Fic: Mind Games (4/?)

[angelina2006@xxxxxxxxxxx]

TITLE: Mind games (4/?)
AUTHOR: Angelina 
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. 
SUMMARY: What if Willow had something she didn't want Buffy to hear 
during `Earshot'?
SPOILERS: Earshot ? some dialogue has been borrowed and the plot is 
basically the same 
AUTHOR'S NOTES: All feedback welcome. "Mochas?" "Yes please!"  
Thoughts are shown by <<?>>


Willow walked tentatively into the kitchen where she found Joyce 
pacing like an expectant father.  

"Hey Mrs Summers," said Willow, unsure of how to talk to a woman 
whose sexual escapades she'd just been hearing about (and whose 
daughter she'd been kissing about two minutes previously).

"Oh, Willow." Joyce's eyes flicked back and forth, resting anywhere 
but Willow's face. "Do you want something to eat or?"

"No, no, I'm fine thanks, I just wanted to ask if I could borrow your 
lap-top?the guys are supposed to be e-mailing me something and I want 
to see if I can find anything to help Buffy, coz you know me, 
computer-nerd girl?"

"Sure Willow, come on we'll go get it." Joyce looked relieved to 
have something to do. They walked through to the living room in a 
very uncomfortable silence. Joyce located the computer and took it 
out of the case, all the while looking like she wanted to say 
something. She held the laptop out to Willow but withdrew it just as 
she was about to take it.  

"WillowknowyouheardwhatbuffysaidandIwanttoexplainthatit'snotaregularth
ingwewereundertheinfluence?"

Willow, accustomed to babbling but not usually being on the receiving 
end was taken aback to begin with but quickly decided that she didn't 
want to hear anymore so she interrupted.

"Mrs Summers really, you don't have to explain anything to me, your 
sex life is none of my business, just like mine is none of yours, not 
that I have one right now but I will someday, I hope, and then it 
won't be any of your business and I'll be being quiet now." Willow 
clamped her mouth shut.

Joyce was unsure how to respond. "Thank you Willow" she said after a 
moment. "It's just that Buffy seemed ?not to take the news very 
well." She finished euphemistically.

"Well, I uh, think that it was just the initial shock of the thing, 
she'll calm down soon, I mean no-one likes to think of their parents 
having sex, especially with the school librarian who also happens to 
be her Watcher and?OK quiet is good."

"Yes, I suppose it was rather a bolt from the blue" said Joyce, 
getting a far away look in her eyes. At that moment in time Willow 
was very grateful that she couldn't read minds. Joyce shook her head 
to clear her thoughts, she handed the computer to Willow. "Thank you 
for being so understanding and open-minded Willow. It's good to know 
that my daughter has such a well-adjusted person as her best friend."

Willow gulped. "Best friend, that's me. And open-minded is a good 
thing to be, I bet you're really open-minded what with your daughter 
being the slayer and all. I guess there's not much that could shock 
you now huh?" Willow asked hopefully.

"Probably not, but I can live without many more shocks in my life 
thank-you very much. Maybe this little surprise will give Buffy an 
inkling of what it's like to have a huge revelation inflicted on 
you." Joyce said, raising her eyebrows in a motherly superior way.

"Um, yeah I guess, and as far as you and Giles are concerned, it's 
all in the past, right? I mean, as long as you were careful there's 
no reason to?you were careful right?" Willow turned forty shades of 
red in under a second and ended up an interesting variation of 
purple. "I'm so sorry Mrs Summers, it's nothing to do with me, I?"

"No, it's a very sensible question Willow, yes, we were careful."  
Joyce's colour had also deepened and eye-contact was being avoided 
again.

"Well, that's great. And thanks for the laptop. I'll be upstairs if 
you need me." Willow put her head down and walked briskly out of the 
room trying not to think thoughts like <<I wonder which one of them 
was carrying condoms? Did they go to a vending machine? The hood of 
a police car, that couldn't have been comfortable.>> She turned into 
Buffy's room and saw Buffy holding a pillow over her face.

"Buffy? Buffy are you OK?" Willow put the laptop on the floor and 
hurried to the bed where she gently removed the pillow to be met with 
a sight that broke her heart. Buffy was crying. "Oh Buffy." Willow 
tenderly gathered the slayer in her arms and pulled her into her 
lap. She sat and rocked her sobbing friend, stroking her hair, 
wiping her tears until the crying began to subside.

"I'm scared Willow." Buffy stated simply. The fear was obvious in 
her huge, expressive eyes.

"I know Buff, so am I, but we'll find a way to get through this, we 
always do." Willow tried to smile reassuringly at Buffy and was 
granted a watery smile in return. "Is it getting worse?" she 
whispered.

Buffy nodded. "It's like there's a big meeting in my head and 
everyone wants their opinion to be heard but no-one's listening to 
anyone else. I can't even hear most of the words now, everything's 
all mixed up." Buffy burrowed her face into Willow's neck. Willow 
swallowed against the lump that had taken up residence in her 
throat. She had never seen Buffy this scared. Buffy had very rarely 
allowed her vulnerability to show. Willow felt privileged that Buffy 
was comfortable enough with her to let her guard down and show her 
true feelings. But this very same fact brought home the severity of 
the situation. Her thoughts were disturbed when she realised Buffy 
was mumbling something into her neck.

"Sorry, what?"

"I asked if you had e-mailed the guys yet."

"Umm, no, I was talking to your mom for a little while."

Buffy looked up, apprehension on her face. "About what?"

"Oh, you know, usual chit-chat. She asked if I wanted a snack, I 
asked if she and Giles had been careful when they?"

"You did what?!?" Buffy was aghast.

"I didn't mean to, it just sort of slipped out." Willow said 
lamely. "Oh, and by the way, I think your mom might be OK with us 
being together."

"Oh my God, did that just `come out', so to speak, as well?" Buffy 
demanded.

"No, nothing like that. She was just saying that being open-minded 
was a good thing and that relationships can be difficult for 
outsiders to understand?stuff like that."

Buffy thought about this for a moment. "A relationship? Are she and 
Giles having a relationship?"

"No, it was a one time thing."

Buffy stared into Willow's eyes for a long time before a smile 
finally broke through her stern exterior. "You're incredible, you 
know that?"

"In a good way?" asked Willow, hopefully.

"In the best way." Buffy pulled Willow's head down so that their 
lips could meet in a short, but very sweet, kiss. "Now, you have to 
get on that thing and help the gang find the cafeteria murderer." 
said Buffy.

"OK, but I'm doing that quickly then I'm looking for some way to cure 
you," said Willow fetching the laptop from the floor. She settled 
back down on the bed with the computer on her lap and Buffy's head on 
her shoulder and started cross-referencing the list Oz had sent her 
with files she had hacked into. << Oz. Now there's something to look 
forward to.>> she thought as she finished identifying prime suspects 
and e-mailed the list back to the school where she knew the faithful 
would be waiting even though it was night. She immediately brought 
up a search engine and started looking for anything that might help 
Buffy. As she searched her mind crept back to Oz. The last thing in 
the world she wanted was to hurt him. She knew he loved her, and in 
some way she loved him back. Just not the right way. He was the 
first (non-robot-demon) guy to pay any attention to her in a romantic 
way. He was a cool guy. He was in a band. He had forgiven her 
after her little , ahem, indiscretion with Xander.  

Xander, he'd have to be told too. Despite his frequent allusions to 
lesbian fantasies Willow doubted whether this meant that he was ready 
for his two best friends (one of whom he'd had a crush on since her 
arrival in Sunnydale, the other he'd had a fling with) to start 
dating each other.  

Dating Buffy. Willow got fluttery feelings in her stomach when she 
thought these words. It was actually happening ? except for the fact 
there had been no dating yet. Mostly because Buffy was incapacitated 
due to contamination by demon blood but hey, who said the path of 
true love was easy? And there would be dates, Willow was sure of 
it. Once they had beaten this mind-curse thing, told their 
respective boyfriends and informed their close friends of this new 
development in their relationship there would definitely be time for 
a coffee or something. Willow forced herself to concentrate on the 
screen. She scrolled through pages and pages of text, until?

"Ah hah!" she exclaimed out loud. <<This is it, this is the cure! Go 
Net-girl! Yay! OK, ingredients: sage limestone, heart of the demon, 
rose petals?heart of the demon?? Great, how are we gonna get that 
with Buffy out of the game????..Oh no??Angel, that's not going tobe 
awkward or anything.>> She thought as she eased her shoulder out 
from under Buffy who had fallen into a fitful sleep. She made her 
way to the telephone and called Giles, he could call Angel, Willow 
was sure that she'd inadvertently let something slip <<I'm in love 
with your girlfriend>> or something along those lines. Giles said 
that he would get right on it. He would mix up the rest of the 
potion and meet Angel at Buffy's house with the vital (and very 
gross) ingredient. No doubt the demon would be unwilling to part with 
said ingredient, Angel would have to get tough. Willow shuddered at 
the thought of this and really hoped that their little revelation 
wouldn't do anything to Angel's fragile soul. She had been on the 
receiving end of Bad-Angel and couldn't imagine being someone who'd 
stolen Bad-Angel's girlfriend.

Hanging up the phone Willow returned to Buffy's bedside. She was 
talking in her sleep ? making no sense. Willow guessed that she was 
responding to thoughts only she could hear. Buffy thrashed around on 
the bed, ripping at Willow's heart with every movement. She 
tentatively reached out and grabbed Buffy's arms, quickly drawing her 
into a tight embrace. Willow's presence seemed to calm Buffy down 
somewhat although she continued to mutter and her body still jerked 
violently every so often.

<<This is gonna be a long night>> thought Willow.

TBC ? Angel makes his appearance at last