Just like they had done almost every day during the last week, Buffy and Pat met in the Magic Box in the early afternoon; this time, the Slayer had brought her sister along, after Dawn had pestered her that she wanted lessons again as well, pointing out that she hadn't been given any ever since the whole mess with the assassin and her poison.
At first, Buffy had been reluctant to take her along and to let her train with Pat and her, as always worried that her sister might end up getting hurt; then, Dawn had pointed out that she was much more likely to get hurt if she didn't know how to defend herself, and that she'd forget everything she had been taught by the Slayer and the demon so far if she wouldn't get some proper training again soon.
Thus, the blonde finally had given in and had agreed that Dawn could come along and train with them; and now, she was sitting at the wall of the backroom and watched her sister doing just that, exchanging blows and kicks with Pat, the demon clearly holding back, not wanting to accidentally injure her. Still Buffy winced when she watched how the taller woman easily stopped a punch Dawn had aimed at her stomach by grabbing the brunette at the wrist, then using her hold on her to spin her around and bringing her other arm up to wrap it around her throat; for a moment, Buffy considered getting up and helping her sister, despite how weak she felt after her own training, the thought forgotten though when she watched how Dawn brought her heel down hard on the demon's foot, a snort escaping her when Pat let out a surprisingly loud howl in reply.
"Ow, dammit!" she then cursed, out of reflex letting go of the teenager and glaring at her when she turned around to face her, a satisfied smirk on her face, "that is not how I taught you to get out of that grip, you know?"
"But it worked", Dawn pointed out the obvious, then charged forward again, this time managing to land a punch; snarling, the demon tried to pay her back by dropping down to one knee and swiping at her legs with a kick, having to admit that she was impressed when Dawn easily jumped over it, then brought her own foot up and around the moment she had landed again, letting out a huff when she only connected with the black haired woman's forearm instead of her head, thanks to the fast reaction of the demon.
The blink of an eye later, Pat had grabbed the teenager at the ankle and gave a hearty pull, making her end up on her back and prompting Buffy to wince again; this time, she didn't try to get up and help though, instead deciding to see what Dawn would do when the demon moved to crouch above her, closing both hands around her throat, not actually choking her though, not wanting to take the training too far.
"Gotcha", she smirked instead, her smirk vanishing a second later though when Dawn's hands came up to grab her shirt, her legs moving upwards simultaneously; and moments later, she found herself heaved over the brunette and ended up crashing to the floor flat on her back, just in time for Willow to see when she opened the door leading to the training room, the witch's eyes going wide at the sight.
"Dawn!" she then cried out, making the brunette flinch as she suddenly was sure that she'd be scolded now, her fears proven to be unjustified the moment the redhead spoke on though, "that was an amazing move, who taught you that?"
"Buffy did", Dawn proudly gave back, coming to her feet; next to her, Pat did the same, shaking her head as if to clear it, then gave the teenager an impressed look, her voice conveying that emotion as well when she spoke up. "That was quite good Dawn, I have to say I'm impressed."
"Thanks", Dawn beamed, clearly happy, "I'm glad that move worked, for a moment I was afraid it wouldn't, you're so heavy!"
"Hey!" Pat protested while Willow giggled, shrugging when the demon raised an eyebrow at her, still sounding amused when she replied. "What? That was funny."
"No it wasn't", Pat declined, shaking her head as if to empathize her own words, "and I'm not heavy, Dawn!"
"Sorry", the teenager smirked, earning a huff from the taller woman; then, Pat let the rest know that she'd go and have a smoke, taking the time for a quick kiss from her girlfriend before she left the room.
"How did it go?" Willow asked while the door fell close behind her lover, moving over to Buffy and sitting down next to her, giving the blonde a concerned look when she let out a heavy sigh in reply.
"I'm getting a bit better", she then stated, "but I'm still awfully weak, today, I could go for forty minutes instead of just thirty, but if that recovery doesn't speed up soon, I'll be out of order for another two weeks or so."
"Pat won't mind taking over patrol until you're fully fine again", the redhead tried to reassure her friend in reply, "but I understand that this ticks you off…"
"Yeah, I'm missing it to kick some butt", Buffy sighed, "and it worries me how long it takes me to recover from that, I mean, I have Slayer healing and everything, but I'm still so awfully weak."
"Just shows how dangerous that poison was", Willow grimaced, "if she hadn't underestimated your Slayer strength and would have made the dose just a little bit higher…"
"Then I would be dead by now", Buffy finished for her, grimacing as well at that unpleasant thought. "I guess I can be glad that she never tried to poison a Slayer before…"
"And she'll never try that, again", Dawn added, giving the witch a look which was filled with pride, "Willow took care of that."
"I did", the redhead agreed, even though she didn't feel as proud of this as Dawn clearly did; after all, she had accomplished this by tapping into her dark side once more, and she was well aware of how bad this could have ended.
"I'm glad to hear you're doing a bit better", she thus changed the topic, looking at the Slayer again, "but now I better go and check on my girlfriend, before she feels neglected out there."
"You do that", Buffy smiled, "I'll just wait a few more minutes and then, I'll get a drink from that fridge Anya has out in the main room."
Nodding, Willow gave her another calming smile, then touched her shoulder briefly and reassuringly before she came to her feet; Buffy smiled back at her, leaning her head against the wall afterwards and looking up at the ceiling as she pondered the effects the poisoning still had on her and how much longer it would take until she'd be back to her full strength.
When Willow stepped out of the Magic Box and on the sidewalk, Pat just took the last drag of her cigarette, throwing it to the ground and stepping on it while she gave her girlfriend a warm smile, obviously glad that she had decided to join her out here.
"I'm late", Willow stated the obvious, gesturing at the cigarette butt on the sidewalk, "unless you wanna smoke another one right away."
"Depends", the demon gave back, "are we done here?" To her surprise, Willow didn't reply immediately, but looked away instead, her expression darkening; before she could ask what was going on though, the redhead glanced at her again, her voice soft when she replied. "I'm not sure, to be honest. Today at college…"
She trailed off, trying to find the right words; now clearly worried, Pat took a step closer to her and placed one hand on her shoulder, giving her a look that clearly showed her concern while she asked what had happened at college, the witch letting out a sigh before she replied. "Remember this girl I told you about? The one I was doing a psychology assignment with? She came to our place once…"
"Yeah", Pat confirmed, wondering where this was leading, "Janet, right?"
"Jane", Willow corrected, a sigh escaping her before she spoke on, her voice low and worried. "Well… She wasn't at college today, and she hasn't called in sick, either, I checked with the office… I wouldn't be so worried if this was any other town, but…"
"But this is Sunnydale, so you think something happened to her", Pat finished for her, making the witch nod miserably.
"It'd be so sad if something happened to her", she then mumbled, "she's such a nice girl…"
"Maybe she just forgot to call in sick, or did it after you checked with the office", Pat tried to cheer her up, even though she knew that the option of something having happened to Jane was much more likely in this peculiar town, "you should ask again tomorrow."
"I will", Willow nodded, "so you think I should wait another day before bringing it up?"
"Yeah", the demon gave back, "unless you really think that something happened to her, and that it wasn't a vampire."
"Well, I have no proof that anything happened to her", the redhead had to admit, "so, yeah, you're right, I should wait… I guess we are done here then."
"Let's say goodbye then and go back home", Pat suggested, "I wanna get some calm time there before I go out for patrol."
Nodding, Willow smiled up at her, then grabbed her jacket and pulled her down for a kiss; afterwards, they made their way back into the Magic Box to tell the others they were going back home, heading for their apartment a few minutes later.
When the couple returned to their home, the first thing Willow noticed was the blinking light on the answering machine, informing her that a message had been left; curiously, she pushed the button which would play it, smiling to herself when Giles' voice came out of the speaker – even though they all had cell phones, he still preferred to call the landline phones of the gang, this being one of the reasons why they had gotten the answering machine, not wanting to end up scolded by the Watcher every time he called them, couldn't reach them and didn't have the possibility to leave a message.
"Hello, it's me", the Brit's voice informed her through the speakers, "I assume you are at college right now, so call me as soon as you get home. Thank you."
The message ended with a click, and curiously, Willow picked up the phone to do what Giles had asked her to; usually, he at least left some information what this was about, but this time, he hadn't even bothered to do that, making her wonder what this was about.
"He wasn't all too talkative this time, was he", Pat commented next to her, raising an eyebrow while Willow nodded, already dialling the Watcher's phone number; while she waited for him to take the call, she moved a bit closer to her girlfriend, smiling when immediately, the demon put an arm around her waist and pulled her even closer.
Even before the whole situation with the assassin who had poisoned Buffy, the couple had been described as quite touchy-feely by their friends; ever since Willow had been convinced though for a few horrible hours that her girlfriend had died, she was even keener on close bodily contact, the demon gladly providing it whenever it was desired.
"Hello?" Giles' voice echoed through the line after the first ring, making the redhead wonder if he had been sitting next to his phone and waiting for her call; shrugging it off, she returned the greeting, practically able to hear the smile on his face when he told her that he was glad she called.
"Well, you left a message", Willow reminded him, "but it wasn't very enlightening. What's going on?"
"Did you read the paper today?" Giles answered her question by asking one himself, a habit the redhead found highly annoying; deciding not to call him out on it though, she simply answered, telling him that she had, but that she had skipped several sections.
"Well, I skipped nothing", Giles let her know, "and I have reason to believe that there is a new threat in town."
"What happened?" the witch wanted to know, the slightly concerned tone in her voice prompting Pat to lean closer to the phone so she could hear the Watcher's reply, his voice serious when he answered the question.
"A corpse was found close to the campus by a group of students on Sunday morning", he informed her, "not something unusual to happen in this town, I know, but… the poor woman has been burned to death."
"Burned", Willow echoed, exchanging a startled look with her girlfriend, "the poor girl…"
"Indeed", Giles agreed, "and you'll understand that I'm worried that this might not be the last victim of whoever is responsible for this. This is the reason for my call, I'd like you to check out the spot where the girl was found, see if you can find anything… I would ask Buffy, but you know she's still weak, so…"
"I'll do it, right now", Willow reassured him, "and I'll call you once we're back home, okay?"
"Very good", Giles agreed, "and while you're gone, I'll try to find out what might be responsible for this."
"You do that", the witch agreed, even though she wasn't sure how Giles wanted to find anything out if they didn't have any proper clues yet; he thanked her once more for her help, then gave her the exact spot where the corpse had been found before he told her to be careful, then said goodbye and hung up, prompting Willow to do the same before she looked up at her girlfriend.
"You heard him?" she demanded to know, not surprised when the demon nodded; she let out a small sigh, then gave her girlfriend a rueful smile, gesturing at the living room couch as she spoke up. "Seems as if I'm not gonna get that calm time before patrol… You wanna go right now?"
"Yes", the witch confirmed, "but it's okay if you want to stay here, I'll just look around a bit anyway, I can do that on my own if you wanna get some rest."
"Nah", Pat immediately shook her head, "of course I'll come with you, it's no problem, really. I don't like the thought of you going to a place where such a horrid thing happened alone, who knows what creeps are hanging out there."
"Okay", Willow agreed, glad that her girlfriend had insisted on coming along; she had meant it when she had said that she'd be fine going alone, but still she preferred it to have Pat with her when she'd go to check out that crime scene.
"Let's go then", she thus added, "Giles will be sitting next to his phone from now on and wait for me to call again, so we shouldn't let him wait too long."
"Yup", Pat was the one to agree this time; the couple shared another quick kiss, then made their way back to the anteroom to put their shoes and jackets back on, leaving the apartment again right afterwards and heading for the place where the woman had been killed.