Love Through Touch

Disclaimer: See Part 1
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"It's still a natural sleep" Tara checked Jean for the fourth time since they left the Magic Box.

"So that's a good thing right?" Buffy smoothed the unruly brown locks from the childs face.

Tara could tell Buffy was extremely worried "She's sleeping as far as the unconsciousness is concerned. If she's in pain, or if there's anything wrong internally, which I doubt, that remains to be seen"

"Can't your magic tell that?" Buffy looked from the child to the Wiccan.

"I-" Tara backed away "I'm not trained to heal. The spell I'm using is just a basic, revealing spell with a few changed words. Everythings coming up as being fine so far. Buffy let's try not to worry" she placed a gentle hand on the slayer's shoulder.

"I just... she's helpless Tara. We should be able to do more" Buffy sighed deeply "I don't like feeling this way"

"Like there's nothing you can beat to make it better" Tara urged Buffy away from the couch, and Jean's sleeping body.

Anya was quick to take the slayer's place at the childs side.

"I need to work off some steam." Buffy impaimpatient hands through her hair "I don't know what's up with that strange girl that was in the Magic Box, but she left me kinda-"

"On edge?" Faith came around the corner from the kitchen "I gotta need to slay, if you want company"

"Sure, we'll be back later" Buffy grabbed her keys. She flung open the door and nearly ran into Hyatt.

"Whoa slow down" Hyatt caught Buffy's upper arms to keep them from colliding.

"Where did you go? You just disappeared earlier" Faith asked squeezing past them both.

"Well, when the Quake hit, we didn't know if everyone was okay" Hyatt held up several small bags "Cell phones, just incase?"

Buffy and Faith blinked "Oh" came their harmonic response.

"Could you hold off leaving for a few? Get these things oraganized?" Hyatt looked back and forth between the two.

"I guess" Faith turned back into the house.

Buffy and Hyatt eyed each other for a few moments before Buffy turned and re-entered.

Sighing, Hyatt followed.
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"So we all get one of these, and if anything happens, we call?" Anya waved teh phoen around as she spoke. She still had a soothing hand on Jean's head.

"Yeah. Everyone's number will be programmed into each phone. You find something, you call everyone. Something happens, you call...someone" Hyatt sat on the floor next to Buffy.

It was the closest anyone had seen the two to each other in the last few days.

"Okay, everyone, including Dawn has their own phone. The other kids, will always be with someone" Tara accumlated all the phone numbers and began formulating lists.

"Why did we think of this sooner?" Willow sat behind Tara with her legs stretched out on either side of the blonde Wiccan's body.

"Didn't have the means I gues" Buffy shrugged.

"Can I call my friends with this?" Dawn bounced in place.

"You have free nights and weekends" Hyatt rolled her eyes "Otherwise, keep it to the present company"

Dawn sighed and half frown. She was happy they'd gotten her a phone period.

Tara finished compiling and copying all the numbers onto several lists "Here's everyone's numbers, program them into your phone. It's best if we all keep the same order on all of them. If worse comes to worse and you have to use someone else's phone. It's good to know the order"

"Why does Buffy get to be number 1!?" Dawn grouched "I'm the last one!"

"That's because your the least important" Star informed her from her perch on Xander's lap.

Dawn growled and flinched towards the little girl.

Star stuck out her tongue.

"Star behave" Tara gave the child a look.

Star shrugged and snuggled into Xander.

"I'm done, on with the slay for me" Faith stood and slid the phone into her pocket.

"What? Hey, Faith! Wait for me!" Buffy grabbed the younger slayers arm "I only have like half of mine in"

"Well I'm done" Faith shook Buffy off and headed for the door.

"Faith just wait for her. It won't kill you" Mycah tossed Buffy her phone "Here, mines done"

Buffy caught it easily and tossed Mycah her phone "Thanks I'll return it later"

Faith opened the door and hopped back "Uh Hyatt your little green friend is out here"

The little demon ran inside between Buffy's legs. It stopped abruptly at Hyatt's side.

"You leave Orangi" it said "Orangi find you tough"

"Orangi?" Star's eyes widened "Your a girl!"

"Yes, Orangi female" the little demon clapped.

"That thing is so not staying in my house" Buffy said flatly as she held onto Faith's arm keeping the other slayer from leaving without her.

"Aww but Buffy. It can be housebroken" Willow needled.

"Ugh" Buffy grunted as Faith tugged "We'll talk about this later"

Both slayers disappeared into the night.

Willow turned to Hyatt "They 'can' be house broken right?"
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Tara sat in the kitchen, and for the first time in a while. She was bored off her ass.

"We need to do something besides sit here and wait" Tara stretched her fingers across the table.

"Well the Jeanmeister is still sleepin'. Who's up for silly games?" Xander slumped into the seat across from Tara.

"I am. Anything to get rid of this boredem thing" Anya took a chair where she'd have a clear view of the sleeping child.

Dawn had long since disappeared upstairs, no doubt yacking on her new cell phone. Star was asleep in Willow's lap.

"I'll put her upstairs with Dawn" Willow carefully stood and headed upstairs.

"And I'll put the mighty mucnchkin down" Mycah scooped up a drooping Kole and followed.

"Ah, so now what to play?" Xander tapped his fingers.

Silence reigned.

"I think the good idea people are slaying, or upstairs being responisble for a few minutes" Hyatt sighed and nudged Xander "Truth or Dare?"

"Oh no. I always get the freaky 'lick a window or disgusting things' Dare. Spin the Bottle?" Xander spoke before thinking "Oh yeah the whole 'don't kiss guys' thing most of you have would make that a bit awkward"

"That and the fact that I wouldn't kiss you if you were a last man on earth" Tara said happily "I meant that in a completely "Anya would kill me' way" she said to lighten the blow.

Xander nodded, shooting a glance at his demon girl-friend.

"How about "I Never"?" Anya shrugged looking over at Jean.

"That's usually a girls night game. Xander's used to women, but I don't think he's 'that' in touch with his feminine side" Mycah remarked returning with Willow a few steps behind her.

"Kids asleep?" Xander scooched over so that they'd all fit at the table.

"Out like pretty little christmas lights, that blink and get on your nerves cuz the color's clash and give you a ....wow I kinda went off there a bit" Willow blushed as the sat next to Tara.

The two Wiccan's were sitting so closely, a few inches more and they'd be in each other's laps.

"Just a little" Tara leaned in and kissed Willow's cheek.

"You guys are so cute sometimes" Anya smiled at them "With all the kissy and touchy stuff you do. The sex must be amazing"

"She must embarrass you in public 'alot' Xander" Mycah rolled her eyes.

Hyatt nudged her for her rudeness.

"Oh the stories I could tell you" Xander muttered smiling swe at at Anya.

"That's it! Most embarrassing stories!" Hyatt snapped her fingers.

"Yeah" Tara grinned "And we have to rate them on the "Laugh my Ass Off" Scale. 10 means the most laughable and embarrassing, and a 1 is Wow your boring" Tara punctuated her last words by dialoging her fingers.

"That'll work" Anya gave a single nod "I'm thirsty, anyone else?"

"Yeah"

"Definitely"

"Sounds good"

"I'll help you out"

Anya and Tara went to the kitchen to fix the drinks.

"So who'll go first" Xander rubbed his hands together.

"Well since your so anxious, 'you' go first Xander" Willow smirked at him.

Xander immediately stopped smiling "Come on have a heart. I'm the only guy"

"Even more reason to torture you" Hyatt stuck out her tongue.

Out of nowhere Orangi leapt to the back of Xander's chair.

"Orangi think silly man must be treat special" Orangi patted Xander's head "He very good man"

"See even the little demon thingy's on my side" Xander thumbed over his shoulder "You should listen to him"

"It's a she" Willow and Hyattd ind in unison.

"Oh" Xander turned to Orangi "Sorry. But thanks for the popular vote"

"Orangi like you" Orangi hopped from the chair and disappeared behind the couch Jean rested on.

"That's a funny little thing" Anya set down drinks and took her seat.

"I never really thought about a demon 'pet' before" Tara agreed "and I never thought that one would be that...polite"

"Never underestimate the power of cute little demon pets" Xander instructed taking a sip.

"We won't" the woman chorused.

"Okay your embarrassing story Xander?" Willow reminded him.

"Okay okay." Xander took a deep breath "At my 6th birthday there was this clown"

"Alright" Tara held up a hand "I give it a 1 at the first sentence only"

"Tara" Willow laughed.

"Okay a 2" Tara smirked.

"He hasn't got the part where he wets his pants in front of everyone yet" Anya pouted.

"I take that back" Tara teased "On with the story"

"Gee" Xander rolled his eyes "Thanks"
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Faith twirled the stake in her hand. It was particularly dead. She was far beyond being bored.

"Hey B. I'm seriously thinking of being evil again right now. Just so I'd have someone to fight" she joked.

Buffy glanced back at her "You too huh? I'll be the bad guy this time. That way you can stab me"

"Did I mention I've forgiven you for that?" Faith teased spinning in a circle "See I turn my back to you"

"Wow, we are so pathetically bored" Buffy shook her head "Whatever happened to those good old days when Vamps were rampant and quite stupid?"

"And unorganized, and 'so' not trying to take over the world?" Faith sighed "I miss those good ole days"

Buffy chuckled and froze in her tracks "You feel that?"

Faith tensed as she too became aware "Magic"

"Old Magic" Buffy clarified.

Stealthily the crept around the crypts until they found the magic they'd been sensing.

A dark haired girl, not much older than Faith, stood before glowing runes on the ground. She walked around and between them, chanting and tossing herbs and measured intervals.

"What's she saying?" Faith whispered.

"I dunno" Buffy frowned "She's speaking Babylonian or something" the older slayer shrugged.

"Should we stop her?" Faith shifted from foot to foot wanting to 'do' something.

"Not yet. She might be on our side. I feels like magic. But not evil magic" Buffy placed a staying hand on Faith's shoulder.

"Not yet" Faith muttered.

Another woman appeared. She strode purposefully over to the first.

This woman was dark, shadow's swarthed around her, hiding and revealing everything but definite features.

She smelled of death.

"Now 'that's' a vampire" Faith said jerking away from Buffy. She immediately dashed from behind the foliage they'd been hiding behind.

"Now you can attack" Buffy said needlessly. She followed Faith. She was glad she'd stayed behind when several more vamps appeared.

"She's a fucking Master B!" Faith screamed as she took down 3 in succession.

The fourth knocked her back.

Faith dropped her stake and immediately pulled out a knife.

"Seodene', cleaire wu opinati" the casting woman shouted out.

Buffy and Faith were thrown back up some unseen force.

Faith once again dropped her weapon as she flew back several feet.

Buffy managed to keep hers, though she landed against a gravestone.

Faith landed beside her afore lost stake.

"Now I'm REALLY pissed OFF!" Faith kicked to her feet just as one of the older vamps made it to her. It knocked her back to her previous horizontal position, and tried to pin her. Faith got both feet between them and threw it off.

The vampire threw straight up andk, lk, landing impaled by a tree branch. It turned to dust and the other vamps and assorted minions turned to stare at them.

"Slayers?" the darkest woman spoke. Her voice resonated throughout the assembled group "But there can only be one?"

"She might be a Hepate" the casting woman muttered.

"It doesn't matter" the Master Vampire growled "Kill them both"
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"Okay okay" Tara said between gasping laughter "I take it back. Xander your 6th birthday story has been uped to a 5 now that Anya's told her cheesy one"

"Aha, your cheesier than me!" Xander goaded his signifigant other.

"Oh shut up" Anya crossed her arms and pouted "I wanna hear Tara's 10 story since she's crapping on ours"

Tara continued to giggle "Okay. Here's one I haven't even told Willow yet"

"There's one you 'haven't' told me" the red headed Wiccan didn't know wether to be hurt or excited "Must be bad"

"It is" Tara assured her "I was at Band Camp this one summer. The only summer I went. And there was this girl there that I had a crush on. Well this particular summer, they decided to try something a bit newer with the band. The divided us into groups. We had music, an, and then we had singers. We'd play showtunes, oldies but goodies, and they'd sing along" she took a breath and sipped her drink.

"Well?" Anya said impatiently.

"I'm getting there" Tara chided "Just so happens that this girl, we'll call her Jenna, ended up being one of the singers in our little troupe"

"Oh, this is gonna be good and embarrassing" Mycah muttered.

"Yep it is" Tara agreed "Now hush and let me finish. During one of our girls nights, kinda like this one, I was dared to tell who I had a crush on"

Willow's eyes widened, Hyatt covered her eyes, Anya, Xander and Mycah sat up in their seats.

"I refused to tell" Tara said anti-climatically.

"Aww come on" Anya slapped the table.

"Shut up Anya" Hyatt nudged the ex-demon "she said it's embarrassing she's gotta get there sometime"

"They were mad" Tara continued as though Anya hadn't spoken "and later on in the session, Jenna asked me to tell her who I liked, said she'd keep it a secret" Tara sighed at the memory. She'd been so shy and scared back then. She almost hadn't told the girl, later on she wished she hadn't "So I told her. It was her I had a crush on. She didn't say anything, just kinda laughed it off. I dismissed it as a 'she doens't like me cuz I'm shy' deal. Well our End of Session Recital came up. She was the second singer. And in her song, she changed the words around, told 'everyone' that 'you know who' had the biggest crush on her and 'isn't she a freak'. Luckily only the girls in our troupe knew what it meant, all 15 girls in our troupe. They didn't speak to me directly for the rest of the summer"

"I give it a 10, wow I'd of eviscerated them all" Anya blinked.

"That really sux Tara" Mycah sat stunned "How old were you?"

"I was 13" Tara nodded. She was shaking slightly. It wasn't exactly a happy memory. She felt her love's hand draw a heart on the back on her head, then began finger combing her hair. The shaking dwindled down until it stopped completely.

"I have a funny one. It's also about band camp. It has a flute in it" Willow said cherrily.

"Did you play the flute Tara?" Anya leaned close over the table.

"No, I played the clarinet" Tara smirked.

"Same diff" Anya muttered.

"Okay my turn here. Up with the listenin' down with the running of the mouths" Willow snapped her fingers.

"Get on with it then" Hyatt faked an attitude shake with her head,

"Have you ever seen American Pie?"
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Buffy back flipped over the vamps head.

As she came down, one stepped into her path and she crushed it's head with from momentum of her booted foot.

"Ew" Faith remarked between stakings.

Buffy looked down and noticed some gray matter on her foot, too the vamp the shudder with death on the ground. She kicked up a stake she'd dropped earlier. It landed point down on the heart of the suffering beast and turned him into dust.

The gray matter remained.

Buffy kicked her vamp before her with the dirty boot. Took care of the gray matter.

Pissed off the vamp.
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"What was the flute girls name again?" Willow asked though she knew the answer.

"Michelle Flaherty" Mycah offered helpfully "I love that movie. That Michelle girl was hot"

"Well a few assholes, I mean, people from Sunnydale High thought I looked like her"

"You do" Hyatt swirled a finger in her drink.

"Shut up" Willow pouted "They called me Michelle for about a semester. You remember that 'oh so forgettable' line about "this one time a band camp I stuck my flute-"

"Up my Pussy!" Anya finished loudly "I love that line"

"You would" Tara muttered giggling.

"Well one day this one guy, had the audacity to ask me if I've ever stuck a flute up my pussy" Willow said not meeting anyone's eyes.

"What did you tell him?" Hyatt could barely hold back a laugh.

"I told him no. That I preferred all my flute in my ass" Willow bite her lip to keep from laughing herself.

Tara slid down in her seat as she laughed herself breathless. Mycah, Hyatt and Anya hadn't fared much better. As it was Anya was on the floor.

Xander sat dumbfounded.

"So that's where that rumor came from"
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"Considering how many vamps were there" Faith twirled her stake once again as the slayers headed home "that was wholly unfufilling"

"Maybe we need something more than fighting tonight?" Buffy shrugged, she tried not to noticed her thighs rubbing together as she walked. She hoped Faith didn't notice either.

"Yeah I'm still on edge to B" Faith frowned and slowed to match Buffy's walk "Lucky thing you got a girl friend to take care of that for you"

Buffy froze for a second "I do don't I?"

"Took you long enough realize it" Faith rolled her eyes.
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They'd quieted down. Each taking deep breaths, hoping to calm themselves.

They met each other's eyes and broke into laughter immediately.

Willow knocked her head against the table repeatedly.

The vibrations from it knocked Hyatt's drink into her lap.

She squealed as the cold soda seeped into her pants.

"Oh my goddess! I'm sorry" Willow laughed trying to catch her breath.

"It's okay. I have a good embarrassing story" Hyatt was picking her pants away from her legs.

"Okay give" Xander nodded at her.

"This one time. At Buffy's house. Willow laughed so hard she spilled soda in my lap. So I ripped off my pants and threw them at her!" Hyatt proceeded to do just that.

Willow didn't have time to duck and the pants landed squarely on her head.

Tara, Anya and Mycah howled, Xander peeked under the table.

Tara smacked him on his head and her immediate popped back up.

"Those were my favorite sweat pants too" Hyatt managed to pout and laugh at the same time.

"Well alteast they soaked up all the liquid in your chair" Mycah pointed out.

The chair was id drd dry.

They all managed to calm down once again.

"Willow gets a 7, I took a point for the soda incident" Hyatt teased.

"Well you get a 3, cuz you don't seem the least bit embarrassed" Willow countered.

"Hey guys, whatcha up to?" Faith asked entering seconds before Buffy.

The older slayer entered slowly. The first thing her eyes fell on was her girl friend clothed in nothing but a sweatshirt that reached her upper thighs. She crossed to the table and lifted Hyatt from her chair.

Hyatt balanced herself on Buffy's strong shoulders.

"Buffy are you okay?" she ran her fingers through Buffy's tangled locks. he she slayer calmly sat in Hyatt's vacated chair and pulled the girl from the table and directly into her lap "I am now"

Buffy embraced Hyatt. Shifting her legs until the girl straddled her she began to nip and lick at her neck.

Hyatt closed her eyes, doing her best not to moan. Turning her head in she met Buffy's lips head on.

"God get a room" Anya frowned and looked at Xander "You never openly grope me like those two are"

"Yeah and that's a good thing" Willow assured her.

"They're doing it and you don't seem to mind" Anya pouted.

"It's Buffy's house" Tara pointed out.

Buffy pulled away from Hyatt's lips "She said get a room"

Hyatt was too dazed to answer.

"Sounds good to me" Tara grabbed Willow's hand and the two disappeared up the stairs.

Buffy followed suit, carrying the still dazed Hyatt.

"We are 'so' not getting any sleep tonight" Faith sighed dropping into a chair.
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