Buffy sat quietly beside Faith in the back of Xander’s car. “There are a couple of rules I think we need for Joyce and Dawn,” said Xander. “The first is that you can add them to the list of people you can’t lie to. If you don’t want to talk about something, you can say that you don’t want to talk about it, but if Joyce insists, you have to tell her.”
Buffy and Faith both nodded. “Yes, Xander,” they said together. Buffy had already decided that that was what she was going to do, but it was nice to have Xander’s order to enforce it. She saw him glance at her, in his rear view mirror, and she smiled. She knew he was wondering if she and Faith were linked again, but he didn’t ask. If he had, she’d have told him that their link had never really gone away since their spanking in the Magic Box, but it was currently running at a low ebb. She and Faith were still aware of what each other was feeling, but their thoughts were mostly their own.
“The second thing is that if you don’t want to tell Dawn something, you don’t have to, even if she tries to insist,” said Xander. “You can’t lie to her, but you don’t have to tell her anything you don’t want to, either. Feel free to tell her that it’s none of her business if she asks you about anything you don’t want to talk about…especially if she asks about sex.”
“Yes, Xander,” they said again, and this time there was a bit of a laugh in Faith’s voice.
“Third thing is that there is to be absolutely no kinky bondage stuff going on in front of Joyce and Dawn!”
Xander addressed this third comment to the heavens, rather than to Buffy and Faith, but they both nodded along with it, and said “Yes, Xander,” again. Buffy added her own silent plea to whatever force sometimes took over the magic that it not manifest in front of her mother, or sister.
Xander pulled his car to a stop behind Giles’ mid-life-crisis-mobile, in front of her house. “Here we are.” He grabbed his satchel, that had all the documents that they had received pertaining to Faith’s release, and the parchment that Gimmel had left him, and got out of the car. Buffy and Faith had opened their doors, but they couldn’t leave the car until someone took hold of their leashes. Xander took Faith’s, and Anya took Buffy’s, to walk them up to the house. Buffy was starting to get a little nervous. Xander had said that they’d be wearing their leashes until they got to her house, but just what did that mean? Would she still be wearing it when she went in the door? The thought of her mother and Dawn seeing Anya holding her on her leash embarrassed, and excited her.
The light flashed when they reached the porch, and their leashes vanished. Buffy tried not to be too disappointed.
Dawn had been watching for Xander’s arrival from the upstairs hall window. She saw him park his car, and then him and Anya get out. She was a little puzzled by why Buffy and Faith seemed to just sit in the back, after opening their doors, until she saw Xander and Anya reach in and take hold of something. Holy Crap! They had Buffy and Faith on leashes! She watched them come up the walk toward the front porch. Faith was also carrying a small bag, about the right size for a bottle of wine.
“They’re here!” she called out, before ducking into the bathroom to check herself out one last time to make sure that she hadn’t picked up any smudges of dirt on her nose, or anything like that, in the five minutes since the last time she’d checked. She ran few quick strokes with her brush through her hair, just to make sure that it was still all in order. She dashed back out into the hall, and down the stairs. She could see parts of the four people on the front porch through the narrow windows beside the door, and saw a flash of light. She wondered what it was as she opened the door, and smiled a greeting for Xander, who had been reaching for the doorbell.
“Hi Xander!” she said cheerfully. “Buffy, Anya,” was said with less cheer. “Faith.” Her voice went cold as she greeted the final person on the porch. She wondered for a moment what had happened to her leash. If anyone deserved to be kept on a leash, it was Faith.
“Dawnmeister!” said Xander, and she dismissed Faith from her thoughts for the moment, to focus on him. She saw the way he was looking at her, with appreciation in his eyes. “You’re looking great! Stealing your sister’s clothes, again?”
“Not this time,” said Buffy. “I gave her permission, today.”
Dawn smiled at Xander’s compliment. She stepped back from the door, to let them come in. “Giles is already here, in the living room.”
Dawn showed everyone into the living room, where Giles was waiting for them, and her mother came out of the kitchen to say hello to everyone. Her greetings for Xander and Anya were genuinely warm, but Dawn could tell that she was just being polite to Faith, for the sake of politeness.
“Dinner smells good,” said Xander.
Dawn had to agree with that. Her mom had pulled out all the stops, preparing a roast beef dinner for all of them. She said it was because she so rarely had enough people over to dinner to be able to cook a proper roast.
“It will be ready in half an hour,” said her mother. “Would anyone like some refreshments?”
“Um, we brought this,” said Faith, holding the bag out to her mother.
Her mother took the bag. “Thank you Faith.” She reached into it, and Dawn saw that she’d guessed right, when her mother pulled out the bottle of red wine. Her mother glanced at the label. “This will go nicely with the roast beef.” She gave the bottle to Buffy. “Why don’t you take this into the kitchen, and open it up, to let it breathe?”
“Yes, Mother,” said Buffy, and took the bottle away with her.
Her mother got everyone’s drink orders, and sent Dawn to the kitchen to help Buffy prepare them. Giles was a regular enough visitor to their house that they kept a bottle of eighteen year old Glenmorangie for him, and her mother asked for a glass of white wine. Everyone else opted for soft-drinks.
“You were wearing a leash!” Dawn whispered to her sister, once they both got to the kitchen.
“What?” asked Buffy.
“I saw you getting out of the car!” said Dawn. “You and Faith had leashes!”
“Uh…yeah, we did.” Buffy opened the fridge to get out bottles of Coke, and 7 Up, that she gave to her sister.
“You let him do that?”
Buffy poured Giles’ scotch, with just a splash of water, the way he liked, and her mother’s wine, while she talked with her sister. “Look, Dawn, I don’t want to talk about this, but I am going to be honest with you. Sometimes, if Xander doesn’t use it, the Reward magic has a way of running away with itself, and doing things without anyone having control over it, so we spent some time this afternoon, with Xander controlling the magic, and part of that was that Faith and I were wearing leashes. It’s fun, being his pet.”
Pet? wondered Dawn, while pouring glasses of Coke and 7 Up. She and Susan had spent some time on her computer that afternoon, looking up some stuff, and they’d seen some sites about BDSM, but she hadn’t imagined that Buffy would actually be doing anything like some of the stuff that she’d read about.
“It’s just part of a game we play,” said Buffy. “We wear the leashes, and we do what he tells us to do.” She loaded the drinks she’d prepared onto a tray, along with the ones Dawn had made, and retreated back to the living room before Dawn could ask her any more questions.
The before dinner conversation was about everything but Xander’s Reward, and Buffy and Faith’s part in it. They also avoided talking about Faith’s release from prison. Instead they talked about how opening day at the Magic Box had gone, how business was at her mother’s gallery, Xander’s new promotion at his construction job, and how Buffy’s classes were going. After about fifteen awkward minutes, her mother told Dawn to go set the table for dinner, and asked Buffy to come help her in the kitchen.
Her mother had had Dawn go to the basement earlier, to get the good dishes, and she’d pulled the cloth napkins from the buffet drawer. She was just placing the last napkin at her mother’s place at the table when she heard Faith quietly say “You’re right Xander. Dawn is growing up nicely.”
Dawn felt herself blushing: Xander thought she was growing up nicely, and Faith agreed with him! Two years ago, Dawn had thought that Faith was the coolest person ever! She was a Slayer, like Buffy, but she hadn’t talked down to Dawn, or treated her like a pain in the ass. She’d always been nice to her. That Christmas, when it had snowed, Faith made snowmen in the front yard with her, and when a couple of the jerk boys who lived in the neighbourhood had thrown snowballs at her, Faith had helped her retaliate. Now Faith was saying that Dawn was growing up. Dawn forgot for a moment that she was mad at Faith, over what she’d done last year.
Dinner went much like the time leading up to it. Everyone talked about everything but the new relationship between Buffy, Faith, Anya, and Xander: the Magic Box, Buffy’s classes, Joyce’s gallery, Xander’s construction job, everything but Xander’s Reward.
Dawn had arranged things so that she was sitting beside Xander at the table, but that had also meant that Anya was sitting on his other side, and that Buffy and Faith were across the table from him. Between the three of them, he hardly paid any attention to her.
Giles had carved the roast, and that had seemed right to her. Giles at the head of the table, opposite her mother at the other end. He was the patriarch of their group. Giles was their anchor. Her mother sat at the other end of the table, the perfect hostess. She had created this repast. Giles was the distributer of the bounty that her mother had created.
And there was Xander. Xander, who had always smiled at her. Xander who always greeted her as a friend. Xander who had always looked at her sister with a deeply buried lust — a lust that until recently had been unreciprocated. Xander had always been Buffy’s friend, and a part of Dawn had always known that he had wanted more, but, until now, Buffy’s return glance had only held friendship. Now, when Buffy looked at Xander, there was more. And it wasn’t just Buffy. It was Faith too. She looked at Xander the way Buffy did now, and he returned the look. Dawn wondered if he would ever look at her, the way he looked at them.
After dinner, everyone moved back into the living room, and talk finally turned to the Reward. Xander, Buffy, Faith and Anya, with some additional comments from Giles, reiterated everything that Buffy had told them before, but this time they’d brought the letter that Gimmel had left them. Her mother spent a few minutes reading it, before she handed it back to Xander.
“Can I see it?” asked Dawn.
Xander hesitated for a moment, looking toward her mother for permission, which made Dawn even more curious about what was in it.
Her mother thought about it for a moment, too, before she slowly nodded. “I don’t think that there’s anything in it, that we’re not going to be discussing in front of her.”
Xander handed Dawn the piece of parchment. She was first struck by the rich feel of it. It felt thick and yet oddly supple in her fingers. Dawn knew that this was real parchment, not a paper imitation. She looked at it more closely. The writing was almost too neat to have been done by hand, but there were subtle variations in the shapes of the letters that told her it wasn’t printed. After nearly a minute spent just appreciating the quality of the document, she remembered that she wanted to read it, too:
Congratulations:
Alexander Lavelle Harris. As a devoted champion for Good, you have been rewarded. As your deeds have included saving the life of the most successful Slayer in the last several millennia, it seems only fitting that she be part of your reward.
Okay, there was no way that that bit about her being the most successful Slayer in several millennia was not going to go to Buffy’s head.
Unfortunately, the Slayer’s record is not quite as clean as your own, and as such, your reward has had to be altered significantly. Remain calm, her reward won’t affect your own, and her own reward will still be substantial.
That was Faith’s influence screwing things up…
However, what was to be your initial reward, the mutual realization of love and affection between you and the Slayer, has instead been altered, both by the Omnipotent Order of Punishment and Rewards, as well as The Hellmouth. For this reason, we are unable to provide exact details of the rewards given to you, at least in regards to the Slayer.
That sucked.
The following can be accurately documented: the Slayer is now yours to command, in mind and body. Her pleasure is your pleasure, and it is the belief of this office that this will eventually see the same outcome as originally intended. The Slayer, except when it would interfere in her deeds or her welfare, is yours.
Worry not, as careful testing was enacted before the implementation of this reward, and the Slayer gave the necessary correct answers in order to complete this reward. We do everything by the book here.
As such, the Slayer is at your command, sexually or otherwise, intended for your enjoyment and pleasure, and thus her enjoyment and pleasure. To this end, many of her desires, from the simplest to the dark and complex, were enhanced. The full details of these enhancements, of course, are sketchy, as any reward involving the Slayer personally has been altered somewhat by circumstances. Nonetheless, you should feel confident that her pleasure will be great, and her desires are well suited to the roles you now find yourselves in.
So, that’s where the bondage and other stuff came in. Dawn had noticed that Buffy got very circumspect when the discussion of the Reward moved in certain directions. She was pretty sure from some oblique references that she had told their mother more about what was happening, but the Adult Conspiracy was still trying to shield her from gaining more knowledge.
The Slayer notwithstanding, your reward consists of enhancements to your sexual nature. Diseases of the flesh no longer affect you or your partners, and procreation is an optional result of any coupling, requiring the express desire of both you and the recipient of your seed. Further aspects of your reward include a preternatural proclivity towards good luck, success, and safety. It is the hope of Side of Good that these traits will enable you to continue your battle against Evil alongside the Slayer. It is also hoped that you might help to cleanse the darker marks on the Slayer’s record.
That sounded pretty good…even useful. And the bit about cleansing the stain from the Slayer’s record… Well, if Buffy could forgive Faith, maybe Dawn would have to at least give her a chance.
The Side of Good greatly appreciates all you have done for the cause, and hopes you enjoy your rewards, and that you continue to be as productive a soldier in the fight against the Side of Evil. We apologize for being unable to properly document the full details of your reward, vis a vis the Slayer.
Yeah, apologies were all well and good, but a little more information would have been better.
Finally, as a word of caution: The Omnipotent Order of Punishment and Rewards has altered this reward in conjunction with the shadowy deeds done by the Slayer. As such, were you to in any way reject the finalized reward, The Hellmouth would thus be given greater influence over altering the reward further. Therefore it is highly suggested that you enjoy your reward as much and as often as possible. The Side of Good is not responsible for any damages, deaths, tortures, or hideous mutations that may occur upon rejection of your reward.
Alright, that last bit didn’t sound so good. It seemed that bad things could happen if Xander rejected his reward…though Dawn did sometimes wish that her sister would undergo some sort of ‘hideous mutation.’ Maybe then, Xander would pay more attention to her. She sighed. Yeah, right. No way was that going to happen.
Enjoy your reward, and we hope that you and the Slayer’s success is bolstered by what will surely be an exciting and satisfying situation for you both.
—Gimmel, duly appointed arbiter of punishments and rewards, Side of Good.
Dawn finally looked up at everyone “Well, except for that last bit, about death, torture, and mutation, it doesn’t sound too bad.”
Her mother didn’t look like she agreed. Dawn figured that she was freaking out about the whole “the Slayer is at your command, sexually or otherwise” bit, but as long as Buffy was enjoying it… Dawn had had a few masturbatory fantasies about Xander tying her up, and having his way with her.
Dawn had guessed right about what her mother was concerned about. “Xander,” she said. “If you use this reward of yours to hurt Buffy in any way…”
“If that happens, Mrs. Summers, you can help Giles dispose of my body.”
Dawn had already noticed that Xander wasn’t calling her mom “Joyce” they way he usually did.
“Mom,” said Buffy, “Xander’s not going to hurt us. I trust him.”
“I know he won’t mean to, Buffy, but he’s not the only one involved in this Reward.” Her mom looked toward Faith, and frowned.
Faith stood up. “Mrs. Summers, I know that I’ve hurt Buffy in the past. And that I hurt you, and Dawn. I’m sorry about that. I really am.”
“Is sorry enough?” asked her mom.
“No,” said Faith. “But I can’t change what’s past. You and Dawn were always nice to me, and I did horrible things to you in return. I can’t take that back, no matter how much I wish I could. I can only go forward, and hope that I can make it up to you. I don’t want to be the person I was then; I want to be Different.”
“I want to believe you, Faith,” said her mom.
“Believe her,” said Buffy. “She can’t lie to us. Xander has ordered us to tell the truth to everyone here. We couldn’t lie to you, if we wanted to.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, Mother, I am,” said Buffy. “And even if Faith was lying, which she isn’t, I’d know.”
“What makes you so certain, Buffy?” asked her mother.
“Something new started happening, this morning,” said Buffy. “Faith and I have this…connection. Sometimes we feel what the other feels, and think what the other thinks. How strong it is kinda grows, and fades, but it’s been there all day. I’d know if she was lying.”
“Really?” asked Giles. “That’s interesting. You say it started this morning? What were you doing at the time?”
“Uh…I was…talking with Xander, Faith and Anya on the phone,” said Buffy, “and then it was like I was actually there with them.”
“Just talking?” asked Giles.
Buffy glanced at Dawn briefly before she said “Yeah, we were talking.”
Dawn rolled her eyes. “She means that they were having phone sex! I do know about this sort of thing, guys!”
“Uh…yeah, Dawn’s not wrong. Like I said, it comes and goes, but it seems to be strongest when we’re talking.”
“Are you sure that it isn’t just your imaginations?” asked Giles. “In a situation like that, when you’re…talking…your imaginations might run away with themselves.”
“We’re pretty sure,” said Xander. “When it’s happening, they start talking together, both of them saying the same things, at the same time, or if they’re not doing that, they’re finishing each other’s sentences. It can be kinda freaky.”
“Have you tried to do it, when you weren’t…talking?” asked Giles. “Can you initiate the connection at other times?”
“We haven’t really tried,” said Buffy. “Just a sec…” She looked at Faith, and Faith looked back at her.
After a few seconds, they both said “Yes” at the same time. “We can initiate the connection, when we want to.”
“Amazing!” said Giles. “And can you control each other’s bodies?”
“It doesn’t seem to work that way,” said Buffy and Faith, still talking together.
“I can still control me,” said Faith.
“And I control me,” said Buffy.
“But we can coordinate with one another really well,” said both. “We did it earlier, when we were dancing.”
“Is that another euphemism, like ‘talking’?” asked Dawn.
“Not this time,” said Buffy and Faith. “We were dancing together, at Xander’s, before we came over here.”
“Could you demonstrate?” asked Giles.
“Sure!” said Buffy, and Faith. They both rose to their feet, and stepped out into the clear space in the middle of the living room. They bowed to each other, and then they started to dance. Both of them kept perfect time with the other, like they were listening to music that no one else could hear. Their moves mirrored one another perfectly. Dawn was reminded of the Mirror Dance, from one of her favourite novels, where the dancers were required to match their partner’s moves.
The dance evolved into a light sparring match between the two Slayers. They stopped mirroring each other’s moves, and shifted instead to each of them perfectly countering the attacks of the other, as if they knew what was coming, in advance—which Dawn supposed was what was really happening. Buffy and Faith would each dodge, or deflect all of the punches and kicks that came her way from the other. They had started out slowly, so that their moves were easy to follow, but they quickly started to move faster, and faster, until they were both just blurs of motion.
“Enough!” called out Giles, and they both stopped, standing in the living room looking at each other, with big smiles on their faces.
“That was a blast!” they said together. “Almost as much fun as talking!”
“Ahem!” said her mother.
Buffy and Faith both looked sheepish. “Sorry, Mom,” they said together, and then they froze.
“I mean, I’m sorry, Mrs. Summers,” said Faith.
“No, don’t be,” said her mom. “I don’t mind…and while we’re on the subject, Xander, you can still call me Joyce, like you usually did, before this all happened.”
The evening broke up a bit later, with Xander saying that he and Faith had to do a quick patrol, and telling Buffy that she should work on some of her school assignments. Buffy stepped out onto the front porch with them when they left, and Xander paused to whisper something into her ear that Dawn couldn’t hear. Whatever it was made her happy, though, and then she kissed him good-night. It wasn’t a quick kiss, either. It was a full contact kiss, probably with a lot of tongue. Dawn was a little surprised when Buffy did the same with Faith and Anya.
Buffy stayed out on the front porch, until Xander’s car had disappeared around the corner at the end of the street. Mr. Giles left just after Xander, saying goodnight to Buffy, and thanking her mother for an excellent meal. Buffy disappeared up to her room, saying that she had to work on a paper for her European History class. Dawn spent some time helping her mother clean up the dishes from dinner, before she went up to her room, herself. The discussion about Buffy’s new relationship with Xander, Anya and Faith had given her some new topics to research on her computer.
It was a couple of hours later when there was a knock on the door that connected Dawn’s room to her mother’s. Dawn quickly pulled her hand out of her pants, and closed down the browser window on her computer, before she answered it. “Yeah, Mom?”
“It’s a school night, Dawn,” said her mother. “You should be asleep.”
Dawn quickly looked at her alarm clock, and saw the time. “Oh! I hadn’t realized it was so late! Goodnight, Mom.”
“Goodnight, Dear.”
Dawn closed her door, and went back to her computer. She cleared her browser history, and cache, before shutting it down for the night. She changed into her pyjamas, and made made a quick trip to the bathroom before climbing into bed. She slipped the fingers of one hand down between her legs, while she slid the other hand up under her top, to hold her breast, and rub her nipple. She went to sleep imagining that she was being held in Xander’s arms, with his fingers on her breast, and pussy.
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