Even though the next day dawned bright and sunny, Willow wasn't in much of a mood to appreciate it when she woke up. On top of the headache she had, she awoke stiff and sore, with a couple of nasty bruises from her multiple crashes into the floor yesterday. She briefly contemplated feigning sickness and staying in bed all day, but she knew that that would only make the soreness she felt worse, not better.

Her muscles screamed in protest as she stood, but after walking around her room for a bit, she discovered that her mobility wasn't hampered very much. She showered and dressed with little difficulty before heading downstairs.

After having breakfast, she headed off for school, taking the short walk a bit more slowly than she normally did. On her way there, her mind wandered, her thoughts drifting back to the events of yesterday. She had faced dangerous situations many times before, but even so, the thought of how close she and Xander had come to being killed still gave her the chills.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts as she approached the campus of Sunnydale High that it didn't register when she heard someone call her name.

"Willow!" In response to the second shout, she looked up and saw Buffy running toward her.

"Hi Buffy," she greeted her friend, smiling as she came to a stop in front of her.

"Hey," the blonde replied. "How's it going?"

"Okay, I guess," said Willow. "I'm still a little sore."

"Well, that's to be expected after everything that happened yesterday," her friend said. "I'm just glad you're okay... I'm glad everyone's okay."

Willow nodded. "Yeah, things definitely could've turned out a lot worse," she agreed as they turned and headed for the building. However, as they made their way towards the path up to the doors, Willow stopped suddenly.

"You go on ahead," she urged, spying Oz heading over her way. "I'll catch up."

Seeing who was approaching, Buffy nodded. "Okay. I'll be in the library," she replied before hurrying off.

Willow crossed the school's front lawn, meeting Oz under a large maple tree. "Hey," she said in greeting. Nervousness ran through her - she had no idea what to say to him. At least there won't be any demonic influence this time...

"Hey," Oz replied. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," said Willow. They headed across the lawn, away from the crowds streaming into the school. As they walked, Willow studied Oz out of the corner of her eye. Even though he looked a bit down, it was definitely a vast improvement over yesterday.

He looks like Oz again, she thought. That's definitely of the good...

They made their way over to a bench in an area away from the other students and sat down. Willow searched her mind for the right thing to say to him, but found that she couldn't come up with anything.

"So, you know what happened yesterday?" she asked. That seemed to be a safe enough opening.

Oz nodded slowly. "Giles filled me and Cordelia in when he took us home," he replied. "It was... I don't even remember most of it. I just felt... lost. It was like a bad dream."

He looked up and met her eyes. "But..." he continued, a note of sadness creeping into his voice, "not everything that happened yesterday was a bad dream, was it?" There was no question as to what he was talking about.

"No," Willow replied nervously. "Oz, I'm sorry..."

"I guess... part of me was always afraid this would happen," he confessed. "I mean, I could tell, early on, that you loved him. I just thought..." He trailed off and fell silent briefly, a faraway look in his eyes.

After a moment, he shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He smiled, but Willow could tell that it was forced. "I mean, you have to follow your heart, right?"

Willow's heart sank at the look in his eyes. "Oz, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. Please believe me," she implored him.

"I believe you," he murmured. "I know you didn't want to hurt me."

But you did. The unspoken next sentence hung in the air between them, and Willow fought back a renewed attack of guilt. She thought about apologizing again, but in her heart, she knew that there was nothing more she could say.

Oz gave her a half-smile. "You realize, I'm going to have to write a song about this," he told her.

"Maybe it'll be the Dingoes' breakout hit," Willow replied hopefully. Oz chuckled briefly at that, but there was no mirth behind it.

"Well, I should probably go," he said at length. "School, and all that."

"Oz.... Are you okay?" Willow asked, genuinely concerned about him.

"No," he replied matter-of-factly. He stood and looked down at her, his familiar stoic expression firmly in place.

"But I will be," he added after a moment. "I'll see you around." With that, he turned and left, slowly heading towards the doors to the school.

Willow remained seated on the bench, watching Oz's retreating form. She sat for several long moments, thinking about what had just happened.

Well, it's done. Even though she still felt a good deal of guilt, Willow was also relieved, in a way. There would be no more sneaking around behind Oz's back, no more lying awake at night worrying over how he'd react. It was done, and everyone could move on... herself included.

With that thought, she stood and made her way into school.

---

Xander stood against the wall of the school gym, looking out over the parking lot. He fidgeted nervously as he waited for the sight of a familiar car.

She might not even show up today, he thought. I'm not sure I would, in her shoes.

Cordelia had been through an awful lot over the past twenty-four hours, and Xander still felt bad about his role in it. No matter how many times he told himself that he'd done what he had to do, it didn't make him feel any better.

And why should it? he wondered. I hurt her. It doesn't matter why.

Xander was still lost in thought when he noticed Cordelia's car pulling into the parking lot a few minutes later. As she was getting out, he started hurrying over towards her, but then hesitated, suddenly having second thoughts. What do I say to her? he frantically wondered, but finally forced himself to continue forward.

Cordelia slammed the car door shut, watched as he approached, and glowered at him.

"What do you want?" she snapped. The look on her face was nothing like what Xander had seen yesterday, but even so, her eyes still held no small amount of anger. Xander hesitated a moment before replying.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay," he said, hoping she'd believe his concern was genuine.

"Hmm. Well, let's see," she replied sarcastically. "I got dumped by my boyfriend, driven into a psychotic rage by a demon, and knocked unconscious by someone with superhuman strength." She looked him in the eye and gave him a withering glare. "Yeah, I've never been better. Thanks for asking!"

"Cordelia, look, I'm sorry..." Xander began, but she cut him off.

"Xander, don't," she said sharply. "Just don't, okay? Spare me. What do you want?" she repeated, clearly losing patience with him.

"I was... just hoping we could still be friends," he replied. God, was that as lame as it sounded?

Xander had expected Cordelia to come back with a biting retort, but surprisingly, she didn't. Instead, all the anger seemed to drain out of her at his words. She looked away from him, staring off over his shoulder, and several moments passed between them in silence before she finally answered him.

"No," she said sadly. "We can't."

Without another word, she moved past Xander, walking quickly toward the school. Xander made no move to follow her; he had no idea what to say or do to make this better. Maybe there isn't anything, he reflected.

His thoughts were interrupted when Cordelia stopped suddenly, turning around to face him again. "Xander," she called out, and he looked up in surprise.

"Yeah?" he replied, hurrying over toward her.

She hesitated briefly, seemingly struggling over what she wanted to say. "Tell Willow... I'm sorry," she finally said. "For trying to kill her yesterday."

"She knows that wasn't you, Cordelia. We all do," Xander told her. "What happened wasn't your fault."

"Just tell her, okay?" Cordelia insisted.

Xander briefly debated trying to reassure her again, but she didn't seem likely to be swayed by his words. Finally, he nodded. "I will," he promised. He could do this for her, at least.

"Thank you," she replied, her voice surprisingly gentle. She held his gaze for a moment before turning and resuming her walk into school. As she left, he turned and headed the other way down the sidewalk, taking the long way around to the school's front entrance.

It was finally over. Xander still felt guilty over what had happened - even though Cordelia could be infuriating at times, he had never wanted to hurt her. He briefly wondered how Cordelia would deal with this... but only briefly. He suspected that she'd be back to putting him down at every opportunity very quickly.

At least there won't be any sneaking around anymore, Xander thought, trying to look on the bright side. That had been the worst part of his and Willow's fluking. He had to admit that it felt good to have everything finally out in the open.

Among other things, it meant that he and Willow had a lot less to worry about.

Passing through the doors to the school, Xander made his way to the library. Willow and Buffy were already there, seated at the table, and they looked up as he entered. He smiled at them as he walked over to join them.

"Hey," he said in greeting, taking a seat next to Willow. She met his eyes and returned his smile, though a bit hesitantly. She must have talked to Oz, he surmised. I hope she's okay.

Xander was in the process of trying to figure out how to ask her about it when Giles emerged from his office, walking over to stand in front of the table.

"So," he began, interrupting Xander's train of thought, "everyone is... all right, I take it?" He looked at each of them in turn, concern evident in his eyes. Xander was grateful for that; even though the Watcher had little patience for him at times, it was nice to know that he cared about his well-being.

Willow nodded. "I talked to Oz," she said quietly, shifting a bit uncomfortably in her seat. "He seems to have recovered."

"Cordelia seems okay, too," Xander added. He turned toward Willow. "She wanted me to tell you she's sorry. About the whole going-after-you-with-a-baseball-bat thing."

"Oh," Willow replied. She sounded more than a little surprised. "Well, we all know it wasn't her fault. Still..." she reflected, "it was nice of her to say that." Her voice was soft and full of emotion, and Xander could tell that she appreciated the gesture.

"Okay, there's something I'm curious about," Buffy said after a moment. "Yesterday, I came running when I heard that thing shriek - thank you, Slayer hearing - but what I want to know is, what happened? I mean, we saw what that thing's power did to Oz and Cordelia. How come it didn't affect you guys?" she asked, looking at Willow and Xander in turn.

"I don't know," Xander replied. He'd puzzled over that question himself. "I mean, it did - at least for a little while... One second, I'm so afraid I can't even move, and the next, I'm fine and the demon's collapsed." He shrugged. "I don't know what happened."

"Yes, I believe I have a theory about that," Giles ventured. "Willow, Xander.... Just before the fear vanished, can you remember what you were thinking about?"

"I was..." Xander hesitated, glancing at Willow out of the corner of his eye. He suddenly felt very self-conscious. "I was thinking about Willow," he finally finished. "All the reasons why I couldn't lose her."

The smile that appeared on Willow's face at his words nearly took Xander's breath away. "Same with me," she added, blushing a little. "Only, about Xander."

Giles nodded. "It's been theorized, though never conclusively proven, that while V'rath demons derive nourishment from negative emotion, positive emotions are poisonous to them. If it was feeding off your fear, it must not have been able to sever the connection in time when your feelings for each other came to the forefront of your thoughts."

"Well, that would explain a lot," Xander mused. "It makes sense, in a weird kind of way.... I guess we got lucky."

Giles gave them a small smile. "Yes, quite. Still, for you to be able to fight through the demon's emotional control the way you two did.... Well, according to the records, very few people have managed it. It's very impressive," he stated.

Xander stared at him momentarily. Coming from the Watcher, a statement like that was high praise indeed. "Well, uh... I had a good reason," he said quietly, glancing at Willow again and seeing her answering smile. "Anyway, I'm just glad it's over."

"Me too," Buffy declared, standing and gathering up her backpack. "Demons that try to kill you are bad enough. Demons that mess with your head?" She shuddered slightly. "Let's hope we don't see any more like that one anytime soon."

"Anyway," she continued after a brief pause, "I think I'll grab a bagel before class. See you guys later." Throwing her backpack over her shoulder, she turned and headed for the library doors.

"I need to be going as well," Giles spoke up after a moment. "Principal Snyder wishes to speak with me again. I can't imagine what it'll be about this time," he muttered.

As he was turning to go, he paused briefly, looking over at Willow and Xander. "I'm very glad that you two are all right," he told them kindly.

"Thanks, Giles," Willow replied sincerely, and the Watcher also exited the room, leaving them alone in the library.

"So..." Xander said, turning his full attention to Willow. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked, reaching out and gently taking her hand.

"Yeah, I think so," she murmured, interlacing her fingers with his. "How about you?" she continued, a concerned expression on her face.

"I'll be fine," he told her. And it was true - he still felt guilty, and he would for some time to come, but seeing Willow was already starting to make him feel better. Just one of the great things about her, he reflected.

"Willow, I..." Xander began, but then he hesitated. "I just want you to know..." Why was this so hard to say?

"I love you," he finally declared, nervousness and relief and happiness all running through him at once as he spoke.

Willow met his eyes, and Xander saw nothing but complete openness and sincerity there. "I love you too," she whispered, and leaned in towards him. The kiss they shared was soft, but prolonged.

When they finally pulled away from each other, it took Xander a few seconds to catch his breath. "So," he commented with a grin a moment later, "do you think we'll be okay?"

Xander took in Willow's expression as she thought about his question. "I think so," she said at length, a smile slowly creeping onto her face.

"Better than okay."

End