Author's Note: Since tomorrow, it's concert time and I won't be at home to update, I'll do it a day earlier again – enjoy :)
Thankfully, for the rest of the day, no more thoughts about treachery from her friends came up in the redhead's mind; she spent most of the time in front of her laptop, searching the internet for solutions, without much success though. The only small break she had taken from her work was when Pat had convinced her that she had to eat something, a task made considerably easier by the pizza the black haired woman had ordered; after eating, Willow immediately had focused on the laptop again, clearly not willing to give up anytime soon.
"Enough for today", she still sighed out when it slowly was getting dark outside, shutting the laptop down and closing it before she put it back on the table, rubbing her eyes afterwards, feeling tired after staring at the screen for so long. "I'll go on tomorrow… My eyes are tired." "Maybe Giles will have found something until then", Pat gave back, putting the book she had been reading aside and moving a bit closer to the redhead on the couch, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Yeah, I hope so", Willow sighed out as an answer, glaring down at her tummy when it growled audibly, her system obviously ignoring the fact that she had eaten half of a rather big pizza not all too long ago.
"Can you believe that I'm getting hungry again?" she then stated the obvious, looking at her girlfriend with dismay, "I hope all that food I apparently have to shovel down won't make me fat."
"I doubt it", Pat gave back, smiling at her once more, "whatever it is that is responsible for your situation, it clearly needs a lot of fuel, so you're probably burning it as fast as you eat it. Which would explain why you are hungry again already. Want me to make you a sandwich?"
"That'd be nice", Willow had to admit after a moment, her stomach rumbling again as if to underline her words; in response, the taller woman leaned in for a quick kiss, then got up from the couch and made her way into the kitchen while Willow leaned back into the couch and, after a moment of consideration, switched on the TV.
Waiting for her girlfriend to get back with the snack she had offered, the witch zapped through the channels, looking for something interesting; after a while, she found a documentary and settled on it, putting the remote down just when Pat returned to the living room, carrying a plate with a rather thick sandwich on it.
"There you go", the demon smiled, sitting down next to her girlfriend and handing her the plate; thanking her, Willow accepted it, then took a big bite of the snack, rolling her eyes in delight as she chewed.
"This is so good", she told her girlfriend after she had swallowed, "thanks… I can't believe I thought you'd be poisoning my food. I feel so stupid now, you know… and I know you said I shouldn't, but I still feel bad about using that spell on you…"
"Nope, you shouldn't feel bad", Pat smirked, "as I said, I'm fine, it wasn't that bad…" "But it could have been", the witch found it necessary to point out, "I might have really hurt you… Or worse…"
"I don't think you could have done anything worse than what you did", the demon gave back, raising an eyebrow at the sceptical look she received from Willow in reply, quickly going on and explaining herself. "No matter how much this is changing you, there's still a part of the real you left… So I don't think you could have hurt me worse, even if whatever it is that has been putting those thoughts into your mind wanted you to."
"I hope you're right", the redhead sighed, then took another big bite of her sandwich – before she held it to her girlfriend, smiling when the demon gladly accepted and bit a piece off as well.
"How're you feeling now?" Pat wanted to know after chewing and swallowing, the witch shrugging as an answer, taking another bite of the sandwich before she replied verbally as well. "Normal, well, except for the hunger. No more bad thoughts."
"Good", the demon smirked, then gestured at the witch's tummy, sounding concerned again when she spoke on. "And the tummy? No more cramps?"
"Not since the one yesterday, thank God", Willow smiled, finishing the sandwich and getting up from the couch to carry the plate back into the kitchen; now that her girlfriend had finished eating, Pat figured that it'd be okay to smoke and did just that, lighting up a cigarette before making herself comfortable on the couch again, waiting for the redhead to come back so they could enjoy some calmness and cuddling before it'd be time to go and get some much needed sleep.
Several hours later, the apartment was quiet, the only audible sound being the calm breaths of the couple in the bedroom; despite the excitement of the evening, they both had fallen asleep quite quickly, Willow lying halfway on top of her girlfriend, by now not even hearing the soft snoring sounds the taller woman let out every now and then anymore.
Even though the redhead still had been upset about what she had done when she had gone to bed, she was spared of having any nasty dreams about the incident; thus, she wasn't sure why she had woken up when she opened her eyes in the darkness, blinking sleepily before she looked at the alarm clock on her nightstand, frowning when she saw that it was a few minutes past three a.m..
Momentarily, she laid still, trying to figure out if the beginnings of a stomach cramp had torn her out of her slumber; when her tummy remained calm though, she frowned again, then rolled over, deciding to shrug it off and just go back to sleep. Next to her, Pat let out a low grunt as she changed her position as well, ending up on her side, one arm propped over the witch's waist; this made Willow smile slightly to herself, a yawn escaping her as she closed her eyes, hoping that she'd go back to sleep quickly.
Just as she was close to drifting off into slumber, already dozing lightly, a strange feeling in her stomach jolted her awake again, and she held back the urge to groan, not wanting to wake up the demon slumbering soundly next to her; thus, she carefully rolled on her back again and stared up at the ceiling, waiting to see if the strange feeling would come again or if it had been a one time thing – or maybe something she had dreamt up, already half asleep when it had happened.
It didn't take long until the feeling came again, making her grimace – it felt as if the muscles in her stomach were twitching on their own, a rather unpleasant sensation. Even though she wasn't sure she'd see anything, Willow sat up on the bed and pushed her pyjama top, exposing her tummy and looking at it intently; by now, her eyes had gotten used to the darkness enough to let her see the smooth skin, the redhead frowning to herself as she stared down on it, momentarily feeling rather stupid.
A few seconds later, this was blown away though when the twitching feeling came up again, a low gasp escaping the redhead when she simultaneously saw the skin of stomach bulge outwards, as if something was pushing against it from the inside. With her heart now racing in her chest, she hurriedly got up from the bed and made her way into the bathroom; there, she closed the door behind herself before she switched on the light, then stood in front of the mirror and pushed her top up once more, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the bright light.
Hoping and praying that she had imagined the sight of her skin bulging, that it had been an optical illusion caused by shadows and her tiredness, she kept staring at the mirror, not even noticing how she held her breath as she waited for something to happen; to her great dismay, the feeling came again another thirty seconds later, along with the bulging of her skin, the sight making her stomach turn.
Tiny droplets of sweat started to form on her brow as she reached down with one hand and ran it over her tummy; as if whatever was causing this had only been waiting for the touch, the twitch came again, much stronger this time, the skin bulging outwards so strongly that for a moment, Willow was surprised it didn't get torn. Then, her surprise got washed away as panic rose within her, her throat suddenly feeling too tight to let her breathe properly; gasping, she staggered out of the bedroom and over to the bed, tears filling her eyes as she grabbed her girlfriend's shoulder and tried to shake her awake, her voice cracking when she spoke up. "Pat, wake up, please, something's wrong…"
With another grunt, the demon did just that, opening her good eye and blinking sleepily; then, as she saw the distress on her girlfriend's face and the tears which by now were rolling down her cheeks, she was wide awake within seconds, sitting up hurriedly and giving the redhead a concerned look.
"What is it?" she demanded to know, reaching out with one hand to place it on her girlfriend's arm, only to jump when she saw the pyjama top bulge, her good eye going wide while Willow let out a sob, knowing what her loved one just had seen.
"Something's inside me", the redhead then brought out, her voice nearly breaking, "I can feel it, it's inside me…"
All at once, her panic grew so big that all rational thought was pushed out of her mind, only the need to get this thing out of herself remaining; with another sob, she started scratching at her stomach, the sight startling Pat enough to almost make her jump again – before she grabbed her girlfriend's wrists to stop her from harming herself, giving her best to sound soothing and to not let it show how freaked out she was herself by this when she spoke up.
"Hey, no, don't do that, don't hurt yourself", she tried to calm the witch down, tightening her grip on her wrists slightly when she tried to break free, "that's not helping… Let's go and call Giles, right now, okay? He'll know what to do, and if he doesn't, he'll figure something out, okay?"
"…okay", the witch agreed after a moment, a shiver running through her when she felt her stomach twitch again, forcing herself not to look down on it; still giving her best to hide how freaked out she was, Pat nodded and got up from the bed, surprising herself with how stable her voice sounded as she spoke up again. "I'll go and get the phone then… Do you wanna wait here?"
"No", Willow immediately gave back, getting up as well; eager to calm her down, Pat put an arm around her shoulders and almost led her into the living room, both of them sitting down on the couch there before the demon picked up the phone and quickly dialled Giles' number, hoping that he wouldn't be slumbering too deeply to hear it ring – and that he'd be able to provide the answers they needed.
It had taken annoyingly long until Giles finally had answered the phone, and he had sounded as if he still was half asleep when he had done so; after a quick explanation about the reason for the call from Pat though, he had been wide awake within the blink an eye and had promised to come over as soon as possible and that he'd bring Buffy with him, for reasons the demon couldn't quite figure out, but didn't bother to argue about.
"He'll be here as fast as possible", she let Willow know after she had ended the call, "and he'll bring Buffy along, don't ask me why…"
Clearly not caring much about why Giles would bring the Slayer along, Willow just nodded, shifting on the couch uncomfortably afterwards; the twitching in her stomach had stopped while the demon had been on the phone, but she knew that this didn't mean anything and that there still was something inside her which didn't belong there.
"I'm sure he'll be helpful", the black haired woman now added, putting the phone back on the table before she put an arm around the witch again and pulled her a bit closer to herself, "and it'll be fine…"
"What if he can't figure it out?" the redhead wanted to know in reply, finally looking up and at her girlfriend, the frightened expression in her eyes making the demon's heart clench up.
"Well", she gave back, choosing her words carefully, not wanting to upset the witch even further, "now we at least know what has been causing all those weird symptoms, and we can narrow the search down… I'm sure we'll figure this out sooner or later, I mean, whatever this thing is, it must have gotten inside you somehow, right?"
"I have no idea", Willow sighed out in reply, looking down on her tummy again and grimacing as she thought of what exactly might be in there right now; as if whatever it was had read her mind, another twitch came, this time with a bolt of pain, making her gasp.
"What is it?" Pat immediately wanted to know, looking at her with fresh concern, her worry only growing when a shudder ran through the witch in reply, a groan escaping her through clenched teeth as another wave of pain rushed through her.
"It hurts", she brought out after a moment, nearly crying out when the pain intensified even further, making her feel as if something was tearing her up from the inside. Doubling over, she let out another low groan, sweat forming on her brow again; not sure what to do, Pat could only stare at her helplessly, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out how to help her girlfriend.
Gasping, Willow blindly reached out, feeling a bit relieved when immediately, the demon grasped her hand; she groaned again, then pressed her free hand to her stomach as it cramped up again – before a burp escaped her, something which would have been comical under different circumstances, but only was upsetting her further now.
"What's happening to me?" she groaned out, squeezing her girlfriend's hand so hard that the bones nearly cracked when a fresh wave of pain surged through her; before Pat had a chance to reply anything though, the witch shivered once more, then bent forward even further, dry-heaving a few times – before she vomited up a shockingly large glob of a transparent, slimy substance, the smell which rose from it making both her and Pat grimace.
Horrified, Willow stared at the stuff, even forgetting her pain for a moment; next to her, the demon looked quite freaked out as well, by now not able to hide this anymore, the feeling only increasing when the witch dry-heaved again, a strange rumbling sound coming from her stomach.
"Oh God", she brought out, then covered her mouth with one hand; the rumbling sound came up once more, then her eyes went wide as she felt something move within her, her skin bulging again – before she felt the sensation move not just inside her, but upwards, her eyes going wide as she realized what was going on.
"Pat", she still had the time to say, "it's…" Her own gagging interrupted her, and she clutched at her throat, her eyes going wide again; next to her, the demon grabbed her shoulder, her freaked out state now also showing through her voice as she asked what was going on, only to jerk back when Willow gagged again, another glob of slime falling from her mouth, a shiver running through her at the awful taste that was filling her mouth.
"Oh Jesus", she heard Pat press out next to her as she felt the thing within her move up her throat, felt how the skin bulged there, as well; then, her mouth was forced open again as something made it's way out, accompanied by horrid gagging and choking noises Willow was letting out, a heavy gasp escaping her the moment the thing finally had wriggled out fully and had fallen to the carpeted floor.
Dimly, she heard how Pat now started to gag as well, then the demon jumped up from the couch and, with surprising readiness of mind, considering what she just had witnessed, rushed to one of the nearest pot plants and puked into it, clearly having difficulties to deal with what she just had seen.
"What the fuck was that!" she demanded to know as soon as she could be sure she wouldn't throw up again, "and where the Hell did it go?"
"I have no idea", Willow brought out, trembling, not allowing herself to pass out though, her eyes darting from side to side as she tried to spot the creature which just had left her body, "but it can't have gotten far, all doors are closed…"
"Are you okay?" Pat seemed to remember what her girlfriend just had gone through, the monster she had puked up momentarily forgotten; immediately, Willow nodded, briefly stunned at how good she felt – all twitching was gone from her stomach, and now that the creature had been expelled, all pain was gone, as well.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me, find that thing and kill it!" she almost ordered, only to flinch a second later when the sound of something writhing across the carpet reached her ears. "Over there!" she added, pointing into the direction the noise had came from; since she obviously had heard it as well, the demon didn't bother to question any of her words, but hurried over, spotting the creature and stomping down as hard as she could, a harsh curse escaping her when it slithered away just in time, vanishing beneath one of the bookshelves.
"Fucking thing is hiding behind that", she then stated, gesturing at said shelf, "and what is it, anyway? Have you ever seen anything like that?"
"No", Willow gave back, for a moment feeling like throwing up when she remembered that until a few minutes ago, this thing had been living inside her, probably responsible for all the strange symptoms she had experiences lately, and how that thing had left her body. Covering her mouth with one hand, she let out a small burp, grimacing at the taste that still filled her mouth; then, Pat's cursing distracted her from all those thoughts, her gaze coming up to watch how the demon moved a few steps back from the shelf, the piece of furniture now trembling visibly.
"What's going…" Willow still had the time to ask, then the shelf toppled over and fell; with a daring dive, Pat got out of the way, her good eye and both eyes of her girlfriend going wide when they saw the creature crawl away from the wall the shelf had been standing at, the fact that in the few moments since it had hidden behind it, it had almost tripled in size – and had grown tiny, but clearly functional legs – only increasing their bewilderment about what was going on.
"I'll go get a weapon", Pat finally snapped out of her reverie, "and kill this thing before it grows even bigger. If it gets close to you, just shout and I'll come running!"
"Okay", the redhead agreed, her eyes not leaving the creature for a split second; coming to her feet again, the demon hurried into the bedroom, quickly opening the large chest right next to her side of the bed and grabbing an axe from it before she rushed back to the living room, hoping that at least, this thing could be finished off quickly – before it'd grow even bigger and maybe stronger than she dared to anticipate right now.