Fic: Subterfuge (20/?)

[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 (20/?)


"Bloody hell!" Giles yelled without thinking, watching her cringe at his 
raised voice. A flash of guilt entered his eyes, but he was too upset to 
apologize. 


"I didn't know it was her," she defended, "not until I'd already agreed to go 
with her."


"Willow," he spoke quietly, "you agreed to go out for coffee with some woman 
that picked you up in one of those kinds of clubs. That was a very dangerous 
thing to do."


"See, you're doing it!" she said, "You're listening like a father. I need you 
to listen like a watcher!"


"Willow, I'm listening like Giles," he said in a tense voice. "You could have 
been killed, or worse. What help would that have been to Buffy?"


"Don't," she warned, tears entering her eyes. "I can't go back and change it. 
If I could, I would. Nothing can change it. It happened. I'm not dead, but 
that might not have been as bad as what did happen."


"I'm sorry," he said quietly, "don't cry. I just can't believe you did 
something so foolish."


"I have to cry," she said, sniffling, "Everything went wrong and it's all my 
fault. I was trying to help and I made it so much worse. I deserve you 
yelling at me. I deserve you being ashamed and disappointed in me."


"I could never be ashamed of you," he corrected, "nor would I ever be 
disappointed in you, Willow."


"You haven't heard it all, yet," she said, shaking her head. 


"Are you going to tell me the rest?" he asked, watching as she wiped tears 
from her face.


"Promise not to yell?" she asked with a faint hint of a smile.


"Willow," he warned, removing his glasses and rubbing his nose.


"I had coffee with her, with Glory," she said, her fingers moving to pick at 
a stray thread at the bottom of her T-shirt. "She knew about my friendship 
with Buffy somehow, didn't seem to be scared of her at all. Giles, she showed 
no fear of the slayer. She was amused when I told her that Buffy was going to 
kick her ass. When I tried to leave, she told me that she had decided she 
wanted me. That I was some cure for her boredom or something like that."


"Good Lord," he said softly, seeing the fear flash in Willow's green eyes.


"That was nearly three weeks ago," Willow confessed in a whisper, watching as 
Giles looked away.