An Eternal Love
by Angela
Part 3
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"Everyone back off!" Buffy shouted, in a harsh cold voice. "He's mine."
Everyone listened. Wesley, Cordelia and Xander ran over to Willow to see if she was OK. Buffy swung the ax wildly hitting the creature all over his green, scaly body. The Matagrin screamed as he was chopped down. He managed to knock Buffy to the ground. He stepped on her left arm, breaking it in three places. This however did not stop her. She kicked it off of her and continued slashing with the ax. First she sliced off his arm, then a large gash in his abdomen, and then off went his head to her fury.
This however didn't stop her. She continued hacking at the deceased, mutilated body of the former Matagrin.
"Buffy," Angel said touching her shoulder. She backhanded him and knocked him down before continuing on her rampage.
"Buffy!" Giles shouted over her anguished cries with each swipe of the ax as he grabbed her arm. She went to punch him, but he ducked it and grabbed her into a hug.
"It's OK Buffy. He's dead." Buffy nodded into Giles' shoulder. She dropped the ax and looked around. She saw Willow on the ground and ran over to her. Wesley and Xander were kneeled next to her and Cordelia was on her cell phone, probably calling an ambulance. She pushed Wesley and Xander out of the way and checked Willow's pulse. It was faint, but it was still there.
Buffy heard the wailing sirens in the distance. Before she knew it, they were there. Willow was rushed into the ambulance and taken to Sunnydale General.
Everyone sat patiently in the waiting room, except Buffy. She was getting her arm casted. A few minutes after they arrived Buffy's mother walked in. Willow's mother and father were on their way. They were out of town. Buffy's mother went into Buffy's room to see if she was OK. A few minutes later Buffy and her mother came into the waiting room.
"Anyone heard anything about Willow " Buffy asked.
"Not yet," Giles answered.
They sat in the waiting room for what seemed like days but couldn't have been more than a couple of hours. Finally, a doctor came in.
Everyone stood and walked toward the doctor.
"Willow has sever blood loss and head trauma. We think she'll be OK, but we want to keep her for observation after she's awake. She comes in and out of consciousness. The only thing she'll say is Buffy. Is that one of you?" The doctor asked.
"Yeah, that's me." Buffy said taking a small step forward. "Can I see her?"
"Sure, but not for too, long. Visiting hours are over."
***
Buffy walked into Willow's room. She was hooked up to several different machines. Buffy thought she looked so weak and tiny in the hospital bed. She walked up to the side of the bed and sat in the chair.
"Willow, I know you can't hear me, but I'm really sorry. It's all my fault. It was too dangerous. I shouldn't have put you at risk like that. I love you Will. If anything happened to you, I wouldn't know what to do. You mean everything to me. I know I should have told you this a long time ago, or when you were awake, but I've always loved you. Your not just my best friend. Your my soul mate. My one true love. I've always thought so. It just took some time before I realized what it was. I hope someday I can tell you this for real. For now this will have to do."
Buffy leaned over and placed a light kiss on Willow's lips, then folded her arms next to Willow, rested her head on them, and cried.
"It's..all..my fault..."
Willow's eyes fluttered open slowly. She heard someone crying softly and blaming themselves.
"Bu...Buffy?" Willow started to come to.
"Buffy, it's not your fault. You tried. I saw you." Willow lifted her hand slowly and placed it on Buffy's arm.
"Will? You're OK?!? I'll run and get the doctor!"
Buffy darted out of the room and returned a second later with the doctor. There was no movement on the bed. The only sound in the room was the steady sound of the flat line and the alarm on all the machines.
***
"Willow!" Buffy called out loudly as she started to thrash about in bed.
"Shh..shh...sh... It's OK Buffy. I'm right here." Willow comforted Buffy from the spot next her on the bed.
Buffy sat up in bed quickly and hugged Willow tightly ignoring the pain in her wrist.
"I had that nightmare again. The one where you died after the Matagrin attack. It's always the same. It plays out the same as the battle, but you die at the end. It's always exactly the same." Buffy sniffled.
"But I didn't. I'm right here. See?" Willow pulled away and smiled at her.
Buffy nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. She laid back down on Giles' bed.
"How did I end up in here?" Buffy asked, looking around at Giles' room.
"You passed out when Giles was trying to fix your wrist. How is it anyway?"
"It hurts a lot, but I can take it." Buffy gave Willow a tired half smile. "Nice improv on the brace. Giles did a good job." Buffy added, examining the make shift splint.
"You should go back to sleep. Giles said we should just stay here for the night since he wants to check your wrist in the morning and I have some research to do with him anyway. He's sleeping on the couch." Willow moved a bunch of stray hair off Buffy's slightly sweaty forehead. She thought about what she was doing and quickly, but gently put her hand down. She went to stand up when Buffy placed her hand over Willow's.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"I was going to sleep in the chair."
"Sleep in the bed with me. The chair is so uncomfortable. Plus I want you close if I have another nightmare."
Willow stopped for a minute trying to find a polite way to decline.
"I don't want to hurt your wrist. Besides, you smell like cigarettes..." Willow sniffed at Buffy. "..And beer? Buffy, have you been drinking?"
"I only had a little. Besides, that was, like, twelve hours ago super nose.
Stop trying to change the subject and make excuses. Get in here."
Willow gave up and walked around the other side where she crawled into bed. Buffy rolled over to face her.
"Willow, why have you been acting weird the last couple of days?"
"Well, there is this pesky little prophesy that says my best friend will die."
"I don't think that's it."
"Sure it is." With that, Willow rolled to face away from Buffy. Giving up on the conversation, Buffy snuggled a little closer to Willow.
Willow tensed the minute she felt Buffy press up against her back. Feeling this, Buffy backed away from Willow slightly.
"Sorry Will," Buffy said a little disheartened. "G'night"
"''Night Buffy." Willow felt bad. She didn't want to hurt Buffy's feelings, but she had to worry about her own first.
***
Buffy slowly stirred in bed. This time it was her turn to wake up alone. Buffy sniffed at the air. She noticed the faint smell of coffee. Buffy rolled out of bed, careful not to hurt her wrist. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cigarettes and lighter. Taking a puff, she talked to herself.
"It's been a long time since I could wake up to one of these. I've forgotten how great it is." Buffy walked down the stairs and into Giles' kitchen.
"Morning Willow. Where's the..." Willow handed her a cup of coffee. "..coffee."
"See Giles, I told you." Willow said to Giles, watching from counter.
"Yes, quite remarkable. And she always does that?"
"Yep."
"I always do what?"
Willow giggled to herself. "You always walk into the kitchen 10 seconds after I pour your coffee. It's exact. We timed it."
"Yes, it's very odd."
Buffy looked at the two strangely. With the coffee cup in her left hand and her cigarette in the right, she walked into the living room and plopped on Giles' couch, gently placing her feet on the coffee table.
Giles walked into the living room, gently plucked the cigarette from her hand, and pushed her feet nicely off the table.
"Hey, that's mine! " She called disappointed at the loss of her cigarette.
"Buffy, It's not our house." Willow called. "And come to think of it, you can't do that in our house either."
"Yes, mom" Buffy mumbled to herself.
"What's that Buffy?"
"Oh, nothing Will. So have you guys found anything else about the prophesy?"
Willow emerged from the kitchen and sat next to Buffy.
"Well, you'll definitely save your true love. We found that much out."
Buffy looked at Willow and felt her heart skip a beat. My true love? Someone who loves me back, or someone I love with all my heart?
"We also found that you'll lose to a vampire."
"A super vampire or something right?" Buffy looked at Willow again, then at Giles.
"Well, Buffy, the signs point to it being a regular vampire. There's no reason to think that this vampire would have special powers." Giles said standing behind the girls.
-
Buffy set her coffee down on the table and got up, moving toward the bathroom.
"Buffy, where are you going?" Giles called to her.
"To get some asprin. I can see this is going to be a long day."
***
The vampire paced quickly back and forth. Other than the couple of torches spread around the lair, there wasn't any light. Even with his excellent night vision he could barely see the man he was talking to.
"She need's to pay! They both do." With that, he stopped. "Will you help me?"
"For a price."
The vampire ran a hand over his quickly healing face, wincing at the pain of the burns.
"Just name it."
***
Buffy ran a hand through her hair. The longer she looked at the book, the less sense it was making. She rubbed her eyes at a weak attempt to refocus before standing up and looking around the room. Willow and Giles seemed intensely focused on their books, but she could see Xander was having the same problem as her.
"All right guys, I think we should call it a night. We can look more in the morning." With that, Buffy stretched and moved toward the kitchen knowing Xander was right behind her.
At first, Willow and Giles didn't seem to hear her, but as Buffy and Xander walked back into the room, each with a glass of water in hand, they both closed their books and stood.
"Look guys, we've been looking for days and we still haven't found anything more on this prophesy. Maybe we should just take a break on this for a day or two." Buffy started off the sentence strong, but found herself deflating as she got to the end.
"We're not going to give up Buffy." Willow put a comforting arm around her friend's shoulders. "We just need to keep looking. I'm sure we'll find something soon." Giles and Xander nodded their heads in agreement.
"I'm not saying we should give up, I'm just saying we should take a break. If we're all exhausted, how are we gonna fight this?" She moved away from the group towards the kitchen again, showing the end of the conversation.
They all knew there was no point in arguing, and they all knew she was right, so they moved about the room cleaning up the books and papers scattered around.
***
Willow awoke to the brightness that is morning. With a slight groan, she raised her arm to cover her eyes and snuggled closer to the warm body next to her. Buffy had insisted Willow sleep in her bed with her again. These were Willow's favorite moments. The quiet ones when she didn't have to think or worry and she was next to er favorite person on the planet .
Gently, Willow peeked one eye out and ran it over the lithe body, twitching occasionally next to her. Her eyes slowly grew accustomed to the light and she lowered her arm. The light sound of Buffy's breathing let her know she was the only one awake. As she looked at the sleeping form of her friend, she suddenly didn't find it quite so hard to believe she could be in love with her. She let her eyes travel up and down the length of Buffy's body and was surprised to find it didn't freak her out like she thought it would. In fact, she realized it wasn't even like it was the first time she'd done it. She'd been doing it forever. She just happened to convienently ignore it.
"Do you always stare at sleeping people?" Buffy smirked slightly, but didn't open her eyes.
"Only when they snore like they're sawing logs," Willow threw her pillow over Buffy's face and giggled lightly.
"You're lucky I'm injured or you'd have a tickle torture to deal with," She slowly stretched, knocking the pillow off the bed and lazily opened her eyes.
"Then I guess it's a good thing you're injured," Willow joked as she slid out from under the blanket to stand and stretch.
"That's really nice. Be happy I'm hurt Will," Buffy teased. Her eyes slowly slid down Willow's body, stopping only momentarily on her ass as she walked away from Buffy and toward the window. She felt the familiar burn build up inside her so she did what she always did. Ignored it. She hopped out of the bed and walked up behind Willow to look out the window with her.
"It's such a beautiful day."