Chapter 20: When Tomorrow Comes
And we were feeling very small
Underneath the universe.
And you know that I’m gonna be the one
Who’ll be there when you need
Someone to depend upon
When tomorrow comes...
When tomorrow comes...
Eurythmics, “When Tomorrow Comes”
-
NEXT DAY – THURSDAY – EMMA’S ROOM – 5:42 AM
SOPHIA’S POV
Morning broke just about 20 minutes ago. I watched as the room went from darkness, to peach, to the warm yellow it is now. Lazily tracing Emma’s arm, I can’t begin to describe how I feel when I wake up wrapped in her arms. She’s melded into my back; one arm wrapping under my pillow, resting on my shoulder, the other is flung over my waist, holding me tightly to her. When I teased her about the ‘death grip’ I really wasn’t kidding. I quietly laugh at this as I continue to stroke the forearm and shoulder that is keeping me flush against her. I’m still getting used to a woman’s body next to mine: the unbelievable softness, the gentle way she breathes, the down-like feel of the hairs on her arm. And it’s not just any woman, but a Slayer; I smile again as I allow the tingles to run through me. It’s also not just any Slayer, it’s Emma. Sighing, I lay my arms over hers and press back into her.
She shifts slightly then pulls me closer as she groans. “It’s too early,” she breathes into my ear, immediately sending a fresh round of chills down my entire body.
“Go back to sleep baby,” I turn to her and place a kiss on her forehead. Yeah, I can so get used to this.
Nuzzling into the back of my head, she mumbles, “Mmmm, up now.” Then she starts to lay soft kisses on my neck. A moan escapes my mouth as she kisses the side of my neck, slowly teasing near Richard’s bite with her tongue. I can’t believe how sensitive it is and how erotic it feels when she… oh God, she grazes her teeth along my hairline just as her hands have found their way under my shirt sweeping back and forth along my stomach. As her hands start to drift further north, I can’t help the sound of my labored breathing fill the room.
I sigh then close my eyes as her hands find my breasts. A jolt of pleasure rushes through me as my nipples harden to her touch. I want her and I can’t take waiting any more. Reaching back I hold her head close to my neck and moan again, “God, Em.”
My voice jars her and suddenly her movements stop, like dead in her tracks, “Soph, I… I’m sorry,” she sputters, “I couldn’t help… I just... you feel so incredible...” she slowly disengages her hands from my chest, moving to the safer, non-sexually charged tummy area. Although at this point, even my fingernails are sexually charged.
“You don’t have to stop,” I pant out then exhale deeply.
She rests her head against my shoulder for a moment then leans back so I can roll onto my back, “Yeah, I really do.” She gives me a smoldering look that speaks of the many things she wants to do right now, stopping not really being one of them.
“We don’t have to wait anymore Em,” I reach up and cup her cheek, bringing her down to me for a very long, very intense kiss.
Leaning back, eyes still closed, she lets a huge breath go then opens her eyes, “I want you, Sophia; make no mistake about that, but I... I want to wait.” She searches my eyes, “Please tell me you understand?”
“You’re coming back,” sighing, I smile as trace her mouth with my fingertips, “You think you’re going to make me fall for you, then traipse off and die a hero?” shaking my head at her I lean up and brush my lips against hers, “I thought we already talked about how you’re not going to be a superhero, right?” She looks expectantly at me and I nod with her. “You’re coming back, baby.” I say it with every ounce of determination I have.
She smiles such a warm smile, it speaks of all the things we haven’t said, but know we feel, “I like it when you call me ‘baby.’” She reaches out and gently caresses the side of my face with the back of her hand. Yeah, she’s changing the subject, but that’s ok, we’ll wait.
“How about we try to get in another hour or so before we have to get up?” I venture, running my hands up and down her back.
She eyes me warily, “You’re not going to go back to sleep...”
“You never know; I just might,” I laugh. “Maybe I just want to spend the morning in bed with you.”
Placing her head on my chest, she gathers me in her arms and sighs, “Fine by me, I could stay like this all day.”
“Me too, Em, me too,” I kiss her forehead and pull her closer. And as I close my eyes, I repeat my mantra, ‘she’s coming back’ it’s become the only thing that’s keeping me sane right now.
KITCHEN – 6:47 AM
NICKY’S POV
Thank god I woke up from my dream without screaming like yesterday. I don’t want Sophia to think I’m a baby. Sighing, I take the coffee out of the freezer and start to make a pot. They’ll all be up soon and hot coffee waiting will make them happy. Trying to put aside the images that bastard has somehow managed to force through my barrier while I was sleeping, I look in the fridge for the fixings for breakfast.
Getting out eggs, milk, cheese, red peppers, red onion and potatoes, I put it all on the table then look for my new J. A. Henckels chef’s knife that Andrew got me. After testing it’s sharpness against my thumb, I get out the cutting board and begin to chop. I’m just about done when Emma and Sophia come in.
“Hey, you’re up early,” Sophia comes over to me and gives me a hug.
Em goes for the steaming pot, “And you made coffee, I’ve always liked you.” She grabs a couple of mugs then hands one to Sophia. Looking back to me, our eyes meet briefly, but I turn away.
“I hope you guys are hungry, I’m making a frittata for you Sophia,” I try to ignore Emma’s stare.
Putting down her mug, Emma comes to stand next to me, “You had another nightmare didn’t you?”
“Oh, it was nothing,” I try to brush it off.
She turns me to face her, “It’s never nothing Nick, never, what did he do this time?”
“Em,” Sophia rubs her back, “calm down.” Then she looks at me, “You up to talking about it?”
Pushing out a breath, I look back and forth to each of them then turn to throw the blanched potatoes into a skillet with some butter. “He breaks right through my barrier,” I start softly, “it’s the Wicca doing it; I can feel her magic.” Mixing the rest of the ingredients together, I put it all in the pan and let it simmer. With both hands on either side of the stove I stare at the skillet, “He’s trying to scare me, to make me feel helpless and alone. I get that, I really do.”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here,” Emma prods.
Now I’m crying, “But some of what he’s showing me is true; I saw it in a vision yesterday.” Em comes over and wraps me in her arms. I rest my head on her shoulder and try to finally tell her what’s been weighing on my mind since yesterday morning. Taking a deep breath, I say it, “Buffy’s going to die on Nibiru and it’s because of me.”
“Oh Nick,” Emma holds me closer then sighs, “that’s why you went to Ken?”
I nod into her, “If I can fight better, then she won’t have to protect me, then she won’t die right?”
“Did you tell anyone about your vision?” Sophia asks softly.
Nodding, I step away from Emma’s arms and wipe my face, “I told Willow last night before Buffy came home.” I sniffle, “she said she’d fix it, but I don’t know what that means. I mean, really, how can she fix that?”
DAWN & ANDREW’S OFFICE – 12:15 PM
DAWN’S POV
The gang is all in our office, well except for Ken and Nicky; they’re off doing some intensive training. We’ve been going over all the research we’ve done over the past 24 hours and have made an accidental breakthrough with Camille. While Sophia was describing her, Emma started to finish the description. We were all pretty shocked until Emma explained that they had met at the Coven’s June retreat a few years ago.
“It was the summer right after Nicky came here,” Emma tries to remember everything she can think of, “She was from St. John?... no St. Criox?... ah that’s not it either. Shit, I know it’s one of Islands.”
Andrew tries to help her relax, “Try not to dwell on it, it might just come - ”
“St. Thomas!” she cuts him off, “Sorry Andy.” Then she turns to me as I plug that into the Coven’s database.
Looking at the screen, I glance through the results returned, “Ok, standard stuff, her parents were in the North American order, wanted her to broaden her horizons so sent her to the summer retreat…” glancing up at everyone, “that’s it, she never went back.”
“Were you very friendly?” Willow asks slowly.
Emma shakes her head, “Not beyond ‘hi’ and ‘bye’, she was kinda weird, kinda like she was trying too hard to fit the part you know?”
“Do you remember if you lost anything then?” Will prods.
Rolling her eyes, Em laughs, “Will it was 3 years ago, I can’t rem - ”
“What was it,” the redhead knows she’s on to something.
Em shakes her head, “It was just a stupid bracelet from a flavor…” her eyes shut as her blush grows. She bows her head away from Sophia, “A girl I went on a couple of dates with gave it to me.”
I glance at Sophia who is barely containing her laughter, then back to Willow who is so wrapped in her own head she’s not catching the show. I chuckle to myself then Faith pushes the envelope.
“Damn Emma, if that description didn’t fit half of Ohio, maybe you wouldn’t have had to move on to another state,” Faith cracks up. Buffy slaps her shoulder but is laughing as well.
With everyone having a good laugh at Emma’s expense, Sophia leans over to her and takes her hand. Emma warily looks up, but the look in Sophia’s eyes tells her it’s ok. Em looks down at their hands then squeezes slightly. Smiling at them, I catch Soph’s eye and wink at her. That first “public” acknowledgement of their relationship went pretty well, for us that is... And the mini PDA of hand holding, which is still going on, didn’t warrant any further comments, so I’m guessing their initiation into the incestuous-ness of Slayer Central is officially over.
“Thanks for the levity Faith,” Andrew quips, “much needed right now.”
Faith leans back, very proud of her wit, “It’s the only reason B here keeps me around.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” he retorts, that get another round of laughs.
Getting up, I want to get this back on track, we are all too eager to allay each other’s fears by joking right now. But we don’t have the time. I write on the white board under Richard’s other points:
Camille - Wicca
- Planting Richard into Nicky’s dreams
- Made a talisman to monitor Emma’s movements.
“Exactly,” Willow nods at me, “I’m thinking she did the same for Faith and Nicky. Most likely she went to Sanal and took what ever discarded things you guys left at the camp.” Will stops for a moment to ponder.
I add:
- Talisman to monitor Faith & Nicky?
Sophia speaks up, “Dawn, remember what I told you Richard said to me the other night, that he ‘needs Emma here.’ Why would he ‘need’ that?”
“The Goddess,” I say and oddly know it to be the answer, “Richard and Ellil are afraid that Ereshkigal would give Em something to help us.” Looking at the printouts of every word the Goddess told Emma, both in the dream and on Nibiru I look at everyone, then my watch, “Ok, someone order pizza, I’m going to make copies of this.”
LATER THAT AFTERNOON IN DAWN & ANDREW’S OFFICE – 5:30 PM
WILLOW’S POV
“Damn, Red,” Faith runs her hands through her hair, then shakes it out, “are you sure it’s gonna work?”
Looking at her then Buffy, I sigh, “As sure as I’ll ever be. I modified the spell I used when Em went alone.”
“But she never got hurt so we don’t really know if that one worked or not.” Faith is so not making this easy for me.
Yes, I know, thanks for that Faith, I close my eyes for a moment and take a deep breath, “I realize that,” I begin, “the spell should be fine.”
“So if one of us dies there, we’ll jump back to triage?” Emma’s stare goes right through me.
Nodding, I take in the now completely silent room. “I know you can all get injured, but still fight and you are going to have to be injured in order to fulfill the whole ‘trials of blood’ thingie. So just in case something happens,” I look down at my feet, “well, anything bad happens, you’ll come back here and Sophia will be standing by to revive you.” I look up at my captive audience, “That’s the plan.”
“I’m going to see what we need downstairs.” Sophia stands and looks at Dawn, “I’ll make you a list, ok?”
Dawn nods, “Yeah, I can order it tonight and they’ll deliver it in the morning.” She laughs, “Money has its perks, right?”
“Yeah, too bad we can’t pay off the Anunnaki,” Sophia lays her hand on Emma’s shoulder, squeezes, then turns to go.
She walks out as Andrew walks in with an express delivery package. “Hey, I’m back,” he calls out then sits at his desk. He had to go to the airport to pick it up personally.
“Kinda got that,” I tease.
He gives me a little sneer, then smiles, “Yeah, right.” Setting the box down he rests his hands on it, “Ok, here’s the deal from my RPG buddy at NASA,” he takes in our blank stares then blushes a little, “oh, ah, RPG… Roll Playing Game…” Clearing his throat, he continues, “The government is calling Nibiru ‘Planet 230’, exotic huh?” He rolls his eyes, “Anyway, she told me that they were watching its trajectory and if what we say is true, we are going to have to shake it from its orbit before it can affect Earth.”
“Meaning when?” Buffy speaks first.
He sighs, “We have 4 days.” He looks to Dawn then back to Buffy, “Whatever is happening on Nibiru, you guys need to be back here before then.”
“I would think we’d be back in 4 days Andy,” she furrows her brow, “we defeated the First in like a morning.”
Opening the box, he begins to lay out its contents on his desk, “I know Buff, but 3 hours there is 1 day here, there can be no mistakes about time. That’s why I have these,” he holds up a huge wrist watch.
“Ok, so not a fashion accessory,” Buffy tries to joke.
We all chuckle at that then I walk over to him to inspect one, “These are from NASA?”
“Yeah, the astronauts wear them so they know the time at all the different landing zones.” He picks one up, “You can program up to 4 time/date locations, but I’ll only do the time here and a count for there. That way you can seem them both simultaneously.”
Faith gets up, moves to the window, and crosses her arms as she stares out, “So we’ll have 12 hours before you force Nibiru out of it’s orbit.”
“Yeah,” he gets up and walks over to Faith, “But I’m sure you’ll all be back before then.”
Buffy snorts, “Yeah, one way or another,” she looks up immediately to see all of us staring at her. “Did I say that out loud?”
TRIAGE – 6:30 PM
EMMA’S POV
I wander downstairs to find Sophia in Triage. She’s at the supply cabinet leaning over a clipboard writing furiously, filling in the requisition sheet for Dawn. Her hair is swept up in one of those big jaw clips and her brow is furrowed in concentration as she glances back and forth from the cabinet to the board. And I’ll be damned; I never knew she wore glasses.
Walking up behind her, I slowly slide my hands up her sides, my fingertips just barely grazing the swell of her breasts before making their way back down her waist. She gasps then leans back into me. Closing my eyes as I meld my body flush with hers. I rest my lips on the back of her neck and exhale, “God, I love a woman in glasses.” Kissing her neck I murmur softly, “so very sexy.” Snaking a hand up, I remove the clip, letting her hair tumble loose over her shoulders then wrap her up in my arms.
“Oh yeah?” she laughs and lays her arms over mine, “maybe I should wear them more often?”
Nuzzling her neck, I nod enthusiastically as I whisper to her, “Oh yeah.” I feel the goose bumps rise on her arms as I trace the outside of her ear with my tongue then place little kisses in its wake.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?” she breathes out.
Taking the clipboard and pen from her hands, I throw them on a gurney then turn her to face me. There are no words for what I feel for this woman or how she makes me feel when she looks at me as she is now. Hoping to show her, I pull her close and place a tender kiss on her lips. Moving slowly, I nibble on her top lip, then the bottom, lightly grazing my teeth, tongue and lips against her mouth. Running my hands up her back, I press her into me, feeling the little shocks of want spark. Her tongue ventures out to meet mine, gradually, almost hesitantly then I stroke it firmly against my own before slowly retreating. Pulling away, I lick my lips as I drink her in, “I wish we had more time...” Taking a leveling breath, I hold her face in my hands then lock my eyes with hers, “If I get back - ”
“When you get back,” she cuts me off as she pulls my hands down into hers. I can tell she’s getting a little exasperated with me now.
The intensity of her stare makes me nod along with her, “When I get back,” I amend, “I want to go somewhere, anywhere, as long as it’s just us.” I pause to smile, “What do you say?”
“Any place in particular?” she raises an eyebrow.
Grinning, I pull her close, “Surprise me?”
“I’m on it,” she smiles back at me.
After leaning in for a quick kiss, “Come on, let’s get upstairs, Andrew wants to go over a couple of things before dinner.”
KNOLLWOOD CEMETARY – 9:30 PM
KENNEDY’S POV
Faith and I are sitting on a couple of tombstones watching Nicky stalk a vamp. She’s holding her own so far and damn this one is surprised to see this little tyke kick his ass. Like a duck to water, I’ll never get used to watching a Slayer dust her first Vamp. That thrill in her eyes, you can almost see her adrenaline pumping. We knew it was time to get her feet wet. She can’t go off fighting in another dimension if she’s never fought here, right? I thought Buffy was going to kill me when I suggested it after dinner, then Faith readily agreed with me, well, let me tell you, that made Buffy real happy. After the two of them had a short, heated, conversation, we left for here.
So now my best friend and I watch her daughter tangle with her first vamp as Faith recounts this afternoon’s happenings with the gang. In between snippets of conversation, we critique Nicky’s performance. Neither of us is prepared when she places a dazzling kick to his solar plexus then watch as the vamp goes flying into the side of the mausoleum. “That was a thing of beauty,” Faith beams at Nicky’s prowess.
“My protégé,” I nod very happy at her progress, then take in Faith’s raised eyebrow, “but I’m sure your training helped too,” I joke with her. We both know she’s worked with all of us to get where she is. Most of the time it’s hard to remember she’s only 11, the kid is such a dynamo.
Nicky trips over something then falls flat on her face, we both jump up as the vamp approaches her. Rolling on her back, she puts her arms behind her and hand springs to her feet, immediately into a deep crouch. She takes two steps then spins and jump kicks the vamp right in the jaw. “Cool,” Faith nods appreciatively.
“She likes to toy with them, just like you,” I comment, “not that it’s a bad thing.”
Faith smiles, “She’ll be fine tomorrow, I can feel it.”
“You ready then?” I turn to her.
She laughs, “Ken, I’ve been waiting 11 fucking years for tomorrow, I couldn’t get any more ready.”
“I hear ya,” I look up and watch Nick plunge her stake into the vamp and see the grin take over her face. “And a Slayer is baptized.” Faith laughs with me as we both applaud. Nicky bows and makes her way towards us. I once again turn to my best friend, “Faith?”
She looks at me, “Yeah?”
“Don’t get wrapped up in the ‘ultimate sacrifice’ bullshit.” I sigh, “You can all get out of there alive. I know you, and I know you’ll think of it as an option.”
Her stare goes right through me, “I’ll do whatever it takes to save my family, Ken, whatever it takes.”
“I know Faith, I just mean…”
But she gets up and goes to Nicky, sweeping her up in her arms, “You were amazing sweetpea! Buffy is gonna be so proud of you. Come on, let’s get home and tell her all about it.”
BACK PORCH – 12:23 AM
FAITH’S POV
How can one of those tiny white lights be a planet? And how fucking crazy is it that we’ll be on it in 9 hours? I laugh and shake my head.
“Did I miss a joke somewhere?” B’s voice cuts through the silence as she pulls my arms tighter around her.
Kissing the back of her head, I laugh again, “No, no joke, at least not the funny kind.”
“I get it,” she turns in my arms, “it’s in the ‘the joke is on you again Slayer’ kind?” She reads my face then nods, “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
I kiss her forehead then lean back, gently rubbing her back, “You ready for this? I know you must be scared.”
“What, to die again?” she waves her hand dismissively, “It’s become something I’m kinda good at. I know I’m rusty cause I haven’t died in a while but I’m sure once I’ve actually done the whole dying thing it will all come back. What is it, the third time, or fourth if you count the time Warren shot me and I flat lined at the hospital before Will - ”
My lips on hers stop the nervous diatribe. She responds instantly, moaning into my mouth as my tongue searches out hers. Her hands snake up to my face then hair, caressing gently. Slowly her arms slip down and under the back of my shirt as she presses me closer to her. Now it’s my turn to let a moan escape as her nails trail down my back. I pull back winded then see the tears in her eyes. “Babe?”
“Faith,” she bites her lip, “take me to bed?” She searches my eyes, asking me to understand what she’s feeling right now and I do. Gods how I do.
Nodding, I wipe the tears from her face then take her hand, “Ok.”
