The Red Witch

Chapter 22 part 1

Having won over the little girl's trust and planted herself firmly into the role of caretaker Willow decided that she had to take things one step at a time before she became overwhelmed. After all, despite a nice brunch and a short amount of sleep she was still rather low on energy and now someone else's wellbeing depended directly on hers. With relatively little coaxing she managed to get Amarice into a warmish bath and cleaned all her wounds and hair. It wasn't hard after that to get her dressed in some of Buffy's old toddler pajamas (found by Dawn in a dusty box in the attic), but figuring out what to feed her was a challenge. Part of the challenge was dealing with all the well-meaning Scoobies, whose attention was distressing for the child if only because of their number. Willow forced the others to leave her and Amarice alone in the kitchen finally, but that still left her with the problem of nutrition.

The child had spent who knew how many days with sporadic meals of who knew what, and at least three days after that with barely any food by her own choice. Not that one could blame the child as many of the foods the Scoobies ate and prepared for the girl she had never seen before. Not wanting to give the girl anything too rich or processed Willow finally dished up oatmeal. To get Amarice to eat though, the witch had to allow the child to watch her sample it. Once she seemed to be full after less than half a serving Willow picked up the girl and prepared to carry her back to her own home so they could rest.

Xander offered to drive them along with Faith back to her home as to avoid exposing the girl to the neighborhood. However, Willow was sure that would be one new experience too many for the girl who was already distressed and in need of sleep. So, after using a mild charm to help the girl sleep the witch covered her with a blanket and walked her home the dark Slayer at her side. Later she would have to go back and introduce the girl to the Scoobies properly, as well as explain what she had decided to do with the girl, but for now they both required rest.

Willow laid the girl in her own bed, the question of giving the girl a room of her own room would have to wait until the current crisis was resolved and she acclimated to the new surroundings. Other things like creating an identity for her and giving her a place in the social system and a removable glamour to help her appear human when she went outside would be taken care of later that evening. For now, Willow used her magic to scan the child and asses her health. Since there were no other people with pressing medical needs aside from Kennedy, Willow didn't restrict herself from healing all the leftover infection in the girl's body and any wounds that were still present. By the time she finished the girl was resting easier and deeper. The combination of Willow's scent, which was now being associated with home and safety, and the easing of any discomfort from lingering wounds allowed her to relax more. Willow surrendering to her own body's needs laid down beside the child and allowed herself to sleep as well.

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Amarice Danielle Rosenberg, the newly printed birth certificate read, further listing mother as Willow Danielle Rosenberg and officially stating Amarice's age as 4 years old. Willow stared at the paper she printed for quite a while after having done so. She still needed to send off for an official copy of the certificate now that Amarice was in the system, but even this plain paper copy knocked the breath out of her for a moment once everything was finished. There was no going back now, the girl was hers legally as of today. What would Sidonie think of that? No father and given Willow's age this paper made her a single teen mom at Amarice's "birth". Her parents would have loved that, their perfectly square daughter being in such trouble. She would not have had much support from them.

Willow shook herself out of her daze and looked over at the thin child who still slept on her bed and was now wrapped around the pillow Willow had used. Willow's scent on the pillow and a gentle dreamless sleep spell helping her to rest comfortably after a few nightmares cropped up. The next step would be to create a glamour for the child, but that would have to wait until Amarice woke up, though she could begin prepping now. Willow had already set aside a necklace that her father had given her on her fifth birthday, one of the rare few she actually spent with her parents instead of her friends or her grandmother or the two she sat through alone. The necklace was a simple gold braid that had a white gold conch shell shaped pendant attached. Willow would anchor her glamour spell to that pendant so that if the necklace was removed Amarice could be herself again.

As there wasn't much else the witch could do for now, she decided to go find something the two of them could have as a late lunch/ early dinner. Though, she did not expect Amarice to wake up for a while. Willow herself would still be sleeping if the girl's nightmares hadn't woken her up. After freshening up in the bathroom she walked into the kitchen to find the dark-haired Slayer carefully stirring a pot of what smelled like chicken soup.

"I didn't know you could cook Faith." Willow stated incredulously, though in all honesty she had no right to be so surprised. None of the Scoobies knew much of anything about Faith except about her actions in Sunnydale and the loss of her Watcher just before she had arrived there. Faith obviously hadn't heard anyone approaching as she jumped and almost hitting the hot burner in doing so. She turned quickly after brandishing the dripping soup spoon at the red head.

"I may have to put a bell on you Red."

"It smells really good Faith. What are you making?" Willow asked moving closer so she could see into the pot.

"Chicken noodle soup with rice instead of noodles. We need to send the juniors grocery shopping again." Faith stated turning back to her pot and covering it. "I thought Little Blue could use something hot, and you as well for that matter." Willow smiled in delight and then much to the Slayer's pleasure, kissed her deeply.

"That was very thoughtful Faith, I was getting quite hungry. Did you teach yourself how to cook? I had to learn how to make a few things myself because my parents were gone so much when I was younger."

"I used to make this for my little brother when he got sick. He was sick a lot, the poor kid had asthma real bad. His dad was one of the few decent boyfriends my mom ever had, taught me how to cook a few things including his grandmother's soup. He said that seven was old enough for me to learn how to take care of myself when I had to. That was as close as he ever came to criticizing my mother."

"You never mentioned a brother before Faith or your mother either." Willow said gently, pulling the Slayer into a hug. "What happened to them?" She added when the Slayer became uncharacteristically quiet and still, an expression of grief slipping past her previous nonchalance.

"Paulie died when I was twelve he and Stephen were hit by a drunk driver on their way home from a baseball game. Paulie was only five then, he was the best brother anyone could ask for. Kid loved me more than anyone ever had even Stephen, definitely more than my mother." With a sigh Faith relaxed into Willow's hug and buried her face into red hair breathing deeply. "My mother had a new boyfriend two months after the funeral, a real asshole. I ran away and lived on the streets a couple years until I met my Watcher."

Faith then pulled away from Willow distancing herself physically and covering her moment of vulnerability with a closed expression. "The soup should be good to go in twenty minutes. I hid some bread from the juniors it's in the freezer or you can have the crackers Xander hid in that cabinet over the fridge. I told Buffy I'd take the girls out tonight so she could plan in peace. I have to go now"

"Faith, wait." Willow called before the other woman could rush out the door. "We could…"

"I brought some books Giles wanted you to look over from Buffy's earlier," Faith cut in quickly before anything else could be said. "They are in your room on the desk. I'll be back late."

Willow could only watch and sigh as the slayer nearly ran to the door and disappeared. With nothing better to do she stole a sleeve of crackers from Xander's hidden stash and went back to her room to look over the mentioned books.

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It was extremely late when Faith finally made it back. Amarice had woken up, been fed, bathed and put back to sleep. Willow herself had eaten and made good headway on one of the four books Giles sent over. Xander, Anya and the girls had already gotten back and crashed, bringing with them more reading for Willow which all revolved around possible origins of Buffy's new scythe and information on previous appearances of the First. Willow had been waiting up for the Dark Slayer but fell asleep in a chair near the front door hours earlier. She awoke to find herself being carried to bed by a smelly Faith.

"Got in a fight with a poop demon?" Willow asked sleepily.

"Worse, a brawl with a couple of muddy vamps, then an intense fight with a Turok Han, then a slime demon." Faith responded quietly.

"Ewww, are you getting slime on me?!" Willow shrieked quietly remembering that everyone was sleeping.

"Most of it was on my jacket and I've already ditched that." Answered Faith with quiet chuckles. Finally reaching Willow's bed she placed the witch in it next to her sleeping daughter, then turned to leave.

"Faith…" Willow called softly catching the Slayer's shirt before she got far.

"I don't wanna talk about it Red, it all happened years ago." The slayer stated firmly.

"But I…" Willow tried again.

"Goodnight Red." Faith cut in, kissing the red head on her cheek before pulling her hand off. "when I do want to talk about it you'll be the first person I look for." Willow nodded and let her go, but when she heard the shower go on in the quiet house she couldn't resist anymore. She got up and moved into the bathroom making sure to lock the door before she took off all her clothes and stepped into the shower. Faith turned when she got in and raised an eyebrow at her, but Willow merely shrugged before reaching for the Slayer. Faith obliged her and gave a toe-curling kiss that quickly led an emotionally intense session of shower sex which relaxed them both a great deal.

At least until they ran into one of the Potentials on their way out of the bathroom to Faith's room. The young girl looked shocked at catching them her eyes widening comically. This was probably due to Faith being naked as a jay bird because Willow stole her towel. Faith gave the girl a stern look and put a single finger to her lips, to which the girl nodded frantically before running past them into the bathroom and shutting the door. Willow raised an eyebrow at Faith after a glance at the bathroom door. Faith shook her head and led the witch to her room where the two spent a few more moments making out before Willow stole a shirt that she put on to return to her own room.

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A/N: Just a snippet of a new chapter to warm you guys up after such a long break. Getting back into the swing of things thanks to Covid-19 and no longer having a job. This story will be completed peeps!