After the two classes she had had at college that day, Willow didn't feel like going home to an empty apartment, figuring that Pat would still be at the Magic Box; thus, she made her way there, not surprised to see the "Closed" sign hanging at the door – at first, Anya had left the store open even when she had been at the back room, handling deliveries, but after a few unpleasant incidents with people coming in and stealing stuff while she wasn't around, she had seen reason and closed the store while she was handling her new merchandise.
Smiling to herself as she thought about how much Anya had ranted after those incidents, about how stealing was unpatriotic and that those people should be ashamed, Willow made her way to the back of the store, finding the door there open; momentarily, she wondered if she should point out the fact that this was a security flaw as well to the ex-demon, then shrugged it off and entered, the voices of her girlfriend and of Anya reaching her ears moments later, their words making her grimace.
"No no, that box goes up there, I'm telling you!" Anya insisted, in that tone of voice they all knew well; when Pat replied, she sounded quite exasperated, making Willow feel sympathetic for her once more. "And if I put it up there, how are you ever gonna get it back down? Don't count on me to lift the fucking thing from that shelf when you need it in a week or so."
"Language, Sweetie", Willow spoke up as she joined the two at the shelves in the far back of the room, before Anya had the chance to reply anything; Pat just let out an annoyed huff in reply, still holding the box she had been arguing about with Anya, a rather big one, and obviously heavy, since it made the muscles in her upper arms and forearms bulge visibly.
"Anya, I'm telling you", the demon now tried reason again, "if I put that damned thing up there, you'll only ask me to take it down again in a few days, or it'll fall on you and smash your skull when you try to take it down yourself."
"Fine!" the ex-demon finally gave in, after what clearly had been a lengthy discussion, judging from Pat's annoyed tone, "put it on the ground then! In that corner over there."
With those words, she pointed at said corner, the one which was farthest from the spot where the black haired woman was standing; for a moment, Pat looked as if she wanted to argue again, then she just let out an annoyed grunt and carried the box to said corner, dropping it there unceremoniously.
"There", she then announced, forcing Willow to hold back a giggle, "are we done here now? I want a smoke."
"Yeah, go, go", Anya gave back, already focused on her clipboard and waving at the demon with her free hand as if that would make her leave faster, "we're done."
"Thank Goodness", Pat muttered, prompting Willow to bite her tongue again so yet another giggle was stifled; she gave her girlfriend a sympathetic look while together, they made their way to the back door again and stepped outside, the demon lighting up one of her cigarettes the moment the door had fallen close behind the redhead.
"I swear, one of these days, I'm gonna dump one of these crates into her arms and watch how she goes down", she grumbled after the first long drag. "Then I'll point and laugh when she's on the ground."
"Don't be nasty", Willow chided as an answer, not fully serious though, having to admit that she understood her girlfriend's annoyance. "You know how she is", she added, reaching out and grasping the taller woman's free hand, "she just can't help herself."
"That doesn't make it any better", Pat grumbled, then let out a sigh and clearly shrugged it off, since she smiled at the redhead and asked her how the classes at campus had been. "Interesting", Willow gave back at once, the demon's smirk widening at how enthusiastic she became about the topics of her classes within two seconds.
"The new psychology professor is really good", she went on, "and thankfully, she's not an evil assassin, out to kill Buffy, which gives her bonus points in my book."
"In mine, too", Pat reassured her, then fell silent again as Willow kept babbling on about her classes, listening with a small smile on her face while she finished her cigarette, her anger about Anya's annoying behaviour fading away as her girlfriend's enthusiasm and happiness rubbed off on her, making her feel as relaxed as she hardly ever felt when Willow wasn't around.
"You wanna come along again tonight?" Pat asked several hours later, back at the apartment, sitting on the couch and re-sharpening a few stakes with one of her older daggers; next to her, Willow looked up from the book she had been reading, briefly frowning at the tiny slivers of wood the demon was spreading all over the table and the carpet beneath it, then shrugged it off and shook her head, giving the taller woman a regretful look. "I'd love to, but I have class early tomorrow morning, so…"
"What a pity", Pat sighed, putting the stake aside and picking up the next one, spreading more slivers all around her as she started sharpening it, "it's nicer to go with someone else, going all alone is boring. I dunno how Buffy did it before I came here and started going with her."
"We went with her sometimes", Willow reminded her girlfriend, giggling at the grimace which appeared on the black haired woman's face in response.
"I'm trying to forget that", Pat then told her, "because back then, you weren't nearly as powerful as you're now, and you could so easily have gotten hurt or killed. Then we never would have met."
"But you wouldn't know", Willow pointed out, "because I would've been dead by the time you arrived here. So you wouldn't miss me, or being with me."
"Okay, this is putting knots in my brain, so new topic", Pat decided after a moment of thinking about this, making the witch giggle once more; then, she gestured at the splinters and slivers of wood on the floor and on the table, succeeding to make the demon grimace again with what she said next. "New topic then, you'll clean this up before you leave, right?"
"Yes, dear", the black haired woman sighed out in such a melodramatic way that she made her girlfriend laugh again, the redhead reaching up to punch her upper arm slightly afterwards. "With just two words, you managed to make me sound like the worst girlfriend ever. I just don't wanna step on those things when I go to the bathroom in the night, it's creepy."
"This coming from the girl who fights vampires, demons and even went up against the devil", Pat chuckled, "and of course you're not the worst girlfriend ever. In fact, you're the best."
"You only say that because I'm your first one", Willow smirked, glad that for once, she didn't blush – even though she had gotten much better about it, especially since she had started dating a demon who didn't bother much with tact when it came to making compliments, she still turned red every now and then when her girlfriend said such things to her, even if they had been as innocent as what she just had been told.
"I'd also say it if I'd had a hundred before you", the demon reassured her, finally getting done with the stakes and putting the dagger aside so she could put both arms around the smaller woman without any danger of accidentally cutting her, "because you are the best."
"That's so cute", Willow sighed out, her eyes sparkling – before she gestured at the splinters again, smirking up at the taller woman. "That doesn't get you out of cleaning this up, though."
"I know", Pat grumbled, making the redhead laugh once more; she craned her neck to steal a quick kiss, then focused on her book again while her girlfriend stood up from the couch to get the dustpan and brush, mumbling to herself about silly, dull stakes and silly splinters, not noticing that Willow was watching her instead of focusing on her reading, the witch quietly telling herself that once more, someone who was as sweet and caring as that surely couldn't be the one responsible for those gruesome murders, no matter how much evidence was pointing towards her.
After Pat had left for patrol, Willow stayed up a bit longer, now finally able to focus fully on her book; she read for almost two hours, taking notes every now and then, then finally deciding that she had studied enough for the night and snapped the book shut, placing it on the living room table – after a quick glance at it to make sure that her girlfriend had cleaned it properly and no creepy splinters had been missed.
Once she had reassured herself of that, she made her way into the bedroom where she changed into her fluffy pyjamas; a quick glance on the clock on her nightstand made it clear that it'd take a while until Pat would come back, and she held back a sigh – when they had come back home the previous night after going on patrol together, they both had felt certain effects caused by the thrill of killing things, and had given in to their urges, but that didn't mean that by now, those urges hadn't resurfaced.
Briefly, she wondered if she'd still be in the mood when Pat would come home from patrol, and how much longer that might take; then, she pushed those thoughts aside and told herself that she shouldn't behave like a horny teenager before she made herself comfortable beneath the thick blanket and switched off the lamp on the nightstand, drifting off into dreamland just a few minutes later.
Several hours later, a low thumping noise tore Willow out of her – quite pleasant – dreams, and within seconds, she was fully awake, worry filling her heart even though at first, she wasn't sure, why; then, the thumping came again, and her heart started beating up to her chest while she soundlessly got out of bed, moving around it and to the chest of weapons Pat kept at her side, images of burglars, thieves and pissed off demons who burned their victims alive and didn't want anyone to snoop after them dancing through her mind while she opened it soundlessly and grabbed the first object her fingers found, a rather sturdy wooden club, several spikes sticking out of the rounded top to make any landed hits much more painful.
Clutching the weapon tightly, she snuck over to the door, glad that her girlfriend had taken the time to teach her how to move soundlessly; holding her breath, she pushed the door handle down as slowly as possible, glad when the noise this created was minimal; hoping that she wouldn't be seen, and that whoever was in here with her wasn't waiting right in front of the door, she pushed it open slowly, all caution blown away when she found herself confronted with a dark, looming shadow, a single, brightly orange glowing eye staring down on her.
Letting out a shriek, she brought the club up, then down with all her might; to her dismay, the intruder reacted faster than she would have wanted him or her to, one hand shooting up and catching the wood before it could connect, but at least Willow had the satisfaction to know that the metal spikes had dug right into the intruder's palm, the reaction making her eyes widen again though.
"Ow, fuck, goddammit, what's wrong with you?" an all too familiar voice cursed, filled with pain; shocked, all Willow could do was stare in reply, automatically letting go of the club. It fell down to the carpet with a low thump, forgotten the moment it landed there, the witch frantically searching for the light switch, bright light flooding the room seconds later, a gasp escaping the redhead when her gaze fell on her girlfriend the moment her eyes had gotten used to the light, the demon holding up her injured hand so the blood wouldn't drip to the carpet and glaring at her.
"What's wrong with you?" Pat now repeated, grimacing as pain pulsed through her palm, "why did you attack me?"
"I'm sorry! I thought you're a burglar!" Willow gave back, now glad that her loved one had such fast reactions, not wanting to imagine what could have happened if she hadn't caught the club, "why didn't you turn on the light?"
"I wanted to see if you're still awake and, in case you're not, didn't want to wake you up", the demon grumbled, then took a drag of her cigarette, the redhead nearly slapping herself when she realized that she had mistaken the cancer stick's glow for a malicious eye in the darkness.
"It's three a.m.", she then pointed out, "and I told you I have classes early tomorrow morning… or later today… so of course I wasn't awake anymore."
"So you were sleepwalking when you nearly bashed my head in and shishkabobbed my hand instead?" Pat dryly inquired, the witch giving her an apologetic look in reply, then stepped closer to examine her lover's injured palm, grimacing when she saw the deep cuts the spikes had tore into the flesh.
"I'm sorry", she repeated the apology she already had made earlier, "I really didn't mean to… Well, I did, but I thought you're a burglar, as I said. Or that guy we've been after. Are you gonna demon out to heal that or should I get the first aid kit?"
"Demon out", Pat gave back at once, "there's no way I'll try to fight vampires and demons with those cuts in my hand."
"Good point", Willow admitted, taking a few steps back so she wouldn't end up being burned when her girlfriend would demon out, eying the demon curiously afterwards, speaking on before the taller woman had a chance to turn into her demonic form. "Talking about fighting, did you get into a hairpulling contest with a vampire or something? You surely look as if you did."
"More or less", Pat grumbled, her voice deepening even further to a low, throaty growl as flames started to flicker around her and she started to change, her awfully tousled hair growing longer and thicker and her muscles bulging, the redhead watching the process with fascination – she had witnessed her lover demon out a lot of times by now, but it never would cease to look interesting.
"I fought some girly vampire fledging", the demon continued her explanation once she had finished demoning out and the cuts in her palm were closing with unpleasant fleshy noises, "and she truly fought like a girl. She even kicked me in the shin after she pulled my hair!"
"Oh jeez", Willow brought out between giggles, "I wish I could have seen that… It must have looked hilarious."
"No it wasn't", Pat protested, shifting back to her human form again the moment the wounds had healed and grimacing slightly as she made a fist to see if it really had healed properly, "and she nearly tore off my eyepatch. It would have been really annoying to buy another one again, the guy in the store already gave me a weird look the last time I went there."
"Poor you", the witch finally showed some sympathy, then stepped closer again and took her girlfriend's hand, checking it as well, "but, well, at least it all ended well. Let's go get some sleep now?"
"Yup", the demon agreed at once, a hearty yawn escaping her afterwards, "patrol was tiring, and the fact that my girlfriend attacked me right after I came home didn't help to make me feel more awake, either."
"I'm so sorry", Willow apologized once more, smiling this time though – after all, she knew her partner long and well enough by now to know that she already had been forgiven and also suspected that, despite the injury she had been forced to take, Pat was proud of her for acting the way she had.
"It's okay", the taller woman now confirmed those suspicions, "you did well, if it really had been a burglar, he'd be out cold now and you wouldn't be in danger. And nothing bad happened, so…"
"So let's go and get some sleep", the redhead emphasized her need for more rest again, grasping her girlfriend's free hand; quickly, the demon put out her cigarette in reply, then entered the bedroom with her loved one, the night's excitement forgotten a few minutes later as they both made themselves comfortable in the bed and quickly fell into deep, peaceful slumber.