The Slayer And The Witch - Chapter 10 - Adjustment Much

["Stefan Akerblom" <nagarek62@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All.

This is probably going to be the final chapter of THIS story for a
couple of chapters, there is going to be some content that I think is
inappropriate for the targetted age level this list is aimed at. Therefore I
will only be uploading it to 'Buffy Wants Willow'. When the NC-17 content is
back to a reasonable rating level I will continue uploading to 'Buffy Loves
Willow'.

Please only email me and tell me how you feel about this. If this is
going to annoy some younger readers who have followed the story from the
very beginning, then I really apologise for sending any of it to BLW, I
hadn't originally planned it to have NC-17 content when I began writing it,
and as I joined the Buffy Loves Willow list first, I began sending it there
first. But as time wore on it, the content level changed, but by then I had
already sent several chapters, even though I warned about it becoming NC-17
over time, the fault is purely mine.

My final word on why I have made this decision is - I am a parent, and I
wouldn't want my own kids to be reading what I deem to be unsuitable
material, why would I think it appropriate for someone else's kids?

So without any more ado, here's Chapter 10.

Stef.



The Slayer And The Witch - Stefan Akerblom - nagarek - nagarek@xxxxxxxxx
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Critique:	Yes please, but no flames (I'm flammable)
Warning:	Building to NC-17, f/f relations, possibly f/f/m
Characters:	Willow, Buffy, Xander, Anya, Giles, Tara, Angel, Dawn, Spike,
Wes, Cordy, Oz (?), nurse Becky Chapel, nurse Erin Lonsdale,
Main Pairing/s:	Willow & Buffy, maybe Giles/Becky/Erin - who wants to see
that? :o) (not sure yet about Anya/Xander ... maybe) time will
reveal all!
Disclaimer:	Joss Whedon owns all in the Buffy Universe, I have merely played
and embellished, not claimed any rights, apart from a couple of
nice nursies!
Brief: Buffy and Willow have both recently lost their partners, Willow is
hospitalised and Buffy is almost paralysed with guilt over it, both
Willow and Buffy realise how much they really mean to each other,
they embark on a voyage of discovery and figuring out a way to
break their new relationship to their friends while keeping the
minions of the hellmouth from taking over. Meanwhile solutions
present themselves which can have far reaching effects on Buffy
and Willow's future.
Distribution:	Anyone who likes it enough to host it, just please give me a
link
to where it's hosted

Many thanks go to:
Crys Loch (pagansoul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) for answering my email, and
a lot of inspiration and much encouragement (you said just the right
things to make me think while I channeled Willow),
Dan Spector (danspector@xxxxxxxxx) for some much needed help
with authenticity,
Casandra (jeepy91@xxxxxxx) for answering some silly and some very
awkward questions, you're very special,
Thanks also to all the other great people on BuffyWantsWillow, you
make this worth so much to me,
and to Cairo (played at ear-splitting volume) for setting the mood.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10 - Adjustment Much

"Careful, now the other one ... now stand up and ... that's it ... watch
out for the grate, don't put the crutch ... that's ... " Willow was getting
awkwardly out of the taxi while Dawn helped with directions. Buffy was
hauling the several cases of belongings out of the boot that Willow had
taken with her from her parents house. In traditional Sunnydale hospitality,
the cabbie sat and waited while his passengers removed all their belongings,
after all he was a driver, not a baggage clerk. Buffy slammed the boot lid
shut at the same time Dawn pushed the door closed, and the taxi took off
with a squeak of tortured tires.

"Jeeze, nice of him to wait long enough for you to get both of your legs
out of the car Willow." Willow stared after the cab, turned back to Dawn and
shrugged, and putting the crutches under her arms, hobbled up the Summers'
garden path with Dawn carrying her handbag and jacket, Buffy following
behind with the suitcases. The cast on Willow's arm hampered her somewhat,
but soon enough she'd reached the bottom of the steps leading to the front
porch.

"Oh darn, I'd forgotten about the steps ... here we'll help you up." Buffy
stepped beside Willow and Dawn went on the other side. Willow shook her
head.

"No ... I need to learn to work these stupid things, I'll be using them for
a few days yet. There aren't as many steps as the hospital, I don't think
I'm gonna really fall up them." Buffy stood beside Willow, ready to catch
her.

"Ok, but why'd you insist on using the stairs? The hospital had an elevator
you know." Willow, her tongue clamped firmly in the corner of her mouth
struggled valiantly to get her momentum up to mount the steps, rocking
backwards and forwards perilously. Buffy and Dawn rocked backwards and
forwards with her, arms outstretched, just in case.

"The ... uhnnn ... challenge, the ... Mount Everestness of it ... the ...
uhnnn ... steps were there, I had to ... uhnnn ... ascend ... no ... descend
on my own ... without assistance ... it's an independence thing. And uhnnn
... I'll eventually get up these ones as well, soon as I get up enough ...
uhnnn ... momentum to get past vertical." Buffy looked uncertain.

"Yeah ... or until you go past vertical and land on your face, like you did
at the hospital, haven't you got enough bruises already? Look Willow, it's
twilight and I'd really like to get inside and make dinner before midnight.
Here, Dawn grab her other arm." Willow struggled and protested weakly as she
was lifted bodily up the steps. Soon enough she stood on the porch, panting
and sweaty, hair flying wildly.

"Huh .. thanks guys, take the challenge out of life why don'tcha?" Buffy
went back and gathered up Willow's belongings where she'd dropped them on
the path, Dawn fished out her key, unlocked the front door and flicked on
the inside light.

"Well the challenge of getting up the rest of the stairs inside might be
more than enough challenge for even you Willow." Dawn said with a grin.
"Might be best if you sleep in the living room for a while." Willow looked
up to the stairs leading to the second storey, then looked back at Buffy
with disappointment etched on her face.

"NO! No ... I'll ... I'll manage somehow, you'll see. A ... a girl can be
determined enough to do almost anything." Willow eyed the steep staircase
with trepidation, then dismissed the thought with a shake of her head and
hobbled on her crutches into the living room. She reached the closest chair
and sat down heavily in it with a huge sigh of relief, and put the crutches
on the floor, out of the way of the walkspace. Lifting her skirt slightly,
she began to undo the bandage that swathed her knee, other lighter bandages
still covered her shins, which had healed enough now not to bleed. Another
thick wad of bandaging covered her ankle. Buffy disappeared off into the
kitchen.

"Huh ... all I can see is someone determined enough to get into my sister's
bed." Willow looked up fron getting the bandages off her knee, an open look
of shock on her face, she began turning bright pink. Dawn grinned. "Just
keep the noise down at nights please, some of us have school and beauty
sleep they need, some of us aren't old hags yet! Lucky the rooms are far
apart." Willow was blushing furiously.

Heyyy ... enough with the old part ... a ... actually enough with all of it
really!" Buffy cuffed Dawn softly across the shoulder as she walked past
with a glass of fruit juice for Willow. "Or I'll show you just how old I am
... you juvenile delinquent!" She walked back toward the kitchen to prepare
dinner, stuck her head back through the doorway after a few moments.
"Spaghetti fine with everyone?" Nods all around, and Buffy went back to the
kitchen.

Dawn had taken their announcement in her stride, not really surprised at
the fact that Buffy and Willow had fallen in love, but more about how long
it had taken them. Her only reservation had been about Tara, and that she'd
no longer be welcome. Both girls had assured her that Tara was always
welcome, if she felt ok about being here now. This was something that had
yet to be tested, they hadn't had a chance yet to talk to Tara about it, and
Dawn was determined not to lose her contact with the blonde witch. Since a
long time before Tara and Willow's separation, Dawn had become an important
part in Tara's life. Tara was a girl with natural maternal instincts, and
had apparently taken to Dawn as if she was her own daughter. Now with the
separation, both Tara and Dawn had expressed their sadness at not being able
to be together as much as they used to be. Dawn would make sure their
growing love wasn't interfered with. After all, she was now nearly 17 and
could begin making adult decisions about what she wanted.

"Well all I'm saying is keep your moaning and screaming down to a dull
roar, we don't want the neighbours complaining!" Willow laughed and snorted
and sprayed orange juice over herself.

"Ohh ... thanks Dawnie, a lot ... I really needed that!" juice dripped off
her nose and into her open hand as she squinted. "Can someone please get me
a tissue? Owwow ... juice in the eye stings!" Dawn walked over to a table
and took the full box of tissues with her, pulling out a couple and handing
them to Willow, plunking the rest of the box down on the table next to her.
Willow wadded up the tissues and sponged out her eye, then cleaned her face
with it. "God, only been here five minutes ..." Dawn laughed openly at
Willow's plight, and walked into the kitchen, and came back with a moist
wash cloth. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Willow rubbed the cloth over
her sticky face, and then cleaned her hands with it.

"Yeah, it's not every day I can be Miss Independent with you guys around.
After all ... little Dawn is only a sixteen year old girl, what does she
know? I mean guys, come on ... this is the twenty first century, kids my age
are considered old and timeworn by the newbies coming up the ladder. We're
... the grownups! And now I get to order you around until you're well enough
again ... I think that's pretty cool!"

"Thanks. Just don't let it go to your head, I'm determined to recover
fast." Willow handed the cloth back to Dawn who took it back to the kitchen
then returned. Willow sipped the juice carefully, trying not to get any more
on herself this time. "I'm still a bit stunned how well you took what Buffy
said." Dawn looked at Willow with a crooked grin.

"Why? Do you think that stuff's not happening just because we're not as old
as you? Magdalen and Kelly in my class have been going steady for ... god
... must be close to a year now, they're inseparable." She leaned over and
touched Willow's arm. "All I know is if it makes you both happy ... and you
both need that right now ... then I'm all for it. Things got a bit rough for
Buffy for a while there, I need to look after big sis." She frowned, her
brow creasing. "I heard Tara didn't take it well." Willow sighed sadly.

"Well you could say that, and I ... I don't really blame her, but this is
partly her own doing. It's been a couple of days since then, maybe she's a
little better about it all now, I know I'm a bit better about her and me.
And it's something we're going to have to discuss with her, make her
understand we still love her and want her with us, she's a friend and a
valuable member of the Scoobs. Besides, she adores you Dawnie, she... she's
like a ... a mother hen when she's around you, she dotes on you. She's as
good a friend as anyone could ever wish for." Dawn silently agreed with
that, and more. Buffy came into the living room, apron around her middle,
looking very domestic.

"Ok, pasta's on the boil, the sauce will be a few minutes yet. I'll go
unpack some of your things while I'm waiting. Dawn, can you set out the
plates and cutlery? Make it mom's visitors stuff, this calls for
celebration."

"Celebration, why for?" said Dawn standing up and walking towards the
crockery dresser.

"For us, for Willow's recovery, for friendship, just for the sake of it! I
feel like breaking out some champagne or something ... but seeing as we have
none it'll have to be soda or juice, sorry." she grinned sheepishly to
Willow.

"Well I might forgo the juice for dinner, I don't drink nasally very well.
soda will be fine." Buffy looked strangely at Willow, who just smiled
without explanation.

"Ooookay, I'll take that as a consequence of your injuries and humour you.
Back in a few minutes." with which she went over, grabbed up Willow's
suitcases and clumped up the stairs. She took them into her own bedroom, and
looked around. This had been her mother's room, and still contained a lot of
her mom's things. Gradually she'd been moving some of the stuff into the
basement, trying to shed the room of some of the things in her past. Now the
room would also house her best friend and lover as well. She'd already
prepared a couple of drawers in the dresser for some of Willow's clothes.
Throwing the suitcases on the bed, she began unpacking. Somehow now in this
room, the contents of the cases became both more familiar and sensual.
Having packed them for Willow at her house under her supervision, they
hadn't seemed anything special, now because she was in her bedroom with
them, they held a much deeper significance. She ran her hands through some
of Willow's underwear and touched personal things she'd previously only
fantasized about. A knock on the door brought her attention back to earth,
and a little embarrassed she began to push the underclothes into a drawer.

"C ... come in." But Dawn had already entered the room and was looking
around. Buffy gave her a nervous smile.

"Hey Buffy, how's it going ... you ok?" Buffy looked at Dawn and smiled
softly, shutting the clothes drawer. She opened another and packed away
shirts and socks.

"S ... sure, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" She opened the other suitcases
and proceeded to hang up the rest of Willow's clothes in the wardrobe.

"Well, I just noticed all through the taxi ride you were very quiet ... I
wanted to be sure nothing's wrong." She walked over to Buffy who closed the
wardrobe and turned around to face her little sister, who she noticed wasn't
so little any more, she was several inches taller than her.

"Noo ... everything couldn't be better ... nothing could ... er ...
everything's swell, really. I was probably just quiet because I was just
thinking ... ever since ... ever since mom died, and I ... and you as the
key and ... when I came back, things just seemed so wrong and hard and
harsh. But for the first time since then, everything is becoming clear and
it feels good. I'm just sort of ... revelling in the clarity Dawn. I ... I
know I haven't always been ... the best sister to you recently ... or ever
really ... and I can't ever replace mom, I just don't know how to do some of
the mom stuff she did ..." Dawn silenced her with a hand on her lips.

"Buff, it's ok, I don't expect you to be mom, I expect you to just be
yourself, to be my big sister. I want you to be happy too, and I can see how
Willow looks at you, and you look at her the same way, I haven't seen you
this together, this focused in a long time. I know too that I haven't always
given you enough room to be yourself either, being little sister always
being pushed around and protected from herself can get a bit stale. But I'm
learning, a ... and I'm growing too."

"I ... I just want to be sure you're ok with Will and me, I don't want you
to feel I'm trying to push you around, or that I'm trying to get Willow to
replace mom. I want her to become your other big sister, the one you can
really depend on when I'm not that good to you, which ... which seems to
have been most of the time recently." Dawn smiled at her and reached out to
hug her. Buffy folded her arms around Dawn and squeezed her gently.

"Too late Buffy, I already think that way about her. I love Willow almost
as much as you do, and I promise you, I'm more than ok with you and her
being together. Trust me, we're going to have such a good time together
here. But at the same time, I don't want to lose Tara, she's become more ...
my ... my other big sister too. She's the one I can really relate to, she's
been through some pretty heavy stuff. I need her here ... in my life." Buffy
kissed her little sister's cheek.

"I promise that we'll make sure Tara's not left out, somehow all this is
all going to work out fine. Right now I'm not quite sure how, but it will
... I just need some time for Will and me, so we can adjust and get to know
each other again, and I need all your help and support and understanding,
all you guys. Things have changed a lot and ... it's still a little weird
even to me, and I started this, it's really all my fault ... although this
time I think Willow would say that she's glad to blame me for something."
She looked at Dawn. "I ... I'd better get back down, the pasta sauce is
going to burn." Dawn nodded, Buffy walked over to the door. "A ... and Dawn
... thanks, for being such a cool sister about this." Dawn looked up and
beamed a huge smile at her.

"Hey, that's what sisters are for!"

-------------------------------------------

"You make a pretty mean bolognaise Buff, even if it did come from a can. I
must ask Tara for her spaghetti sauce recipe, she makes a pretty good
lasagne too." Dawn stood up and began clearing the table. Willow looked
sadly at Dawn as she walked out to the kitchen, but said nothing.

"Well it may not have been Martha Stewart but it filled a hole. Dessert?"
Buffy stood up and also began gathering plates and cutlery, Willow began
getting up. "Sit down you ... relax and be pampered." Willow gave her an
awkward guilty smile. "We have ice cream or ice cream, which shall it be?
What's wrong Will?" Willow looked pensive.

"I feel like I should be helping." Buffy stacked plates and glasses and
picked them up.

"There'll be plenty of time for that, just accept and be spoiled and feel
special." She walked past Willow, bent down and kissed her on the forehead
before walking out into the kitchen. Dawn returned with bowls full of
vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate sauce and colourful sprinkles, and
put them down on the placemats in front of the chairs.

"More drink?" she asked. Willow shook her head.

"No ... no, I'll lift right out of the chair if I have any more fizz."
Buffy came back with a platter with cups.

"Cocoa for madame and miss, and coffee for the Slayer." she put the platter
down and seated herself. She looked at Dawn smiling, then turned and looked
at Willow and saw her head bowed forward, and tears were spilling down her
nose.

"Ohh ... Will ..." she jumped off the chair and ran around the table " ...
what's wrong?" She knelt down and looked up at the red-head. Dawn stood
behind her and gently held Willow's right hand.

Ohhh ... n ... nothing, I .... I just ... ah ... nhhh ... I'm just feeling
a little overwhelmed is all. You're both being so nice to me ... and ... and
.... I think this is going to take me a little time to adjust to. I'm just
not used to ... all ... all of this ... all of it." she sighed deeply and
tried to pull herself together, and failed, and again began weeping. "I'm
... j ... just afraid I'll get in your way a ... and you won't like me after
this and ... and ... I must be tired, it's just been such a long day." She
sniffed and wiped her eyes with her fingers, then used a serviette to blow
her nose. "I'm sorry to be such a wet blanket ... just ... just tired."

"That's ok Will. Course we'll like you, I told you, that's just silly ...
that's why we want you here. Finish up and we'll draw you a bath and you can
go to bed." Willow sighed and nodded, her bottom lip trembling, she wiped
away stray tears that crept past her half closed eyelids.

"Yeah, might be best, I'll feel a lot better in the morning." Willow looked
up and smiled nervously. Buffy smiled back to her and stroked her cheek.
Willow looked over at Dawn's face and saw her smile, but she also saw the
concerned look in her eyes. Buffy returned to her chair, Dawn to hers, and
in silence they ate their ice cream and drank their drinks.

--------------------------------------

"You take care of Willow, I'll tidy up here." Dawn said to Buffy in the
kitchen when she began to do the washing up. Dawn rolled up her shirt
sleeves, and pushed Buffy towards the doorway. "She needs you right now."

"Ok, thanks Dawn, you're ... special." Dawn smiled at her and turned back
to the sink, filling the sink with hot sudsy water. Buffy turned around and
walked out to the dining room. She saw that Willow had gotten up and was
walking gingerly without the aid of the crutches, favouring the ankle and
knee that weren't so badly swollen any more but were still very tender.
Buffy raced over and took hold of her arm gently.

"Hey ... you should wait until I can help." Willow didn't struggle, but
made exasperated noises.

"You don't have to babysit everything I do Buffy, I'll be ok in the next
day or so, I just need to do this, otherwise it'll take a lot longer to
heal." Buffy's face fell.

"I ... I just ... don't ..." Willow turned and looked at her.

"Buffy I know why you're doing this, this is NOT your fault. It was my own
stupid fault for walking around not looking where I was going. But I'll get
better, just let me struggle a little, I really need it so I can recover."
Buffy looked away and waved her arms and clenched her fists helplessly,
opening her mouth to start an objection but instead sighing in obvious
frustration. "Please Buffy, I do appreciate what you're trying to do, but I
need to work at this. You can help me in a minute, I don't think I can make
it up the stairs by myself ... not ... not just yet.".

"All right Will ... all right, I'll just stand back and ... and wait for
you to fall. But you've got another thing coming if you think I'm gonna let
you fall far. I let you do that before and ... and I ..." she bit her lip
and looked away, hands again clenching and searching for something to do.

"I know Buff ... look ... I'm nearly there, just let me get to the
bannister and you can help me up the stairs. But you're NOT carrying me up
them, ok?"

------------------------------

Stony white hands with blackened leprous looking nails twisted the ornate
handle of an old wrought iron door, which grated loudly in the quiet night,
the rusted hinges complained with a groaning protest as the door swung open,
dust and flakes of iron and dull white paint falling off as the door smashed
into the wall with a resounding clang. The heavy footsteps of leather heels
clattered down the three small steps into the crypt marked over the lintel
with the Van Dien coat of arms, long black jacket of heavy leather sweeping
the dusty floor at every step. The moonlight cast baleful beams through the
opened crypt, the interior of which had the look of not having been touched
in centuries ... or had it? A muffled grunt of directionless inquiry, the
footsteps quicken as the eyes adjusted to the gloom, the opened sarcophagus
of black and white marble, the lid leaning precariously against the corner.
No scream of anger, no discernible change of mood, instead the baleful glare
of glowing red within yellow eyes in the night cast about, looking for
clues. None could it find, so there was nothing against which to vent the
anger. So be it, the amulet would be gone, and a quick look into the
sarcophagus revealed the truth in that, all that could be seen was dry
dessicated skin, long lank hair looking like rope fibres and bones dressed
in the rotting finery of years gone by. This would make things harder, but
not impossible. The Slayer would still pay the highest price, the demon
Angelus would again be loose on the world and victory would still be sweet,
the final reward would be well worth the effort. All it would take now
instead of the amulet would be the heart of a powerful white witch ... he
fished out a slender chain around his neck from beneath a black shirt, the
silver locket which had a pale pink rose on it's lid popped open at a press
on the hasp ... and that heart belonged to the lock of dark red hair inside
the locket he had harvested at that pathetic place full of the sick and
feeble. The heart may ultimately belong to the evil gods and he would
squeeze it for them in tribute until it burst, but the blood belongs to me,
and it would taste all the sweeter because the Slayer would be absolutely
helpless to do anything about it.

"Well well well ... I was right! It IS you ... and it looks like we're just
a little too late ... as usual, you're just one step behind as you have
always been, you neanderthal cretin!" Cold blue eyes in a thin handsome face
crested by short platinum locks, smirked and stared up arrogantly into the
glowing red eyes beneath a shock of thick wavy jet black hair, the body
looming large before him, a good foot or more taller and seemingly twice as
wide as any man had a right to be. "Why is it that you're always copying me
... even when it comes to clothes, can't you have an original thought in
that walnut sized little brain of yours? And just so you don't try anything
even more stupid than usual Kolya, no it's not on me. But ... for an
incentive, I can get it for you. I just require ... a little favour of you,
one of your contacts, I have a little something that needs removing ...
safely. Then I'll let you have it." The deep growling voice that grated out
in the night air of the crypt sounded like mountains colliding and crushing
rocks to dust, a faint Slavic accent could still barely be heard even after
all these years. He walked slowly towards the doorway of the crypt and up
the stairs, and the blonde backed out several steps into the chill night.

"Hello William, and it is Karl now ... not Kolya, I have not gone by that
name in many decades. It is good to see you again, I see you still cannot
stop yourself from crowing and gloating, even now after all of your ...
shall we say ... little mistakes over the years. And what is that about
someone imitating someone else? Just look at yourself, that is a rich
statement coming from YOU! But ... I must admit, you have made quite a name
for yourself, your path is clear and wide. I was fully aware you were here
... in this ... little place." He spread his hands and gestured around at
the world around him as he stepped forward, and then one of the huge hands
shot out with the speed of a striking cobra, and clamped around the blonde's
neck, fingers meeting thumb around it, hoisting him off the ground like a
rag puppet. The icy blue eyes shot open as the fingers began squeezing, the
scuffed leather boots kicking out impotently as he was held at arms length.
"Did you really think I would need YOUR help ... BIG brother? I am sorry to
say this but I really think you are long past your use-by date, and your
destiny now is to have your dust be relegated to the refuse pile." The
fingers continued crushing relentlessly, slowly closing like an iron vise.
"It is time to join the Slayers you have slain. I would tell you to say good
bye, but ... I doubt that you are able to say anything right at this
moment." The red glowing eyes looked into ones of icy blue, the harsh ridges
of the brow drawn down in a vicious and feral visage, the lips twisted in an
evil mirthless grin, long canine teeth peeping out at the corners of the
mouth. There was a resounding snap like a gunshot that seemed to echo
through the chill night air, the squeezing fingers twitched but didn't stop.
The blonde's eyes bulged out in panic as he felt the vertebra in his neck
begin collapsing and crumbling beneath the stone hard fingers. He scrabbled
feebly with one hand on the gigantic, monstrous claw around his neck, while
the other hand struggled to get something from a pocket inside his jacket.
With the last drops of his energy dwindling, he began to feel his
consciousness fade to grey, an intolerable hot darkness was pressing behind
his eyeballs, and he knew without a doubt, but with bitter and resentful
regret, that he was about to pass in the way all vampires eventually died.

Anyone watching from afar would have seen a glaring flash of vivid orange
that detonated silently like mute lightning but was felt through the ground
and through the bones like a powerful explosion. A voice shrieked out, the
horrible sound fading in volume and pitch into the misty chill of the night.

Then all was again silent and still and darkness.

to be continued in:

Chapter 11 - Low heat



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