~Part: 1~ Never Again
//He's drunk again, it's time to fight
She must have done something wrong tonight
The living room becomes a boxing ring
It's time to run when you see him clenching his hands
She's just a woman...never again.//
Willow wasn't sure when it had begun but it had become routine. Sometimes he could be so sweet and tender, she'd fall in love with him all over again. But then he'd go out with his friends, get drunk and their happy suburban home would become a battlefield. The simplest things could set him off and Willow - the same Willow Rosenberg that had fought the legions of Hell - would be terrified.
//I hear her scream from down the hall
Amazing she can even talk at all
She calls to me..."go back to bed"
I'm terrified that she'll wind up dead in his hands
She's just a woman...never again.//
"What the hell is it with you, Willow?!" he screamed.
"N-nothing," Willow stammered.
"Mama?" a tiny voice came from behind her. Willow turned to face
her son, his tiny cherubic face staring up at her...eyes full of confusion
and
brimming with unshed tears.
"Ethan, honey, be a good boy and stay in your room, don't come out no matter what you hear. Okay, baby?" she said.
The boy stiffened but at the pleading look in his mother's eyes, he
went back to his bedroom and Willow let out a sigh of relief. At
least, Steven
hadn't hurt Ethan, she could think the goddess for that. While
she stared after Ethan, Steven struck, she landed hard on the glass coffee
table, the table shattering underneath the force.
~~~*~~~
//Just tell the nurse you slipped and fell
It starts to sting as it starts to swell
She looks at you...she wants the truth
It's right out there in the waiting room with those hands
Lookin' just as sweet as he can...never again.//
Two hours later, Willow sat on the doctor's examination table with Ethan standing beside her. "What happened, Mrs. Sullivan?" the woman asked as she tended to a particularly nasty knot on Willow's forehead.
Ethan's eyes pleaded with her to tell the truth. "I-I fell," Willow said.
"You seem to fall a lot, don't you?" the nurse replied.
"What can I say, I'm a klutz," the redhead answered.
"Are you ready to go, honey?" Steven asked from behind Willow.
"Sure," Willow stated, trying for a smile as her husband led her out of the hospital.
//Seen it before but not like this
Been there before but not like this
Never before have I seen it this bad
She's just a woman...never again.//
~~~*~~~
//Father's a name you haven't earned yet
You're just a child with a temper
Haven't you heard "don't hit a lady"
Kickin' your ass would be a pleasure.//
Months had gone by without another fight between Willow and Steven, now Willow and Ethan sat at the dinner table, eating their dinner.
Ethan's eyes still held accusation in them as he looked at his barely-touched food. "Why didn't you tell the doctor the truth, Mama?" he asked.
"I-I couldn't..." Willow said, defeat evident in her voice. She
had tried so many times to leave with Ethan but she always fell for Steven's
apologies
and wooing. "Aren't you going to eat, sweetie?"
"I'm not hungry," Ethan answered as he stomped off to his bedroom.
Willow cleaned off the table and few minutes later, she went to tuck
him in. She looked at him, smiling faintly. He had red hair that
was naturally
curly, freckles danced over his face...but the thing that always got
her were his big green eyes. He looked like a male seven-year-old
version of
herself.
Willow frowned, that's what had started the first fight. Before Willow had quit her job at a software firm, she had a friend there, Timothy O'Flannery... he was younger than her, the mail boy, he was charming, Irish and he had curly red hair and green eyes. Steven had thought that Ethan was Timothy's, Willow had never had more than a close friendship with Timothy.
Willow jumped as she heard the front door open. She kissed Ethan's forehead and left his bedroom, closing the door behind her. "Hi, honey," she said, grinning.
Steven just glared at her and Willow swallowed hard. "W-what's wrong, Steven?" she stammered.
//He's drunk again, it's time to fight
Same old shit, just on a different night
She grabs the gun, she's had enough
Tonight you'll find out how fuckin' tough is this man
Pulls the trigger fast as she can...never again.//
"You are. You're the cause of all my fuckin' problems," he growled, grabbing her throat. She gasped for breath as she dug her nails into his hand.
He howled with pain, holding his injured hand and Willow raced down the hallway into their bedroom. She slammed the door and locked it behind her. She stumbled to the table by Steven's side of the bed and grabbed the gun he kept there. She made sure the safety was off.
Just as he slammed the door open. "STAY AWAY!" Willow screamed.
"No!" he growled, charging at her. She jerked back the trigger
back and time stood still as the bullet sliced through his chest.
The gun fell from
Willow's hands.
"Oh, my God," she whimpered. She raced to the closet and quickly filled a suitcase with as many of her things shecould fit in it. She started for the hallway, tripping over his body. She jumped up and went into Ethan's room. "Honey, wake up."
"Mama, what's wrong?" he asked.
"We're just going on a trip, baby. Let's get our things together and go," Willow told him. They quickly packed Ethan's things and she drove them to the airport. They were going to the only place she knew she'd be welcomed: L.A.
//Seen it before but not like this
Been there before but not like this
Never before have I ever seen it this bad
She's just a woman...never again.//