Title: Can I Have A Minute?
Author: AllytheVamp
Email: Marie_214@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: Joss Owns these characters!! Not Me!!
Author's Note: This is a story about a tragedy. This is sad and hard but it has some Willow/Oz bonding. They search for the answers they need.

Part One


I wished there was something I could have done to shield her from what had happened. I love Willow. I honestly do. She really is everything to me. I mean it isn't like she rules me or something, it's just that we love eachother and care enough to never want to let eachother go. I know that there are alot of better places we could be living than Sunnydale, center of all evil, but there was no way of getting out. We had to stay and help Buffy with her slayer-destiny-thing. We couldn't walk out. It would be insensitive and stupid. There wasn't any way of getting out of the town financially either. Neither of us had enough money to even try to move anywhere. There was nothing I could do to make the danger stop. Sometimes I just want to grab her and carry her away where she would never hurt or feel afraid ever again. But that is impossible. Giles says that there is danger everywhere now. The vampire colonies have spread out over the globe and there is a slayer in almost every city. There is only an exception in the Caribbean islands and even there there's hurricanes and volcanoes. Nowhere is safe anymore. We figure might as well stay where your friends are and where you have been your whole life even if it is the center of all evil.

That night we had gone out to the Bronze for some dancing and fun. Everything was good from the start. We were dancing and laughing. We were having fun. Then Buffy burst through the window a vampire in her arms. They got up and she staked him, then dozens of others swarmed around us. It was the Bronze then a vampire feeding ground in a matter of seconds. I think I have never seen so much panic. Willow and I tried to fight back with whatever we could find. I stayed close to her and protected her whenever I could. We staked half of them. Then I saw Willow and she screamed to me to get someone. I turned around then froze. A vamp had Cordy. It bit into her feircely and she let out a strangled scream for Xander. Xander darted through the crowd screaming to her in fear. He grabbed the thing and staked it then caught Cordy as she fell. She was dead before she hit the ground. He was never in more agony than that moment. He screamed in rage and broke down sobbing uncontrollably. Buffy finished the last vamps and ran to Xander and hugged him. He held Cordy close his tears flowing rampant down his face. I just was frozen as was Willow. Then I went over behind Willow and held her for support. We all cried for her. Everyone.

Xander was in bad shape for a long time. He went through it harder than any of us. I think the fact he loved her more than anyone he'd ever known was the hardest. I couldn't imagine losing Willow. I tried to understand but I couldn't. Xander was asked to do the eulogy. He cried through it all. It was short saying how special she was and how much we'd all loved her. I went up to her casket alone. Willow stuck by Xander throughout the funeral. I understood completely and did everything I could to help Xander aswell. He was my best friend now, since Devon had moved away. We had become alot closer. She still looked vibrant and full of life. Her hair fanned over her shoulders and shone in the light. Her hands were folded perfectly and she looked peacful and serene. I cried silently, knowing seven days from then she'd rise again and we'd have to stake her. Her face had lost the glow it had possessed and was pale now as she lay there unmoving. The marks were still on her neck.

It happened that we had to stake her. Buffy had to. We were visiting her grave and she sprang up and grabbed Willow. I instinctively pushed her away and pulled Will to safety. Buffy fought with her awhile and then caught her. She raised the stake over Cordy and just stared at her tears in her eyes. Cordy bared her vampire face and snarled at her. With a start Buffy and all of us realized it wasn't Cordy. She had to do it. So Buffy plunged the stake down and that was the last of Cordy. I was very shaken up about that. And I think I will never forget how guilty Buffy looked when she turned back to us.

Willow dealt with it in her own way, just talking with me about how she wished she hadn't given Cordy such a hard time and how much she was going to miss her. I tried my very best to comfort her. I don't think there was anything I could have said. Willow would die for her friends in an instant. That's how loyal she is. She instantly blames herself for anything bad that happens to her friends and then when she realizes she had no control she just goes into grief. I love her so much that I ached to see her happy again. I spoiled her with every fun thing or present I could think of that might bring back that beautiful smile I adored so much. Nothing had any effect. It was like she couldn't be happy. We were growing apart. I don't think I have ever felt that helpless. She was hurting and nothing I could do was going to make her happy again. I was unhappy too. But I never talked about what I was feeling. I was afraid I would cry again and I was pretty much cried out. Tears seemed to come easily and almost be unlimited. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I needed the answer fast...




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