FIC: Saturday

SATURDAY

I walk into the Magic Box and try not to make the bell sound loud. It doesn't matter though, cause the place is packed again. Good for Giles. And he's lasted longer than any of the other owners. Think it's a record. Ooh! Eye of Newt.I knew he would get it for me. Forty dollars? Why'd he let Anya be in charge of the prices? She did it on purpose, I know she did. I don't see Tara anywhere.

Relieved. Cause I don't know what I'm gonna say to her. Is she evil? Is she a demon? Is she a good demon? It's not something I can just ask, you know? And when I know, I'll just be hurt. I really don't like that feeling. So I'm gonna go get happy ones.

I look at Giles, who's standing behind the counter. He points toward the back.

She's training. Hitting the dummy Xander made for her. I smile when I see Dawn sitting on the mat, stretching with her legs out in front of her, trying to reach her toes. She's pushing herself really hard, and the grimace on her face is giving away the pain factor. I wait until she notices me.

"Willow, get her to tell me I can stop." Dawn begs.

Buffy stops punching and kicking, and looks at her sister.

"You wanted to learn how to defend yourself, right?"

"I may be younger than you, but I know what self-defense is, and this isn't it."

"You need to be flexible and loose before anything else."

"But it hurts!"

"I bet it does. No pain, no gain. You can go anytime you want."

"No way. Then you win."

"That's one way of looking at it."

Dawn's sticking her tongue out. It's so funny listening to them. Before they barely said two words to each other, but now, they're doing the sisterly banter thing. They pretend not to get along and not like each other, but they do. It's cute. Even bordering on adorable.

"Hey, Will." Buffy's saying to me. I love the way she makes that sound.

"Training going okay?"

"No!" Dawn says. "Willow, make her tell me I can stop. Please?" She mustbe desperate, repeating herself and all.

"I actually came by to see if you were up for mini-golf."

Dawn gets right up.

"Yeah, we just need to run home first to get not so smelly." Buffy tells me.

"I *don't* smell." Dawn insists. "I hardly did anything."

"She admits it." Buffy smirks. "But you still stink."

"No. I don't."

"Yes. You do."

Dawn looks to me. I know she wants me to agree with her...but I just...I can't.

"Kinda." I say.

She storms out ahead of us. I turned on a fellow spaz. I don't deserve to play mini-golf.

***

Willow's downstairs sitting with mom while we get ready. She's so caring. She doesn't have to, but she is. I didn't even ask. Sometimes I wonder how she got to be the person that she is. I've met her parents, and they obviously had no role in it. That's one of the things Xander, Willow and I can relate to. The total "not there-ness" of our parents in our childhood's. Mom only got involved with my life, or tried to, when we moved here.

And I've only been really talking to Dawn for about a week and a half. I'm standing here brushing her hair. Now that we've stopped the barrage of insults, we're letting each other get closer. It's weird for me, cause I have two sets of memories swirling around in my head. "Only child" ones and "Dawn" ones. I like having a sister; I'm realizing that. And since we're letting down our guards, I see that Riley was right. I'm her idol. I'm my sister's idol.

I've never been an idol before. It's a lot to live up to.

"Are you gonna tell him?" Dawn asks me, sitting in my vanity chair.

I slowly run the comb through her hair. "Who?" I play dumb.

"Duh. Riley."

"Oh. Bout what?"

"I'm not stupid, you know. You and Willow."

"I have to tell him?" I frown at myself in the mirror.

"You could always do what the girls in my school do. Get one of your friends to tell him. Like Xander. That way you can just not like, deal with it."

How come I'm actually considering that?

"Um...Buffy?" She's quiet.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think he likes me?"

"Who?"

"Well...Xander." She's blushing. "Don't tell him!"

My little sister has a crush on Xander? Aww.

"Sure he does. But I think Anya's the one he likes as a -"

"Girlfriend." She mutters. "What does she have that's so great?"

"Experience." I blurt that out without thinking. "What I mean is...she..."

"What kind of experience?"

"Ask me again in two years."

"I don't like her." She huffs. I feel for her.

"She's definitely...bizarre." I put the comb down. "Good?"

"It'll do." I glare, but then I see her smile at me.

"Let's go see how mom and Will are doing."

We're leaving my room, and she turns her head to look at me.

"I want the blue putter. You had it last time."

"I told you, the blue putter is the only one I can use. It's the perfectsize for me."

"Use the rainbow-colored one."

"Then I'll look like a dork."

"And the bad side is?"

There's still *some* rivalry.

***

Frogs and clowns. Evil things. I fear them both equally. It all started during my sixth birthday party. The clown smelled, had bad breath and his painted smile looked twisted and scary; and a frog hopped onto my slice of cake. I almost ate it. I thought I had warts for the next two weeks. Normally, I don't discriminate with these two fears, but now is an exception.

We're on the Clown Hole. I have to get the ball in his mouth. And not only does it spit the ball back out, but its eyebrows are all slanty. I wish Buffy could slay it. Confidence, Willow. You won't let him beat you. Just hit theball and be confident. Confidence can take you anywhere. It's going...it's going...it's rolling back to me. This isn't over, Clown. Not by a long shot. I'm gonna shoot again, and I hope you choke.

"How'd we get here, Will?" Buffy asks me, as I line up my shot.

"Well, we just came from the seventh hole, which we all finished, so if I know my numbers, eight comes after seven, and that's why we're on the hole we're on now."

"No, not the hole." She smiles.

Not the...oh.

"See, you were training on the beach a couple of weeks ago, and -"

"Not us, either."

I'm baffled. I know I get that way easily, but...never mind.

"I have no idea what you mean, but maybe you could explain after I take my shot."

"Oops." She makes a "zipping" motion with her fingers. "Sorry."

Just you and me Freaky Clown Face. Just you and me. The ball's going again...it's on target...and she scores. Take that! But I won't make a big deal out of it. It's only a minor victory. We walk toward the Clown, cause we need to get around it to get to the hole. I grin at it, and then it laughs really creepy. I jump. Heart beating fast. Big meanie. He's just a sore loser.

I raise my club. He thinks he can scare me and get away with it? I can hit things really well when I want to, and I *want to*.

"Will, put the club down. It'll be okay. He's not worth it." Buffy says cautiously, and steps in between the Clown and me.

"And he's not real." Dawn adds.

"But...but...but..." I'm stuttering.

"We all hate clowns, but destroying this one won't help anything. It'll just come back. They always come back."

My lower lip is trembling. She's right. They do. Close to hyperventilating.

"Can't you slay them?"

"I wish I could, but the best thing to do is just stay away. Now give methe club. Everything'll be fine."

I hand over my club, and Buffy puts her hand on back. Calming, calming...better. Dawn's staring at us like we're weirdoes. Maybe we are, but she doesn't understand. Sure they look fun, but no one can get into cars *that* small. No one. It's impossible. Whatever they are, they're not human. Unnatural. Xander knows what I'm talking about, but he's not here. Where is he? He's not working. Oh! And they jump around and squirt water out of flowers, too. Don't they know water's supposed to stay in a flower so it can grow? They're going against nature, and that's...darn it...that’s unacceptable. I won't stand for it.

Which is why I'm moving very quickly away.

"Can we go?" I thought I could handle it, but I'm nervous and jumpy thanks to that...thing.

"Of course." Buffy says sympathetically.

"I win by forfeit." Dawn says happily.

"How do you figure?" Buffy asks.

"My score's the highest." Buffy's starts to giggle. "What? What?"

I kneel down in front of Dawn.

"Usually, the person with the lowest score wins." I tell her. "It's a backwards game, I know."

"Oh." She pauses. "I knew that."

"Sure you did." Buffy teases.

"I did!"

"Uh huh."

"Really!"

"Right."

"I'm telling you, I knew the whole time!"

"I believe you."

They continue like this until we're off the course.

***

Somewhere along the way, I started leading them. They followed me all the way here. Why did I come here? Memories, I guess. Evil, painful, and innocence-killing, but still memories. And what do they say? You can't move forward till you see where you've been? Think I got it from that Will Smith song. Sounds good, anyway.

I don't want to go inside, probably cause I'm waiting for it to collapse, so we end up walking around the rubble that was once Sunnydale High.

"You did *this*?" Dawn asks.

"Actually, Giles did." I say.

She isn't speaking. In fact, she looks worried. I have a feeling Dawn is going to be a little nicer and more obedient from now on. He owes me.

"Are you gonna tell me what you were talking about earlier?" Willow asksme as we enter the courtyard.

"I was just being nostalgic, that's all." I've thought about the past a lot lately.

"Explain."

"Wondering how we got here, really. We're sophomores in college. Almost twenty years old. Weren't we just fifteen, fighting invisible girls and working with dummy demon slayers, yesterday?"

"You sound, like, sixty." Dawn remarks.

I feel that way sometimes. How can so much happen in just five years?

"I know what you mean, Buffy." Willow's smiling sadly at me. "And it's funny, cause two years ago, you said you weren't gonna miss much."

No way.

"We had that conversation two years ago?" I can't believe it. "Please tell me I can stop growing up."

"You can stop growing up." She says it so seriously too.

"Thanks, Will."

"No problem."

I see the bench now, and so does she. How it survived the blast is beyond me, but it did. And here come the flashbacks.

'Uh, hi! Willow, right?'

'Why? I-I mean, hi! Uh, did you want me to move?'

'Why don't we start with, 'Hi, I'm Buffy,' and, uh, then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor.'

That's when I sat down. I saw what a special person she was in that first minute, and I knew if I passed up the chance to become her friend, I'd regret it for the rest of my life. She may not be the only one with the name "Willow"in the world, but whoever those other ones are, they're nothing like her. She's *my* Willow.

'It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for awhile.'

'But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?'

'I can't do both?'

'Not legally.'

There was that quirky sense of humor. How could anybody not be immediately drawn to that?

'Look, I really wanna get by here, new school, and...Cordelia's been really nice...to me...anyway, but, um, I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up.'

'Oh, I could *totally* help you out! Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the library?'

'Or not. Or we could meet someplace quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins.'

I'd give anything to have "library wiggins" again. Sigh.

'Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though, it's a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool.'

'He's new?'

Giles was so proper that first year, but I knew there was a person under there somewhere. I just had to find it. He broke all the rules, and I love him for it. The entire gang is my support, but if he hadn't been my Watcher, I wouldn't be here right now. He's the kind of man I wish my father was; he'smore of a father to me than my father is. I love my dad, but Giles is so much better than he is, and that's not easy for me to say.

'Yeah, he just started. He was a curator at some British museum, or, or The British Museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies, and am I the single dullest person alive?'

My first glimpse at the "Willow Babble." I'm one of the few who can actually decipher it. I feel privileged.

'Not at all.'

She's far from dull. She's great the way she is. Always has been. Okay, so there are good memories too. We go over to sit on the bench.

***

Aww, the bench. It's still all stoney and ready for sitting. But whew, I can't believe I wore those clothes that first day. I don't even know what you'd call them. Cordelia was right about one thing. I should never have let my mom pick out my clothes. I'm surprised she used to do that, actually. Stopping this before I get depressed. I'm sitting next to Buffy. There. That's better.

All I remember thinking the first time she talked to me is, "She's talking to me! We're having a conversation! She isn't avoiding me like I'm some sorta fungus!"

That's the day my life changed. I got introduced to vampires and the world of Buffy. The person that is Buffy. Beautiful, strong, confident, funny, everything I didn't think I was. Boy, am I glad she came into my life, cause I'd probably still be thinking that if she hadn't.

"Did you want me to move?" I ask her with a big grin.

How could I forget my sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh words to her? Not counting the stuttering.

She smiles. "Yes."

What? No! Frown. Cry. World askew!

"Closer to me."

Thank goodness. Dawn rolls her eyes and starts walking away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Buffy asks her.

"Somewhere else while you two have your...moment, or whatever."

"Don't go far."

"Yeah, yeah."

She puts her head on my shoulder. That's our thing. Shoulder resting.

"I just wanna freeze time right here." She says after Dawn's out of sight. "Got a spell for that?"

"The best I can do is freeze watches."

"Better than nothing."

"Buffy, what am I going to do about Tara?"

I have to have a plan. It doesn't help that I care about her, either.

"Well, my advice...do you want my advice?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Wait for her to come out and say whatever it is. It'll happen soon enough."

"But what if she's evil?"

"If she wanted to kill us, she would've done it already. Something's going on, but I don't think she's gonna do anything."

Good advice. Nothing hasty. Very sensible.

"We'll make it through this, Will."

"I know. I just, I wanna be open about us."

We're an *us*. We're still best friends, but we're also an *us*. Every time I remember that, it's...wow.

"I was out of the closet, and there was no pressure. Totally free. Now I'm back in. I don't like dark, closed places."

Kissing. We're kissing. I love kissing. I love the moment before the kiss too, cause I can see her eyes. They're focused directly on me. When you have Buffy's undivided attention, you feel like there's nothing and nobody else but you and her. You feel special.

"I want that too." Buffy assures me. Feather kisses. Mmm. "And we will, just as soon -"

"Dawn, wait!" Xander screams. Huh? Xander? "Buffy? Willow?"

I won't swear. I won't freak. It's slow motion as we turn our heads. Dawn's standing next to us, looking...not very happy and kinda traumatized, and Xander has one pant leg on, his shoes are missing, and his arms are out of his shirtsleeves. Anya's coming closer, slowly, looking more dressed. But her hair's all mussy.

They weren't...doing...they were! Ugh. And Dawn...she saw...that's disgusting!

***

"What's going on?" Xander asks us.

Oh no. Not answering that when he...eww. I point at him, and he sees that he isn't fully dressed. He blushes, and hurriedly finishes.

"I was just walking around, and I saw the football field, so I went to sit on what was left of the bleachers, and I heard some noises and I got closer and it was like, moaning -" Dawn's red and she's not taking a breath.

"She didn't see anything." Anya tells us. "We were done."

"Oh yeah? The moaning?" Willow asks, hugging Dawn to her.

"Xander stepped on a nail. He cut his foot, he moaned. It's not my faulthe's accident prone."

"Accident prone?" Xander says, shocked.

"Let me look at it." I say to him. He hops over to the bench on his good foot. "What the hell were you doing *that* back there for? You have a nice,big place now."

"I wanted to have sex behind the bleachers. It's a typical youth fantasy-" Anya starts to explain.

"Not mine." I interrupt.

"- And I wanted to do it before I aged too much."

"We're in broad daylight. Where anyone can catch you."

"That's the fun part. And it's not very safe at night. Do you want me toget bitten?"

She really doesn't want me to answer that.

"I can't believe you went along with her." I glare at Xander. He doesn'tsay a word. "Sit and show me your foot."

He does. Yep, the nail's still in there. It's a big one, rusted. Pretty deep too. Willow comes over and bends down to look at it.

"Hospital?" She cringes.

"Hospital." I nod. "And what have we learned today?"

"Keep your shoes on next time." Anya says.

He better have a different answer.

"Never have sex outside again?" Xander asks me.

"Very good. You're my friend Xand, and I love you, but if you end up on 'America's Most Perverted and Dumb', I'll deny I ever knew you. Sex is a private and indoor activity. There's nothing erotic about corroded, scorched metal.You can be as adventurous as you want in your own house."

I will not get visuals...I will not get visuals...

"Apartment." Anya corrects me.

"Whatever."

"I'm scarred for life!" Dawn exclaims.

"You scarred her for life. See that?"

What he caught us doing doesn't even compare to what he was doing. Maybe that's where this speech is coming from. One reason is purely for distraction purposes, and the other is cause my sister put him on a 'Crush Pedestal' and he went and destroyed it. He can't get away with that.

"Someone wanna give me a hand?"

Geez. What a way to spend a Saturday.

***

He was in and out of the hospital. He won't be able to walk on his foot for a few weeks, and they had to give him crutches. The nail point was almost touching a bone. Serves him right. There's certain things you do outside. You play with dogs, you go to playgrounds to play on the monkey bars, and I'll even allow skinny dipping in a lake (under the appropriate lighting conditions). But you don't have...have...what they did in the middle of the day, behind the bleachers, on school property that went kaboom. That's just plain icky.

What if when I put the two Xander's together...perverted Xander took over? Bad thoughts, bad thoughts!

We all decided to go to the magick shop and have a late lunch with Giles. He was taking a break, anyway. Anya's in the back now, changing Xander's bandages. That better be all they're doing. Dawn wanted to go home, so we walked her back before coming here. I hope there's a lot of ice cream in Buffy's fridge. Speaking of Buffy, she's telling Giles what Xander did.

"Yes, well, that's, um, very...irresponsible of him." Giles agrees, kindof tripping over his words. Not like he fell down...he...you know what I mean.

"How come you don't sound too adult-ish and objecting, Giles?" I ask him.

Buffy makes a face. "Oh, don't you remember, Will? He likes to sex on top of cars with people's mothers. Twice." Ohh, yeah. Hands on hips. Bad sign. "This is nothing to him."

"Is it at all possible for you to stop bringing that up? It was the candy for God's sake."

He's insisting.

I'm just going to be quiet. Neutrality is a wonderful thing. Buffy's coming out of attack mode, anyhow. First, she sort of gets less rigidity. Then herarms drop to her sides. Then her eyes get this wide, apologetic look to them...so I've observed her closely. Is that a crime?

"I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. I've been edgy lately, and I snapped at Xander too. Forgive me?"

"Did you want to talk about it?"

That's Giles. Always there for her. I know what has her so edgy.

"Nah, it's okay. I should go apologize to Xander."

She disappears into the back, and Giles looks at me.

"Do you know what's bothering her?"

"Uh huh." I say.

He smiles in relief. "Then I'm sure you'll help her work through it."

"I'll do my darndest." I promise him.

Yep, we'll both do our darndestest. As soon as I figure out what I just said. Sigh.

I do that a lot, don't I?

"Hey, Giles?"

"Yes?"

"You only had sex with Buffy's mom that one night, right?" He gives me a look. "Just checking."

***

"Anya, could you give us a minute?" I'm trying to be polite, I really am.

Xander's sitting on the mat, a fresh bandage on his foot. Have to remind Giles to get some chairs in here. She's kneeling in front of him, and aftera second, she gets up and goes past me.

"If he's in a coma after you're done with him, you have to find me a temporary replacement until he wakes up. Oh! Maybe Willow can split him in two again. Just in case." She rushes out.

Xander and I both shake our heads, and he has a scared look in his eyes.I hold up my hands.

"You're safe." I say. "Came to apologize. What you do is your business, and I have no right to lecture on the do's and don'ts of sex."

"Thanks. But you're right. That was kinda stupid. And uncomfortable. I've got this major cramp." He grimaces. "I'm glad it was you guys that caught us and not -"

"The cops?" I finish for him, grinning.

"Tell Dawn I'm sorry?"

"Maybe you should. Besides being shocked, she's pretty *crush*- ed." Seehow I emphasized that?

His eyes go wide. He gets it, and nods.

"I didn't..."

"Figured." I'm so evil sometimes. Watch me. "Hey, wouldn't it suck if they strip searched you? I mean, talk about an already embarrassing -"

You should see his face. It's contorting. Looks painful. I didn't think it was possible to look sick and revolted in so many different ways.

"Okay, okay. That's imagery I could've done without."

I smile innocently.

"But speaking of imagery," Damn. Turnabout is fair play, though, "do I wanna know what's up with you and Will?"

"I don't know. Do you?"

Answering a question with a question. You don't know how many times I've avoided touchy subjects with this skill. I recommend it.

"You think I don't know that technique?" He asks me. "I practically invented it."

"If I had a nickel for every time somebody said they practically invented something -"

My second attempt to dodge, and he cuts me off. Again, damn.

"You'd have three dollars and thirty-seven cents."

"How'd you come up with that?"

That was the last attempt.

"It's all I have in my pocket."

"Oh."

"Buff?"

"Would you believe..." Just come out with it already. "We're together."

"And this occurred?"

"Few weeks ago."

"Unplanned?"

"You could say that."

"One second you were, and then...?"

"Pretty much."

"We're talking love of the romantic kind?"

"Far as I know."

What is this? Twenty Questions? No, it's like a scene from Dragnet. God, that show stunk. He's pondering...I think.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, as I am sometimes out of the loop, but you're both still seeing other people."

"That's our little snag."

"Uh huh. Well, I'm glad I'm not in your shoes." That helps. Not. He points at his crutches. "Hand me them, will ya?"

I do. He's taking this well.

"That's all you're going to say?"

"The first time, when Will told us that she had a girlfriend, I wasn't expecting it. But besides the initial shock, it didn't really bother me. Sothis is nothing. It works out good, actually. Now I can have one fantasy, instead of two separate ones."

"Watch it."

He knows it's an empty threat.

"I'm just curious to see how you're gonna get out of your...uh...predicaments." He pauses. "I caught the 'Willow bug' too, remember. She's one of the special people. She'd make anybody switch sides."

I laugh softly. "Ain't that the truth."

"So would you." He adds quietly, even though he knows I hear it. "That'sa compliment, by the way."

I hug him. "You're the best, Xand. Anya's a lucky ex-demon."

"You think?"

"I know. Come on, let's grab 'em and go swing by the video place. Make Dawn feel better with a spur of the moment moviefest."

"Should probably ask Anya to go back to her place, huh?" I nod. Friction would be bad. He gets to his feet. "Only one Leo flick this time. Not Titanic."

"It's her favorite." I remind him.

Grumbling, he follows me out.

***

"So he found zip on her?" Buffy asks me.

The ship's just starting to split in two. Dawn has tears. It's cute...ina sad way.

"'Fraid so." I frown.

"I should probably be more concerned, don'tcha think? She is a super strong villain who most likely wants to kill me."

"I did notice your lack of worry."

We're all sitting on the floor in the living room, cause Mrs. Summers is lying on the couch. I hope she gets better soon, or we find something to help her, cause I don't think I'd be able to handle it if she died. She's my mental picture of what a mom should be, and plus, she's been really good to me.

We were each other's support the summer Buffy went missing. There's a bond there, you know? Buffy would be devastated if she passed away, and I wouldn't be able to comfort her cause I'd be in a million itty-bitty pieces right alongwith her. We could share depression, sure, but that becomes unhealthy after awhile.

You wanna know the reason I'm getting all negative? Cause I'm watching boats crash in the water, people fall into propellers, and kids drown. How could anybody enjoy this? It would be a little different if it was fiction, but people actually lived through this. Uh...the people who survived. Oh boy. Dawn's not the only one crying anymore.

Buffy's got the sniffles. I go to her first, and then Dawn gets on her other side. She puts her arms around both of us. Her warmth helps; I could stay like this forever, but we all end up gathering around Xander. It's so awesome that he's okay with us. Hugging him is hard though, cause of his leg. He's trying to look unfazed, but his lips are quivering. That's when Mrs. Summers speaks.

"Tissues?" She's sitting up, holding out the box.

Buffy and I help Xander, and then the four of us sit close to Mrs. Summers on the couch. Buffy and Dawn curl up next to her, and Xander and I get comfortby the motherly vibes radiating off of her in our direction. Now the movie's at the part where Rose removes his dead hand from the...what is she on? I forget. Anyway, he's going underwater, and the spell's broken. Not a real spell...uh...right...um...

"Ruin's the whole thing." Xander says. "She says, 'I'll never let go', and then she yanks his hand off the thing, *lets go* of his hand, and watches him sink to the bottom of the ocean. If there's ever an award for 'Bad Dialogue Placement', that scene'll win. And the whole romance is -"

"Contrived?" I offer.

"Ooh! Good word."

"I've watched this like twenty times, and every time you keep covering my eyes when he starts drawing her." Dawn's talking to her mom and wiping her eyes at the same time. "Why do you do that?"

Mrs. Summers is quiet. I wouldn't want to answer that question.

"I think mom's tired. Why don't we go upstairs?" Buffy says.

"But..." She sighs. "Okay."

"We can watch the other movies in my room."

I go up with Dawn first, Xander behind us, and I hear Mrs. Summers thank Buffy. Smirk.

***

Now this is how you end a Saturday. Nighttime Bronzing. Just Willow and me. We haven't been here in so long. This "dark, noisy, crowded, tends to get ambushed by vampires", club/warehouse has always been like a second home tome. And the gang. Sounds weird, but it's true. It's like an escape. I can still pretend I'm sixteen here. It doesn't matter how old I am, or what level of higher education I'm in.

I'm just Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer and fellow Bronzer. Angel has cards; maybe I should get some made. You're not official till you have cards.

I said I was ending the day here, didn't I? Just remembered that I have to patrol after we leave, so technically, this isn't the end. It's pre-end. Like a Star Wars prequel. Only without the stars, ships, and funny-talking robots. But sometimes there's vampires that talk funny. And if this were a prequel, the future would've had to have happened already. But we all know it didn't. Let me think about this. Yeah, that didn't make sense.

Willow's babbling lessons are paying off.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Willow wonders.

"You." I smile. "And Star Wars."

"O...kay."

She's confused. I could say I was picturing her in that outfit Princess Leia was wearing in Return of the Jedi, but...hey, not a bad idea.

"Dance?"

"Sure."

I love the way she smiles. Have I mentioned that yet? If I have, you'll just have to put up with me repeating myself. We head out to the dance floor, and at first, we aren't exactly sure what to do. Eventually, I just start moving, and then she follows my lead. We start off just dancing close, and go with the flow. At some point, we put our arms around each other's necks.

"Want a patrolling buddy?" She asks.

"Are you offering?"

"I am." She nods.

"Then I accept."

"Goodie."

I inhale, and all I sense is her. I like it.

"You smell good."

"Thanks. I got this herbal shampoo on sale at mall, and -"

Willow blushes, and dips her head a little. Couple strands of her hair fall in front of her face, and when she looks back up at me, I brush them back gently.

"Do you want to kiss here, or wait and give the vampires a show?"

"I hate choosing." She complains. "How about we kiss here...and then we do it again there? That way there's no choice, and double the smoochies."

"Works for me."

Excuse us, we have some kissing to do.