A few quick replies before the next chapter:
Irene: How are you coming with that new avatar, my Spanish florist? Are your flowers wilting yet? So I'm a gentlewoman - that's lovely. Thank you, my friend.
Soluna89: Welcome! I'm always excited to discover a new reader. Thank you for your kind words. Hopefully you will continue to enjoy the story.
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Please note that the wonderful lyrics to "A Little Respect" belong to the very talented Erasure.
Chapter 8
After spending the majority of the night, and well into the next morning making love, Willow and Tara decided they needed an evening out on the town. Of course, given Willow’s reputation, their choices for where to go were severely limited.
They drove for about a half hour, crossing over the city line and into the next county as well. Their non-stop talking for the first twenty minutes faded into a comfortable silence. Tara rested her left hand just above Willow’s right knee. While driving, Willow periodically stole quick glances to her right; her gaze occasionally catching Tara’s, and then, they both would smile. The radio played softly until Willow heard a tune she couldn’t resist and turned up the volume.
Willow tapped her fingers against the steering wheel, just slightly out of rhythm with the snappy music. Tara smiled at Willow’s childlike excitement, and then, brought her right hand up to cover her gaping mouth as Willow started to sing.
“I try to discover…
A little something to make me sweeter…”
Willow stuck out her bottom lip in to a full blown pout. Tara resisted the urge to capture the pouty bottom lip with her own mouth.
“Oh baby refrain from breaking my heart…”
Willow looked over at Tara and sang the next line.
“I’m so in love with you…”
Then, Willow turned back to watch the road but continued singing.
“I’ll be forever blue…
That you give me no reason…
Why you’re making me work so hard…
That you give me no…
That you give me no…
That you give me no…
That you give me no…soul…
I hear you calling….
Oh baby please…
Give a little respect…
To me”
Willow’s voice raised an octave on the last two words and went a bit flat, but if Tara minded at all, it wasn’t evident from the way her face was beaming.
Willow stopped the car at a red light. She reached under her seat and pulled out a dull, red, thin, cylinder shaped object. She held it in her left hand and used it as a microphone, turning to face Tara, so she could continue her serenade.
“And if I should falter…
Would you open your arms out to me…”
Tara moved her arms in to a gesture of an open embrace causing Willow to smile.
“We could make love not war…”
Willow arched her eyebrow as she sang the line and received an equally sexy leer from Tara.
“And live at peace with our hearts…
I’m so in love with you…”
Willow held her right hand over her heart.
“I’ll be forever blue…
What religion or reason…
Could drive a man to forsake his love…
Don’t you tell me no…
Don’t you tell me no…
Don’t you tell me no…
Don’t you tell me no…soul…
I hear you calling…
Oh baby please…
Give a little respect…
To me”
Willow’s flat note this time was drowned out from a car horn blowing behind them. Willow gave the man an evil glare in her rearview mirror. She handed Tara her make shift microphone and stepped on the gas.
“Some people just don’t appreciated good music,” Willow sneered.
“I thought it was beautiful, sweetie,” Tara said proudly.
Tara twirled the item in her hands and looked down to read the word printed on the side. Her eyes bulged as her brain processed the letters.
“Um, Will…honey…why do you have dynamite in your car?” she asked matter-of-factly.
“Huh?” Willow looked over at the explosive stick. “Uh…no reason,” she said sheepishly and turned back to look at the road. “Oh look…we’re here,” she said relieved, stopping the car and putting it in park.
Tara leaned over and carefully set the volatile object on the back seat. She sat up and through the front windshield read the name on the red neon sign above the door to the concrete building.
“Bandits?” she raised her eyebrows and smirked at Willow.
“Well, we can’t exactly go to a place called Cops,” Willow got out of the car and hurried around to open Tara’s car door. Willow offered Tara her hand as she got out of the car.
“Thank you,” Tara held on to Willow’s hand as she closed her door. They both walked toward the entrance of the club.
“Heck, my guys won’t even listen to a song by ‘The Police’,” Willow remarked.
Willow held open the front door and followed behind Tara. The atmosphere inside the bar didn’t quite live up to the place’s name. The front room was fairly well lit. The oak bar ran the length of the wall on the left side of the room. A pair of guys sat watching the horse races on the television mounted to the ceiling behind the bar. There were a scattering of tables throughout the room, with a few booths along the walls.
Most of the tables were empty except for a trio of guy’s playing cards at one of them. Along the wall directly in front of them were a few video machines. A woman with short, dirty-blonde hair vigorously worked the controls of the Ms. Pac Man machine. On the same wall was an open doorway in to a dimmer lit room. Music drifted out from that room, though Tara couldn’t quite make out the name of the song.
“Do you come here a lot?” Tara asked Willow.
“Nah…hardly ever,” Willow shook her head.
“Hey, Willow!” two guys said in unison as they came out of the rest room on the right and made their way back to the bar.
Willow made a frowny face, but Tara just smiled and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. They crossed the room and approached the bar. The bartender had a rugged face, with sandy brown hair and sideburns like Elvis. He smiled big when he saw Willow.
“Howdy, Willow!” he said with a noticeable Southern accent.
“Hey, Snowman!” Willow returned the smile and leaned over to look behind the bar. “How’s Fred?”
“Oh, you know, that ole’ coon dog…just as lively as ever,” the bartender replied.
Willow motioned for Tara to look over the bar. When Tara did, she saw a scraggly hound dog sprawled out on the floor. Tara also noticed, behind the bar, a map of the United States. There was a big red X across the state of Wyoming. She was about to inquire about it when Snowman interrupted.
“You want your usual, Will?” he asked.
“Sure,” she blushed and looked at Tara.
“Not a regular, huh?” Tara teased squeezing Willow’s hand tighter.
“Your lady friend here…family?” Snowman asked even though he knew she must be to be here with Willow.
“Oh…she’s an expert thief, Snowman,” Willow gazed into Tara’s endless blue eyes. “She stole my heart the moment I saw her.”
It was Tara’s turn to blush. She lowered her head and let her long blonde hair fall half way across her face. Willow pulled the mane of hair back over Tara’s left shoulder and kissed her lover’s cheek.
“What can I get ya, darlin’?” Snowman asked Tara.
“What’s your usual?” Tara asked Willow.
“Ginger Ale,” Willow replied. “Hard liquor makes me kind of spazzy.”
“Ginger Ale would be great,” Tara told Snowman.
“Coming right up, ladies,” he went off to fix their drinks.
Willow and Tara turned around and leaned with their backs against the bar.
“So…is everyone in here as notorious as you?” Tara whispered in Willow’s left ear.
“Let’s see,” Willow motioned first to the two guys at the end of the bar watching TV. “Those are the Gorch Brothers. They’re horse thieves,” Willow informed her. “The lady at the video game is Maggie Walsh. She’s a scientist…into illegal cloning.”
Tara watched the angry woman slap the side of the machine. She then fished around in her lab coat pocket and pulled out a roll of quarters.
Tara turned her attention to the trio of men playing cards. From this angle, she recognized one of the guys to be Xander. She heard a man with an English accent ask Xander, “Do you have any…Jacks?”
“Go fish, E-man,” Xander exclaimed.
Willow continued her round of point out the perpetrator. “The British guy with Xander is Ethan Rayne. He’s a con artist.”
No sooner had the words left Willow’s mouth, than Tara noticed the man slip a card out of his sleeve on to the top of the deck he was drawing from.
“Got what I wanted!” he revealed the Jack to Xander. “Bloody lucky.”
“Yeah…lucky,” Xander skeptically shook his head.
Willow then pointed out the remaining occupant at the table. “The guy who looks like Jack Tripper from ‘Three’s Company’…that’s Ted Buchanan. He’s into identity theft and computer tampering.”
“So…this is what you evil masterminds do on a Saturday night?” Tara picked up the drink Snowman had brought and took a sip.
“Well, we don’t have cable…except for Ted, but I think his is an illegal hook up…so we have to make our own fun,” Willow said playfully.
“I can think of something fun,” Tara purred and leaned in closer to whisper in Willow’s ear.
The redhead’s eyes flew open wide. “You ready to go?” she grabbed Tara’s hand and pulled her toward the exit.
“Hey ladies,” Xander blocked their hasty departure.
“Hey Xander…we we’re just leaving,” Willow informed him while Tara just waved hello.
“You just got here,” he said absently and turned them both back toward the bar. “Besides, Snowman will be disappointed if you don’t try again.”
“Not tonight, Xander,” Willow protested.
“Come on, Will,” he pushed. “You’re bound to get it one of these times.”
“Get what?” Tara’s interest was piqued though she was more than a little annoyed that Xander had interrupted their plans.
“Willow here can name all of the state capitals in less than a minute,” Snowman informed Tara.
“Except for one,” Xander interjected.
“Okay, Xander,” Willow’s face was starting to turn red and she spoke through clenched teeth.
“She has a bit of trouble with Wyoming,” Snowman continued to enlighten Tara.
“It’s Cheyenne,” Tara offered immediately knowing the answer.
“She can’t never remember it,” Snowman said.
“I know what it is, I just choose to block it out,” Willow’s ire was raised.
“Her former lady friend resided there,” Snowman continued to fill in the blanks for Tara, who felt both amused and sympathetic for Willow.
“Cordelia Chase – the cattle queen of Cheyenne, Wyoming,” Xander’s eyes sparkled with mischief.
“Thank you, Xander,” Willow’s glare threw daggers at her best friend.
“What happened?” Tara’s curiosity over shadowed her sympathy, though she did rub Willow’s arm in a reassuring manner.
“Cordelia won the Miss Sirloin Shank pageant and Willow refused to ride a horse alongside of her in the parade,” Xander recalled the event.
“So she dumped her,” Snowman added.
“Are you both finished? They aren’t horses…they’re giant arm biting monsters,” Willow shivered at the thought of the beasts.
“Aw, honey, are you afraid of horses?” Tara asked sincerely concerned.
“Bad pony experience…when she was six,” Xander interjected again.
“Which was all your fault,” Willow said poking him in the chest with her finger.
“Ow!” he backed up a few steps.
“If you hadn’t pinned the tail on the pony, instead of on the paper donkey, he wouldn’t have tried to bite my hand off,” Willow fumed.
“I was blindfolded and dizzy from spinning around,” he defended himself.
Tara watched their playful banter, which couldn’t conceal their obvious affection for each other. She felt a twinge of jealousy. Not because she thought Willow might be attracted to Xander…because…hello…Willow’s gay. She felt left out because she had never had a similar kind of sisterly relationship with anyone. Out of all the Scooby’s, she was closest to Faith. But Tara had been keeping so many secrets, about herself, she realized that even Faith didn’t really know her.
Tara knew she should call Buffy to let her know she was okay. But this time with Willow was too precious. She wasn’t ready to let anyone interrupt it for her right now. Including Xander.
“Come on,” Tara took Willow by the hand and led her toward the bar’s exit.
“Where are you going?” Xander asked, taken back by Tara’s sudden move.
“Riding lessons,” Tara leered over her shoulder at Willow who instantly understood her meaning and smiled her approval.
“Kinda dark to go riding,” Xander posed to Snowman, who just laughed and cleared Willow and Tara’s glasses off the bar.
They got as far as the car before Tara pinned Willow up against the passenger side door and planted a fiery kiss on Willow’s lips. Tara maneuvered her thigh in between Willow’s legs. When she rubbed her thigh against Willow’s well inflamed center, Willow responded by deepening their kiss even more. The public environment was the only thing preventing them from ripping off each other’s clothes and doing it on the hood of Willow’s classic Cadillac.
Willow broke their kiss rather abruptly.
“Home…quickly,” she said almost out of breath.
Tara nodded. Willow opened the passenger door and slid across the seat to the driver’s side. As Tara got in, Willow couldn’t resist one more passionate kiss before starting the car and spinning her wheels out of the parking lot.
From the driver’s seat of her yellow Dodge Dart, Anya had witnessed Willow and Tara’s lust-filled interlude. The Vengeance Demon fumed as she had watched her date from a few weeks ago lasciviously behavior with the blonde woman.
She slammed her car door and muttered to herself,” I just got out of a relationship…my ass,” Anya entered the club and went straight to the bar.
“Let me use your phone, Frosty,” she demanded.
“Anya, for the last time…it’s Snowman…not Frosty,” he corrected putting the phone up on the bar.
“Whatever,” she dialed a number and waited.
A sleepy Faith staggered out of her room to answer the ringing phone in the hallway. She picked up the receiver and in a grouchy voice said, “Scooby’s…Faith here.”
“I know where your friend is,” Anya spoke from her end of the phone.
Faith was suddenly wide awake and ready to listen.
*****
Faith was running around the Scooby house like a maniac. She had just hung up the phone after getting her first real tip on where Willow may be holding Tara. She banged loudly on both Kendra’s and Buffy’s bedroom doors, screeching for them both to get up. Then, she ran into her room to get dressed.
Buffy opened her door and appeared in the doorway in her pink baby doll pajamas. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and while yawning managed to say, “What’s up?”
Faith dashed by Buffy. Her plaid leather skirt was on sideways and opened at the zipper. She had on the white wife-beater she had been sleeping in and one white athletic sock on her left foot. The other sock was in her hand. After pounding on Kendra’s door again, she raised her right leg and put on her other sock.
“I got a lead on Tara,” she told Buffy.
A feeling of dread washed immediately over Buffy. All of the color drained from her face and she stood there just staring at Faith.
“Get ready!” Faith said eagerly, pounding on Kendra’s door again. “Get off the boy, Kendra, and let’s move!”
Buffy disappeared back in to her bedroom and closed the door. She picked up her cell phone and immediately dialed Tara’s number.
“Pick up! Pick up! Pick up!” she willed, but the phone just kept ringing. She left another message and begrudgingly got dressed.
Faith sat on the side of her bed lacing up her combat boots. She picked up her cell phone, from the night stand, and speed dialed a number.
“Yeah?” a groggy Larry answered on the second ring.
“Put on your ruby slippers, Dorothy, and get your ass over here,” Faith commanded and hung up the phone without waiting for his reply.
When Faith exited the bedroom, she found Buffy in the hallway fully dressed and chewing on the fingernails of her right hand. Kendra was sitting on the chair, in the hallway, catching a cat nap. Her gun sat on her lap. She was basically dressed, though her blouse was mis-buttoned.
“Let’s roll,” Faith ordered heading down the stairs to get the car and wait for Larry.
*****
Faith turned off the headlights of the car about five hundred yards before she pulled up to the darkened warehouse. She parked a little way down the street, then turned around to brief her team.
“Okay, guys…follow your DAPHNE code,” Faith instructed.
“What in the name of Siegfried and Roy is a DAPHNE code?” Larry asked baffled.
Faith shot an expectant look at both Kendra and Buffy.
“Don’ git nabbed,” Kendra said listlessly.
“Accessories are useful,” Buffy pulled her gun out of her purse.
“Punch ‘em low,” Kendra rolled her eyes.
“Handcuffs are your friend,” Buffy said enthusiastically.
“Never eat beans before a stake out,” Kendra added.
“Evil must die!” Buffy concluded the mantra.
Larry looked at the trio of girl’s like they all had three heads. He finally said, “Can we go now?”
The group exited the car and snuck up to the back door of Willow’s lair. There was a giant padlock securing the door. Faith pointed the barrel of her semi-automatic weapon at the lock. Larry stepped forward. He pulled a small laser out of the inside pocket of his flack jacket. He aimed it at the lock and turned on the beam, which began to melt through the metal on the lock.
“You know, this thing is fabulous for unsightly hair removal,” he whispered. “Like an annoying moustache problem,” he looked at Faith.
“Shut up,” Faith spat, continuing to check the perimeter of the building for members of Willow’s gang.
The padlock fell open and Larry removed it, and then, carefully opened the door as quietly as he could. The quartet entered the dimly lit building and ran down a narrow corridor.
In an interior room, Xander sat around a table with four of Willow’s team. Each guy had two or three cards in front of him. The bespectacled man, named Wesley, turned the handle on the cylinder full of round balls. He pulled out one of the balls and announced, “B7.”
“Bingo!” Xander raised both arms in the air. “I am the God of Bingo,” he proclaimed.
Behind him, a red police light flashed and a siren began to alarm.
“Breach,” he turned and said seriously to the group, who hurriedly exited the room to get in to position.
Faith led her crew through a series of rooms, careful to check around corners and in the dark shadows. They ended up in a large room that held three seven hundred pound laundry dryers. Faith held up her hand for them to stop. She listened intently for a moment. There was nothing but silence.
Finally, she spoke. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear wat?” Kendra asked not hearing a peep.
Suddenly, the lights came on and the sound of guns loading and locking rang through the quiet room.
“Fuck!” Faith swore.
Willow’s team surrounded the infiltrators. They had their weapons aimed and ready to fire, if necessary.
“Drop ‘em,” Xander ordered, briefly making eye contact with Buffy, while his team moved in closer to the intruders.
Faith nodded for her squad to comply, but she also used the secret code phrase to tell them to resist if they could, “Like now, Scoobs!”
Kendra made like she was going to drop her gun, but instead she swung it around to catch her guy in the groin.
“Punch ‘em low,” she said, giving the guy an upper cut as he bent over in pain.
Buffy did drop her gun and raised her hands. On the way up, she grabbed the clip from her hair. She whipped around and jammed the metal prongs into the arm of the guy covering her.
“Accessories are useful,” she finished the guy off with two swift blows to his head.
While Faith and Larry each battled their guys, along with Kendra’s help, Buffy saw and opportunity to speak with Xander. He pulled her over behind one of the big dryers.
“What…the hell?” he asked Buffy.
“I couldn’t stop them,” Buffy explained.
“Play any Foosball lately?” he asked casually.
“A little,” she answered equally casual and then turned serious again. “What?”
He just shrugged.
Having disposed of her guy with a blow to the stomach and then a knee to his chin, Faith walked up behind Xander and Buffy.
“What are you doing?” she asked Buffy annoyed.
“Um…nothing,” Buffy clipped Xander across his left cheek with her right hook.
He fell to the floor, out cold, just like the rest of Willow’s gang.
“Let’s go,” Faith said.
“Sorry,” Buffy whispered, stepping over Xander’s frame and following the others out of the room.
They continued to navigate the winding passageways of the intricate warehouse. They passed by a computer room, and then, headed up a ramp. On the wall, they passed the map of the US, with the big X over the state of Wyoming.
Faith pushed open a metal door and entered Willow’s bedroom. Four years of training at the Scooby Academy had not prepared her for what she saw.
Willow was sitting on the side of the bed. She was facing the wall. Her left hand was behind her body, tightly gripping the mattress. Her head was thrown back and her eyes were closed. Her topless body was not nearly covered by Tara’s plaid tie around her neck. Her legs were draped over Tara’s shoulders.
Tara was kneeling on the floor beside the bed. Her face was deeply buried between Willow’s legs and she was enthusiastically attending to her lover.
Willow opened her eyes and spotted their audience to her left.
“Oh fuck!” she exclaimed, sitting up to grab the sheet to cover both her and Tara.
“You like that, baby?” Tara replied, going right back to work, oblivious to their company.
“Baby,” Willow lifted Tara’s head from her most intimate spot.
Tara looked like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes met Faith first, and then Buffy, Kendra and Larry in succession. Willow’s essence glistened all around her open mouth. She brought her left hand up to wipe away the evidence. Her move only caused more shock, as she revealed the pair of emerald covered handcuffs secured around her left wrist and Willow’s right wrist.
“Handcuffs are your friend,” Buffy whispered under her breath.
Tara spoke the first and only words that came to her mind.
“It’s not what you think!”
TBC
_________________ "Life is nothing but a dream, and if you create your life with Love, your dream becomes a masterpiece of art." - Don Miguel Ruiz
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