Disclaimer: Happy owner and original author, pouting fanfiction author. See the difference?!

Okay people, stop beating down the door. Here it is!

...

Chapter 14

"Miss Willow, are you okay?"

"W…What?!" Willow stuttered and then yelped as the papers she was frantically searching through suddenly sprung from her hand and fluttered through the air like maddened birds. "I…I…I…"

"Are you okay?' Patricia, one of her senior students looked at her with a concerned face and asked the question a second time. "I don't think I've ever seen you this nervous before."

"Nervous?" Willow laughed guiltily, "I'm not nervous."

"Okay…distracted?"

"I've just got a few things on my mind, Patricia," she tried to reassure the girl, "Don't worry about it."

Yeah, she snorted to herself, like that was convincing. You are bad at lying and you know it! It was true. She tended to get all twitchy and laugh uncontrollably when she tried to lie to anyone, it was horrible. You would think that a half a lifetime of having to sneak around and cover up stuff about vampires and demons would give her the skills to convince one 17 year old that she wasn't as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, but it just wasn't so.

Of course, she did have a legitimate reason to be nervous. Her best friend, the girl she'd been secretly in love with for so long, was coming back today after a five year hiatus out to God-Knows-Where. She had no real idea what she was going to do about it either. Oh, she'd had all these plans about confessing to Buffy as soon as she returned and being all strong, but now that it was actually down to the wire she was shaking in her boots. So much for inner peace and contemplation, Buffy Summers just seemed to throw her calm to the wayside.

…

Buffy looked around the reception area of the Academy with a curious air. She was waiting for her guide to come and meet her. The receptionist, a tidy young woman Buffy knew to be a Slayer, sat watching her curiously. Selena was curious about their new arrival. The woman she knew as Anne Montgomery seemed nothing like the exceptional Slayer that Cho An and Principal Woods claimed her to be. She seemed like a normal person.

Selene had been expecting someone maybe like Faith, brash and in your face. This woman sat politely on her chair, seemingly not paying attention to anything. She had no air of danger or contained power around her like so many other Slayers, just calm. Selene was feeling a bit dubious about the China Academy's claims. This woman looked a little on the dim side.

"Ms. Montgomery," Selene sat up as Rhona, the head Slayer walked into the room through the side door. "I'm Rhona, the Head Slayer here at the Cleveland Academy. If you'll come with me? I really don't have time to show you around today, because of classes, but Principal Rosenburg has volunteered."

"It's very nice to meet you, Rhona," the dark haired woman bent down and picked up her backpack, her braid slipping over her shoulder, "You can call me Anne."

Rhona nodded politely and turned to go, leaving Anne to follow as Selene followed the two out with her eyes. As she passed Anne deliberately turned to her and winked, causing her to jerk back slightly in surprise. It was like the other woman had known exactly what she was thinking about her the entire time. Maybe there's a little more to her than I thought, she muttered to herself shakily as she got back to her work. No one had surprised her like that in a while.

…

"Sorry about that, B…Anne," Rhona murmured shakily to Buffy as they walked through the halls, "I'm not the best actress in the world so I tried to get out of there fast."

"It's okay," Buffy grinned back, "It's a little weird for me, too."

"We just got the call from Cho An about two days ago and I gotta tell you, it shocked the hell out of me," Rhona had always been straightforward. "I thought you were, you know…dead."

"It happens," Buffy just brushed it off. Really, she thought to herself, I should be used to it know, it happens so often.

"Well I figured you would want Willow to show you around so you guys could catch up and stuff," she swung her head, her dreadlocks bouncing, to watch the older Slayer out of the corner of her eye. Judging to make sure that was okay with Buffy.

Willow had tried to look calm the other day when she'd broke the news that Buffy was alive and coming back to Cleveland soon but Rhona had thought she'd looked a little like a panicked horse. She remembered Buffy leaving the hotel, but she had no real idea what the relationship between Buffy and the Scoobies was like anymore. She hadn't even really known what it was like back in Sunnydale, but even she had recognized the strain everyone was under back then.

Breathing a sigh of relief as she reached the door of the classroom Willow was finishing up a class in, she knocked and then entered. The whole class, it was a senior spells class, turned to look. They had all heard through the grapevine about the new Slayer teacher coming in from China and were craning their heads around to check her out. They got a good look at her as stepped into the doorway and then they got a good look at their Principal as she tripped over her own feet and landed face first on the floor.

…

"I'm okay!" Willow exclaimed from the floor as her students stood up to help and Rhona rushed forward, waving them off. She stood, dusting herself off and blushing furiously. She was looking everywhere but at Buffy, extremely embarrassed. This was not the meeting she had imagined. In her head she had been all cool and grown-up, impressing the Slayer with her maturity. Instead she just looked like a dork.

"Why don't we go outside," Rhona suggested, sensing the awkward situation between the two.

"Right," Willow nodded and rubbed her nose. The floor was really hard.

Walking outside they closed the door on the class full of curious students and then stood there for a few moments, all of them unsure where to start.

"Why don't I…just go," Rhona made a walking motion with her fingers and then spun around and left them as quickly as she could without appearing rude. Not that they were really paying attention.

"You look good," Buffy said into the silence.

"Yeah, except for the dirt and the, you know, bruising," Willow tried to make a joke, wanting to lighten up the atmosphere.

"Well that's just temporary," Buffy flashed a grin at her.

Suddenly Willow lunged forward and clasped the other girl to her in a desperate hug. That one smile had done it for her. She had seen past all the superficial changes that Buffy had gone through, the hair and the clothes, and seen that her best friend was essentially still the same person. She clung to her and sobbed a little, it was good to have her friend back.

"No more eggs?" Buffy felt Willow sniffle into her neck and shook her head.

"No more eggs," she murmured and leaned forward to hug her friend back. She hadn't really been sure what her reception was going to be like. Even if they had cleared some of the air back in the hotel, five years was a long time to be apart. She wrapped her arms around the redhead and squeezed. It was nice to know she still had a Willow-shaped friend in the world.

"So," Willow stepped back a few minutes later, wiping her eyes and still sniffling, "I suppose I should show you around and stuff, but first I need a Kleenex."

"Why don't we save the tour for tomorrow," Buffy was sniffling a little herself, "I could use some food and some girl talk."

"Ooh," Willow clapped her hands together and got an excited look, "movie night! I haven't had one of those in a long time. We could get some junk food and some ice cream and…," she cocked her head and studied Buffy guiltily, "unless you're too tired?"

"No," Buffy laughed at her friend, she had missed Willow-babble, "I would love to have a movie night. I just need to throw my bag somewhere." The two women headed down the hall in the direction of the dorms. "Do you know how long it's been since I've watched TV!"

…

Willow studied her friend as she unpacked. She was unsure of how she felt about everything. On the one hand, she was giddy as a school girl, ecstatic that Buffy was back. On the other hand, she didn't know what to do about it. There was bound to be some kind of reaction when all the Scoobies came back to see her. For a moment her mind was lost in the future and then she shook her head, she'd deal with that later. Right now her friend was here, that was all that mattered. She looks happy, she thought as she watched her. She reminded Willow a lot more of the seemingly carefree girl she had first met in high school. She didn't have that tense, brittle air that she had had at the end of the battle with the First, like she was going to break under the slightest pressure.

On the other hand, her friend was harder in a lot of other ways. Buffy had always been in shape, but now she was whipcord and bone. Muscles moved sleekly under her nicely tanned skin and Willow was reminded of the tigers she had seen in India. She seemed so in control of herself and her environment, in a way the old Buffy never had been. The old Buffy had seemed to spend so much time trying to catch up with everything, but this Buffy seemed to be ahead of the game in so many ways.

"It was good for you," Willow said, causing Buffy to look over at her. "The travel I mean and whatever you learned out there."

"Yeah," Buffy cocked her head, "It was. I learned a whole lot. You seemed to have learned a few things yourself, Miss Principal Girl. You're all teachery like."

Willow laughed and sat on the bed. "Yeppers, learned a few things. I spent a lot of time in India."

"Huh," Buffy sat down next to her friend. "What happened to going to the Coven in England?"

"Oh well," Willow twisted her skirt in her hand, "I learned a lot there, too, but you were right. I needed to get out on my own."

"How'd they take it?" Buffy asked gently.

"Giles was actually helped pack and stuff. I think he felt a little guilty about letting me leave England so soon. Xander just smiled and gave me a yellow crayon," Willow frowned and ignored Buffy's laugh, "I told you he was never going to let that drop. Dawn said that as long as I brought her presents it was fine. That reminds me, where's my present?" She scowled fiercely.

"You'll get it tonight," Buffy wouldn't be dissuaded, Willow was being all avoidy. "And Kennedy, how'd she take it?"

Willow sighed then smiled sadly. "She wouldn't wait for me."

"Oh, Wills," Buffy reached out and put her hand on Willow's shoulder, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Willow's eyes were firm, "I loved her in my own way. I mean, she helped me out of the funk I was in after Tara's death, but it wasn't a forever love. I think she knew that and began pulling away, even before my journey."

"Then I'll just be glad your okay," Buffy nodded, then asked, "Anyone else new in your life?"

"Me? No, not really," Willow shook her head, causing her shoulder length red hair to fly about. "I mean, there have been dates and stuff, but no real connections, you know? What about you?"

Buffy laughed, "No way. I spent a lot of the early years to terrified that I would rip somebody apart to even consider having sex with someone. Then, when I finally got some semblance of control, I was stuck with an old man."

"I thought you went for older guys," Willow teased.

"Oh please," Buffy giggled and flung herself back on the bed. "Whatever you say about Angel and Spike, they were at least hot. This guy was of the wrinkled variety and besides, he was to busy making me work my ass off to appreciate my stellar bod."

Willow laughed and then sobered, asking, "Did you hear about…?"

"Their last stand, yeah, I heard." Even in China they had felt the aftershocks of the battle in L.A., "They both went out the way they would have wanted to, against the Evil. I'm just sorry they had to do it that way."

"It's what he wanted," Willow said. The other reason they had gone to San Fransisco instead of L.A. had been a bit of surprise to everyone.

Before Buffy had left, Willow had pulled them all into a telepathic conversation. During her time in L.A., restoring Angel's soul, Angel had used her ability to pass on some information. One thing people forgot about Angel, looking at his brooding appearance and all, was that he was extremely intelligent. He had not become one of the most feared vampires ever by being stupid. He'd known that the offer from Wolfram & Hart was coming. His gang had been to much a nuisance to the law firm for them not to react in some manner. He also knew that the law firm preferred to corrupt rather than to fight.

He'd anticipated the move and decided already to go into the belly of the beast and fight them from there. But Angel also knew that they wouldn't really believe he had gone over to their side as long as he had ties with the Watcher's Council, so he'd decided to cut them. He'd used Willow to pass on an undetectable message to the rest of the Scoobie's and gone ahead with his plan.

"He always was a bit dramatic," Buffy sighed in a melancholy manner, remembering her past love. Shaking it off, she sat up and turned to Willow. "So what is this I heard about ice cream?"

"Oh, we have all kinds," Willow jumped up off the bed, "It's like a necessity in a school full of Slayers."

The two women walked out of the room and down the hall in search of food, Buffy asking in a plaintive voice, "Do you have Rocky Road?"

…

"Xander's coming into town in a couple of days and Giles and Dawn should be here by the end of the week, they just had to wrap things up in England." Willow made the comment while watching Buffy out of the corner of her eye. They were sitting in Willow's suite, about to eat dinner. Willow wasn't exactly worried about her friend, but she was slightly concerned. On the one hand she was all yippy skippy, her best friend was back. She even seemed happy. But that was part of the problem. Buffy was almost too happy.

Even when Willow had first met Buffy, before all the crazy Hellmouthy stuff started happening, Buffy had had an air of almost desperation. Her younger self hadn't noticed it, but now she figured it must have been a result of being Chosen. The younger Willow had thought the brash, brazen attitude of the Slayer to be so cool, something to look up to, but now she knew better.

Knowing she was the only thing that stood between the darkness and the rest of the world and that she could never have a normal life, that in all likelihood her life would be extremely short, had instilled in Buffy a desperate need to live life to its fullest. Like, if she didn't experience everything now, she never would. Eventually the stress and the horror that was her life had taken their toll. The ever cheerful Buffy had been worn down and then Buffy had died and the Buffy Willow had brought back seemed to be an empty shell that just went through the motions of being her friend.

Even with time, that old spark that had been her had never really come back. The battle with the First had even seemed to drive Buffy over the edge into madness. The last Willow had seen of Buffy, her friend had seemed like a wild animal, desperate for something she couldn't grasp.

Now her friend was back, seemingly whole and well and with a new appreciation of life and a complete grasp over her powers. Frankly, Willow was a little wigged out. This new Buffy was all confident in silent and contemplative way that Willow had never seen in her old friend. Buffy had always been a bouncing ball of energy, flitting to and fro through life, quick with sarcastic quips and lancing jibes. Now she was still quick with her words, but the rest of her seemed coiled and contained. It was kind of sexy.

Sweet Mother Goddess ,Willow Rosenburg, she yelled at herself, you can't go around thinking those things! Two years of inner contemplation had forced the witch to come to grips with the fact that she loved Buffy Summers. Had from the moment the other girl had chosen to speak to her and probably would forever. She had hidden it though, hidden it deep. At first because of the fact that Buffy was a girl and Willow was much to shy and uncertain and then things had just progressed. There had been Angel and Riley for Buffy, Oz and Tara for Willow, and all the other craziness that had been their world. Willow suspected that she would have simply gone on ignoring and suppressing her feelings if not for the magick. Her loss of control over her emotions and the resulting chaos had forced Willow to look deep within herself.

For two years she had made herself look into the places she had never wanted to explore. The dark places in the corners of her soul where all her secrets hid. What she saw there had scared her. A shocking arrogance combined with a rather surprising sense of superiority. All of this had covered up a desperate need for acceptance and love. In a way she wasn't very different from Buffy.

Willow shook her head wryly. All of those things she had accused Buffy of being, she should have looked in a mirror. All of that had led to her dependency on magick. She had been desperate to be of use, to be helpful to the cause and if she was honest with herself, to Buffy. A part of her had so wanted to capture the attention of the Slayer, to make Buffy see her in a positive light. Then, when Buffy had died Willow had been desperate to bring her back. Her frantic grasping at power had led to Tara leaving her and ultimately, her girlfriend's death.

Poor Tara, Willow felt the stab of grief that always accompanied the thought of her dead lover. Willow had loved her desperately. She had been everything that was good and right in the world to Willow, but she still hadn't always come first in her life. Willow smiled sadly, Tara hadn't been stupid. In fact, the blond witch had been one of the most insightful people Willow had ever met. She saw things in people that Willow had never come close to understanding.

If she had lived, Willow knew that all of their lives would be completely different. Even Buffy had begun to respond to the gentle ministrations of the shy blond. Willow knew Tara had known about her love for Buffy. It had probably even hurt her a little. But Tara had been content to remain in the background and accept what Willow had given her. Only once had she tried to bring the subject up, when she was trying to get Willow to see her dependence on magick. Willow had shot her down quickly at the slightest mention that her feelings for Buffy might have gone beyond friendship and neither she nor Tara had ever had a chance to bring up the subject again.

"You okay, Will?" Buffy's voice broke through her reverie.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine, Buffy." Willow fluttered her hands about as she set the plates down. "Just, you know, thinkin' about stuff."

"Tara type stuff?" Buffy asked gently.

"Sorta. Hey, how'd you know?" Then grabbed her forehead when Buffy poked a finger between her eyes, "Ow!"

"Because you get a certain look in your eyes and a wrinkle, right there, when you think about her," Buffy grinned as Willow rubbed her forehead fiercely and scowled slightly.

"Good thoughts or bad thoughts?"

"Both, more good than bad though. Just contemplating what it would have been like if she had lived."

"I think we all would have been much better people," Buffy stated calmly, sitting down to eat. "Tara was a very special person and I don't think I got to know her nearly as well as I should have."

"Thank you," Willow whispered. It meant so much to her that Buffy had wanted to know her love, had felt that she was important. The day Buffy had stood between Tara and her father, proclaiming her family, had been one the greatest of her life.

"One should not deny truth, it eventually comes back to bite you in the ass," Buffy smiled mysteriously.

"Where'd you here that one?"

"My teacher, Master Shin, guy had a mouth on him that wouldn't quit. You would think that with being so old he'd be a prude, but not really." Willow watched as a deep grin slashed across her face and the blonde leaned in toward her like she was imparting a great secret. "He could come across as this old, mysterious Chinese guy. Like out of one of those Kung Fu movies Xander would force us to watch. But then once you knew him you realized he was just a horny old goat with a bad sense of humor. Guy had more dirty jokes than Faith!"

Willow laughed with Buffy, a picture of an old man with Faith's mouth coming to mind.

"I'd like to see him again," Buffy mused, twirling her spaghetti around her fork. "See how he's doing and show him what I've become. I think you'd like him, Will."

"What have you become, Buffy?" Willow asked the question that had been plaguing her mind for so long. That was the crux of the matter. Willow had seen all kinds of magick and magickal creatures in her travels. She had talked to demons and elementals and even an oracle once or twice, but she'd never seen anything like Buffy. Even looking at her with magickal sight yielded nothing, she just seemed to blend into the background.

"Can we wait until everyone is here?" Buffy asked, pleading for time. She just wanted to be with her friend for now. Things were coming, things that would change everything from the way her friends viewed her to the very nature of the world. She could sense it. But right now she just wanted to be Buffy and hang out with her Willow-shaped friend.

Willow watched her for a moment, then nodded. "All right but only till everyone gets here. No more hiding things from each other, we promised, remember?"

"Yep," Buffy squirmed in her chair and grinned infectiously, "No more of the secret type stuff. So tell me, in the interest of not keeping secrets, when was the last time you got lucky?"

Soda sprayed out of Willow mouth slightly as she choked in surprised. Coughing, she gave her friend a glare of pure malice. "Where the heck did that come from?" Willow gasped out.

"Well I sure haven't been getting any lately, so I have to live vicariously through my friends. Here," Buffy handed Willow a napkin, "You missed a little."

...

Author's Note:

So I wrote this chapter and it turned out longer than I thought it would. I just kept writing and I couldn't stop. Lucky you, exhausted and sleepy me.

I had to mention Angel in here somehow. I'm trying to go by the timeline in the Angel show where Andrew showed up and took the crazy Slayer back, breaking ties between Angel Investigations and the New Council. Angel, though not my favorite character, always struck me as being pretty sharp. If he was to survive and be as scary a vamp as they claimed he was I figured he would be able to judge Wolfram and Hart pretty well. After the season finale I leave it to sharper minds than mine to figure out what happened. If your interested that series is also being finished off in comic form. Pretty good read.

A bit of clarification on the school names. To the public the schools are called by their given names, the Jenny Calender School for Girls and such, but to the Slayers and the Council they are referred to as their city or country location, like the Cleveland Academy. It's just the usual slang that develops.

More good stuff later. Keep up the reviews and thanks for all the support.

OMAKE:

Selene (the receptionist)- thinking to herself -That woman doesn't seem to bright.

Buffy- as Selene turns away, sticks out tongue

Selene- whips head around- Wha..?

Buffy- innocent expression

Selene- thinking to herself -I could swear...but no. She's couldn't have...

Buffy- sticks tongue out a again

Selene- whips around again - Did she just...?

Buffy- chuckling to herself -Just like math class...heh, heh, heh!