The moment Buffy had sat down at the breakfast table, she made it clear that she had meant it when she had said that bringing an appetite wouldn't be a problem; she ate quite heartily, almost with as much appetite as Willow during her strange eating binges, munching down the pancakes and fried bacon strips the demon and the witch had prepared together.
"This is so yummy", the Slayer finally sighed out, after eating mostly in silence for almost ten minutes, "thanks! And that coffee's just perfect, as strong as it should be."
"That's because Pat made it, for me, it's almost too strong", Willow smirked in reply, "sometimes, I feel as if it'll knock me right out of my socks when I drink it."
"Well, if I'd made the food, the two of you would have food poisoning by now", Pat smirked, shaking her head when Buffy asked her if she wouldn't suffer from that, as well, with a gesture at the rather well filled plate of the taller woman.
"Nope, demon", she then reminded the blonde, "we don't get that. Bit of a queasy feeling maybe if I eat something really bad and rotten, but no drastic stuff like puking."
"Why would you eat anything which is really bad and rotten?" Buffy demanded to know, only to change her mind a second later and raising one hand, hurriedly speaking on, her words making the demon smirk. "No, wait, don't tell me. I'd rather not know. Better tell me why you wanted me to come over, okay?"
"Something's wrong with me", Willow was the one to answer that, quite bluntly, the Slayer giving her a surprised look – after how her best friend had reacted to their concern the previous day, Buffy never would have thought to hear those words come from Willow's mouth anytime soon.
"You guys were right", the witch now went on, eager to clarify, "it's not a spell, but it's something else…"
She quickly recounted all the strange things which had happened lately, mentioning her heightened appetite and the stomach cramps along with the fact that she was angered very quickly and ending with the fact that, during her walk the night before, had used magic against an innocent bystander again, sounding so ashamed when she told about this that it made Pat's heart clench up.
"I wish I could tell you I know what's going on", Buffy slowly started after the redhead had finished talking, "but if it's not a spell, I'm not really having an idea what it could be either… You didn't get any new jewellery or ate something weird before all that started, right?"
"Nope, none of that", Willow sighed, clearly dismayed about the lack of possible reasons for her strange behaviour the Slayer had provided her with, "I thought about that, too, but couldn't come up with anything, and neither could Pat."
"Unfortunately", the demon added, finishing her breakfast before she leaned back into her seat and lit up a cigarette, blowing a cloud of smoke towards the ceiling, speaking on afterwards. "So, we better ask Giles, before this gets even worse… or those cramps get even more intense. That was a pretty bad one yesterday, you should have seen it."
"Tell me about it", Willow mumbled, taking a sip of coffee afterwards; for once, her appetite was back to a more or less normal level, the witch not sure if she should be relieved about this or still worried – if the heightened appetite had just been a symptom for whatever was wrong with her, the fact that it seemed back to normal now might only mean that soon, it maybe would be replaced with another, possibly much less pleasant symptom.
"We should call Giles right away, so he can start researching already while we're on the way to his house", Buffy now decided, tearing the redhead out of her musings; nodding, Willow got up from her seat and made her way to the charging station, picking the phone up and dialling the Watcher's number while she returned to the breakfast table and sat down again, smiling weakly at her girlfriend when she reached over to grasp her free hand tenderly, giving her some silent reassurance.
To the witch's relief, Giles took the call quite quickly, and after a short, polite greeting, she started explaining why she had called; immediately, the Brit told her that they should come to his place right away and that he'd start looking for answers already, warning her though that he most likely wouldn't be able to find anything during the time it'd take them to come to his home.
"Doesn't matter", Willow reassured him, "we'll help you with searching… Thanks."
"That's what friends are here for", Giles replied, and she could almost hear the small smile on his face; smiling as well now, the redhead thanked him once more, then told him they'd be there as fast as possible before she said goodbye and hung up, nodding when Buffy asked her if she wanted to leave at once.
In response, both Pat and the Slayer finished their coffee, then got up from their seats; the witch did the same, and together, the three of them made their way into the hallway, quickly putting on their shoes and jackets there before they left the apartment together, heading for the Watcher's place not even five minutes after the phone call had ended.
When they arrived at Giles' house a short time later, he already sat at the living room table, a stack of books sitting in the middle of said table, one more lying opened in front of him; without beating around the bush, the Watcher immediately asked them to take a seat and handed out books before he asked if anyone wanted tea, not surprised when they all declined.
"You are sure that the potion was done correctly?" he asked Willow while handing out books, making the witch nod before she told him once more that there was no spell on her; he nodded as an answer, then advised the small group to look for texts about possession then, the witch grimacing at the thought that something might have taken her over, without her even noticing.
"But when would that have happened?" Pat wanted to know, accepting the book and giving it a sceptical glance, silently hoping that the print wouldn't be too tiny, continuing when Giles gave her a questioning look in reply.
"When could anything have possessed her?" she tried to clarify, shrugging when clearly, the Watcher still didn't have an idea what she was talking about. "Lately, we only fought random vampires and demons, no other witches or anything. The last big fight we had was against those four horsemen and the monster which ended up here when Willow sent them to that other dimension."
"And that thing didn't look as if it knew anything about possession", Buffy added helpfully, the witch nodding her agreement as well to underline her best friend's words, "it was more like a wild animal than some really smart being, capable of doing that."
"And you fought no magical beings since then?" Giles demanded to know, obviously disappointed when all three declined, showing his dismay about this answer by taking off his glasses and beginning to clean them, clearing his throat before he went on. "This will be considerably harder then… We shouldn't ignore the possibility of possession though, so keep looking for that. Also, we should check for substances which might have the effects you've described, Willow."
"You mean, as in poisons?" Pat threw in, sounding flabbergasted, her good eye momentarily going wide, "you think someone poisoned her?"
"It is possible", Giles had to admit, with obvious dismay again, "and unfortunately, it is more likely than possession, considering what you just told me. Just let me get some books…"
With those words, he got up from his seat again and moved to one of the bigger bookshelves in the room; he looked at them for a few seconds, then pulled several of them out, skilfully ignoring the groan he heard from both Buffy and Pat behind him, having heard those groans often enough by now to know how to do that.
"This should do for now", he stated, moving back to the table and putting the books next to the stack of the ones about possession, "there should be some more at the Magic Box, in case we find nothing in those."
"Oh joy", Pat muttered sourly, something the Watcher ignored just as well as the unison groan she had let out with Buffy moments ago; he just gave her a short smile, then sat down and focused on the book he had chosen for himself again, prompting the three women to do the same, the only noise filling the room soon being the sound of pages being turned, only occasionally interrupted when one of them let out a thoughtful noise or a small, dismayed sigh when yet another promising text ended up useless.
"Well, that was a waste of time", Pat dryly stated two hours later, snapping the last book of the stack shut and rubbing her good eye, once more cursing the liking the makers of those books had for tiny print, "unless one of you found something."
"Nope", Willow sighed out next to her, pushing her own finished book away from herself with a look of dismay, "nothing in here. Buffy?"
In response, the Slayer just shook her head; then, they all looked at Giles, grimacing when he repeated the blonde's gesture, taking off his glasses once more as he leaned back into his seat.
"I'll call the Magic Box", he went on, "and inform Anya that we'll be coming. I'm quite sure that the store has some more books about those subjects, maybe we'll be luckier there."
"And what if not?" Willow wanted to know, her voice trembling just enough to let the others notice her distress, prompting Pat to reach over and grasp her hand, giving it a calming squeeze; briefly, the witch looked at her, then focused on Giles again, still not sounding much happier when she spoke on. "What if we can't figure out what's wrong with me, and it'll get worse and worse?"
"That won't happen", Buffy was the first one to speak up in reply, giving her best friend a hopefully calming smile, "we always figured out what's going on so far, right? And that's just what we'll also do this time."
After a few moments of pondering this, the witch nodded at last; Giles smiled calmingly at her as well, then got up from his seat and made his way to the phone, quickly dialling the Magic Box' phone number, quietly speaking to Anya once the call had been taken while the demon gave her girlfriend another worried look.
"Are you feeling anything now?" she then asked in a low voice, not wanting to interfere with Giles and his phone call; immediately, Willow shook her head, momentarily glad that so far, she hadn't been plagued by one of this horrid stomach cramps, a weak smile curling her lips when she replied. "No, thankfully… But those cramps can come superfast, so…"
"I wish I could do something", the black haired woman sighed out after a moment of silence, giving her girlfriend a distraught look. "It's really troubling to know that there's some kind of problem, but I can't help you with it…"
"Seconded", Buffy threw in, making both Willow and Pat look at her, "but I'm sure we'll find out how to help you sooner or later, and then everything will be fine. Right?"
"I hope so", the witch muttered, another sigh escaping her; then, she forced herself to smile weakly, giving her best to appear brave and confident, neither Pat nor Buffy buying it though. Before any of the two could say something though, Giles finished his call and hung up the phone; smiling, he turned to look at the three women again, sounding as confident as Willow had tried to look seconds ago when he spoke up and informed them that Anya had several books about the subject at the Magic Box and that she was getting them out of the shelves for the little group right now.
"We better go there then", Pat stated, already rising from her chair; nodding, both Buffy and Willow did the same, the redhead grasping her girlfriend's hand the moment she was standing, clearly in the need of comfort.
Giving her hand a tender squeeze, Pat looked at her, hoping that the glance was as reassuring as she wanted it to be; to her relief, the redhead smiled back weakly, then moved a bit closer to the taller woman, prompting her to put one arm around her shoulders. Smiling at the sight, Buffy asked if they were ready to go; they all nodded in reply before the group left the house together, heading for the Magic Box, all of them hoping that there, they would find answers to the many questions they all had.