Down Twisted
by drkdreamer
Chapter 17
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In the quiet room, Buffy sat down on the bed and staring at the tense, ridged line of her lover's back. She ached for Willow because she knew the grieving Wiccan was still trying to coming to terms with all that had been said the evening. The Slayer too hurt for the dark woman they'd both came to care about but, upper most, in her mind was taking good care of her beloved, best friend. Willow, for her part, was standing over at the window staring out at absolutely nothing. The pain in her head, from trying to understand Alex's way of thinking, was huge and she shut her eyes to rest her forehead against the blessedly cool pane of glass. The Witch then became perfectly aware that the silent blonde was, suddenly, standing directly behind her. Buffy Summer's leaned forward, intent upon seeing if her lover wished to talk things out.
"Say something, Will's, tell me you're going to be all right."
The slow warmth of the Slayer's breath tickled the red head's neck and she shivered, involuntarily, as it washed over her flesh. The Wiccan clenched her jaw before attempting to reply to her concerned lover.
"Why, Buffy, why isn't there some way we can't we seem to persuade Alex Not to just throw the rest of her life away over such a fruitless endeavor?!? Maybe it's just me being selfish but, damnit, I don't want to face losing that woman. Despite what she says, Alex still has a lot left over to offer to someone else. For God's sake, Buffy, look at all she's done for us already!"
The hazel eyed blonde, carefully, wrapped both arms around the other girl's slender waist before trying to answer the obviously hurting Witch.
"I know, baby, believe me I know. Hell, on some level, Wills, I even agree with you. Jesus, my first thought was to, somehow, show Alex that she could find a little happiness if only she'd consider staying in Sunnydale. I soon realized that I had to let that thought go when I saw how totally unfair I was being to Alexandra Roberts."
There was such a note of finality to Buffy's softly spoken words which confused the girl with those turbulent green eyes. Willow, being utterly mystified by the Slayer's thought process's, frowned at the blonde through the pane of glass.
"What, exactly Buffy are you trying to tell me?'
The other girl sighed, realizing that any answer would soon take them heading down a path to painful territory. The Slayer knew she'd have to say something to her impatiently waiting best friend, she just heartily wished there was something, anything else, to say. Admitting defeat, Buffy's voice then hardened.
"The only thing driving that woman is the hunt and killing of Tom Skyton. It's all Alex thinks about, love, even when she's conversing with all of us on many different levels. It has consumed her, Willow, and I can totally understand why it happened. You gotta know babe, that the butchering of Scott came way too close to utterly destroying that woman. The one thing that has kept Alex sane is the systematic tracking down of Skyton. I know that for a fact, Wills, because it's almost the same reason I had to leave Sunnydale after that fiasco with Angel. I had to go because staying here was never really an option for me."
Those, rather, surprising words caused the Wiccan to twist around to stare intently into the shifting depths of her lover's eyes. There was brutal honesty mixed with an apology in those clear orbs of the only girl she'd ever love. That had been one of their most painful experiences, despite the fact it had happened well before they'd chose to move things into a sexual level. The slender red head was, therefore, very careful to keep any sort of reproach from being heard in her voice.
"I could have helped you deal with all that pain, ya know?"
Buffy smiled, with total sadness, acknowledging that Willow was probably right in her assessment.
"Intellectually, of course, I knew that. Emotionally speaking, babe, all I could see was that I had the very real potential to hurt every single person I ever cared about and I simply wasn't going to allow that to happen. Can't you see, Will, it's the same for Alex. In her mind, there is no other option than killing Tom Skyton. I just hate the fact that she refused to acknowledge just how much everyone cares about her. Do you know that Giles has even said that she's one of the 'most frighteningly intuitive' people he's ever come across? He even confessed that Alex would make a smashing addition to the Scooby Brigade! Xander is filled with the major happies that finally there's someone in town who can dig his sense of humor. Even Anya, of all people, actually likes Alex! Let's not even discuss the subject of Cordy and Angel."
The Slayer's voice was tinged with high amusement and Willow couldn't help but smile at her golden haired lover. Buffy grinned back, relieved that she'd been able to lift the other girl's spirits.
"But, despite all this, love, we have to honor Alex's decisions. This is the only thing we can offer to her, she won't accept anything else."
All though the red head knew Buffy was speaking the truth, she still couldn't stop wishing that things would end differently than they seemed to be heading.
Maybe I'm a fool, she thought to herself, but how was I to guess that I'd grow to love Alex Robert's?!?
The Slayer remained perfectly still, acutely aware that her lover was fighting a hard internal battle. Wills had a gentle heart and once she cared about someone, she simply never stopped. Buffy knew that her beautiful love still grieved over loosing Jesse and his death had occurred well over 5 years ago. There was a wealth of pain spliced with a touch of anger stirring within those gorgeous green eyes and Buffy Summer's simply yearned for some way to ease those dark emotions from her tender hearted friend. Willow came back to herself when she became aware of the almost naked pain splashed across the Slayer's visage. Buffy hurt because she was hurting and the Witch was, instantly, contrite for allowing such a thing to happen.
"I think, lover, it's time you take me to bed."
The compact blonde promptly told herself to desist thinking about that sentence in such a literal way, her wicked brain flatly refused to follow orders. Images of Willow, the naked, utterly hot, passionate Willow who filled her days and nights with all the joy she could ever hope to find, began to fill her mind. She knew, however, that the time simply wasn't right and the Slayer attempted to defuse her growing desire with some much needed humor.
"Are you really trying to seduce me, Will?"
That caused the Wiccan to lean closer and feather her lips over the sensitive flesh of the blonde's left temple.
"I dunno, maybe, what do you think, Buffy?"
"I do believe your coming onto me," said the lecherously grinning Buffy," and frankly Willow, I'm shocked!"
Her lover, realizing that the Slayer was merely teasing began to respond back in kind.
"Shocked? Do you really think I can't tell exactly what you're thinking right now, beautiful? You cheeks are flushed, Buffy and your eyes are starting to turn that unique shade of blue that makes me want to strip you naked and ravish every inch of you, no matter where you might happen to be standing."
Willow punctuated her words by slowly running both hand's over the blonde's back to firmly grasp the taunt, muscular behind that had always so haunted her dreams. Buffy's only recourse of action was to groan, God, that woman's touch had such a way of turning her brain into nothing more than a pile of mush! The blonde strove mightily to battle back her rapidly growing hunger because now wasn't, as Alex had so aptly put it, time for mindfuckingly great sex. No matter how sweet the end result, it wouldn't stop the onslaught of pain over losing the gray eyed, Southerner they'd both come to love and Buff knew That as a stone, cold fact.
"God, Willow, wait. This, this isn't what we need right now. I just want to wrap myself around you and hold your delectable body all night long. Please, babe, let me do this for you?"
It was a sweetly, beautiful thing to say but the deep regret coloring her lover's voice caused the Witch to jest for just a little bit longer.
"Well, Buffy, let's mark this one down on the calendar! You, my wickedly horny lover, are turning down the opportunity to get sweaty-n-naked with little ole me!!"
The oh-so, intriguingly, saucy smirk flashing down at her made the Slayer erupt in laughter. That simple act bemused the red head who could only stare, wonderingly, at her lover. It took a while for Buffy Summer's to rein her chuckles back in and, once this was accomplished, the grinning blonde shot the Wiccan her own impudently posed question.
"You tower over me by a good inch, Wills. So how is it, all the sudden, you've become so damn little?"
In that next instance, both girls's where waylaid into a laughing fit. The release, though a welcome distraction, didn't last long at all. Buffy rose up to press a gentle kiss to Willow's lips, trying to convey every emotion that resided within her heart of heart to her best friend. Willow moaned, feeling everything her Slayer was saying down to the depths of her bones. Before the kiss to turn into something hot and uncontrollable, the Wiccan regretfully pulled away.
"Bed, Buffy, we're supposed to be getting ready for bed."
"Right love," said the jerkily swallowing blonde," I did promise to hold ya all night long, didn't I?"
Willow smiled quite tenderly at the gorgeous woman who held her heart within the confines of her capable hands.
"Yeppers. And you always try to keep your promises, dontcha love?"
Buffy Summer's couldn't resist the urge to flick her tongue over the Wiccan's sensuously, full lower lip.
"I try."
The grass eyed girl, feeling that caress down to her very soul, laughing pushed the teasing Slayer away from her.
"Sometimes, Buffy, you can be a really evil woman. I kinda like it, thought, guess it's a good thing I'm so head over heels in love with you."
The back handed compliment caused the hazel eyed blonde to cock up both her eyebrows toward's the Heavens.
"Takes one to know one, my beautiful Witch. By the way, it's the best thing in the whole, wide world. Love you too, let's hit the sheets."
The red haired Wiccan and her compact Slayer stared, soulfully, into each other's eyes before heeding the wisdom in that advice. It took several minutes before either teen could fully relax. Willow was still wired by everything that had happened this evening and Buffy, who was spooned around the other girl, was fighting her own body's natural inclinations for the utterly intoxicating Wiccan. The green eyed girl was the first to drop, the slow heat emanating from her lover lulled her into a deep sleep. Buffy simply pulled the red head closer, totally luxuriating in the gentle softness that was Willow Rosenberg.
Please God, was her last conscious thought, please let Will be able to deal with the loss of Alex.