~ And she takes another step
Slowly she opens the door
Check that he is sleeping pick up all the broken glass and furniture
on the
floor ~
Willow walked into their room and started to pack her bags silently, being sure not to wake him.
When her bags were packed she went silently down the hallway and glanced in the living room. There was Oz, asleep. He looked so peaceful, and Willow almost went back to unpack her stuff, but her eyes landed on her altar, which was now shattered to pieces by her "beloved" husband. He had gotten drunk. Again.
She walked out the door and into the raining night. She got silently into the car and started to engine, being as quiet as she could. She edged out of the driveway and the sped away, getting as far away from him as possible. She wasn't going back. She couldn't.
But in the back of her mind she knew she probably would be going back. That's how it always happened. She ran off to a hotel, and Oz tracked her down. He would apologize, and Willow would crack and come back home. It had been like this for 5 years. It happened at least once a month. *No. I'm not going back. * She thought. *Ever*
She drove out on the highway and sped away. Not knowing where she was going. Suddenly her cell phone rang. *I'm not picking it up* She thought to herself. She knew it was Oz. And she wouldn't give in. *Gotta give him credit. He's getting faster at calling* She thought. The phone wouldn't stop ringing, and she was sick of it. She rolled down her window and tossed the phone out. As she rolled the window back up she thought *I just can't deal with it*
Willow started to wonder where she would go. She couldn't go to a hotel. Oz would track her down. As she was brainstorming she came to a decision. She was scared to try it, because the last time she talked to him, she had to break up with him *Against my will, though. As I recall* She thought bitterly. Willow could remember what she did as plain as yesterday.
Oz had gone to Tara, Willow's "friend" and asked her to perform a spell. A spell to bend one's will. He then made Willow break up with the person she loved most. And when the spell wore off, she remembered feeling so horrible. But by that time, her old lover had left Sunnydale, and she married Oz. She didn't divorce him. She just put up with him. She didn't know why. But she just did. Perhaps because she was scared of what Oz would do to her.
Willow stopped the car the old Crawford mansion in Sunnydale. She knew he was there, because after she beat a vampire to a pulp, he told her.
She got out of the car, and walked up the steps silently. She performed a spell of protection as she continued walking. When she reached the steps she nearly ran back to the car, but she knew she had to talk to him. She knocked on the door, and it, almost instantly, opened. A vampire minion answered the door.
"I need to speak to Spike." She said. The minion looked at her, and then realization dawned on him.
"Stay here." He said. He walked back into the mansion. A few minutes later he appeared. "Come in." He said. The minion didn't touch her, but led her silently upstairs to what she guessed, would be his bedroom.
Once she got inside, minion walked out. Willow looked at the vampire at across from her. Pain started to come to her.
"Willow. What are you doing here?" Spike asked.
Willow started to tell Spike, from the beginning, what had happened. The spell from Tara and Oz, the forced the marriage, the drinking, the abuse. After she was done, she looked up at Spike.
"He abused you, Pet?" He asked. Willow tilted her head to the side and brushed her hair aside. There on her neck, was a bruise. She pulled up her shirt to show her stomach, and there were slashes across her stomach. Spike growled, but proceeded "Did he do anything else to you, Luv?" He asked. Willow nodded mutely.
"He raped me." She whispered.
Spike came forward immediately, and held her in his arms, protectively.
"Spike. I'm so sorry I hurt you. It wasn't me. I swear." She repeatedly murmured to him, over and over.
"Sshh, Red. It's ok." He said. He looked into her eyes, and then he kissed her softly. Willow returned the kiss quickly. She missed his touch, his caress. Spike stopped kissing her, and held her cheek in his hand.
"Everything will be ok now, baby" Spike whispered to her. Relief flooded through Willow at these words. She knew as long as she had Spike, she would be ok.