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Chapter 25

Giles hands splayed out on his knees as he urged everyone, "I think it would be best if we took a bit of a break now." Trying to interrupt the furious babble that was taking place around him, he stood and took the center of the room. Everyone was trying to get a word in to question Buffy.

After having finished dropping her bombshell, Giles, himself, was infinitely curious, but he thought it best to give Buffy a moment to collect herself. He also had a feeling, given the look she had just shot Willow, that there was something she hadn't told them all yet.

"But Giles…," Dawn protested.

"No," Giles shook his head, trying to get her to understand. "We all need a moment to process this. Dawn, I think you and I should check in and see what's become of our search. Faith, if you and Lucky could look in on the girls that would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure they could use some reassurance right now."

"Alright," Faith drawled, pulling Lucky to her feet in a smooth motion. "We'll go check on the rugrats. But I want an update on the search as soon as you get it."

"Of course, I'll notify you as soon as I receive anything pertinent. Should we gather back here in about two hours?"

Everyone agreed and the four with assignments rambled off, trying to ignore the tension between the three old friends left behind. Willow shifted a little, eyeing Buffy and Xander. Xander had a frown on his face and was glaring impressively at the floor while Buffy had shut her eyes and was breathing deeply.

"We should go," Buffy finally turned to Willow, "We have a discussion to finish."

"Alright," Willow nodded and glanced over at Xander. She wondered why she hadn't noticed it, the rage. She knew 'd known he was angry at Buffy for leaving, but she didn't hadn't known it was so intense.

"So that's it?" The two girls turned around to see Xander had risen up out his chair, and was glaring at them. "You just waltz in here and say you've been given another grand destiny and we're supposed to feel all sorry for you? Forget about and forget about those girls that have been taken!?"

"Xander, no one's forgetting about anyone!" Willow was starting to get a bit angry herself at the unreasonableness of her oldest friend. "Giles and Dawn are looking for them right now. You know that. Why are you acting like such a dufus?"

"Me? Why isn't anyone else angry!? Why is it all forgive and forget?"

"But that's where your wrong, Xander," Willow looked at her friend with sad eyes. "It's forgive, yes, but not forget. All of us did some really bad things to each other back then. We can't just ignore it though. That's what caused most of the problems, us putting things away and ignoring them."

Willow shuffled her feet, knowing on her lower lip as she tried to make him understand, ""Now I can't say for one-hundred percent 100 sure that I've forgiven Buffy for everything, but" Willow's voice lowered, "And I certainly wouldn't blame her for still hating me a little. But…but I-it's okay though.that's okay. She's my friend and that means we'll figure things out eventually. That's what friends do, Xander. They figure things out and work through stuff."

Xander's good eye darkened and he looked at the ground in frustration. Finally he growled and shook his head roughly, dark shaggy hair flying. "I'm gonna end up the bad guy here no matter what, aren't I?"

"You're not the bad guy, Xander," Buffy spoke up. "You, out of all of us, have had to deal with all of this alone. for the past five years. Giles and Dawnie had each other, Willow and I had had ourare teachers. You've had to go it alone and I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help you grieve for Anya."

"You never liked her anyway," Xander snorted.

"I didn't trust her,." Buffy admitted, "bBut then, I didn't really trust anyone back then. She proved me wrong though. She stayed with us till the end."

"She was brave, wasn't she?" Xander almost grinned, his grief showing.

"Yes, she was. Look, we're never going solve anything by just yelling at each other. Fun as it may be," the slayer grinned saucily. "I really do want to sit down and talk with you, but I promised Will that we'd finish our talk first."

"I'm not so sure talking's going to help, Buffy," Xander seemed resigned. "I'm pretty angry right now."

"I know. But I'll tell you what my teacher told me when I told him the same thing, years ago. He said, 'tThe question isn't why you became angry, but why you choose to remain that way.' Think about that, Xander."

Satisfied, Buffy reached for Willow's hand and led her out of the office, leaving Xander to his own foul mood.

Willow sat cross-legged on the floor of her work room, trying to meditate. The room was rather small as . Sshe didn't need much and it was easier to layer shields on a smaller area. There was a circle permanently etched onto the slab flooring, pools of wax in the four directions from burning candles, and a small rug lay in the middle. Other than that the only thing in the room was a small alter set up against a wall, where incense was currently burneding.

Willow may not have a need for the tools any longer but she still found them comforting. A reminder of days past. Usually, when she came in here, it was easy to drop in a meditative state and just drift, centering herself. Today that seemed impossible., however. She just kept drifting back to the conversation that had taken place between Buffy and Xander and herself after the meeting.

Grumbling, Willow shifted and tried to regain focus. The regaining was stopped as Buffy's voice cut through, "Are you ready to talk yet?" Buffy's voice broke easily through Willow's concentration.

Willow's eyes snapped open to see Buffy watching her intently from her seated position across the mat. Her presence was a big part of the reason Willow hadn't been able to concentrate. Willow She had brought them down here after the meeting because it was the most private place she knew. Everyone knew that when she was in here there were to be no interruptions, barring emergencies. Willow was determined not to have this conversation interrupted again.

"Yeah, I guess I am,." She she answered as her legs unfolded, leaning back on her hands..

"Okay. Truth time." Buffy fidgeted with a lose sting on her pantsskirt. She looked up and met Willow's curious gaze. "Will, I…'Kay, Here's the truth then. Tthings – me things and you things - aren't what they seem. I'm not the person I was before. Changes, lots of them, ya know? , to many things have changed. But Willow, they've also changed for you. In more ways than you've dreamed possible. We both know that you've been changing You know you've been changing over the past few years, becoming something different. I can tell you what."

...

Author's Note:

I'm sorry I'm late with this. All I'll say is wedding and open bar. (If you're not old enough to drink just ignore that last sentence;)