FIC: Moon Dreams I - Wolf Moon Rising (6/7)

["another_soul_lost" <anotherlostsoul@xxxxxxxxx>]

Title:  Moon Dreams I (6/7)
Disclaimer:  Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and a lot of other people own
the show and all the characters.  The plot and the story are mine. 
This cannot be sold or used for profit in any way, shape or form. 
Please don't sue me, because I really don't have anything to take.


* * * * * 

I'm not sure how long I knelt there on the floor at Buffy's feet,
staring blankly at the door where Xander had made his exit.  The human
part of me knew that he was just trying to cope, trying to get a grip
on what I had become.  Xander and I had been best friends since the
first day of kindergarten, surely this wouldn't be the end of that&

Would it?

After a while, I realized that the room had fallen quiet.  I'd let
myself become so preoccupied with Xander's departure that I hadn't
paid any attention to the conversation going on around me.  I glanced
up to see Buffy looking at me with a slight grin, and a quick look at
my uncle revealed a similar expression on his face.  Clearly, at this
point I was supposed to respond to something they'd said, but I hadn't
the faintest idea of what that was.

I shook my head slightly and blinked before I spoke.  "I'm sorry," I
whispered sheepishly, knowing they both could hear me clearly, "I was
off in my own little world and haven't heard a word you guys have said
since before Xander left."  My voice hitched slightly as I said
Xander's name, making it obvious to everyone in the room that despite
my calm exterior, I was upset by the fact he'd left.  

"It'll be okay, Will," Buffy whispered softly in reply.  "Xander just
needs to take a step back and get a little perspective.  He'll come
around, I'm sure of it."

"Why don't you go upstairs and get cleaned up, maybe grab a shower?  I
left some unscented soaps, shampoos and stuff in the bathroom for ya."
Uncle Jack said, offering me an easy way out of being around anyone
for a while.

Buffy shot a puzzled look at Jack, "Werewolves have to use special
bath products?"

Jack chuckled as he replied, "Not really, but the perfumes and scents
that they put in most of that stuff tend to wreak havoc on our sense
of smell.  Personally, if I use anything that's not unscented, I end
up with a headache from smelling it all day."  He continued to smile,
"Plus, if we use anything with a very strong scent, it overpowers
everything else and makes our sense of smell useless."

I nodded, acutely aware of just how disturbing my inner wolf found the
idea of not being able to smell anything.  "So, no strong scents then&
got it," I said with a grin as I smoothly got to my feet.  "Are you
going to stick around `til I get out, Buff?"

"Probably not," she answered with a sheepish grin of her own, "I was
supposed to meet Giles at the library for training like an hour or so
ago.  If I don't get over there soon, he's gonna have kittens."  She
stood up gracefully, "Plus I should really let him know what's the
what with your big disappearance yesterday& unless you'd rather wait
and tell him yourself?"

That was a good question.  Did I really want to have to go through
this all over again with Giles?   I really didn't, especially not
after the way Xander reacted.  And Giles seemed entirely too British
to react well if I went all wolf-in-Willow's-clothing on him the way I
had earlier.  Maybe it would be better if someone else filled him in
on the basic situation.

"You can go ahead and tell him," I frowned slightly as something else
occurred to me, "assuming that Xander hasn't already."  That was not
really a happy thought.  In his current frame of mind, I wasn't
entirely sure that Xander wouldn't let his own fears and doubts color
his account of the events of this morning.  At least Buffy seemed to
be okay with everything& but then again, was she really okay with it,
or was she just putting on her best friend face?

"We are," I started, pausing as I tried to find the words I needed, "I
mean, you and me are okay, right Buff?  You're not secretly all
freaked out and scared or anything?"

Buffy's smile faded a bit, her expression turning thoughtful as spoke.
"I am a little freaked, Will, but you're my best friend, and I'm not
about to let a little fur get in the way of that."  She smiled again
before continuing, "It'll take a bit of getting used to, but it'll be
okay.  We'll be okay."

* * * * *

By the time I had finished showering, I had come to two critical
conclusions.  First, I wasn't going to worry about Xander anymore.  He
would either deal or not, and there wasn't anything I could do about
it, so there was no sense in wasting energy worrying about it.  It was
a decision that my wolf rumbled a happy agreement to.

Second, I absolutely had to do something drastic about my hair.  I
wasn't entirely sure how, but below my shoulders my hair had turned
into a matted, tangled mess that no amount of preternatural strength
could pull a comb through.  The matter was more or less settled in my
mind when I managed to pull hard enough to break the comb without any
effect on the knot of hair I was trying to untangle.

I heard a familiar chuckle behind me, and turned to glare at my uncle.
"Glad you're finding my hair issues so amusing," I said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, kiddo, I know it shouldn't be funny, but from where I'm
standing it's pretty damn hilarious."  Even I couldn't really help
smiling at just how ridiculous the situation seemed as my uncle
continued to talk, "You might be better off just getting it cut though."

That statement piqued my curiosity about my new state of being once
again.  "Why's that?  Is it some sort of obscure werewolf code of
conduct that says `short hair good, long hair bad'?"

"Not exactly, but the longer your hair is, the more tangled and matted
it gets after every Change," he answered with a smile.  "If you don't
mind dealing with a mess like that every time, then by all means,
leave it long."

I looked at myself critically in the mirror for a moment, considering
his words.  Was keeping my hair long worth this amount of aggravation?
I imagined myself with shorter hair, and came to an obvious conclusion.  

"Okay, I'm sold.  Ask mom to call and get me a hair appointment and
tell them it's an emergency."  I turned to Uncle Jack with a smile,
"The sooner that I get rid of this mess the better."  

"Alright," he said simply.  "I'll have her call while you get dressed.
Then all three of us need to talk a bit and figure out what to do next."

"What do you mean?"  I asked as I stood up and took off my robe so I
could get dressed.

"You're going to have to make some decisions, Willow," he answered,
sympathy coloring his voice.  "And you may not really like all the
options, but we'll talk about that when you get downstairs."  With
that said, he turned and solemnly walked away, heading downstairs.

I got dressed slowly, my curiosity over what kind of decisions I would
have to make warring with the growing sense of dread over how serious
Uncle Jack had made it sound.  I had a feeling that I wasn't going to
enjoy this talk very much, and I found myself wishing that Buffy or
Xander would be here for moral support.  

When I got downstairs I found Mom and Uncle Jack sitting quietly in
the kitchen, nursing cups of coffee.  To say that the mood seemed
somber would be something of an understatement; in fact, if I didn't
know better, I'd have thought that someone died.  My mother looked up
and smiled sadly as I entered the room.

"Hey pumpkin, how are you doing?" she asked softly.

"I'm doing okay," I answered optimistically.  "But what's with the mopey?"

"Have a seat, and we'll explain kiddo," Uncle Jack said, gesturing
toward one of the empty stools.  His voice was neutral, almost devoid
of emotion.  

I'd never seen him act like this before and I felt my wolf stir,
picking up on my uneasiness.  I stood stock-still for a moment,
studying my mother's face.  She had always been good at covering her
emotions, it's part of her job as a counselor, after all.  Whatever
they had been discussing without me had upset her enough that she
wasn't doing a very good job at hiding it.  

I looked at my uncle to find that he wouldn't meet my gaze.  He wasn't
any happier about things than my mother was, he just showed it
differently.  Doing my best to remain calm, I nodded my head and slid
onto the stool before finally speaking up, "Okay, so what is it?"

The silence seemed to stretch on for minutes as I waited nervously for
someone to speak.  I couldn't conceive of what could possibly be so
bad that it had them this hesitant to bring it up.  I felt my wolf
stirring uneasily within me, agitated by the growing tension.  

Finally, my uncle sighed deeply and spoke, "Willow, your grandfather
wants you to come live with him.  He has a large estate up in
Washington, a few hours from Seattle.  It's perfect for Weres, most of
it is heavily wooded and the nearest human neighbor is miles away.  He
just doesn't think that a town like this one is a good place for a
young werewolf like you to live."

I shot a quick glance at my mother to see what she thought of this
just as she spoke up, "Based on what you mentioned last night,
pumpkin, I agree with him.  Sunnydale is just too dangerous.  But
you're a mature young woman, Willow, and I won't let anyone force you
into this.  It has to be your choice."

I was utterly stunned by this.  To my knowledge, my mother and her
father had barely spoken to each other since before I born, and now
she wanted to send me away to him just because I was a werewolf? 
"What am I supposed to say, mom?" I asked bitterly.  "I've never even
gotten to meet your dad and now you suddenly want to send me away to
live with him?  How is that supposed to make me feel?"  

This was dangerous ground I was treading.  I could feel my wolf
stirring in response to the anger that was building up in me, but how
could I be anything but angry?  They wanted to send me away to a
strange place, away from my family, away from my pack, away from
everything that I knew, all because of something that I had no control
over.  Wasn't finding out that I'm a werewolf traumatic enough without
them making it worse?

"Willow, calm down," my uncle said in a soothing voice.  "You're going
to work yourself into a Change, and that won't help matters any."  

He was right, of course.  Even as he said it I could feel a burning
tingle spreading through my body, a precursor to the Change.  I closed
my eyes and took a deep breath, forcing my body to relax and letting
go of my anger.  A calm feeling washed through me and I felt the
tingle fade as my beast receded.  I opened my eyes to find my uncle
staring at me, shock clearly written on his face.

"What?" I asked suddenly, trying to figure out what I'd done to
warrant that reaction.

"You calmed your beast that easily?"  The shock was still clear in his
voice, "It takes most Weres weeks of working on their emotional
control to be able to be able to do that without help."

"Oh," I was surprised by his answer.  It hadn't seemed that difficult.
"But that's a good thing right?"

Uncle Jack grinned suddenly, "Yeah, it is.  Learning to calm your
beast and prevent unwanted Changing is the most important thing new
Weres are taught, and you already seem to have a good handle on it."

I couldn't help but smile at that, until mom cleared her throat and
brought my attention back to the matter at hand.  "Willow, sweetie, I
don't expect you to decide about this right now and neither does your
grandfather."

Uncle Jack spoke up at this point, "We want you to stay with us for a
week or two while you learn how to cope with being a werewolf.  After
that, you can stay there or come back here; it'll be entirely up to
you, no one will pressure you either way."

"What am I supposed to do about school?" I asked sharply, "I can't
just up and leave&"

"Next week is spring break, sweetie," my mom answered, "and I'm sure I
can arrange something with Principle Flutie if you need more than a
week.  After all, you're the top student in the school academically."

I sighed, suddenly feeling trapped without a good excuse to say no. 
`I could just be stubborn and say no for no reason,' I mused idly, but
no matter how much I wanted to deny it, I could definitely see the
appeal of getting away from Sunnydale while I learned to deal with
being a werewolf.  

"Okay," I relented, "but I'm only agreeing to stay while I adjust to
the werewolf thing.  No promises beyond that."

"Good enough," Uncle Jack said with a half-smile.  "Now you should go
pack, we've got a flight out at 6 and you have an appointment to get
your hair cut in an hour."

* * * * *

By the time we drove to the airport later that evening, I was utterly
exhausted.  My uncle had kept me busy for the entire day, constantly
running from one task to another, and stuffing my face frequently
in-between.  Mom certainly hadn't been joking about my need to eat, I
felt like I'd eaten my own weight in food by the end of the day and I
was still having the urge to snack.

Uncle Jack had been quite careful through the day to keep me away from
large crowds as much as possible.  It was an effort made all the more
difficult by a trip to the mall in a frantic search for clothing
suitable to early spring in the Pacific Northwest, something that was
a bit hard to come by in Southern California.  He explained that
cramped spaces and big crowds were a bad idea until we were sure I
could control my beast.  After all, the control I had demonstrated
earlier could have been a fluke, and we really didn't want to find
that out the hard way.

Unfortunately, that left me with some serious uncertainties about
exactly how I was going to get on a cramped, crowded jet.  That
concern fled quickly enough though, as we pulled up to the charter
flight terminal at the Sunnydale airport rather than the main
commercial terminal. 

"We're flying a charter?" I asked, not even trying to cover my surprise.

"Do you really want to find out if you can control your wolf inside a
hollow metal tube full of humans at 37,000 feet?" Uncle Jack shot back
with a wry grin.

"Okay, point taken, but isn't this kind of expensive?" I figured it
had to be, otherwise everyone would do this.

"Normally, yeah it is.  But since your grandfather owns the charter
company in question that's kind of a moot point," he answered with
another wide grin.

Apparently, I still had a lot to learn about my mother's family.







"It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
"I kinda love you."
Buffy & Willow, 'Choices'

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