The Island (5a/?) B/W PG

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

Author: Ivy Gort

Spoilers: Seventh Season

Email: Ivygort@verizon.net

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. I was going to scrap this draft earlier in the week until she read it and gave me some great feedback. Also a great huge and big thanks to BHV for doing a real C&C on this part. She not only preread it three times, she C&Ced.

Summary: Nine years after Chosen Willow needs Buffy help.

Note: I'm getting better only 9 days! YAY.

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Chapter Five?Aboard the Research Vessel Belle Star?Off the Southeast Coast

Buffy sat on the gently rocking boat in the growing darkness watching the stars appear one by one overhead. She was comfortable, enjoying the night air, it was a welcome break.

After the intensity of the morning and then being close to Willow all afternoon Buffy needed some time alone. All afternoon she had ached, literally ached with the need to take Willow into her arms like she used to be able to do. It wasn't sexual, or at least she didn't think it was, it was ? it was more that her heart needed the comfort and the peace that red head had always offered. Buffy knew, in her head, that Willow was off limits; just convincing her heart was another matter.

'It didn't help that every time the wind shifted I could smell her. I could smell the natural Willow smell, not the strawberry shampoo or the vanilla hand lotion, but Willow. I couldn't block her out, I don't know if it was because of the spell she had used earlier or because I was finally close to her, that this isn't a dream. She's here?I can ask her all the questions I'd wanted to eight years ago and she can't run.

'The only problem with that is, do I really want to know the answers? Stop it; you have a job to do. Think about your job. Think about ? the boat. That worked earlier in the day.'

The Slayer was getting used to some of the terms Willow used to describe the boat. She knew that she was sitting in the cockpit area that was located on the stern.

'I love this bench and these cushions are so soft--I wonder if there if there a special nautical term for soft cushions? There seems to be one for everything else.'

She could hear Willow in the tiny cabin below talking to Clare and the rest of the people from the school on the satellite phone. Willow had them on the speaker as she ran through the information that Clare had uploaded to the computers while they were busy sailing.

?Yes, with the full moon we were able to push on for a few more hours ?.? The Slayer clearly heard Willow tell Clare. The Director of the School was apparently very pleased that they were able to go so far before dropping anchor for the night.

?Willow,? Buffy heard the tension in Clare?s voice. ?I don?t need to tell you that the information that you can gather on Oya could mean a breakthrough in hurricane forecasting??

?Of course not Clare ? " Buffy noticed something in Willow's voice. The Slayer couldn't figure out exactly what it was that was bothering her about it.

"?in California we always talked about the ?big one? meaning earthquakes?" Willow continued. "? Oya is exactly like that. Think of the lives the information that we gather could save if we could not only tweak your program but prove it works. It would be ?.?

There it was again, it was almost like Willow was working too hard to reassure Clare that she knew the importance of their mission. She sounded exactly like that when she lied about leaving Glory alone after the god had hurt Tara. A shudder ran through Buffy as she thought about that awful time. If it hadn't been for Spike she might have lost her best friend that night. Buffy pulled her thoughts to the present with an effort.

'Why is she lying?' The Slayer thought, not upset, just curious. 'With Glory it was because she wanted revenge and knew I would try to stop her. Revenge...I wasn't able to stop her when Tara died. I wasn't able to help ?I was her best friend and all I could do was sit back and pass judgment. I was right, she was wrong, but sometimes you can either be right or you can be happy.'

Buffy leaned back on the cushions and watched as the clouds floated in front of the moon. Sometimes it seemed that the clouds were chasing the moon across the sky, while at other times it looked like the moon was in hot pursuit of the clouds.

'So Willow is out for revenge, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know why this time. That special someone she mentioned in Cleveland. Well, I wasn't a friend to her after Tara, and she ?she left me ? us?after Kennedy. So I will be one this time.'

The Slayer could feel some of the tension of the past few years begin to leave. Since she was fifteen she had never had time to just sit down and watch the nighttime sky. This was when she when she normally went to work. She looked out over the dark water and she could see lights moving slowly in the distance. It looked to be a huge ship judging from the spacing of the lights and how many there were. As the darkness fell a few soft lights came on around the Belle Star, one on the top of the mast, and two on the bow.

She'd lost the thread of the conversation only to pick it back up when Willow asked about the preparations for Oya. She could hear the concern in Clare?s voice as she answered.

?As soon as she clears Bermuda and we?re sure they aren?t going to be hit, I plan to send everyone there.? The Director said, and even over the miles with her voice bouncing off a satellite and muffled by the boat?s walls, Buffy could hear the fear. ?She?s going to be a monster, Willow. I don?t think there will be a safe place on the entire East Coast. If you run the latest models that Bob and BH have worked up you will find that 164 to 210 MHP sustained winds will extend 250 hundred miles from the center and hurricane force winds up to six hundred miles by the time of landfall."

Buffy heard a pause and she could almost see Willow tapping on the keys to the computer.

"Gods, Clare! Everyone from Savannah to New York will get some kind of storm surge. Roanoke Island will be the only land above it on the entire Outer Banks!" Willow said in awe.

"She?s the big one," The School's Director voice nearly cracked. "She's the one that we?ve been warning people about for 50 years. She?s the one that?s going to pound North Carolina back into the Stone Age and maybe take out Richmond, DC, and Baltimore with her.?

That made Buffy sit up because everyone knew that demons loved natural disasters. The people that were wandering the streets at all hours of the night, the shelters that welcomed everyone.

?Spike?s happy meals with legs. Giles might not have this information yet. I?ll ask Willow if we can call him in the morning or email him later. Maybe he can get Faith back so that she can help him figure out how best to deploy our girls. She needs to learn how to command? she needs to start accepting the responsibility of being the oldest living Slayer. Well, oldest besides me but I?ve died twice so I don't count.?

She leaned back and reached over the railing to trail her hand idly through the water, waiting for Willow to finish her conversation. She was slightly surprised that the water was so warm. Bathwater warm. Even in the middle of summer the Pacific was never this warm.

?What is wrong with me tonight? I can't focus.'

She felt?she didn?t know exactly how she felt. ?Maybe all the emotion from seeing Willow?from being close to her again ? I don?t know, I don?t want to think about it ?. I just want my best friend back and yet, I know that can never happen. Even if she could forgive me for everything, it?s just too dangerous for her. Knowing Willow got out ?.?

?Hey.? Willow said breaking into Buffy?s thoughts as she walked up the stairs from the cabin below. ?I thought you could use this .? She held out a light jacket to Buffy. The Slayer didn?t know what to say, the thoughtfulness inherent in the action was just like the old Willow.

?My Willow.?

?Um ? Thanks.? She said, standing up to put the jacket on and then moving over toward the other side of the boat. ?I didn?t realize how fast it got cold after the sun goes down,? she said, facing away from the hacker. While Buffy couldn?t handle talking to Willow about those awful years, she did want the hacker's company. She so desperately wanted her company and her friendship.

The Slayer could feel a slight movement as Willow walked over to the railing, as far away from Buffy as she could get in the small space. Silence hung heavily between them as the seconds stretched into minutes.

TBC in Chapter Five B