"I was so worried about you, Willow," gulped Buffy, as they recapped their mission for Giles. "I mean, you flubbed the fireball spell earlier, but you still had the courage or what was it... insanity to face down this Harry Potter guy one on one. I was terrified that you might get hurt."

"You were the only one apparently. No one else seemed to notice that there was this big gigantic magic battle about to happen," scoffed Willow. "This yahoo here," she said, pointing at Andrew, "Just talked about James Bond the entire time."

"Hey! Daniel Craig is no Timothy Dalton!"

Giles cleaned his glasses. "Children, please. If you can get back to the issue at hand. Willow, can you please explain to me which spells you used to defeat Ellis' magic defenses. He was well known in Council circles as a very good defensive spellcaster. Especially with Buffy's revelation of your apparent failing earlier in the mission."

"Well... I didn't use any spell. He didn't have any physical protection, so I just gave him one quick knee in the happy sacks; he dropped like anyone else."

"Indeed. Well, I guess that is all. Pity, I was expecting something a bit more cathartic. But it's difficult to argue with success - though I have done so before."

With that near-useless exchange the meeting broke up and they all went their seperate ways into the new Council Headquarters. As Willow made her way dejectedly down the hallway to the lounge she felt Buffy's hand on her arm.

"What debriefing were you hoping for?"

"What?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "You said you were hoping for a different debriefing. So what was it, Willow?"

"What do you think? I mean... I try and I try and nothing ever changes," Willow whimpered and gulped, her brain starting to shatter from the weeks of desperate pining and stress. "I mean, the clues I've given, the things I've done, the slip-ups I've made... How could you not know? I'm not sure I can take this anymore. What do I have to do? What can I do to make this clearer? Just... just let me go be alone."

Buffy pulled her into an embrace, lifted the redhead's sagging chin, and kissed her hard on the lips.

"Wha... what?"

"Well... you got all depressy and then I kissed you. It's not rocket science."

A Chinese acrobat troupe was performing cartwheels and backflips in Willow's stomach. "But how come you never said anything?"

Buffy shrugged and smiled sweetly. "You never asked."

"I had to ask?"

"Duh. You're the professional lesbian. I'm the girly girl. I get to sit back and wait for the offers you know."

Willow pouted. "I'm sorry, I don't think I like you anymore."

"Fine. I'll take my lovin' elsewhere."

Willow pulled Buffy closer and rested her head on Buffy's shoulder. "So you heard me? You knew all the time?"

"I heard. Even I could figure it out eventually."

"Really?"

"Okay, so Andrew told me yesterday."

And they had many orgasms ever after...