The Slayer And The Witch Chapter 5/? - Second Contact

["Stefan Akerblom" <nagarek62@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey All.

Here's the 5th. chapter, hope it's as well received as the rest have 
been, and believe me, this is now being written for you guys. It's a long 
weekend here, so I will try to have more ready before too long, but if it's 
not, then apologies in advance, the writing is mostly all there, just the 
final proof-reading is lacking, as I have come to the conclusion that I 
really suck at proofing!

Stef.




The Slayer And The Witch - Stefan Akerblom - nagarek - nagarek62@xxxxxxxxxxx
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Critique:	Yes please, but no flames (I'm flammable)
Warning:	Building to NC-17, f/f relations, possibly 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 channelled Willow),
Dan Spector (danspector@xxxxxxxxx) for some much needed help
with authenticity,
Thanks also to all the great people on BuffyWantsWillow, you make
this worth so much to me,
and to Cairo (played at ear-splitting volume) for setting the mood.
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Chapter 5 - Second contact
--------------------------------

Nurse Chapel stuck her head into the lounge, "OK Buffy, you and ... oh your 
friend is gone. Ok, well you can come back then, I've changed Willow's 
garments and put her in her nightie. I've placed her used under garments in 
a bag in the suitcase for you to take back with you next time you go home. 
I've also changed some of her dressings, she should be right for the rest of 
the night. Talk to me later and I'll try to arrange something for you to 
eat." Buffy, hopped off her chair, tossed the empty coffee cup in the bin, 
and walked back to room 402. Willow was sitting more upright on the bed now. 
Her hair was still a little damp from the shower, but looked clean and 
brushed. All in all she looked a little more comfortable than before, if a 
bit more fatigued from the physical effort.

"Thanks loads Becky." Buffy said and closed the door behind herself and 
walked towards the bed. She sat down in the chair and smiled up at Willow, 
who smiled back tiredly. "Hey again, how's it going?"

"Oh ... I think I know who invented bedpans, some sorcerer from the 
hellmouth with a warped sense of humour. I was never so glad for the simple 
pleasure of being able to get up and use the bathroom." Buffy couldn't help 
but laugh at the imagery. "Right now I'm just about passing out from all 
this effort, a ... and that's bugging me a bit. You deal with this stuff all 
the time, you come in worse than this sometimes, broken ribs, cuts and 
bruises and all, and you carry on as if nothing's the matter. Me, I turn 
into a jigsaw puzzle with some of the pieces missing, and I can't move 
properly, and I'm full of like millions of jingling tingling nerves that 
scream in agony! Where was that written, that I had to deal with that, huh?" 
Willow was putting on her exasperated Willow look, which because of the 
swelling didn't quite achieve the right amount of exasperation Willow 
intended.

"Oh that's called ... being normal Will! My Slayer body is slightly 
different from yours, I heal faster, feel less pain, scar less, all sorts of 
goodies that are supposed to compensate me for the fact that my life might 
be terminated at a moments notice ..." Buffy's voice trailed off into 
silence. "A ... anyway the gist of it is that I deal with stuff like that 
easier, but I'll never be quite normal, hence the strength, the reflexes, 
the weird Slayer vamp sense thingy. The good part is that the things that 
don't have anything to do specifically with slaying aren't changed, I can 
still feel tickles and hugs and kisses ... uh ... and taste marshmallows and 
ice cream and all that sort of stuff, and can laugh and be almost like a 
normal ... you know ... superhuman person."

"Well that's something then at least, you can still feel the nice stuff, 
and that's good, right? I just wish all the nasty stuff I can feel right now 
wasn't quite so nasty and overwhelming, it's a little more than distracting, 
it's exhausting me, and I don't like it."

Buffy tried to change the subject a little. Willow had gotten a little 
close with the nice stuff feelings about kissing and hugging that Buffy had 
just blurted out, it felt like it was part of some of the confessions Buffy 
had made earlier that day to the sleeping Willow. And she didn't want to 
push that to the surface just yet, it still felt very open and personal and 
awkward.

"Say, how much of what happened last night can you remember? I don't 
believe I'd given you permission to go flying without a plane!" Willow 
looked at her with a frown.

"Well not a lot actually, I think my head's still a little bit scrambled, 
or ... or maybe a lot scrambled, depending on how you look at it. I remember 
the vamp knocking me to the ground, I remember the whack on the head which 
was so not nice by the way, my ears were ringing afterwards. I remember 
following you after you took off after the vamp, I vaguely remember seeing 
you slugging it out in the cemetery with said vamp, then all of a sudden 
it's bright lights, loud noise and my impression of the incredible human 
cannonball. One thing that stands out in all of that is when my face 
impacted on that guy's bonnet, I think that's why the entire left side of my 
head feels like it's made of hamburger. More than any other part of my face, 
that's hurting the most. Other than that, I only vaguely recall you 
persuading the nice man in the ambulance to let you ride in there with me. 
My next memory is waking up here, I must have blacked out or the drugs must 
have zonked me out or something."

"Oh, here, right ... wow you must have been out of it quite a while then. I 
came in here with you and you were out like a light the entire time. I 
finally left about 7 in the morning and you were still asleep, the nurse 
left me to sleep for a couple of hours from about 3:00am while you were off 
having tests and x-rays done. What time did you finally wake up?" Willow 
looked down at her cast, her breathing growing more shallow and rapid. The 
panicked Willow voice crept out in spite of the swollen lips.

"Well ... I ... I'm not sure she ... the ... nurse Becky told me ... and 
... and I'm not certain her watch was right anyway, but she said you'd gone 
a bit later and ..." Buffy looked at Willow with large questioning eyes. 
"... nurse Becky said something about nurse ... Lonsdale ... uh ... Erin ... 
right ... and ... say, how did you get to be on first name basis with her 
anyway?" Willow's babbling and her panicked eyes told Buffy that she looked 
like she was trying desperately to avoid something. Buffy felt prickles of 
impending doom along the nape of her neck.

"Oh just when we spoke, she seemed to understand I was a little bit worried 
about you. Will, what time did you wake up?" Willow's eyes cast desperately 
about the room, before finally settling down on Buffy's face with a look of 
awkward resolution. Willow sighed heavily, wincing in pain as her broken 
ribs made themselves noticed yet again.

"Well like I said, that nurse Becky said it was about 6:30 from what I said 
... BUT ... but she's sure her watch was a bit fast a ... and it may have 
only really been ... uh ... 6:25 ... or ... or something." Willow's swollen 
eyes were wide open and looked ready to burst into tears. "Please Buffy, 
don't get mad, I ... I was awake when you walked into the room but I just 
couldn't move, my body felt like it was just a lump of wood, nothing worked, 
not even my eyelids." It was Buffy's turn to cast her eyes about for 
something to look at other than Willow, her face felt hot and flushed.

"So ... I guess that means you heard everything then, or ... or maybe ... 
the drugs hadn't worn off and your ears were still comatose ..."

"Uh ... nope sorry ... those actually seemed to work cos they needed no 
external moving parts to function. I ... I'm sorry Buffy, I wanted to sit up 
and tell you but I couldn't ..."

"Not your fault Will ... oh boy! OK, first the heart stops, then it starts 
again, and now it's about to explode! Look, I'm so sorry I said all those 
things to you, I ... I was sure you were still unconscious and ... and ... 
oh god ... oh god ... I am SO embarrassed now ..." she stood up and began 
pacing the floor, fanning her reddening face, not sure what to do or where 
to look.

"Buffy ..." Willow said softly.

"No it was idiotic and stupid of me, what was I thinking to put you in this 
situation, especially now when you're hardly able to defend yourself. GOD! I 
keep doing that ... I keep putting you in bad situations! I must be a 
complete moron or something! I know you're probably mad with me, and ... and 
right now you hate me even more ..."

"Buffy no ... I'm not ..."

"No don't say it Will, just put it down to my stupid rambling mind trying 
to deal with you being so badly banged up, but ... but all I ask you is that 
when you can see straight, please have it in your heart to forgive me, so 
help me I'll make sure it never ever..."

"Buffy, SHUT UP!" Willow yelled so loudly that, un-Buffy-like, Buffy did 
just that, she shut up, and stared at her. Willow's face took on an 
apologetic look, and she coughed and winced at having strained her voice and 
her ribs. Buffy stared at Willow with a puzzled look on her face. "Sorry 
Buffy but you just keep running off at the mouth like that without stopping 
to listen to anyone else." Willow patted the bed beside her right leg. "Come 
here and sit down please." Buffy silently and chastened walked woodenly 
towards the right side of the bed and sat where Willow had indicated. Nurse 
Chapel poked her head inside the door.

"Everything all right? I thought I heard a loud noise."

"Oh ... yep, everything's just swell thanks, no problems here, yup!" 
rambled Willow nodding, an idiotic grin on her face. Nurse Chapel gave 
Willow a cryptic look and smiled, and backed out again, closing the door.

"OK, now you listen to me Buffy Anne Summers, you had my undivided 
attention this morning and me not able to say anything in return, so now 
it's my turn. You just keep quiet for five minutes." Willow took the glass 
of water and putting the straw in her mouth sipped noisily through bruised 
lips until it was drained, then sat back and seemed to compose her thoughts. 
Buffy looked on, expecting the worst, rebuke, frustration, refusal, anything 
and everything painful, and she knew she'd have to shut up and take it, she 
deserved it for putting Willow into such an awkward position. She was 
resolved to live with the consequences of her thoughtless and hasty actions, 
regardless how much it would hurt. If only she'd known about Willow being 
awake, all of this could have been avoided. But too late, this was it, the 
damage was done. Willow sighed deeply and shuddered, again wincing in pain, 
then spoke in a nervous trembling voice, trying desperately to remain calm 
and to frame her thoughts clearly.

"I know that you were worried about me, a ... and I can accept that, I know 
people sometimes say the craziest stuff when they're hurt or worried or 
otherwise ... mentally challenged or ... well you know what I mean ..." 
Buffy nodded silently. "A ... and I know because of what you said to me when 
you thought I was still unconscious, about how you'd normally ... not say 
things like that, that you'd never have said some of that ... that personal 
stuff to me, because it's simply too personal and ... and ... you know ... 
personal!"

"I know Will, and I will take it all back if only ..."

Willow quickly raised her hand which silenced Buffy. "Ubbubbub ... no ... 
not now ... my turn remember, just you keep quiet, I'm having a hard enough 
time with this already as it is!" Willow admonished waggling her right 
forefinger. "Now ... where was I ... oh yeah ... uh ... you said some things 
to me that frightened the wits out of me, and ... and I would have probably 
leapt off the bed ... if ... if only my body hadn't been mostly comatose and 
unable to do anything at all ..." Buffy's eyes cast down at her hands, her 
breaking heart felt as if it was dropping through the bottom of the world, 
she knew the worst was about to come. "You said things I could never in my 
wildest dreams have worked up the courage to say, you went way beyond 
anything I could have ever dared ... way beyond ... and I respect you so 
much for that. Believe me, I'd have run a mile in your place. Buffy ... 
please look at me." Willow's gravel-injured right hand lifted Buffy's chin 
gently so their eyes met. Willow's eyes filled with tears that built quickly 
and overflowed, streaming down her puffy pudgy face, and she sniffed softly 
as her nose began to run. Buffy's eyes were just filled with bitter tears of 
pain and sorrow. Willow took a deep shuddering breath, and continued.

"You said those things to this wreck which is me, which is I ... whatever. 
I must look like hell and you honoured me with your love, and for that you 
will forever have my respect ..." Here comes the burning stabbing knife 
through the heart - her respect but not her love. But still Buffy kept 
quiet, looking into the eyes of Willow as the tears tumbled over her own 
cheeks, This is where we forever lose something wonderful we had, and it's 
all my stupid fault, me and my big stupid mouth.

"There is no way in the world I deserve your love like that, but you said 
it and for that I adore you Buffy, and there's no chance ... ever ... that 
I'm going to allow you to take that back! You said the things I have been 
dying to say to you for years, and never had the courage even to tell you 
when you were unconscious. You said to this lump of meat that you love me 
when you thought I couldn't hear you, and I knew beyond a doubt from that 
moment on I could gladly die knowing that. I was so happy because I knew you 
spoke the truth from your heart in spite of me looking like this, it had to 
be from the heart, it couldn't have been otherwise, a ... and I just kept 
lying there like a stupid dead fish unable to move or say anything, I wanted 
to grab hold of you more than anything in the world and tell you I love you 
so much, more than life itself, and I would gladly have your love in return, 
if only you really wanted me, if only it wasn't because you were feeling 
sorry for me looking like wreckage ..." Buffy's eyes felt like the endless 
stream of tears would never stop, but as she listened to Willow's words, she 
became more and more confused by what she was hearing, did Willow just say 
...

"Wait on Will ... oh god ... I can't think ... time out! I ... I'm 
completely lost ... wh ... what are you telling me, that you don't want me? 
Or ... or ..."

"No silly, I'm saying that just as long as it's not only because you're 
feeling sorry for me or griefstricken or whatever ... I love you so much and 
I always have and I want you too. I always have wanted you, ever since that 
very first day we met. You were the only person apart from Xander who was 
ever on my side, you took my side over Cordelia's without even batting an 
eyelash, and you did it without even really knowing me, and from that day on 
I adored you."

Buffy could hardly believe her ears, her throat constricted and she began 
to wail softly, the tears pouring down her face in fresh uncontrollable 
torrents. Distantly Buffy wondered how they could both shed so many tears. 
She'd never felt this emotional, not even when her mother had passed away, 
she'd cried then but she had only felt numb and helpless and lost. This was 
so wonderful it hurt, she wanted to reach out and just hold Willow and never 
let her go, but she knew in her present frame of mind she'd simply injure 
the already hurting girl even more. Her head was spinning with the raw 
energy of her emotions. Right now she knew she had the strength to go ten 
rounds with the Master at his strongest and kick his sorry ass back into 
hell, this was the power that Willow's love gave to her.

"Oh god Will, this is ... what ... I just ... you ... I mean ..." Buffy 
just couldn't think straight, her mind made her mouth mangle sentences into 
word pretzels, her whole body shaking and unsteady.

"I know Buffy, I ... I think It's exactly the same feelings I'm having. But 
promise me one thing please, I'm just ... this is so ... I need this to 
begin slowly, this is just too overwhelming for me, especially right now, 
never mind what I'd be like normally. I just hurt too much, and this is 
making the pain even worse, I'm simply not the Slayer, I don't have your 
strength, I can't tell you how bad this is!" Willow's lips both smiled and 
frowned alternately, and her eyes were still overflowing with tears of both 
joy and frustration.

"You think? I can't begin to tell you how bad it is right now for me, I 
just want to hug you and kiss you and hold you so much. You have just made 
me the happiest girl in the universe, and I can't touch you because you're 
so badly hurt, how crap is that? I want to dance and sing and cry and laugh 
and do everything with you, and I can't ... I'm ... I'm ... oh this is just 
so frustrating!" Buffy was wringing her hands and casting her eyes around, 
trying to settle her emotions, desperately trying to calm herself. "OK ... 
ok, let's ... let's try to put this into some sort of perspective ... oh god 
this is so weird, look at my hands Will, I'm shaking like a leaf ... um ... 
right ... you want to start slowly, ok let's start slowly ... uh ... how 
slow is slowly? I ... I have no idea, this is all new to me."

"Uh ... well, let's see ... start slow, uh ... we can ... we can hold hands 
and maybe a little ... you know ... kissing and cuddling would be ok ... for 
now, or ... or something, I don't know. How about we just do what feels 
right at the time or whatever ... let nature take it's course so to speak?" 
Willow was using a soggy tissue in her mangled right hand, trying to clear 
her swollen eyes of tears, without much success. "Damn this, my face feels 
like a potato, and my stupid fingers don't work properly either!" Buffy took 
the tissue from Willow's injured fingers.

"Here, let me please ..." she said softly. She looked at the soggy paper 
tissue and tossed it into the bin beside the bed, grabbing a couple of fresh 
ones out of the packet. She carefully moved up the bed a little so she could 
sit closer to Willow, then she gently used the edge of the tissue to dab 
away the tears from the creases where the swelling had closed off the 
corners of Willows eyes. Her own eyes too were filled with tears of 
happiness, but she ignored that and concentrated on the injured girl. As she 
worked, she saw Willow was staring intensely into her eyes. She stopped 
dabbing and looked back into Willows eyes and saw deep whirlpools of raw 
emotion. She moved her dabbing hand away and edged her body closer, her face 
lowering slowly, hesitantly towards Willow, who just lay there and kept 
looking at her. Buffy sank lower still, ready to back off if Willow became 
apprehensive, but Willow just tilted her head back slightly and closed her 
eyes. Buffy edged forward a little more and closed her own eyes as her lips 
bridged the final gap and made soft but full contact with Willow's mouth. 
Time seemed to stop for an instant, and both girls felt their hearts skip a 
beat. A sensation of electricity danced through their bodies. Buffy felt 
herself go suddenly weak at the knees and Willow felt her tummy flip-flop 
and it seemed to be full of butterflies. Buffy moved her lips slowly and 
brushed them gently across Willow's tender mouth, Willow's breath became 
shallower and she felt close to passing out. After a few eternal seconds of 
delicious delicate contact, Buffy broke away and leaned her forehead gently 
against Willow's, eyes still closed as they both panted breathlessly, then 
she sat up. Their eyes opened at the same time. Willow was still panting and 
wincing, but she kept her gaze on Buffy's eyes, her face had turned a bright 
scarlet in among the bruises. Buffy's face was pink and felt as if on fire, 
her whole body was trembling.

"Oh boy ..." whispered Willow in a husky voice, sighing tremulously, the 
colour in her face receding slightly.

"Uhuh ... you can say that again!" agreed Buffy still breathing hard, 
returning Willow's intense eye contact. "I think that's it, we're doomed, 
sunk without a trace, no turning back from here ... not unless you say it 
..." Willow clamped her right hand over Buffy's mouth.

"Owow ... sore hand! Hush you, I will not back out of this, not now ... not 
now that I know ... this!" She moved her hand from Buffy's mouth to brush 
the blonde hair back and cup the side of her face. she leaned forward with 
an expectant look as she kept gazing deeply into Buffy's blue eyes. Buffy 
also reached out her hand and gently held the side of Willow's face, she 
then leaned forward and softly pressed her open lips to Willow's. Tenderly 
Willow's tongue poked through her thickened and swollen mouth, touching 
around Buffy's lips. Buffy opened her mouth wider and pushed the tip of her 
tongue forward, edging out to touch Willow's tongue ever so lightly, They 
lay there, eyes closed, tongues like liquid velvet just touching and 
stroking softly, tasting each other, lips pressed gently together, hearts 
racing and breath ragged with excitement. Eventually Willow moaned and moved 
backwards slightly, Buffy backed off.

"Whoa ... ngghh ... I have to stop this for a sec, my ribs feel like 
they're about to push through my side, my breathing's not doing them any 
good." Willow lamented breathlessly. Buffy looked at the girl who was all 
sorts of scarlet and purple. sighed deeply and grinned from ear to ear, the 
flow of tears from before had almost stopped but had left a sheen across her 
cheeks.

"I know and I'm sorry, I should control myself, you need to recuperate, not 
deal with further Buffy induced injuries." she leaned back and continued 
dabbing Willow's face gently with the tissue.

"Buffy?" Willow whispered.

"Mmm hmm?"

"I love you." Willow said, her eyes filled with happiness.

Buffy looked back into Willow's eyes, leaned forward and tenderly kissed 
the tip of Willow's nose, then smiled contentedly.

"I love you too little tree, with all my heart and soul."

to be continued in:

Chapter 6 - Sympatico

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