Chapter 16: SUPERHEROES
NEXT DAY –SUNDAY - WILLOW & KENNEDY’S ROOM – 5:24 AM
WILLOW’S POV
I’m woken out of my sleep by the smell of smoke. Frantically looking around I realize two things: one - it’s cigar smoke I smell and two - Kennedy is not here. Relieved the house isn’t burning down; I get out of bed and see the door to the widow’s walk attached to our room is slightly ajar. Opening it, I find Ken standing by the railing looking down onto the street smoking one of those little cigarillos she likes when she’s feeling contemplative.
“Hey,” I call to her as rest my hand on her shoulder, “you ok?”
Stubbing the mini stogie out, “Yeah, sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” she turns to me and stumbles a bit.
“Ken?” I grab hold of her. Whoa, she’s pretty trashed: unsteady on her feet, eyes bloodshot, you can smell the alcohol coming through her pores.
She manages to place the ashtray on the small table with one hand as she holds onto me with the other. “Sorry babe didn’t mean to get so messed up. That Willy is deadly.” Then she chuckles to herself.
“Why don’t we get you to bed?” I coax her inside.
She shakes her head, “Nah, I stink, gonna take a shower, brush my teeth. I think I can feel things growing on them.” She chuckles again.
“Why don’t I come with?” Not that I’m feeling especially amorous seeing as my woman is drunk as a skunk. But I don’t want her to kill herself in the shower either, so an early shower isn’t the worse thing in the world.
She turns to me as she raises an eyebrow, “You’re crazy, I’m so nasty, I don’t want to take a shower with me.”
“Then aren’t you lucky I love you?” I ask as I laugh and help her inside.
She pulls me to a stop then turns me to face her. Taking my face in her hands I watch as her eyes cloud up, “I couldn’t live without you, Willow.”
“Ken, what’s wrong?”
She shakes her head, “Nothing, babe,” but she sounds so…
“What happened tonight?” I search her eyes.
Shaking her head again, she kisses me softly. Pulling back, she rubs my cheeks with her thumbs then smiles at me, “I love you.”
“I love you too, but you’re making me crazy right now,” I drag her into our bathroom.
The shower turned into a half bath half shower as standing was proving to be difficult. In the end, I positioned the spray to hit our legs and we sort of just leisurely soaped up and relaxed. I know something happened at the bar, but I figure she’ll tell me when she’s ready.
Once we’re in bed, she snuggles up to me and rests her head next to mine. I fully expect her to pass out, but she doesn’t. I guess the shower sobered her up a bit.
“You know, when I first came to Sunnydale, I couldn’t stand Buffy or how you, Xander and Giles just caved to whatever she said.”
I laugh, “No shit? Really?” I wrap my arms around her.
“Yeah, I know I was Joe-obvious,” she clucks, “But after watching her fight the Über vamp, man, I knew she was the real deal. Then after Faith got hurt in that explosion, I really had a new appreciation for her, but her sanctimonious attitude still bugged me.”
Not exactly knowing where this is going, I ask, “So what changed?”
“Jessie,” she says flatly.
Whoa, I really don’t know what’s going on here, “What about Jessie?”
“Jessie got it, got her, you know? She understood why Buffy acted the way she did. She tried to explain to me once, but I laughed it off and told her she was just love-struck. So I just learned how to deal with her attitude the best I could and even ignored it when it started to bug me. But you know what? I finally realized it tonight: Jessie was right,” she rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling.
Propping my head up on my hand, I decide to say quiet and let her continue.
“In the end, Buffy would sacrifice everything to save someone else, and she’d be ok with the consequences,” Ken shakes her head, “I don’t know if I could do that, Will. I think I’m too selfish. I mean, I’ll do the Slaying, train the new girls, help out with the research,” she shakes her head again then turns to me, “but to willingly go into a fight knowing you’re probably not coming back…Buffy and Faith, they’ve done it so many times,” she bites her lip as she looks at me, “they really are superheroes.”
I smile as I stroke her face with the back of my hand, “Yeah, I know.”
LATER ON IN BUFFY’S & FAITH’S ROOM – 9:24 AM
FAITH’S POV
You know when you’re not asleep, just sort of in the zone, content to just hold your sweetie close until she wakes up? Yup, I’m there, and lovin’ every second of it. It’s not often I’m up before her, so I’m just lounging in the sensations the closeness of her body stirs in me.
We got in around 4:30. After we deposited Ken safely at her door we peeked into our room to find Nicky sprawled out in the middle of our bed. She was amazingly easy to move over to one side as B and I curled up together on the other. Always an early riser, Nick was up and out of bed before 8:00 – damn, on a Sunday? That oughtta be illegal.
Buffy’s revelation last night really threw Ken. I guess that’s why she got so twisted. Sometimes it’s your frame of mind that contributes to your inebriation as much as it is the amount of alcohol you drink.
It’s kinda funny because me and B had the opposite happen: we were so set on not thinking about what she said and all of its implications we never got beyond tipsy. A fact that royally irritated Willy.
And today… well, later on today she goes to Zurich to meet up with Kristen. She’s going out to go over the files of all the girls they’ve had to help along over the years. B made copies of everything so she could bring them to Kristen, you know, just in case. She’s been doing a lot of that lately: just in case stuff. This was the second to last on the list. The last is telling the girls.
I’m not sure if Nicky figured it out, but I have a feeling Emma did. There was something in how she looked at B on Friday before she split. Nicky was freaking out and B had her on her lap, cooing to her to try and calm her down. Emma had just found her own ‘calling card’ from Richard and was way too cool about it. She just watched the two of them with such sadness in her eyes. Then she left.
I asked Ken to keep it to herself until B came back. We want to tell Em and Nicky together, as a family, before it becomes public consumption. Not that everyone here isn’t family, it’s just… different. We need to tell the girls our thoughts, our plans to beat it and most importantly how much we love them, no matter what happens.
My thoughts are stopped by a wandering hand that has slipped under my tank and is now stroking my breast. I open my eyes to Buffy’s hungry ones staring back at me, “Good morning my frisky girl,” I chuckle then my breath hitches as she trails her thumb over my hardening nipple.
“I’m always frisky when I wake up to you,” she leans over then her mouth is on mine: moving, tasting, devouring. Sliding on top of me, she whispers in my ear, “Especially when I realize our daughter is no longer in bed with us.”
Quickly responding to her, I move my hands to her hips find the hem of her tank then slowly start to relieve her of it. “This needs to go,” I mumble, my voice raw with need. And, yes, I do need her: desperately, always and forever.
When I get her shirt to her shoulders she lifts up and straddles my waist. Now throwing her tank to the floor, I let my hands dance from her thighs to her shoulders then pull her down for another kiss.
“I know I’m only going to be gone a couple of days but I’m going to miss you baby,” then she gives me that sexy little smile that made me fall in love with her all those years ago. She leans over to the side as she peels off my jammies, depositing them on the floor next to her tank. Slipping out of her shorts, she crawls back over me as she once again sits astride my legs, we both gasp at the contact. She kisses down the sides of my face to my shoulders, breasts, stomach… I can feel the goose bumps rise all over my body.
She’s right, since I’ve been back from Sanal; we haven’t spent that much time apart. Her trips have either been very short, or Nicky and I came with her. “I’m gonna miss you too,” I pull her down to me and attack her lips.
She leans back, smiles again then tilts her head in that patented ‘Buffy Summers’ way. “Have to give you something to think about while I’m gone,” she slides her hips down, then up just enough to spread us open so we’re exposed and against each other. My eyes slam shut at the intensity of feeling her so hot and wet touching me.
“Jesus, Buffy,” is all I can manage as she leans back, adding further pressure. When she starts to slowly move against me, I force my eyes open to watch her rock us to a whole other place. Her eyes are half closed and she moans as my hands reach her breasts, slowly caressing, squeezing, pulling. She rolls her head back and her hair falls behind her so incredibly perfectly; I just look at her in wonder, “Do you have any idea how sexy you look right now?”
She laughs a little, then I trail my fingernails back down her sides to her hips. Grasping them, our breathing becomes bursts, literally fighting for air. Trying to give her more, I pull her into me. She arches, meeting my move with her own, throwing her head back again. Just looking at her right now is all it takes, pushing me over the edge as she urges me on, “That’s it, baby, let it go.”
Knowing she’s right behind me, I do. But as I do, I pull her down into a consuming kiss as I clutch her hips harder into me. I feel her movements speed up then when she shudders; I capture her moan in another kiss.
We lay still for a while, breathless, reveling in the feel of the other. Then she raises her head as her legs slide down over mine, “You know we’re made for each other?”
“Yeah, I do... always did,” I pull her into my arms and roll us on her back, “That’s why I always came back to you,” I smile then kiss her softly. Leaning back, I smooth the hair from her face and just look at her.
She narrows her eyes, “What?” Then an understanding shines through her eyes “I will ‘not go gentle into that good night’.”
“You’re lucky I read a lot, so understand when you quote early 20th century Welsh poets.” Smiling at her, I laugh, though deep down, I can’t help but hope to all the Gods she won’t.
Buffy reaches up bringing my face down to hers, “I’m lucky, period, full stop.”
DAWN & ANDREW’S OFFICE – 2:48 PM
ANDREW’S POV
“That’s a tall fucking order Andy-boy,” Faith shakes her head at me, “ya think you can think of anything more dangerous?”
Sighing, I sit back in my chair and put my feet on my desk as I nod in agreement, “I don’t want to ask her to do this Faith.” Nicky’s vision this morning only solidified the theory Dawn, Willow and I worked out last night: that Emma should jump to Nibiru to plant a device that will help knock the planet out of its orbit before they have their showdown with the Gods. “But it’s the only way to get the device there AND actually have time to test it to make sure it works.”
She narrows her eyes at me, looking like she’s ready to leap over the desk and go for my jugular when Buffy puts a calming hand on her knee, “Nicky saw her there alone, babe, done deal, remember?” Faith turns to her, wanting desperately to further argue the point then finally concedes with a deep breath.
Nodding, I continue, “I’ll have the radio frequencies on the probe in tune to about a dozen existing satellites later on tonight, so when you call and tell her - ”
“We’re not calling her,” Buffy is firm as she stands and walks over to the window.
Sliding my feet off my desk, I lean forward, “Do you really think that’s wise? I mean I know she’s really stressed out and all but we don’t have the luxury of time - ”
“No, Andrew,” now Faith abruptly cuts me off, “It can wait one more day. She’ll be back tomorrow, we’ll tell her then.”
“Why are you guys fighting?” Nicky is standing at the door.
Buffy turns from the window, “We’re not fighting, honey, we’re just having a ‘spirited discussion’”
“It sounded like fighting to me,” she says knowingly as she raises an eyebrow.
Walking over to her, Buffy sets a hand on her shoulder, “You have your swim suit on, you want to go to Steve’s?”
“Yeah, is it ok?” she looks at Buff hopefully.
Smiling, Buffy nods, “You bet, I’ll go with you.”
“Cool,” Nicky looks up at Buffy, “his cat had kittens.”
Buffy narrows her eyes at Nicky, “We’re not bringing a kitten home.”
“Oh, I know. They’re too young, only 1 week. You can’t take them away from their mama yet.” Nicky disappears out the front door.
Buffy turns to us and sighs, “I need a break guys, we’ll just be a couple of hours,” she smiles at Faith then follows Nicky out.
“Was it something I said?” I glance around the room as everyone cracks up.
Kennedy recovers first, “Look Andrew, why don’t you test the shit out of your spy thingie that way when Emma is back tomorrow you’ll be ready to explain it all to her. Sound like a plan?”
“Yeah, I guess you guys are right,” I look over to Dawn, “Come on Mrs. Q, we have work to do!”
As the others leave, I hear Faith call out, “Ken, Red, can I talk to you guys for a minute?”
WILLOW’S OFFICE - 3:15 PM
KENNEDY’S POV
“What’s up Faith?” I ask as the three of us move to Will’s office after Dawn and Andrew went back to work on the probe-tracking device-spy-thing.
Faith flops down on the couch, “I want to talk to you guys about ramping up Nicky’s training, both fighting and magic. When everything goes down I want her to be able to hold her own and if necessary be able to jump back here by herself.”
“By herself?” I interrupt her, “But Faith that would mean…” then I put it together, what if all the subtle hints aren’t what they think. What if they don’t make it out of there alive? “Shit.”
Faith runs her hands through her hair, “No one knows what’s going to happen.” She looks over to Willow, “Remember Ebih? Three out of the four of us were big time messed up. If it wasn’t for you teaching Emma how to get us back, we wouldn’t have.”
“Yeah, I actually was thinking about it too,” Will nods, “We should probably start tomorrow, or maybe even a little tonight, just to get her to feel her center and reach for the dimensional window.”
Looking up at Will, Faith raises her eyebrows, “Do you think she’s strong enough? Shit, Red, she’s only 11.” She bows her head.
“She’s strong enough, Faith, I know she is. We just have to teach her how to channel her power, that’s all.” My girl tilts her head until Faith looks up at her, “Emma did it.”
Faith scoffs, “Emma was 15.”
“But Nicky’s been training since she was born. Emma was... well, not that lucky.”
Now Faith gets up from the couch and starts to pace as she spits out, “You call this luck, forcing children into life and death situations?”
“Whoa,” I cut in, “Faith, Willow didn’t write the prophecy. We’re all just trying to help here.”
She sighs then sits down, “I know, sorry.” Faith looks back up to us, “It’s just sometimes she sounds like one of us, you know? Talking magic, visions and prophecies,” she shakes her head, “then she wants to go swimming and see the neighbor’s kittens.” She shakes her head again, “It’s easy to forget she’s 11, but I know I can’t afford to this time.” She gets up and closes Will’s door.
“Faith?” what is she up to?
Leaning on the arm of the couch she starts, “Look, B and I are going to do everything in our power to make sure Emma and Nicky get back here. I’m sure you know we’ll do just about anything to keep them safe.”
Will and I nod.
Taking a huge breath, she continues, “We have to be prepared for every scenario, so do they. If Emma and/or I are injured Nicky will need to help us jump or if only Buffy and Nicky are left, or hell, if only Nicky makes it, she’s going to need to be able to get back on her own.”
A silence descends on us as we all realize how bad things can get and what it would mean for Nicky to come back alone.
“Of course, you’re right.” Will clenches her jaw, “We need to prepare her for every contingency.”
Faith gives her a weak smile, seeing we’re on the same page now, “Just for now, until both Buffy and Emma are back, let’s stick with the ‘helping’ if Emma or I are injured. B and I want to talk to the girls about the other possibilities together.”
“We understand,” I walk over to her and lay a hand on her shoulder, then I get an idea, “Hey, you think any kind of protection spell Will can whip up would work there?”
Glancing at me then Willow, Faith hopefully asks, “Red?”
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt...” Will goes to her massive array of books and takes down a couple, “Let me see if I can work something out.”
Faith looks at me, then Willow, “Thanks guys,” she looks down and I swear to God she has tears in her eyes when she says, “The stakes are so much higher this time.” Pushing out a huge breath she lowers her head further, “I’m not worried about saving the fucking world; I know we can do that. I’m worried about getting my family back in one piece.” She rubs her face and walks to the door, resting her fingers on the handle, “I’ll do anything to make that happen.”
We stand there for a minute as we watch her leave then I go to follow her but Will stops me, “Babe,” she grabs my arm and pulls me back.
“But Will - ”
She holds my arm firm, “Let her go. She needs a minute right now.” Wrapping me up in her arms, she leans her head against my back. “She’s never had this, Ken, and she’s scared to all hell she’s going to lose it.”
Running my hands over her arms, I nod, “I know; we have to do something to help them.” I turn in her arms, “We can’t lose them, Will, any of them. They’ve all given more than enough. For the PtB or the Gods or whoever the fuck is in charge to allow that to happen is just... just, wrong.”
“We’ll do what we can, babe, but sometimes who we are and what our role is in this life is out of our control.” She holds my gaze then rests her head on my shoulder, “I realized that the hard way a long time ago.”
I hold her a little tighter knowing she’s talking about the chain of events set off by Tara’s death. How because of it she amassed her power allowing the Slayer spell to be cast in the first place. And I know killing Rack connected her to Emma and the Goddess. This is different, the four of them off in some other dimension? How any of their deaths could result in a good thing is beyond me.
DOWNTOWN CHICAGO – GRANT PARK - 11:29 PM
SOPHIA’S POV
The park is deserted and so quiet you can hear the water trickling from Buckingham Fountain behind us. We’ve been sitting here for a while, just looking out onto Lake Michigan, not even talking, just content to be close. I’m leaning against a tree and Emma is sitting between my legs, her back flush against my chest. My arms are wrapped around her, thumbs lightly rubbing her stomach. Her hands are trailing back and forth on my legs.
“I don’t want to go back,” she sighs out softly, breaking through the silence. She leans her head back against my shoulder.
Tightening my arms around her, I nuzzle her ear, “I don’t want you to either.”
“Going back means spells and fighting… and death,” she almost whispers the last.
I can’t let her think about this now, she’ll be back there soon enough and we’ll all have to deal with what’s coming. Swooping down, I whisper to her, “Hey, I thought we weren’t going to talk about Cleveland or prophecies or anything else that’s Slayer related?”
“You’re right,” she tilts her head as she reaches her arms up behind her to pull me closer to her, “Thank you for this weekend; I’ve never had a more perfect two days in my life.”
Kissing her forehead, I muse, “It feels like longer, no?”
“Yeah,” she brings her arms back down to once again draw circles on my legs, “Is this what it’s like to have a normal life?”
Sighing, I rest my chin on her shoulder, “As normal as it will ever get for people like us.”
“Hmm,” she scoffs, “That’s a good one, people like us.” She lets out a deep breath, “Do you think there will ever be a time when we don’t have some ancient prophecy to figure out or a big bad to fight? I mean, I know Buffy and Faith have saved the world a million times already, but that’s because it’s what they do. They made it their whole lives.” Drawing both my arms tighter around her, she continues, “Is it horrible to say: I want more weekends like this with you? That I like being a doctor where I can actually see the people I save? That I want to have a normal life, or at least, as close to one as ‘people like us’ can have?”
I sit up a little straighter and turn her face to mine, “You want to give up your powers?”
“No, babe,” she leans in and kisses me softly, “I don’t think I could ever do that. I just don’t want to be a superhero.”
Leaning back and pulling her with me, I nuzzle her head as I wrap my arms around her again. She settles into me and sighs. Trying to think of a way to get her out of this funk, I go for reverse psychology. With laughter in my voice I begin, “Well, you do have a lot of superhero qualities: you’re mythically strong, can cast spells, read minds...”
“You’re funny,” she starts to laugh a little.
Smiling, knowing I’ve got her now, I continue, “Seriously, think about it: you have the perfect ‘cover job’, a cool car, you’re smart,” I pause to give her a squeeze, “and sexy.” We both laugh as I nod, “You’re pretty much a shoe-in for the role.”
She turns to me, then reaches her hand to the back of my head as she guides my face to hers. I close my eyes as I lean into her slow, lingering kiss. My god, I’m going to miss her so very much. When she pulls back, the humor is gone, replaced now by a seriousness I’ve never seen in her. She searches my eyes, “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”
A/N: In case anyone was wondering, the early 20th Century Welsh poet is Dylan Thomas, from his poem: Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.
