Willow sat on the edge of her bed and looked down at her red sneakers. She knew she should be working on something for school. She looked at the clock. 9:12. Too early to go to bed. She could call Tara. She could check up on Buffy and Dawn. Instead, she rolled back on the bed and pulled a blanket over her. Thoughts swam in her head.
Buffy's mom is dead. Spike is in love with Buffy. Glory will probably kill us all. I skipped Lit class again. Tara still has my red jacket. I was going to wear that tomorrow. ... Is the other Joyce gone? Does Faith suddenly have a little sister? What would William be like if he were in love?
Willow rolled over quickly and squeezed her eyes shut. She had told herself she was *not* going to think about the other universe. She kicked off her sneakers. 9:18. Maybe it wasn't too early for bed after all.
In her dream, Willow was wearing the socks, red jeans, and blue t-shirt that she on when she went to bed. She thought it was odd for a dream that she remembered what she had been wearing when she went to sleep. It seemed even more odd that she was so aware in the dream. The marble walls and columns in the room she was in seemed so very real.
"That's because you aren't dreaming."
Willow spun. There was a girl in a toga speaking to her. She had curly golden hair and her skin looked metallic. There was a braided band around her forehead, and Willow could see some of the girl's veins spidering out here and there. "Who are you?" Willow asked.
The girl smiled. "My predecessors called themselves oracles. But I do not think I like that name. It didn't do anything for them in the end."
Willow, who still thought she was dreaming, asked casually "what happened to them in the end?"
"They were killed."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's okay." The little girl waved her hand and two chairs appeared. She motioned for Willow to sit. "You still think you're dreaming. You're not."
Willow's pulse quickened. She didn't like this dream. She sat down. "If I'm not dreaming, where am I?"
"In between, I guess you could say. Right now, we're outside of space, but not time. Look." The girl waved her hand and in the air before them it was like watching TV. Willow saw Tara knock on her dorm room and then enter. Tara picked up one of Willow's red shoes from the bed and turned it over in her hands. She looked perplexed.
Willow stood up and went to the vision. "I'm not there." She turned and looked at the girl. "I'm really not dreaming." The girl shook her head. "Well, what am I doing here? Send me back." The girl shook her head. She closed the vision. "Have a seat Willow. We need to talk. You've messed some things up. Set some things in motion. The powers that be have not yet decided what to do about that."
To Willow, it seemed as though the marble room began to spin. "Set things in motion?"
Another vision parted the air. It was Buffy. Willow almost didn't recognize her at first. Her hair was shoulder-length and her clothes were rather plain. The most disturbing thing was her eyes. They looked lifeless. She was in what appeared to be a small apartment, and she was on the phone, gripping it tightly in one hand. The other hand was playing with something on her necklace, a nervous habit. "What is this?" Willow asked. "What does this mean?"
"This was a week ago. Her mom just called her."
Willow teared up. She knew she wasn't watching her Buffy. This was the other one. And she was on the phone with her mom... something that could never happen again for her Buffy.
"Someone told that Joyce Summers that her daughter might be in Northern California going by the name Anne."
Willow didn't say anything. The image swirled and a lump rose in Willow's throat. It was William, sitting by a fire, with a small black book. He had a pen in his hand, but he wasn't using it. The tips of his fingers rested on a piece of paper tucked in the book. Willow's breath caught when she saw what it was. "Where did he get that?"
"Tore it out of a yearbook at the Watcher's place. Touching, isn't it? This is what he does every night."
Willow was dazed. "I always hated that picture." She couldn't keep her eyes away from him.
"He was never supposed to meet you." She changed the image again. Now it was Faith and Xander arguing. Willow didn't understand. "What? I caused them to argue?"
"You caused a delay." The girl closed the vision again. "As I said, you messed some things up. Started some stuff. You have no idea what you've done. The powers haven't decided how to proceed, so they're going to experiment."
"Experiment?"
"We're putting you back in the other universe to see what happens. Will you continue to disrupt, or will you bring to fruition?"
"What about *my* universe?"
"We'll see," the girl said. Then she snapped her fingers, and Willow was falling.
Xander and Faith were arguing again. William rolled his eyes. This is what it had been like with them for weeks. When were they just going to realize -
"Aaahhh!!!"
William was knocked off his feet as a body collided with him out of nowhere. The shock of impact was quickly displaced by the shock of who was now lying on top of him in the cemetary. If the mass of red hair in his face hadn't given it away, her scent would have.
"I really gotta work on my entrances," Willow mumbled. She didn't seem to notice she was lying on top of someone. She was certainly aware of it when he pushed the hair out of her face and left his hands on either side of her head.
"William," she breathed. Her whole face lit up, but he didn't say anything. Willow realized it was kind of awkward to be pinning him to the ground, and she made a move to get off him. He didn't let her. One hand dropped to her lower back and the other pulled her head down to his. She did not resist. In fact, she let out a little moan. It had been weeks since she'd kissed Spike to see what it would be like to kiss William, and this was every bit as good as she remembered. No, this was better. This was much better. This was wrong. She pulled her head back. Her breath was short.
"We shouldn't -"
"Sorry, I -"
The couple on the grass didn't get the chance to complete their awkward moment because about this time they heard Faith's amused laughter. "Look who's back," she said dryly.
Xander went over and helped Willow off William and to a standing position. "You fell from the sky." Xander grinned goofily at Willow.
"Xand's got this habit of stating the obvious when he's in shock," Faith interjected. "Why did you fall from the sky?"
Willow was still a little flustered. True, she had just fallen out of nowhere, but it was the kissing that had her still blushing. She'd fallen on top of William and they'd started kissing. In front of people. Oh dear. "I, uh, I'm not sure. I was in my room and then I was in this place, and there was this girl in a toga and she said they were going to experiment and the next thing I know, I'm falling, and..."
"Whoa, Red, slow down. What girl? What kind of experiment?"
Willow took a deep breath. Why did Faith always have to be so pushy? "She didn't really say who she was. I think she was kind of a spokesperson for something else. And I got the impression that whoever she works for thinks I may have messed some things up in this reality." Willow looked at her feet. "Sorry 'bout that." Her eyes met Faith's. "I think they, whoever They are, put me back here to see if I mess anything else up... or fix something."
"So it's like Quantum Leap, then, and you're here to 'set right what once went wrong'?" Xander joked.
Willow smiled, thankful for the levity he brought to Faith's questioning stare. "Only no Ziggy to tell me what to do."
William and Faith exchanged a confused look. "Whatever," the Slayer said. "I guess we should go to Giles. Tell him you're here."
"And Buffy," William added.
"Yeah, tell her too, I guess." Faith made no effort to hide her mood.
Willow looked to William. "Buffy's here? She came back?"
"A couple of days ago," William said. "This private investigator that Joyce hired found her. After a few new clues." He raised an eyebrow at her.
The four began walking. Xander sidled up to Willow and slung an arm around her shoulders. "I know it's gotta be weird for you, but it's nice to see you again."
Silently, William and Faith fell two steps behind.