FF The Body System

[badbard]

The Body System
by badbard
(tiger_by_night@xxxxxxxxx)



WARNING/DISCLAIMER:- Buffy, Willow, Giles, Angel,
Xander, Oz and Cordelia are the exclusive property of
Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy Inc and Warner Bros. Thus
they should not exist in this piece of non-profit
fanfic. Thus they don't! Voila! Abracadabra! Close
your eyes and read my story! Blank Magick and it's
all in the eyes of the reader. *G*

Slight spoilers for my mid-third season setting.
Timezone? Angel has been to hell and back tra ah la
la la, Oz and Willow are an item, Cordy & Xander are
still sucking face.

Two girls get the warm fuzzies for each other in this
fic. If you'd rather the girls in question pursue
their respective healthy relationships with a vampire
and a werewolf, you'd best keep reading anyway. This
is a tricky story.

Last but not least this fic was written for the
'BuffyLovesWillow' list's theme of the week, namely
the ol' body switcharoo. With my less than
conventional interpretation.


***



"Remember, safety is our first priority," ordered
Giles, presenting each of the Slayerettes with a cross
from his varied collection. Buffy got silver, Willow
got wood, Xander got cheap plastic, Cordelia got
something in blue to match her outfit and Angel got a
bit of a scare. "Graveyard Patrol is not for the
unwary. I propose we follow the buddy system.
Everybody select a buddy and don't let them out of
your sight."

"Me and Cordy in the mausoleum," begged Xander,
tugging on his girlfriend's manicured hand.
Sunnydale's icequeen almost thawed.

"Alright," she snapped. "But if anything rises in
there I'll be staking it." Xander lost his leer.

Angel offered his Slayer a tentative half-smile and
his arm. Buffy blinked and snapped to attention.
"What was the question? Please let it be multiple
choice."

"We're pairing up for safety's sake," repeated Giles,
quite used to his Slayer's less-than-supernatural
attention span. "Who knows what horrors we will
encounter now that the leading members of Sunnydale
High's Parents & Friends Association have been
massacred at the teeth of Drusilla?! She IS
crazy...one must assume she has taken the liberty of
changing them all."

"Horrible," agreed Buffy. "Vampires who run blood
donar drives to support the hungry. Not my type."

"We need to split our core fighting forces," the
Watcher continued, glancing at Angel's shadowy form
with barely veiled contempt. "I'll accompany...him.
Willow, you're with Buffy."

"Too right," squeaked Willow, grabbing Buffy's arm and
peering into the fog-filled air with a touch of
trepidation. "Buffy and Willow, we go together
like..."

"...Sunnydale burgers and lost pets," finished the
grinning Slayer. "What would one be without the
other? Not a tasty snack, that's for sure, not to say
that we're..."

..."tasty snacks for Sunnydale's night unlife," ended
Willow. "'Cause we're not. We kick ass. Well Buffy
kicks ass and I watch...oh! Buffy's ass...no, I
don't, no, I watch her back."

Buffy winked suggestively as she ran her hands down
the sides of her tight tanned leather pants. There
was something so endearing about Willow's rambling.
Especially when it made Buffy blowing her allowance on
clothes more than worth it...

A full moon skudded across the cloudy sky as the pair
waded hand and hand around haphazarded gravestones,
inching farther into the maze of memorial.

"Oz locked up?" asked Buffy, wondering why she was
glad he was having his cycle.

"Yeah, in the library cage," replied Willow, wondering
how holding Buffy's hand could made her feel all snug
and cozy. She stopped feeling snug and cozy an
instant later when Buffy's head snapped around, fangs
sprouting over her upper lip, eyes ablaze with unholy
hellfire.

"Buffy!" she screamed, dropping her friend's hand so
she could cover her mouth in a feeble attempt to stop
herself from being sick.

"Willow," hissed the vampire, "Little girl, give me my
answers." Willow stumbled back, almost tripping as
she took in the facial ridges marring her friend's
beauty, vestiges of the demon within pushing its way
to the surface.

"Buffy, no," she sobbed. "This can't be happening.
It can't. I haven't even told her..."

"What?" hissed Buffy's corpse. "What, haven't you
told her? Tell me!" Taloned fingers shot out to grip
the Wiccan's forearms, driving her back against the
cold slab of somebody's tomb. Perhaps Buffy's.

"I don't know!" shrieked Willow. "I just don't know,
okay?! I haven't figured out what it is I feel
for..." her head drooped to rest against Buffy's
ridged cranium. "Why I can't go on without her."

"I can't either," whispered the vampire, fangs
sprouting longer and whiter by some trick of
moonlight, prickling along the nape of Willow's bent
neck. "I can't go on if she's with you." With those
simple words, Willow came alive. Shoving the vampire
away with all her strength she dropped limply onto her
hands and knees and choked out,

"you're not Buffy."

Buffy smiled sadly. There was something eerily
familiar about her stance, the slump of her shoulders,
her dark and brooding stare. Willow squinted.
Buffy's hands needed pockets. Even as Buffy glared
mournfully down at her, the Wiccan guessed the truth.

"It's not just," murmured Buffy. "Coming back from
hell to find my life a living rendition. All because
you hold a piece of her heart. Give it back. To me."

"Angel!" gasped Willow. "How?"

Angel's laugh ghosted down her spine like the winter
wind. "I'll live forever, little girl. Knowledge and
Power is mine for the taking. I'm the only one of my
kind and nobody has any idea what I'm capable of.
What I'll be capable of. This is nothing. I've
spanned the very centuries! I've burned in hell
longer than that. Buffy sent me to burn and I was
thankful because after all I did, all I've done, I
deserved it. But you, Willow, you were the one to
give me back my soul. Do you know what that did to
me? It damned me. It damned me in the eyes of the
demons and condemned me to eternal torture. I tried
to be strong. I tried to hold out. I fought my way
back and for what? For WHAT?! I'm still damned.
Damned never to lie in Buffy's arms, damned to be on
the outside all alone." Trickles of bloody sweat
coursed down Buffy's face as she loomed over her
friend, Angel's orange eyes alight in her face.
Angel's soul in control.

"I could've borne all that. Just having Buffy's
heart, listening to her whisper all her love, it
would've been enough. More than enough." Buffy's
features twisted with pain. "She kissed me and it
took away the endless torment." A low growl rose to a
dull roar in the Slayer's throat. "Not now. Now I'm
lost. She loves you. She loved you all along."

"No," gasped Willow, even though she knew it must be
true. Buffy made her feel loved. Buffy made her feel
lucky. "No, Angel. Buffy loves you too."

"Not enough," moaned the vampire, tortured eyes
burning into Willow's wide green ones. "Not enough to
ease the pain. I want a lover not a friend!"
Something clicked inside of Willow. The big red
button labelled, 'do not press under any
circumstances' was floored to the wall. She pulled
herself to her feet and her jaw clenched and her hair
flew out like a flame.

"So do I," she whispered with everything that she was.
"Buffy, so do I."

Buffy stared at her with orange eyes. Blood-red tears
trailed over ashen cheekbones. "Tell her," cried the
Angel. "Don't let her heart break the way mine's
broken."

"Angel..." started Willow but Buffy's face was
changing back. Buffy's eyes were all confused and
Buffy's tears were water and as far as Willow was
concerned, needed to be kissed away.

"Did we kill 'em?" asked the Slayer, looking around
for rising vamps. "Did I get conked on the noggin or
somethin'? What's going on, Will? Are you okay?"
The Wiccan took a deep shaky breath. It had to be
said.

"I love you, Buffy." The Slayer froze. She seemed to
be searching for words.

"Like a friend, right?" she mumbled at last. "Like
your buddy?" A muscle worked in her jaw. Willow's
eyes grew watery. She was so very scared. What if
her revelation tore them apart? What if Angel had
tricked her? What if Buffy wouldn't love her
anymore...even as a friend?

"Buffy," she pleaded and her voice cracked on the
beloved name. "Buffy, we're so much more than that."
Suddenly Buffy was down on her knees and crying in
earnest. Terrified that something was wrong, Willow
hustled forward to bury her friend in a hug.

"My God, Buffy are you hurt?" Giles appeared on the
scene, peering down at Buffy with fatherly concern.
Willow helped her friend to her feet.

"The buddy system in action," joked the Slayer, giving
Willow a friendly pat and hastily scrubbing away her
tears. Angel stepped out of the tombstone's shadow.

"Buffy," he husked. She started and favoured him with
a guilty look. Lurching forward she wrapped her arm
through his, softly insisting,

"walk me home."

Willow stood with Giles and watched them go. Buffy
didn't look back. Angel did. His usually pallid
complexion was flushed with triumph.



=====
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