Stranger In My House
by Shyfox
In Dreams
[reviews]
Chapter Six: In dreams
That candy-colored clown they call the sandman
Tiptoes to my bedroom every night,
Just to sprinkle stardust and to tell me,
Go to sleep, everything's all right.
I close my eyes then I drift away
Into the magic night, I softly say
A silent prayer like dreamers do
Then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you
In dreams I walk with you
In dreams I talk to you
In dreams you're mine all the time
We're together in dreams, in dreams
But just before the dawn
I awake and find you gone
I can't help it, I can't help it if I cry
I remember that you said goodbye
Too bad it only seems
It only happens in my dreams
Only in dreams
In beautiful dreams.
-- Roy Orbison, In Dreams
"This is nice." Buffy said, reflectively, staring into sparkling green eyes, as she moved a restless hand over silky soft skin. She couldn't remember how she'd got here, or how she came to be like this...the only thing that mattered though, was the look coming from those eyes.
"What?" They feigned innocence, even as incredibly soft hands were matching the pattern Buffy had set on the skin of her partner.
"This." Buffy answered, feeling slightly self-conscious as she blushed under a heated gaze. She could tell that she wasn't very used to being open and honest with her feelings. "Being here. With you." A line of kisses trailing down into the V of a neck made the words semi-intelligible but she felt that the meaning had gotten across anyway. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you, too." Warm words whipered into her ear, just before a velvet tongue licked fire across her lobe.
"Too long." She gasped, feeling the warm sparks heading southward and settling in her stomach. "I feel like it's been forever since I've held you."
"It has." Was answered in reply, just before a long, low laugh echoed throughout the confines of the room, sending a slow shiver of revulsion down her spine, although she had yet to figure out why.
"Not long enough, apparently. Still haven't learned to keep your pants on, Slayer? What? Did you forget what happened the last time you took them off?" A mocking voice asked her, apparently finding a great deal of amusement in the situation.
'What? What happened the last time?" Suddenly images of a man flashed through her brain. She always thought that she'd be attracted to tall, dark and handsome, certainly a vast contrast to the redhead that lay by her side, but he appeared to be a little too moody and somber for her taste. She remembered hugging him, kissing him, tasting him, much the same as she had with the redhead, but with a distinct difference as well.
"He couldn't remember all of the bad things he had done." A voice that greatly resembled her own echoed loudly throughout the room, but whether the voice was really in the room, or inside of her own head, she couldn't tell. And suddenly the man she remembered kissing and loving, turned savage and cruel, displaying a side that she hadn't thought possible until it was revealed to her.
"So I told him that I loved him." The voice resumed her narrative leaving Buffy's blood feeling colder with every word spoken. "And I kissed him, and I killed him." She was actually shocked by how cold and distant the voice sounded. If it was a part of her, she didn't want to know about it. "See...true love...it just doesn't work for you and me. We were born for bigger things...better things."
"But, Willow..." She started, looking at the redhead as if she would find her salvation there. But she just looked at her sadly as if she were feeling all of Buffy's pain herself, and shook her head slowly.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, just before she was grabbed from behind by the man that had spoken of her past experience earlier. "When are you going to learn?" He asked, shaking his blonde head at her in disgust.
His face changed abruptly from fairly normal looking to completely demonic, yellow eyes glaring with evil intent. "Love isn't brains, Children." He said, pulling sharply on red hair, yanking her love's head back until she thought the neck would snap. "It's blood." The blond haired demon said, just before he sank his teeth deeply into the redhead's neck, a thick stream of blood shooting from the puncture wound, just before he wrapped his mouth around the holes and drank deeply.
Buffy wanted to move, wanted to get Willow away from the man draining the life out of her with every drop of blood, but she was powerless, only able to watch and stare until her love was dropped uncerimoniously to the floor like a discarded rag doll, pale and lifeless as if she had never existed.
"You Bast-" She couldn't even finish it, emotions overwhelming her as she stared in hate at the malevolently grinning ghoul, red blood still dripping from the sides of his mouth, an incorrigible tongue licking at it almost gleefully.
"It's all your fault, you know. You forgot who you are."
*****
NOOOOO!
Buffy awoke, jerking up into a sitting position, just barely able to control the scream that threatened to burst forth from her lips. Her body was covered in sweat, she could feel it dripping off of her shoulder blades and rippling down her back. Looking down at the bed beside her, she was reminded once again of her startlingly vivid dreams by the vision of the redhead lying undisturbed, sleeping the sleep of the blissfully unaware. She looked so peaceful...calm, and Buffy was compelled to recline back against her, seeking comfort she instinctively knew she alone could take from this wonderful person.
Somehow it felt natural to put her head back down on the comfy looking shoulder. It felt just as natural to brush the red hair out of the pale face, allowing Buffy a better look. She supposed it should concern her that she wasn't wearing anything under the covers, and taking a quick look around she spotted what appeared to be the shredded remains of what she had been wearing lying in a puddle on the floor. But those were questions best answered after she chased the remaining shadows of her dream back into the far recesses of her incredibly strange subconscious.
Willow shifted, moaning in her sleep, and Buffy was half afraid that she would wake up and catch her staring at her, but she simply threw an arm over her chest, as she snuggled in closer, holding her with a great deal of possession and ownership.
Buffy couldn't stop the wandering hand that traced gently over her friend's cheek, outlining the features of her face, recalling details from her dream that brought a heat of embarrassment to her cheeks. 'Who are you? What are you to me? Are we just friends?' The questions that circled in her mind weren't new, they were just as frustrating as ever, the answers eluding her from beyond the dim haze of her memories. She knew that she felt closer to her best friend than was considered normal, had felt their connection from the moment she had seen her, but did the redhead feel the same way? What was the reason for the sadness that she saw lurking behind those vibrant green eyes...where had that come from. So many questions...so few answers...but she had a feeling that they were all wrapped up inside the head that she was tracing so gently.
She slowly let her dream back in...remembering the good parts of it anyway. She didn't even want to think about the bad parts...of what that man...that...that spawn of hell had done. Those she blocked firmly from her mind, refusing to even acknowledge them or consider what they might mean. 'Guess I've seen one to many horror movies in the past.' She told herself blithely before shrugging the rest of the negativity off of her shoulders.
It was the first part she wanted to remember. How it had felt to hold the redhead in her arms in her dream felt remarkably like she was feeling now. The skin felt just as soft to her touch...softer even if she allowed herself to admit it. And now, for the dangerous admission, she wanted to feel all of it, she admitted to herself wryly. The dream had aroused something in her she hadn't known existed, and it left her wondering if she was crazy for having dreams like that for her best friend or just gay.
Willow shifted again, and this time Buffy could tell she was waking up. She moved her hand from the cheek that she had been caressing to a more safe place, her leg, and watched as eyes fluttered open to stare into her own. They stared uncomprehendingly for a long moment, until suddenly, awareness flooded them and the redhead blushed bright scarlet.
Willow looked at the positions that they were lying in, her half asleep brain racing to find explanations for how they had ended up like this. When she had fallen asleep, the Cave Slayer had been half on top of her, one arm and one leg circling her body possessively, while her head lay comfortably on her shoulder. Now the head was still there, but somehow during the night, Willow had shifted a little so that she was holding the Slayer with as just as much air of belonging.
She stared into the bottomless blue eyes for a long moment longer, before she dropped the gaze, examining the printed sheet that covered most of the Slayer's nakedness, not to mention her own state of dress. The nightie she had worn to bed had somehow hiked up to her hips during the night, and she could feel the warm press of the Slayer's leg against her own. She didn't even want to think of where that muscled thigh was at the moment, feeling already too uncomfortable about the situation. She really didn't need to let her mind travel there, not after last night.
"Um..." Willow started, still searching desperately for something to say.
"Uh..." Buffy took over, feeling like the wave of discomfort was her fault. She was the one that had encouraged the snuggling after all.
"It just..." They both started at the same time, then looked at each other, both reading the other's minds and cracked up under the pressure.
They couldn't stop laughing for five full minutes. Each time one of them thought they were starting to wind down, they would look at the other and start laughing all over again. Finally, with tears of laughter streaming down her face, Buffy was able to speak. "I'm sorry." She said, still giggling as she held onto her stomach. "Come over to my house...we can have a sleepover...I promise not to bite...I'll just use you as my comfy, body-sized pillow." She mocked herself, while chuckling over the absurdity.
Willow tried to ignore the stab of pain that brought to her heart, remembering a time when they really were each others body-sized pillows. Remembering that now would do her absolutely no good at all. "It's okay. Really...I didn't mind." She said, brushing the remaining tears of laughter, along with the one tear of sorrow that had managed to leak out, away. "I'll be your oversized pillow anytime you want." She offered, trying to remain cheerful. After all, it wasn't very often that she woke up in bed with Buffy, anymore.
Buffy felt a warm wave wash through her at those words, and smiled brightly at the redhead. "I just might take you up on that offer." She said, her voice turning husky. For some strange reason, she felt a great deal of pleasure when Willow blushed at those words, and only barely managed to hide a self-satisfied smile. "Still...I don't remember taking off my nightie..." She said, looking at the silk puddle on the floor with bemusement. Now that she was more fully awake, and the horrors of her dreams had been wonderfully washed away, she was able to consider that fact. "Are you sure you didn't rip it off of me while I was asleep?" Her teasing look turned speculative when Willow blushed brightly once more.
"No!" Willow said, way too emphatically, then tried to tone it down. "No...I don't...I mean...I really don't know how it got there." She stammered. She was the worst liar in the world, and she knew it. Fortunately for her, Buffy didn't seem to know it.
"Relax, Will. I was only teasing." Buffy said, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder, that made her jump a mile. "I mean, I probably just got hot or something and threw it on the floor." She shrugged, not really wanting to make a big deal out of it...not if it was going to upset her friend this much. It did get her thinking though. How did her nightgown end up on the floor...shredded? She found, as she picked it up that it was torn straight down the middle. "Wow...I really must have been...hot." Buffy mumbled under her breath.
Willow studiously ignored the tattered remains, not wanting to remember how they became that way in the first place. She could still see the Cave-Slayer arching over her, claiming her lips as her own, reminding her of the pleasures she had felt in Buffy's arms. She had to shake her head hard to get rid of the images. As pleasurable as they were, now was really not the time to recall them with aching clarity. She could do that later, in the privacy of Giles' bedroom.
Joyce's voice calling up the hall startled the two women out of their reverie. "Girls, are you ready for breakfast? Willow has a class in an hour..."
"Yikes." Willow gasped, looking down at the face of her watch. "I almost forgot." She looked up, almost apologetically. "I wish you could come with me."
"It's okay...I'll just try to catch up on that stuff you gave me. Maybe I'll even understand it this time." Buffy had almost choked at the amount of books Willow had unpacked the day before...Willow had shown her each of the books, explaining what each one was for and when the homework was due...but with the gaping hole in her memory she hadn't been able to tell one subject from the other.
"Girls?!" Joyce called again, sounding a little worried this time. Willow could tell Joyce hadn't exactly been comfortable with the arrangements the night before...and she couldn't blame her really. Joyce didn't want either one of them to get hurt, and right now the situation was way too open for major hurtness. Although, Willow had to admit, last night couldn't have gone much better.
"We'll be down in a minute, Mom!" Buffy called, dashing into her bureau to find some clothes to wear. Willow just threw on the clothes she'd had on the day before, knowing that she would be stopping off at Giles' to change before she went to her classes.
Just before they went downstairs, Willow looked once more at her best friend, now fully dressed. "Thanks...for...letting me sleep over last night." It sounded stupid, incredibly inane and she wanted to take the words back the moment she'd said them. But Buffy just smiled, like she'd been handed the best present ever.
"Hey...what are friends for?" Buffy asked, shrugging her shoulders as if to say, 'No big deal.' But it was a big deal...for both of them.
*****