Chapter 5: Nothing More Than Feelings

"I don't know what to do! Maybe I should have just gone back with Angel." Xander said to himself as he lay on the stiff matress of the Lazy Sleep Motel. He had spend that last hour and a half staring into the deeply cracked celing and trying to not think about how much he missed Cordelia and her fashion rants or patrolling with Buffy or researching with Willow. Xander closed his eyes and sighed,

"Well atleast I got a room. A nice, comfortable, safe-" suddenly a low creak could be heard form above him. He looked harder as the noise grew louder and the celing seemed to lurch downward. Then, Xander found him self drenched in water-a pipe had split and broken right above him!

"Great..great..isn't that just my luck?!"

***

Willow and Buffy sat on the Summers' living room couch. Well, more specifically, Buffy sat on the couch and Willow sat below her on the floor as Buffy proceeded to French braid Willow's hair. The television in the corner of the room lit up the entire room with a silver glow that was projected onto the two girls' faces giving them an eerie, ghost-like appearance.

"Buffy?" Willow asked

"Yeah, Will, what's up?" she responded

"Do you think he's okay? I am really, really worried! What if he gets in over his head and no one is there to help him. I mean it wouldn't be the first time he's done something like that and-"

"Whoa! Willow, Willow! Take a deep breath." The red head looked at the blonde with puppy eyes, "I am sure he's fine." Buffy tied off the braid with a small rubber band, "But I know where you're coming from. I'm worried too. I wish I could talk to him, I kinda feel like this is all my fault, like, I should have been...I don't know, more sensitive of his feelings, or something. Maybe given him a chance to help out more? I'm not sure."

"Buffy, this is NOT your fault. You really were trying to help him. You were just doing your job by trying to keep him safe. It was his decision to leave. Which may not make you feel any better, granted." Willow said sweetly

The blonde nodded and Willow scooted herself up onto the couch and leaned her head on Buffy's shoulder,

"So, what are we watching? I haven't even been paying attention!" Willow admitted, changing the subject.

Buffy furrowed her brow in deep thought, "Uh...Friends, I think. But I'm tired. I'm gonna go to bed, you coming?"

"Not yet. I'm gonna stay up a little while longer. See you in the morning, Buff!"

The Slayer gave her friend a quick hug and made her way upstairs. Willow just sat on the couch watching the glowing monitor for another half hour but as soon as the end credits for the show began to roll, Willow got up and shut off the television, making the entire Summer's household pitch black, she felt around in the darkness and climbed up the staircase and- after brushing her teeth-got into her sleeping bag that lie adjacent to where Buffy slept.

As Willow shut her eyes in an attempt to find sleep, strangely, the phone rang! Since Willow was the only one awake she cautiously walked over to the phone that sat atop Buffy's desk. She reached down and grabbed the cold receiver and brought it to her ear, "H-Hello?" she asked groggily

"Willow? Hey, Will, it's me, Xander!"

"Xander? What? Why are you calling, and at 1:30 in the morning?" she asked

"I-I'm in trouble and I need your help." He began

Willow listened to Xander speak as a large, dark, winged figure crawled through Buffy's open window and inched closer and closer to the red headed teen.

"So, will you help me?" Xander asked meekly on the other line

"Well..how are you in trouble *exactly*? I mean all you told me so far was that there is a demon and hell, we deal with those all the time."

"Okay, okay, I lied. You're right, I'm not in trouble, you are." He said menacingly as his voice went deep and scratchy, then the line went dead.

"Xander? Xander are you there? Xander?"

The dark creature saw its window of opportunity and pounced on top of the teenager, knocking her to the ground and rendering her unconscious. It let out a satisfied growl and then picked Willow up in one of its giant, scaled talons and flew out of the window; into the dark night and no one in the Summers' household was any the ware.