| Stories ~ Leave Comments ~ Links |  |
View Comments ~ Disclaimer ~ Email |
Soulbridge
Chapter 6 – The Family
Willow and Buffy were out slaying with Spike and Xander. I stayed home with Dawn–she had become increasingly sluggish and weak, and we never left her alone anymore. Thankfully, she did not seem to be in pain. We sat at the kitchen table talking about her fears, and I became aware that she was hiding them from Buffy as much as possible. And that meant not even letting herself feel them fully–otherwise Buffy would know at once how terrified she was. That struck me as an awful burden for Dawn to have to bear.
Dawn confided her deepest fear to me. The fear that she would be given new memories and taken away from her friends. And her lover.
"Oh, Dawn!" I said, feeling her pain cutting into me. "Buffy would never let that happen. I wouldn't. None of us would!" But my words of consolation were empty–what could we do about it? "We have no reason to think that's what the monks are planning. They have something new, that's all we know. And it's to protect the Key–it's probably something wonderful, you know. Why would they ever take you from Buffy? Who could protect you better than the Slayer?"
Dawn's lip trembled and I knew I had hit a nerve. "What, Dawn? What did I say?"
"I think I know how the monks plan to protect me. I think I know who they might trust as much as the Slayer."
"Who?" I said, suddenly apprehensive.
"Another Slayer."
"Faith..." I whispered. "No, how could they ever trust her? After what she did to you?" But Faith was very clever. If she was in touch with the monks from prison, who knew what she had told them, what evidence she might have concocted. Who knew what the monks really thought of her?
"I bet Faith told them how she can get strength from me. That makes her the better Slayer to defend me." Dawn was struggling not to give in to panic as she put long-unspoken thoughts into words. "Oh, Tara! What if they make me forget you all! What if they make me love Faith!" She began to cry. She knew her feelings must now be reaching Buffy and she felt remorse. Buffy could get hurt, or worse, if she were distracted at the wrong moment! She ran into the living room and flopped on the couch, sobbing.
I knelt beside her and stroked her hair. "There's no evidence that Faith has anything to do with this. And the Council knows all about Faith. We'll tell Giles to make sure they give the monks the whole story. Faith will never, ever hurt you again." And my words did seem to help.
Dawn settled down gradually and sat up. I sat beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. Things felt as natural as ever between us–and then... they didn't. My eyes fell upon the faint stain of Dawn's liquid on the carpet, and I remembered my role in making that stain. I had been inside this girl's most private parts, and things just felt different now. Awkward. Did she feel uncomfortable too, feeling my arm on her shoulders?
I sighed, and Dawn noticed my sadness. She looked at me compassionately, and I took my arm off of her.
"I love you, Tara," she said, and instantly I felt much better. We were still OK.
"I love you too, Dawnie."
She moved to sit in my lap facing me, and gave me a warm hug. We held each other in silent comfort, heads on each other's shoulders.
She shifted on top of me and her blouse lifted slightly in back, revealing that her skirt had slipped down a bit. The tiniest hint of the cleft between her buttocks was visible, and without thinking I trailed a finger over the spot tenderly.
I started and pulled my hand away abruptly. I had just ruined things. Why?! "Oh God! I'm so sorry, Dawn! I don't know what I..."
She looked at me tenderly, without anger, and took my hand. She moved it behind herself and slipped it under the waist of her skirt. The feel of her smooth behind–she wore no underwear–made my pulse race. Nothing made sense any more. But she wasn't angry with me. It didn't feel wrong.
I closed my eyes and slipped my hand lower inside her skirt, feeling her arousal mirror my own. My middle finger slipped down her cleft, and came across her anus. The touch excited her and she slumped more heavily against my chest, her own eyes closed as well. I moistened my fingers in my mouth and replaced my hand, stimulating both of her openings with gentle probing.
I brought her what joy I could. She wished to pleasure me as well, and moved her hands tenderly inside my clothing. But she became too weak and sleepy to stay awake. I tucked her into bed and held her hand when the nightmares came.
Dawn was getting rapidly worse. The Council knew nothing, and the doctors knew less. She had dropped out of school. She was awake for only five or six hours a day now, and had moments when even speaking would exhaust her. She ate very little. Her pulse was quite slow. And she was the bravest of all of us.
She wanted things to be normal and happy, and concealed her own terror almost completely. She was no longer worried about being given to someone else to protect, with new memories. She now felt increasingly certain that she was simply being killed somehow. The monks, according to the Council, were still satisfied with their new plan to protect her, but Dawn did not trust them. They would not communicate with Giles or Buffy, and answered none of the questions that were relayed to them.
Buffy and Willow and I still had not faced up to the prospect of losing Dawn. Buffy's death had been sudden, heroic–and her own choice. But this slow wasting away was completely without purpose. It just could not end in death! We would not allow ourselves to think it.
Dawn was inevitably tortured by nightmares almost as soon as she fell asleep. She always awoke looking haunted and helpless. Thankfully, her fear in her dreams was not transmitted to Buffy.
She still did not tell us that it was always the same nightmare. Red flames, white-draped figures, and her own departure to somewhere far away.
On one of her stronger days, Dawn went to visit Xander and Anya. Xander had come to terms with her and Buffy, and Dawn wanted to spend time with the people she cared about. While she still could.
Anya dropped her off home unexpectedly early. "Hey guys," she called as she shut the front door, "Xander's sink flooded. They'll be mopping up forever." She dumped her bag in the corner. "Who's home?"
Our door was slightly ajar, and Dawn poked her head in. Her mouth fell open.
Buffy lay between us on the bed, partly covered by a hastily-grabbed blanket, but with one bare leg exposed. Willow and I were dressed, and at first glance we appeared to be sound asleep on our backs. But Dawn perceived that that was not our true state. Buffy was mortified, "Dawn... I..." she stammered. "We...."
"Buffy!" Dawn said, cutting her off. "It's OK...." She sat at the foot of the bed and laid a reassuring hand on Buffy's knee. "Would you and I turn Willow or Tara away if they came to sleep with us?" Buffy didn't know how to reply. "Would you be mad if you found me sleeping here?" Buffy considered that and decided she would think it was rather sweet, but was still at a loss for words. Dawn smiled. "Hey, scooch over, I want in!"
But Buffy felt very guilty and ashamed. "Dawn... we, um..." She took a breath and blurted it out. "We weren't just sleeping..."
"Good," said Dawn smiling slyly. "Cause for once I'm not sleepy!"
She tugged the blanket aside without warning and darted forward to place her mouth over Buffy's naked sex. She took Willow and I into her mouth, caressed us delightfully with her tongue, and released us into the air, beaming brightly. She lay on top of Buffy's bare body, kneeling astride her waist, and her kiss finally persuaded the Slayer that she had not done wrong. Buffy wanted to tell Dawn that it hadn't felt wrong at the time, that she would never have done it if it had. But of course there was no need: Dawn knew that without being told. Buffy returned the kiss and found her hands pulling Dawn's skirt up to massage her buttocks. "Buffy, if you didn't know... Tara and I were together last week."
"Yes, she told me. I'm happy you two were able to be so close."
Willow and I spun and tumbled in the air above them, very relieved. With just a few words Dawn had cut through a forest of unnecessary inhibitions and emotional barriers, revealing the true situation the four of us were in. That was a talent of hers lately–it was as though life were too short and precious to waste on conflict and misunderstanding.
The reality was that each of us had gained two lovers, and that each couple was tied to the other by love that had gone unspoken for too long. The love between Buffy and Dawn, and between Willow and myself, was still unique. Those relationships could never remotely be approached by any new pairing–it was inconceivable. The tie each of us shared with our soulmate was so fundamental it did not need words. Which, of course, is why jealousy and guilt would never be a part of our new union.
Willow and I hovered near our friends' faces, until their lips parted to let us enter their kiss. Dawn's hands moved tenderly over our trance-bound bodies inside our blouses. For the first time in weeks, instead of dreading the future, we were celebrating it.
"Willow, look at me."
It was as though she did not hear me.
"Willow!"
She looked slowly over her shoulder. Here eyes were red from crying. She was sitting at a table in the Magic Box, with piles of books and papers around her and various pots leaking colored smoke.
"You have to come home. You have to sleep. We miss you. I miss you!"
"I have to find the cure." But her face betrayed failure and self-loathing, not hope.
I knelt beside her chair and embraced her waist. "Willow... you've done everything. This isn't something your magic can fix."
"But it IS magic. We all know it. We just don't know who is doing it. If something happens to..." Willow squeezed her eyes shut trying not to break down completely. "If I don't find the solution... everyone will... Buffy will hate me forever!"
"She will not. You are her best friend. She will not hate you!" I squeezed her tighter. She thought magic could fix anything if you only tried hard enough.
"Maybe not" Willow said quietly. "But I will."
"Are you OK, Buffy? Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yeah, I'm just... nervous I guess. Being alone with you like this." The Slayer's shyness was strange, but I found it endearing. I had never gotten to know Buffy as well as I would have liked, and was looking forward to spending time with her.
"You see," she said blushing, "I have always had kind of a crush on you. It's a little intimidating to be able to act on it!"
I stared at her in disbelief. Low self esteem was one of my key qualities, and it had taken me a long time to fully grasp Willow's feelings for me. To be admired by Buffy as well was very unexpected. I smiled, "that's sweet, Buffy, but a little hard to believe."
"Why?" asked Buffy, surprised.
I shrugged and leaned forward to kiss her. It was not a long kiss but it felt very good. "You don't need to be nervous with me, Buffy."
"I know... but can we maybe... can we make the cake first?"
We left Buffy's room and went to the kitchen to do our work there. Willow had taken Dawn away to give us some privacy. When we returned to the bedroom, Buffy was more relaxed. The shy quality of Buffy's lovemaking, and her request that I not use my sprite this time, made the experience very novel and exciting for me. And evidently, for Buffy, this was a long-time fantasy come true!
But I'm afraid I made her a bit nervous again when I removed her underwear and crawled beneath her long dress. I don't know what reaction she normally received regarding her private regions, but I'm sure laughter wasn't what she was hoping for.
"I'm sorry, Buffy!" I said, but I could not stop laughing. "It's Dawn... she's crazy, you know!"
Written beneath Buffy's vagina were the letters, "D (heart) T." I had never received a love note quite like this before! I moistened my tongue and set out to erase it.
Willow took Dawn out to dinner with Giles, then visited Spike's crypt where Dawn ended up taking a nap on the floor. Spike seemed to be beginning to move on from Buffy at last. When Dawn awoke they visited a while longer and then Willow took Dawn driving around Sunnydale, to some of her favorite places. Places she had once taken Tara to see. Dawn was very happy for the outing. Neither girl had any plans to seduce the other, but parked among the trees beside a little-known pool, Dawn found herself wanting very much to kiss Willow. She asked if she could, and soon the two of them were sharing more than a kiss. Like Buffy, Dawn asked Willow not to use her sprite.
"Buffy is very lucky," said Willow afterwards, stroking Dawn's back as she lay on the grass beneath the smaller girl.
"So is Tara," said Dawn snuggling her face against Willow's neck. She fell asleep like that, and Willow did mind at all.
They returned home in late evening, and Buffy and I opened the door together to greet them.
"There's something I have to tell you both," Buffy announced, and led us all into the kitchen.
The sheet cake sat on the table. Chocolate letters on white frosting said simply, "Thank You."
"Tara helped me make it. So it should actually be edible!" Buffy paused, wanting to make herself completely clear. "Willow, I want to thank you for bringing me back into this world. I will always be grateful." Willow began to cry and Buffy took her in her arms.
"And Dawn," Buffy continued without letting her friend go, "I want to thank you for making me happy to be back." Dawn hugged Buffy and Willow together. I started to get a bit teary myself at this point.
"We thought you two were having sex," laughed Dawn.
"Well, how long do you think it takes to make a cake?" I said, winking. "So... what did you two get up to?"
As Willow started to answer, I noticed a curly red hair caught in Dawn's eyebrow. I took it in my fingers and pretended to examine it in the light. "I see!" Dawn actually blushed–it had been a while since I had seen her at all self-conscious!
Buffy was getting out plates and two flavors of ice cream. "OK, ladies... time to party!"
We talked and laughed for hours, and actually managed to keep Dawn up late after another nap. Dawn said it was one of the best days of her life
It occurred to me that I had something wonderful now, that I had not truly had in a long time. None of us had. "You know what we are don't you?"
The others looked at me.
"We're a family." And everyone knew it was true.
"Wow..." said Willow.
"Better than last time?" the Slayer smiled.
"Just a bit!" making love with Buffy before had been disappointing to say the least. "Dawn has trained you well!"
The witch looked at her friend without remorse–something she had not done for ages. "We've come a long way together, haven't we?" She remembered the day Buffy first came to Sunnydale High.
"We have. It's been great." Buffy smoothed her friend's fiery hair against the pillow.
Continue to Chapter 7 – The Bridge (conclusion).
Dawn fell asleep nestled between Buffy's breasts. Even though they were fully clothed, Buffy pulled the blankets over them and wrapped her arm protectively around Dawn's head. She would give anything to protect her sister, but in fact, Buffy was finally realizing, it was her sister who was protecting her.
| Stories ~ Leave Comments ~ Links | |
View Comments ~ Disclaimer ~ Email |
www.angelfire.com/grrl/wyndgyrl
