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*Big goofy grin*
I love you guys, I really do....Have you so little faith in me that you honestly believed I'd leave it hanging there? *evil grin* I hope you've enjoyed the trip as much as I have. It's been a hellofa ride. Perhaps a sequel is in order, but then again, maybe not. Who knows. Allow me to give full permission to anyone who wants to take up the story where I left off. I challenge you. No, wait. . .as a matter of fact, I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU! *Bwaahaahaahaahaa* ---------------------
‘Through the night, through the dawn’
She walked without purpose, without direction or intention. Her clothes were dirty, wrinkled and she supposed that she smelled really bad. It didn’t matter. Nothing did now that he was gone. Anya stopped and stood under a streetlight on the corner of Fifth and Main. She looked around and sighed. She imagined that it might be around one or two in the morning, she wasn’t sure. Again, it didn’t matter. In over eleven hundred years of being a vengeance demon, she still couldn’t wrap her head around the reasons men do the things they do. Or why women still love them despite their stupidity. She felt her stomach lurch and lost her balance. She gained it quick enough, but when she adjusted her vision, she was no longer standing in Sunnydale. No, she was standing in a place much more familiar than that wretched little town. “You no longer travel well. Must be the time you’ve spent as a mortal.” She’d recognize that voice anywhere. “D'Hoffryn.” The demon emerged from the shadows and bowed his head to her. “Anyanka. You look well.” He steps up in front of her. “Your screams are keeping me up at night, as well as most of Arash Ma’har, and the community is not pleased. What seems to be the problem?” Anya glares at him accusingly. “What seems to be the problem? What’s the. . . .you have got to be kidding me! I’ve been wronged, dropped, dumped by a man! My heart is broken, I have no orgasm friend, and you ask me what my problem is!?” She crosses her arms across her chest. “You are definitely male, D’Hoffryn.” He tried to suppress a grin. “I see. So a male has caused this difficulty in your life.” ”You didn’t bring me here for idle chit-chat. You can do that with your minions any hour. What do you want?” “He doesn’t want anything.” A deep voice answered from behind her. “I, on the other hand, wanted to see you.” Xander placed his hand on her shoulder. “And this was the only way I could think of at the moment.” ”Xander.” Anya whispered. She turned around and blinked a few times, wondering if it was a dream. “Are you real?” He chuckled. “Of course I’m real! Go ahead, touch me. I won’t disappear, I promise.” She reached out and poked him in the ribs a few times. “Hey! Cut it out!” He swatted her hand away. “I may be immortal, but I’m still ticklish.” She smiled up at him for a few seconds, but then her smiled turned into a blank _expression_. Then her blank _expression_ turned into a frown. Xander knew that could only mean one thing. “Anya?” He whimpered. She pulled her arm back as far as she could and decked him. Hard. She got a sudden burst of adrenaline and started whacking away at him anywhere she could. “Anya! Ouch. . .no. . .stop! Hey. . cut it out!” He finally got a hold of her arms and held her still. “Take it easy. I heal quick, but not that quick. That smarts!” He gave her his best lopsided goofy grin. “You left. Not a word, no note, no last orgasm, no goodbye. You just disappeared into that dimensional tear.” D’Hoffryn cleared his throat from behind her. Xander looked up, embarrassed. “Yes, well. . .lets go someplace else and talk.” He put his hand out to her. Anya hesitated for a moment looking between his face and his hand. “Come on. Trust me.” He pleaded. “I want to tell you a story about what happened to me when I was standing on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Main Street. Only not here.” She relented. “Fine.” Seconds after she placed her hand in his, their bodies faded out, leaving two tiny lights floating in the air. The two lights scurried off into the darkness and D’Hoffryn shook his head as they disappeared. “Kids these days.” -------------------- Buffy found the note almost two hours ago. Faith, Angel, Cordelia and Giles were out looking for Willow. They all spread out to canvas the town and Cordelia took Angel’s car to cover more ground. Buffy decided to stay behind in case Willow changed her mind. As Cordelia made a left turn onto the main road, she spotted Willow immediately. Quickly she parked the car and ran to catch up to her near the Espresso Pump. “Have you totally lost your brains!?” Willow was startled out of her reverie. That piercing voice could only belong to one person. “Cordelia?” “Damn right. You’re lucky I’m the one that caught you trying to pull a Copperfield and not Buffy. Just what do you think your doing?” Willow placed her bag at her feet. “I have to find Xander. I have to explain to him. . .” “Willow. You have to earn a living, pay taxes on them, get up in the morning, shower, eat, and die. Well, you and Buffy are exempt from the dying part. But that’s not my point. Xander made his choice.” ”And so have I.” Cordelia shook her head. “If you leave now, it will kill her. . .well, metaphorically that is. I mean, do you get that at all? Do you get just how much you mean to her? To all of us?” “Cordy, please.” “No, Red. . .I’m not budging on this one. You came to me and Angel after you were attacked. Maybe that’s what you needed, maybe it’s what was best for you but when she found out – she went crazy! To save her life, Angel had to turn her into a vampire! Hello? How many people can say they were a vampire and lived to talk about it?” “I was there Cordy, I remember everything. I know how much she hurt, and I gave her time and now I need time and. . .” ”She called Angel after you left for Oxford. He was on the phone with her all night listening to her cry and talk about the fight you guys had and how much she missed you. He called her every day after that just to make sure she got out of bed and went on patrol and was living some sort of a life until you got back. You didn’t hear her Will, you didn’t hear the emptiness in her voice.” Cordelia paused a moment then put her hand on Willow’s shoulder. “If you leave now, I don’t think she’ll be able to take you back, Will. I really don’t.” ”He left, Cordy. Xander’s gone and I may never see him again. We’ve known each other since we were five and he stole my Barbie doll.” She chuckled. “I can’t imagine my life without him – I just can’t.” ”There was a time that I couldn’t imagine my life without someone too. We had built such a strong relationship, learned to rely on each other, told each other secrets and loved each other in our own special way.” Willow looked up at her and she smiled. “But she left and I had to move on. It hurt, but I did it. Xander’s not dead, Will. He’ll come back when he’s ready. Until then, you and Buffy need each other. Don’t you think you’ve been apart too many times already?” Willow reached out and squeezed her hand. “Cordy, I’m sorry.” ”Don’t be sorry, Will. I’m not. I wouldn’t trade the year we had together for all the money in the world. And with how stingy Angel is with raises, that says a lot!” Willow stood in contemplative silence for a few moments. “I love Buffy, I really do. To tell you the truth, I really don’t know what I’m doing. I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to go and try to find him, or to stay here and let him come to us.” She walked away a few paces. “God, Cordy. . .do you realize that I’ve been running since I got out of college? First it was to England, then to you and Angel in L.A., back to England, back to Sunnydale for about a year, off to England again to finish my degree and here I am *again* in Sunnydale.” She took a deep breath and smiled at Cordelia. No matter how old she got, she kept the babble-mode ready and waiting at all times. “I just don’t know what to do, where I belong.” ”You know where you belong Red. You belong with Buffy. Since your freshman year in college you two have been getting together. Not even a mystical crystal thingie could keep you apart. Don’t you think the Powers That Be are trying to tell you something?” “Cordy?” “Hmm?” “Take me home?” Cordelia smiled. “You got it Red.” ------------ Buffy sat on the edge of the bed flipping through her charred high school yearbook. It seemed like such a long time ago and things were simpler then. She, Willow, Xander and for a time Cordy and Faith – they were to core Scooby gang, the Slayerettes. They did it together. They fought the good fight and Giles was right: She was the longest surviving Slayer for a reason and that reason was the support she got from her friends. As she turned to the page she knew so well – the page with Willow’s picture on it – a small piece of paper slipped out and onto the floor. She bent down to pick it up and smiled when she saw what it was. Willow had slipped it to her in chemistry class out of the blue. Everyone had just found out that Angel was back and somehow, Willow knew exactly what Buffy needed to hear. She began to read out loud: When I take stock
Willow slipped quietly into the room and finished the rest of the poem. And you found your strength in me
Willow smiled at her. “You know. . .even then I knew on some level how I felt about you, it just took me a while to realize it.” She sat down on the bed next to Buffy. “I’m scared, Buffy. And when I’m scared I run. So instead of running now, I’ve decided that what I need most of all is you. I need to let you see me hurt because in the end I always wind up running to you anyway. So if it’s okay with you, I’ll just cut out the middle part and go straight for the comfort.” Buffy placed her head on Willow’s shoulder. “No matter how much time passes, I’ll never get tired of hearing you say you need me.” “Well good. Cause I’ll never get tired of saying it.” “I miss him too Will. I don’t understand what you’re going through but I can try. All I can do is try and be there for you and be what you need.” Willow kissed her forehead softly. “You’ve always been just what I needed. Always. And I’m not going to forget that again. I promise.” ------------ ***Three weeks later – A warm March evening – The sun has just set*** “You’re sure?” “Buffy I’m positive. Sheesh! Angel went to pick her up at the airport. Her plane gets in around seven and she’ll be here by eight. Now would you relax already? Everything will be perfect.” Willow spent five days with her parents and Nana in Oregon. They said that if they weren’t going to be able to spend her birthday with her, the least she could do was visit them for a few days. She agreed knowing that her parents wouldn’t give up on it. It was good the way things worked out because this way she was guarenteed to spend her birthday with her friends in Sunnydale. Right where she belonged. The Summer’s house was buzzing with activity. Cordelia was hanging the last of the streamers in the back yard with Giles, while Joyce and, of all people, Faith prepared the food. “I never would have guessed you could cook.” Joyce commented to the brunette slayer. Faith shrugged. “I pretty much took care of myself growing up. Everybodies’ gotta do it sometime. I just did it sooner than later I guess.” “Hey you two. Mmm. . .looks good.” Buffy stole a chicken leg from the stove. “Hey, B! Can’t you wait?” Buffy shrugged. “Slayer metabolism, F. . .” Suddenly, Buffy froze. “Shh!! Everyone!” Buffy strained to listen to something coming from outside. “She’s here! Quick. . .take your places!!!” --------- “. . .then when Giles was sleeping, I took the seventh volume of the Garzian texts, hid the sixth and, well, you were there for the rest of it.” Xander had taken Anya on a walk through limbo. It was quite peacefull actually. It was somewhat like a forrest, but not. Everything was alive and able to communicate. Anya had almost forgotten what it was like there. She plucked a flower from the base of a tree and the old oak turned to her and preceded to lecture her on having manners and not taking what didn’t belong to her. After all, how would she like it if he went to her house while she was sleeping and took a lock of her hair? Or decided that he wanted her ear for himself? Xander found this greatly amusing. Who would have thought that he would be more comfortable in this dimension than an ex-vengeance demon? They walked along in silence. He wanted to give her time to absorb everything he’d told her. She stopped finally and looked up at him. “It was selfless and selfish at the same time. Only a male could pull that off and get away with it.” “I love you.” Anya froze mid-step and looked at him as if he had three heads. He cocked his head to the side and smiled. “What?” He took her hand in his. “I love you. Is that so hard to believe?” ”You don’t love me. You left me. You can’t possibly leave someone that you love.” “Anya, sometimes you have to make it harder now so that it will be easier later. I’ve been human a lot longer than you have, and I’ve been Immortal for less time than you also but the one thing that we have in common is that we need people. We need to be loved and give love in return. Human or demon – that will never change.” “I loathed people for over a thousand years. I reigned in terror and was worshiped. I don’t need anyone.” “If it weren’t for people, then you never would have ‘reigned in terror’. After you left me again you went to L.A and have been working with Angel ever since. If you don’t need anyone, then why did you go to him? Why not crawl around in the sewers like a rat or live in back alleys away from people?” “So what are you trying to tell me Xander?” She was growing impatient. . .plus, she hated to lose an argument to him. “I’m saying that I still want to be with you, I still want there to be an us. It’s not that difficult really. I have a job to do here, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t go to the mortal rhealm every now and again to see my girl.” “So you want to have more orgasms with me?” He laughed loudly. Somehow, he never got tired of hearing her say that. “Yes, if that’s what you want to call it, sure.” She concidered this for a moment. “I guess it could work.” “Well good.” Xander looked at his watch. “Oh God, I didn’t realize how long we’ve been gone.” ”How long?” “Three hours. Arash Ma’har hours.” Her eyes went wide. “But that means. . .” ”Three mortal weeks.” He smiled at her. “On the job for
not even one day and I’m already goofing off.” He started to walk in the
direction they came from. “Come on, lets get you back.” They
walked hand in hand for a while, then he turned to her. “Wait.
I left on a Friday. . .picked you up Saturday morning. . .three weeks mortal
time is three hours here so. . . “ He suddenly got a panicked _expression_.
“How could I forget?! Come on. . .there’s something I have to do.”
He practiacally yanked her arm out of it’s socket when he broke into a
full sprint.
“I still don’t see why we couldn’t stop in a Giles’.” Willow glanced at Angel in the driver’s seat. They had just pulled up to Rovello Drive. Willow was thankfull to be back home again, but she was anxious to see Buffy. “I have my orders little one. Buffy said you were to go straight home without any stops.” She frowned at him. “Grumble, grumble.” Angel smiled at her. “Lets get inside. I’m sure Buffy will be here any minute.” “Fine.” She got out of the car and went around the back to grab some of her bags. “Big old mean vampire.” ------------ “Surprise!!!!” Everyone jumped up at once when they heard Willow and Angel walk into the backyard. She dropped her bags and looked around at the smiling faces of her friends. She looked at Angel, looked at Buffy, looked back at Angel and buried her face in his chest and immediately started to cry. Buffy ran up to her. “Not the reaction I was expecting.” She smiled at Angel. Willow chuckled and turned to her. “Buffy I. . .you did. . .party?. . . .I. . .oh geez.” She pulled Buffy into a hug. “Now that’s more like it!” Buffy wiped the tears from Willow’s face and placed her hand on her cheek. “I take it you’re surprised?” Willow nodded. Slowly she brought her lips to Buffy’s. She nipped and kissed and emersed herself in the feeling and they were both soon lost to everyone around them. “Ahem.” Angel cleared his throat. Willow blushed and kissed Buffy quickly again. “Thank you.” ”You can thank me like that anytime. Just maybe not so much with the audience next time.” ----------- “And finally, this arrived today. I don’t know who it’s from.” Buffy led Willow over to a large box. She opened the card and smiled. “I can’t believe it.” Buffy walked over to her. “Who’s it from Will?” “Dear Red, Hope you have a good one. Have as many as I have and you won’t want to be celebrating so enjoy it while you can. Make sure that Slayer treats you good or she’ll have the big bad to answer to. Spike.” She looked up at Buffy. “Can you believe it?” Willow unwrapped the box and immediately began to laugh. “It’s a bookcase and there’s another note inside. ‘To replace the one you and the Slayer smashed to smitherines.” “I’ll never cease to be amazed at what Spike is capable of.” Buffy smiled. “What’s this about a smashed bookcase?” Joyce quirked her eyebrows at the two girls. “Nothing mom. Long story.” “Have room for one more gift?” They all turned around and saw Anya walk into the yard. “Anya, I trust you’re feeling better.” Giles smiled at her. She nodded. “Yes.” She handed a small wrapped box to Willow. “Here, this is for you.” ”You didn’t have to get me anything, but thanks anyway.” Anya smiled at her. “I never said it was from me.” No one moved or said anything for a few seconds. “Well? What are you waiting for? Isn’t it tradition for you to open a gift when you receive it?” Willow carefully undid the wrapping and opened the lid of the box. When she removed the tissue paper she gasped at what she saw. “No. It can’t be.” Gently, she lifted the item out and held it up. “I can’t believe it.” Buffy looked at her, concerned. “What?” “Xander.” In Willow’s hands she held the Barbie doll he stole from her when they were five. How could she tell? Other than it’s tattered and worn appearance, she lifted the shirt the doll was wearing and looked at her back. Scratched there in a child’s unsteady hand she found this: W.R.
“How do you know it’s him?” Buffy whispered. “The back of the doll.” She replied in a shaky voice. “Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris. Best Friends Forever And Always.” “You’ll see him again. Just give it time.” Anya stated simply. Willow nodded and smiled in reply. “Okay! Who’s up for some birthday cake?” Buffy announced suddenly. She had to lighten the mood one way or another. “How about you Dr. Rosenberg. It’s ice cream cake. . .” Willow’s eyes lit up. “Ice cream cake? You didn’t. . .” Buffy nodded and smiled. “You did!” “Rocky Road!” They said in unison. ------------ Happy birthday was sung, a little off-key, and the cake was handed out to everyone by the guest of honor. Willow had three pieces herself and by the end of the night what once was a cake now only looked like soup. Willow walked off towards a lone tree in the back yard and was content for a few moments just standing there, watching her friends – no – her *family* have a good time. She looked beyond the festivities to the street light out front. She caught a glimpse of someone standing there and began to go towards him, but he put his hand up to stop her. He bowed low, blew her a kiss – then simply disappeared. She smiled and knew it was Xander. He’d said everything she needed to hear without saying anything at all. “Good thoughts?” Buffy walked up to her. Willow smiled. “Nothing but. . “ “How about some more cake?” Willow shook her head. “No. No more Rocky Road for me. I’ve had enough of it to last me a good long while. I’m all sugared up as it is. Do you want me bouncing off the walls all night?” Buffy wrapped her arms around Willow’s neck and leaned into her ear. “I don’t mind you bouncing all night. . .but off the walls isn’t what I had in mind.” ”Buffy!” Buffy stopped any other protests Willow may have had in mind with a kiss. It was long and soft, unrushed and desperate at the same time. Finally she broke away for air and smiled at the beautiful redhead in front of her. “Hey.” Willow smiled back. “Hey yourself.” FINIS
you humble bard,
PS
PS II.
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