New Paths

Buffy stops, backs up and growls as she looks around. According to her beacon, she should be within ten feet of Tara right now, but there’s nothing around her but the walls of the sewer. “Move.” Buffy snarls and shoves her way through the soldiers back to an entrance up to the surface.



Clambering up the metal rungs, she just catches herself before shoving the manhole cover off and barreling through the opening. “She’d be really pissed if I ended up getting run over because of stupidity.” Buffy finally shifts the cover up a small amount, sighing in relief as she comes into a dead end alleyway, shoving the manhole cover off, she finishes climbing quickly out of the sewers and automatically looking down at her bracelet and moving towards the direction it’s pointing her. A familiar tingle settles at the back of her neck as she hears light footsteps running full out towards her. “Over here, Faith.” Buffy calls out as she steps up to the building, her eyes having already taken in the completely blacked out windows and the sturdy metal doors.



“B.” Faith pants quietly and shoves her damp hair back from her face.



“I’m going in.” Buffy growls lowly as she shifts back from the door, glaring at Faith as the other slayer steps in between her and the door.



“Let me, he’s some nut job from the government. He mighta booby-trapped it, B.” Faith gently urges Buffy back away from the door



Buffy stares in stunned shock at the slayer as she moves away from the other woman. She turns to look at the soldiers as they shift uncomfortably at the other slayer’s comment. “Wait.” Buffy orders Faith. “Is it possible?”



“Yes.” A private steps up and nods his head. “There are some explosives, primer cord and other things missing.” Seeing the questioning look, he drops his eyes. “I was the one responsible for taking inventory and came up with the discrepancies.”



“Fuck me.” Faith glares at the soldier before turning back to Buffy. “Want me to go in, or not? I’ll do it, B.”



Buffy clenches her hands into fists as she glares up at the concrete block building. “We’re off D Street, aren’t we?”



“Yeah. The part of town that’s even worse than everywhere else for not noticin’ shit.” Faith comments.



“Let us.” One of the soldiers steps forward at a nod from the Corporal and starts to check the edges of the door.



Faith and Buffy both shift back and look up at the building.



“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Buffy glances towards Faith as the other slayer nods her head sharply. “I’m going this way, come and get me if you see another way in.”



Faith takes off around the other side of the building as Buffy makes her way quickly in the opposite direction. Both slayers stopping at the opposite side of the building. “There’s a fire escape, but it’s about five stories up, it looks like it was dismantled recently.”



“Let’s look at it.” Buffy trots beside Faith and looks up at the fire escape. “Can you toss me up to it?”



Faith eyes Buffy like she’s crazy. When Buffy jogs back and looks at her seriously, Faith takes a deep breath. “Don’t do anythin’ stupid, B. That’s my gig.”



Buffy’s lip snarls slightly. “That bastard took my life, Faith. Until I have Tara back safe and sound in my arms I’ll do whatever the fuck I have to.”



Faith strips off her extra gear, tossing it to the side without another word and looks up at the fire escape, trying to get an idea of where she should stand. Lacing her fingers together and bending her knees as much as possible she stares at Buffy. “Whenever you’re ready.”



Buffy takes off the gun and everything extra she has except for a large knife. Stepping back further, she looks in Faith’s eyes and nods before taking off towards the other slayer like a runner out of the blocks.



***



Wes pulls the car up outside the building as the soldiers huddle around the door to the building. “Where the hell are Faith and Buffy? I would have figured both of them would be here.”



“They are, they were around the side.” Giles answers even as he’s exiting the vehicle and running to the side just in time to see Buffy being catapulted up into the air by Faith, the dark-haired slayer grunting loudly as she obviously uses every bit of strength in her body to send Buffy up towards the fire escape. “Oh, sweet…” Giles eyes follow Buffy, exhaling loudly as her fingers grab the edge of the landing before she scrambles her way onto it. “Of all the goddamn crazy…”



“Leave her be.” Faith starts gathering her weapons, sliding them into their hiding places and over her shoulder and wherever else she can before jogging over to pick up the items Buffy had discarded. “Now we gotta find a way in.” She strides by Giles as she makes her way back to the front of the building where the soldier boys are hovering. “What the fuck? Ain’t ya’ figured out how to get in yet?”



“He’s got it booby trapped.” The Corporal shakes his head. “We don’t have the right tools with us to dismantle it. And honestly it’s a good possibility that no matter what we think will bypass it, won’t.”



Angel listens to what’s being said from the inside of the car. “Where’s Buffy?” He calls out to the group.



“Fire escape and hopefully inside by now.” Faith answers.



Angel growls softly. “How big of a blast will come from what’s around the door?”



“Can’t tell for sure.” The Corporal looks at the vampire in the car, having already been appraised of his status by the two other men that had quickly climbed out of the car.



“Move out of the way.” Angel orders as he prepares to head straight towards the door. “Get out of the blast zone if you know what’s good for you.”



“Angel…” Wesley starts before stopping, seeing the yellow tint to Angel’s eyes as the vampire glares at him.



“Move.” Faith grabs Giles and urges him far away from the door and hopefully out of the blasting zone. “B’s pissed and hurtin’. I ain’t never seen her that upset even with me and all the shit I pulled.” Faith quietly tells Giles.



“She loves Tara. Completely. The two women are really good for each other and I honestly have never, ever seen Buffy happy before. I thought I had, but seeing her with Tara…” Giles shakes his head at the thought and looks at Faith. “Thank you for coming here to help.”



“I had to. It’s the right thing to do.” Faith closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Working on a meditation, knowing it won’t be much longer before there’s an explosion as Fang hopefully barrels his way into the building without getting dusted.



***



“How in the hell did they find me?” Riley snarls at the camera looking down at the only entrance into the building, except for the windows too high up and the fire escape he’d personally dismantled so it wouldn’t be accessible. Tilting his head at the sight of the soldiers, Buffy and some other dark-haired woman coming in from the other area, he shakes his head. When the two women take off in two different directions after a few moments, he smirks. “You’re not going to find a way in. Even with your slayer strength you can’t reach the fire escape.” Deciding it may be time to go ahead and take out the witch as painfully as possible before they blow the doors, he stands and strides towards the room he’s holding her in.



***



“Are you a little more settled now?” Cordelia questions softly as she watches Joyce, worried about the fact the woman had broken down. Though not knowing her that well, she’d always seemed so together and a rock for the rest of them.



Sipping the hot tea, Joyce nods and smiles thankfully at Cordelia before her eyes dart to Fred. “Sorry.”



“Oh, no. Nothing to be sorry about.” Fred waves her hands around while shaking her head. “I just wish I could get to know your little group without all the…”



“Craziness.” Joyce allows a small, sad smile to cross her lips.



“I almost hate to ask… but…” Cordelia takes a deep breath at the curious look in Joyce’s eyes. “What the hell happened when Angel came here a month ago?”



Joyce snorts softly before she busts out laughing, hurriedly setting down her tea so she doesn’t spill it while wiping the tears from her face. “That’s going to take some time. And to make you really understand it a little better, you need to learn about Tara.”



Cordelia leans in curiously before darting a glance at Fred, smiling as the physicist leans forward also.



Joyce chuckles at the obviously intrigued look coming from both women. Reaching over on the end table, she grabs a picture of Tara standing behind Buffy, smiling shyly while her arms are wrapped tightly around her daughter. Handing it to Cordelia, she leans back into the couch. “Tara is honestly hard to describe. When I first met her, she was quiet, stuttered and shy. Which, once she gets to know you is when the real woman comes forward. Deep down since she and Buffy have become a couple, her… assertiveness has blossomed. Not to toot Buffy’s horn, but I think she’s made Tara grow stronger and more comfortable with her self.”



Cordelia smiles down at the picture of the woman she’d gotten just a couple brief glimpses of in her visions, the only reason she knew who to contact was because the first glimpse had been of Buffy and Tara snuggled up asleep in bed together. Talk about a rude awakening seeing the naked women tangled together having obviously fallen asleep after a serious bout of sex. Silently wondering if that was just this morning that they had been together before Tara was taken. Handing the picture to Fred, she smiles sadly. “Buffy’s in front.”



Fred smiles down at the picture, the happiness obvious in the two women’s posture and smiling countenances. “They make a good lookin’ couple.” Fred comments quietly, handing the picture back to Joyce.



“Yes, they do.” Joyce runs a finger over the picture before taking a deep breath. “Anyway, Tara normally doesn’t say or do anything forceful, unless it has something to do with Buffy. I swear the woman is like a lioness protecting her cub when it comes to my daughter.” Joyce chuckles quietly as she hears the half snort come from Cordelia. Looking at the young woman, she nods. “Hard to believe, isn’t it? Someone trying to protect Buffy for a change.”



“What makes me curious, is does Buffy let her? And can she protect Buffy?” Cordelia questions curiously.



Joyce smiles softly as she leans her head against the back of the couch and looks up at the ceiling. “I know Buffy and Tara both left out some of the details as to what happened, the looks they exchanged when they gave me the watered down version were obvious. But when Angel came here, he showed up with the express purpose of breaking them up. At least, that’s my opinion. The version I received was that Angel came in spouting off that when he became human, Buffy would drop Tara and come back to him and that he and Buffy were meant to be together. There was more, I know that he had to say something about Tara being a woman. Just a gut feeling I have, but something really set Tara off and I know it had to be more than I was told. She sent a fireball at Angel and would have literally set his ass on fire dusting him if Buffy hadn’t knocked him out of the way at the last second.”



“Why did Buffy save him?” Fred questions curiously, somewhat shocked at Angel acting that way, but there was no denying the way the vampire had been when he came back from Sunnydale… heck even the way he was acting still.



“Truthfully?” Joyce looks at the woman, a mischievous smile crossing her lips as Fred nods her head. “Buffy told me, but didn’t tell Tara. She didn’t want Tara to end up feeling guilty about killing him. He does have a soul and he’s helped out a lot in the past, and she was afraid that eventually that would eat away at Tara. Buffy doesn’t feel any more loyalty towards Angel, and he knows it.”



“And that in a nutshell is what really pisses Angel off.” Cordelia leans back, finally understanding. “Buffy doesn’t love him anymore and he has no chance of getting her back. Buffy, I’m sure, let him know that in no uncertain terms plus the fact that she loves, really loves, Tara.”



“I think so.” Joyce smiles at Cordelia. “Thanks, Cordelia.”



“For what?” Cordelia frowns as she looks at Joyce.



“For taking my mind off what’s happening. I needed that.” Joyce pats the young woman on the knee, taking a deep breath. “I’m going to start cooking, when all the children come back, they’ll be tired and hungry.”



Cordelia watches Joyce as the older woman pushes up from the couch and makes her way towards the kitchen, slowly smiling as she sees the strength she remembers showing itself again.



“You’re gonna hafta tell me a bit more about life here.” Fred comments softly with the Texas accent a little more pronounced as she turns towards Cordelia after having watched the older woman walk out of the room.



“There’s a lot that happened here on the Hellmouth. I wouldn’t know where to begin.” Cordelia admits, smiling sadly as she thinks back to those days and how young all of them were. Realizing with a jolt that it was just four years ago that Buffy came to Sunnydale, and that four years has seemed like two lifetimes.