It took quite some time for Willow to calm down again, and by the time she had, she felt drained and tired, all the day's excitement taking its toll on her; and thus, the demon suggested that they should finish their task in next day, reminding her of the fact that they still had to get the mistletoe, making the redhead nod in agreement.

"We can do that tomorrow", she agreed tiredly, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to keep herself from falling asleep on the spot, "at least, I didn't lose the other stuff we already collected… I hope Hecate won't be annoyed if it takes us so long to get back to her."

"Even if she is", the taller woman shrugged, clearly not all too perturbed by the thought, "she won't be anymore once we tell her what happened. If she doesn't know already. Worst that might happen, she might get mad at me for letting those thugs kidnap you."

"I doubt that", Willow gave back at once, not really surprising her partner, "you fought so hard to keep them away from me, it's not your fault one of those cowards snuck up to your blind side."

"Coward describes him well", the demon grumbled, making Willow smile slightly – before she glanced around, for the first time consciously taking in their surroundings, the small clearing where the dragon had dropped them off, the sound of the river not too far away, making her realize how thirsty and hungry she was.

"Think we can stay here for the rest of the day?" she wanted to know, her gaze focusing on her partner again, "the river seems not too far away, but if those bandits come back… The ones still alive…"

"I doubt it", Pat gave back at once, "by now, they will have learned about what happened to their buddy, and even though they didn't seem all too smart, I'm quite sure they won't go after someone who's apparently friends with a big bad dragon."

"Good point", the witch had to agree with a giggle, making the taller woman smirk slightly – before she made a vague gesture in the direction of the river, then asked her lover if she was up to going there and get some food and water.

"Yes", Willow agreed at once, "and afterwards, I'm all for getting some rest. This day has been much more exciting than I thought it would be."

"Tell me about it", Pat grumbled her agreement, shaking her head, "why is it that we can't even go out to collect some herbs and stuff without ending up attacked and in mortal danger? Sometimes I wonder if we're magnets for these things."

"Well, we are from Sunnydale", Willow reminded her with a giggle as she came to her feet, "I think this kinda predestines us for weird stuff happening to us."

"I'm not from Sunnydale, I just moved there", Pat pointed out in response, "but I suppose you're right. Maybe I've been living there long enough to qualify for the magnet-thing."

"Apparently", the redhead giggled as they started walking towards the river together, "and also, the fact that you're a demon, in a relationship with a witch and close friends with the Slayer probably helps."

"Could be", the taller woman agreed with a smirk of her own; they briefly smiled at each other, then the black haired woman stopped walking to bend down and kiss her partner tenderly, a small, but content sigh escaping the witch as she felt her lover's lips on hers.

Thanks to the fact that now, they were alone in the forest, with no one around to see them and maybe react badly at their relationship, they let the kiss deepen; and as she felt Pat tighten her embrace around her and pull her even closer, all the thoughts about what she had done to those bandits were forgotten, pushed into oblivion by the love and care she could feel from her partner.

After having made their way to the river, where Pat once again had caught dinner for them in the form of fish she snatched out of the water, the couple did what they had been eager to after all the excitement – they took it easy for the rest of the day, settling down next to the river and just hanging around there, talking about whatever came to their minds and wondering how the rest of the gang was doing without them back in Sunnydale.

"I hope nothing dreadful happened while we were gone", Willow pondered out loud, "the last thing we need once we get back would be to return and end up in the middle of an apocalypse."

"True", the demon agreed at once, digging out her cigarettes as she went on and peering into the pack, looking slightly regretful as their number had been quite diminished, but lightening one of them up anyway, then carefully putting the pack back into her pocket, "but I think they'll be okay. We haven't been here for that long, and once we got the mistletoe tomorrow, Hecate can send us back."

"Let's hope this will work out", the witch sighed, moving so she could place her head in her partner's lap as she stretched out on the ground, glad that for once, she didn't seem to be lying on any stones or roots, "as much trouble as we usually have in Sunnydale, I really want to go back home. At least it's been years there since someone tried to burn me at the stake."

"And I got more cigarettes there", the demon grumbled as she moved her free hand to caress the redhead's hair, making her giggle slightly, a low snort coming from the taller woman at those sounds of amusement.

"Don't laugh", she then chided, not fully serious though, as the twinkle in her good eye showed, "once I run out of cigarettes, you know I'll get cranky. As cranky as I get if I don't beat something up for too long."

"I'm sure we can find you some more bandits", Willow gave back, shifting slightly to get more comfortable, a hearty yawn escaping her afterwards – now that the danger was over, her belly was full and her thirst had been sated, tiredness took over yet again, her eyelids suddenly seeming to each weigh a ton.

"Get some sleep", she heard Pat murmur, the taller woman's hand still tenderly caressing her hair, the gentle touch not making it easier for her to stay awake, "I'll keep an eye out, so you can rest easy."

"But you should get some sleep, too", Willow protested feebly, still struggling to keep her eyes open; in response, the black haired woman reminded her of her demonic nature and that technically, she didn't need as much sleep as regular people.

"I'll keep you safe", she then added, "sleep well. I love you."

"Love you, too", the witch mumbled, finally losing the fight against her tiredness; her eyes fell close, and not even a minute later, she was fast asleep, slumbering soundly through the night, with her partner keeping watch as she had said, making sure that no one would disturb this little bit of peace they had found after all the troubles the day had brought them.

At first, Willow had been reluctant about going back to the town, worried that the townspeople might attack them on sight; on the other hand, as Pat had pointed out, they didn't have much of a choice, having to get back to the temple so the Goddess could send them back to their world, now that they had found the mistletoe first thing in the morning and thus had all Hecate needed to do her magic.

Shortly after they had entered the town again though, she realized that her worries had been unnecessary; she recognized a few faces from the mob who had been there the day before, willing to burn her, but they all hastily looked away the moment her gaze met theirs, even making sure to give Pat and her a wide berth, if they happened to be walking towards the witch and the demon.

"Either they sobered up from the mob mentality and are ashamed", she observed after this had happened for the fourth time, in form of a young woman who even had blushed as she had hurried past the couple, making sure to stay out of reach, "or they're afraid I'll turn them into frogs. Or that you might call your dragon friend."

"Probably", Pat gave back, not letting it show if keeping watch all night had tired her out, "even though I prefer the thought that they are ashamed. Would redeem them at least a little bit."

Even though she still didn't think that the townspeople were entirely to blame for what had happened, Willow nodded, noticing from the corner of her eye how another man she recognized from the mob made some sort of symbol in her direction, probably to ward off her evil eye or something; ignoring him, she focused on the task up ahead, once more checking her pockets to make sure they really had everything Hecate would need for the spell to send them back home.

"Let's hope there won't be any further delays", she then said, once she had convinced herself everything was there, "the others must be worried sick by now, and I really want to go back home."

"Me too", the demon agreed at once, fighting down the urge to light up yet another cigarette, since there were only a few left, "I miss the others. And I miss proper coffee."

"No surprise there", Willow giggled, looking up at her with a hint of mischief in her green eyes, "actually, I'm surprised you're not reacting much worse to being deprived of coffee. You do act as if it is your life elixir when we're at home."

"Well, it is", Pat gave back without missing a beat, to the obvious amusement of her partner, "just wait, the moment we get back home, I'll raid the Espresso Pump and buy a year's worth of coffee and drink it all at once."

"Please don't", Willow shook her head as they approached the temple together, "I don't even want to imagine what this might do to you."

"Make me really hyper, I suppose", the demon shrugged, clearly not very perturbed by the thought; the witch gave her another strict look in response, then they entered the temple together and made their way to the altar room, not surprised this time when the Goddess manifested the moment they stepped inside.

"Forgive me for not helping when you were in turmoil back there", were the first words which came from Hecate's mouth, "but, as I said, unfortunately, my magic is quite limited here. I have to say though, I am impressed, you solved the whole mess quite heroically, Pat."

"Yeah, well", the demon shrugged in reply, to Willow's amusement looking slightly embarrassed at this clearly unexpected compliment, "what can I say, it wasn't like I had much of a choice…"

"I never doubted that you'd get her out of this mess", Hecate reassured her, then seemed to remember why they had come to her temple in the first place, giving them a curious look as she asked if they had gotten everything she had asked for.

"Yes", Willow confirmed, emptying her pockets and lining the items Hecate had asked for up on the altar, "here they are. I hope we didn't forget anything or got something wrong…"

"You didn't", the Goddess reassured her after taking a quick look at the stuff, "this should be more than sufficient to send you back home. Take hold of each other's hands please and…"

Before she could finish her sentence, voices came up just outside the temple, making both Willow and Pat flinch while the Goddess merely raised an eyebrow, clearly above such reactions, even though the things the voices were saying were a reason for concern.

"…in there", a male voice was saying, sounding slightly upset and worried, "who knows what they might be doing to our temple!"

"We're not doing anything", Willow mumbled, even though they weren't close enough yet to hear her; Hecate gave her a smile and nodded, then spoke up again, briefly making the couple wonder if the men and women outside could hear her and what they might think of what the Goddess was saying to them.

"We better hurry with the spell", she advised, glancing towards the hallway where now, the voices were coming from, moving closer to the altar room, "I don't think these people can be convinced that you don't mean to desecrate my altar or do something equally unpleasant to it."

"Probably not", Pat agreed, reaching out and grasping both of Willow's hands, the witch returning her grip with slight anxiety; they still had time to exchange a look, then Hecate started speaking, in a language neither the witch, nor the demon ever had heard before, moving her hands over the herbs the couple had brought to the temple.

And just as she said the last few words, her voice rising slightly, the doors leading to the altar room flew open and the men and women came rushing inside; involuntarily, Willow let out a small startled noise, the sound mixing with the last syllables coming from the Goddess' mouth, and then, a bright flash of light came up, engulfing both Pat and her, and for a while, both of them were blinded, until the world went dark around them again.