Chapter 12

2 weeks later

Sunnydale, California

"But, it's boring here. And I need a change of clothes. My clothes."

Willow rolled her eyes as she went to answer the door. Rosalie had been complaining for the last day or so, and it was starting to get on her nerves. The blonde had only gone out the one night of patrolling, and declared it was too messy. Willow snorted at the memory of Rose covered in the hardening mucus of a Fyarl demon. The look of disgust on the beautiful blonde's face had been comical to say the least, and she had defiantly not appreciated being laughed at.

Willow opened the door to see Buffy standing on the porch. The late afternoon sun glinted off Willow's reflective skin, and Buffy's eyes went wide. The red head had shown her old friend the effect of the sun on them about a week ago, and the slayer couldn't help staring even now. Willow chuckled and pulled the door open further to let Buffy enter.

"Esme, you have to talk to her. What are we supposed to be doing here exactly? And this town is ridiculous. There hasn't been one cloudy day the entire time we've been here." Rosalie's voice could be heard from upstairs.

"She still complaining?" Buffy asked as she went into the living room and sat on the couch.

"Yup. I think we're going to have to go soon, Buffy." Willow said sadly as she sat on the couch next to her friend. She had enjoyed being home, but if she were honest with herself, she missed Forks.

"Really? Do you have to? Can't you stay with us here?" Buffy asked hopefully.

"Buffy...I'm sorry. I don't want to leave Edward. Or the others to be honest with you. Plus, we haven't found anything detrimental about The First, or your uber vamp. Maybe there's nothing going on after all." And it was true, after The First appeared before Willow and the Cullen's, they hadn't seen hide nor hair of it. Plus, Giles couldn't find any mention of an apocalypse in any of his books. He had called the council for information, but they hadn't gotten back to him, which in Willow's mind was a good thing. She didn't want the council to know about her kind of vampire, that would bring down all kinds of badness.

"I guess I knew this was coming, but I didn't think it would be so soon. I figured we'd have more time." Buffy said in a depressed tone.

"I know. Me too." Willow wished there was something she could do. A thought popped into head and she started to bounce in her seat with excitement, making Buffy look at her like she was crazy. "I think I might have an idea. I have to talk to Anya, but I'm pretty sure it'll work."

"Well, lets go to the Magic Box. Ask Carlisle if he wants to come with us. Giles dug out his copies of the old Watcher diaries and he told me to tell Carlisle he found them." She said the last with a roll of her eyes, making Willow laugh. The two men were like two peas in a pod when it came to information. Giles nearly kidnapped the doctor when the pale blonde man expressed such an interest in the demonology texts. They were forever discussing the books Giles treated like his children.

Willow went to the foot of the stairs and before she could say anything, Carlisle and Edward were at the top. She gave them a smile as they started down. When Edward was standing next to her, Willow leaned up on her toes and gave him a soft kiss. The past two weeks had been wonderful for their relationship. With nothing major to distract them, and not being able to go anywhere during the day, they had grown unbelievably close. With so much time to do nothing but get to know each other, Willow told him every detail of her life, and so had he. It turned out they had a lot in common, beside the whole search for redemption for past sins thing.

Each day they would lay in her bed and trade stories. Both good and bad. She held him when he confessed to breaking away from Carlisle and Esme to hunt evil humans in his younger days of being a vampire. And the whole house would have heard his laughter, even without vampiric hearing, when she told him of the Scoobies past exploits. Xander nearly died with embarrassment when Edward asked him if he had eaten any raw pigs lately. Willow had always suspected Xander remembered his time as a hyena, but the tomato red of the mans face had confirmed it. Xander had whined at her until she promised not to tell Buffy.

When they reached the Magic Box, Willow could hear Giles on the phone in the back office. Carlisle went up to the loft and started looking through the books, waiting for Giles to be done on the phone. Willow told Anya about her idea and the two started planning a ritual while Edward listened with interest. Willow's idea was to make two amulets that the Scoobies could activate if they ever needed to call her for help. They would keep one, and Willow would have the other.

"It's sort of like the one you used as a vengeance demon, but instead of being a power base, it's like a cosmic phone. Plus, we could place the portal spell on it to make it easier to use, so it won't drain you like last time." Willow said as the two girls wrote out the proper spells to use. Anya had spent two days recuperating from the spell, and had complained about it for a week.

"Right. Well, I think this might work. Lets get started." Anya said as she gathered up the ingredients they would need. While Anya got everything together, Willow went over to the necklaces that were displayed in the counters glass case. She selected two gold pendants from the group and showed them to Anya.

"These should work." Willow said placing them on the research table next to the other ingredients. She turned to Edward and asked, "Could you lock the door? We can't be interrupted during the casting. We don't want to make it go klaboey."

When everything was ready, Willow and Anya cast a protection circle around the pentagram they had drawn on the floor in chalk. They knelt facing each other in the middle. They first offer a supplication to Eryishon, the endless one, putting their hands out, palms up, fingertips touching:

Anya: Eryishon k'shala meh-uhn.

Willow: Diprecht, Doh-tehenlo Nu-Eryishon.

Both put their hands on a bottle of sacred sand, preparing to pour it onto the two pendents.

Anya (picks up the bottle of sand): The child to the mother.

Willow (touching the bottle of sand): The River to the sea.

Anya: Eryishon, hear my prayer.

As they pour the sand they both speak in unison, chanting the last part of the spell. As the sand covers the pendents, they start to glow an unearthly blue. Each girl picks up a white candle burning next to them and blows out the flames at the same time. The candles sitting at each point of the pentagram flare up and go out, and the pendents stop glowing.

"That should be it." Anya said wiping her hand across her sweaty brow. Her voice shook a little from the exertion of the spell as she said, "I think I should go lay down now."

Willow broke the protection spell and Buffy came forward to help Anya to the back room. Picking up the two amulets, she shakes the sand from them and looks up at Edward with a smile on her face.

"Now we can go home and they'll still be able to get a hold of us if they need to." she said proudly as she put one of the necklaces around her neck. The gold chain was short, so the charm lay a just below her throat. It was in the shape of a disk about an inch and a half across, with a picture of the sun rising or setting, depending how you looked at it.

"You're not tired?" Edward asked as she collected the candles and other paraphernalia to put them away.

"No, not really." she said as she smudged out the pentagram and grabbed a broom to sweep up the sand.

Edward chuckled at her nonchalant tone and helped her move the research table back into place. He pulled her into his arms hugging her tight as Giles came from the back office with a worried look on his face.

"I'm afraid I have to go to London for a short time. I'm sorry to have to leave you for a bit." Giles said looking around at them.

"Actually, we're going to head home back to Forks. But Anya and I just made a couple of amulets to help you guys contact us if need be." Willow said handing the other amulet to him.

Giles looked closely at the golden charm and smiled at Willow. "Excellent idea. I'll put it somewhere safe, and inform Buffy of its location. I'm sorry to see you leave so soon though." He turned to Carlisle and said, "I was looking forward to discussing the histories..."

Willow tuned the two men out and buried her head into Edwards chest. She took a deep breath, inhaling his scent. The sweet and spicy smell was intoxicating.'Even if I smelled him for the next hundred years, I'd never get tired of his scent.' she thought as she wrapped her arms around his waist. She felt him rest his cheek against the top of her head, and sigh in contentment.

Willow heard Buffy come in from the back room and mumbled against Edward's chest.

"What?" Buffy asked laughing.

"She said she's going to miss you." Edward answered for her, chuckling softly.

"I'm going to miss you too, Wills." Buffy said as she patted Willow's back.

"Ah, Buffy. I received a most urgent call from the council before you arrived. They need me to go to London for a few days, and I should be back by Thursday at the latest." Giles said. Turning to Carlisle he asked, "Do you know when you're leaving?"

"Most likely tonight. The hospital is probably wondering where I am, and I know the children have to get back to school soon." Carlisle answered with regret in his voice. "It has been a pleasure to meet you Mr. Giles. And you, Buffy."

"Same here, Dr. C. Take good care of our Wills for us. And you better not hurt my best friend, mister." Buffy said to Edward in a serious tone.

"I won't. I promise." Edward responded.

"Why do you have to go to England, Giles?" Buffy asked.

"They wouldn't tell me over the phone. I tried to pry it out of him, but you know how tight lipped Quentin Travers can be, the pompous ass."

"Well, I suppose we should go back to the house and break the good news to Rosalie, huh?" Willow asked with a sad note in her voice. "But knowing Alice, she already told her. Let me go tell Anya goodbye and we can head back. Buffy, can you call Xander and ask him to meet us there?"

"Sure. Actually, I'll swing by his place and have him drive us over." Buffy said and left to go get their friend. 'Xander's not going to be happy.' she thought.

A half hour later everyone was saying their good-byes, and getting ready to leave. Giles left a few minutes later with Xander, he had to pack and head straight to the airport. His flight would be leaving in two hours, so he had to rush, but he didn't want to leave without wishing Willow and the others safe journey. Xander was predictably upset, but he knew Willow was just a 'call' away if he needed her. He gave Willow a big bear hug, and made vague threats to Edward involving quality time with a shovel. Even with his mind reading ability, Edward didn't know what to make of that one. Willow just shook her head when he asked her.

"Tell Dawn I said bye, for all the good it'll do." Willow said as she hugged Buffy. Dawn had been the only one to still hold any ill feelings toward her, so Willow hadn't spent much time over at the Summers' house.

"I will. Be good, and stay safe, Willow."

Willow let her friend go and turned to her family. "Ready?" she asked. At everyones nod, she stood in front of them and touched the disk at her throat. She concentrated on the feel of magic that surrounded the amulet and pushed some of her power into it.

The same soft blue swirling portal opened in front of them. They left Sunnydale the same way they came. Two by two. Willow gave Buffy a wave before she and Edward walked into the portal.

Buffy watched with tears in her eyes as Willow disappeared into the swirling haze. She didn't leave the Rosenburg house until the portal faded completely. She locked up the house and headed back to check on Anya, wondering if she would ever see her best friend again. She had a feeling that things weren't going to be as peaceful in the near future, and hoped she wouldn't have to call Willow for an emergency instead of a friendly visit. But knowing her luck, anything could happen.