"Yes, invisible", Willow confirmed several hours later on the phone while behind her, she heard her partner growl and grunt as she changed into her furrier form and waited for her various injuries to heal, "and quite strong, too. Unfortunately, also quite smart and fast, so we didn't really defeat it, it just… ran off after a little mishap with a spell."

"What kind of mishap, exactly?" the Watcher wanted to know, to her dismay – she had been hoping he wouldn't ask that and would spare her of recounting how she almost had fried her girlfriend accidentally, a small sigh escaping her before she answered his question.

"Well", she started, briefly looking at Pat as the demon let out a dismayed grunt at the feeling of the bones in her hand healing up again, "Pat had gone down, and I tried to stop that thing from kicking her with the lightning spell, but it was smart enough to pull her up and use her as a shield, so I nearly fried her instead."

"Good Lord", Giles replied, sounding so shocked that it made the witch smile, "is she alright?"

"Yes, she is now", the redhead reassured him, touched by his concern, "we both got some rest after that creature ran off and now she demoned out and healed, she's okay."

"Good to hear", the Watcher gave back, "and this is a really unsettling tale, Willow, if this thing is so strong and fast that it can take a demon like Pat down so easily…"

"It didn't take her down easily", the witch protested at once, even though she smiled slightly again when Pat threw an offended look at the receiver she was holding to her ear, "she fought quite well actually, especially considering we couldn't see that thing. Do you think Andras sent it?"

"Most likely", Giles agreed at once, "I've never heard of him using invisible demons to fight for him, but he surely has the power to conjure up such a creature. This would also explain why it ran off after you fired that spell."

"How?" the witch wanted to know with a frown after pondering this for a few seconds, but unable to figure out how he had made this connection, only to roll her eyes at the slowness of her own mind when he explained. "His tries to stop your spell earlier must have been very tiring for him, and when his creature was met with resistance from both Pat and you, he probably thought it safer to let it retreat. Conjuring up beings, especially invisible ones, takes a lot of toll on magic users."

"I can't believe I couldn't figure that out", she mumbled to herself, annoyed, even though her smile returned to her face when finally, Pat got done with the healing and moved closer to her, wrapping her arms around her waist from behind, "but of course that makes sense… So what do we do now? Before he recovers enough of his strength to send something else?"

"I've been looking up spells while you were fighting invisible monsters and sleeping", Giles gave back, and she could almost hear the smirk on his face, causing her own smile to widen as well, "and there is a way to break the pact with the demon, even though it might be very dangerous to do it."

"Isn't it always?" the witch replied with a sigh, the tone of her voice prompting her partner to pull her even closer and to rest her chin on the smaller woman's shoulder, close to the receiver so she could hear what the Brit was saying, as well; she frowned when he answered Willow's question moments later, his words not all too appealing to her.

"Of course", he agreed, with a small sigh as well, "but this time, it might be more delicate than usual. I spoke to Father Murray after the two of you left, and he explained to me that he made the pact with Andras in his church, so the spell would have to be done there, not to mention the fact that, due to this blasphemous act, the pact might be more potent than it would be, had it been made on more neutral ground."

"Just great", Willow grumbled, her partner nodding enthusiastically behind her, "so I'll have to do a dangerous spell, in a church, probably with the help of that priest, since he made the pact, and one of our strongest fighters won't be able to be there in case anything happens. Can't say I like that."

"I know it's not the ideal setup", Giles agreed, "but unfortunately, we don't have much of a choice, this invasion of the walking dead needs to be stopped before it can become even worse."

"Yeah", the witch nodded, momentarily distracted when she felt Pat's hands slide beneath her shirt and come to a tender rest on her naked stomach, prompting her to turn her head so she could give her a strict "Don't distract me" look, "and that reminds me, I still need to call Dr Henderson and ask her if they found a cure yet."

"You do this, then", Giles instructed her in reply, "and I will speak to Father Murray and gather everything we'll need for the spell. I'll contact you as soon as I know when to best perform it."

"Alright", Willow agreed, "we'll be waiting for your call then, if you need me to bring anything along, tell me, you know I have a lot of magic ingredients here."

"Yes, of course", the Watcher reassured her, then told her to take care before he ended the call; Willow did the same, and the moment she had put the phone down, Pat spoke up, her words prompting the redhead to turn around in her embrace and look up at her in concern.

"I don't like the idea of you doing that spell in that church, where I'm not around", the demon stated, frowning, "what if something goes wrong and I can't be there to protect you?"

"I don't like that, either", Willow let her know, smiling slightly when she felt the taller woman's hands caress her back tenderly, "but if Giles is right, and he usually is, that's the only way…"

"I know", Pat grumbled, her annoyance about the situation clearly not stopping her from moving her hands beneath Willow's shirt once more though, "and I wish I could just go in there with you, but you know what will happen if I do, so…"

"I'll be careful", Willow promised her in reply, briefly shuddering as she felt the taller woman's fingertips trace her spine, "I promise… well, as careful as I can be, at least… I mean…"

She trailed off as another shiver ran through her, the demon this time clearly noticing, since she smirked, a hint of mischief in her good eye – before she pulled her even closer and bent down to kiss her neck, the redhead almost automatically closing her eyes at the feeling of the taller woman's lips on the sensitive skin there.

"I should call Henderson", she brought out, unable to keep a slight tremble out of her voice; she felt Pat smirk against her throat, then the black haired woman mumbled "That can wait" to her, moving to kiss her deeply before she could try to protest, one of her hands sliding to her front in the process, her tender touch and the quite passionate kiss quickly making her forget everything about Henderson, zombies and Andras, only capable to focus on her partner and the wonderful things the demon was doing with her hands and mouth.

"Shame on you", Willow giggled quite some time later as she laid halfway on the couch, halfway in her partner's embrace, "distracting me from my task like that."

"And what a distraction it was", Pat smirked, clearly not feeling ashamed at all, "admit it, you liked it."

"I think the noises I made showed you pretty well how much I liked it", the redhead giggled, making her partner smirk and nod; then, the couple exchanged a quick, but tender kiss before Willow finally sat up and reached for the phone, knowing that she still had to call Henderson to find out about the progress they were making with the cure.

While she dialled the number, Pat sat up as well and moved closer to her again, wrapping her arms around her from behind once more; she briefly smiled at the taller woman, then a click sounded through the line, followed by Henderson's voice, the doctor as always sounding rather cold and indifferent, making Willow wonder if she ever showed any emotions before she shrugged it off and told her who was calling, the elder woman sounding considerably warmer when she replied. "Oh, Miss Rosenberg, how nice to hear of you. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Um, no", Willow gave back, smiling as she moved one hand to place it on her partner's, the taller woman's fingers entwined over her stomach, "I just wanted to ask how the cure thing is going?"

"Oh, just fine", Henderson let her know, now showing some emotion by sounding quite proud, "we managed to isolate the compound of your partner's blood which cured her, and are working on an injection which will hold enough of it to cure the people, but won't transfer any… demonism, for lack of a better word."

"That's good to hear", Willow smiled, "I hope you can work that out quickly, before anyone else gets… changed."

"We had one incident, unfortunately", Henderson informed her in reply, not sounding as if this touched her much though, "but luckily, the patient in question was restrained and the threat could be neutralized easily."

"Um, good, I guess", the witch gave back, frowning slightly, "and there haven't been any new… infections?"

"Not in our hospital, at least", Henderson informed her, "if there are any in the other hospitals of town, they are keeping it under wraps as we do. So far, this is working out quite well, the information hasn't appeared in the press yet."

"Yeah, good thing", Willow nodded, not really surprised – after all, the citizens of Sunnydale were very good when it came to look the other way the moment something supernatural came up, and after living in a town full of vampires and demons for years, zombies probably didn't faze anyone anymore.

"It seems that we took enough of your spouse's blood the last time she was here", the doctor now let her know, "but just in case we do need more, I assume we can still count on her?"

"Of course", Willow reassured her at once, "just give us a call. And please also let me know once you worked out the cure."

"I will", Henderson told her, then let her know that she had work to do and thus had to end the call now; they both said their goodbyes, then the redhead pushed the button which cut the connection and put the phone back down, leaning back into her partner's embrace afterwards and smiling up at her.

"They are figuring out how to cure the poor people who got bitten with your blood, without turning them into demons", she then let her know, "so we won't need to worry anymore that suddenly, the fire demon population of Sunnydale will increase dramatically."

"Good thing", Pat smirked, "or I would have been forced to start giving them all classes on how to control the fire and everything."

"I'm sure you would be a good teacher", Willow giggled in reply, "if only because no student would dare to disrupt the lesson, seeing how badass you look."

"Yeah, they'd all be afraid of me", the demon snickered, leaning forward so she could reach for her cigarettes and nearly making her partner fall off the couch, only a quick grab around her waist keeping her from ending up on the ground.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that", she apologized, the redhead rolling her eyes in response, smiling again though when she replied. "Of course, throwing me off the couch is much more practical than just asking me to give you your smokes."

"Hey, I apologized", the taller woman smirked, "so, dearest Willow, apple of my eye, will you please forgive me and hand me my smokes?"

Giggling at her cheesy words, the redhead nodded and did just that; leaning back into the couch again, Pat got one of the cigarettes out of the pack and lit it up, looking satisfied after taking the first long drag and blowing the smoke up towards the ceiling.

"Just make sure you don't burn me", Willow advised with a smile, making her nod immediately; the couple smiled at each other, then Pat let out a noise of dismay, prompting the witch to look at her curiously, her own face mirroring the expression on her partner's moments later as the black haired woman gave an explanation for making that sound. "Bedroom window's still broken. We'll need to ask Xander to replace it, unless you can magic it whole again."

"I could, but I better don't, not if Giles wants to do that spell soon", Willow sighed, throwing a dismayed look at the general direction of the bedroom, "not to mention that I only read about repair spells, but never tried them. I might end up blowing a hole into the wall."

"Nah", Pat gave back at once, with her usual confidence in her partner's abilities, making her smile, "you're too good to do that. Come on, when was the last time you fucked up a spell?"

"Language", Willow told her, giggling when the taller woman rolled her good eye in reply, "and actually, that happened not all too long ago. While I was in England, in fact."

"Really?" the demon wanted to know, surprised, "what happened? Nothing dangerous, right?"

"Oh, no", the redhead reassured her, smiling at her, "just an exercise which helped me to regain control of the magic, I had to float a glass filled with water, around the room and without spilling a drop. I messed it up though and the glass shattered on the wall, water and shards went everywhere and the woman who was with me let out the funniest little squeal."

"Oh my", Pat chuckled, "I would have paid to see that, I bet your face was priceless."

"Hey!" Willow said in a mock annoyed tone and with a strict look at her girlfriend, "that's not funny, shame on you, again. And it's not nice to make fun of your girlfriend. Or of your spouse, as Henderson put it."

"I never liked that word", Pat commented, shrugging when the witch gave her another questioning look, "it just sounds odd. Anyway, we better call Xander then, I don't really want to sleep in a room tonight with no window."

Nodding, Willow picked up the phone again to make yet another call; to her relief, Xander reassured her that he could come over right after work and that he'd bring along everything he'd need to repair the window – by now, he had done so in the apartment of the couple often enough to know exactly what he had to bring, just another side effect of the dangerous life they all led.

"Thank you", the redhead smiled happily, "you're our saviour. If you want to, you can bring Anya along and we'll have dinner together, as a little payment for repairing the window."

"That sounds good", Xander gave back at once, as always not saying no to free food, "see you at about six then."

"Okay", Willow agreed, then ended the call; and the moment she had put the phone back down again, she felt Pat tighten her embrace around her, the demon's breath warm on her neck when she spoke up, mumbling into her ear. "Coming over for dinner, huh? That means we still have several hours of peace, we should use them wisely."

"And you already have something in mind, don't you", Willow teased, turning in her partner's embrace so she could look at her; in response, Pat just smirked at her, then pulled her closer for a quite deep and passionate kiss, momentarily surprising the witch with her stamina – before she shrugged it off and just enjoyed everything, their troubles once more for the moment forgotten.