Redemption
Disclaimer: I dont own the characters:(
Summary: What would happen if Willow and Faith spent the night in LA after resouling Angel? What would Willow and Angel talk about?
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Willow stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body. She looked in the mirror and saw her eyes staring back begging to rest. The witch didn't realize how much energy the spell took until Angel offered a room for the night. He insisted that she and Faith take a room for the night after the ordeal with Angelus. Willow was glad for the nights rest mostly so she could clear her head before returning to Sunnydale to work on the latest apocalypse. She was about to climb into bed when she heard her stomach growl. Willow groaned and started for the door hoping that there was something downstairs to eat.
"Angel!" Willow squeaked when she opened the door and saw Angel with his hand raised ready to knock. "You're a mind reader!" She exclaimed when she saw the pizza he was holding.
"I thought you would be hungry and I'm told that this is the best pizza around." He held the box a little higher and opened it a little. "A whole pizza just for you"
Willow smiled and gladly took the pizza. "Thank you so much, it smells delicious." She turned to put it on the table. "Do you want to join me?" She asked when he didn't follow. "I don't need to invite you in do I? I'm not living here."
"No, I just didn't want to intrude." He entered the room.
"So do you want some? I don't think I could eat all of this myself." Willow held a piece to him.
"No thank you. You eat it."
"I don't think I could eat all of this myself."
"You can save it then. Have it on the way home tomorrow. I'm sure you and Faith will be hungry. I wouldn't want to be stuck between a hungry slayer and hungry witch. It could be dangerous." Angel joked
Willow tried to smile but failed. "Yeah, well, I don't know how much of a witch I am any more."
"What do you mean?" Angel asked confused. "You just re souled me…again. That's pretty big."
"Yeah…but, you know" Willow was about to put another piece of pizza in her mouth when she noticed his still confused expression. "You do know, right?"
"Do I know what?"
"Oh…nothing" Willow tried to cover weakly
"Willow…" Angel pressed
"I guess they wouldn't want anyone to know." She said more to herself.
"Willow, what's wrong?" Angel asked moving to sit in the chair across from her. He could sense her uneasiness. He leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. "What happened? Is everything okay in Sunnydale?"
Willow almost laughed. "I guess that depends on what you mean by okay…but I'm not talking about now." She didn't continue
"Then what are you talking about?" Angel pushed
"Last year, some things happened. I…I guess you can say I got addicted to magic. I know that sounds stupid…"
"It's not unheard of."
"No, but that doesn't make what I did any better."
Angel was afraid to ask. "What did you do?"
Willow stared at him for a minute before saying anything. "At first it was little things, but then I got a big head after bringing Buffy back." Willow stopped and looked at the pizza, but found she wasn't hungry anymore.
"What happened?" Angel asked with his chin resting on his hands. He didn't know if he wanted to hear this. He didn't want to think of Willow falling.
Willow wasn't sure what she wanted or should tell Angel. "I started going to this guy…"
"What guy?" Angel prompted.
"His name was Rack. He…"
"Rack" Angel questioned surprised. "Willow, you shouldn't get involved with him."
"Don't you think I know that?" She snapped. "Did you notice I said was?"
"He's gone." Angel deadpanned
"He's dead." Willow said in the same voice
"Buffy?"
"Me."
Willow told Angel how she met Rack through Amy and all the events leading up to getting Dawn hurt and stopping the magic. Angel thought that was all Willow had to tell him. "Willow…"
"Do you want to know the rest?" she cut him off
"There's more?"
"There's a lot more." Willow paused for a moment. "I was fine for awhile." She continued with her story.
Angel listened closely to everything she told him. He could tell it was hard for her. He knew of witches that went through withdrawal. He had an idea of what she went through and guessed it blew up in her face and everyone else's faces. A witch couldn't just stop using magic. That was one of the most dangerous things that can be done. That's how he knew it was going to get worse.
"Congratulations" He said when she told him she and her girlfriend got back together.
"Yeah, let's jump up and down." She said sarcastically. "It only lasted a night." Willow could feel the tears starting to fall down her cheeks. "Warren got tired of waiting to defeat Buffy…so he…he tried to kill her with a gun." Angel moved to Willows chair but she moved quickly away from him. "She lived after getting hit, but Tara…Tara…" Angel used his vampire speed to get to Willow and hold her. He knew she needed to talk about it and he was going to listen. He owed her that much. "She died…in my arms. He killed her." Willow took a breath.
"Willow…" Angel truly wished she wouldn't say what he knew she was going to say.
"So I filled myself with magic, found him, and used the bullet that he used. I wasn't quick either." Willow stood looking out the window. "After that I didn't care about anything. I nearly killed all my friends. Then Giles came back. He dosed me and I felt all the pain in the world." Willow gave a sad smile. "If it wasn't for Xander, the world wouldn't be here right now."
Angel stood a few feet from where Willow was looking out of the window. He didn't know what to say to her. He slowly walked up to her and rested his hand on her shoulder. She didn't show any reaction to the gesture or when he said her name. Angel wasn't sure if she was completely there with him.
"I'm sorry." He said after a few minutes of silence.
"I would say sorry, but I've said it so much the words are meaningless now." Willows voice didn't hold any emotion now.
"You don't have to. They already forgive you and know that it wasn't you." Angel assured her
"And that just makes it all better." The cynicism was evident
Angel let out an unneeded sigh. "I know how you feel. Trust me, I know. I know that you will never forgive yourself. As much as people say it wasn't you, you will never believe them. Everyone has a bad side. Yours was just pushed to much. I know what its like."
"How do you get through it?" Willow asked quietly
"I brood." He said simply. "It's not effective, but…"
"It's all that can be done." Willow finished for him.
"They will never punish you the way you want. They love you too much." Angel put his arm around her shoulders. Instead of pulling away Willow rested her head on his chest. "You made a bad choice, but it's understandable. You have this power and didn't know how to control it."
"Giles took me to England and I got some help there. Sometimes I don't know if it helped."
"It helped. We're all still here. You're good. I think it helped." Angel assured and rubbed her arm. "It will get better in time."
"Time for redemption"
"Redemption" Angel said still holding her.
THE END
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