CHAPTER THREE

After taking a few minutes to wait for her sobs to reside, Willow decided it would be best for her to go back into the apartment and try to smooth the ruffled feathers she had created with the big announcement. She wasn't going to change her mind but she wanted all of them to really understand how much thought she had put into her decision. Hearing voices on the other side of the door, she slowly turned the knob and began to open the door but froze with it still open slightly when she heard her name being mentioned by Xander who was trying to console the blonde Slayer. "...Willow is never going to have the guts to actually leave. She's just blowing off some steam." The words were enough for her to shut the door again, nobody on the other side having realized she was able to hear the last snippet of conversation.

Carefully closing the door again so they wouldn't realize she had heard, Willow stood on the doorstep with a look of mild shock on her face. So they didn't think she had it in her to leave, huh? She stood there for another minute, trying to decide if she should be angry and leave or if she should still go back in and explain herself. If they didn't have the confidence in her, maybe they didn't deserve another chance to try and talk her out of it. Despite her resolve to leave town, she knew that enough convincing from her friends would leave her stranded in Sunnydale, possibly never to leave. That was a possibility she wasn't prepared for, and if she ended up staying it would only prove them right; that she wasn't strong enough to leave and go out on her own.

Closing her eyes, Willow reached into her pocket and removed the cell phone she had purchased earlier in the week when making arrangements for her departure. Turning to take one last look at Giles' door, she allowed a small smile to come over her face and confidently turned to walk back to her parents' house. With the cell phone in hand, she clicked onto her contacts and scrolled until the name she was looking for came onto the screen...yesterday she had been forced to search the house for an old address book and was lucky enough to come across the man whom she was trying to find. Lifting the cell phone to her ear, she clicked send and waited for the familiar voice she hadn't heard in several years. After several rings, a male voice picked up. "Hello?"

"Is this Theodore Rosenberg?" With a suspicious tone in his voice, the man answered. "Yes, that would be me. Who is this, and what is this about?" Suddenly the confidence she was feeling drained away and Willow was left feeling unsure. Would he even want to hear from her after all these years? There was only one way to find out and she replied to him with a slight, nervous stutter in his voice. "U..Uncle Theo. This is Willow." She paused and waited to hear his response, letting out a deep sigh of relief when his tone completely changed into one of joviality. "Willow?! My God, I haven't heard from you for years! To what do I owe this pleasure?" Again she became a bit nervous but decided to just be out with it. "I was actually kind of hoping...maybe you would want to see me?"

Without waiting for a response, she continued to blabber on. "I understand if you don't want to...I mean, I haven't tried to speak with you for a long time and you might be mad. I would be kind of mad if someone stopped talking to me, but I promise it wasn't my fault! My parents just didn't want me talking with you and that's not an excuse but they were really mad about me going with you that one time and...." If he had not interrupted her, Willow would have gone on for hours. But luckily, he finally cut her off with a loud chuckle that stopped her in mid-sentence. "It would be fantastic to see you again, Hon! Honestly it's a surprise to be hearing from you now, but I'm really glad you decided to contact me again." The biggest smile she had felt in days came onto Willow's face and she couldn't help but beam happily after hearing his acceptance.

"Whew, I'm so glad you aren't angry! I promise to make it up to you though, and this semester of college is going to end tomorrow so...Wait! Do you still live in Los Angeles?" "That I do. You're more than welcome to come as soon as you want. I even have an extra room in this house for you to stay in if you'd like." "Really? Are you sure I wouldn't be a problem?" "Not at all, Hon. It's the least I can do after you made contact again." If at all possible, the smile on her face only grew larger. "That's really generous of you, Uncle Theo. I already looked up the bus times." She blushed, grateful that he wasn't able to see her. "I hope that wasn't too forward but...my bus should arrive at around seven o'clock in the evening if that would work?"

On the other side of the line, Theodore had a big smile of his own. There were no words to describe how pleased he was to be hearing from his niece; after his brother had chewed him out for bringing his innocent daughter to such a violent event, it was a shock to hear from her at all. If he had known that bringing her to a wrestling match would end in being cut out of her life, he never would have gone through with it. After all, he had never been married and didn't have any children of his own so Willow was the closest thing he had to a daughter. Realizing that he had been silent for several moments, and that she was probably working herself up into a frenzy, he finally replied to her question.

"That's perfect! Are you going to be at the main bus station?" After working out the details of their meeting, Theo hung up the phone and shook his head in slight amazement. His niece had no way of knowing just how perfect her timing was. Her call had come in only a few hours after arriving home himself after an extended work-related trip out on the road. She hadn't known it at the time, but the reason he had acquired tickets to the event they attended seven years ago was because he had just been hired as a sound technician for the WWE. By now he had worked his way up the corporate ladder and was in charge of the sound department which was no small achievement. After shaking off the shock of hearing from Willow, he quickly went to work preparing his guest room for her arrival.