The Slayer And The Witch - Chapter 10/? - Adjustment Much

[nagarek <nagarek@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey all.

I finally got the lead out and finished proof reading Chapter 10. So here it is, please enjoy,
and as always, comments are very welcome.

Stef.



The Slayer And The Witch - Stefan Akerblom - nagarek - nagarek@xxxxxxxxx
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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, Tara, 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.
Distribution:	Anyone who likes it enough to host it, just please give me a link
to where it's hosted

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),
Dan Spector (danspector@xxxxxxxxx) for some much needed help
with authenticity,
Casandra (jeepy91@xxxxxxx) for answering some silly and some very
awkward questions, you're very special,
Thanks also to all the other 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 10 - Adjustment Much

"Careful, now the other one ... now stand up and ... that's it ... watch out for the grate, don't
put the crutch ... that's ... " Willow was getting awkwardly out of the taxi while Dawn helped
with directions. Buffy was hauling the several cases of belongings out of the boot that Willow had
taken with her from her parents house. In traditional Sunnydale hospitality, the cabbie sat and
waited while his passengers removed all their belongings, after all he was a driver, not a baggage
clerk. Buffy slammed the boot lid shut at the same time Dawn pushed the door closed, and the taxi
took off with a squeak of tortured tires.

"Jeeze, nice of him to wait long enough for you to get both of your legs out of the car Willow."
Willow stared after the cab, turned back to Dawn and shrugged, and putting the crutches under her
arms, hobbled up the Summers' garden path with Dawn carrying her handbag and jacket, Buffy
following behind with the suitcases. The cast on Willow's arm hampered her somewhat, but soon
enough she'd reached the bottom of the steps leading to the front porch.

"Oh darn, I'd forgotten about the steps ... here we'll help you up." Buffy stepped beside Willow
and Dawn went on the other side. Willow shook her head.

"No ... I need to learn to work these stupid things, I'll be using them for a few days yet. There
aren't as many steps as the hospital, I don't think I'm gonna really fall up them." Buffy stood
beside Willow, ready to catch her.

"Ok, but why'd you insist on using the stairs? The hospital had an elevator you know." Willow,
her tongue clamped firmly in the corner of her mouth struggled valiantly to get her momentum up to
mount the steps, rocking backwards and forwards perilously. Buffy and Dawn rocked backwards and
forwards with her, arms outstretched, just in case.

"The ... uhnnn ... challenge, the ... Mount Everestness of it ... the ... uhnnn ... steps were
there, I had to ... uhnnn ... ascend ... no ... descend on my own ... without assistance ... it's
an independence thing. And uhnnn ... I'll eventually get up these ones as well, soon as I get up
enough ... uhnnn ... momentum to get past vertical." Buffy looked uncertain.

"Yeah ... or until you go past vertical and land on your face, like you did at the hospital,
haven't you got enough bruises already? Look Willow, it's twilight and I'd really like to get
inside and make dinner before midnight. Here, Dawn grab her other arm." Willow struggled and
protested weakly as she was lifted bodily up the steps. Soon enough she stood on the porch,
panting and sweaty, hair flying wildly.

"Huh .. thanks guys, take the challenge out of life why don'tcha?" Buffy went back and gathered
up Willow's belongings where she'd dropped them on the path, Dawn fished out her key, unlocked the
front door and flicked on the inside light.

"Well the challenge of getting up the rest of the stairs inside might be more than enough
challenge for even you Willow." Dawn said with a grin. "Might be best if you sleep in the living
room for a while." Willow looked up to the stairs leading to the second storey, then looked back
at Buffy with disappointment etched on her face.

"NO! No ... I'll ... I'll manage somehow, you'll see. A ... a girl can be determined enough to do
almost anything." Willow eyed the steep staircase with trepidation, then dismissed the thought
with a shake of her head and hobbled on her crutches into the living room. She reached the closest
chair and sat down heavily in it with a huge sigh of relief, and put the crutches on the floor,
out of the way of the walkspace. Lifting her skirt slightly, she began to undo the bandage that
swathed her knee, other lighter bandages still covered her shins, which had healed enough now not
to bleed. Another thick wad of bandaging covered her ankle. Buffy disappeared off into the
kitchen.

"Huh ... all I can see is someone determined enough to get into my sister's bed." Willow looked
up fron getting the bandages off her knee, an open look of shock on her face, she began turning
bright pink. Dawn grinned. "Just keep the noise down at nights please, some of us have school and
beauty sleep they need, some of us aren't old hags yet! Lucky the rooms are far apart." Willow was
blushing furiously.

Heyyy ... enough with the old part ... a ... actually enough with all of it really!" Buffy cuffed
Dawn softly across the shoulder as she walked past with a glass of fruit juice for Willow. "Or
I'll show you just how old I am ... you juvenile delinquent!" She walked back toward the kitchen
to prepare dinner, stuck her head back through the doorway after a few moments. "Spaghetti fine
with everyone?" Nods all around, and Buffy went back to the kitchen.

Dawn had taken their announcement in her stride, not really surprised at the fact that Buffy and
Willow had fallen in love, but more about how long it had taken them. Her only reservation had
been about Tara, and that she'd no longer be welcome. Both girls had assured her that Tara was
always welcome, if she felt ok about being here now. This was something that had yet to be tested,
they hadn't had a chance yet to talk to Tara about it, and Dawn was determined not to lose her
contact with the blonde witch. Since a long time before Tara and Willow's separation, Dawn had
become an important part in Tara's life. Tara was a girl with natural maternal instincts, and had
apparently taken to Dawn as if she was her own daughter. Now with the separation, both Tara and
Dawn had expressed their sadness at not being able to be together as much as they used to be. Dawn
would make sure their growing love wasn't interfered with. After all, she was now nearly 17 and
could begin making adult decisions about what she wanted.

"Well all I'm saying is keep your moaning and screaming down to a dull roar, we don't want the
neighbours complaining!" Willow laughed and snorted and sprayed orange juice over herself.

"Ohh ... thanks Dawnie, a lot ... I really needed that!" juice dripped off her nose and into her
open hand as she squinted. "Can someone please get me a tissue? Owwow ... juice in the eye
stings!" Dawn walked over to a table and took the full box of tissues with her, pulling out a
couple and handing them to Willow, plunking the rest of the box down on the table next to her.
Willow wadded up the tissues and sponged out her eye, then cleaned her face with it. "God, only
been here five minutes ..." Dawn laughed openly at Willow's plight, and walked into the kitchen,
and came back with a moist wash cloth. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Willow rubbed the cloth
over her sticky face, and then cleaned her hands with it.

"Yeah, it's not every day I can be Miss Independent with you guys around. After all ... little
Dawn is only a sixteen year old girl, what does she know? I mean guys, come on ... this is the
twenty first century, kids my age are considered old and timeworn by the newbies coming up the
ladder. We're ... the grownups! And now I get to order you around until you're well enough again
... I think that's pretty cool!"

"Thanks. Just don't let it go to your head, I'm determined to recover fast." Willow handed the
cloth back to Dawn who took it back to the kitchen then returned. Willow sipped the juice
carefully, trying not to get any more on herself this time. "I'm still a bit stunned how well you
took what Buffy said." Dawn looked at Willow with a crooked grin.

"Why? Do you think that stuff's not happening just because we're not as old as you? Magdalen and
Kelly in my class have been going steady for ... god ... must be close to a year now, they're
inseparable." She leaned over and touched Willow's arm. "All I know is if it makes you both happy
... and you both need that right now ... then I'm all for it. Things got a bit rough for Buffy for
a while there, I need to look after big sis." She frowned, her brow creasing. "I heard Tara didn't
take it well." Willow sighed sadly.

"Well you could say that, and I ... I don't really blame her, but this is partly her own doing.
It's been a couple of days since then, maybe she's a little better about it all now, I know I'm a
bit better about her and me. And it's something we're going to have to discuss with her, make her
understand we still love her and want her with us, she's a friend and a valuable member of the
Scoobs. Besides, she adores you Dawnie, she... she's like a ... a mother hen when she's around
you, she dotes on you. She's as good a friend as anyone could ever wish for." Dawn silently agreed
with that, and more. Buffy came into the living room, apron around her middle, looking very
domestic.

"Ok, pasta's on the boil, the sauce will be a few minutes yet. I'll go unpack some of your things
while I'm waiting. Dawn, can you set out the plates and cutlery? Make it mom's visitors stuff,
this calls for celebration." 

"Celebration, why for?" said Dawn standing up and walking towards the crockery dresser.

"For us, for Willow's recovery, for friendship, just for the sake of it! I feel like breaking out
some champagne or something ... but seeing as we have none it'll have to be soda or juice, sorry."
she grinned sheepishly to Willow.

"Well I might forgo the juice for dinner, I don't drink nasally very well. soda will be fine."
Buffy looked strangely at Willow, who just smiled without explanation.

"Ooookay, I'll take that as a consequence of your injuries and humour you. Back in a few
minutes." with which she went over, grabbed up Willow's suitcases and clumped up the stairs. She
took them into her own bedroom, and looked around. This had been her mother's room, and still
contained a lot of her mom's things. Gradually she'd been moving some of the stuff into the
basement, trying to shed the room of some of the things in her past. Now the room would also house
her best friend and lover as well. She'd already prepared a couple of drawers in the dresser for
some of Willow's clothes. Throwing the suitcases on the bed, she began unpacking. Somehow now in
this room, the contents of the cases became both more familiar and sensual. Having packed them for
Willow at her house under her supervision, they hadn't seemed anything special, now because she
was in her bedroom with them, they held a much deeper significance. She ran her hands through some
of Willow's underwear and touched personal things she'd previously only fantasized about. A knock
on the door brought her attention back to earth, and a little embarrassed she began to push the
underclothes into a drawer.

"C ... come in." But Dawn had already entered the room and was looking around. Buffy gave her a
nervous smile.

"Hey Buffy, how's it going ... you ok?" Buffy looked at Dawn and smiled softly, shutting the
clothes drawer. She opened another and packed away shirts and socks.

"S ... sure, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" She opened the other suitcases and proceeded to hang
up the rest of Willow's clothes in the wardrobe.

"Well, I just noticed all through the taxi ride you were very quiet ... I wanted to be sure
nothing's wrong." She walked over to Buffy who closed the wardrobe and turned around to face her
little sister, who she noticed wasn't so little any more, she was several inches taller than her.

"Noo ... everything couldn't be better ... nothing could ... er ... everything's swell, really. I
was probably just quiet because I was just thinking ... ever since ... ever since mom died, and I
... and you as the key and ... when I came back, things just seemed so wrong and hard and harsh.
But for the first time since then, everything is becoming clear and it feels good. I'm just sort
of ... revelling in the clarity Dawn. I ... I know I haven't always been ... the best sister to
you recently ... or ever really ... and I can't ever replace mom, I just don't know how to do some
of the mom stuff she did ..." Dawn silenced her with a hand on her lips.

"Buff, it's ok, I don't expect you to be mom, I expect you to just be yourself, to be my big
sister. I want you to be happy too, and I can see how Willow looks at you, and you look at her the
same way, I haven't seen you this together, this focused in a long time. I know too that I haven't
always given you enough room to be yourself either, being little sister always being pushed around
and protected from herself can get a bit stale. But I'm learning, a ... and I'm growing too."

"I ... I just want to be sure you're ok with Will and me, I don't want you to feel I'm trying to
push you around, or that I'm trying to get Willow to replace mom. I want her to become your other
big sister, the one you can really depend on when I'm not that good to you, which ... which seems
to have been most of the time recently." Dawn smiled at her and reached out to hug her. Buffy
folded her arms around Dawn and squeezed her gently.

"Too late Buffy, I already think that way about her. I love Willow almost as much as you do, and
I promise you, I'm more than ok with you and her being together. Trust me, we're going to have
such a good time together here. But at the same time, I don't want to lose Tara, she's become more
... my ... my other big sister too. She's the one I can really relate to, she's been through some
pretty heavy stuff. I need her here ... in my life." Buffy kissed her little sister's cheek.

"I promise that we'll make sure Tara's not left out, somehow all this is all going to work out
fine. Right now I'm not quite sure how, but it will ... I just need some time for Will and me, so
we can adjust and get to know each other again, and I need all your help and support and
understanding, all you guys. Things have changed a lot and ... it's still a little weird even to
me, and I started this, it's really all my fault ... although this time I think Willow would say
that she's glad to blame me for something." She looked at Dawn. "I ... I'd better get back down,
the pasta sauce is going to burn." Dawn nodded, Buffy walked over to the door. "A ... and Dawn ...
thanks, for being such a cool sister about this." Dawn looked up and beamed a huge smile at her.

"Hey, that's what sisters are for!"

-------------------------------------------

"You make a pretty mean bolognaise Buff, even if it did come from a can. I must ask Tara for her
spaghetti sauce recipe, she makes a pretty good lasagne too." Dawn stood up and began clearing the
table. Willow looked sadly at Dawn as she walked out to the kitchen, but said nothing.

"Well it may not have been Martha Stewart but it filled a hole. Dessert?" Buffy stood up and also
began gathering plates and cutlery, Willow began getting up. "Sit down you ... relax and be
pampered." Willow gave her an awkward guilty smile. "We have ice cream or ice cream, which shall
it be? What's wrong Will?" Willow looked pensive.

"I feel like I should be helping." Buffy stacked plates and glasses and picked them up.

"There'll be plenty of time for that, just accept and be spoiled and feel special." She walked
past Willow, bent down and kissed her on the forehead before walking out into the kitchen. Dawn
returned with bowls full of vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate sauce and colourful sprinkles,
and put them down on the placemats in front of the chairs.

"More drink?" she asked. Willow shook her head.

"No ... no, I'll lift right out of the chair if I have any more fizz." Buffy came back with a
platter with cups.

"Cocoa for madame and miss, and coffee for the Slayer." she put the platter down and seated
herself. She looked at Dawn smiling, then turned and looked at Willow and saw her head bowed
forward, and tears were spilling down her nose.

"Ohh ... Will ..." she jumped off the chair and ran around the table " ... what's wrong?" She
knelt down and looked up at the red-head. Dawn stood behind her and gently held Willow's right
hand.

Ohhh ... n ... nothing, I .... I just ... ah ... nhhh ... I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed
is all. You're both being so nice to me ... and ... and .... I think this is going to take me a
little time to adjust to. I'm just not used to ... all ... all of this ... all of it." she sighed
deeply and tried to pull herself together, and failed, and again began weeping. "I'm ... j ...
just afraid I'll get in your way a ... and you won't like me after this and ... and ... I must be
tired, it's just been such a long day." She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her fingers, then used
a serviette to blow her nose. "I'm sorry to be such a wet blanket ... just ... just tired."

"That's ok Will. Course we'll like you, I told you, that's just silly ... that's why we want you
here. Finish up and we'll draw you a bath and you can go to bed." Willow sighed and nodded, her
bottom lip trembling, she wiped away stray tears that crept past her half closed eyelids.

"Yeah, might be best, I'll feel a lot better in the morning." Willow looked up and smiled
nervously. Buffy smiled back to her and stroked her cheek. Willow looked over at Dawn's face and
saw her smile, but she also saw the concerned look in her eyes. Buffy returned to her chair, Dawn
to hers, and in silence they ate their ice cream and drank their drinks.

--------------------------------------

"You take care of Willow, I'll tidy up here." Dawn said to Buffy in the kitchen when she began to
do the washing up. Dawn rolled up her shirt sleeves, and pushed Buffy towards the doorway. "She
needs you right now."

"Ok, thanks Dawn, you're ... special." Dawn smiled at her and turned back to the sink, filling
the sink with hot sudsy water. Buffy turned around and walked out to the dining room. She saw that
Willow had gotten up and was walking gingerly without the aid of the crutches, favouring the ankle
and knee that weren't so badly swollen any more but were still very tender. Buffy raced over and
took hold of her arm gently.

"Hey ... you should wait until I can help." Willow didn't struggle, but made exasperated noises.

"You don't have to babysit everything I do Buffy, I'll be ok in the next day or so, I just need
to do this, otherwise it'll take a lot longer to heal." Buffy's face fell.

"I ... I just ... don't ..." Willow turned and looked at her.

"Buffy I know why you're doing this, this is NOT your fault. It was my own stupid fault for
walking around not looking where I was going. But I'll get better, just let me struggle a little,
I really need it so I can recover." Buffy looked away and waved her arms and clenched her fists
helplessly, opening her mouth to start an objection but instead sighing in obvious frustration.
"Please Buffy, I do appreciate what you're trying to do, but I need to work at this. You can help
me in a minute, I don't think I can make it up the stairs by myself ... not ... not just yet.".

"All right Will ... all right, I'll just stand back and ... and wait for you to fall. But you've
got another thing coming if you think I'm gonna let you fall far. I let you do that before and ...
and I ..." she bit her lip and looked away, hands again clenching and searching for something to
do.

"I know Buff ... look ... I'm nearly there, just let me get to the bannister and you can help me
up the stairs. But you're NOT carrying me up them, ok?"

------------------------------

Stony white hands with blackened leprous looking nails twisted the ornate handle of an old
wrought iron door, which grated loudly in the quiet night, the rusted hinges complained with a
groaning protest as the door swung open, dust and flakes of iron and dull white paint falling off
as the door smashed into the wall with a resounding clang. The heavy footsteps of leather heels
clattered down the three small steps into the crypt marked over the lintel with the Van Dien coat
of arms, long black jacket of heavy leather sweeping the dusty floor at every step. The moonlight
cast baleful beams through the opened crypt, the interior of which had the look of not having been
touched in centuries ... or had it? A muffled grunt of directionless inquiry, the footsteps
quicken as the eyes adjusted to the gloom, the opened sarcophagus of black and white marble, the
lid leaning precariously against the corner. No scream of anger, no discernible change of mood,
instead the baleful glare of glowing red within yellow eyes in the night cast about, looking for
clues. None could it find, so there was nothing against which to vent the anger. So be it, the
amulet would be gone, and a quick look into the sarcophagus revealed the truth in that, all that
could be seen was dry dessicated skin, long lank hair looking like rope fibres and bones dressed
in the rotting finery of years gone by. This would make things harder, but not impossible. The
Slayer would still pay the highest price, the demon Angelus would again be loose on the world and
victory would still be sweet, the final reward would be well worth the effort. All it would take
now instead of the amulet would be the heart of a powerful white witch ... he fished out a slender
chain around his neck from beneath a black shirt, the silver locket which had a pale pink rose on
it's lid popped open at a press on the hasp ... and that heart belonged to the lock of dark red
hair inside the locket he had harvested at that pathetic place full of the sick and feeble. The
heart may ultimately belong to the evil gods and he would squeeze it for them in tribute until it
burst, but the blood belongs to me, and it would taste all the sweeter because the Slayer would be
absolutely helpless to do anything about it.

"Well well well ... I was right! It IS you ... and it looks like we're just a little too late ...
as usual, you're just one step behind as you have always been, you neanderthal cretin!" Cold blue
eyes in a thin handsome face crested by short platinum locks, smirked and stared up arrogantly
into the glowing red eyes beneath a shock of thick wavy jet black hair, the body looming large
before him, a good foot or more taller and seemingly twice as wide as any man had a right to be.
"Why is it that you're always copying me ... even when it comes to clothes, can't you have an
original thought in that walnut sized little brain of yours? And just so you don't try anything
even more stupid than usual Kolya, no it's not on me. But ... for an incentive, I can get it for
you. I just require ... a little favour of you, one of your contacts, I have a little something
that needs removing ... safely. Then I'll let you have it." The deep growling voice that grated
out in the night air of the crypt sounded like mountains colliding and crushing rocks to dust, a
faint Slavic accent could still barely be heard even after all these years. He walked slowly
towards the doorway of the crypt and up the stairs, and the blonde backed out several steps into
the chill night. 

"Hello William, and it is Karl now ... not Kolya, I have not gone by that name in many decades.
It is good to see you again, I see you still cannot stop yourself from crowing and gloating, even
now after all of your ... shall we say ... little mistakes over the years. And what is that about
someone imitating someone else? Just look at yourself, that is a rich statement coming from YOU!
But ... I must admit, you have made quite a name for yourself, your path is clear and wide. I was
fully aware you were here ... in this ... little place." He spread his hands and gestured around
at the world around him as he stepped forward, and then one of the huge hands shot out with the
speed of a striking cobra, and clamped around the blonde's neck, fingers meeting thumb around it,
hoisting him off the ground like a rag puppet. The icy blue eyes shot open as the fingers began
squeezing, the scuffed leather boots kicking out impotently as he was held at arms length. "Did
you really think I would need YOUR help ... BIG brother? I am sorry to say this but I really think
you are long past your use-by date, and your destiny now is to have your dust be relegated to the
refuse pile." The fingers continued crushing relentlessly, slowly closing like an iron vise. "It
is time to join the Slayers you have slain. I would tell you to say good bye, but ... I doubt that
you are able to say anything right at this moment." The red glowing eyes looked into ones of icy
blue, the harsh ridges of the brow drawn down in a vicious and feral visage, the lips twisted in
an evil mirthless grin, long canine teeth peeping out at the corners of the mouth. There was a
resounding snap like a gunshot that seemed to echo through the chill night air, the squeezing
fingers twitched but didn't stop. The blonde's eyes bulged out in panic as he felt the vertebra in
his neck begin collapsing and crumbling beneath the stone hard fingers. He scrabbled feebly with
one hand on the gigantic, monstrous claw around his neck, while the other hand struggled to get
something from a pocket inside his jacket. With the last drops of his energy dwindling, he began
to feel his consciousness fade to grey, an intolerable hot darkness was pressing behind his
eyeballs, and he knew without a doubt, but with bitter and resentful regret, that he was about to
pass in the way all vampires eventually died.

Anyone watching from afar would have seen a glaring flash of vivid orange that detonated silently
like mute lightning but was felt through the ground and through the bones like a powerful
explosion. A voice shrieked out, the horrible sound fading in volume and pitch into the misty
chill of the night.

Then all was again silent and still and darkness.

to be continued in:

Chapter 11 - Low heat

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