Learning Curve
by rebelrsr
Chapter Three
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Buffy clattered back into the room feeling physically, if not emotionally, better after the shower. It was strange; this was her body, but it hadn't felt right since she had reclaimed it from Faith. Not counting the unexplainable bruises and muscle aches, Buffy felt wrong in her own skin. Glancing up as she went to put her things in the closet, she noticed Tara was missing and Willow was in her usual place on her bed, tapping away at her laptop, socked feet waving in the air. "Tara go home?" she asked.
"Yeah. She —um- said she wasn't feeling well," Willow replied, glancing up from whatever she was researching. She pressed a few keys before closing her laptop. "Feel any better after the shower?" She asked, rolling on to her side, watching Buffy intently.
When Buffy just shrugged, Willow took Tara's advice. "Hey, I'm plan free this evening. It's been a really long time since we spent any quality best friend time together. Whataya say we rent a couple of mindless movies and imbibe lots of pizza and chocolate?" Willow cocked her head to the side and watched Buffy's expression closely. Shamelessly resorting to her best puppy-dog look, she glanced at her friend through long lashes and began begging in a sing-song voice, "Please?"
"Ooh, no fair with the puppy-dog eyes, Will." Buffy whined. Willow upped the ante and stuck out her lip in her best pout. "Aagh! Stop! No more! OK. Best friend movie night, pizza and chocolate and gossip. Just please, stop with the look."
Willow laughed. "Poor Slayer. Did the wicked witch torture you?" She rolled off the bed and launched herself at her blonde roommate. Thanks to Slayer reflexes, Buffy caught the red-haired bundle and wrapped her arms tight around Buffy. Willow whispered, "I've really missed 'us time.'" Blushing slightly, she stepped back. "Mocha, muffin, and movie run? Then we can order the main course when we get back?"
"Only if you promise not to make me watch any foreign films with subtitles. Only movies with words in English!" At Willow's grumpy nod of agreement, Buffy grinned. "OK, then. Let's get moving. We can do a quick patrol on our way out." She pulled a jacket out of the closet and dug around in the weapons trunk for a couple of stakes and a long knife. "You got your safety kit?"
"Yep." Willow indicated the satchel slung over her shoulder. "All the latest in personal protection: holy water, crosses, a couple of lighters, and a super-sized bottle of hairspray."
"You're going to give them cosmetology lessons before you stake them?"
Willow smacked the Slayer on the arm. "Yeah, like that would be helpful. Spray a little hairspray and use a lighter. Boom! Instant flamethrower. Of course," she grinned, "thanks to Tara, I can do fireballs without the props. Well, OK, the one time I tried it didn't work, but I think that was because I used the wrong language. Next time, I'll try the invocation in Sumerian instead of Latin."
"You and Tara been patrolling without me?" Buffy asked in shock.
Willow looked at Buffy in confusion as they exited Stephenson Hall. "Oh, no. Where did you get that idea? I mean, my spells are better, but... and Tara, well, not really big with the violence."
"Will, you just said you tried a fireball spell. I kinda figured you were aiming at a vamp." She grabbed Willow's hand, swinging their arms as they walked. "If you weren't trying to dust a vamp, what were you aiming at?"
*Normally,* Willow thought, *this is where I would blush. But I'm pretty sure there is zero color in my face right now — could even be considered a non-color. Uh, oh. Buffy's looking at me. How long ago did she ask me that? Frilly heck.* Mustering a smile, she said, "Oh, you know, nothing really...just imagined I was fighting something really bad — like, um, Faith. Right, Faith! You know, what if she, like showed up in the dorm room and I was all alone and needed to, um, defend myself. Then a fireball would be really useful. Just, you know, Faith really scares me and I got the language for the spell wrong, so I had to, you know, try something else, and I..."
"Will, breath! My God, what happened to suave Willow2000? You haven't done the Willowbabble thing so bad since my first year at ol' Hellmouth High." Seeing her friend's frown, she was quick to reassure. "Not that it's bad. I just noticed you've been kinda on verbal overdrive today. Everything OK in Willowland? New guy I don't know about?"
Willow barely refrained from whimpering. First, she nearly gave away the whole "Faith visitation" and now Buffy wanted to talk about her love life. *Really gotta change the subject. Tara said to get Buffy talking, so...* "Hey, no fair making this all about me! Have you talked to your mom since the kidnapping?"
Buffy laughed. "'Kay, Will. Sensing you don't want to tell me about your new squeeze with the big subject change and all. Just to let you know, we will be revisiting the topic again tonight. But, yeah, Mom and I spent a few minutes together after the showdown with Faith. She's doing OK. It was a little freaky. I had to actually convince her it was me and not Psycho Slayer inside." Buffy's mood darkened. "We're not really communicating very well at the moment. Reminds me of when I was still hiding the Slayer gig."
By now, they had reached the largest of Sunnydale's cemeteries. Both girls were momentarily silent. "How is your mom handling the whole kidnapped by a killer deal?"
Buffy shrugged. "Not really sure. She said she was fine, and other than the large bruise on her chin, Faith didn't hurt her. I just feel bad that I didn't find Faith before she got to Mom."
"But you did get there!"
"Almost too late, Will. Mom was all tied up in her bed and that bitch was getting ready to kill her. Before I went through the window, I heard her tell Mom not to count on me. She had the gall to say I didn't care about her anymore, especially since I was a 'college girl' now." Buffy stopped and looked at her companion. "You don't really think Mom believed her, do you, Will?"
Willow looked back at her in amazement. Surely, Buffy didn't think her mom would take the word of a serial killer in the making? She stepped closer to Buffy and put on her best "resolve face." "Buffy Anne Summers, don't you dare think like that. Your mom knows that college and saving the world on a nightly basis take time."
Buffy dropped her head, studying the coral-painted toenails peeking out of her open-toed shoes. "I just feel — look out!" Buffy shoved Willow to the left with one hand while pulling out a stake with the other. She faced the two vampires, waiting for one of them to attack. "You OK, Will?" she called out.
"Oh, sure, Buffy. Just shaking off the cemetery dirt. Kinda forgot your own strength there, Slayer." Willow jumped up to sit on top of a headstone and watched the show.
The two hapless vamps listened to this exchange in confusion. Hearing Willow call Buffy the Slayer, though, prodded them into action. Both shifted into game face and charged. Buffy leaped into the air, somersaulting over her opponents. When she landed, she quickly kicked one in the back. Willow winced at the sound of breaking bones. With a growl, the vampire dropped to the ground, and Buffy faced his "friend."
"Hey, boys. Out for a little romantic walk in the moonlight?" She smiled. "It's a nice night for it."
The unwounded vampire ran a tongue along his fangs before replying. "I've heard that once you've tasted a Slayer, you never want to go back to normal humans."
"Hello. Don't you guys have any new lines?" Buffy asked, disgust in her voice. She sidestepped the vampire's rush and staked him in the back. A second later, his ashes dropped to the ground. "One down, well OK, two down..." She dragged the vampire she had kicked back to his feet. "Anything you want to say before I stake you?" When the vampire just snarled and twisted in her grasp, Buffy shrugged. "OK, then." A quick thrust with the stake, and the two girls were once again alone in the cemetery. "Well, that was certainly dull." She waited for Willow to rejoin her. "If I had a nickel for every time a vamp said that thing about tasting a Slayer, I wouldn't need to worry about getting a job after college."
Willow giggled. "Maybe I could do some research on pick-up lines and we could make a flyer and post it around the cemeteries. You know, title it 'The Top 100 Ways to Impress the Slayer.'" She linked arms with Buffy and they continued their walk.
***
Willow lay with her head pillowed on Buffy's thigh. On the TV, Terry Hatcher and Pierce Brosnan verbally fenced in their evening wear. *Huh, I wonder if it's an English thing to wear formals when you save the world?* She shifted and looked up at Buffy. After their lighthearted banter on the way to pick up Movie Night necessities, they hadn't really talked about anything Willow considered to be important. Maybe it was time to push — just a little. "Hey, Buffy?"
Buffy yawned and stretched before answering, "Yeah, Will."
"You, um, we, ah haven't really talked about what happened when you were in Faith's body. Kinda' wondered, did you still feel like you, or did you have homicidal tendencies, too?" Willow felt Buffy tense beneath her.
"No, Will. No thoughts of gutting those around me. It was me, my thoughts, with Faith's body. Although," Buffy looked thoughtful, "I have to say it didn't really bother me to beat up on the Council guys. Man, one of them even spit on me."
"He what?!" Willow's voice squeaked. "Why- Why would he do that?"
Buffy shrugged. "He thought I was Faith, remember? Made some comment about me/her being worthless or trash. To prove his point, he spit." She stroked a hand through Willow's hair. "The whole thing was disturbing — and not just the trapped in a crazy girl's body kinda way. People looked at me differently. I mean, when I first got to Giles' place, he looked petrified. The Council goons saw me as some sort of whore. The only person who didn't automatically disapprove was Riley when I hugged him at the church. He just kept trying to fend me off and he called me 'Miss.' Must be a military thing."
Willow started giggling. "Did you hear Giles when the cop told us we couldn't be there?"
"Not really. I was too focused on finding a way into the church." Buffy smiled as Willow went off into gales of laughter again.
"If you ever need blackmail material, just start waving your arms and shout 'Good God, man!' a few times. I bet that English reserve will crack right away." Willow grabbed Buffy's hand, which had been resting on the floor near her side. "So, Tara and I are looking for spells to help with Adam. She's really strong, Buffy. Way stronger than me and she knows a ton of stuff about magic. Has Riley been able to get you any more information on the Initiative's plans or files on Adam?"
Buffy shifted out from underneath Willow. "No, we haven't really talked about Adam. I've been pretty focused on finding Faith and everything." Buffy wandered around the room, picking up the pizza remains and the clutter from their chocolate bingeing earlier.
*Ah, must have finally hit a nerve. Avoidance Buffy is in the room.* "So if you haven't been discussing our resident Dr. Frankenstein's monster, have you been doing a lot of relationship-type things? Come on! This is me. Remember, it's part of the Best Friend's Rules, you have to spill all the good details about your latest amour." Willow watched as Buffy stopped moving around the room. "So, spill, my friend, spill. I need a life even if it is a vicarious one."
Willow got a tad bit nervous when Buffy walked over and just stood next to her, looming, with a truly evil grin. "Oh, no, Will. First, we're going to talk about the new man in your life. The one you avoided talking about earlier tonight."
Nervousness paled next to the panicked feeling she had now. Willow sat up quickly, buying some time and taking away Buffy's unobstructed view of her expression. "Nope. No man here." *And that's part of the problem.* "I am man-free. No manly love interest since Oz pulled his disappearing act." *Shut UP, Willow. Even Xander could pick up these clues. Now. Let's get back to what had you so freaked out, my friend.* "So, now that we know I am not mooning over a new man, how about the details of you and Riley? Sit down right here," Willow patted the floor next to her, "put your head on my shoulder, snuggle in, and tell all."
Buffy hesitated and Willow reluctantly used her "resolve face" for the second time that day. Reluctantly because she feared overuse would ruin its effectiveness. Buffy shuffled around a little but finally caved and sat down. Willow had to strain to hear when Buffy started talking. "I'm not sure there is a Riley and me saga anymore, Will. He told me today that he slept with her, with Faith."
Willow was stunned. "He slept with Faith? When did he meet her? At the church today, you said he kept pushing you, um, her away and calling you 'Miss.' Did the drugs the Initiative kept feeding him mess up his memory or something?"
"No, Will." Buffy's laugh was sad. "He slept with Faith, while she was in my body."