Fic: Coming Apart (4/?) (Severe Spoiler Warning)

["buffythebushkangaroo" <buffythebushkangaroo@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Severe Spoiler Warning.

(Spoilers for episodes:

17 - Normal Again.
18 - Entropy
19 - Seeing Red
20 - Villains

You have been warned.)

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For Carol, who seems to like this!

(I know its only a dribble each day, but I really am snowed under 
with work!)

Anne-Lise.

--

"Any problems?" Willow asked as Buffy walked past her bedroom door.
Buffy grinned. "Now there's a loaded question."
"I meant on patrol." Willow threw her a mock pout. "You know exactly 
what I meant!"
Buffy shrugged. "I bumped into Spike."
"Oh?" Willow shook her head. "Was Anya with him? And... Ew!"
Buffy giggled. "He's not so bad," she admitted. "Not really. But 
no, no Anya."
"Buffy..." Willow's face assumed an earnest expression, her eyes 
saddened. "Will you hold me? Just for awhile..."
Buffy sat down beside Willow and did as she asked, hugging her 
tightly. "You don't have to be strong for me," Buffy whispered. "I'm 
strong enough for us both."
"I can't believe she's gone," Willow whispered. "Before I met her... 
It was like I'd lived my whole life behind masks and in shadows, 
never even realising that I was hiding." Tears dripped from the 
corner of her eyes, marring her cheeks. "She let me see me for who I 
really was."
Buffy tried to understand Willow's words, even as she continued to 
hold and provide the comfort Willow needed. "You don't have to hide 
from me," Buffy sighed. "You've never had to hide away from me. 
You're my best friend."
"I..." Willow didn't know how to respond to that. "I guess..." She 
leaned up and kissed Buffy.

*

Dawn walked out of the kitchen, a glass of juice in one hand. She 
peered through the gloom over at Xander, asleep on the couch. Poor 
Xander, strung out after Anya's betrayal. His own betrayal too, she 
recalled, leaving her standing at the altar.
Everything seemed like it was coming apart. The way Buffy treated 
her like a mother one moment... as if she could ever replace Joyce 
Summers... And then denouncing her very existence the next. Too much! 
And now... The woman she loved was dead. And no-one knew. Not even 
Tara.
She'd never felt so numb. Not even when Buffy had died.
Dawn climbed the stairs, avoiding the ones that creaked softly. So 
many nights she'd crept about the house trying not to wake her mother 
when sneaking out with friends, and now she was scared of her sister 
finding out the same.
Her sister... Awake!
She stopped moving, even tried to stifle her breathing, although 
every breath sounded like a turbine engine.
Sounds she recognised; Willow and Tara? No... Of course not... Grim 
reality almost wrung the sobs from her before self-control reasserted 
itself.
She peered through the door. Her eyes widened.

*

Giles was surprised to find he was rather enjoying himself.
Squashed in an economy seat between a prepubescent teen with a 
Gameboy and Quentin Travers, he'd expected the flight to have been an 
entirely new sublevel of Dante's Hell. Instead, he'd been offered a 
second Gameboy from the bored kid and managed to beat him at Mortal 
Kombat. Afterwards, the in-flight movie had been Blade 2, and if the 
stewardess had been a shade slower with the Whiskey Trolley, she may 
have had to have himself and Travers sedated. His sides still hurt 
from the laughter.
"Wouldn't that be something?" Travers asked. "A day-walking vampire."
Giles nodded. "It happened."
"Oh?" Travers turned to see if Giles were joking.
Giles nodded, sipping his whiskey. "The Gem of Amarra," he said. "I 
had it given to Angel."
Quentin almost choked. "You did *what*?" He tried to take a hold of 
himself. "Do you realise..."
"Angel destroyed the ring," Giles said. "But who better to have 
protected it?"
"Yes. Ah? Yes..." Travers mopped his forehead with a handkerchief.
The kid sitting next to Giles looked up at the older man. "Vampires 
are cool," he said. "I wanna grow up to be a vampire... Then I could 
go round sucking blood from virgins!"
Two lights flicked on simultaneously to summon the stewardess.

*

Spike sat within the crypt, wreathed in darkness. He thought 
furiously over what he needed to do. Of course, he could have just 
moved on... Left Sunnydale behind. But Spike needed closure. He 
couldn't leave... not just yet.
"Spike?" A voice he'd never imagined to hear again. "Spike? Are you 
there?"
The lilting voice echoed within the dank crypt.
"Yeah... I'm here." He rose and walked towards Drusilla. "And so are 
you, darling."
Dru grinned. "The voices told me to come!" She pirouetted. "And now 
Mommy's come home!"

*

End Part 4.