Go To     Part 1    Part 2    Part 3    Part 4    Part 5    Part 6    Part 7

Red Skies at Morning

(Book 1 of the Red Light Series)

Part 1

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Willow sat in Buffy’s bed, clutching a cross and vial of holy water tightly to her chest.  She hadn’t been all that attached to her fish, but finding them dead and strung together like Christmas lights in an envelope on her bed hadn’t been a big barrel of laughs, either.  She was wigged.  Beyond wigged.  In order to keep her mind off of the image of Angelus in her room, doing terrible things to her while she slept, she tried talking.

She said, “I just wanted to thank you, you know- for having me over; what with it being a school night and all.”  Mentally she chastised herself, “Oh, smooth, Rosenberg ; that’ll impress her.  ‘Hello! Can we say inane?’”

Truth be told, one of the things Willow most wanted to do in her life was impress Buffy Summers.  Somehow, someway.  Though she would never admit it to anyone; she barely admitted it to herself even; Willow had a major crush on the blonde slayer.

She had finally found someone to excise her unrequited love for Xander Harris.  It was just too bad that her new obsession happened to be a.) a girl, and b.) the chosen one- savior of the world- “Jeez, maybe just a little out of my league?” she thought.  And, oh yeah! Let’s not forget c.) totally in love with a 240 year old vampire!  If there was an opposite end to the spectrum of ‘shy, innocent little girl Willow ;’ it would be ‘Big, bad, very not a girl, Vampire Angel.’

Now, she was to spend the night in the bed of said crush, hiding from big, bad Angelus- Angel’s evil twin.  She was pretty sure she would get no sleep tonight.

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Buffy was having her own problems.  Her body was acting weird.  Like, for instance, how when Will called her and told her what Angelus had done, she had felt intense anger at the vampire formerly known as Angel.  But, the anger felt weird- it made her warm and sweaty. 

She had instantly invited Willow to stay the night with her- “To protect her,” she firmly told herself.  See! There was that too- why did she feel the need to justify having Willow come over?  What possible other response would there have been but to have her best friend come spend the night in the face of this kind of threat?

Then, when Willow had gotten there she had immediately hugged the frightened redhead- they always hugged; they were best friends!  But this time was somehow different.  Willow had clung to her tightly, not letting go for several minutes.  Buffy had held her tightly to herself and whispered a constant stream of reassurances in her ear, like “It’ll be alright now, I’m here Willow ,” and, “Shhh, Buffy’ll make it all better, I promise!”  Neither of them had made any move to release one another and Buffy found herself thinking how good Willow ’s hair smelled.  “Hello! Mortal danger here, what the heck are you sniffing hair for?” her mind had raged.

When they had finally mutually let go of each other, Buffy had immediately grabbed Willow ’s hand and led her upstairs, as though Willow might have forgotten the way.

The weirdest thing is that Willow had made no comment; she hadn’t even raised an eyebrow at this strange need to be in physical contact.

Now she was lying in bed, with Willow cuddled up against her, and running her fingers through the long auburn strands of Willow ’s hair, lulling her to sleep.  As she surrendered her self into Morpheus’ arms, she heard her self whisper, ‘love ya, Will.”

She missed Willow ’s barely whispered, “I love you, too…”

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Willow was having the best dream.  She was sleeping in Buffy’s arms, safe and warm.  She could actually smell Buffy’s skin- the vanilla scented body-wash that she liked to use combining with her own scent to create an aroma that reminded Willow of the smell of freshly baked bread and the taste of vanilla milkshakes.  She could even feel the smooth skin against her face as she rubbed against it.  She was startled to full wakefulness when the dream girl moaned and pulled her closer. 

Buffy woke at the same moment, finding herself clutching the warm, sleepy redhead against her body, and smelling- once again- the sweet strawberry scent of her silky hair, now tousled after a night’s sleep.

Willow pushed slightly away, just enough to scoot up till they were eye to eye.  Then she smiled and said “Mmm, g’mornin.”

Buffy couldn’t help but return Willow , infectious smile.  “Morning, Will.”  Looking down, as if just now noticing their positions, she added, “This is…” She raised her eyebrows, trying to think of the right word.

“Nice.” Willow supplied without thinking.  Suddenly she realized the magnitude of her possible slip and began to babble, “Oh! Is it? Nice, I mean? It’s not badness is it? It’s, uh… we, uh…  I mean, it’s…”

Buffy smiled even wider at her friend’s typical behavior.  “Nice,” she interjected.  Then crinkling her nose in thought, she said, “It’s just…  we’ve never…  It’s not like we did anything wrong…”

Willow jumped in to agree with that, “No! No wrongness here!”

Buffy rolled onto her back, away from Willow , and stretched her arms above her head, arching her back.  “Mmm! Too early to think.  Brain hurts.  Need shower.”

Willow ’s eyes dilated and her breathing sped up as she watched Buffy’s breasts push against the thin cotton of her tanktop.  Her nipples were hard and clearly visible through the white fabric.  “Yeah… Shower…” Willow dumbly repeated.

Buffy rolled back over to see Willow with her eyes glazed over and her mouth hanging open.  “What’s wrong Will?” she asked.

Willow snapped out of her trance and rolled onto her back, groaning at her behavior.  She felt an overwhelming urge to flee and hopped up out of bed.  “Shower!  Yes, shower is good.  Ok if I…” she trailed off, already half way out the door.

Buffy was baffled by her friend’s strange behavior.  “Sure Will… you go ahead…” she said in kind of a stunned voice.

Willow just had to be out of that room, right now.  Before she humiliated herself even more.  “Ok, thanks Buff.  I’ll be quick!” she tossed over her shoulder as she ran out of the room.

“Ok,” Buffy thought, “Now *that* was weird!”

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

“OhGod!OhGod!OhGod!” Willow thought as she rushed to the bathroom.  She could feel the heavy wetness in her panties and was embarrassed beyond all belief. 

She quickly sat down on the lid of the toilet and buried her face in her hands, leaning her elbows down on her knees as rocked back and forth.  “Oh God!  Buffy caught me checking her out!” she raged.  At the same time she couldn’t help but remember the sight of Buffy’s lithe form arching back like that.  “Mmmm!  Yummy Buffy goodness” She thought. 

Of course, she immediately chastised herself, “No! Bad Willow- there will be no thoughts of Buffy’s round, perfect, breasts, squished against her shirt, nipples all hard and…  Argh!”  Obviously, Willow ’s brain was refusing to cooperate with her- as was her traitorous body.  She could feel her sex, hot and thick with arousal, getting wetter and wetter as her rocking motion pressed against the hard plastic of her seat. 

As soon as she realized what she was doing she jumped up to her feet.  Whimpering at the loss of friction.  She looked down and noticed, to her increased humiliation, that she had actually made a puddle of wetness on the lid to the toilet seat.  She gave out a strangled little yelp and quickly tore off a handful of toilet paper and wiped the seat down, then threw the paper in the trash.  Changing her mind she pulled it out of the trash and flipped up the lid, flushing the toilet paper down.

Crying tears of frustration, Willow stripped off her shirt and panties, and stepped into the shower.  She was mortified at the thought of what she was about to do, but there was no way she could walk out of the bathroom and see Buffy again in this condition. 

She would have to take care of it.

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Buffy laid in bed for a little bit, trying to figure out what was up with Willow .  She had seemed fine, even with the strangeness of how they woke up together- that event still *not* making her feel weird; the fact of which was giving her major Wiggins.

She decided to try and forget about it.  She leisurely rolled out of bed and went to the hall closet to get a towel for Willow .  She thought nothing of walking into the bathroom while Willow was showering- how many times had they showered together after gym class.  How could this be any different?

“Ok, so this is different,” she thought as she stopped dead in her tracks.

Through the clear glass of the shower door, Buffy could see Willow .  She was leaned back against the wall of the shower, her head thrown back and eyes closed with a grimace of pleasure plastered on her face. She had one leg up on the edge of the tub, and one hand rubbing her breasts under the spray of the water- pinching and twisting her rosy nipples.  The other hand was vigorously, and noisily, pumping two fingers in and out between the ever-so-pink lips, framed by a field of fine, red curls.  Her fingers were making a wet; sucking sound as she plunged them in and out of her soaked sex. She was also making what Buffy thought were the cutest little whimpering noises in between gasping breaths.

Buffy quietly turned and slipped out of the bathroom, not realizing that she had dropped the towel on the sink.  She found herself at the top of the stairs, ready to run through the front door and out into the street.  In her tanktop and boxer shorts. 

She fought off the fight or flight response and made herself go back into her room.  She was blushing furiously, embarrassed for herself and for Willow having been caught in the act.  At the same time, she was kind of confused at why the redhead would do that at Buffy’s house.  It wasn’t like Buffy hadn’t done that herself, but she usually waited until she got home- even after a heavy night of slaying when the urge was almost overpowering.

Buffy couldn’t get the image of Willow masturbating out of her mind.  The sounds she made- the sounds her fingers made as they slid in and out of her.  She had looked so passionate, so raw, so… sexy. 

“What the…” she thought

When she heard the shower turn off and the door open, she realized that she had left the towel behind.

“Oh, crap!” Buffy whispered

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Part 2

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Willow stepped out of the shower and realized that, in her haste to escape Buffy, she had forgotten to get a…  She noticed the object of her thoughts sitting on the counter next to the sink.

Willow panicked.  Her mind was whirling with the image of Buffy coming into the bathroom just in time to see her with her hand stuffed up in side her self.  She knew that she had been unable to keep herself from moaning Buffy’s name as she came, “Oh, God!  What if she heard me?

Willow ’s adrenal glands really let go at that moment, flooding her body with adrenaline.  She began to hyperventilate, as her mind filled with thoughts of Buffy looking at her with disgust, of Buffy telling her to get out and never come back, Buffy screaming “I hate you!”

Willow ’s eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out.

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Buffy’s self flagellation came to an abrupt halt as she heard a loud thump come from the bathroom.

Willow ?” she asked hesitantly.  Then louder when there was no response, and even her slayer hearing couldn’t detect any sounds emanating from the bathroom, “Will?  Are you alright?”

She walked out of her room and knocked on the restroom door.  Willow , come on, you’re scaring me…”  She opened the door expecting to see Willow , wrapped in the towel and maybe looking embarrassed, or trying to hide.  When she saw her passed out on the floor- stark naked, she gasped, “Ohmygod! Willow .”

Kneeling down to the prone girl, Buffy noticed her chest was rising and falling, so she was breathing at least.  Buffy took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, asking once again, “ Willow ?  You ok?  Can you hear me?”

She continued to watch, her eyes going back and forth between looking a her best friend’s face and watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest.

Suddenly Willow ’s breathing quickened and she began to mumble and thrash her head around. 

Buffy tried to make out the words, as she called her name and tried to wake the redhead.

“No! please!  I’m sorry… I didn’t mean… no, don’t hate me, I love you!  Buffy!”

Willow sat up and her eyes flew open as she shouted the slayer’s name.

Buffy, not taking the time to analyze what she heard, just answered, “I’m right here, Will!  I’ve got you.”

Willow noticed where she was, and in what state of dress she wasn’t, and tried to cover herself with her free hand.  Buffy still held one hand of hers.  “Buffy!  Why am I sitting on the floor… naked?”

Buffy helped the furiously blushing redhead to her feet and let her go to turn around and pick up the towel.  She handed Willow the towel behind her back, not wanting to further embarrass the girl, while she explained, “I heard a thump and you didn’t call when I answered, so I came in and found you unconscious on the floor.”

As she spoke, Buffy glanced sideways at the mirror, noticing what a lovely body Willow had underneath those baggy clothes she always wore.  The flat stomach; the slender, round thighs tapering down toward her knees; then swelling slightly into graceful calves…  These things she had noticed on Halloween when Willow had dressed sexy to impress Xander- which, of course had failed when Willow chickened out and put on that stupid ghost costume.

Now she noticed that those thighs rose into a shapely derrière.  That flat stomach rose above a sparse carpet of closely trimmed red curls and led up to a pair of small, but perfectly shaped breasts, whose coral pink nipples were heavily effected by the cold air of the bathroom after the warm shower.

Buffy shook her head and blushed powerfully when she realized she had just been checking out her best friend’s body!  “God, inappropriate much?” she shouted at herself.  It wasn’t the first time she had seen Willow naked for Pete’s sake!  Somehow, though, it was different this time.

Willow dried off perfunctorily and wrapped the towel around her.  She grabbed her stuff, mumbling, “Ok, your turn now,” And generally tried to get the hell out of there.

Buffy spun around and asked, “Are you sure you’re ok, Willow?  You were unconscious.”

Willow could hear the concern in Buffy’s voice and she felt even more terrible; humiliation upon mortification, now add regret for worrying Buffy.  She stopped, turned to the slayer and tried to evoke a genuine smile as she said, “I’m sure, Buffy.  I just must have slipped and fell.  I’ve had worse bumps on patrol.  I’ll be fine.”  Seeing disbelief on her friend’s face, she added, “Seriously, just a bump on the head.  I’ll be ok.  You go ahead and shower and I’ll get dressed, and we’ll walk to school.  Ok?”

Buffy didn’t buy it, but couldn’t think of any argument that would be useful, so she just said, “Ok, Will.”  Something compelled her to verbalize her thoughts at that moment, and she put her hand on Willow ’s bare shoulder, stroking down her arm as she added, “It just kills me to see you hurt, or in pain.  I couldn’t do any of this without you.”

Willow ’s smile warmed into a truly genuine one, and the words. “I love you, Buffy” were right on the tip of her tongue, straining to come out.  All she could do to keep them in was to say nothing at all.  She just gave Buffy her smile, a nod, and then walked out of the room.

“Ok, where the heck did that come from?” Buffy wondered.  Not that it was in any way untrue- she knew she could never make it without her Willow .  “My Willow ?  Possessive, much?”

Buffy turned and prepared for her shower.  Her thought turned back to Willow ’s self-pleasure.  She couldn’t get it out of her mind.  “I wonder who she was thinking of…” she trailed off as she got into the shower and let the hot water cascade over her.

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Willow managed to hold it together the rest of the morning.  Buffy didn’t mention anything about her ‘activities’ in the shower, so Willow hoped that meant that Buffy hadn’t been there for any of it.  Beyond looking at the bump on Willow ’s head from when she ‘slipped and fell’ she didn’t mention that either.  Willow decided that it would be best if she just pretended those things had never happened.

Unfortunately for Buffy, those two events were all she could think about.  During the entire trip to school, all she could do was replay seeing Willow in the shower, and checking her out in the mirror.  Over and Over.  “Who was she talking about when she was coming to?” Buffy wondered.  “God, I hope she’s still not obsessing about Xander,” she thought.  She had seemed to be over any romantic feelings for their ‘Xander-shaped friend’ after the disastrous events of the love-spell gone wrong.  Buffy still had flashbacks of almost taking that raincoat off in front of him.  While she appreciated (and was frankly surprised by) his restraint, she was still uncomfortable with the whole thing.

“She must have been thinking about that Oz boy she brought to the birthday party,” she decided.  She ignored as best she could the disapproving tone that thought had taken.  Out loud she asked, “So, how’s the whole you and Oz thing going?”  She tried to remain nonchalant, but it was somewhat strained.

“Over.”  Willow answered curtly.

Of course it wasn’t in Buffy to allow such a concise answer to stand unchallenged! “Whadaya mean, Over?”

Willow sighed, she was unhappy that Oz seemed to have abandoned her, but she was really only using him anyway.  He was someone who was at least marginally interested in her, and she was hurt and angry at Xander and trying to deny her feelings for the slayer, so she turned to Oz.  “Over as in he took off- disappeared.”

Buffy was taken aback by that, “Where did he go?”

Willow shook her head, “I don’t know.  I guess he was more wigged by the Hellmouth stuff than he let on.  He acted weird after your birthday party. He almost stopped talking to me at all after the judge, and then on the third night of the wolf-moon, he ran away from me in the library.  I went to his house, but he was gone.”

Buffy remembered that night.  The night she was just a little too late to stop that a-hole Kane from killing the werewolf. 

Willow could see the guilt in Buffy’s eyes at the memory of that night.  She stopped walking and grabbed Buffy’s arm, “Hey!  We’ve been through this!  It’s not your fault that jerk shot the werewolf!  Besides, we don’t know what kind of person the wolf was anyway.  Maybe he knew exactly what he was doing, and let the wolf run free on purpose.  Either way, no other people got hurt, and… and you just have to accept it that you can’t be everywhere at once.  You may be the slayer, but you’re not superwoman!”

Startled by the redhead’s vehemence, Buffy snapped out of her fugue-state.  She grinned sheepishly at her best friend and said, “Sorry, Will.  I know you’re right, but I still feel guilty sometimes.”

Willow gave the blonde a mock-glare and said, “Yeah?  Well, if you don’t cut it out, I’m gonna put you over my knee!”

Buffy’s eyes widened in surprise and she said, “ Willow !  Dominatrix much?”  Leaning in close to the redhead and lowering her voice, as though speaking in-confidence, she asked, “Is there something you need to tell me?”

Willow blushed fiercely, picturing just such a scene, and feeling a wave of arousal ripple through her.  She ducked her head in embarrassment- worried that the slayer might see the open lust in her eyes at the thought of her hand smacking against the slayers bare bottom- watching her supple flesh quiver and redden in response.  “Jeez!  If I keep this up, I’m gonna need to take care of myself again before we get to class!”

Buffy mistook Willow ’s blush and duck for a reaction to her teasing, rather than having the faintest idea that she was seriously imagining such an event.   She giggled at Willow and threw her arm around the girl, starting to walk again.  “Come on, ‘Mistress Willow,’ we’ve got to get to class lest we face the wrath of Snyder!”

Buffy missed entirely the quiet gasp her friend made at being addressed as Mistress Willow.

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

They managed to make it all the way to the school without any more discussion of the morning’s events… until Xander caught up with them.

Xander came running up behind them and put his arms around them, insinuating himself between them as they climbed the steps up to the school.

Willow ’s feelings as Xander sought to get close to Buffy were ones of jealousy.  However, this time she was jealous about Buffy instead of Xander.

Xander said, “Well, good morning ladies, and what did you two do last night?”

Willow blushed just a bit at memories of this morning, but said, “We had kind of a pajama party sleepover with weapons thing."

Xander responded, only half joking “Oh. And I don't suppose either of you had the presence of mind to locate a camera to capture the moment!”  He was surprised when Buffy began to blush fiercely.

Wanting to escape, Willow said, “I have to go, I have a class to teach in about five minutes and I have to arrive early to glare at the stragglers.”  She took off without even noticing that Jenny Calendar was coming across the lawn, negating her need to teach the class that morning.

She managed to put the events of that morning behind her and spend the rest of the day interacting with Buffy and Xander as she always had.

Every time Buffy looked at Willow for the rest of the day, her mind recalled the image of Willow naked in the mirror, or Willow naked in the shower.  Buffy spent the day trying to forget the image and sounds of Willow in the shower- moaning in ecstasy as she pleasured herself. 

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Later that night, Willow and Buffy had cast the uninvite spell on Cordelia’s car, and Willow ’s house.  After finding another gift from Angelus- this time a drawing of Buffy’s sleeping mom- in Willow ’s room, Buffy and Willow raced to the Summers’ house. 

Relieved to find that Joyce wasn’t home from work yet, they were just finishing the uninvite spell when Buffy’s mom came running into the house nervously escaping a smirking Angel. 

That smirk disappeared when he ran into the newly placed barrier. 

“Sorry Angel, changed the locks,” Buffy said as she closed the door on him.  When she turned around her face fell as she saw the look her mother was shooting at her.  She looked to Willow for a rescue and saw compassion there, but no solution.

Willow felt sorry for Buffy as she watched her follow her mom up the stairs.  She was pretty sure that Buffy’s mom was going to have some serious questions for her.

While Willow was waiting, Giles stopped by and asked about how the ritual had gone.

Willow said “The ritual went fine until Angel showed up and told Buffy’s mom that he and Buffy had, well, you know… that they had You Know…” Suddenly the thought struck her that maybe Giles didn’t already know and she nervously asked, “you do know, Right?”

Giles assured her that he was aware of the situation, and offered to intervene on Buffy’s behalf.

Not wanting to come right out and tell him that that was a dumb idea, Willow asked him, “Like, what would’ja say?”

She then opened the door for him to leave as he sputtered.  “I’ll tell Buffy you came by,” she told him.  She really wanted to be upstairs supporting her friend, but how could she possibly intervene in such a confrontation with Buffy and her mom?  Especially when, if her dreams ever came true, there would be an even greater confrontation about Buffy’s relationship with her.

Willow tried to imagine what Buffy’s mom would say to the thought of her daughter dating another girl.  She shivered to think what her parents would say- first she nails crucifixes to the doors and windows, then she starts dating a girl.  “They would disown me!” she thought with heartfelt fear. 

She knew that she would gladly risk alienating her parents- if Buffy would ever love her like she loved the slayer.

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

A couple hours later Willow and Buffy were hanging out in the kitchen, recounting Buffy and her mom’s conversation.  “I can’t believe, she didn’t wig out!” Willow said.

“Oh there was wig, there was definite wig involved,” Buffy answered.  “But, nothing terminal, I think.”

Willow was about to say something when the phone rang.

Buffy went to answer the phone.  Willow heard her say, “Hi Giles,” then she didn’t say anything for a minute. 

Willow went to her and took the phone before she dropped it.  “Hello?” she said, wondering what could have upset Buffy so.

When Giles told her what happened, she felt her heart break.  For him, for Buffy and for herself.  She loved Ms. Calender, and the thought of what Angel had done…  She began to cry, “No!  No!”

Buffy was crouching where she had slid down the wall, enveloped in a haze of pain and shame.  Jenny was dead, and it was her fault.  When Willow began to cry out in horrified dismay, she snapped out of her misery and leapt up to her best friend in the entire world.  She wrapped Willow in her arms as the sensitive girl began to cry her eyes out.

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Willow was in a daze after the phone call.  She remembered going to Giles’ place only to find him gone- he’d gone after Angel.  She couldn’t believe Xander would be so insensitive like that.  She knew he was angry, but didn’t he see how much Buffy was hurting over this?  She was obviously blaming herself, and it seemed like Xander was blaming her too.  “This isn’t Buffy’s fault!” she shouted in her mind even as Buffy calmly agreed with Xander.

“There’s just one problem with Giles’ little revenge scheme,” Buffy said.

“What’s that?” Xander asked coldly.

“It’s going to get him killed.”

No one spoke for several moments.

Finally Buffy took charge, saying “Cordelia.  Please take Xander and Willow home, I’m going to go make sure Giles doesn’t get dead.”

Willow sprinted to the door, grabbing Buffy’s arm and turning her around, “Buffy..”

“I have to, Will.” Buffy said, trying to dissuade the redhead from stopping her.

“I know.  Just…” Willow ’s voice broke.  Her eyes started to tear up, “Just… Don’t die!”

Buffy almost cried herself at the pain in Willow ’s gaze.  “I won’t.  Promise!”

Willow sniffled and tried to compose herself.  “Better not!  Or I’ll kick your ass!”

Willow !” Buffy whispered, shocked. 

Willow hugged Buffy briefly and said, “If you need to… after… If you don’t want to be alone…”  she averted her gaze, not wanting to seem too desperate- though the truth was she badly needed to offer comfort to, and take comfort in Buffy that night.

Buffy did shed a tear at that, “Thank you, Willow ” she said with deep sincerity.

Willow let her go and walked over to the confused Xander and Cordelia, saying, “Ok, let’s go.”

As Buffy ran out of the apartment, she heard Willow answering Xander’s “What was that all about?” with, “You know, She blames herself for this more than she’ll ever let us know, Xander.  You’re not helping any…”

“I love you Willow ,” Buffy thought as she ran toward the factory.  “You’re the best friend I could ever imagine.”

========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ========== BtVS ==========

Willow was sitting in exactly the same place she had been for the two hours since she had been dropped off by Cordelia and Xander- in her chair, at the door to her balcony.  Not actually out on the balcony, she didn’t want to tempt fate if Angelus should escape Buffy and come looking for a little entertainment.

She couldn’t stop her mind from spinning in circles.  She was worried about Buffy.  She was in love with Buffy.  She wanted to do things with Buffy that she had never imagined before.  Those three ideas wound their way through her head until she was dizzy.

She couldn’t get out of her mind that comment Buffy had made this morning about Mistress Willow.  She couldn’t get out of her head the image that was conjured up when she herself had threatened to spank the slayer.  She had never thought that way before; sure she had seen pictures- hello? Net-girl here!  Can’t spend a third of your life surfing the net and not see the odd sexy site or ten.  Curiosity was much more powerful than guilt. 

She remembered the first time she had seen some of the more graphic pictures.  She had been such an innocent then.  She still blushed at the memory of how guilty and aroused she got.  Then even more guilt and still more arousal when she noticed that she was just as turned on by the lesbian pictures as she was the hetero stuff.  It wasn’t long before Willow had figured out how to relieve the pressure such viewing material caused in her.  She had almost managed to stop feeling guilty about looking at erotic pictures and mpegs.  That she always had her most powerful orgasms when she was watching the lesbian stuff was a fact she refused to dwell on. 

She found one site that was done by a pair of lesbian lovers and consisted solely of their interaction.  One of them was clearly a natural redhead, and the other was a bottle blond.  She had bookmarked that one in her favorite places folder. 

“I suppose it’s natural that I would be attracted to Buffy,” she thought.  After all, wouldn’t anyone who liked girls like Buffy?  Not just for her obvious physical attributes, but the fact that she was such a dynamic and charismatic person- she literally saved the world!  The Whole World!  Not many could make that kind of claim.  Who else fought against demons and vampires every night with no reward of any kind?  Sure she might be a little self-centered now and then, but who wasn’t?  “Cordelia thinks the world revolves around her, and what has she ever done for anyone?” Willow thought huffily. 

She did have to admit, albeit grudgingly, that Cordy was nicer to hang around with since she and Xander started dating.  She rarely attacked or made fun of Willow anymore.  Still, the statuesque brunette was not someone she took great joy in spending time with.

Willow ’s mental ramblings came to an abrupt halt as she saw the slayer making her way across the yard towards Willow ’s balcony.  Her heart leapt in her chest and her face broke out into a smile.  When Buffy got to her door, Willow ’s smile faded.  She looked terrible; well, she looked beautiful- just like always- but the pain was radiating out of her eyes.

Willow stood up and threw open the door and Buffy collapsed into her arms.  “Oh, God! Not Giles?” Willow cried.

Buffy shook her head, causing her hair to brush back and forth against Willow ’s neck- creating the dual sensation of pleasure and guilt for feeling pleasure at such an inappropriate time.

“Giles is ok?” Willow asked, seeking reassurance.

“He’s alive.  He didn’t get beat up too badly…” Buffy trailed off.

“But…” Willow prompted, sensing there was definitely more.

 Buffy broke down, her body shaking with great wracking sobs, “He’s not ok!”  Buffy clung to the redhead as though she were a life-preserver preventing the blonde from drowning.  “Oh God Willow!  Jenny’s dead and it’s my fault.”

Willow didn’t try to contradict her friend, instinctively knowing that Buffy needed to get this off of her chest.  She just rocked her gently back and forth and let her cry.

“They were just getting back together… and that’s my fault too!  I was so mad at her and I acted like such a bitch!  Blaming her for Angel loosing his soul, when that’s my fault too.”

Willow couldn’t let that one go unchallenged.   She pulled back and grasped Buffy by the shoulders, shaking her a little as she firmly said, “Stop it!  You didn’t know!  You couldn’t have known, there was no way you could have ever imagined that could happen, so don’t you dare take responsibility for that!”

Buffy clearly couldn’t accept that.  “I should have known somehow!”  At Willow ’s scowl she whined, “It feels like I should have known, Willow .  It all feels like it’s my fault.”  Sniffling loudly, she couldn’t meet Willow ’s eyes as she whimpered, “You should hate me.”

Willow was aghast at that.  “What!?  How could I hate you, Buffy?  You’re my…” she was about to say ‘you’re my everything,’ but managed to censor herself just in the nick of time.

Trying a different tack, Willow dropped her hands from Buffy’s shoulders and looked the slayer in the eyes.  “Do you hate me for Moloch?”  At Buffy’s wide gaze of surprise she continued on, “I released him into the internet!  Me!  I became obsessed with him to the point of ignoring you and Xander.  I ignored your concerns- I accused you…” she trailed off, the buried pain from those events rising up inside her.  “I felt responsible for Dave and Fritz!  Remember?  But you told me I couldn’t have done any thing differently- that I couldn’t have possibly known that would happen- remember?”

Buffy nodded her head slowly, remembering exactly how she had consoled the crying redhead, assuring her it wasn’t her fault.

Willow pulled out the big guns- guilt.  “Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire,” she thought.  “Was that a lie Buffy?” ignoring the slayers attempt to speak she pressed on, “Cause, if this stuff is your fault, then that means I have to take responsibility for Fritz and Dave.  It means their blood is on my hands.”  Pausing, she could smell the victory in the air.  “So, tell me Buffy.  Tell me how this is all your fault.”

Buffy, caught between a rock and a hard place, sat silent for a moment, absorbing Willow ’s words.  Finally, giving Willow a wan smile, she answered, “You fight dirty, you know that Will?”

Willow smiled and nodded sharply one time, “Darn tootin!  And, don’t you forget it!”

Buffy’s smile became strained and she said, “I still feel horrible though.”

Willow wrapped Buffy tight in her arms once again- trying to ignore how good Buffy’s lithe body felt pressed against her own- trying not to imagine them in the same position, sans clothing.  Resisting mightily the urge to kiss her pouting, tearstained lips, she said, “Of course you do, Buffy.  People you love are being hurt and killed.  Of course you feel horrible.  I do too.  Plus there’s the whole, ‘my boyfriend is an evil sadistic murder’ thing.”

Buffy pulled away and sat down on Willow ’s bed, shaking her head.  “No, not my boyfriend.  Angel’s dead.  I have to move on.”

Willow gasped, “You dusted him?”

Buffy shook her head again, “No, Angelus got away.  But I will dust him.”  Buffy dropped back onto the bed, sighing heavily.  “It’s time I faced facts.  Angel died that night.”  Shooting Willow