FF Iris 2/?

["gussihoo" <mattiesilver@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Same disclaimers, spoilers etc as part 1.. :)

This is a rather short chapter as I have no time to actually sit 
down and write. It's still not beta read so s'cuse meh. ;)
Something bizzare happened in part 1..a mistake I hadn't noticed 
until now. It seems an entire paragraph got deleted somehow..the 
paragraph that explained where Willow had been. *blush* She had been 
in the Carribean with her parents. Sorry 'bout that...



Iris: Part 2



Buffy sat on her bed, maniacally rolling a newspaper into a 
suitable weapon. 

"What are you doing?" Willow queried absently, as though Buffy 
rolling a newspaper the way a chain smoker would roll a cigarette was 
a normal occurance. 

"Flies. Everywhere." 

"Oh, yeah," The Wiccan swatted at a fly that had landed on her 
elbow. "The guys in the next room took the screen off their 
window." 

Buffy leapt off the bed, and began her killing spree. 

"That's it, Buff, cream those nasty fly-demons." Willow 
deadpanned, and flopped down on her bed. She'd been hoping Buffy 
would remember that she wanted to talk, but it seemed that Buffy had 
forgotten. Worse yet, Willow was losing her nerve. Buffy didn't seem 
receptive to talking, and Willow wasn't sure if Buffy would take well 
to what she had to say either. *I love you*, Willow chanted over and 
over in her head. It didn't sound so bad in there, but Willow knew 
that the moment she said it out loud, it was fair game. 

"Stay still, Will!" Buffy stage whispered. 

"Wha?" Willow managed before she was whacked on the back with the 
newspaper. 

"Oof!" 

"Oh..Wills..sorry..it was just a bit of lint." Buffy looked 
sheepish, but genuinely sorry. 

"S'ok." Willow grumbled. "Can I read the fly-swatter now?" 

"Oh!" Buffy looked at the newspaper like she'd never seen it 
before. "Yeah. Here." The Slayer sat down beside her friend's prone 
form, handed her the newspaper and then began to rub her back. 
"Anything interesting in there? Any suspicious stuff I should know 
about?" 

"Nope. Just your run-of-the-mill murders." In truth, Willow was 
not paying any attention to the newspaper. 

"Oh." Buffy slid her hand beneath Willow's t-shirt, under the 
pretense of looking for a welt. "Really?"

"Yup. Uh huh." 

Buffy had no idea what she was doing. Her hand seemed to have a 
mind of its own. It rubbed and stroked of its own free will, but 
Buffy did not want it to stop either. Quite the contrary. 

"Ok...time to get up. We're going patrolling." Buffy announced in 
an entirely too casual voice. She needed to stop before she... 

"Uh? I..oh..I thought Giles said..well..he.." Willow 
stammered. 

"Screw Giles. I'm the slayer..I have to patrol." 

"But, I don't think you should, Buffy. It's dangerous." 

*Nothing could be more dangerous than being here, alone with you, 
right now* Buffy thought as she pulled Willow bodily out the door. 


The graveyard was completely deserted, as was the rest of 
Sunnydale. Buffy could not find a single vamp to dust, not for lack 
of trying. "Where are they? This is frusterating. They are 
always here when you don't want them, but now.." 

"Buff. What's going on?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"Why are you acting like this? Are you trying to avoid 
something?" 

"Me? Avoid? No-nonononono. I don't avoid." 

"Well then, what?" 

Buffy began to walk back toward campus, but Willow snagged her 
hand before she got very far. 

"What's going on?" 

"It's nothing, really, Wills." Buffy lied.

"Really?" Willow frowned. "Because you're doing that thing you do 
when you lie." 

"What thing??"

"That pouty-mouthed, twitching eyebrow thing."

"You probably don't want to know!" Buffy said, pulling her hand 
out of Willow's and beginning to walk faster. "And, I do not pout!"

"Yes I do..and yes, you do. Now spill."

The slayer stopped walking and turned to Willow.

"...I've been thinking a lot lately..about some things.." 

"What kinds of things? Is this about Riley?" 

Buffy smiled a very wry smile. Clasping Willow's small hands in 
hers again, she said, 

"This couldn't be any less about Riley." 

"Well..what's...?" 

Buffy felt the courage rush into her. She felt like she could say 
anything, do anything.* Hell, I might as well just throw caution to 
the wind* she thought. 

"Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like..if 
we...if.." 

"If we what?" Willow prompted. *WHAT is Buffy trying to get at?
* 

"If we did this...." Buffy leaned into Willow slowly and gently 
ran her fingers across the sweetest pair of lips she'd ever seen. "I 
want to taste them Will. Can I?" 

Willow swallowed convulsively and nodded. 

"Buffy..I..thought you'd never ask..I wanted to talk to you..I 
wanted to tell you that I.." and then Willow couldn't speak. Buffy's 
lips cut off any words that were to follow. 

*The sweetest thing. The sweetest thing that has ever happened.* 
was all either of the girls could think. Their mouths fit together 
perfectly, as though they had been made for this moment. Neither 
could fathom how another person could feel so soft, how a face could 
be so smooth. Buffy's mouth wandered from Willow's lips, tracing her 
jaw and then nibbling the spot where Willow's throat became her 
shoulder. 

"Is this ok?" Buffy murmured, tasting Willow's pulse. 

"Ummmm..duh!" Willow said, and then nipped the Slayer's earlobe; 
kissed her behind the ear. 

"How long?" 

"I think for as long as I've breathed." whispered Willow. 

And then there was no need for breathing for either girl, at least 
not for the duration of their second kiss. Buffy leaned in, testing 
the softness of Willow's lips, placing tiny kisses at their corners, 
and then Willow, tired of being teased, claimed Buffy's mouth 
completely. "Mine!" her lips seemed to say, and Buffy gave herself 
over entirely. *I was afraid of this?* she thought fleetingly.