So Damn Domestic

The Same Day. FPOV


I open my eyes and everything is dark. Where the fuck am I? I can’t remember anything except that fuckin dream. Buffy was talking about insanity and keeping a light on or something. I still don’t understand all of it. And there was something about a box and an apple. Does she want me to get her an apple inside a box or something? I don’t know, but it fuckin freaked me out. She can’t come back with me. Was she talking about waking up or going home with me? I don’t know, and there’s only one way to find out. I look down at the head resting on my chest and I smile. She hasn’t cuddled up to me like that in a while.


“Baby,” I whisper and lightly shake her shoulder. Why is it so dark in here? It wasn’t this dark before. Oh, the sun went down, maybe that’s why. What time is it? I look over at the clock on the bedside table. Oh, it’s three in the morning. Well, at least I didn’t wake up at an indecent hour, ‘cause that would’ve been bad. I reach over and flip on the lamp and my eyes slam shut from the pain. Buffy lets out a long very angry sounding groan and moves around a little bit. At least she’s awake.


“I was talking about a metaphorical light. Turn that off.” At least she knows I’m here and won’t be all surprised when she opens her eyes. “Faith, turn it off.” She knees me in my thigh and I smile a little and shut off the light. She lets out a sigh, only this one sounds…happy, I guess. She relaxes against me and I can feel her smiling. “I never wanna leave here.” I tense up a little bit and she notices. “I meant your arms. I never wanna leave your arms.” Oh, ok. She scoots up a little and I can feel her breath on my neck. It makes me shiver a little but in a very good way.


“I’m not ready to go home yet. I can’t go back there, not until I have everything figured out.” What is there to figure out? I don’t get it. Why won’t she just tell me? Why can’t she open up and tell me what’s going on inside her head. I was just there, but none of it made sense. She seemed to have a pretty firm grasp on things. “I know you want me to open up to you but this is something I have to do on my own. Everything I’ve ever done is coming into question and I have to know if I’ve made the right decisions. No one can help me figure that out.” She’s wrong.


“A professional can help, Buffy. Maybe you just need to talk to someone who’s dealt with this kinda stuff before. People go through shit like this all the time. It might help if you talked to someone.” She doesn’t say anything or respond for a few minutes. Then she sighs and I feel the gush of breath against my neck and I shiver again. I feel her index finger running along the collar of my shirt and gently brushing against the tops of my breasts. She’s trying to distract me.


“I’ll think about it. I mean, if I see a professional I’m not going to be able to tell them everything. I’ll have to leave out the slaying stuff.” That’s true. She can always talk to the psychologist at the slayer school. There are a couple of those there in case the girls need to talk to someone. “But I don’t wanna think about that right now. Right now,” she says in her naughty voice. I love her naughty voice. “I wanna make love to my beautiful wife.” She starts to gently suck on my neck and I know she’s gonna leave a hickie. She’s going to enjoy the freedom of doing that since we’re not at home I won’t have to explain what it is to Mattie, and I won’t get pissy with her for puttin me in that position.


Quicker then the blink of an eye she straddles my waist and she’s smiling a big, toothy smile. I haven’t seen her so carefree in a long time. Maybe our little head-trip did her some good. She got to talk about her problems in a very confusing and cryptic way. But she’s my baby and I love her. The blankets fall off her shoulders and land around her waist. She’s gently caressing my stomach and it feels pretty good. It’s been a while since I’ve felt her touch me like this. I’m not even gonna think about the last time we tried to make love. I don’t wanna put a damper on her playful mood. She slides her hands up my shirt and her eyes get a little bigger when she reaches my tits.


“Someone isn’t wearing a bra today.” She lifts my shirt up and then leans down and takes one of my nipples into her mouth. I moan a little and my hands are instantly on the back of her head. She gently sucks on me until my nipple is rock hard. She gently scrapes it when her teeth and I shudder and moan a little louder. Then there’s a loud knock on the door. I’m gonna fuckin kill whoever’s on the other side.


“I’m sorry, ma’am but I need you to move your car before I have it towed!” the desk clerk yells. Fuck, she’s still here. I thought they’d have a new person by now. I’m surprised they haven’t towed my car yet. Fuck, I’m grateful but still it’s been there all fuckin night. B sits up and gives me a weird look and I just smile and slowly sit up and give her a little kiss on the lips.


“I’ll be right back.” I give her another little kiss and gently lift her off me and get off the bed. I slip my boots back on and I feel her wrap her arms around my waist and she starts kissing my neck. “Baby, I gotta go move my car or they’re gonna tow it.” She sighs but doesn’t let me go. I wonder what’s up. “You wanna come down with me?” I feel her nod her head and she holds onto my hand. I grab my keys off the nightstand and we leave the room. The desk clerk already left. I hope she isn’t callin the towing company. We go outside and B stops dead in her tracks when she sees where my car is. I guess I got some explaining to do.


“Yeah...right, well, I wasn’t sure how you were gonna react to seein me and I didn’t want you to run before we had a chance to talk so I blocked ya in.” I hope she doesn’t get mad, especially now that I’m all worked up I really don’t want her to be mad at me. I’m not just saying that I wanna get some, sure I do, but I wanna make her feel good too, ya know? Her life has been kinda shitty the last couple months and I want to make that go away even if it’s only for a few minutes. I use the little clicker thing on my key ring to unlock the car and B lets go of my hand and gets in the passenger seat. Well, if she isn’t going back up to the room in a big huff then maybe she isn’t mad.


I get in the driver’s seat and start up the car. It vibrates as it comes to life and B shifts around a little bit. The main reason she didn’t wanna ride with me on my bike is because it always made her so damn horny. She responds very well to vibrations and she loves it when I hum when I go down on her. And I plan on doin just that as soon as we get back up to the room. I find a space at the very back of the parking lot. There’s only one light and it’s pretty far away so it’s dark where we are. This is the perfect place to mug someone, they should get more lights back here.


“You ready to go back up, B?” I ask and look over at her and shut off the engine. She gives me a very devilish smile and I don’t know if I should be afraid or not. Then she leans forward and crushes our lips together and starts kissing me hard. I think my lips are gonna be bruised if she isn’t careful. Then I feel her tongue gently rub against my bottom lip and I open my mouth and invite her in. We swirl our tongues together and then I suck on the tip of hers and she starts moaning. Oh yeah, nothing like a little tongue suckin to really get her worked up. We break apart when I feel like my lungs are gonna explode. She looks at the backseat and she has nothin but lust in her dark green eyes. I love it when they get this color ‘cause that means she’s willing to do somethin risky. And by risky I mean sex in public.


“Is there room for those bags in the trunk?” she asks and smiles that little devilish smile again. I lean forward and give her a kiss and then grab the bags and get outta the car. Thank God I cleaned out my trunk a few months ago or there would be no room for these. I hop back in the car and lock the doors. B’s already in the backseat, which is good ‘cause if we tried to go back at the same time it coulda gotten painful. I crawl between the seats and starts running her hands up and down my arms. I lean into her until she’s on her back and I’m lying on top of her. I look into her eyes, and they have their sparkle back. She doesn’t look like an empty shell anymore.


“Don’t ever run away again, ok?” I whisper and she smiles and nods her head. We kiss again only this time it isn’t rushed or rough like the others. It’s slow and tender, but I can feel the passion behind it and I’m sure she can too. But then I remember something from earlier. I don’t know why I’m thinking about it now. But now that it’s in my mind it’s gonna bug the hell outta me so I might as well ask. I pull back from the kiss and look into her eyes and she looks so damn sexy. “In the dream you said somethin about a box and some apples, what the hell were you talkin about?” She smiles and leaves a little peck on my lips.


“Pandora’s Box and the apples in the garden of Eden. All the people were told no and they were so curious that they either opened the box or ate the apple. What I meant was, all my curiosity for…everything was gone. I didn’t want to find out anything about Joseph or anything else that was going on in the world. But I think I’m getting better...” she smiles and leans her head up and gives me a little kiss. “Because I really wanna know what you’re wearing under those pants.” We kiss again and this time it’s more passionate then the previous ones. It’s tongue, and teeth, and lips and a strong need to feel more of each other.


I moan into her mouth when I feel her fingertips graze the skin of my stomach. She grabs onto the hem of my shirt and slowly pulls it up. She tosses it aside and starts kissing my neck and she leaves a pretty good-sized hickie. That one might be there for a few hours. I take off her shirt and she hisses in a breath when the cold air hits her very sensitive tits. I scoot down her body until I’m eye level with her breasts and glance up at her for a second. She doesn’t look like she’s gonna say no like I thought she was gonna. I lightly lick the tip of her hard nipple and she hisses in another breath. I wrap my mouth around it and gently swirl my tongue around her peak and she starts moaning like there’s no tomorrow.


I feel her hands on my shoulders and she’s tryin to pull me up. So I stop my assault on her nipple and scoot up a little and gently kiss her on the lips. She unbuttons and unzips my pants and then I pull them down. They get caught around my ankles though. I probably shoulda taken the boots off first. I kick those and the pants off and Buffy giggles a little bit. This would be a lot fuckin easier if we were in a bed. But hey, I’m gonna get some so I’m not gonna complain.


“No bra or panties. You were either in an incredible hurry or you really wanted to get some,” she says and giggles but I don’t think it’s funny. But whatever. I kiss her again. I lightly flick the tip of my tongue on the roof of her mouth and she shudders. She loves it when I do that. I reach down and slowly unbutton her jeans. We pull back from the kiss when oxygen becomes and issue and she starts suckin on my neck again. I pull her jeans and panties down as far as I can and she kicks ‘em off. She wraps her legs around my back and I press my pussy against hers and we both moan at the contact. I missed this so damn much. Feeling her against me when we come...I can’t believe how much I missed it.


“God baby, your pussy feels so fuckin good,” I whisper in her ear and we start up a very slow rhythm. I thought we’d go faster then this ‘cause we haven’t had sex in so long, but I think going fast would cheapen this, and this isn’t something that should be cheapened. I kiss at her pulse point and gently suck on the hot flesh. We’re not goin fast but our thrusts are hard and I can feel the car bouncin along with our rhythm. If a cop sees this and comes over to investigate he’ll definitely be seein a show worth watchin. Hell, he might not interrupt us, he’ll probably wait ‘til we’re done to arrest us. Ok, I gotta stop thinkin about that.


“Baby,” B whispers and takes in a deep breath when I gently bite her pulse point. She loves it when I do that. “I love you so much.” I mumble it back but I’m focusing more on the feel of her wet, dripping pussy pulsating against mine. I stop suckin on her neck and just concentrate on the feeling. Our thrusts are speeding up and I know we’re both fuckin close. I’m bein really fuckin quiet ‘cause I know if I start talkin now it’ll wake up the whole damn motel complex and that’d be bad. I can feel my orgasm building in my stomach. It’s getting tighter and tighter and tighter. I just need one little thing and I’ll pop, just one little thing, but I don’t know what.


I feel B take my earlobe between her teeth and she pulls on it. Then she wraps her lips around it and starts sucking and I fuckin explode. I can feel it rush outta me and get all over Buffy. My muscles are so fuckin tight I feel like they’re gonna snap. I eyes are squeezed shut so tight I’m already gettin a headache. But all of it feels so fuckin good. Then I feel B’s orgasm against me and she bites on my earlobe so fuckin hard I think there’s gonna be blood. I collapse against her. Our breathing is so fuckin heavy we’re practically bouncin off each other. We calm down after a few minutes and we just lay here. She has her arms wrapped around me and I’m lightly kissin her ear. I can’t help but smile ‘cause I know exactly how she’s gonna react to what I’m about to say.


“Mmmm,” I moan a little and give her ear one more kiss. “You get to clean up the wet spot.” She tenses up a little and then lets out a high pitched ‘what?’ I love it when she does that. It’s so fuckin cute. What I said might start a fight, but hearin her sound so cute is totally worth it. I love messin with her like this, it’s one of my favorite pass times. And my all time favorite pass time....you guessed it: sex with B. “It was your idea to have sex in the car so you get to clean up our come.”


“But, but, but, but half of it is yours, and you came first so you should have to clean it up.” She always makes that argument. She’s the one who came up with the ‘whoever comes first has to sleep in the wet spot’ rule when we had a full sized bed, so we upgraded to a queen ‘cause she usually comes before me and she got tired of always fallin asleep in a cold puddle of fluid.


“I’m just kidding, baby, don’t worry about it. I’ll clean it up later.” I kiss her on the neck and she relaxes again. She giggles a little bit and then lets out a very happy sounding sigh. I don’t know how a sigh can sound happy but this one does. “We need to get up, baby. We can fall asleep here.” She lets out a little ‘mmm-hmm’ and I know she’s already dozing off. So I leave a little kiss on her cheek and get dressed.


I dress her and she doesn’t fight it too much. She gets really crabby when she’s tired and half asleep. I lock up my car and carry her bridal style back to the room. I can’t believe we had sex in my car when we have a perfectly good motel room right here. But I guess it doesn’t matter. She’s getting better, that’s the important thing. And when we get home she’s going to get some help and soon she’ll be on the road to recovery.


BPOV


We’ve been here for two days. Faith has mentioned going back but she hasn’t really asked if I’m ready or not. I’m not ready yet. I’m not afraid of the responsibility of having a new baby or anything. I guess I’m afraid to face the kids. They’re going to be so mad at me. Addison is going to ask why I took off and I know she isn’t going to understand it all because she’s only three. So that’s why I’m hesitating. I’m a slayer for God sakes. I’ve slayed vampires and killed demons, come up against the ultimate evil and almost died fighting it, and I’m afraid of two little kids. I guess this is different though, because these aren’t just two little kids, these are my little kids.


I walk out of the bathroom and see Faith lying on the bed watching T.V. She’s wearing a black tank top, some really short jean shorts, and she’s barefoot, and she has her ankles crossed. She always sits like that when she watches T.V. in bed, unless I’m lying down with her. When I’m with her she doesn’t cross her ankles and I almost always use her thighs as a pillow, and she runs her fingers through my hair. It’s our quiet time together, and we don’t take it for granted anymore because once I had Matthew we got almost no quiet time together. And when we get home we’re not going to have any. So we might as well take advantage of the situation.


“What are you watching, baby?” I ask and lay down on the bed. She smiles and uncrosses her ankles and I rest my head on her thighs. She mumbles something but I’m not really paying attention because I’m too distracted by her magic fingers running through my hair and massaging my scalp. As good as this feels I can’t help but feel a little guilty. We’re here relaxing and enjoying ourselves, and the kids are probably worried sick. Faith called them yesterday to let them know that we’re ok but they’re probably wondering where we are and when we’re coming back.


“Baby,” I whisper and roll over onto my back and look up at her. “We have to go back now. I’m worried about them, and they’re probably freaking out.” She smiles and nods her head a little bit. She looks really happy. I guess she’s glad I’m ready to go back. I think she thought I’d want to stay here longer. But I don’t. I want to go home now. If we pack up and leave right now we can get home hopefully before eleven tonight. I get up and start cleaning up the room. We didn’t really unpack. We just put our already worn clothes on the floor and our clean stuff is still in the bags. I smile when I feel her wrap her arms around my waist and she softly kisses my neck.


“I love you, baby. I don’t think I tell you that enough, but I do.” I turn around in her arms and gently kiss her on the lips. It starts to get heated and I know what it’s going to lead to but we can’t. Not right now. We need to get home. I miss my kids and I’m starting to overload with guilt about abandoning them the way I did. I pull back from the kiss and rest my forehead on hers. We’re both breathing pretty hard and I know she wants to go farther but she also knows that I don’t. “I’ll call Willow, tell her we’re on our way. She’ll probably cry with relief.” I chuckle a little and give her one more kiss.


While Faith’s on the phone and I load up the cars with our stuff. It’s too bad we can’t drive back together, as in the same car, but we can’t. If I ever run away again remind me to take a bus. That was sarcastic because I am not going to run away again. All that stuff that I was worried about before, thinking that I was stuck with becoming a mother, that it was all a mistake, it’s not. There are so many other things I could have done with my life, but I don’t think any of them would have been this rewarding or important. I know that now, and nothing is going to change my mind of that.


“Hi there,” I hear someone say behind me. I turn around and see…great, it’s that stupid guy from the other day. I so do not need this right now. I haven’t really left my room since our…encounter. I didn’t want to leave Faith’s side. It’s not like we were being intimate the entire or anything. Just the basic places: once in the car, twice in the bed, once in the shower, and once in the hot tub. Come on, you have to have sex in a hot tub at least once a year. It’s like a law or something.


“Uh, hi.” I tell him. I see Faith walking down the stairs and we lock gazes. I give her a desperate look and she smiles a little until she notices the college guy in front of me. Her smile goes away and it’s replaced with a look that could boil skin. Awww, my baby’s jealous. God, I love her so much. I look back at the guy and only half pay attention as he rambles on and on about…something stupid. I’m not paying attention so I have no idea what he’s talking about. Then Faith walks by and ‘accidentally’ bumps into his shoulder and stands next to me. She wraps her arm around my shoulder and gives me a little kiss on the cheek.


“Hey, B. I was wondering where you wandered off too.” I try not to roll my eyes and then she looks over at the guy. He looks a little…shocked isn’t a strong enough word. Whatever comes after shocked, that’s what he is. “Thanks for keeping her company, but we gotta get goin.” I don’t like it when she says stuff like that. I’m her wife, not a child. I don’t need someone to look after me. But she’s getting me away from this guy so I’ll just keep my mouth shut and bring it up the next time we have an argument. The guy gets over his shock and gets that stupid goofy grin on his face. Oh great, here we go again.


“So you’re the wife, huh? I’ve heard a lot about you.” No you have not! He makes it sound like I sat down with him and spelled out my entire life or something. I want to rip his stupid lips off. Faith’s arm tenses up and I know that’s her little way of saying ‘chill out, I got this’. So I relax and just watch the show. This guy doesn’t even give Faith a chance to reply before he opens up his stupid mouth again. I hope she hits him. I really want to see that. “Whatta say we head up to my-”


“Trust me, you don’t want to finish that sentence,” Faith says with a sneer. I can’t help but smile on the inside. Hell I think it’s even leaking out onto my face. Then she leans in really close to him and whispers, “If you ever talk to my wife again I’ll rip off your dick and shove it up your ass, you got that?” He gulps loudly and nods his head yes. Then she takes a step back and puts on a friendly smile and acts like he’s one of our best friends or something. “Well, it was great talking to you. But like I said before we really gotta get goin. So, bye.” And we leave. On the way out the door I hear him say ‘fuckin dykes’ but I make Faith ignore it. I just want to get home. I don’t want to worry about some angry guy who’s only pissed in the first place because we rejected him.


“Ok baby, I’ll see you in a little bit. I’ll call you if I’m going to pull over somewhere ok?” She nods her head and gives me a kiss. I know we’re not going to be apart for very long but I’m going to miss her. I know that seems stupid and girly but I don’t care. The kiss ends and I give her a hug and we say ‘I love you’ and I get into my car and watch her through the rear view mirror as she runs over to hers and hops in. I know she’s going to drive behind me. I think she’s a little worried I’m going to chicken out or change my mind. I can’t blame her because if the situation were reversed I’d probably think the same thing. Then again if the situation were reversed I probably would have been so pissed off at her for leaving I wouldn’t have gone after her.


We’ve been driving for five hours now. It got dark about three hours ago. We stopped and ate dinner together and to use the restroom and stuff like that but other then that we’ve been on the road. Traffic is really light and there hasn’t been a lot of road construction and we’re about two and a half hours from home. I’m going to have to let the kids sleep tonight, if they’re in bed when we get back, or else they won’t go back to sleep. It probably took both Willow and Chris to get them to bed. But they’ll wake up to a good surprise tomorrow. I just hope they’re not mad at me.


Matthew is going to be. I just know he is. He most likely won’t say anything about it but I know he’ll be pissed. His eyes will give him away. He’s so much like Faith it’s almost insane. They both have very expressive eyes. Addison might be mad for a while but she’ll get over it and just be happy that I’m home, but I honestly don’t know how my son is going to react. He might be happy to see me, he might lock himself in his room, or he might scream at me for taking off. I just don’t know. A couple years ago I’d know exactly what he’d do, but he’s getting older now and harder to predict. He’s growing up and it’s amazing to see but at the same time it’s terrifying.


Sometimes, like everyday, I wish my mom was still around. I miss her so much, but I also want to ask her so much. Sometimes I feel like I’m alone when it comes to the kids. I know Faith is there, but she’s just as lost as I am. But now that I’m thinking about it I don’t think my mom’s advice would be a lot of help. She never raised a son so I don’t think what she would have to say would apply to my questions. Boys and girls are very different, obviously, and it’s not the much the discipline I need help with, it’s pretty much everything else. Like, I know how to get my little girl to open up and talk to me. I just do what my mom used to do. And I’ve tried doing that same thing with Matthew and it didn’t work. It never works.


I am just so grateful that Chris came into our lives. He’s like another dad to me now. Sure we haven’t known each other for very long, but once I realized he could be trusted (Willow did a background check and some type of revealy spell to see if he was a demon or something, and he’s not) and he got closer and closer to Faith and he was hanging around a lot so we got to know each other more and more and he’s always willing to give advice and just be there, not only for Faith but for me too.


And the kids love him to death. They respect him too, and I know this because they always listen a lot better when he’s over and they don’t argue when he asks them to do something. Faith always gets a little irritated by that. She is so sensitive when it comes to her ego. When she gets all butt hurt like that I always do something to cheer her up and when I say ‘do something’ I mean go down on her. That always seems to put her in a better mood. I think it’s starting to bother her a lot less now that she’s getting used to it and she’s just acting all butt hurt so she’ll get some head. I can’t be mad at her for doing that because I’d do the exact same thing.


Finally, I’m home! Ok, well not yet exactly but I’m pulling onto the street. I’m so excited but scared at the same time. I hate feeling so conflicted like this, it isn’t good for my stomach. I think I’m getting an ulcer or something. Jeez, why are there so many cars parked by the sidewalks. Is one of the neighbors having a party or something? I don’t think so because it’s midnight, and there’s only...seven cars that I don’t recognize. I wonder who they belong too. And why are the lights still on? Maybe Joseph is still awake or something. Poor Willow. I am so going to have Giles pay to send her to a spa for like two weeks. She deserves a really nice vacation for taking care of the kids. And Chris too. I’m going to have to think of something to get him for doing all this.


I park my car in the driveway and shut off the engine. Why is the front door open? Why didn’t I notice that before? I get out of the car and I know something’s off. And it’s not just the fact that my front door is open at midnight. There’s something in the air...a lot of tension, that’s for damn sure. But something else. This is so familiar, why can’t I remember? Faith pulls up on the passenger side of my car and gets out. She stretches and says her little ‘home again, home again jigitty jig’. She’s such a dork sometimes. But then she tenses up. I can actually feel her getting tense. I watch her out of the corner of my eye. She looks up at the sky and the tension just keeps on building.


“Fuck,” she whispers. I ask ‘what?’ but she doesn’t respond. “Fuck.” She says it a little louder. I turn around I hear a car screech to a halt in front of my house. Two women jump out of the front of the car and the driver throws open the back door. They’re trying not to panic, that’s for sure. They’re shouting at each other and getting something out of the backseat. It’s another woman. What the fuck is going on? Before I can say anything I get a better look at the woman they’re carrying, mostly because they’re running towards me, and the first thing I see are the huge gash marks on the stomach. They haven’t been wrapped and blood is coming out really quick. The second thing I notice before they pass me up the driveway is that the person they’re carrying is Kennedy, and to be honest, I don’t think she’s going to pull through. I think she’s lost too much blood, and judging by the looks on everyone else’s faces they’re thinking the exact same thing. “FUCK!” I think that about sums it all up.


FPOV


“Ok, put her on the floor. Buffy, go get something, towels, washrags, anything to cover these up!” I yell and Buffy runs off. The other two slayers put Kennedy on the kitchen floor and step away from her. She doesn’t look good, but she’s going to make it. She has to make it. I know slayers are lost every week, what we do is dangerous, but she can’t die, she just can’t. I rip open her shirt and Buffy tosses me some towels. I put them over the wounds and add some pressure. Why wasn’t something already something the bleeding? What the fuck is wrong with them?


“Someone get Willow! She’s the only one who can heal her!” I hear someone run off and I look up at one of the slayers. I told Giles to send the best girls he’s got, why are these fuckin interns here? I meant slayers with real experience, not some fuckin babysitters. “You,” I bark at the redhead. She looks like she’s gonna pass out or puke or something. “Go find some more towels, there should be some under the bathroom sink. And you,” I bark at the other one. “Get down here, hold these and press down hard. We can’t let her bleed out.”


The brunette drops to her knees and puts her hands near mine and presses down. I let go and look over at Kennedy’s face. She looks so fuckin pale. I’ve never seen her look this bad and this chick has gotten some life threatening wounds before. Well, these are just a couple more. Red’s gonna heal her, she’s gonna have one hell of headache when she wakes up and she’s gonna be laughin her ass off when she tells us what happened out there. Then she’s gonna get drunk, cry, insult someone’s mother and have bad, drunken, sex with Cordelia. Yep, that’s what’s gonna happen.


I’m about to say somethin to her when I feel someone’s hand on my shoulder. I look back and see Buffy, and she’s tryin to pull me away. I guess Red needs some room or something. So me and the other slayer back off and the blood starts rushing all over the floor. I’m so gonna make Kennedy clean that up. Hey, it’s her mess, she’ll understand. That’s what we do whenever we get hurt from a patrol. We’ll help each other out but the bleeder cleans up the blood. She won’t get mad when I hand her a mop and bucket and tell her to get to work. She’ll laugh and tell me ‘fuck you’ and have a beer while she cleans up my floor.


Red takes the towels away and tosses them aside. God, those marks are really fuckin deep. Any deeper and her guts would be hanging out. Alright, Faith, let’s not think about that right now, ok? The blood keeps on comin and Red just sits there for a few seconds. I think she’s a little too shocked. Maybe we should get her to a hospital or something. I think that would have been the better choice. I’m about to do just that but then the room starts to shake. It’s subtle and nothing’s moving, but I can feel the soft vibrations on the bottoms of my feet. Then Red puts her hands on Kennedy’s stomach. She stops breathing...she looks dead.


I feel B wrap her arms around my waist and bury her face in my neck. She has tears running down her cheeks. But it isn’t over until the redhead says so. A bright fuckin light shoots outta Willow’s hands. It’s so bright that everyone has to look away from it or our eyeballs will fuckin melt or something. Would they melt? No, I think we’d just go blind. Yeah, I think melting is strictly a heat thing. Dammit, stay focused! Then the light fades and I’m seeing fuckin spots and shit. I hate it when that happens. And not just as a slayer, and we always like to see what’s goin on. I hated it even before I became a slayer.


When I can focus my vision again I look down at Red and Ken. Kennedy’s breathing but she’s still lookin really pale. Red’s chanting in some language I can’t understand and the skin on Kennedy’s stomach is slowly fusing back together. The blood that spilled out on the floor slowly creeps up her body in little streams or something and goes back into the wounds. Well, at least there won’t be any clean up. I kinda smile when the color goes back to Kennedy’s face. It’s good not to see her so fuckin pale. I never wanna see her like that again. Then the wounds close completely, and Kennedy gasps out for air and her eyes pop open. She sits up and before she can get a word out Red hugs her so fast and hard it knocks ‘em both over and Red starts sobbing.


“Don’t you ever scare me like that again! You hear me?” Red yells right in Ken’s ear. I feel Buffy pry herself off my shoulder and she looks down at the little scene. She lets out a little laugh and then she pulls me outta the kitchen so they can have their little moment. I don’t know where Cordelia is. Probably at a hotel, waiting for Kennedy to get back so she can help her work off the post slayage double H’s.


B takes me into the living room and we sit down on the couch. But I can’t sit still. My leg is shakin ‘cause I need to do something. I can’t just sit here when there’s somethin out there that almost killed one of the best slayers to ever exist. Kennedy maybe hot headed and a little indecisive but when it comes to slaying and staying alive she knows what she’s doing. So for this thing to get so close to killin her…we’re not safe until it’s put down, that’s for damn sure. I get up and go into my bedroom. Red healed Kennedy but her shirt is still ripped up and she needs a new one. We’re about the same size so any of my t-shirts will fit her. I take one out to her and when she’s able to pry Willow off her she slips it on, and we go into the living room for a slayer pow-wow.


“What the fuck happened out there?” I ask and look from one girl to the other. All of them are here now. I guess they were patrolling in groups of three, and there’s nine of ‘em all together. I’ve only met a couple of ‘em. Kennedy, obviously, and Holly, and Sissy, but I don’t now any of the others. They don’t look too happy with my question. Gee, I wonder why? No slayer likes to be criticized ‘cause we all wanna think that our way is the best way, but it isn’t always. Obviously somethin about tonight fucked up. Accident or not I still wanna know what happened.


“I found the body of the girl who patrolled last night in that area so we went there tonight to see if we could find the thing. We were only there for five minutes when this thing lunged at us. It landed on Kerry first and she managed to kick it off before it bit or scratched her. We couldn’t get a good look at it ‘cause it was really dark and it was moving around too fast. We were just going to stun it ‘cause we don’t know if it’s a werewolf. But I gotta say I’ve never seen a werewolf that big before, but it doesn’t look like any other dog-demon I’ve seen either.


“Anyway, we were trying to surround it, ya know, moving really slow so we wouldn’t scare it? But I slipped on a rock and it slashed me open. This thing, whatever it is, was crazy, Faith. I could see it in its eyes. It wanted to kill us.” We’re all quiet as Kennedy talks and I don’t really like what she has to say. “Becky injured it pretty badly. If we don’t find it soon it probably won’t live to see morning.” Some demons heal really fuckin fast so what may look like a mortal wound or be a moral wound to something else will be nothing more then a flesh wound to some.


“Alright,” I say after a few minutes of silence. “Now all we gotta do is figure out why.” They’re all lookin at me like I just smoked the world’s biggest crack rock or something. Why does everyone always look at me like that? “A werewolf attacks because it feels the overwhelming need to feed. An il cane de morte will attack when its territory is threatened. I want to know what it is and why it attacked you guys. If it wanted to kill it has a reason.” Now that the little explanation is done I go into ‘dictator mode’ as B calls it.


“We’re going as a group. We will not split up. Everyone should already have a stunner, and a weapon, and if you don’t get one. We’re going to try to capture not kill. If it comes down to one of us or it take the kill. If it’s a werewolf we’ll mourn and feel guilty but at least we’ll be alive.” They look a little pissed because of that but I meant every word of it and I’m not going to apologize. “We’ll bring it back here,” I say and open up the weapons’ chest and grab some chains and padlocks and one of those wire muzzles. I’m not taking any chances. All this stuff has been magically reinforced to withstand the power of somethin fierce, so we should be safe.


“We’ll take it out back into the shed and take turns guarding it ‘til morning. If it changes back into a person I’ll deal with ‘em, if it doesn’t change back…we’ll figure something out.” I don’t want to just put it down, but it is a danger and we’ll probably have to. I really have gone soft. “What are we waiting for?” Everyone jumps up and starts gathering their stuff. B wraps her arms around me and buries her face in my neck but she isn’t crying. She just wants to be held ‘cause she’s scared for me.


“Be careful out there ok? And don’t worry, I’ll make sure Tucker’s in the garage by the time you get back.” I was gonna tell her that but I guess I don’t have to. Sometimes these demon-dog things will do one of three things with a domestic dog: they either kill ‘em to eliminate the competition for territory. Or they breed with ‘em and make dog/demon hybrids that are cute but deadly. Or they just leave ‘em alone and go about their business. I really don’t wanna take any chances. Besides, Tucker has his eye on the neighbor’s Springer Spaniel, I don’t think he’s gonna wanna be a sperm downer to a demon.


“Don’t worry baby, I’ll be back safe and sound.” She sighs because we both know I shouldn’t say things like that. Even if it’s just to reassure her, I shouldn’t tell her I’m going to be ok when there’s a chance I won’t be. I pull back from the hug and give B a big kiss on the lips. If it bothers anyone they’re not saying so ‘cause they know I’ll tear ‘em a new one. See, I don’t really give a shit when people out in public talk shit about us. Sure it bothers me, but we’re in public and whatever they say is their opinion and blah, blah, blah. But if you come into my home and insult me it’s a whole new story and I’ve sent some people home crying for just yelling at them.


When the kiss ends I look over at Kennedy and she has my stuff already packed for me. The chains, padlocks, and muzzle are in the bag, and she’s holding my favorite short sword, waiting for me to take it. I leave one last kiss on B’s lips, I tell her I love her and the rest of us leave. I know B and Red want to come with us, and they both know I won’t let them. They’re both big girls and they can handle themselves but when things get this intense I like to have B out of harm’s way. And Red is so exhausted from taking care of the kids she’ll just get in the way.


We’re all jam packed in this truck. I really gotta tell Giles to invest in some bigger ones. We’re taking the truck because the camper shield has been both magically reinforced and with steel. We can’t just chain this thing up and carry it back to the house. Someone might see us, and that would be bad. So we’ll just have to deal with this crammed situation. Slayers don’t like to be packed in too tight, we need to be able to move around at least a little. It’s that whole ‘when you move they can’t getcha’ mentality. And I gotta say I’m going a little crazy being pressed up against the door of the car and some woman I don’t even know. But whatever. Kennedy finally parks the car and we all jump out very impatiently. One chick almost falls she wants out so fast.


“Stay tight, I don’t want anyone falling behind. And be ready. There’s more then just one monster in these woods,” I tell ‘em and they looked a little freaked out but worked up at the same time. This is the kind of hunt that slayers live for. Kennedy walks us up a little hill and shows us where they were attacked. I can still smell her blood on the ground. That’s going to be a problem. “Everyone be careful, something might show up ‘cause of the smell.” And it could be anything, a vampire, a werewolf, an il cane de morte…anything else that would want some blood. Ok, so I haven’t exactly memorized the names like I was supposed to but those books are so boring!


We all sorta jump when we hear a loud, strangled bark. At least that’s what I think it was. We all look in the direction the sound came from, ahead of us and to the left, but I got nothing more then that. We make our way through the trees in the direction of the sound. The thing barks again, and this time it growls. It sounds louder so we’re getting closer. Then we’re all hit with a God-awful smell, and my eyes water up. One girl almost gets sick. But we suck it up and keep trucking forward.


Then I see it. Kennedy’s right that thing is fuckin big. If it was standing up I’d say from its shoulder to the ground it’d be almost five feet tall. And I’d guess that the God-awful smell is the thing’s blood ‘cause it’s fuckin everywhere. Damn, Beck really did injure this thing. What the fuck did she use, a buzz saw? It’s front right leg is almost completely severed. It’s trying to stand up but it can’t. And it has this look in its eyes, this ‘why can’t you just leave me alone?’ kinda look. It’s scared, and hurt, and I know if it could walk it’d rip our fuckin throats out by the way it’s growlin at us.


“Don’t trank it, it’s lost too much blood.” The girls with the trank guns point the barrels down but they look a little disappointed. Oh fuckin well. I take the muzzle out of my bag and hold onto the straps. I hand the chains to Kennedy and she tenses up a little bit. “You three,” I tell the girls without the guns. “Follow us, but don’t attack until we tell you.” We slowly walk forward and as we get closer and I get a better look at its face I can tell it isn’t a werewolf. The muzzle is completely different.


“It’s not a werewolf.” Kennedy sighs with relief. “The nose is too long. I don’t know what the fuck it is.” As we get close it tries to back up but its leg gets caught on something and it yelps out really fucking loud. “Anna, toss me a dart!” I hear her unload the gun and without even lookin I catch the dart around the middle. Maybe if I only give it a little bit it’ll calm down but it won’t die. But the closer I get the more panicked it gets and that leg looks really painful. I don’t want to kill it until I know exactly what it is just in case this is a new breed of werewolf or whatever. Hey, you never know, it could happen. And with all the crazy things I’ve seen in my life I’m not willing to take the chance.


Then an opportunity presents itself when the demon thing looks behind it. It’s distracted and quicker then a fuckin lightening bolt I stab it in the neck with the dart and then pull away before it can turn around and bite me. It does whip its head around and it is one very pissed off demon. It’s growling, and snarling, and barking, and yelping all at once. I kinda want to kill it just to put it out of its misery, ya know? But what I really wanna know is what it was looking at. Nothing’s back there from what I can see, except for some trees and bushes and shit and it didn’t seem too concerned about that a few minutes ago. When the drug takes affect it calms down but stays conscious. I get the muzzle around its nose and hook the straps. It’s struggling against me but it isn’t strong enough to shake me off, but it won’t give up.


“Ok, five of you go get the truck. Park it as close to the tree line as you can.” Five of the girls scamper off to go do that and I just keep looking down at the demon. It’s shakin like a leaf and whimpering a lot. Its leg is still bleeding. I take off my jacket and wrap it tight around its leg and tie it as best I can. Kennedy has to hold the demon down ‘cause it found some inner strength ‘cause of the pain and it’s fighting against me. I can’t blame it, I’d do the same thing if I was it. “I wanna know what the fuck it was lookin at.” I tell Kennedy and she looks in the same direction I am. I see some leaves and shrubs and shit that look like they don’t belong where they are, like someone put ‘em there.


“This is a male,” Kennedy says and puts it hind leg back down. “Maybe a female is nearby or something.” Way to say something comforting Kennedy, I can always count on you for that. “Don’t dogs get super protective of the females when they’re in heat or whatever?” I guess they do. I don’t watch a whole lot of animal planet, so I’ll have to ask B about it. I look down when the demon lets out another little whimper and he closes his eyes. He’s still breathing but I guess I gave him more of that stuff then I thought. The girls come back and I have all of ‘em lift this bad boy up and put him in the back of the truck. Me and Kennedy stay behind though. I wanna find out what’s in those shrubs.


We start walking towards ‘em really fuckin slow. We both have our swords up and we’re ready for anything. We get about seven feet away from the shrubs and I hear a low growl. I stop cold and Kennedy does the same. Something is definitely back there. But where is it? I don’t see anything. Then there’s a loud bark and before we can move something huge jumps out of fuckin nowhere and lands on top of Kennedy. It looks kinda like the demon we just loaded up, but it’s smaller. This must be the female. Kennedy’s doin a good job of fighting her off. Ok, holding her back and keeping those wicked lookin teeth far away from her but she can’t quite get the bitch off her.


“Why do they always come after me?” she yells and kicks the thing in the stomach and it goes flying back. She whips out her stunner and shoots the thing with it and it goes down. “Go, get a trank!” she screams ‘cause this thing is recovering pretty fuckin fast. I run back to the truck and grab a gun and the rest of ‘em follow me back to where Kennedy has this thing on the ground and it’s twitchin and shit ‘cause of the electricity pumping through it’s body. I aim and fire and get it right on its back leg. Perfect fuckin shot if you ask me. It’s awake for about fifteen seconds after and then it passes out.


“Take it back to the truck and run ‘em back to the house. Ask Buffy for some more chains. And be careful, I don’t know how it’ll be before it wakes up.” The girls scoop it up and carry it off. “What the fuck is back here?” I got an idea but I really wanna be wrong. I walk over where I think the second demon jumped out of, and there’s a big hole in the ground. It doesn’t go straight down though so I can’t see into it. It’s like a den or a burrow or something. It’s big enough for the male to fit in so it’s big enough for me to crawl into.


I unclip the flashlight off my boot and get on my hands and knees and start crawling. I hear Kennedy say ‘be careful’ but I don’t respond. The dirt is packed pretty tight and not a whole lot is falling down on my head. They must’ve been here for a long time. I can see tree roots and shit sticking out of the walls and it looks really fucking creepy, and they’re a little difficult to get around. Damn this thing is fuckin deep. I’ve been crawling for ten minutes now and I don’t see a damn thing. But then the tunnel opens up into a large space, big enough for five or six of those things to fit in and I hear ‘em before I see ‘em. Fuck. I was really hoping to be wrong on this one.


BPOV


Last night when those girls showed up without Faith and Kennedy, Willow and I almost had a panic attack. But they told us they needed to put the demons in the shed and they needed some more chains and another muzzle. I thought they were only bringing back one but there were two, a male and a female. The male had a really bad wound on his leg but Willow fixed him up. They told us how sad it looked to see him suffering and how gentle Faith was with him. If we had just put him down like I wanted to, ya know, to end his suffering, Faith probably would have been pissed. She can get really weird like that sometimes.


So I did what I thought I should do in that situation. I had Willow magically fuse one end of the chains to the floor and while the demons were still unconscious I wrap the other end around their necks and Willow magically fused those together too. Then we got some very big bowls of water for them and we left them alone. The other slayers offered to guard them and I took them up on it. But then Faith called the house on her cell phone and asked one of the slayers to bring the truck back and Tucker’s crate. I have no idea what they found but she didn’t sound too happy about it.


I didn’t get to see what was in the crate because the other slayers instantly ran it out to the shed and Faith got hit with a case of the double H’s really bad so we went straight to the bedroom. When I woke up this morning she was already awake and she knew I wanted to go out to the shed to check up on the demons and see what’s in the crate but she didn’t want me to. At first I thought she was crazy and just being over protective of me, but now that I’m out here and I know what’s in the crate I know why she didn’t want me out here. Because she found a litter of demon puppies in the back of that den and they are absolutely adorable!


There’s four of them, three all black ones, and one that’s black with gray. There’re two boys and two girls and they are so damn cute. Have you ever seen an Irish wolfhound? Well they look kind of like that only their fur is longer and they’re bulkier. We have the parents in one part of the shed, the one with all the crosses on the walls, and the puppies are in the other room. We’re not sure how the parents are going to react if the puppies are in the room and we’re not taking any chances. Last night they seemed pretty damn protective according to the other slayers. Willow took some fur samples and some pictures of them last night and teleported to the slayer school and she’s going to find out what they are.


Faith made me promise not to open the door to the crate because she doesn’t want me being attacked. Whatever, I can take care of myself. But they are demons and I don’t know how strong they are so I guess it is best to keep them locked up for now. Faith is at the store right now, well, the butcher shop. She’s going to buy a lot of beef to feed the demons because she doesn’t want them looking to us as food. We still don’t know what we’re going to do.


They’re demons and they’re dangerous but they were protecting their young. Wild animals that aren’t demons do that all the time. The attack wasn’t unprovoked. They thought their young were in danger. But the question is how big of a danger are they? We’ve never seen this breed before or even heard of a dog like demon this large so it’s a possibility that they just stick to the woods and feed off the wildlife. So killing them would be unjust and cruel. And what about the puppies? Are we just supposed to kill four little demon puppies just because they’re demons? It just depends on what Willow finds at the slayer school. She said she’d come back as soon as she found something. So hopefully soon, but she’s been gone since last night.


I say bye to the puppies, what like you don’t talk to puppies? And I go back into the house. It’s still early, really early and the kids aren’t awake yet. I was only out there for fifteen minutes. A couple of the slayers stayed the night in case we need the extra backup. I don’t want to take any chances with those things out there. They may not hunt people down and kill them but they’re still dangerous and I don’t want something that dangerous so close to where my kids live and not have some extra slayers around to help protect them. I walk into the living room and…Anna?…is holding Joseph and he’s crying. She looks a little relieved to see me.


“He just started crying. I was on my way to get you.” She hands him to me and I give her a small smile and tell her thanks and sit down on the couch. This is the part where most people leave the room. “I’m going to make some breakfast since everyone will be here soon. Any requests?” I tell her to make plenty of the basics: pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, toast, scrambled and fried eggs. We’re definitely going to have to go grocery shopping after today. Feeding thirteen slayers, even if two of them are little kids, it’s going to take a lot of food. I hope we don’t run out because there’s nothing more dangerous then a room of hungry slayers and very little to eat. This could easily turn into the thanksgiving fiasco of 2008.


I hear one of the bedroom doors open and little footsteps walking down the hall. Addison is awake and walking down the hall towards the living room. I feel panicked. I haven’t seen the kids yet since they’ve been asleep all night. Well, they could have woken up. Things did get kind of loud when Kennedy was brought in. Faith yelled a lot but I never saw them. And we locked our door last night because we didn’t want them walking in on something no child should see their parents doing. We really don’t want to give them that kind of psychological scar. They could develop a complex or something.


She rounds the corner and she’s rubbing her little eye with her fist and her hair is a frightful mess. It looks like Willow didn’t put it in a braid like I do every night. She stops dead in her tracks when she sees me and I tense up. I really don’t know how she’s going to react. But I guess I should have expected her to squeal and run at me like I’m a quarterback and she’s a defensive player. Did I really just use that metaphor? Ok, no more watching football with Faith, she can go over to the neighbor’s house to do that. Anyway, when Addison gets pretty close I have to stop her from jumping on me since I’m still feeding Joseph. But she calmly climbs into my lap and gives me a big hug. I hug her back the best I can and she has some tears running down her face.


“Shhh, sweetheart, it’s ok. I’m back now, and I’m not going anywhere, ok?” she nods her head and hugs me again. She pulls back after a couple of minutes and I give her a big kiss on the cheek. She sits down on my lap and rests her head on my chest. It hurts a little but I’ll deal with it. She watches Joseph as he continues to eat. I think it’s a little weird how Addison watches but I’m not going to say anything about it to her right now. She might get upset or something. When Joseph is done I use the corner of his blanket to wipe up the milk still on his mouth. I gently set him down next to me and button up my shirt. Addison sits down across my lap and leans against me. I give her a little kiss on top of the head and we watch Joseph while he sleeps.


He just looks so peaceful. He really is a handsome little boy even though he is still kinda funny looking. Newborn babies are always funny looking. He looks so much like Faith, except he has my lips. But everything else is Faith. So far he’s been the calmest out of the three of them. When Matthew and Addison were this age they’d scream their heads off until they were eating. But his cries are soft, and he only gets louder if you don’t respond within ten minutes or so. Hopefully he’ll stay that way, but I have a feeling once he starts to develop his own little personality he’ll be a little feistier. Hopefully not as feisty as Addison, Faith and I already have our hands full with her temper and attitude, we don’t need another one like that.


“Mommy,” Addison says after a few minutes of silence. I let out a little ‘hmm?’ but I know what’s coming. I know she’s going to have lot and lots of questions, so is Matthew. I’m still really afraid of how he’s going to react. “Why did you go away?” See, I told you. I know my little girl like the back of my hand, sort of. She can be unpredictable at times but for the most part I know her very well. I sigh and wrap my arms around her and give her a gentle squeeze. I really don’t know how to explain it to her because she’s too young to really understand what I was going through. Maybe I’m not giving her enough credit. Little kids are pretty smart and can grasp some complex stuff, but some things are just too much for them to understand.


“Because…” I really don’t know how to explain it. I wish Faith was here. I could really use her support right about now. “I was sick and I had to go away until I got better. And I did get all better so I came back.” I can tell she’s having a hard time believing that. I don’t really know what she’s going to ask next, but I’m sure I won’t be able to explain that very well either. But before she can ask anything else, Willow teleports into the living room about four feet in front of us, and Addison jumps a little. Saved by the Wicca.


“Aunt Willow you scared me. You should knock before you do that. At least give a girl a warning.” And she jumps off my lap and stomps out of the room. See what I mean about the attitude? I don’t think we’d be able to handle two of those walking around the house. I laugh a little though because hearing a three-year-old say that is pretty funny. Willow and I laugh for a few minutes but then she gets that ‘I have news and I can’t wait to tell you’ type of look on her face. I pick Joseph without waking him up and she sits down next to me.


“Sorry that took so long.” I tell her it’s ok. She looks…horrible to be honest. She has these huge dark circles under her eyes and she looks exhausted. I’m pretty sure she’s going to teleport home and then go to bed and sleep for a couple of weeks. I can’t help but feel guilty because it is all my fault she’s like this. If I didn’t take off she never would have been asked to watch the kids for that long. “But I did find everything there is to know about those demons. They’re called Tier, it’s German, it means beast. Those demons are from Germany and the breed is indigenous to that area.” Ok, confusion.


“So if they only live in Germany then how did they end up here?” I turn around a little when I hear the front door open and Faith walks into the living room. She sees Willow sitting here and sits down on the loveseat to hear the rest of the explanation. So doesn’t have anything with her. I wonder if she fed them already? I hope so, they’re going to be getting hungry here pretty quick. I think. Unless they only feed certain times out of the year. I should probably pay attention now that Willow is talking again.


“I wanted to know that too. So I spent a few hours googling all sorts of websites and I finally found what I was looking for. It was in German so I had to find a translator, but from this website you can buy your choice of Tier, werewolf, il cane de morte, hellhound, evil flying monkeys, and all kinds of other demons. Apparently those two were sold to someone in Vegas when they were puppies. And like most wild animals, they’re cute when they’re little but when they get big they get uncontrollable, and the owner must’ve set them free in those woods, because there’s no way something like that could have escaped and gone unnoticed until it found a nice little place to live.


“Since I figured out how they got here I looked up more things about the breed. They are carnivores and eat mostly large game. Deer, wild boar, other demons, and when the food gets really scarce they’ll pray on livestock, and domestic animals. Attacks on humans are very rare, which is why there wasn’t a lot on them. They only attack when they feel threatened or if someone gets too close to their den or their pups. So Carla dying was just a very sad, unfortunate accident. And I really don’t know what to do because if we send them back to the seller he’s just going to sell them again, but if we let them loose who knows how the environment will suffer?” She has a point. We can’t risk them eating up all the food in the woods and then praying on the pets of Lincoln because if they’re desperate enough to jump someone’s fence and eat a dog they might take down a jogger or something.


“We can control them,” Faith says and leans forward a little bit. I look over at her with this ‘what the fuck are you talking about?’ look on my face and I’m sure Willow has the same expression. “Look, whoever bought them, probably human, and there’s no way a human is gonna be strong enough to control those things. I’m not talking about keeping them there, but if we can’t send them back to Germany and we can’t take them back to the woods then the other option is death, right?” We both nod our heads and Faith keeps explaining. “Just hear me out, alright.” I guess Willow tried to speak.


“What if we take ‘em to the slayer facility. There’s have a huge chunk of forest there. And what if we build a cage in the forest, and we make it electric and you magically reinforce it? All we would have to do is get someone to feed ‘em every day and make sure they have water. I’m not talkin about trying to domesticate them or nothin but killin ‘em seems a little cruel. They only attack humans when they’re threatened so why should they have to die?” I’m sure the old Faith would have willingly killed those demons. Probably not the puppies but definitely the mom and dad.


“You’ll have to talk to Giles but I guess it could work. We could probably even use them to train the girls. As long as the demons are wearing muzzles and we trim their claws. And they’ll have to be fixed. I don’t think Giles will want anymore puppies.” I guess it’s a good idea, but having those demons on campus with a bunch of slayers, things could get tense. Just feeling a demon and not doing anything about it can get to you after a while. I think those girls will be sneaking out a lot more to go patrolling or partying.


“Breakfast is ready!” the woman in the kitchen yells and Faith jumps up and goes in there. I guess she was hungry. She never really got to the first H last night. I kept her satisfied for a long time. Willow gets up and heads in there too but Matthew isn’t up yet and I want him to eat before the lions come home. It is going to be so loud in that room when the rest get here. I walk down the hall and put Joseph back in the basinet. Then I walk down the hall and open up Matthew’s door. He’s still sleeping, which is what I expected. He’s all tangled up in the blanket. Half of it is off the bed, and the other half is twisted around his legs. His hair is sticking up all over the place and it looks a little matted in other places. I walk in and close the door and I sit down on the edge of his bed. I gently stroke his hair and try to get it to stay down but it’s stubborn and keeps popping back up.


“Matthew,” I whisper and shake his shoulder a little. He mumbles something and rolls over onto his other side so he’s facing me. “Matthew, sweetie, breakfast is ready.” I shake his shoulder a little more and he opens his eyes and looks up at me with a very sleepy look on his face. He rubs his eyes a couple of times and then just stares up at me. I guess he can’t believe I’m here. I have no idea. I can’t tell what he’s thinking. I brush some of the hair on his forehead back and he doesn’t try to pull away. That’s a good thing, right? “Hi,” I whisper.


“Hi,” he whispers back. I don’t know if he’s going to ask me questions or if he’s going to be mad at me. It’s probably still too early for him to show any emotions. He sits up and his hair bounces around a little bit and I try really hard not to laugh. I pull him close to me and give him a big hug. I don’t care if he’s mad at me. I still need to hug him. I missed him too much to not hug him right now. But he hugs me back so I guess he isn’t mad. We pull back and he looks at me with some concern on his face. “Is aunt Kendy ok?” I guess he was spying on us last night. He gets that from his aunt Dawn. He just had to inherit that from her, didn’t he?


“Yeah, she’s ok. Aunt Willow healed her. I need you to keep your sister out of the backyard today, ok? Take her with you to Lucas’ house or something. We found the demon that hurt her, and we have it chained up in the shed outback. That means Tucker has to stay in the front yard. And you have to stay out of there too. I know you’ve been training a lot and you’re getting stronger, but these are really powerful and I don’t want you getting hurt.” He nods his head and rubs his eyes again. “Come on, breakfast is ready, and we better eat before leeches take it all.” We laugh at that and leave the room. I guess things with him are ok but I’m going to have to ask him about it later because he has a tendency to keep things bottled in. But I’m home now, and everything is going to be ok again.