Author's Note: I'm back! It's kinda late-ish here, but since I don't want to sleep yet, I figured I might as well update ;) enjoy!


"Are you calm?" Buffy asked instead of a greeting half an hour later, making Pat frown at her while Willow raised an eyebrow; then, the demon shrugged and nodded, taking a step back afterwards so the Slayer could enter the apartment, the blonde, to her surprise, remaining outside on the hallway though.

"I really need you to be calm", she repeated instead, the black haired woman's frown deepening in reply, concern now added to the mix as she finally asked why the Slayer was so keen on her being calm.

"Well…" Buffy gave back, now even fidgeting nervously, "I… kinda brought someone along." And with those words, she nodded at someone to her right; with a polite clearing of his throat, Professor Collard stepped into view next to her, and before Willow even knew what was happening, Pat had let out a shockingly loud growl and had moved up to him, grasping his collar with both hands and lifting him off his feet as she forced him backwards, slamming him against the opposite wall hard enough to knock the breath out of him and his glasses off his face.

"Pat, no!" Buffy snapped, moving to stop her before she could do some serious damage to the elder man, who was scared stiff by this outburst, "let go of him!"

"He's the one who set us up!" Pat snarled at her, not even looking at her, her glowing red gaze focused on Collard, making him swallow heavily, "and you bring him here?! Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"Let me explain", Buffy gave back, still trying to make her let go of him, with no success though, "he didn't set us up, not the way you think…"

"I had no choice", Collard brought out in response, sounding slightly strained since the demon's grip on him was making it hard for him to breathe, "please, I can explain, and I can help you, Doctor…"

He coughed before he could finish, and for a moment, none of them knew who he was talking to – before Willow realized that he meant her, frowning slightly as well now while she stepped closer to her partner, giving the professor a hard look.

"Explain", she then said, crossing her arms over her chest; momentarily, Buffy looked as if she wanted to protest, to tell the demon that she should put him down once more, then she took one look at Willow's face and remained quiet, merely shrugging when Collard threw her a helpless look.

"Not much I can do when they're both like that", she then told him, making him gulp audibly; then, another growl came from Pat, along with a little shake of the man, and he hurriedly spoke on, a hint of panic in his voice now.

"Please, you have to believe me, I had no choice", he told them, his gaze darting back and forth between the witch and the demon, "Trevor, he made me, he forced me, he said he'd harm my daughter if I didn't help him get you, that he'd do to her what he did to you…"

"So you know what he did to me", Willow stated, not really asking him, but making him nod anyway, "do you know how to stop it?"

"It should have stopped the moment you were out of the tank", Collard gave back, "but I can try to help you, yes… Just…Please, put me down?"

In response, Pat let out another growl, then unceremoniously dropped him; he stumbled and nearly fell, Buffy preventing this in the last second by grabbing him, both the witch and the demon unimpressed by the glare she sent their way.

"Can we please go inside?" she then asked, her gaze focusing on Pat now, the taller woman looking rather unhappy about the thought of letting this man into their home, "I promise he's on our side, he explained it all to me before we came here."

"How do we know he's not lying again", the black haired woman demanded to know in response, crossing her arms over her chest, "the last time we listened to him, we ended up in cells and they did the Goddess knows what to Willow!"

"You don't have much of a choice", Collard replied, straightening his clothes and bravely looking at her, the effect ruined a bit by the fact that he was smaller than her, "because if A-23 is—"

"Pat", Willow brought out behind the taller woman, interrupting her, the tremble in her voice being enough to alarm the demon; she turned to look at the witch, and moments later shot forward as the redhead was collapsing, catching her just in time before she hit the ground, yet another seizure making her shake and tremble in her partner's arms moments later.

"Oh my God!" Buffy cried out, shocked, moving closer as well, her eyes growing wide when foam started to form on her best friend's lips, "what's happening to her?!"

"The drug", Collard gave back, to his credit looking upset as well, his gaze then moving up and meeting Pat's, not even her suspicions about him letting her deny that he looked sincere, "the A-23… This is why you need me. If this isn't removed from her system, it'll only get worse… until it will kill her."


"To my shame, I have to admit that I had a part in developing this certain drug", Collard told them ten minutes later, inside the apartment now, unable to take his gaze off the unconscious witch lying on the living room couch, Pat crouching next to her and holding her hand, looking at her in concern, as well, "the A stands for anxiety, and the 23…Well, it's the number of tries they needed until they got it right."

"What does it do?" Buffy demanded to know, finally making him look at her, a heavy sigh escaping him before he replied.

"It… uses the memories of the sub—the person", he explained, correcting himself in the last second, something which was helped along by the glare Pat levelled his way, "and makes them much, much worse. Things which went well go wrong, people are hurt, maybe even die… Of course it depends on the person, on their memories, but it can get pretty extreme."

"So with the memories of all our… adventures, it must have been Hell for her", Pat mumbled, now focusing on her partner again, reaching out with her free hand and tenderly moving a strand of sweaty hair out of the still unconscious woman's face, "and who knows how long she's been in this tank…"

"During test runs, it served to break the victim's will remarkably fast", Collard thoughtlessly told her, only to cower when she glared at him again, her good eye flashing up red for the brightest moment, making him remember how he had seen the same glow in it out on the hallway and prompting him to ask himself if perhaps, he hadn't imagined it; before he could inquire further though, the red was gone, and the taller woman was looking at her partner again, her voice dangerously calm when she asked him what they could do to help her.

"I have a lab, in the cellar of my home", he started to explain in reply, "and I got the antidote there, we could take her there and—"

"No", Pat interrupted him, in a flat and cold voice, making Buffy look at her in shock, "we may have to believe you about all this drug stuff, but I will not put her into your hands like this. No way."

"You don't have a choice", Collard gave back, for the first time since this talk had started to sounding meek or scared, but quite confident, sure of himself and of what he was saying, "the treatment will not be easy. She'll have to be monitored, and I can't just give her a syringe full of antidote and hope it will work. If the drug is still in her system after all these hours, I must know how much, and administer the correct dosage of the counter-drug, and make sure her vitals remain stable as I do so. I can't do this here."

"We have to trust him on this", Buffy threw in before the demon had a chance to reply something, "if he's right about what this… drug is doing to Willow, we can't risk not letting him help her… You've seen what happened to her out in the hallway, if this get worse…"

"It will", Collard told them, glancing at the unconscious form of the redhead again, "it will get much, much worse. It might get so bad that she won't be able to differ between reality and what the drug makes her see anymore… if the physical symptoms don't get out of hand first. There's no way for me to tell, as I said, it should have stopped the moment she was removed from the tank. Miss Summers is right, you have to trust me on this, unless you want to risk her life."

"I don't", Pat told him in a rough voice, "but surely you'll understand that I find it hard to trust you, after what you did."

"Yes", Collard let her know without missing a beat, "and if it helps, you are more than welcome to stay with her for as long as it's necessary to get A-23 out of her system. The lab is not comfortable, but I'll do everything to provide you with anything you might need."

"…I still don't like this", the taller woman grumbled after pondering this for a moment, finding her cigarettes and lighting one of them up, ignoring the disapproving look the professor shot her, "but, as you said yourself, I can't risk her health getting even worse, mental or physical…"

"Are you sure the healing won't help?" Buffy wanted to know in response, prompting Collard to look at her in confusion now, "did you ever try it with something like that before?"

"Yes", Pat sighed in response, "it wasn't a drug, exactly, more like… a poison. It didn't work. It helped with the physical symptoms, for an hour or so, then it all started over and I had to go find the antidote after all."

"Maybe we should try after all", Buffy suggested, giving her best friend another worried look, the fact that Willow still was unconscious concerning her, "it might work for that stuff… But it'd mess up your leg again, right?"

"I don't give a flying fuck about my leg", Pat shot back, making Collard wince with her rather dirty language, "and you're right, it's worth a try… Just let me get the stuff."

"You might want to wait outside", Buffy told Collard while the demon walked off to find the powder she still needed to use for the healing spell, unlike Willow, who was skilled enough by now to perform it without the aid of ingredients, "what we're about to do might be… upsetting for someone like you."

"I know Doctor Rosenberg is a witch", the professor replied rather bluntly, prompting Buffy to raise an eyebrow at him while, standing at the shelf on which the small wooden box Willow used for ingredients was sitting, Pat turned around to look at him in surprise as well, "and that the two of you are some sort of… Well, more than human, as well. I know why my wretched son wanted the doctor's help."

"Well, that makes things easier", Buffy finally was the first one to speak up again, "but I'm not sure if I'm more than human. I'm the Slayer. And Pat's a demon."

"On any other day, I would have called both of you insane", the professor let her know, sounding surprisingly amiable now, "but after living in this town for so long, I'll just take this in stride. Even though I have no idea what a slayer is."

"I'll explain later", Buffy told him, since Pat had found the powder and was moving back to the couch, "just be quiet now, alright? This demands a lot of concentration."

Nodding, Collard leaned forward, curiously watching how the demon poured some of the powder onto her palm, then grasped Willow's hand with her other one; and then, she started mumbling under her breath, too low to let him hear the exact words, blowing the powder into the air right after the last one, a startled cry coming from the elder man when seconds later, her free hand caught fire.

"No worries", Buffy whispered, "it's not harming her, she's fireproof…"

Stunned, Collard just nodded, unable to take his eyes away; and seconds later, he flinched as an awful snapping sound came from the black haired woman's leg, a pained outcry she forced out between clenched teeth accompanying the noise, sweat forming on her brow and trickling down her cheeks, Buffy grimacing as well at the obvious pain her friend was in again.

Still, even though she clearly was in tremendous pain now, Pat kept holding on to her partner, until it became clear that any effects the spell might have had wouldn't show immediately; only then, she let go and the fire went out, another groan of pain coming from her as she slumped back and clutched her knee with both hands.

"Goddammit", she finally brought out, both the professor and Buffy looking at her in worry, "let's hope we won't have to go anywhere for the next hours. I forgot how much that guy messed up my leg…"

"You were lucky they didn't do more than that", Collard mumbled, earning a frown from the demon; before she could tell him though that they had done more than enough, Willow let out a soft groan, prompting her partner to immediately focus on her, her grip on her hand tightening slightly as she said her name.

In response, another soft groan came from the redhead, barely audible; and then, she opened her eyes and her gaze met her lover's, briefly filled with fear and confusion, then she seemed to realize where she was and that whatever she had seen while she had been out cold had been yet another lie, like all the other images she had seen ever since the drug had been injected into her system.

"There you are again", the taller woman said, distracting her from those thoughts and making her smile weakly, "we were starting to get worried."

"It happened again", Willow mumbled in reply, briefly closing her eyes as the gruesome images flashed through her mind again, "and it hurt…"

"Professor Collard here says he knows how to help you", Buffy was the one to answer that, making her glance at the blonde, "Pat tried the healing, but we're not sure yet it worked… Do you feel any different?"

"No", the witch gave back, carefully sitting up, despite her head aching quite nastily, "my head hurts, and I'm so tired…"

"I can help you", Collard reassured her, giving her a slightly nervous smile, "we were speaking of this while you were unconscious."

"Yeah", Pat confirmed, "I don't really like it, but as soon as I can walk again, we'll take you to his lab and he can help you there…"

"Oh no", Willow gave back, looking and sounding a bit more aware now as she glanced at the taller woman's leg, the knee already swelling beneath the fabric of her pants, "Sweetie, you shouldn't have done that.."

"I'll be okay", the black haired woman reassured her, squeezing her hand tenderly, "don't worry. Just a few hours and I'll be alright, and until then, you hang in there so we can get you to the professor's lab and he'll help you…"

"It's not far from here", Collard added, giving her another smile; and even though she didn't like the thought of putting herself into his hands and at his mercy, after what had happened thanks to him, Willow nodded, then laid back down and closed her eyes for a moment, hoping that at least, she'd not be plagued by any more hallucinations until her lover would be ready to head for the lab with them.