FIC : "Of Stakes & Spells" 10/? [W/B]

["satanslilangl" <satanslilangl@xxxxxxxxx>]

HEY Y'ALL! Sorry about the Gap in my Up-Dates, but since i don't 
get paid for this my lack of feed-back was disheartening (*Sad 
Face*) I hope that those of you that do read it like this chapter, 
and that those who start from here will go back and read the rest 
(they all are pretty short chapters) OH WELL! that's all that can 
be said......... ENJOY!
~VixenRaign~

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= = = (*In Need Of Explanations*) = = = 

Willow awoke slowly the next morning, thinking about the odd dream 
she'd had. It had something to do with talking bunches of broccoli, 
and a Labrador on Ice-Skates. {I think I had too much Turkey before 
bed!}. Willow was just about to cozy-up and go back to sleep when 
she realized The Slayer had gone. She shot up, only to find that 
she was slightly trapped. Both she and Buffy had crawled under 
tucked sheets, and she was having a good deal of trouble getting 
herself out. {How did Buffy crawl out of this without me noticing?} 
She wondered.

Once she had finally freed herself form the confines of the bed, she 
looked around the room. No sign of Buffy anywhere. She looked at 
the desks for a note, but there was none. She had just gone to the 
phone to call Giles when the door opened. Buffy walked through, 
looking at the carpet. She rested against the back of the door, and 
Willow walked over to her. The Slayer raised an arm, silently 
asking the Witch not to come any closer. Willow didn't. 

"Buffy! Where were you?" Buffy looked down at her shuffling feet 
for a few moments, not answering. Willow started walking forward, 
wanting to comfort the Slayer, but she raised her hand again. 
{Angel's visit must have effected her more than I'd thought . . .} 
Little did the Witch know that is was Willow that had Buffy so 
upset. She frowned, wanting to comfort her best-friend. "Buffy, 
please . . . tell me?"

"I . . . I . . ." Buffy started, but faltered. She found it very 
hard to look at the redhead. "I went to take a shower." She lied. 
She noticed Willow look at her toiletries sitting across the room 
(untouched), and glance at her hair (which was completely dry). She 
heard Willow heave a small sigh.

"I know you're lying to me," she said, "I don't know what makes you 
think you have to . . . or why you're acting so skittish, but I just 
wanted to make sure you're okay." She paused and made another 
attempt to came closer. Buffy stopped her again. "ARE you okay?" 
Willow asked feebly.

"I'm Fine." Buffy answered, a little too quickly for Willow's 
liking. Buffy turned the knob and started walking through it. She 
turned to face her friend, finally looking her in the eye. "Get 
dressed, I told Giles we'd all meet at his house for a post Indian-
Raid Clean up." She looked at the floor again, then looked up, "Plus 
I left some of my mom's dishes. I'll see you there." 

Then she walked down the hall, leaving a scared Willow in her 
tracks. Buffy had never really acted like that around her before. 
Certainly not recently. Willow changed as quickly as possible, and 
jogged over to Giles' apartment. She stood on the stoop for a few 
seconds, not sure what she should do. She needed to talk to Buffy, 
but she didn't want to have to do it in front of all the other 
Scoobies. She nervously ran her fingers through her short Copper 
locks. 

"Hey! Will, What's up?" Willow jumped. Xander had appeared out of 
nowhere behind her. He had Anya with him, and they seemed to be 
waiting for her answer.

"Uh, I was j-just-"

"She looks nervous." Anya stated in her blunt way. "All fidgety and 
stuttering." Xander gave her arm a small squeeze, and whispered 
something in her ear. "But it's true!" Xander smiled at Willow and 
walked past her to the door. He rang the bell and the three of them 
waited to be let in. Giles opened the door and welcomed them inside.

Willow walked in slowly, looking around at all the damage that had 
been done. The small side table had been turned right way up, many 
of the small windows had been broken, and there were arrows 
everywhere. Willow looked around for something to do. Then she 
heard a clatter coming from the direction of the Kitchen. Looking 
through the breakfast-nook, the witch spotted Buffy, washing dishes 
in the sink. Gathering her courage, she walked over to help the 
blond. 

"It's okay Willow, I got. Go help Giles with the arrow-removals." 
Willow pouted, but Buffy didn't see. She was too focused on 
cleaning. She walked over to Giles for instructions. They worked 
for about half an hour, then Xander offered to go out and get them 
some coffee and doughnuts. They all agreed, and he took Anya with 
him. Once all the arrow holes had been patched, Giles offered for 
Willow to go help Buffy with the Kitchen clean-up.

"Giles sent me in here to help you. Seems this is all that's 
left . . ." Willow walked forward to the sink, but Buffy interrupted.

"Do you know how to clean an Oven?" She didn't even look up at the 
Witch, but knew that she'd nodded. "Then why don't you do that, I 
didn't really understand the instructions on the bottle." She just 
kept scrubbing. That's when Willow noticed something. Buffy was 
still scrubbing the same pot. She put her hand over the Slayer's, 
but Buffy shook it off. Willow grabbed her hand and forced it out 
of the sudsy water. She took the basting ban by the handle and 
lifted it. Once it'd freed the water surface, Willow's eyes 
bugged. Buffy had scrubbed right through the copper through to the 
lead center.

Buffy snatched it back, and started dying it. {Buffy's avoiding 
me . . . Why is Buffy avoiding me? Just last night she told me she 
hadn't lied to me in a 'long' while, and then first thing she does 
the next day is just that! What did I do?} Buffy suddenly turned 
to Willow, looking like she was going to yell at her. Willow 
recoiled, and backed against the closed over. Buffy's face 
softened. She turned back to her pots and pans.

"Buffy?" she whispered, reaching out to touch the Blond. Buffy 
slammed the pot down, and turned angrily towards the Witch. "Buffy 
what's wrong?" Willow asked terrified at the way her best-friend was 
acting.

"What's Wrong? WHAT'S WRONG?!" She roared, unaware of the startled 
Giles watching from the living room. Willow was shocked, she'd not 
expected a reaction like this to Angel visiting. Buffy picked up 
the new pot again and returned to cleaning it. She glanced 
furiously at Willow every few seconds. He was huffing like a Bull 
getting ready to charge. Then it slowed. The heated cleaning 
wound down, her near growling silenced, and she closed her eyes. 
Taking a deep breath, she clamed. "Why?" she whispered.

"W-w-why What?" A scared Willow asked quietly.

"Why did you lie to me, Willow?" Buffy asked, turning a teary face 
towards her friend. 

"He asked me not to tell you he was-"

"NOT ANGEL!" Buffy roared again, "ME! Why did you not tell ME!" she 
asked desperately. Willow looked confused. "When I asked you what 
Happened when I was Cave-Slayer, why didn't you tell me 
everything?" Willow's eyes bugged as she realized what Buffy 
meant. "Is that why?" Buffy whispered, her voice horse from bother 
her yelling and her tears. "Is that why you would always blush when 
I talked about it? . . . . . Why didn't you tell me?"

"I-I-I . . . . I thought-" she stammered.

"What?" Buffy asked gently, her voice still horse, "Please, just tell 
me why you lied . . . why you kept this from me . . ." Willow now 
had silent tears rolling down her face, as she tried to think of 
words to explain what'd happened. "Was I just a moment of 
weakness? Another Xander?" She whispered, fear making her voice 
shake.

"No! No, Buffy, not at all like that! The whole thing with Xander 
was over you-" Buffy looked at her confused, "But I'll explain that 
later . . ." she finished quietly.

"Then why?" she whispered. Willow leaned dejectedly against the 
counter. Unable to find the words to explain it without scaring the 
Slayer away.

"Shame. Not because of you, but more because of me. Buffy, I've 
liked you . . . for a while now. And that was the first time I ever 
even thought you liked me back. You of all people must know what 
it's like to want something you know you can never have?" Willow 
looked at Buffy sadly. {Angel} Buffy thought. 

"I was weak. You wanted to be with me, and I was so lonely. Oz 
had been spending so much time with Veruca, and I knew that I wasn't 
going to get him back." Willow accidentally let out a sob she'd been 
trying so hard to hold in. "He was the only person that even 
showed an interest in me . . . EVER, really. Xander just wanted me 
because I was there." Willow looked at the floor for a few seconds, 
then looked Buffy in the eye again. 

"Buffy. What would you do if Angel showed up, telling you he loved 
you, and that he was human again?" More tears slipped down the 
redhead's cheeks, but she never broke eye contact. "I was just so 
happy that you actually wanted to be with me that I didn't even stop 
to think about why at first."

"At first, but you did remember eventually. Why didn't you tell 
me?" Buffy too was crying, though she had regained control of her 
voice. 

"I knew that you'd never want me if it hadn't been for the cursed 
beer. I knew that THAT was the only explanation. You were only 
with ME because I was convenient . . . even with the beer. But 
Oz . . . he was the only person that really liked me for me (with out 
the influence of magic). And although I knew he was getting over 
me, I wanted to be with him as long as possible. I couldn't tell 
him . . . . and I couldn't tell you." She heaved a sigh and sank to 
the floor, her back against Giles' cabinets. Buffy gently sat down 
next to her, wanting to hear the end of the explanation. 

"Buffy, the next morning, you told me you didn't remember 
anything . . . I was so torn. I wanted you to remember SO 
BADLY . . . but at the same time I didn't. I knew that you'd feel 
grossed out and disgusted. I thought you'd think I was sickening 
and perverse . . ." she looked at Buffy, tears still running down her 
face, "And I was right, wasn't I?" After a difficult internal 
struggle, Buffy wrapped the crying Willow into a hug. She held her 
tightly, hushing her comfortingly. 

Willow held onto her for dear life. She'd never regretted anything 
as much as she did this. She wished she'd told Buffy the truth from 
the beginning, though she wasn't so sure that would have had much 
better results. She wished she had never kissed Buffy while she was 
cursed, and yet it had been one of the best experiences of her life.

"Willow, Shh. Shh. It's gonna be okay." Buffy whispered, trying 
to be gentile with the already fragile girl. "To tell you the 
truth, if Angel had showed up yesterday, human and saying he was in 
love with me . . . I would still have said no." Willow still clung 
to her, though her tears had lessoned. "You have meant so much to 
me for so long, I just didn't see the change. When you stopped 
being 'Best-Friend-Willow' and became . . . So much more." Buffy 
whispered. "There were always these little moments that would make 
me realize there was something in you. Something amazing. Even 
you must have noticed a few of them?"

"Well, there were a few maybes . . ." she whispered, slightly more 
comfortable, "But they were so fleeting I kinda played them off as 
wishful thinking." She still clung to Buffy, whom she noticed 
hadn't let go yet. Buffy gently stroked her soft red hair, trying 
to calm the Witch. Willow knew that she was in for it now. There 
was no way Buffy could go from screaming like that to comforting 
her. She was about to get some bad news, and she was sure of it.

"Willow, I need to ask you some thing?" Buffy said 
delicately. "Will you do me a favor?" Willow nodded, looking 
Buffy in the eye, trying to show her she'd do anything to make it 
right. Buffy smiled sadly at her. "Will you give me a few days? 
Juts to think things threw?" Willow went numb. {Buffy's kicking me 
out! She doesn't want me to be a Scooby anymore! Oh god, it's 
like I can't breath . . .} Buffy's eyes bugged as she noticed Willow 
turning from red to purple. "WILLOW?! What's wrong?!" The Witch 
realized she hadn't been breathing and opened her mouth, gasping for 
air. 

"God, Willow, don't ever scare me like that again!" she grasped the 
girl and pulled her tightly to her, "You're not a commelion! Stay 
one color! No more turning purple!" she hugged tightly, worried 
that she'd hold her breath again. 

"Buffy, you really want me to leave?" Willow asked feebly. Buffy 
pulled back and looked at her best friend, very confused.

"Why would I want you to leave?" she asked.

"Because you're kicking me out of the Slayerettes." 

"No I'm not! Why would you think that?!" She looked offended at 
the very idea. Then Buffy realized, Willow didn't 
understand. "No, Willow, I just meant the whole You-And-Me thing. 
You know, how we keep having these things . . . where we, ya know. 
Have little romantic moments. I just meant that stuff. I might go 
and stay at my mom's tonight, but I was going over to have dinner and 
return the pots anyways, But . . ." She trailed off and ran her 
fingers threw the red tendrils hanging near the Witch's neck. "It's 
just for now. I still want to be with you, Will. I juts need some 
time to think, Okay?" 

Willow nodded. She was happy to hear that Buffy still wanted to be 
with her, but worried over the fact that Buffy wasn't going to be in 
the dorm tonight. {Am I really that bad? Can she not stand to be 
in the same room as me?} Buffy got up, lifting the Witch, and 
placing her upright on her feet. She handed her the Oven cleaner, 
smiling and went back to her dishes. Just then Xander and Anya 
burst through the door.

"Who wants Jelly-Filled?!" Xander yelled excitedly.

"Me . . ." came the slow drawl from the Kitchen door way. A 
smirking Spike pushed himself off the door frame towards Xander. 
Buffy and Willow looked at each-other, realizing they hadn't noticed 
him standing there. {{HOW MUCH DID HE HEAR?!}} 

.

(Author's Note: hope you like it, I took me a fair chunk of time to 
write! Gotta love the Spike-Shaped Cliff-Hanger too! . . . . Lets 
see where this leads!)

(SPOILER: Next Chapter Will Take Place During "HUSH" [look-out! Here 
comes some Crazy Willow-Tara-Buffy chaos in the next few chapters!] 
ENJOY!)