Snippet - Realisations

["sochankitsune" <annelise@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just a little snippet; I hope you like it.

Oh Dan... Since when did anything on Buffy ever get explained? Why 
did Spike take care of Dawn after Buffy's death? He's a monster with 
no soul, after all... How many times has Angel hidden and watched 
Buffy without her feeling him (Standing behind Giles, watching from a 
bush...?) and from what distances? Do you want everything explained 
and removed the fun of guessing? Don't you realise the other 
characters have to draw assumptions too? And that their assumptions 
may not be right...? Who can tell, they all stories as yet unwritten.

Anyway, I'm back in the UK, half-dead from fatigue, and here's a 
quick snippet.

--

"What time is it?" Buffy asked as Willow shook her awake. "It feels 
early."
"It is," Willow replied as she sat on the edge of the bed.
Buffy sat upright. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. At least, nothing serious." Willow's melancholy face 
seemed pale in the half-light. "I just needed to talk to you. Alone"
Buffy made an attempt to clear her eyes. Late-night patrolling 
meant she often didn't get into bed until just before sunrise, though 
things were much better now that she'd gotten work as a student 
counsellor; she no longer had to pull double shifts at the Doublemeat 
to pay the bills.
"I'm listening," she yawned.
Willow seemed withdrawn and silent as she tried to figure out how 
to tell Buffy what she needed to say.
Buffy threw aside her duvet. "And I'm still listening," she added 
with a smile. Wrong approach; levity wasn't what Willow needed.
"Buffy, I have to leave," Willow whispered, sadly.
"Okay," Buffy drew in breath. "Why?" Confused, but now completely 
awake, Buffy shuffled next to Willow and put her arm around her best 
friend, who flinched at her touch.
"Oh my god, Willow, what's wrong?" Buffy let her hand fall away, 
hurt and confused.
"Buffy!" Tears coursed down Willow's cheeks as her hands made futile 
fists by her side. "I'm in love with you, and its eating me up 
inside!"

*

Dawn stood outside the door, wide-eyed. She hadn't meant to 
overhear, but with that last declaration, how could she not eavesdrop 
further? Her breath thundered in her ears within the sudden silence 
that had gripped Buffy's bedroom, and it seemed for certain she would 
be overheard. Dawn held her breath.
"Oh, Willow," Buffy's tender reply came as a shock. "You know I love 
you too."
Unable to deal, Dawn ran back to her room and slammed the door. 
Hard.

*

"Do you think she overheard?" Willow asked with a gasp.
Buffy shrugged. "To be honest, I don't really care. She'd have 
found out, or guessed, sooner or later."
"What do you mean?" Willow's eyes were comically wide, but Buffy's 
face grew serious.
"I've been in love with you for quite awhile, Will," Buffy 
revealed. "I think perhaps you and Dawn were the last to realise. I 
thought it was just me that felt this way, though, and I've kept it 
to myself because I didn't want you feeling ostracised."
Willow digested this. "Who else knows?" she asked, curious despite 
the massive implications of, well, everything.
"Xander, for one." Buffy replied. "And I think Anya guessed, though 
those two don't talk to each other as much as you'd think."
Willow swallowed. "And Giles?"
"He was the first to realise," Buffy whispered. "Before even me."
"What happens now?" Willow asked, her heart singing, and yet at the 
same time lost. "What do we do now?"
Buffy opened her arms to her true love. "I don't know," she 
whispered. "But whatever we do, let's do it together."
Their first real kiss was everything they could have wished.

*

The End.