FIC: Curtain Call(1/1)

[Mad Hamlet <Mad-Hamlet@xxxxxxx>]

Disclaimer: All this belongs to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Inc.(But only
legally)


Drain Brameged Inc. Proudly Presents
A Mad-Hamlet Production




Curtain Call




Willow Rosenberg, redhead, witch, fighter of evil and hacker extrordinaire
collapsed on the ground next to the peacefully smiling blonde.

'Haaa...haa...haa..." The redhead gasped sucking in huge lungfulls of air."I
am...haa...so...not an athlete, Buffy." 

Buffy Summers took in a deep breath herself and slowly let it out. "Willow,"
she said softly. "It's not like climbing this hill was a huge task of
endurance."

"Haaa...you...try carrying...haaa...the picnic baskets." Willow muttered.

"I did," Buffy replied. "Both of them."

"Point," the redhead conceaded then flopped on her back onto the grass with a
quiet groan. "Ugg...I can't feel my legs!'

The hill in question was a slight rise, coated with an even carpet of thick,
green grass. Around the base of the hill tall stately trees with ashen trunks
thrust proudly into the sky, branches held high, green leaves attuned to
recieve maximum exposure to the suns rays. The sun itself beamed overhead,
contested in its might by a few slow, gracefully drifting, fluffy clouds. They
only occasionlly came between the sun and the earth bringing momentary relief
from the sun, a welcome break to coolness and then return to gentle warmth. 

Sitting up slightly Buffy stared at the now reclining hacker, "It can't be
that bad," she said. "What happened to the old Rosenberg gettup an' go?"

"Alas," Willow said melodramtically, throwing her arm across her face. "Tis
lost, tis lost. The Rosenberg Gettup an' Go got to getup , did getup then
having gotup-ed, got gone and got lost." 

The redhead paused, mouthing the words she had just said as Buffy stared at
her. "Does that make sense?" the redhead asked. A moment then she answered
herself, "Yeah...yeah I think it does."

The Slayer continued to stare at her best friend. She blinked a few times.
Then a few times more, still not saying anything. Willow looked at her,
"What?" she asked. "Can't a person wonder about things no one in their right
mind would seriously think about?"

"Your brain is not functioning correctly," Buffy said. "It's not working
because of a lack of food. This is a problem we shall correct now."

"Picnic!" Willow squealed. "Yay, I'll get the fire started!"

"Fire?" Buffy asked. "Willow's a warm, sunny, need I not mention just a
little past lunchtime? What do we need a fire for?"

Without a word Willow began digging through one of the picnic baskets witha
cry of 'Aha!' she pulled out what she had found and held it up for Buffy to
see, a mute but final argument to why they would need a fire.

A bag of Max-O-Liscious marshmellows.


"Marshmellows, of course," The Slayer murmered. "What could I have been
thinking."

The blonde began taking items, and various foodstuffs out of the first of two
bulging picnic baskets. First she laid out a checkerboard red and white
blanket and spread it evenly over the grass. 'Just like tradition,' she
thought to herself. Next she began laying out the food. A plate of cakes went
in one corner, sliced meats followed after being laid beside the cakes. Then
there was a small bowl of fruits, apples, oranges and bannanas all carefully
arranged and held in place with some saran wrap. Finally Buffy grabbed the two
thermos and gave them each a good shake. 
	
Opening the second picinic basket Buffy pulled out various cold cuts, plates,
untensils and a package of hot dogs. She laid all these out carefully on the
blanket too. "There," she mumbled. "All set, and it looks good too. Very
asethetic."

Willow, in the meantime, had been scouring the surrouding area and grabbing
up any small twigs, or branches she could find. It didn't take very long
before she had a reasonable pile of wood that would burn for a few hours at
least. 'Now, all I have to do is light it.' The redhead mentally griped.

"Food's ready, Willow," Buffy called.

"Just a second," Willow called back. "Just got to get the fire started."

"Uh-" Buffy held up a hand attempting to forstall the witch's attempt at
pyrotechnics.

Waving her hand in a complicated gesture Willow stared at the pile of
branches intently then thrusting her hand, palm outward, at the pile she cried
out the words, 'Flame on!'

The wood burst into flame with a quiet woomfph and began to burn merrily. 

Buffy stared at the fire then at the pleased redhead sporting a mile wide
grin. Her gaze flickering back from one to the other. "Flame on?" the blond
finally wondered aloud.

Willow shrugged still grinning, "So I was reading some of Xander's old
'Fantastic Four' comics recently. It worked didn't it?"

"Come and eat," Buffy chuckled.

Willow leaped to her feet and walked the short distance to the blanket now
covered with food. "Wow, Buffy! It looks so good!" 

"Well, yeah," Buffy akwardly replied, her cheeks begining to glow a little.
"No big deal though, just a picnic."

"Yeah but...its..." Willow stuttered slightly. "So many pretty colors. The
red and white of the blanket, the oranges of the...uh..oranges. The green of
the grass behind it all, the yellow banannas. Oh and that cute pile of very
blue blueberries goes so well next to the black olives."

The redhead scrambled across the blanket and grabbed at a bowl. "Look," she
said holding up what she had found. "Grapes! Big beautiful, violet grapes! I
love grapes." So saying she gently plucked one off the vine and popped in into
her mouth.

"Mmmm..." she chewed noisly letting her head fall back in a pardoy of
ecstacy. "Juicy grapes."

Buffy watched Willow mutely but with a huge smile on her face. "Okay," she
finally interupted. "We got the whole spectrum here and, yeah, it looks good
but let's eat it okay? I'm starved!"

"I hear that," Buffy agreed reaching for the first dish that caught her eye.
"Let's dig in."

	

The heart of the fire, a nesting place of red hot coals, glowed like a forge.
Occasionally part of a branch, its center burned to ash, would crumble away
and the pile would rustle slightly, shift, then resume the burning at a
leisurly pace. 

"Its a duck," the redhead stated.

"No, I have to disagree," the blond replied. "It is, most definetly a
dragon."

The redhead rolled her eyes, "Buffy, look where I'm pointing, follow my
finger see where I'm pointing? There, that's its bill, than there are the
wings, the waddling feet and the cute wiggly tail is right there."

Buffy sat up, leaning on her elbows, "No, no. What you call its waddling feet
are the big eyes. Your bill is the dragons left wing, can't see the right one
because its behind the tail there." The Slayer pointed overhead. "See?"

Willow cocked her head to the side and peered upwards at the heavens. "Tail?
I don't see any tail."

"It's right there!" Buffy insisted pointing at the particular cloud.

"No it isn't."

"It is."

"No, its not," Willow replied with a mock pout.

"Oooo..." Buffy turned away from the redhead. "You're so stubborn."

With a truimphant smirk Willow nodded, " Darn tootin'!"

Buffy turned back around with a half smile, "Course I like stubborn," she
said quietly.

The cloud, now ignored by the two girls drifted onward, pushed on its way by
the soft breeze.

The girls were silent for a time. Buffy turned to look back at the blanket,
most of the dishes were empty, with a few crumbs or small slices left behind
to mark what had originally been there. In the center of the blanket, still
for the most part untouched, lay a dish of cakes. The cakes were layed in
light, white frosting and each one had a slice of strawberry in the middle.
Buffy's stomach, despite the recent feast spoke up.

'That cake sure looks good,' It whispered. 'We could have a piece.'

Her hand, almost with a will of its own, began to creep across the blankets
toward the cake. Then Willow gently placed her hand atop of Buffy's and gently
curled her fingers around it, stopping The Slayer's surreptitious progress
toward the plate of desserts.

"Will?" Buffy looked at the redhead, slightly confused.

"Don't..." The hacker swallowed then started over. "Don't Buffy."

They sat in silece for a second then, "Why?" Buffy said soflty.

"Because you know as well as I do that when we eat those cakes it will be
over," Willow replied. "No more foor, no more picnic."

The silence returned but the not comforable easy quiet of before; this time
it was thick, forcefull a pressure bearing down on the two women letting them
know in each and every tick of the clock that it was one less second left to
them. In the meantime the world continued to turn. The cloud that had been the
heart of the great Dragon or Duck debate had long ago drifted over the
horizon, the sun had sank a good ways and was only a small bit above the edge
of the world itself. A breeze came and went across the land, sending the
branches of all the trees singing in the wind and the grass itself buzzing and
ripppling like an ocean. Nothing said anything anywhere, except the breeze. 

"I'm scared, Buffy," Willow moaned, her voice a strangled whisper.

Buffy looked down at the blanket where the young woman still held her hand,
no longer soft but firm and desperate. The knuckles on the witches hand
standing out in contrasting whitness against her already pale skin. The young
blonde reached over and with her free hand carressed Willow's cheek. Using
just her fingertiips to trace the path along one red eyebrow, down to the soft
spot between them, along the bridge of Willow's nose to the point and then
down across her lips. 

Buffy let her fingers linger on the redheads lips a moment, 'Soft,' she
thought to herself. 'I love how soft...will they always be this soft? Will
they remember how soft Willow's lips are?'

"Don't be scared, Wil" Buffy said brushing her thumb across Willow's lips.
Willow turned her head away, forcing The Slayer to stop her efforts at
comfort.

"But its ending!" Willow protested. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"Is it?" Buffy asked. "Ending I mean."

"It'll be worse then death," Willow said, her eyes became glassy, a light
sheen of unshed tears appeared. "At least in death we keep going somewhere."

Buffy laughed slightly, "No Willow, it's not that bad."

Willow's lower lip began to tremble and the tears started falling, one...then
two...streaked down her cheek. Reaching out with a single finger The Slayer
brushed at Willow's cheeks, catching the two tears on her fingertip then
slowly, she placed the finger between her own lips and drank the tears.

"It's not Ending, ending, Willow," she said. "It will never totally end."

Willow didn't respond only sniffed slightly shaking her head.

Leaning forward Buffy took the redheads face between her hands and looked
into the deep, frightned, green eyes, "Yes Willow, believe me. We're not going
anywhere."

"How can you be sure?" Willow protested. "Its ending isn't it?"

Slumping slightly Buffy conceded the point, "Yes, it is but that doesn't mean
we're not loved. It just means...time is up. There will be others."

"Others?"

"Yeah, we'll always be here," The Slayer spoke and as she spoke she became
more and more animated. "It's not just one you know, but many, and maybe the
end result won't always be perfect and maybe...we..."

"...we won't always be together." Willow finished the sentence.

"No!" Buffy shook her head violently. "We always will be, because that's the
way its seen."

"Oh c'mon, Buffy," Willow argued. "Sometimes we'll be friends, sometimes
we'll be enemies. There have been times when I've killed you or you me
and...and that's not even the least of what's happened. And you call this
love?" Willow grabbed Buffy's wrists and gently pulled her The Slayer's hands
away then standing up she stalked away angrily until she reached the top of
the hill. She stared into the setting sun, now half behind the horizon. 

The firey orb cast a line of yellows, oranges, reds and purples into the
heavens until they faded away into the deep blue of approaching night. Slowly,
softly Buffy stepped up behind Willow, she opened her arms and eased them
around the redhead's waist. Willow shuddered slightly at the contact before
turning in Buffy's arms and burying her face in Buffy's shoulder.

"Shhhh," Buffy whispered as the witch trembled in her arms. "Shhhh, it's
okay. Everything is okay, shhhhh."

After a time, while the sun continued to set and The Slayer contined to rock
Willow gently, the young woman settled down and they just held each other in
silence. 

For a time.

"You can eat the cakes, Buffy, if you want to," Willow whispered in a leaden,
defeated voice. "The sun's almost down. Times almost up, things are...just
about over."

"Wil," Buffy breathed the word across the witches neck, the warm air so close
to the skin stirring all the tiny hairs. "I can eat the cakes. I can eat the
cakes. The cakes here, at home at the bakery, I can eat every cake there is.
The picnic can end, the sun can set...but it still won't be over." She
squeezed Willow tighter. "It still won't be the end, just...time for something
else."

"You're sure," Willow said.

"Very," Buffy nodded. She rested her chin on the redhead's shoulder and
watched the sunset. Then turned Willow around so she too could watch the last
moments of the day, "Look," she said, pointing to the horizon. "Day's over but
we're still loved and we still love, that's how I know it's not over."

"Huh?" Willow said, not tearing her eyes from the last slivers of light on
the horizon.

"I still love you, you still love me, we're in love, we love and therefore
are loved," Buffy whispered. "That'll never change, it's not going to."

"Hmph," Willow sighed. "Never was easy to reach that point."

"No," Buffy nodded digging her chin slightly into Willow's shoulder. "But
always worth it."

"It could start again?" Willow asked her voice full of hope. "It could..you
know...not be totally over yet?"

Buffy shrugged and squeezed the redhead's waist tighter. "Dunno," she sighed.
"Anything's possible."

The last edge of the sun fell behind the treeline.

Night fell.

The two lovers stood on top of a black hill, on a dark, starless night.

"Well," Buffy said. "That's that."

"Yep," Willow nodded.

"Wasn't so bad now was it?" Buffy asked released her hold on Willow.

"Nope," The redhead shook her head. "Rather anti-climatic. Where to now?"

The Slayer took the hacker's hand in one of her own and they began slowly
walking down the hill toward the dark trees.

"Now," Buffy intoned seriously. "Now we go somewhere else."

"I still say it was a duck," Willow giggled.

"Dragon."

"Duck."

"Dragon!"

"Duck!"

END-Curtain Call

Authors Notes: Goodbye.
I remain, as always,
Mad-Hamlet



	

	



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