The Slayer And The Witch Chapter 3/? - First Contact

["Stefan Akerblom" <nagarek62@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey all.

Here's another instalment, hopefully the header's fixed this time, minus 
marks for me and all who didn't notice I'd messed up the name of the story 
in the header ... Duh!

Stef.


The Slayer And The Witch - Stefan Akerblom aka - nagarek - 
nagarek62@xxxxxxxxxxx
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Critique:	Yes please, but no flames (I'm flammable)
Warning:	Building to NC-17, f/f relations, possiby f/f/m
Characters:	Willow, Buffy, Xander, Anya, Giles, Angel, Dawn, Spike, Wes,
Cordy, Oz (?), nurse Becky Chapel, nurse Erin Lonsdale,
Main Pairing/s:	Willow & Buffy, maybe Giles/Becky/Erin - who wants to see
that? :o) (not sure yet about Anya/Xander ... maybe) time will
reveal all!
Disclaimer:	Joss Whedon owns all in the Buffy Universe, I have merely played
and embellished, not claimed any rights, apart from a couple of
nice nursies!
Brief: Buffy and Willow have both recently lost their partners, Willow is
hospitalised and Buffy is almost paralysed with guilt over it, both
Willow and Buffy realise how much they really mean to each other,
they embark on a voyage of discovery and figuring out a way to
break their new relationship to their friends while keeping the
minions of the hellmouth from taking over. Meanwhile solutions
present themselves which can have far reaching effects on Buffy
and Willow's future.

Many thanks go to Crys Loch (pagansoul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) for answering my 
email,
and a lot of inspiration and much encouragement (you said just the right 
things to
make me think while I channeled Willow), and to Cairo (played at 
ear-splitting volume)
for setting the mood.
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Chapter 3 - First contact
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Someone was softly shaking her shoulder. Buffy's eyes took a few seconds to 
open and focus properly, and saw it was nurse Chapel.

"Miss Summers?"

"Uh yeah ... Buffy Summers." Buffy ran her hand over her face and felt the 
hair glued there from the tears from before, she reached up and tried to 
smooth the feral blonde animal on her head down into something more 
manageable. Buffy's mouth felt like something covered in wool had gone to 
sleep in there. She tried to focus her thoughts, must have nodded off for a 
couple of minutes, so tired and ... hungry.

"I just thought you wanted to know, Miss Rosenberg came out of the lab a 
couple of hours ago, I hope you don't mind but I let you sleep, you seemed 
to be exhausted." Buffy looked around for a wall clock, found one that said 
6.20am. Oh god, I've been asleep for hours.

"No I ... ah ... thanks, you're right I probably did need it, but right now 
I feel like something the cat dragged in ... how's Willow, is ... is she 
awake?"

"No, she's still under the effects of the sedatives, but depending on her 
system and how it deals with the drugs, she may wake any time up until late 
tonight. Tell you what, how do you like your coffee, and I'll give you a 
brief rundown of her condition, deal?"

"Ok, deal, thanks. Lo-fat white, no sugar and strong" Buffy sat upright and 
began pulling her boots on from where she'd removed them to curl up on the 
chair to sleep.

"Sorry, normal milk, no lo-fat, milkman hasn't been yet." Nurse Chapel 
stirred the coffee and dropped the disposable stirrer in the waste basket 
beside the sink. Turning she saw how little and scared Buffy looked right 
now. And yet somehow she sensed something very special about this young 
girl. She handed the coffee to Buffy and sat down beside her on a chair.

"I won't be on after seven, shift change, but if you're here and need 
anything, talk to nurse Lonsdale, Erin, she begins at eight and will take 
over until I return tonight at eight. Nurse Ling will be here between seven 
and eight. I'll leave information for her about you and Miss Rosenberg ... 
Willow." Buffy just nodded and sipped her coffee in silence as she listened. 
" Now ... the injuries look better than first prognosis indicated, there's 
only minor injuries internally, the spleen and kidney are both bruised but 
show no contusions or other major injuries, there's still a question about a 
possible injury to her lung but that should clarify itself over the period 
of the day. Otherwise, she's got two cracked ribs, a cracked bone in her 
wrist, a badly sprained right knee and ankle with resultant swelling and 
liquid retention, but that should disappear after a few days. We've isolated 
her hand in a splint to prevent the bone in her wrist moving, however the 
doctor may decide to cast it if it becomes a problem. Other than that 
there's a few facial bruises and scratches, scrapes and scratches on her 
legs, forearms and palms where she apparently slid along the road after the 
initial impact, they'll heal pretty well but will probably be a bit painful 
and uncomfortable for a few days or a week. I've packed her clothes and 
belongings in a bag which is next to her handbag in the bottom cupboard next 
to the bed, the dress looks like a mess but seems relatively undamaged, her 
stockings however are a writeoff and her coat will need some pretty severe 
mending, that thick coat no doubt saved her life. It must have cushioned the 
impact and prevented a lot of her injuries from becoming any worse. You 
could say thank god the weather's been so bad lately. Might I suggest you go 
home shortly with those things to wash, and get yourself some more proper 
sleep and return with a few items of under clothes, a nightie, slippers and 
maybe some comfort items if she has them, teddybear or whatever she prefers? 
I noticed she's a reader too, some pretty heavy books she had with her, I'd 
suggest you take most of those home as well, but maybe leave something light 
for her to read."

"Sure, I'll bring some stuff, I have to make some phonecalls. Thanks for 
all your help. I must admit I'm a bit lost right now, not that I haven't had 
a lot to do with hospitals, I seem to spend half my life in them ... but 
usually from the other side of the bed, not this side ... um ... Can I go 
see Willow?" she gulped the last few mouthfuls of coffee.

"Of course you can, but be aware that Willow's still sedated and probably 
won't respond to you or anything else for that matter. We like to keep her 
quiet and let her body get on with the job of healing itself. It's much 
better at that job usually than we are, but sometimes it just needs our help 
when it's a little bit overwhelmed. That's not the case here ... Buffy. 
Willow will be fine, and ... you'll have her back and awake ... and with you 
in next to no time, I promise." Buffy looked at the nurse, trying to gauge 
if there was anything behind the lightly veiled words, they seemed to hint 
at something, but nurse Chapel just smiled softly and stood up. "She'll 
probably wake up today sometime, when the sedatives wear off. Anyway, let's 
go to her. Ok?" Buffy just nodded.

Buffy put the styrofoam coffee cup in the waste basket and followed nurse 
Chapel out of the lounge. They turned the corner and walked down the 
corridor to room 402, the door was already open so they just walked in. As 
she stepped in, Buffy's heart leapt into her mouth and her hands flew to her 
throat as she saw the drip in the arm and the tube in Willow's nose and all 
the machines around the bed, she looked at the nurse as if she couldn't 
believe that she'd lied to her. Nurse Chapel looked and smiled back.

"Saline drip in her arm, she's lost a bit of fluid from the internal 
bleeding, plus we've put her on a vitamin boost to help the healing process, 
the tube is simply for liquid nourishment and will come out later today when 
she wakes up. Don't worry, it looks worse than it is, remember, I promised 
you that Willow would be fine, and I keep my promises." Inadvertently nurse 
Chapel saw Buffy grimace at the nurse's stinging comment, she'd touched a 
very raw nerve without realising it she figured, and catalogued it for 
later. Buffy nodded silently to the nurse, and returned her attention to her 
friend.

"I'll leave you two alone for a while." Buffy's eyes roamed over Willow's 
prone form, the chestnut-red hair spread out like a halo around her on the 
crisp white pillow, but it was the scrapes and bruises on her face and the 
deep gravel scratches on her hands and arms she noticed the most. Her eyes 
welled up with tears at how little and hurt and vulnerable Willow looked 
like this, the closed swollen eyes showed a serene healing sleep which 
belied how close she'd come to sleeping forever. Nurse Chapel silently 
walked out of the room and closed the door, the sounds of the hospital faded 
behind the barrier.

Willow was breathing evenly and deeply which for now seemed a blessing, at 
least she didn't look to be in any pain. Buffy looked at Willow's arm and 
saw numerous punctures and other signs showing where blood samples and other 
tests had been performed. Insult to injury, it's not enough that Willow 
looked like she'd already gone through a cheese grater already, the doctors 
had to add their little bits of torture to it. The left wrist and hand was 
covered in some sort of plastic cast and bandages. The gouges and scratches 
all over the skin on both arms looked raw and painful but not immediately 
life threatening. On an impulse, Buffy lifted the bedclothes a little to 
look at Willows legs and found large swaths of bloodied bandaging covering 
both shins and knees, the right knee a bit bigger from the swelling, as was 
the right ankle. Buffy sighed tremulously and replaced the bedclothes. She 
hoped for Willow's sake that the scarring wouldn't be too bad. Buffy dragged 
over a chair so she could sit next to the bed.

"Hey there Will, Buffy the lame-ass protector and vampire mangler here, how 
you doing?" she said softly, looking at Willow's closed eyes. She saw that 
one particularly nasty purple and green bruise covered much of the left 
cheek and brow, all the way up to the hairline. Obviously Willow had hit 
something pretty hard with her face, and she was lucky there seemed to be no 
broken skin amongst the welter of colours. Buffy reached over carefully so 
as not to touch the side where the broken ribs were, and stroked the right 
side of Willow's face, away from the bruising. She licked her dry bloodless 
lips and took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry this happened, it was all my 
fault, I shouldn't have left you alone. I'm surprised your head didn't split 
open like a melon when that jerk knocked you down ... and I'm so not liking 
the imagery there ... anyway I just wish you to know ... even if you can't 
hear me, that I promise that I'll be a much better friend from now on, I'll 
really look after you, protection is something you do one hundred percent of 
the time, not just sometimes, I'll make sure you're never put into that 
situation again and ... and ..." the tears began forming and she just 
couldn't help them pouring out in grief and relief, the sobs punctuating her 
remorse filled words, she lay her head down gently on Willow's belly and 
shook with released emotion. "Oh god, I'm just so so sorry Will, I never 
should have taken you out last night. I'll understand you if you hate me for 
putting you in so much danger. But you know me, it's what I do, Danger Girl, 
that's me the Slayer ... it's just what I am and I'm no good to be around 
and ... oh god, I'm just prattling and I don't know what I want to say or 
how to say it ... I'm just ..." her voice cracking, she stopped briefly and 
bit her top lip, overcome with shuddering wracking sobs, tears pouring off 
the end of her nose, dripping onto Willow's gown covered belly, her vision 
glazed and swimming. Waiting for her nerves to calm so she could speak, she 
breathed deeply to get her emotions under control.

"I don't know why I'm like this, I can't control my crying tonight, and I 
know this seems a bit lame, talking to you like this and doing the soul 
searching bit when you're unconscious ... I just ... well I want to say so 
many things to you when you're awake, but I just don't know if I can, or if 
you'll accept me if I do, so I'm going to chicken out and say them to you 
now, when you can't actively hate me. I really want you to know ... well you 
know sometimes as a friend I've said to you about how I love you and I 
really do and all that, but it's not enough, it hardly begins to describe 
how I feel. I ... this accident thing has made me realise even more than 
before how much I really do love you, not just like friend love or sister 
love, I love you with passion and fire and ... all that forever kinda stuff, 
it's what I wanted with Angel but knew we could never have, it's the thing I 
tried to find in every other guy I've ever gone out with but haven't 
succeeded. It's what I tried with Riley and he just couldn't deliver ..." 
Buffy realised she might be hurting Willow by laying on her stomach so she 
put her head down on the bed beside her. "I've come to realise that I can't 
live without you Will, and I don't want to ... ever! You mean so much more 
to me than just a friend or Slayer companion ... what I think I want to say 
to you is I love you with all my heart, and I want to spend the rest of my 
life with you, sharing our love and passions and everything else a couple 
would and should share. Oh god ... wow ... whew ... there it's said and all 
of a sudden I feel a lot better ..." she groaned and pouted, her face soaked 
with her tears "... and a whole lot worse because you'll never know how much 
it took for me to say what I just said, and I just can't bring myself to say 
it to your face because I'm so scared you'll hate me and reject me and right 
now I need you so much because I'm turning into some sort of idiot who can't 
frame a sentence without you and I just can't concentrate because I love you 
so much and I ... oh god ... lame ..." Buffy sniffed and squeezed her eyes 
tightly shut to drive away the tears. "... well, at least I've admitted it 
to myself now. Huh! Funny, the things you deny ..." She felt Willow's cast 
covered hand move and softly touch the side of her head. Buffy shot bolt 
upright, her heart racing, her lungs on fire and trying to leap right out of 
her body, staring wide-eyed at Willow's face ... oh god, had Willow heard 
her and was pushing her away?

But Willow lay with her eyes closed and her body seemed to be resting in 
deep sleep as before, Buffy drew a deep shuddering sigh of relief and stood 
up out of the chair. She forcefully turned off the torrent of streaming 
tears and began composing herself, wiping her face on the sleeves of her 
windcheater. Willow's body must just have been adjusting itself in her drug 
induced sleep, the cast covered hand lay beside her hip as before.

"Some tough Slayer I'm turning out to be huh?" she muttered softly, both 
chastising herself and saying it to Willow. "I'm a wreck on legs, any 
vampires around would find me tough as wet noodles. I need to go home and 
get some sleep and get my act together, I don't want you to see me like 
this, you need someone strong to support you now, not someone blubbering on 
your shoulder ... although it's not like I usually blubber, I'm normally 
blubber-free ... a ... anyway I'll be back soon, just a couple of hours I 
promise, and something to eat, I'm starved, all that running around last 
night and all I've had is two cups of hospital strength coffee to go on. I'm 
about all done in." she looked at the clock, 6.45. " I'll go by your place 
and pick up some of your gear, not sure what to bring you like any bears or 
pigs or or ... frogs ... euh ... image check ... anyway, I'll pick up 
something light for you to read ... not ... not that I know what you'd 
consider light reading. I'll probably bring your nightie with the ladybirds 
on it and stuff." Buffy's tears had stopped now, and she carefully stooped 
over Willow and softly kissed her forehead and whispered "I'll be back soon, 
I promise, hurry up and wake for me, I can't wait to see you smile again." 
she stood for several heartbeats and regarded Willow's face, looking at the 
gorgeous lips that had always had the sweetest smiles that Buffy had ever 
known. She carefully bent a little further and brushed her lips gently 
against Willow's, barely a touch but still a wondrous electrifying first 
contact. "Be well little tree, and hurry back to me!" Buffy stood up and 
walked around to the other side of the bed, knelt down and retrieved 
Willow's keys out of her handbag, took the brown paper bag with Willow's 
dirty and torn clothes in it and the stack of books. Then she stood and 
resolutely walked over to the door, turned to see Willow's sleeping form 
once more before she left, and then pulling the handle she opened the door 
and strode out.

Willow's eyes fluttered open weakly as the Slayer turned to open the door, 
through swirling colours and milky murkiness, she watched her friend walking 
out.

"Buffy ..." she called hoarsely, her voice almost entirely a whisper, but 
Buffy had closed the door behind her and didn't hear. Willow closed her eyes 
again and seemingly drifted back into sleep.

to be continued in:

Chapter 4 - The tree awakens

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