Loving Willow More
by Rin
16
[reviews]
"Slayer! Bad puppy..." Buffy scolded the squatting dog, as it released its tiny bladder on the kitchen tile.
"Buffy, she's just a puppy." Willow smiled at her girlfriend, as she watched the display.
"Yes...which is why we have to teach her, 'good dogs pee outside.'" Buffy really wasn't a pet person but then Slayer would look up with her droopy eyes, and the slayer was a goner.
Willow loved everything...all the furniture. It was true...they HAD picked everything out together. Buffy had remembered everything...down to the smallest coaster set Willow had joked about getting. It was like a domestic bliss, even if the one story, two bedroom house wasn't very big. There was a half basement, where Buffy was planning on setting up a small training area for her and Faith. Everything was coming together great!
They had moved all the furniture around the way they liked it...obviously the boys just dropped the furniture and left. They shopped for decorations the next day, decorated that night, wound up making out on the big bed before falling asleep. They still had to make love in this house...make it theirs. Everything was just so hectic and overwhelming...they were busy, and when they'd go to do it...well...they'd zone out, one or the other, or both most of the time. Just sitting down on the comfortable couch caused a sleepy slayer to nod...
"Here, Slayer." Willow put Slayer on her leash before taking her for a walk. While she was doing that, Buffy was attempting to repaint the kitchen. Riley was there, helping out. He had some news.
"The place is looking nice." He still hadn't gotten over his huge crush of Buffy. He'd follow the girl anywhere.
"Good or bad?" Buffy finished off her corner. The burnt sienna was a much better color for the kitchen tile than the canary yellow.
"Not good...it's about Forrest." Riley was nervous. He'd lost his first man in battle...and it happened to be one of his best friends. "Last night, on a routine bag and tag, he was..."
"Oh...is he okay?" Buffy put down her brush, seeing how upset Riley really was.
"He's...it was that demon we've been trying to bag. Forrest jumped the gun, and was..."
"Skewered...Spike thought he smelled human blood on the..."
"Spike? Who's Spike?" Riley was upset...but he hadn't met many of Buffy's friends. Just Willow...
"Spike...I patrol with him sometimes...he can smell blood..."
"Vampire? You patrol with a vampire? He doesn't try to..."
"Spike? He couldn't harm a fly. You guys made sure of that."
"Wait...what?"
"The Initiative. Spike has a chip in his brain, can't harm anything but demons, forced to play nice otherwise he gets a good headache..." Buffy just realized she'd let it slip. She'd been hiding the escaped hostile that the Initiative had been looking for...oops... "...and I just said too much."
"Hostile 17. You know where he is? All this time...working beside us...working with us, knowing we've been trying to find him, and you've been what? Harboring him?" Riley couldn't believe it. No way...not his Buffy.
"It's not like that...it's..." Buffy was cut short by Riley's outburst.
"No! I have to report this to Walsh. Do you realize what you've done is treason??!" Riley grabbed his radio, and went to dial but Buffy grabbed it, stomped on it, and broke it. Riley was stuck...and Buffy was panicking... "Buffy! You can't just go and break a soldier's toys!"
"I can and I did. Look...this doesn't get out. Yes, I have Hos...Spike. He's the one that helped me find and destroy Adam. It's not like I could very well leave him to fend for himself. He was helpless, and you just..."
"I? Excuse me?"
"Not you in particular...the Initiative...it just...took away what he was...made me get a conscience, and not able to kill him. Trust me...I'd much rather kill him...but he's helpless, and can't fight back...that's not right. That's manipulation, and control, and taking away everything a person...or well...being...should have naturally."
"We did that to prevent violence!"
"By raping a...being...from his very existence? How is that helping? How is that preventing?" Buffy and Riley were into a heated argument, and fists were about to fly more than likely. Willow finished Slayer's walk around the block when she heard the yelling from her house...the neighbor lady standing in her yard was tsking and shaking her head, calling to Willow before the redhead had a chance to enter.
"Domestic disputes. Such a young couple, too. Are you friends of the newlyweds?" The middle aged lady was watering her garden, and Willow wanted to get inside to stop the fighting. This lady was persistent, though. "I've seen you come and go from the house, too...at first I thought you were having an affair with the boy...but then realized that he was never there when you were. You're just best friends with his wife, though. Such a shame, too...they're such a lovely couple."
"Huh?" Willow was confused. Was this lady on crack? "Oh...um...Buffy and Riley? They're not...Riley doesn't live here...they're not married...um...Buffy and I are..."
"Ahh...roommates. It's good to see when two young ladies can share living space. I never went to college myself..." The lady went on and on about her life, her wonderful husband, and two loving children. Willow could hear the argument inside getting more heated, though what it was about was still unable to make out. She'd tried more than a dozen times to get inside but the lady just wouldn't let her go...
"You don't get it! What you've done...this isn't..." Riley stopped when Buffy smacked him across his cheek. Hard. The sound resonated outside, and the neighbor startled, causing Willow to run in the house, making sure Buffy was okay. Slayer just tagged along.
"Buffy! Are you..." Willow stopped dead in her tracks. Riley was standing there, holding his broken jaw, tears in his eyes. Buffy couldn't believe she'd actually smacked him...and that hard. "What's...what happened?"
"I...I...Riley, I'm sorry..." Buffy was dumbfounded by far...she tried to come to Riley but his tears kept his eyes blurry, and his jaw hurt so bad.
"Here, Riley...let's get some ice on that so we can get you to the doctor. It looks broken." Willow grabbed a bag of frozen peas...best she could grab in a moment's notice. It'd work just fine. "Come on, let's go to the car."
Riley just followed her, as she got him in the car. The neighbor looked on, surprised at what she saw. Buffy came running out at the last second, as Willow got in the driver's seat. Jumping in the back, Buffy rode the entire ride in shocked silence. She'd hurt somebody she cared for...a friend...she'd used her slayer strength to hurt a person...
When they dropped Riley off at the Initiative hospital, they called Doctor Walsh, Willow told them what she knew, and the doctor was there in a split second. The worried scientist cared for Riley like he was her baby.
"You okay?" Willow handed Buffy a cup of coffee. Riley was in surgery. The jaw was broken for sure.
"I did that...I promised myself I'd never hurt...anyone, and..." Buffy was torn. What happened now? She'd let impulse take over...not common sense. What happened if that ever happened with Willow? Would she ever hurt Willow? Even if she didn't mean to...would she?
"Buffy, what happened? I heard you arguing. I tried to get inside but the neighbor, she just kept talking."
"I was just...so excited that we were...and I let it slip...about Spike. Riley put two and two together, and soon we were nothing but an argument. I'm a traitor, he's an idiot. I broke his radio so he couldn't call and tell on me. I couldn't...we got into a heated debate on what's right or wrong, whether or not the Initiative is really a good thing. Next thing I know, I smack him...hard...and...I promised I'd never..."
"Buffy, shh...Buffy...baby, shh...it's okay." Willow held the sobbing Buffy in her arms, smoothing her back. "It happened. You panicked. Your impulse was to protect."
"If you hadn't come in when you did..."
"No. You don't get to do this. You don't get to beat yourself up on what ifs, or maybes...no. You would've stopped. One smack doesn't mean anything. I trust you completely. You smacked him for a reason."
"I didn't have to use my full strength, though."
"Why not? Riley's a big guy. He just has a broken jaw."
"B/c of me."
"Buffy, listen to me, please? Yes, you smacked him. Yes, you used your full slayer strength. No, you didn't do anything wrong. At the time, you went with what you felt right. Sure, it hurts, sure it feels wrong now...but you were protecting us. You didn't want him to tell that you were keeping Spike. We know how much trouble we can get in with these people if they ever found out..."
"Hostile 17. Where is he?" Dr. Walsh came in. Riley had written down the story of what happened while they waited for surgery.
"Do what?" Willow wasn't aware that was Spike.
"Hostile 17. Riley said you call him Spike." Dr. Walsh had fire in her eyes. This was the mad scientist they were dealing with, not the woman that unlocked the secrets of slayers. "Where is he, so we can detain him?"
"You won't get him." Buffy had conviction in her eyes again. She still held by her POV about the chip.
"Just why not, Ms. Summers?" Dr. Walsh was ready to take out the slayer now if she had to. She had Alpha and Beta waiting for her command.
"He's not a harm to you. You did your damage. Just leave him be. Unless you wanna take the chip out, which I have no problem with...then, I could stake him, and be done with it."
"It confuses me. You claim to hate this vampire, yet you hide him. You truly are an enigma."
"Don't I know it." Willow chuckled under her breath. "Right...not the time for comments."
"Give us Hostile 17, or we take him from you by force." Dr. Walsh motioned for the teams to surround the two. Willow's eyes opened wide but Buffy just stood.
"You really, honestly think this'll work? You really have no idea who you're messing with, do you? Even after all that research, you still don't know what a slayer is..." Buffy turned, and grabbed Willow's hand, pulling her up, and beside her close. "I suggest you let us leave now, or you'll find out exactly what you missed."
"Don't think so." Dr. Walsh called for the shot, and Buffy grabbed Willow, ducked, as the soldiers all shot at once, instead shooting each other, and Dr. Walsh in the process. Good thing they were in a hospital, as Alpha, Beta, and the Doc all fell to the floor, charred and spasming.
"Shit...I didn't expect that to happen." Buffy looked up to see everyone down. "Guess my instincts are batting two and O today..."
"They're still alive. You just protected...again. Buffy, stop beating yourself up." Willow grabbed Buffy's arm, and helped her girlfriend up from the ground. "I'll go get the nurses. You...uh...don't do anything stupid."
"Me? Stupid?" Buffy smirked at Willow.
"I just mean...don't like...kick them to keep them down, or something. Um...take all their guns, though...just in case." Willow took off to get the nurse, while Buffy gathered all guns, and put them in a roller hamper.
--------------------------
"I don't understand why you didn't tell us. All this time...we've been researching, and you've known. This just isn't like you, Buffy." Giles was pacing the floor. Xander was angry. Faith was being quiet for once, and Tara and Anya had escaped to hide in the bathroom. Willow was helping Spike with his wounds from that night's patrol.
"I know, Giles, and I'm sorry. It's just...I didn't want to put you in any more danger than you already were." Buffy was feeling beyond guilty. Plus, she was sexually frustrated. It'd been two weeks since she and Willow last had sex. Periods came, and then the moving came...but neither of them came. It was frustrating...and Willow looked yummy with her after patrol buzz.
"This just doesn't make sense to me. I knew you were, well...doing other things...I wasn't foolish enough to believe I was the one effecting your incredible improvement lately. I was just foolish enough to think it was all because of Willow's influence in your life. Same thing with Faith, though I should've seen the difference, as she's not become nearly as strong."
"Hey! I'm just as strong!" Faith jumped into the conversation then.
"Yeah, when you're not running away from shit demons." Xander had to comment, too. The argument was on...
"Hey! I'll have you know that I was wearing my good leathers that night! I wasn't even on patrol!" Faith was taken off guard while on a date with Tara, and didn't want to ruin her good pants.
"Guys, shut up! This is ridiculous." Buffy was getting angry. Besides all the guilt, she and Willow had stolen all the guns, which wasn't riding well on her conscience, either. Then, she tells the gang all about the Initiative and what had been happening, and sure enough...even with the shit demons gone, the shit was hitting the fan...
"Don't tell Giles to shut up!" Faith yelled back. She's was tired of being considered the second slayer.
"Don't tell her to not tell Giles to shut up!" Xander actually was confused by his own comment.
"I do believe that our best bet would be to just gather what all we know, and figure out a way to finish our problem with the Initiative program once and for all." Giles was drinking more than usual, too...that didn't help matters any.
"What do you propose? We all storm down there, get ourselves killed?" Buffy knew security had more than likely removed her and Willow's passes by then. They'd have to break in. She wanted that information about the slayer. Maggie Walsh, and the Initiative could use that to their advantage, and that wouldn't be good.
"No. I'm not saying that. We need a plan, obviously." Giles was getting irate with his slayer.
"What's the plan? Knock on the door, and say, geez, no harm, no foul?" Faith was jealous that Buffy got to do all this slayer training, got to discover what a slayer was...while she was stuck with deadend patrols.
"I was merely suggesting..."
"Oh, stop being British..." Xander just wanted to argue, too. He was tired of feeling left out of everybody's lives.
"Excuse me but being British isn't just something that can turned off at a whim, I'll have you..." Giles was cut short by Willow's screams for everybody to stop.
"Bloody brilliant, you lot." Spike's cuts were healed. All was well in the world but Willow was tired of the yelling.
"Willow, we're leaving." Buffy grabbed their jackets, and dragged Willow out the door.
"Not before us, you don't." Faith went to the bathroom to grab Tara, and soon everybody stormed out but Giles and Spike. The latter smirking at the former, amused at the chaos that had just erupted.
"Do shut up, Spike." Giles just took his drunken self to bed for the night. Let Spike fend for himself for once.