Author: Dan Spector
Pairing: Buffy and Willow. (Why not the best?)
Rating: PG (f/f relationship, angst), but an R sequel is planned
Summary: Willow can have something she always wantedbut will her nerves get in the way?
Spoilers: None, really. Takes place in early S4, a few weeks before Pangs, but things went AU after Wild At Heart and Buffy and Willow are already together. Riley was never an issue.
Archiving: Ask and receive. Those who had standing invitations before (waaaay back when I was ficcing regularly) don't even have to ask, but it'd be nice to know you haven't forgotten me.
Feedback: Well, it's been two years since I posted a fic, so I suppose I don't have the right to expect any response until '06 or so. But if you want to speed the process up, I'd love to hear from you. On the lists or at danspector@xxxxxxxxx
Author's note: Relatively simplistic a fic to come back with after so long an absence, but easy to write, which is probably why it got done, for once. Bear with me, there'll be better stuff eventually. ("Eventually" being the operative word, alas.)
"Buffy, I-I-I don't know about this&" Willow said in a trembling voice, trying hard not to let on how scared she was and failing miserably.
"But, Will, I thoughtI thought you wanted to do this. I mean you told me&don't you want to?" Buffy responded, confused and worried by the redhead's sudden anxiety.
"Oh, God, yes! For years! You have no idea how much" Willow broke off, looking at the fear and pain in Buffy's eyes. It was trueshe'd dreamed about this day forever. And yet, now that it was here, her nerves were ruining everything.
She looked at her girlfriend, the woman she lovedand how wonderful it was to finally be able to call Buffy that!and silently cursed herself for making Buffy fret, for causing that too-familiar knot of muscle to appear beneath the Slayer's brow.
"Will, what is it?" Buffy said, moving her head closer to the hacker's until their foreheads were nearly touching. She dropped her voice a little, trying to be soothing even though her own insides felt like a horse was kicking them, as she tried to find the right words to comfort her best friend, her other half, her soulmate.
"It's stupid," Willow said, almost inaudibly, as she dropped her eyes to the floor.
Buffy reached out with her right hand and gently brushed a few stray hairs off of Willow's face before tenatively caressing her love's cheek.
"it's not stupid," Buffy declared, overlooking the minor technicality that she had no idea what "it" might be. "Whatever the problem is, you just tell me, and I'll help you deal with it. And you don't even have to do anything if you don't want to"
"But that's just it!" Willow complained, heartstricken. "I do want to do it, I always have! Okay, when we talked about it before, I knew I had to wait until I was older, but here I am, older now, college student even, and we're together, and this is something we should do together, and I now I can't! I mean, I thought I'd be the one who would have trouble convincing you to&" the redhead trailed off, even more ashamed.
"Will!" Buffy said, drawing in a quick breath and now bringing up her left hand as well, and gently-but-firmly raising her beloved's head so that they were looking each other in the eye. "What's wrong, exactly? Just tell me."
Willow gulped, blinked back the tears that she was surprised to find had been forming in her eyes, and nodded her head almost imperceptibly. Buffy relaxed her hold and waited.
"It&it's just that I've thought about it a lot, but I've never done it before. What if I do it wrong, what if I mess everything up?"
"You won't," Buffy assured her.
"You don't know that," Willow argued back. "And this is really important to me. I want to do it right. Especially since it's my first time."
"I know," Buffy said, "and, Will, I'm glad you care so much. But you're worrying over nothing. I trust you."
"Yeah, but it's gonna be dark in there, and I'm not familiar with the, um, equipment, and"
"Will," Buffy interrupted, silencing the redhead by laying a single finger across her lips, "it's really not that hard. It's not that dark, and trust me, it's not that complicated. I did it, and you're a lot smarter than I am."
"No, I'm not," Willow objected. "Okay, so I've read all the books, but this is different. And, yeah, you did a really great job, but you're you, Buffy. I'm not you."
"What, you think this takes some special Slayer instinct or something?" Buffy said, smiling. "Trust me, that has nothing to do with it. In fact, I know for certain that Faith has never done this in her life." Willow smiled a little bit at that idea. "But, Will," Buffy continued, "women just like you, all over the planet, have been doing this for, like, forever. Really."
Willow thought for a second about this, and then nodded her head and straightened up, a fresh resolve on her face.
"You're right, Buffy," she said. "If all those women can do it, so can I. I'm just being a silly."
"Yeah, you are," Buffy agreed.
"Hey!" Willow said, faking offense, and lightly punching her girlfriend in the arm. "What happened to all that support you were talking about?"
"A girl's only got so much patience," Buffy teased. "Now, are you ready?"
"Darn tootin'!" Willow exclaimed, moving forward. But then she suddenly drew back. "Although"
"Willow!" Buffy declared, her patience truly wearing thin. "This is really not the time!"
"Don't worry, I'm gonna do it," Willow protested. "I just wanted to point out that women really haven't been doing this for all that long."
"Huh?" Buffy asked, puzzled. "I thought it went back to ancient Greece or something like that."
"Buffy, no, that was just for men," Willow noted. "Women have only been doing this for about 80 years, at least in America."
"Really?" Buffy said, genuinely surprised. "I thought it'd been around a lot longer than that, what with all that's been written about it, and everything."
"Nuh-uh" Willow insisted, gesturing around the polling place that had been set up in the UC-Sunnydale Student Centre. "Women didn't get the vote until the 19th Amendment was ratified, in 1920."
"Oh." Buffy said, taken aback. "Well, then, you better get in that booth and do your duty, Will," she added, gently swatting her lover on her jean-clad behind.
"Okay, okay," Willow said in a squeaky voice, bouncing over toward the sign-in table and casting a "you-are-SO-going-to-get-it-for-that!" glare over her shoulder at the waiting Slayer, who naturally found that look devastatingly sexy.
Willow could be quite a handful, Buffy mused. A soft, sexy, tasty handful, she noted, as her thoughts turned towards more private matters than public policy, and she leaned against the nearby wall, glad to be part of the democratic process.
The End
"Still, I think I prefer being able to vote. Or, I will, when I can."
Willow, Halloween
End Note 1:
Okay, so California doesn't actually have voting booths; most
municipalities used the punch-card system until recently. Pretend the
Mayor installed them as a sanitary measure, or something.
Get unlimited calls to U.S./Canada
End Note 2:
For extra credit, spot the clue in the header that tells you the fic is
actually about politics.
Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy: "I kinda love you."
'Choices'
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