Chapter 5: Stupid Things Said, Stupid Things Done
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Approximately nine hours had passed since Willow's hasty leave for the City of Angels, but a certain someone already missed the redheaded Wicca much, much more than the others did. Tara Maclay's thoughts lay mainly on Willow as she walked along the streets of Sunnydale, very much unalone. Tara, as well as Anya, Dawn, and Xander, had decided to accompany the Slayer on her nightly patrol. Buffy, Dawn, and Tara were walking ahead, doing their best to look for vampires over the loud whispers of Anya and Xander, who were lagging a few feet behind. The couple apparently didn't think their words could be heard clearly.
"Xander," Anya hissed as she sent a penetrating look to her boyfriend, "Why did we have to come patrol with Buffy? Why can't we have sex right now?"
Buffy, Dawn, and Tara shared similar and knowing looks at this, but upon deciding it was best to hear what amusing comment Anya now had to say, they kept their silence.
"Because our friends are here," Xander sighed, whispering his reply. Because he didn't think he and his girlfriend could be (and were being) overheard, his cheeks held no signs of red blush, "Besides, now is here. And here is... a street next to a cemetery. A very creepy cemetery."
"But Willow is having good, hot, lesbian sex," Anya whined, her tone rising, "Why can't we do that, too? Well, not hot, lesbian sex. Hot, straight-people sex."
"Honey, Willow is not- And even if she were, which she isn't because we all know she likes someone else, she wouldn't be having it in a ceme-"
"Willow likes someone?" A pause, and then, gesturing one hand to Tara's turned back, continued, "Oh, right. Her."
"Yes, and her name is-"
"I know what her name-"
"Guys," Buffy piped up from the front, "Please shut up. We can hear you from here."
"Okay," Anya agreed, but when she turned to speak to Xander, her voice was much louder and more forceful, "You're coming home with me, and you'd better give me lots of orgasms - like the ones Willow are getting." She yanked Xander down the street in the opposite direction, heading towards his house. "Bye, Buffy."
"Well," Buffy began, not bothering to say, 'goodbye,' "That was-"
"Very Anya," Dawn finished for Buffy.
Both of them turned to Tara, almost as though they expected her to say or do something, but the woman kept her eyes on the ground, her blonde locks covering most of her features and preventing Dawn and Buffy from seeing her eyes. But she truly hoped that Anya was wrong, for though she loved for Willow to be happy, thinking that the redhead was with someone else simply hurt far too much.
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Fred awoke in the dark room to the sound of falling raindrops and a growling stomach. Pushing the covers off her head, the dark-haired woman yawned before turning her head to peer at the digital clock, which flashed the numbers "3.04" in red across the LCD screen, by the bedstand. She sat up in shock as she realized she was most definitely late for work with Angel, Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn; they usually started work right after sundown. And Fred could tell by looking out of the open blinds that this was definitely 3.04 in the morning, and not the afternoon. The young woman snuck a glance at the bed next to hers, expecting to find a certain sleeping redhead, but was surprised to be greeted with an empty bed. Well... At least I don't have to worry about waking her up... Swinging her legs over the bedside, Fred got out of bed and, determined both to find Willow and to feed herself, decided to head for the lunchroom first. After all, from performing a huge teleportation spell to not eating after that, there was a huge chance that Willow would be in the lunchroom.
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Willow wore a determined expression on her face as she sat alone at the reception desk, staring thoughtfully at the computer screen in front of her. Since she had first woken up about an hour ago, she had managed to stumble upon Cordelia, who was happy to help her get something to eat (and also to explain what problems Wolfram and Hart were experiencing with the computers) before the Wicca herself asked to get started on working out the computer problem. Occasionally, Cordelia stopped by to check on the redhead to see if she needed anything, but for the most part, Willow was left alone. And she was quick to find that there truly was, as was expected, a bug in the entire Wolfram and Hart computer network. Tapping her chin lightly, Willow thought of the different ways she could try to de-bug the system and wondered which one she should first try out. The Wicca was so engrossed in her work that she didn't notice the faint ding! of the elevator. She also failed to notice a brunette walking out of that elevator, and into the room.
"There you are!" the brunette called out with a note of happiness and triumph in her voice, startling the working Wicca (who, Fred noticed, had jumped up in fright), "Well, not that I actually had to look for you, because, hello? This was my first stop! I was actually getting dinner... Or maybe it's breakfast? I don't know. Not that I wasn't going to look for you, because I was... I was just hungry, and I thought I could get some breakfast, or dinner, or whatever, because I once read in-"
"If I'm hungry," Willow interrupted gently, grinning at Fred, "My stomach comes first. I work better with a full - or, well, slightly-full - stomach than an empty one."
"Sorry," Fred apologized, a slight giggle escaping her lips, "I was babbling again... And where are my manners? Would you like something to eat? Or drink?"
"I've eaten. And drunk...en?" Willow asked, "You know, I should know that."
"Well, just for the record, it's 'drunk,'" Fred grinned in reply just as her stomach let out a growl, "And my stomach will come first. I'll be back."
Willow nodded shortly as she watched Fred leave for the lunchroom, before her gaze drifted back down to the computer screen. She let out a small sigh, and then, as though a sudden inspiration had just struck her, she began typing away at the keyboard.
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"Wow, Will, I think you can... uh..." Fred managed to prevent herself from giggling as she continued, "Slow down?"
"What?" Willow asked, looking up from the screen to give Fred a glance. The Wicca wanted to go back to Sunnydale; to go home... She missed it. Well, okay, she missed Tara, really, and she wanted to spend more time with the woman before she had to leave again, this time probably for a movie premiere. Well, I can always invite Tara to come with me...
"Nothing," Fred replied, raising the huge sandwich she had made for herself to her lips, before lowering it and correcting herself, "Well, not nothing. I'm just saying you can... slow down. We don't really need the computers right now."
"Maybe you don't," came a voice, "But other people do."
"Hello to you too, Cordelia," Fred shot back, grinning at the other woman.
Cordelia smiled at Fred in greeting, and then turned to Willow, saying, "Just dropping by. Do you need anything?"
"No, but thanks, Cordelia," Willow replied, typing furiously.
Cordelia nodded and left.
"And your own personal... butleress?" Fred questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"You just eat," Willow retorted, grinning slightly though her eyes never left the computer screen.
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The sun was setting in the sky, and the last rays of sunlight filtered through an office room window in the Wolfram and Hart building. However, not a trace of sunlight was to be found in the Wolfram and Hart lobby where both Willow and Fred were still sitting after more than twelve hours, working hard at debugging the system. Fred had just gotten out a thick book of different computer viruses propped up in front of her, and when she found symptoms in the book that matched the ones the computer system in Wolfram and Hart were experiencing, she would read out the virus name to Willow and tell her how to "fix" the problem (by reading from the book, of course).
"You know," Willow began after Fred read out what must have been the thousandth virus name, "We're trying to fix a bug... This has nothing to do with a virus."
"Oh," Fred replied, surprised, "There's a difference?"
"Yeah," Willow nodded, "A bug comes from a program - a legitimate program - with some kind of logic error. Cordelia said that the senior partners at Wolfram and Hart sent you guys a program - to update an older program, so I'm thinking that's what had the bug."
"You should've told me that earlier, then I wouldn't have had to read through this," Fred sighed, shooting a look at the thick book as she slammed it shut and pushed it to another side of the desk. Gently massaging her temples, Fred took a moment to take a deep breath before she spoke again, "Now I'm thinking... Did the senior partners do this on purpose? I mean, it has been a few years since we separated from them..."
"And you guys just install a program they give you!" Willow demanded, a bewildered look settling on her face.
"Well, the older program was getting really old... And we were going to get the newer version that had recently come out onto the market, but the senior partners sent it to us... So we all decided it must be okay."
"Oh, goddess," Willow sighed, finding it hard to believe what she had just heard, "Didn't you learn anything from me? Never, ever install a program from your enemy - or enemies!"
"Well, they aren't exactly enemies. And I did try to warn Angel..." Fred began, "But then..."
"AH-HA!" Willow exclaimed loudly, slamming a fist on the table with an extremely loud thump and causing Fred to jump (the brunette was pretty sure she saw a few happy sparks fly from Willow's hands as well), "I'VE FIXED IT!"
"Really?" Fred asked, sitting up in her seat as she leaned over, as though attempting to see how Willow had debugged the program.
"You know, this debugging thing - it''s not as exciting as I thought it would be," Cordelia, who again had just come by to check on Willow and Fred, commented lightly, running a hand through her dark hair.
Willow just glared.
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"Yes; for the last time, Buffy, I'm almost home," Willow repeated into her handphone, sighing softly. Yet at the same time a grin appeared on her face; hearing Buffy's rising excitement was honestly amusing - the entire Scooby gang, Tara included, had apparently missed her a lot during her two days of absence. Shaking her head as Buffy asked another question, Willow replied, "Five minutes. I think..." Willow's voice trailed off as she turned to the dark-haired woman seated next to her, who nodded mutely. Clearing her throat, Willow spoke again, "Yes, Buffy, I should be home in five minutes."
A pause.
"No, don't tell anyone until tomorrow."
Another pause.
"Because it's one in the morning, Buffy! They don't need to be woken up for this... And besides, I'm tired."
Yet another pause.
"Yes, you can let them know tomorrow- Yeah, in the morning. I've got a surprise for you guys," Willow grinned cheerfully as she looked over at Fred, who was looking out of the window. Nodding slightly to an apparently-speaking Buffy, Willow ended the call as she said, "Me too. See you tomorrow."
Then the Wicca turned to Fred, grinning, "Are we there yet?"
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"Will," Fred said softly, using a finger to gently prod a resting, close-eyed Willow's shoulder as the cab pulled into the redhead's driveway. The only response Fred received from the Wicca was a slight grumble, and letting out a small sigh of frustration, Fred ran her fingers along Willow's clothed belly, tickling her, and raised her voice and exclaimed loudly, "We're here!"
"Huh?" Willow muttered blearily, yawning, "Are we here?" Not waiting for a response, Willow added, "That was quick. I barely got any rest."
"Well," Fred began, teasing, "Maybe that's because it's only been approximately five minutes since you said, 'Are we there yet?'"
"All right, Miss Smarty-Pants," Willow sighed in reply as she got out of the cab and headed for her home, stopping only to thank and tip the driver, who had managed to get their luggage out of his trunk and place them on Willow's front porch in the time that Fred spent trying to get Willow up.
As the driver drove off into the night, Willow walked up to her front porch with Fred following behind. The two of them paused to get their baggage, before Willow unlocked the door to her home and they both stepped in.
"Home sweet home," Willow breathed.
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