Story: And it All Became So Clear (chapter 4)

PART 3

Buffy dumped her bag in the front seat of the chair then joined me in the back. The ride to the motel was silent, all of us lost in thoughts that ran along similar and different lines. As Giles pulled into the parking lot of the motel we could see Xander standing in the opening of one of the doors. As we got closer and Giles parked the car I could clearly see that the door had been knocked out of its hinges. Moving out of the doorway Xander opened the passenger side door. Sending Buffy's bag into the back seat he got in. There was a bruise on the side of his face but other than that he seemed to be okay.

"Are you okay?" Giles asked once Xander was safely in the car.

"I think half of my face is still in there, but other than that hunky-dory," he responded giving a big thumbs up then wincing. Giles nodded then put the car in reverse backing up and heading out of the parking lot.

"Do we know where they've taken her?" Buffy asked seeing that Giles was heading out of instead of back into Sunnydale.

"Yes," Giles responded. "After I sent you all home I started a deeper investigation into 'The Children of The Dead'. It took a while to locate more than rudimentary reference of them in the texts but shortly before you called I was able to ascertain some more information about the ritual. It was really a very difficult process of cross-referencing..."

"Giles..." Buffy prompted. He too sometimes had a habit of droning on. What he seemed to have trouble grasping sometimes was that we didn't so much care how he found something, just that he found it.

"The ceremony must be performed on the first night of the crescent moon at one of the clans sacred grounds."

"That means we've got a day to find them," I said after looking out window. Tomorrow night the moon would be crescent.

"So where are these scared grounds and how do we get at 'em?" Buffy asked.

"Most of them are in east and western Europe. The majority of the clans population seemed to reside in France during the years of their dominance." Giles answered.

"Ah, G-man, the airports that way," Xander said jerking his thumb in the opposite direction before Giles could continue.

"The cast was also kind enough to provide us with detailed maps to of all of their sacrificial grounds in the known world," Giles continued, ignoring Xander's comment. "According to the map which I'm afraid to say is severely out of date they had...properties, shall we say, all around the new world. And if I have deciphered the maps correctly they should have a site about a day out of Sunnydale in the Newik forests. I believe this is where they are most likely to take Faith," Giles concluded turning onto the highway.

"Yay, road trip," Xander said clapping his hands together.

"So, who are you going to be, Thelma or Louise?" Buffy asked with a smirk.

"Which one was Geena Davis?" Xander asked. Giles sighed, and the rest of us laughed. It was going to be a long night for the Watcher.

We drove for hours on a road that seemed to go to nowhere. Tree, lamp post, road sign, over and over again in that order, for hours. An hour or so into the ride the motion of the car and the monotony of the view started to lull me to sleep. At first I tried to stop it by reciting binary codes in my head but that only made it worse, then I tried to count the cars we passed until I realized there were none, then I started flicking Xander in the back of the head but he got mad and I had to stop that too. Eventually seeing that my eyes were barely staying open Buffy told me to go to sleep and rested my head on her shoulder. At first I tried to stop her motioning to Xander and Giles, but she told me not to worry and put my head back where it had been.

When I opened my eyes again it was still dark. Giles had pulled the car over to side of the road and was rubbing his eyes. Looking up I saw that sometime during my little nap Buffy had fallen asleep too. Up in front, Xander seemed to be waking up as well. He had probably been jarred out of sleep by the motion of the car stopping like I was.

"Ahhhh, isn't that cute?" He noted as he turned around to look in the back seat. At first I was confused as to what he was talking about then I realized that Buffy and I were kind of curled up together all cozy. I simply stuck my tongue out at him, after all it was kind of cute.

"Giles I don't think you should drive anymore tonight." I said turning away from Xander and looking at the Watcher. He looked tired.

"Yes, you're probably right but we can't stay parked on the side of the road." The Watcher responded placing his glasses back on.

"I'll drive, just tell me what direction and where to stop." Xander volunteered. Giles nodded and took out a map of the area from his glove compartment. After trying to open it in the car with less than stellar results the two men got out of the car and placed the map on the hood. After a few minutes of discussion which I couldn't hear they swapped sides, and Xander started the car up.

The next time we stopped was a seedy road side motel-not unlike the one Faith was kidnapped from. It was just past sunrise and Giles said that we could all use a few good hours sleep before continuing, and not to worry because we would still be ahead of the vampires anyway because they couldn't drive during the daytime. I wasn't so sure about that since Spike seemed to be able to drive around day or night, but Xander said that before he passed out he had seen their car and the windows weren't blacked out like on Spike's party-mobile.

We weren't exactly planning on a road trip when we left Sunnydale, so Giles ended up paying for the rooms we used. It was okay though because as long as he got a receipt the Watcher's council would pay for it. I asked Giles if he wanted any help with the map that would lead us to the sacrificial grounds, but he told me that we could work on it after we rested, so we unloaded the k-car and brought the equipment into our respective rooms. Buffy and I were assigned to room 11 while the boys took room 12.

In a perfect world Buffy and I would have picked up where we left off when we were interrupted earlier, but if there was one thing living on a hell mouth taught you, it was that the world was far from perfect. In reality we were both tired and stiff from the long hours spent in the car, and were kind of freaked out by the idea that Xander and Giles were next door. I was pretty sure we could keep it quiet enough that they wouldn't hear anything, but knowing they were mere inches away, separated from us only by crappy insulation and dry wall didn't sit too well with me.

"Will?" Buffy asked looking over at me. We had walked in the door, dumped the equipment on the floor and collapsed onto the beds. The only movement either of us had made was to take off our outer clothing so we were left only in our underwear. Seeing as how we would be wearing those clothes for at least two more days, it didn't seem wise to sleep in them. So I lay on the first bed by the door and Buffy, who made it a little farther into the room, took the one by the washroom.

"Willow's not here right now, please leave a message at the sound of the beep," I responded.

"It's Buffy... and I'm lonely. When you get this... come over 'cause I need you near me," Buffy said as if she were speaking to an answering machine. Quickly I got up and walked over to her bed and lay down beside her. "That was fast," she said with a smile. I just smiled, I could be fast when properly motivated. "Come on, get under the covers, let's go to sleep."

"What about..." I said looking at the wall to Xander and Giles' room.

"We really are going to sleep. That wasn't an analogy for anything," she responded amused. I slapped her on the thigh and gave her a look. "What?"

"That wasn't what I meant," I told her.

"I know. Don't worry, they won't come in. I have the key and Giles at least is a gentlemen, which means he'll keep Xander out as well." I smiled at her and climbed under the covers. Like in all motels, the air conditioner was going full blast so we would actually be able to make some use of the blanket. Climbing in behind me Buffy wrapped her arms around my waist and snuggled in. "I like this." She commented.

"What? Spooning?" I asked with a smile she couldn't see.

"Yes. Spooning," she acknowledged peevishly, but I could feel her smiling against my back. "But only with you."

"As it should be." I told her with a nod.

"I never knew you were so territorial," she commented pulling me even closer which was no easy feat.

"I've never had anything worth being territorial over before," I told her seriously. She was quite for a moment and I had said my piece so we just lay holding each other.

"I think that's just about the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," she said finally as she kissed the back of my neck. Slowly I turned around so that we were face to face.

"If that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to you, you must have been hanging around some real morons," I said as I looked into her eyes.

"That's the second nicest thing," she said meeting my gaze. Then she leaned forward and kissed me. It wasn't a kiss designed to arouse passion, but one meant to convey the love she felt for me and I intercepted it and returned with equal strength. "Sleep. We're suppose to sleep," she said as if she was trying to remind herself.

"Sleep." I repeated turning back around. Once I was settled she pressed up against me and I could feel her breasts pressing into my back causing sleep to sound not so important just then, but exhaustion overcame hormones and soon I was peacefully asleep secure in the knowledge that my Slayer would protect me.

When I awoke I was wrapped in a delicious warmth, surrounded. I could feel Buffy drawing shapes on my arm and I turned around so that I could see her. She smiled when she saw that I was awake and I smiled back. She looked pensive though, worried and I wondered how much sleep she had gotten, if she got any. I had seen this look before, too many times. Nobody as young as we were should have been able to produce a look like that.

"What's wrong?" I asked her gently. It was a tossup whether she would tell me or not. Sometimes she just kept it all inside bottled up because she didn't want to worry anyone with her problems. What she didn't realize was that her problems were our problems, and that whether she told us or not we were affected.

"Nothing. I was just thinking," she responded distractedly. "We should get dressed and go next door." I nodded, deciding to drop the subject for now.

We were back on the road by two p.m. Buffy and I had joined Giles and Xander shortly after we awoke and, together, the four of us had gone over the maps Giles brought with him. We determined that the site was around five hours away and located near the Newik verge. According to the map, if we followed the Currier stream, it should lead us straight to the site. Once there, Giles and I would recite a incantation from the book of Tiraynes. That would, in theory at least, re-open the gateway to the alternate dimension from which the vampires had escaped and send them back for good this time. While Giles and I were doing our thing, Buffy would do her thing holding off the vamps, and Xander would find and free Faith. On paper it was a good, relatively simplistic sounding plan which meant that at one time during it all one of us was likely to have near death experience. That's how it worked on the hellmouth, the easier it seemed the more likely we were to end up dead.

So with all the details settled we loaded up the k-car once again and headed out. The ride was spent mostly listening to depressing country songs. It seemed to be the only thing they played out in the middle of nowhere, country and Celine Dion. They played an inordinate amount of Celine Dion, as well as lots of Patsy Cline which oddly Xander seemed to know all the lyrics.

It was just past 7:00 p.m. when we pulled into the rest station. Giles drove the car into the brush a ways then we disembarked. The Currier stream was about fifty meters in front us so once we had all of our gear we headed in its direction. It was excessively dark out and the only light we had was being provided by the moon and a small pocket flash light. We Rosenbergs weren't exactly the outdoorsy type, so I'd never been camping before. I imagined it would be somewhat like this, only without the stakes, and Latin chants, and vampires-and I was glad I hadn't been because the silence was creepy. Really creepy, and this is coming from a woman who sees unholy monsters on a weekly, sometimes daily basis.

We proceeded carefully, trying to make the least amount of noise possible so as not to alert them to our presence. Assuming of course that they were out there which we weren't entirely sure they were, but it was best not to think that. We had been hiking for just over half an hour when we came to bend in the river. As we prepared to follow it Buffy put her hand up and stopped us putting her other hand up to her lips calling for silence. After a moment she motioned for us to follow her and headed in the opposite direction to the bend. We walked for a few minutes in silence before Buffy stopped once more. Carefully she parted the bushes that were in our path and looked through.

"Found 'em." She whispered moving aside so that the rest of us could see what was going on.

There was a large circular clearing. In the middle of it was a stone dais with carving all along it. Faith was on top of the dais tied down and struggling. She was saying something, but I couldn't make out what exactly it was, only that it had something to do with their mothers. The dais was surrounded by a ring of fire, consisting of blue and green flames, and around the fiery ring was a circle of vampires. There were ten of them, and they were dressed in brown cloaks and were chanting quietly.

"How do we bust up this giggle fest?" Xander asked quietly as we moved away from the bushes.

"How close do you two need to be to the party, or does it matter?" Buffy asked addressing Giles and I.

"We must be in sight of the dais and positioned at the north and south ends of it," Giles responded.

"Alright, this is what we'll do," Buffy began, now in full Slayer mode, "Giles will quietly circle around them so that he's on the north side, when he gets there he'll make a bird call. You can do that right?" Buffy asked the watcher suddenly.

"Of course," Giles said sniffing slightly as if he were insulted.

"Alright. So once Giles gives the sign I'll move out into the clearing on the west side and draw their attention. Once they're all focused on me, Xander will move in behind them from the east and get Faith, while Will and Giles do their 'um shanty' thing," Buffy said.

"Ah, Buff? I hate to be a party pooper but how do I get through the ring-o- freaky fire over there?" Xander asked.

"Just run really, really fast," Buffy told him. "Are we all set?" Giles and I nodded while Xander repeated 'really fast' over and over again. Once we were decided on what we were going to do Giles, Xander, and Buffy all moved to their positions.

There were a few minutes of silence after that--well, except for the colorful phrases Faith was hurling at her captors. The wait seemed like forever, though in reality it was only a minute or so. Finally, however, I heard an owl hoot and grabbed the my book ready to head into the field. Seconds after the call Buffy burst into the clearing.

"This isn't the GAP!" Buffy exclaimed, clearly incensed. It had the desired effect as all the vampires turned toward her. One of the vampire yelled "get her", or "stop her", or something equally clever and they rushed her. Seeing this Giles and I stepped inside the clearing and started in with our chants. Once we were in sight, Xander left his position and started running, really fast, towards Faith. Buffy had already taken down two of the vamps by the time Xander made it through the ring of fire.

A few of the vamps seemed to realize that there were more people in the clearing and stepped up their attack. Realizing we didn't have much time, Giles and I quickened our pace, watching as a swirling purple and white vortex started to appear over the clearing. Xander had Faith untied by then and they both moved to intercept the vampires who were heading for Giles and I.

The fighting continued as Giles and I neared the end of the incantation. Gold was now mixing in with the purple and white and the wind was starting to blow violently. When we reached the end, there was a thunderous cracking, like the very particles in the air surrounding us were exploding one by one, then suddenly lighting bolt like rays of energy shot out from the center of the vortex and interfaced with the vampires who were still whole. The energy rays struck them in the back forcing them to their knees and for a few seconds they stayed like that, almost frozen in time, then one by one they started to separate into millions of tiny molecules and were sucked up into the vortex. It was like watching a giant dust buster at work. Then BOOM it was gone, and the silent forest we entered over an hour ago returned, and the ring of fire slowly dissipated.

"I'd like to see Spielberg do that!" Xander declared. We all just kind of looked at him and laughed, even Giles joined in. We were alive, and the world was saved from one more gang of evil demons, but most importantly we were alive.

The ride back to the motel was quiet, not uncommon after events like that. Facing death always seemed to make us a little introspective afterwards. I suppose it's some sort of built in survival mechanism, your brain going "Why the hell did I just do that?", and most people would say never again, but not us, we seemed to have the "Why not?", mentality. However our brains still wanted to have their say, hence the introspective quiet. I really didn't mind the ride though, with Faith in the back, Buffy and I were squished together and I couldn't really find any fault with that, that is to say it was all good.

Still five hours is a long time and my mind started drift trying to catch up with the events of the last two days or so. It was actually quite a lot to catch up on. At the beginning of the week I was just starting to come to terms with my unrequited love for my best friend, and was barely able to concentrate on anything for more than a few seconds, and was being a 'brooding, depressed, running away from her emotions and hurting her friends' type of gal. Now a mere six days and a whole lot of country songs later, I was heading to a Motel 6 where I was going to go to sleep and wake up in Buffy's arms, content in the knowledge that she loved me. I still couldn't concentrate on anything for more than a few seconds, but this time in a good way. The brooding was gone, the running had stopped. Okay, so maybe there wasn't a whole lot to catch up on, but it was still a big change from at the beginning of the week.

When we got back to the motel, all of us were beyond exhausted. We still had our rooms from earlier that day, so after getting Faith set up, we headed to them. By the time we got to the motel, it was pretty booked up and the only other room we could get was at the other end so Faith got our old room and Buffy and I got the new one. Buffy had the room key so I followed behind her, watching, as I have been known to do. She was walking a bit stiffly, but otherwise seemed alright. I imagine it was mostly because she hadn't completely recovered from the wound she had gotten two nights before. She was talking to me, but to be honest I wasn't quite sure what she was saying, something about some move Faith had done during the fight or something.

When we got into the room, we both stripped off our clothes and literally fell into bed. We just lay there on the covers for a few moments before dragging ourselves up and getting under the covers. We were lying so that we were facing each other and I saw that sad, contemplative look on Buffy's face again.

"What's wrong?" I asked her gently. I would get an answer this time. I'm not what you would call forceful, but when Willow Rosenberg makes up her mind about something, that something gets done.

"Depressing Slayer thoughts. You don't want to hear them," Buffy said trying to shrug it off.

"Yes I do," I told her. "Besides weren't you the one lecturing me one the up side talking no more than four days ago?" I asked her in my 'we both already know the answer to this and I'm right' voice.

"I warn you, major depress alert here. Could result in the mass consumption of chocolate, and chocolate like products," she said.

"There's a vending machine in lobby. Spill it."

"I don't want to hurt you," she said sighing softly. "I wish I could tell you that everything is going to be alright, and that this..," she said making a gesture that meant 'us', "is going to last forever. But Slayers, we don't have a long life expectancy, I mean if I reach twenty-five I'll be eligible for my pension plan. There's always going to be demons, and people trying to sacrifice us, and horned beasts that look like rejects from the movie 'Legend' coming after me. And one day I'm not going to be good enough, or fast enough to stop them."

"Buffy..." I started but she continued on.

"Call it the law of averages. I mean I've already died once, I'm not a cat here you know, I don't have eight more to go. I just...I don't want you to get hurt," she said taking my hand. "I don't want this to hurt you."

"I know the risks, Buffy. I know the stakes." We both ignored the poor choice of words. "But whether we're together like this or not I'm still going to be right there beside you," I told her. "This can only make us stronger."

"When we make love, any part me that isn't already yours will be. I don't think I could stand it if something happened to you because of me," she told me looking down at our linked hands.

"Whether we make love or not, I don't think I could stand it if anything happened to you," I told her honestly. Before our first kiss my heart was hers, and if she put a halt to the road we were traveling now it would still be hers. "I don't think we have a choice in this. Love isn't logical, it doesn't make sense, and it doesn't always last, but when you find it you hold on, you hold onto it for as long as you can, because it's special and beautiful and rare. We can't let 'what ifs' stop us from loving can we?" I asked her, hoping beyond reason that her answer would be no.

"No. I couldn't stop loving you if I tried. I just..." she said looking into my eyes.

"There's always the possibility it could end tomorrow. I mean someone could walk outside and be hit by a bus or something? With us it's more likely to be a flying stake or some variation on that, but what ever you do, whoever your with, there's always a risk," I told her. "I want to be with you and love you, and I'm willing to face the pain that will come if one day something happens. I'm willing to face the pain because being with you would be worth it. The worst thing in the world I could think of would be to not be with you."

"You say the sweetest things," she said with a smile. "You're worth it, without a doubt you're worth it," she added. "We'll be stronger?"

"We'll be stronger," I confirmed with a smile, then we moved together and our lips met in a tender kiss. Within seconds we were kissing deeply, hungrily, tongues tangling. I moved closer, pressing against Buffy's strong body, absorbing every sensation that flowed through me. Buffy's mouth grew more insistent, demanding, soft moans melting into me as her hands moved over my body, tracing, learning. I moved my hands to her back pressing us together even more, urging her on. Her hand slowly made it's way up from my abdomen to breasts, I moaned into her mouth as she cupped them feeling their weight, squeezing.

"Clothes have got to go." Buffy whispered heatedly as she removed my bra. Our breathing quickened, as we sought to disrobe each other of what little clothing we still had on, all the while kissing one another, no thought remaining except for the amazing sensations coursing between us pulling us together.

Once we were naked, flesh pressed together in the most delicious way imaginable we kissed sweet, lingering kisses, tasting one another, consuming each other gently. My hands roamed Buffy's body trying to memorize, learn every curve, while her fingertips traced the curve of my throat and slid eagerly over my body with quiet determination.

That night we made love to each other for the first time, slowly, tenderly, passionately, feverishly, we discovered each other. We talked, we kissed, we caressed, we laughed, and most importantly we loved and were loved in return. We completely immersed ourselves in our own private universe where the only things that existed were each other, and our love. It was the most incredible thing that I had ever experienced. I had never made love to a woman before, or anyone for that matter, but I knew exactly how to touch her, how to make her buck, make her arch, make her scream, and she knew exactly how to do the same to me.