Fic: Subterfuge (19/?)

[inell@xxxxxxx]

Title: Subterfuge
Author: Inell
Email: Inell@xxxxxxx
Disclaimer: Joss owns them all
Distribution: My site, Kiss or Kill, 
http://members.fortunecity.com/kissorkill Anyone that has permission, take. 
Otherwise, just ask.
Rating: R
Pairing: Willow/Buffy
To anyone enjoying this fic, thanks for reading :)


SUBTERFUGE (19/?)


Giles sighed softly at Willow's words, having somehow expected that answer. 
He put his mug on the table, turning his complete attention to the redhead, 
"What's wrong, Willow?"


Willow looked away, not able to meet his eyes. She took a deep breath and let 
it out slowly, trying to figure out the best to say what she had to say. She 
didn't want Giles to be disappointed in her. She looked back at him, seeing 
him watching her patiently, though a nerve in his cheek was twitching. She 
kept her eyes on him as she spoke, knowing that Giles often said the most 
without ever opening his mouth. "I need your help."


"Of course," he said, thankful that she was finally speaking. "You know that 
I would do anything for you, Willow."


"I know," she smiled softly, her right hand pushing her hair behind her ear. 
"You know that you're like a father to me, that you've always been there 
anytime I needed you."


"And you're like a daughter to me," he said slowly, "you children are my 
family."


"What I'm going to tell you," she hesitated, wondering how she should say it, 
"I don't want you to hear it like a father."


"Excuse me?" he said, slightly confused by what she was saying.


"Just promise me that you won't listen to me like a father," she said, her 
eyes begging.


"I can't promise something that I don't understand," he said, looking at her 
curiously.


"This isn't going well," she said with a sigh. "I don't know how to tell you 
what I have to tell you, but I need you to know because I've been trying to 
deal with it alone and I just can't anymore and I'm so scared and I just 
don't know what to do."


"Willow, calm down," he said quietly, his concern growing as he realized that 
whatever her problem was, it was far worse than making a bad grade in school. 
He began to think what could have happened to bring her to him, to ask for 
his help. Buffy had not mentioned anything, no experiences of strange 
behavior. He, himself, had not witnessed anything. He watched as she smiled 
sheepishly, clearly upset by whatever it is she was going to tell him. He 
knew not to push Willow, knowing that the girl would tell him on her own 
time. He didn't want to disturb her even more by demanding the answers he was 
waiting to receive.


"I did something stupid," she whispered, her eyes on his. "I was trying to 
help, I really wanted to help Buffy. She's been through so much these past 
months, I thought I could help."


"What did you do?" he asked.


"I went to this club to try to see if I could find out anything about Glory," 
Willow said, grimacing as she spoke the demon's name. 


"I can imagine the sort of club," he said, trying to keep the disapproval 
from his voice.


"I knew you'd be upset," she said softly, looking at the carpet. 


"I'm not upset with you, Willow. You believed you were trying to help your 
friend. It's just, I've warned you before about that bad habit of yours of 
jumping in without thinking," he reminded quietly. 


"I thought I could listen, see if anyone mentioned her," Willow looked up 
again, "I didn't really think it through, I guess. I had this vision of going 
in and miraculously hearing how to defeat her and saving Buffy from the 
stress and fear she's been feeling for the last couple of months. It was 
stupid. I know that. I think I even knew it when I went. I was just so tired 
of not being able to do anything to help. Buffy was dealing with all that 
stuff and all we could do was look through some dusty old books that had no 
answers. I never planned for any of this to happen."


"We all feel a bit helpless at the moment, Willow," Giles said gently, 
deciding to move on, "This club? Is that the problem? Did something happen? 
Did you learn something?"


"When I was there, this woman tried to pick me up," she said, rather proud 
that she wasn't looking away. She felt more frightened by telling Giles about 
Glory than she had facing the mayor. She didn't even want to get into the 
depth of fear at telling Buffy. That was beyond her comprehension at the 
moment. "I left the club and she followed me, asked me for coffee."


"Continue," he said.


"After I agreed, she introduced herself," Willow said, "it was Glory, Giles."