It had been an interesting night to say the least. Not only had she
verbally attacked Parker in an utterly compelling way, but she had almost
been burned to death and ended up being saved by a devolved version of her
best friend. A version who was fond of clubbing people over the head, and
seemed to get immense pleasure out of playing with her hair. Willow sighed
and shook her head, sometimes her life was weird even to her which was
saying a whole lot.

Buffy looked over at Willow when she heard the girl sigh and cocked her head
to the side. She walked for a few more moments watching Willow rub her eyes
before she spoke.

"Girl tired," Buffy said stopping. "Buffy help girl," she said firmly and
she reached out for Willow.

"It's okay Buffy, really. I'm just a little.Buffy.wait.what." was all
Willow managed to get out before she was flung over Buffy's shoulder.

"Buffy make it better see," Buffy said as she started to walk again. She
sounded very pleased with herself and Willow was glad that Buffy was glad
because she really didn't want Buffy to be upset because Buffy seemed to
like to hit people over the head with sticks when she didn't like them, but
she really, really wanted down.

"I really appreciate the effort you're trying to make here, it's really very
sweet, and I'm really really grateful, but I would like very much to be put
down now. Very much," Willow said.

"Buffy help, girl tired, Buffy carry girl. All good," Buffy responded not
breaking stride.

Willow sighed again, and they walked in silence for a moment before Willow
finally looked at the two men walking behind them who were being unusually
quiet. Looking up Willow managed to make eye contact with Giles. The look
on her face clearly said "Help me!". Giles nodded his head and quickened
his pace so that he was walking beside Willow and Buffy.

"Buffy, perhaps it would be best if you were to put Willow down now," the
Watcher started. Buffy stopped walking and turned to face him.

"No," she said. Then with her free hand she poked him in the chest with her
finger. "Quiet you." With that she continued walking again.

Willow looked back at Giles imploringly again.

"Buffy, I really think it would be best if you were to."

"Why you still talk?" Buffy asked whirling around to face him again. "If
you still talk, Buffy make you stop talk," she said making a fist. Giles
stared at her for a second then made the wise decision and stepped away.

"Although not very manly I think you made the right decision," Xander said
slapping Giles on the back.

"Would you care to give it a go?" Giles asked turning to face Xander.

"Don't mind if I do," Xander said. Willow watched as he walked past her so
that he was beside Buffy.

"Buffy," was all he managed to get out before she shoved him away from her.
After that Xander followed Giles lead.

"I know that she's devolved but that was still very, rude. I mean, I'm her
beer dude, her connection, her alcoholic pimp," Xander said in a wounded
voice.

"Beer?" Buffy said turning around. "Where beer? Buffy want beer."

"There's no beer Buffy," Willow said finally giving into the ride.

"Man say beer," Buffy responded looking back at Xander.

"Man was wrong," Willow said calmly.

"Bad man," Buffy said.

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

Once they got to the door of their room Buffy reached for the door then
stopped momentarily captivated by the shiny surface of the door knob. She
poked at it at first, then flicked it with her nail before finally turning
it. Once she figured out how to turn it was only a matter of moments before
she managed to get the door open. The truly amazing part wasn't that she
figured out how to do all of that, but that she was able to do so without
putting Willow down.

Once they were in the room Buffy walked over to the bed closest to the door
(which just happened to be her own) and flung Willow down on it.

"See Buffy help," she said smiling down at Willow. The smile was open, and
caring, and infectious and Willow smiled back.

"Yes, Buffy help. Thank you," Willow responded. Buffy smiled again then
turned to face Xander and Giles who were standing just inside of the door.

"Men go now," she said walking towards them. "Girl home, Buffy home," she
continued ushering them the short way to the door. "Go home."

Giles managed to stop short of actually being pushed out of the door and
walked around Buffy until he could see Willow.

"Willow are you going to be alright here, if.well it wouldn't be any trouble
for." Giles started to say but Willow interrupted.

"It's alright Giles, really, we'll be fine," Willow said noticing the way
Buffy was staring at him.

"Are you sure Will," Xander said. "It could be like a slumber party, Buffy
and I could bunk together and Will and Giles."

"Xander!" Willow exclaimed.

"Xander!" Giles exclaimed.

"What? It was just a suggestion," Xander said defensively.

"Buffy," Willow said getting up off of the bed. Buffy walked over to her
immediately her attention completely focused on Willow. "Here, look at this
for a moment," Willow said turning on the TV Buffy looked at the little
people on the screen then looked back at Willow before returning her
attention to the screen.

Satisfied that Buffy was occupied Willow walked to where Giles and Xander
were standing.

"I'm not completely comfortable leaving you here with her," Giles said his
attention focused on Buffy in background. "Her moods have proven to be
unpredictable, she could become violent."

"No," Willow protested. "Buffy would never hurt me, not even cave Buffy,"
she continued. "I know that she seems different, but deep down she's still
Buffy. Everything she's done to tonight has been to help me.well that and
get beer, but what I'm saying is that she wouldn't ever hurt me."

"He may be right Will," Xander said. "You might tell her to go to bed, and
if she doesn't like the suggestion she could introduce you to Mr. Club."

"Giles, Xander," Willow said firmly. "I understand that you're concerned
but I promise everything will be fine. Buffy likes me, she won't do
anything to me. I'm sure that everything will be fine."

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

Once Willow managed to get Xander and Giles out of their room she walked
over to her bed and flopped back down on it. She closed her eyes and flung
her arm over her eyes. It had been a long, long, night. A few seconds
after she lay down on the bed she heard Buffy get up. A moment later she
felt the bed bounce.

"Will-ow," Buffy said softly.

"Yes," Willow said not moving.

"You okay?" Buffy asked. Willow took her arm from over her face so that she
could see Buffy.

"I'm okay Buffy," Willow said smiling slightly. "I'm just tired, and dirty,
and."

"Smelly," Buffy supplied.

"Smelly," Willow repeated.

"Smelly," Buffy confirmed.

"I'm not," Willow started to say as she lifted an arm to her nose. "Okay
so maybe a little bit," Willow conceded.

"It okay," Buffy said quickly sensing that she had upset Willow. "Girl
still beautiful," she continued in a softer voice. Willow looked over at
her surprised. Beautiful, Buffy had never her called that before. Then
again, she thought, best friends don't go around telling each other they're
beautiful, even if that's what they're thinking. On lots of separate
occasions Willow could have told Buffy that she was wholly beautiful.but you
just don't do that. Do you?

"Smelly and beautiful, that's an interesting combination," Willow said more
to say something than anything else. "I guess that I could do something
about the smelly."

"What?" Buffy asked cocking her head to the side again.

"Shower," Willow said sitting up. "Definitely a shower." A shower would
give her a chance to put everything that had been going on lately into
perspective. Things not just with Buffy but with Oz too. Having one of
them distant would have been hard enough, but now she had no idea what was
going on with her boyfriend and her best friend was a Neanderthal.

"Buffy help," Buffy said reaching out for Willow again.

"No, that's okay," Willow said moving out of her range. "I'll walk this
time," she continued as she headed over to her closet to get her robe.

"Sure?" Buffy asked. "Buffy strong," she continued.

"Yeah, I think I can manage," Willow said smiling to herself. One thing
that could be said for this version of Buffy was that she was certainly
attentive.

"Buffy go too," Buffy said moving over behind Willow.

"No, Buffy stay, Willow go," Willow responded.

"Buffy smelly too, Buffy want sho-wer.Buffy want to go with Will-ow," Buffy
said getting slightly agitated. "Please," Buffy said softly this time
looking directly into Willow's eyes. "No want to be alone."

Willow looked down into Buffy's green eyes and didn't even have to think
about her answer. Just like with normal Buffy, this Buffy's eyes were very
expressive and what Willow saw in them broke her heart. Buffy was scared,
and sad, and lonely, and Willow was the one that she wanted. Willow
couldn't have said no even if she had really wanted to.

"Okay," Willow said grabbing Buffy's robe and handing it over to cave to
her. "You can come.but you have to behave."

"Promise," Buffy said with a smile. "Be good just like Will-ow."

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

Once they arrived in the, thankfully, empty washroom Willow spent a few
minutes demonstrating to Buffy how to use the knobs and dials in the shower
and how to lather and apply as well as wash off soap. Buffy's enthusiasm
made the lesson take a little longer than it should have but after about ten
minutes she was satisfied Buffy had understood her.

Willow turned on shower and sighed. This was a very, very, good idea, she
decided. After a few minutes of pure relaxation her mind started to wander
into decidedly unpleasant territory. Oz and his new obsession Veruca. She
had no evidence that anything was going on, but she didn't need any
evidence, she could feel it in her bones. She was sure that nothing had
gone on, but she got the feeling that she was just waiting for a "yet",
nothing had happened yet.

She didn't know how she would have gotten through what had been going
through without Buffy by her side. No matter what was going on with slaying
or with Parker, or with anything, Buffy was there for her. Just being in
Buffy's presence made her feel better, even this version of Buffy.

Willow was about to reach for her shampoo bottle when she heard the shower
door open. She was about to tell whoever it was that the stall was most
definitely occupied when they spoke.

"Buffy no like over there," the Slayer said stepping completely into the
shower. Willow turned around crossing her arms over her chest.

"Buffy you can't stay in here," Willow said her voice raising a couple
octaves. "This is a private place."

"Buffy no like over there," the blond repeated. "'Sides, Buffy clean see,"
Buffy displaying her body to Willow. Willow stared for a second then ripped
her eyes away. There was no way she was going to stand there in the shower
naked looking at her best friends nude, wet, nude, nude, did she mention
nude form.

"Buffy, you can't just, it's not.you really should.because being in.we
shouldn't be." Willow said not being able to get anything coherent out. She
just wasn't familiar with the etiquette for a situation like this.

"It okay," Buffy said soothingly seeing that Willow was upset. "Buffy clean
now," she continued reaching out for Willow's hand. "See," Buffy said
placing Willow's hand on her stomach. "All clean." Willow managed to nod,
or at least she thought she nodded. She couldn't believe this. "Buffy make
Will-ow clean," Buffy said dropping Willow's hand and reaching for the soap.

"No," Willow said taking the soap away from her. "I think emphatically
not."

"Yes," Buffy said taking the soap back. "Fattically yes."

"No," Willow said again swiping for the soap and missing.

"Yes," Buffy said again starting to work up a lather.

"No," Willow said again. She couldn't believe that she was having this
conversation.

"Buffy want to help Willow," Buffy said.

"Buffy," Willow started to say. "I.okay," Willow finally consented. She
hadn't even really thought about her answer, it had just felt like that
right thing to do.

Buffy made no visible reaction, she just continued to lather the soap.
Having agreed Willow now watched Buffy's movements with rabid attention.
Soon Buffy was satisfied with the lather and she reached out for Willow and
started to work the soap onto her arms.

Despite her pre-historic state of being Buffy's touch was amazing gently.
Feather light, sometimes the touch was so gentle Willow wasn't even sure
Buffy was touching her. Willow closed her eyes and let her head drop down
to her chest. She couldn't help it, it was all very relaxing. She could
feel the tension ebbing away from her, being replaced by a fluttering
warmth. Willow gasped softly her eyes popping open when she realized
exactly what that warmth was. She was becoming aroused by Buffy's
ministrations, by Buffy. Highly aroused at that. Then she realized where
Buffy was about to clean next and knew for an absolute fact that the warmth
wouldn't go away if Buffy got down there.

"I'm clean now," Willow said suddenly reaching out and stopping Buffy's hand
from wandering any further. "Really very clean now, clean as can be. Just
call me Mrs. Clean," Willow continued reaching for the taps and turning off
the water.

"Buffy like getting clean," the Slayer said following Willow out of the
stall.

"Clean is good," Willow said reaching for her robe and pulling it on.

Buffy didn't reach for her robe, she simply stood there staring at Willow.
She looked thoughtful.

"Willow soft," Buffy said. "Buffy like soft," she continued reaching out a
hand. Willow took step back.

"Yes soft is nice, nice is soft, soft nice," Willow said reaching for
Buffy's robe. "This is soft too, how about you put it on. It smells like
lemons," Willow said shoving the robe her Buffy's direction.

Buffy reached out and took the robe. Once she had it in hand she brought it
to her nose and smelled it. She seemed to consider something for a moment
then she dropped the robe onto the ground.

"Buffy, please put on the robe," Willow said. Her voice sounded desperate
and she realized that that's exactly what she was. Desperate. She was
desperate to get Buffy in clothes because she found her eyes wandering and
didn't like what that meant considering the fact that the warmth from in the
shower was still there.

Buffy shook her head.

"You said you'd behave," Willow reminded. "You said you'd be good like me,"
she continued. "Were you lying.like the man?" she asked referring to
Xander.

"No," Buffy said firmly. "Buffy no lie, lying bad." With that said Buffy
reached down and picked up the robe.

"Thank the Lord," Willow muttered heading for the door. Suddenly the night
was looking a whole lot longer.

=========================================================
End Part 1

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

The trip back from the washroom to their dorm room passed by uneventfully
for the most part. There was the tiny matter of Buffy trying to take off
the robe continually, but Willow caught her before she was able to open it
up. At least she thought she had caught her before she was able to open it
up.

After ushering Buffy into their room Willow relaxed notably. There was
considerably less Buffy could do in the sanctity of their room that would be
spread across the campus. Now all she had to do was find something to
entertain Buffy for a few minutes while she changed. They weren't going to
go through the 'naked, nude, unclothed bodies in close proximity to each
other' thing again anytime soon. Not if Willow Rosenberg had anything to
say about it.

"Well, look at that," Willow said walking over to her snow globe. Buffy
followed her. "Here," Willow said handing the sphere over to her friend.
"You tip it like this," Willow instructed while demonstrating how the globe
worked.

"Snow go up.snow go down," Buffy said turning the globe. "Up.down.up.down."
Willow smiled and headed over to her closet.

Pulling out her pajamas Willow quickly changed into them not wanting to get
caught by Buffy again. She could still hear Buffy talking to her new
friend, but she decided to play it safe. The cave slayer could be sneaky
when she wanted to. Peaking out from around the door once she was dressed
Willow saw that Buffy was now trying to use reverse psychology on the snow
globe. She would say up then turn the globe down and vice versa.

"That's so cute," Willow thought to herself. "No wait," she continued to
think turning her head away. "That's not cute, not cute at all. Buffy is
not cute.Buffy's sexy...No wait, Buffy's not sexy, I repeat not sexy in the
least, she gorgeous.No wait.she's." Willow stopped thinking and closed her
eyes, she was starting to hyper ventilate. After taking a few deep breaths
she spoke to herself softly. "Okay," she started. "You are calm and
strong.like the mighty oak." Then she steeled herself and re-entered the
room.

"Okay," Willow said in a tone that was way too chipper.

"Okay," Buffy repeated in a similar tone as she turned her attention away
from the snow globe and over to Willow.

"Why don't we get you out of that and." before Willow could finish the
sentence Buffy had torn the robe from her body. ".into something more
comfortable," Willow said finishing the sentence softly. So much for
avoiding the nude, there was now plenty of nude. There was nude all over
the place and it was very well lit.

"Comfortable," Buffy said stretching. Despite her best intentions Willow
found herself watching the display attentively. She watched the way Buffy's
muscles played under her skin, and the way the light reflected off of her
perfectly tanned skin.

"Oh my," Willow muttered to herself closing her eyes. This was not good.
This was not good at all. Bad, bad, hormones.

"Okay," Willow said finally pulling herself together. "Forget the
comfortable part, let's just concentrate on the something. Let's just get
you into something," she continued moving over to Buffy's drawers to find
some clothes for her.

"Why?" Buffy asked moving over so that she was standing behind Willow.

"Because," Willow answered acutely aware of Buffy's presence behind her.
She could feel the other girls warmth wrapping around her like a blanket.
"People wear clothes in today's society. There are laws about it."

"Why?" Buffy asked again moving closer so that she could see over Willow's
shoulder.

"Because," Willow said her voice catching in her throat a bit. "We can't
just walk around naked."

"Why?" Buffy asked again.

"Because.because it leads to fornication and.and orgies," Willow finally
responded trying to concentrate on looking through the drawers.

"So?" Buffy asked. Willow paused in her searching. She hadn't thought
about it that way.

"So.so this is college.we don't do that here," Willow responded flustered.
She had to get them off of the topic of nudity and orgies. "Buffy, please,"
Willow said softly turning around. "Just put on some clothes.I'm begging
over here," Willow continued trying to keep her eyes above Buffy's neck.

Buffy was silent for a moment. She just stood there watching Willow,
studying her. Then she responded. "Okay," she agreed sullenly as she
looked down at the floor. She clearly didn't want to be putting on any
clothes, but she didn't want to upset Willow either, she wanted Willow to be
happy, so she agreed.

"Really?" Willow asked surprised. "Good," she added quickly before Buffy
could change her mind. "Alright, let's see what we've got here," Willow
said turning back to the drawers.

Even thought Buffy had agreed to put something on it took Willow quite some
time still to find something that the girl was actually willing to put on.
The floor of the room was covered with the rejects Buffy had tossed away.
Finally, Willow was able to get Buffy to at least put on a pair of underwear
and a tank top. It still didn't leave a lot to the imagination, and Willow
would have preferred a complete ensemble, but, well it was better than
nothing.

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

Willow was tired, she was very tired, and therein lay the problem because
Buffy wasn't tired. She had tried everything to get Buffy to go to sleep,
she really had. She offered to part with her snow globe and everything, but
the answer was still a no. Finally, she just lay down on her bed staring at
the ceiling hoping that Buffy would wear herself out soon.

Buffy watched Willow flop down on her bed and close her eyes. She watched
her for moment from her bed, then she walked over to Willow's bed and sat
down on the side brushing some stray strands of hair out of Willow's face.
Willow's eyes popped open at the touch and looked up meeting Buffy's gaze
with her own.

"Oh, hello," was all Willow was able to get out, and that was a whisper.
She knew that she should look away, but she just couldn't, she was caught.
Caught in Buffy's gaze, and in her beauty. Even in this devolved state
Buffy was startlingly beautiful, still had an aura about her that drew
Willow in completely.

"Buffy stay here," Buffy said still not breaking their eye contact. Willow
knew instinctively that Buffy meant that she wanted to stay there on the bed
with her. No, Willow thought to herself, absolutely not. Completely
unacceptable, I will not stand for that!

"Okay," was what actually came out of her mouth however. It was nice to
know that her mind and her mouth were operating together.

Willow shifted on the bed to make room for Buffy who then proceeded to lay
down beside her. Once Buffy was settled she placed Willow's head on her
shoulder and began to play with the hackers hair. Willow remained still and
let Buffy play with her hair, but she didn't relax. She couldn't. She kept
on thinking about how she shouldn't be allowing this to happen, how it was
taking advantage of Buffy's situation. She knew that none of it would have
been happening if Buffy was herself, and that's why she should stop it.
Because she was enjoying the attention and the touching way too much.

Just as Willow was in the final stages of drifting off to sleep she felt it.
Soft lips being pressed against hers. It was gentle and sweet, like
kissing a cloud. After a moment more Willow opened her mouth and allowed
the kiss to be deepened. Finally after minutes of gentle exploration the
lips pulled away and Willow felt a hand on her cheek. Slowly she opened her
eyes.

Buffy was still lying beside her but her head was now directly about
Willow's looking down.

"Buffy," Willow said softly almost in amazement. She couldn't believe that
this was happening.

Buffy didn't respond, she merely brought their lips back together
passionately. When Willow didn't pull away Buffy moved her lips over
Willow's bottom lip and sucked on it gently, stroking across the smooth
softness with her tongue. Willow exhaled against her lips then pressed her
lips against Buffy's as she slid her hand across Buffy's back. The passion
rose between them, both of them drawing in breath deeply as it scorched
them, with seconds they were kissing deeply once again, hungrily. Mouths
open and tongues tangling they dueled. Willow pressed into Buffy's strong
body eyes closed trying to absorb every sensation coursing through her body
through osmosis.

Finally, Willow wrenched her mouth away from Buffy's placing her hands on
Buffy's shoulders to hold her back. She had to but a stop to what they were
doing. Every fiber in Willow's being wanted to continue, wanted take Buffy
and kiss every inch of her body. She wanted it so much it hurt, but she
just couldn't let that happen. The timing, the circumstances were all
wrong, and to continue would be wrong too. Buffy was in a state of
vulnerability and she would NOT abuse that, she wouldn't abuse Buffy in that
way. And then there was Oz. She couldn't do this to him.

Buffy tried to lean forward to kiss Willow again, but Willow kept up the
resistance. She was actually surprised that she was able to keep her hands
out, every part of her body was on fire. She had never experienced anything
like that before in her life. She loved Oz, and when they were together it
was amazing, but nothing that she had ever experienced with him had prepared
her for what she and Buffy had just shared.

"No," Willow said, her voice cracking. Buffy looked down at her with a
confused expression. Willow understood the feeling. What she was doing was
in complete contradiction to every signal that her body was sending out.

"Willow, and Buffy," Buffy said. "Together," she continued trying to lean
down once again. Once more Willow stopped her.

"We can't," Willow said softly. It was a struggle for her to just get the
words out of her mouth. Her heart constricted every time she spoke.

"Why?" Buffy asked. Willow could just detect the forming of tears in the
corner of Buffy's eyes. "Bu.I," she continued correcting herself.
"Love.you. I love you," she said looking down at Willow pleadingly.

"Oh, god.Buffy," Willow said breaking their eye contact. They couldn't.they
just couldn't. "We can't."

Buffy leaned back, then once she was settled she stared at Willow for a
moment not saying a word. Then she closed her eyes and remained like that
for a few moments. When she opened them again Willow could see tears.

"Buffy bad," she said not bothering to try speaking in the first person
anymore. "Willow hate Buffy," she continued starting to get off of the bed.

"No!" Willow said firmly reaching out this time to bring Buffy back. "I
don't hate you, I couldn't never hate you," she continued. "I love you."

"Then why?" Buffy asked. Her gaze wasn't accusatory or angry, she was just
struggling to understand something Willow wasn't sure she could explain to
her. Wasn't sure she could explain to herself.

"It's not the right time," Willow said looking into Buffy's eyes trying to
convey what she was feeling. "I love you, but we can't right now. It's
just not the right time."

Buffy lowered her head, thinking about what Willow said.

"But, sometime?" she asked looking back up at the red-head.

Willow stared at her. She didn't know how to answer that really. There was
so much she didn't know, and that question encompassed all of it. She
didn't know if Buffy would remember anything that had happened between them
when she returned to herself. She didn't know what was happening between
her and Oz and anymore and what that meant, if it meant anything at all, to
what was happening between her and Buffy. She couldn't possibly know if
there would ever be a sometime, even if she wanted there to be.

"Sometime," she finally responded. She hadn't thought about the answer or
what it meant, but it was out there now. Buffy smiled and Willow smiled
back. "We should go to sleep," Willow said finally. The night really had
worn her out. Besides she wasn't sure that she could handle anymore deep
revelations, or contemplation's.

"Buffy stay here?" Buffy asked even though it really was more of a
statement.

"Yeah," Willow responded. Once the words were out of her mouth Buffy moved
so that she was lying behind Willow and then she wrapped her arms around the
red-heads waist drawing them together.

When Buffy pulled them together Willow became acutely aware of the curves
and plains of Buffy's body pressed up against her own. She also was
re-introduced to the warmth and suddenly wondered if the sleeping
arrangements were such a good idea after all.

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

End of Part 2

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

The first thing Buffy became aware of was the feeling of warmth enveloping
her. It was like she was lying against a giant hot water bottle. It was
nice.it was person, she realized with a start. Immediately her eyes opened
and went straight to the form in front of her. Willow. She was lying in
bed with Willow. In Willow's bed she realized. Then she looked down. She
was lying in bed with Willow half naked.with a headache.

Headache, she thought to herself. Why do I have a headache? It was much
safer to first try and find out why she had a headache than why she was
undressed and in bed with her best friend. Then she remembered the beer.
The bad beer.

Once she remembered the beer images soon started to come back to her about
the night. It was fuzzy and there were parts that were completely blank,
but she was able to put together most of it. Basically what she figured out
was that she had drunken drugged beer and it made her devolve, then she had
been in a fire. Willow was there too, in the fire, and she had saved her.
Then she remembered hitting Parker over the head with a big stick. Up to
that she was clear on what happened, but the rest of it.the rest of it was
decidedly more difficult.

After that she remember carrying Willow back to their room. She had a vague
recollection of Giles and Xander, but she wasn't sure about what they were
doing. Then she remember being in the shower with Willow.washing Willow.
She remembered being in the shower with Willow washing her naked body,
Willow's naked, wet body. Then she remembered playing with a snow globe.
Willow's snow globe, and after that flinging clothes all over the place.
Then she remembered playing with Willow's hair and.and kissing her. She
remembered kissing Willow. Oh god, she kissed Willow. Hell, she groped
Willow, full body groped.

She returned her attention to mop of red hair nestled against her shoulder,
then looked up at the ceiling, staring. She couldn't remember enough about
what happened. She had to remember what exactly happened. Then she got a
flash of Willow holding her back and telling her 'no'. Her heart froze when
that image floated into her head. If she had hurt Willow or forced her to
do something she didn't want to, she didn't know what she would do. No, she
did know what she would do. She'd tell Oz and let his wolfy self rip her to
pieces. Tiny little pieces.

She looked back down at Willow who was still sleeping soundly. Turning her
head to the side she saw that it was still dark out. She then turned her
attention to the clock which read 5:30 am. I've got to get up, Buffy
thought to herself. She had to think. She started to move her arm which
was wrapped around Willow when the hacker started to stir.

Willow seemed disoriented at first like she had been then the hacker looked
up at her. Willow's hair was disheveled and eyes were still sleepy, she was
the most beautiful sight Buffy had ever seen in her life.

"Hey, sleepy-head," Buffy said forcing a smile across her face. Willow
blinked and looked at her for moment.

"Buffy?" she asked. "Real, non-Cro-Magnon Buffy?"

"Completely of this century," Buffy responded watching Willow's reactions
closely. Willow smiled and moved the few centi-meters necessary to hug her.
Buffy hugged her back, then they pulled away from each both very aware of
the issues at hand.

"We had an interesting night didn't we?" Buffy asked looking around the
room.

"Do you remember.last night I mean?" Willow asked looking at Buffy intently.
There was trepidation in her voice, Buffy could feel it.

"Bit's and pieces," Buffy responded carefully. She had to careful, she
couldn't lie, Willow would know she was lying, but she wasn't going to
volunteer anything either. "I remember hitting Parker," she continued
smiling. Willow smiled back and then they spent a few moments in
comfortable silence.

"What else?" Willow asked finally.

"It's pretty fuzzy right now," Buffy told her. "I'm.I'm not really sure
what happened," she said sticking to the truth. "I know I'm not going
drinking for a while. And that I'm going to kill Xander, but beside that."
she just shrugged.

"Oh," Willow said. She sounded relived. Buffy didn't know if that was a
good thing or a bad thing. "I'm sure it'll come back to you eventually.
Slayer powers and everything. The strength and memory of an elephant."

"Should I take offense to being compared to a large, smelly, mammal?" Buffy
asked stalling for time.

"Elephants are very noble creatures," Willow responded. "If it wasn't for
those snotty lions they'd be king of beasts."

"Don't you just hate those lions," Buffy responded.

"With a passion," Willow answered.

They remained in silence after that for a moment.

"Will?" Buffy asked breaking the silence. "I didn't do anything last night
did I? You know, anything that could possibly get me arrested or anything?
Did I?"

"No, you were a fairly well behaved Neanderthal," Willow responded. "You
didn't much care for clothes.but other than that." Willow continued.

"So, ah, this is the result of my lack of fondness for clothing," Buffy said
looking down at her lack of attire.

"Pretty much," Willow answered. "And you have no idea how long it took me
to get you into that."

"What was I wearing befo.ohhh," Buffy responded realizing the answer to her
own question. "I should probably.you know put on some clothes or
something," Buffy said getting up off of the bed.

"Clothes are good," Willow agreed. "They keep you warm.or cool.plus they
look nice. In general they look nice, not that they just look nice on you,
not that they don't look nice on you, they just look nice on a lot of people
including you, not that your not people, just that."

"Clothes are nice," Buffy said interrupting Willow.

"Yeah," Willow said. She was now sitting cross-legged on her bed looking at
everything but Buffy. Finally, Willow looked over at Buffy who was pulling
on a pair of a pajama pants. "I think I'm just going to hit the hay
again.I'm kind of tired."

"Okay," Buffy said looking back at her. "I'm sorry if I kept you up last
night, I guess my cave-mother didn't teach me very good manners."

"It's okay, you didn't keep me up," Willow said. Buffy looked back at her
with a disbelieving look. "Much, you didn't keep me up much."

"Go to sleep Will," Buffy said heading over to her bed.

"I have a class at."

"I know," Buffy said. "I'll make sure you're up in time."

"Thanks," Willow said closing her eyes.

"Anything for my Will," Buffy responded softly lying down.

Soon after her head hit the pillow her thoughts drifted to the past, to
Willow. She had realized that the feelings she had for Willow were deep for
some time, years even. And that night two Halloweens ago when she had seen
Willow in her bad girl outfit and then again when she had seen her leather
bound doppelganger she had felt pangs of desire. Strong pangs of desire.
Throbbing, strong, pangs of desire. But she had buried them when she had
felt them then because she already had enough on her plate with Angel, and
slaying. And then Faith had come along, and added a whole new set of
problems to everything. She knew she loved for Willow for years, she even
told her that she kinda loved her, but she wasn't or didn't want to be aware
of what kind of love it was that she had for Willow.

She had been able to deny the feelings for years, but when Angel left at the
end of the school year, and was no longer there to consume her thoughts,
Buffy found herself thinking about Willow more and more. Wanting to be with
Willow more and more, and finally being the person that she was she was not
able to deny what she was feeling anymore. She had to admit that she just
didn't love Willow, she was IN love with Willow.

But Willow was with Oz. And Oz was with Willow. A they were happy, and
together and snuggly. But more importantly they were happy. Buffy was
willing to take the chance and tell Willow how she felt, she was confident
that even if Willow didn't return her affections that they could remain
friends, the bond they had was that strong she was sure of it. But she
never could tell Willow, because she was with Oz, and as much as Buffy
wanted to be with her, or at least wanted the chance to perhaps be with her,
she wasn't going to sacrifice Willow's happiness with Oz for it. She loved
Willow enough to let her live her life.

And then, then she had to go and drink some bad beer. And know she had
memories about what Willow's lips felt like. Memories of holding her close
and melding their bodies together. She had memories of what it felt like to
be enveloped in Willow's warmth and feel her love. And there was nothing,
absolutely nothing that she could do about it. Because Willow was with Oz,
and Oz was with Willow

Buffy glanced over at the clock. It was 7:00 am, time for Willow to get up.

"Will," Buffy said touching her on the shoulder. "Wakey, wakey."

"Buffy," Willow said opening her eyes.

"Time to wake up, little tree," Buffy said smiling. "It's the beginning of
a brand new day."

THE END