AUTHOR: Goddess Isa
EMAIL: goddessisa@aol.com
SUMMARY: Remember when Willow was watching Ampatta and Xander together with that lost, hurt look?
SPOILER: Inca Mummy Girl and The Wish
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just email me & lmk where it's going - I like seeing my name in print =)
FEEDBACK: Please, I'd hate to have to Slay for it. =P
RATING: TV-14
DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters, Joss Whedon does. If he ever decides to give them to me, that would be nice. =)
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This wasn't meant to be a series, but I got so much feedback off the first one, The First Time, that, from time to time, I'll be writing these, taking what happened in an episode and throwing Anya into the mix.
Willow sighed as she watched the students dance around her. The Bronze was full of teenagers in costumes. Some, like Christine Moore's, were cool. She was dressed in a traditional Polish dance costume. Some were ridiculous, like Cordelia's.
And some were boring. Like her own.
She sighed again and wondered where Xander was.
Then she saw them.
He was leaning against the wall by the stage with Ampata. He was talking in such a way that his eyes smiled, and that wrenched at Willow's heart. She had to force herself to look away when they kissed.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" a girl walked up, dressed as an Indian.
"Huh?" Willow asked.
"You like him, right?"
"How did you..."
"I'm Anya," she sat down across from Willow. "I'm sort of friends with Cordelia."
"Consider yourself in a minority." she replied dryly.
"I know how you feel about Xander. I just moved here, but I liked this guy back home, Eric. He spent years as my best friend and then bam! He met this girl named Sharla and they were all over each other. Enough to make you puke. Anyways, I always say you should just pretend things were different, and they will be."
Cordelia walked by with one of her friends, pointing and giggling at both girls.
"I thought you said you were friends." Willow said.
"I said sort of friends. I guess we're not now."
"You're better off." Willow sighed. "I was so stupid."
"What do you mean?"
"I wore this dumb thing, no one can even see me."
"It's not that bad," Anya reached around her neck. "You just need a little accessorizing." she pulled the necklace she wore off and offered it to Willow.
"Oh, I couldn't."
"Come on, it'll look good on you."
"You won't even see it."
"Sure you will." she leaned forward and helped Willow hook it. "And don't worry about getting it back to me."
"Thanks," she sighed. "Sometimes I just wish Xander had been madly in love with me from the start."
Anya's head spun around and she became a horrible demon. "Done."
*****
Willow opened her eyes and tried to focus. She was tired and it was blurry. Her head hurt and she didn't know the silk sheets she was lying in. She sat up in bed and looked around. The room belonged to Xander.
"Xander!" she said as everything came to her at once. She was in his room, only, not. There were candles everywhere and the lights were low. Plus, the silk sheets. Quite a switch from the flannel fish-covered ones she remembered.
"Hey honey," he peeked his head out of the bathroom. His hair was wet and sticking up. "The shower's finally warming up, why don't you come join me?"
It was then that Willow realized she was naked. "Oh! Oh, um, no, that's okay, I need to get home."
"Why?"
"I....have to call Buffy!"
"Isn't she with Angel?" he asked.
"Probably, but I have to call her anyway." she smiled at him and began looking around for her clothes. She found them and put them on in a hurry, missing a sock and belt. She tore towards the library, nearly getting hit by a car when she crossed a main highway.
"Giles!" she shouted as she rushed in. "Giles, I--"
She stopped dead. Giles was kissing someone who was sitting on the check-out desk. Her blouse was open and he was touching her breasts.
It was....
Cordelia?!
"Giles!" she shouted.
He pulled away and Cordy screamed.
"My Lord Willow, what are you doing here?"
"I, um, needed to.....where's Buffy?"
"I assume she's with Angel."
"Right. Angel. Thanks."
Willow turned around and ran straight into Xander.
"Hey honey." he put his arm around her and kissed her head. "How are ya? Did you find Buffy? Wanna go to the utility closet and make out?"
*****
A week passed. Willow had a hard time warding Xander off when it came to sex. Telling him she was tired would only work for so long and she was trying desperately to find a way to get back to her own reality. As much as she loved Xander and wanted him to love her back, she felt that this world wasn't real. It wasn't the way Fate intended anything. If she wasn't supposed to be with Xander in the other world she was used to, she thought she could deal with that a lot easier than she was dealing with him now. He was all over her twenty-four seven, and it was wearing on her nerves.
She'd been looking for a free minute to tell Buffy what had happened, but she could never get a moment alone with her. She and Xander happened to be alone in the stacks one night and for once, he was researching and not bothering her.
She sat on the floor with the journal of Hubert Bach, a Watcher back in the first days of Spike's reign as William The Bloody, and tried to concentrate on studying his torture methods. She kept finding it was impossible to stare at the pages with Xander so close.
Sitting there, reading, his hair a little dirty and his eyes droopy from being tired, he looked sexier than he ever had before. He seemed to be concentrating, and she took a deep breath. Crawling over to him, she stuck out her tongue and started to lick his cheek.
"Hey," he put the book down. "You wanna fool around? I don't think anyone'll notice."
She did, so she leaned over and kissed him. She pulled him on top of her and he pushed the books scattered on the floor out of the way so they could lay down. He kissed her intensely and she ran her hands through his hair as he did so, loving the way it felt through her fingers. He slid his hands down her body to the bottom of her sweater and slid his hand inside it, lightly stroking her stomach. She gasped and told herself to keep calm. Half of her couldn't wait for him to move his hand higher, the other half was wondering when she was going to stop him before it got out of hand. The thing was that she'd waited eleven years for this, and now that she had it, she didn't really want to give it up.
His fingers crept just underneath her bra, lightly touching her nipples. She sucked on his bottom lip and closed her eyes, wondering if someone was going to--
"God! You guys! Get a room!"
Willow shoved Xander off of her to see Cordelia standing there, shaking her head.
"You know, I thought you two were going at it up here." she shivered. "I think it's sickening. No, it's worse than sickening. This is our school library, and here you are trying to turn it into some brothel!"
"Cordelia--"
"You know Xander, I would've expected this of you. But Willow? Ugh! Does Giles know? He has to know!" she headed for the stairs and then turned around. "It's one thing for him to wanna have sex here. I mean it's his library. But you guys? EEEW!"
Willow stood up, straightened her clothes and tried to catch her breath. "I've gotta talk to Buffy."
*****
She found her at Angel's, reading poetry to him in bed. She yanked her out of his embrace and sat her down on the couch.
"Buffy, you've gotta kiss Xander.
"What?" she looked disgusted.
"No way," Angel said as he came in, tying the strap of his robe.
"You have to," Willow said. "I stayed up all night last night studying demons with obscure powers, and I found this one from Switzerland, Anyanka. She holds this power called The Wish, and she avenges women who've been scorned by men." she took a deep breath and stared at Buffy. "This world isn't real. I mean, it is to the people in it, but it's not really. I'm from a world where you guys aren't as together as you are now, I mean, you kiss but you're not....together, and Xander doesn't even know I'm alive."
"But Xander's your boyfriend." Buffy said. "You guys are inseparable."
"To the point of nausea now and then." Angel added.
Willow rolled her eyes. "That's what I'm telling you! This world isn't supposed to be! My God, I found Giles kissing Cordelia the other night!!"
"EEEW!" both Buffy and Angel shouted.
"I know! You've gotta help me Buffy. If you kiss Xander--"
"She is NOT kissing Xander!" Angel said.
"You have to," Willow said sadly. "You kissing Xander will mean that I've been scorned. Anya will come to grant me a wish and I'll wish to be back in my old world."
"What if it doesn't work?" Buffy asked. "But wait, I can't kiss Xander!"
"You wanna talk about ew." Angel put in.
"You have to," Willow said. "If you don't, I'll have to stay in this world forever. And as much as I love Xander, I want his love for me to be pure, not the result of some sick magick."
Buffy looked at Angel. "Honey, I have to do it."
"But--"
"Will's my best friend. And she said we're together in her reality, too. Nothing will change, not really."
"Yeah, but just because she goes back to her reality, does that change ours?"
They both looked at Willow.
"I don't think so," she said even though she really didn't know. "You'll do it?"
Buffy looked to Angel for acceptance. He rolled his eyes, then snorted, but finally nodded.
"Great," Willow smiled. "Come on, we'll go to the library." she looked at Buffy's black silk nightgown. "Go change, but put something slutty on."
"How?" she asked. "I don't have Cordelia here to borrow from."
*****
They stalked into the library and found Giles and Cordelia on the desk in his office. Cordy scurried off with her clothes on only half-way and Giles locked himself in the office, saying he had to make a call to London.
Xander was in the stacks, as they'd assumed, actually studying for an American History test he had the next morning.
Buffy took off her coat and made a face. She was wearing one of her too-tight tanks without a sweater overtop and a short purple skirt.
"Just make sure you wear that for me when we get home." Angel said.
They kissed and then Buffy went up the stairs.
"Hi Xander," she stood over him, leaning against the railing and bending one of her legs.
"Hey Buffy."
"Whatcha doin'?"
"Studying, so if you need something..."
Annoyed that he still hadn't looked up at her, she sat down next to him and rubbed her hands on his shoulders. "You must be stiff, tired, from all this hard work."
"I'm okay."
"You know, sometimes kissing can help to relieve all that pent up tention."
Xander put his book down and looked at Buffy. "Um, I don't know what you're getting at, but I love Willow, and I know you love Willow, so--"
She kissed him.
Their lips met and he started to feel shivers up his back. He responded with his lips, and Buffy pulled away after a few seconds, feeling nothing at all.
"Why does she want that?" she asked, wiping her mouth off.
Downstairs, Willow cheered, wishing Anya would show up already.
*****
"This is so stupid," Buffy said. "I hate dances."
"And in the afternoon no less." Cordelia said. "I'm not even wearing heels."
"Yeah, it's sort of..." Willow stopped talking.
She was there.
It had been a month since Buffy had kissed Xander, and their lives hadn't changed at all. She was afraid she'd be stuck in this world forever and then she saw her.
Anya.
She made her way through the crowd and then Cordy saw her and waved her over.
"Anya, come here."
Willow waited anxiously.
"Hi Cordelia," she glanced at Buffy and then settled her eyes on Willow. "Hi, I'm Anya." then she studied her and paled.
"Hi Anya," Willow beamed at her.
"I, um..."
"Is this her?" Buffy mouthed.
Willow nodded.
"Come on Cordy," Buffy said, grabbing the brunette's arm. "I've suddenly gotta pee."
"And you need me for that because?"
Cordelia screamed in pain as Buffy drug her away using her Slayer strength.
"Sit down Anya," Willow said. "That's a beautiful necklace. Can I try it on?"
Anya didn't want to let her, but the magick taking over was too great. Only seconds later, Willow was wearing the necklace.
"Do you ever wish the world would end?" Anya asked.
Willow shook her head. "I wish I'd never made that other wish."
Anya tried to refuse her powers, but they spun her around, turned her into a scary demon and made her utter, "Done."
*****
Willow blinked her eyes again and studied her surroundings. She was back in the Bronze, the costume party was going on, and Xander was kissing Ampatta against the wall.
She drummed her hands on the table and sighed. "I wish it was time to go home already," she muttered.