Heroes and Lovers
by als
Chapter 7 — Hush Part I
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Author's Note: Most of the dialogue for the scenes relating to Buffy's dream in this chapter has been adapted as directly as possible from the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode "Hush" written by Joss Whedon. The author of this story wouldn't dream of trying to take credit for it.
* * * * *
"They are coming and you're all going to die!"
Willow's eyes snapped open with a startled whimper as the menacing voice echoed in her mind. She was scared. The room was still dark and part of her somehow knew that there were still a few hours before sunrise. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her fears, to slow her racing heart and breathe normally. She had been dreaming, she knew that, but she couldn't recall the dream, just the feelings of terror it had inspired and the echo of a warning.
"It was just a dream," she thought as she took a few deep, cleansing breaths. As she calmed down, she quickly became aware of Buffy's warm body lying next to her. The petite blonde was holding Willow possessively, and stirred slightly at the tension in the redhead's body.
"Will?" she mumbled, mostly asleep, "somethin' wrong?"
Willow smiled gently and relaxed snuggling closer before whispering, "Not anymore." The few remaining fragments of her disturbing dream slipped away in the Slayer's comforting embrace as she drifted back to sleep.
* * * * *
Buffy sighed slightly and fought to stifle a yawn as Professor Walsh continued to drone on about language and communication. Normally Buffy would have been interested in the class, but after the events of the previous evening Willow had slept fitfully at best, plagued by nightmares. Buffy had slept beside her through the night, holding her and trying to comfort her.
Buffy blushed slightly as she recalled some of her own dreams from the night before. Of course, her dreams had featured a very naked Willow doing all sorts of naughty things to her. Despite the fact that her Willowy dreams were extremely enjoyable at the time, they'd left her feeling tired and sexually frustrated when she woke up.
She shifted slightly in her seat and tried to focus on the lecture again.
"So this is what it is, talking about communication, talking about language... not the same thing," Professor Walsh said looking around at the class. "It's about inspiration. Not the idea, but the moment before the idea when it blossoms in your mind and connects to everything. It's about the thoughts and experiences that we don't have a word for." The Professor paused, her eyes falling on Buffy, "A demonstration: Buffy Summers, come on down to the front here."
She paused, looking around embarrassedly before standing up and moving to the front of the class.
Professor Walsh smiled, addressing the class, "A typical college girl, one assumes." She turned to Buffy, "Lie down on my desk."
Buffy frowned, confused, "What?"
"Go ahead, you're perfectly safe."
She sat cautiously on the edge of the desk, before turning and lying back, supporting herself on her elbows rather than lying flat.
"Willow Rosenberg, if you could oblige?"
Willow walked down, grinning. "A demonstration, right?"
"Be a good girl," Professor Walsh instructed.
Buffy spoke softly as Willow placed her hand on Buffy's waist and leaned over, "This feels very strange Will."
"Don't worry," she said with a smile, "If I kiss you, it'll make the sun go down." Willow leaned in pressing her lips softly against Buffy's in a gentle, loving kiss. When she pulled back a moment later, she whispered, "See?"
Buffy sat up and looked around. The room was empty, save for the two of them, and it had gotten dark. She looked back at Willow with a smile as she spoke. "Fortune favors the brave."
She thought she heard something though, like a little girl humming out in the hallway. "Do you hear that?" she asked as she got up and walked through the door out into the corridor. Looking around, she saw a little girl holding an ornate wooden box.
The little girl was singing what sounded like a nursery rhyme, "Can't even shout, can't even cry. The Gentlemen are coming by. Looking in windows, knocking on doors. They need to take seven and they might take yours. Can't call to mom, can't say a word. You're going to die screaming but you won't be heard."
She felt a touch on her shoulder and turned, expecting to find Willow. Instead a horrifying sight startled her: a gray corpse-like face drawn into a hideous mockery of a smile.
She woke with a start, looking around her. It was daylight and the lecture hall was filled with students. Willow sat next to her with a sly grin on her face as she heard Professor Walsh's voice, "So I'll see you all Monday for a final review session."
Willow turned with an excited gleam in her eye, "Man that was an exciting class, huh?"
"Oh, yeah well..." Buffy started, avoiding her eyes.
"And the last twenty minutes was a revelation. Just laid out everything we need to know for the final. I'd hate to have missed that."
She grimaced slightly at Willow's relentless teasing, "Just tell me I didn't snore."
The other girl's grin couldn't have gotten any wider as she responded with a wink, "Very discreet, minimal drool."
"Oh yay," she replied unenthusiastically as they walked out of the classroom.
"So were you dreaming?"
"Yeah," Buffy paused a moment as she thought about the dream again, "it was kind of intense."
Another voice startled them, as Riley stepped out from behind a pillar with a grin and walked along with them, "Really? 'Cause you seemed so peaceful."
Buffy felt her face flush with embarrassment again, "Of course, it was only for a moment." She narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched the smile drain from Willow's face at Riley's presence.
'Why would Riley being here bother Will?' she wondered.
"Right," he said. "So you guys headed over towards Judd?"
"Student Center." Buffy responded distractedly as she pondered Willow's reaction to the young man's presence.
"Oh, great. So this dream..." he began.
Willow broke in abruptly. "You know, you guys go. I'm gonna do... the thing." She glanced briefly at Riley, before looking back to Buffy. "So I'll see you after Wicca group? Bye." The pain she saw in her friend's eyes during that brief exchange stunned Buffy.
Riley smiled at Willow as he said "Bye." But Willow darted off before Buffy could speak. "So tell me about your dream," Riley went on, completely oblivious to what had transpired, "as a psych major I'm qualified to say 'hmm' and look thoughtful."
Suddenly it all became clear to Buffy. 'Oh god, Willow thinks I'm interested in him!'
"Riley?" She needed to clear this little misunderstanding up immediately. Otherwise, Willow was going to get hurt, and that was absolutely the last thing she wanted to happen.
"Yeah?"
"We need to talk," she stopped and looked him in the eye. "Look, you're a great guy, and I'm sure that you have many, many wonderful qualities. But before you get any ideas, I'm in love with someone else."
Riley looked completely stunned, "Oh...uh, well, I mean...I'm sorry I didn't know, Willow didn't warn me that there was anyone else..."
"She didn't know," said Buffy gently.
They started walking again. "So who's the lucky guy?" he asked casually. "Was it the one who came and got you that night at Lowell house?"
Buffy cringed at the question. She could tell that he wasn't really happy about it and a part of her felt that telling him the truth might strike a serious blow to his manly pride. On the other hand though, she didn't want to lie to him either. 'Fortune favors the brave,' she thought.
"It's not actually a guy," she said tentatively.
Riley stopped cold and his jaw dropped. "It's Willow, isn't it?" he said softly as he suddenly looked back toward where the other girl had gone. He looked back to see Buffy nodding slowly. "And suddenly the shovel comment makes a lot more sense."
Shovel comment? "Huh?" she asked. "What shovel comment?"
Riley smiled, "That night at Lowell house, Willow told me that if I hurt you she would beat me to death with a shovel. Her exact words were 'A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend.'" He chuckled. "No wonder she was so overprotective, she feels the same way about you."
"She says she does, but we're trying to take things slow, she's been through a lot lately," Buffy said softly, "and I want her to be sure."
"Now this is really embarrassing," he said with a wry grin. "Here I was asking her for help to try and date the girl she's in love with and I didn't even see it. Some psych major I am, I really owe her a big apology."
"Well," Buffy said with a grin, "if it's any consolation to you, it's taken us both years to figure out how we feel...so you shouldn't feel too bad about it."
* * * * *
'This day just keeps getting worse,' Willow thought unhappily as she walked across campus from her Wicca group meeting, heading to this evening's training session with Giles.
'First Riley and then that sorry excuse for a Wicca group...what's next an apocalypse?' she wondered angrily.
"Will! Hey, wait up!" She heard Buffy's voice and turned to see her jogging to catch up.
"Hiya Buff," Willow tried unsuccessfully to force herself to sound cheerful. She knew she'd failed miserably when she saw the concerned expression on her best friend's face.
"Okay Willow, something's bothering you." Buffy's voice was stern, "I saw the look on your face before you ran off earlier and now you sound like someone just diagnosed you with cancer of the puppy, so spill it. What's wrong?"
She sighed as she tried to figure out what to say. "I know that you want to take things slow Buffy, and I can totally appreciate that." She trailed off, fumbling for what to say next.
"But?" Buffy prompted her gently.
"But, I just...I need to know what this is. Between us I mean." She took a deep breath, "I told you how I feel about you, but you haven't told me anything yet, and I love that I'm getting to hold you and kiss you and God, I can't even look at you without wanting to kiss you...but I don't know if this is what you want, or if you even know if it's what you want and I don't know how to react to it all..."
Suddenly she felt Buffy's arms slip around her and their lips met. The passion in that kiss exploded through her, causing her knees to buckle, but the Slayer held her tight and kept her from falling.
When Buffy pulled back, Willow was left breathless. "Willow," she said softly, "I love you. I want to be with you, but right now too much has happened way too fast, and I don't just mean us. I mean Oz leaving, and Spike, and your change and everything. I don't want you to look at this later and think it was a mistake, or for you to have regrets." She took a deep breath, "That's why I want to take this slow. If it's real, if it's what you want, then I'll be yours forever, but I have to know that it's really real."
Willow swallowed deeply, she hadn't even thought of Oz since before Spike attacked her. 'Does that make me a bad person?' she asked herself irrationally.
"You really love me?" She asked, her voice full of her own insecurities.
"More then anything else," came her answer.
Willow smiled, "Then I can wait forever if that's what it takes."
* * * * *
"'Can't even shout, can't even cry, the Gentlemen are coming by.'" Giles read back the line off the notes he'd made from Buffy's description of her dream. "Well it does sound vaguely familiar, you're sure it's nothing you heard as a child?"
"Positive." Buffy said simply. She and Willow sat on the floor, stretching in preparation for their training. "As creepy as that rhyme was, I would remember it if I'd heard it before."
"I don't recall having ever heard it before either Giles," Willow volunteered.
"Oh, all right," he stared thoughtfully at his notes, "and she was carrying some sort of wooden box?"
"Yeah, it was kind of ornate," Buffy recalled, "and seemed really important somehow."
"Well, it certainly could have been one of your prophetic dreams or it could just be the eternal mystery that is your brain. I'll look into it after we finish with the training session." Giles set his notes aside and looked down at the girls. "Are you ready to begin?"
Willow nodded and stood up. Buffy followed suit, getting to her feet as well, but stepping back out of Giles' way.
"All right then, we'll start with the fundamental stances and then move on to basic blocks as well as punching and kicking techniques," he said clearly, "Buffy will demonstrate as we go..."
* * * * *
Buffy watched as Willow worked with Giles. He was really putting her through the paces: rapidly calling out a series of moves and observing as the redhead executed them. Buffy couldn't help but grin slightly at the look of intense concentration on the other girl's face. 'She's always so cute when she's focused on something,' the blonde thought happily.
Giles continued to call combinations, steadily increasing the complexity with each sequence. Buffy was surprised at how smoothly Willow was able to execute each group of attacks and blocks. 'I guess I really shouldn't be surprised,' she thought, 'Will's always been quick to learn anything she put her mind to, why would this be any different?'
'Except that this is different, totally different,' her mind raced with the realization. 'Willow's life is going to be on the line every night. And if she freezes again like she did last night...'
"Very good," she heard Giles comment as Will completed a particularly difficult sequence smoothly. "Buffy, if you would please," he gestured for Buffy to join the redhead on the mats.
She looked at Giles, wondering what he had in mind as he spoke again, "Now then, Willow, you've demonstrated a strong grasp of the basic techniques and the mechanics of fighting. However, the real test of fighting ability is facing a real opponent," he kept his voice level and serious trying to emphasize just how critical this was. Buffy noticed as Willow swallowed nervously. "Sparring with Buffy will give you an opportunity to put these techniques to the test."
'Spar with Willow?' she thought, suddenly worried, 'But I might hurt her!' She looked at Giles wondering when he'd lost his mind. Giles smiled slightly as if to reassure her.
"Ready?" he asked. Buffy took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves before shifting into a fighting stance. After Willow did the same, Giles called out "Begin."
She waited a moment, trying to make sure that Willow was really ready before throwing a quick, light jab at the other girl. Buffy was a bit surprised by how easily the redhead blocked it. Smiling slightly, she launched a jab-hook combo, and was shocked as the other girl simply side-stepped the jab, blocked the hook and struck out with a jab of her own, which she barely dodged.
Stepping back for a moment Buffy looked at her love with new respect and complimented her, "Nice one Will." A warm feeling spread through her at the surprised blush her compliment sparked.
The Slayer spent the next several minutes exchanging blows with Willow with neither girl managing to actually hit the other. 'Damn, she's good,' Buffy thought simply, 'definite knack for the defense.'
"Stop," she heard Giles call out. Both girls immediately turned to face him, noticing that he was staring intently at Willow. "Do you realize what you were doing?" he asked gently.
* * * * *
"Do you realize what you were doing?"
'What I was doing?' Willow wondered, 'I was sparring with Buffy? What does he mean?' She thought she was doing pretty well, even though she knew that Buffy had been holding back; she'd blocked or avoided every attack that Buffy had thrown.
Every attack? She sparred with the Slayer and never got hit. Suddenly it hit her, "I-I could feel the attacks...before they came." Giles smiled widely at her realization.
She turned to Buffy and watched as the surprise on her friend's face was quickly replaced by a puzzled expression. "That's cool Will, but if you could feel my attacks coming, why couldn't you feel the vamps that jumped us last night?" her tone was gentle, without any trace of accusation.
Willow felt herself blush, "It was different. Today, I was focused and could concentrate on what was happening. Last night..." She swallowed nervously, "the energy from the Bronze was overwhelming, I didn't feed, but I couldn't block it all out either, I couldn't think clearly let alone concentrate. It left me feeling disoriented and pretty helpless."
When she glanced at Giles she wasn't surprised to see him cleaning his glasses thoughtfully. "It sounds very much like being, well, intoxicated actually," he offered.
"If that's what being drunk feels like, remind me to never ever get drunk," she said with a wry grin, "I hated not being able to think clearly." Then she whispered just loud enough for Buffy to hear, "Though feeling totally uninhibited was kinda fun."
Buffy blushed brightly at her whispered comment. Luckily, Giles either didn't notice or chose not to ask.
"Yes, well you'll have to work to strengthen your mental shields in order to prevent similar occurrences in the future," Giles lectured. "Now then, I think that it would wise to spend some time working with your other powers before we stop for the night."
Willow spent the next hour focusing intently. Giles had her working on moving objects with her powers, improving her control and her ability to accurately hit small targets. It was difficult and by the time they stopped, she was mentally drained.
"Yes, very good Willow," he said as she hit a ping pong ball mid-air with a stake she levitated. "That's quite enough for today." He stared at her for a moment, "how are you feeling?"
"Pretty tired. I haven't fed since Xander and didn't sleep well last night." She smiled, "I'll get a good night's sleep, and try to feed tomorrow. I'll be fine."
Buffy looked at her, concern in her eyes, "Are you sure Willow?"
"Positive Buffy, I just want to go home and get some rest."
"Okay, well I should patrol tonight," Buffy grimaced slightly. "I think I've slacked off a bit too much lately. Getting attacked less than 2 blocks from the Bronze is not a good sign."
* * * * *
It was nearly midnight when Buffy got back to the dorm room she shared with Willow. She entered the dark room quietly, expecting the other girl to be asleep, but was surprised to discover that her friend was lying in bed awake, waiting on her.
"Hey Buffy," she called out quietly after the Slayer closed the door. "How was patrol?"
"Patrol was busy, but nothing out of the ordinary." She smiled and chided gently, "Will, you shouldn't have stayed up and waited for me. You looked exhausted when Giles finished with you earlier." Buffy quickly changed for bed without turning on the lights.
"Well, I am exhausted. I napped a little while you patrolled, but I couldn't really sleep 'til I knew you were home safe." Willow replied softly.
Buffy's extremely sharp night vision let her see the redhead frown slightly as she climbed into her own bed. "What's the matter Willow?" she asked gently.
"Oh, I...it's just that I...well, that is...we'd slept together...you know...since I got back, and I was...sorta lookin' forward...to snuggles, with you...when you got back...but I mean if you don't want to that's okay too, I don't want to push or anything...I just..." Buffy couldn't help but smile.
"Will," Buffy said softly, cutting her off. "I just didn't want to assume that you wanted me to sleep next to you. We hadn't really talked about it, you know."
"Oh," came her reply. "I guess we really hadn't." She trailed off as if uncertain of how to continue.
"Would you like me to sleep over there with you?" the blond asked gently.
"Please...I think I sleep better with your arms around me," there was a gentle pleading in her voice that Buffy couldn't say no to. Not that she really wanted to. She got into Willow's bed, slipping under the blankets next to her and wrapping her arms around the woman she loved.
"Is that better?"
"Much," Willow replied sleepily. "I love you Buffy."
Buffy smiled before whispering back, "I love you too, Willow."
Within minutes, both girls were sound asleep.
* * * * *
A short while later, a pale mist escaped unseen from their mouths with a whisper. The mist lingered just a moment before being drawn out through the dorm window and into the night sky. Throughout Sunnydale, similar mists fled from the mouths of every being in the town and were pulled through the air to an abandoned clock tower.
Inside the tower, the mists are pulled by magic into an ornate wooden box, identical to the one the Slayer had seen in her dream. After the last of the mist has vanished into the box, a pale grayish hand gently closed the lid.