Many thanks to BedHead for the kind review, I'm glad you're enjoying the story :) Here we go with yet another chapter, then, I hope you'll like it and the ones still to follow, as well :)
Somehow, to the surprise of everyone, Pat did manage to carry Willow all the way back to the Magic Box, where Anya and Dawn where waiting; once there, the demon carefully lowered her girlfriend on one of the softer mats in the training room, then heavily sat down on the ground next to her, grimacing once more as the movement made her feel the gashes Gnarl had inflicted on her again.
"Alright", Buffy stated while Giles hurried off to get the first aid kit and Dawn, clearly upset by the state of both Willow and Pat, started fussing over the demon, to her obvious annoyance, "why don't you demon out and heal that now?"
"Yeah", the black haired woman agreed after a moment, didn't move though; knowing that she had to stand to demon out, Buffy looked at her curiously, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips when after half a minute, the taller woman looked at her almost grudgingly, clearly not liking to admit what she said next. "Would you mind helping me up? I'm kinda… in pain here."
With a nod and a smirk, the Slayer grasped her friend's hand and pulled her to her feet, then stepped back; by now, all the members of the Scoobie gang were used enough to Pat's demonic form that it didn't startle them anymore when they saw it, Giles merely giving her a brief glance as he returned with the first aid kit.
"Why didn't you demon out earlier?" Xander asked while the wounds were healing with audible fleshy noises, making Pat shrug as her glowing red gaze focused on him, something which didn't freak him out anymore by now though, the young man simply holding her gaze and giving her a questioning look in reply.
"Would have taken too long", the demon rumbled as an answer, her voice as always when she was in that form down to a low growl, the sound making Willow smile despite her pain, "I wanted to get her out of there as fast as possible, before Mr Psychopath might decide to come back or something."
"Smart thinking", Giles commented while he removed a small bottle of disinfectant from the first aid kit, briefly studying it to make sure it was still useable before he opened it, warning Willow that this would hurt while he poured some of it on a cotton dabber. Behind him, Pat finished healing and returned to her human form; the moment this process was done, she moved up to Giles, placing her hand on his shoulder and stopping him from beginning his work on the redhead's wounds, her voice low, but serious when she spoke up. "I'll do that, if you don't mind."
"Oh, of course, sure", the Watcher agreed, straightening up and handing the dabber to her; she accepted it, along with the bottle of disinfectant, then looked at the others, still sounding awfully serious when she spoke on. "Leave, please, I can handle this on my own."
For a moment, Dawn looked as if she might protest; then, Buffy took her arm and nodded, leading her out of the training room seconds later, the others following her after throwing a few last worried glances at Willow, the witch smiling at them reassuringly until the door closed behind them.
"I'm glad you'll do this", she then mumbled while Pat lowered herself into a crouch next to her, her gaze darkening again as she looked at the wounds; then, she looked at her girlfriend's still rather pale face and gave her a reassuring smile, putting the disinfectant aside so she could reach out and caress her cheek tenderly.
"Giles was right", she then stated, her voice still low, but much friendlier now, "this will hurt, but I'll try to make it quick. Okay?"
"Okay", the redhead agreed, then bravely grit her teeth as Pat lowered the soaked cotton dabber on one of the scratches; she hissed in pain the moment the disinfectant touched the wound and it started to burn horribly. Not for the first time, she briefly wondered if she just shouldn't ask Pat to do the spell which would let her borrow her healing abilities; then, she told herself that, even though those wounds were painful, they were nowhere near dangerous enough to justify that, also reminding herself of the fact that her girlfriend had been hurt even worse and that the spell would make those wounds open up again.
Thus, she just grit her teeth and forced herself to hold still while Pat cleaned the wounds as fast as she dared, despite her speed making sure she'd clean them properly; even though she gave her best to work quickly, it still seemed to take forever until she finally got done, giving the redhead a concerned glance as by now, Willow was breathing heavily, beads of sweat having formed on her brow and slowly rolling down into her hair.
"There, there", Pat mumbled soothingly, hurriedly putting the disinfectant and the bloodied cotton dabber aside so she tenderly could caress her girlfriend's hair, trying to take some of her pain away, "I'm almost done, the painful part is over…"
"I know", Willow mumbled, closing her eyes when the demon's hand moved from her hair to her cheek, caressing her tenderly, a small sigh escaping her at the gentle touch. "And I'm glad about that", she added after a moment, forcing herself to open her eyes again so she could look at her girlfriend; smiling slightly, Pat nodded her agreement, then bent down to kiss her tenderly, sounding concerned when she spoke up after pulling back. "Do you think you can sit up already, or do you wanna lie down a little longer? I need to bandage that up, and that'll be hard as long as long as you're lying on your back."
"Give me another minute", the redhead said in reply, making her girlfriend nod; smiling calmingly at her, Pat moved her hand to caress her hair again, doing so until Willow finally told her that she was ready now to have the bandage put on, something the demon gladly did as soon as she had helped her to sit up, then helped her to her feet the rejoin the rest of the group in the store's main room.
"Aaaand she walks again", Xander announced with absurd pride in his voice the moment he saw Willow step through the door of the training room, making the witch give him a smile; clearly still worried, Buffy got up from her seat and moved to her side, both Pat and her helping her to one of the chairs afterwards so she could sit down.
"Are you sure you're up to being on your feet already?" the Slayer asked while, wordlessly, Giles pushed the pack of pain killers he had readied closer to the redhead, making her give him a thankful look while she grabbed the pack and opened it, removing one of the pills from it and gulping it down with a sip from the glass of water Anya had provided for her.
"I'll be fine", she then answered her best friend's question, "it still hurts, a lot, but I don't wanna lie around on that training mat for hours."
"Makes sense", Buffy had to admit, giving her friend another worried glance before she looked at the others, her voice back to the business-tone when she spoke on. "Is there anything we need to talk about after this? If not, Xander, could you drive Willow home?"
"Sure", the young man agreed at once, smiling at the blonde; Buffy smiled back briefly, then looked at Giles questioningly, making him clear his throat before he answered her unspoken question.
"I think that right now, there is not much we can talk about", he then stated, to the obvious relief of Willow – even though the pain killer was kicking in by now, her tummy still felt as if it had been set on fire, and she couldn't wait to lie down and relax.
"What about Warren?" Anya wanted to know in reply, looking at the Watcher curiously, "shouldn't we figure out how to find him so he can't capture Willow again?"
"We will", the elder man replied, "but not right now. After doing two teleportation spells in such a short span of time, he'll be exhausted, the most skilled warlocks and witches would be. So, while he recovers, we'll give Willow a chance to do the same, and then find a way to beat him."
"Sounds good to me", Pat said before anyone else could reply; after a moment, Buffy nodded as well, her agreement prompting Xander to get up from his seat and to flash a bright smile at the redhead.
"Off we go then", he stated, gesturing at the door leading out of the shop with exaggeration, "your carriage awaits, my lady!"
Despite her still rather sharp pain, Willow giggled and nodded; clearly willing to play along, Pat did a just as exaggerated bow next to her, then offered her arm, making the redhead giggle again while she accepted it and let the demon help her to her feet. Once she stood, Pat moved her arm around her waist to steady her; the way the witch was swaying slightly on her feet despite that support made Buffy give her a worried glance again, the Slayer not saying anything though, merely watching how the three of them left the store before she turned towards Giles again, sounding worried when she spoke up. "Are you sure about this? Warren being too drained to do anything now, I mean?"
"Not fully", Giles had to admit in reply, clearing his throat again when Buffy gave him an incredulous look, "but even if he still has some power left for the day, I sincerely doubt he'll try to attack again so shortly after his first plan failed."
"I hope you're right", the Slayer mumbled in reply, throwing a worried look at the door, even though Xander, Willow and Pat had already gotten into the young man's car and couldn't be seen anymore, "because if not, well…"
"I'm sure things will be fine", Giles tried to calm her down in reply, briefly reflecting about the strange way their roles had been swapped – normally, Buffy was the carefree one who was always sure that everything would be fine, and he was the one who worried about possible dangers lurking around the corners and in the shadows.
"Willow may be hurt", he continued, eager to calm the clearly agitated Slayer down a bit, "but she'll still be able to do her magic, should it be necessary. Also, Pat's with her, and after what Warren already did to Willow, I doubt she'll have any troubles with burning him to a crisp the moment he shows himself."
"If she gets the chance", Buffy sighed, making the Watcher frown, "he did manage to capture her before, right?"
"I'm sure Willow will know how to deal with this", Giles replied after a second, reaching out and placing a calming hand on the blonde's shoulder.
"Things will be fine", he told her once more, glad when after a moment, she nodded at last; he gave her another reassuring smile, then got up from his seat and moved to one of the shelves, pulling a book out at random and idly leaving through it while Buffy looked out at the street once more, hoping that he had been right and that nothing would happen to her friends.
"Alright", Pat stated as soon as Willow and she had entered their apartment, "now you'll lie down, either on the bed or on the couch, and won't move again unless it's absolutely necessary. Which means, going to the bathroom or, in case you choose the couch, going to bed. Anything else, I'll handle."
"Yes, Mom", the witch mocked in reply, giggling when Pat raised an eyebrow at her; shaking her head, but not making a comment, the demon then led her girlfriend to the couch and waited until she had laid down before she asked if she needed anything.
"Yup", Willow gave back, opening her arms afterwards, "a certain demon right here with me, to cuddle with me."
"Wait, I'll go call Clem then", Pat smirked, chuckling when the redhead let out a huff and crossed her arms over her chest; moments later, her pout vanished though as the demon moved to lie down next to her and carefully took her into her arms, a content sigh escaping her as she made herself comfortable.
"You know", she then mumbled, "it was really lucky that the nails of that gross demon didn't work on you. Who knows what would have happened if they had…"
"Something bad", Pat grimaced in reply, "but let's not think about that, okay? Luckily, everything worked out just fine… Well, almost, seeing that you got hurt…"
"And taking into consideration the fact that Warren is still out there, and equipped with some powerful magic", Willow reminded her, "that teleportation spell he did to get me into that cave was very advanced, I'm not even sure I could do that, especially not twice on the same day. I once did a similar spell on Glory, you know, that ditzy Hellgod Buffy was fighting a while ago, and I had a massive nosebleed and headaches for days."
"Let's hope Warren's having a juicy migraine right now then", Pat gave back acidly, making the redhead smile slightly – even though they had been together for quite some time by now, it still touched her how vengeful her girlfriend became whenever someone did something to her.
"He might have one", she smiled after a moment, having to admit that she liked the thought; then, she frowned as another idea came to her mind, her voice thoughtful when she spoke on. "Maybe I can do something to keep him from teleporting away again the next time he decides to show up."
"The vine thing?" Pat guessed in reply, surprised when Willow shook her head, then frowning when the redhead spoke up again. "No… Remember that spell I did on Amy back then, to keep her from using her mojo on Buffy and you?"
"Yes", the demon immediately replied, "the one which gave you a massive nosebleed."
"It did", Willow had to admit, briefly dismayed about the fact that her girlfriend remembered that unpleasant detail, "but it was fine in the end, right? And it would keep him from teleporting away again so, you can split his skull with that axe you like so much."
"Which is an appealing thought", Pat grumbled, "but the nosebleed isn't. I'm not sure I like that idea, Sweetie…"
"I know you don't", Willow smiled, craning her neck so she could kiss the demon before she had a chance to reply, "but it might be the only way to keep him from vanishing again… Or from using that binding spell again he used to kidnap you."
"Oh, that", Pat snorted contemptuously, "such a cowardly thing to do."
"Well, he wouldn't have stood a chance if he hadn't done that", the redhead shrugged, "so I kinda understand why he'd use it. I don't like the thought of him doing it again though, so…"
"And I don't like the thought of you doing a spell which gives you nosebleeds", Pat replied, "but, yeah, you might be the right, it might be the only way to make defeating him possible, with all that fancy new tricks he learned in Hell."
"I'll talk to Giles about it", Willow decided, glad that her loved one had more or less agreed to her idea, "let's see what he'll say, maybe he'll have another, less nosebleed-inducing idea."
"I hope so", Pat sighed out in reply, then asked the redhead if she wanted another painkiller or if the one she had taken was enough; after a moment, Willow decided that taking a second one couldn't hurt, telling her girlfriend this and smiling slightly when in reply, the demon carefully pulled back from the embrace and got up from the couch. Before she could leave for the bathroom though, Willow stopped her by grabbing her shirt, making her turn and look down at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Gimme a kiss before you go?" the redhead smiled, batting her eyelashes; chuckling, the demon nodded, then bent down to fulfil that demand before she made her way to the bathroom to get the painkiller while Willow made herself comfortable on the couch again, closing her eyes as she waited for her girlfriend to come back, not even noticing how she drifted off into a light sleep a minute later.