books her friend had gathered just for tonight's session.

"Gee Will, do we have to go through all that tonight?" Buffy asked, a light frown on her features.

Willow stared at her.

The slayer resorted to pouting.

The hacker kept staring.

Releasing a sigh, Buffy sat down on her bed. "Okay. Where do we start?"

The hacker smiled.

******

Outside their window, two figures rose from their hiding place and began walking away, towards the path that would lead them out of Campus. The taller was walking seemingly deep in thought and his companion, several feet deficient on the height department, tried hurriedly to keep pace with him.

They kept that way for several minutes, until the tall one raised his head and then looked down again, this time regarding his smaller companion. "She is different from the others" Was the comment that came out of his lips in a deep and throaty rumble.

"You mean her strength? Didn't seem too strong to me." He answered, his voice raspy and high pichted. "She took a looong time to kill the Bathra demon we sent to test her and it looked like it was only with luck that she did"

"No, not luck. A Bathra is a difficult demon to do battle against. All that goo and stuff..." He looked up again. "What surprised me was that it never really touched her." His face returned to its earlier thoughtful appereance. "She was fast, resourceful and she is *very* strong"

"Didn't seem like that to me"

"That's why I say she is different. We'd better return to th..." He was interrupted by a sound coming from their left side.

They stopped walking and turn to face the direction the sound came from.

A massive figure seemed to emerge from within the shadows the trees and bushes on the side of the path provided. His body a mix of human and demon parts put together like a badly assembled toddler's puzzle. He took a step towards them and asked in a curious but hollow voice. "What is it that you fear?"

The other two beings look at each other and the smaller one shrugged his shoulders a little, signaling that he had no idea what the deal was. The tall one turned then to face Adam and lifted his right hand, palm facing upwards. Instantly a ball of green fire appeared hovering over it. With a flick of his wrist the fireball was on its way and in a fraction of a second the product of the hard work of the Initiative was knocked down to the ground and engulfed in green flames. There really was no time for Adam's processors to understand what was happening before he exploded.

The small being just look up to his companion. "*That* was what I call a freak"

"Yeah. The neirborghood is definitely going rotten"

They resumed their walk leaving behind a black, Adam shaped, ashen spot on the ground.

--------- The Bronze was packed, just like every Friday night since the first time it opened its doors. Xander pushed his way through the crowd with his ex-demonic girlfriend in tow, trying to get to the sitting area. Although he knew it would be imposible to find a free table, Anya's constant whining for a couch, a chair or even a stool to sit down was something he'd like to put a stop to. The sooner the better.

Once he reached his destination he took a quick look around and inmediatedly spotted Buffy, talking animatedly with Willow and Tara on a couch that to him looked to have enough space left to acommodate him and her still whining girlfriend.

The pair navigated their way to the girls and Xander waved at them to get their atention "Hey gals! It's been a while since you've showed your pretty faces around here." He turned a grin at Buffy then. "Looks like you managed to end 'Will's Reign of Terror' eh Buff?"

The sudden widening of the slayer's eyes and the glare that the hacker threw her way were sign enough for him to realize he was once again in for a taste of his footware.

The slayer turned her head slowly to face her still glaring friend and began to explain in a somewhat lame manner. "it's not what you think Will...er...I was under a lot of pressure at the time and...and I may have said Reign...and I may have said Terror, but ..but..he took it completely out of context...yeah...I...we were discussing Dracula, you know, the book? and he was comparing him to the Master..and how he wanted to make a reign here, and how he was so terrifying, so it had to be a reign of terror of course, but..."

Willow crossed her arms and raised a shapely brow, her face clearly showing what she thought of the story she was hearing. Behind her Tara was trying very hard not to laugh at the face of the slayer that was clearly showing her desperation at her digging herself deeper and deeper with every word coming out of her mouth. She knew that Willow was well aware of how Buffy called their study program, which by the way had taken them throughout the midterms without a problem, and the hacker-slash-witch was just giving her friend a hard time. Which was understandable because, now that she could see for herself, Buffy did look really cute when she was flustered.

Before Buffy could utter another word, Willow let out the laugh that she had been trying to contain since the whole apology thing began. "Please Buffy not another word." She said trying to catch her breath and waving a hand in front of the slayer. "If you dig yourself any deeper we wont be able to find you in years!"

Buffy mock backhanded her on the arm "You! You knew all along didn't you?!" A grin between relief and mischief appeared on her face "You do realize you have a mean streak,don't you?" The grin turned a little wicked "I like it".

This made the readhead blush a little bit, she turned her gaze away, but it returned a moment later, this time with intent eyes focused on the slayer. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by an annoyingly familiar voice.

"Hey Slayer. We have a problem" Spike said as a way of greeting.

"We? I don't know about we. The only problem I seem to have right now can be solved with a well placed wooden stake" Was the slayer's response, opening her jacket a little bit to show him said wooden implement for good meassure.

"I'm serious dammit!. Something big is going on. Haven't you noticed things have been too quiet around here lately?"

Now he had her atention, she had noticed and wondered a little about it, but let it go as a seasonal thing.

Spike continued."All the bigshots are skipping town, some for a while they say, others for good. Only unorganized groups of vamps and some demons, loners mostly are still here."

Now this was something to be worried about. If the demons were on the run, something very bad was on its way or already in residence.

"Could it be Adam and the group he was gathering?" The readheaded hacker asked.

Spike glanced at her, but answered to the slayer instead."I don't think so. I run into some of the guys that were with him and they hadn't seen or heard from the freak in almost a week. They think he could be dead"

Now that made Buffy made a doubletake. Whatever was out there may had taken Adam out and that was impressive on its own."Okay. Spike, you and I will try and find out more, we'll go out and ask the locals. The rest of you guys find Giles and set HQ. We have work to do".With that she stood up and walked towards the back door of the club, Spike just a step behind her.

Xander went to find Anya. She had split from the group exactly a minute after the conversation started.

That left Willow and Tara still seated on the couch to regard one another.

"You haven't told her yet" The blond witch said. A statement, not a question.

"No"

"You know you'll have to, sooner or later."

"Yeah, but it seems that the money is on later" Said the redhead as she stood up to meet Xander and Anya that were coming their way.

"I hope not, for both your sakes" Tara said under her breath, standing up too.

The four got together and left the club to find Giles and start trying to figure out what the deal was this time.

------------

"Ok, spill it"

"What?"

"Why did you warn us? Why not skip town like the others?" Buffy asked while she and Spike were walking along the street that would take them to Willy's for a late night interrogation party. She glanced at him and gave him a suspicios look "You wouldn't be working for someone trying to set us up, wouldn't you?" She stopped suddenly, facing him, Mr. Pointy appearing almost magically in her hand thus stopping the blond vampire on his tracks."You know what would happen if you do"

He held his hands up defensively and backed off a step. "Hey! I'm a good guy now remember?". Then he spread his arms and moved around in a circle "Working for the greater good. Fighting the minions of darkness. That kinda thing?" He looked at her spectantly.

The slayer looked back. "That's bolony"

He matched the slayer's stare for a while and then just drop his head and sighed in defeat. "I can't leave"

"Why? You got a new honey here or something?"

"I just can't!. The bloody chip activates any time I try to leave this godforsaken joke of a town." He said between his teeth. He threw his arms up and smashed them against his sides in frustration. "I'm on a leash here! Thanks to your bloody boyfriend and those GI Joe friends of his!"

"In other words you need *us* to keep *you* from finding your way in to a vacuum cleaner bag, right?" Asked the slayer starting to walk again.

The vampire grumbled something that sounded very much like 'smartass' and tried to keep pace with the slayer. He did not answer the question though. Instead, he asked one of his own. "Speaking of ...Where is Captain America? Thought you two were still in the siamese stage, disgusting as it is to think about it"

"Not that is any of your bussiness, but he has been quite busy with the Initiative and the whole Adam thing. They've taken it as a mistake to be corrected at all cost." Buffy stared straight ahead, almost like searching for something out there. "We talk from time to time but it's like we can't get time to be together, something always seems to come up. We haven't... been together since that whole bodyswitch mess and ... and why the hell am I telling you this?!"

"Maybe you needed to talk to someone about it. Anyone." Came the surprising aswer in a completely out of character lets-talk-about-it kind of voice. The slayer could only stared, mouth opened, gaping in total surprise at the vampire while he continued. "Maybe comando guy wasn't the one you were looking for. For starters you found him thinking him to be this normal, ordinary, vampires-are-movie-characters kind of fella. You have to accept that your life is not and will never be normal. You need to find someone that understands that and is willing to share that life with you, no strings attached."

The slayer managed to close her mouth and speech made a come back to her repertoire of skills. "I can't believe I'm hearing this from you. And the worst and most terrifying thing about it, is that you actually make sense." The slayer shook her head and chuckled a little bit. "This time the world must be really coming to an end!"

"Take it all in Slayer because this is the only time you'll see me like this." Spike said a unusually serious look on his face. "Remember that sometimes to find something, or someone, you don't have to look around, but look inside yourself instead." Spike stopped walking then. "Here we are"

The slayer blinked clearing her head from the sort of haze it was in and looked around, realizing that they have reached the bar. There didn't seem to be a lot of people. The little sign hanging on the door that read 'CLOSED' probably had something to do with it. "He may have skipped town too, or maybe it was a slow night and he decided to close early." The Slayer thought out loud, trying to put her thoughts on the problem at hand. She tried the doorknob and it opened easily. "Lets see if he is home".

The two entered the bar. It was pitch black inside. Spike moved along the wall searching and finally finding the light switch, turning it on as he did so. They waited a bit for their eyes to adjust to the light and discovered a mostly empty room, tables and chairs piled against a wall and covered with blankets. The bar and shelves, ussually full of bottles, glasses and the odd trinket, were completely bare and clean.

The slayer glanced at Spike, who just shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe we can take a look at the rest of the place, but I think it'll be pretty much like this"

The slayer looked around the bar one more time "You're probably right. Lets try that graveyard around the corner instead." She turned towards the door when suddenly the door connecting with the backrooms of the bar flew open nearly torned out of its hinges smashing against the wall, giving way to a seemingly very pissed off demon armed with a double blade battle ax.

He charged against the slayer the second his sight fell on her. With a rage filled roar, he swung the ax in a wide arc slicing towards the blond's neck. Buffy ducked and rolled to one side letting the creature pass her, she then stood and delivered a sidekick to the back of his head with little effect.

The demon turned around and charged again, this time to her midsection. The slayer jumped back avoiding the blow and grabbed the demon's arm, pivoting to one side and using the momentum of both of them to throw him crashing against the pile of chairs and tables on the far wall.

With a little distance between them now she jumped behind the bar looking for something to use as a weapon, all the while berating herself for not carrying anything but Mr. Pointy. The demon was wearing a thick leather armor that protected his chest, shoulders and joints, her favorite wooden stake useless against it. Luckily, taped against the bottom of what once was the money drawer, she found a double blade ax, similar to the one the demon had.

She stood up to find Spike smashing a chair against the demon's face and to her surprise the creature didn't even blinked. He backhanded the vampire, making him fly 10 feet to smash against the wall and started walking towards him with deadly initent, all the while roaring in rage.

Buffy vaulted over the bar and charged towards the creature, yelling at him to divert him from the vampire on the floor, she poised the ax to strike a blow to the demon's head. The demon turned around and used his left arm to try and fend the blow. The slayer striked and the blade sliced neatly through the demons arm, severing it just above the wrist, with a explosion of blood and gore. The demon didn't seem to notice in the slightlest, responding with a swing of his own that the blond bearly avoided by jumping back and then rolling out of range.

The slayer chanced a glance down and saw her white shirt and pants now stained red with the demon's blood. She looked back up to the creature, outrage coloring her tone "Do you know how difficult it is to wash blood stains?. My mom is gonna be pissed!."

The demon answered her by charging again, aiming high. Buffy ducked the blow and get to a crouch, from where she then had a clean shot to the creature's legs, she took it and cut off the right leg just above the knee. The demon lost his balance and started falling sideways. The Slayer, not stopping the swing, turned half circle, and diverted the moving blade upwards, meeting the demon halfway in his fall, effectively beheading him.

Both head and body fell with dry thumps to the floor. The slayer stood up and picked with dismay at her ruined clothes.

Spike got up and looked at the slayer, disaproval and a hint of disbelief in his features. "You mother does your laundry?!"

The slayer looked back up to the vampire with a sheepish expression on her face. "She wanted to. Besides, that way I visit her every week and we spend a little time together. The clean clothes are just a bonus" Then she turned to regard the remains of the demon. "Do you think it's a costumer with a grudge on Willy? He looked very pissed off."

The vampire had a dark look on his features. "No. I know exactly what that thing is. But I'll let Giles explain that to you and your friends, because I don't know the whole story behind it and he probably would do a better job telling it."

"Ok... hm... Spike, about what you were saying outside... about, you know, finding someone who accepts and shares my life as it is, demons and vampires and all..." Aprehension started to show on the slayer's features. "Hm...you wouldn't have been talking about you, wouldn't you?" She asked a little fear for the answer on her voice. He couldn't have fallen for her. It was imposible, ludicrous even. She was hoping she wouldn't have to stake him.

The vampire shot her a look reserved only for the clinically insane. "Bloody hell no! What are you thinking?! Did you take a blow to the head during the fight?!" He suddenly grab his head in his hands and a look of abject horror took over his face "Aahrrg, I remember kissing you!! Gross!! Why did you have to say that!? Stake me now please! Just end this torture!"

The slayer didn't know if she should be offended by this little demostration, but just the same she released her breath in relief, thanking god that she had read the vampire wrong. "Then who?"

For a second there, he seemed he was going to answer, but instead he crossed his arms over his chest and shot her a sardonic look. "Do you want me to cut your meat and handfeed you too?" Asked the briton, a blond brow arching upwards.

"Ok, I take the hint, lets go" She took one last look at the demon laying on the floor."Should we be worried? About this I mean"

The vampire just nodded.

**************

After a minute of the pair's departure, a small demon appeared at the remains of the back door. Melor walked into the room and stood before the downed demon.

"Malcon was right, she is a very special one this one."

He pushed the body a little bit with his toe and then turned to go to his masters lair.

**************It was 2 a.m. by the time Buffy and Spike got to Gile's place, after a stop at the dorm for a change of clothing and a quick rinse. They found the gang very busy trying to figure out something that could shed a light on the sudden dissappereance of the undead population of Sunnydale.

Giles, Tara and Xander were up to their knees in books, looking codex by codex, trying to find some prophesy that was about to be fullfilled, something or other connected to this particular day or the weeks following it. So far they'd had no luck at all.

Willow was focoused on her laptop searching through the city records for any unusual activity happening recently while at the same time launching bots to search the web for anything that could be remotely connected to what was happening.

The blond vampire didn't bothered with formalities and made a beeline to the refrigerator in the kitchen, taking out a pint of blood and pouring some in a cup just before placing it in the microwave.

The slayer however, said a quick hello to Willow who waved a hand at her absently, her attention completely focused on the flat screen, and then greeted the rest of the gang and sat next to Giles to start recounting the events in Willy's.

"Did you recognize what kind of demon it was?" Asked the Watcher after Buffy finished her tale.

The Slayer shook her head "No. I hadn't seen anything like it before. But Spike said he knew what it was" They all turned to watch said vampire sitting on a kitchen stool, taking and sip of blood from the now warm cup and Giles raised a questioning eyebrow silently urging him to elaborate.

The vampire met the Watcher's eyes and nodded. "It was a Berseker." He watched the other eyebrow join its twin to create a look of astonishment on Giles' face. He raised a hand forestalling the question he knew would come next. "I hadn't seen one in person before, but he matched the desciptions entirely. I'm almost 100 % sure."

"Well that puts a new twist on the matter. We now may have a starting point to figure out the situation."

Xander asked the question in 90% of the minds in the room "Ok, so what's a Breathwrecker?"

"Berseker." The watcher corrected."They were...are foot soldiers. Basically they live in a constant state of extreme pain from the moment they are born, and become insane just a few years after. They will attack anything that is in front of them and they suffer from such excrutating pain that any external stimuli is not registered, you could cut it in half and it will still be fighting until it dies from blood loss, without even noticing it."

"That explains why he didn't even blinked when I cut his arm" Was the slayer's comment, her face one of realization.

The watcher now had everyone's attention including Willow's that had left the laptop still on but leaned closer to the group to hear better.

Giles nodded a little."Yeah. They are fueled by rage. There is no thinking behind their actions. You could easily defeat one, maybe two at the same time. Three or more would prove more difficult though."

Now she had a target. "So, where do we find these Bersekers?"

The watcher's face told the answer before it came from his lips. "That's the odd part. There is no record of a Berseker since the Second Great War. They were supposedly whiped out then."

"You mean they're Nazis?"

The watcher turned to Xander who'd had asked the question. "That's the Second World War." Was the slightly bemused reply. "There has been three Great Wars against the Darkness throughout human history. All of them against huge armies of demons and their allies. Each time, an Army of Light rose and defeated them sending them back to where they came from."

The watcher rummaged around a little among the pile of books, picking up two and opening one, going through the pages until he found the one he was looking for.

He turned to them and then began to summarize the contents in the tome. "The first Great War was on 538 B.C. The first Army of Light was a combined force from all the known world of that time. Warriors and amazons from Greece, legions from Rome, celts from Britannia, warriors from China and fierce gigantic half man half lion warriors." He scratched the side of his head a little. "Hmmm... they maybe referring to warriors from Africa and their ritual war aparel...oh well anyway ...in total, two hundred thousand strong lead by two women took a stand just outside the city of Amphipolis and destroyed most of the army of darkness and made the rest scatter all over the world. There is a witness account that the two leaders of the army were badly wounded trying to kill the General of the army of darkness who is described here as "evil enclosed within a body's boundaries". Anyway the witness said that their daugther jumped in to the frey and kept the beast in check until its forces where defeated entirely, at which time it retreated with what remained of its army. She then turned to aid her parents but they just disappeared in thin air and no one saw them ever since."

"You said their daugther, as in the two of them?" Tara asked curiosity coloring her tone.

The watcher perused through a couple of pages and then nodded. "Yes, they were married and had lived with their daugther in Amphipolis for a long time beofre the war started."

Xander perked up a little bit at this. "This Amphipocolis wasn't by any chance the capital of Lesbos, wasn't it?"

Tara rolled her eyes a little. "Same gender relationships weren't as frowned upon at that time as they are in present days" Tara gave the teen an exasperated look. "And no, it wasn't."

Giles had turned a little pensive during this exchange. "Now that I take the time to study this more carefully I realized something." He said looking up to the group. "It maybe a coincidence, but all three armies of Light were lead by women"

Willow throwed a worried glance towards Buffy. "Could they have been Slayers?"

The watcher picked another book and followed the writting with a finger. "No. The Council only took part on the last War and its participation was more on the logistics side. At that time the Council was still in its early stages and they were training the first official Slayer in England while the War was taking place in Northen Africa, so the leader was not a Slayer and that leads me to speculate that neither were the others."

"So , what does this all has to do with that berseker I killed" Was the question from the slayer.

"The Bersekers have only been sighted during these conflicts. They seemed to be an exclusive part of the dark armies." He looked up. "There is a constant in these three wars and that is the leader of the demon's army, the General I was telling you about earlier. No one knew his name but the descriptions of him show that it was the same creature the three times. He was supposed to have been killed in the last battle of the third war back in 1025, but if bersekers are involved we can assume that information is wrong and he is back to start a fourth war or that someone has taken his place and is rebulding the army."

"That can't be good"

"It isn't"

A beep from Willow's computer broke the uneasy silence that had fell upon them after this words. The hacker quickly opened a window to look at the results of her search in the city records.

"I have something here. Here's the address of a very large state just within the city limits that was adquired recently. It was paid in full at the time of contract, in cash." She looked up to the group. "The middle man was Ethan Rae"

Giles peered over Willows shoulders to look at the data on the screen. "It looks like a possibility." He then looked at his watch. "It's almost 3:00. I think it will be best if we get some rest and check this place in the morning". He held up his hand when he saw Buffy was about to protest. "We all have to be on our best condition to go against whatever it is we are facing here."

The slayer nodded, acepting the statment and then stood up. "Ok, we all can crash here." Now she turned to Giles "Are the two guest rooms still available?" Wathching him nod she continued. "Then Will, Tara, Anya and I will take them." Now she faced Xander. "You get to sleep in the comfortable couch."

A little 'Yay' from Xander and they all went to make the necesary preparations to get the oh so needed sleep.

********************* Melor walked in to the main chamber in the cave complex under the state they were staying in. There, he could see his now 6 month companion in this town finishing the spell that would open a vortex so they could communicate with their Master, as they had been doing once a week since they'd arrived here.

"Hello Melor. Did the girl defeated the berseker as I predicted?" Malcom asked not bothering to turn and face the newly arrived demon.

The small blue demon stood dwarfed by his much taller companion. "Yes she did. You were right, she is different from the previous ones. She didn't have a hard time dispatching him."

Malcom only nodded. "The spell is complete."

A tiny point of light appeared in front of them. After a few seconds it started to grow to finally become a swirveling disc of white light, about 2 feet in diameter from wich a booming voice could be heard.

"Report on your mission" the voice said.

"We finished the observation stage. After six months of observing the chosen one we can conclude that her commitment with her cause is real and she can't be strayed from her path" Malcom and Melor were now down on one knee facing down in sign of respect.

"If that is the case we must kill her before she is appraised on her destiny and begins to get organized" The disc of light pulsated with each word coming from it.

"I'll engage her in combat then." Malcom replied lifting his face. "It will probably happen later today or tomorrow. With what she's seen it is just a matter of time for her and her group to find us".

Melor turned to the taller being at his side. "Wouldn't it be better if we gather some of the locals to make sure of the outcome of the encounter"

Malcon glared at him. "No. It would not. There is safety in numbers, but there is no honor"

The blue demon rolled his eyes.

The voice resonated against the cave walls. "Then it's settled. You will kill the girl and then we'll enter the next phase of our plan. Success is the only acceptable outcome."

With this the vortex started to collapse on itself until it finally disappeared with a flash of light.

Malcom stood up and left the chamber in silence.

Melor saw him leave and shook his head, wondering where his master had come up with this Malcom fellow. "An honorable demon. Now I've seen everything"

*******************Buffy got out of the tiny bathroom and back into the spare room she shared with Willow to find her friend, already in her pajamas, sitting on the edge of the bed tweaking at the little yellow ducks on the fabric, her body language screaming nervousness at the top of it lungs.

The slayer sat down next to her and placed a hand on top of her friend's to stop the tweaking and get her atention. "What is it Wills?"

The redhead regarded her a moment and it looked like she was trying to gather courage to start talking. It must've been a pretty big issue if the signs were any indication and it was getting the slayer a bit worried. "Hey, you now you can tell me anything, right? You'll always be my Wills not matter what."

Willow smiled a little and lowered her head a bit. "Ok...hmm...I kinda have been keeping secrets from you....and from the rest of the gang" The hacker said and risked a glance at the slayer. Buffy's look was not one of recrimination but of acceptance and she became more at ease. Maybe she could do this after all.

Buffy smiled. "I think we kinda had this conversation before. Secrets are not always bad." Now her face turned softer. "Whatever it is you can tell me."

"Well, the point is that... hmmm... you know Tara right? " Seeing Buffy's nod she continued. "Well Tara and I... we... we kinda... hmm... I think it started like 6 moths ago with the Gentlemen attacked and the everybody lost their voices and we couldn't speak and nobody knew sign language and communicating was kinda difficult and..."

As cute as it was to see Willow babbling away, Buffy had to cut her off. "You're dating Tara." She said in a soft voice.

Willow stared at her a little bit. "You knew?!" Was the startled answer. Now a look of alarm took over Willow's lovely features. "I mean, how? Was it that obvious?"

"Hmmm...No it wasn't." Now it was the slayer's turn to look uncomfortable. "Actually I... hmmm ...overheard you two once outside the dorm room." She glanced at Willow. "I'm sorry but with the slayer hearing I couldn't help it"

And that had been one the few times she had coursed her abilities. The irrational surge of jealousy blindsided her and she had to stop herself from barging through the door and decking Tara. She always thought that if her Willow was going to fall for a woman, well it should've been her, right? But that was not the case and she had come to make peace with that fact. Still, she had to restained herself from time to time from breaking Tara's hand anytime she touched Willow. She still needed to work on that one. It was not like she didn't like the blond wicca, she really did, but when it came to Willow, things tended to get a little irrational, like that little fantasy of hers with that Oz-fur hat with the little tail she wanted for christmas last year.

Willow was giving her a rather odd look. One she couldn't quite place. "I'm really sorry Will, I didn't mean it and I didn't say anything because I knew you'd say something whenever you were ready, and well, here we are." Buffy tried a smile and held her breath until she saw the hacker respond in kind. "If you're happy with her I'm happy for you. That's the only thing that matters to me."

The hacker smiled fully at this."Thanks, but we are not dating anymore."

"Huh?"

"Every thing was great, and I mean great. I hadn't been that happy in a very long time." She said, and then looked down again. "We've been dating for 5 months and Tara wanted us to move in together, she had found a great apartment just outside campus, but I couldn't do it. She said she understood my reasons and I said I wasn't so sure about that, but then she told me what those reasons were, and it was crystal clear she understood. This may not seem enough for a breakup, but there were very special circumstances. We remained friends, very good friends and still rely on each other for anything, but the phisyc.. err... dating part is over."

The slayer flinched a little bit at the slip but Willow didn't seem to notice."Would I be prying if I ask you what those reasons were?"

The look Willow gave her then was one she could easily identify, she had seen it before but never from her best friend directed at her. Could it be? A little shiver went down her spine and she had to swallow at her sudden nervousness.

The hacker smiled a bit. "Those reasons are a big part of what I wanted to talk to you about, see..."

Just then the door flew open and Tara barged in, inmediatly closing the door behind her and leaning against it. She had a little frightened look on her features and was a little out of breath.

"What's wrong?"

Tara took on the position of the two girls on the bed and realized she had intruded on something important. Damn. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were busy"

The slayer shook her head "It's okay, It can wait. What is it?"

"Hmmm... Anya wanted to play a little game and well lets just say that it got a little too weird when she started taking her clothes off and talking about the rules of this 'Self exploration relay race' so I sprinted out of there."

The slayer chuckled a bit and told the blond "It will be better if you stayed with us, a Xanderless Anya can be pretty dangerous." She turned to Will for aproval and found it. "Then it's settled, there's a sleeping bag somewhere here. One of us will have to take the floor" The slayer stood up and went to the closet to search for it.

Tara turned to Willow and gave her an inquiring look.

The readhead shook her head no and sighed a little.

The blond wicca released a sigh of her own and went to help the salyer.

More to come....