FIC: A Day of Revelation (2nd of 3 stories)

["Angelina " <angelina2006@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: A day of Revelation (2nd of 3 parts)
AUTHOR: Angelina 
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. 
SUMMARY: Willow and Buffy have a revealing conversation in the 
hospital following A Night for Reflection
DISTRIBUTION: If you want it e-mail me ? I'll say yes.
SPOILERS: None really, set at some point in Season 2, before Passion 
AUTHOR'S NOTES: All feedback welcome. "Mochas?" "Yes please!" This 
is a follow up for A Night For Reflection which was not originally 
written as a B/W piece.


The following day Willow was returning to the hospital to see Buffy.  
Her thoughts had seldom strayed from Angel and strategies to stop his 
reign of terror. The best way would be to restore his soul.  
Unfortunately Ms Calendar had said this could no longer be done. The 
only other way to prevent him from hurting anyone else would be to 
end his un-life once and for all. Willow knew that Buffy had been 
unable to do this up till now, it was difficult after all they'd 
shared. But this was the real world and things weren't always easy.  
Willow could only hope that she could spare Buffy the pain of 
actually carrying out the execution herself. Willow would do it for 
her, she owed her than much. And she would enjoy it. After seeing 
the damage inflicted on Buffy by that bastard Willow felt no guilt, 
only rage. That twisted smile on his face as he watched Buffy bleed 
erased any feelings of pity she might have felt for him. He was no 
longer Angel. He was a monster with Angel's face, no more, no less.

She reached the hospital and made her way to Buffy's room where she 
found the slayer sitting up talking to her mother and a nurse.

"?amazing, I've never seen a recovery like it!" the nurse was saying.

"Yes, she's a tough one alright, even as a child she was very rarely 
sick." said Joyce

If only they knew, thought Willow. Buffy was looking decidedly 
unhappy. Willow stood in the doorway for a moment, just looking at 
her. She was as white as the hospital bed-sheets. Her face looked 
drawn and tired. She turned to get a glass of water from the stand 
beside the bed but flinched as she reached up and her hand flew to 
her side bringing last night's events flooding back to Willow.

"I'll get than for you honey," said Joyce standing up and passing the 
glass to Buffy.

"Thanks" said Buffy in a small voice. Willow understood how she must 
be feeling. She was so independent and strong, she wasn't used to 
being fawned over and not being able to do things for herself. This 
must be hell for her.

Willow was still standing staring at Buffy when, almost like she felt 
her presence Buffy turned around and locked eyes with her.  
Immediately her face changed. A smile spread across her pale 
features and her eyes took on a glow that hinted at the vibrancy 
Willow associated with Buffy alone.

"Hey Will, why you standing there? Come on in, join the party!"  
Willow smiled and walked into the room.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fantastic!" Willow raised an eyebrow. "Well, fine." The eyebrow 
didn't budge. "OK, I feel better than I did last night." Buffy 
conceded.

"Good," said Willow perching herself on the edge of the bed. The 
nurse finished talking to Buffy's mother and left the room.

"Do you mind if I pop home quickly sweetie? I'd like to have a 
shower and change and?"

"Sure Mom, I'm a big girl now. Besides," she added with a glint in 
her eye, "I have my Willow to protect me." Willow looked down at the 
bed cover.
"Yes, you're quite the heroine Willow. The doctor said that if you 
hadn't been there to raise the alarm the consequences could have been 
much worse." Joyce visibly shuddered at this thought and made a hasty 
exit after kissing Buffy's cheek. Buffy looked at Willow, 
concerned. She reached out and took her hand.

"What's up?"

"If I hadn't been there it could have been worse, yeah right. If I 
hadn't been there none of this would have happened." Willow didn't 
look up, her attention remained focused on the floor but 
subconsciously she was playing with Buffy's hand: rubbing circles 
into the palm, squeezing the fingers. This fact did not go unnoticed 
by Buffy who watched their joined hands with fascination. Then and 
there Buffy made up her mind to tell Willow something she'd been 
keeping from her for a long time.

"I promised to a talk didn't I?"

"Oh Buffy, it's OK, I don't need a pep talk."

"It's not a pep talk, it's the truth and I think it's something you 
need to hear?something I need to say to you."

Willow finally looked up and was taken aback at the emotions apparent 
on Buffy's face. She nodded for Buffy to continue.

"You said last night that it should have been you in this bed, that 
it didn't matter if you died but that is so wrong. It doesn't matter 
if I die ? another slayer will be activated straight away ? but if 
you die there's no-one to take your place. No-one ever could, you're 
Willow and a world without you would be pointless for anyone who 
knows and loves you like I?like we all do." Buffy stopped to draw 
breath. Willow's eyes were bright with tears. "I know you probably 
think I'm just saying this to make you feel better but I'm not. I 
mean every word." Buffy swallowed, nervous about what she wanted to 
say next. "Willow, there's something I should have done a long time 
ago."

"What's that?" Willow asked through a constricted throat.

"This." And without another word Buffy leaned over and kissed Willow 
squarely on the lips. It started out chastely but wasn't allowed to 
continue that way for long. Willow's lips parted inviting Buffy's 
tongue in. Tentatively at first they explored this foreign terrain.  
As they gained confidence the kiss increased in fervour and 
intensity, stealing the breath from their lungs and forcing them to 
reluctantly break apart. They remained close, foreheads touching, 
breathing heavily.

"I, wow?I mean I never?that was?.wow?" Willow's ability to form 
coherent sentences was impaired, more than usual.

"I love you." Buffy stated simply.

"I love you too."

"I know."  

"What?!?" Willow exclaimed pulling back to look into Buffy's 
eyes. "You knew? For how long? And you didn't say anything? But?"

"Shhhhhh" Buffy put a finger on Willow's lips and despite her 
current indignation Willow couldn't help but kiss it. "Let me 
explain."

"I'm listening" said Willow, aching to kiss Buffy again but unwilling 
to let her off the hook that easily. She satisfied herself and 
reassured Buffy by linking their fingers together.

"OK OK, where do I start?"

"How about telling me how long you've had feelings for me? Then we 
can move onto how you knew that I felt the same way about you and 
finally we can segue into you telling me why the hell you didn't 
bring this up earlier." Willow's voice contained a hint of sarcasm 
but also a genuine need to hear the requested information.

"Right, I don't know when exactly I started loving you, but I do know 
when I realised it." Buffy squeezed Willow's hand as she thought 
back. "Remember when Giles found that prophecy in the Codex?"  
Willow nodded silently, the memory was not a pleasant one. "Well, 
you know that I quit as the slayer and said there was no way I was 
gonna die just to save the stupid old world?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know what changed my mind?" Willow shook her head.

"It was you."

"Me? But I didn't?"

"You didn't tell me that I should fight the Master, that it was my 
sacred duty or anything like that." Buffy was staring into space as 
she remembered one of the most difficult times in her young 
life. "But when I say you after you found that room full of dead guys 
I knew that I would fight the Master. I knew that I had to find 
whatever had made you feel like that and stop it. And I knew I would 
save the world, because you were part of that world and there was no 
way I was gonna let anything hurt you?because you were my world."  
Buffy only realised she was crying when she felt Willow gently brush 
away her tears. She laughed, embarrassed at this display of 
emotion. "So that's when I first realised I loved you." Willow 
kissed Buffy softly on the cheek, tasting the salty residue of her 
tears. She had already forgiven Buffy enough to re-establish 
touching but she still wanted to hear more.

"So," said Willow, toying with a strand of Buffy's hair. "When do you 
think I started having feelings for you?"

"Well, actually, I thought I noticed something a few times but I put 
it down to wishful thinking on my part. But it finally hit me when 
you bandaged my knee in the library once. You probably don't even 
remember it, it was?."

"When Kendra was here, I remember." Willow said smiling.

"You were so gentle, and you kept your hand on my leg just a tiny bit 
longer than necessary." Buffy grinned. "You little hussy, taking 
advantage of an injured woman!"

Willow blushed and slapped Buffy's arm playfully. "Yeah, well?I?you?
hey never mind that, so when you finally figured out that I was mad 
about you how come you never said anything?"

"It's complicated, and in hindsight it was totally wrong."

"I'll say." Willow cupped Buffy's cheek and kissed her. A slow 
sensuous kiss. "Just think how much of that we've missed."

"Bad me." Buffy mumbled, still recovering the assault on her senses 
that Willow's kisses appeared to cause. "But wait, why am I taking 
all the blame here? You could just have easily told me how you felt."

"But we both know I'm not the forward type at the best of times. And 
crushing on your best friend who is showing no outward signs of 
feeling the same way is not the best of times," said Willow, "What's 
you excuse?"

"I?I didn't want you getting involved with someone like me. I'm 
hardly meet the parents material am I? `Hey mom and dad, this is my 
new partner Buffy, not only is she a girl but she's also a vampire 
slayer with a life expectancy that's slightly longer than your 
average dog's and oh yeah, she's not Jewish!'" Willow was about to 
protest but Buffy held up her hand for silence. "I though you 
deserved better than me, or at least, more normal. That's why I 
encouraged you with Oz and I stayed with Angel. But when I saw him 
holding you by the throat last night something in my head just 
snapped and I knew that I was being selfish. That I had to give you 
the chance to make up your own mind. It reminded me how fragile this 
life is and that we should enjoy the time we have?and God I'm 
sounding like someone really old aren't I?"

Willow shook her head wordlessly. She moved closer to Buffy on the 
bed and gently pulled her into a hug so as not to aggravate her 
wound. They stayed like that for a long time until Buffy broke the 
silence.

"Was I right?"

"About what?" asked Willow pulling back slightly.

"About when you started having lustful thoughts about me?"

"Who says I have lustful thoughts about you?"

"Hey!"

"Just kidding, actually, the lustful thoughts started long before I 
admitted to myself that it was anything other that teenage hormones 
running rampant." Buffy's eyebrows were raised but Willow could tell 
she was pleased. "I think I finally realised that I was totally in 
love with you at Halloween,"

"The sight of my bosoms in that dress clinched the deal huh?"

"No actually, although they were very nice." Willow said smiling. "It 
was the way you encouraged me to believe in myself, to see myself in 
a new light. No-one had ever taken an interest in me like that 
before. Of course at the time I didn't realise that you'd dressed me 
up like a hooker so that you could ogle my body!" said Willow 
mischievously.

"Busted!" said Buffy, and kissed Willow lightly on the nose. She ran 
a hand through Willow's hair a few times before continuing. "I 
guess in a weird way we have Angel to thank for this." 

Willow's expression changed to one Buffy didn't recognise. She was 
about to pursue the matter when Willow spoke.

"Let's not talk about him OK? Let's just enjoy this for a while" she 
said gesturing between herself and Buffy.

"OK" said Buffy slowly, allowing herself to be drawn into a kiss ? 
this was fast becoming an addiction.

"Ahem." The girls turned around to see a nurse standing in the 
doorway, "Well, I was coming in to take your blood pressure but 
something tells me that it would be a bit high at the moment." And 
with that she turned and walked away.

Buffy and Willow looked at each other and giggled. For the rest of 
the afternoon they talked and snuggled and kissed. But Willow 
couldn't shake the niggling feeling at the back of her mind that was 
Angel. She knew what she had to do and she had decided how she would 
go about it. Now it was a matter of carrying out her plan. She 
looked down at Buffy who was asleep on her shoulder. She looked 
peaceful. And if Willow had anything to do with it that's the way 
she'd stay. She kissed Buffy's forehead gently and settled back into 
her thoughts of revenge.

TBC - in A Time for Revenge