A Plethora of Possibilities
by fantagismo
6
[reviews]
a/n - just to clarify, they didn't have sex. You'll know when they have sex.
6.
Morning (or later in the morning for some) came, and as the sun was shining through the French balcony doors in Willow's bedroom, the sleeping two began to stir. They were running on a few hours sleep, and so were a little groggy, but in the mother of all clichés, the moment they pulled back their shared covers and looked at each other they became fully aware and raring to go, not wanting to miss a second of their time with each other. Admittedly all they felt was a stirring, excited feeling enveloping the general abdominal area, but my way sounds more poetic and less open to misinterpretation. However, soon enough they remembered their foray into all things Hellmouth-ish just the night before, and got into talk and wonder territory, something the Scoobies would soon be adept at. What prompted the conversation, however, about the events of the night before was the sunlight that Willow would have to pass through to get to the bathroom.
"Uh, Buffy? Quick question - did Giles mention whether or not I'd be burnt to a crispy finish if I walked about three feet ahead of me?"
"Three feet? What's that got to do... with... oh! Sunlight! Tainting, Willow-y demon essence..." Buffy frowned, and shrugged. "Don't know really, I guess if you put your arm through it, you'll find out!"
"Yeah, cheers Buff, very helpful. Ah well, I'm not getting any younger," Willow thought about it. "Hey! Does this tainting malarkey mean I'll retain my youthful vitality for ever? Am I, in fact, actually not getting any older?"
Buffy looked exasperated. "Willow, I was there last night at the Bronze. I saw what you saw, I heard what you heard, and I pretty much know what you know. And, in answer to your question, I don't know! But there is only one way for you to find out, and that would be to stick your arm in the sunlight so we can go see Giles!"
Willow's eyes were glazed over having seen an assertive and sexy morning tousled Buffy, but as soon as she realised Buffy had stopped talking and was now looking at her with an arched eyebrow, she graciously moved to the sunlight, grumbled a quick, "You'll be sorry if I go poof," and thrust her hand into the light.
Nothing happened, and Willow did a crazy little dance of glee until stopping mid step, realising that Buffy was looking at her, interestingly enough, with the same glazed over look that Willow knew from personal employment of it. She grinned.
"Guess I should put a bra on..."
Buffy had the good grace to look guilty.
-------
Getting ready for school was done in a fluid routine, however much it was hindered by lusty feelings. For both of them, there seemed to be a tingle of an electric current, something they were caught up on, pulling themselves along with a little more pizzazz than normal. It was a heady feeling, and the already excited and bubbly girls were extremely chatty and high pitched as they were walking the distance to school in half the time it would normally take. In the few silences here and there, their minds were working at the same furious rate.
For Buffy, she was wondering where the hell these very gay feelings had come from. Sure, she had messed around, and maybe had a couple of crushes on a couple of friends. Actually, her slayer side had come out, and for a few of her close friends she had felt a fierce protectiveness, but she had never put it down to Sapphic leanings. Whatever was going on, however, she didn't mind one bit - *Gender, schmender... who gives a damn?** - especially if it meant that she could have the demurely beautiful Willow as hers.
Willow wasn't as surprised by the team switching; as an intellectual and mostly solitude individual, apart from her male best friends, she wasn't new to the odd infatuation for the fairer sex here or there, but, like Buffy, she was surprised at the fact that there had been no pretence or beating around the bush; they had both simply gotten what they wanted. There was a new found confidence in Willow, something that gave the girl a little gravity. Although she wasn't going to say anything, she was feeling the affects of last night. At least she thought she was; it was just that everything seemed a little bit brighter, the leafy suburbia seemed greener, and everything, well, felt closer to Willow's presence. She was experiencing everything from a new, enlightened perspective, and she was loving this perspective when it came to looking at Buffy, the only thing in Willow's eyes that could outshine the gorgeous weather.
Approaching Sunnydale High, they looked around the outside, but there were only a few students milling around, probably the commuters, given they all looked pissed off and it was pretty early. Moving through the sunlit corridors to the library, there was no Giles to be seen. Could it be they were that early? Buffy went around the stacks to see where Giles was. Willow, on the other hand, looked at the quarterstaff on the table, put there to start Buffy's training this morning. She picked it up, checking behind her to see if there was anyone there and on confirming that she could arse about uninterrupted, starting twirling it about like a majorette's baton.
What she didn't expect was for the staff to feel so light and aerodynamic in her hands, and what she certainly didn't expect was for the staff to be moving at quite a phenomenal rate, with her completely in control instead of flapping about like a retarded fly, as was the tradition. She took the staff out of motion by swinging it precisely to her right, and then a vicious uppercut on an imaginary foe. Then, because it was more fun, she went back to twirling, moving the quarterstaff until it became a blur.
Buffy, for her part, had been watching the show from the top of the stairs, noticing the way Willow's muscles worked, and also noting that Willow actually seemed to be quite strong, fast and flexible. She let her eyes roam for a bit, and then let out a slow, appreciative whistle. Then felt really guilty for wanting to laugh when Willow, in surprise, knocked herself in the forehead with her own hand whilst trying to catch the staff but also cover her mouth in shock. After the staff had skittered away and Willow had regained the use of her coordination skills, she mock glared at Buffy, prompting Buffy to come over and make a huge fuss of Willow, until she smiled and Giles appeared in the doorway. They both broke apart, not wanting to share personal details with him just yet. Buffy may be starting to get round the fact that he's her watcher, but to divulge her sexuality upon a middle aged man wearing tweed with a propensity to clean his glasses a lot, well, she didn't want to kill the poor man off. **He's already got a lot on his plate with l'il old me**, was the mischievous thought.
"Morning, Giles. And how is this fair day treating you?"
"Well, I've actually been up all night researching the Harvest, and the possible side affects of the tainting. On both sides, what I have found is nothing short of remarkable. And a good morning to you, too." He smiled, and sipped a cup of tea.
"Well, spill then! What's the down-low on, er, Will-ow?" Willow giggled at the bad play on words from the blonde, perching herself on the edge of the table next to Buffy. Buffy immediately had her senses focused on the feel of the redhead's body against her own, and the delicious scent she was giving off. It was distracting, to say the least.
Giles rolled his eyes at the unanimously considered shoddy joke. "Well, the council knew that the practice of tainting is sometimes utilised by vampires, but, there are two glaring gaps in our information. One, is that the powerful force that came from Willow after the process was completed has never happened in any recorded manuscripts. I think we can safely assume that it was not part of the average tainting. Whatever happened to cause that, I think, came directly from Willow, and I suspect it was something magical."
Willow looked a little taken aback for a moment, and then asked, "So, are we talking magic in a witchy kind of way, hocus pocus, broomsticks and unsavoury facial additions, or are we talking magical in a 'Giles needs to stop doing psychedelic drugs' kinda way?" Willow smiled sweetly at Giles, trying to project an aura of innocence.
Not missing a beat, Giles replied, "The former," and set about gathering books for more research that he hadn't had time to do in the night. In truth, Giles was worried. He knew the reason why there were so few manuscripts on the aftermath of a tainting, and that was because each person who had been held under it's sway had succumbed, and died. Not wanting to instil fear into the students he had only met for the first time yesterday, he didn't want to tell them the other reason for there being gaps in the information available. Buffy, however, was pretty shrewd, and had already guessed as to the other one, going on what he had said last night.
"Was there anything else, Giles?" She asked pointedly. Giles looked at Willow. "Well, the thing is, there isn't a lot of research on it, because no one has survived the taint, and the subsequent thrall long enough to document it's consequences." Letting that fact sink in, he barrelled on. "However, we already know that something has gone awry, because the vampire disappeared before anything was done to harm you. Then, factor in the explosion phenomenon, and it does appear that some kind of magical force has intervened to protect you. Have you been thinking of anything different - any noticeable subconscious trends? Any odd dreams?"
Buffy perked her ears up. Mystical dreams were her speciality.
"Not that I can think of..." Willow didn't think Giles needed to hear about the dreams she'd been having last night, full of pent up arousal and with Buffy breathing gently in her ear. "So, what's gonna happen with this situation? I mean, I think I've got stronger, or faster, or just more arrogant, but to be honest, I feel good!"
"You look pretty damn good too... er, with the quarterstaff!" Buffy quickly amended, and she would have blushed, if Willow hadn't smiled happily, basking in praise from the slayer.
"The quarterstaff? Did I miss something?" Something very British in Giles refused to let ignorance of facts go. "Because I'm a watcher, I should know these things!"
"Looks like you were watching the wrong person, Giles!"
Willow, not being used to being the focus of attention and such was quick to explain that she was just playing about with his dangerous weapons for fun. Realising her **girlfriend?** was about to receive a lecture on proper care of weapons, Buffy jumped in. "She's good Giles, really. She was flailing that thing around like a monkey at a circus, if the monkey was a person that could spin a stick round really fast... but I guess that would be just a person. Huh." Everyone paused at the visual. "Seriously, she may not be as strong as a vampire or a slayer, but she can definitely hold her own. I think you should train her, as well as me. Together."
Willow and Buffy each hid their own separate smile as the anticipation of sweaty workout sessions was unveiled with Giles's small nod, and then prepared to listen as he informed them of the Harvest, the Master, and what it all entailed. They were innocently playing footsie under the desk when Xander came in, looking more than a little worried.
"Buffy, I can't find Jesse. He was supposed to meet me this morning, but he wasn't there! I went over to his parent's house, but no one answered. I'm getting a very nervous feeling over here..."
"Xander, calm down, we'll sort this out. Did he go out last night? Where did you see him last?"
"It was at the Bronze, I left him there about half an hour before Willow did her Shazam pow trick, he was about to score with this hot looking blonde... speaking of, by the way, how is everyone feeling today? Will? You feeling ok?"
Willow smiled, then frowned. "Sweet of you to ask Xander, I'm fine, but a little worried about Jesse." Something about the mention of a hot blonde, and Jesse's track record with girls was setting alarm bells off in her head. Buffy saw the frown and held Willow's hand under the table. "Describe the girl, Xand."
"Well she was in her twenties I'd say, mid length blonde hair, oh, she was wearing a Catholic school uniform. Slutty, but appreciated."
Willow, Buffy and Giles whistled under their breath. Xander caught the look. "What's going on? Do you guys know where he is?"
Buffy started talking, telling him about Darla and Willow's encounter and the fact that the girl Jesse had scored with was in fact a vampire. Willow, feeling useless, happened to glance at the newspaper, open on a page headlined as "Savage animal attacks at the Bronze", and saw the name she wished she didn't see. Jesse. She took a deep breath.
"Xander, I think you better sit down..."
-------
Giles looked at the small gathering in the library, helping to research demons and vampires and occult rites, and wished that he didn't have to be the one guiding them into a crazy mesh of evil. Willow had broken the news to Xander like a patient mother, showing maturity beyond her years in suppressing her own grief to acknowledge Xander's. **There's something about her...** He found himself looking at Willow, trying to ascertain the vibe she was giving off. Being magically trained himself, in white rites as well as the dark ones, he could sense - just like the vampires - when they came into a room because Willow's presence in particular seemed to want to intertwine with everything around her. She was a witch, that was for sure, but Giles had a strange feeling that the two of them, Willow and Buffy, working together could be the best thing fighting for the forces of light the Powers That Be had sent in a long time. Seeing the girls and Xander joke and laugh, in true ignorance of what they were going to mean to the world, he made a decision to guide both of them, train them, so they could have a better chance at survival and happiness than the council would let them have. It was the least he could do, if his hunches were correct; they were in for a rough ride, and feeling the steel in his spine that his days as Ripper had left, he'd be buggered if he was going to let them face what was out there on their own.
-------
Sometime later in the night, the gang had a plan put together, and were finishing on a light training session, with Giles showing Willow and Xander some self defence and basic combat moves, then moving on to hone the slayer's combat instincts, preparing her to go and face the harvest. They were nervous, they were worried, and they certainly excited about their first planned manoeuvre to piss off the demon population of Sunnydale. But they weren't careless, and they had a meticulous plan of what to do tonight. Basically, go on in and beat 'em up, with some cover from the assembled few - I didn't say it was a good plan - was the general idea, but Buffy glowed in the knowledge that she had back up, the other three being blissfully intent on helping Buffy, having heart enough to realise that asking a sixteen year old to put her life on the line alone was to say the least unreasonable, if she had people that were willing to be there for her. Which they were. Very willing.
In that vein, Xander nodded gravely, the news of Jesse's death still lingering in his mind. He was angry, and he wanted to get there already so he could try and do something brave. He wasn't sure what yet.
"Saddle up, folks. It's time."
-------
Luke was confident as he strode on stage, smelling and savouring the pungent scent of fear in the air. He could feel his Master's pride in him, and it made him hungry. Beckoning to one of the minions, he pulled his first girl on stage. She was petrified, and it thrilled him.
"This certainly is a glorious day."
Smiling, he unsheathed his vampire visage. The girl screamed. He lunged, and the Harvest began.