Even though they all had been looking for hours, there was no trace of Willow, the worry of every member of the Scooby gang growing with every hour that passed; finally though, they had to admit defeat, despite their by now high concern, all of them knowing that it wouldn't do much good to search the town at night – and that for most of them, it was far too dangerous, anyway.
"Call me if anything happens, alright?" Buffy almost ordered Pat, back at Giles' house, where they all had met before they'd call it a night and go home, making the demon nod; the miserable expression on her face once more invoked the urge to hug her within the Slayer, and this time, she gave in to it, patting the taller woman's back reassuringly and mumbling that they'd find Willow soon, no matter where she had gone.
"I'm sure she's okay", she added after she had pulled back from the embrace, "she's just upset. Or maybe she's already at the apartment, waiting for you."
"I doubt it, but I hope so", Pat sighed out as an answer, then nodded when Buffy told her once more to call her, should anything come up, no matter what time it might be; she thanked the others for helping with the search, then left Giles' house, her mood on the lowest possible point as she made her way back to the apartment building.
Already from the sidewalk, she could see that the windows of the apartment she shared with Willow were dark, a heavy sigh escaping her at the sight; telling herself that she shouldn't freak out about this, and that everything would be alright, just as Buffy had told her, she made her way to the second floor and into the apartment, immediately moving on to the kitchen there and helping herself to one of the beers from the fridge.
Knowing that she wouldn't get much sleep that night, not as long as she didn't have an idea where Willow was and if she was fine, Pat made her way back to the living room and sat down on the couch there, opening the beer before she switched on the TV and started zapping through the programs, not sure if she'd find anything which would distract her from her worries.
Finally, she settled for a rather mindless comedy movie, figuring that it was better than just sitting here in silence; just as she had thought, she found it hard to concentrate on the movie though, glancing at the hallway which led to the apartment every other minute, willing the sound of the key turning in the lock to come up, the minutes ticking by awfully slowly as she sat there and waited for her girlfriend to finally come back to her.
Several hours later, Pat wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep, but the sound of the key finally turning in the lock jerked her awake, the demon momentarily feeling confused as she sat up on the couch, then realizing that she had drifted off into slumber in the living room, her heart performing an excited leap in her chest when she heard the sounds of Willow taking off her shoes and jackets in the hallway.
Hurriedly, she switched off the TV, then almost jumped up from the couch and made her way to the hall, her relief about the witch's return immediately replaced by concern again when she saw the tear streaked face of her girlfriend and her troubled expression.
"I'm sorry", Willow brought out before she had the chance to say anything, fresh tears filling her eyes, "you were all right… There's something wrong with me and I don't know what's going on anymore…"
"What happened? Where you have been?" the demon demanded to know in reply, then realized that maybe, it wasn't the best idea to talk in the hallway; thus, she carefully put one arm around Willow's shoulders and started to lead her into the living room, only to end up dead in her tracks, startled, when the redhead suddenly let out a pained groan and doubled over, clutching at her stomach with both hands.
"What's wrong?" the demon demanded to know, alarmed; all Willow could do in reply was to let out another groan as a fresh wave of pain ran through her, worse than all the other cramps she had experienced before. Her knees buckled when the pain intensified even more, and she would have fallen if her girlfriend hadn't reacted quickly, catching her just in time, her alarm now turned into high concern; still she held back the urge to ask questions, but merely hurried back into the living room, carefully lowering the witch on the couch there.
"Oh God, this hurts so bad", Willow brought out between clenched teeth, convulsing with pain; feeling awfully helpless and not having an idea how to help, all Pat could think about was reaching out and grasping her hand, momentarily wincing when the redhead squeezed her fingers with surprising strength as a fresh wave of pain surged through her.
"It's never been so bad before", she then panted out, beads of sweat forming on her brow and slowly rolling down her cheeks, "or that long…"
This made the taller woman wonder for a second if her girlfriend had experienced such pains before, and why she hadn't told her; then, she put those thoughts aside for now, focusing on helping the redhead as much as she could, moving her free hand to caress her cheek tenderly, hoping that the touch would help to soothe her a bit.
Finally, to the obvious and great relief of the witch, the pain started to fade again, as it had the other times this had happened to her; once she could be sure it wouldn't come back all of a sudden, she dared to sit up slowly, one hand still resting on her stomach while Pat kept clutching the other one.
"Stomach cramp", she mumbled, suddenly not able to look at her girlfriend's face anymore as she realized that now, she had to come clean – after the first words she had said when she had came back home, there was no way she could convince her that everything was fine, and after the things that had happened during the last few hours, she couldn't even convince herself of that anymore, anyway. "I've been having those lately…"
"I'd say it's not surprising, seeing how much you've been eating", Pat sighed, giving her hand a tender squeeze, "but that's not all, is it."
Even though it wasn't a question, but a statement, Willow shook her head in reply, a small sigh escaping her afterwards, her gaze moving back up and focusing on the taller woman's face as she replied. "No, it's not… The potion was done correctly, there's no spell on me, but something else is wrong and I don't know what it is…"
"What happened while you were out?" Pat demanded to know in reply, figuring that it must have been something quite drastic if it had made the witch realize that something indeed was off with her, after how insistent she had been that she was fine at Giles' home.
"It was worse than in the Bronze", Willow mumbled after thinking about it for a moment, "at first, I was just walking around aimlessly, I was so angry because of the potion thing and everything… Then, this girl called out to me, I think she wanted to ask for the time or the way or something and I… I dunno, I was startled and then I got so angry at her for startling me like that and I…"
"You used magic against her, like you did at the Bronze", Pat finished the sentence when the witch fell silent, making her nod after a moment, her shame about this behaviour clearly visible through her features.
"I couldn't help myself", she then added, as if to justify herself, even though she only could see worry and concern on her girlfriend's face and not even the slightest hint of dismay or contempt about what she had done.
"The girl's fine, thank God", she went on after another second, "but, as you can imagine, she was quite freaked out… And so was I, I mean, I've never been such a choleric, but… I got so angry…"
"If it's not a spell, what else could it be?" Pat asked in reply, the witch having to admit that she had no idea, shrugging helplessly as an answer. "Well, it has to be something", the demon mumbled after a moment of silence, feeling just as helpless as Willow was looking, "but we'll try to figure out what it is tomorrow, alright? For now, you should just get some rest."
"Yeah", the redhead agreed at once, coming to her feet; giving her a calming smile, Pat straightened up as well, still holding her hand as they made their way into the bedroom together, the tender touch giving Willow the wordless reassurance that everything would be fine, helping her to calm down further and to soon get the rest she needed to handle this unusual situation.
In the next morning, Willow called Buffy and asked her if she could come over; if the Slayer was surprised about this, she didn't let it show, merely telling her best friend that she'd be there in half an hour, then asked if she should bring anything along.
"Appetite", Willow gave back, smiling slightly when her girlfriend stepped up to her and hugged her from behind, "I'm making breakfast."
"Oh, you know my Slayer appetite, that won't be a problem", Buffy reassured her, then said goodbye and hung up; the redhead did the same, a small sigh escaping her while she turned in her girlfriend's embrace and looked up at her, her smile fading as she thought of the talk which would have to come up sooner or later once Buffy had arrived.
"Do you think she'll have any ideas?" she asked, knowing that she would have to bring the topic up sooner or later; to her dismay, Pat shrugged, then gave her a calming smile, moving one hand to caress her hair while she replied. "Well, she's the Slayer, so she should know about some pretty warped stuff… On the other hand though, I'm a two hundred and forty two year old demon and I have no idea what it could be. But if Buffy doesn't know anything, Giles maybe will…"
"I hope so", Willow muttered, putting the cordless phone back into the charging station, then moving out of her girlfriend's embrace so she could go into the kitchen, Pat trotting along behind her, "before this gets even worse and I seriously hurt someone… Or even kill someone."
"That won't happen", the demon gave back at once, with a confidence that surprised the redhead, "now that we know that something really is wrong, we'll figure out what it is and find a solution, and things will be fine. We always do."
"I hope you're right", Willow replied, then managed to smile slightly again as she gestured at the fridge and asked her loved one if she'd help her with preparing breakfast; nodding, Pat smiled back at her and kissed her briefly before the couple starting making breakfast together, getting done with it just in time before Buffy arrived at their apartment.