Disclaimers: See parts 1-7
Part 9
It was not really that long of a walk back the Sunnydale High, and Willow really wasn't that heavy. Of course the fact that she was holding the small redheaded, basically, distracted Buffy from all of the cons of their situation. It was all she could do follow the endless stream of chatter floating out of Xander's mouth. The guy was obviously scared, of both the vampires and Buffy herself.
Okay Xand Man you have to get Willow out of this. She has a thing for the crazy chick with the pointy sticks. Not that I can blame her, the girl is so totally hot. I would love to…getting off track. I don't want to go back to school. But Buffy said that it's the safest place. She has weapons there. Oh god Willow is dating some Mafia bosses daughter. I've been watching the Godfather way too much this week. I'm becoming paranoid. Mafia, why would the Mafia want to live in Sunnydale? It got something to do with whatever Wills saw. Willow is in shock and its all Buffy's fault. WHAT HAPPENED!
Xander was going crazy. The events of that night were finally becoming clear in his mind. He had been walking back from the store, his hands filled with bags of chips and such, wondering how long it would take Buffy and Willow to admit their feeling for each other. That had led to a whole slew of not so good thoughts about things your not supposed to think about your best friend and her girlfriend. Especially not the stuff with the Jell-O. All of a sudden Willow was screaming at him to hit the deck. Now she was in some kind of coma and he still didn't know why. Why was his life always so complicated?
The school came into view at their right. Buffy set into a brisk jog, now that safety was in sight she wanted desperately to get Willow out of danger. She would have to talk to Mr. Giles about this. No doubt the watcher would be pissed at the involvement of the other teenagers. Buffy didn't care what he said. She was going to keep Willow safe, and if that meant that she had to know about the demons, then so be it.
Xander was trotting a few paces behind her short of breath. God the girl could move, and with Willow in her arms no less. Of course it could be that the last physical thing he did was carry a twelve pack of coke, three bags of chips, and a big bag of Skittles to the cemetery. Xander stopped walking all together. All of his snacks were still on the ground back in the cemetery as well as Willow's radio. Damn it.
With a quick motion Buffy kicked open the side doors nearest the library. The locks, which normally kept out teens during the night, snapped under her superior strength. They were inside now, and once they made it to the library, they would be entirely safe. Mr. Giles had explained to Buffy how vampires could enter the school because Sunnydale was a public school, and therefore open to all. However he had apparently put an incantation over the library, which would keep the vamps and less powerful demons from gaining entrance.
"We're going to the library, when we get there let me do the talking. You try to wake up Willow I'll talk to Mr. Giles."
Xander gasped, "Mr. Giles is in the Mafia! Is any part of this town not corrupt?"
Buffy stopped moving and turned back to the brown haired boy. "The Mafia, that's what you thinks going on. You think that I'm part of the Mafia. Oh god that's funny, not true, but funny none the less. " She looked down at Willow for a moment then sighed. "I'll explain everything, once we're safe."
******
It had been an hour since they had entered the library. Buffy and Mr. Giles were still in his office. Willow had come to over half and hour ago but she refused to talk about what had happened. She said that she wanted to wait for Buffy, who could explain a lot better than she could. The only thing Willow did tell Xander was that she knew what had killed Jesse.
Willow waited patiently for the slayer to renter reality. It made her kind of uneasy that nothing could be heard from the office. It would set her mind at ease if they would at least yell, but there were only mummers that she could not comprehend. She knew she shouldn't be worried about Buffy, obviously the girl could take care of herself, but she couldn't help the butterflies in her stomach.
The door opened slowly and a slightly paler Buffy stepped into the main area of the library at Sunnydale High School. Her eyes darted to Willows then down at the ground. Mr. Giles, looking a little red followed closely behind her.
Without raising her head Buffy asked, "Are you okay?"
Xander sighed, "Besides being a little tired and hungry, I'm going crazy I want to know what the hell is going on." Buffy looked at him for a moment, her eyebrows arched into her hair. "I bet you were really asking Willow that weren't you?" Buffy just nodded her head. "Smooth Harris real smooth. "
With a giggle, Willow spared her friend anymore embarrassment. "I'm fine. I wasn't before but now I am. And you have some explaining to do."
Mr. Giles cleared his throat. "Actually Ms. Rosenburg, I think its best if you forgot this night ever happened and just go home. I will drive you home of course."
Willow snorted, "No offense Mr. Giles but I think it best if someone explains what happened tonight, right now. And if you think that I could ever forget what happened, then you're crazy."
Buffy finally spoke, "Don't yell at him Willow, I'll tell you everything you want to know. You probably wont believe me anyway."
*******
It was about five o'clock in the morning when Buffy made it home. Willow and Xander had just been dropped off and she was the last stop on Mr. Giles route home. Willow was going to back to school in about two hours, but Xander and Buffy had decided to stay home from school. Everyone made plans to meet back at the library around four that afternoon.
Mr. Giles had been adamant that Willow and Xander not become involved in the slaying. However Willow had other plans. In her usual, as Buffy was beginning to realize manner she disregarded his suggestion. The redhead had made it clear that she had every intention in becoming heavily involved with slaying. Xander had volunteered to help keep her safe.
Though angry that he had been ignored, Mr. Giles had declared that if the two teens were to become helpers they would have to learn at least preliminary fighting skills. He went further to say that neither would be allowed on patrol with Buffy until he was sure that they were at least competent in the basic weaponry.
Though he would die before admitting it, Mr. Giles knew that he would need the extra hand that Willow and Xander would offer. From what he could tell Sunnydale was over run with demons and vampires. It would be a long year.
Willow had plans of her own. Namely finding the vamp that had killed Jesse. She would take down the description that Buffy had given her and cross-reference it with the detailed biographies of vampires in the books in the library. To hide her actions she would be creating a database for Giles of all the demons contained in his collection of books.
These plans had flitted through her head during Buffy's long speech. When the slayer had finished Willow had simply nodded and informed a sleeping Xander that it was time to go. She never made a comment on Buffy's involvement in Jesse's death. Buffy had not mentioned it during her monologue and Willow didn't think it would do anyone any good to bring it up.
Buffy, was probably the only unmapped part of her plan. She had known Xander long enough to predict most of his actions in the upcoming month. And Mr. Giles was too rigid to do something that out of the ordinary. Buffy, however, was hard to pin down (but oh how Willow wanted to), she would be harder to keep track of.
Of course it didn't help that all rational thought flew out of Willow's head when the blond was near by. She was still angry at Buffy of course; this wasn't something you just forgot about. But she would be lying if she said that she could blame the slayer. Always one to be truthful to herself, she knew that she would have chickened out as well. Buffy was human, even if the powers that be wouldn't admit it. She was a fifteen-year-old girl who had been informed that it was her mission in life to die for other people. Willow could not in her heart condemn her for not wanting to die. It hurt that those feelings had cost Willow one of her best friends, but nothing could be done. Buffy was stronger than she could ever be because she had seen herself at her lowest and tried to improve. She had realized her mistake and was now trying to correct it. It was far easier to let yourself slip into a world of evil than to try to redeem yourself.