In the next morning, Willow was the first one to wake up, even though she only had classes in the early afternoon and hadn't set the alarm clock; after a hearty yawn, she carefully disentangled herself from her girlfriend's embrace, managing to do so without waking her up, then got out of bed and made her way into the bathroom. While she went through her morning hygiene routine there, she noticed – to her astonishment – that she was quite hungry again; briefly, she wondered if this was something she should be worried about, then shrugged it off, deciding that a properly sized breakfast was in order and that this strange sudden need for so much food probably just was some kind of symptom, caused by the stress she currently had at college, thanks to several exams coming up.
Once she had finished her morning hygiene, she made her way into the kitchen, figuring that she could prefer breakfast before she'd wake her girlfriend up to join her; since her stomach by now was grumbling quite loudly again, she decided on a rather hearty portion of ham and eggs, adding some leftover bacon as well, then put several slices of bread into the toaster before she moved to prepare the coffee.
While it was running through with the usual rather loud noise, the witch focused on the ham, eggs and bacon, from time to time glancing at the kitchen's entrance as she wondered if Pat would wake up on her own or if she'd need to wake her up after all; when the demon still was fast asleep by the time the food got done, the redhead smirked to herself and shook her head, switching off the oven so she wouldn't set the place on fire before she made her way into the bedroom again, the soft snoring sounds which greeted her showing her clearly that her girlfriend still was slumbering deeply.
For a moment, Willow wondered if she really should wake her up or not; then, she decided that she didn't want to have breakfast alone and quietly moved closer to the bed, figuring that if she'd tear her loved one out of sweet dreams, it should be done pleasantly. Smiling to herself, she bent over the taller woman and kissed her gently; it didn't take long until Pat responded, smirking slightly as well when she opened her good eye and looked up at the redhead.
"Good morning", Willow greeted her, moving one hand to caress her hair tenderly, then pulling back when the demon yawned and sat up, rubbing her eye with one hand while she automatically reached for the eye patch with the other one.
"I made breakfast", the redhead informed her girlfriend, "that's why I woke you up." As always, she received only a low grunt in reply, and as always, she didn't mind; giggling to herself, she watched her girlfriend trot into the bathroom for her morning routine, then made her way back into the kitchen, readying the breakfast there, her stomach grumbling loudly once more at the sight and smell of the food and the coffee.
Still, she made herself wait until Pat finally joined her ten minutes later; with a hearty yawn, the demon sat down at the table, letting out an approving grumble when the redhead put a plate of food down in front of her. Her morning grumpiness vanished surprisingly quickly though when she saw the size of the portion Willow had put on her own plate; raising an eyebrow, the demon still took the time to take a long gulp of her coffee before she spoke up, surprising the redhead with gaining her ability to talk so quickly after getting up, something which hardly ever happened. "You're having quite the appetite again."
"I know, isn't it weird?" Willow gave back, not letting this stop her from shovelling a forkful of food into her mouth, chewing and swallowing with obvious satisfaction. "I hope this won't go on too long, or I'll get fat", she added afterwards, a gulp of coffee following before another large forkful of food was moved up to her mouth; frowning, Pat watched her eat, now clearly troubled – during the time they had been together, she never had seen the witch gobble her food down like that, not even when she had been terribly hungry after doing some of the more difficult spells of her repertoire.
"You know, I may be overreacting or something", the black haired woman started after watching her girlfriend eat – or, better said, devour – breakfast for another two minutes, "but maybe this should be checked. We could ask Giles or something."
"Ask Giles about my appetite?" the redhead gave back, now frowning as well, briefly lowering her fork while she looked at her lover. "That does sound like an overreaction indeed. Why do you think we should do that?"
"Well", the demon slowly replied, trying to sort her thoughts so she could voice them properly, something which wasn't all too easy with her brain still half asleep, "I've known you for quite some time now, and you've never munched down like that. I just think it's a bit odd, is all."
"It's probably just because of the college stress, you know", Willow tried to calm her down in reply, "I'm sure I'll go back to my normal eating levels as soon as those exams are over. Don't be worried, okay?"
"I'll try", Pat sighed after a moment, giving her a small smile afterwards. "But I'll go back to being worried when you still munch down like that after your exams. Deal?"
"Deal", the redhead agreed, returning her girlfriend's smile before she focused on breakfast again, the demon doing the same after a moment, giving her best to keep her worries about the redhead's strange behaviour out of her mind, not fully succeeding though.
To the redhead's dismay, Buffy noticed about her strangely heightened appetite as well, eying her plate curiously when they met for lunch, making a comment the moment they had found a free table and had sat down. "Big lunch, huh?"
"Yeah", the witch gave back in a non-committing way, "I'm quite hungry."
"No kidding", the Slayer smirked, to Willow's relief dropping the topic by changing it and asking her how patrol had been last night.
"It went well", she lied, momentarily feeling bad, but knowing that they couldn't tell her about Dawn's little mishap, "just a few random vampires, which Pat finished off quickly."
"I'm lucky I'm friends with a demon who never tires of beating up vampires and other monsters", Buffy sighed out in reply, glancing down on her injured arm in dismay before she looked up at her best friend again. "She doesn't mind taking over patrol for another few nights, right? Giles says I should make sure that shoulder heals properly before I fight again."
"Oh, you know she doesn't mind", Willow immediately reassured her, interrupting herself with a big bite from her sandwich, speaking on after chewing and swallowing. "She'll be happy to hear that, in fact. Will Dawn tag along again as well?"
"Probably", the blonde sighed, clearly not all too happy about this, "she was all hyped up when she came home yesterday, so she clearly enjoyed herself. I should ask Giles if she can be made the Slayer, seeing how keen she's on taking over."
"She just wants to be part of that, too", Willow smiled in reply, briefly making Buffy wonder about that unexpected insight into her teenaged sister, "it's such a big part of your life, of all our lives, so of course she wants to join us and help. You should be glad she shows an interest in what you do!"
"I wish she'd show interest in my studies though, and not in my slaying", Buffy mumbled, then shrugged it off and smiled at her friend, changing the topic once more by asking her how things were with her girlfriend; deciding not to mention the demon's concern about her new, unexplained appetite, the redhead merely smiled back and told her things were going great, surprised when the Slayer let out yet another sigh in reply.
"You know", she then stated, sounding serious again, "sometimes I'm kinda envious when I think about how long the two of you have been together. Especially since it still works out so well."
"Um", Willow let out as an answer, not sure what she could reply to that, "well… I know I'm lucky, but don't feel down! I'm sure you'll find the right guy for you soon, too."
"I hope so", Buffy gave back gloomily, only to perk up again moments later, a mischief glint in her eyes when she spoke on. "And I hope he'll be as whipped by me as Pat is by you."
"Pat's not whipped!" Willow protested, giggling and shaking her head; smirking as well, Buffy raised an eyebrow, then wriggled her fingers at the next, still with that mischief tone in her voice when she replied. "She totally is! You tell her to jump and she asks how high."
"That's an exaggeration", Willow claimed, giggling again while she picked up one of her fries and threw it at the Slayer, missing horribly, but not really minding, "she'd ask first why."
After the last word, she started giggling for a third time; this time, Buffy laughed with her, both of them still smiling when they left the cafeteria twenty minutes later, enjoying each other's company and the relaxed and happy atmosphere between them.
Just like during the night before, Dawn did come along on patrol; to Buffy's surprise, just Pat came to pick her up, the demon shrugging at the questioning look the Slayer was giving her.
"Willow didn't want to come along", she then explained, "she said she's got to study for her exams. I promise I'll have my eye on Dawn though."
"I'm not worried about that", Buffy reassured her, "I know she's safe with you."
"Can we go then?" the teenager demanded to know before Pat had a chance to reply, "I wanna get moving! Come on, Pat!"
"Off we go then", the demon smirked while Buffy rolled her eyes at how overeager her sister was; she still made Dawn listen to a small lecture about being careful and about knowing her own strengths and weaknesses, then let them go at last, the teenager letting out an audible heavy breath the moment the door had fallen close behind her sister.
"Finally she let us go", she then stated, looking up at Pat while they walked away from the house and down the sidewalk, "I thought she'd go on with her lecture for an hour or something. Will you let me try fighting again tonight?"
"Yeah, because I know that, even if I say no now, you'll pester me until I give in anyway, and I wanna save myself the trouble", the taller woman smirked, chuckling when Dawn let out a mildly annoyed huff, "just promise you'll be more careful, alright?"
"Sure, don't go into lecture mode now, too", the teenager gave back, rolling her eyes – before she beamed at the demon and reached into her pocket, pulling out a stake and proudly showing it to her friend. "I even brought my own stake!"
"You mean, you took one from Buffy's stash", Pat corrected, chuckling again at the look she received from Dawn for that; after a moment, the teenager poked her tongue out at her, then put the stake back into the inside pocket of her jacket, looking at the black haired woman critically afterwards.
"Didn't you bring one, too?" she then asked, a bit surprised about this lack of foresight; this feeling vanished though when the demon patted her back in reply, then reassured her that she had one wedged in her belt, to the teenager's obvious relief.
"We're all ready to kick some vampire ass then", Dawn beamed afterwards, rolling her eyes again when Pat frowned at her, then told her to remember what she had said the night before; with an annoyed sigh, the teenager reassured her that she would, her good mood returning a second later as the cemetery came in sight, a smile forming on her face again as she looked forward to the night's activities there.