Untitled Remedy
by TheAgonyofBlank
Chapter 3
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Ring! Ring!
"Nghhhh..." Willow moaned quietly as she turned over in bed, covering her head with her fluffy white pillow in a futile attempt to block out the annoying ring of the telephone. Who, in their right mind, on earth would call at this hour of the early, early - May I say early again? - morning? Of course, the sun was already shining brightly outside; in fact, the great ball of fire was already high in the sky. It was near noon, but the redheaded Wicca did not care to know that. Sleep was the simple thing she needed, and she would get it; if not today, then... some other time. Perhaps the next day.
Ring!
"Unghhh..." Willow groaned, a little louder this time, as she lifted the pillow from her head and flung it down next to her, before sleepily extending an arm as she reached for the still-ringing phone by her bed. Groggily, she spoke into the receiver, "Hello?"
"Hello, sleepyhead!" came an affectionate, cheerful, and familiar voice from the phone.
"Gnnghhh," Willow, realizing it was Tara (and glad that it was her and not anyone else), grumbled in reply before snuggling deeper under the covers of her bed.
"I really hope you didn't stay up too late. I've told you before, and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you again," Tara said with concern, waiting patiently for a reply from the lovely but undoubtedly sleepy and perhaps somewhat cranky redhead. However, when she received none, she spoke again, this time not without a small sigh, "All right. Have it your way then. I'm coming over in about five or ten minutes. Let me in, okay?"
Through her sleepiness, Willow still could imagine the pout forming on the blonde's face as she spoke those words. But the only reply the redheaded Wicca gave was, "Unnngah."
A giggle sounded from the other end, and as the blonde witch hung up, she said, "See you soon, sleepyhead," resisting the urge to add a little 'I love you' after that. Tara wasn't sure if Willow liked her in that way, and she didn't want to find out just yet. Things were going fine the way they were; there was no need to go ruin it all.
"Gnngh," Willow mumbled yet another strange sound, as if in answer, as she hung her phone up and allowed her mind to drift off to the land of the strawberries...
Ring! Ring!
Willow groaned, louder this time. Goddess, who can it possibly be now?! Does anyone have any respect for a sleeping Wicca these days? The phone rang again. Well, apparently not. The call from Tara had been pleasant and welcome, despite Willow's general lack of understandable answers, but all she had wanted was to sleep. Right now, however, she only wanted to sleep until the beautiful blonde came knocking on her door. Which would mean she would have to wake up, but that could be done. Besides, if she had a lack of motivation for answering the door, she knew that Tara could easily unlock it (with a quick spell) and come into her room if she ever got too tired of waiting for Willow to come down the next century.
Ring!
No! Stop ringing; go ring on someone else's phone. I'm too tired. And lazy. Now go away! Willow thought to herself, her mind clouded with thoughts of rest as she again covered her head with the fluffy pillow.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
That was one insistent phone. Either that, or it was one insistent person who called so that the phone would ring insistently. Yes, the latter was definitely it - or so Willow decided.
Sitting up and leaning against the headboard, Willow took a quick moment to rub her eyes in a sleepy fashion before picking up the phone and yawning, "Helloooooooo...?"
"Willow?" a familiar, long-time-not-heard (by Willow, at the very least) voice came from the receiver, making Willow's eyes widen slightly.
A pause ensued.
"Fred?" Willow finally managed to ask with slight confusion, though the sleep was not gone from her voice as she wondered why her ex-girlfriend had decided to call.
"Um, yes, it's me," Fred began awkwardly, "I- You sound like you're asleep. Did I wake you? I'm really sorry if I did; I know I shouldn't have... But I just didn't think that, you know, you'd be asleep since it's noon and all-"
"It's fine, Fred," Willow replied, a small smile beginning to show on her face as she recognized the signs of Fred-babble, though Fred tended to go on babbles about mathematical equations and scientific things more often than... non-scientific or non-mathematical matters. Then she asked, "So, why'd you call?"
"We need some help in L.A."
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Knowing that Willow was more than likely still snoozing in bed, Tara unlocked the door to Willow's house and entered before heading straight for the emerald-eyed Wicca's room. Peering in, she was more than a little surprised to see the redhead already up and about, throwing various items of clothing into a suitcase.
"Up already?" Tara called, a pout playing at her lips, "And here I thought I would get to haul you out of bed... I have to say I'm impressed, though."
Willow brightened considerably at the sound of Tara's voice and resisted the urge of running over and hugging and kissing and smothering her friend of two weeks now. Instead, she turned to face the woman and smiled brightly despite herself. Before Tara got the chance to ask, Willow decided to explain her packing, "I need to go to L.A. for a little while - a week or two at most."
"Oh," Tara replied softly, a small frown creasing her face as she wondered why the other woman needed to go to Los Angeles. What's so special there? Or, dare I ask, who's so special there?
"Hey," Willow said, reaching for the blonde woman as she noticed the look on her face, "You okay? You look kinda... spacey."
"Yeah," Tara replied, "I mean, yeah, I'm fine." Not really. Why do you have to go now? Who's in L.A.? "Is it a photo shoot?"
"No," Willow answered, looking carefully at Tara as though debating what she should say - and what she should leave out, "Remember, the other day, when I told of Buffy's ex? The vampire Angel?"
"Yes," Tara replied slowly as she recalled what Willow had told her that day. She remembered thinking how Willow and her friends led such exciting and different lives. It must be very interesting. And fun. And dangerous, too.
"Well, he and his gang over there need my help. Some witchy stuff, along with the tech," Willow explained as she closed the distance between Tara and herself, squeezing the beautiful blonde's hand gently, "I go and help with both problems; it's like killing two birds with one stone."
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"I wish you didn't have to go," Dawn muttered, not inaudibly, into Willow's ear as the Wicca pulled her into a tight hug,
"Why can't they pay someone else to fix their problems?" Anya, overhearing Dawn, couldn't help but agree with the girl and decided to voice her thoughts. Nothing, she thought, cannot be solved without money.
"Fred said they needed someone they could trust," Willow replied as she turned to smile at Anya.
"What kind of a name is 'Fred', anyway? It's a boy's name, and even I know that!" Anya exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips and waiting expectantly for an answer.
"It's a nickname," Willow couldn't help but grin. Anya was the comic relief around here. Actually, both she and Xander were, but Anya just made the more, uh, direct comments.
"What does it stand for?" Anya asked.
"Winifred."
"Well, what kind of a name is that?!"
"We'll see you in a week, Wills," Xander grinned fondly at Anya as her placed his hands on her shoulders to calm her curious and demanding self down, "Maybe two."
"I still don't see how you could date someone named 'Fred', or 'Winifred,'" Anya paused for a moment, and then brightened as she patted Willow's shoulder awkwardly, "But anyway, have fun and good luck."
"Yup. Definitely. Now go save lives in L.A., okay?" Buffy added, hugging her best friend tightly to her.
Dawn nodded in agreement.
"Nothing to worry about; I'll try. Wait... Save lives? I don't save lives," Willow stopped suddenly, "Well, I do, but not there. You don't think they're expecting me to- They can't! Fred would've-"
"It was a... figure of speech," Buffy reassured her friend, "As in, I didn't mean it literally."
"Well," Anya butted into the conversation, "Go have fun with your girlfriend. Have make-up sex. You will both be happy, I'm sure," Anya smiled cheerfully, oblivious to Tara's stricken look (then again, no one but Willow seemed to notice Tara's look).
"You have a-?" Tara began, deciding it was best to avoid (and just blatantly ignore, in general) the subject of Willow + Fred = Possible Make-Up Sex. "I didn't think Fred was..." Tara allowed her voice to trail off. Oh, you're pathetic, Maclay. Ever since they first mentioned Fred was a girl you've wondered and thought about her being Willow's girlfriend...
"No!" Willow protested, "She's just a friend. And there will be no... There will be none of that."
"It's okay, you know, if she's your girlfriend," Tara replied quietly, not meeting Willow's eyes.
Suddenly everyone got what was going on.
"She's just a friend," Willow reaffirmed, horrified that Tara could think otherwise.
"Yeah..." Anya muttered, glancing quickly at Willow, "That's what they all say. Until they have make-up sex. Well, then again, some still say it after they have make-up sex..."
"Ahn! Honey! Please, stop," Xander pleaded with his girlfriend. He knew the situation didn't need to be any worse than it already was.
Anya folded her arms across her chest, almost defensively, but said no more. She did allow herself one more thought on that matter, though, that tied in to her last sentence: Exes are always that.
Choosing to breeze past Anya's last comment, Willow turned to Tara and gave her a smile, placing a light kiss on her forehead.
"See you soon."
With that, the redhead stepped back and held onto her medium-sized baggage, and the next moment, she was gone, leaving a slight wind where she had stood just moments ago.
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