A Little More
by DarkWillow
[reviews]
Disclaimer: Still don't own it. Characters, not mine. Song, not mine... it's by Skillet. Story... still mine! Yay! Go me.
Author's note: Feel like I owe y'all this. Sorry about the long time between posts... Heh, but I have an excuse!!!! A good one!! See, I've sorta been, well... in a program for the past fifteen months. Yeah. Fun. Mom wasn't too big on Wicca. So I was sent away to be de-witched. But now I'm back, so let the writing commense! Hope people still read this...
Love is all around you now, so take a hold;
Hidden in our words it sometimes ain't enough.
Don't suffocate it: day after day it's building up,
'Cause when you're feeling weak you know I'm strong enough.
Oh, let the world crash, love can take it,
Oh, let the world come crashing down.
Oh, let the world crash, love can take it,
Love can take a little, love can give a little more.
It was dark, wherever I was. Dark and cold and empty. I didn't like it very much. But at least nothing hurt... Still, I preferred where I had been a while ago, remembering - dreaming? - wonderful times. Nothing hurt then, either, and it hadn't been all empty and lonely and creepy. Yeah, creepy was a good word for this place.
I tried to move, but I couldn't. It was like I had no body to move with. It was an odd feeling. And not a pleasant one. Oh... where was Buffy? Where was anyone? I didn't like this at all. I tried to focus on something; anything, give me something to focus on! Movement. I needed to move. I concentrated and found that I did have a body now, or at least a form; I could move. But where was there to move to? That had seemed really important a second ago...
I wandered for a while. There seemed to be no end to this blackness; it was huge, I guess, but I felt trapped. It was big and empty, but I felt claustrophobic. I had to get out of here, that much I knew. But how?
The thought occured to me suddenly, though it didn't make much sense. Just let go. Let go of what? I wasn't holding on to anything. But, no... I was. I didn't know what, but I was holding on to something. And if I let go of it - whatever it was - I could get out of this place. And into somewhere... I didn't know. Maybe someplace better, maybe someplace worse. I had no clue.
Now that I knew that I was holding on to something, though, that I was fighting something, I was suddenly aware of the effort it was taking. It occured to me how tired I felt, how hard this was, how nice it would be to just let go and fall. I mean, what was I fighting for, anyways? What reason did I have?
I swear, the Powers That Be have a sense of humour, because of course there had to be some way to answer that question, and it only took one word, shoved firmly into my mind. Buffy. "You really need to wake up, Willow," a soft voice said, sounding as though it was coming from a distance. I glanced up and found myself staring at the image of my best friend, like a light in this dark place I was trapped in. A little fuzzy, but it was her, and she was giving me a concerned smile, her eyes holding a pleading look.
Wake up? Was I sleeping? Maybe I was. "I don't know if I can..." I told her, wondering if she could hear me, if she was even really there.
"We're all so worried about you, and I know you can do this, because you're strong." I shook my head, but she insisted. "You're strong, and you can beat this, you just have to hold on and fight it and come back to me, because..." here her voice broke slightly, and I took a step towards her.
"Because why?" Bad grammar, I know, but it was all I could think of to say. I could worry about proper grammar at some time when I wasn't standing in some dark abyss.
"Because I love you, Willow... I love you." She reached a hand out to me. "Come back to me, Willow... please. I love you so much...." I stared at her, startled. She loved me? As a best friend. That's what she'd told me. That's what she'd said. But her tone... and the look in her eyes... were those tears? Could it be true? Could she really... could she really love me?
I hesitated for a long moment before slowly reaching out and taking her hand, closing my fingers firmly around hers.
**********
Willow's hand tightened around mine, ever so slightly. My head popped up off the bed and I stared at her, praying I hadn't imagined it. But no, she stirred slightly, her eyelids flickered, she gave a soft moan, and her hand gripped mine a bit tighter as she fought her way back into consciousness. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I watched her, staring rather stupidly, unable to summon words.
"Buffy?" her voice was little more than a hoarse whisper, but my heart skipped a beat to hear it. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but she turned her head towards me slightly. How did she know where I was? Oh, yeah, I was holding her hand. Duh, Buffy.
"I'm here, Honey. It's okay." I squeezed her hand, and for the first time in three long days she squeezed back. I smiled despite myself. "How do you feel?" Dumb question. Where'd my brain go? I should really get a locator on that thing.
"I... things... hurt," she managed. "What happened?"
"You were in an accident, Will. You got hit by a car." I could sense her suprise, and she tightened her grip on my hand a bit more, slowly opening her eyes and squinting slightly in the light. It was such a relief to see those lovely green eyes open again. "I... I should get a doctor," I realized out loud, hesitantly standing, but she didn't release my hand.
"W-wait... I..." she looked a little confused, like she wanted to say something but couldn't quite decide what. Talking was obviously difficult for her, and likely painful. "Buffy..."
"Shh..." I said gently, reaching forward to brush a few strands of hair out of her face, and to my slight surprise she leaned into my touch. I moved my hand so that it was cupping her cheek, running my thumb lightly along her soft skin. "It's okay. Everything's alright now. You're awake... everything's gonna be fine."
She blinked; looked into my eyes. "Why?"
The question suprised me, but I knew what she wanted to know. I said everything would be fine because she was awake... everything would be fine, because she was okay. And she wanted to know why that was. I had messed up my chance once before, but now I had learned my lesson. I thought I had time, but really, I might not. I had almost lost her once... I wasn't going to lie this time.
"Because I love you, Willow." I could see the suprise in her eyes, uncertainty, the slightest amount of distrust... that hurt, but I deserved it.
"You... like... friends, right?" She glanced away from me, sadly. I leaned over her, took her chin lightly in my hand, and made her look at me again, shaking my head.
"No... not like friends." I took a deep breath; I had already made up my mind what I was going to do - I just had to be brave enough to do it. "Like this," and I kissed her. It wasn't a long kiss, wasn't deep, wasn't exactly passionate, but it was enough to say all the things I hadn't said before, and, despite how weak she was, after a few seconds Willow kissed me back, and that was all that mattered.
I drew back, leaning my forehead lightly against her own for a moment before pulling back to look her in the eyes. She was smiling, her eyes were sparkling, all traces of pain seemed to have disappeared. I smiled back at her. "I need to get you a doctor now, Will, okay?" She nodded slightly, and I dropped one quick kiss on her forehead before heading out the door, looking over my shoulder at her for as long as I could. I knew I was right - everything was going to be perfectly fine.
**********
Giles smiled at me as I took my place at the table and opened a book. "It's good to have you back here, Willow."
I smiled at him over my shoulder. "Good to be back. I've missed being Research Girl. You just can't sneak demonology books into the hospital."
"I would imagine not. I'm sure you would receive some odd questions."
I nodded. "Didn't really feel like having to explain myself. In fact, I didn't really feel like talking much at all for a while there."
"Of course you didn't, Will!" Buffy said with a smile, coming out of the kitchen with two cups of coffee and handing one to me, then sitting down in the chair beside mine. "Punctured lungs don't really do much to make one talkative."
I grinned. "Nope. Not good for the talking." I scanned the pages of the book. "So, what exactly are we looking for? That weird cat-person type thingie Buffy and Xander ran into, right?"
"Yep," Xander replied, "And I'll tell you, that thing was freaky. Claws and fur and a tail and cat ears on a person? Not normal."
"Since when is anything we do normal?" Buffy asked, waving a hand in the air. "I've seen weirder things than cat-people."
"Well, next time you see one, get me a picture, will you? I want to be kept up-to-date, here, since I don't really get to see them anymore." I couldn't keep a note of sadness out of my voice. Sure, Xander and Buffy always came back from patrol with a play-by-play prepared for me... but I missed being the one with Buffy on the patrol.
"Aw, come on, Will. You won't be out of commission forever," Xander said encouragingly.
"Yeah." Buffy stood and leaned over the back of my chair to hug me. "Just a little therapy and you'll be fine."
I smiled up at her. "It's not that easy, Buffy... and it'll be more than a little, and it may or may not help."
Buffy spun my chair around, making me grip the armrests in suprise at the quick motion, and looked me straight in the eyes. "Willow, it's going to help. I know you. You're strong enough to make this work."
"I hope so."
"I know so." Buffy gave me a quick kiss and spun me back around, then sat back down on her chair. Leaning one elbow on the wheel of my chair, she laid her head on my shoulder and assured me, "You'll be walking again in no time."
Love is indestructable, so take a hold;
Sometimes hard to find a reason good enough.
I'll stand beside you, never leave, through it all,
And faith will bring a way to the impossible.
Oh, let the world crash, love can take it,
Oh, let the world come crashing down.
Oh, let the world crash, love can take it,
Love can take a little, love can give a little more.