Aftermath and College
by Bwriter
Part thirty two
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Part thirty two
Buffy walked along beside Xander, not really hearing him talk. The alcohol hadn't done the trick, so she was looking for something to take her pain out on.
The Superman theme cut through the air, making Xander pause mid stride to look for his cell.
"Hello?... yeah Giles I'm with her... are you sure that's... right yeah, I'll tell her... okay... I will Giles, bye."
"What did he want?" Even to her own ears, Buffy's voice sounded hollow.
Xander grabbed her arm and pulled her to a halt.
"The Docs reckon Willow could be in hospital for months. Giles and Tom were hoping you could help out with that."
It took her a moment to realise what her watcher wanted her to do.
Changing direction, Buffy led them back to the hospital.
-----
"Giles, we haven't actually tested this before. What if it doesn't work?"
Giles tilted his head at Tom.
"If Buffy had been in the right frame of mind, she would have done it before leaving the hospital in the first place. Its going to happen."
Tom nodded his head, and both Englishmen looked up when they saw Xander and Buffy coming in through the double doors.
Never since they had known her, had either man seen Buffy's eyes look so vacant.
Buffy spared them a glance before walking past them and into Willow's room, closing the door softly behind her when she saw that her lover was asleep.
Buffy moved to the chair she had sat in a few hours earlier and reached out for Willow's hand, glad when the redhead did not wake up.
Taking a deep breath, Buffy closed her eyes and concentrated on the well of power within her.
The Slayer opened golden eyes and stared at the girl before her. Tilting her head to the side, the ancient called up the words needed to restore her lover to health, not knowing how she knew them, but not caring either. Too bad it would only heal the physical wounds.
"By the strength of my being
By the power of myself
By the forces of good
By the Powers themselves"
A golden hue surrounded the two girls, flowing from the Slayer into her intended Mate.
"To the one before me
Who lies broken in pieces
Heal all wounds
Give back what was taken"
Willow gasped as she felt immense power enter her body. The redheads eyes shot open but she could see nothing but the golden mist surrounding her.
"By the strength of my blood
By the power of my love
Heal the one before me
Use the strength of old."
Buffy's head whipped back as she felt her very essence flowing into Willow.
Willow's eyes opened wide as she screamed.
-----
Giles was through the door in seconds, Tom and Xander on his heals.
The sight before them, made them pause in the doorway.
Willow was floating five inches above the bed, her body surrounded by a golden light.
The Slayer sat in the seat still, but her eyes were closed, and the was blood seeping from her nose.
Tom tried to take a step forward, but Buffy's eyes opened and one look in them warned him to stay back.
"By the Powers themselves
Heal her."
Willow's body slumped back to the bed, the redhead unconscious once more.
Buffy gently let go of Willow's hand, before slumping back in her seat.
"It worked." Buffy met Giles' eyes before closing her own and passing out, welcoming the blackness with open arms.
Giles looked at the girl on the bed, all external wounds appeared to be healed.
Now all they had to do, was work on the internal problems.
-----
It was two days later when Willow regained consciousness, and twenty four hours after that, the doctors agreed to let the redhead go home, but only after exposing her to more tests.
Xander thanked God for the clueless-ness of Sunnydale's professionals.
Willow herself was beyond confused. One minute, she was in agony, the next, her body healed and she couldn't remember how it had happened.
When she asked about her parents, she was told they lived in L.A now.
"What about me? How come I stayed in Sunnydale? How come I didn't go to Harvard, or Yale? Oh God, did I not get accepted?"
Xander gave a small chuckle.
"Of course you got accepted Willow, your like a genius."
Giles looked up from his tea.
"Willow, what exactly do you remember, in detail if you will."
Willow tilted her head and closed her eyes.
"I remember growing up, I remember high school and graduation. I remember whose President, though I wish I didn't. I remember the year, I remember television shows, I remember my family and friends." Her eyes opened. "But I don't remember you, or Buffy, or any of the other English people that I've met over the last few days. I don't remember starting college, or my parents leaving."
Giles sighed and removed his glasses to clean them. She remembered everything it seemed, apart from the world of the Chosen, and everything that it entailed.
Buffy raised wet eyes to the ceiling, before standing up.
"Giles I need to go and talk to Riley, make sure that everything has been sealed up."
Buffy put her coat on, glancing at Willow out of the side of her eye.
"Angel and Spike were going to call around later." There was and unspoken question in her eyes, which her watcher understood.
A slight shake of his head was her answer.
Nodding once, Buffy was about to leave, when Willow spoke up.
"Isn't it kinda late to be going outside?"
Buffy turned and offered her a small smile.
"Not for me."
The door closed softly behind her, leaving Giles alone with Willow and Xander.
As she was walking away, she heard Willow asking if Riley was her boyfriend.
"Oh Wills."
Buffy stretched her neck and heard a muscle pop back into place. While she knew Giles must have his reasons, the Slayer had wanted her future Mate to re-learn the ways of her world.
The sooner the better.
-----
"So where am I living?"
Giles looked up from his tea.
"You parents home, you live there. I can take you back now if you'd wish."
Willow shook her head no. She was too exhausted to move.
"Would it be okay if I crashed here? I take it you do have a spare room?"
Giles hesitated before nodding his head.
"Of course, you are welcome to stay as long as you would want to."
-----
By the time Buffy returned to Giles, it was dark.
Moving the way she was born too ensured no-one waking as she made her way through the house.
What she didn't expect to find, was Willow in the spare room.
Closing the door, Buffy sat on the floor and stared at the girl on the bed. It was tearing her up inside, not being able to reach out to her lover, and the Slayer didn't seem to understand that its Mate didn't remember her at the minute.
Tiredness creeping in, Buffy soon drifted off, her head back against the door.
-----
Willow wasn't sure what had woken her from her sleep, but when she sat up in bed, she had a pretty good idea what it was.
The blonde, Buffy, was sitting by the door, apparently asleep and dreaming. From the sounds of it, the dreams weren't very happy ones.
Sliding out of bed, Willow moved over to the sleeping girl, reaching out to gently shake her awake.
What happened next, seemed like it happened in slow motion.
Just as Willow's hand touched Buffy's shoulder, the blondes eyes snapped open and she pounced.
Willow was crushed under a growling Slayer in a millisecond, her eyes wide with fear.
Buffy blinked slowly, trying to wake up a little more. When she looked down into Willow's frightened eyes, her own widened before she scrambled off the redhead, who started crab walking backwards to get away from the blonde.
Buffy banged her head back against the door when she saw how scared of her Willow was.
"Sorry about that."
Willow sat with her knees drawn up on the floor by the bed.
"You just surprised me is all."
Buffy held back a sob as she watched Willow lie to her.
Taking a deep breath, she stood.
"I'll let you get some more sleep then. Goodnight." Buffy turned to open the door.
"Wait!"
Pausing, she turned her head to look at her lover.
"Yes?"
Willow fiddled with her t-shirt hem.
"What were you doing? Sleeping on the floor I mean?"
Buffy's head tilted.
"I came in to say goodnight, but you were sleeping, guess I was tired."
Willow matched Buffy's head tilt.
"Well, now I'm wide awake, what with the heart in my throat incident."
Buffy looked down guiltily.
"Wanna chat? I feel really bad that I don't remember you, or Giles and everyone else I seem to have forgotten. I mean, have you met Xander's girlfriend? How the hell would I have forgotten her? She's very... straight to the point isn't she?"
Buffy laughed a little and leaned back against the door.
"Anya, I haven't known her as long as you, but yes, she appears to be very forward and decisive in what she wants. She's good for Xander though, makes him happy."
Willow was getting a creak in her neck looking up at Buffy.
"Would you sit or something? My neck is getting sore looking up."
Buffy half grinned and plonked herself down on the floor again.
"How come I've known her longer than you? Xander said they've been together over a year."
"I was living in England for two years, London actually. I recently just got back here."
Willow's eyes lit up.
"Man! I would love to go to London! All those museums! And Giles! He was a curator at some British museum, or, or *The* British Museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies, and am I the single dullest person alive? You already know all this stuff."
Buffy cracked a small smile, inside she was dying, remembering the first time Willow had said that to her. She figured she'd give the same response, with an additive.
"Not at all. I love your quirkiness." Buffy had to look away and sit on her hands.
"So why'd you come back here? Was London not all you expected?"
Buffy sighed and rested her head back against the door again.
"London was great, but I was only there to learn-"
"Oh! Did you go to college there? I keep wondering why I stayed in Sunnydale, I mean, going to school overseas has been something I've wanted to do since I was little. I honestly can't imagine any reason strong enough for me not to leave Sunnydale."
Buffy felt the knife twist in her gut a little more at the thought of Willow leaving her.
"I wasn't here when you decided to stay." There, safe, no mention of anything that shouldn't be mentioned.
Willow was quiet for a while before a thought hit her.
"Do I have a boyfriend?"
Buffy's eyes shot open, surprise in them before the Slayer let her displeasure at that thought show, causing the blonde to stifle a growl.
"I mean, I had that crush on Xander for years, but obviously it didn't go anywhere if he's with Anya, so I was just wondering."
The notion that it wasn't a boyfriend she had, but a girlfriend, never even entered the redheads mind.
Buffy had to get out of that room.
"Will, its late, why don't you try to get some sleep?" Buffy stood up and again tried to leave the room.
Willow frowned at Buffy's avoiding the question.
"Why wont you tell me?"
Spinning around, Buffy pinned Willow in place with her gaze, and the redhead noticed that the blondes eyes were wet.
"Your not ready to know I guess."
Buffy opened the door and slipped through before Willow could stop her.
Banging into a hard body, she let her tears finally fall when she felt Xander's arms wrap around her and led her away from the door.
-----
Inside the room, Willow was frowning. She hated that there was pieces of her life that she had no recollection of.
Climbing onto the bed, she curled herself into a ball, and wished for the hundredth time since waking that she had all her memories back.
-----
Buffy had avoided Willow at all cost the following day, and for some reason it hurt the redhead, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out why.
After the blonde had left her in the early hours, she had tossed and turned, having strange dreams with fractured images.
The main one that stood out, was of golden eyes, showing nothing but pain and sorrow.
-----
Since Willow had no knowledge of their world, Buffy decided that she needed to know something, or she wasn't going to be able to keep herself safe.
"Giles, can I speak to you for a minute?"
He nodded and followed her out into the garden.
"How are you holding up?"
She half laughed and shook her head.
"I'm not. We need to tell Willow about the Slayer thing."
Giles sighed and took off his glasses, not wanting to look at Buffy.
"Yes, I've given that much thought, as to how we would approach the subject and such and there is one thing I've managed to come up with."
Buffy just looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
Giles took at deep breath and looked at his Slayer, his glasses dangling from his fingers.
"I don't think we should tell her."
Buffy frowned.
"Giles, she needs to know, she needs to know not to invite in strangers, to get home before dark, to carry a cross and a stake."
Giles knew this was going to be hard.
"Buffy, I've been talking at great length with Willow and one thing is coming through loud and clear. Her desire to leave Sunnydale. She keeps asking why she didn't."
Buffy took a step back, her arms falling to her sides.
"Giles... are you... do you mean to... you want me to just... I can't Giles, once was enough, I can't do it again."
Giles tried to step forward but Buffy moved back a few more paces.
"Buffy, think about it. Willow could have a normal life, outside of demons and darkness. She deserves that after what she's been through. Maybe her not remembering what happened to her is a blessing in disguise. She is getting a second chance to live a life free from all of this."
Buffy flinched. Free from her.
"I know you love her, and she loves you, but think Buffy. I don't mean to hurt you, but you are the Slayer, and as much as it pains me to admit it, Slayers have a destiny and a deadline."
Buffy felt like a fist was closing around her heart.
"I know this is hard on you-"
Buffy laughed, scaring Giles a little with the manic sound of it.
"Hard? Hard?!? Giles you have no concept of how much this is killing me. I love Willow, all of me loves Willow, you know more than even me sometimes what that means. I want her to remember!"
"And it seems to me that she doesn't want to!"
He sighed, changing his approach.
"What's the one thing you want most in the world?"
Buffy looked at her watcher.
"I want my best friend, my lover, my intended Mate back. I just want my Willow back Giles. I would give anything to... I want her back."
Giles shook his head.
"Even if you had her back, what's the one thing you strive for, day after day?"
Buffy's head lowered.
"Right now, what would make Willow happy?"
A tear rolled down Buffy's face as she thought of what Willow had said to her in the early hours about college.
Neither one had noticed the back door open, or the redhead standing there, which was strange considering Buffy was so tuned to her.
"Finding out the truth would be a start."
Both Giles and Buffy turned to see Willow standing there, glaring at them both with resolve face in full swing.
"No more half truths. I want to know everything. Right Now."
-----
She was up getting a drink on water when she heard the raised voice of Giles.
Creeping closer to the back door and not feeling the slightest bit guilty about it, she eased it open slightly to better hear what Buffy and Giles were arguing about.
"Hard? Hard?!? Giles you have no concept of how much this is killing me. I love Willow, all of me loves Willow, you know more than even me sometimes what that means. I want her to remember!"
Willow sucked a breath in.
'I'm in a relationship with a girl!'
"What's the one thing you want most in the world?"
Willow saw Buffy hold her head up.
"I want my best friend, my lover, my intended Mate back. I just want my Willow back Giles. I would give anything to... I want her back."
'What's a Mate? Oh my god no wonder she looked so sad'
"Right now, what would make Willow happy?"
That was it. Willow had had enough.
She wanted answer dammit!
"Finding out the truth would be a start." She almost laughed at the expressions on their faces.
"No more half truths. I want to know everything. Right Now."
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a/n - some borrowed lines from Welcome to the Helmouth - and lookie - 2 post in the same month - yay me - hope everyone is sticking with the story, even tho im a spaz at updating