Author's Note: I made it back from the holiday in one piece, yay! And so, here we go with another update ;)
"Okay, we know that this sucks, but you can't go out there again", Willow told the man as soon as he had calmed down enough to listen to her – and had managed to introduce himself as Jamie, "no one but us in here is supposed to know what Pat and I can do, but if you walk out there again all fine and dandy…"
"That's my phrase", Pat reminded her, smirking, while Jamie nodded, to the witch's relief not starting a discussion about this.
"I totally understand", he reassured her, "we'd have a hard time explaining that, right? Hey Ollie, can I read some of the magazines over there so I won't be bored?"
"Sure", Ollie shrugged, "read as much as you want. We'll bring you something to drink and some food, too… And then, my friends, we should raid the store for stuff we can use to sleep on, it's getting late."
"Yup", Pat agreed, yawning, "but first, we have to take care of the holes that flying things made, we don't want anything to crawl in while we sleep."
"We'll put up guards again", David gave back, "but yeah, we should fix the window first. Cardboard should do for now…"
Nodding, Pat went with him to find cardboard pieces big enough to cover the holes; while they did that, Ollie approached Willow again, sounding curious when he spoke up. "Is this what you do? Travelling and helping people like us, like superheroes in a TV show? You're not from here, so…"
"Actually, no", Willow gave back, smiling slightly, glad that both men were taking this so easy, "we really did just come here for holidays… We are quite busy with such supernatural stuff in our hometown, in California, but we've never seen such a mist before either."
"Ok, we got enough cardboard", David announced, distracting them from their talk, "let's go back and see how the rest is doing."
They both nodded their agreement, then reminded Jamie once more that he had to stay in the storeroom before they returned to the supermarket's main area, where by now, people had raided the store for things to sleep on, slumbering on inflatable mattresses and the long seat cushions that were meant to use on lounging chairs.
"Let's hope they left some of those for us", Pat mumbled while she went to fix the holes with David; it didn't take long until they were done, and afterwards, they managed to find enough seat cushions to make themselves comfortable, with the couple choosing an aisle where so far, no one else was sleeping – this wasn't much privacy, but it was better than sleeping right next to a bunch of total strangers. Even though she found it highly uncomfortable to sleep with the eyepatch on, Pat didn't take it off, not wanting anyone to see what was beneath it and freak them out; while she put up the seat cushions and tried to figure out if they really were soft enough, Willow asked Irene where she had found her blanket and went to get two from the stack the elder lady pointed her to, then joined her girlfriend, sighing to herself while she handed her one of the blankets.
"First night of our holiday, storm breaks our window and we have to sleep in the cellar", she then recollected, "second night, we are stuck in the supermarket. I wonder what will happen in the third night?"
"I never should have brought you here", Pat gave back, suddenly sounding so upset that it startled the witch, "if I had known this would happen…"
"Oh no, don't do that", Willow tried to calm her down, not sure how to handle this sudden outburst of emotion, "come on, there was no chance you could have known something like that would happen! Of course I know you wouldn't have suggested going here if you'd known that, but at least we can help now…"
"This is just so typical", Pat sighed out after a moment, shaking her head while she made herself as comfortable as it was possible on the seat cushion, "we leave Sunnydale for a while to get away from all the stuff there, and what happens? Monsters in the mist."
"Talk about bad luck", Willow gave back, lying down next to her and snuggling up to her, smiling when the taller woman pulled her even closer and into a tender embrace.
"Well", the demon mumbled as soon as the witch had found a comfortable position and laid still, "at least we're in this together. Just imagine one of us staying at the house or something…"
"Bad thought", Willow immediately gave back, shuddering at the mental image, "I don't even want to think about it longer than a second. As screwed up as this whole situation is, it's good that we're together…"
"Yup", the demon agreed, then let out a hearty yawn, the day's excitement finally taking its toll on her; smiling, Willow suggested that they should get some sleep at last, making the taller woman nod her agreement before they shared an innocent, but tender good night kiss, then both quickly drifted off, sleeping as deep as they could in a situation as bad as the one they were caught in.
In the next morning, the first thing Willow noticed when she woke up was that her back hurt, payment for sleeping on a rather thin seat cushion the whole night; the second thing that registered within her mind was that Pat was gone, and for a moment, she was worried, then told herself not to be silly – after all, the demon couldn't have left the supermarket and thus had to be around somewhere.
Groaning at the dull ache in her back, she sat up and rubbed her eyes tiredly; a quick look on her watch showed her that it was just a few minutes past seven, but sleeping any longer wasn't an option, the atmosphere too tense to allow her longer slumber. With another groan, she came to her feet, grimacing at the feeling of wearing the same clothes she had worn the day before and during the night; without much success, she tried to straighten them out a bit while she started looking for her girlfriend and found David instead, the young man sitting on the ground in the next aisle and eating breakfast with his son, to her relief giving her a nod when she asked him if he had seen Pat.
"She grabbed one of those awful iced coffees from the dairy section and vanished into the storeroom", he then told her after swallowing down his mouthful of cereal, "oh, and she grunted at me when I said Hello."
"She does that in the morning, don't take it personal", Willow smirked, then thanked him for his help before she went to join her partner; she wasn't surprised to find the demon sitting on a bag of dog food, the "awful iced coffee" in one hand and a cigarette in the other, but what did surprise her was the fact that Norm was sitting next to her, in almost exactly the same position and with the same items in his hands.
"Good morning", she greeted, a snort escaping her when, in perfect unison, the demon and the teenager let out almost identical sounding grunts; shaking her head, she stepped closer to her girlfriend, took the coffee from her and took a sip of it before giving it back, a hint of mischief in her voice when she spoke on. "My, my, you two could almost be siblings or something right now. Are you sure you're not related?"
In response, Pat just raised an eyebrow, then downed the rest of her coffee with one big gulp, grimacing at the taste afterwards – she wasn't all too fond of that kind of coffee either, but to her endless chagrin, it had been the only one available without bothering with instant coffee, which wasn't much better, and finding a way to heat up water without electricity and without using her fire in front of everybody.
"How's it out there?" she then half asked, half grunted; shrugging, Willow sat down next to her, ignoring the way Norm's eyes went wide when the demon's free hand grasped hers and showing that obviously, he hadn't caught up about their relationship as fast as David and Irene had.
"As normal as it can be, I guess", she then gave back, "several people are still asleep, Mrs Carmody is preaching to her flock of followers – which has grown again, by the way -, and those who aren't sleeping or listening to her are having more or less balanced breakfasts."
"I don't like that bit about Mrs Carmody and her flock", Norm muttered, apparently capable of coherent speech by now as well, "how many are there now?"
"I didn't stop to count", the redhead shrugged, "fourteen or fifteen. I wonder if she's been talking all night, doesn't she get tired?"
"Apparently not", Pat sighed, then smirked when a snoring sound came from behind the stack of dog food she was sitting on and startled the witch, making her jump slightly – before she remembered that Jamie had spent the night in the storeroom as well and obviously still was fast asleep, not disturbed the slightest by their talking.
"She doesn't", Norm now confirmed, rolling his eyes, "I had to get up once during the night because I had to piss like a racehorse and… Oh, jeez, I'm sorry…"
"Never mind", Willow shrugged it off while the demon just smirked, "after living a few years with that dirty-mouthed woman next to me here, something like that can't shock me anymore. You wanted to say?"
"Well", the teenager regained his composure and continued, "I got up at night because you-know-what and there she sat, only with a candle which made her look very creepy, and talked about all that Armageddon and wrath of God stuff. Most of her listeners were asleep but I think Myron was awake and listening to her."
"Poor guy", Pat muttered, lighting up another cigarette and, with a sigh, offering the pack to Norm at his longing look, earning a bright smile from him, "that whole scene in here really unhinged him, if he sits and listens to that batshit crazy lady."
"Now I know what you meant about dirty-mouthed", Norm told Willow in response to that, smirking when the witch giggled, then reassured him that this was just the tip of the iceberg, only to let out a cooing "Awww" when Pat gave her a sour look.
"Well, you sometimes do sound like a sailor, or worse", she then defended herself, "but you know I don't mind, I love you anyway."
"Aw, so you two really are together", Norm finally caught up, sounding so dejected that they both had to hold back an urge to laugh, knowing it would have been cruel to react like that, "bummer…"
"Sorry, pal", Pat smirked, patting his shoulder; he gave her a half-hearted smile, then finished his cigarette and let them know that he'd go and find Ollie, the couple nodding in reply before they watched him go, Willow bursting into giggles the moment the door fell close behind him.
"Poor him", she stated as soon as she had calmed down enough again to talk, "did you see the look on his face? Aww…"
"He'll get over it", Pat shrugged, her next words making the witch giggle again. "Plus, I'm too old for him anyway."
"Technically, you're also too old for me", the redhead pointed out to her, "but lucky for you, I don't mind…"
"Yup, lucky for me", Pat gave back, throwing her cigarette to the ground and stepping on it to put it out before she leaned in for a kiss, both of them briefly forgetting the mist and the creatures hiding in it when it deepened, able to forget their worries and troubles at least for a few wonderful seconds.