Title: A Day of Revelation
Author: Angelina
Email: angelina2006@hotmail.com
2nd of '3 R's' Series

The following day Willow was returning to the hospital to see Buffy. Her thoughts had seldom strayed from Angel and strategies to stop his reign of terror. The best way would be to restore his soul. Unfortunately Ms Calendar had said this could no longer be done. The only other way to prevent him from hurting anyone else would be to end his un-life once and for all. Willow knew that Buffy had been unable to do this up till now, it was difficult after all they’d shared. But this was the real world and things weren’t always easy. Willow could only hope that she could spare Buffy the pain of actually carrying out the execution herself. Willow would do it for her, she owed her than much. And she would enjoy it. After seeing the damage inflicted on Buffy by that bastard Willow felt no guilt, only rage. That twisted smile on his face as he watched Buffy bleed erased any feelings of pity she might have felt for him. He was no longer Angel. He was a monster with Angel’s face, no more, no less.

She reached the hospital and made her way to Buffy’s room where she found the slayer sitting up talking to her mother and a nurse.

"…amazing, I’ve never seen a recovery like it!" the nurse was saying.

"Yes, she’s a tough one alright, even as a child she was very rarely sick." said Joyce

If only they knew, thought Willow. Buffy was looking decidedly unhappy. Willow stood in the doorway for a moment, just looking at her. She was as white as the hospital bed-sheets. Her face looked drawn and tired. She turned to get a glass of water from the stand beside the bed but flinched as she reached up and her hand flew to her side bringing last night’s events flooding back to Willow.

"I’ll get than for you honey," said Joyce standing up and passing the glass to Buffy.

"Thanks" said Buffy in a small voice.

Willow understood how she must be feeling. She was so independent and strong, she wasn’t used to being fawned over and not being able to do things for herself. This must be hell for her.

Willow was still standing staring at Buffy when, almost like she felt her presence Buffy turned around and locked eyes with her. Immediately her face changed. A smile spread across her pale features and her eyes took on a glow that hinted at the vibrancy Willow associated with Buffy alone.

"Hey Will, why you standing there? Come on in, join the party!"

Willow smiled and walked into the room.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fantastic!"

Willow raised an eyebrow.

"Well, fine."

The eyebrow didn’t budge.

"OK, I feel better than I did last night." Buffy conceded.

"Good," said Willow perching herself on the edge of the bed.

The nurse finished talking to Buffy’s mother and left the room.

"Do you mind if I pop home quickly sweetie? I’d like to have a shower and change and…"

"Sure Mom, I’m a big girl now. Besides," she added with a glint in her eye, "I have my Willow to protect me."

Willow looked down at the bed cover.

"Yes, you’re quite the heroine Willow. The doctor said that if you hadn’t been there to raise the alarm the consequences could have been much worse."

Joyce visibly shuddered at this thought and made a hasty exit after kissing Buffy’s cheek. Buffy looked at Willow, concerned. She reached out and took her hand.

"What’s up?"

"If I hadn’t been there it could have been worse, yeah right. If I hadn’t been there none of this would have happened."

Willow didn’t look up, her attention remained focused on the floor but subconsciously she was playing with Buffy’s hand: rubbing circles into the palm, squeezing the fingers. This fact did not go unnoticed by Buffy who watched their joined hands with fascination. Then and there Buffy made up her mind to tell Willow something she’d been keeping from her for a long time.

"I promised you a talk didn’t I?"

"Oh Buffy, it’s OK, I don’t need a pep talk."

"It’s not a pep talk, it’s the truth and I think it’s something you need to hear…something I need to say to you."

Willow finally looked up and was taken aback at the emotions apparent on Buffy’s face. She nodded for Buffy to continue.

"You said last night that it should have been you in this bed, that it didn’t matter if you died but that is so wrong. It doesn’t matter if I die – another slayer will be activated straight away – but if you die there’s no-one to take your place. No-one ever could, you’re Willow and a world without you would be pointless for anyone who knows and loves you like I…like we all do."

Buffy stopped to draw breath. Willow’s eyes were bright with tears.

"I know you probably think I’m just saying this to make you feel better but I’m not. I mean every word."

Buffy swallowed, nervous about what she wanted to say next.

"Willow, there’s something I should have done a long time ago."

"What’s that?" Willow asked through a constricted throat.

"This."

And without another word Buffy leaned over and kissed Willow squarely on the lips. It started out chastely but wasn’t allowed to continue that way for long. Willow’s lips parted inviting Buffy’s tongue in. Tentatively at first they explored this foreign terrain. As they gained confidence the kiss increased in fervour and intensity, stealing the breath from their lungs and forcing them to reluctantly break apart. They remained close, foreheads touching, breathing heavily.

"I...wow…I mean I never…that was….wow…" Willow’s ability to form coherent sentences was impaired, more than usual.

"I love you." Buffy stated simply.

"I love you too."

"I know."

"What?!?" Willow exclaimed pulling back to look into Buffy’s eyes. "You knew? For how long? And you didn’t say anything? But…"

"Shhhhhh" Buffy put a finger on Willow’s lips and despite her current indignation Willow couldn’t help but kiss it. "Let me explain."

"I’m listening" said Willow, aching to kiss Buffy again but unwilling to let her off the hook that easily. She satisfied herself and reassured Buffy by linking their fingers together.

"OK OK, where do I start?"

"How about telling me how long you’ve had feelings for me? Then we can move onto how you knew that I felt the same way about you and finally we can segue into you telling me why the hell you didn’t bring this up earlier." Willow’s voice contained a hint of sarcasm but also a genuine need to hear the requested information.

"Right, I don’t know when exactly I started loving you, but I do know when I realised it."

Buffy squeezed Willow’s hand as she thought back.

"Remember when Giles found that prophecy in the Codex?" Willow nodded silently, the memory was not a pleasant one.

"Well, you know that I quit as the slayer and said there was no way I was gonna die just to save the stupid old world?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know what changed my mind?"

Willow shook her head.

"It was you."

"Me? But I didn’t…"

"You didn’t tell me that I should fight the Master, that it was my sacred duty or anything like that."

Buffy was staring into space as she remembered one of the most difficult times in her young life.

"But when I saw you after you found that room full of dead guys I knew that I would fight the Master. I knew that I had to find whatever had made you feel like that and stop it. And I knew I would save the world, because you were part of that world and there was no way I was gonna let anything hurt you…because you were my world."

Buffy only realised she was crying when she felt Willow gently brush away her tears. She laughed, embarrassed at this display of emotion.

"So that’s when I first realised I loved you."

Willow kissed Buffy softly on the cheek, tasting the salty residue of her tears. She had already forgiven Buffy enough to re-establish touching but she still wanted to hear more.

"So," said Willow, toying with a strand of Buffy’s hair. "When do you think I started having feelings for you?"

"Well, actually, I thought I noticed something a few times but I put it down to wishful thinking on my part. But it finally hit me when you bandaged my knee in the library once. You probably don’t even remember it, it was…."

"When Kendra was here, I remember." Willow said Smiling.

"You were so gentle, and you kept your hand on my leg just a tiny bit longer than necessary." Buffy grinned. "You little hussy, taking advantage of an injured woman!"

Willow blushed and slapped Buffy’s arm playfully. "Yeah, well…I…you…hey never mind that, so when you finally figured out that I was mad about you how come you never said anything?"

"It’s complicated, and in hindsight it was totally wrong."

"I’ll say."

Willow cupped Buffy’s cheek and kissed her. A slow sensuous kiss.

"Just think how much of that we’ve missed."

"Bad me." Buffy mumbled, still recovering the assault on her senses that Willow’s kisses appeared to cause.

"But wait, why am I taking all the blame here? You could just have easily told me how you felt."

"But we both know I’m not the forward type at the best of times. And crushing on your best friend who is showing no outward signs of feeling the same way is not the best of times," said Willow, "What’s you excuse?"

"I…I didn’t want you getting involved with someone like me. I’m hardly meet the parents material am I? ‘Hey mom and dad, this is my new partner Buffy, not only is she a girl but she’s also a vampire slayer with a life expectancy that’s slightly longer than your average dog’s and oh yeah, she’s not Jewish!’"

Willow was about to protest but Buffy held up her hand for silence.

"I though you deserved better than me, or at least, more normal. That’s why I encouraged you with Oz and I stayed with Angel. But when I saw him holding you by the throat last night something in my head just snapped and I knew that I was being selfish. That I had to give you the chance to make up your own mind. It reminded me how fragile this life is and that we should enjoy the time we have…and God I’m sounding like someone really old aren’t I?"

Willow shook her head wordlessly. She moved closer to Buffy on the bed and gently pulled her into a hug so as not to aggravate her wound. They stayed like that for a long time until Buffy broke the silence.

"Was I right?"

"About what?" asked Willow pulling back slightly.

"About when you started having lustful thoughts about me?"

"Who says I have lustful thoughts about you?"

"Hey!"

"Just kidding, actually, the lustful thoughts started long before I admitted to myself that it was anything other that teenage hormones running rampant." Buffy’s eyebrows were raised but Willow could tell she was pleased. "I think I finally realised that I was totally in love with you at Halloween,"

"The sight of my bosoms in that dress clinched the deal huh?"

"No actually, although they were very nice." Willow said smiling. "It was the way you encouraged me to believe in myself, to see myself in a new light. No-one had ever taken an interest in me like that before. Of course at the time I didn’t realise that you’d dressed me up like a hooker so that you could ogle my body!" said Willow mischievously.

"Busted!" said Buffy, and kissed Willow lightly on the nose.

She ran a hand through Willow’s hair a few times before continuing.

"I guess in a weird way we have Angel to thank for this."

Willow’s expression changed to one Buffy didn’t recognise. She was about to pursue the matter when Willow spoke.

"Let’s not talk about him OK? Let’s just enjoy this for a while" she said gesturing between herself and Buffy.

"OK" said Buffy slowly, allowing herself to be drawn into a kiss – this was fast becoming an addiction.

"Ahem." The girls turned around to see a nurse standing in the doorway, "Well, I was coming in to take your blood pressure but something tells me that it would be a bit high at the moment." And with that she turned and walked away.

Buffy and Willow looked at each other and giggled. For the rest of the afternoon they talked and snuggled and kissed. But Willow couldn’t shake the niggling feeling at the back of her mind that was Angel. She knew what she had to do and she had decided how she would go about it. Now it was a matter of carrying out her plan. She looked down at Buffy who was asleep on her shoulder. She looked peaceful. And if Willow had anything to do with it that’s the way she’d stay. She kissed Buffy’s forehead gently and settled back into her thoughts of revenge.