Stuck in a Rut
Sanctuary…She sat alone in silence, crying in disbelief. Unable to shake the vision of hitting Willow, she began to sob uncontrollably. She had let her anger get the best of her and the rest was history. Never had she ever imagined hitting her. It just happened. A momentary laps in judgement. However, what gutted at her the most was the fact that part of her felt that she deserved it. It ate away at her. She wanted to strangle Willow for acting like a child, but at the same time, she wanted to hold her and tell her just how much she loved her.
Emma stood at the door of the room, unsure of whether or not to enter. She felt Shalimar's anguish and wanted so much to console her.
"You gonna just stand there or you gonna actually say something?" Shalimar never turned her head, but sensed Emma's presence.
"You okay?" Emma approached and sat on the bed next to her.
"I don't know. I mean…I am so angry at her behavior, but part of me doesn't blame her. I wish I could take back what I did, but I can't," Shalimar sighed wiping tears from her cheeks.
"I'm not trying to justify what you did Shal. You acted out of anger. Sometimes our anger gets the best of us. I mean, she was out of line for what she said. She should've told you what she was feeling before this got out of hand, but she chose to bottle herself up and now…" Emma stopped short.
"Yeah now this. I just wish I hadn't smacked her, she didn't deserve that," Shalimar cried. "Where is she?"
"She left, but Brennen followed her to make sure she was okay," Emma reassured her.
"Oh boy. That'll be interesting," Shalimar shook her head. She looked at Emma. "Do you think we're made a mistake?"
Emma sighed and put her arm around Shalimar. "Only time will tell Shal. But I do know that if it's right in your heart, then how could it be a mistake."
Shalimar smiled. In her heart, it felt so right it was scary. Her thoughts now turned to making the situation right. "What do you think I should do about Willow?"
"I think when she gets back, you two should have a long talk. I'm sure she'll forgive you, Shal. That's what family does," Emma smiled.
Shalimar hugged her and together they sat in silence.
The cave…Things had gone black for a while, but Brennen woke up with a sudden jolt and studied his surroundings. Seeing only the light emanating from above them, he grimaced as his head began to pound. He felt his head and found a sore bump forming on his forehead. He looked at his hand to reveal blood he could only assume that came from the wound. After several moments, he began to search for Willow. Finding a pile of rubble not far from him, he found a small arm protruding from it. Slowly he began to clear the rubble only to find an unconscious Willow lying before him.
"Willow! Willow! Come on wake up," Brennen urged as he gently rubbed her face. "Come on talk to me."
Hearing a blurred voice calling her name, she struggled to focus on it. Her head was throbbing and she was cold, but she willed herself to open her eyes. "Brennen?"
He sighed with relief that she was coherent and began to search for further injuries. Willow slowly began to move and look around her. Feeling a sharp pain going through her leg, she tried to move it. "ARGHHH!!!"
"What's wrong?" Brennen looked concerned at her.
"My leg. I…I think it's broken," She uttered in pain. "I tried to move it, but I can't.""Whoa whoa there. Just relax, don't make any sudden movement," Brennen said as he looked at her leg.
"Great, this is turning into one hell of day," Willow shook her head gently.
"Okay just hang tight," Brennen spoke into his comring. "Adam, it's Brennen. Do you read?"
Silence answered him back. "Jesse, Shal, anyone can you hear me? Damn, I think my comring's dead."
"Shal can you hear me?" Willow spoke into hers. Hearing nothing, she gave up. "Mine is too." Finally being able to focus clearly, she saw the blood on Brennen's forehead. "You're hurt."
Brennen looked at her and smiled. "I'm okay, it's just a scratch. I'm more worried about you. I mean I'm not Adam, but judging by the hazy look in your eyes, I'd say you have a concussion. How do you feel?"
"Well, besides the fact that my head is pounding and my leg is throbbing, I'd say just ducky," Willow joked making light of the whole situation. "Not to mention the fact that they probably have no idea where we are."
Brennen smiled glad that she hadn't lost her sense of humor. "Well just hang tough. We'll be okay."
Willow leaned back and observed Brennen in thought. "What are we going to do?"
Brennen contemplated this for several moments. "Well I'd say first thing we should do is find a way of building a fire. You up for singing some campfire songs?"
Willow just giggled and rolled her eyes.
"Just relax and I'll check things out," Brennen got up and began looking at their surroundings.
Sanctuary…An hour had passed with no word from neither Brennen nor Willow. Adam had become worried when he couldn't get any signal from their comrings. Jesse was frantically trying to ascertain their last position, with Shalimar pacing back in forth in worry.
"Okay according to Brennen's last call –in, he was about a mile west of here," Jesse explained. "That was about a half hour ago. It's possible that he could still be in that area somewhere."
Adam turned to Emma. "Emma can you link up with Willow or Brennen telempathically?"
"I'll try," Emma said. She began to focus her thoughts in an attempt to establish a link. Adam and Shalimar walked towards her as she put herself into a trance.
She turned to Adam and Shalimar. "What did you see Emma?"
"I saw Brennen and Willow in a small room with no doors or windows," Emma looked at Adam.
"What do you think that means?" Shalimar began to worry even more with Emma's vision.
"The analogy could suggest that he feels trapped with no way out," Adam guessed.
Shalimar just turned to Adam, "I have to go out and find them. Jesse said Brennen last checked in a half an hour ago around this area. I think we should start there."
"Alright, you and Emma will go. Jesse will stay here and try to re-establish contact with them."
The cave…Brennen finally could relax. After several failed attempts to start a fire, he got it going. He sat back feeling a small sense of accomplishment.
"Good job Bren," Willow smiled weakly.
"Thanks," Brennen winked at her. An awkward silence fell as Willow contemplated what to say next. "Listen…I'm sorry about the way I've been treating you for the past few days. I've been acting like a baby and I wasn't being very fair to you. I realize that now after Shalimar knocked some sense into me." Brennen just shrugged, "No harm done. But I think the one you should be apologizing to is Shalimar."Willow looked at the ground and nodded. "Yeah. I have to admit I've never really been involved in something like this before. I mean that's not really an excuse because I can't play the victim for the rest of my life. If could do it again, I'd do it differently. I got us into this."
"Well, that's part of growing up Will. You make mistakes and you do you're best not to repeat them," Brennen sat down beside her. "It's cool."
"Thanks Bren." She paused for a moment. There was one question that was burning inside her. "Do you really love her?"
Brennen turned to her. "More than you know."
Willow looked at him, seeing the truth behind the words and smiled. "I can't think of someone I'd rather have her with than you." She looked at him and held out her hand. "Pals?"
Brennen smiled and took her hand. "Always."
End of Chapter 5