Witness by The Rainbow Writers

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya, Giles, Dawn, Spike and all other characters who have appeared in the syndicated series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, together with the names, titles and back story are the sole copyright property of Joss Whedon, Fox and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement was intended in the writing of this fan fiction. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the authors. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Please contact the authors for permission to reproduce this story on any other fan fiction site.
Distribution: The Rainbow Writer's Homepage: http://www.therainbowwriters.com/
Mystic Muse: http://mysticmuse.net
Spoilers: Season 6.
Feedback: All feedback is welcome.
Pairing: Willow/Other

Summary: Willow struggles with her rehabilitation in England.

"Buffy, it's three am." Giles crept into the room and glanced at the Slayer who was dozing off with her head on the bed. "Give up, I'll take over." He offered kindly.

"The other bed is free." Giles glanced at the door. "Even if you just get an hour or so." He pointed out.

"I… what are we going to do if she doesn't wake up?" Buffy asked in a whisper looking at Ruth and then back to him.

"We mustn't give up." Giles tried to be encouraging. "Despite appearances Ruth is a strong young woman."

"I know, I've been trying to do that whole put 'go Ruth go vibes' into the air." Buffy admitted sheepishly. "I'm not sure if it's doing much."

"We shouldn't underestimate the power of positive thought, especially in Ruth and Willow's case." The Watcher stood close to the Slayer. "Shall I go and make up the bed?" He offered again.

"I guess, just for a bit so that I don't make them more tired sitting here." Buffy stretched a bit as she stood up.

"All things considered Buffy what we had today was a good outcome." Giles smiled softly.

Willow wasn't sure of anything really. She didn't know how long she'd been asleep. She didn't know why her tongue felt almost swollen up tight to fill her throat and she had no idea of exactly where she was. Carefully she opened her eyes and as they came to focus on the sight that made everything worthwhile, all the pain and agony she felt now were worth it.

"Willow?" Giles said softly sitting up tightly in his chair at her side of the bed.

"Giles?" Willow changed her focus slightly as she pushed up a bit. "Where are we?"

"At my house. You've been here about twelve hours." He explained as he leaned forward and poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the side table for the redhead. "Drink, it will help your throat." He offered softly.

"Ru… Ru baby?" Willow turned back reaching up her hand to brush lightly over the dark haired witch's cheek. "You need to wake up baby, you're safe now."

"Buffy stitched her arms." Giles watched frowning sadly as Willow attempted to get a reaction from the small witch. "There was some bleeding from her ears, but Mrs.. Lauder thinks that was superficial. There is quite severe bruising to her head. How are you feeling Willow?" He asked concerned.

"Tired, you know." She downplayed her own physical state. "Ruth? Come on Ru baby please wake up for me. I know it hurts and I know it was scary but I promise its okay now."

"Did you want anything? Mrs. Lauder made pizza." Giles tried to pull her attention from the other girl.

"Please don't mention food." Willow clutched at her stomach as it contracted unhappily. "Do we have anymore brew?"

"I never thought I'd ever get to this point but yes please, I am desperate for some." She gave him a lopsided smile.

"I'll be right back, let me just get Buffy to watch over you while I'm gone." Giles moved towards the door and was gone.

Struggling a bit to get her body to co-operate Willow rolled over, fighting a bit with the blanket. She leaned so she could see her girlfriend's face, frowning when she saw the angry streaks of blue and purple that curled around Ruth's forehead out of the pillow and the angry red and black speckles that marked the puffiness under her eye and over her nose.

"Come on Ru, I know you're in there cookie monster. All the badness is gone now, you need to come back to me." She cupped one of Ruth's hands in both of hers. "Please Ru, I need you."

"I'm sorry." It was Buffy's voice that whispered to the redhead from the doorway disturbing her actions.

"Buffy, it's not your fault." Willow shook her head. "Are you okay? I'm sorry about the pond thing."

"I dried out." Buffy gave her a slight smile. "Are you okay?" She asked tentatively.

"Not yet." Willow shook her head. "She knew I was there to help her though, before she passed out she said my name. So I just keep telling her she's safe."

"Maybe she's just you know sleepy." Buffy offered hopeful for the easy solution.

"She's in trance still." Willow shook her head softly. "I just want to get her conscious and then get her back to sleep."

"Giles wanted me to hang out but would it be easier you know with Ruth if I wasn't here?" Buffy made the reluctant offer.

"I'm awake now, I can look after her." Willow offered seeing how strung out her best friend looked. "You can get some sleep too non-sleepy girl."

"That's not what I asked." Buffy carefully pointed out, "I asked if you think that maybe it might be easier with Ruth if I wasn't here?"

"No, she's used to you now. She said she likes the aura of strength you give off." Willow smiled softly.

"Really?" Buffy couldn't help but feel slightly elated by that fact, her smiled conveyed that clearly.

The Slayer was about to continue when she watched Willow's eyes flare slightly, Buffy looked carefully at the two girls on the bed and watched as Ruth's fingers slowly curled around Willow's hand.

"Can you go catch Giles and ask for two brews?" Willow smiled as she leaned down and kissed Ruth's hand.

"Right on it." Buffy nodded and nearly fell over her own feet as she dashed out.

"Hi Ru baby." Willow leaned closer feeling her breath bounce off the other witch's cheek. "Time to wake up baby. You're safe and everyone is here rooting for you."

"They were going to hurt you." Ruth's voice was tiny as her fingers flexed around Willow's hand.

"They didn't hurt me Ru, I stopped them. They can't hurt us now." Willow assured her kissing her cheek.

"But they said they could." Ruth's voice turned into a slight whimper. "You, Buffy, Aunt Anne."

"They can't hurt anyone Ru, I took care of them." Willow kissed her cheek again. "We just need to help you rest."

"What?" Navy eyes flared open and her hand pulled away from Willow as her mind tried to remember what had happened.

"But…" Ruth tried to push up on her arm, only to find the damaged limb collapse on her.

"I promise baby, I just made it so that no one could hurt you or me." Willow's voice was softer. "I didn't do anything more than that." She was glad to see her explanation stop Ruth's momentary desire to get up.

"They raised a dampening shield." Ruth explained what she could. "I tried to keep it together." She heard her voice waiver as she rolled on her back a bit.

"I know, you did great baby, you did so fantastic I'm so proud of you." Willow leaned down and kissed the bandage on her arm. "All I wanted was you safe."

"Yes Ru?" Willow moved down with her so they were side by side looking at one another.

As Willow settled the dark haired witch leaned forward and placed her lips over Willow's pressing them tightly together. Willow was surprised by the move but more than happy as she pressed back feeling the warm contact between them make her feel better inside by the instant. Ruth worked hard to get her heavy limbs to more and she managed to slide an arm over Willow's side.

Not caring about the pain it might cause Ruth squeezed her hand around Willow's side while at the same time pressing a little harder into the kiss, feeling the heavy fog in her head clear slightly.

"I love you." Willow whispered when their lips parted slightly before she pressed in again, her arm hugging around Ruth's side.

"I love you." Ruth quickly agreed. "I don't remember what I…" She admitted as she pulled back just looking at Willow's lips and then letting her eyes drop to glance over her heavily bandaged arms.

"It doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is that we are together." Willow stressed giving her a few quick kisses.

"Yes." The dark haired witch agreed. "She told me you would find me." She whispered as she rested her head against the pillow more.

"I hoped she would pass on the message." Willow gently leaned down and snuggled into Ruth's body holding her as tight as she dared. "I wouldn't ever let them hurt you baby, I promise, no one."

"I'm sorry I'm not stronger." Ruth apologized again as she lightly turned her head and pressed her lips to Willow's neck.

"You were so strong baby, I know how horrible it is for you in a dampening field." Willow disagreed. "That was like Buffy facing a whole army of vampires."

"Oh Lo." Ruth took a tight breath and pushed up kissing Willow again almost desperately. All Willow could do was groan lightly as their lips pressed together over and over. "I'm sorry." Ruth pulled back a little. "I just… I need to feel you." She apologized and settled in again by Willow's side. "The worst thing about the field was losing your echo."

"There's no reason to be sorry, I need to feel you too Ru." Willow felt her body press closer.

"Did you get hurt?" Ruth checked feeling her breathing slip into rhythm with Willow.

"No, just had a hard crash from the magic." Willow admitted running her hand up Ruth's side.

"They looked after you though, I smell cleansing herbs." Ruth's keen nose picked out the subtle scent easily.

"Yes, Mrs. Lauder is here. She's been mothering everyone I think." Willow smiled slightly.

"I thought I recognized the bandaging style." Ruth tried to joke but the words were sadly true.

"Yummy." Ruth said sarcastically. "I preferred the taste I just had." She winked at the other witch.

"Me too." Willow moved closer and pressed her lips back to Ruth's inhaling in the sweet scent of the dark haired witch.

"I bet you're exhausted." Ruth said tenderly as she pulled back slightly and licked her lips.

"Not as much as you and you are the precious one here." Willow licked her lips almost at the same time. "Taking care of Ru time starts officially now." She squeezed the other witch's thin body softly.

"We're both precious." Ruth retorted. "And you just holding me is taking care of me." She added snuggling in and easing her leg lightly over Willow's. "Well that and feeding me cookies." She chuckled.

"I think cookies might have to come in a bit love, you're tummy might not be ready for double stuffed Oreos." Willow eased her hand down rubbing it over Ruth's thigh.

"It's not." Ruth admitted. "It's kinda sore and grumbly." She clumsily moved her hand over Willow's as she moved her leg back against the mattress, trying to be gentle the dark haired witch guided both of their hands up and in slightly to rest over her churning stomach.

"Yes." Ruth nodded slightly. "Feels better when you do that." She breathed a little deeper throwing her out of sync with Willow.

"Feels nice to do." Willow hand without thought pushed up the material a bit so she could rub against soft skin instead of over the dark witch's T-shirt. For the briefest of moments Ruth's stomach muscles tensed, but then relaxed under the gentle touches.

"You should be too." Willow whispered back as she kept drawing lazy circles and tucked her head against Ruth's shoulder.

"But you need brew." Ruth pointed out as distant sounds of footsteps headed through the ground floor of the house.

"We can sip some of it." Willow nodded as she heard the footsteps getting closer. "All I want right now is to be with you."

"I just want to be with you too." Ruth admitted in a whisper just as the door opened.

"I thought I would bring this up." It was Mrs. Lauder who pottered into the room carrying two cups. "It's nice to see you both awake." She smiled at them.

"I'll put these down here." Rose slipped both cups onto the side table. "Drink what you can manage."

"Thank you for the patch-up work." Ruth looked up and nodded at the familiar comforting face.

"It was a team effort ducky. You two try to get some rest now." She smiled as she closed the door softly behind her.

"Hey-hey you, no magic. You're on bed rest, remember?" Willow pouted slightly. "Do I have to be all worried about you doing magic while you're poorly?"

"No." Ruth smiled at Willow's pout. "I can be a good girl in bed." She said and then blushed furiously. "You know what I mean." She corrected herself.

"I do, but the first interpretation of that line made me feel better." Willow grinned and blushed herself. "We can both be good girls in bed together."

"Apparently being tired and magically drained makes us cheeky girls." Willow giggled more.

"That's what all the doctors seem to be ordering." Willow laughed again. "Anything else you want to do?"

"Maybe." Ruth admitted. "But we should have brew and rest." She resigned herself to the inevitable.

"But I'm not moving out of this bed or your arms." Willow underlined her breaking point. "And I'm hoping for maybe a bath together later, it was really nice at the hotel."

"I'm not sure having bath thoughts is helping my brew and sleep mantra." Ruth grinned.

"Mmmmm me either but it keeps me motivated to show them I'm feeling better so we can." Willow explained one facet of it. "You know they will be hovering like crazy."

"They will, so come on Elmo, brew and then sleepies." Ruth leaned up and kissed Willow's cheek again, "And thank you for finding me." She added tenderly.

"Giles?" Buffy walked into the sitting room to find the Watcher sitting in the arm chair near the fire, lightly tapping his small cell phone on his chin, he looked up as the Slayer entered the room. "Travers called back didn't he?" She asked as she eased herself down on the couch near him.

"They have arranged first class passage for us on the afternoon flight later today." The Watcher relayed.

"Not exactly how? I know how Travers works Giles, what does he want in return? Send a few cronies with us and for me to be a good girl again? I don't care what he wants out of me the old bat can have it, I'll just blow him off again when the time is right." Buffy tried to show him this wasn't going to be a problem.

"The passage is for yourself, Dawn, Anya, Xander, myself, Willow and Mrs. Lauder." Giles put the phone down on the small coffee table.

"Ruth is to stay here with her key worker and Aunt." Giles leaned back in the chair.

"Are they insane? If she not with Willow and us where she's safe Ethan will just make another grab at her." Buffy stood up angrily. "What address is Travers at? I'm going to go tear him a new…" The Watcher cut her off.

"Buffy please, I understand this is not exactly what we want, but it is a considerably good outcome. That the Council are willing to entrust us with Willow's care is a compliment that should not go ignored." Giles shook his head.

"Giles' maybe its been along time since you've had a woman, but Willow's care had first a lot to do with Tara who hello we let get killed by Warren the scumbag and now it had heaps to do with Ruth. So leaving her here in England is sorta like tearing off my arms sending me back to Sunnydale and expecting me to stake vampires, seeing the issue?" She glared at him. "Get me 'Idiot' on the phone." She held out her hand pointing to the cell.

"Buffy it appears that the Council have their own objections to Ruth and Willow being allowed to become friends." Giles said the word carefully. "They plan to keep Ruth safe, secure and in a good environment for an empath such as her. Until they have Ethan in their custody they want to keep uncontrolled elements down to a minimum." He picked up the phone and slipped it into his inside pocket. "Apparently, they wanted to separate them some time ago before they had any real chance to become close."

"Well too friggin late for that isn't it?" Buffy pointed out harshly. "Fine, we make our own plane arrangements and Anya can teleport the two of them over. Then we don't have to ask the Council for anything."

"I'm afraid it's a little too late for that." Giles shook his head. "The arrangements have been made. Buffy." He looked up at the Slayer. "Contrary to your belief, I do understand how Willow feels about Ruth, but the Council have a very compelling argument for why they should be separated."

"So you agree with them, is that what you are telling me here?" Buffy moved over in front of him and stared down at him indignantly.

"I'm saying I am not sure the Hellmouth is the right place for Ruth to be right now." Giles defended.

"Newsflash the Hellmouth is never a good place to be Giles, but it's where she'll be cared for and have someone to love her who can protect her. I know you're all with the weighing the good, the bad, and the ugly here okay but I think you're missing the most important thing. Ruth, who we all know after reading her file, has not had a good life Giles. She's had a Hell life and that was without living on a Hellmouth. We all know exactly what Willow has gone through and if you don't remember you might want to think about the hours you spent in the hospital and that there is a gray tombstone in Sunnydale that almost marked the end of the world." She softened her voice. "These are not usual circumstances Giles, we can't just tell them it's best that they are apart and expect it to work. You saw the warehouse on the news, Willow tore that place apart Giles and that was her in control. That was her using her powers and getting the job done. Do you really think you giving her a lecture about what you and the Council think is good is going to make her get on a place and leave the only person who since Tara died in her arms has made her feel like living, breathing and being happy?"

"Buffy please." Giles pushed out of his seat in the face of Buffy's verbal onslaught. "I think it is a little early to be likening Willow's feelings about Ruth to her feelings about Tara." He objected to her analogy.

"She's in love with her Giles." Buffy's voice was honest and she couldn't help but smile as she made the admission for the redhead. "And she's been in love with her for a lot longer than she's wanted to admit for a big reason because she will always be in love Tara."

"Buffy…" Giles visibly stalled. "In love?" He looked over the edge of his glasses at her.

"You should have heard the rambling Willow that it took to get it out." Buffy smiled at him. "Oh and before your little English brain thinks of the obvious. Ruth admitted to me she was in love with Willow about the second day we got here but she didn't want to pressure Wills. So there you go Giles, Juliet and Juliet and damn it I'm not having the crappy suicidal ending this time got it!"

The Watcher seemed to pause in thought for a moment, weighing the new evidence he was being given and consolidating it for himself with all that he had seen and heard.

"Leave it with me Buffy." He said eventually. "Go and get some sleep." He encouraged her.

"Giles it might be the best thing." Buffy moved towards the door. "But they won't be split up again, call it Slayer instinct but they'll fight whoever or whatever they have too and I'm just quantifying Ruth here. Don't even try to comprehend the Willow factor."

"Willow?" The girl's bedroom door eased open and Dawn cautiously peeked her head around it.

"Hi Dawn." Willow opened her eyes when she heard the voice. She hadn't been asleep. She'd been much more content to lay there just feeling and enjoying how Ruth was snuggled up against her snoring lightly.

"It's just before eleven, Anya and Xander have gone to get fish and chips or something. Giles is locked away in his study non communicative, Buffy and Mrs. Lauder didn't say what they were doing when they left, so I just wondered if you two needed anything as I wanted to take a bath." The teenager explained her reason for breeching into their recuperative space.

"No, you have a nice bath. I think Giles has some bubbles hidden under the sink." She smiled at the teenager. "How are you doing? Do you need anything?" She asked worried about the youngest Scooby.

"A bath." Dawn said needlessly. "I'm doing okay." She shrugged. "Kinda freaked out a bit, but nothing out of the ordinary and to think Anya said coming to England would be boring." She chuckled hesitantly.

"I'm sorry that it's been so crazy, I had really hoped we'd have a nice normal Christmas." Willow apologized.

"It was a normal Christmas, a normal Scooby Christmas." Dawn shook her head. "And it's not your fault." She added. "These things kinda just happen to us not because we ask them to." She backed up in the doorway a little. "I'm gonna grab my bath before everyone come back, are you sure you guys have everything you need?"

"Yes, thank you." Willow nodded softly and she watched as the teenager silently closed the door. "I have everything I need." She kissed messy black hair.

"Turn the light off Lo." Ruth grumbled softly and attempted to bury her head into Willow's side, only managing to rub her bruised forehead onto Willow's pronounced collarbone. "Ow." She groaned pulling back a little.

"Be careful Ru." Willow helped her ease back and then took a quick look at the bruising. "You got a shiner Rocky." She tired to bring some cuteness into the situation. "Does that make me Adrienne?"

"Adrienne, fictitious wife of the great movie boxing hero Rocky Balboa. Big romantic underdog love story thing." Willow tried to explain. "Xander made me watch all of them, it's apparently an institution or something. Either way it just means you have a bump on your head so I will love you and take care of you." She leaned up and kissed Ruth lightly.

"I'd prefer you to be the Gabrielle to my Xena, that's a reference I do get. Or an Anthony to my Cleopatra, but then you'd have to undergo nasty things and I wouldn't want that." Ruth chuckled. "Morning." She added leaning in to kiss Willow again. "How's my Elmo this morning?"

"Mmmmm better, worried about my cookie monster." Willow reached up and curled a black lock of hair behind Ruth's ear. "She had a hard few days."

"Just hoping that the injuries aren't going to prevent copious amounts of cookie munching." Ruth tried a smile only to discover that it hurt her bruised head. "You want pain killers for that?" She added with a subtle look at the redhead.

"Lo even if the amulet did block you out, which it doesn't as we know, we have way too much naked skin touching one another to block out blinding pain." She smiled ever so gently so that it didn't pull on tight skin. "Again I ask, you need painkillers for that?"

"Maybe, but I'm enjoying the much naked skin touching way too much to want you to move right now." Willow answered softly.

"Me too." Ruth admitted easily, as she somewhat awkwardly stretched her bandaged arm down over Willow's side, easing her finger tips under the short green tank top Willow wore to stroke over her side.

"See pain even better now." Willow didn't feel her usual tickling response kick in so she was able to truly enjoy the motion of Ruth's hand. "Now do we need ice for your shiner my brave girl?" She kissed the dark haired witch very gently to punctuate her concern.

"Kisses work just as well." Ruth stretched her fingers full out over Willow's side and squeezed the flesh gently, "Don't you think." She added pressing back into the last kiss, drawing it out into something deeper and more sensual than the one before it had been.

"I agree completely." Willow found herself rather light headed with good feelings when Ruth finally pulled back a bit.

"Good." Ruth gave her nose the briefest of wrinkles. "I wonder what happens now." She whispered changing her squeezing action to begin a slow up and down glide over Willow's side.

"Buffy and Giles will look after Ethan, apparently Anya and Xander are out getting everyone fish and chips while Dawnie has a bath." Willow answered rather stupidly as her eyes dipped closed, her enjoyment of the small change in movements obvious as she reached her hand down to stroke over Ruth's back.

"I don't want to ask this but who is Ethan Rayne?" Ruth snuggled a little closer so that Willow didn't have to reach too far around her back and so that her own arm wasn't so stretched.

"He's a bad evil nasty man." Willow summed up. "He dabbles in all kinds of chaos magic and dark arts. Giles used to be friends with him along time ago when he was a teenager. They got into lots of trouble together. Now he seems on a constant vendetta to hurt Giles and try to destroy the world."

"Poor Rupert." Ruth frowned again but then let the frown melt away. "I love you." She whispered letting her eyes close again. "Please tell me we don't have to get up."

"I love you too Ru." Willow leaned the little ways to kiss dark hair again. "And we don't, I'm going to demand dinner in bed with you."

"I beg your pardon?" Anne Tanner stared at Buffy hard and then glanced at Mrs. Lauder who sat somewhat uncomfortably on the small hotel chair. "Would you kindly leave?" She pointed at the door.

"Actually no I won't, though I'm not trying to be mean by saying that." Buffy shook her head. "You need to understand this Miss. Tanner. Ruth is a witch, she has powers and she can do things that defy convention. She is not insane or mental, all the things you chalked up to delusions and fits over the years were true."

"I don't know who you think you are Miss. Summers, but I think I know my niece a little better than you. I have had to take her to the hospital several times to be stitched up when she has cut herself with that wretched pen knife, tell me do sane young women do that?" She bit back.

"One who is an empath and sane would. Someone who can feel everyone else's pain and misery in this crappy world, someone who can live that pain just by touching their hand or accidentally brushing against any patch of exposed skin." Buffy tried to explain. "How could anyone be expected to deal with the agony of the world knowing she can't put an end to her own let alone anyone else's?"

"Words like 'Empath' and 'Witch' belong in fairy tales Miss. Summers, along with monsters, demons and…" Miss. Tanner objected.

"And vampires." The Slayer pointed out instantly. "Miss. Tanner I've lived in what you consider a fantasy world since I was a teenager because unlike your daughter I wasn't born with my powers, I was given them by a prophecy that makes me the vampire slayer. You're niece is a witch, as is Willow and hey even Mrs.. Lauder here and I kill vampires for a living."

"Is she another of your patients?" Anne looked at Mrs. Lauder desperately trying to understand. "Please, tell me if she is, I will quite understand."

"She's actually most sane." Rose replied her voice its usual soft gentle assuring purr. "Like Ruthie and Willow I am a witch, well was a witch." She corrected. "And Miss. Summers here is the Slayer." She glanced at Buffy. "I understand how strange it must sound."

"Strange? Strange?" Anne squeaked. "You think this sounds strange? It sounds completely insane." She moved over and picked up the room phone. "I'm calling security."

"Miss. Tanner you can't do that." Buffy moved over and in a lightening quick move snatched the phone from her and put it back. "I knew I should have dragged a vamp up with me, everyone believes more when they see the poof." She looked at Mrs.. Lauder. "I could call Anya, Anyanka face would convince anyone."

"I'm not sure that's the right approach deary." Rose smiled at Buffy and then looked at Ruth's aunt. "Miss. Tanner…" She began softly. "Perhaps if I were to demonstrate the kinds of things we are talking about. I understand that it might be hard for you to think of words like magic and supernatural, but I assure you that both exist." The older woman glanced at the semi-packed suitcase on the furthest bed. "For example." Rose arched an eyebrow and the lid of the case flipped closed and zipped shut.

"Or maybe…" Rose repeated the action and let the case flip open again, before turning her attention to the vase of red carnations on the side. Closing her eyes slightly she concentrated and one of the blooms lifted somewhat shakily from the vase and floated over to Buffy. "Magic is not about appearing rabbits and sawing people in half Miss. Tanner. Just as being a slayer isn't all about killing vampires, there are certain skills and strengths that come with the prophecy." She looked at Buffy encouraging her to show the other woman something a little less dramatic than staking a vampire in front of her.

"Oh yeah definitely." Buffy looked around for a bit perplexed before she shrugged and moving to the corner picked up easily a large tall cast iron floor lamp. She took the shade off first and then in one motion bent the heavy center pole in on itself. "I'm sorta extra strong." She let Miss. Tanner have a good look before she bent it back out.

"You are both quite mad." Anne shook her head. "I'd like to know where my niece is now if you don't mind."

"She's at Giles." Buffy answered simply as she jumped up tucking into a ball as she skimmed just low enough to clear the ceiling but vaulted both beds. "And right now she's in a lot of danger, so whether you want to believe in all this or not we need you to believe enough to help Ruth."

"Say for one moment of insanity I did believe, you where did she get this power?" Miss. Tanner changed tactics slightly.

"Impossible." Anne denied quickly, her face steely. "There is nothing like this in my family."

"Maybe Ruth's mom or at least her side." Buffy shrugged. "Hey Willow just sorta spoofed into hers, if you met her family you'd know none of them were witchy at all."

"I can assure you there was nothing remotely magical or insane about Ruth's mother." Anne snapped. "And I hear from Ruth that Willow's parents are Jewish, so I would like to bet that they do not hold with the hocus pocus."

"None of that matters, what matters is that Ruth needs you to understand her and all the things she goes through." Buffy snapped back.

"I understand my daughter better than anyone ever has Miss. Summers!" Anne growled.

It only took Buffy a split second to make a choice and much to what she imagined was Mrs. Lauder's surprised she used the bed as a springboard and launched at Anne with a front kick purposely to a certain extent telegraphing the move.

Without a sound Anne raised both of her hands in front of her and with a soft sweeping motion drew one over the other, sending Buffy hurtling into the wall.

"I knew it." Buffy picked herself up unhurt and stared at the woman. "You lying bitch. You've left Ruth in mental institutions to rot while you knew all along exactly who and what she was, on top of letting her believe her mother had abandoned her."

"You… you don't understand." Anne backed up a little. "I thought maybe that with the right input, the correct treatment that Ruth could leave her past, her birthright behind, and I … I left her because, her father, my husband was a kind, simple man, he understands nothing about magic or the supernatural. I knew with him she would be sheltered from that which she could not possibly understand." Miss. Tanner defended.

"And when he died and she was left alone? What did you think she was being sheltered from then?" Buffy snarled at her. "You make me sick." She turned away.

"How dare you judge me?" Anne challenged. "You have no comprehension how hard it was for me to see what Ruth was, to watch her pain." She backed up a little looking off to the window. "Ruth's aunt, my sister, she was like Ruth, she heard things, saw things that no one else could or would ever want to. It drove her mad, she took her own life at just fifteen." She explained. "I wanted to save Ruth from that, I… I thought that at the manor they would help her, perhaps take away her powers, or maybe lessen them somehow, through drugs or conditioning maybe. All I knew was that I didn't want my little baby to take her own life."

"So all the times you took her to the hospital to get stitched up you didn't once thing mmmmm maybe my plan to shelter her isn't working?" Buffy shook her head. "You know what, this means nothing right now. Since you obviously know exactly about all the hocus pocus I'm telling you about here is the deal. A very evil dealer in the black arts wants to use your 'Daughter' and my best friend as some sorta witchy super weapon to take over the world. Between the two of them they can create something called a Symbiosis and evil man wants that power for his own. He already kidnapped Ruth and Willow had to tear half the London docks apart to get her back late last night." She saw the woman's face fall. "I see you saw the news reports. Trust me that wasn't a 'big wind' like they reported."

"What do you intend to do about this?" Anne stammered looking between Buffy and Rose who had gone surprisingly quiet.

"I intend to take them both back to California so that I can keep them safe but the same butchers that you brought her to in the first place to condition her…" She seethed out the words. "Want to keep her here in England isolated so that they can experiment on her."

"How do you know we haven't spent the last three years doing that to her?" Rose slipped in her voice acidic, causing Miss. Tanner to throw her a horrified glance.

"The answer Miss. Tanner is that you don't." Mrs. Lauder pushed up to stand. "Miss. Summers, there is no reason for us to stay here any longer." She shook her head looking at Buffy.

"Wait! I… I want to help." Miss. Tanner squeaked looking somewhat desperately at the Slayer.

"Dr… mmmmm I wonder where he bought that from." She grumbled. "Well then you want to help him and prove to us that you're actually trying to do what is good for Ruth then you phone him. You tell him that you're on to his little hospital for the 'gifted' thing and that if he doesn't arrange for Ruth to leave with us then you're going to go to the papers and blow open just how un-hospital his hospital was."

"No." Mrs. Lauder shook her head, her old eyes hard. "We want you to promise him that his life will turn into his blackest nightmare unless he helps us." She stated again. "Miss. Tanner…" She straightened up a little. "Miss. Summers here is a young somewhat innocent young woman, she still has much to learn about the world and much to offer it. I on the other hand am not. I am old and I have very little to loose at this point in my life." She looked up meeting the middle-aged woman's eyes. "I speak to you now, not only as a woman, but as a witch and a mother." She paused again. "You are a mockery of all three." With that the older woman stalked out.

"Make the call." Buffy underlined and walked out slamming the door so that it rattled on its hinges. At the end of the corridor Mrs. Lauder stood waiting for Buffy.

"I'm sorry." She apologized to the Slayer, her voice back to its usual soft gentle tone.

"Don't be, you had every right to say what you said." Buffy smiled at her. "You sounded a lot like my mom." She added gently.

Giles put the receiver of the phone down slowly and stared at it in surprise before he let out a soft laugh. After all these years he should have learned by now to not underestimate Buffy's ability to get something to turn around to her way when she set her mind to it. His second surprise came when a knock sounded at the door and instead of being the Slayer it was Mrs. Lauder.

"May I come in Rupert?" She asked him before she breeched into his private territory.

"Oh course." He stood up politely until she had entered and moved to sit down in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk. He then moved around to sit sideways to her.

"I'm guessing that was Dr. Travers?" She filled in and wasn't surprised to see him nod. "I managed to convince Buffy to stay in the kitchen so that we could speak for a moment before she grills you."

"Very kind of you, after a call like that I do need a moment to comprehend things." He leaned back a bit. "Seems whatever my dear Slayer said to Ruth's Aunt she was motivated to make life difficult for the Council."

"I believe she felt more motivated to finally do something proactive for Ruth." The older woman tried to keep her own feelings out of things for a moment. "Did he agree to let Ruthie leave England?"

"After much attempt to see if I could persuade Anne otherwise he has given in and agreed not to block Ruth joining us." Giles breathed a slight sigh of relief. "But many of the things he said leaves me feeling troubled." For some reason like everyone else Giles felt himself drawn to the older woman's peaceful demeanor and wise appearance.

"Mr. Giles, Rupert…" Rose reached out and patted his hand. "I wish you could have been there as I was to see their hearts growing together. It was so gentle and soft like a blooming flower if I can risk not sounding too sentimental. There was no harsh rush of fierceness that seems to be the hallmark of these times and indeed their lives. Simple things and simple pleasures. I mean I doubt anyone of their age would get as much joy as the two of them did from life's daily chores, it is if they are meant to be this way. Gone past the awkwardness of dating, gone through the turmoil of any love's first years and have settled into the journey."

"Rose, after seeing how Willow reacted to Tara's murder its hard to believe she would ever open her heart again to anyone." The Watcher voiced his true reservation. "And so soon after."

"A thousand years would be too soon Rupert I think, if it were not for the fact that Ruth knows two things above anything. She loves Willow and she has no desire to be where Tara is in Willow's heart." Rose patted his hand again. "She respects Tara and speaks with her often. I think perhaps your angelic witch has had more to do with them loving each other than we will ever know."

"Then a stuffy old watcher who is too bruised over the loss of his own love shouldn't be one to object." Giles smiled at her softly.

"Will…oh sorry, Ruth." Buffy stopped in the doorway when she saw that the dark haired witch was alone in the double bed.

"Bathroom." Ruth explained with a smile, pushing herself more upright in the bed and lifting her bandaged arms over the comforter. "Did you want her for something? She'll only be a moment I'm sure, she got ketchup on her tank top." The witch explained with a soft laugh.

"Oh no, not really." Ruth shook her head momentarily wishing her dark hair were longer so that it would cover her face more. "Are you okay, I feel…" She briefly closed her eyes. "Agitation." She pinpointed the emotion after at moment.

"I don't think you should be doing that, Will would whip my hide if she caught you." The Slayer eased herself onto the edge of the bed. "I have something to say though to the both of you." She added just as the door eased open and Willow walked painfully into the room.

"That sounds ominous." Willow looked up from where she was dabbing at her tank and then curled up next to Ruth on the bed in a cross-legged position.

"It is." Buffy shifted a little. "It's about what happens now." She pointed out. "And I do kinda mean, now." She glanced up at the clock on the wall by the bed.

"Don't worry I know that look, it's not a bad thing it just means that Buffy has a plan." Willow reassured Ruth as she put an arm around the dark haired witch. "Are we taking evasive maneuvers to Xander's basement?" She tired to be somewhat funny.

"Pretty much." Buffy gave an uneven smile. "Right country." She added shrugging.

"Not unless you don't want too." Willow looked at her when she heard the noise. "I mean if you don't want to then we'll stay right here."

"You, you knew about this?" Ruth frowned more. "How could you? I mean I didn't pick it up." She added more and more confused.

"It's not, and Ru I didn't know. I mean know as in anyone told me." Willow shook her head. "I just guessed. Every time something bad starts and we sorta win… like in the whole getting you back." She squeezed Ruth lightly. "But there is still the big bad roaming around we always retreat and regroup in well Xander's basement. I mean we're a long way from Sunnydale but it is the place where Buffy feels most in control. She knows what to beat up for information, where the best hiding spots are and if anyone like Ethan comes around she'll know his moves right away. She wants to keep us safe so going to Xander's basement is the first choice."

"Well the motel to start with, until the Council put together a place for us all, well you two." She continued. "Giles, Mrs. Lauder and you two will have somewhere permanent soon they assure us." She glanced at the two witches. "The rest was pretty much accurate though." She smiled specifically at Willow.

"But still Ru if you don't want to go to California then we won't go. I won't make you leave England." Willow looked at her girlfriend.

"Actually Will…" Buffy began but was cut off by the look she received from the redhead.

"Buffy can you give us a few minutes?" Willow looked at the Slayer cutting her off before she could give them any ultimatum.

"I…" Buffy stopped. "Er yeah, sure." She pushed off the bed and moved back out into the hallway.

Willow waited until the door had come softly shut before she turned fully to Ruth.

"Ru, I need to know if you want to go to Sunnydale or not? I know it's a huge decision and it's all sudden and out of the blue and I don't want to pressure you." The redhead began softly. "But I need to know so that I can tell Buffy and if you say yes then great and if you say no great too. I won't let her make us do anything that you don't want to even if it is to keep us safe."

"Lo, it's not me I am thinking of." The dark haired witch admitted easily, she lowered her eyes a little before raising them again looking directly at Willow. "It's you." She pointed out.

"It's going to be scary." Willow replied in a smaller voice as she held navy eyes. "I haven't been back since…" She didn't finish both because she knew she didn't have to and because she knew that she couldn't manage too and still keep in control right now. "But it is the safest place we can be, a place where I can keep you safe and never have anyone do what they did to you last night again. I need that more than I need to not be scared, you know?"

"But…" Ruth frowned. "Before the fire, which was only just a few short days ago, you admitted to us, well to everyone that you weren't ready to go back there yet, that hasn't changed Lo, I can feel that it hasn't." She paused trying to figure the best thing out in her troubled and desperately aching head. "I'll go, I just wish there were somewhere else we could be safe." She sighed.

"I know, so do I but there is one big thing that has changed Ru." Willow leaned closer resting her head on the dark haired witch's shoulder. "I love you."

"You do." She nodded and tipped her head resting it on Willow's. "Tara wants you to know, it's just a place, a place where you and she were happy, it needn't be a place of pain or fear." She added softly. "She say's you're stronger than the darkness there and braver than the fears. You're her brave Amazon." The dark witch relayed with a soft smile. "She thinks we should go, it's what she would have done."

"She wouldn't want us to go if she thought it would be a bad thing." Willow whispered softly as she wound her arms around Ruth's body carefully. "Do you want to be a brave Amazon with me?"

"She says I'm a scout." Ruth heard her voice chuckle softly. "With a feather tucked behind my ear." She curled a black curl around her ear almost subconsciously. "And that I couldn't have a better teacher than you." She dropped a heavily bandaged arm lightly around Willow's shoulders. "Where ever you go, I go." She added seriously. "I hope Sunnydale is ready for us." She smiled again somewhat stronger. "And I hope they bring in more Oreos, they're going to need them."

Buffy was relieved when her vigil staring at the plastic molded ceiling above her was rewarded when the seatbelt sign finally went off. She immediately slipped the restrictive strap off and got up stretching her already bored legs. Their first class seats were comfortable enough, but she was the Slayer and she didn't like sitting down for long periods of time.

Despite the luxury, all of the Council's dollars couldn't keep them from the hard turbulence they had experienced for the last two hours; it had been about enough to drive her crazy on top of feeling stomach sick. She glanced around at her traveling companions smiling as she saw Dawn sound asleep in her seat, a blanket carefully tucked around her under the seat belt, at least that was one person she didn't have to worry about.

Xander wasn't fairing so well, being travel sick at the best of times, the rough start to their flight has just about turned him off traveling all together. At one stage Buffy was worried that Anya was going to just teleport him out to ease his suffering but was thankfully talked around and opted for being his seating partner, though Buffy had an inclining that she was regretting the offer as she fumbled for yet another air sickness bag. Despite the situation Buffy couldn't help but smile, it was good to see the demon and one of her best friends behaving, well, as they always used to behave towards one another.

Looking beyond them Buffy's smile grew when she saw Giles and Mrs. Lauder deep in animated conversation. It was Mrs. Lauders first time in first class, and Giles was obviously giving her tips on how to get the most out of the experience. Buffy couldn't help but wonder for a moment how it was that putting them all together on what was basically a tin can flying though the air made them all feel safer, but it obviously did. She moved into the aisle, turning to look forward to where Ruth and Willow were sat. Slowly she walked up the side path, coming to rest beside them.

"Hey you." She said perching on the arm of the chair opposite and smiling at Willow, the only one of the pair of them who seemed to be conscious.

"Hey, are you sure you should be out of your chair? The recommendation is to stay seated with your seatbelt done up even when the little light is off." Willow's voice was a bit squeaky but she was doing her best after the rather rough patch of turbulence to not panic. "And…" She caught herself before she went into a detailed schematic on the plane and its wind shear velocity rating. "Did you look at the duty free?" She tried something more neutral.

"I needed to stretch my legs." Buffy admitted shaking her head to Willow's other question. "I didn't think looking at the catalogue while bouncing around the roller coaster we just went through was the best idea. How are you doing?"

"On a Scooby scale, better than Xander and not as good as Dawn and Ru." The redhead glanced back with a slight smile to the dark haired witch who was leaning over the dividing portion between their seats slightly so that her arms cradled around Willow's as she slept.

"I can ask Mrs. Lauder to slip you the same pill she slipped Ruth." Buffy offered softly momentarily forgetting that they hadn't actually told the redhead that part of the plan.

"You drugged Ru!" Willow bolted upright in her chair, the move warranting a groan from Ruth who simply turned and snuggled into her oversized seat. "Shame on you two." She scowled at her best friend. "She doesn't like pills."

"Easy Will." Buffy frowned softly. "We thought it was best you know, you're not strong enough to cope with having to dampen everything all the time, and Mrs. Lauder didn't feel up to the job so we thought all things considered it was the best option." The Slayer defended their decision. "Rose told her it was a travel pill, she didn't exactly lie."

"But… But… we land in New York in four hours and forty five minutes then we have to go through customs and then we have to get the connection flight." Willow fretted as she glanced at her Elmo watch she'd gotten from Ru for Christmas. "How are we going to explain why she's comatose?"

"We'll deal with that where and when Willow, hey come on, I did you a favor." Buffy pointed out.

"By drugging my girlfriend?" Willow raised an eyebrow not so much scolding her as asking the legitimate question. After all when you laid out the facts, drugging Ru did still seem a little crazy despite the benefits. "How long are they supposed to work for?"

"Mrs. Lauder wasn't one hundred percent sure on that one." Buffy admitted looking a little uneasy. "She seemed to think it depended on drug tolerance levels. But I meant more that I talked them out of giving you one too." She gave the redhead a bright smile.

"I'm glad you did. Even with your Slayer strength you can't carry both of us and the luggage through customs." Willow frowned slightly as thinking about customs made her remember exactly where they were going. "Okay… no reason to panic. Still almost five hours for her to wake up enough to declare nothing to customs. We're fine… everything is perfect." She felt her chest start to tighten and she reached up to the loose collar of her shirt pulling at it.

"Willow calm down, you've got that edge." Buffy frowned more seeing how erratic green eyes were flipping around.

"I'm fine, I have no edge… I have lemonade. The nice attendant brought it too me." Willow held up the half full glass. "I'm fine. I'm perfect… I'm going back to the Hellmouth. How could I possibly be edgy?" Without knowing it her eyes widened a bit as she stared forward her body shaking a bit as she tried to appear that she was concentrating on the movie screen though there was no sound without her earphones on.

"A thousand reasons Will." Buffy stood up again and tried to catch Giles' eye, more than happy when the Watcher glanced up. "P I L L." She mouthed to him trying to clearly form each letter. "You need the earphones Will." She glanced quickly down to help her friend, all the time flicking her eyes up to see if Giles had understood or acted.

"Earphones?" Willow turned to her looking paler by the moment. "Oh right." She picked them up stupidly. "Guess it's not the time to practice my lip reading." She laughed rather awkwardly.

"Perhaps some brew would help." Giles rushed up with a cup of steaming liquid he had hastily poured out of the thermos they had brought, before making his way down the aisle he'd let Mrs. Lauder crush up one of her travel pills and let it dissolve into the hot liquid hoping for a quicker response.

"Brew, I never though I'd say this but yes." Willow grabbed it from him and chugged it down. "Nice calming…" She screwed up her face. "Gross, gross tasting brew." She winced. "Did you put too much nettle in? It's really bitter."

"Mrs. Lauder says I need a little more practice at getting the right balance." Giles said somewhat lamely, glancing at Buffy who raised her eyes to the ceiling slightly.

"You do." Willow grimaced and took a sip of lemonade. "Though not that it ever tastes that good." She looked at him. "Oh and shame on you too for drugging my girlfriend." She blinked at him.

"Drugging Ruth?" Giles tried to act innocent, but was silence by Buffy elbowing his ribs lightly. "Er yes, we... that is… It was Buffy's idea." The Slayer frowned and elbowed him harder making him yelp. "That is Mrs. Lauder came up with the suggestion after Buffy voiced her concern."

"I just wished you'd have discussed it with me. I mean then I would have been prepared, we could have worked on dosage and determined how long…" Willow was surprised when she felt herself yawn. "Sorry." She covered her mouth embarrassed. "Anyway we could have worked on how much to give her and all that. Pharmacology is an exact science."

"Mrs. Lauder has a sound grip on all the important elements of it." Giles reached out and patted Willow's arm lightly.

"You're looking a little tired there Willow." Buffy interjected. "Maybe snuggling down with your sweetie might be a good idea, just for a little while, I'll wake you up if we get any good snacks." She offered the incentive hoping that they would be able to keep the redhead's mind off her previous panic.

"We can't snuggle." Willow turned and pointed to the large dividing section between their chairs. "One downside of first class."

"I could pull it off." Buffy said after looking at the thick padded arm with a frown.

"Perhaps we could find a solution without having you arrested for air rage." He shook his head. "I'm sure you could fit into the seat with Ruth, I mean if there is more turbulence you'll have to go back to your own but Buffy can move you if you're still… asleep." He coughed lightly.

"Isn't that against the rules?" Willow glanced down the aisle to where the attendant's station was, not seeing anyone.

"This is first class, they let you get away with many things." Giles tried to assure her and motioned for Buffy to intervene.

"Look let's make this easy." Buffy pushed off the seat she was perched in and let it fully recline into the bed position. One thing she had to say about the Council, when they organized something, they did it well, and having the whole first class area was mighty impressive, even if she hated to admit it. She then quickly picked up two pillows and squished them into their space and motioned for Willow to undo her seatbelt and come lie down. "Why don't you get all snuggled and then I'll bring your girlfriend over?"

"My girlfriend…" Willow pushed up and held onto the seat in front of her when she felt the world shift a bit. "Who you drugged." She laughed as she put her hand to her head. "Did they say more turbulence? The whole plane is wobbling again."

"Best get you settled then." Buffy frowned hard at Giles who was stood doing nothing.

He instantly lurched forward and helped steady Willow and eased her into the reclined seat. The slim redhead indeed looked lost in the oversized space.

Turning quickly Buffy flicked Ruth's seatbelt off and gathered her as carefully as she could into her arms, taking care to tuck Ruth's injured arms in as she pushed out of the seat. She glanced at Giles as she placed the dark haired witch along side Willow.

"We need to work on building these two up." She pointed out as she pulled back from her placement and letting Willow get the two of them settled into the big seat.

"Indeed." Giles gathered up the fallen blanket and draped it over the two thin witches who had curled together. "Something Mrs. Lauder and I have been discussing actually." He led her back a few feet down the aisle so that they could monitor for a few minutes to see if the two of them drifted off completely.

"We're doing the right thing aren't we Giles?" Buffy looked at him, honestly asking for assurance.

"We are Buffy." He nodded firmly. "They have both learned a lot during their stay at the Manor, but there are many things that Willow needs to face and she can't do that in England. As for Ruth, Rose seems convinced this change of scenery might be just what she needs to finally trust in herself more. Especially now that she has Willow, with our help perhaps she can learn how to live life outside of seclusion."

"But…" Buffy sighed. "Giles, can we sit down?" She glanced at the closest free seat.

The Watcher observed her body language for a moment and then without question slid down into the seat near the window watching as she took the one at the aisle.

"Did Mrs. Lauder… Rose…" She corrected herself. "Did she tell you what happened when we went to see Miss. Tanner?" She asked delicately.

"Not exactly." He shook his head. "She just commented on how convincing you can be in a tense situation."

Buffy smiled tightly and glanced back down the aisle to check that Willow and Ruth both appeared asleep and weren't likely to be listening.

"We found out… that is…" Buffy frowned hard and sighed. "She knows." She said the cryptic two words wondering if Giles would catch on at all.

"Anne Tanner." Buffy replied feeling herself snarling the woman's name. "She knows that Ruth's not crazy."

"Oh." Giles' eyes went wider. "I mean of course, if you had no other choice but to reveal to her the nature of Ruth's condition…" He found himself cut off.

"I didn't need to tell her, she knew already." Buffy heard her voice harden and her eyes narrow. She took a breath and tempered herself a little before looking up and Giles and with a paced breath tried again. "She knows all about Ruth's powers, about her abilities, she knows that she's a witch and that she needs help. It's just that she decided that the help she needed was to have the 'nonsense' pushed out of her." She arched her eyebrow, feeling the hot anger she had felt in the hotel resurface.

"Not that I can defend her actions Buffy, but you yourself know from the unfortunate MOO incident that sometimes people are frightened by what they consider outside the natural realm and they try to deal with that fear through sometimes unconventional methods. I'm sure Ruth's Aunt thought she was doing the best she could under the circumstances. I mean how much could anyone be asked to understand something such as witchcraft if they have no real knowledge of it." Giles offered solemnly.

"Oh she has knowledge." Buffy shook her head, her tension raising a notch. "Lots and lots of the first hand variety."

"Buffy are you trying so un-clearly to tell me that Ruth's Aunt is a witch herself?" Giles' eyebrow went up as he asked the question.

"I would be." Buffy replied. "If I were talking about Ruth's Aunt." She shook her head, again trying to defuse her rage. "But I'm not, I'm talking about Anne Tanner, the woman who watched her younger sister kill herself because her empathic powers drove her insane, Anne Tanner who married Ewen Mann, and had a beautiful daughter they called Elizabeth."

"I…" Giles pulled off his glasses trying to think of something to say as the information that Buffy was giving him cleared in his mind. "I have no concept of what to say." He looked at the Slayer. "Did she give you any explanation for not telling Ruth?"

"Giles I barely got out of there without hitting her, I didn't wait around for long lame explanations as to why she abandoned her daughter, and then had her locked up for the best part of her adult life." Buffy snapped.

"I don't think we should tell Ruth, at least not yet." Giles sunk back in his chair trying to focus his thoughts. "Her recovery at the moment is far too fragile."

"I think this is knowledge that would only complicate things for Willow, so yes agreed." He nodded. "I'm taking it Rose is privy to this information as well?"

"Yeah, she knows. She was well cool." She relayed to the Watcher, she couldn't help but smile as she remembered the older woman's reaction.

"Good heavens, for you to give her your 'cool' rating I do not want to even know what went on at that hotel." Giles rolled his eyes. "Perhaps it would be best if we worry about this revelation after we are able to get the two of them settled and after we have dealt with the ramifications of their symbiosis powers." He laid out the acceptable plan.

"I think the first thing we need to worry about is how we're going to get them from this flight to the next one without the INS thinking we're smuggling Ruth into the country." Buffy grinned at him knowing that their smooth getaway from England was only just beginning.

It was the loud clatter of a truck bounding its way down the interstate nearby, its load of scrap metal creating an enormous clatter that roused Willow unceremoniously from her sleep.

She bolted upright clutching the sheet up on her body as if the thin off white cotton could provide any real protection. As she looked around in the dim morning light a few things were obvious. She was still fully dressed, which made her try to remember even more where she was and how she had arrived here. Her brain was filled with odd garbled memories of people in uniform, leaning a lot on Giles or Dawn and someone whispering to her over and over not to mention magic again.

None of that really gave her any hint as to where exactly the brown door at one side of the ordinary plain room. Swallowing hard she tried to calm her own breathing that was hissing around inside her ears.

"Ru?" The one comforting sight was beside her as her gaze came to rest on the curled up figure of the dark haired witch beside her on the bed.

"Morning Will." It was Xander's voice that answered her query coming from a lumpy brown chair in the corner. It was only when a dark dirty looking blanket was tossed to the floor that the carpenter's tousled dark hair was visible.

"Xander, where are we?" The redhead blinked at him trying to get her bearings. "Why do I feel like I was hit by a truck?" She put a hand up to her head.

"If it makes you feel better, the truck got me too." He smiled. "I'm blaming mine on the bad flight." He continued. "First class may be extra comfy, but when you're retching for a few thousand miles who cares what your ass feels like?"

"First class… the plane." Willow felt something click and a few of the nonsense sequences in her mind fell into a relatively coherent order. "I don't understand, I don't remember landing really." She rubbed at her sleepy eyes.

"You were sound asleep Will." Xander pushed up to stand. "Buffy had to grab a wheelchair for you and your sleep partner." He smiled briefly. "For a while there at customs I got worried, but for once I actually think me being green and threatening to vomit on the guys paper work helped."

"Where is everyone?" Willow reluctantly laid back down as her head began to pound such that she could feel the blood rushing behind her ears.

"Buffy, Giles, Mrs. Lauder and Dawn went to the Summers house." He explained quickly. "Anya went home." He added. "Buffy's heading back over here as soon as she's sure everyone has everything they need at her house."

"How long have we been asleep?" Willow questioned forcing her eyes opened as a hazy conversation about sedatives crossed through her mind and made her begin worrying. "Has Ru been up at all?"

"Well, there was half of the London flight, then the connecting one, oh and the bitch of a wait we had in New York and it's what…" He glanced at his watch. "Ten now, so in total I think you've clocked about twenty hours Will, good on ya." He didn't seem to answer the last part of the question.

"No, no bad." Willow pushed herself up again and peeled back the blankets over the other witch. "Ru, Ruth… You need to wake up baby." She urged her voice louder than it had been as she tried to rouse the sleeping witch.

"Willow let the poor girl wake up naturally." Xander frowned a little as he crossed towards the door. "You want breakfast?"

"No sedative should make us sleep for that long Xander. Get me a cold cloth." Willow snapped at him as she rolled Ruth over onto her back. "Ru, Ru please wake up now. I need you to wake up." Her voice was firmer.

"Sedative?" He stopped in the doorway frowning. "They drugged you?" He looked slightly horrified.

"You could slap her." Anya shimmered into existence by the bed as Xander slipped out to get the cloth Willow had asked for.

"It was only a suggestion." Anya huffed loudly and took a slight step back. "Though why should I be surprised, you don't want to know what I think? No body wants to listen to the demon these days, I mean if they had asked my opinion before drugging you both I would have told them what a dumb idea it was. I mean to give sedatives to a powerful witch is one thing," She glanced at Willow. "But I'm thinking only headaches and a general feeling of disorientation for you, but to sedate an empath and a sensitive, now that's something you don't want to do. Forces them right into their fantasy realm, and that's not a good idea if you know you have…" She paused glancing at Ruth. "Control issues." She added succinctly.

"Ruth does not have control issues." Willow argued half-heartedly as looked back at the unmoving witch.

"You should check to see if she's breathing." Anya pointed out as Xander came back into the room.

"Anya of course she's breathing." He moved over and handed the cold cloth to Willow. "She is breathing right Wills?" He added under his breath with a worried expression.

For a moment it was Willow who couldn't breath as she leaned over the dark haired witch and tipped her ear down so that she could have it close to Ruth's mouth and nose.

"She's breathing." She spoke the words out loud to confirm the fact to the others and to herself. Placing the cold cloth over Ruth's head she noticed no reaction at all from her and knowing she needed to do something quickly she began peeling back the bedclothes further. "Ruth, you're going to wake up now." She dug Ruth's hand out from under the pillows and fumbled to get the other so that she held both of them in her own hands.

"Willow holding her hand isn't going to do it." Xander pointed out rather unhelpfully. "Oh, oh you can be Prince Charming and kiss her. Well Princess Charming, though if you need a prince maybe I should kiss her. Or maybe I'm just not thinking with my head…" He offered without thinking.

"This isn't a fairy story Xander." Anya snapped. "And they all got that wrong anyway, well not wrong but they so focused on the wrong lips." The demon shook her head. "I could get a glass of water, you could throw that on her, I'll get two, Xander looks like he needs to cool off." She made a move to the bathroom door.

"Ru, I really need you to wake up now." Willow fought hard against the waves of pain and nausea in her own body as she pulled Ruth's hands to her body and leaned down. "I need you to wake up now, I need you." Adapting Xander's suggestion Willow did press her lips to the other witch's, but only to complete the conduit that she was creating by clasping her hands. She hoped to draw Ruth's mind out of the dreamland the medication had produced by rather harshly attaching her again to Willow's pain and the real world.

"Ru… I'm here… oh thank the Goddess you're awake." Willow kissed her again quickly as she looked into dark navy eyes. "I was so worried."

"I…" Ruth blinked blindly for a few seconds. "I know that." She gave a soft smile. "Like I know your head hurts." She winced at the reflected pain. "As does mine, ow." She added a little weaker.

"Someone tried to help us with the flight by sedating us." Willow frowned as she snuggled closer to the dark haired witch.

"I could get you two some water or juice?" Xander tried to be helpful without disturbing questioning what he had just seen.

"Sedating us?" Ruth frowned. "Someone sedated my Lo?" She eased one hand free and ran it over Willow's hair. "Bad them." She smiled. "I'm guessing my travel pill wasn't so much a travel pill as a knock out drop." The witch pieced together the facts. "You're beautiful." She added almost oddly. "That was to silence that little voice in your head that was saying how terrible you must look."

"That's it I'm leaving you two just broke my barrier of hopelessly romantic." Anya announced coming back into the main room. "I only came over to tell you that I'm going to be out of town for a day or two, I have a job that may take me a while." She instantly disappeared.

"Not as beautiful as you." Willow ignored the distraction as she looked at Ruth. "Very well rested, in a knock out drop sorta way." She gave a sideways smile.

Having not received any response to her departure, in a flash the demon reappeared.

"You could at least pretend to have noticed my exit." She pointed out vanishing again. Ruth chuckled softly glancing at the flash of Anya.

"Was she that egotistical when she was human?" She asked leaning forward to guide Willow back down to lean against her.

"Yes." Willow leaned down finally closing her eyes to the pounding in her head that seemed to fill all the space between her ears. "I hope you're job is quick Anya and you don't have to hurt anyone. We'll miss you." She added to the air knowing the demon would hear her.

"I have two orders of wa…" Xander stopped in the doorway held the glasses out almost limply. "Wow." He whispered staring.

"Can you put it on the side Xander?" Willow didn't look at him to see his gaping reaction.

"Er Lo…" Ruth said softly. "I don't think that directions for what to do with the water was exactly what Xander was wowing about." She nudged her girlfriend lightly to at least open her eyes and look at her friend.

"Wowing?" Willow opened her eyes to see shocked Xander face. "Oh… um…" She realized how she was lying draped over the dark haired witch. "Ruth this is my oldest friend in the world Xander, Xander this is my girlfriend Ruth." She gave him a soft smile.

"Girlfriend?" Xander stopped and sat down on the side of the bed, "Was I drugged too?" He checked.

"Not that I know of." She shook her head. "We didn't get a chance to tell you with the whole kidnapping thing."

"Wow… that is… Will, wow." Xander couldn't help but smile broadly. "You look, great together." He smirked. "And not in a bad thought way." He added hastily.

"Remember Ruth can tell what you're feeling." Willow laughed lightly as she settled down again and closed her eyes. "And she'll tell me if you have any more ice cream truck dreams." She warned him.

"Did you have to mention the ice cream truck?" Xander groaned but couldn't lose his smile. "Celebratory hugs can wait till everyone is feeling better." He curbed his enthusiasm a little as he watched Willow nestle down thinking how small and fragile both girls looked. He gently pushed off the bed and moved the heavy ugly brown chair so that its back was turned to the bed.

"You two don't need me staring at you." Xander offered with a soft shrug. "And hey happy Willow makes me want to look… lots." He smiled at the dark haired witch. "Do you want anything other than water?"

"I would love to smell a coke, I'm not allowed to drink it, way too much caffeine." She chuckled.

"I could get you a caffeine free one? Then you could smell and drink it." Xander hopped over ready it seemed to do anything asked.

"That's Xander's way of showing he really likes you." Willow whispered when she heard the door close.

"I got it." Ruth nodded softly dropping a kiss onto Willow's head. "Are you okay?" She added tenderly.

"Now that you're awake I'm fine… Anya was going on about how…" She stopped herself. "Doesn't matter now you're awake and no one is ever giving us any pills ever again."

"I'm sorry I scared you." Ruth apologized softly, "Not the best way to arrive in Sunnydale huh." She kissed Willow's head again.

"There is no best way to arrive in Sunnydale." Willow admitted sadly. "How are you feeling being away from England?"

"Mmmmm charmer." Willow couldn't help but smile as she held Ruth's hand tighter.

"Mrs. Lauder really you don't have to make breakfast." Buffy stood by the kitchen door watching as the older woman bustled around finding out where all the pots and pans and utensils were kept.

"I promised young Dawnie waffles." Mrs. Lauder shook her head. "And please, it's Rose." She found a frying pan she was happy with and picked it out of the cupboard and carried it to the stove.

"Yes Rose, but really you must have jet lag and Dawn can suffer through cereal." Buffy objected again. "I know you were anxious to get back to Ruth and Willow."

"I am anxious, but I trust Ruthie with Willow." Rose smiled softly. "How do you feel about the two of them being together?" She glanced sideways at the Slayer.

"Xander's there too if they need anything." Buffy put in at first knowing that it wasn't the focus of the older woman's question. "I worry." She sat down at the breakfast bar watching Rose adding ingredients to a large bowl. "Not that they don't love each other but just… You weren't here when Will lost Tara. I mean I know you heard but it loses a lot of the scariness of living it in the telling."

"Tara will always have a large part of young Willow's heart, Ruth does not want to take that from her, you understand that don't you?" The older woman asked carefully.

"I do and I know no one could ever replace Tara. I hate to admit it but I'm more worried on the whole if Willow was to lose Ruth front. She doesn't do well with loss and I don't want to have to face down my best friend again." Buffy traced the pattern on the tabletop with her finger.

"None of us can predict the future deary." Rose tried to smile. "Unfortunately fate gives and fate takes away." She slowly stirred the bowl. "Ruthie won't break her heart Buffy, not before breaking her own. And Willow has changed a lot." She turned briefly back to the stove. "I can understand your fear but I think that their relationship could help rather than hinder the future."

"Relationship?" The cold flat question came from the doorway as Dawn walked up to fill it. "What are you two talking about?" She glanced between Buffy and Rose.

"Hey grumpy." Buffy turned smiling at her. "Rose is making you pancakes, isn't that great?"

"I don't want pancakes." Dawn's face grew sterner. "Pancakes make me sick." She snarled staring at Buffy. "What were you talking about?" She demanded harsher this time.

"Since when do pancakes make you sick?" Buffy questioned back in a hard tone to match the one her sister was using. "And we were just talking about how Willow will be okay now that she's back in Sunnydale."

"Pancakes make me sick since the only person in the world that could make them taste right got shot, upstairs, in this house." Dawn snapped the facts. "Tell me what you meant by relationship."

"Dawn…" The Slayer felt her response softening when she heard the teenager's reference. "We were just taking about Ruth and Willow." She didn't manage to explain anything though with the short sentence.

"Well derr, I guessed that but what did you mean?" Dawn's angry eyes narrowed. "What don't I know?" Again she looked between the two women.

"Ruth's important to Willow." Buffy pointed out lamely. "Thus the whole ripping up half of London thing."

"I know that." Dawn shook her head. "She loves her." She added a clarification quickly. "Like she loves you and Xander and me." She backed up a little.

"Yeah, of course she loves us all Dawn." Buffy glanced at Rose before looking back at her sister. "But you know Willow and Ruth are close, they've been going through a lot of big heavy magic stuff together."

"Not exactly." The Slayer answered honestly. After all to her appraisal when you did what Willow had done to Ethan's cronies in order to protect Ruth was way past dating.

Rose watched silently at all the easily readable pain that was coming from the teenager.

"I mean I don't think they'll be focusing on going to movies and pizza." Buffy tried to explain. "You sure you don't want waffles?" She managed to get the name right on her second attempt.

"I don't want waffles! I don't want to be here! I don't want any of this! I want Tara back!" Turning on her heel the teenager ran from the room.

"Dawn!" Buffy called after her standing up but not immediately following. "Sorry, I should go…" She apologized to Rose as she motioned to the door.

"No, no dear." Rose put down what she was doing and moved across the kitchen. "Why don't you watch the waffles?" She encouraged. "Let me see what I can do with Dawn."

"Are you sure?" Buffy went to object but saw that the older woman was already moving down the hall. "Thanks." She called moving to the fridge to get a glass of juice.

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