Tear It Down
Chapter 10 - Tear It Down
Escaping the chatter in the living room, Buffy guided Willow down the hallway to their borrowed bedroom. When they were finally shut away, she took her girlfriend’s arm, turning her. Willow echoed the need, falling into the offered embrace without hesitation. Under the soothing touch, some of their collective tension eased. The slayer inclined forward, resting her brow against her lover’s.
Willow let a few moments slip by, then withdrew only enough to make eye contact as she murmured, “How’d it go today?”
Releasing her hold, Buffy shrugged and took her witch’s hand, leading her towards the bed. A bright smile lit her features when she faced Willow again and chirped, “Good, good...” Allowing a few seconds to tick away, she took in the warm, but dubious grin her lover offered before she amended, “But then I like emotional trauma. Let’s me know that stuff’s are pretty much normal.”
Willow playfully swatted her partner’s arm and chastised, “You know what I mean.”
A small mischievous pout formed and faded, foreshadowing Buffy’s concession, “Things will be okay, I guess.” Eager to shift focus, she asked, “What about you and Xander?” The bed bounced under her weight when she sat on its edge with significantly less than her usual grace.
Taking a seat beside her partner, Willow replied, “It’s gonna take a lot more than him being an ass for us not to be friends.” An air of significance affected her as she supplied, “Hello…first boyfriend.”
Smirking, Buffy pointed out, “Uh, Will, you were five.”
“Yes, but it still counts,” she remarked decisively. Punctuating her rightness with an emphatic nod, she slipped her arm around Buffy and asked, “What about you and Giles?” Her tone was laced with concern.
Buffy started off positively, “We’re gonna be okay-” pausing to sigh “-I think.” Her sigh colored the clause, leaving an impression of doubt. She shoved away the disquiet with a wry grin and mumbled, “I still want to suit him up and hit him with sticks.”
“And Dawn?”
“Uh, okay, I think. It’s just hard with her. I think…I hope it’ll be okay.” Buffy rested her head against Willow’s shoulder and whined, “We have a house full of people. And two more on the way.”
“Yeah, who knew Jimmy had kids?”
“Uh, Will, about that, I need to tell you a story.” She lifted her head and recounted the situation concerning Jimmy and his family.
Brow furrowed, Willow let the new information filter through. As she came to a decision, the witch bobbed her head up and down, saying, “Okay, so he was wrong, he knows that now. Let’s see if we can help him out.”
Buffy smiled at her girlfriend’s easy acceptance of the upcoming drama, then deflated as she remembered the guests that were there. “Maybe making up with everyone wasn’t the best idea. Can we just stay in here? I promise cuddles and smoochies. And if you’re extra naughty, maybe more.”
“Buffy, what’s up? You like being around people. You’re a people person.”
“Correction, I used to be a people person. Now, I’m a girl who likes the quiet time. Unless you’re there and then I’m a girl that likes her Willow time.” Buffy relented when Willow gave her sad eyes. “You’re right, okay, I give. Let’s go be one with the Scooby clan.”
They walked out of the room, Willow following the blonde. Before they got to the living room, she grabbed a slacks-clad rear end and whispered, “If you’re super good, I’ll fake being sick and we can go to bed early.”
When Buffy halted, the witch leaned in to nip her earlobe. A tingle ran down her spine. That’s me, the model of super goodness. I wonder if trying will earn me any bonus points? Usually not. Summoning her resolve, she led them the rest of the way into the room. There were two new faces in the crowd. As she was about to introduce herself, Jimmy came out of the kitchen with a tray full of drinks.
Setting them down, he righted himself and made the introduction. “Buffy, Willow, this is Susan and James,” he offered awkwardly.
The crowd broke down into comfortable groups of two or three. Jimmy was busy talking to Faith and Giles while Xander and Dawn were trying to get Kennedy to go with them to see Spam-a-Lot.
The four remaining people eyed each other, trying to come up with conversation. Susan and James took two chairs that were brought out from the kitchen while Buffy and Willow sat opposite them on the loveseat.
“So, Buffy,” James queried, “You work with my dad?” hoping to break the stalemate.
Buffy rested her arm across the back of the seat and played with Willow’s sleeve as she answered, “Yeah, let’s see, it’ll be eighteen months in July.”
Snorting, Susan laughed, “Sorry about that. He can be stubborn.”
Willow tried to suppress her own laugh, but the sharp jab from her blonde counterpart squeezed it out of her.
James eyebrows rose at the interplay. “What are my sister and I missing?”
Reigning herself in, Willow said, “It’s just that Buffy here’s probably the most stubborn person in the world. Your dad really isn’t a match for her.”
Buffy shot her lover and incredulous glare. “Will, I’m not that bad.”
Willow gave the blonde a sideways glance. The corners of her mouth turn up in a smirk. “Honey, if the house was on fire, but you didn’t want to hear it, not even the bright, red fire trucks outside could convince you otherwise.”
“Hey, that’s…” Realizing that Willow was just razzing her, Buffy stuck her tongue out and said, “Fine, I’m stubborn. Happy?”
Willow nodded and turned to the brother and sister. They both had slightly curious, amused looks on their faces. “So, what do you two do?”
Susan answered, “I teach at PS 173, 4th grade,” gesturing to her brother. “James manages a club down in Soho.” She turned her attention to the couple on the loveseat and inquired, “Buffy, you work with my dad so that’s easy, but Willow, what about you?”
“Uh, between jobs right now. Trying to go back to school.”
“What for?” James asked.
“Medicine, I think,” Willow answered cheerfully. Growing pensive when she added, “Although, my focus would be forensics. I was talking to an advisor and she suggested teaching and research.” Her nose crinkled. “My parents did that, so I don’t know if that’s what I want.”
Susan responded aridly, “Oh,” Clearly that wasn’t what she was expecting. She eyed the other two uncertainly, then gave her father a suspicious glance, tossing in a hasty, “How nice,” to smooth things out. The result of which only served to make her appear more jaded.
Buffy watched Jimmy’s daughter choke at the small talk and piped up, “James, what kind of club? I’ve been to a few here, but haven’t found one that I like. Maybe you can help me out.”
“Uh,” James glanced at his father and swallowed. Stalling a moment before he added, “I don’t think you would be interested in it. It’s not really-cops don’t really like my place.”
Buffy knew they were treading on thin ice. I promised Jimmy we’d try to warm them up for the talking. Thing is, I don’t so much feel like a rat as I do an intruder…at least to a degree. This really isn’t my place. Smiling, she tried again, “I don’t know about that. I’m not much for cop hangouts either. The music usually sucks and no one can dance.”
James laughed and shrugged. “That’s true,” he offered with a weak smile, “It’s called The Phoenix. It’s, uh…” He cleared his throat before dropping the bombshell. “A gay club.” He flinched and waited apprehensively for the reaction. Last time I saw my father it didn’t go well. Actually I was thrown out of this very house. I love my dad, but I’m just not sure if I like him anymore.
To his surprise, Buffy smiled at him and said, “Cool, Will and I will have to come and check it out one night.”
‘Buff,’ Willow warned mentally.
Keeping her expression neutral to mask the internal conversation, Buffy responded, ‘What? Look, it’s not like I can say, “You’re dad’s uber sorry for the way he treated you. My girlfriend and I are kinda acting like a buffer until he gets the stones to come over and talk to you personally and ask your forgiveness. And tell you that sure he kicked his gay son out of the house, but accepted his partner and her very, gay, incredibly sexy girlfriend with open arms when they needed to get away from their own family.” Now can I?’
‘No need to get snarky.’
‘Sorry, but I’m running out of things to talk about.’
‘Fine let me try.’ Willow looked at James and saw that he had gone a little white. She smiled and said, “Buff and I wouldn’t mind. We might actually drag the gang there, provided the music is good.”
Susan looked from the blonde to the redhead and saw the glance that they had shared. “Guys, uhm…if you’ll excuse me for a moment.”
“Sure,” Buffy and Willow said in unison.
They watched as the girl walked over to her father and herd him into the kitchen. Willow knew they were losing the battle and decided to try a Buffy maneuver. “She’s not gonna go all angry and self-righteous on him is she?” she asked James.
“I’m thinking she might. Just out of curiosity, you two are an item?”
Buffy’s brow furrowed. Her expression warmed with amusement. “Uh, yeah…I’d say we’re pretty much item-like,” she confirmed.
James prompted, “And my father knows?” shock evident on his features.
“We’re kinda staying here until my family leaves,” Buffy replied.
“Hmm, but you didn’t answer the question. He knows you two are lovers?”
Willow interceded, “Yeah, he’s-James, I know that your dad didn’t have the best reaction when you came out. Some stuff happened and he talked with Buffy. It was really hard on him. Then she suggested you guys should talk.” As Willow went on, the filter turned off and she broke into a guilty, full disclosure babble, “So he invited you over for dinner and-I dunno-we hoped that maybe you guys could come to some sort of understanding. So tonight’s gonna be about showing you that your dad’s cool with everything. He’s really sorry for, uh…overreacting. He gets how wrong it was and wants a chance to make it up to you.” Willow sucked in a breath and hoped he caught everything she said.
James just stared at her dumbfounded. Alright that was the longest run on sentence in the history of mankind. My dad’s letting two lesbians stay with him? Did he get a brain transplant? Hell freeze over? “Ah, so I think I caught all of that and-well, we’re talking about the same James McAllister, right?”
“Yeah,” Buffy said, “He’s changed. I think it’s from when you guys stopped talking. He’s trying to get you to see that tonight. It was actually my idea that he bite the bullet. He didn’t want to, but he does want to…if that makes sense. So uhm, maybe you should go in the kitchen and see if you can help your sister ou-” she was cut short by Susan storming out of the dining area and grabbing her coat and purse.
“Come on, James, let’s go,” the brunette snapped.
“Why?” her brother asked, not moving from his spot on the chair.
“Because this is-I can’t believe he would do this. God, he’s insufferable.”
“Susan Josephine McAllister, you get back here right now,” Jimmy bellowed from the kitchen.
Buffy and Willow looked at each other as their family and simultaneously muttered, “Oh boy.”
Turning back to shout through the open doorway, Susan ranted, “Dad, don’t, okay? I can’t believe you. This is ballsy, even for you. Jesus H. Christ, I’m so stupid. I should’ve known.”
Jimmy’s voice rang out from the kitchen, “Suzie-Q, please, don’t be like that. I’m trying to apologize. I told you, I know it wasn’t right.” He poked his head out the door. “What do you want me to do? I can’t turn back time and I sure as shit can’t change the past.”
Faith walked over to Buffy and whispered, “Why do I get the feeling we are witnessing a strained family reunion?”
“’Cause, we are. It’s kinda a long story, but…eh, pay attention. I’m sure even you can catch up,” teased Buffy.
Faith nodded then walked back over to where she was sitting.
Jimmy was red, the cords in his neck were standing out and the vein in his temple was throbbing. Trying to call on her time in Sunnydale as a counselor, Buffy stepped between daughter and father.
‘Will, get the gang out of here for a few minutes, please. Kitchen. Then come back in here,’ Buffy directed through their link.
Willow moved to usher the Scoobs from the room. She smiled and gave them a thumbs up before going back out to the living room where the petite slayer was putting herself between an upset Susan and her frustrated, burly cop, father. Willow looked to James and he shrugged.
Out of patience, Buffy snapped, “Both of you. Stop, okay?” Her right hand reflexively went to her hip. “Can I get you to sit down and maybe talk, instead of yelling, or am I asking the wrong people?”
Much to Susan’s surprise, she watched her father stalk over to the couch and slump into a seat. He listened? Since when does he listen? Especially to the likes of her. She might be two-fifths his weight-maybe fully dressed and soaking wet. That and she’s a good foot shorter-more like fourteen inches. Dad’s got a serious temper. I may have to stick around just for the punch line.
“Susan, if you could, please, just entertain me.” Buffy glanced at Jimmy’s daughter, then at Will, realizing that the latter was giving her a ‘stop being crazy slayer girl’ look.
Willow saw the look Buffy returned and relented. Right, she can do this. Breaking up fights isn’t exactly new territory for her. Easy peasey. Maybe I should give them some space. The redhead looked at the younger James and smiled before offering him an out. “Our family’s good in the kitchen for right now. I need to go pick up food. You didn’t want to stay for this, did you?”
James glanced between his father and sister and shrugged. Suz’s got way more anger than I do. Maybe they can get through it, finally. He nodded at the redhead and walked to the door.
Buffy watched her lover’s retreat, then turned to the two sitting across from each other. “’Kay, so…who wants to start?”
Willow walked a little down the street and stopped. Turning to face James, she apologized, “Sorry for all that. I don’t think that’s how your dad wanted to start this evening out.”
“It’s cool,” he replied matter-of-factly. His interest got the better of him and he asked, “Can’t say I wasn’t curious why he would want to see me. Are you sure he wanted to welcome his ‘faggoty ass’ boy back into his life?”
Her face fell with shock. She scrambled to recover, failing miserably. “He said that to you?” she gasped.
“Only like five times,” James replied dismissively, “I’d tell you the rest, but you seem to like him, so…”
“I don’t think he meant it, if that helps.”
Offering a weak smile, he shrugged and responded, “Oh, no, he meant it…then,” pausing to rake his fingers through his hair. “I’m just not sure he means it now. He is, after all, partnered up with a lesbian. And he’s allowing said lesbian and her partner to crash in his house. I just can’t believe it’s the same guy.”
“People change, James. Regret’s a thing,” she offered, struggling to catch up herself.
“I know, but I just never thought I’d see the day that he would be as…accepting as he is now. He really wants us back in his life doesn’t he?” James jammed his hands in his coat pockets and started walking again.
It took a moment for Willow’s feet to start working again. When she caught up, she said, “All the arrows would seem to point to ‘yes’.”
“So what’s the story with you and the blonde?” James asked, giving Willow a sidelong glance, amusement reflecting in his eyes.
“Ah,” she fidgeted and went with a vague, “It’s a long...” trailing off into thought.
“Then at least tell me how you two ended up staying with my dad?”
Taking a moment, Willow recounted the non-mystical version of why her family came to town to visit. How that resulted in fights and the current sleeping arrangements. And how his dad had talked Buffy into trying to start patching things up with her family while Buffy had convinced Jimmy to do the same. “So today after everyone made up, Buffy wanted our family here tonight, thinking that it might be easier for you two, but now I’m not so sure that was a good idea.”
“Wow, no, it’s cool. I mean, my dad usually doesn’t take to people, but he likes you guys. That’s good.”
“Thanks,” Willow said through a giggle, smiling as they walked into the restaurant. It took a few minutes for the hostess to put together their order. Leaving the restaurant a few minutes later, they walked slowly back to the house each carrying two bags full of delicious smelling food.
Willow stepped through the door and found Buffy and Jimmy standing in the middle of the living room. Susan looked calmer and it appeared that things were kind of on track. Willow waved and smiled at her girl.
Jimmy looked up at his son. “Junior, can I see you a moment?”
The man smiled at his father and shook his head ‘no.’ “There’s no, reason. You and I are cool. Thank you for inviting us over tonight.”
“Wha…?” Jimmy asked clearly confused.
“Dad, let it go. We’re good. I’ll take tonight as an apology and I’ll assume that my pig-headed sister will too.”
The detective gapped at his namesake. James approached the shocked man and wrapped him in a hug. "Love you, Dad."
Buffy watched the display unfold and an ache spread in her chest. I wish Mom were here. Projecting her thoughts, she asked, ‘Will, what did you say to him?’
‘I told him the truth. He’s cool.’
Just then Xander’s head appeared through the swinging doorway. “Everyone have all their parts?”
“Sure thing, Xander. Why don’t you bring everyone back in and we can eat. I could eat a horse. Cupcake, here, only let me have a salad for lunch. Somethin’ about keepin’ my girlish figure for the ladies.”
“I’ll get you metro-sexualed up in no time,” teased the blonde, “Next, wardrobe. Those ties should go wherever ties go to die.”
“Hey, my ties are one of a kind,” Jimmy rebuked, looking down at one of his favorites. Far from unique, it was green and brown plaid.
Dinner was scuffle-free and enjoyed by all. Afterward, everyone split off into groups chatting and taking pleasure in the company. Willow and Buffy were standing in the corner with Xander, hearing about the Cleveland slayerettes. Jimmy had taken his son and introduced him to Giles and Faith. Susan was talking to Dawn and Kennedy.
For all of the drama, it was pretty worth it. There's...thing's feel right. Better than they have in a long time. The blonde tightened her grip around her lover's waist and placed a series of light kisses along the back of her neck.
Hmm...gonna hafta thank my witch properly at some point. Hopefully we'll get a break in this case. One way or another, things have to normal up. Buffy practically purred when Willow pressed closer. Stifling the urge, Buffy directed her thoughts towards her lover. ‘Will, not to be a party poop, but you wouldn't happen to be ready for bed would you?’
‘Getting tired, or looking for naughty fun?’
‘Uh…a little of both work for you?’
Willow let her mind drift for a moment as the idea of Buffy and bed merged in her mind. It was Xander's annoyed voice that brought her out of it.
“Willow…Earth to the redhead,” Xander prompted, waving his hand in front of her face. “You in there?”
“Uh? Oh, sorry, Xander, just tired is all.”
“If you’re so zonked that you’re missing my riveting, yet redundant tale about the slayer who ran into Clem, then you really are out of it. Go to bed.”
“You know, that doesn’t sound bad.” Willow hugged Xander and kissed him goodnight on the cheek.
She turned to the rest of the people in the house and announced, “Uh, long day, guys, I’m headed to bed. James, Susan, it was really nice to meet you.”
“Same here, Willow.” James beamed from his perch on the couch. “You bring that blonde of yours and the rest of these people and I’ll show you the best club in New York.”
“You bet.” Turning to Buffy, she asked, “You want to go to sleep?”
“Ya know, witch-o’-mine, that’s not a bad idea,” Buffy replied with a smirk, taking the offered hand. She addressed the entire room, saying her goodnights and allowed a bouncy redhead to drag her off to bed.
Xander walked over to where Faith was standing. Sitting down, he pulled his pregnant girlfriend into his lap.
She kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear, “You do know that they totally bailed on us to satisfy that low down tickle?” He met her gaze, his expression thick with confusion. Rolling her eyes, she clarified, “They bailed on us to go bounce, Xander.”
He responded dismissively, “No, they woul…Ah, man…” But denial utterly failed him and his face flushed red at the flash of naughty mental images.
A ray of sunlight shown in through the window, lighting Buffy’s face and causing her to stir. Groaning, she sluggishly pulled the covers over her head and wiggled, snuggling up to the redhead behind her. She kissed the arm that her head rested on and let her mind wander.
Three dead girls, all from Sunnydale and nothing to go on. Not yet anyhow. Right now, I’ve got diddly squat. Hell, I’ve got less than diddly squat, I’ve got bupkis. Jimmy’s thinking ‘witch.’ I don’t know why. I mean there’s nothing to point to anything magicky. A low, frustrated growl sounded from Buffy as she shifted into the tightening embrace of the woman behind her. Thoughts of work and the girls lying in the morgue drifted out of her mind when Willow kissed the back of her neck.
Hmmm…Willow. Cocoon of Willow. I could stay like this for like eternity. It’s been-what, nearly four years since I was there. Even though my memory’s at best spotty, I still can’t seem to shake the feeling that Heaven was never really this good. I think it was nice, or what I remember of it was nice…but it wasn’t-it just doesn’t live up to this.
’Kay, so…need to stop with the romantic drivel. I’m liable to make myself sick. It’s nice though. Being able to be…just be a person in love. I'd forgotten what this is like.
Of course, I could always go for depressing…this is probably never going to work. I dunno, can’t seem to help myself. There’s this small part of me-a very small part that’s thinking we have a shot. Really, I’m more thinking Willow won’t give me a choice. The first night Willow came to town-when she was talking-she had that ‘resolve’ thing going on with her voice and expression, like I didn’t get a say in the matter. I hope she keeps that ‘resolve’ thing. She’s always been the strongest. Even at her weakest, she was stronger than I could ever hope to be.
She felt a hand stroke up the length of her stomach and knew her witch was awake. Turning to face her girl, she placed a light kiss on the corner of Willow’s mouth.
The redhead popped an eye open and smiled.
“Morning,” Buffy whispered, smiling back.
“Hmm, it is morning. How’d you sleep?”
“Good…the best even.”
Willow tightened the embrace and cuddled up closer. With a little sneak, she managed to shift their bodies so that Buffy was playing pillow. The blonde firmly pinned, she tried to go back to sleep. That lasted for a few minutes until Jimmy interrupted by knocking at their door.
“Cupcake, Red, up and at ’em. Nekko called and said he might have something from vic three. Also, Willow, an advisor called for you and she wants to meet today. I ain’t playin’ secretary anymore. Let’s move!” Jimmy boomed through the door.
Both women groaned and rolled away from each other, stretching. They both made quick work of their showers and were out in under twenty minutes. Willow pushed a lock of damp hair from her face as she trudged to the dresser to grab some clothes. Picking a brown wraparound skirt and a green blouse she turned around and found Buffy half-dressed and staring at her. “Buff…Earth to the slayer. You here?”
Buffy mumbled, “Uh, oh yeah, just got uh, side tracked is all,” mindlessly continuing to dressing as she answered. “Hey, did you ever come up with anything at the library?”
“No, but I did find an older prophecy about the enjoining spell we used for Adam,” Willow replied, busying herself with getting ready too.
Buffy’s face lit with curiosity. “Oh yeah, what’d it say?”
“The usual. We were supposed to die.”
“Hmm…yeah, alright, a prophecy stating that I’m supposed to be dead. Color me stunned. Hey, you think I broke some sorta mystic record?”
“For what?” Willow held the bedroom door open and waited on Buffy to finish slipping on her boot.
“On thwarting prophecies.” Buffy righted herself and checked the full length mirror one last time before continuing, “I mean, I should be in the Guinness Book of World Records, or something.”
Willow’s eyes rolled as she said, “Honey, the only record book they’d put you in is the crazy one.”
Buffy mock pouted and then finished getting dressed, clipping her badge to the front of her slacks and securing her firearm in its holster. They stepped out of the room together and were surprised to see Susan in the kitchen with her father.
“Morning, you two. Coffee's up and fresh,” Jimmy said, hooking a thumb towards the coffee pot.
“Hmm, caffeine.” Willow made a beeline for the mugs and fixed both her and Buffy a cup.
“So what did Nekko find?” Buffy took a seat across from her partner.
“Some deposits on the girl’s clothes. I think it was oil or tar or something. It might give us a location for the kill site.”
“Nifty. Now all I have to do is have the redhead break out her crystal ball and divine the many possible places it could be,” Buffy said sarcastically.
“I don’t do crystal balls, babe,” Willow said with a smile as she handed over Buffy's coffee. “Besides, there might be an easier way. When are you guys going to see the ‘what’?”
“Now, if I can get Cupcake to wake up enough. What the hell did you do to her last night, Red?”
“The usual.” Willow smiled and winked at Buffy as she blushed.
“Okay, enough,” Susan called from the chair next to her father. “Dad, since we stayed over last night, James took the car. He had to be at the club early. Can you give me a ride to the school?"
“Sure thing, kiddo. Alright, troops, let’s haul ass,” Jimmy ordered, dumping the rest of his coffee in the sink and shutting off the pot.
After dropping Susan off, the trio headed over to the morgue to talk to Nekko. They were ushered into his office and a few minutes later, he came bustling in with a stack of folders.
“Well, if it ain’t my two favorite D’s and a wonderful redhead. My day just got better. I take it you got my message?”
“Affirmative. So, what’d you find?” Jimmy answered.
Nekko remarked, “We've found quite a bit.” Working his way past the others and taking a seat behind his desk before continuing, “The first two bodies were in pristine condition. Nothing on the clothes except alley juice, no extraneous fibers, nothing much really…” he rifled through the stack of folders “…but this girl, she brought in a lot of trace.” After locating the correct one, he thumbed through the pages as he filled in, "The C.O.D. was exsanguination, but if the blood loss hadn't killed her, the septicemia would have. Your unsub lacerated the liver twice. She was dead inside a half hour from the initial cut."
The dots started to connect in her head. Buffy sat up straighter. “Why didn't the unsub clean her off?”
"Dunno, kiddo. But it's good for us." Jimmy said with a shrug.
Absently flipping through his notes, Nekko remarked, "Well, Blondie, as an educated guess, there were three hesitation marks surrounding the upper cut and one around the bottom one.”
“Hesitation cuts? None of the other vics had that. Was she bound? Any ligature markings?” Buffy persisted.
Nekko smiled when Willow came around the desk to read over his shoulder. He passed the file back as he offered, “No, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have her tied down. May’ve just been careful about it. Also, this is the only one that was actually-it looks like a lot more thought was put into how to kill her.”
“Whaddya mean?” Jimmy asked.
“The first vic’s C.O.D. was strangulation. Pressure was applied to the throat, cutting off her air supply. But-and here’s the interesting part-when I get strangulations, I usually find that the vic’s hyoid was broken; her’s wasn’t. It looked like there was just enough pressure applied to cut the flow of oxygen until she passed out and died,” Nekko explained, pausing to rub his chin pensively before moving on. “The second vic was stabbed between the 3th and 4th rib causing puncture wounds to the left lung. It caused the lung to collapse and she drowned in her own blood.”
Satisfied, Willow returned the file and reclaimed her place next to Buffy.
When Willow was facing him again, Nekko finally answered the question, “With our new girl, between the hesitation marks and then the killing strokes, I would guess that your guy-it looks like they were trying to be more precise about how they killed her.”
The others nodded and Buffy asked, "So, what else did you find?"
“Well, there was some dirt on the vic’s clothes and we just chalked it up to her being dumped in an alley,” Nekko commented. Turning his attention to his desk when he admitted, “Which was stupid. I was getting ready to hose the body off when I saw the same coloring on her back. I nearly missed it, but because of my persistently annoying tech, I stopped. We took some samples and narrowed the trace elements down. It’s engine grease and sand. Typical of what you would find in shipping districts.”
Looking up to gauge the other’s reactions, Nekko continued, “Also, there was some strange powdery, uh…dust material. This stuff-when Laura called me into the lab to look at it under the scope, I thought she was putting me on. But this stuff is wild. It presents like soot, but there's more in it than that.”
"Like, calcium deposits that look like bone, dried blood, and other weird things that shouldn't be there?" Willow asked.
Nekko appeared a little shocked, but recovered quickly. "Yeah, for the most part. Other minor trace elements, but yeah, that is most of it. What do you know about it? I've been through the federal databases and the only hit I've come back with is some lame explanation."
“Lemme guess, PCP burn off or some other drug related derivative?” Willow replied with a knowing smile.
Nekko laughed. "Uhm, yeah, pretty much. So, you know what it is, Willow"
“Crematorium soot,” Willow lied.
Nekko cocked his head in surprise, but let it go.
“So, Cupcake, what do you think?” Jimmy asked, turning his attention to his partner.
“I think we have a starting point. It's better than sitting around and doing absolutely nothing.”
“Hear, hear…so, Nekko, what else can you tell us?” Jimmy asked.
Nekko went into a bit more detail on the variations between the three victims while Willow engaged Buffy in a silent conversation.
‘Buff, I need to get to the body, preferably with no one around.’
‘Why?’
‘I’ve got an idea.’
Buffy glanced at Willow. When she saw the redhead rustling through her purse, Buffy’s brow furrowed.
Willow looked up, meeting the blonde’s questioning gaze, and offered, ‘Okay, I remembered everything.’
‘Will?’
Buffy was rewarded for her curiosity with a barrage of Willow babble, ‘Scrying…I’m gonna try some scrying. I was going to try it on the other two but hadn't figured out the correct combination of spells. She’s dead though, so I’m not sure how this is going to work. I think I've thought of everything, I just need to be really specific.’
‘Okay,’ was the best answer Buffy had.
‘Uh, but how am I gonna get alone-time with the body?’
‘I’ll take care of that. Just watch for my signal.’ Fixing her interest on the medical examiner, Buffy asked, “Hey, Nekko, can we go take a look at the body?”
“Sure. She’s still on ice,” Nekko replied with a shrug. He went to the door and held it, waiting on everyone to file out.
Pulling Jimmy back, Buffy whispered, “Will needs some one-on-one time with the vic’s body. Follow my lead and leave Willow to her thing.”
“What?”
“Just pay attention and agree with me.”
“Cupcake…” Jimmy warned.
“Shhhh…” Buffy moved ahead and left Jimmy confused.
They entered through the cutting floor and moved to the lockers. Nekko disappeared for a moment, before poking his head out of the locker room to motion the others in.
The place was freezing. There were a few occupied gurneys sitting next to the drawers. Nekko wheeled out the body so that they could look at it without having to step completely into the room. Willow angled herself to the side of the body, just inside the door. Buffy and Jimmy were at the entryway as Nekko moved opposite Willow and removed the sheet.
‘Buff, anytime you want to create a distraction would be good.’
‘I know I’m thinking. I never would have made it as Mata Hari.’
Willow had to stifle a laugh. ‘Yeah, but I bet you’d look much sexier in the outfits.
‘Oh…’kay…on another note-a slightly more pertinent note-diversion...back to the lack of a diversion. I think I should have thought this out some more. Got it. Follow my lead.’
Buffy stepped back and tripped over a chair leg that was sticking out from a desk. Wind-milling her arms, she stumbled back and appeared to hit her head on the edge of a table. When she went down, Jimmy and Nekko were by her side immediately.
Seeing the opportunity, Willow grabbed the door and slammed it shut. Jimmy’s head snapped back and noticed the latch closing before he could stop it.
“Buffy!” Nekko yelled. “Buff, are you okay?”
Buffy pretended to be dazed and winced. “Ow…my head. What happened?”
Jimmy saw that she was okay and then turned back to the closed door. Willow was currently inside the locker room with about eight stiffs.
“Willow?” Jimmy called out, tugging at the door. He tugged a second time and found that the lock wouldn’t budge. “Red, you okay? Can you open the door?”
Buffy stepped in behind him and tugged on the door. Will really hit the target with this one. If I can’t budge it, you can bet the boys won’t have a shot. She’ll come out when she’s ready. “She’ll be okay,” she offered reassuringly.
Coming up behind the two, Nekko looked around and asked, “Where’s Willow?”
Jimmy motioned to the door and said, “Apparently, locked in.”
“What? That door doesn’t lock. Watch out.” Nekko moved past the detectives and grabbed the door handle. It wouldn’t budge. Tugging again, this time putting more force into it, his hands slipped and he stumbled back. “Okay, that’s not right. Willow can you hear me?”
No reply.
“Willow? Shit. Alright, I’ll be back.” Nekko took off down the hall at a dead run.
Jimmy turned to his partner, appearing completely unimpressed and huffed, “Tell me this isn’t your master plan?”
Buffy grinned and nodded.
“Cupcake, seriously. Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she should be done soon.”
“Jesus Christ Almighty in a little red nightie,” Jimmy cursed. His mood wasn’t improved by his partner’s giggle. A gale-force rant was in order. And not to disappoint, Jimmy let them have it. “I can’t believe you two! Willow, if you can hear me, you are in a world of trouble!” The man mopped his face with his left hand and waited for something to happen. “Fuck it!” He took out his pack of cigarettes and lit up on the cutting floor.
It was about four minutes before they heard the pounding of shoes coming from down the hall. Nekko rounded the corner with a crowbar in hand. He was breathless and clearly panicking. He wedged the bar between the handle and the door and pulled with all his might. The handle wouldn’t budge. He grunted with extra effort and slipped, falling back on his ass.
“Nekko, it’s cool. Relax. I’m sure she’s fine,” Buffy said and offered her hand to the doctor, helping him up.
He just looked at her and raised his hands in exasperation. Not wanting to give the guy a heart attack, Buffy walked over to the door and gave it a light tug. The latch released with ease and Willow exited the room smiling.
“You okay, Will?” Buffy checked, taking her witch’s hand.
Willow nodded and said, “Yeah, I heard you, but I guess you guys couldn’t hear me. What happened?”
Jimmy had the good sense to just walk away while Nekko fussed over the redhead.
“Are you sure you’re okay? I mean I’ve had cops freak out just by being in there for a moment before the door reopened. I don’t know what happened.”
Willow shrugged. “Must have been stuck. No big though. Hey, Buff, I need to get to campus. Can we go?”
“Yeah,” Buffy said, “Nekko, can I get those reports?”
“Sure.” He walked over to one of the computers on the desk and had the reports on the printer in under a minute. He handed them over to the blonde and shook his head again. “I’m gonna have to have that door looked at. I can’t have people getting stuck in there.”
Buffy and Willow turned away from him and suppressed the laughter, welling up inside. They exited through the receiving doors and found Jimmy pacing the lot, smoking and muttering to himself.
Willow and Buffy moved ahead of him and let out the laughter they had been stifling.
Jimmy huffed and followed behind them, “Ya know, that ain’t funny, you two. I swear to God. You two are worse than teenagers.”
“Jim, we need to drop Will off at school.”
“Ah, no, you don’t. I’ll call my advisor from the car. We need to go to the lower east side. I’ve got a location from the body. We need to go there and you aren’t going without me.”
“You heard the redhead, Summers, let’s go.” Jimmy smiled and relaxed a bit. Hot damn, something more to go on than suspicion and photocopied IDs.
Ch. 11 - Get Well Card
Escaping the chatter in the living room, Buffy guided Willow down the hallway to their borrowed bedroom. When they were finally shut away, she took her girlfriend’s arm, turning her. Willow echoed the need, falling into the offered embrace without hesitation. Under the soothing touch, some of their collective tension eased. The slayer inclined forward, resting her brow against her lover’s.
Willow let a few moments slip by, then withdrew only enough to make eye contact as she murmured, “How’d it go today?”
Releasing her hold, Buffy shrugged and took her witch’s hand, leading her towards the bed. A bright smile lit her features when she faced Willow again and chirped, “Good, good...” Allowing a few seconds to tick away, she took in the warm, but dubious grin her lover offered before she amended, “But then I like emotional trauma. Let’s me know that stuff’s are pretty much normal.”
Willow playfully swatted her partner’s arm and chastised, “You know what I mean.”
A small mischievous pout formed and faded, foreshadowing Buffy’s concession, “Things will be okay, I guess.” Eager to shift focus, she asked, “What about you and Xander?” The bed bounced under her weight when she sat on its edge with significantly less than her usual grace.
Taking a seat beside her partner, Willow replied, “It’s gonna take a lot more than him being an ass for us not to be friends.” An air of significance affected her as she supplied, “Hello…first boyfriend.”
Smirking, Buffy pointed out, “Uh, Will, you were five.”
“Yes, but it still counts,” she remarked decisively. Punctuating her rightness with an emphatic nod, she slipped her arm around Buffy and asked, “What about you and Giles?” Her tone was laced with concern.
Buffy started off positively, “We’re gonna be okay-” pausing to sigh “-I think.” Her sigh colored the clause, leaving an impression of doubt. She shoved away the disquiet with a wry grin and mumbled, “I still want to suit him up and hit him with sticks.”
“And Dawn?”
“Uh, okay, I think. It’s just hard with her. I think…I hope it’ll be okay.” Buffy rested her head against Willow’s shoulder and whined, “We have a house full of people. And two more on the way.”
“Yeah, who knew Jimmy had kids?”
“Uh, Will, about that, I need to tell you a story.” She lifted her head and recounted the situation concerning Jimmy and his family.
Brow furrowed, Willow let the new information filter through. As she came to a decision, the witch bobbed her head up and down, saying, “Okay, so he was wrong, he knows that now. Let’s see if we can help him out.”
Buffy smiled at her girlfriend’s easy acceptance of the upcoming drama, then deflated as she remembered the guests that were there. “Maybe making up with everyone wasn’t the best idea. Can we just stay in here? I promise cuddles and smoochies. And if you’re extra naughty, maybe more.”
“Buffy, what’s up? You like being around people. You’re a people person.”
“Correction, I used to be a people person. Now, I’m a girl who likes the quiet time. Unless you’re there and then I’m a girl that likes her Willow time.” Buffy relented when Willow gave her sad eyes. “You’re right, okay, I give. Let’s go be one with the Scooby clan.”
They walked out of the room, Willow following the blonde. Before they got to the living room, she grabbed a slacks-clad rear end and whispered, “If you’re super good, I’ll fake being sick and we can go to bed early.”
When Buffy halted, the witch leaned in to nip her earlobe. A tingle ran down her spine. That’s me, the model of super goodness. I wonder if trying will earn me any bonus points? Usually not. Summoning her resolve, she led them the rest of the way into the room. There were two new faces in the crowd. As she was about to introduce herself, Jimmy came out of the kitchen with a tray full of drinks.
Setting them down, he righted himself and made the introduction. “Buffy, Willow, this is Susan and James,” he offered awkwardly.
The crowd broke down into comfortable groups of two or three. Jimmy was busy talking to Faith and Giles while Xander and Dawn were trying to get Kennedy to go with them to see Spam-a-Lot.
The four remaining people eyed each other, trying to come up with conversation. Susan and James took two chairs that were brought out from the kitchen while Buffy and Willow sat opposite them on the loveseat.
“So, Buffy,” James queried, “You work with my dad?” hoping to break the stalemate.
Buffy rested her arm across the back of the seat and played with Willow’s sleeve as she answered, “Yeah, let’s see, it’ll be eighteen months in July.”
Snorting, Susan laughed, “Sorry about that. He can be stubborn.”
Willow tried to suppress her own laugh, but the sharp jab from her blonde counterpart squeezed it out of her.
James eyebrows rose at the interplay. “What are my sister and I missing?”
Reigning herself in, Willow said, “It’s just that Buffy here’s probably the most stubborn person in the world. Your dad really isn’t a match for her.”
Buffy shot her lover and incredulous glare. “Will, I’m not that bad.”
Willow gave the blonde a sideways glance. The corners of her mouth turn up in a smirk. “Honey, if the house was on fire, but you didn’t want to hear it, not even the bright, red fire trucks outside could convince you otherwise.”
“Hey, that’s…” Realizing that Willow was just razzing her, Buffy stuck her tongue out and said, “Fine, I’m stubborn. Happy?”
Willow nodded and turned to the brother and sister. They both had slightly curious, amused looks on their faces. “So, what do you two do?”
Susan answered, “I teach at PS 173, 4th grade,” gesturing to her brother. “James manages a club down in Soho.” She turned her attention to the couple on the loveseat and inquired, “Buffy, you work with my dad so that’s easy, but Willow, what about you?”
“Uh, between jobs right now. Trying to go back to school.”
“What for?” James asked.
“Medicine, I think,” Willow answered cheerfully. Growing pensive when she added, “Although, my focus would be forensics. I was talking to an advisor and she suggested teaching and research.” Her nose crinkled. “My parents did that, so I don’t know if that’s what I want.”
Susan responded aridly, “Oh,” Clearly that wasn’t what she was expecting. She eyed the other two uncertainly, then gave her father a suspicious glance, tossing in a hasty, “How nice,” to smooth things out. The result of which only served to make her appear more jaded.
Buffy watched Jimmy’s daughter choke at the small talk and piped up, “James, what kind of club? I’ve been to a few here, but haven’t found one that I like. Maybe you can help me out.”
“Uh,” James glanced at his father and swallowed. Stalling a moment before he added, “I don’t think you would be interested in it. It’s not really-cops don’t really like my place.”
Buffy knew they were treading on thin ice. I promised Jimmy we’d try to warm them up for the talking. Thing is, I don’t so much feel like a rat as I do an intruder…at least to a degree. This really isn’t my place. Smiling, she tried again, “I don’t know about that. I’m not much for cop hangouts either. The music usually sucks and no one can dance.”
James laughed and shrugged. “That’s true,” he offered with a weak smile, “It’s called The Phoenix. It’s, uh…” He cleared his throat before dropping the bombshell. “A gay club.” He flinched and waited apprehensively for the reaction. Last time I saw my father it didn’t go well. Actually I was thrown out of this very house. I love my dad, but I’m just not sure if I like him anymore.
To his surprise, Buffy smiled at him and said, “Cool, Will and I will have to come and check it out one night.”
‘Buff,’ Willow warned mentally.
Keeping her expression neutral to mask the internal conversation, Buffy responded, ‘What? Look, it’s not like I can say, “You’re dad’s uber sorry for the way he treated you. My girlfriend and I are kinda acting like a buffer until he gets the stones to come over and talk to you personally and ask your forgiveness. And tell you that sure he kicked his gay son out of the house, but accepted his partner and her very, gay, incredibly sexy girlfriend with open arms when they needed to get away from their own family.” Now can I?’
‘No need to get snarky.’
‘Sorry, but I’m running out of things to talk about.’
‘Fine let me try.’ Willow looked at James and saw that he had gone a little white. She smiled and said, “Buff and I wouldn’t mind. We might actually drag the gang there, provided the music is good.”
Susan looked from the blonde to the redhead and saw the glance that they had shared. “Guys, uhm…if you’ll excuse me for a moment.”
“Sure,” Buffy and Willow said in unison.
They watched as the girl walked over to her father and herd him into the kitchen. Willow knew they were losing the battle and decided to try a Buffy maneuver. “She’s not gonna go all angry and self-righteous on him is she?” she asked James.
“I’m thinking she might. Just out of curiosity, you two are an item?”
Buffy’s brow furrowed. Her expression warmed with amusement. “Uh, yeah…I’d say we’re pretty much item-like,” she confirmed.
James prompted, “And my father knows?” shock evident on his features.
“We’re kinda staying here until my family leaves,” Buffy replied.
“Hmm, but you didn’t answer the question. He knows you two are lovers?”
Willow interceded, “Yeah, he’s-James, I know that your dad didn’t have the best reaction when you came out. Some stuff happened and he talked with Buffy. It was really hard on him. Then she suggested you guys should talk.” As Willow went on, the filter turned off and she broke into a guilty, full disclosure babble, “So he invited you over for dinner and-I dunno-we hoped that maybe you guys could come to some sort of understanding. So tonight’s gonna be about showing you that your dad’s cool with everything. He’s really sorry for, uh…overreacting. He gets how wrong it was and wants a chance to make it up to you.” Willow sucked in a breath and hoped he caught everything she said.
James just stared at her dumbfounded. Alright that was the longest run on sentence in the history of mankind. My dad’s letting two lesbians stay with him? Did he get a brain transplant? Hell freeze over? “Ah, so I think I caught all of that and-well, we’re talking about the same James McAllister, right?”
“Yeah,” Buffy said, “He’s changed. I think it’s from when you guys stopped talking. He’s trying to get you to see that tonight. It was actually my idea that he bite the bullet. He didn’t want to, but he does want to…if that makes sense. So uhm, maybe you should go in the kitchen and see if you can help your sister ou-” she was cut short by Susan storming out of the dining area and grabbing her coat and purse.
“Come on, James, let’s go,” the brunette snapped.
“Why?” her brother asked, not moving from his spot on the chair.
“Because this is-I can’t believe he would do this. God, he’s insufferable.”
“Susan Josephine McAllister, you get back here right now,” Jimmy bellowed from the kitchen.
Buffy and Willow looked at each other as their family and simultaneously muttered, “Oh boy.”
Turning back to shout through the open doorway, Susan ranted, “Dad, don’t, okay? I can’t believe you. This is ballsy, even for you. Jesus H. Christ, I’m so stupid. I should’ve known.”
Jimmy’s voice rang out from the kitchen, “Suzie-Q, please, don’t be like that. I’m trying to apologize. I told you, I know it wasn’t right.” He poked his head out the door. “What do you want me to do? I can’t turn back time and I sure as shit can’t change the past.”
Faith walked over to Buffy and whispered, “Why do I get the feeling we are witnessing a strained family reunion?”
“’Cause, we are. It’s kinda a long story, but…eh, pay attention. I’m sure even you can catch up,” teased Buffy.
Faith nodded then walked back over to where she was sitting.
Jimmy was red, the cords in his neck were standing out and the vein in his temple was throbbing. Trying to call on her time in Sunnydale as a counselor, Buffy stepped between daughter and father.
‘Will, get the gang out of here for a few minutes, please. Kitchen. Then come back in here,’ Buffy directed through their link.
Willow moved to usher the Scoobs from the room. She smiled and gave them a thumbs up before going back out to the living room where the petite slayer was putting herself between an upset Susan and her frustrated, burly cop, father. Willow looked to James and he shrugged.
Out of patience, Buffy snapped, “Both of you. Stop, okay?” Her right hand reflexively went to her hip. “Can I get you to sit down and maybe talk, instead of yelling, or am I asking the wrong people?”
Much to Susan’s surprise, she watched her father stalk over to the couch and slump into a seat. He listened? Since when does he listen? Especially to the likes of her. She might be two-fifths his weight-maybe fully dressed and soaking wet. That and she’s a good foot shorter-more like fourteen inches. Dad’s got a serious temper. I may have to stick around just for the punch line.
“Susan, if you could, please, just entertain me.” Buffy glanced at Jimmy’s daughter, then at Will, realizing that the latter was giving her a ‘stop being crazy slayer girl’ look.
Willow saw the look Buffy returned and relented. Right, she can do this. Breaking up fights isn’t exactly new territory for her. Easy peasey. Maybe I should give them some space. The redhead looked at the younger James and smiled before offering him an out. “Our family’s good in the kitchen for right now. I need to go pick up food. You didn’t want to stay for this, did you?”
James glanced between his father and sister and shrugged. Suz’s got way more anger than I do. Maybe they can get through it, finally. He nodded at the redhead and walked to the door.
Buffy watched her lover’s retreat, then turned to the two sitting across from each other. “’Kay, so…who wants to start?”
Willow walked a little down the street and stopped. Turning to face James, she apologized, “Sorry for all that. I don’t think that’s how your dad wanted to start this evening out.”
“It’s cool,” he replied matter-of-factly. His interest got the better of him and he asked, “Can’t say I wasn’t curious why he would want to see me. Are you sure he wanted to welcome his ‘faggoty ass’ boy back into his life?”
Her face fell with shock. She scrambled to recover, failing miserably. “He said that to you?” she gasped.
“Only like five times,” James replied dismissively, “I’d tell you the rest, but you seem to like him, so…”
“I don’t think he meant it, if that helps.”
Offering a weak smile, he shrugged and responded, “Oh, no, he meant it…then,” pausing to rake his fingers through his hair. “I’m just not sure he means it now. He is, after all, partnered up with a lesbian. And he’s allowing said lesbian and her partner to crash in his house. I just can’t believe it’s the same guy.”
“People change, James. Regret’s a thing,” she offered, struggling to catch up herself.
“I know, but I just never thought I’d see the day that he would be as…accepting as he is now. He really wants us back in his life doesn’t he?” James jammed his hands in his coat pockets and started walking again.
It took a moment for Willow’s feet to start working again. When she caught up, she said, “All the arrows would seem to point to ‘yes’.”
“So what’s the story with you and the blonde?” James asked, giving Willow a sidelong glance, amusement reflecting in his eyes.
“Ah,” she fidgeted and went with a vague, “It’s a long...” trailing off into thought.
“Then at least tell me how you two ended up staying with my dad?”
Taking a moment, Willow recounted the non-mystical version of why her family came to town to visit. How that resulted in fights and the current sleeping arrangements. And how his dad had talked Buffy into trying to start patching things up with her family while Buffy had convinced Jimmy to do the same. “So today after everyone made up, Buffy wanted our family here tonight, thinking that it might be easier for you two, but now I’m not so sure that was a good idea.”
“Wow, no, it’s cool. I mean, my dad usually doesn’t take to people, but he likes you guys. That’s good.”
“Thanks,” Willow said through a giggle, smiling as they walked into the restaurant. It took a few minutes for the hostess to put together their order. Leaving the restaurant a few minutes later, they walked slowly back to the house each carrying two bags full of delicious smelling food.
Willow stepped through the door and found Buffy and Jimmy standing in the middle of the living room. Susan looked calmer and it appeared that things were kind of on track. Willow waved and smiled at her girl.
Jimmy looked up at his son. “Junior, can I see you a moment?”
The man smiled at his father and shook his head ‘no.’ “There’s no, reason. You and I are cool. Thank you for inviting us over tonight.”
“Wha…?” Jimmy asked clearly confused.
“Dad, let it go. We’re good. I’ll take tonight as an apology and I’ll assume that my pig-headed sister will too.”
The detective gapped at his namesake. James approached the shocked man and wrapped him in a hug. "Love you, Dad."
Buffy watched the display unfold and an ache spread in her chest. I wish Mom were here. Projecting her thoughts, she asked, ‘Will, what did you say to him?’
‘I told him the truth. He’s cool.’
Just then Xander’s head appeared through the swinging doorway. “Everyone have all their parts?”
“Sure thing, Xander. Why don’t you bring everyone back in and we can eat. I could eat a horse. Cupcake, here, only let me have a salad for lunch. Somethin’ about keepin’ my girlish figure for the ladies.”
“I’ll get you metro-sexualed up in no time,” teased the blonde, “Next, wardrobe. Those ties should go wherever ties go to die.”
“Hey, my ties are one of a kind,” Jimmy rebuked, looking down at one of his favorites. Far from unique, it was green and brown plaid.
Dinner was scuffle-free and enjoyed by all. Afterward, everyone split off into groups chatting and taking pleasure in the company. Willow and Buffy were standing in the corner with Xander, hearing about the Cleveland slayerettes. Jimmy had taken his son and introduced him to Giles and Faith. Susan was talking to Dawn and Kennedy.
For all of the drama, it was pretty worth it. There's...thing's feel right. Better than they have in a long time. The blonde tightened her grip around her lover's waist and placed a series of light kisses along the back of her neck.
Hmm...gonna hafta thank my witch properly at some point. Hopefully we'll get a break in this case. One way or another, things have to normal up. Buffy practically purred when Willow pressed closer. Stifling the urge, Buffy directed her thoughts towards her lover. ‘Will, not to be a party poop, but you wouldn't happen to be ready for bed would you?’
‘Getting tired, or looking for naughty fun?’
‘Uh…a little of both work for you?’
Willow let her mind drift for a moment as the idea of Buffy and bed merged in her mind. It was Xander's annoyed voice that brought her out of it.
“Willow…Earth to the redhead,” Xander prompted, waving his hand in front of her face. “You in there?”
“Uh? Oh, sorry, Xander, just tired is all.”
“If you’re so zonked that you’re missing my riveting, yet redundant tale about the slayer who ran into Clem, then you really are out of it. Go to bed.”
“You know, that doesn’t sound bad.” Willow hugged Xander and kissed him goodnight on the cheek.
She turned to the rest of the people in the house and announced, “Uh, long day, guys, I’m headed to bed. James, Susan, it was really nice to meet you.”
“Same here, Willow.” James beamed from his perch on the couch. “You bring that blonde of yours and the rest of these people and I’ll show you the best club in New York.”
“You bet.” Turning to Buffy, she asked, “You want to go to sleep?”
“Ya know, witch-o’-mine, that’s not a bad idea,” Buffy replied with a smirk, taking the offered hand. She addressed the entire room, saying her goodnights and allowed a bouncy redhead to drag her off to bed.
Xander walked over to where Faith was standing. Sitting down, he pulled his pregnant girlfriend into his lap.
She kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear, “You do know that they totally bailed on us to satisfy that low down tickle?” He met her gaze, his expression thick with confusion. Rolling her eyes, she clarified, “They bailed on us to go bounce, Xander.”
He responded dismissively, “No, they woul…Ah, man…” But denial utterly failed him and his face flushed red at the flash of naughty mental images.
A ray of sunlight shown in through the window, lighting Buffy’s face and causing her to stir. Groaning, she sluggishly pulled the covers over her head and wiggled, snuggling up to the redhead behind her. She kissed the arm that her head rested on and let her mind wander.
Three dead girls, all from Sunnydale and nothing to go on. Not yet anyhow. Right now, I’ve got diddly squat. Hell, I’ve got less than diddly squat, I’ve got bupkis. Jimmy’s thinking ‘witch.’ I don’t know why. I mean there’s nothing to point to anything magicky. A low, frustrated growl sounded from Buffy as she shifted into the tightening embrace of the woman behind her. Thoughts of work and the girls lying in the morgue drifted out of her mind when Willow kissed the back of her neck.
Hmmm…Willow. Cocoon of Willow. I could stay like this for like eternity. It’s been-what, nearly four years since I was there. Even though my memory’s at best spotty, I still can’t seem to shake the feeling that Heaven was never really this good. I think it was nice, or what I remember of it was nice…but it wasn’t-it just doesn’t live up to this.
’Kay, so…need to stop with the romantic drivel. I’m liable to make myself sick. It’s nice though. Being able to be…just be a person in love. I'd forgotten what this is like.
Of course, I could always go for depressing…this is probably never going to work. I dunno, can’t seem to help myself. There’s this small part of me-a very small part that’s thinking we have a shot. Really, I’m more thinking Willow won’t give me a choice. The first night Willow came to town-when she was talking-she had that ‘resolve’ thing going on with her voice and expression, like I didn’t get a say in the matter. I hope she keeps that ‘resolve’ thing. She’s always been the strongest. Even at her weakest, she was stronger than I could ever hope to be.
She felt a hand stroke up the length of her stomach and knew her witch was awake. Turning to face her girl, she placed a light kiss on the corner of Willow’s mouth.
The redhead popped an eye open and smiled.
“Morning,” Buffy whispered, smiling back.
“Hmm, it is morning. How’d you sleep?”
“Good…the best even.”
Willow tightened the embrace and cuddled up closer. With a little sneak, she managed to shift their bodies so that Buffy was playing pillow. The blonde firmly pinned, she tried to go back to sleep. That lasted for a few minutes until Jimmy interrupted by knocking at their door.
“Cupcake, Red, up and at ’em. Nekko called and said he might have something from vic three. Also, Willow, an advisor called for you and she wants to meet today. I ain’t playin’ secretary anymore. Let’s move!” Jimmy boomed through the door.
Both women groaned and rolled away from each other, stretching. They both made quick work of their showers and were out in under twenty minutes. Willow pushed a lock of damp hair from her face as she trudged to the dresser to grab some clothes. Picking a brown wraparound skirt and a green blouse she turned around and found Buffy half-dressed and staring at her. “Buff…Earth to the slayer. You here?”
Buffy mumbled, “Uh, oh yeah, just got uh, side tracked is all,” mindlessly continuing to dressing as she answered. “Hey, did you ever come up with anything at the library?”
“No, but I did find an older prophecy about the enjoining spell we used for Adam,” Willow replied, busying herself with getting ready too.
Buffy’s face lit with curiosity. “Oh yeah, what’d it say?”
“The usual. We were supposed to die.”
“Hmm…yeah, alright, a prophecy stating that I’m supposed to be dead. Color me stunned. Hey, you think I broke some sorta mystic record?”
“For what?” Willow held the bedroom door open and waited on Buffy to finish slipping on her boot.
“On thwarting prophecies.” Buffy righted herself and checked the full length mirror one last time before continuing, “I mean, I should be in the Guinness Book of World Records, or something.”
Willow’s eyes rolled as she said, “Honey, the only record book they’d put you in is the crazy one.”
Buffy mock pouted and then finished getting dressed, clipping her badge to the front of her slacks and securing her firearm in its holster. They stepped out of the room together and were surprised to see Susan in the kitchen with her father.
“Morning, you two. Coffee's up and fresh,” Jimmy said, hooking a thumb towards the coffee pot.
“Hmm, caffeine.” Willow made a beeline for the mugs and fixed both her and Buffy a cup.
“So what did Nekko find?” Buffy took a seat across from her partner.
“Some deposits on the girl’s clothes. I think it was oil or tar or something. It might give us a location for the kill site.”
“Nifty. Now all I have to do is have the redhead break out her crystal ball and divine the many possible places it could be,” Buffy said sarcastically.
“I don’t do crystal balls, babe,” Willow said with a smile as she handed over Buffy's coffee. “Besides, there might be an easier way. When are you guys going to see the ‘what’?”
“Now, if I can get Cupcake to wake up enough. What the hell did you do to her last night, Red?”
“The usual.” Willow smiled and winked at Buffy as she blushed.
“Okay, enough,” Susan called from the chair next to her father. “Dad, since we stayed over last night, James took the car. He had to be at the club early. Can you give me a ride to the school?"
“Sure thing, kiddo. Alright, troops, let’s haul ass,” Jimmy ordered, dumping the rest of his coffee in the sink and shutting off the pot.
After dropping Susan off, the trio headed over to the morgue to talk to Nekko. They were ushered into his office and a few minutes later, he came bustling in with a stack of folders.
“Well, if it ain’t my two favorite D’s and a wonderful redhead. My day just got better. I take it you got my message?”
“Affirmative. So, what’d you find?” Jimmy answered.
Nekko remarked, “We've found quite a bit.” Working his way past the others and taking a seat behind his desk before continuing, “The first two bodies were in pristine condition. Nothing on the clothes except alley juice, no extraneous fibers, nothing much really…” he rifled through the stack of folders “…but this girl, she brought in a lot of trace.” After locating the correct one, he thumbed through the pages as he filled in, "The C.O.D. was exsanguination, but if the blood loss hadn't killed her, the septicemia would have. Your unsub lacerated the liver twice. She was dead inside a half hour from the initial cut."
The dots started to connect in her head. Buffy sat up straighter. “Why didn't the unsub clean her off?”
"Dunno, kiddo. But it's good for us." Jimmy said with a shrug.
Absently flipping through his notes, Nekko remarked, "Well, Blondie, as an educated guess, there were three hesitation marks surrounding the upper cut and one around the bottom one.”
“Hesitation cuts? None of the other vics had that. Was she bound? Any ligature markings?” Buffy persisted.
Nekko smiled when Willow came around the desk to read over his shoulder. He passed the file back as he offered, “No, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have her tied down. May’ve just been careful about it. Also, this is the only one that was actually-it looks like a lot more thought was put into how to kill her.”
“Whaddya mean?” Jimmy asked.
“The first vic’s C.O.D. was strangulation. Pressure was applied to the throat, cutting off her air supply. But-and here’s the interesting part-when I get strangulations, I usually find that the vic’s hyoid was broken; her’s wasn’t. It looked like there was just enough pressure applied to cut the flow of oxygen until she passed out and died,” Nekko explained, pausing to rub his chin pensively before moving on. “The second vic was stabbed between the 3th and 4th rib causing puncture wounds to the left lung. It caused the lung to collapse and she drowned in her own blood.”
Satisfied, Willow returned the file and reclaimed her place next to Buffy.
When Willow was facing him again, Nekko finally answered the question, “With our new girl, between the hesitation marks and then the killing strokes, I would guess that your guy-it looks like they were trying to be more precise about how they killed her.”
The others nodded and Buffy asked, "So, what else did you find?"
“Well, there was some dirt on the vic’s clothes and we just chalked it up to her being dumped in an alley,” Nekko commented. Turning his attention to his desk when he admitted, “Which was stupid. I was getting ready to hose the body off when I saw the same coloring on her back. I nearly missed it, but because of my persistently annoying tech, I stopped. We took some samples and narrowed the trace elements down. It’s engine grease and sand. Typical of what you would find in shipping districts.”
Looking up to gauge the other’s reactions, Nekko continued, “Also, there was some strange powdery, uh…dust material. This stuff-when Laura called me into the lab to look at it under the scope, I thought she was putting me on. But this stuff is wild. It presents like soot, but there's more in it than that.”
"Like, calcium deposits that look like bone, dried blood, and other weird things that shouldn't be there?" Willow asked.
Nekko appeared a little shocked, but recovered quickly. "Yeah, for the most part. Other minor trace elements, but yeah, that is most of it. What do you know about it? I've been through the federal databases and the only hit I've come back with is some lame explanation."
“Lemme guess, PCP burn off or some other drug related derivative?” Willow replied with a knowing smile.
Nekko laughed. "Uhm, yeah, pretty much. So, you know what it is, Willow"
“Crematorium soot,” Willow lied.
Nekko cocked his head in surprise, but let it go.
“So, Cupcake, what do you think?” Jimmy asked, turning his attention to his partner.
“I think we have a starting point. It's better than sitting around and doing absolutely nothing.”
“Hear, hear…so, Nekko, what else can you tell us?” Jimmy asked.
Nekko went into a bit more detail on the variations between the three victims while Willow engaged Buffy in a silent conversation.
‘Buff, I need to get to the body, preferably with no one around.’
‘Why?’
‘I’ve got an idea.’
Buffy glanced at Willow. When she saw the redhead rustling through her purse, Buffy’s brow furrowed.
Willow looked up, meeting the blonde’s questioning gaze, and offered, ‘Okay, I remembered everything.’
‘Will?’
Buffy was rewarded for her curiosity with a barrage of Willow babble, ‘Scrying…I’m gonna try some scrying. I was going to try it on the other two but hadn't figured out the correct combination of spells. She’s dead though, so I’m not sure how this is going to work. I think I've thought of everything, I just need to be really specific.’
‘Okay,’ was the best answer Buffy had.
‘Uh, but how am I gonna get alone-time with the body?’
‘I’ll take care of that. Just watch for my signal.’ Fixing her interest on the medical examiner, Buffy asked, “Hey, Nekko, can we go take a look at the body?”
“Sure. She’s still on ice,” Nekko replied with a shrug. He went to the door and held it, waiting on everyone to file out.
Pulling Jimmy back, Buffy whispered, “Will needs some one-on-one time with the vic’s body. Follow my lead and leave Willow to her thing.”
“What?”
“Just pay attention and agree with me.”
“Cupcake…” Jimmy warned.
“Shhhh…” Buffy moved ahead and left Jimmy confused.
They entered through the cutting floor and moved to the lockers. Nekko disappeared for a moment, before poking his head out of the locker room to motion the others in.
The place was freezing. There were a few occupied gurneys sitting next to the drawers. Nekko wheeled out the body so that they could look at it without having to step completely into the room. Willow angled herself to the side of the body, just inside the door. Buffy and Jimmy were at the entryway as Nekko moved opposite Willow and removed the sheet.
‘Buff, anytime you want to create a distraction would be good.’
‘I know I’m thinking. I never would have made it as Mata Hari.’
Willow had to stifle a laugh. ‘Yeah, but I bet you’d look much sexier in the outfits.
‘Oh…’kay…on another note-a slightly more pertinent note-diversion...back to the lack of a diversion. I think I should have thought this out some more. Got it. Follow my lead.’
Buffy stepped back and tripped over a chair leg that was sticking out from a desk. Wind-milling her arms, she stumbled back and appeared to hit her head on the edge of a table. When she went down, Jimmy and Nekko were by her side immediately.
Seeing the opportunity, Willow grabbed the door and slammed it shut. Jimmy’s head snapped back and noticed the latch closing before he could stop it.
“Buffy!” Nekko yelled. “Buff, are you okay?”
Buffy pretended to be dazed and winced. “Ow…my head. What happened?”
Jimmy saw that she was okay and then turned back to the closed door. Willow was currently inside the locker room with about eight stiffs.
“Willow?” Jimmy called out, tugging at the door. He tugged a second time and found that the lock wouldn’t budge. “Red, you okay? Can you open the door?”
Buffy stepped in behind him and tugged on the door. Will really hit the target with this one. If I can’t budge it, you can bet the boys won’t have a shot. She’ll come out when she’s ready. “She’ll be okay,” she offered reassuringly.
Coming up behind the two, Nekko looked around and asked, “Where’s Willow?”
Jimmy motioned to the door and said, “Apparently, locked in.”
“What? That door doesn’t lock. Watch out.” Nekko moved past the detectives and grabbed the door handle. It wouldn’t budge. Tugging again, this time putting more force into it, his hands slipped and he stumbled back. “Okay, that’s not right. Willow can you hear me?”
No reply.
“Willow? Shit. Alright, I’ll be back.” Nekko took off down the hall at a dead run.
Jimmy turned to his partner, appearing completely unimpressed and huffed, “Tell me this isn’t your master plan?”
Buffy grinned and nodded.
“Cupcake, seriously. Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she should be done soon.”
“Jesus Christ Almighty in a little red nightie,” Jimmy cursed. His mood wasn’t improved by his partner’s giggle. A gale-force rant was in order. And not to disappoint, Jimmy let them have it. “I can’t believe you two! Willow, if you can hear me, you are in a world of trouble!” The man mopped his face with his left hand and waited for something to happen. “Fuck it!” He took out his pack of cigarettes and lit up on the cutting floor.
It was about four minutes before they heard the pounding of shoes coming from down the hall. Nekko rounded the corner with a crowbar in hand. He was breathless and clearly panicking. He wedged the bar between the handle and the door and pulled with all his might. The handle wouldn’t budge. He grunted with extra effort and slipped, falling back on his ass.
“Nekko, it’s cool. Relax. I’m sure she’s fine,” Buffy said and offered her hand to the doctor, helping him up.
He just looked at her and raised his hands in exasperation. Not wanting to give the guy a heart attack, Buffy walked over to the door and gave it a light tug. The latch released with ease and Willow exited the room smiling.
“You okay, Will?” Buffy checked, taking her witch’s hand.
Willow nodded and said, “Yeah, I heard you, but I guess you guys couldn’t hear me. What happened?”
Jimmy had the good sense to just walk away while Nekko fussed over the redhead.
“Are you sure you’re okay? I mean I’ve had cops freak out just by being in there for a moment before the door reopened. I don’t know what happened.”
Willow shrugged. “Must have been stuck. No big though. Hey, Buff, I need to get to campus. Can we go?”
“Yeah,” Buffy said, “Nekko, can I get those reports?”
“Sure.” He walked over to one of the computers on the desk and had the reports on the printer in under a minute. He handed them over to the blonde and shook his head again. “I’m gonna have to have that door looked at. I can’t have people getting stuck in there.”
Buffy and Willow turned away from him and suppressed the laughter, welling up inside. They exited through the receiving doors and found Jimmy pacing the lot, smoking and muttering to himself.
Willow and Buffy moved ahead of him and let out the laughter they had been stifling.
Jimmy huffed and followed behind them, “Ya know, that ain’t funny, you two. I swear to God. You two are worse than teenagers.”
“Jim, we need to drop Will off at school.”
“Ah, no, you don’t. I’ll call my advisor from the car. We need to go to the lower east side. I’ve got a location from the body. We need to go there and you aren’t going without me.”
“You heard the redhead, Summers, let’s go.” Jimmy smiled and relaxed a bit. Hot damn, something more to go on than suspicion and photocopied IDs.