Fic: The Island (4/?) B/W PG

Title: The Island (AKA Buffy and Willow Vs. The Hurricane)

Author: Ivy Gort

Spoilers: Seventh Season

Email: Ivygort@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rating:PG

Feedback: Yes, Please! I live on it!

Archive: Please Ask.

Pairing: Buffy and Willow

Previous Parts: http://www.fanfiction.net/~ivygort

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I'm just torturing them for you.

BETA: Ann Marie is the Great Goddess. She has to be a Goddess there is no other answer. I feel like you guys should send the feedback to her. Also a big thanks to BHV for prereading this part so many times.

Summary: Nine years after Chosen Willow needs Buffy help

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Chapter Three - Marine Biology Research School - Beaufort, North Carolina - Aboard the Research Vessel the Belle Star

"Miss Summers?" Buffy heard Donna at the cottage door and the Slayer picked up her two bags. She had woken surprisingly refreshed just a few minutes ago. Her internal clock always knew when dawn was approaching. For the past few years she hadn't been able to sleep through the sun rising. She could sleep before it, or after it, just never through it. After the drama of last night Buffy had quickly realized that there was nothing she could do to help the students prepare for the coming storm so she had gone back to the cottage.

"I'm coming." The Slayer told the young student and walked out to the front room of the tiny cottage. The girl was standing framed by the doorway with the gray predawn sky behind her. And suddenly Buffy's spider sense started to tingle as Donna seemed to age before her eyes, growing old and bent, her eyes clouding over. The magical strength radiating off the old woman filled up the room of the small cottage until Buffy didn't know if she should attack her or kneel at her feet.

"Miss Summers?" Buffy heard the name echo in the empty room and felt a warm hand grip her arm steadying her as her world came back into focus. She blinked her eyes clear and looked up into the worried face of the young college student.

"I'm fine," the Slayer said shaking off the supporting hand. "I'm ?fine." As the image of Donna, overlapped with that of the aged lady of power, confusing to Buffy.

As the first rays of the bright sun began to peek over the horizon all sense of power faded away from the girl and Buffy was able to blink away the afterimage. Donna was just a collage student again. A blackness filled the Slayer's vision for just moment ?.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Donna said from beside Buffy as they walked down a long pier towards a sail boat.

"What?" Buffy asked as wave of sick dizziness filled her. "Weren't we just ?."

"See it as I do." The words felt like a command to Buffy.

The Slayer started shaking her head trying to clear it. All the time wondering what had happened, then she looked out over the Sound and saw the Barrier Islands highlighted by the shinning rays of the morning sun. The water sparkling, the white sand of the mountainous dunes, it took Buffy's breath away and made her stare in awe. She watched as the sea gulls skittered around ducking in and out of the high thick grasses. Buffy's eyes were drawn up when she heard the cry of an Osprey and was amazed anew as the bird rode the thermals in the blazing gold of the early morning sky. The land was unmarked, unscarred, and the Slayer wondered if this was how it looked when the first white settlers had seen it.

She had grown up on the West Coast and was used to vast expanses of beach, only this was a different beauty.

Buffy could sense the magic in the water as it glowed with a soft white light, she saw the haze of it rising up off the Sound like sea spray on the breeze. Whereas the Hellmouth had been discordant, like nails on the chalkboard, this power was welcoming her home. All the tension left her and for the first time she could remember she was at peace. The magic of the water was calling to her and she began to realize why she had been so drawn to the sound last night--it was because this was what she had expected to feel--instead she had felt death from the waters.

Buffy had no understanding of why she had expected the waters to feel that way last night, she just knew that she did. It was like a faint shadow of a memory had surfaced briefly, then was gone.

"Willow I do trust you." Suddenly the world slammed back into view and Buffy stumbled a few steps forward, dropping the bags she had forgotten she was carrying onto the rough wooden planks of the pier. "Why do you think I'm letting you take her out into that!" Buffy's eyes were drawn down to the boat as Clare and Willow stood facing each other, their bodies tense. She could tell that this conversation had been on going for hours and by the dark circles under each of the woman's eyes it appeared as if neither of them had slept.

Confused Buffy glanced up into Donna's face, wondering what had just happened. The brunette was poised on her toes expectantly and Buffy's eyes were drawn once again by the water. A view that was ruined the next instant when the wind shifted and the foul odor from the polluted Sound attacked Buffy?s sensitive nose. Her vision clouded and turned black as she felt the warmth of Donna's arms wrap around her and with unexpected strength the college student gently lowered the Slayer to the pier.

Seconds later Buffy was on her hands and knees losing her breakfast into the dirty water. Even as a veteran of almost everything imaginable, Buffy had never been subjected to this kind of odor before. Each breath she tried to take made it worse ? until she felt the gentle touch of magic reaching out to her. Touching her mind soothing it. She recognized it immediately as Willow and grabbed onto the familiar thread pulling it into her soul like a lifeline. The years melted away and they were back in their dormroom:

"Com'on Buffy, that vamp really knocked you out! Let me call Giles." Buffy could hear the pleading note in Willow's voice. The Slayer was in a bad position at the moment. She was on her knees in the middle of their room getting sick for the tenth time in three hours. Getting sick into Willow's trashcan, no less! The embarrassment of using her best friend's trashcan on top of the 'yuck factor' just made her feel worse. It was one thing for her mom or Giles to see her like this, it was another for Willow. The redhead was her best friend in the entire world but that didn't mean the Slayer wanted to puke in front of her.

She felt the cool wet washcloth placed on the back of her neck and her hair was pulled back from her face by gentle fingers. And Buffy's walls began to melt. What had she done to deserve such a caring and loving best friend?

"Shuss, Buffy, just try to breathe." The words floated though Buffy's mind giving her something latch onto, as warm fingers stroked her hot sweaty face.

The Hacker had spent most of the summer helping her get over Angel ? just hanging out. And now she was helping her get over her latest concussion.

Tears sprang to the Slayer's eyes and she dashed them away. The last thing Willow needed to see was her crying, then she really would call Giles, which would mean yet another trip to the Hell that they called a hospital. Which meant that she would miss the make-up exam Professor Walsh was giving her this morning.

As the latest spasm eased she rolled over onto to the floor, away from the Hacker, and curled up into a ball of misery.

"Buffy, isn't there something you could take?" Willow questioned her worriedly standing over her. "I'll get the medical kit, I know there has to be something in it that will help." Buffy heard the redhead walk over to her closet before she could protest. Willow damn well knew that there was something she could take. The problem was it would knock her out for the rest of the night and half of tomorrow, thus she would still miss the make-up exam.

The Slayer swallowed the urge to get sick again and tried to speak.

"Will," Buffy whispered. The word sounding pathetic even to her ears. She cleared her throat. "Will!" she was happy with the volume that time. "I can't take anything ?I have that psych make-up in less than?" she squinted at the alarm clock on her desk. "In less than 6 hours, I'll be all right by then."

"How can you say that Buffy?" Willow asked, as Buffy felt the vibrations of the hacker's footsteps on the cheek she had firmly pressed into the carpet. "You come staggering in here, barely coherent, and?and ?have been sick ? really sick ?violently sick ? and I'm worried!"

"I'm sorry Will, I should have gone to Giles. I really didn't know it would be this bad." Buffy swallowed the bile that rose in her throat ? now that she was lying still the pounding in her head was increasing, keeping time with the rhythm of her heart. She really did feel awful but she knew that in a few hours she would be fine. "I promise I'll be OK, Slayer healing. Oh god?" She cried as another spasm rose up and grabbed her. She found herself hugging the trashcan again.

Buffy could feel Willow moving around the room. A few moments later she felt a questioning touch on her hunched shoulders, as yet another spasm ripped through her. Her muscles locked quivering with tension, she was unable to catch her breath. Buffy felt Willow's light touch as she ran her hand down her shoulders, to her arm. Gently Willow eased Buffy's death grip on the can and turned the Slayer's arm over in her hands. Buffy was beyond caring, beyond watching, she just wanted it to stop so she could take a breath.

Buffy felt some kind of--force--flow from Willow as the hacker firmly pressed her thumb into the juncture of Buffy's elbow and then slowly ran it down the inside of her arm to her wrist. It felt like a tiny piece of Willow flowed into Buffy and spread through her veins. The taut muscles of her arms and shoulders began to relax and she was finally able to take a deep breath. Willow ran her hand down her arm again, and Buffy felt the tension easing in her back, her stomach finally settling. Willow repeated it, this time it felt like pure Willow energy pouring through the Slayer, and Buffy knew that she was safe in Willow's arm. The last of Buffy's walls begin to melt away as the force of Willow's love for her overwhelmed them and, at the same time, all of Buffy's muscles began to relax, the sickness draining out of her ?..

Willow caught her before she could tumble over and she was pulled away from the smell of sickness, into a warm embrace that smelled like strawberries.

Trust. Buffy never knew she would be able to feel that for someone again. But in that moment, everything opened inside of the Slayer and more than just the sickness from the concussion was healed. Buffy knew that she could trust Willow with everything.

The softness of pillows and a blanket contrasted with the hard floor beneath her, she didn't care if they were still on the floor or in a bed because the peace of sleep was overtaking all her senses. And she let them go, all of her senses, even the one that she never let sleep, she let go just this once because she knew that Willow would watch over her, would keep her safe.

The last thing she remembered was the amazed voice of her best friend saying, "It worked. I didn't think it would work ?." Buffy wanted to tell her that of course it worked, it worked because I trusted you. I trust you completely, fully, as I could never trust another thing in my life.

The same energy that Willow had used so long ago flowed into Buffy as she knelt on the dock. And it worked again for the same reason it had before. Trust.

It wasn't as powerful as that first time the Wiccan had used it. Willow thinking it wouldn't work had poured every ounce of her fledgling magical strength into the simple spell not realizing that she only needed Buffy's trust for it to work.

After a few seconds Buffy was able to stand on wobbling legs, embarrassed that she had gotten sick. She looked over at Clare, the blush rising on her face. The Director just shrugged.

"After a while you just don't smell it anymore." She said, turning back to Willow. And Clare was right; Buffy couldn't smell the stench or, really anything, at the moment. She glanced at Willow and Buffy didn't expect to see the shocked _expression_ on Willow's face.

"You still ?. After all that?" Willow said intently looking into Buffy's eyes. The Slayer knowing immediately what the Wiccan was asking.

"Yes." She answered the unspoken question clearly. Stepping down into the boat to stand next to her.

Clare spoke up then, looking at the two women, breaking the intensity. "Now that's just too strange. Do you guys finish each other's sentences often?" She asked as Buffy looked away from the redhead. Then realized that she still felt the faint tingle of magic. She glanced up as she remembered the awful stench.

Buffy stared at the Wiccan asking a silent question, and at her nod let it drop. The spell wasn't hurting anyone; it was helping them. Buffy doubted that anyone could tolerate the odor from the sound and she got the feeling that it worked the same way as most of Willow's early spells--off of trust--if the person didn?t' trust Willow then it wouldn't work.

The Slayer smiled shyly to herself. It seemed as if Willow had truly embraced the gentle ways of Wicca, the ethics that Tara had always practiced.

She looked around at the boat looked both smaller and bigger now that she was actually on it. Clare lithely jumped up on the dock.

"Here, Willow always likes to be alone before she takes a boat out onto the water." Clare told her picking up the forgotten bags and stepping back into the boat. "I'll show you where to stow your gear and give you the five cents tour."

Buffy got the sense that something was missing or that she had forgotten something that was important ?.

"I need to get back, it was nice to meet you Miss Summers." The young college student said waving at the Slayer.

"Yea, same here I guess ? um, Donna? Right?" The girl nodded and then slowly walked down the pier.

"This is where the lifejackets are stowed. There are actually three other places ?." Clare told Buffy pulling her thoughts away from the strange girl.

TBC