The Times In Between
by Bob Head
The Times In Between
[reviews]
Author: Bob Head
Disclaimer: None of the characters below belong to me. All the BtVS people belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. I'm just trying to have fun.
Pairing: Buffy/Willow, of course.
Spoilers: Anything up to and including the Series Finale is possible
Rating: NC-17, mostly for language, but who knows what might happen.
Feedback: Well, Yeah! frank_8281@yahoo.com
The Times In Between
May 20th, 2003
For the group of people standing behind the yellow school bus it had been a very long day. It began normally enough, everyone woke up, (those that slept anyway) took care of their morning ablutions, ate a hearty breakfast (those that could eat) then they gathered their weapons and prepared for battle.
They won, which is why now they were all staring (at least those that were still capable of standing) at a roughly ten-mile wide crater that used to be their home; a town called Sunnydale, in California. They were fewer in number than they had been this morning because the battle was not without cost. Nearly two-thirds of the young women and girls who had gone into the Hellmouth hadn't come back out again or had died during the terrifying race to escape the collapsing city.
The people standing at the rear of the bus spoke quietly among themselves, joking, laughing, happy that they had beaten the odds and defeated evil one more time. Then the redhead asked a question of the petite blonde that they were all gathered around.
"What do you think we should do Buffy?"
"Yeah," said a dark haired young woman standing towards the back of the group, "you're not the one and only Chosen anymore, just gotta live like a person. How's that feel?"
A younger girl, just a little taller than the blonde asks, "Yeah, Buffy. What are we going to do now?"
Buffy Summers said nothing, but a smile slowly spread across her delicate features. It was still on her face when her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed. For a moment they all stared down in stunned silence at the fallen girl. Horrified at the blood pouring from the wound in her belly that she had managed to conceal from them until now.
Then the moment broke and the silence with it as Willow Rosenberg, who less than an hour before had used the essence of an ancient weapon bound to the source of the Slayer power to change the nature of that power forever, screamed, "Oh god, Buffy no! Don't you die on me! Not again! Not now!"
As she dropped to her knees she gathered the limp blonde into her lap and Rupert Giles, Buffy's Watcher and mentor, more of a father to her than her biological one, knelt opposite Willow and quickly and gently assessed the damage.
"I don't understand," he said, "the wound doesn't seem that severe. Where is all this blood coming from?" Then he noticed that the blood was coming from beneath her.
"Damn!" he cursed, "Willow help me turn her towards you. Gently, now."
As Buffy's back was revealed, Giles and Willow saw a second wound opposite the first.
"Oh god, Giles." Willow gasped.
"She's been run through. Xander! Get everyone back on the bus!"
A brown haired man with an eye patch took off to the bus at the run shouting, "I'm on it! Everybody get in the bus! We are leaving!"
"Kennedy!" called Giles, "Get all the clean bandages we have left and then start tearing up peoples shirts if you have to! We've got to slow this bleeding!" an olive skinned brunette shorter than even the wounded Slayer nodded to Giles and ran for the bus.
Softly, Giles called to Willow, trying to get the red headed witch's attention where she still clung with a desperate strength to her best friend. "Willow... Willow!"
Faith stepped in and said, "I got this Giles, get going." He nodded and ran towards the bus.
"We gotta go Red. Giv'er to me, I'll carry her." She said to Willow. When she still wouldn't let go Faith grabbed Willow by the chin and forcibly turned her head to face Dawn Summers. Buffy's sister was still standing dumbstruck; her hands clasped over her mouth, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Dawnie?" She said dazedly.
"That's right Willow," Faith said softly, "Dawn needs you too. Now get her on the bus! I got Buffy."
"Right, bus." Willow said, finally releasing Buffy and moving quickly to get Dawn.
"Oh god Willow, is Buffy going to be all right?" Dawn asked fearfully.
Willow goes into resolve mode as she answered, "She has to be Dawnie, I won't lose her again. I won't!"
It had taken a little over an hour to reach the nearest hospital, even with Xander pushing the bus to dangerous speeds. Faith had almost had to physically restrain Willow to keep her from getting in Giles' way in the cramped space where he worked desperately to keep the Slayer alive long enough to reach a proper medical facility. Finally they arrived and Buffy was rushed to the ER where she was examined, transfused and rushed to surgery.
For hours Willow, Dawn, Giles and Xander sat in the waiting room hoping for some word as the rest of the survivors had their wounds treated. When the doctor made his appearance at last, it was with mixed news. They had managed to save her, and she was breathing on her own which was a good sign. Her heart hadn't stopped which seemed to confuse the doctors considering the amount of blood loss involved. Unfortunately, she had slipped into a coma and they said that they weren't sure when or even if she would wake up. After the doctors had allowed them to, they all briefly visited her in intensive care. Then Giles, Xander and even Dawn had been convinced to go to a nearby hotel where Faith had taken all the newly empowered Slayers to eat and rest, but Willow had refused to leave. After learning the futility of arguing with Willow in 'resolve mode' the nurses brought her a pair of scrubs and allowed her to use the locker room shower to clean up in. Then she sat at Buffy's bedside and waited and prayed.
May 23rd, 2003 7:04 pm
Willow hadn't slept for more than a few minutes at a time for almost four days now. She had barely left Buffy's side long enough to eat, and then only when threatened by Faith, Giles and Dawn at the same time. Finally she had succumbed to sleep while resting her head on the edge of the hospital bed, though she still didn't release Buffy's hand, which she had held almost constantly since taking up her vigil.
When Buffy awoke she was not a little surprised to find herself not dead. Still a small smile touched her lips at the sight of her best friend sleeping in a chair next to her. Willow looked exhausted.
'How long have I been out?' Buffy wondered. 'Only one way to find out, I guess. I hate to wake her up when she looks so tired though.'
Gently she stroked Willow's hair with her free hand, only the barest touch but it was enough to awaken the witch.
"Buffy?" she murmured, "You're awake! How do you feel? Are you in pain? Are you thirsty? I need to call the doctor. And Dawn and Giles ..." at this classic Willow-babble Buffy almost laughed, but a twinge from her side restrained her.
"Breathe, Will." She said
"Right, breathing good, babble bad. I'm just so happy you're okay. I thought I'd lost you!" she hugged the blonde Slayer, "I only have one question. What the HELL did you think you were doing?" Willow fumed. "Why didn't you tell us you were hurt? How could you let us just chatter away, patting ourselves on the back while you stood there quietly bleeding to death?"
"I... I don't know Will. I guess I just didn't know how bad I was hurt," she answered while intently examining the bed sheet.
"Buffy?" she didn't look up. "Oh god, Buffy you werent... were you? How could you? How could you even think of leaving us... of leaving ME? Again!" The raw pain in her friend's voice brought her head up only to see Willow storm from the room in tears.
"Willow, wait!" she cried.
She tried to get out of bed, to follow, to explain but the pain from her side brought her up short. "Oh!" she gasped and tried again. This time she made it into the hallway. Willow was nowhere in sight. 'Dammit Willow, come back!' she thought. 'I gotta explain, fix this.'
She limped to the nurse's station and asked, "Where is she?"
Startled to see a patient who, only a little while before had been comatose the nurse could only gape.
Buffy, never known for her patience under the best of circumstances, slapped the counter-top hard enough to crack it. "Where IS she?" with no answer forthcoming from the terrified nurse she said, "Fine, I'll find her myself." And moved on down the hallway to the elevator. The doors opened to reveal Faith on her way to check on Willow and Buffy.
Surprised to see the blonde Slayer moving under her own power, she rushed to her and hugged her fiercely. "Jesus B, you scared... Wait a minute, what the hell are you doing out of bed?"
Grimacing from pain now, Buffy clutched Faith's jacket and pleaded, "Help me Faith."
"Damn straight I will!" she answered as she gently scooped the smaller woman up and headed towards her room.
"No, dammit help me find Willow!" She cried
Confused, Faith asked, "Why the hell would you have to... What happened?"
"She... I... and then," she stammered helplessly, her eyes overflowing.
Carefully, Faith laid Buffy back in the bed and just let her cry for a time.
Finally she said, "Tell me what happened Buffy."
"I can't, not now. Faith please, just... find her for me?"
For a moment she doesn't answer, then she said, "I'll take care of it." And goes in search of Willow.
Later...
Hours pass. The doctors had come and gone, amazed at their patients progress. A few hours before she had barely managed to walk down the hall. Now they were wondering if they might have to restrain her to prevent her from leaving the hospital prematurely.
Faith, meanwhile, approached what could only be described as a dive. Kennedy was with her. When she heard Willow was missing she insisted, strenuously, on coming along. Faith didn't have time to argue, Buffy, in all the time she had known her, had never asked for help before. The fact that she had and of HER of all people, worried her more than Faith would like to admit, 'But here I am,' she thought, 'About to walk into the only demon bar in this town trying to find Red because B asked me to, with Red's girlfriend in tow. Shit! This is a REALLY bad idea.'
She pulled Kennedy to stop with a hand on her shoulder, "Kennedy, I need you to do me a favor."
She looked up at Faith suspiciously, "What?"
"Kennedy there's only two possible reasons I can think of for Red being in a place like this. Either she's looking to get shitfaced drunk, or she's lookin' for a magic high. She is not gonna want you to see her like that. So just wait here okay?"
"Faith, she's my girlfriend and she's hurting, so unless you want to fight, I'm going in!"
Faith sighed, "Okay Brat, just trying to warn you."
"About what!" Kennedy snapped, "That she loves Buffy more than me? I'm not stupid Faith. I already know." She walked off leaving a slack jawed Faith hurrying to catch up.
May 24th, 2003 12:10 am
Willow wasn't hard to spot once they were inside. Not only was she the only redhead in hospital scrubs; she was damn near the only human in the place. She was sitting at a booth towards the back of the smoky room. On the table in front of her rested a nearly empty tequila bottle and a glass. 'Shit,' thought Faith, 'I would have to be right for once!'
"Kennedy, are you sure you..." She started.
Kennedy interrupted, "Faith, we've been through this. Big, tough, Slayer now remember? I can handle this."
Faith thought, ' I hope you're right kid, but if this is what I think it is... you're in for a world of hurt.'
Willow barely looked up when Faith sat across from her and Kennedy slid in beside her.
"Go 'way," she slurred, "not in the mood for company."
"I can see that Red, kill this bottle all by yourself, did you?" Faith said as she scooped the bottle away from Willow.
Clumsily the drunken witch lunged at the Slayer, trying to retrieve the bottle.
"Hey," she cried, "give it back! The worm's the best part!"
"Willow," Kennedy said quietly, "don't you think you've had enough?"
"Kennedy?" she asked, "Where did you come... what'd you say? Enough?" She looked puzzled. "Hmm... I can still feel the pieces of my heart scraping against my insides, so nope! Not enough yet."
"Willow," Kennedy began
"What? Are you going to tell me I'm hurting myself? That I'm hurting the people that care about me? Guess what? I don't give a shit. All done with the caring. What good has caring ever done me?" Tears began to roll down her cheeks. "The only thing that caring ever does is let people think that they can trample all over your heart like it was nothing! You're lucky Kennedy, you get to find out now instead of taking seven years to figure it out like I did. Seven fucking years..." she shook her head, "What the hell are you guys doin' here anyway?"
Faith took a deep breath and said, "Buffy asked me to find you."
Willow snorted and rolled her eyes, "What about you?" she asked, looking at Kennedy.
"I'm here because I love you and you're hurting Will. Let me take you home."
"Home? Kennedy, my home is at the bottom of a big hole in the ground, along with my first girlfriend's grave. I only visited a few times since I came back and now there's nothing to visit." She laid her head down on the table and looked up at Faith. "She was doing it on purpose you know." She said quietly.
"What was she doing on purpose Red?" Faith asked.
"Dying. She just stood there listening to us congratulate ourselves and make stupid jokes while she held her jacket closed so we wouldn't see the blood. Hoping we wouldn't notice till it was too late."
Kennedy stroked Willow's hair and asked, "What makes you think that Willow?"
She laughed bitterly, "I asked her about it and she gave me some lame-ass excuse about how she 'didn't know how bad she was hurt'. Didn't know my ass! She got run through with a sword! Doesn't take a damn genius to figure out that had to be bad!"
"Maybe, she's telling the truth Red," Faith said, "God knows when I'm in the middle of a fight I can get hit pretty hard and not even realize it till later."
"Bullshit Faith. She was trying to go back to Heaven. You know what that means? It means that she'd rather be dead than be with me." As she closed her eyes she missed the flash of pain that crossed Kennedy's face.
Faith didn't, 'Oh yeah, a world of hurt.' she thought. For a few seconds she just watched as Kennedy rearranged her now sleeping girlfriend to a more comfortable position.
Faith said, "Passed out huh?"
"Yeah," Kennedy sighed, "Faith, Can you take her to the hotel, put her to bed?"
"And what are you planning to do Brat?" she asked.
Kennedy took a deep breath and said, "Something stupid."
She turned to go but Faith said, "Uh... Kenn?"
"What Faith?" she said, sounding annoyed.
'Like I said before, really BAD idea.' She thought, but out loud she said "You, uh... know that B and Red got a long history, right? Best buds all through high school and all that?"
"Faith," Kennedy said, crossing her arms, "do you actually have a point coming up soon or are you just rambling aimlessly in some complicated attempt to piss me off?"
Faith bristled, "The point Brat, is that it might not be the best idea to confront Buffy about this. She can be... over-sensitive about her friends, but especially Willow."
"Somebody has to do it Faith! Willow won't, and it's killing her! I only know one person that can fix what's wrong with her and it's not me. She needs to be with the one she loves, and that's Buffy." She looked sadly at the sleeping red head then turned and walked away.
1:45 am
Buffy was still awake, despite repeated admonishments from the nurse, when the door to her room opened. "Faith?" she asked, "Did you find Willow?"
"It's not Faith," Kennedy said, "but yeah, we found Willow."
Buffy asked anxiously, "Where is she? Is she all right?"
"Faith took her to the hotel, and no, she's not all right. When we found her she was at a demon bar Buffy, and she was drunk"
"Willow? Drinking?" Buffy asked incredulously.
"A whole bottle of tequila, by herself," Kennedy replied, "Do you know why Buffy?"
The blonde Slayer had a guilty look on her face as she replied, "I think so."
"Maybe you'd like to share then." She said hotly.
Buffy's eyes narrowed at the tone in Kennedy's voice as she said softly, "That's between me and Willow. If she didn't tell you then I'm sure as hell not."
Kennedy responded "Not good enough."
Buffy's breathing quickened as she slid off the bed to face the younger Slayer. "You need to take it down a notch Kennedy."
"Or what."
"Or I'll take it down FOR you!" she growled.
"Do you have any idea what you did to her? Do you even care?" Kennedy said venomously.
Buffy crossed the room and slammed her into the wall. "For seven years I have put my ass on the line for one reason! To keep her safe! Hell, I've even DIED for her! Twice! So don't you EVER tell me that I don't care about my Willow! "
She backed away suddenly, a shocked look on her face as her brain caught up with her mouth. 'Oh my god!' she thought, 'My Willow? That's what it was, wasn't it. It wasn't Giles and his speeches about duty and responsibility. It wasn't my stupid destiny. It was Willow!' she sank down on the edge of the bed as the realization washed over her.
"I'm in love? With Willow?" she asked, looking up at Kennedy.
"Don't sound so shocked." Kennedy said as she sat next to Buffy, "You've been best friends for seven years and in that time you've both faced down the worst evils the Hellmouth could throw at you. Frankly, I'm amazed you haven't realized it before now."
Buffy sighed, "I've known Will was gay for a long time now. I just... didn't think she felt that way about me."
"No doofus, I meant that you felt that way about her!"
"Oh. I... I don't know. There was always some new vamp or apocalypse to deal with, I guess I just didn't notice when 'best friend' feelings became... something more."
For a moment Buffy looked thoughtful, then she asked, "Kennedy, why did you come here?"
Kennedy took a deep breath before answering, "To give you the kick in the ass you needed to get you to see what was going on between you and Willow."
Buffy crossed to the window before turning to look at Kennedy, "You know that I... I can't NOT go after her right? I've wasted too much time already. And if I go after her Kennedy..."
Kennedy looked at the floor as she said, "I'll lose her, I know. But she's broken inside Buffy, and I can't help her. You're the only one that can do that."
Buffy put her head in her hands as she thought, 'Dear god she's broken? I broke my Willow? Fuck! I can't do ANYTHING about it from in here!"
"Kennedy? I'm going to get dressed. You go tell that stupid nurse that we're leaving and she's got five minutes to get whatever paperwork she needs me to sign."
"Buffy?" Kennedy asked at the door, "Then what?"
"Then you're going to take me to Willow so I can try to fix this. I just hope to god it's not too late." Buffy said determinedly.
May 24th, 2003 2:53am
It was a nice enough hotel as small town hotels went. Nothing fancy, but it was just a place to stop while they all rested up anyway. After getting Willow tucked into bed in Kennedy's room Faith had just sat there watching her sleep for a while and worrying that letting Kennedy go talk to Buffy had not been a good plan. A worry that was in no way eased when she called the hospital only to learn that Buffy had left against doctor's orders, with Kennedy no less!
'Shit,' thought Faith, 'if those two kill each other, Red'll turn me into a rat or something.'
The sound of a key in the door brought her to her feet in a ready stance. She relaxed a little when she saw Buffy and Kennedy walk in but not much. "You know," She said, "you two are gonna make me gray-haired before my time and if you bust so much as a single stitch Blondie, Red will kick BOTH our asses!"
Buffy chuckled, "I'll have to be careful then." More seriously, "How is she?"
Faith sighed, "Out like a light. But she's gonna have one hell of a hangover when she wakes up."
Buffy sat on the bed next to Willow as she said, "Yeah, tequila's like that. Fun while it lasts but hell the next morning."
"Geez B sounds like you're talking from experience there." Faith said.
"Unfortunately," she said with a wry expression, "I am."
Kennedy, who had been quietly gathering her few things asked, "Can I bunk in with you Faith? I'll get another room tomorrow."
Faith looked from Kennedy to where Buffy sat stroking the sleeping wiccan's hair. "Uh... yeah sure Kenn, Here, I'll be... there in a minute." she tossed her the key as Kennedy walked to the door.
Buffy called, "Kennedy?"
"Yeah." She said with out turning around.
"Thank you."
"Just... don't hurt her." She said as she walked out the door.
"Buffy," Faith said, "you and Red, you're gonna be okay, right?"
"God I hope so." She said earnestly.
"She's... pretty pissed at you, you know that right?"
Buffy sighed and said, "I thought she might be." Never taking her eyes off the sleeping redhead. "But it doesn't matter, I'll fix it somehow. I can't lose her now Faith. Not when I'm finally done baking." She leaned down and gently kissed Willow's forehead.
"You hear that Wills?" Buffy whispered, "I'm cookies."
Faith almost choked, " Uh... Cookies?"
"Something, I told Angel a few days ago."
"Oh good, cause damn B, I thought you were going squirrelly on me for a minute."
"Nope, no squirrels in my head. Butterflies in my tummy though. Big ones." Said Buffy.
"Yeah, I bet." Faith said, "Look B, I'm probably not the best person to ask this but what about Kenn? I know you and Red getting together has been coming for years but... this doesn't seem fair to her, you know?"
"I know, one more thing for me to feel guilty over. But I can't worry about it right now, I've already screwed things up with Will so badly," Buffy sighed, "I've got to try to make it up to her. If she'll let me, after..."
"Uh... about that B, you ever do anything like that again, I'LL beat the shit outta you! No way are you leavin' me to deal with a bunch of wet behind the ears Slayers by myself!" She said as she closed the door behind her.
After Faith left Buffy spent a little time getting ready for when Willow woke up. She made sure there were plenty of washcloths and towels, and then got a bucket of ice from the machine she'd noticed in the hall on the way to the room. She called the desk to see if there was a wakeup call left for the room then cancelled it. Since it was almost four am now Buffy felt that six was just too damn early. She left the bathroom door open so Willow would have a clear path if she were sick. If her own experience with the one time she'd tried tequila, during that summer in L.A. all those years ago, was any indication Will was going to be VERY sick when she woke up. Then she carefully slid into the bed beside Willow and put her arms around her. Willow whimpered and snuggled closer to the smaller blonde.
"Shh," Buffy murmured, "I'm here Wills, I've got you." To herself she thought, 'and if I have my way about it, I'm never gonna let you go.'
Faith's Room
When Faith got to her room she found the door unlocked. 'Shit, Kenn knows better than this. We may not be in Sunnydale anymore but that doesn't mean you don't gotta be careful at night!'
"Kennedy?" she asked as she entered the darkened room.
She heard the sound of quiet sobbing across the room, 'Dammit!' Faith thought, 'I knew this shit was coming.' Out loud she asked, "Kennedy, you okay?"
Kennedy answered, "God Faith, what the fuck was I thinking! I just... just GAVE her to... to Buffy! Little Miss Queen of the Dysfunctional Relationship!"
Faith flipped on the light to reveal Kennedy sitting on the floor in the far corner, tears and mascara streaming down her face, knees hugged to her chest. 'Damn.' She thought.
She sat next to the crying girl and crossed her legs in front of her. "Yeah, B can be pretty fucked up sometimes but if there's one thing I know about her, it's that she'd crawl through hell on her hands and knees to help Willow. She ever tell you how she passed up stopping an apocalypse one time to save Red?"
"Really?" Kennedy sniffled.
"Yep, traded a magic box doohickey that the big bad had to have to do his thing. All Buffy had to do was destroy the box to stop him cold. But we had captured Willow and..."
"Wait," Kennedy interrupted, "We? You had Will prisoner?"
"Yeah," Faith said softly, "the big bad was my old boss, the Mayor. It was during my 'bad old days' back before I started getting my head on straight. I'm still not done yet. I mean, sure I helped beat back the First but I got a long way to go yet to make up for all the shit I did back then."
"I'm not sure I can do this Faith." Kennedy whispered.
"Not sure you can do what, Kenn?"
"Just let her... have Willow."
"Okay, first of all, you are not just 'letting her have Willow', you said it yourself earlier. Red's hurting and you can't help her. So you did what you had to do." Faith said with a shrug.
"But Buffy's had seven years to get together with her, and from what Will's told me she's spent a good part of that time pushing her friends away. Including Willow! So how the fuck is she supposed to help her now Faith!"
"I don't know Kenn, but if there was ever two people that needed each other, it's B and Red. They... fit. Like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. But like a puzzle, there's a bunch of other pieces to go through before you find that perfect match," haltingly, Faith continued, "but when that match finally... comes together you get to see this beautiful picture. Shit! I'm not much good with this kinda thing, did that make ANY sense?"
Kennedy sighed, "Yeah, it did."
"I'm not making this any better am I?" asked Faith.
"Not really." Kennedy answered
"Okay. Look, it's," Faith looked at the clock on the opposite wall, "god! Almost four-thirty. I don't know about you but I need sleep, and I think you'll feel better after a couple of hour's shut-eye. I'm gonna take a shower, you can have the bed, I'll sack out on the floor."
"Um... Faith?" Kennedy asked as Faith opened the door to the bathroom, "What about Robin?"
Faith smirked, "In case you didn't notice, he's not here. Him, Giles and Andrew went on a mission to pry Xander outta that room he's been hiding in almost since we got here. Since he's not back yet, I'd guess they took him out somewhere to get drunk. If I didn't like the big jerk so much I'd beat the crap outta him, and I might anyway after that shit he pulled on the bus!"
"What shit?" Kennedy asked, grateful for a little distraction from the pain in her heart.
"You didn't hear?" Faith laughed, "during the last fight he took a knife stroke right across here," she ran a finger across her own middle, " not very deep but long and messy lookin'. Any how, we get clear of Sunnydale, almost everybody else is off the bus and I'm trying to see how bad he's hurt. Well, he passes out! I thought he'd died on me for a minute, then, just as I'm reaching to close his eyes he coughs and goes 'Surprise!' with this stupid ass grin like it's a big joke! Yeah, I got a surprise for his ass when he's healed up a little more. Payback is a bitch."
Kennedy smiled, even if it was only a little one. Faith looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "Come in here a minute Kenn."
Looking puzzled, Kennedy entered the bathroom to find Faith soaping up a washcloth. Faith handed it to her and when she still seemed confused, gestured at the mirror. "Oh shit!" she moaned, " I look like a raccoon!" she quickly washed her face and left Faith to her shower.
When Faith came out, she was wearing a t-shirt and panties, though she normally slept nude, with Kennedy there she thought better of it. The room was already dark and she thought the young Slayer was asleep. As she took a pillow off the bed she heard soft crying again. "Kenn?
"I-I'm s-sorry, I j-just c-can't seem to s-stop." She stammered.
Faith sighed deeply, and lying down next to Kennedy pulled the sobbing girl into her arms. "It's okay Brat, let it all out. Even big, tough Slayers need to be held every once in a while."
TBC...