Author's Note: Since I won't be able tomorrow or the day after tomorrow (concert tomorrow, big company meeting thingy on Friday), I'm posting the next chapter one day early, namely today. Enjoy :)
"This is too cute", Anya whispered two hours later, giving her best to keep her voice low so she wouldn't destroy the sight she just had referred to that way, "I wish I had a camera!"
"Anya", Buffy scolded, trying hard to speak quietly as well, "that's not nice, poor her, she's so tired…"
"I always thought it'd be the other way round, with Willow being tired out by her", Xander commented, shrugging when Buffy shot him a dirty look, then moved closer to Pat, having to admit that Anya was right – the sight of her slumbering soundly, her head resting on the book she had been going through before her tiredness had taken the better of her, was kind of cute.
"She's not drooling on the book, is she", Giles demanded to know, throwing said book a worried look and receiving a dirty one from Buffy as well for his troubles; then, the Slayer moved closer to Pat, briefly wondering if the demon would react similar to her when she was woken up unexpectedly before she shrugged it off and touched the taller woman's shoulder carefully, not surprised when Pat jerked up in her seat in reply and let out a small, startled noise.
"You should go home", Buffy stated as soon as she could be sure that the demon knew where she was and wouldn't think she was under attack or something, "and get some proper rest. Giles doesn't like it when we use his books as pillows."
"Sorry", the demon mumbled in reply, tiredly rubbing at her good eye, "guess you're right, I should go home and sleep. Did you guys find anything while you let me slumber?"
"Unfortunately not yet", Giles was the one to answer that question, "but we'll keep looking into it. We'll call you the moment we find something."
"Alright", Pat gave back, then let out another hearty yawn; she gave the others an apologetic glance, then told them to be careful before she left the store, finding it hard to believe how tired she felt as she walked down the street. For a moment, she even considered calling a taxi so she wouldn't have to walk, then shook her head to herself and told herself not to be silly – she was a demon after all, with according strength and stamina, so she should be able to handle that not so far walk.
Thus, she walked on, fighting the urge to yawn again every now and then; by the time the apartment building finally appeared in the distance, she felt like rolling up on the sidewalk and falling asleep, finally giving in to the urge and letting out yet another huge yawn. A quick glance at her watch showed her that she still had almost another hour until Willow would come back from college; it was decided within the blink of an eye that she'd use that hour for slumbering, the thought of doing just that on the comfortable living room couch even making it possible for her to speed up her steps.
A few minutes later, she finally reached the building, yawning again as she entered, then moved on to the elevator; and finally, she was in the apartment, immediately falling down on the couch after taking off her shoes and jacket, drifting off into sleep again within seconds, slumbering soundly until her girlfriend came home an hour later.
When Willow arrived at the apartment, the snoring of her girlfriend was already audible in the small anteroom, and she smiled to herself while she took off her shoes and jacket; a moment later, the smile was wiped from her face though as yet another stomach cramp rushed through her, a rather unpleasant sensation which had been bothering her again and again the whole day.
Gritting her teeth, she bent over, one hand pressed to her tummy while she steadied herself against the wall with the other one; just like during the other times this had happened to her during the day, the pain was so intense for a moment that it felt as if someone had grabbed handfuls of her intestines and was twisting and jerking them around for the fun of it, then the pain subsided slowly, the witch momentarily closing her eyes as she let out a relieved breath.
Briefly, she wondered if she should be worried about those cramps – during all the time she had been at college now, she never had experienced something like this, not even during the most stressful times right before finals or when the deadline for a paper had come nearer and nearer and various other obligations – such as aiding the Slayer to save the world yet again – had kept her from doing any proper work on it. The thoughts about her stomach cramps led her to the unusually high appetite she had been forced to deal with during the last days, making her ask herself if this maybe was connected; then, a strange sense of indifference came over her as she shrugged it off and moved on into the living room, smiling when she found Pat on the couch there, the demon fast asleep, her feet up on the armrest, one arm dangling from the couch.
With her smile widening, she just looked at the cute sight for a few moments, thinking about how much she still was in love with this woman, despite how long they were together already; this was the longest relationship she'd ever had so far, and at the beginning, she had been worried that their passion and love might be dulled, maybe even turn into routine and some sort of habit, but by now, all those doubts were gone, replaced with the security that this wouldn't happen anytime soon.
After another loving look at her girlfriend, Willow decided that she'd let her slumber a bit longer, feeling slightly bad for tiring her out like this – it was obvious that her heightened appetites not only for food, but also in the bedroom were responsible for the tiredness of her loved one, and she figured that it couldn't hurt to let her get some more rest.
Now that the stomach cramp was gone once more, her hunger was coming back, her mouth watering as she thought of the stuff they had in the fridge; quickly, it was settled that she'd get some food first, and wake her girlfriend up once she'd eaten, a small smile appearing on her face again as she made her way into the kitchen, her cramps and the unusual nature of her strange appetites once more pushed to the far back of her mind.
Several hours later, a rather large meal had been eaten and Pat had been woken up, the couple spending quite a big part of those hours on the couch afterwards with cuddling, enjoying the rare calm time before they'd have to leave for patrol.
To Pat's surprise, Willow had told her that she'd come along on patrol that night, even though she had classes early in the next morning; since this clearly didn't bother her though, the demon didn't let her bother it either, but was happy about it instead, looking forward to spending some more time with her loved one – even if that time would be spent at the cemetery.
To Willow's great relief, the stomach cramps hadn't come back again ever since the painful one she'd had right after coming home; this convinced her that it only had been caused by something she'd eaten – a fact which wasn't surprising, considering the masses of food she had been munching down lately – and didn't see a reason to tell her girlfriend, knowing it would only worry her and not wanting to distract her, especially not shortly before they'd go on patrol.
Thus, she kept quiet about those strange tummy pains, hoping she wouldn't suffer from any during patrol while she got ready for just that, putting on quite bright clothes to attract the vampires and hiding a stake in the inner pocket of her jacket; since Pat only owned black and dark red clothing, it wasn't possible for her to wear bright stuff as well, but by now, they had been out on patrol together often enough to know that the clothing Willow was wearing would be enough to attract the vampires anyway.
"Plus, Dawn has a thing for bright colours too", the witch stated as they left the apartment together, after the demon had armed herself properly as well; nodding, Pat smirked and grasped her hand, sounding as amused as she looked when she replied. "She does, so the poor vampires will be confused about whom to jump first."
"Poor them indeed", Willow giggled, feeling strangely giddy now that her stomach apparently had calmed down, "but I'm sure they'll be able to handle it… Until we dust them."
Again she made the demon nod with those words, a small sigh escaping the taller woman afterwards while she pushed the button which called the elevator up to the second floor.
"I just hope she won't do anything reckless again", she then explained the reason for that unhappy noise, "but I promised her I'd let her dust one the next time you come along on patrol, and that's tonight, so…"
"I'm sure she'll keep your advice in mind", Willow reassured her in reply, "plus, even if she doesn't, you and me will be there to protect her."
"Yup, but we won't be around all the time", Pat pointed out, stepping into the elevator when it arrived a second later and pushing the button for the ground floor before she continued. "So I really hope she'll learn how to fight according to her skills and strengths. You know, I'm a bit surprised she didn't ask you about learning witchcraft yet."
"I think she's still a bit freaked out about that", Willow grimaced, her gaze darkening as she thought about the reason why Dawn might be freaked out about witchcraft. "I did some pretty stupid things when I was… well, when I was addicted to the magic", she explained, smiling slightly again when her girlfriend reached over to grasp her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "and unfortunately, she was right next to me during one of my lowest moments… I got her hurt, and scared her pretty badly."
"I'm sure she'll get over that sooner or later", the demon shrugged after thinking about this for a moment, "and then she'll ask you to teach her. Teenagers are surprisingly good at getting over such stuff, and you got better, as well, right? She trusts you again."
"I did", Willow confirmed, "and yeah, I think she does… Maybe she's just not interested in magic. Like you, you're a demon and naturally inclined to it, but you don't care much about it."
"That's because I got you to do all the magicky stuff", Pat shrugged, "plus, before I met you, I never had much reason to learn about it or something, I always got along well without it."
"It's strange that as an assassin, you lived a much less dangerous life than you do now here in Sunnydale", the redhead giggled in reply, making her girlfriend chuckle as well when she realized that this was true; afterwards, the two beamed at each other, quickly sharing an innocent kiss before the elevator doors opened and allowed them to leave, the couple stepping out of the apartment building half a minute later and making their way to the Summers' house, both of them knowing that Dawn was already eagerly waiting for their arrival.