FIC: A Night for Reflection (Repost) (1st of 3 stories)

["Angelina " <angelina2006@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: A Night for Reflection
AUTHOR: Angelina
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, Joss's. 
SUMMARY: An encounter with Angelus leaves Willow with time to 
reflect
SPOILERS: None really. Set at some point during the Angelus period 
of Series 2
DISTRIBUTION: It's yours if you e-mail me
AUTHOR's NOTES: If you have read this fic somewhere before it's not 
because I copied it. It is archived elsewhere under a different 
name.This was not originally written as a B/W piece but I came up 
with a sequel so it's sort of a prologue to a B/W piece now.
FEEDBACK: Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!!


Willow looked at the Slayer's form lying in the hospital bed. So 
still, so pale, so fragile. If it were not for the breath sounds 
coming through the oxygen mask Willow would have been unsure whether 
she was alive or dead. Her face was unmarked, belying the extent of 
her injuries which were severe to say the least. Willow reached out 
and took her friend's hand. It was cold and unresponsive, the 
fingers did not tighten around Willow's as they had done so many 
times in the past.

Sitting alone in the silent hospital room Willow allowed herself to 
cry. Giles and Buffy's mom had gone for coffee. Xander, Cordelia 
and Oz had gone home a few hours ago when they'd learned that Buffy's 
condition had stabilised. Oz had tried to convince Willow to go with 
them but she'd refused. Then he had offered to stay with her but 
she'd abruptly told him just to go. She hadn't meant to hurt his 
feelings but she just wanted to be with Buffy right now.

A tear ran down her cheek as she wished it were her in the bed 
instead of Buffy. It should have been, would have been if Buffy had 
not come along when she did. The events of the previous night ran 
through her mind, every image, every sound, every smell imprinted on 
her memory.

********

Walking home alone from the library after dark was not something she 
normally did but she had stayed on a little later than the others to 
finish up. She had told them to go and that she would be perfectly 
fine. She had the usual equipment in her bag - stake, cross, holy 
water - so she wasn't unduly worried. What she hadn't counted on was 
a vampire lying in wait for her. One who had watched the others 
leave and knew she was alone. One who knew her. Angelus.

He stalked his prey for a while before swooping in for the catch. He 
moved stealthily and before Willow even knew he was there he had a 
hand covering her mouth and another pinning her arms to her sides. 
She tried to scream but only managed a muffled sound. Her attacker 
spoke. 

"Hello Willow."

The voice was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Then 
the penny dropped. The voice was Angel's but with a harder, more 
guttural quality to it. A threatening, menacing cadence. It was 
Angelus. Willow's heart pounded in her chest and her breathing 
quickened. Angelus brought his face down to hers and sniffed.

"You smell so good when you're terrified.....good enough to eat." A 
squeak came from under his hand. "Oh but don't worry, I'm not gonna 
do that, that wouldn't be as much fun as what I have planned for you."

"Mot oo oo av and?" Willow mumbled.

"What do I have planned?" Angelus pulled Willow's face around and 
made her look at him. "I'm going to hurt you." His demonic features 
broke into a twisted smile revealing his fangs. "And then, when I'm 
done hurting you, I'm going to leave you for your pitiful bunch of 
friends to find."

"My mont oo ill me ow?" Willow spoke as best she could, she was 
shaking uncontrollably now.

"If I kill you now that'd hurt Buffy, it'd hurt her a lot. But if I 
make you suffer, if I make you beg me to kill you and then send you 
back to her in that state, that will destroy her." Tears ran over 
Angelus' hand, he lowered his head and licked then off. "Mmmm, your 
tears taste good, I bet your blood is as sweet as honey." He licked 
her neck with his rough tongue and she squirmed away but he held her 
tight. "Yeah, Buffy'll be real cut up when she finds out what I've 
done to her little Willow."

A voice came from behind them. "Not if I cut you up first." 

Angelus whirled around still holding Willow. There stood Buffy, 
hands on hips, staring defiantly at Angelus.

"Well hello lover, this is a surprise. Shouldn't you be patrolling 
across town?"

Buffy took a step towards them but Angelus moved his hand from 
Willow's mouth onto her throat. She emitted a strangled gasp and 
Buffy stopped in her tracks.

"Let her go" she said quietly.

Angelus shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Now Buffy, do you 
really think you're in a position to be giving orders to me?" He 
tightened his grip slightly and Willow whimpered.

"Come on Angelus it's me you want."

"Ah, now that's a very ego-centric view of things wouldn't you say?" 
Angelus loosened his hold on Willow's neck but kept hold of 
her. "You couldn't be more wrong. Soul-Boy wanted you and look 
where that got him! No, I don't want you, I couldn't want you less. 
What I want is to see you suffer. And what better way to do that 
than to attack the chink in your armour?"

"Chink? What chink?" Buffy wanted to keep him talking, if he was 
talking, he wasn't hurting Willow.

"You see, my normal MO doesn't usually work on Slayers. But then 
again you're not like most Slayers."

"Oh yeah? And how's that?" Buffy was inching towards them 
imperceptibly.

"Slayers don't usually have so many friends to play with." Angelus 
explained obligingly. "You my dear are a formidable opponent in 
combat but you have a huge weakness. You care too much about people."

Buffy had stopped moving. Angelus' words frightened her more than 
she would have liked. Because they were true. He went on, liking 
the sound of his own voice.

"You know that if I was holding you right now you'd know exactly what 
to do. You'd be fighting me for all you were worth. But here we are 
instead, I have your bestest buddy and you can't do a thing in case I 
hurt her." Angelus' yellow eyes glinted in the moonlight. Buffy 
stood, helpless. Angelus continued "Actually, this might be better 
than what I had planned. This way I get to see your reactions first 
hand."

Buffy realised the meaning of this statement a second too late and 
Angelus' head whipped down and his teeth pierced the smooth skin of 
Willow's neck. Buffy lunged forward and grabbed Angelus' hair 
yanking his head upwards as Willow's scream split the night.

Angelus let go of Willow and, not expecting to be released, she fell 
to the ground and scrambled away from him holding her neck. Buffy 
took a stake from her back pocket and raised it. Angelus brought his 
knee up and it connected with her stomach. She stumbled backwards, 
momentarily winded. Angelus advanced on her in her vulnerable 
state. He grabbed the hand that held the stake attempting to wrench 
it away from her. She held on tight and their struggle brought them 
face to face, almost touching.

"I'm not gonna kill you now." Angelus snarled. "That's be the easy 
way out for you."

"Oh yeah? Well, you'll forgive me if I skip straight to the killing 
you part, I can't be bothered with all the other stuff." Buffy 
replied breathlessly. She suddenly got the upper hand and pushed 
Angel off balance. He fell backwards but pulled her with him. The 
stake fell out of Buffy's hand and rolled out of reach. As she 
stretched towards it Angelus punched her squarely in the face. Blood 
ran from her nose and landed on Angelus' face. The smell seemed to 
give him a boost of energy and he threw Buffy off of him and he 
reached out and grabbed the stake.

Willow was watching the fight from a distance. She winced with every 
blow Angelus landed on Buffy. She saw his hand close around the 
stake and knew she had to do something. She saw her bag in the road 
and went to retrieve her vampire fighting supplies.

While Willow's back was turned Buffy regained her composure and 
hurled herself at Angelus just as he turned around with the stake in 
his hand, pointing upwards. Buffy did not make a sound as she felt 
the wood break through her skin and continue deeper into her abdomen 
as her weight carried her forward. For a split second there was no 
pain. Her eyes locked with Angelus' and his face registered shock as 
he felt blood on his hands, then a smile crept over his lips. That 
was when the pain hit. Searing agony ripped through her entire body 
like nothing she had ever experienced. She opened her mouth but the 
sound which came out seemed detached and very far away.

The scream was the most awful sound Willow had ever heard. Her heart 
seemed to turn to ice. For the next few moments everything happened 
in slow-motion. She spun around to see Buffy rolling off Angelus, 
her hands were clutching her stomach and something seemed to be 
protruding from between her fingers. The stake.

Angelus was moving towards Buffy but Willow, spurred on by a hatred 
she could never have imagined feeling, was quicker. She threw her 
whole bottle of Holy Water directly onto Angelus' face. He uttered a 
low growl followed by a howl of pain. He had been blinded by the 
water and had no intention of sticking around to see what Willow 
would do next. He clambered to his feet and ran off into the dark.

Time resumed its normal speed as Willow ran to Buffy's side. Her 
breathing was quick and her eyes were staring into the night sky. 
Her hands were covered in blood which continued to flow.

"Oh my God, oh my God, Buffy!"

Willow put her hands over Buffy's in an attempt to stem the flow of 
blood. The warm sticky liquid repulsed her and fascinated her. It 
signified the life slowly ebbing out of her best friend.

"Help!" Willow screamed the word at the top of her voice. "Somebody 
please help us!" She looked at Buffy's face, her eyes were 
closed. "No Buffy, come on, wake up. Don't leave me. I need you." 
Willow pleaded, her throat raw from shouting and crying.

"Will..." Buffy's voice was no more than a whisper but the sound of 
it made Willow's heart start beating again.

"I'm here Buffy, what is it?" But she didn't speak again.

After that things were a bit of a blur. Someone from a nearby house 
called an ambulance which whisked the two of them to the hospital 
where Willow was left alone as Buffy was rushed to the emergency 
room. Willow had called Buffy's mom and Giles. Giles had called the 
others and everyone had arrived at the hospital frantic. 

The police wanted to speak to Willow. She told them the usual story -
mugging, didn't see the guy who did it, blah, blah, blah. Only when 
Buffy was brought down from the OR and her mother was allowed to see 
her did Willow get the chance to tell the real story to the others. 
There were a range of emotions from anger to sadness to sympathy but 
none of it made Willow feel better. Or less guilty.

********

Now sitting in the dimly lit room, Willow began to speak.

"Buffy, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. It was really stupid of 
me to walk home alone in the dark. It should be me lying in that 
bed. I'm not as important as you, it wouldn't matter if I died but 
you're the Slayer, the world needs you. And because of me you could 
have died. You were hurt so bad and I walked away with a couple of 
scratches." Tears were flowing freely now. "I'd give anything to 
trade places with you right now." 

Willow bowed her head and sobbed quietly. She felt a movement from 
the hand she was holding. She looked up quickly and watched as 
Buffy's hand curled around her own. She glanced at Buffy's face, a 
pair of hazel eyes were watching her.

"Buffy! You're awake! Oh my God, I'd better get your mom!" Willow 
half stood up but Buffy's voice stopped her.

"Wait" Willow sat down again.

"What is it?" she asked softly, leaning closer to hear Buffy better.

"I don't....ever want to...to hear you talk....like that again."

"You heard me?" Buffy nodded. "All of it?" She nodded again.

"And when I've...had a little rest we...we're gonna have....a long 
talk...OK?"

"OK." Willow smiled and sighed with relief. She knew Buffy would be 
OK if she was worrying about her already and that was all that 
mattered for the moment. The only other thing which was of concern 
to her could wait for a while. And that was killing Angelus.

Willow stood up and gently kissed Buffy's forehead.

"I'll go get your mom."

"OK...Will, was I...mugged again?"

"`Fraid so."

"OK...as long as I know."

Willow smiled and squeezed Buffy's hand once more before leaving to 
find Joyce and Giles. Outside Buffy's window a dark figure stood. 
His hand traced the shiny burn marks spoiling his handsome features.

"You'll pay for this you little witch."

TBC in A Day of Revelation