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

[nagarek <nagarek@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all.

I just had to try to fix the formatting on this, it was horrible here on my
machine, can't imagine how bad it is on anyone else's, so excuse the doubleups
again ... Yahoo is playing games with me, and put it down to me not knowing
Yahoo properly.

Stef.


The Slayer And The Witch - Stefan Akerblom - nagarek - nagarek@xxxxxxxxx
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 from 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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