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Chapter 24

Buffy bustled about the ‘magic room' with Giles, charging Rose Quartz stones and chanting. She made herself a vessel of which only good things could flow through, and sought to do the same for the room. Spike and Whistler followed behind them and Joyce stayed in Giles's room, no doubt a deep purple now from the shades of red she was changing when Giles brought her in the room.

Whistler tapped her on the shoulder. "And when do you plan to work your
mojo?"

Buffy smiled, "Now." She stood at the far end of the room and closed her
eyes. Concentrating on her need to protect them, to care for them and love
them and of course the desperate need to protect her child and keep her
world as safe as possible, it wasn't long before Buffy FELT herself glowing
with the light. It wasn't until she heard Giles gasp that she opened her eyes
to see if she was able to encompass the room. She was pleased to find she
had. Even more pleased to find the glowing golden light seeping up the
stairs. She smiled and Spike, whom she didn't realize was next to her,
grabbed her hand and squeezed.

"All right?" she asked him.

He nodded. "I can't help but still worry."

"It'll be all right honey. I promise."

"Sure bout that?"

All heads shot up to see Tara coming down the stairs. "Your disgusting
scent is practically all over the goddamned neighborhood. You reek!" Tara
said, disgustedly.

"Not as much as you sweetheart," Buffy drawled. "Where's Willow?"

Tara smirked. "I took what I needed and left her."

Giles gasped. "You—you—"

"Drained her power?" Tara asked, "Yes."

Giles started to creep toward her.

"One more inch High Priest and I will kill you."

Giles stopped in his tracks.

"I didn't smell you coming this time. A first. Guess my magic is stronger
than yours," Buffy said and she crossed her arms in defiance.

Tara tilted her head to the side, "You think so? We going to duke it out
now Buffy? Want to see whose magic is stronger? All this?" she gestured
around the room, "not doing anything for me at all." To make her point, she
pointed at a large rose quartz crystal across the room and it burst into
shards. Spike lunged in front of Buffy and covered her as best he could with
his body. When the crystal settled, Spike spun and roared his anger at
Tara.

"You bloody fucking bitch!" he snarled, game face on.

Tara's face softened—softened? Buffy pondered that for a second.

"You were supposed to be mine," Tara said almost mournfully. Almost
immediately, she went from raving bitch to the sweet, shy, insecure Tara
that had fooled everyone. "Spike, don't you miss it? The hunt? The kill?
The slide of warm blood from a delicious vein—the smell of fear as you
drain them?" She started gliding towards him.

"I don't think so," Buffy announced and marched in front of Spike. "He's
not falling for it anymore. You're done. Besides that you freaking moron he
has a SOUL!"

"You sure about that? I almost had him the other night didn't I Buffy? In
the bed you share with him--"

"You feel this?" Buffy asked and slammed her fist into Tara's face, sending
her flying back against the wall. "I'm sure. He's not your toy anymore."

Spike's growl behind her confirmed her assessment that it wasn't working
this time, despite the fact she could now smell the foulness radiating off of
Tara.

"Get out of her body," Buffy commanded. "Leave her."

"Leave me!" Tara screamed, and Buffy stumbled a few feet backwards
before reining her power and grounding herself.

"I TOLD you my magic was stronger!"

"Spike, how can you let her do this to me? To us?" Tara whimpered. "She's
trying to turn you from me."

"Would you save it al—" and then she was pushed, forcefully to the ground.
She fell on her rear end with a menacing looking Spike growling at her and
baring his fangs. Her eyes widened. "Spike, no—"

He roared at her and grabbed her by the arms, lifting her like a rag doll.
This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be. Out of the corner of her eye she
saw Whistler and Giles spring into action—how was it not affecting them
and only Spike?—before Tara turned with the flick of her hand they stood,
frozen.

Buffy felt much the way they did. Spike was turning against her. His amber
eyes that often times gazed at her adoringly in game face, were now blank
and cold. She pushed at him, but he gripped her tighter. He sniffed at her
neck and Tara was there, suddenly, beside them.

"Taste her. Drain her. Feel it again, Spike. Feel her life drain away. Then
she'll have no strength to fight me anymore, no strength to fight us."

"Shut up!" Buffy screamed.

Tara opened her mouth to speak and no sound came out. Clearing her
throat and glaring at Buffy, she yelled. "DO IT SPIKE!"

Spike chomped into Buffy's neck and Buffy immediately had flashbacks of
the first bite he'd ever given her. The claim he'd taken without asking. It
had been brutal and demanding and not at all the pleasure she'd since
derived from his bite. She struggled against him and then . . . she heard his
voice speaking to her. "Fall to the ground. Fall as if I've drained you. Trust
me."

"Huh?" she whimpered. But his fangs were still embedded in her neck
only—only he wasn't draining her. He wasn't sucking.

"Do it Buffy," she heard him say in her head. "Fall to the ground and I'll
secure her."

Not having time to ponder this new development, a facet of the claim he
once told her would occur in time, she pretended to fall completely limp in
his arms. She dropped to the ground.

"My Darling," Tara cooed at him and Spike purred.

Buffy's eyes opened to slits as she looked up to see Tara wrapped around
Spike like a second skin. His demon purred and nuzzled her, holding her
tight. Quick as a cat he spun her so that her back was against his front and
shouted to Buffy, "Do it now!"

Buffy jumped to her feet and placed her hand over Tara's heart, pouring
her essence into Tara's body as quickly as she could. "Leave her!!" She
shouted at The Darkness. Tara freed herself from Spike's arms and flung
him across the room and grabbed Buffy's hand, attempting to twist it. Buffy
instead grasped her hand tightly and flung her over her head, Tara landed
with a ‘thud' on the floor and Buffy lunged on her, slamming her hands over
her head and straddling her. "Leave her!" she shouted and taking a deep
breath, shot that golden light right out of her chest, focusing on it and what
it represented. Images of Spike, her mother and Giles flashed through her
mind and she poured it all into Tara. Tara flailed and screamed, smoke
coming from her body and then out jumped a dark shadow from Tara's
wide open mouth. It hovered about them as Tara's body went limp and
then, in a flash of black, it disintegrated.

Feeling as if she'd used every source of energy in her body, Buffy collapsed
to the side of Tara's unconscious body and gasped for air. In a flash, Spike
was above her, game face gone. "Buffy, baby, are you all right?"

She nodded. "Is it gone?" she asked sleepily.

Giles came in her vision along with Whistler. "Gone," he confirmed.

"Good," Buffy said and then promptly passed out from sheer exhaustion.



Waking slowly, Buffy became aware of a body—more specifically Spike's
body—holding her against him as they lay in a bed—Giles' bed. He was
purring soothingly in her ear and stroking her swollen stomach.

"Take your time, luv," he said gently. "Feel all right?"

She nodded and yawned. "Did I dream it?"

"No, you didn't. It's well and truly over."

"It didn't infest anyone else did it?"

"Nope. Tara's wounds are being tended to—"

"Oh God. I hurt her. I should have known that if I used full force on her
real body wouldn't have been able to handle it." Her eyes welled up in
tears. "Did I kill her?"

"No kitten, you didn't kill her. She's still a Slayer, remember?"

"God, no, I forgot about that part in all the . . . Darkness."

Spike chuckled and gently turned her so that she was facing him. She
buried her face in his chest and cried. "She's grateful Buffy. She doesn't
know what happened to her. She has no memories of anything that
happened after she was called. Giles and Whistler, they explained to her
what happened."

"Did anyone get Willow? Is she all right?"

"She's right as rain. Whatever the Darkness depleted from her, she got
back when it was released from Tara," he told her gently. "Giles went to
find her and brought her back here to Tara. The girls are having
themselves a chat downstairs with Whistler and Giles to try and
understand what happened to them. I'm sure they'll want to see you once
you're ready."

Buffy nodded and burrowed deeper in his arms. "Not yet okay? I just want
to be here with you."

Spike stroked her hair and back. "Bloody scary that was, pet," he
whispered. "That crystal—all I could think was it was going to pierce my
girls heart and when she pushed at you—thought you were going to go
flying. All I kept seeing was you and the baby," his voice choked with tears.
"I wouldn't be able to go on without you and our child Buffy. I'd dust
myself."

"Don't say that," she told him firmly. "You can't do that. My mom needs
you, Giles needs you. The world needs you—"

"And I need YOU."

"You have me. Forever."

He held her tighter and she felt her neck getting wet with his tears. "I'm
sorry I bit you."

"No, what you did—you saved us Spike."

"I didn't do anything---"

"Spike. I couldn't have done it without you. Tricking her the way you did—
it was just what we needed."

"What YOU needed."

Buffy pulled her head back and looked up at him. "What WE needed. And if
you keep saying that you didn't do anything and that I did it all, I won't be
responsible for my actions. I'm pregnant, hormonal, exhausted and
starving. Don't piss me off."

Spike started to laugh, "I give!"

She smiled, "Thank you," and she cuddled back into him.

"How bout some food kitten?"

"Sounds good. Just want to hold you for a little bit longer, okay?"

"Take as long as you need kitten."

"How's forever sound? Does forever work for you?"

"Funny you should mention that. Forever was just what I had in mind."


A/N: Hope that didn't suck too hard...I can't do fight scenes at all but for some reason, continue to put myself in the position of writing them!





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