Rating- G
Pairing- W/A
Disclaimer- I own nothing (except for Alan), all others belong to Joss.
Spoilers- Set after season seven
Summery- Willow goes to Angel with the hopes of emotional healing.
Dedication- To Gabrielle, who asked for a W/A fic, and had to patiently wait for me to get off my but and do it. Here's to you Gabby, hope you like it.
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~Part: 1~
Willow made her way into hotel and up to the clerk at the front desk. The balding man watched the young red head appreciatively, looking her up and down. With an ever-present smile, she politely asked for the room number of one of the guests staying at the hotel.
"Are you a family member?" he asked, `Please don't say wife.' He thought.
"No, just a friend."
"I'm sorry, but I can't give out the room number without his permission."
"Well, c-could you call his room and let me speak to him? Would that be alright?"
"I think I can arrange that." He said as he smiled at her. `Beautiful, and with a smile that's contagious too. He's a lucky man.' And he dialed the room. "Hello? Mr. Angel?" pauses. "Yes, I'm sorry to disturb you, but there is a young woman down her who wishes to speak to you." pause. "Yes sir." He turned his attention back to Willow and handed her the phone. "Here you go, miss."
"Thank you so much." She replied as she took it gratefully from him and placed the phone at her ear. "Angel? Its Willow." Pause. "No, I'm fine, really. C-could I come up and talk to you?" pauses. "Great, thanks, Angel. See you in a minute then." She finished and handed the man back the phone.
"Do you still need the room number?" he asked.
"No, he gave it to me, but thanks for your help."
"Anytime young lady. Would you like a room for the night?"
"Actually, yes I would." She replied, and gave him the information needed.
"And here is your key card. If you have any problems, just give me a call. My name is Alan, and I'll be happy to help you any way I can."
"Thank you very much, Alan."
"Do you have any baggage?"
"Yes, but I can get it later. Have a good night." She said, and headed to the elevator.
* * * * * *
She walked along the hall until she came to room 340, raised a hand and knocked. It took Angel only a few seconds to open the door and usher her in.
"How are you doing, Willow? I mean `really'." He asked.
"I'm fine, honest."
"Come on, have a seat." He said, and led her to a small couch where they both seated themselves. "You know, you can drop the act with me. I know your hurting." He said, and she sighed.
"Can't fool you, huh?"
"No, you can't. I've been around long enough to read people pretty well. And you aren't happy."
"Well, I was able to fool everyone else. Thought I could fool you too."
"You and Kennedy were able to remain friends?"
"Yeah, we were." Sigh "I'm glad its over, but…"
"But now you're alone again, and you don't want to be."
"Uh huh. My problem is that I take the first person that comes along and show's an interest. I fought against it with Kennedy, but the loneliness factor won out. Again. I should never have let the relationship get off the ground. I-I didn't love her. It's just that the thing with the `First' was going on, not knowing whether we were going to live or die. And she was just so forward, maybe even a little pushy." She shook her head.
"Willow, it's going to be okay. I'm glad you came."
"Really? I know you said it was okay and everything, but."
"And I meant it."
"Buffy just thought I needed to get away for a while… time away from Kennedy. She'll be staying with the others for a week, until she gets herself to Arizona. That's where she wanted to go."
"She tried talking you into going with her?"
"Yeah, and that's when I decided that this relationship was wrong. I've never had time for me, ya know? I went from Oz to Tara… and pretty much right after that, Kennedy. I think I just need some me time."
"I can understand that. And don't worry, you can stay as long as you like. I'm always here to listen."
"What are you going to do for an office now that yours is gone?"
"Wolfram and Hart were kind enough to give us the use of their building." He chuckled. "We just need to do some serious cleaning out though."
"Out with the old, in with the new?" she snickered.
"Exactly." He said as he studied her a little closer. "You look exhausted. Would you like to wait until tomorrow to talk?"
"In all honesty, no. I think I'm more mentally tired than I am physically. It's been quite the emotional roller coaster of a year. It's nice to sit and relax for a change, without a whole bunch of sugared up teenage potentials running around. It's just nice having a quiet conversation without interruptions."
"Has it been that long?"
"You have no idea what it's like just to fight your way in to use the bathroom."
"I think I'd rather not find out." He said, and she leaned over and hugged him tightly.
"Thanks for letting me come here. I didn't know where else to go. I don't even know where my parents are." She said as Angel wrapped his arms around her.
"Your welcome here anytime. Its nice to have you here."
"Its nice to be here." She replied as she pulled away. "Maybe your right. I think I need to go to bed."
"I thought so." And they both stood and made their way to the door. "Get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." He said and kissed her lightly on the forehead. She nodded and said goodnight, turned and left heading to her room just down the hall.
* * * * *
She closed her door behind her and set the bags down. Alan had been nice enough to help with her things, and even carried them up to her room for her. She smiled and thanked him gratefully for his help.
She collapsed onto the bed and lay there, letting her mind wander over her meeting with Angel. He hadn't said anything, so she guessed she'd hidden it well enough.
"I can't believe I still get butterflies from being around him after all these years."
She had hardly seen him in the years since he left Sunnydale, but apparently the crush she had harbored for him was still there. With a huge sigh she rolled onto her side and made herself comfortable, and closed her eyes.
~Part: 2~
The red head woke up late in the afternoon, shocked to find she had slept that long. It was almost five O'clock… Angel wouldn't be up yet. She decided to grab a much-needed shower, change into something decent and go downstairs to the dining room for some dinner.
But no sooner had she shut off the water; she heard a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" she asked, waiting for the response.
"Its Angel." Came the voice from the other side of the door. She made sure to fasten the towel securely around her, and opened the door to allow him in.
"Hey, come on in." she said, but the vampire stood there, unmoving and wide-eyed. "Uh, Angel?" She questioned, causing him to give his head a slight shake.
"Sorry, it's just that I didn't realize… I didn't mean to disturb you while you were, uh," he gestured at her towel she wore, "that is to say, umm…" he let the sentence trail off. `Yeah, I have a wonderful way with words. Maybe I am a poof!' he thought.
"Hey, it's okay. Come on in, make yourself comfortable. It'll only take me a minute to get dressed." She finished. Angel hesitated for a moment, and then walked in; not daring to look at Willow in her state of undress.
Willow made her way to the bathroom, but didn't close the door tightly, so she could hear Angel speaking.
"I didn't mean to disturb you. I thought that maybe you would like to go to dinner with me. Nowhere fancy, just downstairs."
"You know, you read my mind." She giggled. "That's where I was heading. I hadn't eaten anything since early yesterday and I'm famished! And frankly, I'd love the company."
At her words, Angel relaxed. After seeing her last night, he found he missed being in her presence, and was rather happy to come up with the dinner excuse. Of all the people in Sunnydale, she was the one he missed the most.
Buffy… they were just friends now, time and distance had taken care of that heartache. But Willow. He'd always held a fondness for her. At first it was his protective nature that took over, she seemed so frail all those years ago. Of all of them, she was willing to accept him for what he was from the start without prejudice.
Next to Giles, she was the smartest mortal he knew. `Okay, there's Fred and Wesley.' He amended to himself. She was also quick to understand, and willing to go the extra mile if anyone needed it. Even him. After all, she did restore his soul; twice.
Remembering the girl from last night, he found it hard to believe she was as powerful as he'd heard. Giles had told him about what had happened to Willow last year. It was just something he couldn't fathom, not from the shy young girl he once knew.
But the more he thought on their encounter last night, he realized she had changed. She wasn't the meek little girl anymore though she still held some semblance of sweetness about her.
"Angel? You ready to go?" she asked, taking him from his thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm ready." He replied as he got up and walked to the door. Being the gentleman, he opened the door and allowed Willow to go through first, and was rewarded with a bright smile and a thank you.
"Do you have any idea how long it's been since someone opened a door for me?" Angel shook his head. "I think Oz did once." She laughed.
* * * * * *
They both ordered something off the menu, though Willow was surprised that Angel ordered anything at all, let alone actually eat some of it.
"You know, you didn't really have to eat for my sake." She whispered.
"I don't mind. It's nice, even if I can't eat a lot of anything. Besides, it makes me feel a little more human." He said, looking at her meal. "Are you sure that's going to be enough? A salad doesn't seem like it would be all that filling to me."
"It was enough." She said nodding. "It was delicious."
"Are you sure you wouldn't like anything else?" he asked as a waiter came to take their plates.
"Was there anything wrong with your meal, sir? If you like, I can have it prepared for you again?" asked the waiter as he picked up Angel's less than half eaten meal.
"No, thank you. It was fine, I just wasn't very hungry."
"If your sure?"
"Yes, thanks." Angel finished as the waiter nodded and took the plates away.
"I could go for a nice walk. I really don't know this city well. The last time I was here was when…" she let the sentence trail off.
"When you told me Buffy died." He said.
"Yeah. I wasn't really in the mood to sight-see at the time." Angel nodded his understanding and stood, holding out his hand for Willow to take.
"Anywhere in particular?" he asked as the young woman took his hand, sending shivers up his spine.
"A walk along the water would be nice. I don't think anyone would be at the beach at this time… should be nice and relaxing." She said.
"Actually, would you mind terribly if we waited another hour or so?"
"Why? Do you have plans?" she asked, then realized. "Oh, Angel. I'm so sorry. I forgot the sun was still up."
"It's quite all right, little one. It happens. After all, you don't really need to remember anything like that." He said, giving her a reassuring smile.
"You know something? I've missed that."
"Missed what?"
"Little one. You haven't called me that in years. I hadn't realized how much I missed it until now." She said, and Angel found himself at a loss for words. "C'mon, lets go to the lounge. We can sit and relax for a while, and when the sun's down we'll go for our walk."
"Sounds perfect to me."
* * * * * *
They had talked a little, but the conversation never really got off the ground until they got to the waters edge a couple of hours later. They began reminiscing and laughing about some of the encounters they shared with the others. At one point, Willow had to dry her eyes because she was laughing so hard.
Angel loved the sound. He'd almost forgotten how contagious her laughter could be. It was nice being with her again, going over the tales of old; laughing and making fun of the things they did while trying to defeat demons. It had been a long time since he had a good laugh.
A slight breeze came up, causing Willow to shiver a little.
"Geez, you'd think with my brains I could have at least remembered to bring a sweater or something." She said.
With the chill not really bothering him, Angel didn't bother to bring a jacket either. He did the only thing he could think of, and wrapped an arm around her. She looked up at him and smiled as a wind blew a lock of hair into her face.
He quickly reached a hand up and moved the stray lock away, but couldn't stop himself from caressing her cheek. On impulse, he leaned down and placed his lips on hers as he pulled her in closer to him.
Willow melted into it and parted her lips at his tongues urging, allowing him to further explore. But reality has a nasty way of smacking people in the head. Willow placed her hands on his chest and pushed away from him.
"Angel?"
"I-I'm sorry, Willow. I shouldn't have done that." He said, but then shook his head. "No, actually I'm not sorry. It felt right. I wanted to; had to."
"I'm not mad, but you have to realize something. I don't want a relationship right now. I do care about you, a lot. And knowing that you might be interested…but it's not something I need right now."
"I understand."
"I know you do, and that's what makes it so nice. But just so you know, I would be interested sometime in the future. I just don't know how far into the future…" she finished with a smile. He nodded and turned, keeping his arm around her as they walked along the waters edge.
He could wait. After all, he has all the time in the world.
End.