Buffy smiled into Bill's embrace and felt almost sorry when he moved away a moment later. She became alarmed, however, when she heard him murmur something about getting a Healer. Before Buffy could stop herself, her hand shot out to grab his, effectively stopping him from leaving her side.
When she saw the look of surprise in his eyes at her sudden action, Buffy immediately dropped his hand and rushed to explain.
"Just give me a few minutes. I want to talk while we can still… talk."
To her relief, Bill understood and sat down in a chair next to her bed, one that looked suspiciously well-used.
"How do you feel?" he asked, a look of concern on his face as he looked her over.
"Like I've been resurrected from the dead?" she offered. When she saw Bill's face blanch at this, she winced. "Sorry, slayer humor."
"No," he reassured her. "I'm sorry. It's just that you've been out for three days, and—"
"Three days!? Have you been here the whole time?" she blurted out, for the first time truly taking in his haggard and unkempt appearance, not to mention an impressive set of bandages on his hand.
Bill shrugged. "Of course. I wouldn't leave you here all alone," he replied, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. Then he gave her a sheepish grin. "Though I took a break or two to see Hermione and my niece."
Buffy smiled at this piece of news. "So Hermione had her baby? And she's doing well? And what about the rest of your family? Your brothers and Harry? Are they okay?"
Once the questions started, she couldn't stop them. As she spoke, the words came out faster and faster as her anxiety ratcheted up a notch.
Bill, seeing her distress, immediately held up his hand. "Everyone is fine. We all made it out relatively unscathed, all things considered," he reassured her. "Hermione and little Rose are both pictures of health, happily resting at the Burrow now that the danger has passed. You can already tell my niece is going to be a little spitfire. Ron's really in for it now."
Buffy felt the worry lines vanish as she heard everyone was okay. "That's good," she laughed. "Except maybe for Ron."
She started to say something else when two bouquets of flowers next to her bed caught her eye; one small and the other enormous but both very beautiful. Curious, she plucked the cards from each bouquet, reading the smaller one first.
"'Thank you. We owe you a debt of gratitude, Theo'," she said, unable to suppress the smile as she read. Then she looked at the second card and rolled her eyes. "'I hope I never see you again. -DM'."
Bill gave a grunt of annoyance. "Those two tossers have been asking about you. Malfoy's bouquet is charmed to never wilt. He spent a fair bit of money on that," he revealed, a bit begrudgingly.
Buffy shrugged it off. "That's because it's the only way he knows. How's their friend, Greg?"
She saw the way Bill hesitated, and it made her stomach turn as she waited for him to speak.
"He's… alive. His wounds will heal, but he's been through quite a bit of trauma. And British society isn't as accepting of werewolves as Romania."
Buffy frowned. "I'd like to talk to him, if he'll see me."
This didn't seem to surprise Bill at all. "I'll see what I can do. I'd like to help him however I can. After all, it's thanks to Goyle that things turned out as well as they did. His appearance and his testimony was enough to convince the Ministry to take action when my father returned with him. The Minister himself and his personal guard appeared at the end of the fight. It was the combination of their spells with my family's that finally subdued the remaining werewolves."
Buffy bit her lip. She knew she had to ask the next question, but she was afraid of the answer. Finally, she just bit the bullet.
"And what happened to them? The werewolves?"
"They are still alive," he assured her, again sensing what was bothering her. "Most of them are just pups from Bromley's pack, forced to fight by the Alpha. They will be allowed to live in peace with support from the Romanian Ministry, provided they behave from here on out."
Buffy nodded, as satisfied with the outcome as she could be. That left her with just one question.
She made sure to look Bill straight in the eye.
"And how about you? How are you doing? And I'm not just talking about your hand," she clarified.
She clearly caught Bill off guard. She watched a myriad of emotions flit across his face, and none of them were good. Then he looked down at the floor, his brow furrowed.
"I… I don't know. I embraced my inner wolf - as you would say - and I'm not sure I liked what I saw," he confessed. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "It's not like I'm a stranger to death and killing. I fought in a bloody war, for Merlin's sake. But this was different. I killed a man. Brutally. Savagely. Like an animal. And… it didn't feel wrong."
He stopped there, as if he were afraid to continue. He still wouldn't look at her, either.
With a sigh, Buffy reached out and gently clasped his hand, ignoring the way he flinched at her touch.
"Being a slayer doesn't allow you to be squeamish. You do what you have to in order to make the kill. It's who we are, just like doing things in a werewolf way is who you are. That by itself doesn't make it wrong. It's when we use it that matters. I can't believe I'm going to say this - and I'll deny it if you ever mention it again - but it's this whole 'with great power comes great responsibility' thing."
"But this was different," Bill protested. "It was as though a fog had descended on my mind. I was conscious of what I was doing, but I was out of control."
Buffy cocked her head to the side as she studied him. "Were you, though? Because it sounds to me like you're only bothered by the way you killed him. If your werewolf instincts weren't in the driver's seat, would you still have killed him with plain old magic and been okay with it?"
Bill looked like she had slapped him. He abruptly pulled his hand away and leaned over as he held his head in his hands. "But I did kill him when I had no control of myself. What if it happens again? What if I lose control around people I care about, people who don't deserve a horrible, brutal death?"
"Honestly, I don't know," Buffy replied slowly. "You know my beliefs on this, that the more you know and understand it, the more you can control it. And I really do think you can control it. I know it doesn't seem like a good thing that you remember everything so clearly, but it really is. You don't wolf out like other werewolves. You still retain a bit of you. You may be able to use that to your advantage. But you have to decide for yourself if this is something you want, and if it's something about yourself that you can accept."
"And if I can't? Do you think I can suppress it forever, at least this part?" Bill asked.
Buffy shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe. This has never happened before, right? Then theoretically you could just avoid the triggers that brought it out. Because in reality, this was not your average kind of day."
Bill gave her a strange look before he turned his gaze to the floor once again.
"It scares me," he admitted quietly. Then he glanced up at her. "You scare me."
Buffy furrowed her brow, confused by his statement. "How do I…"
Her voice trailed off as it hit her. She brought it out. Well, maybe not her herself, but the situation she had been in. And if this was something he didn't want, then he didn't want her around, either.
A moment of awkward silence passed between them before Bill cleared his throat.
"What about you? Aren't you worried about yourself?" he asked, gesturing toward the cut on her back, courtesy of Bromley.
She shrugged. "We don't even know if it's a thing yet. I was scratched, not bitten, by a werewolf half-transformed on the full moon. Whatever happens, I'll deal."
And she would. It was a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. If it turned out worse than she thought, she knew she'd have her friends and family to help her. For the first time in a long time, that didn't sound so bad.
Bill sighed. "I wish it were that easy for me."
There was a look of anguish in his eyes as he spoke. Buffy took a chance and reached for his hand again. She was relieved when he didn't pull away.
"This isn't something you need to decide right away. There's no timeline to this, and it's okay to not feel okay. Just promise me you won't turn your family away. I'll always be here, too, if you need help," she promised, though silently she added, if you want it, or me.
He fell silent. He had some thinking to do, and she couldn't help with that. It was the same question he wrestled with when she first met him, only this time the stakes were much higher.
Deciding to change the subject and lift mood, she extracted her hand from his and pushed herself upright in the bed.
"Now, how are we going to get me out of here?"
Just as she intended, this snapped Bill out of his funk as he stared at her in astonishment.
"Out of here? But you can barely walk," he protested.
"Details, details," Buffy blithely replied. "I'm not staying here, that's for sure. Remember? I don't do hospitals. There's nothing they can do for me anyway. And if they don't agree, I'll make my escape."
"That will not be necessary."
Both Buffy and Bill turned toward the door to see someone enter the room. He was tall and broad, with skin the color of chocolate and kind brown eyes. Still, that did nothing to diminish his commanding aura. She knew right away she was talking to the big boss.
Buffy stared at her new visitor, completely nonplussed. "And you are?"
Kingsley gave a bow. "Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic."
"So you're the one in charge?" she replied. When he nodded in affirmation, she narrowed her eyes. "Good. I don't have time to waste on flunkies. Let's get one thing straight. If any harm comes to Bill and his family, you will face the wrath of the entire Slayer organization, which at my last count, totals over 1500 warriors with huge issues with stodgy old patriarchal systems. That is not including the other… 'assets' we possess, both supernatural and otherwise."
Perhaps she came on a tad too strong, but first impressions were everything. It didn't help that she felt particularly vulnerable in lying in a hospital bed. Showing Bill her weakness was one thing, showing the head of the British Ministry was another thing entirely. If she didn't have the physical advantage, she was damn sure going to have the mental one. She also was going to make sure the Weasleys didn't suffer any consequences for their hospitality.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bill's jaw drop.
"Buffy, it's okay. We—" he began, but he stopped short when Kingsley held up his hand.
The Minister gave Buffy a deep bow. "Your intentions are understood. Rest assured that the Ministry only seeks a peaceful resolution between our organizations and perhaps to begin discussions on future relations. We would also like to keep this current situation… under wraps."
Buffy studied the Minister for a moment impassively for a very long moment before she broke out into a bright smile, as if she hadn't just threatened him with all out war. "Cool. Glad to see we're on the same page. We'd be happy to establish Slayer-Wizard relations. With Hermione as the lead liaison, provided that she's interested."
A ghost of a smile graced the Minister's face. "I look forward to it," he replied. "You are free to go. We will not hold you here against your will. Though if I may, I believe the Burrow would be an excellent and discreet place to rest until you are ready to take your leave. Until we meet again."
With that, Kingsley swept regally from the room.
"I like him," Buffy said thoughtfully.
Bill laughed. "I don't want to be on your bad side. Ever."
"I'll be sure to remind you of that," Buffy winked. When she realized that implied they would be seeing each other beyond this, her face fell and she rushed to change the subject. "They really want me out of here with as little fanfare as possible, huh? Well, I hate to disappoint!"
She spied her clothes, all washed and magically mended, on a table behind Bill. She thought she also spied the backpack George had given her, battered but still functional.
Without a second thought, she threw her blanket back and got to her feet.
Alarmed, Bill made a beeline for the door, intent on giving her some privacy. He quickly turned back when he heard her gasp.
She couldn't help it. Apparently, it didn't matter what world you live in. There was no such thing as a flattering hospital gown.
The Minister had not been lying. Buffy was surprised when she and Bill breezed out of the hospital wing without a second glance, not even from the uptight guard that was stationed just outside the door - though it was clear he was going to escort them all the out.
She was grateful when Bill extended one arm to help her walk and used the other to carry the backpack, which now held her flowers. Though that last spell had really zapped her energy, she did not want anyone to know it; the way Bill handled it looked more like the gentlemanly thing to do rather than the real reason.
The three of them rode the elevator down to the main floor in silence. When the doors opened, the guard gestured toward the front door. In matter of minutes, Buffy found herself standing on the streets of London in front of a red brick wall with Bill.
He started to walk down the street, but Buffy hesitated. When Bill noticed, he stopped and turned, a question in his eyes.
Buffy bit her lip. "Is Greg still in there? Any chance we can see him before we go?"
Bill frowned. "I really don't think that's a good idea. The Ministry is being extraordinarily accommodating right now, and I'd hate to do anything to jeopardize that for both you and my family's sake. The last thing we need to do is draw attention to ourselves-"
"Bill!"
Bill gave a start as a familiar sounding voice echoed down the street. He and Buffy quickly turned toward the voice, just in time for him to release Buffy's arm and catch the woman hurtling toward him in a flurry of blonde hair and expensive smelling perfume.
"Fleur?!" Bill exclaimed.
"Oh, Bill! They told me you were here but they would not let me see you!" Fleur cried, still maintaining an iron grip on her ex as she peppered his cheeks with kisses.
Buffy thought she was in the land of awkwardness when they ran into Bill's ex-wife in the Ministry when she was invisible.
This was a thousand times worse.
A/N: For those wondering about Fleur... ;)