Author: Vamp_fangs
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: All Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

"Shh... Lie down on your back." Tara instructed, moving the covers around as she watched the redhead slowly lower herself completely on the mattress. The blonde smiled and moved on top of the naked girl, using her hands to hold her weight. "Such a good girl. Good Kitten." The blonde whispered, watching the redhead shift nervously. "I'm not going to do anything you won't like." She promised, gently kissing Willow's forehead, nose, then lips. The redhead closed her eyes and shuddered in pleasure from the blonde's ministrations. Tara allowed her hand to drop to Willow's hip, squeezing the girl's flesh. She pulled back from her kiss and watched as Willow struggled to open her eyes from the kiss. The blonde grinned and used her other hand to cup the girl's flushed cheek. "Good girl... Go to sleep."

"Mi-mistress does no-not want?" The redhead questioned as Tara went to lie on her back.

"Oh, Mistress does." The blonde Mistress confirmed rakishly, lifting herself up to place another gentle kiss on the redhead's lips. "But now isn't the time. Go to sleep."

"Yes, Mistress." Willow nodded, laying her head just under the blonde's breast, rubbing her cheek on the material of the blonde's nightgown as she basked in her Mistress' scent. She let out a puff of air in irritation when she failed to fall asleep as ordered,

"Would you like me to tell you a story?" The blonde asked, noticing that the redhead was still awake. She smiled softly, feeling the Hybrid nod against her rib cage and lifted her hand to stroke the girl's soft hair lovingly. "Have you ever heard how we all came to be?"

"The Goddess." Willow replied, her voice quiet as she tilted her head up to look at her Mistress.

"Yes, the Goddess created us. Have you heard of our ancestors, Cristian and Gradeth?"

"Gradeth the Man-bear?" The redhead questioned, returning her head back under her Mistress' breast. Tara grinned and nodded.

"Yes, Cristian the Keeper and Gradeth the Man-bear, her consort. Would you like me to tell you the story of how Gradeth and Cristian came to be? How they became our ancestors?"

"Please?"

"Of course, Kitten." The blonde shifted so she could pull the girl on top of her body before she started the tale. "In the beginning, there was a Great Goddess who had no one to talk to or to watch over."

"Poor Goddess... She shouldn't have been alone." Willow commented as she suppressed a yawn.

"I agree, no one should be alone... The Goddess, feeling lonely, decided to weave a planet, the one we are on right now, painting it with intricate colors as she breathed life into her art. At first, it was only a small yellow and blue thing but soon green lush plants grew and mammals began to adapt to their home with the Goddess watching over them. She sent rains when the animals needed water, she allowed fire to erupt from the ground to create more lands, the Great Goddess even planted seeds for the tall oak trees to flourish so the animals could take refuge underneath the tree's shade on the days she could not provide."

"Shade... Sounds shadey..." The redhead mumbled sleepily causing the blonde to pause in her story. Willow grunted softly and tilted her head back with her eyes open. Tara tsk-ed teasingly and continued.

"But one day the Goddess noticed that the animals, though dear to her, could not converse with her and began a project made of earth, water, fire and air. 'I shall have someone to keep me company and to care for the animals when I can not. A daughter.' The Goddess thought sagely, forming a female figure..." Tara trailed off, chuckling as she noticed the redhead had dozed off, snoring softly against her chest with her hands gripping the nightgown's material. The blonde moved her hand to trace the red collar around Willow's neck, studying the girl's sleeping face. "Surprised you lasted that long... Sweet dreams, Willow." The blonde whispered, enjoying the redhead's warmth and needy touch as she wrapped her arms around the girl.

Tara took in a deep breath as she stretched, her arms retracting slowly when she felt another body that had melded to her side. She looks so peaceful... The blonde thought, brushing her fingers across the redhead's cheek. Willow jerked slightly and puffed, showing her frustration at the blonde's slight movement as she rubbed her cheek against her human pillow. The redhead moved her arm lower, encircling Tara's waist. The blonde Mistress let out a soft chuckle and shifted only to still when Willow tightened her grip against her hips. Tara relaxed, lying back down, allowing the redhead to cover her waist with her thin torso and sighed as her blue eyes fixed onto the ceiling tiles. Clingy too... So adorable. A light knock on her door pulled Tara out of her thoughts.

"Mistress? Are you awake? It's Joyce." The Sparrow-Hybrid greeted, knocking once more.

"One second!" She called out, gently pushing the redhead off to the side and moving off of the bed. Willow automatically shifted and grabbed the warm pillow Tara had been resting on, wrapping her arms and legs around it. The blonde shook her head with grin and quickly got out of the bed, slipping into her robe. "Come in!" She invited as she tied the belt around her waist.

"Mistress?" The Sparrow asked, entering the room, holding a large file and several books to her chest, her glasses hanging low on her nose as she struggled to handle the bundle in her arms. Tara hurried to the Doctor's side, relieving the weight from the older woman's arms. "Oh, thank you."

"What's this all about, Joyce?" Tara asked as she place the papers and books onto a table a few feet away.

"It's about the girl, Willow." Joyce explained, pushing her glasses back to where they belong and began to look around the room. Spotting the sleeping Cougar, the Doctor lowered her voice. "The tests may need to be done as soon as possible. I have justifiable reasons for why." The blonde Mistress frowned, moving back to the bed where the redhead was now chewing on the object in her grasp. She pulled the covers over the Cougar's shoulders and turned up her eyes to connect with Joyce's.

"What's wrong?" Tara pulled a chair out for the Sparrow before resting in another..

"Good news or bad news?" The Hybrid asked, sitting down besides the blonde.

"Oh, I hate it when you do that... Fine, the bad news."

"From the preliminary tests, the scans have shown old and barely visible fractures to the nasal cavity, jaw, sternum, ribs, collar bone, shoulder blades." Joyce answered, her voice still low as she opened her file, taking out the results and handing them one by one to the blonde Mistress. "That's just part of the massive amounts of pain she endured with Drusilla. When I first got them, I thought they were mistakes. But Drusilla's a clever... Pardon my language, bitch. She made sure healers got to her quickly enough to prevent the bones from becoming fragile. Her arms and legs were dislocated, almost like on a regular basis, shown by the -" The Doctor paused, flipping through the papers for the evidence."- cartilage in her arm and hip sockets. I was thinking we bring down Nichelle for a psych consult if possible and do a few more blood tests. Another bad part is that the girl has vaginal scarring but the scars do not indicate a male has entered her. I am not suggesting it rape of any kind, it could just mean she had experience with Judas' Cradle or some other type of torture device." The blonde Mistress let out a disgusted breath as she remembered the room they found after Drusilla fled. It was filled with ancient but well oiled torture devices from the centuries before they learned about technology and purebred humans lost their ways, straying from the Magicks the Goddess had given them.

"Goddess... Those things went out of style thousands of years ago. You better have some really good news..." Tara groaned, shifting in her seat to keep her eyes on the sleeping redhead. The blonde rolled her fingers signalling the doctor to continue. Joyce nodded and flipped again through the folder and opened a book.

"Yes, I do... Okay, I know you've been catching up on some 'light reading' from that Hybrid book of yours. And I have some other information to add to that." The Doctor explained as she stopped thumbing the medical book and handed it over to the blonde. "If you look here, 'Because a Hybrid has a higher metabolism, it is difficult to drug them more than once with the same amount. However, like purebred humans, when a Hybrid is met with a highly addictive drug more than once, the higher the dosage the slower it moves in their system but has less chance for an overdose.' So our bodies automatically send the most dangerous parts of the drugs out of their system! That means the twenty-nine milligrams in her system was not very harmful for her." The Doctor excitedly explained.

"That's awfully convenient... Why didn't this information turn up before?" The blonde asked, frowning at the book. It was old and needed to have it's spine replaced, made of leather and a broken buckle. Tara was surprised it could still hold the three hundred some odd pages together.

"Because, I guess, in most cases only humans use any drugs. Hybrids are more likely to seek an herbal route. I had to scour the medical files to find this book, but it was worth it... Drusilla probably didn't even know about it because she wouldn't have started the drugs. There are other ways to drug a Hybrid without using human drugs. Twenty-nine milliliters of Liquid Bliss would have cost well over twenty thousand gold pieces and adding the amounts before that... Goddess, she must have been rich." Joyce murmured, returning her papers back into its folders.

"Yeah... I guess she was."

"You guess? Anya didn't finish with the numbers yet?" The Doctor questioned, playing with her stethoscope.

"No. So either the woman's messing with her 'new' boy-toy or Drusilla's estate is worth more than I thought." Tara mused, shrugging slightly. "I guess raiding that poacher's camp was too much of a good thing." A flash of red made the blonde look up and smile at the young woman who was holding her blue blanket to her bare chest, glancing nervously around. "Good morning, Willow." She closed the book and gave it to the older woman as she stood up to move closer to the bed.

"Good morning, Mistress." Willow greeted, wiping the sleep from her eyes, her hands still holding the blanket to her chest.

"Did you have a good night's sleep, Kitten?" The blonde Mistress asked as she sat on the edge of the bed, watching the redhead with amusement.

"Yes, Mistress. Thank you for allowing me to s-sleep in your bed." The redhead stifled a yawn and blushed.

"How about some breakfast? It's late but I'm sure the cooks are still making it." Tara glanced at the Doctor who nodded in agreement.

"Please?" Willow questioned, shifting anxiously, her hands clenching and unclenching around the blanket, subconsciously licking her lips.

"Good, let me get you some clothes." Joyce grinned as Tara went to retrieve a clean outfit from a small armoire. "Hmmm... Come here, Kitten. You choose what you want to wear." Willow moved quickly off of the bed, dragging the blanket with her as she trekked closer to the blonde. She glanced at Tara and peered into the armoire. It was filled with light dresses of different bright colors. Willow hesitated, not sure which one she wanted to wear, which one would please her Mistress. Tara, taking Willow's hesitation as a sign of dislike for dresses, opened her mouth to explain but closed it when the redhead's quiet voice asked.

"Blue?" Tara grinned and encouragingly stroked Willow's naked shoulder with a nod. Apparently, the girl favored this color above all the rest. Willow dropped her blanket as the blonde pulled the outfit off of it's hanger and helped her into it. The redhead shivered as Tara ran her hands across the redhead's pale back as she tied a knot to the ribbons. Dressed in a short, light blue, summer dress, Willow stood with her arms at her side, uncertain of her stance. Tara had yet to have explained the rules and Willow did not want to assume.

"Perfect." Tara murmured, fingering the material. "Let's go down for breakfast." The blonde reached for the leash.