Morning,
Okay so first off the Rainbowwriters are very sorry for their recent quiteness and lack of updates....
In Canada RL is kicking my butt around so to speak... as my new unit is changing buildings and I've been working alot of overtime to compensate...
In England my poor sweet Bethie is fighting a nasty pout of Pneumonia so she's more than under the weather at the moment...
So... with all that said we will trying to update and such when we can but we might be doing it in dribs and drabs for a bit...
here are two scenes... hope you like
******
Madalene was sitting reading in the front living room when the door opened and Giles filed in following the Slayer. She looked up from her novel smiling at the pair but easily saw that they had some worry or another collectively hanging over them.
“Do we need tea for the explanation?” She gently broached the subject.
“Quite possibly.” Giles eased the book he carried onto the low coffee table, “But I’ll go make it.” He didn’t ease his coat off and just moved towards the kitchen.
“Serious.” She looked at the Slayer as he moved away. “He didn’t even take off his blazer.”
“Are Will and Tara around?” Buffy chose not to comment on the Spellcaster’s observations. “Dawn, you don’t have to slink off.” She added to the teenager who was edging towards the door.
“Upstairs, Tara was really tired so Willow pulled her up for a nap.” Madalene filled in.
“Tired?” Buffy frowned slightly as she glanced at the clock.
“We did exercises and some meditations this morning.” Madalene tried to explain. “Then we started on the family tree.”
“I think it was more Willow pushing for sleep, Tara would have stayed up.” Dawn came back in and sat down on the couch.
“But she’s tired.” Buffy checked carefully looking between her sister and the Spellcaster to see them both nodding back. “And how’s Willow?” She checked as she crossed to the couch and sat down slowly.
“She’s been really good today.” Dawn broke in immediately. “She even helped me show Madalene how to use the computer to search for stuff.”
“That’s good.” Buffy nodded but it was obvious that the Tara news had disturbed her or at the least troubled her
“I think she just needs to take it easy, she’s been trying so hard to do it all.” Madalene reassured the Slayer.
“The water should boil soon.” Giles walked back into the room slowly.
“Change of plan Giles.” Buffy glanced up and then down with a heavy sigh.
“Oh?” The Watcher looked around slightly confused.
“Tara’s sick.” Buffy said quickly.
“Sick?” His face was a mask of worry.
“Tired.” Dawn cut in quickly. “Not sick, just tired... in need of a nap. Just a nap.” Giles glanced at the Spellcaster and then at Dawn as she explained.
“Tired is not the same as ill Buffy.” He looked at the Slayer.
“The plan’s still changed.” Buffy shook her head quickly.
“What plan?” Madalene questioned wanting to know what was going on.
“We’ve got a little trouble.” Buffy explained. “We were going to have a group meeting about it to sort everything out.” she pushed up off the couch and walked over to the weapons chest. “But instead I’ll just sort this out.”
“Trouble of what sort?” The Spellcaster watched her move.
“Buffy!” Dawn squeaked seeing the familiar seek and destroy look in her sister’s eyes.
“It’s ok with a bit of luck this will be all over by the end of the evening.” Buffy glanced quickly at her sister before turning back to the chest looking through the contents carefully.
“Buffy, perhaps a little mini group meeting would help shed some light on possible solutions that don’t involve large weapons.” Madalene turned in her chair and peered over at the blonde.
For a second Buffy look at Giles as if contemplating the choice but then she shook her head and went back to rummaging in the chest. The Spellcaster slowly got up and came over to crouch beside her.
“Is it really something this drastic?” She questioned not being condescending but concerned about what would have Buffy so reactionary.
“It’s a wolf.” Buffy replied finally finding what she was looking for she pulled the small compact silver crossbow from the chest.
“A wolf?” Mads voice held her confusion till she saw the silver bow. “Oh lycanthropy.” She nodded seeing the seriousness.
“When’s Xander due home?” She asked the Spellcaster mapping out all her contingencies.
“He’s working some overtime and then apparently Anya needed him at the shop to do some heavy lifting.” Madalene offered the information.
“Then Giles you get to watch the two ladies.” Buffy pushed up and dropped the bow onto the chair. “I should get changed.” She glanced to the stairs.
“I’m going with you.” Madalene stood up. “We can swing by the shop and get a few things.”
“Mmmm…” Buffy paused and looked at Madalene. “No.” She said quickly.
“Mmmm yes.” The Spellcaster shook her head to the dismissal.
“No offence meant here Mads but the last time you came out with me in a less potentially lethal situation you nearly killed an innocent bird bystander. I’m not going to be taking you into a lethal situation to get you really hurt.” Buffy stayed firm in her position.
“I’m dealt with lycanthropy before.” Madalene couldn’t argue with her lacking weapons skills but she had others the Slayer was obviously ignoring.
“Me too.” Buffy countered.
“You’re talking about a werewolf aren’t you?” Dawn’s small voice came from the chair.
“It’s okay Dawn, its completely controllable in the right circumstances.” Mads gave her a comforting smile. “We’ll just have to rent you some movies to keep you busy tonight.”
“It’s not.” Dawn’s eyes flickered to Buffy and then to Giles.
“We’ve got no evidence of anything like that Dawn, Oz was never aggressive.” Giles spoke softly.
“Oz?” It was Madalene’s time to be confused.
“But… but last time, Veruca.” Dawn’s eyes grew slightly wider as she looked at Buffy. “And he nearly hurt Tara.” She squeaked.
“Which is why whoever this wolf is I’m going to stop him.” Buffy spoke calmly, not deliberately ignoring the Spellcaster’s question just not answering it either.
“Yes but to effectively stop one you need to contain them and I can do that.” Madalene wouldn’t relent as Dawn shifted uncomfortably in her place and glanced at the bow on the chair.
“You can’t kill Oz.” Dawn frowned harder obviously getting more worked up.
“We have the tranq gun in the car.” Buffy explained before turning to Madalene. “We need you somewhere safe.” She said pointedly.
“I’ll be with you, where else is safer?” Madalene replied concisely as she picked up her bag.
“Here.” Buffy stood firmly in place. “Giles explain.” She turned her stare to the Watcher.
“Mr. Giles explain to Buffy how effective a blindness spell would be in giving her a tactical advantage.” Madalene turned to him as well. “Not to mention the possibility of casting a reversal spell to momentarily turn them back so we can human ID them.”
“Ladies please.” Giles put up his hand. “I think it would be best if we just sat down and talked about this as we had planned.”
“The plan went wrong when we walked through the door.” Buffy pointed out.
“What about research? Everyone could stay home and research.” Dawn threw in knowing in her heart her comment wouldn’t go very far.
“Dawn’s right.” Giles supported the teenager giving her a soft smile. “We don’t know for certain that we are dealing with a wolf here Buffy, we needed Willow to find her way into the hospital files see if we can get any of those photographs she is so useful for getting.” He found a tactful way of saying we wanted Willow to hack into a system to get evidence. “We really need to study the wound on the last victims.”
“We don’t have the time Giles, if this is a wolf I have two nights at best to get it.” Buffy argued tensely.
“And if the person is migratory we have to make sure we catch them now.”
Madalene backed her up. “This person obviously didn’t originate in Sunnydale.”
“Maybe not, but they have been here for at least a month.” Giles argued softly. “There’s nothing to suggest they will move on.”
“They will, climate change.” Mads shook her head.
“Not if its Oz.” Dawn whispered her voice trembling slightly.
“Who is Oz?” The Spellcaster tried again.
“Oz?” Willow’s voice whispered from the stairs.
“Will?” Buffy’s head shot up to see the Hacker stood on the stairs her fingers wrapped around the rail, the knuckles white from the tension of her hands.
“You’re up.” Dawn squeaked. “Do you need something?”
“Tara was thirsty.” Willow replied still frozen to the spot.
Buffy glanced quickly at Dawn, silently telling her sister to go and get a glass of whatever Tara was likely to want.
“How’s she doing Will?” Buffy tried to ease the tension.
“She’s sleepy.” Willow’s voice wasn’t at all normal it was high pitched as if her throat was dry and scratchy.
“Will, I’m not sure what you might have heard...” Buffy began a slow steady walk towards the stairs.
“I heard Oz.” The redhead admitted.
“There’s a wolf in Sunnydale.” Buffy said knowing instantly she had to be honest with her friend. “It’s not Oz.” She added assured.
“How do you know?” She questioned trying to get her mind around what she was being told.
“Oz wouldn’t do the things that this wolf has.” Buffy stated carefully. “It’s just a wolf Will.” She restated calmly reaching up a hand and putting it over one of Willow’s on the rail.
For a second the entire room seemed to hang in limbo as everyone waited for the meltdown they thought was inevitable.
“W-What do we need to do?” Willow questioned in a tiny voice.
“You need to get right back up those stairs to Tara.” Buffy encouraged with a gentle squeeze of her hand.
“I have to get her a drink first.” Willow clued back into the reason she’d come downstairs in the first place.
Dawn appeared almost on cue with a glass of milk and a glass of fruit juice.
“I didn’t know which she’d want.” The teenager held up the two glasses.
“I’ll deal with this Will, this is Sunnydale, it’s a Hellmouth and it’s just a wolf Will.” Buffy smiled at her best friend amazed at her composure, though she had this creepy feeling that she wasn’t out of the woods yet.
“We’ll take care of it.” Madalene nodded as she added the soft words.
“Oh okay.” Willow stepped back a little her lips falling down into a frown as she pulled her hand back. “I’ll go upstairs out of the way.”
“Willow no, its not...” Buffy caught the hacker’s tone. “Will, its just that Tara, she needs you, she’s worth your attention, this, this isn’t.”
“No, I understand.” Willow took the glasses from Dawn who had moved around to the bottom of the stairs and began to trudge back up.
Buffy opened her mouth to say something but didn’t know what to say. Dawn looked at her sister immediately her eyes widening.
“What?” Buffy looked back at Dawn. “What else could I say?” She asked as the hacker moved out of hearing range.
“Nothing Buffy, don’t say anything and let her think you think she’s useless.”
Dawn snapped and moved up the stairs to follow the redhead.
“I...” Buffy opened her mouth to object. “Oh shit I can’t even get this right.” She snapped angrily and strode quickly out of the house via the front door.
“I’m going too...” Madalene looked at Giles and pointed at the open door.
“I’ll make the tea.” The Watcher sighed.
******
Madalene had figured out quickly how hard it was to chase after an upset Slayer as she had to push hard just to keep up with the blonde let alone get close enough to stop her.
“Buffy.” She called out when she got close enough.
“Leave me alone.” Buffy snapped.
“No.” Madalene snapped back putting on a burst of speed to get in front of the blonde. “You are not ready to face anything right now, you need to take some breaths.”
“I thought things were supposed to be getting better.” The Slayer suddenly stopped and shouted at the Spellcaster.
“They are... its just going to take time.” Madalene took the lashing without any anger.
“Did that look better to you?” Buffy’s anger was by no means gone. “Me treating my best friend as if she was an imbecile.”
“No, that looked like adaptation. A week ago Buffy I’m assuming the mention of this Oz would have had us putting padding around the staircase.” She pointed out.
“A week ago Willow probably wouldn’t have remembered or consciously known who Oz was, but then yeah when she did the Hellmouth opening would have been a walk in the park compared.” Buffy’s tone was slightly different.
“No one expects you to be perfect and if they do I’ll be the first one to correct them.” The Spellcaster offered softly. “Her place is with Tara, you were right to point that out.”
“But I made her sound useless.” Buffy countered.
“Buffy, we had just spend ten minutes arguing that I was supposed to stay in the house as well. It wasn’t a Willow specific label.” The brunette reminded her.
“Oh great so I insulted everyone.” Buffy began stalking off again.
“Buffy, would you calm down.” Madalene snapped at her. “You are trying to protect us, yes in a ‘one against the world’ sorta way but protection none the less.”
“I’m just trying to get my job done. You know find a way back to something more familiar.” Buffy admitted.
“I understand that.” She nodded. “But you don’t have to always think that everything is your responsibility. Willow is bound to have a lot of insecurities Buffy, her misunderstanding what you’ve said is bound to be the norm not the exception.” She offered softly. “Your responsibility is to try and help her see what you are really saying.”
“Oz is Willow’s ex.” Buffy suddenly released the information that they had held from the Spellcaster.
“And he’s a werewolf?” She questioned and at least got a nod this time to confirm. “But a ‘good’ one I take it?” She smiled.
“Yeah.” Buffy sighed.
“It’s not that rare.” The Spellcaster offered the gentle comfort. “Some people can very confidently control the aggression.”
“But he left her, and then came back. The last time he was here things were, tense.” Buffy explained knowing the history was long and involved.
“She did really well.” She offered.
“Yeah.” Buffy conceded “I guess I don’t know, I guess I just want things to be ok.”
“I know you do, but it’s going to take a bit of time. Not the greatest thing to have to accept but it’s true.” Madalene stepped closer breaching the Slayer’s space.
“I hate time.” Buffy admitted backing away slightly.
“Do you think she’s a liability now more than a help?” Madalene asked the question in the softest most unthreatening voice.
“Willow?” Buffy checked and the Spellcaster nodded. “I...” Buffy stopped and breathed in deeply. “I look at her and see my Will, at least glimpses of her, but she’s not. I wanted Tara to wave the magic wand and I’d have Willow back, but there is no magic, there’s just something else that is gonna take time.”
“Buffy, when you first came back how did Willow act?” Madalene asked the question carefully.
“Back as in back from the dead?” Buffy asked not quite understanding yet.
“From the dead.” She nodded.
“She was all wowed and all big chief witch girl.” Buffy replied remembering the time with numbness.
“Towards you.” She clarified.
“That’s hard to say, I was kinda different.” Buffy shrugged not really sure she wanted to think about this right now.
“You weren’t ‘her Buffy’?” Madalene tried to steer her to a certain place.
“I wasn’t anyone’s Buffy.” Buffy admitted and this comment made the spellcaster smile broadly.
“Buffy, do you really think that to your friends you’re not in a way theirs?” She questioned surprised again at how isolated Buffy could make herself.
“I think right now they are all pretty much disowning me.” Buffy replied looking up into the sky for a moment.
“I think you’d be surprised.” Mads shook her head to the idea.
“I didn’t mean to suggest I thought you’d be useless on my wolf hunt.” Buffy looked down to apologize.
“You didn’t suggest that, you suggested that I was safer at home.” Madalene contradicted softly.
“You will be.” Buffy underlined that the truth hadn’t changed.
“Not that I like to dwell on this much but I’m not like Dawn or Willow. I’m hard to break Buffy.” Madalene reminded her.
“No you’re hard to smash. You break easily, its just you mend.” Buffy challenged the point.
“Yes, but that still makes me a better bet than most.” Madalene winked at her.
“I think I prefer my Spellcaster’s whole.” Buffy smiled knowing she couldn’t really win.
“So do I.” She laughed. “I’ve done pieces, it’s not fun.”
“So just stay home.” Buffy reasoned her voice soft.
“How about I get you the stuff that can help you and then I go home nice and safe? Would that make you happy?” She tried to find a compromise.
“Better.” Buffy agreed.
“Hey I’m reasonable, sometimes.” Madalene grinned stepping around to slip her arm through Buffy’s and urge her towards the Magic Box.
“One better than me then.” Buffy grinned back.
******
thanks for reading... kathleen
"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."
To The Land of The RainbowWriters
Interesting updates, you had there. 
Why did she almost fall over?? That's so not good. I thought she was doing better. The only thing I can think of, is maybe when she did that wish, it had some type of effect on her?? Ahhhh... so many questions. I know you will eventually answer them. I just have to TRY to be patient. 
That was cute. I liked when she said that she couldn't believe she called her that though. 
I really like the family tree project they are working on. I think it might help Mads maybe to remember some things? It would be nice to see her get some of her memories back too. I just can't wait to see Tara start to get hers back.
at: 9/7/02 9:37:30 am