Theme Fic: End of part 3

["jbstories _"]

"A Little Birdie Told Me So"
--------------------------------

Willow practically ran over to Giles' house after her last class had
finished. Buffy had been acting odd all morning, not to mention the fact
that she had being acting beyond strange the night before. Buffy and
strange kind of went together, but she was acting strange even for her.
Also, if she was going to be completely honest she just wanted to see her
friend. She was always happiest when she and Buffy were around each other,
when they were together it was like the sky was bluer than normal, and the
grass was greener than normal, and everything was beautiful and beauty was
everywhere.

As she approached the door she could hear voices yelling inside. One of the
voices was Buffy's, she was sure of that, and the other one sounded a lot
like Spike. As she got closer to the door then voices got louder, but she
still couldn't hear what they were saying. Fearing that someone was about
to get staked, Willow quickly opened the door and went in. Spike seemed to
be yelling "do" and Buffy was countering with "not".

"Do not what?" Willow asked walking into the living room.

Buffy turned around at the sound of Willows voice.

"Nothing," Buffy answered quickly.

"I don't think so," Spike said still in his yelling voice. "She's bloody in
lo…" he stopped speaking when a piece of wood went flying by his face.

"You tried to stake me!" he yelled pointing at Buffy. "She tried to stake
me!" he said again turning to look at Willow as if she was going to back him
up.

"If I tried to stake you, you'd be dust," Buffy responded cockily.

"What's going on here?" Willow asked watching the interaction between the
two of them in absolute bewilderment.

Buffy continued to stare at Spike.

"Nothing," Buffy said holding the vampires gaze.

"Nothing," Spike said sullenly a moment later. "Except that I hate her," he
said giving Buffy the evil eye.

"What?" Buffy asked in mock horror. "You…you don't like me? Oh my god,
however shall I find the courage go on?" she continued in the same tone.

"I'm going to watch Passions," Spike grumbled walking away. "Grace senses
evil in Harmony," he continued heading into one of the back rooms.

"What was that all about?" Willow asked walking over to Buffy.

"Spike and I…had a difference of opinion," Buffy responded hoping that
Willow would leave it at that.

"About what?" Willow asked following Buffy over to the couch to sit down.

"He wanted me to turn on the TV and I didn't want to turn on the TV, so I
told him to turn on the damn TV himself, but he didn't like that suggestion,
so I told him to drop dead, and he said that he already had," Buffy paused
to take a breath then continued. "So I asked him if he wanted a return
ticket, and he said that I must be a joy to live with, and…"

"Buffy?" Willow asked stopping Buffy's story.

"Yeah," Buffy said turning to face her friend.

"I'm sorry that I asked," Willow responded.

"Hey, we all make mistakes," Buffy said smiling.

"How's your head?" Willow asked. Buffy had told her in the morning that it
was fine, but she had still seemed distracted in psychology class.

"In tact and working as well as it ever it did…which maybe isn't saying
much," Buffy responded. "How was class?" she asked immediately afterwards
wanting to avoid any conversation about her.

Willow smiled and started telling her about what had happened during her
last class. Buffy leaned back, all was right with the world.

================================================================

Buffy was out patrolling and Willow had been in the library studying, but
she was finished with that and was bored so she decided to go patrol with
Buffy. Buffy was always around the sports stadium around this time so
Willow figured that she would be able to find her pretty easily. As long as
she was able to manage avoiding being killed, she was sitting pretty. As
she headed across the campus she found her thoughts drifting towards the
very person she was seeking out. Buffy. Actually, she found that her
thoughts drifted to Buffy quite a bit, in fact more than quite a bit. She
was…she was smitten, she had to admit it.

It had all started with that doppelganger of hers. Bad, vamp, shanky,
Willow who went around licking girls necks and trying to 'become one' with
them. She had been blissfully unaware of the 'kind of gay' in her until
that incident. There was this unapologetic, charged, free sexuality about
her double, and even if you knew that she would snap your neck as soon as
kiss you, you were drawn to her. Being around her, being hit on by her, and
for a while even pretending to be her awakened something in Willow, and she
knew that it wasn't ever going to go to sleep again. She knew now that she
was no longer 'kind of', she just was. Being with Oz had given her a kind
of respite from thinking about it. So what if she watched Law and Order
because she thought that Carmichael was sexy? She had a boyfriend that she
genuinely cared about, who adored her, so it was a moot point. But now, now
she didn't have that boyfriend and the point wasn't so moot anymore.

Willow was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the girl walking
opposite her on the path until the crashed into each other.

"Sorry," Willow said putting her hands out in a gesture of peace. "Are you
alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the girl said her head was still facing away from Willow
but the hacker recognized her voice. Only one person she knew had the smoky
voice, it was Claire from her psyche class.

"I wasn't paying attention," Willow said when Claire finally straightened
up.

"That makes two of us," she responded. "I guess that we're equally idiots,"
she continued with a smile.

"You're in Walsh's class right?" Willow asked as they started walking in the
same direction. "Claire?"

"Two for two," Claire responded. "It's the voice right?" Willow just kind
of shrugged and nodded at the same time. Not an easy feat. "Your name's
Willow right?"

"Just like the tree," Willow told her with a smile.

"What are you doing out here so late?" Claire asked. "Usually it's like the
Isle of dead out here at night. No one's in sight."

"Yeah, that's because people a habit of disappearing or dying of mysterious
causes around here," Willow said shaking her head.

"So?" Claire asked. "I promise to submit to the Inquisition too."

"I'm just going to meet a friend," Willow said looking down at the ground.

"Buffy?" Claire asked. If it wasn't so dark out Willow would have seen the
knowing look on her face, but it was dark out so she didn't.

"Yeah," Willow responded smiling. "Do you know her?"

"Just seen her in class. Like you," Claire responded. "Where are you
going? Maybe I'll walk you, safety in numbers you know."

"It's probably out of your way," Willow responded. "We're meeting down by
the stadium."

"That's…odd," Claire responded. Willow smiled.

"It's, well it's pretty deserted out there," she explained. Vampires loved
deserted and quiet. Buffy usually got some action out there whenever she
patrolled.

"Oh," Claire said smiling. "I get it," she continued. She kind of shook
her head after that, she thought that it was absolutely deplorable that
people who were so obviously in love with each other had to sneak around and
hide because small minded assholes ruled the world.

"Yep," Willow responded doubting very much that Claire got it at all.

"Well this is where I get off," Claire said stopping in front of one of the
dorms. "I just want you to know that I think it's great," Claire added.

"What?" Willow asked confused.

"You and Buffy," Claire told her. "It's so hard to find someone that you
connect with in this world, and when you find someone you should hold on to
them, taboos and idiots be damned."

"Wha…" was all Willow managed to get out before Claire continued.

"With all the homophobia out there most people are so afraid to just be
themselves. I think that you two are some of the bravest people I've ever
met," Claire continued before heading towards the door.

"Bu…bu…but," Willow kind of squeaked out.

"Yeah, bye," Claire said. "I know you'll have a nice night," she added with
a wink. After that she disappeared behind the door leaving Willow there
staring at the building completely, utterly, bewildered.

===================================================================

> > From her spot behind the tree Buffy saw Willow approaching her. Buffy knew
that Willow couldn't see her where she was standing, so she waited behind
the tree for Willow so that she could surprise her.

"What's a nice girl like doing in a place like this?" Buffy asked coming out
from behind the tree as Willow walked by, and wrapping her arm around
Willow's shoulder.

"Buffy," Willow said distractedly.

"Don't sound so enthusiastic Will," Buffy said. "I might actually think
that you were happy to see me," Buffy continued.

"Sorry," Willow responded. "I'm glad to see you, that's why I came out here
after all."

"Not because you were bored and the phone lines are down?" Buffy asked
knowing that Willow's laptop was her other best friend.

"Nope, just because you're so irresistible," Willow told her.

"You okay Will?" Buffy asked watching the hacker closely. "You don't look
so hot."

"Thank you very much," Willow said making face.

"I didn't mean it that way," Buffy said drawing Willow in a bit giving her a
hug.

"I know," Willow said. It was just that she couldn't get her mind off of
what Claire had said before she left. She hadn't come right out and said
it, but it was clear that she was under the impression that she and Buffy
were lovers or something like that anyway. She knew that the way she felt
about Buffy was more than friendly, but she didn't think that it was so
obvious that strangers could pick up on it. She was slightly uneasy with
the idea. She didn't really care if people knew about her, not now that she
was out of High School anyway, but she wasn't comfortable with people
thinking that she and Buffy were a couple. Although the idea gave her the
fuzzies, it wasn't fair to Buffy to have people thinking something about her
that wasn't true. The trouble was that she didn't know what to do about it.

"What's wrong?" Buffy asked, something was definitely up with Willow.

"Nothing," Willow said. "I was just thinking about a paper I have to
write," she said deciding to keep what she had learned earlier to herself
for the moment.

"School, I tell you it's a pox on all of us free spirits," Buffy said taking
Willow's hand into her own.

Willow squeezed back and smiled then they continued on patrol.

=================================================================

More to come later,
Janine