Author's Note: As promised, here we go with the next one. I'm really running out of things to say here… Any wishes? XD

Disclaimer: None of the characters from B:TVS are mine. Just borrowing them for a while to play a little with them.

Vengeance Rising

"…to drink, Ma'am?" The polite, but still friendly voice tore Willow out of the thoughts she had been pondering ever since she had boarded the plane, and she nearly flinched in her seat as she looked up, at the smiling face of the flight attendant; making herself smile back, she shook her head, the woman just nodding before she moved on the ask the passenger behind her if he wanted anything.

Looking out of the window again, the redhead returned her attention to the contents of her mind; it had been almost a month that she last had sat in a plane, on her way to England to get the dark magic within her back under control, and now that this had been accomplished as well as it was possible, she was on her way back to Sunnydale, to reunite with her friends and her loved one. The thought of Pat filled her with a strange mixture of nervousness and happiness; they hadn't spoken since she had left for England, since the usage of cell phones and other modern methods of communication had been discouraged by Natasha, the head of the coven, and even though she had been longing to hear her partner's voice at least once, Willow had accepted this rule and had stuck to it, not even calling to tell the demon when she would arrive at the airport, Natasha reassuring her that she had taken care of this.

Let's hope she really did take care of that, the witch thought to herself as she watched the clouds pass by beneath the plane outside; she didn't doubt the other witch's words, not really, but the thought of standing at the Sunnydale airport with no one there to pick her up made her heart clench up nonetheless.

Holding back a sigh, she briefly closed her eyes as she thought of the final words the elder witch had said to her, of the warning she had spoken about how the dark magic was still there, always would be there, only shoved back to be under her control once more; she had warned her imploringly to not use those powers again anytime soon, that this might make them break right back out and take over once more, and the mere thought of this happening made a shudder run through the redhead's body. Again, she thought of the events which had taken place before she had gone to England once more, of the shock she had felt after waking up from yet another dark-magic-induced blackout and had found herself looking at her partner, the taller woman visibly shaken up and weakened; she remembered how scared she had been when she had seen that whatever the dark magic had done to her partner had caused part of her hair to go grey, and idly wondered if said grey still was there now, after several weeks had passed.

Then, she remembered something even more unpleasant, nearly shivering again as she thought of the look that had been on Pat's face when she had caught her in bed with Mel, someone who had been sent to Sunnydale to help her and instead had ended up betraying her and causing even more pain and harm; the demon had reassured her that she had forgiven her, but still Willow found herself worried about the truth of this words, finding it hard to imagine that she really had been forgiven so easily after this dreadful incident, even though it hadn't been her fault.

Still she felt nervous about seeing her partner again after what had happened, unable to stop wondering if maybe, Pat had changed her mind during the time she had been gone and had decided that the cheating had been too bad after all and that it'd be better to break up; then, she pushed those thoughts aside, telling herself not to be stupid, that Giles had explained it all to the demon and that she really had forgiven her and hadn't just said so to make her agree about going to England again.

Now eager to distract herself from those unpleasant ponderings, Willow dug out the book she had brought along; she managed to keep herself busy with that for almost an hour, then got distracted once more by yet another flight attendant as the woman moved through the aisle between the seats with the meals the airline provided for its customers.

Even though she didn't really feel hungry, the redhead accepted the tray and thanked the young woman for it; figuring that she'd spend a few more hours in the plane and that she might as well eat the food, since it had been paid for already and she couldn't know if she wouldn't end up hungry later on. Thus, she ate the whole meal, even though it wasn't all too tasty or well-prepared; and after she had finished eating, she leaned back into the seat and closed her eyes, soon drifting off into an uneasy, but dreamless sleep.

"…Sunnydale airport, please fasten your seatbelts", the crackling sound of the captain's voice coming through the speakers tore Willow out of her sleep several hours later, the redhead briefly surprised how long she had been slumbering – after all, she hadn't been all too tired when she had gotten on the plane, even though the flight had left early in the morning, and had been sure that she wouldn't be able to get much sleep.

Sitting up in the seat, she stretched, grimacing at her back cracking, before she did what the pilot had said and put on the seatbelt, then looked out the window again, her heart beating faster when she saw the lights of Sunnydale beneath the plane. Now feeling nervous again, she shifted on her seat once more, imagining various scenarios of being reunited with her partner; and even though she wanted to reunion to be happy, she couldn't help herself, but imagine several which turned out to be the complete opposite, either with Pat not being there at all and Buffy telling her that she had left town after she had gone to England, or with the demon telling her that she only had come to the airport to break up with her after all.

Stop that, she told herself, mildly annoyed at her own mind for wigging her out like that, she'll be there, she forgave you, and you know it!

Still she couldn't help it, but kept feeling nervous as the plane slowly started to descent; and by the time it landed and they all were allowed to get out, her heart was hammering up to her throat, and when she stretched to get her bag out of the compartment over her head, she noticed that her hands were trembling visibly.

"Are you okay, dear?" an old woman next to her wanted to know, giving her a concerned look, "you're trembling all over."

"Um, I'm fine, thanks", the redhead gave back, forcing a smile which felt way too fake on her face, "I just… I get a bit nervous whenever the plane lands."

"Oh, I know about that", the woman grimaced, giving her a sympathetic look, "I always have to take a calming pill before the plane lands or my stomach goes crazy on me!"

Not sure what to reply to this, Willow just smiled sympathetically, making the old woman grin back at her; then, the passengers already lined up in the aisle started to move, signalling that the door had been opened, and the redhead quickly moved into the line, taking a few deep breaths as she approached the exit.

Even though it already felt as if she was close to a heart attack, her heart rate sped up even more as she walked down the gangway with the other passengers; and when she could see the gate leading to the terminal up ahead, her stomach decided to make things even worse by clenching up, and for a moment, she felt like turning around and bolting back into the plane. Then, she told herself not to be stupid once more, and that she shouldn't be afraid, but excited about seeing her partner again any moment; and with that thought settling on her mind, she even sped up her steps, making her way through the gate a minute later.

Slowing down a bit again, she looked around, eager to spot anyone of her friends; her heart sank when she couldn't see any familiar faces, and she slowed down even further as she kept craning her neck, finding it hard to believe that no one would be there to pick her up.

Maybe Natasha didn't tell them after all, she thought to herself, her gaze still wandering over the crowd of people waiting for their loved ones to reunite with them, I should call Pat and— Her heart performed a daring leap in her chest when she spotted a very familiar figure in the crowd, a wide smile forming on her face as she got a closer look when one of the taller passengers in front of her moved out of her line of sight and gave her the chance to spot the black and red hair and the eyepatch; then, Pat had seen her too and started grinning from ear to ear, pushing past the other waiting people and then making the scene complete by opening her arms, ignoring the way the men and women around her were glaring at her.

Now smiling so wide that it felt as if the corners of her mouth would reach her ears any moment, Willow sped up again, until she was almost running, moving past the other people making their way to the waiting crowd; and for the last few steps, she actually did run, then jumped, bursting into giggles as she felt the taller woman catch her and keep her feet from touching the floor again.

For the blink of an eye, the witch felt torn between saying something and just kissing her; then, she decided the second option was best and, not caring who was watching and what these people might think, wrapped her legs around the taller woman's waist and kissed her deeply, her heart soaring to the skies when she immediately felt the demon respond.

"God, I've missed you", she breathed after they had pulled apart again and Pat carefully lowered her so she could stand on her own feet again, "I can't even think of the all the superlatives necessary to describe how much…"

"Me neither", the taller woman replied, smirking slightly with a well-known glint in her eye which made the redhead giggle again, "cause all I can think about right now is to undress you and make up for three weeks, five days, and eleven hours of being apart."

"You counted the hours?" Willow giggled in reply, "that's so cute."

"Yup I did", the taller woman confirmed, smirking again, "I only refrained from counting the minutes because I was worried the others might think I'm insane then."

"Understandable", the redhead agreed, then realized that said others were nowhere to be seen and frowned before she looked around, her gaze moving back to her girlfriend a few moments later. "Where are the others, anyway?"

"Somewhere back there", the demon smirked, gesturing at the crowd of people still waiting for their loved ones to come off the plane, "I made them wait there, I said I wanted to be the first one to see you and to greet you."

"Somehow, that's cute and selfish at the same time", Willow smiled, then pulled the taller woman down for another kiss; she had intended it to be short and innocent, but couldn't bring herself to pull back, a soft sigh escaping her when the kiss deepened a few seconds later.

"You know", the witch mumbled after the kiss, her eyes sparkling, "we really should go and find them so I can say hello to them, too…"

"Or we could just stand here a bit longer and kiss some more", Pat suggested, making the redhead giggle once more; the couple shared another kiss, a short and innocent one this time, then Willow grasped the taller woman's hand and gestured towards the back of the ground, suggesting that they should go and find the rest of the gang now.

"Okay, fine", the demon agreed with an exaggerated sigh, "less kissing and more finding of the gang then…"

Giggling again, the redhead nodded, then started moving through the crowd with her partner by her side; only now, she fully realized that the grey had vanished again from the taller woman's hair, and she commented on it, not surprised when immediately, Pat started to smirk again.

"Yeah", she then confirmed, "about two weeks after you'd left, I demoned out one time because some idiot vampire had called a bunch of buddies, and when I changed back, no more grey. Luck me, huh?"

"Indeed", Willow nodded, an impish smile curling her lips moments later, and a mischievous glint appearing in her eyes as she went on, her next words making the demon huff. "It's eye-catching enough that you have two colours in your hair, but three? That was bit of an overkill."

"Barely back for ten minutes, and already she's sassy again", Pat said to no one in particular in reply, making the redhead laugh once more; then, she stopped walking to pull her down for another kiss before they finally managed to make their way out of the crowd, spotting Buffy and the rest of the gang a few moments later.