Beauty and the Beast
By Kennie Gajos
A/NTwo chapters in one update!!! I was in a writing mood yesterday and rather than do a college assignment I opted for fanfic writing. Enjoy!! :-D
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Willow smiled to herself as she dialled Buffy's number. She had to admit, her friends had been remarkably restrained for them. Not one of them had turned up on her doorstep in the past couple of weeks demanding vengeance because she had been unable to call them.
Call waiting. Damn!
"Hello?" Buffy's voice echoed through the phone.
"Buffy!" Willow grinned. "It's good to hear your voice."
"Willow?!" Buffy shrieked. "Oh my God, we were just talking about you. Hang up and we'll conference you in."
"'Kay." Willow hung up and sat waiting for the call back.
It came a few seconds later and she quickly picked it up.
"Hello?" She said.
"Willow!"
"Where have you been?"
"Why haven't you called?"
"Or written?"
"What's going on?"
"Has he been withholding your phone?"
"We couldn't get through."
"It was always turned off."
"I was about to come kick some demon butt."
Willow laughed. "Guys calm down. I'm okay."
"Are you sure?" Buffy asked. "Because I'm in London. It's only a couple of hours flight and then I can kick some serious butt."
"I'm sure." Willow said. "But who would have guessed that unrenovated fifteenth century castles wouldn't have electricity to charge a cell phone?"
Her statement was greeted with silence. Then…
"You are kidding." Said Xander.
"So what, this Terry guy had electricity installed just for you?" Buffy asked.
"Uh, no." Willow told them. "He's still having a little difficulty getting his head around the concept. I mean he's been stuck in this place for two hundred and fifty-seven years, that's a lot of history to catch up on."
"Two hundred and…" Giles fell silent.
"Wow Wills, I'm impressed." Said Xander. "Your guy is actually older than one of Buffy's."
"Hey!"
"It's true."
"Wait a moment." Buffy said, sounding thoughtful. "If there's no electricity then how come you're talking?"
"Magic powered battery." Willow informed her friends. "It's lifelong so it should stay operational forever now."
"Cool."
Willow laughed. "I've missed talking to you guys."
On the other side of Willow's bedroom door Thiery sighed and walked away. Two weeks she'd been there and they'd done little more than argue and discuss history. It wasn't exactly going as he'd hoped and the worst of it was that he had no one to blame but himself. He was hideous. It was a miracle she could even look at him, never mind stand to be in the same room as him for more than three seconds. She was so intelligent and he was barely educated. He wasn't worthy of her in so many ways. It was no wonder she went running to her friends the minute she managed to get her phone working.
Thiery wandered through the castle rooms like a ghost, barely noticing his surroundings.
"Anyway guys, I'd better go. It's my turn to cook lunch." Willow said.
There was a chorus of groans from her friends.
"You can call me any time!" She told them.
"Oh we will." Buffy told her ominously.
"And if there's any hint of our Willster not being treated right." Xander cracked his knuckles audibly.
"Uh, quite." Giles agreed.
"I'll talk to you guys soon." Willow told them. "Take care."
"You too."
"Bye."
The rest of the original Scooby Gang chorused their goodbyes and then Willow hung up, knowing that they were probably going to continue the conversation without her. She tucked her mobile into her pocket and went down to the kitchen to prepare lunch.
Thiery noticed the smells of Willow's cooking as they wafted throughout the castle but he choose to ignore them in favour of staying where he was, not wanting to inflict his company on her.
Willow frowned. It wasn't like Thiery to miss a meal. She wondered if he was alright but then concluded that he would appear when he wanted to. This wasn't the first time that he had been absent for one reason or another. He'd show up.
By the next morning Willow was starting to realise exactly how much she relied on Thiery's company. He was still absent and she was seriously worried about him now. There was just one place she hadn't looked for him and she was forbidden to enter there. Well, not so much forbidden, it was just that they had a mutual privacy policy going on. He didn't go in her room and she didn't go in his. Willow shrugged. Well, that was all about to change. She took a deep breath and knocked.
Thiery heard Willow knocking at his door. He curled further in on himself and ignored her. She'd go away if she thought he wasn't in there.
Willow's cell phone rang. She jumped as though burned and then answered it.
"Hello?"
"Willow, it's me."
Willow smiled. "Oh hey Angel, what's up?"
"I was just wondering how you were."
Willow frowned. "You never just call me. What's up?" She moved away from Thiery's room towards her own.
"Well, no one's heard from you in a while and we were all getting worried."
Willow ran her hand through her hair. "Um… didn't the others call you?" She asked.
"Why?"
Willow sighed. "I, uh, I spoke to them yesterday."
"Oh. Okay. No problem-"
"I'm sure they meant to call you Angel."
"-I wasn't that busy anyway-"
"Angel are you okay?"
"-Just running Wolfram and Hart-"
"I'm sorry Angel. I would have called you but-"
"-Trying to do some good with an evil-"
"-Thiery's missing and I can't find him-"
"-And completely corrupt law firm and-"
"-I've looked everywhere-"
"-I've been really worried about you."
"-I'm really worried about him."
Willow and Angel stopped talking over each other at the same time. They paused, took a moment to take in what each other had said and both laughed.
"So Thiery's missing?" Angel asked.
Willow nodded. "Since yesterday lunchtime. I haven't seen him since I went to my room and managed to get my cell working."
"Where have you looked?"
"Just about everywhere except his room."
"Why haven't you looked in his room yet?"
Willow sighed. "We have this thing where neither of us goes in the other's room. It's kinda weird because if you think about it it's not like we don't get enough space as it is rattling round a castle. So I checked everywhere else first. I was about to go check his room just now."
"Oh." Angel sounded at a loss. "Well, I'm going to go. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."
Willow smiled. "Thanks Angel. I appreciate it."
"Give me a call if you need anything."
"Sure." Willow had a sudden thought. "Actually… there is something you can do."
He couldn't hear her anymore. That was obviously a good thing. Right? If he couldn't hear her then he wasn't making her suffer his company.
Thiery realised that he missed Willow. He missed her like he might miss a limb. He had never felt that way about anyone or anything before. So, by staying in hiding he was basically cutting off one of his limbs. Why the hell should he do that?
Willow walked back to Thiery's room and raised her fist to hammer on the door. Just before it made contact with the wood, the door was thrown back and it landed instead with a resounding smack on Thiery's chest.
Willow looked up at Thiery, her eyes wide and her mouth a perfect 'O' of horror. He glared down at her.
She ran.