Damsel in Distress, My Ass

[Rescue Someone]


Co-written with stillacrime and whattingawhat. Willow is written by both and not binding on any muse. Follows Part I, Part II, and Part III


Her first breath was so violent it hurt. That first gasp, half scream. She came half way up off the couch, hands made into fists and her head full of memories from the last time. Her predominant thought was Get out get out get out get out get out now before the air runs out. And then she realized she wasn't locked in a coffin. She didn't have to bust out and she wasn't in Heaven. That was last time. She hadn't been dead long enough to get there. She swallowed her next scream and scuttled back into the corner of the couch, knees going to her chest and arms wrapping around her legs protectively. For the first time since her eyes flew open, she looked around, realizing where she really was. Home. She was home. Her eyes met Danny's and she raked her hands through her hair. No grave dirt, just blood. It was all over her wrist and she could feel it dried, pulling at the skin on her neck.

"I'mokayimokayimokay," she said in a rush of breath. It was a reassurance for him. She hadn't made enough of an assessment to assure herself yet.

That breath tore the air in half and something in Danny snapped out of the tunnel he had been traveling through. With her first breath, his own breathing became heady and uneven. He could finally breathe too. He watched her, not sure if he should reach out to her or not, not sure of anything. And then she was okay... or she said she was.

Danny shifted his weight back and forth from foot to foot, a nervous tic. "Hey Sunshine... I got number one right."

"That's the important one, right, Buffy?" Willow said. Her voice was soft. She didn't reach out to touch Buffy yet either.

Buffy nodded in answer. It was disorienting, being dead and then not being dead. She knew she needed to do something but right now she couldn't. It was like her system was fried. "C-cold," she managed to push the words between her lips.

Springing into action, Danny went to the bedroom to grab two throw blankets from a pile in a wicker chest. He carried them back into the living room and rested one over her and then another. At that moment, Rocky decided personal space was not necessary and jumped up onto the couch. Danny grabbed him quickly away from Buffy and held onto the puppy to keep him from trying again. "Not right now, Rocky. Later." He paused a beat. "Love you, Summers."

Buffy pulled the blankets closer, wrapping them around her. "Thanks," she whispered. "Love you too." She scratched at the bite on her wrist.

"She'll be okay," Willow told Danny. It had just the faintest hint of desperation to it, like she was trying to convince herself as well. "Just...give her a little bit." She looked to Buffy. "Do you want some hot tea? I can go make it."

Buffy nodded slightly in response and Willow fled the room to the kitchen to make the tea.

Danny hesitated before nodding his understanding. She was going to be okay, Willow said. "Yeah, yeah... you know what. Gonna go make you a bath. Boom." He took a deep breath and turned out of the living room carrying Rocky with him. He put him down on the bathroom floor and closed the door so the pup wouldn't escape. In the bathroom he plugged the drain of the tub and started some warm water. He added vanilla scented bubble bath and bath salts to the mix and then turned to look in the mirror while he waited for the tub to fill up.

He looked like shit and he knew it. But the more he stared into the mirror without really seeing, the more unshed tears welled up in his eyes. This time he let them fall, hunching over the sink to keep from seeing himself at all. He didn't like to cry, but it happened sometimes. And now Buffy was okay... kind of. She was here. He had done it, even without a list. He hadn't let her down. He deserved a few tears for a few minutes, so he let them fall. Buffy was awake and he was so damn thankful.

Dare 22 - Decorate
OOC: Co-written by stillacrime and whattingawhat.


Danny loved the holidays. People seemed nicer. There was something different in the air. He was good with Christmas time. Normally, he reserved his decorating to a few lights on the balcony and in the windows. But this year he had Buffy. Together, they had gone out to buy a small tree and brought it upstairs. It now sat bare in the corner of the living room aside from lights that he had worked in and out of the branches around the tree. Buffy sat on the couch unwrapping brand new ornament boxes that they had bought from the corner mart. Finally, Danny stood up and stretched, arching his back and lifting his arms up and then out to work the cricks out of his neck and back from being hunched over so much. "Alright Sunshine, lights are on the tree. What's next? Tinsel?"

"Lots of tinsel," Buffy agreed. She handed Danny the open plastic carton of tinsel. "Mom, Dawnie and I used to put so much tinsel on it that it was silver." She opened another package of silver tinsel and moved to the opposite side of the tree. She hung it on the limbs carefully, one piece at a time. Christmas hadn't been a holiday she'd really enjoyed since she was seventeen but everything was different this year and she was giving it a shot. Christmas did seem different in New York. Maybe she was happy here, maybe people were nicer or maybe it was just the other side of the country. Regardless of what it was, Buffy was looking forward to all the Christmas activities and accouterments this year.

In contrast to Buffy's careful placement of tinsel, Danny grabbed a clump and haphazardly tossed it onto the tree. He had never really decorated his own Christmas tree before. And from his perspective, it looked alright. "You know, we should go see the Radio City Christmas spectacular. My parents used to take me and Louie when we were kids. My mommy loved that show. Haven't been in awhile."

"And I've never been so we should go," Buffy nodded. "Are there Rockettes? And why are they so famous if all they do is kick?" She was still carefully placing the tinsel on the tree, even going behind Danny a little to straighten his clumps into neat strings. "What other traditions do you guys have at Christmas?"

"They're so famous cause they're a tradition that's been around since way back when. And have you ever tried to put forty or fifty people together and make 'em high-kick in damn near perfect unison? Easier said than done." Danny continued to toss small clumps here and there on the tree. "That's what my mom says, but it's really true. Plus they sing and dance too, both things I got no talent in so I'll let them do it. For me personally? They're famous cause that many girls in one place who've got nice legs in high heels, not a bad thing... plus what my mom says. It's like forty or fifty you's."

Buffy laughed and shook her head. "I'm pretty sure a Rockette has to be a lot taller than me." She finished with her batch of tinsel and grabbed some of the ornaments to put on the tree. "Am I going to have to dress up like a Rockette to keep your attention?" she teased him. "I can pull off the high kick in heels but I'm not sure about those big head dress things and skimpy tops they wear."

"You gotta be kiddin' me, Summers. You always got my attention, always." Danny finished with the tinsel and set the box aside. He watched Buffy as she put the ornaments on the tree. "Besides, I like you better without the headdress. It'd just get in the way, yeah?"

"It looks like it'd be in the way," Buffy agreed. She pulled her bottom lip through her teeth as she considered ornament placement the looked up at Danny with a grin. "I like always having your attention. I'm incredibly difficult like that." She put another ornament on the tree, moved it and then put it somewhere else. "Traditions, Messer. What else am I in for?" she teased him.

He picked up a box of ornaments and shrugged as he walked over to the tree. He began to randomly place them over the tree, not really in any order or certain place. "Well it all depends on if I get called in or not. Crazy people don't take a break even on Christmas. But lunch at my parent's... kinda like Thanksgiving but with presents. And I know I won't be off on New Years day cause somethin' always happens in Times Square on New Year's Eve. But if you get a chance, that's one hell of a party. Been a few times. Busy time of year for the lab though."

"Sounds nice and I'll ask Santa for no crazy people on Christmas," she joked. "Maybe we can hit Times Square New Year's Eve and if you get called in..." she shrugged. "That many people in one place? Drunk...all you can eat buffet. I'm gonna be there anyway. At least we can spend part of the night together before we both have to go to work." She picked up a second box of ornaments and placed them carefully on the tree in contrast to Danny's haphazard placement.

Danny nodded, squinting and wrinkling his nose as he looked up to the tree. "Yeah. Sounds like a good plan. And hey, this tree thing is a new tradition for me. Don't usually do this. New tradition for us, I guess." He walked over to the bags and plucked out an angel tree topper. Opening the box, he took the angel out and moved to the tree to place it on top. "With a cherry on top." He quipped.

Buffy swallowed hard as she watched Danny put the angel on top of the tree. No crazy Christmases with possible murdering boyfriends this year. Angel or star on top of the tree didn't determine the outcome of a Christmas. "Yeah...I haven't done a tree in...years. I guess since Mom died. I'm glad we're making it a new tradition. There should be egg nog. Do you want egg nog? And I have rum to add to it if you want that too."

"Sure. I'm all for new traditions, Sunshine." He walked over to Buffy and put an arm around her shoulders to pull her closer do that he could gently kiss her cheek. "I want that too, long as it's with you."

[Have you ever wished you could be with someone else while in a monogamous relationship?]

ooc: Takes place in S6 of Btvs

She stretches her leg, toe pointing and a sleepy smile curves her lips as she presses her foot against his calf. The cool of his skin seeps through her, peace sweeping through her. His nose is nestled in her hair at the back of her neck and occasionally she feels him loose an unnecessary exhalation against her skin. He smells cold and dry, a little earthy blended with the scent of leather and tinged with something spicy metallic she knows is blood.

She stretches again, waking him up and his hand glides over her hip and across her ribs, eliciting a soft laugh bubbling from her lips. She keeps her eyes closed, holding onto the illusion a little while longer. He nibbles at her shoulder and she can feel the tension coil inside of her. She starts counting backwards in her mind because she knows he’s going to ruin it.

ten

Nine

Eight

Seven

Six

His lips and blunt teeth nip at her neck and her eyes fly open.

“Don’t.” The word is pointed and hard, colder than his skin could ever be. It shatters the illusion thoroughly and disgust rolls through her from the inside out. She slips out of bed, leaving the blankets, the sheets and the vampire tangled among them.

“Could stay a bit longer, Pet.”

“We’re not that domestic, Spike,” she says as she gets dressed.

“M’not him. That’s it, innit it? That’s why you keep me away from your neck and you don’t stay all night.”

Buffy sighs because she doesn’t want to have this discussion, not with Spike, not with anyone and certainly not now. “It wasn’t exactly a love bite, Spike. He was dying. I saved him. End of story. I don’t like you near my neck because I’m a vampire slayer. Bad PR if I’ve got vamp bites on my neck.”

The truth is something much closer to his words and they both know it. She doesn’t say goodbye when she leaves and she doesn’t linger or make promises about always. She just leaves because he’s not the man she wants him to be. He’s just as close as she can get to that man.

[Truth: What’s the worst thing you’ve done morally?]

“All dressed up in big sister’s clothes.”
The words rake over her spine, etching at bone and catching in muscle. She watches in horror as Faith saunters closer, red blooming from her core. There’s a fat drip and it lands on the wood floor.

“No…you were fine. I remember.”

“Fine? That what you call having a knife stuck in your gut, B?” She puts her hand to her stomach and it comes away painted in slick crimson. She moves closer, wolf grin on her face and grabs Buffy’s face, smearing blood across her skin. She leans in to lick it off her cheek. “Come on, give Big Sister a welcome home kiss.”

Buffy shoves her away and Faith is laughing. There’s a prick in her side and warmth spreads across her body, flooding her skin. There’s a metallic tinge to the air and a fat drop of blood hits the wood floor. Buffy presses her hand to her stomach as she falls and it comes away painted slick crimson.

“Fair’s fair, B. I say share, share.”

Her head hurts and Faith’s words rattle around in her brain. The blood is pooling and everything’s going cold then Faith is in her line of sight again. She’s right there in front of her face and Buffy takes a weak swing that makes Faith laugh.

“I think you’ve gotten enough punches in. Time to pay the piper but before you go, you’ve got a vistor,” Faith sing songs as she takes a step back.

“Yo, Angelus, you got somethin’ to say to B?”

***

She bolts out of bed, side aching and puts on her running shoes. Her clothes are mismatched, something she grabbed in the dark and she runs. She runs until her side hitches and her breath comes in gulps so she pushes herself harder. When she finally collapses on the grass beside a small park, she can’t breathe at all and she doesn’t know where she is but dawn is just peeking over the horizon. The run home takes longer and she considers calling Faith but this isn’t a problem for her. Faith forgave her a long time ago. Buffy just can’t forgive herself.