"Well, that was easy." The brunette flopped back on the couch, massaging her temples. The after-affects of the visions were getting much worse, though she tried to conceal the damage from her family. The only one who knew the truth was Doyle, and though he tried, he hadn't been able to get an answer from the powers that be.
"Too easy, if you ask me. The witch and the slayer had a look in their eyes, that I didn't care for. I don't think we've seen the last of them." Spike paced nervously back and forth. There was nothing worse than being all grred up for a nice spot of violence, then to have it just melt away. The hyper blond had to expend the energy somewhere, and he doubted his sire and his mum would be inviting him into their bed tonight. Oh well, he would just have to find another, more creative way to dispel the energy.
Angel sat on the couch, still wrapped around his redhead. "I hate to have to agree with my hyper child, but we will have to deal with them later."
"Yeah, we didn't even get into the whole, `he belongs to me, now' issue with Buffy. That is not going to be pretty." The witch, cuddled as close to her mate as she could. She had known Buffy as long as any of them, longer than most, and knew that the slayer had given up much too easily. Buffy had a lot of good and bad points, but giving up wasn't one of the bad ones. Though in this case, she wished it were.
Wes leaned back for a moment. "I think we should celebrate. In fact, I think we should take Willow and Spike to Caritas, get them properly tiddly, then convince them to sing. Lorne would enjoy that. And he always has such interesting insights into people, it might interest Willow to meet him." He smirked at the blond vampire, "and he serves decent Bass, tap or bottle if you are the kind of barbarian to drink it that way."
The seeress perked up. "A night out, at Caritas, that might be worth it. I'll just go call Doyle and find out if he can meet me there. Oh, and Dennis, to let him know that I'll be out late. He refuses to get me drinks when I forget to tell him I'm going out." The brunette languidly moved to the phone.
Gunn looked up with a broad smile on his face, "We're gonna get the bleached one liquored up and make him sing; I wouldn't miss this if you paid me." A pained look crossed his face, "Unless of course, we're also going to get Angel liquored up, so he can sing. Then I have some stuff to do back at the crib. Important stuff." He added hastily, running one hand over his head.
The no longer rogue demon hunter laughed. "No doubt, your `hair' is in desperate need of being shampooed. I think we can have Willow sit on Angel and keep him off the stage. I've no wish to hear Manilow mutilated tonight." He threw a quick smile to a playfully offended Angel, just to let him know there was no offense intended.
Angel buried his face in his lover's red mane. "See what I have to put up with. No respect for their elders at all."
"Well, peaches, I've heard you sing, and while I'll admit it is slightly better when you've had a pint or two of Jameson's, I'd go out of my way to avoid you.
I remember a time in China, when a water buffalo heard you sing and decided it was mating season." Spike smiled, pleased when he heard a startled giggle from his mum. Things were going to be okay for a little while, at least.
Cordy yelled from the office, "Doyle can make it. Do you want to meet him there, or swing by the post office on our way and pick him up?"
Resigned to his fate, and loving every minute of it, Angel yelled back, "Just have him meet us there in a couple of hours."
*********************
Sunnydale, Tara's room
The two blondes sat, one on the bed, the other on the slightly ratty looking chair. The faces were twin pictures of misery and determination. Neither was happy about the turn of events, and they both believed that if Giles had just stayed out of it, Willow would be home, where she belonged, with them. After all, it was wrong to accept that Willow could be happy without their presence in her life. They were supposed to be her reason for living, and both believed that if they could just get her to come home, the witch would accept that and go back to her nice, safe (well maybe not that safe) and comfortable little niche.
"There has to be a way, did you notice the way they were standing guard over her? I'll bet she refused to come home cause she was scared of them, I mean, they were right on top of her. That has to be it, she didn't mean what she said."
The slayer's reply was simple, "Of course she didn't mean it. And I'm not giving up, but I'll have to be careful. Giles is way against me doing anything, and the only thing worse than a pissed-off British watcher is a pissed-off British watcher who goes all Rippery. I so don't want to have to deal with that. So whatever we do, we have to keep the rest of them in the dark. They just don't understand like we do."
The witch nodded her head, a pleased smile hidden behind her long hair. "What do you think we can do? I mean, kidnapping is against the law, and if they are forcing her to stay, how do we get them to let her go?"
"I'm not sure, yet. Give me some time to come up with a plan of attack, then we'll figure out how to make it happen."
"Thank you, buffy, I can't tell you what your support in this has meant to me." Tara walked Buffy to the door, and gave her a brief hug.
"I'll get back to you when there is something we can do. I promise, Tara, we will bring Willow home."
The door swung shut behind the slayer and the witch smiled maliciously. "Teach you to ignore me. To walk away from me. You'll pay for my pain, and it's only right that Angel should have to lose you to Buffy. She is going to be so angry with you, when she finds out what you've done." She muttered to herself as she gathered the scattered ingredients of the spell. She was so glad she'd found it. Without the spell, she couldn't control Buffy and then she wouldn't have her revenge. And to Tara, revenge meant everything. Willow wasn't supposed to have been strong-minded enough to leave her. And for that, Willow would have to pay.
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