What If??

Joyce bites her lip as she watches Rupert finish tying and gagging the two men from the Watcher’s Council while Faith paces back and forth full of energy. Turning her gaze towards her daughter and Tara, Joyce shakes her head as they continue to hold each other, occasionally gently kissing each other.

“What are we gonna do?” Faith finally growls as she looks at the two comatose council goons before sliding her gaze over the other people in the apartment.

“We’re wanting to wait and see how many more of the goon squad show up.” Buffy shrugs as she glances over at the two guys tied up. “Or maybe they wake and we’ll get the information we need from them, then gather the other idiots and place a little…” Buffy looks at Tara and a completely mischievous grin crosses her face. “A little person to person phone call?”

“That could be arranged.” Tara’s lip quirks up, the laughter obvious in her eyes. “Us there, or him here?”

Buffy tilts her head considering for a moment. “I’m not in the mood to go to England.”

“Here it is.” Tara leans in and kisses Buffy softly. “I’d like to get this taken care of, Sarim. Then spend some serious time reacquainting myself with you.” Tara runs a hand gently down Buffy’s cheek, before stroking her thumb over the slayer’s bottom lip, smiling softly at her lover.

“If you want, we could go gather them up?” Buffy questions, her eyes twinkling at the thought.

Tara glances towards Faith who’s literally bouncing around the apartment before turning her gaze back towards Buffy. Silently she looks in her lover’s eyes for a few short moments before smiling softly and kissing Buffy before releasing her completely.

“Faith? Feel like going out and seeing about gathering a few more of these guys?” Buffy tilts her head towards the Council goons as she watches the dark-haired slayer.

“Anything is better than sitting here waiting.” Faith admits looking at the blonde slayer.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Giles shakes his head looking at the group of women.

“We’ve got to do something. And the sooner we get this over and done with the better I’ll feel.” Buffy explains quietly. “Faith, can you drive?”

“I ain’t got a license, but I know how to drive.” Faith looks at Buffy questioningly.

“We’ll need some way to transport them here. I think it would be kind of obvious if we walk down the road with a guy thrown over our shoulders.” Buffy smirks at the thought.

“You can take care of that so that no one will see them, Sarim.” Tara whispers softly.

“Yeah, but it won’t be as much fun as tossing them tied up in the back of the vehicle.” Buffy admits, chuckling as she looks at Tara, before sighing quietly at the raised eyebrow. “Okay, okay. Take away all my fun. Simple glamour, save the big mojo for when you bring Travers here, right?”

“That would be perfect, sweetie. Maybe your mother and I can go to the store and pick up something to fix for you two to snack on when you get back?” Tara offers, a small smile playing around her mouth.

“Hot wings with bleu cheese dressing?” Faith eagerly butts in, grinning from ear to ear.
“Someone’s been talking about me, I see.” Tara raises an eyebrow at Buffy.

“Only good things, honest.” Buffy chuckles and kisses Tara quickly. “We’re gonna go out and pick up the nearest ones and bring them back.”

“Be careful.” Tara whispers watching as Buffy winks at her before heading towards the door with Faith following quickly behind. “Ladies, it’s getting late, you might want to think about taking a couple stakes with you.”

Buffy sends her senses out, seeing if there is anything demon wise they need to worry about. Getting a couple pings other than the major one from the school, Buffy growls quietly. “Giles, a couple stakes and knives, please?”

“Are you ladies quite sure…” Giles starts then stops when Buffy and Faith both glare at him, he throws his hands up in disgust. “If they end up hurting you, I don’t want to hear it!”

“They won’t.” Tara shakes her head quickly. “We’re all protected. They won’t be able to hurt any of us. Giles, do you mind staying here and babysitting those two, while Joyce and I make a run to the store?”

Joyce chuckles and just shakes her head at the group. “Are we planning on staying here tonight? If we’re planning on this taking a while, we’d be more comfortable at my house. And if the main reason we were coming here, was because you thought they‘d be more likely to be staking his apartment out, it‘s kind of a moot point with those two going out to gather them up like bad kids.” Joyce motions to Buffy and Faith as they tuck away weapons.

“What do you think, Kalina?” Buffy questions softly as she walks up to Tara, brushing her fingertips over her cheek. “Should we move this to the house?”

“It would be more comfortable for everyone involved.” Tara admits as she presses into the soft caress, her eyes searching the hazel eyes of her lover. “Especially since this will probably take the rest of tonight and at least part of tomorrow.”

“Can you miss your classes tomorrow?” Buffy questions softly watching her lover intently.
“I’m sure there won’t be a problem with my teachers.” Tara allows a small smile to cross her face. “Thanks for worrying about it.”

“I know you’ve got a full load of classes. I don’t want to do anything that might jeopardize your grades.” Buffy admits softly, searching her lover’s beautiful blue eyes while running her hand over Tara’s hip, unconsciously pulling her lover closer to her body.

“I don’t think my grades will hurt too much from missing one days worth of classes. Then we have the weekend to try and tie up any loose ends.” Tara smirks as Buffy finishes closing the small distance between them, burying her face in her neck and nipping at her mark.

“Damn, B! Can’t you get away from her for a little while? I’m jonesing for some action, here. You shoulda never fixed me up if you ain’t gonna let me kick some ass.” Faith growls, bouncing up and down before striding through the living room.

“Go.” Tara murmurs softly, chuckling as Buffy whimpers.

“Tonight, and maybe this whole weekend, understand?” Buffy whispers as she places a kiss on the ear she’s whispering in.

“Understood.” Tara smiles at her lover as Buffy winks and spins around on her heel heading out the door. Tara chuckles, knowing Buffy won’t stop, or she’d be tempted to come back again.

“’Bout fuckin’ time.” Faith growls, following Buffy out of the watcher’s apartment.
“Damn.” Giles mutters as he looks at the closed door that the two slayers had disappeared through.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Giles?” Tara glances towards the watcher after the door shuts.

“I should have had them go ahead and put these two imbeciles in the back of the Jeep while they were still here.” Giles grumbles, shaking his head.

“I’ll take care of them. Go ahead and get yourself a little overnight bag, so we can head home.” Tara chuckles as Giles looks at her questioningly. “Should I put them in the back of your vehicle, while Joyce and I stop quickly at the store?”

Giles blinks in confusion for a minute. “How???” Shaking his head he throws his hands up in the air. “Never mind. If you can get them in the car, that would be wonderful. I’ll meet you at Joyce’s.” Giles smiles briefly at Joyce before heading up the stairs.

Tara chuckles and glances towards Joyce, smirking briefly as she notices the woman’s eyes following Giles up the stairs. “He’s actually a very nice looking older man, isn’t he?” Tara questions with a raised eyebrow.

Joyce blushes lightly and slides her eyes towards Tara. “Did Buffy ever mention the band candy incident?” Joyce questions softly, blushing even darker.

“Hmmm. I don’t think so.” Tara laughs quietly as she curiously watches Joyce sigh heavily and blow a breath of air up into her hair. “But I’m thinking I would like to hear about it.”

“Yeah, but Buffy may not want to be reminded of it.” Joyce mumbles.

Tara laughs patting Joyce gently on the shoulder. “We’ll have to have a discussion without Buffy, then.”

“Right, like she’ll leave you alone long enough for me to tell you THAT story.” Joyce smirks at the young witch.

“Well, we do have the trip to the grocery store, the store and the trip back home.” Tara walks over to the two men, whispering softly as she touches each man on the shoulder.
Joyce watches as the two men disappear, shaking her head in disbelief. “Did you magic them out to the vehicle?”

“Nope. You’re going to help me.” Tara looks up grinning. “I just put a glamour on them, to make them look invisible, and lightened their body weight. So you can grab one and lift him to carry him out to Mr. Giles’ car.”

“What if I accidentally drop him?” Joyce questions as she hesitantly reaches, chuckling as she pokes the guy in the shoulder. Grasping him, she experimentally lifts him, surprised at how light he is.

Tara looks up smirking. “Oops?”

“The Council must have really done a number on you two.” Joyce whispers as they take the two men out to Gile’s car.

“That would be one way to put it.” Tara murmurs, sighing heavily, her eyes dark with remembered past pain. “I would really rather not talk about that, right now.” Tara swallows as they put the two goons in Giles’ car. “I think I would rather hear about the band candy incident.”

Joyce nods her head in understanding as they climb in the Jeep. “Well, it’s going to actually be two stories…” Joyce grins as she explains about the be-spelled candy, and what happened between her and Rupert, chuckling as Tara busts out laughing. “Oh, oh!! Wait, that’s not the best part…” Explaining the rest of how Buffy got the ‘aspect of the demon’ and how she found out about them. “On the hood of the police car… twice?”

“Oh, Goddess!!” Tara laughs hysterically as she can practically hear Buffy saying it. “That had to be priceless!”

“Not at the time.” Joyce laughs with Tara, shaking her head. “It was extremely embarrassing!” Joyce admits, chuckling as they pull into a parking spot at the grocery store. The two women walk in companionably, planning on stocking the house with as much groceries as they can, laughing the entire time.

***

Buffy slows down as she walks downtown, her eyes lighting on a store that’s open late.

“Yo, B! What’cha lookin’ at? I thought you were wanting to get the duds back to the house.” Faith grunts before dropping the two Watcher Council guys on the ground and stretching her back, before looking towards where Buffy’s eyes were caught. “Damn, B! Got some kink in ya’?”

“Sarim does.” Buffy whispers softly as she drops the three she’s been carrying before crossing the street to look in the windows. Sighing quietly, Buffy looks in the windows for a few minutes before turning crossing the street again to pick up the idiots, kicking them in the ribs before picking them up and throwing them over her shoulders.

Faith smirks at Buffy’s actions, being able to see the men, after Buffy did something when she bitched about grabbing one in the nuts by accident. Buffy had shrugged and whacked all of them in the balls before stating something in a foreign tongue and waving her hand around them. “Anymore demons around?” Faith looks around antsy, still jonesing for some more action.

“No. Just down at the Initiative’s place. They’ve been capturing them and doing experiments on them, is all we can figure out. Maybe after we get the Council taken care of, we can figure out what to do about those idiots.” Buffy comments as she looks around, sighing. “I want Tara.” Buffy finally admits as she strides towards home.
Faith follows silently behind Buffy for a few blocks, before hesitantly questioning her fellow slayer. “What happened to her, B?”

Buffy shakes her head as she slows down, for Faith to walk beside her. “She hasn’t told me much, Faith. I just know that her family abused her, her father got her with a beer bottle bad enough that she has a scar from it on her side. It had punctured her lung, even.” Buffy growls angrily at the thought of Tara’s family. “Her mom was the only thing that I think kept her sane. After she died, I have a feeling things got worse for Tara, but she hasn’t really gone into much detail about it. She’s slowly loosening up more.”

Faith nods her head softly as they continue to walk. “I didn’t have much of a home life growing up, either. Hell, sometimes I think I would have rather had the abuse than to be fuckin’ ignored like I wasn’t there and left to fend for myself.” Faith finally admits softly.

“Tara was thinking you might have been abused.” Buffy tilts her head to see more of the slayer’s face.

“Nah, at least not until I ran away.” Faith shifts the one goon that was starting to slide. “I got in the wrong crowd and they fucked me up pretty bad.” Faith shrugs, taking a deep breath. “Ma didn’t even act like I existed. She’d get drunk and pass out in front of the TV from the time I could remember. Sometimes there would be sandwich fixin’s in the house, but not that often. More than not, I went hungry.”

Buffy slows down and turns to face the dark-haired slayer fully. “Why didn’t you ever open up to us, when you first came here?” Buffy questions softly, sincerely curious as to why Faith never talked like this before.

“’Cause I decided I wouldn’t get hurt, if I didn’t feel nothin’.” Faith growls angrily as she thinks back to that time. “I tried to play it all off like a big fuckin’ game. Big Bad Assed Slayer.” Faith snarls her nose up at the thought of how she acted.

Buffy drops the Council goons as she reaches out to turn Faith’s head towards her. “I’m sorry I never really reached out to you then, Faith. It might have taken time, but things could have been different if I had.” Buffy admits softly, the sadness obvious in her eyes.

“It ain’t like I gave ya’ much of a choice.” Faith inhales deeply, trying to get control of her anger as she sees the sincerity in Buffy’s eyes. “Come on, I got some powerful hungries goin’ on. Hope your girl made wings.” Faith allows a crooked smile to cross her face.

“Knowing Tara, I’m sure she did.” Buffy nods, before slinging the goons carelessly over her shoulders.

“Damn, B! They’re gonna be a hurtin’ when they come to.” Faith smirks as she and Buffy head quickly towards Revello Drive.

“Good! They ought to be thankful I don’t cut their fuckin’ dicks off and shove them down there throats.” Buffy growls at the men. “I can’t believe they pulled fucking guns on us!”

“I didn’t realize T-Bear’s spell even kept the bullets from hurting us.” Faith whispers, still remembering the shock and surprise as before she’d realized it, she’d had a gun pointed at her and bullets whizzing to come to a dead standstill a foot from her to drop harmlessly to the ground. Shivering at the thought, Faith pales at how close she’d come to dying.

“She was serious, when she said no harm would come to any of us.” Buffy shrugs unworriedly at the thought. “I trust her completely.”

Faith nods silently as they finally turn down Buffy’s street. “There anymore of these idiots?”

“I don’t know.” Buffy admits hoarsely, frowning heavily. “Maybe Kalina and I can do a quick run around town, or maybe she can do a spell that will bring whoever’s left here, to the house.”

“Were any of these the one you saw at the hospital?” Faith follow’s Buffy up the stairs to her house.

“Extra bruised boy.” Buffy smirks as she hits one of the goons hard on the ass. “One of them you’re carrying looks familiar, so it might have been another one from the hospital. I’m not real sure.” Buffy shrugs as she opens the door inhaling deeply as the smell of spicy hot wings permeates the air. Dropping the guys she’s carrying, Buffy heads straight to the kitchen.

Faith raises an eyebrow before shrugging her shoulders and drops the ones she’s carrying on top of Buffy’s before shutting the door and following her sister slayer into the kitchen, smirking as she sees Buffy already having Tara pinned against the back door. Turning her gaze towards Giles and Joyce, she smirks knowingly at the two. “Those two are gonna keep us up all night, ya’ know that don’t ya?”

Joyce rolls her eyes, laughing. “No, Tara already promised me we wouldn’t hear a peep from their room. We just have to worry about hearing them while they’re in other parts of the house!” Joyce grumbles loudly as she hears a loud moan come from one of the women.

“Sorry, mom.” Buffy pants heavily after finally releasing Tara from a hungry, searching kiss.

“No you’re not.” Tara whispers, grinning at her lover before dragging her hands up from Buffy’s ass to stroke softly over her back.

“Okay, no I’m not.” Buffy winks at Tara before slowly pulling her hands out from under Tara’s shirt, tweaking her nipples first. “Not much longer.” Buffy growls and leans in to nip playfully at Tara’s bottom lip.

“After dinner and a late night snack.” Tara smacks Buffy firmly on the butt as she turns back towards the kitchen. “The wings will be done here in a few minutes. We also have fixings for submarine sandwiches, if anyone would like some.”

“How many wings you got cookin’?” Faith plops down on one of the stools, her eyes looking questioningly at the blonde witch.

“A few.” Tara grins when Joyce starts to choke on her laughter.

“Ummm. Did you ladies have any luck?” Giles questions hoarsely as he cleans his glasses.

“Yeah, they’re in a pile in the living room.” Faith grins at the watcher. “Where’s the other two?”

“Down in the basement.” Tara answers as she walks towards the living room, waving away the spell to look at the unconscious men. “Honey?” Tara sing songs softly, laughing as Buffy trots in quickly. “The merchandise seems to be a little bruised.”

“Some of them tried to shoot us.” Buffy shrugs looking down at them as she taps a couple in the ribs with her foot. “They didn’t exactly make me happy.”

Tara snarls her nose at the men. “Toss them down the stairs with the other two.” Tara shakes her head and walks back to the kitchen, past a stunned and pale Giles.

“Surely they didn’t.” Giles whispers watching as Buffy easily lifts two in her hands, heading back towards the kitchen.

“Yeah, they did, tweed.” Faith snarls as she picks up a couple, following Buffy.

“Don’t throw them down the stairs!” Giles watches horrified as Buffy prepares to do just that.

Buffy turns towards him with a raised eyebrow before tossing them down the stairs, having seen that Tara had already placed a magical spell for them to land relatively gently down in the basement.

Faith chortles as she quickly follows suit, tossing one after the other down the stairs, watching curiously as they floated down and out of sight. “Ah, hell!! That ain’t no fun.” Faith grumbles before plopping back down on a stool, staring at Tara.

“Sorry.” Tara grins and shrugs. “I already placed a spell around the house to protect us. I also took care of it so that when those idiots came to, they will only be able to do the basic things to take care of themselves. If we’re feeling generous, we might feed them. But I honestly look for this to be over with tomorrow.”

“Can you do something to make sure there aren’t anymore of them here in Sunnydale?” Buffy questions as she tosses the last one down the stairs, shutting the door as she leans against it, smiling as she watches Tara start pulling the wings out of the oven.

“There’s one more.” Tara tilts her head, smirking. “He’ll be here in a little while.”

“Good.” Buffy nods her head and sits down by Faith, pulling one of the hot pans in front of her. “Did you make some extra sauce?”

“Of course.” Tara chuckles and pulls a big jar of sauce out of the refrigerator. “This is the special stuff.” Tara winks at Buffy. “I did a little something to make it cook in record time.”

Buffy licks her lips as she watches Tara pour some in a bowl and set it down in front of her. Dunking one of the wings in the sauce and quickly eating the dripping wing, Buffy whimpers and gathers all the sauce off her lips. “You’re gonna have to keep this sauce on hand all the time.” Buffy looks up, tears from the spiciness of the sauce making her eyes glassy.

Tara chuckles at Buffy before she watches as Faith looks at Buffy before hesitantly dipping a small part of her wing in the sauce before eating it. “Shit, B!” Faith groans loudly, tears coming to her eyes, also. “Give me more of that.” Faith grunts as she tries to take the bowl away from Buffy.

“Get your fucking own!” Buffy growls and smacks Faith’s hand, pulling the bowl over to the other side of her.

“Children.” Tara shakes her head before placing another bowl in front of Faith, as she watches Buffy smirk and pour her sauce over her tray of wings.

“Dare I even try one?” Giles questions as he watches the two slayers eat the wings while wiping the tears from their faces.

“Here, you might want to try one of these.” Tara pushes one of the batches of wings that she did that weren’t near as hot, as she hadn’t soaked them in the sauce, just dipped them in quickly. “These should just have a good flavor with a little bit of a kick. Nothing like those other wings are.”

“They’re quite good, Rupert. Try one.” Joyce grins encouragingly at the watcher, as she and Tara had already eaten some earlier, when Joyce had begged to try some of the non-nuclear wings.

“Hey! I thought these were for us.” Buffy grumbles watching as Giles starts to eat a wing.

“I made enough to tide you two over.” Tara pinches Buffy on the side as she walks over to stand behind her lover as she eats. “Plus there’s more in the refrigerator that I already baked, they’ll just need to be re-heated.” Tara murmurs as she nibbles on Buffy’s ear.

“Forget food.” Buffy growls as she tosses down her wing, quickly wiping her hands before picking Tara up and running out of the kitchen, leaving three people staring after her in surprise.

“She didn’t do what I think she just did?” Joyce blinks as literally, one second the two women were there, the next second gone.

“Uh, yep. More for me.” Faith shrugs her shoulders as she goes back to eating the wings, smirking at the thought.

“Dear, Lord!” Giles mumbles as he slowly blinks at the empty spot the two women had been.

“You ought to try living here, before Tara did the silence spell on Buffy’s room.” Joyce grumbles, blushing lightly.

Giles blushes even darker as his and Joyce’s eyes lock on each other for a moment, as they both remember their own past deeds.

Faith grunts, trying not to laugh at the obvious desire on both of their faces, tilting her head down as she finishes her wings and pulls Buffy’s pan towards her to work through hers.

***