FIC: These Roads We Travel (2/?)

[~~Kimber <kacoe@xxxxxxx>]

TITLE: These Roads We Travel (2/?)
AUTHOR: Kimber (kacoe@xxxxxxx)
DISCLAIMER: All BTVS characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.
SUMMARY: The long awaited next story in "The Road Series".
SPOILERS: Everything is fair game.
DISTRIBUTION: The usual suspects. Anyone else, e-mail me please.
AUTHOR?S NOTES: This comes because I've had so many great responses to the series and
many people begging for another. Be careful what you wish for.

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"Where am I?" This thought rattled around Willow's head as she looked at the scene before
her. She knew where she was, but not really. She was sitting outside of a small café,
sipping a mocha and watching the crowd shuffle by. She was in Paris.

As pleasant as the surroundings were, she wasn't able to enjoy it at all. She missed
Buffy, Laurel and Xander and wished they were with her. She smiled sadly to herself
knowing how much Laurel would love to be in Paris. She was a typical teenager, and Willow
could picture her going from boutique to boutique putting a serious strain on her credit
card.

Buffy. Willow knew she would fall in love with this place the moment she saw it. The
aesthetics of the surroundings, the architecture of the old buildings, the gardens and
parks. She smiled to herself again picturing herself and Buffy laying in the grass having
a picnic near the Eiffel Tower. Buffy would feed her strawberries dipped in fudge and
neither of them would care about the stares they got from the passer-bys. Buffy would
remark that they were just jealous to see two people so completely in love with each
other.

"Why so sad?"

"I miss my family." Willow remarked.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Have you been away from them long?"

She sighed. "I don't know."

"Seems to me that they're only as far away as you make them. At least that's what I've
always thought."

"They're. . .they're in here always." Willow placed her hand over her heart. "But. . "
She trailed off.

"You wish they were here, physically. I understand that all too well."

Willow had been staring off in the distance, but brought herself back and looked around
her immediate surroundings. There was no one there. "Um, where are you?"

"Oh, I'm here. You just don't want to see me yet." The voice, male, took on a knowing
tone.

"That's weird. Why wouldn't I want to see someone I'm talking to?"

"Well, you may not be ready, or you might need more time to adjust. One can never tell
with this sort of thing. I miss my family too, and my friends. It's been such a long
time since I've seen them."

"Why? I mean, can't you call them or something?"

He laughed. "They're too far away. I can't reach them." A slight sadness touched his
voice. "They've been far away for a long time now."

Willow nodded knowingly and looked off into the distance again. Two young girls were
running around, playing tag ? much to the dissatisfaction of the adults trying to walk
by. She smiled and remembered playing tag with Buffy and Laurel in Weatherbey park.

"Fond memory?" He asked.

"Yes. My daughter, Laurel. She used to love to play tag in the park. And Buffy and
Xander would join in. We must have looked like a bunch of fools, playing tag with a ten
year old, but we didn't care. She was so beautiful back then, beautiful and innocent."

"Ah, so you have a daughter. You must miss her."

Willow nodded. "I hate being away from her. She's sixteen now. When I think about all
the trouble I got into when I was sixteen it just makes me want to lock her in the house
till she's thirty." She laughed.

"Trouble maker, were you?"

"No, not really. I was a big geek at that age. I didn't have many friends at all. Just
one. . .no, two. Two very good friends that I grew up with. Then Buffy transferred to
Sunnydale, that's where I'm from by the way, and she had an . . .interesting hobby. We
got involved with it and, well, it was dangerous but ? it was for a good cause." Willow
looked down at her hands. She fingered the gold band on her ring finger and closed her
eyes. "I wouldn't trade it for anything ever."

"Sounds like you and your two friends must have loved her a lot to risk your lives with
her, um, hobby."

Willow nodded. "Xander and I loved her a lot. And Jesse? Well, Jesse never got the
chance to really know her. He was. . .killed. But I know he would have loved her too."

"I'm sorry you lost him. To uh, vampires?"

"Oh, um. . oops?" She looked up and smiled at him sheepishly. "Sorry, I got so carried
away with my story that I totally forgot. You probably think I'm some kind of nut now.
Talking about vampires. Sheesh."

"No, not at all. I'm sure they exist. I mean, how else can you explain all the sudden
deaths from 'mysterious blood loss'." He made quotation marks in the air with his
fingers. "Besides, I've heard a lot of stories like yours. Nothing surprises me
anymore. I'm existing surprise free these days. Really."

Willow smiled at him. "No matter how hard we fought or how many times we won, I think
Buffy was always trying to make up for loosing Jesse those first few weeks she was in
Sunnydale. She knew how much he meant to Xander and I and it hurt her that he was one of
the ones she couldn't save." Willow smiled to herself a little. "Xander would probably
say, 'Damn vampires. They're such sneaky and unpredictable things.' Only if he said it,
it would be much funnier. He was always trying to lighten the mood." She closed her eyes
again. "I miss Jesse. I guess in a way, I started helping Buffy to make sure, you know,
that him dying. . .that it wasn't for nothing. It was for something. A good cause."

"I'm sure he didn't blame you or your friends. He knew things were going on that no one
else could see. Everyone did, but the difference was that you and your friends paid
attention to it and took care of it ? and without taking any credit."

Willow squinted at him. He was. . .fuzzy. That was the best way to describe it. Like
someone took a huge lens and twisted it out of focus only on him. She could see the
outline of his body but. . .she rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times. This made him
laugh.

"You want to see me. Don't you?" He reached his hand out and placed it on her own.
"Everything you want to see, everything you want to know is right in front of you. All
you have to do is open your eyes a little wider."

She stared at him intently and focused on wanting to see him, being desperate to see him.

"I know you blame yourself, even now, but you shouldn't." His voice took on a sad tone.
"Things just. . .happen, Willow. Things that nobody ever has control over, and that's
just the way it is." He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You need to know that. .
.you're fighting on a daily basis, putting your life on the line, killing the baddies ?
none of it was in vein." He took a deep breath and whispered. "I didn't die in vein."

She gasped and the tears that had been threatening to surface finally spilled over as he
came into sharp focus in front of her. He stood the same time she did, and she fell into
his arms sobbing openly. She clung to him, stroked his hair, kissed his cheek and
finally managed to croak out between sobs, "Jesse."


--
Your humble bard,
~~Kimber

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