Damsel in Distress, My Ass

[Well I’ve been bound and gagged and I’ve been terrorized // And I’ve been castrated and I’ve been lobotomized // But never has my tormentor come in such a cunning disguise]

Co-written with stillacrime, whattingawhat and findmea_saint

It had taken several hours to figure out where he was but then again he had wanted to be found. Buffy walked into the monastery dressed for a fight, black leather pants, heeled boots and a black leather jacket. Her hair fell around her shoulders in loose curls. She looked over to Danny, taking in all the damage Angelus had done to him. Rage bubbled up inside of her and she choked it down because right now, uncontrollable rage wasn't going to do any good.

Danny looked to Buffy through the narrow slits of eyes. At this point he had lost a lot of blood. He was tired and he couldn't feel his hands and arms. Any movement made his entire body ache but he still shook his hands, pulling again on the chains. Everything Angelus had said he would do to and with Buffy was running through his mind. "No... no... go away..." He whispered. "Go away, baby please. Fuck." He looked up to the chains, the strain re-opening those cuts on his wrists so that fresh blood slid down the dried blood already on his arms.

"No way, Baby, we're gonna get you out of here and home. Your mom will have my head if we don't make to Christmas dinner and I might not be afraid of your dad but I am of your Mom," she told Danny. She looked over to Angelus, who was leaning against the wall with a smirk on his face while he smoked a cigarette. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned her weight back on one leg.

"You hurt my boyfriend."

( Read more... )

[But lately I am beginning to find that // I should be the one behind the wheel.-Drive by Incubus]

Cowritten with stillacrime and whattingawhat



The bar was loud, really seedy and apparently not entirely on the up and up regarding...well everything. Buffy was already giving off attitude about the whole thing but she was determined to have fun tonight. At least until Josh, the idiot teenage boy in question, came 'on stage'. She was wearing a pair of black leather pants and a red top that left her back bare. Her hair was all in curls, loose around her shoulders and she was wearing a pair of four inch high heeled sandals. She turned to Danny and smiled at him. He, of course was wearing his normal faded baggy jeans and a t-shirt.

"Are we going for shots tonight or beer?" Either way, slayer constitution would ensure that she stayed sober enough to scare the crap out of a seventeen year old boy.

Danny's gaze skirted the room. His hand rested at the small of her back over her skin. He loved it when she wore shirts that bared her back. "That depends, which one'll make you go easier on this kid and quit callin' the whole male sex brainless? I'm goin' for that one." He joked. Buffy smirked, looked over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're trying to tell me when you were seventeen, you weren't brainless? He got a fake ID to get in and he broke the one rule I have in my class. Got another adjective to describe him? Let's go for a shot of tequila and a beer but we'll stick to mostly beer." When they reached the bar, she reached up and took his chin in one hand and kissed him on the mouth.

"I don't think you're brainless, Baby. The rest of the male sex is up for discussion."

"Oh-hooo... alright." Danny answered, grinning and nodding his head as they waited for the busy bartender's attention. He stood behind her, his hands resting lightly at her hips. "I see how it is. Guess I'm lucky I'm above the fray at least." The tender nodded at them and Danny ordered two shots of tequila and two Coors lights.

Buffy took the tequila shot, sans lemon and salt, making a face as it burned it's way down. She never got over the way it tasted going down. Danny watched her amusedly and then did the same, letting it burn down his throat. She picked up the bottle of beer, twisting the neck between her fingers before she took a drink. She leaned on the bar and smiled at the tender.

"So when do the fights start?"

The bartender quirked an eyebrow at her, eyes traveling over her before he looked to Danny. "Few minutes. Gonna be in the backroom but it's closed off 'til we're ready to get 'em started." Giving the bartender a good glare, he tightened his hands on Buffy's hips.

"Thanks," Buffy said as she straightened up and draped an arm around Danny, leaning in to kiss his neck. It was her policy if she got checked out, they got an eyeful of just how with Danny she was. He tilted his head to bare that side of his neck and then reached to snatch his beer from the bar. One arm slipped around her waist and he began to guide them away.

"I got a hot girlfriend." He squeezed her waist.

Buffy grinned and nipped Danny's neck before straightening up to glance around the bar. She didn't see Josh but then he was probably somewhere getting ready for his fight. She was still trying to decide exactly how she was going to when she saw him. She was tempted just to let him fight and corner him afterward. She wove through the crowd, sticking close to Danny. There was quite a crowd for the fight tonight. A light went on in another part of the room and a rope was pulled aside indicating that they were letting people in. Danny walked with Buffy towards the attached room. It was darkly lit with a large cage in the middle. They made their way close enough but not right up next to the soon to be fighting arena.

Buffy stayed tucked into Danny, trying to keep a semi low profile. It occurred to her that maybe she shouldn't have worn leather pants and done her hair all bouncy but there were plenty of pretty women crammed in here. There was a DJ on a stage against one wall and an announcer up there as well. The DJ put on something with a heavy beat, turning it down just enough for the announcer to be heard. Once he'd announced the names of the first fighters, neither of them Josh, the music went up in volume. At least it was good music.

While Louie had told him about these things a lot of times, Danny had never been to one. The whole cage thing bothered him, but he tried to look at it as a regular boxing match. He sipped at his beer as he watched the two guys fight in the cage and people yelling all around them. He wasn't sure he could root like that for something like this. It felt too much like two animals fighting without any real rules. But for some people, this was their thing. And he wouldn't knock that. "One of these your kids?"

Buffy watched the fight, analyzing every move and critiquing it the way she critiqued kung fu movies. There were rules to the matches but not many. She didn't necessarily have a problem with this sort of entertainment. She just didn't understand it. Sure, a movie about cage matches was fine but real people participating in one sort of made her want to smack them in the back of the head and tell them to go find a hobby that didn't include wailing on or being wailed upon. She had to do it. These guys were just doing it for kicks and ego.

"Nope," she answered, looking up at Danny. "My boys would wipe the floor with both those guys. And if they didn't, I'd be really ashamed."

The music dipped in volume again and the announcer got up to declare the winner and announce the next round. The 'champion' was Josh Martin.

"That's my kid," she said as she straightened up, turning more of her attention to the ring. Danny watched too as the match started. The kid, Josh Martin was a pretty good fighter. He had moves that were beyond just wailing and throwing punches. He couldn't help the small amount of pride in his consistency against a fighter who was inconsistent.

He cast Buffy a sideways crooked grin. "Pretty good, Summers."

Buffy was practically beaming with pride. He was good and he was good because she'd made him that way. Then he knocked the other guy out with a complicated punch-kick move she'd taught them a few weeks ago and she grumbled. It looked super cool and was totally something you'd see in a movie.

"Now see, I specifically told them when I taught them that that I would smack them upside the head if I caught them using that anywhere except class. I only taught it to them because it looks cool and it's fun to learn and teach things that look cool."

The announcer declared Josh the winner by knock out and Buffy sighed. She took Danny's hand and wove through the crowd with him. Subconsciously she was doing the whole 'me slayer-predator, get out of the way' thing with her power, pushing it away from her so that it created this pocket, people shuffling out of the way so she could go through the crowd. They were a little slower to close the way behind them in case she needed to get out fast. It was some survival instinct left over from when men lived in the wild. Or something like that. Giles had explained it once. Buffy had zoned out after he'd informed her that yes she could use it to get through the mall faster at Christmas time.

"Now wait a minute. Looks like he did okay and he was the winner. Don't go spoil the kid's win." Danny pleaded the kid's case as he walked after Buffy hand in hand, even though he'd never met him before. He just felt for the kid. He looked all happy to have won and now he had disapproving Buffy coming after him. "How's about you just say good job and we'll talk in class on Monday? You get time to cool off. He gets the punishment of stewin' over how much trouble he's in all weekend. Boom. It works out."

Buffy paused to consider Danny's idea. He had a point. Josh did look happy to have won and he had done good. She pondered it, gnawing on her bottom lip. She sighed and looked up at Danny. "You don't think it's like letting him slide and encouraging him to do this again? And am I being all over-boardy on the whole thing? I've never taught fighting to boys."
IE: people not slayers.

"I think it's okay. Burst his bubble on Monday, Sunshine. Let him sit in the drivers seat 'til then." Danny offered. It was a compromise, he figured. Not letting the kid go but letting him have the victory. "Go tell him good job. I'll wait right here."

"Monday, I'll make sure he knows you saved his weekend," Buffy told him when she leaned up and kissed him then pushed through the crowd to tell Josh he'd done good. She was even nice about it, pulling the slayer thing back. Monday it would be in full force and she'd make him cry like a baby. Tonight he could be the tough guy.

[you’re so sure you can save // every hair on my chest
(Tori Amos – ‘iieee’)]

Louie from CSI Ny used with permission from stillacrime

“So today, so chaos making,” Buffy says as she walks in the room and sets her bag down on the bedside table. “I think the heat wave is making every one crazy, including my boys. I had to get in the middle of two fights today. One of them looks like they’re going to have a black eye. I’ve got unhappy parents and really I’m not that good at public relations.”

The man lying on the bed didn’t answer but then he never did. It wasn’t as if Buffy needed feedback in order to talk. She set the yellow tulips she’d brought on the nightstand and started ‘arranging’ them. She wasn’t doing much besides moving the flowers around in the vase.

“Danny is good. I think he told you last time he was here that your Uncle got off on the murders. They found evidence that let him off the hook. Danny is uber relieved and I’m glad to have him happier and less depressed-y. I think your Mom is really happy about it too. She’s doing really well. She’s trying to get me to go to her hair dresser. I’m not sure the whole big hair thing is really my style but she’s so sweet, it’s hard to tell her no. I told Danny if I come home with a Marge Simpson hair do, it’s his Mom’s fault. Personally I think a beehive might be awesome on me,” Buffy continues to ramble as she arranges the flowers. She’s finally got them the way she wants them so she tugs a chair closer to the bed and sits down, taking Louie’s hand in hers. She squeezed his fingers even though he never made any move to squeeze hers back. In fact, when she’d met Louie he was in a coma.

“So how you doing? You look pretty good…you know for a coma guy. I bet you’d be hot if you were non-coma guy. In general, I’ve found that a coma reduces a person’s hot factor by like…a lot,” she says as she looks down at their joined hands. “The nurses say you’re about the same. I think they just want to keep you here for themselves.” She reaches over and moves a strand of Louie’s hair off his forehead. She bends double over herself, her forehead resting on Louie’s hand.

“You know, right now, I might just crawl up there in the bed with you and lay down. Things are…hard right now. Not between me and Danny. He’s great, we’re great. It’s…my job and I’ve got this deadline. If I don’t meet it, things are going to get a lot worse. For everyone. “

She breathes out, air exhaling against Louie’s skin as she turns her cheek and lays it flat against the back of his hand. Seeing Louie is always hard because Buffy knows how much Danny wants him to wake up. She wishes she could give Louie her strength, her spirit, her heart and her healing. She doesn’t know that it would help him wake up but she knows that Faith was beaten within an inch of her life. She knows that there was damage the doctors didn’t think her body would ever repair to her brain and to her body. She also knows that Faith woke up and she thinks maybe Louie would too but Louie’s not a power sucker or a witch the way Willow is. He can’t take anything from her even though she wishes he could. Sometimes though, seeing Louie is peaceful, it’s a place she can relax and since Louie is in a coma, she doesn’t have to be anything.

After several long minutes she sits up then slowly stands and leans over to press a kiss to Louie’s forehead. “I should go. Danny’s probably home and I need to pick up some take out. I’ll come back next week.”

Because at first it was about going to see Louie for Danny and then it was going to see Louie for Louie’s sake but now, it’s going to see Louie because she wants to.

All you know of heroines is what you read//Sometimes we burn. Sometimes we bleed] –Curses by The Golden Palominos

You think you know what it’s like, being a slayer. You think it’s about power and kicking ass. It’s about right and wrong and fighting evil. You’re right but that’s only half of the story. That’s the movie half. You know with the credits and the cool theme music. That’s Abby Whistler and Alice. That’s cute shoes, short skirts and high kicks.
It’s the other half that no one wants to write about. It’s the half that hurts and burns. The half that bleeds and hides in the shadows. It’s about never being finished and always aching for that resolution. It’s about high towers and six feet under the ground. It’s hiding bruises because they expose your vulnerability and Wonder Woman is never, ever vulnerable. It’s lies, half truths and nightmares that make you want to never shut your eyes again. It’s what the papers will never print and the storybooks will never tell. Sometimes we burn. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we bleed and in the end, we’re never enough.