What I Am
by sailor80
22
[reviews]
The morning paper brought more bad news. There had been more murders, this time of a couple on campus. Their bodies were left on a bench under a broken light, arranged in a particularly gruesome fashion.
They sat soberly around the table without talking for several minutes before Willow got up.
"Where you going?" Buffy asked.
"To call Riley." Willow left the first of many messages on his machine. She called throughout the day as they all cleaned, did laundry, and studied. Joyce joined Faith on the couch with her book, but kept massaging her temples and finally put the book aside. She laid her head back and closed her eyes. She felt Faith get up, and when she returned, she laid a cool cloth across Joyce's eyes. "Thank you, dear."
"You're welcome. Want an aspirin or something?" Faith asked.
Buffy looked up from her book as her mother said, "No, thank you."
"If you change your mind, let me know." Faith picked up her book and sat down.
"I will," Joyce said. She felt Buffy watching her and said, "It's just a headache, Buffy. Finish your homework."
Buffy sighed and went back to her book. Both Willow and Tara suppressed their smiles. Faith, safely behind her book, smirked. After that, the house stayed quiet for more than an hour before the phone rang. Willow jumped to answer it.
"Willow, it's Riley."
"Hey, what's going on?"
"We had an incident this morning."
"Can you come for dinner?" Willow asked hopefully.
"That would be great." Riley smiled. He was finally off duty for a few hours, but too wound up to do more than nap.
"Come as soon as you can."
"On my way. Ok to bring Graham and Miller?"
"They cool?"
"They're cool."
"Okay. See you soon." Willow hung up and returned to the table. "I'll do whatever you need, chop, wash, whatever," she told Tara earnestly. "Riley's coming for dinner, and he's bringing two guys, and it would be much safer if Xander and Giles were here, and that's a lot of dinner to fix."
Tara looked at Willow curiously as she digested her statement. "What?"
Buffy giggled. "Will volunteered you to fix dinner for us plus five."
"Oh." Tara shrugged. "Ok." She put her school work aside and went into the kitchen. Faith followed her silently.
"Buffy, will you call Xander and Giles?" Willow asked.
"Yeah." She stood up and kissed Willow's cheek. "Get to work. I'll be there in a few." Before going to the phone, Buffy sat beside Joyce on the couch. "Mom?"
"Hmm?"
"How you doing?"
Joyce lifted her head and uncovered her eyes. "I've felt better. I think I'll lay down for a while."
"Okay. I'll check on you later. We'll try to keep it down."
"Thank you, Buffy." Joyce pushed up from the couch and slowly made her way upstairs as Buffy watched with a frown.
When her mother was out of sight, Buffy made the calls Willow asked, and got both men on the first try. They agreed to come as soon as they could, and when Giles asked whether he could bring anything, Buffy took the phone to Tara and removed their piles of books from the dining room table.
In the kitchen, Willow was peeling potatoes. Faith was pulling things out for Tara before she asked for them, and when Willow was ready to start cutting the potatoes, the pot was waiting at her elbow. Tara spoke to Giles for a few moments, then gave the phone to Faith to hang up.
Giles and Xander arrived first, the former with an enormous bowl of green salad that he gladly surrendered, then helped the Slayers wrestle the dining room table apart and put in the two extra leaves from the basement so the table would seat everyone. Then they gathered the chairs and set the table. Half an hour later, Riley arrived with Graham and Miller in tow. One of them had flowers, and the others had bags of drinks.
Tara kept Willow busy in the kitchen. Faith slid in and out, always there with what Tara needed next, and Buffy stayed out of the way once the table was ready. No one talked much as they worked, although the men settled around the television set tuned to ESPN. By silent mutual consent, there was no shop talk.
Tara gave Buffy notice 20 minutes before dinner would be served, and Buffy trotted upstairs to check on her mother. She rapped on the door before opening it. Joyce sat up and yawned.
"Mom, dinner's going to be ready soon."
"Thank you, sweetheart."
"Are you feeling any better?" Buffy asked.
"Much better." Joyce smiled at Buffy. "I'll be down in a minute."
Buffy smiled back. "Ok," she said, and returned to the kitchen.
After dinner, the men cleaned while the women stayed around the table. When the work was done, they returned to their seats. They eyed each other nervously for a few moments before Willow blurted, "What happened this morning?"
"Two things," Riley said. "First, we had a near riot in the cages. Had to gas them to stop it. Second, two more civilians were found."
"The ones in the paper?" Willow asked.
"Another couple."
"Oh." Willow looked at the table for a moment, thinking, and her head popped up when she had another question. "Was it Adam?"
"No." Riley looked uneasily at Graham and Miller. "It was Dr. Walsh and Dr. Angleman."
"How do you know?"
"Delta Team bagged them right after."
"Okay," Willow said slowly.
"They're being treated like every other HST. But they aren't like them at all," Riley said. "They're more machine than human."
"They scare the hell outta me," Graham mumbled, and Miller seconded him.
"Me, too," Riley admitted.
"As long as they aren't running loose, they aren't our problem," Faith said cooly. "Where is Adam and what is he up to?"
After a few moments, Riley said, "We don't know. We've been too busy to look for him."
"Excuse me?" Buffy said.
"Hostiles are coming out from everywhere. We're getting full," Riley said.
"Getting!" Miller scoffed. "We were full last week."
"It's like they want to get caught," Graham added.
"Why would they want to be caught?" Buffy wondered.
"Don't know," Riley answered.
When no one else said anything, Riley stood and pushed his chair back. "Thank you again for dinner. It was great."
Graham and Miller followed his lead, and they went back to their dorm to get some sleep. Xander left shortly after, and the girls put the house back together while Joyce and Giles chatted over a cup of tea. Then Buffy, Willow, Faith, and Tara left for the Bronze.
The streets were busy as they always were on nice nights, but it seemed that no vampires stalked the couples too wrapped up in each other to notice. The Bronze was quiet, too. The band wasn't having a good night, and the girls sat on the couch until the manager put music on the sound system. Then, Faith dragged all of them to the floor.
Buffy and Willow stayed for one song before Buffy grumpily limped off. She hoped that the knee restraint would be gone soon, and absentmindedly bent her knee to sit. The metal supports gave way with a creak that turned every head in its direction. Buffy looked sheepish and said to Willow, "Guess I don't need it any more." and began separating the velcro straps. She stood up and shook out her leg. Buffy walked to the end of the bar, where a huge trashcan sat, and put the cast in it.
Buffy returned to the couch and offered Willow her hand. Willow smiled and stood up. They went back to the dance floor for a while, and when they returned to the couch, Tara came with them while Faith went to the bar for flavored water.
After a break, they all returned to the dance floor for a few more songs, but even Faith was bored after half an hour of what sounded like the same song. She caught Buffy's eye and jerked her head toward the door. Buffy nodded, and both couples moved toward the exit.
They took the long way home, through four cemeteries, all unnervingly quiet. They saw no one alive, dead, or anywhere between. The house was dark, although the porch light was on. Faith and Tara headed for the television. Buffy and Willow went upstairs. They stopped first at Joyce's room, and Buffy was relieved to see her mother asleep. She carefully closed the door and she and Willow went down the hall to Buffy's room.
"How's your knee?" Willow asked.
"Good. Much better without that thing." Buffy sat on the bed and frowned at the small twinge. "Maybe something lighter, though."
"Let's get your pants off," Willow said, and moved toward Buffy.
"Thought you'd never ask," Buffy smirked.
Willow looked at Buffy for a moment. She stopped just out of the Slayer's reach, then turned toward the door, and reached out with her left hand. The door closed quietly, and shimmered with a blue light that quickly spread outward until the walls, floor, and ceiling glowed. When the room was engulfed in its soft glow, it pulsed brightly, then disappeared. Buffy looked quizzically at Willow.
"Silencing spell. We can hear, they can't," Willow explained.
Buffy reached for her again, and this time, Willow moved into her grasp. Buffy's hands flowed along the redhead's body as she knelt and began to unfasten Buffy's jeans. Willow pulled Buffy's underwear down with her pants. Her nipples hardened at the explosion of smell emanating from the blonde's crotch. Willow turned her lips into Buffy's calf as her hands efficiently removed her shoes. She caught Buffy's socks with her thumbs, and removed what clothing remained below her waist with one impatient tug.
Buffy urged Willow up and locked their lips as they fell back on the bed. Buffy's hands worked quickly to remove what she could of Willow's clothing without breaking their kiss.
Downstairs, Faith frowned at the television. "Why is it so quiet all of a sudden?"
"Spell," Tara answered absently. Willow's magick blocked sound from within the room, which felt like a blank spot to Tara. She turned to Faith. "It's worse than listening to them."
"You'll have to talk to Red about it." Faith slid closer to Tara on the sofa. "Bet I can make you forget about it."
Tara smiled. "I'm sure you can," she answered flirtatiously.