Fic: Subterfuge (26/?)

[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 reading


SUBTERFUGE (26/?)


Willow walked into the living room, a small smile on her face as she saw 
Buffy sitting on the couch watching her with a smile. She tried to look stern 
as she scolded, "You're supposed to be in bed, young lady."


"I got bored," Buffy said with a smile, "besides, I'm feeling much better."


"You are?" Willow said with a relieved smile as she sat down in the large 
chair beside the sofa.


"Yep. Head is no longer dizzy and that blech taste in my mouth seems to have 
faded," Buffy gestured to the plate with the remains of her sandwich and 
said, "and I even ate a little bit. Kept it down and all, so I guess it was 
just a twelve hour bug."


"I'm so glad," Willow replied, guilt going through her as she realized that 
Buffy still believed it to have been a virus of some sort. Her smile faded as 
she realized that it was now or never. "Buffy, we need to talk."


"I was afraid you were going to say that," Buffy said softly, sighing as she 
hit mute on the remote, not needing the constant jabbering of Scooby Doo to 
interfere with their conversation. 


"You were?" Willow looked at her friend with surprise, wondering how Buffy 
had known.


Buffy nodded, giving her a shy smile, "I was planning on talking to you when 
you got back, had everything I wanted to say planned in my head. But, when I 
saw you, I couldn't remember any of it. And you had that same look in your 
eyes that I figured was in mine, that we need to talk kind of look."


"What?" Willow was getting confused, not really following Buffy's reasoning.


"You can go first," Buffy said, chewing on her bottom lip. She was so 
nervous, butterflies in her stomach as she thought of confessing her love for 
Willow. 


"Okay," Willow said, her eyes looking at the silent cartoon. "This isn't easy 
for me to tell you, Buffy. You know that you're my best friend in the entire 
world, that I would never do anything to hurt you. Goddess, this is tougher 
than I imagined."


"Willow, look at me. What's wrong? You're starting to scare me here," Buffy 
frowned as she waited, not able to remember a time that she had seen Willow 
so serious, her nervousness fading as an uneasy fear settled in the pit of 
her stomach.


"I'm sorry," Willow whispered as she looked at Buffy with teary eyes. "I'm so 
sorry. I was trying to help you and it all went so dreadfully wrong and I 
didn't think it would and then it did and then it was too late and you got 
hurt and I'm so scared, Buffy. I'm so scared that I'm going to lose you. I 
can't lose you."


"Will, deep breath," Buffy said, able to follow Willow's rambling after years 
of practice, but having no idea what it all meant. "You're not going to lose 
me. You're never going to lose me, so stop being scared about that. Now, what 
went wrong? And when was I hurt?"


"You should never say never," Willow said softly, her hand moving over her 
face as she took a deep breath. She let it out slowly before continuing, "Do 
you remember that night I went to that club, when I was trying to get 
information to help you?"


"I remember," Buffy said, not wanting to think of the fight that they had had 
that night because of her silly jealousy. 


"The woman I met that night, that followed me and wanted to have coffee," 
Willow's voice was almost a whisper as she somehow managed to keep the 
strength to hold Buffy's gaze, "it was Glory."