Title: Friendship
Author: Malana
Email: Malana@mac.com
Series: Truth, Justice, and the American Way
Pairing: Willow/Clark Kent
Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville or Buffy
Note: This is modeled after the style of Jinni's many When I Woke Up series. The story is written with her permission. This is a response to a challenge by Charley. Jinni is answering the Challenge with a Lex pairing, I'm doing it with Clark.
Spoilers: Through Chosen for Buffy. In Smallville anything up to The Truth is fair game. Things go AU near the end of season 3

Willow got married.

Willow got drunk and then married a stranger.

That's not exactly a thing I ever thought would happen.

I mean it's Willow.

Out of all of us, I'd have thought her the least likely to do something this stupid. I mean, Xander I can see, but Willow? She's supposed to be the smart one.

I can't help but feel a little bit responsible. I should have paid more attention to what was going on last night. But all three of us were just lost in our own little worlds.

Of course Xander and I only managed to lose some money gambling. Willow got herself a husband.

Which is also kind of strange. I thought she was done with men. I didn't think she'd go for a guy, even if she was drunk. Some guy got Willow drunk and took advantage of her. I'm going to rip his limbs off one by one.

"Where is this guy, Willow? I'm going to go kill him."

"And I'll help!" Xander volunteers, "My depth perception my suck, but I'll rely on my anger to guide me."

Willow's face goes dark, and I have a sinking feeling that Xan and I aren't going to get to do any beating.

"It's not his fault. Clark was drunk too. Neither of us are happy about this. We can't even really remember what happened." Willow's resolve face in now firmly in place.

Crap. This means no violence.

"You really don't remember anything, Wills?" Xander asks.

"Not much. I had a lot of drinks. And there was some dancing involved. And then apparently marriage and sex. But I don't remember the last two things. I've been trying so hard, but..." she trails off looking thoughtful.

"There's a spell I can do. It will help me remember what happened."

I don't know about this. "Whoa, Willow. You and memory spells? They tend to lead to badness."

When Willow looks at me again there are tears in her eyes. "I know that, Buffy. I do. But I can't remember my own marriage. It's just a blank spot. I have to do this."

I move to sit by her on the bed, and put my arm around her. "Hey. Hey. It's okay. If you want to do the spell, that's fine. Xander and I will help in anyway we can."

She smiles and brushes the tears off her face. "Thanks. I don't think I need any help. It's not complicated. It just involves some chanting. Would you and Xander mind stepping out of the room so I can do this? I need to concentrate."

"Sure, Buffy and I will be in my room." Xander gives Willow a reassuring smile and heads toward the door.

"Can you believe this?" Xander asks as we step into his room.

"It's a big bunch of crazy," I flop down on Xander's bed. "Willow may think this guy was as drunk as she was, but if this spell makes her remember otherwise..."

Xander nods, "I'll be right there with you with the pummeling."

Resolve face or no, if it turns out that this Clark toke advantage of Willow, I'm going to kill him. One of the advantages of Slayer strength is that I can actually follow through on that threat.

"We don't have good luck when it comes to encounters with alcohol do we?"

"Well, she didn't turn into a cave-woman. That's a good thing." Xander lays down beside me on the bed. "We've gotten through worse than this, Buff. This is just a stupid human-type mistake."

"That's kind of what worries me. I know how to deal with hellmouths and demons. I can't take down drunken marriages with a wooden stake and a bottle of holy water.'

"That's very true. But you want a laugh?"

"What do you have in mind."

"Just imagine Giles' facial expression when he finds out about all this."

Despite the circumstances I can't help but laugh. "Oh, god. You're right. He's going to be all British and tongue-clucky."

"Well, he did warn us not to go to Vegas. He's never going to let this one go."

"Poor Willow."

"Hey, poor us too. You just know we'll be taking some of the blame for this."

"Oh, Xander. What are we going to do?"

"I don't know." I feel Xander reach over and grab my hand. "You know, if this was anyone else, I'd be laughing right now."

I squeeze his hand tightly. "Well, we can't do that. Maybe in a couple of years. But not now. Right now we just have to be there for her."

And we will be. Because we always are. Sunnydale might be gone. But our friendships will last forever.