Chapter 4:

A/N: I'm no longer writing this story, but I decided just to post the following few chapters because they were already written, and just wasn't working for me those few years ago (lol)... Well, lemme know whatcha think!

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"Ee-yow. That was..." Although the mutter was directed to herself, Willow spoke loudly enough so that all in the room could hear her. She allowed her sentence to go unfinished as she unceremoniously dropped her bag onto the floor with a rather loud i>thud /i> and put a hand to her head. She hadn't had to perform any big spells - or anything of the teleportation variety, for that matter - for quite a while now (it wasn't as though she teleported around the movie set) and was feeling a little light-headed. She took a moment to try and shake the light-headedness off, not noticing the two others in the room who had been beaming at her ever since she first arrived a mere two seconds ago. For a moment, she just swayed on the spot.

"Looks like she doesn't need this," Lorne, one of the two who was in the room, gestured towards the cup of water that was sitting on a desk - Angel's desk, to be more specific.

"Willow?" Fred asked with concern, unintentionally ignoring Lorne. It was obvious and expected that the Wicca was drained, but there was something more than just that. Willow seemed to wear a somewhat pained expression on her face, and Fred's initial delight was now turning into worry.

Fred, Willow thought to herself, and just then, her legs gave way. And I thought I was fine, too...

"Willow!" Fred exclaimed, worried and somewhat horrified, as she attempted to rush over to catch the falling redhead. She was beaten to it by Lorne, who had been standing closer to the witch, and flashed the ever-helpful and -cheerful Host a grateful smile (to which he nodded in reply). Fred carefully led Willow over to a nearby seat as Lorne took the pre-prepared cup of water and handed it to the witch.

"Thank you, Lorne," Willow gratefully accepted the cup of water and downed it in two huge gulps. She felt the touch of Fred's cool hand on her warm and sweaty forehead and let out a small sigh. She had made it here... safely. Sort of.

"Will," Fred, using what had been (and still was) her favourite nickname for Willow, began as she felt Willow's forehead, "Are you feeling any better?"

"Better? Yes; much better," Willow managed to say as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back to take a short rest to try and regain more of her energy.

"I did the calculations," Fred felt a strong need to say something - anything - as she watched Willow close her eyes and try regain her energy. She knew Willow didn't mind her talking; she never had. Breathing in slowly, Fred continued, this time babbling on about the mathematic calculations she had made in hopes of drowning out some of the silence in the room, "You arrived much earlier than I expected. According to my calculations, you were supposed to take half an hour to get from Sunnydale to here," Fred paused thoughtfully for a moment, before continuing, "Well, then again... I i>did /i> expect you to leave Sunnydale-" Fred checked her watch, "-in exactly two minutes. So, really, you're early. Did it take you thirty minutes?"

With her eyes still closed, Willow smiled and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know how long it had taken her to arrive, but to herself, it hadn't seemed all too long. Still smiling (but now with open eyes), Willow checked her watch and replied, "I'll let you know the exact time when I find out. But as to why I'm early... You said you needed help. I mean, you know, you guys in L.A."

"We do," Fred replied, "And when you feel better-"

"Which, by the way, we hope is now," Cordelia, who had just entered the room with Angel, Wesley, and Gunn, interrupted.

"You're back," Lorne stated unnecessarily, "I was wondering how long you would be."

"Sorry; we just had to administer another dose of i>that /i> tranquilizing drug to the vampire," Gunn explained, before turning to Willow, "You're early. Fred said-"

"I know," Willow grinned slightly, "Fred told me - she calculated and stuff. Turns out I left early. Anyway, hi."

"Glad you're here in one piece," Angel smiled as he approached Willow's baggage and moved it out of the way.

"Yes, it's good to see you," Wesley added.

"Especially since I can help restore someone's soul and make sure the computers start functioning normally, huh?" Willow joked.

"That's just an added bonus," Cordelia said, grinning.

"When you feel better," Fred repeated gently, bringing Willow and the rest of the Fang Gang back to the matter at hand, "You can perform the curse."

"Give me the incantation for the curse," Willow said, and it was more of an order than anything else. Her tone held authority, and Fred walked over to Angel's desk, where the book lay, and retrieved the book, placing it in Willow's hands and pointing to the curse.

A few moments of silence passed as Willow quickly read over the spell, and a frown appeared on the Wicca's face as she read further. Finally, she looked at her friends and pouted slightly, "This requires dead frog. I don't like frogs - dead or alive."

Silence ensued, and everyone turned to stare at her, all of them thinking the same thing: So what?

"Jokes aside," Willow spoke again, causing the others to breathe a sigh of relief; they had really thought that she might not perform the curse, "It's not an easy curse."

Another moment of silence.

"We're talking about cursing a powerful vampire... Giving said powerful vampire a soul. And this curse - it's much more complex than any other kind of soul curses I've seen," Willow said.

Yet another moment of silence.

And then Cordelia spoke, "It's a powerful vampire, like you said, and we weren't sure if a simple soul curse would work. Angel said that stronger vampires were able to resist weaker soul curses. Besides, you cursed Angel with a soul in your Junior year of High School... Then you cursed him again later. You can teleport. You did other, major witchy mojo, too. Basically, what I'm saying is: You're a powerful witch."

"Well," Willow started, feeling a bit more confident after Cordelia's short but nonetheless encouraging speech, "I'll need help."

Instantly, Willow wished that she had Tara here with her to help with the curse; she knew that, with the other witch's help, the curse would go much more smoothly, and much quicker, as well. However, Tara was not here, and she would have to find someone suitable. She fixed her gaze on Fred; out of the entire Fang Gang, Fred would be of the most help to the curse Willow was going to perform.

"Why do you need help?" Cordelia questioned, honestly curious, "You've done it alone before..."

"Cordelia, if this is as important and urgent as you all are making it out to be, which I'm sure it is, by the way, please don't argue. I'll need all the energy I can get... i>Without /i> violating anyone, and I think Fred's willing to help me," Willow explained as simply as she could, giving Fred a questioning glance.

"I'm willing," came Fred.

"Violating someone?" Cordelia asked, making a face, "Sounds skanky. Do I really want to know what that really-"

"It's taking energy from a person without their consent," Willow sighed, interrupting Cordelia before she could say any more, "I tend to do that sometimes, and it's not pleasant."

"Oh."

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"Are they done yet?" Gunn asked as he paced in front of the door that led to the room in which Willow and Fred were preparing - and then performing - the curse. He didn't mean to sound impatient or anything of the sort; he was merely worried that harm might befall either Fred or Willow - perhaps even the both of them.

"Well, if they i>were /i> done, I'm sure they'd be out here with us - and not in there with a crazy vampire," Wesley stated,

"They're safe," Angel said, though whether he was trying to reassure Gunn or was merely stating something like he would a fact was unclear; the expression on his face was unreadable, "Dru is asleep."

"What if she wakes up?" Gunn asked.

"She's tied up," Angel stated.

"They still should let us go in there..."

"If you want to go in there and get the energy sucked out of your lively body, be my guest. Willow wants to keep us safe; she wants us out here because she thinks it will lessen the chances of her drawing our power," Cordelia explained with a hint of impatience. As three enquiring faces turned her way, she blinked and added, "What? She told me!"

The four of them fell silent, hoping that Willow and Fred were working the curse - and hoping that the curse would work.

"Do you guys-" Gunn, who was standing next to the door, began, pulling at the collar of his shirt. The room was growing from cool to warm, and then from warm to painfully hot, before the intense heat suddenly dissipated. All this had happened in a split second, leaving four sweaty and bewildered people (who had fallen flat on their backs) to wonder exactly what had happened, though they all knew it had something to do with the curse.

A moment later, a dishevelled Willow and an equally dishevelled Fred came out of the room, looking around rather apologetically at the four who had patiently waited outside of the room and had, by now , fallen to the floor.

"Sorry," Willow was the first to speak, "Like I said, the curse was very powerful."

Fred nodded silently in agreement, running a hand through her messy hair.

"And, what? We can't just be lying down here, relaxing?" Gunn shot back jokingly as he got up and brushed himself off.

"That would be lying," Willow managed a grin.

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"So," Fred smiled as she sat on the edge of Willow's bed, "Are you gonna get some much-needed and -deserved rest?"

"Mmm... That would be nice," Willow sighed as she rested her head on the pillow, "But get me up when you guys get dinner."

"Okay. You have a few hours to sleep, then. Getting more sleep is better, though I hope you can sleep tonight. I've read that - and experienced first hand - sleeping in the afternoon can screw up your internal clock. But if you're this tired, then I suppose you can sleep forever, huh?" Fred grinned, "It feels like that to me; and I didn't help with the curse that much. You had to teleport here, too... And you have to fix the computer problem, tomorrow or something, like Angel said - I've tried, but I can't do it. Not that I'm any good at that stuff. I can't imagine what you feel like."

"I'll be fine," Willow couldn't help but grin as well, "After you give me a century or two of rest."

Fred smiled in reply and got up to leave, but Willow stopped her with a question, "Stay with me?" She pointed to the extra bed next to "her" bed in "her" room (aka one of the guest rooms they had in the Wolfram and Hart building).

"Okay, but don't blame me if I don't get you up for dinner!"

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