Almost an hour later, the couple was back at their apartment; even though during the walk there, Pat had reassured Willow countless times that she hadn't done anything evil and that she only had defended herself, the redhead still was close to freaking out, now pacing up and down in the living room while her partner sat on the couch, watching her and feeling slightly helpless, not having an idea how to help her handle this.

"Listen", she finally tried a different approach, "maybe Buffy was right and it just was a one time thing. You have been quite freaked out by that demon and his gross goo, so maybe when he grabbed you, that caused your reaction…"

"But what if not?" Willow wanted to know, finally stopping her pacing and looking at her girlfriend, running both hands through her hair in exasperation, "what if it happens again? It just… I don't know, it kinda took over, that darkness I loaded up with during my rampage, so what if it happens again and I do something much worse?"

"Like what?" Pat asked in reply, once more irritating the redhead and making her shrug helplessly, her voice even more exasperated when she replied. "I don't know, hurting Buffy, or hurting you… it wouldn't be the first time I'd use my magic against you."

"But you weren't evil back then", the demon pointed out in reply, "just kinda, um, pregnant with a demon baby. Or something. Anyway… it won't help to freak out now, let's wait until we spoke to Giles, alright?"

"I'll try", Willow sighed out, to the demon's relief moving to the couch and sitting down next to her at last, "and, Sweetie, I was not pregnant with that thing, remember, I puked it out, I didn't give birth to it."

"Which was good, cause it would have grossed me out forever and ever", Pat smirked, chuckling at the look the redhead gave her in reply, her voice slightly indignant when she replied. "Yeah, right. As if you ever could be grossed forever and ever by my… well, you know. Lady parts."

"Yeah, not likely to happen", Pat agreed after a moment, smiling when the witch snuggled up to her, then putting one arm around her shoulders and rubbing her upper arm soothingly, her voice down to a low murmur when she spoke on. "Maybe it really was just a one time thing, then there's no reason to be worried. And even if it wasn't… We'll figure something out. We always do."

"I know", Willow agreed after a moment, making her partner smile again, "but you understand why I'm worried, right? I mean, this darkness has been a part of me ever since I sucked all those books dry in the Magic Box, but… something like that never happened before. Even when I was all Evil Darkness Willow, I still knew what I was doing… Or when Amy was controlling us, there was a tiny part of the real me left, but this time…"

"Of course I understand", Pat reassured her, "I'd freak too if my demon side suddenly would start to randomly take over. But it'll be fine, I promise."

"I hope so", Willow sighed, a hearty yawn escaping her afterwards as her tiredness took over despite her concerns; smirking, Pat suggested that they should get some rest now, not surprised when the redhead nodded at once.

"I'm drained", she then muttered, coming to her feet and prompting her partner to do the same, "whatever I did to that demon was really tiring."

"It was also really impressive", the taller woman gave back as they made their way into the bedroom together, "I think I've never seen you use such strong magic before. Except for maybe that time we were on holiday in Maine and you had to close that nasty portal there."

"That was quite draining, too", Willow remembered, grimacing at she thought of the situation they had been stuck in back then, "actually, it was worse than whatever it was I did today. I still don't want a repeat performance."

"Not if you don't remember afterwards, nope", the demon agreed as she changed into her pyjama, the redhead doing the same; she yawned again while she laid down and pulled the covers over herself, her girlfriend joining her moments later and making her smile by immediately pulling her into a tender embrace and moving one hand to caress her hair, clearly eager to give her some more comfort after the unsettling occurrence in the cave.

Smiling slightly, Willow craned her neck to kiss her partner, pulling back just in time so she could let out another yawn; chuckling, Pat told her to sleep well, making her nod before she closed her eyes, drifting off into dreamland not even a minute later, the demon following her a short time afterwards.


In the next morning, Willow barely took the time to have breakfast, merely gulping down a cup of coffee before she got the phone to call Giles; while she did so, Pat just sat there and watched her, clutching her coffee cup with one hand and her cigarette with the other, not capable of proper speech yet.

As she waited for Giles to take her call, Willow fidgeted on her seat nervously, asking herself what was taking the Brit so long; and just when she was growing impatient and wanted to hang up to try again later, a click sounded through the line, followed by the Watcher's voice as he took the call with a short "Hello?"

"Giles, good morning, it's me", Willow greeted him, relieved that he had answered the phone at last, "um… this is kinda urgent, can Pat and I come over in an hour or so?"

"Of course, I have no plans for today, well, none which include leaving the house", the Brit replied, sounding slightly surprised and a bit alarmed, the second emotion probably caused by the urgency he had heard in the witch's voice, "but what is going on?"

"Something bad happened at patrol yesterday", the redhead let him know in reply, then quickly told him what exactly had happened; when she had finished, he remained quiet for a while, slight concern in his voice when he finally replied, just before she could ask him if he was still there.

"This does sound quite serious. Has it happened again since yesterday?" he wanted to know, a bit relieved when Willow declined; he told her that he'd look into it and that they should be at his house in an hour, as the redhead had suggested, prompting her to thank him enthusiastically and making him smile at his end of the line.

"There is nothing to thank me for", he reassured her, "I will see you later, then."

"Thanks anyway", Willow insisted, "and yes, see you later." With those words, she ended the call, then looked at her partner while she put her phone down on the table, smiling slightly when she informed the demon of the call's result.

"You'll be awake enough to go there in an hour, right?" she teasingly wanted to know afterwards, feeling much better now that she knew that already in this moment, Giles was looking for a way to help her; her amusement only grew when Pat just let out a grunt in reply, and she giggled slightly as she sat down next to her girlfriend and reached up with one hand to tousle her hair, receiving yet another grunt as an answer.

"You're cute when you're grumpy", she told the black haired woman afterwards, then finally succeeded in making her smile by leaning over and planting a hearty smack on her cheek; she smiled back at her, then got up from her seat again to help herself to another cup of coffee, even humming softly to herself now as she poured the by now lukewarm liquid into her cup, then added milk and sugar, grimacing after the first sip though.

"It's cold now, thanks to the milk", she explained at the taller woman's questioning look; to her surprise, Pat let out another grunt – before she took the cup from her and held it with one hand, said hand flaming up moments later, the unexpected fire prompting the witch to let out a small squeal.

"Jeez, don't do that", she then scolded, "you startled me."

In response, the demon just gave her a slight smirk, holding the cup for another half minute before the fire finally went out again and she gave it back, the sight of the now steaming hot coffee delighting the witch despite how much the sudden use of fire had startled her; she thanked her partner, then took a careful sip of the coffee, finding herself able to enjoy the taste now that she knew Giles would help her.

"I wonder if he'll already have found anything by the time we'll get there", she mused out loud while Pat finished her cigarette and put it out in the ashtray close to her, making her shrug slightly – before she showed that finally, she could communicate again, even though she still sounded a bit gruff when she replied. "Possibly, but if not, he'll probably make us read all those books with the stupid tiny print again."

"Poor you", Willow showed sympathy in reply, well aware of why exactly the black haired woman didn't like the tiny print, smiling slightly when Pat shrugged after a moment, her next words causing the smile to widen considerably.

"Yeah, woe is me", the demon sighed out, "but well, the things I do for love…"

"Aw", the witch cooed in reply, "you're so sweet. And I love you, too."

The two smiled at each other, then Willow leaned in for a quick kiss; afterwards, they both finished their coffee, the demon smoking yet another cigarette, before they made their way to the bathroom for the morning hygiene routines, getting ready to leave and to head for Giles' house just in time to arrive there at the time they had agreed on.