L'amour

by Kitness

Copyright © November 2003

k_veritas@yahoo.com

Rating: R
Disclaimer: These characters are, of course not mine, but are owned by Mutant Enemy. However, these stories are original written material by Kitness.
Distribution: The Mystic Muse http://mysticmuse.net
Feedback: I am open to any feedback that anyone might have.
Spoilers: AU, but some Season 4.
Author's Note: I'm kind of new at this, but I love reading fan fiction so I thought I'd try my hand at it. In this fic Tara's personality is more like that of season 6 she's more sure of herself and has come into her own. It's not that I don't like shy Tara, but her later character works better for my stories at this point.
Pairing: Willow/Tara

Chapter 1    Chapter 2    Chapter 3    Chapter 4    Chapter 5

Part 1

Chapter 1

Willow rounded the corner looking at her reflection in a store window. "Man I love this jacket…" She thought admiring her new, soft dark brown leather jacket. As a rule Willow was not a leather person, but this jacket was just too sleek to pass up. It fit perfectly around her shoulders and fell down just below her bottom, accentuating her small curves. "Ok, that's enough with the vanity for today" Willow smiled to herself then crossed the street towards the Espresso Pump.

Tara sat at the Espresso Pump with her mocha, watching people as they passed. She lounged contently, waiting for her cousin to arrive. "Martin is very late" Tara thought but enjoyed 'people watching.' Soon her mocha was gone and she got up to order another.

"Mocha, mocha, mocha, mocha, mocha…" Willow sang to herself, excited, once again that day, by small pleasures. As she away from the counter and towards the tables to enjoy her raspberry mocha, Willow felt herself bounce backward as her body slammed into another.

"Shit!" Tara gasped horrified as she spilled her freshly bought mocha all over the slim redhead who stood in front of her totally stunned and felt hot liquid spill on the front of her jeans.

All Willow felt was hot. The coffee had spilled all over her front and seeped into her shirt. She just looked down at herself, mouth open. But quickly she was brought out of her shock as she

"Oh Goddess, here let me help you… please… I'm sorry I really wasn't paying attention," Tara said frantically as she grabbed napkins from the nearest table.

"No, no, hey!" Willow said, springing to life, "I wasn't watching… totally my bad. I'm sorry… oh goodness your jeans! See I'm just in a good mood and I wasn't paying attention… darn I'm sorry it's really ok, way not your fault." Tara smiled at the redhead and then started to laugh.

"What?" Willow asked still a bit flustered, but as Tara kept laughing Willow soon found herself wrapped up in giggles as well.

"Hey Tara there you a- what the hell is going on!?" Tara looked over at the mention of her name, to see her cousin with a confused look plastered on his face. "You know, the coffee goes in your mouth Tare…" He said looking down at her pants. But Willow and Tara just kept laughing.

"Wow, ok, it really wasn't that funny… I mean it wasn't even one of my best - kinda lacking actually," Martin spoke again getting more and more confused by the display of wet, giggling girls in front of him.

Finally Tara spoke, "It's just…giggle… we ran into each other…giggle… with coffee and…giggle… spilled and …giggle… and …hahahaha…"

"Hmmm…" He said as Tara and Willow started to settle down. "Alright doll, who's your pretty friend?" Willow looked at him a bit surprised.

"Oh that's just Martin, ignore him," Tara said still chuckling a bit.

"I know who I am," Martin spat, "and there will be no ignoring! But really who's your friend?" Tara and Martin both looked at Willow as he asked that.

"Uh… oh! I'm Willow, Willow Rosenberg," Willow said smiling holding out her hand to Tara.

"Tara…I'm Tara…Maclay," Tara said a bit shyly shaking Willow's hand as Martin looked back and forth between them waiting for an introduction.

"Cough… Cough," came out less than subtly from Martin.

"Oh! This is my cousin Martin… Maclay also." Tara filled in quickly.

"Glad to make your acquaintance madam," Tara's cousin said smiling and bowed slightly.

"Yes…uh… you too, nice to meet you… um… sir…" Came Willow's reply a bit nervous at his formal tone. Tara just rolled her eyes and nudged Martin.

"Knock it off goof ball,"

"Goof ball?" Asked Willow giggling at Tara's expression. Tara blushed and Martin nudged her back.

"The movie, the picking up, we need to go." Martin said casually looking at his wrist, though he had no watch.

"Right," Tara nodded, "Um, Willow… oh goddess your jacket… I'll pay for anything… dry cleaning or I'm really sorry but I have to go I have movies and Martin… we're kinda late."

"Oh don't even-" Willow started

"No, no I insist," Tara cut in grabbing a napkin, "let me pay for it. Here's my number, call me- I go to UC Sunnydale… uh if I don't answer leave a message and I'll get back to you- promise. "

"Wow… thanks but-" Willow started again.

"Pen… pen. Martin do you have a pen…Pen… I need a pen…"

"Tare, seriously…" Martin said grabbing Tara's arm and dragging her slowly outside.

"Ok, ok, Willow just call!" Tara said frantically, handing Willow the napkin, which now had a number on it.

"Ummm… ok…" Willow looked bemused, "that was odd. No pen… how did she…hmmm." Willow just shook her head looking at the napkin then down at her clothes. "Damn!"

Chapter 2

"Willow! Whoa now, let's watch the language!" Buffy said teasingly as she tapped the shoulder of her redheaded friend.

"Wha- Buffy! Hi!" Willow turned around.

"Though I can see why… whoa Will didn't you just get that jacket like yesterday? What happened?" Buffy asked.

"Mochas… I sorta bumped into this girl and she had a mocha and I had a mocha and there was mocha spillage then laughing then Martin came and took her away to the movies or something but I'm going to call her although she didn't write down her number." Came Willow's lengthy reply.

"Oh… uhh who? How are you going to call her? Why are you calling her? What?" Asked her friend trying to follow the flow of Willow's words.

"Tara, we bumped mochas… haha bumped mochas… anyway, we both spilled on each other but she was wearing jeans and she said to call her but she didn't have a pen but here is her number on this napkin… it wasn't on here before I don't know how the number got on the napkin and damn my leather jacket!" Willow finished whining.

"Ok… and who is Martin?"

"Martin? Right Martin! He is Tara's cousin, they had to go to the movies."

"I see, and she didn't write down the number so you can't call her now?" Asked Buffy still a bit confused about the details.

"No… well yes… but no," Buffy just looked at Willow, "Ok, see what happened was: she couldn't find a pen and never did find a pen but somehow I have her number on this napkin and I don't know how it got here, but I have it."

"Ah… ok well maybe she wrote it in blood." Buffy said smiling at her joke.

"Eeew, I don't think so, I'm sure I would have noticed that. Sheesh."

"Sheesh?" Buffy laughed, "Well, Will, it's Sunnydale so we probably should at least look into this. Call Tara and see what you can find out about her, I wouldn't worry too much, but be careful. I'll call Giles and we'll get researchy with Tara and Martin demons k?"

"Yeah, yeah good idea. But don't you think they would have changed their names or something? Besides I mean… she didn't seem like a demon – but yeah, ok, demons are sneaky and maybe she changed her name then she's all sneaky by pretending to be nice and stuff… hmmm… I will have to be 'DETECTIVE WILLOW!'" She babbled on, saluting Buffy with mock seriousness.

"Yeah… totally Will, but umm I don't think detectives salute." Buffy laughed. "I should get out on patrol though and you should get home before it gets too much darker. Why don't you call Giles when you get there?"

"Sounds good, see you later?" Willow asked.

"I might stop by the hospital, see Faith." Buffy said looking away, "but I'll be home later for sure."

"Alright." Was all Willow said not wanting to push the Faith subject in any way. "See ya Buff!"

"Ya know Tara, you might wanna be a bit more careful about using magic on strangers…" Martin said with mock seriousness.

"Oh no! I did, didn't I? Oh dear… the napkin." Tara started to get worried, "I'll have to increase my meditation… and control exercises… dear goddess, I've never done magic without really thinking about it before. Oh no, Martin this can't be good!" Tara exclaimed grabbing his arm.

"Hey whoa there little lady, nothin' to get all crazy about."

"B-but you just s-said I should b-b-be m-more c-careful." She stuttered.

"Tare, I was only kidding! Hey relax, whoa relax." Martin said, enveloping her into a bear hug, and Tara started to relax, "Come on lady, we'll miss the movies." He planted a kiss on the top of her head and once again led her along towards the theater.

The rest of the way they quickly walked while Martin joked with Tara as he always did, he curly, sandy colored hair falling in his blue eyes as he smiled up at his cousin. Tara was somewhat taller than Martin and was rounder, in all the right places of course, than her cousin's slender physique. Her hair was much more blonde and she let it down to fall around her shoulders.

"Haha, you peed yourself!" Martin said chuckling.

"H-hey! Grow up, I did not pee myself, I was coffeed." Tara spat back.

"Riiiiight, coffeed- is that what they call it these days?" Martin winked at Tara.

"Very funny. L-look there's Samantha." Tara said changing the subject.

"Tare, I think it's ok to call her Sam, everyone else does," He said matter-of-factly.

"Hello, m'lady." Martin said walking up to his girlfriend and planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Why hellllooo good sir." Sam said smiling sweetly and wrapping her arms around his neck as her jet-black hair fanned around his face as she kissed him squarely. Tara also had to smile as she saw the two embrace.

"Awww, that's sweet guys." She said softly, "But I think maybe we should get in line for tickets."

"Sure thing Tara, always keeping the ball rollin'." Martin said winking. Quickly he pulled out his wallet, "Oh would you look at that…" He said as he paid for three tickets before either of the girls could protest.

Chapter 3

Tara walked into her dorm room to the sound of her phone ringing.

"Hello?" She asked putting the phone to her ear.

"Hi! It's Willow, Willow Rosenberg, from the coffee shop?" Came Willow's voice through the receiver.

"Oh yes of course, hi! How are you? How's your jacket?" Tara asked truly concerned.

"Um, fine… and fine actually I went right home and washed it off." Willow answered brightly.

"Good, great, I'm g-glad." Tara said only to hear silence on the other end of the phone, "Um… was there a reason you called, or just to chat?"

"Right! I just … um was seeing how you were, um… how… are you?" Willow asked realizing she didn't really think through how she was going to interrogate Tara without her knowing and without looking foolish.

"I'm… fine… yes fine." Tara said not expecting Willow to ask about her.

"Well… good… good… I was um… well…" Willow started.

"Yes?"

"Come on, think… think!" Thought Willow trying to relax. "Uh… well I was wondering if you wanted to get together… and hang… I mean you were so nice about the jacket… and I did spill on your pants and stuff so maybe I could buy you another mocha… unless you are mocha scared or something. Or we could go out to lunch… or… well it's the least I can do. How are your pants?"

"Um…" Tara became very flustered as Willow's run-on thoughts came out of her mouth. "Sure… I mean you don't have to buy or anything really, b-but I'd love to hang out with you. Sure."

"Oh, cool! Good, well uh… when are you free?" Willow asked, mentally calculating her homework load and Scooby responsibilities to figure out when she was free.

"Tomorrow, for lunch? I'm free around 1:30." She answered.

"Yes, yes that works for me too! Shall we meet at the dining hall at 2:00? We don't have to eat there or anything I just don't know where your dorm is… and I'll get lost, and this will be easier kay?" Willow asked.

"Dining hall?"

"….yeah… ya know where the students usually eat?" Willow said a bit bemused.

"Oh! I'd forgotten I told you I'm at UCS- that means you must go here to!" Tara said excitedly.

"Uh huh! Oh this'll be fun." Willow laughed, "So tomorrow at 2 then?"

"Oh yes, I'll see you tomorrow Willow."

"Buh bye"

"Goodbye." And with that they both hung up with smiles on their faces.

The next afternoon Willow walked into the dining hall to see Tara waving at her and walking over.

"Hi" She said.

"Hi, where shall we eat?"

"Oh," Piped Tara, "I know this great Chinese place…"

"Sounds yummy, let's go eat." Willow smiled. "Hey" she thought to herself, "This may not be so bad after all, Tara could be kinda fun to hang with. Hopefully she's not really a demon" She thought, crossing her fingers as she took out her books and began to study- though the blonde stayed in the back of her mind the rest of the day.

"…So I was all 'Hey, I did not pee myself, grow up Martin!' But then he bought my ticket to the movie so, um, I'm not too mad at him anymore." Tara finished her story laughing.

"Ahh, that's so mean, I'm sorry. Were you really uncomfortable throughout the movie?" Willow asked, suddenly concerned.

"Um, it actually wasn't that bad." Tara lied, still remembering the sticky wet jeans she wore through the 2 hour movie.

"Well still, it's not exactly the optimum way to go to the movies."

"Yeah… but um, you said your jacket was ok?" Asked Tara, moving the subject away from her pants.

"Yup, yup it's fine. Good old jacket…" Willow smiled.

The redhead and the blonde talked all through lunch and into the evening. It wasn't until Willow realized that it had started to get dark that she checked her watch.

"Oh no! It's almost 8 o'clock!" Gasped Willow. "Shit," she thought, "I'm an hour late! I was supposed to be at Giles' for the meeting. I can't believe this! I'm late… I'm never late… how can I be late… oh god what if Buffy thinks I've been killed and is out looking for me and-"
"Do you have class or something?" Tara asked cutting off Willow's panicked thoughts.

"No, no I was supposed to meet my friends for the Scoob- hanging out…yes…with my friends. I'm sorry, I really have to run. I'll walk you home though." Willow said not leaving it open for question. The last thing she wanted right now was for her new friend to get attacked. "Buffy will just have to wait a little while longer," Willow thought as she and Tara made their way back to the college.

Chapter 4

Giles and Xander looked up from their books as Willow burst through the front door.

"Hey Willster!" Exclaimed Xander, "We were with the worried, just about to send out a search party! Where ya been?"

"Being detective Willow, didn't Buffy tell you?" Willow asked.

"Actually…no."

"Oh- well… see what happened-" Started Willow, only to be interrupted by Xander.

"Will, we kinda got a sitch here and I'm actually supposed to be off at the magic shop." Xander said looking over at Giles who didn't seem very happy at all, "I just wanted to see if you were ok." Xander emphasized and slipped out the door, to leave Willow looking a bit confused and Giles looking still very angry.

"Alright… what's going on?" She asked Giles.

"Xander has once again proved that he is a-" Giles started, but stopped again breathing to calm himself down, "Xander was foolish with a book, again, and cast a spell by mistake. Unfortunately, the text he used wasn't fully in tact so now I can't figure out exactly what he's done. So I've sent him for supplies in hopes that we can reverse this…this… whatever it is!" Giles finished, his anger rising again.

"What a stupid git." Willow chided sitting down next to Giles. With those words he eased up a little and let a faint smile cross his lips.

"Yes, yes I'm afraid he is. However, I don't believe this is anything I can't handle, so you are free to leave if you like. I've already sent Buffy out on patrol and you should get back before it gets too late." He said kindly.

"I think I will do that actually, college papers and all. I mean, if you're sure you don't need me?"

"No, please, be on your way, I wouldn't be much company anyway. Let Xander deal with me alone." Giles finished grumpily.

The next morning Buffy came into her dorm room tired and dirty from patrol, flopping down on the bed just in time to hear the phone ring.

"Yellow?" She spoke into the receiver.

"Um, hi, t-this is Tara, may I speak to Willow please?" Buffy laughed silently at the formality of the voice on the other end.

"She's actually not-" Buffy started as Willow came waltzing through the door, "Ok so she is here, hold on." She said handing Willow the phone.

"Hello?" Came Willow's voice through the phone.

"Hi, this is Tara, um, I was just making sure you got where you were supposed to be ok and everything yesterday." Tara spoke softly back into Willow's ear.

"Oh! Yes, thanks yes I did. Did you?"

"Um, yes I did too, t-thanks." Tara said smiling, " Sorry I kept you yesterday, it's just that I rarely meet someone I can talk to really, ya know?

"Yeah I know what you mean, it's like there's always the same people around. So don't worry it's totally with the cool." Willow said, winking at Buffy who shrugged and lay down on her bed.

"Heh, yes exactly. Which is why I was, um, well I was wondering if you'd like to do it again sometime… ya know hang out more?"

"Yeah! That'd be great! When are you free again? I had loads of fun yesterday."

"Well, I'm pretty much free any day after 4:30, except for Friday, I have classes until 6." Tara answered.

"Cool, um, I'm free today at 5, that is if you wanna hang out today. We could do dinner this time, maybe a movie- mix it up a bit." Willow said smiling.

"Sure, that sounds great Willow."

"Good, I'll meet you at your dorm around 5 then?"

"Yeah, 5 o'clock then."

"Alrighty see you, Tara!"

"Buh bye." Tara finished and hung up the phone with a smile on her face as well. "Wow, I may end up with some real friends here. Martin is great, but there's no substitute for female friends. This is very cool. Oh I'd better get to class." Tara thought to herself as she rushed out the door, her evening plans on her mind the whole time.

That night Tara and Willow went to the movies and had to constantly be shushed as they talked through the entire film.

"Wow, I think that guy was about to turn around and deck us!" Willow exclaimed.

"Yeah," Tara said laughing, "But I'm sure we would have proved to be too much for him"

"Don't I know it," Willow said winking at Tara, which caused them both to burst out in giggles again.

As the week went by and into the next Willow and Tara found time between classes to meet for lunch, dinner and talk on the phone about anything and… almost everything.

Chapter 5

The next Friday night Willow sat in her room waiting for Tara to finish her last class so they could head over to the Bronze. "I wonder if I can tell her," Willow sat thinking, rather than studying, "I mean it's not like she doesn't know that something's weird around here. She always knows that we should be in before dark. I mean… we've talked for like 12 hours straight… she doesn't seem evil… but still the napkin. Hmm, maybe I was just flustered from the coffee spillage. She could have had a pen. Or maybe she's trying to be sneaky and seeeeem nice and really she knows about Buffy and the Scoobies and she's trying to get us right where she wants us… ok that was kinda dirty… although it's been a while since I've been anywhere where someone wanted me… Ok back to the subject, Tara." Willow's thoughts were then interrupted by the ringing of the telephone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, It's me." Came the voice on the other end.

"Tara?"

"No, ME, Buffy, jeeze Will…" Willow heard in the ear-piece then thought how silly it was that she didn't recognize Buffy's voice sooner.

"Sorry Buff, I was just supposed to meet Tara really soon and I thought you might be her."

"Oh, well, I'm not, but I'm afraid you're going to have to cancel on Tara- we got Scooby problems." Buffy said hurriedly.

"What? Now?" Willow sighed, "Um, alright I'll be over in a few."

"Thanks Will, see ya then." Buffy said hanging up the phone. Willow sighed again and put down the phone, only to pick it up again and dial Tara's number.

A short while later, Tara came into her dorm room lost in her thoughts. "Hmm… I wonder if I can tell Willow about my being a witch… I mean she must have noticed the napkin, she's just that kind of person. She always seems to understand me, it couldn't hurt to at least test it out, I could just pretend I'm kidding if she gets freaked out, although somehow I doubt she will… This is very odd I'm so excited about seeing her tonight, wow, I just saw her yesterday and already I can't wait to hang out. This is so cool. I've never really had a good friend like this before. I should introduce her to Martin, again, he would very much like her. This is so exciting I really can't wait to see her- maybe tonight we'll talk about witchy me. As Tara walked farther into her room she saw she had a message on her machine. Flipping on her lights she walked over to the phone and listened to her message.

"Hi Tara, it's me- Willow, I'm just calling to tell you that I can't make it tonight because Buffy is having a last minute school crisis and if she flunks out I'll end up with some bad roommate again… anyway, I'm really sorry. But if you're not busy tomorrow, or the next day or anytime, we will definitely make up for lost giggle time. I'll call you tomorrow for sure. Have a good night. Buh bye."

Tara sat on her bed just looking at her machine very disappointed. Grudgingly she took out her books and began to study. "I forgot how much being home alone on Friday night sucks." She thought sighing "Oh well, I will see her tomorrow hopefully."

As the evening went on Tara couldn't help but be bummed and couldn't concentrate long enough to study. "I'm really upset, wow, I'm really upset. This is so odd, guess I just got my hopes up too much. I should sleep, then I'll call Willow tomorrow. Yes, that's what I'll do." Sleeping didn't prove to be too much easier but after a while of thinking Tara finally fell into a comfortable sleep.

"…so then the demon cat jumps on me and bites my arm and runs away!" Buffy Squealed.

"Are you sure it wasn't just a regular cat Buff?" Xander teased, yawning.

"I've never met an evil cat I didn't like…" Anya spoke up. "But then I used to be evil, so I guess that would make sense. Ya know, I haven't come across a demon cat since I've become human again. I wonder if they're still as much fun as they used to be… you know what else? Evil cats kill bunnies!"

"…Um… ok, I think it was just a regular cat though. It just seemed more exciting to call it evil. I did step on it's tail and all, so I'm assuming that's why it bit me." Buffy finished yawning as well. Giles then came out of the kitchen bearing drinks and snacks for the gang.

"That's my man G." Xander chided.

"What have I said about calling me that Alexander? Now do you think we could really start this meeting? You all have food and drink, and Buffy has told her, less-than-exciting, cat story."

"Hey, it seemed very exciting at the time, I mean I even called Willow over to hear it!" Buffy yapped back at Giles, but got no response from him or Willow, "I said I called WILLOW! Over here just for that." At the mention of her name somewhat loudly Willow finally snapped out of her thoughts.

"What?" She said finally looking at Buffy.

"I said, I called you over here just to hear my cat story and you weren't even listening." Buffy told her, "But luckily I didn't just call you over for my cat story; I was just trying to get your attention. Where are you? You've been out of it all night?"

"Yeah our Willster is not her usual Willy of Willness self, what's up?" Xander asked.

"Oh, I guess I'm just tired." She said weakly.

"Could we please stop this dilly-dallying and get the meeting going!" Giles yelled before anyone could protest Willow's remark.

"Yes, yes let's get going so I can go home with Xander." Anya agreed with Giles, as everyone threw her an odd look, "What, I said nothing about sex, it was implied- but the remark itself was totally clean… God you people are never happy!"

After that the meeting continued like many of the Scooby meetings before, except Willow had a hard time concentrating on what was going on. Her mind kept wondering towards Tara and the evening they had planned. "This is ridiculous, it's just the same old thing. They don't even need me here, we're just checking in. I could be having a party-hardy time with Tara at the Bronze. At least we have something more exciting to talk about stupid cats. Not that I don't like cats… But…wow I'm really disappointed. This is silly I will see her tomorrow. What if I don't see her tomorrow?? What if she's busy! For like a week… oh no! Ok calm down I'll just call her tomorrow and make her hang out with me. I really want to tell her about Buffy and the Scoobies. Ah! I could have done that tonight… but noooooo had to come to this lame-ass meeting. Maybe if I tell her I can bring her along and the meetings will not suck so much," Willow snapped out of her mountain of thoughts just in time to realize the meeting had been adjourned. She then got up before anyone noticed or remarked on the fact that she hadn't said a word the whole time.

Once in her dorm room Willow went straight to bed hoping for a quicker tomorrow.

Willow awoke with a start, "What the fu-" She was cut off by Buffy storming into the room.

"Willow! Willow, wake- oh you're awake! God, Willow you'll never believe this!" Buffy screamed, tears running down her cheeks. Willow just stared at Buffy trying to keep herself from jumping out of her skin, "Willow! Faith is awake…"

Willow sat upright and jumped out of bed, "What?! AWAKE?! Is this good or bad? Buffy how did this happen, oh goddess, oh goddess… she's gonna kill us all…"

"No, no nothing like that, Will, she can't even walk because her muscles have deteriorated. But with slayerness that should be a quick fix… oh god Will, I just have this feeling." Buffy said wiping away her tears and running to pull Willow into a big embrace.

"What, what feeling?" Willow almost squeaked as she felt Buffy's arms around her.

"Willow, I really, really don't think she's going to hurt us. I don't know why I think that… it's just… I trust her. She opened her eyes, and… god Willow… SHE'S AWAKE!" Willow just stared at Buffy, her mouth open, "Will, I have to get back to the hospital, I just came for a change of clothes. Willow, Willow listen to me." Buffy said taking hold of Willow's arm and sitting her down on the bed, "Willow, it will be different I promise. Man, the police are probably going to show up… I have to get her away from there. Will, Will, I won't let her hurt us… I just think it'll be different this time. I really believe that, please trust me if you don't trust her. It was in her eyes… there's something different." Buffy pleaded.

"Uh… Um… Buffy…I… goddess this is so fast, I can't even think."

"Willow please, I… if you need time to think that's ok. Just… trust me, I wouldn't put you in any danger. Slayer senses. It's ok Willow" Buffy looked straight into Willow's eyes, and for a second Willow felt calm again.

" Um, I c-can do that. Sure yeah, if you trust her… um, I mean I don't really feel comfortable with this… but I know you'd never let her hurt me or anything. And I mean if she can't even walk… are you sure? I mean if this is what you want… Well… ok I trust you." Willow spilled out looking up at Buffy not sure what to think or feel. Things were moving so fast. Her body tingled at the nearness of Buffy; she was still very excited and reeling from her dream and she immediately looked away. All she wanted was for Buffy to leave so she could think, or sleep or do something other than be in a state of blind panic as she was now. Faith worries would just have to wait.

"Do you mean that Willow? I mean really, because… well I'm probably going to have to bring her back here… tonight…" Buffy said tentatively.

"Tonight!" Willow jumped up again, "WHAT?" Willow sighed and took a breath, "I mean … well… there's no other way, or place?"

"I guess I could bring her to Giles'… but he'd freak and… Willow I just need this. Please try and understand… I'm asking for you to just… be my friend? Ya know just… please?" Buffy looked at her with sad, pleading eyes.

Willow sighed and paused for a second to collect her thoughts, "Sure" was the only thing she could think to say. "Just because I'm having dirty thoughts about you Buffy doesn't mean I'll let you down." She thought to herself. "You can bring her here, of course." Willow put on a half fake smile as she spoke her heart still pounding and her head still producing more thoughts than she could even acknowledge. Her mind was screaming at her to tell Buffy 'ABSOLUTELY NOT' but at the same time, she was confused by her dream and couldn't say no to Buffy; she didn't have enough energy to talk with Buffy about this- or anything, anymore tonight.

"Oh, thank you Willow! I'll make it up to you I promise! Mochas on me for a month… a year! I won't let anything bad happen. Oh god thanks Will," She said hugging Willow close and planting a firm kiss on her cheek. With that, she grabbed two sets of clothes, threw them into a bag and ran out the door stopping to thank Willow once again. The redhead just stared at the door. "Holy moley… what on earth was that...?" Willow thought.