Fic: Mind Games (5/?)

[angelina2006@xxxxxxxxxxx]

TITLE: Mind games (5/?)
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 <<?>> OK, I'm pretty sure that the part after 
this one will be the last?phew!  


Giles was keeping himself busy mixing up ingredients, double checking 
the spell, doing anything to avoid conversation with Joyce. <<Where 
is Angel?>> he thought. His prayers were answered by a knock at the 
door. A slightly well-done Angel stumbled in under a blanket. The 
sun is not a vamp's best friend, and sunscreen just doesn't cut it.  
He produced a jar of something icky and handed it to Giles.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"She's upstairs in bed," said Joyce, not exactly thrilled at the 
sight of the man who had deflowered her only daughter. Angel turned 
to head upstairs and then caught himself.  

"Is it OK if I go see her?"

"I don't see why not, Willow's with her." The unspoken implication 
was that with Willow there there would be no fornication.

Angel climbed the stairs and opened Buffy's door a crack. He saw 
Willow lying in bed with Buffy, stroking her face while Buffy writhed 
and mumbled. He experienced conflicting emotions ? arousal and 
jealousy being the main players. He had noticed some time ago that 
Willow had a crush on Buffy. He could sympathise with the girl, he 
knew how intoxicating Buffy could be, she could invade the senses and 
not leave a person alone. He felt grateful that Buffy was his and a 
little sorry for Willow that she would never know how it felt to have 
Buffy return her love. A bittersweet smile appeared on his lips as 
he thought that Buffy would probably be better off with Willow than 
with him. He had to feel guilty; too much happiness wasn't good for 
the health of those around him.

He knocked the door softly and Willow looked up. When she saw who it 
was he saw the usual jealousy in her eyes but there was something new 
there too that he couldn't quite read ? panic? guilt? sympathy? 
smugness?

"Angel, hi!" said Willow with forced brightness.

"Hey Willow" Angel replied. He stepped into the room and immediately 
flattened himself against the wall. "Do you think you could close 
the curtains?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, sure, I can do that." Willow gently extracted her body from 
underneath Buffy's. Buffy's muttering became more agitated at the 
loss of contact. Willow closed the curtains and turned to see Angel 
kneeling down by the bed and brushing Buffy's hair from her brow.  
Willow found herself entertaining very bad thoughts about throwing 
the curtains wide open.

<<No-one would know. I could just sweep the ashes under the bed and 
say he left. No, he's your friend. Sure he's held you by the throat 
and threatened your life, killed your favourite teacher and your 
goldfish and made Buffy leave you for months?but he's good now. And 
it's not his fault that he loves Buffy, it just shows that he's got 
good taste. If he doesn't get his hands off her I'll?>> Willow 
forced herself to let go of the curtains and walked nonchalantly back 
to the bed and sat on the edge of it. Angel looked at her strangely, 
like her was wondering why she was still there. She stared back at 
him defiantly ? she know he would never be so forward as to tell her 
to leave, Buffy'd stake him. He was so whipped. That was an image 
Willow did not want in her head so she was relieved that Giles walked 
in at that moment with a strange looking concoction in a glass 
bottle. Angel rose and took the brew from Giles and proceeded to 
lift Buffy's head and pour the disgusting liquid into her mouth.  
Willow thought this was very presumptuous, what if someone else had 
wanted to do the honours? OK so he'd fought the demon and got the 
heart in the first place?but did he want all the glory? Immediately 
Willow felt awful. She'd never been the jealous type before. She 
was roused from her thoughts by the sound of coughing and spluttering 
as Buffy drank the antidote. Her body started convulsing in a very 
worrying manner. Willow moved to help Angel pin her down. He 
relented and let Willow take an arm. The pair of them held on tight 
and rode the storm out as the convulsions passed and Buffy became 
still again. She was no longer muttering or flailing around. She 
appeared to be sleeping peacefully now. Willow and Angel were each 
holding one of Buffy's hands.

"Now what?" asked Willow, turning to Giles.

He shrugged. "We wait"

So they waited. In a strained, silent atmosphere. Angel was 
wondering why Willow was acting so strangely while Willow was trying 
hard not to fantasise about killing him. Joyce and Giles were 
feeling awkward in each other's company but felt an unspoken bond in 
their shared opinion that Angel was all wrong for Buffy.

Sometime later Buffy showed signs of waking up. Angel decided it was 
time to assert his authority and sat on the bed, positioning himself 
so that he would be the first thing Buffy saw when she opened her 
eyes. Willow felt she really couldn't continue to hold Buffy's hand 
without arousing either suspicion or rage from Angel so she stood up 
and backed away. She and Buffy would have plenty of time together 
after Angel had been told.

Buffy's eyelids fluttered and then slowly opened, blinking a few 
times against the light. She saw a dark shape above her and tried to 
focus on it. It lifted her hand and kissed it with cold lips. Then 
it struck her.

"Angel!" She looked around frantically until she saw a redhead 
lurking in the corner. Willow flashed her a smile and waved. Buffy 
grinned back.

"Can you hear thoughts?" Angel's voice brought her eyes back to 
him. She'd forgotten about that. She concentrated for a moment then 
a smile spread across her face.

"No!"

Angel leaned in and kissed her on the lips, taking her by surprise.  
She glanced at Willow who looked down. Buffy pushed Angel away from 
her, mumbling something about her mother being there.

"You should try and get some rest Buffy, you've been through an awful 
lot in the past 24 hours" said Giles, not realising how true his 
words were.

"No! I can't sit around here, there's a killer at school, and I'm 
fine, really." said Buffy, politely declining Angel's attempts to 
help her stand up. What she really wanted to do was run to Willow 
and hug the living daylights out of her, but she wouldn't, yet.

"Ummm, do you think I could get dressed now?" asked Buffy, hinting 
that she wanted some privacy in which to do this.

"Oh, sure honey," said Joyce, giving Angel a look that left him with 
no doubts as to whether he was allowed to stay in the room. He, 
Joyce and Giles left the room and Willow was on her way out when she 
was caught from behind by two arms around her waist.

"That didn't mean you silly!" Buffy whispered next to her ear.

"Oh, right, well, it was just that you said you were getting changed 
and?"

"And? You've seen my naked before."  

Willow was lost for words as an image of a very naked, nude Buffy 
danced through her head and she was very grateful that Buffy's `gift' 
was gone. While Willow was having dirty thoughts, Buffy had been 
flinging on any garment she could lay her hands on and was fully 
dressed by the time Willow turned around. Willow found herself both 
disappointed and relieved. She was unsure how she'd have controlled 
herself in a no-clothes situation.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Almost. I have something to do first." Buffy stepped up to Willow 
and cupped her cheek, slowly leaning in for a kiss. Their lips were 
millimetres apart when the door burst open and Giles almost knocked 
them over in his hurry. The girls sprang apart like they'd been 
scalded.

"Giles! What if I'd been naked?" Buffy demanded.

"Ah, oh sorry, I assumed you'd be dressed, and you are. So I have 
news. There's no need for you to go to the school. The killer has 
been apprehended,"

"Who was it?" asked Willow.

"The lunch lady apparently. Xander discovered her putting rat poison 
in the lunch special while he was stealing food from the kitchen. He 
was violently ill afterwards. Cordelia gave me a very graphic 
description which I won't bore you with."

"No, I think we can live without that." said Buffy.

"Yes, indeed. Well, I just wanted to let you know, and I really do 
think you should rest."

"A day in bed? I won't say no." Buffy raised a suggestive eyebrow at 
Willow who blushed.

Giles nodded and made to leave but bumped into Angel who was entering 
the room. Giles acknowledged him with a curt apology and continued 
on his way.

"Hey!" said Angel, pulling Buffy into his strong arms. "I'm so glad 
you're OK."

"Umm, yeah, me too," said Buffy, patting him awkwardly on the back.

Willow was looking around for a pencil or some other sharp wooden 
object before she realised what she was doing and mentally scolded 
herself. The sight of Angel holding Buffy like that was making her 
feel things she'd never experienced before ? she had to get out of 
there.

"Look, I'm sure you guys want to talk so I'll leave you alone." She 
looked meaningfully at Buffy when she said the word `talk'. "I'll go 
down and make us all some lunch ? no rat poison, I promise!" <<But 
maybe a little Holy Water>> And she walked out of the room before 
either of them could reply.

TBC

(I promise that Angel will be told in the next, and final, part!)