FIC: Again 3/5

["Jay" <Swanrvr80@xxxxxxx>]

Title: Again

PART THREE

"Kennedy?  Hey, where'ya hiding?" called out Leigh.  She stopped, 
surprised to see that the front drapes were open.  They were usually 
closed and that bothered Leigh.  Kennedy never forgot to close them 
out of concern for her well-known aversion to sunlight.

"Kennedy?" tried Leigh again, though she knew no one was here.  She 
would know.  She could sense a heartbeat even on the floor above 
her.  Leigh leaned into the bedroom and, as expected, the bed wasn't 
made.  Her roommate...no, she was more than that.  Her lover  was 
something of a slob.  Making her way to the bathroom she saw the damp 
towel on the floor in the corner.  Shaking her head with a smile she 
turned to leave but then noticed that the drawer under the sink was 
slightly open.

Leigh hesitated, afraid of what she wouldn't find if she opened that 
draw.  Pulling the drawer slowly open she saw that it was empty.  
That meant that Kennedy had taken her stake.  And that meant...

Leigh ran for the phone in the bedroom, hoping that Kennedy had taken 
her cell phone.

***

Willow glanced at her watch again, ignored it and then looked over at 
the clock on the wall above the counter.  Kennedy was late.

Kennedy was never late.  

Kennedy hated to do laundry, never bothered to close her drawers all 
the way and would leave half empty soda cans around the apartment but 
she had this thing about punctuality.  So now Willow was officially 
worried.  The waitress walked by one more time, catching Willow's eye 
to see if she was needed.

"Excuse me, but I don't think my friend is going to show.  Can I get 
my check, please?" asked Willow.

"Sure you don't want anything else?" she asked.

"No.  No thanks," answered Willow, shaking her head.

"You okay, honey?  If ya don't mind me saying so you like kinda 
down," nodded the waitress knowingly.  She was still chewing gum and 
Willow wondered if it was the same piece she had been chomping on all 
morning.

"Yeah, I just...I just needed to talk to someone and she didn't 
show," sighed Willow.

"Oh, sorry to hear that.  Well, I'm not going to charge you for just 
that, you didn't even touch your toast.  You try to have a nice day, 
okay?" smiled the waitress.

"Thank you," said Willow, smiling back.  She reached into her 
pocketbook and pulled out her cellphone.

"Hey Xander, it's me.  You guys still in the City?  Yeah?  So, got 
any big plans today?  What?  Oh, um, no it didn't...what I mean 
is...Xander, could you, could you come out here?  I really need a 
shoulder to lean on right about now.  I'm kinda in over my head, as 
in the deep end of the pool.  No, Xander, it's a metaphor.  And I 
told you, I don't have that bathing suit anymore.  You can?  Really?  
That's...thanks.  I needed to hear that.  It's less than an hour, 
depending on the traffic.  Buffy?  Oh, no, she doesn't need to...but 
I thought she wanted to see...no really, I don't want her to have 
to...okay, okay, see you in a little while.  You know where I'm 
staying, right?  Okay.  Thanks, Xander.  Bye."

Willow stared at her cell phone for a moment, then closed it and 
tossed it back into her pocketbook.  Making sure that the waitress 
wasn't looking she placed three dollars on the table and left.

***

"Hi, I was just there a little while ago.  Can you tell me if Wil...I 
mean, if a red-haired girl still there?  She has a brown suede jacket 
on, we sat in a booth across from counter?  Oh.  She just left," 
sighed Leigh.  "Okay, thank you."

Leigh put the phone down and just stood there a moment.  She swore 
under her breath when she realized that she didn't know where Willow 
was staying.  Running out into the living room, she frantically 
searched the room, finally spotting the phone book.  She grabbed the 
book and thumbed through it as she walked back towards the phone, 
shaking her head when she saw how many motels and inns were listed.

"Yes, can you tell me if Willow Rosenberg is staying there?  She 
probably registered last night.  I'm a friend.  I know you can't give 
that information out but this is an emergency!  See, there's at least 
eight motels in town and I don't know where...a friend of hers is, 
she's sick and she needs to know about it.  I know, I know, 
but...look, she's about five foot two with red hair and these amazing 
green eyes and...okay, okay, I get it.  Just do me a favor and tell 
her Kennedy called!"

Leigh slammed the phone down and looked towards the window.  It would 
be hours until the sun set.

***

"What?" said Xander, almost shouting.

"I said, Kennedy's got a girlfriend," repeated Willow flatly.

"Willow, are you sure?  Maybe she just said that out of anger or, or 
maybe she just wanted to make you jealous," tried Buffy.

"Sorry, but the girl's real.  I, um, I kinda already met her," said 
Willow uncomfortably.  She was standing by the window of her motel 
room with her arms crossed as she looked out into the parking lot.  
Buffy and Xander were sitting on the bed behind her.  When neither of 
them spoke she turned to face them.

"Oh," winced Buffy.

"Yeah.  Oh," nodded Xander, also wincing.  "That was a sympathy 
wince, by the way."

"Got it," nodded Willow.

"Well, here's proof that love is blind.  What, Kennedy can't see how 
attractive this hot red head is?" asked Xander, looking at Buffy but 
pointing at Willow.

"Love isn't blind, Xander.  If that was true, then why is lingerie so 
popular?" sighed Willow.  "Besides, you ever see Cupid portrayed with 
a seeing-eye dog?"

"Um...okay, this isn't very comforting but can I just say that I like 
the way you think?  About the lingerie part, not the dog part," 
explained Xander.

"It, uh...it gets worse," said Willow, looking down at her hands.

"Worse?" repeated Buffy.

"The dog ate the lacy lingerie?" offered Xander.

"Xander!" scolded Buffy.  

"Okay, so I added lacy!  I have an active imagination.  Can I ask 
about the color?" 

Buffy glared at him.  Xander was going to continue but withdrew with 
a pout.

"Kennedy's girlfriend...she's a vampire," said Willow softly, 
lowering her eyes, not looking at either of them but especially not 
Buffy.  She stood still, motionless, waiting for their reaction.

"A...she's a what!?" said Xander, this time shouting.  He turned to 
face Buffy.  "What is it with you Slayers and vampires?  Was there a 
change in the mission statement?  Did I miss a memo?  You're supposed 
to depopulate them, not copulate with them!"

Buffy opened her mouth to protest but changed her mind.  She slumped 
her shoulders to acknowledge her defeat and shook her head at Willow, 
giving her a sympathetic look.

"There's more," continued Willow.

"Let me guess.  She got a soul?" suggested Xander.

"Xander!" yelled Buffy.

"Hey, I hear it's in style this year," countered Xander.  "You know, 
the new black."

"No.  A big no to the soul thingy," interrupted 
Willow.  "Leigh...that's her name...well, she kinda looks like me.  
Not in a creepy doppelganger way, mind you, just, what with the red 
hair, the green eyes, she's about my height...and speaking of creepy, 
did I mention that she wears my clothes?" cringed Willow.

"Huh?" managed Buffy.

"What she said," added Xander, nodding towards Buffy.

"She wears my clothes.  Clothes I used to wear.  Well, not the actual 
clothes, `cause most of those are gone and that's just...you know 
what I mean, what I wore when I was with Kennedy.  Kennedy buys them 
for her," said Willow, looking at Xander, then Buffy and then back to 
Xander.  Neither one said anything, they simply stared at her.

"Yeah, that was my reaction too," agreed Willow.

"So...is there some kinda spell involved?" asked Xander.

"No," answered Willow firmly.

"I don't get it.  This vamp, she's pretending to be you?" asked Buffy.

"No," replied Willow.

"Didn't think so.  There's only one Willow," said Xander, nodding his 
head enthusiastically just once.

"Kennedy is pretending that this vamp is me."

"And that's different how?" asked Xander, scratching his head. 

"It's a big dif!  Kennedy doesn't have me anymore, or at least she 
doesn't believe she does.  So this...thing, she's who I was, 
she's...she's who Kennedy wants, what she needs.  Um...did I mention 
that Kennedy calls her by my name?" said Willow, biting her lower lip 
to keep it from trembling.

"I think we might've missed that.  And can I just say...ew!" cringed 
Xander.

"Seconding his ew," nodded Buffy.

"The big scary part?  I believe Leigh really loves her," said Willow, 
looking straight into Buffy's eyes.  Willow was hurt, she was upset, 
but her eyes revealed more than that, hinted at something else.  For 
the first time Buffy considered the idea that Willow didn't love 
Kennedy.

"Will, I don't get it.  What happened?  Why did Kennedy run off 
anyway?" asked Xander.  Buffy looked away but Xander didn't 
notice.  "And how did it get to this?"

Willow looked at Buffy but her best friend wouldn't look back at her.

"Things were bad between us for a while.  At first I thought Kennedy 
believed I wasn't over Tara, that I was still...not that you 
can...anyway, that's what I thought, even after we talked last 
night," sighed Willow.

"What changed your mind after last night?" asked Xander.  Unnoticed, 
Buffy closed her eyes.

"Talking to Leigh this morning.  She thinks that Kennedy...oh, 
um...it's not important.  Down in Rio we had a, uh, we had a 
misunderstanding.  Not a fight, just...anyway, she took off and I 
wasn't able to find her to talk about it.  Until now.  Last night, it 
was pretty intense," admitted Willow.  "She was going to meet me 
today but didn't show.  That's when I met Leigh."

"Where's Kennedy now?" asked Buffy.

"I don't know.  And I'm worried."

"Did you try calling her?" asked Xander.

"She changed her cell number," pouted Willow.

"She knows you're here, Will, she'll come around," comforted Xander.

"You don't understand.  I did a spell to locate her.  But I couldn't!"

"Do the spell?" asked Buffy.

"No!  Find her!  This spell is easy, it only doesn't work if the 
person you're looking for is too far away, below ground, close to 
death, or..."

Willow didn't finish.  She didn't have to.

"Wait, if she were asleep or, or unconscious, wouldn't that slow her 
vitals down enough to make her hard to find?" asked Buffy hopefully.

"Maybe.  Maybe if she wasn't close by," shrugged Willow.

"You think this Leigh..."

"No," said Willow quickly, interrupting Xander.  "No.  Leigh told me 
she saved Kennedy's life.  She could've...you know, but she didn't."

"And you believe her?" asked Xander.

"I believe she loves her.  Weird as that may be, it counts for 
something," sighed Willow.

"But do you trust her?" asked Buffy.

"You trusted Spike," said Xander.

"That was different.  He had that chip in his head and later he had 
his soul," answered Buffy, raising her voice.

"And when the chip wasn't working?" countered Xander.

"Speaking of chips, Xander, knock that one off of your shoulder, 
okay?  It's over.  It's old news," complained Buffy.

"Is the Immortal old news?  You trusted him," stated Willow softly.

"Oh no, you two aren't ganging up on me.  Not now.  This is so not 
about me!" protested Buffy.

"Okay, backing off, stepping away," announced Xander, both hands 
raised up in the air.  "It's just..."

Xander looked Buffy right in the eye and faltered, thrown by her 
sudden and obvious sadness.  Willow noticed it too.

"Never mind," whispered Xander.  "It's none of our business."

"Thank you," said Buffy after a moment.  "I know you guys were 
concerned..."

"Are concerned," corrected Willow.  "Present tense."

"No.  No, it's past tense now.  Oh, um, the fling, not the concern.  
I appreciate the concern.  Really, I do," nodded Buffy 
enthusiastically.

"That's all it was?  A fling?" asked Willow, wrinkling up her nose at 
the word.

"Yep.  Purely physical.  Just in it for the sex," explained Buffy 
just a little too quickly.    "Sorry if that sounds...you know, I'm 
not sorry.  I got out of that relationship what I wanted.  It's not 
like I'm looking to settle down or settle for, okay?"

"Atta girl," smiled Xander.

"I mean, come on, is that such a bad thing?" asked Buffy somewhat 
defensively.

"No.  No, of course not," said Willow, pausing to make sure Buffy was 
looking right at her and speaking slowly.  "I know exactly what you 
mean."

Buffy nodded but didn't smile, suddenly understanding but yet still 
surprised.

"Xander, why don't you go to the office, see if the room next door is 
available?  I see there's a connecting door and I'm thinking we might 
just be spending a night or two here," said Buffy.

"Sure thing," agreed Xander.  He stood up and walked towards the door.

"Thank you," said Willow, mouthing the words to Buffy so that Xander 
couldn't hear.

"Will, when I get back we should get out for a while, maybe take a 
walk.  The fresh salty air might do ya some good," suggested Xander.

"Hey, maybe we can go shopping!" added Buffy.

"What?  Me?  With you two?  No way in hell!"

"Xander!" whined Willow.

"You think I'm going through that again?  Once bitten, twice shy and 
I ain't talkin' vampires here," continued Xander.

"But..."

Xander stopped Buffy with a wave of his hand.

"Ya wanna recap of our last adventure?  And they're off.  It's I Saw 
That First followed by It's Not Your Best Color with Xander You 
Forgot The Coupon! close behind.  Out of nowhere comes Does This Make 
Me Look Fat along with Nagging and Pleading, it's Pleading and 
Nagging when suddenly out bursts No Not Really followed by What Do 
You Mean By That!  Wait, here comes Xander How Could You neck and 
neck with I'm Sorry and I Didn't Mean That close behind a surprise 
return of Pleading with Groveling making a move but fading fast.  And 
in the end it's Storming Off and Another Ruined Saturday Night."

Xander took in a deep breath and put his hands on his hips.

"I don't really feel like shopping, do you?" asked Buffy, glancing at 
Willow.

"Nah," agreed Willow.

"Okay then.  Be right back," announced Xander, quickly leaving.

"Thanks.  For getting rid of Xander.  I love him to death but we 
needed some alone girl time, don'tcha think?" asked Willow.

"Yeah.  Guess we do.  So...is that all it was, a...what did you call 
it?  Oh yeah, a misunderstanding?" ventured Buffy.

"Buffy, now more than ever I think you can see that you had nothing 
to do with Kennedy and I breaking up."

"Why Willow Rosenberg, whatever do you mean?" asked Buffy in a poorly 
attempted Southern accent.

"Buffy!"

"Okay, okay!  I get it.  But I can still wear my big red letter A on 
my sleeve if I wants," pouted Buffy playfully.

"That was a scarlet letter and we didn't exactly commit adultery," 
answered Willow.

"We were getting there!" grinned Buffy, finally making Willow smile.

"That's better.  You haven't smiled in a while.  I miss that.  
Willow, I know I haven't been there for you lately.  I've been a bad 
best friend," sighed Buffy.

"No you haven't," argued Willow.  She sat down on the bed next to 
Buffy.

"Yes, I have.  And I really didn't mean to make fun of what 
happened.  I am sorry," winced Buffy.

"About the kiss?" inquired Willow tentatively, looking at Buffy out 
of the corner of her eye.

"About you and Kennedy!" laughed Buffy.   

"Oh.  Right," laughed Willow, forcing a smile.  

"I have no regrets about the kiss," taunted Buffy with mock 
indignation.  "You would've chickened out anyway."

"Don't be so sure," answered Willow so convincingly and quickly that 
Buffy stared at her with raised eyebrows.  Willow winked and Buffy 
tried unsuccessfully not to smile.

"So...no more boyfriend?" asked Willow, putting a hand on Buffy's arm.

"Nope.  That's over," said Buffy.

"And you're okay with that?"

"Some parts of me are.  Other parts, well..."

Buffy grinned and Willow laughed again.

"Exactly how good was the sex?" asked Willow boldly.  Buffy rolled 
her eyes and fell back down onto the bed.

"Oh.  My.  Insert your favorite deity here!" smiled Buffy, suddenly 
narrowing her eyes.  "Wait, maybe insert isn't the best word."

"Then again, maybe it is," teased Willow.  This time Buffy laughed.

"Buffy?"

"Yeah?"

"What if you're with someone, in a relationship, but only one of you 
is getting more out of the relationship than just great sex?  Does 
that make this getting-not-as-much person a bad person?" asked Willow 
softly.

Buffy sat up and put her hand on Willow's shoulder.

"No.  Of course not.  You just have to be honest with the other 
person...more importantly, you have to be honest with yourself.  No 
matter how great the sex is," added Buffy.

"Yeah.  Kinda knew that.  Guess I just needed to hear it from someone 
else," nodded Willow.  "Still, I can't help but feel that I, 
well...it's not that...what I mean is..."

Buffy pulled Willow just a little bit closer and opened her eyes just 
a bit wider to encourage her friend to continue.

"I wasn't just using her, Buffy.  It was so much more than that," 
sighed Willow.

"I know.  I could see that.  Everyone could," comforted Buffy.

"It's not that I don't love her.  It's just...Kennedy is a lot of 
things to me, Buffy, but...but she's not the one," winced Willow, her 
voice trailing off.

"I get it, Willow.  Believe me when I say that I understand," nodded 
Buffy.

"Yeah.  I think you do."

"Sooo...have you ever talked to Kennedy about this?" asked Buffy 
warily.

"Never really had the chance," flinched Willow.

"Maybe.  Or maybe it was just easier to be avoidy girl on the 
subject?" suggested Buffy.

"Maybe," pouted Willow, not attempting to hide her guilt.  Buffy 
pulled her close with a hug.  

"Some things, if they're important...especially if they're 
important... need to be said, no matter how hard," said Buffy softly.

"Sure, though I'm thinking there's really never a best time with now 
being an especially never in the bestest of times," frowned 
Willow.  "I mean, and don't take this the wrong way, what with your 
seeming preference in...men...but Kennedy's with a vampire and it 
ain't sounding all that healthy."

"There's that," agreed Buffy, nodding.  She almost said something but 
then just smiled.

"What?" asked Willow.

"Nothing," answered Buffy, shaking her head but breaking off eye 
contact.

"Buffy," said Willow firmly.

"It's nothing, really," protested Buffy but she frowned when Willow 
tilted her head impatiently.  "Okay.  I was just wondering...is there 
someone else?"

"Someone...Buffy, I've been faithful!" sighed Willow, though now she 
looked away.

"I'm sorry.  Of course you haven't...you know, with someone else," 
agreed Buffy, only then realizing that Willow hadn't really answered 
the question.  Willow slowly exhaled, puffing out her cheeks.  She 
still hadn't looked at Buffy and it was becoming obvious.

"When did you first realize that something was wrong?" asked Buffy.

"Hard to say.  Probably when Kennedy insisted on being my anchor when 
I played around with astral projection," sighed Willow.  "I knew she 
wasn't ready, I mean she's not anywhere near as good as...I mean, 
she's not good.  With the magicks.  But she wanted so much to make me 
happy.  Kinda blame myself on that."

"Go on," encouraged Buffy.

"The astral thingy, at first it was just awesome!  I was on top of a 
mountain and there was this cairn..."

"Wait.  There was a Karen?  I thought you said there wasn't anyone 
else?" questioned Buffy.

"No, Buffy.  Cairn.  Not Karen. C-A-I-R-N.  It's a pile of rocks, 
marks your way along a trail," explained Willow.

"Oh," nodded Buffy, her face getting red.

"It's not important.  Anyway, Kennedy got distracted or scared or 
something and, well, remember how much fun I was the next three 
days?" frowned Willow.

"Oh yeah.  I yelled at her.  And ya know, the funny thing is I didn't 
feel guilty about it later," said Buffy proudly.

"Did she avoid you after that!  But it wasn't just one thing, Buffy.  
We had different interests.  It's not like we drifted apart, it's 
more like we never connected," shrugged Willow.

"Except for the sex," smiled Buffy.  Willow smiled and almost 
blushed.  "Willow?"

"Mmm?"

"Kennedy and Leigh.  You think Leigh's in love with her, so who's the 
getting-not-as-much person in that relationship?"

"No, that's different.  It's all a lie," said Willow softly, lowering 
her head.  "Isn't it?"

"Maybe.  Maybe this is just Kennedy's way of dealing," shrugged 
Buffy.  Willow didn't say anything.  Buffy pushed Willow's hair back 
out of her eyes, her finger tracing a line along Willow's cheek.  
Willow closed her eyes and leaned into the touch.

"So...what do you want to do?" whispered Buffy.

"Huh?" managed Willow, her eyes suddenly wide open.

"About Kennedy," said Buffy.

"Oh!  You know, I have no idea.  I mean, she's a big girl, right?  
She can make her own decisions about this kinda stuff.  Right?" asked 
Willow hopefully.

"In theory.  I'm thinking this is just a bit more complicated than 
that," said Buffy, leaning her head on Willow's shoulder.

"In theory," agreed Willow.

"Wanna go look for her?"

Willow nodded without any hesitation.

"Hey, dumb question here but you did look in the phone book, right?"

"Yeah," answered Willow.  "Nadda."

***

The sun had hardly set before Leigh set out, trying her best to keep 
to the long shadows of the late afternoon.  The back of her neck was 
warm from her recklessness but she didn't care.  She knew exactly 
where to go...just as Kennedy had known.

The windows of the house were boarded up with plywood and the scent 
of last summer's fire was still strong to her sensitive nose.  There 
had been very little actual damage from the fire itself, more from 
smoke and the water of the fire hoses.  The owners simply didn't have 
the money to rebuild after falling behind on their insurance 
payments.  A vine covered For Sale sign leaned slightly to one side 
in the front yard.

Leigh pushed open the back door, its lock long broken.  She stepped 
into the empty kitchen, stepping over several crushed beer cans.  The 
floor was littered with cigarette butts, signs that the local kids 
hung out here.  Just not lately.  Even they could sense something 
wasn't quite right here.  There was a pall that clung to the very 
walls not unlike the acrid smoke of that long ago fire.

Evil.  Palpable, a tenseness that knotted up your stomach though you 
didn't understand why.

Leigh stepped into the living room, the utter stillness so tomblike 
it seemed to press down upon her.  There, near the foot of the stairs 
that led to the second floor, a splotch of red not unlike blood.  But 
Leigh knew better.

It was Kennedy's scarf.  And lying next to it was her wooden stake. 

END OF PART THREE





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Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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