(jbstories@hotmail.com)

Disclaimer: All the characters, Buffy, Willow, Giles, Xander, etc. belong to
Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy Inc., and Warner Bros. I'm just borrowing their
brilliant creations. I intend no copyright infringement from my use of their
characters, and will receive no monetary or any other compensation for their
use, in any form, of the story that succeeds. Lia and Lyndon are mine
however so I can do whatever I want with them:)

Synopsis: This weeks theme. Buffy is in a café waiting for Willow and over
hears something.interesting.

Part One
--------------

Buffy stalked into the café and looked around. Willow wasn't there. She
sighed and ran a hand through her hair straightening it out. She wasn't
sure whether she was glad Willow hadn't arrived yet so that she could gather
her wits, or whether she was sad that she would have to wait to see her
friend. Glancing around the café she spotted an empty booth behind a group
of teens and took a seat. Whether she liked it or not it she was waiting.

She had just gotten through with patrol and had come straight to the café.
She and Willow had agreed to meet here when she was done. It wasn't for any
special reason, they just both wanted to get out of the dorm room for a
reason that didn't involve demons and death. She was glad that they had
agreed to meet because the slaying that hadn't been so great-or perhaps it
had been too good-and she was really looking forward to seeing Willow and
just doing something normal. Something relaxing. Nothing could put her in
a better mood faster than being with Willow.

One of the voices at the table behind her caught her attention. She
recognized the voice. It was smoky, and deep but distinctly feminine. Then
after a moment she was able to place it , it belonged to a girl that she had
two classes with.Claire. They were in psychology and geography together.
Buffy had never really talked to her, but her voice was original and made
her stand out so the Slayer had noticed her.

Even though she recognized the voice, Buffy wasn't notoriously concerned
with the conversation taking place behind her and kept her eyes on the door,
waiting for Willow. It wasn't until she heard her name mentioned at the
table behind her that started to listen to what they were saying.

"Buffy Summers?" It was Claire who asked that. She seemed slightly amused.
Buffy wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"Yeah, she's a hottie," a male voice responded. "A stone cold fox," he
continued. Buffy could almost hear the smile in his voice. She knew that
she should be upset about being objectified, that's what any good feminist
would feel, but she didn't really mind. Being called a stone cold fox
wasn't so bad.

"You're way off man," another voice responded. This one was male too.
"That girl's.she's like this deep well.you could fall into her," he
continued.

"Who's Buffy Summers? Is she a model? I've never heard of her.is she that
new girl of Party of Five?" This time the voice was female, and very valley
girl. She reminded Buffy of Cordelia. Although she would never admit it to
anyone Buffy had to admit that she missed Cordelia a little bit. Despite
that fact that she could be an absolute bitch when she wanted to be, there
was something charming about the brunette. It was kind of irritating.

"Buffy is not the new girl on Party of Five," Claire responded. The tone of
her voice was hilarious and Buffy wished that she could see her face.
"She's that blonde chick who's in 'the demon bitch monster from hells' class
with us."

"This is California, do you know how many blonde chicks there are around
here?" the other female asked. "This table is ¾ blond."

"Is that your way of telling me you want me to be more specific?" Claire
asked. Buffy could hear the two males snicker.

"Yes," the other female responded in a snippy tone.

"Buffy is the blond chick who's permanently attached to the side of that
red-headed chick," Claire responded. Buffy arched her eyebrow at the
description. That was a first.

"Oohhhhhh," the other female said in a knowing tone. Buffy was tempted to
turn around, what the hell was 'oohhhhhh' suppose to mean?

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" the first male Buffy had heard
speak asked. <Right on brother>, Buffy thought to herself.

"Nothing," Claire responded. "We just don't think that you're her type,"
she continued. <Why not?>, Buffy thought to herself.

"Why not?" the guy asked in a kind of pathetic tone.

"Well first of all, have you seen her shoes? The girl has got taste," the
unknown female responded.

"Which means that she'd never go out with you," Claire finished. Despite
herself Buffy found that slightly amusing.and she did have good shoes.

"What's the second reason?" the second guy asked.

"The girl's an LSL," Claire responded in an exasperated tone. "It's so
obvious." <A what?>, Buffy thought to herself. She hated acronyms, she
really did. First it was her mother with that stupid MOO, and now this.
What the hell was an LSL?

"Lip-Stick Lesbian," the other girl responded happily. "Your sister's good
looking though, maybe you could introduce them," she continued laughing at
her own wit.

Time seemed to slow down for Buffy after the acronym was explained.
Lip-Stick Lesbian. Buffy shock her head in confusion. Why would they think
that she was gay? There was nothing wrong with it, she just didn't
understand why they thought that she was. <Do I give off a gay vibe?> she
wondered. Faith had always teased her about that.

"She is not," the first guy responded. "You're just jealous," he stated.

"Yeah, of the red-head," the first girl responded. "What's her name?"

"Willow," Claire responded. "You could always fight for the fair Ms.
Summer's affections, but if you ask me, she could take you."

"Yeah, Jeff, Annie could definitely kick your scrawny ass," the other girl
added.

"Shut up Abbie," Jeff, the first guy, responded.

"Oh, poor baby," Claire responded. "I'm sure there are a lot of pretty
girls out there just dying to date you, who wouldn't rather do your sister."

"Are you sure about her?" the second guy asked.

"T.J, I'm telling you this girl is as queer as black sunshine," Abbie
responded. "But even if she did swing both ways, I doubt you or anyone else
would have a chance with her."

"Why?" Jeff asked. He sounded like a two year old who had been told he
couldn't have a cookie.

"She and the red-head."

"Willow."

"Yeah, whatever. Like I was saying, they seem really tight. Dopey Bambi
eyes and shit," Abbie said. "I bet they're like in love or something."

"Yeah, Buffy and Willow sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g." Claire
sing-songed.

"Hey, that's it!" T.J said as if he had just discovered a cure for cancer.

"That's what?" Claire asked.

"That's why they're always holding hands, and like skipping down the road
together and shit," he responded.

Buffy was sure that they continued to talk about her and Willow after that
but she stopped paying attention to what they were saying after that. They
thought that she was gay.with Willow. They thought that she and Willow were
being gay together. That was totally, way, way, way, utterly,
completely.not so off base, Buffy admitted. They weren't together like
that, but Buffy had thought about what it would be like if they were, and
they were close. 'I bet they're like in love or something' Abbie had said.
Buffy's mind kept repeating that sentence over and over again in her head
like the proverbial broken record. They loved each other, that much Buffy
knew for they had told each. She just hadn't realized that it was so
obvious to those around them.

Buffy frowned and played with the ring on her thumb. She wasn't really
upset about what they had been saying about her, after all they hadn't said
anything mean or even judgmental. She supposed that she would have been
upset about though if it wasn't for the fact that they right about her
feeling for Willow. She wouldn't go as far as to call herself a lip-stick
lesbian or queer as black sunshine, but she definitely had more than
friendly feelings for her best friend that were very gay in origin.



Willow walked into the café and looked around. At first she couldn't see
Buffy because a large crowd was getting up and blocking Buffy from her view,
but once they started to move towards the door she spotted her friend.
Willow recognized two of the people in the crowd from her psychology class.
She hadn't really spoken to them, and only knew one of their names, but they
seemed like decent individuals. As they passed each other the group gave
Willow an odd look before moving by her and out the door. Willow stopped
and watched them leave wondering what the 'children of the corn' look was
for. Shrugging she turned back around and headed for the booth Buffy was
in. The Slayer didn't seem to have spotted her yet.

Willow sat down opposite Buffy and still the Slayer didn't look at her. It
was as if she didn't even know she was there. She was that lost in thought.

"Buffy," Willow said softly placing her hand over her friends.

Buffy's eyes immediately shot up to hers. The Slayer seemed surprised,
distracted, and a little bit unsettled. Willow's brows drew together in
concern, something wasn't right here.

"Are you okay?" Willow asked looked at Buffy critically. "You look kind
of.kind of weird."

"I'm not weird," Buffy said drawing her hands away from underneath Willow's.
"I'm perfectly normal. Not at all like Revlon, or black sunshine.
Perfectly normal."

"I didn't mean.I know you're normal," Willow responded quickly in reaction
to Buffy's reaction. "You're not weird, you're great.normal and great.
You're just a little.pale," Willow said finally settling on an adjective.

"Pale?" Buffy asked.

"Just a little," Willow responded. "What's wrong Buffy?"

Buffy didn't respond right away, instead she kind of turned her head to the
side to look behind her before turning back to Willow. They were gone.

"Let's get out of here," Buffy said suddenly.

"What? Why?" Willow asked startled. "I just got here."

"And am glad that you did. Thrilled really, ecstatic," Buffy responded.
"But we should leave. Yeah, we should definitely leave."

"Why?" Willow asked.

"Why can't we just go?" Buffy asked turning to look at Willow sharply. She
regretted it the moment she said it and lowered her gaze. Finally she
looked back up to meet Willow's hurt gaze and sighed. "I'm sorry Will," she
said softly reaching out to take Willow's hand. "I didn't mean to go all
'grrr' at you," she continued. "I just.this place is giving me the wiggins
right now. It'd be better for my nerves, not to mention my mood if we shut
her down."

"If you want to shut, then we'll shut," Willow responded squeezing Buffy's
hand. "But if you think that we're not going to talk about this later, then
you are wrong, wrong, wrong, lady."

"Consider me properly chastised," Buffy responded with her most charming
grin.

"Good," Willow responded as they headed out of the café. "Now you better
continue to behave, or I'll have to spank you."

Buffy stopped walking.

"Will," she said in what she hoped was a normal voice. "You've spent way to
much time around Xander."

Willow smiled that sweet, lovely smile that Buffy loved so much and
continued walking.

===================================================================

End of Part One

Part Two
----------------

Buffy spent most of the walk back to their dorm dividing her attention
between telling Willow about patrol and thinking about what she had
overheard in the café. She knew that Willow wanted to know why she was
acting so weird in the café, but she seriously couldn't see what good it
would do to tell her she had heard. It would only upset her friend and
Buffy didn't want to do that. Not the mention that Willow might wonder why
her reaction to their "gossip" was so extreme. If that happened there was
no way Buffy could explain it to her. She certainly wasn't going to tell
Willow that there was more than a strong possibility that she was in love
with her, "that way". But, if she didn't explain her reaction Willow might
think that she was lying (which she would be but that was besides the
point).

As they entered the campus grounds Willow linked her arms through Buffy's.
Buffy looked over at her and was with a greeted with a smile that was
impossible to resist. She smiled back and their gazes held for a moment
before finally Buffy turned away and returned her attention to the path.

No, she decided, she wasn't going to tell Willow what happened in the café.
Hearing it had already made her paranoid, and she didn't want to make Willow
all self-conscious about the way they acted around each other. Buffy
enjoyed the closeness between them, it was something special and rare, and
she didn't want to jeopardize that. Maybe the desire to keep what she had
heard a secret was a selfish attempt to make sure that things wouldn't
change between them, and if it was then she was sorry in advance for any
trouble it might cause, but she wasn't a saint, she was a living, breathing,
human being with feeling and desires, and even if keeping the secret was the
wrong thing to do, it was the only thing that she could do. There wasn't
much that she had in this world to look forward to, when your whole life is
dedicated to fighting demons goals are kind of a non-issue, but she did have
moments like this with Willow, where it was just them, alone, and the world
around them belonged only to them, and only to the moment, and she cherished
them. They nourished her, and strengthened her, and she needed them. Maybe
it was selfish, but it was the only thing she could do.

==================================================================

It took Willow precisely two minutes and thirty-three seconds at start
questioning Buffy about the café once they arrived back at their room.
Buffy smiled even though she was dreading this conversation, it was classic
Willow.

"So what happened at the café?" Willow asked sitting down her bed.

"At the café?" Buffy asked stalling for time. She needed to think. "At the
café I took a nap-a."

Willow smiled but wasn't going to let her off the hook.

"You're not going to jokey rhyme your way out of this one," Willow said
watching as Buffy moved over to take a seat on her bed.

"Will, it was nothing really," Buffy said lying down on her back. She
couldn't lie if she was looking at Willow's face. "I think I must have
gotten hit on the head harder than I thought."

"And that's 'nothing really'?" Willow asked looking at Buffy critically.

"Hey, it's not like I'm 'Concentration-Girl' even on my best days," Buffy
responded.

"That's true," Willow responded. Buffy looked over at her. "Hey, you're
the one that said it."

"So I did," Buffy admitted. It's not like she was even really upset.

"How's your head now," Willow asked getting up and walking over to Buffy's
bed. "I could go get you some ice, or a cold compress if you want," the
hacker continued brushing a strand of hair out of Buffy's face. Buffy
sighed at the gentle touch.

"No, it's alright," the Slayer responded. "I won't even feel it in couple
hours."

"You know if you could bottle that Slayer recuperation secret, you could be
a billionaire," Willow said sitting down on the side of Buffy's bed beside
her.

"But if I did that mom wouldn't have the fun of trying to scrap together
enough money to pay for the expensive post secondary education that's not
going to be of any use to me anyway," Buffy responded in a comically jaded
way that only she could generate.

"I think that she'd forgive you," Willow said smiling. "Are you sure that
you don't want anything?" Willow asked looking down at Buffy with concerned
eyes.

"I'm sure," Buffy said smiling despite herself. Willow was to good to her.
"I don't know what I did to deserve a friend like you, but I'm glad that I
did whatever it was," Buffy continued before she was even aware that the
words were coming out of her mouth. That's the way it is when your heart
has something to say, no matter how much you try to suppress it, it always
bubbles to the surface-usually when you would rather it didn't.

Willow looked down at her and just held her gaze. Then the hacker smiled
and bent down kissing Buffy on the forehead.

"Whatever it was I'm glad you did it to," she responded finally. "Now go to
sleep."

"I'm not tired," Buffy said smiling. She was suddenly feeling very, very
good. Maybe even giddy.

"Yes you are," Willow said moving back over to her bed. "And so am I. So
please to go to sleep.for me?" Willow continued.

"Well, if you're tired," Buffy said yawning. She didn't want to keep Willow
awake.

"I am," Willow said knowing that Buffy would never go to sleep simply for
her own good.

"Okay then," Buffy said turning out her light.

"Right," Willow said turning out hers.

"Goodnight Will," Buffy said a moment later.

"Night, Buff," Willow responded.

"Sweet dreams," Buffy said.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite," Willow responded closing her eyes.

"Mr. Sandman give her a dream," Buffy said.

"Buffy," Willow said in a warning tone.

"Sleep, right.I'm on it," Buffy said closing her eyes.

=================================================================

Part Three
---------------------

Buffy sat on Giles' couch staring into the fireplace. She could hear Spike
rummaging around in kitchen no doubt doing something that she didn't want to
know about. Giles had left a few minutes earlier to go grocery shopping
meaning that she was alone with Spike until the G-man got back or Willow
arrived. Buffy turned her head to the side when she heard Spike coming out
of the kitchen. He was holding a mug in one hand and some Wheat-a-bix in
the other. Buffy frowned as he started to break the wheat into the mug and
made a face. There was only one word to describe what she was feeling and
that word was "ewwww!"

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked even though she didn't rally want to know.

"Adds texture," Spike responded referring to the wheat. "High in fiber too,
makes Spike a strong boy."

"Just when I thought that you couldn't possibly get any more disgusting,"
Buffy responded turning away as he lifted the mug to his lips.

"Where's Oak?" Spike asked sitting down in the chair opposite Buffy. Buffy
glared at him.

"Willow," she said carefully annunciating the word, "has a class and will be
coming around later."

"Turn on the Tele will you," Spike said turning away from her.

"Turn it on yourself," Buffy responded picking at one of her nails.

"I'm in the middle of my bloody lunch right now woman," Spike responded.
Buffy looked over at him with a disgusted look on her face.

"You're dead, it's not like you've got anything better to do," Buffy
responded. "Turn on the damn 'Tele' yourself," she continued mocking his
accent.

"You owe me," he said pointing an accusatory finger in her face.

"I what?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"I've still got Buffy taste in my mouth," he responded. "Thinking about it
gives me the willies."

"Drop dead," Buffy said shooting him an utterly corrosive look.

"Been there, done that," Spike responded.

"Do you want a return ticket?" Buffy asked snidely.

"You must be an absolute joy to live with," Spike responded. "You and
Malibu Maple must have fun all day long."

"Shut up Spike," Buffy said staring at him. "You may be impotent and
pathetic now, but if you make one more tree joke I'm going to make you a
dust buster happy meal."

"Somebody's sensitive," Spike said backing off the Willow topic for the
moment. "Maybe you need more fiber in your diet," he suggested holding his
mug out to her.

"Ewww," Buffy responded turning away from him.

They sat in silence for a while after that. Buffy was looking at the door
hoping for someone, anyone, to get back, and Spike was slurping up his blood
making 'ohhh ahhh' sounds and rubbing his stomach.

After a while the silence started to get to Buffy and she spoke up.

"You've gone for almost three weeks without making any Angel jokes," she
started. "Are you feeling alright? Are you sick?" she asked hopefully.

"I can't eat, I can't fight, and I can't even drink my bloody.blood, in
peace. Yeah, I'm fricking fantastic," Spike responded sarcastically.
"Besides I get a better reaction from the red-head jokes."

"Better reaction?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah," Spike responded happily. "When I mention Fang-boy you just get all
bitchy, but when it comes Cedar your face turns all sorts of nifty colours."

"My face is not hyper-colour," Buffy muttered under her breath. "Like you
should talk bleached boy," she continued slouching down into the chair.

"Hey!" Spike said hearing the 'bleached boy' comment. "Like yours is
natural."

"Kiss my ass," Buffy shot back at him.

"Not even if you pounced on me like a rabid dog.again," Spike responded
making a face. "Besides, would you rather Willow do it," he said
tauntingly.

Buffy looked over and glared at him. Did everybody know how she was
feeling?

"Oh, did Spike hit a nerve," the vampire said smiling. "Did I hurt the
little Slayers feelings?" he asked. Buffy didn't respond. "Come on," Spike
said. "Did I? Did I hurt your feelings? Please tell me I did," he
continued gleefully.

"Get out!" Buffy said standing up.

"It's the middle of the afternoon," Spike said not moving. "It's sunny out
there!"

"I know," Buffy said smiling. "Now get out!"

"You can't do that," Spike said standing up and backing away from. "Giles
won't let you. You need me," he continued, although the last part sounded
more hopeful than anything else.

"Giles, isn't here," Buffy responded. "And you don't have anything I need."

"Come on now," Spike said starting to get a little worried. Buffy looked
like she was enjoying herself. "Can't we all just.get along?"

"Uh, let me think about that," Buffy responded tilting her head up to the
ceiling. "No."

"Geesh," Spike said. "And I thought that love was suppose to make all you
humans nice, and friendly."

"I am not in love," Buffy said glaring at him.

"Keep telling yourself that," Spike said sitting back down. He didn't feel
that his life was in immediate danger anymore.

"You can't just say 'keep telling yourself that' and sit down," Buffy
responded. "What the hell is that suppose to mean? Who am I supposedly in
love with?"

"Willow."

"Willow?"

"Willow," Spike confirmed.

"You.you are so, so, so.so, very, very.crazy, nuts, insane.and if I do say
so myself, not very nice," Buffy responded haltingly. She didn't really
know what the hell she was saying, just that what Spike had said had felt
true to her.

"Oh, why don't you just hump her leg and get it over with already," Spike
said making a face. "All that hand holding, and 'I love you', no, 'I love
you', blah, blah, blah, is making me sick. Just shag already and shut up
about it."

"I do not want to hump Willow's leg!" Buffy said emphatically. She could
not believe that she was having this conversation with Spike. And the fact
that he right just pissed her off to no end.

"Do to," Spike responded.

"Do not," Buffy said.

"Do."

"Not."

"Do."

"Not."

"Do."

"Not."

And so it continued, and continued, and continued, for a long, long time.

=================================================================

Willow practically ran over to Giles' house after her last class had
finished. Buffy had been acting odd all morning, not to mention the fact
that she had being acting beyond strange the night before. Buffy and
strange kind of went together, but she was acting strange even for her.
Also, if she was going to be completely honest she just wanted to see her
friend. She was always happiest when she and Buffy were around each other,
when they were together it was like the sky was bluer than normal, and the
grass was greener than normal, and everything was beautiful and beauty was
everywhere.

As she approached the door she could hear voices yelling inside. One of the
voices was Buffy's, she was sure of that, and the other one sounded a lot
like Spike. As she got closer to the door then voices got louder, but she
still couldn't hear what they were saying. Fearing that someone was about
to get staked, Willow quickly opened the door and went in. Spike seemed to
be yelling "do" and Buffy was countering with "not".

"Do not what?" Willow asked walking into the living room.

Buffy turned around at the sound of Willows voice.

"Nothing," Buffy answered quickly.

"I don't think so," Spike said still in his yelling voice. "She's bloody in
lo." he stopped speaking when a piece of wood went flying by his face.

"You tried to stake me!" he yelled pointing at Buffy. "She tried to stake
me!" he said again turning to look at Willow as if she was going to back him
up.

"If I tried to stake you, you'd be dust," Buffy responded cockily.

"What's going on here?" Willow asked watching the interaction between the
two of them in absolute bewilderment.

Buffy continued to stare at Spike.

"Nothing," Buffy said holding the vampires gaze.

"Nothing," Spike said sullenly a moment later. "Except that I hate her," he
said giving Buffy the evil eye.

"What?" Buffy asked in mock horror. "You.you don't like me? Oh my god,
however shall I find the courage go on?" she continued in the same tone.

"I'm going to watch Passions," Spike grumbled walking away. "Grace senses
evil in Harmony," he continued heading into one of the back rooms.

"What was that all about?" Willow asked walking over to Buffy.

"Spike and I.had a difference of opinion," Buffy responded hoping that
Willow would leave it at that.

"About what?" Willow asked following Buffy over to the couch to sit down.

"He wanted me to turn on the TV and I didn't want to turn on the TV, so I
told him to turn on the damn TV himself, but he didn't like that suggestion,
so I told him to drop dead, and he said that he already had," Buffy paused
to take a breath then continued. "So I asked him if he wanted a return
ticket, and he said that I must be a joy to live with, and."

"Buffy?" Willow asked stopping Buffy's story.

"Yeah," Buffy said turning to face her friend.

"I'm sorry that I asked," Willow responded.

"Hey, we all make mistakes," Buffy said smiling.

"How's your head?" Willow asked. Buffy had told her in the morning that it
was fine, but she had still seemed distracted in psychology class.

"In tact and working as well as it ever it did.which maybe isn't saying
much," Buffy responded. "How was class?" she asked immediately afterwards
wanting to avoid any conversation about her.

Willow smiled and started telling her about what had happened during her
last class. Buffy leaned back, all was right with the world.

================================================================

Buffy was out patrolling and Willow had been in the library studying, but
she was finished with that and was bored so she decided to go patrol with
Buffy. Buffy was always around the sports stadium around this time so
Willow figured that she would be able to find her pretty easily. As long as
she was able to manage avoiding being killed, she was sitting pretty. As
she headed across the campus she found her thoughts drifting towards the
very person she was seeking out. Buffy. Actually, she found that her
thoughts drifted to Buffy quite a bit, in fact more than quite a bit. She
was.she was smitten, she had to admit it.

It had all started with that doppelganger of hers. Bad, vamp, shanky,
Willow who went around licking girls necks and trying to 'become one' with
them. She had been blissfully unaware of the 'kind of gay' in her until
that incident. There was this unapologetic, charged, free sexuality about
her double, and even if you knew that she would snap your neck as soon as
kiss you, you were drawn to her. Being around her, being hit on by her, and
for a while even pretending to be her awakened something in Willow, and she
knew that it wasn't ever going to go to sleep again. She knew now that she
was no longer 'kind of', she just was. Being with Oz had given her a kind
of respite from thinking about it. So what if she watched Law and Order
because she thought that Carmichael was sexy? She had a boyfriend that she
genuinely cared about, who adored her, so it was a moot point. But now, now
she didn't have that boyfriend and the point wasn't so moot anymore.

Willow was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the girl walking
opposite her on the path until the crashed into each other.

"Sorry," Willow said putting her hands out in a gesture of peace. "Are you
alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the girl said her head was still facing away from Willow
but the hacker recognized her voice. Only one person she knew had the smoky
voice, it was Claire from her psyche class.

"I wasn't paying attention," Willow said when Claire finally straightened
up.

"That makes two of us," she responded. "I guess that we're equally idiots,"
she continued with a smile.

"You're in Walsh's class right?" Willow asked as they started walking in the
same direction. "Claire?"

"Two for two," Claire responded. "It's the voice right?" Willow just kind
of shrugged and nodded at the same time. Not an easy feat. "Your name's
Willow right?"

"Just like the tree," Willow told her with a smile.

"What are you doing out here so late?" Claire asked. "Usually it's like the
Isle of dead out here at night. No one's in sight."

"Yeah, that's because people a habit of disappearing or dying of mysterious
causes around here," Willow said shaking her head.

"So?" Claire asked. "I promise to submit to the Inquisition too."

"I'm just going to meet a friend," Willow said looking down at the ground.

"Buffy?" Claire asked. If it wasn't so dark out Willow would have seen the
knowing look on her face, but it was dark out so she didn't.

"Yeah," Willow responded smiling. "Do you know her?"

"Just seen her in class. Like you," Claire responded. "Where are you
going? Maybe I'll walk you, safety in numbers you know."

"It's probably out of your way," Willow responded. "We're meeting down by
the stadium."

"That's.odd," Claire responded. Willow smiled.

"It's, well it's pretty deserted out there," she explained. Vampires loved
deserted and quiet. Buffy usually got some action out there whenever she
patrolled.

"Oh," Claire said smiling. "I get it," she continued. She kind of shook
her head after that, she thought that it was absolutely deplorable that
people who were so obviously in love with each other had to sneak around and
hide because small minded assholes ruled the world.

"Yep," Willow responded doubting very much that Claire got it at all.

"Well this is where I get off," Claire said stopping in front of one of the
dorms. "I just want you to know that I think it's great," Claire added.

"What?" Willow asked confused.

"You and Buffy," Claire told her. "It's so hard to find someone that you
connect with in this world, and when you find someone you should hold on to
them, taboos and idiots be damned."

"Wha." was all Willow managed to get out before Claire continued.

"With all the homophobia out there most people are so afraid to just be
themselves. I think that you two are some of the bravest people I've ever
met," Claire continued before heading towards the door.

"Bu.bu.but," Willow kind of squeaked out.

"Yeah, bye," Claire said. "I know you'll have a nice night," she added with
a wink. After that she disappeared behind the door leaving Willow there
staring at the building completely, utterly, bewildered.

===================================================================

From her spot behind the tree Buffy saw Willow approaching her. Buffy knew
that Willow couldn't see her where she was standing, so she waited behind
the tree for Willow so that she could surprise her.

"What's a nice girl like doing in a place like this?" Buffy asked coming out
from behind the tree as Willow walked by, and wrapping her arm around
Willow's shoulder.

"Buffy," Willow said distractedly.

"Don't sound so enthusiastic Will," Buffy said. "I might actually think
that you were happy to see me," Buffy continued.

"Sorry," Willow responded. "I'm glad to see you, that's why I came out here
after all."

"Not because you were bored and the phone lines are down?" Buffy asked
knowing that Willow's laptop was her other best friend.

"Nope, just because you're so irresistible," Willow told her.

"You okay Will?" Buffy asked watching the hacker closely. "You don't look
so hot."

"Thank you very much," Willow said making face.

"I didn't mean it that way," Buffy said drawing Willow in a bit giving her a
hug.

"I know," Willow said. It was just that she couldn't get her mind off of
what Claire had said before she left. She hadn't come right out and said
it, but it was clear that she was under the impression that she and Buffy
were lovers or something like that anyway. She knew that the way she felt
about Buffy was more than friendly, but she didn't think that it was so
obvious that strangers could pick up on it. She was slightly uneasy with
the idea. She didn't really care if people knew about her, not now that she
was out of High School anyway, but she wasn't comfortable with people
thinking that she and Buffy were a couple. Although the idea gave her the
fuzzies, it wasn't fair to Buffy to have people thinking something about her
that wasn't true. The trouble was that she didn't know what to do about it.

"What's wrong?" Buffy asked, something was definitely up with Willow.

"Nothing," Willow said. "I was just thinking about a paper I have to
write," she said deciding to keep what she had learned earlier to herself
for the moment.

"School, I tell you it's a pox on all of us free spirits," Buffy said taking
Willow's hand into her own.

Willow squeezed back and smiled then they continued on patrol.

Part Four ------------

Xander lay stretched out across the couch watching the people spread out around the room surrounding him. Giles was in the corner of the room sorting through some old musty books in boxes, Spike was sitting in front of the stereo with head-phones on listening to an old Led Zeppelin album and Anya had disappeared into one of the back rooms after announcing that she was bored and none of them were entertaining her so she could as well just go to sleep. Thinking back to her exit Xander had to smile. The girl was an original.

What he was really paying attention to however, was Willow and Buffy. They were sitting on chairs at opposite ends of the room not doing much of anything. At first Willow had pretended to be interested in Giles' books but she soon gave up on that. As for Buffy she had been flipping through the same issue of Vogue for about an hour. Xander doubted that any of them had been anything but a series of hoots and hollers to her since the picked up the magazine. Neither of them was crying or throwing a hissy fit or anything, but he could tell that something was bothering both of them. They had both been freakishly quiet since arriving, and there was just this feeling of unease in the air. He knew that the way their lives were it led to a lot of shifting, shuffling emotions floating around all the time, but things had been relatively quiet in town lately so he didn't understand what was up with them. Especially since they had seemed happier in the past few weeks than in a long time, especially Buffy.

Xander knew that he wasn't exactly "Share your soul with me" guy. He was jokey friend guy and he understood his role, but it didn't stop him from worrying, and from sometimes wishing that he was "Share your soul with me guy". The people in the house (and his parent when they were nice to him), were his entire world, except of course for Spike. But he wasn't Mr. Emotional Chat man, so he mostly had to let his actions be the testament of his feeling for them all.

But, as he lay there watching them, he didn't know what action he could take that would help.

"Hey!" Spike said breaking Xander's musings. He was banging on the top of Giles' record player. "Fix it," he continued in the same agitated voice.

"Stop that right now," Giles said getting up and walking over to where Spike was. "You're going to break it."

"It's not working," Spike said still banging away.

"That's because you keep hitting it," Giles said trying to get Spike to stop.

"Slag off," Spike said waving his hands about trying to get Giles to leave him alone.

Giles took a step back and just stared at him a for moment.

"I haven't gone to the butchers yet," Giles finally said in a warning.

"I'll be good," Spike promised even though he was glaring at Giles like he wanted to rip his limbs from his body. Giles smiled and walked back over to his books.

Once Spike was what Giles deemed a safe distance away from his record player things calmed down once more.

"Buffy," Willow said looking over to where her friend was sitting.

"What's up?" Buffy asked. She was already halfway across the room.

"How would you feel about doing a little heavy lifting?" Willow asked flashing Buffy her most charming smile.

"I'd feel like a sucker, but I'll do it anyway," Buffy responded coming to stand behind Willow. Willow smiled up at Buffy and the Slayer kneeled down to await instructions.

As Willow started directing Buffy to the boxes which needed to be moved and where they needed to be moved to, Xander got off the couch (finally) and followed Spike when the vampire began to move into the backrooms. He still didn't trust vamp-boy and Anya was back there.

'What do you think you're doing?" Spike asked swinging around to face Xander.

"Making sure that you don't eat my Anya," Xander responded getting right up in Spike's face.

"As if," Spike responded before making a face at his own response. He'd been in California for too long…way too long.

"What? Like you're so above eating people?" Xander responded.

"I'm above eating her," Spike said getting in Xander's face. "Not that I could even I wanted to," he added backing away.

"So I hear you and Buffy spent some quality time together yesterday," Xander said. He wasn't quite finished with Spike yet. "Should I be dusting off the ol' tux?"

"Go away," Spike said testily.

"What's going on here?" Xander asked. He wanted some answers. He knew that Spike was in the middle of whatever was going on. Then again Xander blamed famine and just about every other bad thing on Spike too.

"I'm GOING to take a nap," Spike said in response. "Day time is sleep time."

"Alright, that's it lemon-head," Xander said pushing Spike against the wall. "I want to know what you did to Buffy and Willow."

"I didn't do anything," Spike said indignantly. "She tried to stake me!"

"If she tried to stake you, you'd be dust," Xander responded.

"Listen you bloody moron, whatever is going on between Muffy and Pine tree out there has nothing to do with me," Spike responded.

"And I'm suppose to just take your oh so not trustworthy word on that?" Xander asked.

"I cannot believe that you're a critical part of the 'on crack' team that routinely foiled my plans," Spike responded shaking his head. "Just look at them, for the love of God, just bloody look at them!" he said waving his hand in the direction of the two girls. "If I have to be witness to one more poignant silence, or longing gaze I'll throw myself on a damn stake."

Xander turned his head to look at Buffy and Willow and see if he could make any sense whatsoever out of what Spike was saying. When he watched them he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. It looked like Buffy had just finished with the boxes and was helping Willow and Giles put away the rest of the books. Giles was saying something to Willow, what it was Xander couldn't hear, and Buffy was listening. The Slayer had her hand resting on Willow's shoulder but was looking in Giles' direction. Shortly after that the Watcher got up and headed for the kitchen shooting Xander and Spike an odd look as he did. Xander ignored it and continued to watch his friends. Buffy, her hand still on Willow's shoulder, kneeled down so that they were now side by side on the floor. Once she was down there she leaned over and whispered something into Willow's ear. Whatever it was it must have been amusing because Willow broke out into a huge grin and eventually ended up shaking her head and looking down at the ground.

"I don't know what you're talking about, there's nothing…" Xander started to say to Spike, but then he was interrupted when he saw something that he hadn't noticed before. Buffy had shifted position so that she was now sitting cross legged on the floor and was putting away books too. It wasn't that that caught his attention, but the expression on Willow's face. She was watching Buffy intently, a small, gentle smile playing across her face. Then Buffy turned her head and Willow quickly returned her gaze to the books in front of her. Then, while Willow was busy putting away some of the books Buffy looked at her with the same kind of look Willow had been giving her moments before. There seemed to be this potential energy surrounding Buffy as she looked at Willow, like in chemistry or psychics. It was like she wanted to do something, but couldn't. Like she was just lying in wait for her potential energy to be released.

Xander backed away from Spike, who muttered something then went into the kitchen to badger Giles, but continued to watch the interaction between Buffy and Willow. There was something captivating about it and he couldn't quite pull himself away. It was like he was on the verge of making a great discovery. As he watched them he remembered what Spike had said, and it did seem kind of poignant. Even though he didn't really know what he was looking at, there was something there it could feel it…see it, even from where he was. Then another thing Spike had said started ringing in his head. Longing. And there was longing there, you could see it in their eyes, if you were looking for it that was.

He leaned back against the wall confused. He didn't understand what he was seeing. He didn't understand what was going on.

"What are you doing? Are we hiding?" Anya asked sneaking up behind him. Xander jumped slightly. "What are we hiding from?"

"We're not hiding," Xander said glancing over at her.

"That's good cause this really isn't a good spot," she responded rubbing her hand over his pecks. "Maybe we SHOULD go hide," she suggested a moment later sliding up against him.

"I can't, not now," Xander said returning his attention to the two girls in the living room.

"Why not?" Anya whined.

"I'm trying to solve a problem. It's important," Xander said.

"What is it? Maybe I can help," she said looking over his shoulder. "I want to have an orgasm."

"What did I tell you about saying things like that in public?" Xander asked turning around.

"But we aren't in public…not really," Anya pointed out. They were the only ones in the hallway.

"Right," Xander said turning his head again. "Is it just me or do you sense something going on between them?" he asked waving in Buffy and Willow's general direction.

"Nothing more than usual," Anya said trying to drag Xander into the bedroom.

"Usual?" Xander asked.

"Uh huh," Anya said still tugging to no avail.

"What's the usual?" Xander asked wondering if he was the only person in the dark about this mystery 'thing' going on.

"Sexual tension/frustration, unrequited love yadda, yadda, yadda," Anya responded. "Is that it? Can we have sex now?"

"What?" Xander asked in a high pitched voice.

"They obviously want to sleep together, but no doubt some stupid human emotion is keeping them from telling each other, so they just sit there holding hands pretending they don't want to have sex, while unintentionally charging the air around them with unresolved sexual tension. It's sad really, sex is good and they'd make good orgasm friends," Anya responded. "Can we please have sex now?"

Xander turned around and stared at Anya for a second. Buffy and Willow…that way? No way. Buffy and Willow didn't…they weren't…that was just nuts.

"You're silly," Xander said finally. "Stop being so silly," he continued. "You silly girl…silly."

"Fine," Anya said. "I'll take care of it myself," and with that she headed back in the direction she had come from.

Xander watched her go but he was rooted to the spot where he was. He had known Willow for almost his entire life, and he'd known Buffy for a good portion of his adolescence. He thought that he knew them as well as anyone else, and he thought that he would be aware if there was anything 'gay' about them. No, he thought to himself, they're just good friends, best friends. He knew that he and Jesse never went around holding hands and hugging each other, but they were guys and guys and girls acted differently. Lots of girls, completely heterosexual girls, who were friends were close like Buffy and Willow. Still, looking at them sitting there…there seemed to be something more.

He shook his head, they couldn't be…could they? Nah, he was just watching pay-per view a wee bit too much. If they were he would know…wouldn't he? Of course. Right?

===============================================================

Part Five (end)

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