"Oh," Willow said, putting her clothes back on the bed and taking Buffy's hand, "Hi! I'm Willow Rosenberg."

Buffy shook the redhead's hand firmly, then smiled and retracted her hand, flopping down on the bed.

"Nice to meet you, Willow. So, check out these digs, huh? I was expecting military bunks or something."

"Yea, they're pretty nice," Willow replied and followed suit, sitting on her own bed, though with more caution than the blonde had since a lot of her clothes were still folded on it, "So, um…you're a future-technical analyst too?"

Buffy was slightly distracted as she continued to look around the room, Willow's words just registering in her mind before she focused back on her new roommate.

"Hmm? Oh no. Language analyst. It's all very surreal, though. I mean, I applied and then all the interviews and stuff but now I'm actually here."

Willow looked suitably impressed at the blonde's reason for being in Quantico and nodded her head in agreement to her last statement.

"Oh right, yea. I only found out a couple of weeks ago I'd be coming here at all. So definitely with ya on the surreal front."

Buffy gave a single nod before her eyes narrowed slightly and a look of confusion fell on her face.

"A couple of weeks? How'd they fit in all the rigmarole-y stuff in two weeks? I've been going through the motions for like six months."

"Um, I dunno," Willow replied, suddenly nervous, wondering how much she should or was even allowed to say, "I was kinda recruited and it was pushed through from there."

Buffy continued to seem confused for a moment before shrugging her shoulders, seemingly accepting the answer.

"Oh. Cool."

Willow nodded and rubbed her hands on her jeans, before deciding to change the subject.

"So a language analyst, huh? What languages do you speak?"

Buffy seemed to perk up at this and sat forward in the bed.

"German, Russian, Arabic and Korean, fluently. Oh and English of course. School-level Spanish. I was an army brat growing up, so I picked it up. Never thought I could make a career out of it, though. Guess my Dad was actually good for something."

Willow chuckled and smiled, she liked this Buffy and was glad she seemed to have a nice roommate, otherwise the next nine weeks would've been unpleasant to say the least.

"So, tell me about yourself," Buffy continued, picking a piece of lint off her sweater, "Since we're gonna be living with each other for the next two months. I hear this training is pretty intensive, too. Might not be a lot of time for chatting."

"Sure," Willow said with a smile, sitting up more on the bed so her back was against the wall and grabbing a pillow, cradling it to her front, "Well, I'm twenty-four. Twenty five next April. Jewish. I'm from California originally but I've lived in Boston since I started college, when I was eighteen."

Buffy got a smile on her face, leaning forwards almost excitedly.

"Hey, I lived in Boston for a while when I was sixteen. Awesome city."

Willow nodded, smiling as well as she thought of what had become her home.

"Yeah, I love it. So, um, went to Boston University. Got a degree in psychology. Then I kinda struggled finding a job. Applied everywhere; Starbucks, fast food joints etc but never got anywhere serious until two guys in suits show up at my door and next thing you know I'm shipping out to Quantico. What about you?"

Buffy leaned back as she got ready to launch into her (condensed though it may be) life story, taking a moment to gather her thoughts in her head.

"Oh well, like I said, army brat. I've lived on every continent apart from Antarctica, never in one place for more than a year, usually no more than 6 months though. Then college came around, I moved to Chicago…it wasn't exactly my favourite thing in the world but I managed to get through it and came out with a business degree. It was never my first choice, but Daddy was paying, so I kind of had no choice," she replied with a roll of her eyes, "Anyway, I just finished up there – oh, I went to Northwestern, by the way - in the summer and knew I didn't want to get into management or anything so I applied for here and got in. Oh and I'm twenty-three. Apart from that, I have my boyfriend, Angel, we've been dating for about a year."

"Angel?" Willow asked with a smirk, "Interesting name. Not that I can talk."

"Yea. His parents kind of got lost in the sixties and stayed there. What about you? Is that an engagement ring I see on your finger?"

Willow looked down at her finger and smiled as she played with her ring.

"Yea, it is. I'm getting married when this is all over."

"Ooh," Buffy said excitedly, "Spill! Details, details! What's his name?"

Willow bit her lip and gave her roommate a nervous smile.

"Tara."

Buffy once again got a confused look on her face, mulling over the name.

"Tara? That's a weird name for a…oh."

Realisation dawned on the petite blonde, her mouth forming an 'o' shape, which Willow mistook as a bad sign, her nervousness instantly sending her into babble mode.

"Are you freaked? You're freaked, aren't you? I'm not gonna jump you or anything. I mean, not that you're not pretty, you are, very, I'm just very much taken and very much in love with my fiancée and you don't even like girls and have a boyfriend so it's not like anything would happen and hey, isn't fraternisation like against the rules anyway? So another reason but the biggest being, and I repeat, I'm very much in love with Tara but if you're still uncomfortable maybe they could put you in a different room or
maybe-"

"Whoa there, Will," Buffy said, holding up a hand, "Can I call you Will?"

Willow took a breath and nodded quietly.

"Um, sure."

"I'm not freaked. I think that's great. Love is love. You got any pictures?"

Willow's face broke out in a big smile and she nodded enthusiastically, reaching for her bag where she took a framed photograph of her and Tara that she'd brought out and handed it across to the blonde. Buffy took it and examined the photo.

"She's beautiful," Buffy said after a moment, handing the frame back, "How long have you been together?"

"Five years in the spring," Willow replied excitedly, happy Buffy was cool with her admission, "We met in college."

Buffy grinned and pointed at Willow's ring.

"And who proposed to who?"

"I did," Willow replied, biting her lip and tapping her fingers against the band around her finger, "Well, I did first. Then she did."

"Aww. That's so cute," Buffy replied, holding one hand to her heart, "What does she do?"

"She's a social worker. A great one," Willow said, looking off for a moment as she thought of her fiancée, "What about your guy? What does he do?"

"He's a private investigator. It's actually how we met, my father hired him to make sure I was 'behaving appropriately' while I was in college. After a little bit of drama, yelling at my Dad and punching Angel in the stomach for lying to me, I kind of had to admit there was a spark there and agreed to go on a date. A year later, we're still strong," Buffy said, then sighed, "I guess this'll be a real test, though. First assignment and all, doing the long distance thing."

Willow nodded in understanding, before asking the question on her mind.

"He wouldn't move with you?"

Buffy cocked her head to the side in thought.

"You know, he probably would. But we don't even live together, you know? I couldn't ask him to uproot everything. We agreed when I got in that we'd do our best to make it work and go from there."

"Well that's very mature and responsible," Willow said with a reassuring smile, "You gotta trust that it'll all work out."

"Yea. How does Tara feel about moving?"

Willow glanced at the photo and sighed.

"Nothing but supportive. Wants to be wherever I am."

Buffy looked at what she considered to be her new friend strangely.

"What's with the frown-y face? That sounds like a good thing."

"It is," Willow replied, with another small sigh, "She's amazing. I just feel bad that I'm taking her away from Boston. I know she loves it as much as I do."

Buffy opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, deciding to voice her opinion as Willow seemed willing to listen.

"Well, I know I'm pretty much a stranger here, but I believe in straight-shooting...or, um, gay-shooting as the case may be...Anyway, I can tell how much you love her just by the way you say her name. And if she feels the same, then I'd believe her when she says she just wants to be wherever you are. And hey, you're getting married. Most married people don't live apart."

Willow's face broke out in a small smile that grew wider and a small giggle escaped her mouth.

"You know what, Buffy? I think we've got the start of a beautiful friendship here. I've never felt so comfortable around someone so quickly. Even with Tara it took me a few days to not worry about every single word that came out of my mouth."

"Yea," Buffy replied with a smirk, "But that's just because you wanted to get into her pants."

Willow scoffed and gave a playful chuckle before picking up the pillow she was holding onto and throwing it across the room, hitting the blonde square in the face.

Buffy squealed and picked up the thrown pillow, jumping up and leaping across the room, hitting Willow with it. The redhead giggled and put up a fight against the invading pillow for a few minutes before putting her hands up in surrender.

"I give, I give," she said, slightly out of breath, "You've got some pillow-fighting skills."

"Boarding school for a year in Sweden," Buffy said with a confident smile, "It's kill or be killed in that kind of environment."

"I can imagine," Willow said seriously, "Your ability is quite enviable."

"We can have pillow-fighting secret study sessions at night," Buffy replied, in an equally serious tone, "Then when you go back to your honey you can wow her. I mean, that is what two women do together, right? Have pillow fights in their underwear?"

"Oh yes. And on special days like birthdays and anniversaries we braid each other's hair."

The two girls burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of their conversation and Buffy sat on the redhead's bed beside her, carefully avoiding the clothes that had been placed orderly at the end there.

"You know, you're pretty cool, Willow Rosenberg."

"Yea?" Willow asked with a small smile, "You wouldn't have thought that if you met me in high school. I was the kind of nerd who would've asked if you wanted me to move if you sat down beside me. College brought me out of my shell. Tara even more so."

"Well, friend-o," Buffy said, putting a hand on Willow's knee, "There's a seat for you next to me anytime."

"Thank you, Buffy."

The two new friends shared a look of understanding for a moment before Willow jumped up and went to grab her clothes again.

"If we're gonna be FBI professionals, Buff, we should probably start by getting properly unpacked.