Friendship

Note: Text enclosed in < > represents thoughts or feelings. 

"Are you ok?" Angel broke the silence first. 

"Yes, thank-you. Again." Willow plunged on, "Angel, don't you think there's something you should tell me? Like maybe, why attractive, well-dressed vampires are following me?" <Including you?> 

Angel sighed. "I was hoping last night was a coincidence. That what I suspected was wrong." 

"Please stop being so cryptic and just explain," Willow pleaded. 

A siren wailed in the distance, getting closer. Angel scooped up Willow's bag, which dropped to the pavement during the scuffle. He settled the strap over his shoulder. 

"Come on, let's walk," Angel took Willow's elbow and steered her out of the park. "Where were you heading?" 

"The library," Willow did her best to look inconspicuous. A police car pulled to a halt near the edge of the park. Two police officers jumped out and rushed past Angel and Willow. 

"Giles asked me to drop off a book that he needs," she elaborated. 

Angel nodded absently, composing his thoughts. Willow waited patiently and finally he spoke, "Through the ages, some prominent vampires founded their own bloodlines. These bloodlines tended to inherent certain traits, a heritage, from their founder." 

Willow nodded. <That makes sense.> 

"One of these bloodlines, the Laval, adapted well to living above ground," Angel continued. "They are noted for their ability to blend in well with the rest of humanity. They also tend to favor material wealth and are fussy feeders." 

"Fussy?" Willow was puzzled. <I've never heard of a fussy vampire.> 

"Almost every Laval has particular feeding preferences," he glanced over at her. <Why do I feel like I'm missing something here?> Willow wondered. 

Angel's dark eyes drove the impact of his next words home. "From each generation, only a few of the brightest, most talented and attractive of Laval's mortal descendants are chosen to be brought across." 

Willow's eyes bulged. "Me?" she squeaked. 

"You," he confirmed. 

They approached the school yard now; crossed it in silence, each wrapped in personal thoughts. Willow's mind reeled under the impact of Angel's revelation. <He can't be right.> "So let me get this straight," Willow glanced over at Angel in disbelief. "You're saying that a bloodline of suave, attractive and well-dressed vampires wants to bring me across?" 

Angel nodded. He opened the school's outer door with a key Willow knew that he shouldn't have. The double doors had been recently replaced--Cordelia had destroyed the previous ones with her father's car Spring Fling night. 

Angel held the door open for Willow and they started down the long hall leading to the library. 

"Why me? Are they blind?" Willow noticed Angel's expression becoming...peculiar. "I'm not pretty and I don't dress right and I can't see any reason why they would" 

"Willow, stop," Angel interrupted her. He looked mad. Willow dropped her eyes immediately but Angel put his fingers under her chin and gently forced her eyes back to his. 

"You are a lovely young woman. In a few years you are going to be an even more beautiful woman," Angel said fiercely. His gaze, sincere, made her want to believe him; made her believe that he believed. 

"You think I'm pretty? Like Buffy?" Willow asked, still reeling with disbelief. 

"No, not like Buffy," Willow's heart plummeted. "Pretty, like Willow," he finished. Willow's heart soared. 

"I wish that was true," Willow's eyes started to tear. She sniffed surreptitiously. 

"It is," Angel's voice was so soft. "Believe me." 

"Xander doesn't think so..." a tear slid down Willow's cheek. Angel caught it with a finger. 

"That boy is a fool," Angel's hand caressed the side of Willow's face. Willow closed her eyes and melted under his touch. It was too much. 

To her horror, Willow felt the last vestiges of her fragile hold on her emotions snap. She burst into tears. 

With a strangled cry, she tried to escape from Angel's grasp and flee. The restroom, a girl's ultimate refuge, her destination. 

Angel caught her up in his arms effortlessly. Willow found her face buried into his shoulder, her body cradled in his arms. 

Willow gave in and cried. Struggling took too much effort, was futile. Angel's hands rubbed reassuring patterns on her back while she cried, the way one would comfort a babe. 

Willow never saw Rupert Giles appear in the hallway behind her, drawn by the sounds of a woman's tears. She never saw the look on his face at the sight of Angel holding a sobbing Willow. 

Angel saw. His eyes met Giles', <Keep walking.> Giles nodded and left, quickly. 

Willow finally cried herself out, finishing with a strangled hick-up. She eased away from Angel, who finally let her go. 

The silence was wretched; Angel's shoulder was soaked. <This is so embarrassing.> 

Angel pressed a handkerchief into her hand. <Where did he get this?> 

Willow dabbed daintily. She had never used a handkerchief before; it felt awkward to soil white linen instead of a disposable Kleenex. 

"I need to go to the little girl's room and clean up. I don't want Giles to see me like this." 

Angel nodded. Willow turned and fled down the hall. 

Willow stood in the girl's bathroom and stared at her image in the mirror. Her eyes were red and puffy and her nose was swollen. Tear tracks were still visible on her cheeks. <I look awful.> 

Willow turned on the faucet and submersed her face in cold water. It took most of the redness out. She was drying her face with Angel's handkerchief when the bathroom door swung open. 

Willow glanced over. Buffy walked in. Buffy's clothes were muddy and torn. Willow felt an odd burst of...satisfaction it took her a moment to identify the emotion. <Guess their date didn't work out so well after all > 

"Willow!" Willow averted her face to stare down at the running water, griping the edges of the sink, hard. Willow had known that eventually she'd have to face Buffy, she just hadn't expected to feel so...angry. <Get a grip girl, before you loose it. > 

"Oh God, Willow, you've been crying," Buffy sounded guilt stricken. <A lot of good that does me now. Why couldn't you have thought about my feelings before you betrayed me, Buffy?> 

Willow took a deep breath. She pushed away from the sink and turned to Buffy. 

Buffy stared at Angel's leather jacket, jealousy plainly written all over her face. 

Willow's lips twisted into a vicious smile. She didn't recognize her own voice, silky, sultry, sexy, "Like it?" Willow let her fingers caress the sleeves, possessively, "Angel gave it to me." 

"Willow, what's going on?" Buffy looked up, clearly confused. <How dare she ask that, after what she's done.> 

Willow stepped forward, fists clenched so tightly that her fingernails gouged her palms. 

"Is this about me and Xander?" Buffy asked. <Icy, Arrogant, Selfish...> 

"Bitch," Willow hissed. 

Willow slapped Buffy's face as hard as she could. 

Willow shocked herself and the Slayer. Buffy and Willow stared at each other, both clearly amazed. 

<I slapped Buffy!> 

"You slapped me," Buffy touched her cheek gingerly. 

Willow continued to stare, speechless. She was.mortified. <This is the worst thing I've ever done in my entire life.> 

"I'm Sorry! I've never, not ever..." Willow trailed off. "I'm really sorry," she apologized, not knowing what else to say. 

"I'll live," Buffy recovered her usual aplomb and tried to smooth over Willow's discomfort. "Guess I deserved that, huh? So, what brings you to here at this hour?" 

Willow didn't know what to say, how to respond. <This isn't how I thought Buffy would react.> 

Finally she managed to explain, "Giles needed his book back, and on the way over I was attacked by a vampire. Angel saved my life, but I was kinda...upset afterwards." 

"Angel saved your life?" the color drained from the Slayer's face with the realization that her best friend had almost died while she had been on a date. 

Willow nodded, "Three times. Not all at once, though." Willow still felt guilty about Buffy's red cheek, about the terrible things she had said. "Angel only loaned me his jacket cause it was raining and I wasn't wearing my own." 

Buffy glanced down at the incriminating jacket again. Willow felt herself flush, even though she had nothing to feel guilty about. 

"I'm going to give it right back," she promised. 

"That's ok," Buffy spoke softly. She stared at the floor for a moment. Almost to herself, "I don't care...I don't." 

"It was raining, last night, not tonight." Buffy immediately caught the discrepancy. 

"I forgot it at The Bronze.last night" Willow's explanation dragged to a halt. She didn't have the heart to lie to Buffy, nor to tell her the truth. "Ummm, he saved my life last night too," she finished. "Twice." 

"Where's Xander?" Willow changed the subject abruptly. "I thought you two were.going out tonight?" 

"We were but we got jumped outside The Bronze by three vampires," Buffy explained. "It was the weirdest thing-they were-" 

"Really good looking?" Willow interrupted. "Well dressed?" 

"Yeah!" Buffy surprise changed to puzzlement. "How did you know?" 

Willow took a deep breath and plunged into the story, carefully glossing over sensitive issues that Buffy didn't need to know. 

"Sounds like I'd better go hunting," Buffy expression became distant as she started to slip into Slayer Mode. Willow hated watching Buffy become so aloof. 

"Buffy what happened?" Willow had to know. 

"Happened?" Buffy frowned slightly. 

"What happened to you this summer, what happened to you and Angel," Willow's voice broke, the last part came out strangled, "Why Xander?" 

"Oh,...THAT happened," Buffy stared at Willow. <It's almost as if Buffy's emotions are frozen.> 

"Buffy you owe me some sort of explanation!" Willow cried. She wanted to grab Buffy and shake an explanation out of her friend. "This is Xander were talking about." 

"You want to know what happened--I'll tell you what happened," Buffy's voice rose slightly above her normal speaking tone. "I got to thinking about dying and why I died and maybe how I could have avoided dying." 

"Buffy-" Willow could see the pain in her friend's eyes. She wanted to offer comfort, but Buffy cut her off. 

"I realized that the reason I wound up dead was because I wasn't focused," Buffy made a sharp motion with her hands for emphasis. "And I wasn't focused because I was too busy moping over Angel." 

Willow opened her mouth to speak again but Buffy kept right on going. "I put myself at risk, I put my friends at risk, and I died. Well, no more. It's not going to happen again, not ever." 

Buffy stopped. She looked so vulnerable, like a little girl. Willow felt her eyes filling with tears again. <Poor Buffy, I had no idea.> 

"Willow please don't cry anymore," Buffy pleaded. Buffy touched Willow's arm. The Ice Princess was gone and the old Buffy was standing there. "I'll stop seeing Xander if that will make it better," she offered. 

"Do you love him?" Willow whispered. She took Buffy's hand in her own and squeezed it gently. Willow offered Buffy a soggy smile. 

"I...I don't know," Buffy said hesitantly. "But I think that I can love him. Xander's such a good friend and he loves me..." Buffy trailed off. She couldn't go on any further. Willow's eyes held so much love and forgiveness; she'd never had a better friend. 

Willow smiled. "I want you and Xander to be happy. I hope you're happy together." 

"Willow" "Buffy" the girls drew together into an embrace, laughing and crying. Willow didn't have many tears left, but Buffy hadn't cried since the Master took her life. 

Buffy poured out her sorrow on Willow's shoulder. Willow comforted her friend the best she could. 

<Letting Xander go was the most difficult thing she'd ever done.>